Jieun was anxious, as she waits for her guests. She took the seat next to the window, enjoying the snowing season. The trees were looking beautiful, with cotton-look-like snow, hanging on top of it. The street has turned white and the park, too, has turned very pure in white. It was freezing, that she can no longer wear her casual clothes. She always takes her coat everywhere, wearing double clothes, and also extra thick jacket, to prevent herself from freezing.

Her fidgeting fingers show how worried she is. It presses against the cup of her coffee - something she usually didn’t drink – that it eventually brought destruction upon the cup, crumbling to pieces. Jieun sighs for the hundred times, she has so much thought inside her head, the never-ending thoughts that have been keeping herself to be worn out and deadly tired.

She doesn’t look healthy; maybe too much thinking has caused her to lose some more weight. She turns skinny, day by day. People arounds her have started to get worried, she was seemingly unhealthy with her skinny and petite body. If she ever gets skinner, she will look like a death skeleton, having only bone left. Myungsoo has realized how she gets skinner day by day, but she refuses to tell him about her problem. Although they have gone very close to each other, there are some matters that stay private.

She sighs and her breath started to form vapour that fly upwards. Her cold fingertips slowly turned warmer, as she continued to harshly grab the cup of her coffee. She’s trying to calm herself down with the bitter taste of coffee, it makes her cringes and sometimes her thoughts would fade away before coming back in a darker shade. She took another sip of the now-cold-coffee. She cringes again at the bitterness of it, but failed to shove her deep thoughts.

Her gaze turns blank, thinking too much has caused her to suffer from lack of sleep. She forced her worn out body nowadays and ended up dazing blankly. It’s one of her habbit, once she is too tired, she will daze blankly, sinking deep inside thoughts. She quickly snaps out of it, when her phone suddenly vibrated. She sighs again, sliding it opened, another spam of texts.

“Jieun, sorry I’m late!” Jiyeon excitedly yelled at her, with rushing steps approaching her best friend.

“Oh, you’re here.” Jieun rolled her eyes; she’s as lazy as ever.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t roll your eyes on me! What’s the matter? You never called me early in the morning before. Geez, it was 4 am, why are you calling me at 4? I was having the nicest dream in the world!” Jiyeon blabbers, annoyingly scolding her.

“Sorry, I don’t know it was 4. But you could have just ignored by text message.”

“Yeah, with that continues annoying sound? I should have setted it to vibrate before going to sleep.”

“Who told you to let it rings?”

“Geez, what if my mom suddenly called? She always called me early in the morning.”

Jiyeon leans her back against the chair, throwing her cell phone carelessly to the table. She raises her hand, ordering some drinks, and sighs. She’s trying to catch her breath, she ran all the way to this place. This is quite far away from her place, she needs to grab a taxi or at least take the subway. But in this hour, the subway will be very crowded and the taxis haven’t even started to work. She ended up walking.

Her eyes soon catches Jieun’s anxious figure. Even to her, seeing Jieun’s anxious and worried face is something rare. Jieun rarely shows her feeling, she rarely gets emosional. Jieun never really got anxious over simple things, even over big things she rarely shows her anxiety but today, it was crystal clear how anxious she is. Her trembling cold fingertips press against the cup of her coffee, bringing it to close destruction. Jieun eyes were gazing blankly, while her mind flee away to sink deep inside her thoughts.

“Jieun, what happen?”

“Ne?”

“You look bothered, what happen?”

“Me? I think I’m fine.”

“Did you call me only to say that? I’m going to kill you!”

“No, Jiyeon. It’s… it’s about my mom.”

“Your mom? I thought you don’t even remember how she looks like.”

“Did your mom tell you something about my mom? She’s in Paris, isn’t she?” Jieun asked with pleading eyes.

“No, she hasn’t seen your mom yet. She didn’t plan to visit her anyway.”

“Have your mom called?”

