Jonghun dialed her number for the umpteenth time but she didn’t pick up. This was so not her, he thought. Sulli was supposed to come and have dinner with his mother tonight but she was a no show. Usually, she would call to inform if she couldn’t make it but this time she didn’t. His mom wanted him to check up on her so he tried calling. That was three hours ago.

In the end he decided to leave the office and go to her place. She should be home right now but looking at the dark interior of the house, he knew she wasn’t. So, he headed to the next best place to find her; the dance studio.

When he arrived at the studio, he was relieved to see her car parked in front but got worried again when he saw the place was also dark. He switched off his engine and went to open the door. He punched in her code, 293912, and then with a beep, the door opened. He went in and saw immediately that the sliding doors were opened. From the place he was standing, he could see Sulli was at the little gazebo. At least she was safe. He texted his mother informing about Sulli’s whereabouts and assured her that the young woman was safe.

The man made his way slowly to the gazebo. Just as he had suspected, his princess was asleep. He sat on the small table facing her and took a long look at her. He drank in the sight of her beautiful soft features. He traced with his eyes the curve of her long neck and the slenderness of her figure. At times like this, he would wonder how did the cute and playful little dongsaeng of his turned out to be such a beautiful young woman. She had practically grown in front of him.

Despite his desire to make her his, he knew he had to tread slowly on the matters of the heart with her. He knew she had a very bad experience with love before. He was there to witness it. She was really young then and the boy was barely in his twenties. Both loved each other but made a mistake that was irreversible and one thing happened after another. Needless to say, they both went on their separate ways and he thought it was the best for the both of them.

Sulli bore most of the brunt of the separation. It should be the best time of her life but instead it was the opposite. She broke down and cried all the time. Lost her appetite and even had to stop dancing. She could have taken the easy way out but his brave Sulli fought for what was right. Yes, she fought every inch of the way and he was very proud of her. No one could have imagined what she had gone through if they were to look at her now.

He didn’t want to wake her up but he couldn’t leave her there either, so he leaned forward and took her hands and slowly caressed her knuckles.

“Sulli! Ssul! Wake up!” he said softly, trying not to startle her.

He then touched her left cheek with the back of his hand, slowly trying to wake her up.

Sulli felt a soft brush on her cheek and slowly opened her eyes. They were still stinging and felt raw. She squinted in the darkness to see Jonghun oppa’s face close to hers.

She smiled a sleepy smile. “Oppa. Wasso?” she said.

Jonghun’s heart skipped to see her smile. It was soft and unknowingly to her, innocently seductive. Without thinking, he placed a light kiss on her smiling lips.

“Oppa? What’s that for?”, asked the surprised Sulli, who is now wide awake.

Jonghun just smiled while Sulli wore a puzzled look on her face.

“Ani. Why are you here? You’ve been crying too”, he asked gently, avoiding her question.

Her face became clouded at once. He was worried by the sudden change of her expression, he took both of her hands into his and asked, “You didn’t show up at dinner. Omma was very worried when you didn’t pick up your phone, my dear princess”.

“You were crying? What happened?”, he probed further.

Sulli felt her eyes started to tear up again. She looked at her cousin with fresh new tears flowing from her eyes.

“Oppa… He’s back, oppa”, she said so softly that he had to strain himself to hear what she was saying.

“Dugu? Who’s back, princess”, he asked.

“Minho, oppa. Minho”, with that she started sobbing.

“Ottoke, oppa? What am I supposed to do? I don’t know what to think, oppa”, cried Sulli.

“Minho? When do you meet him? Where? Does he know?”, Jonghun asked anxiously.

“Today…  at the hospital. I don’t know, oppa. He couldn’t have known, right?”, she looked searchingly at him.

She looked so distraught that his heart hurt for her but he could only hold her hand tighter.

“Everything will be alright, princess”, he tried to assure her.

“I’ll make sure of it”, he said it with conviction.

Jonghun’s mind started to think on ways to protect his Sulli from being hurt again. There’s more at stake now than his feelings towards her.