Prologue 

"Yoora, would you mind starting this weekend on Saturday? Something came up in my work and I cannot afford to miss it. It's an important event." Yoora listened carefully as she effortlessly cradled an ivory wireless telephone between the crane of her neck and the hollows of her collarbone. As reflex, she nodded absentmindedly, too caught in how stunned she was to start so soon, that she had forgotten that Mrs. Kim could not see her wordlessly agreeing to her proposal.

"Oh, uh, yeah, sure!" Her words came out of in a bundled mess. Yoora mentally scolded herself for sounding so dumb. "There is absolutely no problem in that. Thank you so much, Mrs. Kim! At what time would you like for me to arrive at your house?" she asked. 

"Does 6:00 p.m work fine for you?" 

Yoora wracked her brain to think about her weekend's schedule. She had community service from noon to 3:00 p.m, and had promised her friend that they would work on their English paper together from 4:30-5:30 p.m. Nothing in her schedule seemed to cause her any trouble. Glad that she had no worries, Yoora happily answered, "Of course, Mrs. Kim! What time do you think you will come back home?"

"I should be back before 1:00 a.m."

Yoora's eyes popped out of their sockets momentarily. 1:00 a.m? As in past midnight? Uneasily, she fiddled with the stray loose threads of her cream sweater, a habit she had whenever she was nervous or uneasy. 

"Now, I do not necessarily mean for you to stay until 1:00 a.m. I am not that cruel. However, if circumstances are not well, then you must stay until that given time. I am sorry." Mrs. Kim sighed deeply. She could hear the tired frown in her voice.  

"I must warn you." Mrs. Kim paused for a moment as if she did not want to say what she wanted to say next. It was beginning to be so quiet that Yoora was sure that if their were a pin dropping on the other end of the phone, she would have heard it. The quiet tension continued to cut through the air. It began to make Yoora's insides squirm slightly. Mrs. Kim hardly ever contained what seemed to be secrets, but for the moments passing, it seemed as if she were about to let an atomic bomb drop. That was how deafening the silence was. It made Yoora uncomfortable. 

"I have a son." Mrs. Kim paused again. Yoora deadpanned. Was that all Mrs. Kim meant to say? Just that she had a son? Before Yoora could reassure Mrs. Kim that that was not at all a problem, Mrs. Kim started to speak in a quiet voice. 

"My son Hanbin... is a little rough at the edges. But he means well." Mrs. Kim paused for the umpteenth time that evening. "Just please be careful. He is quite fragile and sensitive, and his words are always quite harsh. He usually does not meant them, but they can cut likes knives." Yoora heard the tiny crack that embedded deeply within her words. She let out a tiny sigh. A troublesome boy who gave his mother problems. Yoora could only assume that this boy was a terrible boy.

"Really, Mrs. Kim. It's fine. I can probably handle him well. Would you just like me to stay to watch Hanbyul until your son arrives home?"

"There is never a set time my son comes home, so I cannot exactly give you a time span of when you will be babysitting." There appeared to be some edge to her voice, a certain bitterness that made Yoora feel sympathetic for the kind woman. Just what kind of son was this boy for his own mother to sound like it was a pain even talking about him?

"Really, Mrs. Kim. I'm flexible to anything. If your event happens to carry over past 1:00 a.m and your son just so happens to not return either, then I will stay to watch Hanbyul as long as I can. There really is nothing to stress yourself over." Yoora said determinedly. 

"Thank you so much, Yoora." Mrs. Kim said sincerely, and with that, the phone line made a monotonous ringing that almost made Yoora's brain bleed from the inside.

Kim Hanbin.

Where had she heard that name before? Yoora tried desperately to wrack her brain for any recognition. The name was awfully familiar. The name continued to repeat itself in her brain, though she only saw blurred faces and heard drowned out voices of various people from the hallways. He obviously went to her school, that much she knew. But she didn't know if he was in her grade, if they happened to share any classes, or what crowd he associated himself with. She knew nothing about this Hanbin boy. 

What's the use of worrying about a boy I'll eventually meet later? Ugh, I worry about the littlest of things. 

"Yoora, dear, it's dinner!" Yoora heard from the kitchen. 

"Coming, omma!" Yoora placed the phone back on its cradle. 

"Maybe I'll just ask Junhoe about this Hanbin boy. Junhoe knows everyone," Yoora suggested to herself quietly. 

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