A/N

hi guys. this update, maybe the one you've been waiting for. I'm not going to drag Taeng's suffering because well, you kind of get the idea of him, suffering. XP  Enjoy.

Taeng arrived at the café and literally jumped out of his car to greet his favorite cousin in the world. He entered the café and called out his Noona, gaining attention from everyone in the café. Realizing what he had done, he bowed as an apology for disrupting their peaceful morning and walked towards Boa who was giving him a weird look since he barged in.

“What’s up with you?”

“Good morning, Noona!”

“Tell me what did you do?”

“Huh? Nothing, Noona. I’m just here to greet you.” He smiled.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah.” Taeng grinned. “Oh, by the way, did Huihoon comes in yet?”

“He’s in the back, arranging some boxes in the store. Why are you asking for him?”

“Just feel like greeting him too.”

“Alright, that is weird. You don’t usually come here asking for him. You would ask for…” Boa didn’t finish her sentence when she realized what she had almost slipped out.

“You don’t have to avoid saying her name, Noona. And things change.” He said softly, with a tinge of bitterness in his voice. “But I’m not going to dwell on that anymore. I’ll make things change for the better this time.”

“What are you babbling about, Tae?”

“Nothing for you to worry about. I’m going to see Huihoon for a bit.”

Before Boa got the chance to reply him, Taeng has already gone to the back, searching for Huihoon.

It wasn’t that hard for Taeng to find Huihoon, he decided to scare the boy by turning the lights in the store off. And just as he expected, the boy screamed out of shock and panicked when he heard a rustling sound near him.

“Who’s th-there?”

Taeng continued his little prank on him by making a howling sound. He couldn’t help but to laugh out loud when he heard the boy knocking few things around him.

“Yahhh! Who’s there really? Stop playing around.”

Taeng let out a final laugh before switching the lights back on. “Yahh? Do you realize who you’re talking to?”

“Hyung! Why did you do that? I nearly pee in my pants.”

“That’s disgusting, Hoon-ah.”

“I held it in for a while.”

“So you peed in your pants?”

“No.” Huihoon denied immediately.

Taeng raised his eyebrows but decided not to ask further.

“What do you want Hyung? Are you on your day off?”

“Nope. Just decided to come here and talk to you before going to work.”

Huihoon gulped nervously. “Wh-what for?”

“I’ve been thinking.”

“About what?”

“You.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’ve been acting so weird around me.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Look at you right now. Why are you so nervous around me?”

“I’m not nervous.”

Taeng sighed. “You’ve been avoiding me too. What is it, Hoon-ah? Did I do something wrong to you?”

“No, Hyung. Really.”

“Then tell me why you’re acting this way? Are you mad at me?”

“Mad? Why would I be mad at you?”

Taeng let out a breath and took a sit on the floor, patting the empty space next to him for Huihoon.

Huihoon followed his hyung’s move and sat beside him obediently. “Why are you saying that, Hyung?”

“I don’t know. I just thought you would be.”

“Hurmm?”

“You know. For treating Tiffany the way I did.”

Huihoon looked away and stared at his hands. “I was mad, at first. Although, I didn’t know what exactly happened between you two or what you’ve done. What I knew was that Noona would spend every break hours hiding in the bathroom, crying.” He sighed. “And I really hate seeing her like that.”

“Did she ever tell you?”

“No. She won’t tell anyone. She would just smile, despite the obvious tears in her eyes.”

Taeng huffed. “I did a bad thing, Hoon-ah. Really bad.”

“Why, Hyung? I thought you loved her?”

“I do. I still do.” He swallowed the pain. “I made a very big mistake, Hoon. I drove her away with my words and actions. I don’t even know if she would ever forgive me for doing that to her.”

“That’s alright, Hyung. She has already forgiven you.”

“How would you know that?”

Huihoon widened his eyes. “Err, I just know. She loves you, Hyung. She would always forgive you.” He tried to sound convincing for Taeng.

Taeng grew quiet, yet he was not convinced at all. “Huihoon?”

“Yes?”

“Are you hiding something from me?”

“No.”

“Really? You don’t have anything to say to me?”

“No, Hyung. Seriously, why are you asking me that?”

“Because you’re acting similarly like Tiffany whenever she’s trying to avoid  or lie about something.”

Huihoon froze, and ended staring at Taeng, looking perplexed by how accurate he was with his accusation.

Taeng saw the look and held Huihoon’s shoulders in place. “You know, don’t you?”

“K-know what?”

“Where she is right now? She told you, didn’t she?”

“What are you saying?” Huihoon looked away.

“Hoon, please tell me.”

“Tell you what?”

“Tell me where she is, or at least how she’s doing? Please? I have to know that.”

Huihoon sighed in defeat when he saw those pleading eyes. Well, Tiffany has never told him that he can’t do that. She only asked him to keep her leaving as a secret. Now that she’s already gone, he didn’t think it would be necessary for him to keep it as a secret anymore.

“I can’t tell you where she is, because I don’t know too. She didn’t tell anyone. But I’m sure she’s doing well.”

Taeng felt disappointed. “Oh.” He really thought that the boy would know more than that.

“I’m sorry, Hyung.”

Taeng released Huihoon’s shoulder and patted his head gently. “That’s okay. I guess she was serious when she said that she’s not coming back.”

“Oh, I think you could be wrong there, because she was pretty excited about Yul Hyung and Sica Noona’s upcoming wedding.”

Taeng cocked his head towards Huihoon and gave him a weird look.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“How would you know that?”

“Know what, Hyung? The wedding? Of course, I know. I am invited, as well.” Huihoon grinned.

“No, not that. How would you know that Tiffany’s excited about the wedding?”

