“I’m so proud of you…”

“Mom, please don’t leave me…”

“You’re doing great, darling…”

“No, please…”

“WAIT!” – Chaerin screamed, waking up. It had been one of those again.

“CL!” – Thunder entered the room in a rush. – “Are you okay? What happened?” – he sat on the bed, looking around the room, then at Chaerin. She was pale, sweating, and trembling.

She looked at Thunder and started crying.

What had happened? Why was she crying? Thunder didn’t understand.

He held her.
“Chaerin, what’s wrong?” – he asked with a low voice.

She held him tight, still crying.

“Was…was it a nightmare?” – Thunder asked again. Chaerin still cried.

It took her some minutes to calm down.
“It was…nothing, nothing.” – she finally spoke, letting go of Thunder, drying her eyes with the back of her hands. – “Sorry for waking you up.”

“I’ll get you some water.” – Thunder said, leaving.

Chaerin opened to tell him there was no need, but he had already left.
When Thunder came back with a glass of water, Chaerin thanked him bowing.
As she drank the water, he watched her. She had looked so fragile and scared just a minute ago…

“Sorry for waking you up.” – Chaerin said, looking at the sheets.

“I was already awake, don’t worry.” – Thunder replied. There was concern on his voice.

Chaerin took a look at the cat alarm, on the desk next to the bed.
It was 5:20am. Too early to get up, but too late to sleep again.
Next to the alarm, a calendar marking “57 days left.”. Within fifty-seven days, Chaerin would be free from the community work…

“We should go.” – She spoke getting up from the bed – “Teacher’s day is today, and we still have some things to prepare.”

She had been taking things serious at work.
The past months had passed fast, but it’s like they say… “Time flies when we have fun.”

Chaerin had learnt a lot. She had become more patient, at least with the kids; she had learnt how to be sweet, at least with the kids; she had learnt how to make cookies and she would occasionally take them some and even save one or two for Thunder.
Now she would even help with the bills. Well, if she’d live under his roof, she should at least pay for her accommodations.
It’s not like the Park Family was broken or anything like that, it’s just that they seemed to have more bills than money.
The Park kids shared that apartment, but Dara was never home; Their mother lived at a condominium one avenue far, but she was always traveling. It seemed like it was up to Thunder to keep the home up, and once Chaerin was living on his apartment, on Dara’s apartment, the least she should do was take good care of her friend’s house and brother.

That day, because Happy Cookie Kindergarten would be celebrating the teacher’s day, there wouldn’t be classes. The kids would present works, such as drawings and paintings, crafts, songs…Their mothers, as Chaerin noticed, would cook all sorts of foods and insist for Thunder to taste it, but most of them would sell it on small tents. The money would go to charity.  

The event started at 8am and it was supposed to finish at 5pm.
Chaerin would have the early evening to rest.
Her plans were to get home at 5:01pm, if possible, but it was very late when they did.
The Teacher’s day celebration had taken longer than they had imagined.
All those mothers devouring teacher Thunder with their gaze, ripping his clothes off in their mind were really time consuming. Especially when each one of them would offer him a different kind of food, or ask to take a picture with their kids, or try to flirt, or even touch his hair while complimenting his haircut…

“Great, more bills!” – Chaerin spoke sarcastically upon seeing a bunch of envelopes close to their door.

Thunder kneeled to take the envelopes while she opened the door.

“I’ll deliver Mrs. Wang’s electricity bill. Would you check the messages?” – He spoke, leaving without waiting for an answer.

“Yes, sir!” – Chaerin mouthed when he left.

Because Mrs. Wang lived on the second floor, it had taken twenty minutes for Thunder to go downstairs and up again.
Twenty minutes and Chaerin was gone.
She had even left the door open.

“This punk…” – Thunder sighed, checking the messages himself.

“Chaerin…it’s your father, he…” – a pause – “…I’m so sorry, sweetheart. There was nothing we could have done.”

That message… then her father had…
And if Chaerin had listened to that…

Thunder dialed her number desperately.
“Please…” – he mumbled.

“Leave a message. If it’s important, I’ll call back. If it isn’t… too bad.” – it was her phone mail.

Thunder rushed to the car. He had to find her before she did something stupid.
She couldn’t be that far…

He got to his car, but didn’t even need to get in.
Chaerin had left a path of destruction.
The neighbors’ mail boxes all broken, the building’s flowerbeds all torn apart…
It all leaded to a bar on the corner of the street. It was said to be a hardcore place, as the owner would open it at 10pm and close at five in the morning.

Thunder ran as fast as he could. Chaerin could get in trouble…

He had got to the bar, and at the door, he could see her and listen to her.
Chaerin was visibly drunk.

“I see you driving arouung town with tha guy I love…and I’m like...FUC...” – she sang along with the radio, being interrupted before finishing the line.

“CHAERIN!” – Thunder shouted.