“Yes. She called me two days ago. Is there something wrong?”

“My mom, Jiyeon, I don’t even know her. She usually sends me money, a huge amount, each month for my daily expenses and life here. But it has been a while since she sent me money. I’m just… worried.”

“Why? Are you having a financial problem? You have lots of part-time jobs, I remember you telling me that you have enough money, that you don’t need your mom’s money to live.”

“No, it’s just… I have spent lots of money this year, for health and medical examination, mine and Pil Suk’s entrance fee. I have enough money for both of us, but… if this continues longer I doubt we could continue studying at school. One of us might have to move, until I received enough money. But it’s… I have extra money. It’s just… I wonder if she’s okay.”

“How long has it been, Jieun? If you have a problem, you could always rely on me.”

“6 months, but since Wooyoung come; I was rest assured that she’s okay. It’s been… three months since he left, it’s been almost 10 months.”

“10 months?! Why haven’t you told me about it?”

“I’m sorry it’s just… I don’t want to be a burden to you. This year…” she scoffed, “I wonder how things suddenly turn complicated.”

“Yeah, I know. Just shrugs it all off, Jieun. I’m sure everything will be fine. I will call my mom and asked her if she has met your mother.”

“Thank you, Jiyeon-ah.”

“What is friend for? We should hang out now; Jieunnie~ let the girls rule the world!”

Her phone constantly rings, followed by an annoying vibrating sound it made. Jieun usually switch her phone mode to vibration during nights, but she might be too tired to change it the other day. She went out with Jiyeon, after some serious talk in the café. They went out until midnight, and she ended up drop dead- too tired to do anything else. She went straight to bed, without changing her clothes.

She yawns. Finally, she could have some peace of mine, yet her annoying phone has found ways to disturb it. She continuously pressed the red button, ignoring all the call. Her eyes slid open, only to found its way back to dreamland. She never have problem of getting up, she’s not a heavy sleeper, but she’s too tired nowadays. She almost curses under her breath, but her slight consciousness didn’t let her to do so. The caller was very stubborn; despite of being ignored for hundreds of time, it didn’t stop trying.

She finally gave up, with only an eye slightly opening; she grabbed her phone and sighs. The sky was still dark, as her eyes manage to peek its way to the ticking clock. It’s barely four, yet someone was daring enough to call her at such a late hour. She doesn’t care about what news or who is it, she simply hated it. She wanted to yell at the caller, but remain calm as she can’t express her anger anymore. Her anger was just too much to be expressed easily.

“Hello,” Jieun husky voice echoed.

“Hello, Ms. Lee!” the caller seems nervous, panicking, and it seems she has brought some urgent news.

“Mrs. Kwon! It’s early in the morning? What has happen? Is something wrong?” Jieun notices the panic tone of the caller voice as she slowly identified the caller ID.

“Ms. Lee! Your mother, your mother is back!”

Her mom… her mom is back? When? She was suddenly left curious and stunned. Her face shows a bewildered expression. Her lips slowly turn pale and her breathing got heavier. Her phone slowly slides down her fingers, ended up crashing on the ground. Her brown-colored eyes widen, she clenched her fist, trying her best not to panic. Her mom… who is she? Does the two look alike? How about her name? It’s been a while, that she has forgotten all the slightest memories she used to have.

She grabbed her phone, moving quickly. She quickly grabbed her peach-colored bags and went outside after dressing up and taking a quick shower. She left a sticky notes on the dining table as she rushes outside. Pil Suk might panic again, once she wakes up and sees the notes, but that doesn’t matter anymore. Jieun has someone else, someone she badly needs to see.

She doesn’t know how her mom looked like, or at least her name. She only knows that her mother shares the same surname as Pil Suk, Kim. She doesn’t know what comes after it. When her mom got divorced, Jieun followed her father while Pil Suk followed her mother before both ended up being abandoned. They found themselves waking up in the morning, left alone with no parents, only maids left to take care of them as they will grows up as an orphanage.

