“So how are you doing sir?” IU asked as she was sitting beside her sister.

 

“Stop calling me sir or mister or anything like that. I suddenly felt old because of you. You can call me Woo. Both of you. You’re already my friends now, right?” He answered as he looked at the sisters.

 

“Sure, Woo. Anyways, we’re of the same age. So, as she asked, how are you feeling? Have you excused yourself from work? You still seem a bit weak. You may probably need another week before you can fully recover.” Hyoyeon said.

 

“Oh, I don’t have a work yet. Apparently, people living in the city do not need physical therapists. I’ve been searching for a job for quite a while now and there hasn’t been any success for me. I mean, when we were still in the province, they say that being a trained PT will get you to places, I even heard there’s a huge need in the US. Unfortunately, I can’t go there.” Wooyoung explained.

 

Hyoyeon answered him, “I actually heard of that too. It’s just that I wanted to be a teacher ever since because I love sharing knowledge to other people, most especially children. But if I didn’t take up education, I’d probably be a physical therapist as well and we could have been friends and we could have been both jobless.” She said and laughed afterwards. To her amazement, Wooyoung also laughed. Their personalities seem to click and just like how Hyoyeon analyzed it, she can just click with anybody else. Well, anybody except that someone with the name Yoon-hee. She wondered why she thought about her again. Well, that’s probably because of the odd stares she has been getting from her. Hyoyeon sometimes wonder what the stare was about. Yoon-hee’s eyes easily expresses if she’s mad or happy or confused but the way she stares at Hyoyeon recently just left the latter clueless. ‘I wouldn’t dwell on that now. I’ll deal with her later.’ She thought. And she went back talking to her newfound friend.

 

As Hyoyeon and Wooyoung kept talking happily, IU was just looking at them with some sort of envy. She saved the mister. Or Woo as he wanted to be called but ever since he woke up, whenever IU would ask something, all her sister does is continue her suppose-to-be conversation with the man. All she got from him was a thank you and that was all. Not that she wanted anything else, because she would surely know if there is something she need. And at that moment, she just feels that it would be nice if she can talk to him. Wanting his attention seemed to be a very strong thought for her. Why would she want his attention in the first place? Maybe it was just her wanting to talk to a new friend. ‘I do not have that many friends, anyways. Someone new to talk to is what I wanted. That’s right.’ IU thought as a way of convincing herself. She denies it really hard but there was still some feeling left in her that she couldn’t explain, something she wouldn’t want to try to analyze at this point in time. When IU was still deep in those thoughts, Hyoyeon’s phone rang and she had to excuse herself from the room, leaving only IU and Wooyoung inside. IU had her chance to talk but she didn’t know what to say. It’s as if all the words she planned to say got lost somewhere in her system, in a place where she couldn’t retrieve them. That was why she appeared pale in front of Wooyoung.

 

“Hey, you look pale. You lack rest from taking care of me yesterday, right? I’m sorry for that. Get lots of rest when you get home, okay? I’m still so thankful that I fainted in front of you at the mall. If that would have been another person, I wouldn’t be living now. I probably just died. Thanks so much. I owe you my life.” Wooyoung said to her.

 

She just smiled. Her tongue felt stuck but she managed to say something, “It’s alright. I hope we can see each other again.” She smiled again, she felt her face color change from white to red. She bowed and ran outside of the room. She ran to the open section of the alley. She needed fresh air. She couldn’t breathe. Upon getting there, she said to herself, “Seriously? I hope we see each other again? What was I thinking? Why would I say that to him anyways? It’s not as if I like him or something. And why would we meet again in the future? That was so stupid.” She was busy arguing with herself and trying to breathe fresher air when her sister found her.

 

“You’re here. Woo said you ran out of the room. What’s with you? Anyways, mom is already looking for her baby girl. She nagged me to bring you home already. So we have to go now. You should go say your goodbyes to Wooyoung.” Hyoyeon told her.

 

“No. It’s fine. I have already said goodbye earlier. Let’s go. I can’t wait to sleep in my room already.” IU said and pulled her sister to the elevator.

 

Meanwhile...

