More than a week has passed since Junho and Wooyoung’s “Beat-The-Guy-That-Made-Dear-Suzy-Cry” incident at home. Of course the two guys got a load of scolding from both Suzy and Shinyoung, with the latter always asking since when did they turn into hooligans and the former now addressing them both as criminals. Yoseob stayed at their house for a couple more days after that night because he was badly beaten by the two and couldn’t even manage to get up. Suzy never left his side and thus the two have sorted out their feelings for each other, to the delight of her “criminal friends”.

Junho could not be any happier. If he can only find his sister at this very moment, everything would be just perfect. But that task has proven to be easier said than done. For almost a year now, so many things has happened which led him to the place where he was working right now and finding his sister. The only clues he had were her surname, her ambition, studying in the all girls’ school and that she possesses half of his father’s sun and moon necklace. This train of thoughts was disrupted by his roommate’s sweet voice.

“Hey! What’s with the deep thinking?” She asked.

“Nothing. It’s just some family stuff.” He replied.

“Yaaah! It’s night time! Save your deep thoughts for tomorrow morning, okay? You’ll not be able to sleep well.” She lectured.

He was touched and was still very happy that they are in speaking terms already. They were both lying on their beds and facing each other. He can’t help but smile so he covered his face with the blanket and joked, “Too much lecturing for someone who still doesn’t seem sleepy!”

The girl laughed before seriously saying, “I’m actually tired but I’m very nervous for IU’s competition tomorrow.”

‘Oh! I forgot. She’s right. It’s IU’s competition tomorrow. How can I forget that?!’ He mentally slapped himself for forgetting before speaking again. “I knew you’d be nervous but I never thought you’d be like this. You’re really worried for her?”

“Yes. I know she can easily win that competition because she’s so competitive and she’s been very good at training. What I’m scared of is that she might sustain injuries from this kind of events.” Hyoyeon worriedly said.

“You shouldn’t think of that. She’ll be great tomorrow. I know.” He said in attempts of comforting her.

The girl smiled the said, “I guess you’re right. But do you know what bothers me more?”

“What?” He curiously asked.

“The amount of cream you put on your face before sleeping. Is it that good?” She said before laughing. “Naaah. I’m just kidding, sleep tight. Goodnight, roomie!” She flashed her brightest smile before turning her back from Junho.

“Goodnight.” He answered as he also turned his back, scared that she might see him blushing, before getting into deep sleep.

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

The day of the competition came and everyone was so excited because there has been a buzz that this year’s hurdles team headed by Coach Ahn is by far the best team the district has seen in the past decade. They are expected to win most gold medals but critics say that the other schools won’t go down without a fight. Wooyoung was staying inside the girls’ team locker room helping them all get taped up and ready for competition. He just finished helping Jiyeon with her stretching when he noticed IU sitting nervously on the corner of the room. He decided to approach her.

“Are you ready?” He asked.

“Actually, I’m nervous.” She said with a pale look on her face. True to her word, she was really nervous. All her nerves are like jumping up and down throughout her body. She has never joined a competition this huge before. Everyone will be watching and she knows that they all got their eyes on her because she heard some of the other competitors talking about it in the hallway, oblivious to the fact that she is the “IU Kim” they’ve been talking about.

“Are you okay? You look so pale. Do you want me to call your sister? She can help you calm down.” He offered.

‘Great! Talking about my sister again. I’m in front of you mister and you want to call her. Just great!’ She thought before saying, “No need. I’m okay. I’ll be okay. I’m calm.” She sounded a bit mad, to Wooyoung’s amazement, so he decided to leave her alone for the moment after wishing her the best of luck.

The tension in the locker room was incomparable to that on the field. The cheering schoolmates and the nervous parents can be seen all around the stadium. IU was still pale and very nervous when she saw two smiling faces approaching her way.

“IU!!” both of them shouted. It was her sister and Teacher Yoon-hee. Both hugged her so tight and she felt like her nervousness disappeared in the air. These two are probably the two closest people to her in this school. And seeing them trying to talk to her and say irrelevant things just to calm her down, she was starting to get at ease. When they heard the announcement that the 100-m race was about to start and the racers were being called, the two bid IU goodbye and wished her the best of luck before proceeding to the stands where Wooyoung was staying.

The racers stood on their respective starting points and everybody was cheering loudly. The students were introduced to the crowd and as IU’s name was called, Hyoyeon, Junho and Wooyoung screamed their hearts out. The gun was then shot and everybody was holding their breaths. IU was a fast runner, her waterloo at this sport was her slowing speed when she’s nearing the first hurdle. So she was leading at first and upon reaching the first hurdle, she lagged behind and upon finishing the last hurdle, what was left was the final sprint to the finish line. IU was on third place after that last hurdle and it’s now a sprinting match. Her three most nervous spectators on the sidelines were having a mixture of expressions from Junho’s open mouth shocked expression, Hyoyeon’s tightly shut eyes while having her hands in a praying position to Wooyoung’s joyous expression as he knew that IU can run pretty fast. The crowd went wild and all they heard was joyful cheers after IU was able to cross the finish line first.

The three ran to her side at an instant. Hyoyeon greeted and hugged her first. Then decided to call their parents and tell them how her little sister did. Apparently, her mom’s best friend from the province was sick and since she was a widower with no children, the only persons to possibly take care of her were friends. Their mother asked their father to come and so they were absent from IU’s competition. As Hyoyeon excused herself, IU was left with Yoonhee and Wooyoung. Yoonhee was done hugging and congratulating her. When it was Wooyoung’s turn to hug her, IU felt that her cheeks were getting hot and think that she’s probably blushing. Upon realizing this, she said, “I better get ready for the next competition. Thanks.” before speeding off to the locker room.

The next competition was up and it was the indoor 60-m hurdles race. And IU went to win the event as well. After that, the relay race occur and their team won the bronze medal while the final race was the 300-m intermediate hurdles race and she bagged the silver medal after lagging behind by less than a second. IU was the clear winner of the day. She won the most medals for the meet and she couldn’t be any happier. She, however, declined the offer to join the team from having the celebratory dinner because she already talked to her sister, who said that the two of them together with the couple Yoonhee and Wooyoung will have dinner together. So they went out of the school, had dinner in IU’s favorite restaurant in the area and sent her back home where her sister decided to join her and give her massages. IU couldn’t be any happier. She was smiling even after she went to dreamland.

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

It was three in the morning and the airport just got busy after a plane landed several minutes ago... Many foreign passengers are excited to visit the famous beaches of the country while some overseas workers just can’t wait to see their families after so many years of working abroad. But there are two people who got off the plane with both nervous and excited expressions on their faces. They may not know each other but they have the same intentions in coming back to Korea – seeing the people they love after a long time.

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

Hey guys! Another update! Excited to know who the new arrivals are? I bet you are! But I have to keep you waiting a bit more. And I started writing another chapter. I suddenly got too many ideas for this one and I just can’t stop writing. But the updates will probably come in later ‘cause school’s about to start soon. I’m writing more so that I could at least post 1 chapter per week. I promise I’ll try... Okay. I’ll stop talking now. But thanks to all comments. I super appreciate it and I’m sorry for the flood of replies.