The next morning, a knock on my front door jolted me awake. Groaning, I stumbled out of bed and slapped some water onto my face. As I looked at myself in the mirror, I did my best to remember how I got into my apartment the night before. Closing my eyes tightly, I could only remember being extremely exhausted from rehearsal. Another knock brought me back to reality. I outstretched my arms and rubbed my neck as I made my way to the front door. Once I opened the door, I immediately regretted it. What the heck is he doing here?

There stood Woohyun, looking as perfect as ever in his black wife beater and gray sweats. And there I stood, in a spaghetti-strapped camisole and flannel bottoms. I felt so exposed that I darted back inside and wrapped a throw blanket around myself. Woohyun stared quizzically at me when I returned to the door, but smiled his easy-going smile immediately after.

"What's kicking, Hwayoung?" I couldn't believe how casual he was. It didn't help my nerves at all that the wife beater accentuated his arms, which were very toned and muscular, much like an athlete who didn't have to work hard to maintain his body. Not to mentioned, his hair was tousled in a nonchalant way that told me that he was lazy, but still cared about how he looked.

"Nothing much. Um, what are you doing here at--" I glanced at my kitchen clock. "6:00 in the morning?"

"I wanted to catch you before you did anything today."

"Um... why?"

"Well, do you have something today?"

"I do at 8:35... Hang on, why are you asking?"

"Because I want to invite you to go for a run with me."

I opened to respond, but unnaturally, nothing came out. How can Woohyun have such an effect on me? To make me speechless with just a single invitation? I am Kang Hwayoung! Not some lovesick girl who is affected by guys like Woohyun! I am the one who make guys speechless, not the other way around!

I cleared my throat and answered, "Oh, really? Where?"

Woohyun chuckled. "Just around the block. I hear from the other neighbors that you rarely go out, so I just wanted to go for a run with you."

"Sure! Let me, uh, freshen up and I'll go with you."

Ten minutes later, Woohyun and I, while dressed in a soft pink dri-fit tank and black sweats, jogged beside each other in the park right next to our apartment. The sun peeked through rain clouds at us, sending tendrils of golden light in our direction. A layer of morning dew covered the trees, grass, and jogging path, giving off a refreshing scent to accompany us in our run. Breathing rhythmically with each step, we swung around a bend in the path and picked up speed while going downhill.

"So," panted Woohyun. "Do you attend school?"

"Yeah, Sungkyunkwan University," I breathed. "You?"

"Haha, no. I'm not made for school..." We passed by our checkpoint tree for the third time. "I have a job as a model."

Thoughts of my Step-Mother socked me in the stomach. Just when I had convinced myself that my so-called "family" didn't exist, Woohyun just had to go and remind me of them. I shook off the errant thought and gave him a half-grin.

"Interesting. Who do you model for?"

"Samsung."

Another punch to the stomach. The same company as Step-Monster.

"Oh, really? For your hands or your face?" I mumbled bitterly.

Woohyun slowed a bit to study my face. There was no doubt that I was fuming with anger. "I'm sorry, did I offend you?"

I snapped out of her temporary daze and glanced back at Woohyun's concerned (yet, impeccably handsome) face. "N-No! I'm sorry. I spoke out of turn."

"Do you... despise models? Look down on them?" Woohyun asked with a hint of hurt in his voice.

"No!" I exclaimed a bit loudly. I cleared and murmured, "I just... I'm not fond of models." I hoped that he didn't catch the bitterness in my voice.

He slowed to a light jog, indicating that he caught it. "Oh... I'm sorry you feel that way. Believe me, not all models are spoiled or highly paid. And also, there's nothing to be jealous of..."

"I'm not jealous."

"Then, what is it?"

There was a pause as I tried to choose the best words to sum up my past. A few minutes later, I admitted through gritted teeth, "My mother left the house because of one."

Tears welled up in my eyes at how much the statement stung, but I hastily wiped them away. At this point, Woohyun stopped completely, finally noticing how broken I was. He gently grasped his hands around my wrists and whispered, "Hey."

I widened my eyes at our close proximity. What-- Why is he stopping? Why is he holding my wrists???

