"Subscriber cannot be reached. Your call will be transferred to voi--"

"Ah, why isn't he answering?" Wonwoo huffed as he stared at his phone. He had been calling Junhui for the past four hours to ask--or more like force--him to play online games with him in a nearby Internet café. It was almost six in the afternoon and he did not even receive a single call or message from Junhui. Wonwoo was not being a clingy friend per se; he just wanted to maximize his time with his long-lost friend from college.

"Yo, Junhui," Wonwoo had an annoyed look on his face as he typed his message for Junhui, "I am outside the hotel where you're staying. Where you at, jerk?" his fingers typed quickly to beat his patience that was already running out. But even before Wonwoo could hit the Send button, a familiar voice called out from behind him.

"Wonwoo?" it was Junhui, "What are you doing here?"

Wonwoo's eyes widened at the sight of his friend carrying a bouquet of petunias with him. His annoyance suddenly disappeared, "Well, well, well. What do we have here?" he approached a puzzled Junhui and took the bouquet from him, "To whom are you going to give these flowers? Ah, no wonder you've been avoiding me recently. You're seeing a girl, aren't you?" he interrogated.

Junhui just sighed as a response. Wonwoo was proving yet again how meddlesome he actually was. And from Wonwoo's words, Junhui could already sense that his friend would for supposedly keeping his girlfriend a secret forever.

"Who's the cursed girl, then?" Wonwoo smirked.

"Shut up."

"Ah, stop being a grouch," Wonwoo clicked his tongue, "To be honest, I should be offended by the fact that you're keeping your girlfriend a secret from me, your best friend. Best friend!"

Junhui just shrugged him off and continued walking. He was too tired from his long drive from the hotel to the neighborhood where the flower shop was located and back, and he needed to regain his strength to think of ways to see Yerin again. He was already inside the hotel lobby when he realized that Wonwoo was following him.

Junhui quickly turned to look at him, "Why are you following me?!"

Wonwoo smiled, "I won't leave until you tell me who your girlfriend is!"

"I have no girlfriend, for Pete's sake!" Junhui retorted, "I have nothing to tell you, so go home!"

Wonwoo furrowed his eyebrows as he moved closer to inspect his friend, "Junhui, Junhui. Tell me, why do you have flowers with you? Are you suddenly a florist?"

Junhui sighed, "Just because I bought flowers doesn't mean I have a girlfriend."

"Well, if these are not for your girlfriend, then for who are these?" Wonwoo's eyes shifted from Junhui to the flowers. He was silent for a few seconds until his face suddenly looked horrified, "Oh gosh Junhui, please don't tell me... these are... for me?!" he exclaimed, "Look, I know we are good friends, but I'm sorry, I'm straight and things won't work well for--"

"Shut up! These aren't for you!" Junhui was enraged. He looked around and saw that everyone inside the lobby was already staring at them, so he snatched the bouquet from Wonwoo before walking away, leaving his snickering friend behind.

"Well, he still gets angry easily," Wonwoo remarked.

-

"Sheesh, what a tiring day," Yerin thought to herself after locking the front door of the flower shop. It had been a tiring day for her, not only because of her work at the flower shop, but also because of Wen Junhui. It he hadn't come to irk her, she would not feel as exhausted as she was feeling that time.

Yerin stretched her arms out before letting a deep sigh. The evening was cold, but the skies were clear enough she could see the stars. She enjoyed looking at the night sky; it made her remember her late mother, who would always tell her that she should always look for shooting stars so that she could have her wishes granted.

When she was younger, she would wish for more food, or for her to pass her exams, just the superficial stuff. But now that she had a good number of tougher problems on her shoulders, Yerin was hoping to see another shooting star that would grant her wish to find a solution to all her problems.

Yerin sighed, "There's no shooting star just when I need it the most."

The flower shop was just a 15-minute walk from their house. Her father had already told her to go home that night instead of spending the night in the hospital. She also had to work at the department store the next day; it would be better if she could get enough rest in her own bedroom.

