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Youngran was just lazing around on her study chair which had rollers attached to it and kept her eyes on the ceiling of her room in boredom. She had slept too much after school ended for the day and right now, she doesn’t really felt like doing anything in particular. She was just… resting? Yeah.

Her eyes blinked once when she heard a sudden knock coming out of nowhere. Scanning around her room curiously, she felt a sudden fear rushed inside her head when she couldn’t pinpoint the source of the knock. The knock came again and she almost fell down, frighteningly, from the chair.

Staring at her balcony which she had closed the curtain over since night time has come, she stood up and slowly made her way near it. Peeking over the curtain, she was this near to shriek her lungs out when she saw Jeonghan right outside of the sliding door.

He nodded his head at the door, probably asking her to open it. She did, although unwillingly, a frown was shown on her forehead.

“What are you-”

“Come with me,” he stated with his stone expression on.

She was sure pissed off since he cut her sentence halfway but his next 3 words made her puzzled more than ever. “What?”

He lifted up something as her eyes diverted towards his hand, showing the thing that he wanted to talk about. “You broke my charger. The least you could do is buying me a new one. I don’t need your apology.”

“What?! B-But-”

“No excuses. I’ll wait outside your house in 10 minutes.”

Before Youngran could blurt out a protest, Jeonghan already stood on her metal railing and hauled himself towards his own balcony. Eyes widening in disbelief, she thought her heart was going to drop when he nonchalantly play with his life without a second thought. He arrived at the other side, safe and sound, a second later and stride inside his room, as if he didn’t just do a frightening stunt minutes ago.

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The walk was quite boring and awkward since neither want to say a word to make a conversation. Youngran never liked walking with him but she was pretty thankful because he’s not the type to say hateful remarks, not when he didn’t start opening his mouth that is.

They quickly arrived at a convenient store and he snatched the charger for his type of phone from the shelf, practically leaving her behind him. Well, what’s new though? When he arrived at the counter, he put the charger on the countertop and went away, asking- demanding her to pay for it.

Youngran grimaced at his laidback expression and she pulled out her wallet, wanting to get this over with. “How much is it?”

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They were on their way towards home and Youngran doesn’t really want to bore herself to death so she was listening to music along the way. Jeonghan on the other hand, felt like they were being followed thanks to his accurate instinct.

His eyes looked over to his back when he heard multiple footsteps nearing the both of them. He spotted three men with each has their own hair colour. Judging by their mouth mask that was hiding half of their face, he recognized those symbols. Glancing at her who was busy looking at her phone, he pulled her near him before zipping her jacket upwards until it reached her chin.

Frowning at his sudden action, she was about to ask him when all of a sudden he yanked her face to his chest, automatically burying her face on it. She was sure that her face had turned scarlet the next second and she was beyond puzzled by his vague move.

“W-What the-”

Jeonghan made sure to shoot the guys that had been following them his deathliest glare as they chuckled darkly under the mask. Youngran couldn’t hear any sound other than her song since her ears were plugged with her earphone but she didn’t move since he kind of had a grip over her head, forcing her to stay still.

“You’re Yoon Jeonghan, right? ‘The Beautiful Killer’…” One of the guys with blonde hair asked with a tilt of his head, yet Jeonghan made no effort to answer to him.

He then felt that she was struggling to breathe so he loosened his grip on her a little. Inhaling some fresh air, she wanted to ask him what’s going on but his tense figure halted her at once. Although she badly wanted to ask something, anything, she didn’t tell herself to do so.

“Where’re your friends? And who’s that? Your girlfriend?” The one with the cap cocked an eyebrow towards Youngran’s way.

“Come on. Speak. Monkey got your tongue?” The last one was actually referring to their group’s symbol making Jeonghan’s eyebrow to twitch.

He doesn’t want to pick up a fight, not when Youngran is still here and one mistake could lead to his secret bursting. He sighted an opportunity to escape when they stepped closer to him. Hardly, he kicked the blonde guy’s abdomen, elbowing another on his chest while trying to protect Youngran at the same time.

“! Daewon hyung! H.O!”

He punched the cap one on his jaw as the guy crashed over the trash bin behind him. Quickly, he held onto Youngran’s hand and dragged her to a run, far away from the guys. Looking over her shoulder, her eyebrows knitted at the unknown men. When he had put a distance between them and him, he heaved a huge sigh out of his lips.

“Why… are we… running…?”

He only realized that he had been pulling Youngran to keep on with his fast pace and she’s currently panting for fresh air. Letting go of their connected hands, he strode away first making her to frown when he didn’t give her an answer. Sure she was blocking her ears but she could read his lips if he did respond.

“Hey. Yoon Jeonghan. I was talking to you. Who’re those guys anyway?” she grumbled, her face showing that she was not happy about his ignorance.