Huihoon’s face immediately changed in color. “I’m just assuming, Hyung. I mean, won’t she be? They’re her friends too.” He stumbled on his own words, as the sweat started to form on his forehead.

“No, you won’t say it like that if you’re just assuming.” Taeng narrowed his eyes at the boy. “You talked to her!” He exclaimed, pointing his finger at the boy.

“N-no. No way. How can I do that? I mean, she left remember?”

“I know that. But in some way, you’re able to talk to her.” He frowned. “The only way I could think of is you’ve been keeping touch of her. She contacted you, hasn’t she?”

“You’re talking nonsense, Taeng Hyung. I wouldn’t have her….” Huihoon couldn’t continue his words when he felt his pockets being searched. “Hey, what are you doing?”

“Where do you put your phone?”

“Stop groping me.” Huihoon slapped the hands away.

“Just give me your phone.”

“Why?”

“I want to check it.”

“For what?”

“You have her number. I just know it. You wouldn’t be that sure of how she feels about the wedding if you’re not talking to her.”

“I told you it’s just a hunch.”

“Prove it then.”

“How?”

“Give me your phone and let me scroll through the contacts.”

“That would be invading my privacy.”

Taeng rolled his eyes. “Either you do that willingly or I’ll take it by force.” He threatened.

Huihoon gasped, seeing how serious Taeng was with his threat. “Why would you do that?”

“Because I’m really desperate right now. Please, Hoon. Just give me the damn phone!”

Because of Taeng’s loud voice, it invited another person to the small storeroom.

“What is going on here?” Boa peeked into the room and saw the two boys struggling with each other. “Why are you playing wrestling here?”

“We’re not! Help me, Noona. Hyung’s going crazy.”

“Tae, what are you doing to him?” Boa looked at Taeng as she thought that he has really gone crazy.

Taeng successfully pinned Huihoon on the ground after struggling earlier.. “He has her number.”

“Whose number?”

“Tiffany.”

“What?!” Boa was surprised and joined the two people on the floor. She grabbed the colar of the boy’s shirt.  “You do, Hoon?”

“No, no! I don’t have it.”

“He’s been talking to her, Noona.”

“No, I’m not.” Huihoon struggled under Taeng’s hold on him.

Taeng had pinned both of Huihoon’s arms behind him, but he can’t reach into his pants for Huihoon’s phone because both of his hands were busy.

Boa was faster than Taeng and she had reached into the boy’s pants, fishing out the phone.

With the sight of the phone, Taeng released Huihoon’s hands and grabbed the phone from Boa’s hand.

He quickly scrolled through the names in the contacts but found only the old number of Tiffany saved in there. He was already feeling disappointed when Boa has taken the phone back and this time she checked the Inbox for the phone messages.

“AhA!” Boa shouted excitedly. “You’ve been texting this person regularly, Hoon-ah. Let me see what it is about.”

“No-no! Don’t open them. It’s from my girlfriend.”

Taeng scoffed. “You don’t have any!”

Boa ignored the boy’s plead and clicked a button on the phone, revealing the conversations he had with the unknown person. She narrowed her eyes as she read the messages.

“What is it, Noona?” Taeng was curious and went to her side, staring at the screen of the phone.

Boa handed the phone to Taeng and proceeded to grab onto Huihoon’s shirt. “You’ve been hiding this from us?!”

Taeng on the other hand was too absorbed by the messages in the phone. At first he was confused why Boa was angry at the boy because of these text messages. But when he read the rest of the conversation, he found it weird that his name was repeated constantly in the boy’s conversations. It was all from the same person who strangely was very concern about him.

“This is her, right?” Taeng finally spoke, showing the screen to Huihoon. The screen showed the messages he exchanged regularly with a person named ‘Pink Noona’.

Huihoon nodded weakly as he looked towards the floor. “I’m sorry for hiding this. But I have to, she told me to keep this from you.”

“You did a great job actually. I wouldn’t notice it if it wasn’t for your weird behaviors around me.”

Huihoon kept quiet.

“So that’s how she kept an eye on me huh? Through you?” Taeng chuckled. “What a silly girl. Using you to spy on me.” He couldn’t help but reminisces the time he would use Huihoon too, keeping an eye on his girlfriend. Except now, they’re no longer linked with each other. He frowned at that thought.

“Hyung, please don’t be mad at me. I wanted to tell you but Noona said she’d only keep in touch with me if I promised not to tell anyone about this.”

“I understand.” Taeng nodded. “I’m not mad at you. I’m just glad that at least she kept her words.”

“She does. She would ask me about you everyday, and told me to cheer you up if I saw you being sad.” Huihoon said  seriously. “But I can’t do that because I would be very nervous around you, so I told her that I can only keep an eye on you.”

Taeng smiled and patted Huihoon’s shoulder. “That’s okay. You’ve done a good job actually.” Taeng gave the phone back to the boy.

“How frequent would she call?”

“At least thrice a week?”

“Can you call her right now?”

“I can’t. She usually turns off her phone when she’s working.”

“She’s  working now? Where?”

“She told me she got a job at a nice café. She wouldn’t tell me exactly where, but she told me that it was really close to her house and the people there are very nice to her. She told me not to worry about her.”

Taeng felt disappointed again that he couldn’t hear her voice. He had found a way though, he would try to get her back in any way possible even if it was a very thin chance.

“But I can try.” Huihoon added quickly after seeing the dejected look on Taeng’s face. He dialed the number and put it to his ears. “It’s ringing! She didn’t turn it off.” He announced to the people in the room.

Taeng and Boa were very excited and gathered around Huihoon to hear the phone call being made.

But the call went unanswered as it went into a mailbox.

Feeling frustrated, Taeng stood up, punched a nearby wall and walked out of the store room, leaving Boa and Huihoon, sitting on the floor.

“How long have you been in touch with her?” Boa ask