"I'm sorry for causing you sadness. I didn't mean to do so... Will you stop crying? I have no idea what to do when something like this happens." He released his grip on my wrists and gave me a lopsided grin when I sniffled and wiped my tears away. "There, that's better. Let's get going, huh? You wouldn't want to be late to school."

He took off towards the apartment, leaving me behind to ponder after the sudden tenderness in his voice.

~:~:~:~:~

Later on that morning, Dahee and I sat under our tree, doing homework together. Dahee filled our silence with a monologue about her Psychology teacher. I did what I usually did when Dahee jabbered endlessly about a single topic; I zoned out and flipped the pages of my textbook listlessly. However, this time, I wasn't just ignoring Dahee's solo speech, I was thinking about my encounter with Woohyun.

Why had he been so sad when I mentioned that I wasn't fond of models? I didn't mean that I didn't like HIM, just models in general. And when I began crying, he became so tender, I was sure that he was going to kiss me. I trashed the last thought. KISS me? What a ludicrous idea, Kang Hwayoung!

"Eonni, hello? Earth to Hwayoung-eonni!" Dahee practically shrieked into my ear some fifteen minutes later.

I snapped out of my daze and glared at the younger girl. "What is it, Seo Dahee?"

"What are you thinking about that you keep zoning out whenever you're with me?"

"Your chattering gets annoying sometimes, Dahee. Do you ever think about how much it bores a person?" I mumbled, hoping that Dahee would take it as an insult.

On the contrary, Dahee beamed at me and said, "Oh, I don't think that you're bored around me, Eonni. Something tells me that you're thinking of someone. Could it be that Woohyun guy that Sungyeol-oppa keeps talking about?"

Everything about that sentence irked me. From the enthusiasm in her tone to the casual "Oppa" attachment to Sungyeol's name, Dahee exuded happiness far beyond my own capabilities. I realized with a start that I... was jealous. I was indeed jealous. Of a mere freshman, no less!

I scowled at how joy oozed out of the younger's smile and demeanor. I knew that I was incapable of feeling happy on my own. It would take a miracle to make me smile genuinely. Dahee, on the other hand, was joyful, no matter the circumstance. She lived in a ghetto neighborhood, for goodness sakes! And she barely scraped by working two part-time jobs while attending school and joining the musical at the school. There were no bounds to Dahee's pain and suffering and yet, she smiled like there was no tomorrow. I couldn't understand how she did it.

I cleared my throat. "I don't know what you're talking about, Seo Dahee."

"Oh, come on, Eonni! Tell me, is he good-looking? Is he better looking than Sungyeol-oppa?" Dahee clung onto my arm and shook it.

"Argh, will you stop it? I'm trying to study!"

"No!" Dahee pouted. "Not until you tell me!"

"Aegyo is NOT going to work. Yeol-oppa has tried it too many times with me already."

"Oh, yes, don't bother trying, Dahee," Sungyeol mused with a grin as he plopped down next to me. Dahee gave a nervous giggle when he smiled at her. "I've never seen Hwayoung break under aegyo. I've been told that my Gwiyomi Counter is one of the best. I tried it on Hwayoung and she laughed, LAUGHED, right in my face."

"I laughed because it was the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen you do in the 19 years that I've known you."

"Ah, well, I'd have to agree with you on that." Sungyeol paused as he examined the textbook in my lap. "'English Literature from the 1800s.' Wow, this is HUGE. What the heck do they put in here?"

"Words, you idiot. English words. I bet you can't even say the smallest things in English!" I scoffed with a roll of my eyes. I tried to swipe my book away from him, only for my forehead meet with his chin. I rubbed my bruised forehead furiously. "Ow! Babo-Yeol!!!"

Sungyeol scoffed, ignoring my cry of pain. "Of course, I do! I know, 'Hi, my name is Lee Sungyeol, it's nice to meet you.' What else do I need to know?"

I sighed. "This is why I am the English Literature major and you are not. Don't you have work or something? This is, like, the third day in a row that you're off!"

"My boss gave me a day off, alright? So, cool it!" He playfully poked my forehead. He and Dahee laughed at my sour expression.

