Unlike all of the other visits, my father's stay with me this time, went on for a little longer, which made me very happy. A day and a half might not be much, but it's a lot better, than only seeing him for a night. Himchan and him (amazingly) bonded more through cooking, and when I watched the two of them happily make some kimchi together, it made me smile. They would try to get me involved in their kimchi making, but because I wasn't in the mood to get my hands dirty, I decided to be the tester instead.

So for a while, both my father and Himchan had been stuffing kimchi after kimchi into me, to ask me for my thoughts on the seasoning.

And now that I go to open up the fridge, where my eyes catch sight of a container filled with the pickled cabbage, I mentally groan a little, from the memory of how much I had eaten.

The amount of kimchi and side dishes made by the two males is probably enough to last Himchan and me for a whole month or so.

Closing the refrigerator door, I'm about to turn around to walk back out into the lounge room, when the date on the magnet calendar, suddenly grabs my attention. The special number on it makes me widen my eyes a little, as I now go to frown a bit. I can't believe it's already that time of the year, and because it had almost slipped my mind, I now feel extremely guilty. Heading outside, I walk pass Himchan, who currently has his nose buried inside yet another book (where does he keep getting them from?), but stop for a brief second.

Half of me thinks that I should take him along with me, while the other half of me...isn't so sure.

And because my unsure side seems to be a tiny bit more dominant right now, I silently shake my head to myself, and advance into my room.

Once there, I grab a hold of my purse and a cardigan, only to stop myself for a bit, when my phone suddenly starts ringing away.

And when I see that it's Yongguk's name shown across the screen, I smile a little, feeling somewhat at ease.

"Hello?" I say, upon answering the call.

"Hey," answers Yongguk's voice. "How...how are you today?"

His somewhat cautious tone makes me feel fairly perplexed. "So-so," I reply. "How about you?"

Yongguk breathes out a chuckle, but it sounds somewhat worn-out. "Tired," he softly says. "And...I have some bad news for you."

Alarmed, this makes me straighten up right away, with concern. "What?" I worriedly say. "What happened, you didn't get hurt or anything, did you?"

"Oh no, it's nothing like that," he quickly assures, and I can hear the smile in his voice. "It's just that I'm so busy right now, that...I'm afraid I can't go with you, today."

I know what he's talking about, and not expecting him to be so troubled over this, I make sure to let him know that I'm fine. "It's okay," I kindly say. "I can go by myself."

An unsettled hum comes from the other side, and I can just tell that Yongguk is frowning. "Sorry about this," he apologetically says. "But I'll be sure to pay my respects another time."

I soften, as I now go to slip the strap of my purse onto my shoulder. "Honestly, its fine," I gently say. "I'm sure she won't mind."

The two of us talk for a little more, until Yongguk's work beckons for him to return his attention back to it. I then tuck away my phone, and when I walk out to see Himchan again, I stop in my tracks, when my eyes set themselves on him.

Because when my conscious finally makes up its mind, telling me that bringing him along is the right thing to do, I slowly exhale out.

"Himchan," I start off.

"Hmm?" he drones, appearing to be rather engrossed in his reading.

My slight uneasiness makes me fidget for a bit, as I try my best to find the correct words. "Since you've...met my father, do you perhaps...want to meet my mother, as well?" I little by little, ask.

Lifting his head up from the book, Himchan then blinks at me. "Well I don't see any reason not to," he nonchalantly says. "Are we going right now?"

I nod my head at him. "Yeah," I respond.

Himchan gives me a small smile, just before bookmarking his page, to set the book aside. "Okay then!" he chirps. "Is your mom nice? Since your dad likes me, I hope she likes me, too."

I don't answer right away, as he temporarily disappears off, to make himself presentable.

But when he comes back to put on his shoes, the corner of my lips mildly tug up, as the image of my beloved family member comes to my mind. "Mother is...very nice," I begin. "And I think she would have loved you, and your weirdness."

Himchan turns to look at me, with questioning, blinking eyes. “‘Would have'...?" he carefully repeats, with puzzlement.

But instead of answering his confused face, I just show him a tiny, secretive smile. "Come on, let’s go," I signal.