She has so many questions, questions that she has been badly seeking for answer. She wants to ask lots of things to her mom. Her mother has chosen to abandon her own child, cutting off all personal connections. She wanted to know her reason for leaving, for remaining behind the darker shades of silent shadows. She badly wanted to know about it. She needs explaination; she wanted to at least receive the slightest explaination. It won’t matter if it’s nonsense or something trivial; at least, she has an answer.

Jieun, honestly, she has lost her trust in her mom. She doesn’t believe in her anymore. Years of loneliness has changed her perspective about lots of things. Her mother has never taught her anything about life that she comes alone to the world, preparing herself with nothing but the will to hold on tight. Thankfully, she was able to hold on, after those hailstorm she needed to pass through.

She wanted to like her mom, she wanted to come in contact with her, yet her effort has turned out to be a failure. She might even come to hate her mom a lot, yet as a child she can’t help but keep worrying about the mom who has abandon her. She keeps expecting her to send letters, to call, or anything that will make her know that her mom does care about her. Therefore, she works hard today, dressing up nicely so her mom would put a liking to her own daughter.

She finally arrived at her house - the old house where she used to spend her childhood days and memories - 20 minutes after taking a subway. Her house is located in downtown, one of the elite residences in Seoul. Jieun was gasping, as she ran all the way from the subway station to her house. She was expecting this, to be able to see her mom. After inhaling deep breath, she decided to knock on the door and awaits for their encounter.

“Ms. Lee!” Mrs. Kwon greets the young lady, who was busy catching her breath.

“Mrs. Kwon, is my mom still inside?” she asked, gasping.

She hates it, how the older lady slowly looked at her with pity lightening her warm orbs. She hates it, how the maids bowed down, feeling sorry for her. She hates it, how all of them pitied her. She hates to be pitied, no matter how harsh life has turned out to be. She doesn’t want to receive any pity; she wanted to work hard, deserving what she deserves.

“Mrs. Kwon, my mom… is she inside?”

The woman looks at her, sighing in frustration as she slowly shook her head. Jieun fell almost immediately to the floor. What is she hopping for? Why did she ran all the way to this place? She should have known better, her mom isn’t hoping to see her. Her mom isn’t looking forward to their encounter. Why does she hopes for something impossible? Why is she hopping to reach the unreachable sky? Desperate, she let her legs feel numb and ended up crashing to the ground.

“I’m very sorry, Ms. Lee. Your mom left an hour ago, right after I called you.”

She’s hoping for the impossible, wishing for the wrong wish, what an idiot. She miserably falls to the ground, only to receive the sight of being pitited. She smile bitterly, after regaining the composture of her well-known self and stood up strongly. She bowed to the older lady and the maids, even the butler. It was her mistake, to appear very hopeful yet only to meet upon destruction. She shouldn’t have showed her weak side, getting everyone worried. She should have stand strong. Therefore, she is sorry.

“I’m fine, Mrs. Kwon. I’m sorry for the inconvenient I have created.”

“Ms. Lee, we’re all sorry. It’s our mistakes. Your mother left us a letter; she wanted you to read it.”

Again, her eyes reflected the wishes she had, the wishes she had been wishing upon the stars. They could see the glimpse of lights, reflected from her orbs, signaling the burning wishes and hopes hidden inside her heart. She might be matured, she might have grown-up, yet as a young lady, she has missed lots of things that one’s supposed to have in life. The young lady is lacking of love, she doesn’t have the slightest clue of love, what it feels to be loved and how to loves someone. She doesn’t know how does being loved feel like, she doesn’t know how having a parent feel like. She’s confused, therefore her mind has set love as something rather complicated.