Yerin was still a few meters away from their house when she saw a crowd of people gathered in front of their house, chattering and trying to look at something inside the house. Yerin immediately felt her heart beat faster; she knew something was wrong. She quickly ran to see what it was, and saw a group of tall, bulky men taking the furniture and appliances from their house and putting them inside a truck.

"Hey, hey!" Yerin called out as she hurriedly walked past through the crowd, "Mister! What are you doing?!"

One of the men approached her, "You must be Jung Yerin," he spoke as he handed out a piece of paper. Yerin hesitantly took the paper but before reading it, she looked around and saw that aside from the bulky men going to and fro their house, there were also police officers guarding the truck.

"What--what is this?!" Yerin asked before reading the paper. Her eyes widened after realizing that it was the contract she had with Mr. Song, the loan shark who lent her money for her father's hospitalization.

"The deadline is today," the man spoke, "Our boss waited for you to deposit the money, but you didn't. Just like what was written in the contract, we'll take your furniture, appliances,  and your house as the payment instead."

Yerin was aghast, "You--you can't do that! I know what's in the contract! I still have roughly three months! You can't take our things!"

"But the contract doesn't say so," the man responded as he pointed the date written in the contract, "It said 'January 20', and today is January 20."

"No! That can't be!" Yerin protested, "Wa--wait here! I'll get my copy of the contract!" she ran inside the house and headed to her bedroom. She took a brown envelope from under her bed and went outside to show her contract to the man.

"Look!" Yerin opened the envelope and showed the paper, "It says April! My deadline is in April!" she could feel her body tremble as she explained her part in the contract; she never expected such thing to happen on that day, just when she had thought everything was going to be better since she already had a new job.

The man took the paper and read it carefully, before comparing it to the one he had on hand. Yerin waited nervously for the man's response, hoping that it would convince him that it was just a misunderstanding.

"These are your signatures, correct?" the man placed the two documents side by side for Yerin to see.

"Yes."

"Then this contract you have is void," the man responded.

Yerin felt her world stop for a moment, "Wh--what do you mean?!"

The man snickered, "Young miss, your copy does not have Mr. Song's seal," he pointed a red stamp on the corner of the paper in his copy of the contract, "This is Mr. Song's seal. This is the real contract. That's why we brought along police officers. What we are doing is legal," he spoke, putting emphasis on the word 'legal'.

The world suddenly fell apart for Yerin. She was left dumbfounded by what she heard. She had no idea Mr. Song would deceive her like that by making her sign the same contract that had two different dates written on them.

"You better get your clothes and personal belongings inside," the man instructed, "I'll give you an hour to fix everything. Then leave," he patted Yerin's shoulder before walking away.

Yerin stayed motionless for a few minutes before letting everything sink in. She went to chase the man, hoping that he would reconsider and let her stay for a few more months, "Wait! Sir, please, please let me stay until April! I promise I'll be able to pay everything in April!" she pleaded.

"Sorry, miss. I am just taking orders from the boss."

"Sir, please!" tears trickled down her cheeks, "I promise I'll pay everything in April! Sir, I have no other place to stay, and my father is in the hospital; he's sick! Please don't do this to us!" she tugged the sleeves of the man's shirt, but he seemed like he had enough of his work already.

"I already said no!" he shouted, "You better get your things out while I am still talking nice to you, miss!" he added before pushing Yerin away, "Move!"

Yerin tumbled on the ground because of the man's force. The noise around her became stronger: the men walking to and fro, taking their possessions; the bystanders who just stood and watched her; and the siren of the police cars parked a few meters away from their house. That time, she felt weak. No one was there to save her from those people who seemed to be feasting on the scene of her predicament.

She was hopeless.

She was helpless.

-

It was a windy Saturday morning and Junhui had been standing in front of the perfume section of the department store for half an hour already. He stared at the bottles of perfume closely, as if he was thinking of something c