 

Junho was already helping Suzy to pack their things. He had found a nice place for them to live in. It’s still in the city but it was also near the border of the river. He just thought that having a place like that would help his buddy recover easily. His Aunt Shinyoung didn’t agree to move at first but after he explained what he thought about Woo’s accident, she suddenly changed her mind. As for Suzy, he still hasn’t gotten anything from her. Not even where she was the night Woo was stabbed. He had already given up on asking her why she was throwing a fit at him. He already tried many times and though it was obvious that Wooyoung knew what it was all about, he didn’t even bothered mentioning this to Junho. So, he thinks that whatever it was, it was something only Suzy can tell him. And as of now, it is impossible that he squeeze that information from her. He wondered when he will get the chance to do that because he will be living in a place far from where they were. He do not want to part with this misunderstanding but he had no choice plus, Suzy seemed happy when she heard about his decision so  he decided to continue with it.

 

“Junho, let’s eat.” Suzy called him.

 

He sat opposite her and they started eating. They’ve never been this quiet before when eating. Junho broke the silence.

 

“When did we become like this Suzy? We’re not just friends but we’re very close friends. What happened to us?” He asked.

 

Suzy stared at him for a while and looked down at her plate. “Miscommunication?” She said.

 

“Then why are we having a miscommunication? What’s with this misunderstanding? It’s obvious that there’s something you wouldn’t want to tell me. I don’t know. Are you banking on my innate talent of reading your mind, that’s why you wouldn’t tell me whatever that is? Because if that’s the case, I can’t read your mind now so you can tell me what it is for us to sort it out.” He said with a slight hint of frustration. He wasn’t even trying to suppress his feelings during this talk. He wanted clear answers at this moment and since he was leaving again soon, this will be like a last try on finding out why their getting farther from each other.

 

“You know what, Junho? I wish you could read my mind now so that this pain I’m feeling will stop. Can I tell you what is it that’s troubling me? Telling you isn’t the problem. The way you’ll react to whatever I say will be the problem. Maybe the way we are now, how we’re slowly getting farther from each other, maybe this is better. Some words should really be left unspoken. That way, the pain can be lessened.” She said with her eyes starting to well up in tears.

 

Junho didn’t know how to react. He never had such a serious conversation with Suzy before. “Suzy, I know you don’t want to talk about this now but I just want to tell you that whatever hurt you are feeling right now, I feel it a hundred more times than you do. So if you want to talk about it and just need a friend, always know that I’m here and that you can always count on me.”

 

They went back to eating then packing the stuff. No conversation ensued after that serious talk at the dining table.

 

---------------------------------

 

When they were back at school, Junho asked for an appointment with the principal because he wanted to move in the dormitory as soon as possible. He was now sitting in front of the old lady.

 

“Principal Oh, I would like to ask you if your offer for me to live in the teacher’s dormitory still stands?” He asked.

 

“Of course Yoon-hee. You’re always welcome here. If I may ask, what brought about your change of decision? ” The principal asked back.

 

“Well, my family have transferred to a farther place and I really want to continue teaching in this school so I decided to not move with them and just pay them visits during the weekends.” He answered.

 

“It is flattering to know that you wouldn’t want to leave our school. We are also happy to have you as well. I hope we’ve put those bad things behind us and let’s continue moving forward.” The principal said and then somebody knocked on the door. It was Hyoyeon. When he saw her, he immediately thought, ‘What now? Can’t I finish a day without seeing this person?’ From that ugly thought he changed upon seeing how bright her smile was. ‘I wish she could smile that way for me.’ And just as he wished that, she looked at him and smiled sweetly then bowed. Junho felt like his heart jumped and his face felt hot. He knew that he’s blushing hard and he didn’t want them to notice so he turned his head away from their staring eyes then asked the principal, “What is Teacher Hyoyeon doing here?”

 

Which was answered by the older woman, “She’ll show you you’re room. You happen to get the room for only one person. I don’t know if you’ll find it good or bad but the place is nice. It may still have the feel of living in your own house because it’ll be like your old room.”

 

“Thank you so much, ma’am.” Junho said.

 

“No worries, Teacher Yoon-hee. If you do not have any more concerns, you can come with Hyoyeon to the dormitory.” Principal Oh said.

 

“Principal, I have something to say.” Hyoyeon immediately said as Junho was about to stand from his seat.

 

“What is it dear? Have a seat as well.” the principal asked.

 

Hyoyeon walked to the chair opposite to where Junho was sitting. He is getting distracted because he can now clearly see her face. He’s worried that he wouldn’t be able to control himself and just stare at her. He then noticed that her bright smile earlier was changed with an apologetic and slightly scared and confused expression. He wondered what she was about to say.

 

“Ma’am, I want to clear the issue of Teacher Yoon-hee being irresponsible when she missed her classes a few weeks ago...” She started. The principal cut her mid-sentence and said “Let’s not talk about it anymore okay? I think Yoon-hee has already moved on from the incident and we can all forget about it and start anew.”

