People were everywhere. Girls, boys, couples, groups of friends, people walking alone. There were literally people EVERYWHERE. And yet, the one person Chunji was looking for was nowhere to be found. Chunji looked around and saw empty faces. They were nothing but one more person walking past him to whatever life they lived.

“Chunji, parking lot is this way.” CAP called out to his distracted friend.

Chunji looked over at CAP and realized he had been walking around without really knowing where he was going.

“Come on, smile hyung!” Changjo swung an arm around his shoulder.

Chunji gave him a small smile and continued to follow them toward the parking lot. Chunji and L.Joe waved goodbye to the rest of the members and made their way to Chunji’s car.

“Chunji, you have to stop this.” L.Joe shook his head at his friend. He was concerned for him but he also knew Chunji had brought this on himself.

“If you had just told her-“

“That I’m in love with her?” Chunji glared at his friend as they reached his car.

L.Joe looked back at his friend. He didn’t even need to reply, Chunji already knew what he was thinking.

“L.Joe, I can’t. I told you already. It doesn’t matter how much she means to me or how much I love her.”

“Love is love Chunji. And she loves you. We all know that. So say it.”

Chunji shook his head again and took the keys out of his pocket.

“SAY IT.” L.Joe yelled at his friend.

Chunji met his gaze but remained silent.

“CHUNJI SAY IT!”

“I LOVE EUN MI. HAPPY?” Chunji spat back at his friend.

Before L.Joe could continue, they were interrupted by someone’s all too familiar laughter.

“You can’t be serious.” Sang Ae laughed approaching them.

“Sang Ae, leave.” L.Joe hissed at her angrily.

She returned the angry look. Chunji sighed and hung his head in frustration.

Sang Ae looked down and cleared . She didn’t want to upset him.

“Look all I meant was that she’s in love with Mung Ri. You know, her boyfriend?” she said in a lighter voice.

Chunji closed his eyes and sighed again.

I know that.

“Sang Ae, you have no idea what you’re talking about.” L.Joe replied annoyed.

“Mung Ri texted me earlier and told me she did. Here.” She answered handing them her cellphone.

She loves me Sang Ae. – Mung Ri

 “Why are you texting Mung Ri?” Chunji asked handing her back her phone.

“That’s not important. The point is she loves him. And he loves her so stop breaking your own heart Chunji. If she doesn’t care about you, I do.”

Chunji searched her eyes. Whatever evil plan she had in store, there was no indication of it in her eyes. At least not any that he could find.

“Come on, you owe me a date anyway.” She smiled at him.

“Chunji, can we go?” L.Joe snapped opening the passenger door.

“Sorry, Sang Ae, not today.”

He was too heartbroken to handle her right now.

“I know this for you Chunji. But she left you to be with him today. All I want to do is help you have some fun too.” She grabbed his arm stopping him from getting in the car.

“Sang Ae-“ L.Joe started.

“Chunji?” She ignored him.

“FINE.” He replied with an exasperated sigh.

She wasn’t going to let this go, so he might as well deal with this now.

***

“Chunji, smile please!” Sang Ae pouted from the passenger seat of the car.

“Where are we going Sang Ae?” Chunji asked ignoring her question.

“Chunji, I know I’m not your first pick to be here but at least TRY to have fun.”

Chunji sighed. This was not how he wanted to be spending his afternoon.

“Take the next exit and make a left at the second street.” Sang Ae said quietly turning to look out the window.

Chunji did as he was told. After a few more directions, Chunji parked the car, and Sang Ae quickly got out.

“Welcome to paradise.” Sang Ae smiled genuinely happy, taking a deep breath.

“It’s just the Han River.” Chunji looked around, not quite sure how this qualified as paradise.

Sang Ae smiled, more to herself than to Chunji.

“Maybe to you. Come on.” She led him along the banks, walking at a comfortable pace.

They exchanged a few words, Sang Ae starting up conversations and Chunji replying half-heartedly. His mind was elsewhere. Truth be told, there was no way Sang Ae could help him right now. There was no way anyone could help him. This was a pain he would have to endure until he was too numb to even know he continued to hurt.

“What do you think?” Sang Ae asked holding up a skewer, bringing Chunji back to the present.

“Delicious.” He looked over his shoulder toward the expanse of river looming just behind the small fence.

“I got it.” Sang Ae muttered, taking 2 skewers from the old woman running the stand. She handed one to Chunji and continued walking, not waiting for him.

Chunji sighed and trailed behind. Sang Ae continued to walk for a few minutes, keeping quiet.

“Sang Ae, where are you going?” Chunji finally asked.

Sang Ae stopped and stared at a park bench sitting at the edge of a large patch of grass looking out toward the water.

“Me and my dad used to come here.” She took another bite of her skewer and sat on the bench leaving space for Chunji to sit beside her, but not making any move to ask him to sit. Chunji looked at her curiously and instinctively moved toward the bench.

“When I was in elementary school, there used to be a carnival here every year for children’s day.” Sang Ae continued. “It was my favorite day of the year. Back then my parents were struggling to pay bills. My dad worked 2 jobs, but he always made sure to come with me.”

Chunji sat down and processed what she was saying. Sang Ae poor? But she was known to be the rich girl. Everyone at their school was financially stable, to say the least.