Mrs. Kwon slowly took out a plain blue-colored envelope. She handed it to Jieun, who’s expecting it. She might have expected too much, that her maids and butler are scared if she might get hurt again. She’s expecting too much, like childrens expecting presents on Christmas. No one has ever seen that side of her, the side where she wishes upon the star, expecting thigs excitedly. That is why they are scared; if she ever holds her hopes too high, it will be very bitter to fall.

“Ms. Lee, please don’t expect too much.” Mrs. Kwon hesitantly handed over the envelope.

Jieun eyes sparkles, as she noticed the presence of the small envelope. She couldn’t help but quickly snatching it away. She looks impatient; she rushes to open the envelope. Her fingers were fidgeting against each other, with teeth that keep on chewing on her lower lips tightly. She could faintly taste her own blood.

Five pages, Jieun slightly smile after counting the pages. It was handwritten, it was a letter. It wasn’t something consisted of typed letters, printed words, or some useless scholarships paper. It was a letter, handwritten, and she could expect it as something that comes from the heart. She looks excited, with the happiness that soon filled her emotions. No one has ever seen her being that much happy. She was so happy that people fears she might get hurt a lot.

Hello, Jieun. This is your mom.

It was a very simple greetings, her words seems cold and nonchalant. But Jieun can’t care less about it, she loved it. Even without the word ‘dear’ or ‘my loved’, seeing how her mom was able to write her name in correct spelling, has created such a happy fuss inside her. And the next word, this is your mom, almost had her tearing up. So, her mom does acknowledge her as a daughter. She has yet to forget about her.

Her smile sometimes faded away, constantly brought upon destruction. She fell to the floors, flipping the pages excitedly as her eyes scans through each pages and each letters. But she would always find her way to regain her excited smile back. Her mom words are rather harsh and cold, but she was happy. It must have been tiring, writing this much letters for her. Although she has felt no sincerity inside, at least she knows her mom does care about her. It’s fine, since she wrote a letter.

Jieun knows how busy her mom is. She’s one the bussiest woman in the world, a well-known superwoman. People said she not only pretty but also nice and rich. Jieun doubt she is nice, but at least she’s a hard worker. Jieun may never meet her, they may never encounter each other, but at least Jieun knows what kind of person she is; her works, jobs, and her busy days.

“Mrs. Kwon, how does my mother look like?” With a huge smile on her face, she asked.

Jieun could notices how Mrs. Kwon slowly hesitated but finally nodding her head and forces a smile. People are scared, her butlers and maids are scared if she will get hurt. They care a lot about the young lady, they’re very affectionate toward her, so does the opposite. Mrs. Kwon slowly approaches her, offering a hand to lift her body up, and took a nice comfortable seat on the couch.

“You have your mom’s red lips; yours are as red as she is. People said, her lip is very attracting. You have your mom’s cute nose, tiny, small, and cute. People are envious of her cute nose. You have your mom’s long-wavy brown hair; hers is very pretty, just like yours. You have her milky white skin. Others said, you have your father’s gentle and warm eyes. You have your father gentle smile.” Mrs. Kwon explained.

“So… do I look like my mom?”

“You do, compared to your father. People said you resemble your mom a lot, while Pil Suk resembles your father.”

“I wanted to meet her.”

“Think about your options carefully. Don’t worry about us, we’ll be fine.”

It created questions inside her head, Mrs. Kwon statement, that is. Don’t worry about us, we’ll fine. What is it supposed to mean? She knows she has to thing about the offer carefully, because this time, once she chooses there’s no turning back. This letter, she clearly knows what it is dedicated for. Her mom was trying to persuade her; she wanted her to fly all the way to Europe and study there. Maybe, because Wooyoung has failed, she decided to write the letter. Wooyoung must have reported his failure of persuading her to Jieun’s mom.

She clearly wrote it, her high expectations on Jieun, for her to come to Europe and study there. She offers much more scholarships, the world top fashion schools. Jieun was worried, if she’s going to say yes, then she will be leaving Korea. She has realized there’s so many things that she loved here. This place has turned out to be very memorable and important. It will be hard to leave this place, knowing her bestfriends, her sisters, and Myungsoo- the important person of her life- staying here.