 

“But it wasn’t her fault. I mean, it was my fault. You told me to inform her of the schedule changes and I was the irresponsible one because I wasn’t able to tell her about it which made her think that her class won’t start until after lunch. I’m really sorry. I wanted to tell you sooner but I didn’t. I will not make excuses for that. It will take full responsibility of the mistake.” She said as she bowed her head down.

 

The principal was shocked to what Hyoyeon confessed. She was, after all, her most favourite teacher in school and she didn’t expect such wrongdoing from her. “Hyoyeon, I’m so disappointed in you. Yoon-hee, I’m really sorry for what I have said to you. I really regret that. You didn’t even admit to me that it wasn’t your fault. You now make me feel like an evil old woman. I’m really sorry for that, my dear. I do not know what words will be enough for me to use for you to forgive me.”

 

“No, it’s okay. As you said earlier, we should all move on from this.” He plastered a smile on his face but deep inside he was thinking what this act of Hyoyeon was all about.

 

“I hope you sincerely forgive me. Anyway, please wait outside for a moment. I’ll just talk to Hyoyeon.” The principal said and Junho immediately followed.

 

What happened inside that office for the next 30 minutes, he doesn’t know. He just waited and waited outside and had several thoughts to himself. First, he was thrilled that he didn’t have to share a room with another person. That way, he could keep his secret longer, not that he wasn’t prepared but it would just be a whole lot better of a situation for him than if he needed to stay with a nosy female that may peek through his stuff and eventually find out that he isn’t who he really is. Then he thought of Hyoyeon. Well, twenty-five out of the thirty minutes time he was waiting outside was devoted for thoughts about Hyoyeon. He was really captivated by her once she entered that office. Her bright smile, her long hair, and the way she walked with all that confidence. He couldn’t comment anything bad about her. Well, not before she opened that cursing mouth of hers. In Junho’s eyes, she was like an unreachable angel from the high heavens upon entering the room but as soon as she spoke about their previous incident, she suddenly fell flat on the ground. She clearly took the blame for the incident and though late, it was still a great thing because his tarnished image in the principal’s eyes was cleared. What he doesn’t understand is why a person would do something that bad then feel sorry afterwards. It wasn’t normal to Junho’s point of view. He clearly heard her plan something that would get him fired then upon succeeding with said plan, she’ll just be eaten up by her conscience? With those things and person running through his mind, a few things were made clear. He will now be living in the dormitory, the irresponsible tag plastered on his chest was already removed, Hyoyeon was beautiful and really not hard to like, but after all that had happened to them, the most important thing that he inculcated in his mind was this: Hyoyeon, though likable, is not trustworthy and that he should find ways to still get back at her for making him slightly miserable.

 

Then the person who never stopped running through his mind came out of the room. He wanted to ask her what she was up to but she looked really sad. Whatever the principal said to her definitely affected her in a negative way. Her eyes, which seem sparkling earlier, are now full of gloom. He followed her as she led him towards the dormitory. He walked behind her, not even trying to make eye contact. He didn’t know why but he walked a bit past her. He turned his head to glance at her even for just a second. She looked like she wanted to cry and though Junho wanted to comfort her in any way possible, he remembered his current life goal, aside from finding his sister, and that was to make the monster in disguise suffer. He should be happy that she is suffering now but he wasn’t. And he tried to make an excuse for that, ‘Of course, I couldn’t be happy seeing her suffering now because it wasn’t my doing. It was the principal’s. I’d be happy if she’s sad because of me. That’s right. Yeah. That’s the reason.’ Just like his wandering mind, he wasn’t looking at where he was walking. Then a cascade of events occurred. He heard Hyoyeon scream, he felt arms pushing him and then his body hit the floor really hard. His eyes were closed so he really didn’t know what really happened and what had caused it. The weird thing is that his body felt pain but he knew he was somehow blushing. He felt heat on his face. Then he opened his eyes and saw another person’s face placed near his. He saw these beautiful brown eyes he was staring at earlier this morning. That was the only time he understood why he was blushing so hard. It is because Hyoyeon’s soft lips were pressing into his lips. They then heard someone running.

 

“Teachers, I’m very sor...” the person’s statement was cut upon seeing the position Hyoyeon and Junho are in. And when the familiar voice spoke again, they both heard him say, “Hey, teacher with the long hair, get off of my Yoon-hee!” It was the erted gardener Kwon.