When she woke up the next morning, she was still wearing her dress. Her eyes were swollen and hurt. It was still early in the morning, her shift didn’t start yet. With slow movements she got up from the bed and looked out of the window.

It was raining slightly and the sky was cloudy. It matched her mood perfectly. Glancing at the bag which was lying on the desk, filled with crumbled clothes, she sighed.

In her anger and sadness she had wildly threw her clothes into the bag, ready to run away at the moment. But something inside of her had been holding her back from doing so. Without unpacking the things she went into the bathroom and washed her face. As she looked at her own reflection, she slightly touched the mirror. She looked terrible, not only on the outside but also inside.

But she couldn’t blame Donghae for it. It was her own fault. She had been the one who had hoped...

After getting her appearance in a better condition, she went downstairs into the kitchen.

One of the maids came in, surprised to see Yoona this early. “You are already up? Did someone already tell you about your tasks today?”

Confused Yoona looked up at the woman and shook her head. “Is there something special?”

The look on the other woman’s face got sympathetic: “You’ll be in charge of raking the leaves in the garden and to sweep the terraces.”

At first Yoona had been confused by the sympathetic look of the maid but when she then stood in the garden, she understood. This couldn’t be called a garden! It was as huge as a park! There was no way, one person could take care of all this alone. She sighed and took the rake. It seemed like her aunt wanted to torture even more.

Raking the leaves wasn’t that hard – at first. But after almost two hours of working she still hadn’t reached the half and her body had gotten already exhausted.

She decided to take a short break and sat down on a small bench placed under one of the cherry blossom trees which now was leafless.

Luckily the rain had stopped but it was pretty chilly. “Good morning, Yoona-shi.”

Surprised by the voice she looked up and saw Donghae walking towards her. She got on her feet and looked at him. How should she face him? Tears started to built up but she pulled herself together.

“You’re working this early already?”, he asked and pointed at the rake.

She slowly nodded and forced herself to smile slightly. Don’t cry, don’t cry...!

Putting on a questioning look, she nodded at him. “Why I’m here?”, he asked and rubbed the back of his head, “Sooyeon’s mother called me. It seems like she wants to talk about something to me.”

Probably about the wedding..., she thought and her heart got heavy.

Donghae noticed her sad look at eyed her worried. “Is everything alright?” Alarmed by his question she quickly fixed her expression and put on a smile. She shook her head, but he still seemed worried. “Are you sure?”

She nodded again and then grabbed the rake. Apologeticly she looked at him, before bowing slightly and going back to work.

Donghae reached out a hand to stop her but paused and withdrew. He shouldn’t...

Unwillingly he turned around and left Yoona alone.

The girl stopped in her movement of raking and looked up to the sky. A raindrop fell down on her cheek, mixing up with her tear.