Her mom doesn’t insist on her going to Europe. She didn’t force her to do so. Yet why is Mrs. Kwon talking in a serious tone? Her tone was somewhat upset, worried, and anxious. She rarely becomes anxious, unless something huge will happen. Mrs. Kwon has been her lifetime maids, that both of them know each other very well, just like a mother and daughter relationships.

“She has taken a look at your works, Ms.Lee. She loves it, she said it is splendid.” Mrs. Kwon continued, trying to break down the ice-cold atmosphere.

“Mrs. Kwon, is something wrong?”

“Ms. Lee, do you want to go? There are consequences of each option you chooses, I’m sure you have acknowledge it.”

“Of course, Mrs. Kwon. What do you mean by the consequences? Did my mom say something?”

The woman let out a heavy sighs. She seems desperate and scared, frustrated at the least choices she ever wanted to pick. She looked around, the butlers and maids have chosen to hang their head low, covering their faces with the darker shades of shadows. No body dares to look at the young lady warm gaze. It was warm but somewhat terrifying; they fear the young lady warm eyes might break down to tears. They exchanges glances, before Mrs. Kwon finally let out another heavy sighs and continued.

“If you leave, then the consequences will be you leaving Korea. Of course, you will have to wait for a long time, before we can meet again, before you can reunite with your friends, and also you’re beloved Kim Myungsoo.”

“I’m well aware of it, that’s why I’m thinking about it. I don’t want to choose the wrong options.”

“I know, Ms. Lee, but I’m not finished. If you stay, then the consequences will be different. You’re not going to be the one at disadvantage but rather the person around you.”

“What do you mean? If I decided to stay, it will be my future that gets affected. It will be on the line, between success and failure. People around me aren’t going to be at disadvantage, at least not for some time.”

“Listen to me, Ms. Lee, I’m not finished. Your mom, before she left, she warns all of us. If you ever decided to stay, she has asked me to inform you about the consequences you will have to pay. Your mother is a very strong person, I think you’ve acknowledge it too.”

“I have.”

“If you decided to stay, we’ll all be fired. She will sell this house and she will stops sending you money. Your works will be admitted as hers and you will have no advantage of your own works. It will all be hers. But you shouldn’t worry about us, you should worry about yourself. We’ll be fine.”

Jieun was left stunned, bewildered at how cruel her mom really is. The maids and butlers nods, as they agreed with Mrs. Kwon options. They will be fine, Jieun knows it. Some of them have worked in others places, despite being paid with the huge amount of money as their salary. Her mom has never forgot to pay their huge salary, giving them extra money. If they are fired, they will still be fine, they have already had another steady job.

“We’ll be fine.” The maids and butlers cheered, as they found the young lady smile fading away.

“But, Jieun,” Mrs. Kwon turns serious, “Your friends, they are going to be expelled from school. I think you do know the consequences of being expelled from your school, it will be hard to find other schools to transfer to, it will be hard to search for jobs in the future. Woohyun, Jiyeon, Myungsoo, and people who are close to you are endangered. Not only they’re going to be expelled, they will never be able to study abroad. Your mom is strong enough to cut any connections.”

Her smile fade away, her eyes widen. Her huge smile fades away, with hidden tears glimmer in her eyes. Her mother, she’s very cruel. She’s forcing her, to choose the only options. It seems like she was kind enough to give her daughter various options, yet the truth is, she had prepared the absolute answer for the options. What’s the point of the letter if she’s going to do it this way? Jieun is disappointed, badly disappointed.

It will be unfair, for her maids and butlers to be fired just because her own decision. It will be a selfish and greedy decision, a rather unfair one that would bring pain and suffers upon an innocent’s life. It will be unfair, for her friends and Myungsoo to be expelled because of her selfish decision. Their future will affected, their future will be destructed because of it. She knows the consequences of being expelled from such a school, people will refuses their works offers, not to mention no schools would like to accept them. Their future will be brought to destruction.