And although my somewhat quiet gesture appears to have caused more confusion to sketch across his face, Himchan surprisingly, doesn't question me further, as he goes to soundlessly follow my lead.

———————————————

After grabbing a bouquet, Himchan then goes to ask me a few things about my mother, during our little trip there. Things such as her appearance, likes, and dislikes, start off our conversation together, and I'm not sure if it's because of my vague responses, but the topics find themselves gradually shifting over into something else. But even with Himchan's odd choices in the quirky subjects, we don't really keep the talk going, and eventually just resort to basking in each other's silence.

The stillness goes on for a while more, until I feel something suddenly lean down against my shoulder, causing me to tear my attention away from the bus window on my left.

"Wake me when we get there," says Himchan. "I'm just going to rest my eyes for a bit."

"Alright..." I slowly say. "But we're almost there, anyway."

With his eyes now closed, Himchan shrugs a shoulder at me. "Eh," he lightly says. "Wake me anyways."

Bit by bit, I return my gaze back out to the window, for me to watch the buildings, trees, and people, blur by once more.

And then finally, after a couple of more stops, I straighten myself up, seeing that our destination is finally here.

Giving Himchan a little shake, my ushering gets him to quickly rise up from his spot, so that the two of us have enough time, to hop out of the bus.

And as soon as we're both outside, where the vehicle begins to leave us, Himchan quirks up an eyebrow, at our green surrounding.

"Where the heck are we?" he blurts out, with a small frown. "There are barely any houses around here; does your mom live in a secret cottage, or something?"

I laugh a little, at his denseness. "I guess you can say that," I loosely respond. "Come on, it's this way."

Walking down the pathway, I listen to Himchan talk away, about some of his absurd ponderings, and when I don't say anything to his longwinded blabbering about UFOs, he decides to change the subject.

Although, this one is just as equally strange, as he's now talking about why and how, a pair of scissors are created, to have their blades cross over, and all I can do is give him a weird look. Himchan then goes on to talk about some odd white dots, and I swear his weirdness is rubbing off on me, because I actually know the white dots that he's trying to explain.

"It's so weird!" he exclaims. "Almost as weird as mandarins, I mean, what the heck is up with that fruit?"

"More like what the heck is up with you," I mumble, to myself.

"No, you don't understand," he stresses out. "Mandarins are weird, like...how does that mini orange, manage to split itself up, into individual pieces on the inside like that, I don't get it?"

With a flattened expression, I let out a small sigh. "It's called science," I dully say. "Go and look it up or something, because I'm sadly, not a mandarin expert."

Himchan crosses his arms together in thought. "As a matter of fact, I will!" he declares. "And I know you're not a mandarin queen, because you're my chili carrot."

Another chortle doesn't fail to come out of me, and when I see my mother up ahead, I soften a little. "Okay, we're here," I say, while gesturing my hand out. "Omoni...it's been a while, how are you?" Setting down the flowers, I then smile a bit, when I see two small boxes of sweets, along with another bouquet. "These flowers are pretty," I tell her. "And judging by the food, I see that abeoji has already been here."

Clapping my hands together, I then turn back over towards the dark haired male, and begin to introduce him to my mother, and vice versa.

Himchan blinks for a bit, and his eyes appear to now be carrying a lot of surprise in them. He also looks as though he’s just become aware of our location, as I now see his astonished eyes, slowly travel around the place. His eyes look at me, then over to my mother, and when I see him swallow a little, I start to wonder that maybe bringing him here to meet her, wasn't such a good idea. Himchan's unusual silence makes me feel a little more uneasy, as my mind now starts to lean more on the side of regret.

But when I see him take a step forward, where he then eventually kneels down onto his knees, surprise washes over me.

My heart constricts itself with relief, when his usual bright grin, begins to appear on his face.

And as he goes to give the tombstone a polite bow, I smile, feeling a mixture of release and gratitude.

"It's really nice to finally meet you," greets Himchan.

I watch as he now engages into a conversation with my mother, as though she’s physically here, and the more I listen, the more my heart goes to bathe itself in warmth. Himchan tells mom how it was his idea to pick the flowers that I had just laid down, and hopes that she likes them. He then goes to inform her about me almost tripping over a crack on our way here, but then continues to light up the mood, as he tells her that he had made sure to give that part of the concrete an angry stomp, which was followed up by a super 'fiery' glare.

