Hyerin got up early to take the flight she had at 6am in the morning to return to Seoul to be on time in order to open her café for the day.

She got her bag & was supposed to move out of her room, but found Taemin standing in the kitchen, humming on some tune in a really low voice, but it was still audible quite well due to the complete silence there.

She went inside again quietly, keeping the door open a bit as she stood there near the door hearing his voice for a while.

A moment later, she realized that he was humming onto the children 'shark' song in his sweet voice early in the morning trying to warm up his voice.

She found herself smiling at that now, trying to stifle laughter as he may listen to it in that kind of dead-silence, and held the back of the knuckle in to avoid making any noise.

She coughed in a very low tone before moving out to leave as she held the door dragging her bag out with her.

“Are you leaving?” he noticed her as she was holding the door & the bag in another hand.

She nodded watching him as she walked out, “I didn’t expect you to be awake this early” she watched him walk out of the kitchen sipping on the water from the bottle in his hand.

“Yeah” “I am going by the 7am flight too” he walked to her moving closer.

“Thank you for letting me stay for the night” he extended his hand to her as she stood there holding on to her bag tightly watching his hand with tiny fingers for a while.

“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable by coming here suddenly” he looked at her, second guessing her response as she was still staring at his hand.

She looked up at him as he flashed a good wide smile at her waiting for her to take his hand & trying to read the blank look in her eyes staring at him now.

Why would you smile like that when I’m trying to move on from you here!?

“Any way you came for Ryujin eonni” her flat voice was confusing him as if he did something wrong to her,

“I of course wasn’t supposed to kick you out”

“And we knew each other for a while for that matter” she didn’t even was sure why she had to be so blunt with her words but all she wanted right now was that smile on his face to disappear, which did as she watched him observing her with a confused look on his face now.

“So it’s a good-bye for us here then”

“We may never meet again” she added at last, taking his hand finally shaking it feeling his loose grip knowing he wasn’t present mentally there now.

Did I say too much than necessary? She grunted in her mind watching him looking at her still speechless.

“I’ll be going now” “Have a safe journey back” she bowed to him, turning around, keeping her straight face till the end, as she walked to the porch, pulling the door of the house to close behind her.

Why was she feeling so bad when all she said was kind of true?

They weren’t friends, all the reason they happened to meet yesterday & even before was a mere coincidence, and of course then, there remains no reason for them to meet again.

So why was she feeling that awful now after saying all the facts back there?

The cold breeze of windy morning at the beachside hit her face & she was wide awake now from her sleep as well as the sweet dream she lived for the last two weeks.

“You have a lot to do” she murmured walking across the gate to the road to get herself the taxi, “It’s probably just a phase” she tightened her grip on her bag calling for the taxi she noticed now on the road.

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What did he just hear?

Taemin was still standing there watching the door after Hyerin left trying to play back her words in his mind again.

Did she say they’re not gonna meet again?

He thought they were at least friends now, even though they never said it, but he made it clear by actions.

Why did she cry on his shoulder yesterday then?

Was he believing that was not even there between them?

Why would she act so different suddenly?

Where did he even go wrong with all this?

His alarm was ringing now, which he had set in case he forgot his flight time. And it was time to go back to his everyday life now.

The weight on his heart was getting heavier after hearing Hyerin’s goodbye.

After spending a good amount of quality time with her yesterday & finally when he felt like he knew her real self some more now, she had surprised him by suddenly telling him that he was nothing more than a friend’s friend to her.

Maybe I over-expected!?

What was I expecting?

I don’t even know myself if I want us to be just friends?

Not even sure if I can ask her to be more than friends?

He got ready to leave but he couldn’t distract himself from Hyerin’s words now.

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‘When do I have the schedule today?’

Taemin typed the message & sent it to Eui Soo-nim to check his schedule as soon as he entered his house.

He was lying back on his bed staring at the ceiling now waiting for the reply.

‘Did you forget? I told you, you don’t have any schedule for today. I thought you were resting’ ‘Do you need anything?’

No wonder he was thinking why he was not informed about any schedule yesterday

‘I forgot. Anyway I’ll drop-by for a while to practice in the evening. Can you book the practice room from 6-8 pm for me?’

He sent the reply sliding his phone at the side-table again pulling himself up to eat something before he could nap for a while.