The school might be something Suzy’s family own, but it doesn’t matter. Even the mighty Suzy’s family is depending on Jieun’s mother. Her mom could brought Suzy’s family upon destruction just by lifting a finger. Her mom is too strong, that anything could happen. She supported lots of companies, that she had the power to push them off the cliff. She’s much respected and people are all being extra careful toward her, if they ever left the slightest scars in her heart, then their life will be in danger.

“Mrs. Kwon… I…”

“Do what you need to do. Listen to your heart; don’t worry about futures and consequences. Listen to your heart, consequences will come later, futures is something tomorrow will take care of.”

“No, I’ll go.”

“Have you told him yet?”

“Who?”

“Kim Myungsoo.”

Jieun has been thinking, whether to keep the news as information or to share it with someone. In the end, she can’t help but share it with those whom she trusted a lot. She has choosen to tell her two bestfriend, Jiyeon and Woohyun. It hasn’t been long since they found out about the news, since Jieun had decided to open up recently; months after she made her decision.

Pil Suk has known about it too, she cried the whole night, begging for Jieun to stay. She can’t, can she? People life is going to be brought to destruction because of her stupid acts that is why she had decided to leave. It will hurt a lot, to people around her, to herself, but it will be for the best. At least, she believes it is, and hopefully it is.

You could actually guess their reaction after receiving the news. Woohyun jerks up and grip her wrist harshly, forcing her eyes to meet with his. It’s been awhile since they encounter each other, spending some quality time with each other. Jieun has been too busy, dating Myungsoo, and also taking care of her immigration papers. They barely meet each other that Woohyun slowly hated the fact that the two are dating.

His eyes, it was pleading her to stay. He said he won’t care about the future, he’s a bad boy after all, future means nothing to him. He has a bad record, in studying and in attitude, which means his record itself could bring destruction to his future. Even if Jieun stays, nothing worse could happen to him. He already had a bad record, if he’s expelled from this place, then no school would accept him, leaving the fact that he’s expelled from Korea’s top school.

Jiyeon herself could only sighs, she’s well aware of the consequences. She can’t possibly say it’s okay, since if it’s happen she won’t be okay. She doesn’t want Jieun to leave either, Jieun is force to choose the only option given. She has sealed her talkative personality away, thinking that it won’t help to solve a single thing. She’s upset and disappointed, even if she called her mom, it still can’t be help.

“Not yet.”

Jieun sighs, she has told lots of people. The INFINITE has yet to know about it, but she will soon tell them. She requested Jiyeon and Woohyun to seal their lips and let her personally talk to them. She has even asked Pil Suk to never mentions the problem at school and keep it a secret. She wanted to tell them on her own, the INFINITE, so does Kim Myungsoo. Although it might be safe to tell the INFINITE, the fact that they’re really close to Myungsoo was frustrating. She wanted to tell him on her own, she wanted to be brave enough to tell him.

Yet she has yet to tell him. It’s been weeks after Jieun told Jiyeon about her leaving. Woohyun has turned quite upset, the fact that Jieun is leaving in a week is frustrating. She has promised them to tell Myungsoo on her own, yet she keeps avoiding it. She keeps delaying it until a week is all that is left behind. Jiyeon keeps encouraging her, but always ended up as a coward failure.

She wonders why her heart keeps hesitating each time she has the urge to tell Myungsoo about her departure soon. She doesn’t know why but her tounge suddenly taste bitter. She suddenly loses her ability to talk. She has attempted to tell him a couple of time, truly, but as it has been mentioned before, it ended up as a failure. They ended up ignoring each other because of it. They grows distant, they slowly have grown apart.

“L~, where is our Jieunnie~?” Sungyeol sang.