“When I was 10, we came to the festival just as we did every year.” She smiled at the memory, a little more in her memories than in the present with Chunji. “This bench is where he told me he was moving to Japan. That was the day my world changed.” Sang Ae looked down at her hands and smiled weakly.

“Why?” Chunji whispered.

“His business partner wanted to start a company there. It ended up changing the life I lived. Some days I’m not sure if it was for the better.” She looked up and Chunji noticed how her eyes were glazed over. She was holding back tears.

“I’ve never told anyone that before.” She half laughed.

“Why are you telling me this?” Chunji asked confused. Sang Ae was the last person he would have expected to hear something like from.

“Because I trust you.” She looked at him sincerely. “This is my paradise. I come here when I need to feel better.”

“Eun Mi and I have a place like this.” Chunji smiled thinking about the garden hidden away by trees.

Sang Ae closed her eyes tightly. He would find a way to involve Eun Mi.

“Can you please not.” She glared at nothing in particular, making sure not to look at Chunji.

“Eun Mi is an important person in my life Sang Ae.” Here it was, the moment he had been expecting.

“Yes Chunji but she hurts you every single day. And the sad part is that you let it happen. It’s like you cherish the pain you receive from her because at least you’re getting SOMETHING from her.”

“Why do you have to be such-“

“A ?” Sang Ae laughed. “Well I just tried being real with you and you didn’t even notice. If that’s not enough, how about this?” She stood up and looked him dead in the eyes. “Because I really like you. And I know you’re too delusionally in love with Eun Mi to notice me so I hide behind my iness to cover up your ignorance. It’s something I learned to do when my dad left.”

Chunji sat on the bench and blinked. His mind was very slowly taking in what she had just said.

She looked away from him and began moving back the way they had originally come from.

“Sang Ae, I love Eun Mi. I don’t mean to hurt you but she’s my life. And you’re so mean, not just to her but to everyone else. Up until today everything seemed to be about power and money with you.” Chunji walked after her when his mind finally caught up with what was happening.

Sang Ae scoffed. “You’ve obviously never lived the life of a lonely rich girl. Sometimes power and money is the only thing you can trust because the people you TRY to be close to only hurt you.”

“That doesn’t make how you act any better.”

“How about how you act Chunji? You see nothing but Eun Mi and forget about the rest of the world. How much of your life have you missed because of her? She doesn’t love you Chunji. She loves Mung Ri. Why do you think she’s the only one who doesn’t notice how you truly feel? SHE DOESN’T CARE.”

Chunji shook his head and pulled her arm in order to stop her.

“It doesn’t matter, as long as she’s happy. Don’t you get that? She needs to be happy. She DESERVES to be happy.” He was holding on to her shoulders, shaking slightly while he attempted to make her understand.

Sang Ae took a deep breath closing her eyes to calm down.

“Don’t I deserve happiness too?” She whispered taking his hands from her shoulders and holding them with hers. “You have no idea how lonely I feel sometimes. The way you must feel lately.” She looked down at their hands. “She is happy Chunji. I want to be happy. And you, more than ANYONE, deserve to be happy.”

Chunji looked at her without knowing what to say. What if she was right? What if he should move on? Eun Mi had. She had never known his feelings anyway, so what difference would it make?

Sang Ae sighed and suddenly moved closer to Chunji, bringing her lips to kiss his.

In that moment, there was nothing going through Chunji’s mind. No Eun Mi. No hurt. No expectations. No confusion. No happiness. There was just the sound of the river and the feel of Sang Ae close to him.

Then a twinkling sound, a beautiful one he remembered, one he had known for so long, one he cherished so dearly brought everything crashing back more painful than it had been before.

Sang Ae pulled away from him just as Eun Mi’s twinkling laughed pierced through Chunji’s whole being.

Sang Ae and Chunji both turned to see Eun Mi and Mung Ri standing, hands intertwined, Mung Ri’s jacket hugging her shoulders, just a few feet from them.

The smile Chunji could so clearly picture at the sound of her laughter had faltered. He watched as it was bent into an awkward and confused half smile.

“I didn’t know you two were on a date as well!” Mung Ri smiled widely at Chunji and Sang Ae.

“Oh…yeah.” Sang Ae replied barely above a whisper.

“Hope you’re having fun.” Eun Mi said awkwardly fidgeting next to Mung Ri. He got the hint and waved goodbye to them, walking further down the river bank.

Chunji and Sang Ae both let out sighs and looked at the ground.

A/N: HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII. ITS SUMMER BREAK WOOT WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT! :D

All randomness aside, I want to apologize once again. I don't update as frequently as I should or want to, and its mostly because I am incredibly intimidated by some of the writers out there. Everyone is their own worst critic, I know. I just realized I didn't take this story as seriously as I had planned when I started and because of that I have lost confidence in my writing. But I believe practice will help so I am determined to keep going. Beside I have all of your support right? :D

Please don't hate me for this chapter! It had to be done! At least its long so you can enjoy it well ;D Now its really getting dramatic!

ONCE AGAIN, COMMENT, RANT, SUBSCRIBE, YELL, FANGIRL, FLAIL, CUSS, THROW UP, ETC. I welcome any and all emotions with great gratitude <3

Have a lovely day my beautiful followers!