The men at the bar looked at him instantly.
They all seemed to be so hardcore…

“CL, let’s go” – Thunder said, approaching the only woman at the bar. He nearly ran from the door to the balcony.

She didn’t answer.

“Chaerin…” – Thunder spoke again, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“If she doesn’t want to go, she won’t” – a tall, huge man barked, getting close to Chaerin, frowing at Thunder.

Thunder gulped.
“Please, stay out of this…” – he spoke to the man – “Please, let’s go…” – he spoke to Chaerin, offering his hand for her to hold.

She managed to raise a hand to hold Thunder’s.
The man beside her had other plans though. He held Chaerin’s wrist, pulling her to his arms.

Thunder, lead by instinct, nearly jumped over him.

“Take your hands off of her!” – he advised, pushing the man away from Chaerin.

“You wanna die?! Come here, let me massage your jaw with my fist!” – the man shouted, nearly jumping over Thunder.
And he would have broken poor Park Sanghyun’s teeth one by one if he had reached his face, but Chearin had broken a bottle of vodka on his head. She had knocked him down.

“Let’s go…” – she said, heading to the door, as all the customers stared.

Thunder followed nearly running. The sooner they left, the better.

“CL!” – Thunder called, catching up with the young woman who had just saved his neck from being broken.

She didn’t answer.
Chaerin kept on walking, trembling, barely seeing her way.

“CL, wait…” – he walked closer.

She stopped.
Turned around.
There were tears in her eyes.

Thunder took one more step on her direction.
He held her.

Chaerin wrapped her arms around him.
She started crying.

“I…was fourteen when my mother died…” – she started, sobbing – “I miss her so much…I…I miss her…” – it was almost impossible for her to speak. Her heart ached so much… her tears fell non-stop – “I just…I just wish… she could come back…”

Thunder held her tight. He didn’t know about her mother, he didn’t know anything about her… all he knew was that seeing her crying like that, broke his heart.
Her pain had become his pain.

“Let’s go home…” – He said, slowly starting to walk.

Chaerin walked along, letting go of him, drying her tears with her sleeves.

Thunder had kept his hand on Chaerin’s shoulder all the way to their apartment. He waited for her at the bathroom’s door, while she took a bath; he had dried her hair and looked after her until she lay on the bed.
She looked so fragile…

When Thunder turned around to exit the room, Chaerin spoke:
“Lay with me…” – she begged, holding his hand.

“I…sure…” – Thunder knew she didn’t want to be alone. He didn’t want to leave her alone.

He lay by Chaerin’s side, facing her.

“Thank you…” – she whispered, caressing his cheek.

“Anytime…” – he replied, placing a hand over hers, on his face.

Silence.

“I said…I said horrible things…” – Chaerin spoke. She didn’t know why she was opening her heart like that…maybe it was because she couldn’t take it anymore, maybe it was because she felt like he was the only one she could open her heart to…

“I said I hated him, and… that…the day I wouldn’t have to see him again would be the best day of my life…” – she continued. Her eyes tearing, her voice breaking. – “I was just so mad… but i… I didn’t mean it…” – she broke into tears.

Chaerin’s father had died.
It had been a heart attack.

The day Chaerin had caused that car accident had been the day she had last spoken to her father, and the last thing she had said was that she hated him and would be happy if he died…

Chaerin had lost her mother when she was just fourteen.
It had been a car accident.
Mrs. Lee had called her husband.
He said he would be there to pick her up at 10pm.
At midnight, she had grown tired of waiting and left.
It was raining, the roads were slippery…

Chaerin had blamed on her father for that.
He had said 10pm, but his business had proved to be more important.
If he had been there to pick her up, she would still be alive.
Chaerin would still have her mother.

As the years passed, Chaerin became bitter.
She would do her best to get her father’s name dirty.

Last thing she had done was to invade his office during a meeting.
“You killed her! None of this is yours! You married my mother for her money and you killed her to have it all for yourself!” – she had shouted. A gulp of tequila had given her the courage to do so.

It was true that Chaerin’s mother was a from a rich family and that her father was not. When they got married, her father’s father-in-law had given him a small position on the family’s business.
Mr. Lee had worked hard to achieve a better position and so he did.
He had started his own business two years after.
The love he had for his wife had always been true and undeniable and he would not allow anyone to doubt it. Not even his own daughter.

Lead by a mix of emotions, Mr. Lee had strongly slapped Chaerin, regretting his action right away.

Nearly all the employees had seen it.

Her father had slapped her on the face, and although she wanted to cry, not because of the pain, but because of anger, Chaerin had not shed a single tear.
She would never cry her pains out.
She would drink instead.
Getting drunk helped her forget. It created the comfortable illusion everything was right.

Now, that her father was gone, she felt as if she herself had killed him. As if she had pulled a trigger right on his head.

Chaerin cried.
Thunder held her.