“I don’t know, find her on your own.” He replied coldly.

Myungsoo has been very grumpy, even the INFINITE has found him to be very annoying. Lately, he’s being a grumpy old man, who knows to do nothing but to be angry and cold. He’s being very cold again, that deathly cold glares, that mischiveous smirk, that sarcastic tone of voice, it suddenly come back to build his well-known bad boy attitude. Although it’s very reasonable, the reason behind his grumpy attitude and no once could help him to handle it.

“L, how can she talk to you if you keep pushing her away?” Sunggyu sip his bitter coffee.

“Shut up, hyung!” Again, he’s grumpy.

“I think I could understand how noona is feeling. Hyung is very grumpy, noona must be very scared of you.” Sungjong pouted.

“What do you know about love, maknae? You know nothing about love. Shut up!” He glares at the lemon candy boy.

“Yah, I know you’re upset, but stop being annoying!” Hoya hugs the pitiful Sungjong.

“Me, annoying? I think your childhood friend is pretty annoying. Did you teach her to be that much… annoying?” He has to hold is anger or else he might start cursing at his own girlfriend.

“Shut up L, you’re crossing the line.” Hoya took a deep breath and curses under his breath.

“It will be the best if you talk to her. She must be facing some kind of trouble. Aren’t you her boyfriend, you’re supposed to help her not cursing at her.” Dongwoo sighs, grumpy L isn’t something easy to handle.

“Then she could just ignore her boyfriend? She should at least tell me.”

Grumpy L, even Jieun hasn’t seen the grumpy side of him. The INFINITE take care of him a lot, especially when it comes to his feelings. Although he’s cold, he got hurt more than easily. He turns grumpy very easily and the grumpy side of him wasn’t nice at all. Once he turns grumpy, he tends to curse at people and talk a lot. He hurt other feelings a lot, although it is something he done unintentionally. He could turn the whole group upside down just because his hot-tempered self.

Of course, this time, its Jieun fault. Myungsoo has attempted to go on dates or even going to her house for some casual lovers talk, yet she keeps avoiding him. When they’re together, her mind will always flee to la la land, somewhere he can’t reach. She has always been thinking about something else for the past few weeks. As if he could never cross her pure mind. It doesn’t feel like they’re dating each other. Their affections turned rather numb and empty. Has Jieun grown tired of him? He’s afraid to hear the answer of the sole questions.

Their eyes haven’t met for what feels like ages. She would always avoided his gaze and remain silent each time he tried to start a conversation. He can’t even feel the warm of her eyes anymore; he can’t even properly gazes to her. She’s trying to keep her distance and from time to time, she succeeded, growing the distant apart. It’s truly frustrating, how her mind is somewhere else, how her eyes are looking somewhere else, how her heart has no longer stayed by his side. They can’t start any conversation and this time, she has truly refuses to have any skinship with him. It’s frustrating honestly, very frustrating that it keeps bothering his mind and soul. He ended up being amazingly grumpy.

“Yeah, I think she might be facing some kind of huge problem.” Sungyeol turns serious, rubbing his chin as if he could use his brain.

“I do agree, our wise man is very clever. You should talk to him.” Sunggyu complimented.

“Really? She could have talked to me.” Myungsoo rolled his eyes.

“Nah, I think I do understand why she decided to bottle it all up. You don’t even bother asking, I doubt you would listen to her.” Dongwoo frowned.

“Dongwoo hyung is very clever, noona must be annoyed because L hyung is being grumpy.” Sungjong faked a tear.

“See, that’s Jieun. You should try to approach her.” Dongwoo pointed at the petite figure.

“I don’t care anymore. She could take care of herself, she doesn’t need me.”

“I’ve told you about this, okay? So if someday she asks for break ups, don’t go blaming us. I’m going to kick you out if that happens, understood?”