And as Himchan continues speaking, the bubble of appreciation inside me proceeds to build up, to the point where my eyes are now strangely b with moisture.

Out of reflex, I blink away the joyful wetness, as I soundlessly go on, to watch the touching sight.

And maybe it's because the bubble in me has finally reached its peak, causing it to at long last, burst out, so that it can now coat every inch of my chest, and thus, making feel an unusual sensation...or that it's the way Himchan just looks so strikingly warm, and extra charming than usual.

Because when he suddenly turns his head over to me, with those happy creases in his eyes, twinkling away, I suddenly feel myself dissolve.

Falling—it feels like I'm falling, and the feeling is so grand, that when I see a dazzling smile, go to decorate Himchan's face, it's brought to my attention, of just how hard it's abruptly become, to mentally pick myself up.  

And just as fast as the realisation appears in my head, my mind manages to quickly assemble a few things together, where three words, are enough of an explanation, of why my heart just suddenly feels as though it just doesn't belong to me, anymore.

When Himchan and I eventually wrap up our visit, I still feel somewhat disorientated. My epiphany continues to numb me with surprise, but because I'm here for my mother, I force myself to temporarily dismiss this to the side for a short while. Himchan lifts an eyebrow at me, but I shake my head with a minor smile, to tell him that it's nothing. The two of us soon leave the cemetery, and as we proceed to exit the place, I send my mother a silent apology, for thinking about someone else while I was there, instead of her.

Our trip back home mainly consists of Himchan speaking (as usual), with me trying my best to be as casual as I can be.

But maybe it's because the sun is extra sunny today, (something that I deep down, know is not true) because seeing this new light on the dark haired male, is making it difficult, and...

He knows it.

"Are you sure you're okay?" probes Himchan's fairly concerned voice.

"Of course," I mechanically say, but when I accidentally let out a meek giggle, it makes him slightly arch up an eyebrow.

Squinting his eyes in a doubtful manner, Himchan then slowly inches forward, to further inspect me. "Hmm..." he ponders. "You look a little nervous about something."

His closeness makes me wriggle a little further to the side, but I force myself to keep on a straight face. "What is there to be nervous about?" I fib, trying to appear indifferent. "It's just, um...I usually feel a bit off on this day, since it's the day of my mother's passing, and all."

Blinking at me for a bit, Himchan quietly takes this in, with a small bob of his head. "I see," he softly says. "That's understandable..."

I show him a tiny smile, just before turning my gaze back out towards the window, to watch the scenery pass by.

Although after a moment or two, I suddenly feel something place itself down onto my shoulders. It's Himchan's arm, tugging me closer towards his chest, and seeing this, I willingly allow myself to rest against him, without another thought. My body automatically finds itself shifting into a more comfortable position, as I snuggle closer, to perfectly fit myself against him. Neither of us utters a word, but I feel that it's not necessary to say anything, as of right now.

And when I suddenly feel his fingers delicately my hair, as he goes to gently twirl and play with the ends of it, an inaudible relaxed sigh breathes out of me.

"Thank you," I murmur out. "Thank you for coming to see my mother with me today. It...really does mean a lot to me." 

Himchan lets out a tender chuckle, and hearing that just lets me know that his facial expressions are warm. "Anything for you," he softly says.

And with those affectionate words, comes an equally affectionate kiss.

———————————————

A/N: Whoaaaa, hey guys, long time no see, huh?

Sorry about the wait, (I hope I didn’t make you all wait for too long!) but I’ve just been really busy with my studies and such, haha .__. Which is why it always makes me so curious as to how certain authors can update every single day, like seriously, (especially if it’s a lengthy chapter) it just makes me so ???????

LOL but anyway, yes; Yejin has just discovered her feelings for Himchan, so now we can all celebrate together or something, since she’ll now be more willing with her affections towards him wooooooo :’D

Although, you know when something’s too good to be true, and that there’s like, an expiry date or something? Um yeah ok that doesn’t really make any sense LOL bUT what I’m trying to say, is that from here on, all of your questions will soon be answered, hehehe >:D

Thank you so much for reading, you guys are the best! ^^