‘Sure’ he peeked before moving out as his phone beeped showing the short reply.

He pulled out the packed frozen meat from the fridge to grill it to have it with the rice & kimchi he had.

He moved to the kitchen counter, took the pan to put it on the burner & moved around collecting milk & his ‘chex’ now for a quick bite as he was hungry.

He was lazily moving his body around the whole kitchen trying to get done with filling his stomach & then fall into his bed.

He was still feeling gloomy & couldn’t take his mind off from Hyerin's words he heard earlier

.

He stuffed the food for the sake of his stomach’s call, cleaned the dishes & walked to his room to lay down on his bed again.

He found his phone ringing.

“When should I bring kkoong back?” Ryujin asked from the other side of the call, “Are you going to be home in the evening?” “I can drop-by your house then?”

“Eve was teasing her a lot, she probably doesn’t want to stay at my place anymore?”

“Poor girl is scared to even leave my room since we have got home” Ryujin went on with her ranting as Taemin didn’t respond immediately.

He found himself smiling at the mention of his cutie. He was missing her too since she was not in the house when he came back. It was the first time he left her since he brought her, so definitely she must be scared to be at someone else’s home for an entire day.

“I’m going to the office building in the evening” “I’ll be back from practice at 8 pm” he informed her as she was waiting for him to answer, “Should I pick her then?”

“However you feel like” “Tell me if you want me to bring her” “I’ll be fine, don’t worry” she responded as he nodded, getting her response.

“By the way, how was Jeju-do?” she was curious since yesterday & had to ask him now that they were already on call.

“Why did you send me there?” “I couldn’t even rest because of you” he was suddenly pissed now, surprising Ryujin with his change of attitude.

“Did anything happen?” she asked worried & confused, “Why are you angry all of a sudden?”

“I shouldn’t have listened to you” he snapped again surprising Ryujin more now

“What-”

“What did I do?” she mumbled caught in the confusion if she should say it or not.

“I’m tired” “See you in the evening” he turned off the call as his mind was again filled with lots of thoughts about this morning.

He closed his eyes after sliding his phone back to the table, trying to sleep what he was going to do, but now all he could see was Hyerin standing in the balcony of that house in Jeju-do again when he clicked her photos again.

He reached his phone again that he had decided to abandon for a while in less than seconds of the decision, to open his gallery & all he recently had there was the pictures of this girl, who was not leaving his mind for a moment since he was back.

It was hurting him more to accept that they may actually not see each other again.

He had thought the same, when he saw her in Paris, seven months ago now, but hearing it from her this time, was too painful.

When he saw her again, he was curious about her, got pulled off in his own strong intentions of knowing her more as a person, and that’s why he did what he would have never done if he was the usual Taemin.

He stepped forward not knowing how far he wanted to know her?

What would he do after that?

Why did he want it so badly?

She looked different now than the way he saw her photos, previously, in the hotel that day, or even at the home someday, before they met like this.

He knew now what kind of music she liked & she listens to with those earphones, every day.

He knew about her tears which never appeared on that calm face, which showed nothing but her external features then.

And he knew now what can make her happy & what was going to make her sad & he may not be there beside her when she would cry again, lonely.

To not be bothered, he knew a lot of her now, unlike the time, when he was bothered by the things he didn’t even know about her.

He knew he was on a whole new journey he hadn’t taken before, and it was driving him crazy that he still wanted to go some more far on that road now.

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“Did you wait too long?” Taemin was finally home to find Ryujin waiting for him.

“No” “I watched Netflix for a while & then played a match too” “So you’re not that late” she smirked as he smiled at her ironic taunt.

“I can see you were preparing some lines too in the waiting” he grinned sheepishly like a child running into the house to get kkoong who was staring at him from a distance.

“You didn’t had to wait for me” he said in between kissing his beloved daughter now, “She is comfortable alone here” “And I was on the way anyway”

“I know” “But I wanted to talk to you” she observed him freezing as soon as he heard her.

“See?”

“You are acting so weird” she got up to walk to him but he stood up to walk to the kitchen as she followed him there then.

“Did anything weird happen between you two last night?” she was watching him suspiciously as she walked behind him as he moved to the fridge.

“Don’t run your little brain too much” “What will happen betwee