He remains silent; he wasn’t dare enough to imagine the two of them being broken apart. He loves her, he really do, yet things have been quite complicated these days. His eyes soon wander around to catch the petite figure. She seems blank and if he has looked closer, he could see the word troubled written all over her face. A rush of guilt suddenly fills his heart. Dongwoo was right, she’s troubled. How can he become very blind?

“She’s walking here. Grumpy L, she should beware of him~.” Sungyeol sang.

“Sungjong, pull her to sit next to you, far away from grumpy L.” Hoya whispered, faintly.

Jieun slowly walk to the group of boys, her smile was fading away. Although she usually faintly smiled, her smile never fades. It stays, despite the faint feeling it creates. Her forehead was wrinkling, and her eyebrows keep twitching against each other. It only took Hoya a glance to realize how trouble she is and Myungsoo soon realizes how troubled Jieun is. It didn’t take long before the whole INFINITE knows that she is troubled.

“Hello, good afternoon.”

What an awkward greetings, they all thoughts in unison. Even Jieun couldn’t help but mentally slap herself for being very awkward. Jiyeon pushes her away from class, urging her to tell Myungsoo about her departure soon enough. However, she couldn’t brought herself to do so. Worse, things become awkward these days, because of her own mistakes.

Jieun eyes stucked in a point, where she was unable to take her eyes off her boyfriend. Jieun may understand what is he going throught but has yet to learn a grumpy side of him. He avoided her eyes, just like what she has been doing lately. Jieun sighs again, he keeps glancing at her coldly. He’s upset about something; she knows it but failed to realize the reason hidden behind.

“Noona! Noona! Sit beside me!” Sungjong called, before Jieun crashed her body to the chair next to Myungsoo.

“Why? Is something wrong?” Jieun sit nicely next to her boyfriend, only to receive the worry look from the boys.

“Just sit next to me, noona. I miss you a lot. You haven’t hanged out with us lately.”

“I’m sorry, I have lots of things to do lately. I will just sit here, I will be fine.”

“Geez, you’re very stubborn. Our maknae want you to sit next to him. Why can’t you fulfill it? Are you going to make him cry?” Hoya scolded her.

“But Myungsoo is…”

“Go, just go. I don’t even want to talk to you.” He answers coldly, chasing her away.

“Come on.” Hoya stands up and walked to her, grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her all the way before forcing her to sit next to Sungjong.

Jieun was a bit startled, when Myungsoo suddenly talk to her. His tone wasn’t friendly at all, cold as if he wanted to freeze her to death. She knows she might have done something wrong. Maybe she has avoided him for too much. But seeing how cold and sarcastic he is, she feels sad. She knows Hoya dragged her for a reason, to keep her away from getting hurt. She knows that Hoya has acknowledged the brutality of Myungsoo once he’s angered.

“Noona! I miss you!” Sungjong hugs and greet her nicely, in attempt to change the thrilling atmosphere.

“Sungjongie~, I’m sorry I haven’t spend much time with you.” Jieun chuckled and patted the younger head.

“Noona, you shouldn’t get near L hyung for the moment. He’s… a bit grumpy.” Sungjong whispers.

“Does anything bad happen to him?” Jieun forehead wrinkled.

“No, noona. He’s just… grumpy.”

“Myungsoo-ah, what happen to you? Stop being a grumpy boy.” Jieun tried to make him feel better.

“Tsk,” he scoffed, “you dare to ask me what had happen to me? Don’t you have brain, Lee Ji Eun? I’m impressed, you’re so stupid. And you even dare to call me a grumpy boy. Who do you think am I that you are daring enough?” He stares coldly at her with mischieveous smirk.

“Myungsoo, what are you talking about?” Jieun was stunned at his action.

“Get off my sight, Lee Ji Eun. I don’t want to see you anymore. Go, flirt with other boys, and think about other matters. Die, die, Jieun. I don’t want to see you. Get. Off. My. Sight. Understand?”