Jeonghan pushed his brake and she blinked at his back, asking herself the reason for his sudden halt. “You’re going to be kidnapped by a guy if you kept standing there.”

He resumed his step, leaving her behind him again and she flustered, knowing that his words were right and she was positive she doesn’t want that to happen to her. “Yah! Wait for me!”

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“Yoon Jeonghan. Aren’t you going to explain what happen back there?”

Youngran frowned at his closed curtain while resting her palms on her metal railing. She tried to peek over the small gap to see the inside of his room but a hand had yanked over the curtain, completely blocking any eye to see his comfort zone.

Her eyebrow twitched at that and she looked around her view to find anything that she could use. Stepping inside her room, she took something with her and threw it towards his sliding door. When the door didn’t budge, she pitched her other doll again, with a little more force than before.

The door was finally slid open, much to her satisfaction, but with an irritated looking Jeonghan beside it. His eyes glanced towards her two plush toys that were on his balcony, his eyebrow raised in amused. Picking them up, he pulled out something from his pocket making Youngran’s eyes to widen.

“Wait… Yoon Jeonghan…” She squeaked when a crooked smirk appeared on his lips.

“You know what this is, right?” He nodded towards the small rectangular thing on his hand and brought it near her precious plush. “Know what I’m thinking?”

Igniting the lighter up, she almost shrieked at the top of her lungs but he had moved away the dolls before they could be burned by the fire.

“Don’t ask me anything again if you don’t want them to turn ashes,” he stated coldly before throwing them over to her.

“Wait!”

Turning to look at her, he noticed the way she glared at him, or actually, at his hand. “Why do you have a lighter with you?”

“Is it any of your business?” He snapped, his tone not changing and before he could get back inside his room, he heard her whisper, although it almost overlapped with the sound of the strong wind that night.

“How did you manage to change so much?”

She sounded disappointed, heart-broken maybe, by the way he treated her even though she tried to clear the hazy line between them. How much effort she put to know the reason behind his switch, he would never budge from his opinion of not telling her about it.

“Why do you think that I won’t change?” He answered with yet another question making her more confused than she is now. “Don’t do useless things, Moon Youngran. I didn’t even tell my parents about it so why do you think that I would reveal it to you?”

Without another glance, he left her behind like how he left his past memories after he moved away.

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Youngran stared into space, her eyes didn’t reflect any emotion and she was numb thanks to his harsh words. Sure she knew he changed but she felt like she got to know the ‘him’ now step by step after spending more time with him but she just thought wrong. It all went back to square one.

“Where’s the Hanie that I know…? Did he disappear…?” She whispered, her eyes watered in disappointment and the next thing she knew, she was crying her heart out.

She doesn’t like this. This frustrated feeling. It’s as if she would want it to be ripped off her heart but it can’t. She can’t do anything about it and it hurts her. The way he glared at her, the way he treated her as if she’s a trash and the way he raised his voice at her, she despised them all.

“I hate ‘this’ Jeonghan… Bring my Hanie back…”

Pulling her thigh near her chest, she rested her cheek on her knee with her tears still coming out of her eyes. She remembered her memories when she was a kid vaguely but it’s still there. Although it’s disappearing, it’s glued at the back of her head.

“Hanie… I miss you…”

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Jeonghan flicked his eyes towards Youngran’s balcony in silence, his mind was full of his own thought even though he never really knew what he was thinking. He had too much things to ponder over and the endless problems are giving him a headache.

He totally knew that he’s hurting her. He knew but he still treats her like that. It’s best for her that way. How he hope that she’ll understand it but it’s impossible if he didn’t want her to know.

Staring at the lighter in his hand, he lit it up, his eyes gazing at the dim light that was formed from it. He turned it off with a sigh as his fingers traced the black coloured image on his right arm unconsciously.

“What now?” His thought came out of his lips unknowingly with his eyes on his tattoo. “I have no freaking idea. Nothing’s going according to my way.”

Yanking the curtain back to close it, he fell on his bed with a sigh, yet again, before closing his eyes, trying to get some shut eyes. When he can’t force himself to sleep, he opened his eyes again and kept his gaze on the ceiling as Youngran’s words came back to haunt him.

“How did you manage to change so much?”

He doesn’t want to admit it but the way she still care for him made him happy in one way or another. And he sure as hell doesn’t want to know her expression when she said those words.

You’re getting soft, Yoon Jeonghan. Too soft and that’s not good…

“Why did you have to be so meddlesome, Moon Youngran?”

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Author’s Note:

Kind of a sad chapter but… Yeap. If a story doesn’t have any hurtful events, it won’t be a good story. At least that’s what I think it is. XD (Not that I’m saying this story of mine is great though. I’m far from it.)

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Truth of the day: People change but memories don’t.

Credit to the owner.

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