"Aish! Whatever! There's no use talking to you!" I growled as I stood up with the intention of walking away. However, as I did this, someone plowed into me, knocking me back down to the ground. I cursed audibly when the palms of my hands scraped against some pieces of debris.

"Hwayoung!" cried Sungyeol and Dahee simultaneously. They reached out to help me, but someone else's hand shot out instead.   

"Hey, are you okay?" The male's quiet voice asked in concern. Already grumpy from Sungyeol's idiocy, I slapped the hand away and stood up, looking him straight in the eyes. Said male's eyes widened at my fierce gaze.

"Watch where you're going, , before you actually hurt someone!" I snarled at him. He was bewildered for another second before smoothing his face over with a calm, uninterested expression.

"Look, Agassi. You should watch what you're saying! I'm not an --!"

"Myungsoo, just apologize and go." Sungyeol said in a tight voice. He stepped up and put a firm hand on my shoulder, breaking my attention from 'Myungsoo.' I glanced up at him and noticed that his lips were pulled into a thin line. In fact, he seemed like he was on the brink of exploding. What...? I've never heard of this 'Myungsoo' before... Why in the world is Oppa so angry?

Myungsoo smiled tentatively. "Oh, Sungyeol. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at work?"

The grip on my shoulder tightened. "Just apologize and go."

"Sungyeol, don't be that way..."

"You know what? Forget about the apology. Leave."

Myungsoo sighed. "Stop trying to push me away. Don't you think this is going too far? What would you think Sung--"

Sungyeol didn't listen to the rest of Myungsoo's speech. Instead, he reached for my hand to lead me away from the tense atmosphere, only to be thwarted by two boys. Sungyeol swore uncharacteristically, for these boys were two more people he wanted to avoid. One had red hair and a bemused smile on his face, while the other one was slight in build, but made up for it with bright eyes and an angelic smile. Of course, I had no clue who they were.

However, come to think of it, there was something oddly familiar about the latter boy. It was as though I had seen him before. Memories of him at a dinner table, coming down a staircase, entering a bathroom, and other moments flitted into my mind, but I still couldn't pinpoint his name. When he finally glanced at me, his smile faltered and face paled in utter recognition. That was when I recognized who he was.

"Sungjong?" I gasped, blinking back hot tears. It was all coming back, the pain I'd suffered with living with Step-Monster, my hatred for Father and Sungjong, everything. It didn't help that my ex-Step-Brother continued to stare at me, his face stark-white with fear. "Wh-What? Why are you--?"

"Hwayoung, let's get going--" Sungyeol tried to pull me along, but I wrenched me hand out of his grip and pointed accusingly at him.

"Oppa, you knew about this, didn't you?"

"Kyaaaaaa!!! Sungyeol-oppa! Sungjong-oppa! Sunggyu-oppa! Myungsoo-oppa!" Before Sungyeol could even form a word, screaming fangirls were sprinting towards the six of us from all directions.

The four Resident Ulzzangs were together once more! The news of the boys' reunion had reached their mobile phones via text, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, you name it, spreading across campus like wildfire. Dahee and I stared dumbfoundedly at the incoming stampede and we gave each other a look. Oh, !

Without another word, Myungsoo and Sunggyu split apart, running in different directions so that their fangirls would split in half. Sungyeol swore again and grabbed onto Dahee's hand, perhaps believing that it was me. They ran towards the alley behind the cafe he worked at, a temporary safe place. Sungjong reached forward to grasp my wrist and dragged me towards an empty hallway, the pounding of our shoes echoing throughout.

We ran for what seemed like 20 minutes before we reached the rooftop of the loneliest structure at school, the Humanities building. I bent over, gasping for air like a fish who had been out of the water. Sungjong leaned against the roof door, trying his best to stabilize his breathing. After a few minutes, the tightness of our chests lessened and we were able to breathe normally. With a scowl on my face, I spoke up first.

"What the are you doing here, Sungjong?" There were a few moments of silence, frustrating me further. "Stop being a ing mute and talk to me! Why are you in my school?!"

"Excuse me, Hwayoung, but we're the same age..." murmured Sungjong. He looked up at me with sad eyes. "I've been coming to this school for two years."

"Wow, you can speak!" I cried in mock amazement. "My mute Step-Brother actually has a voice!"

"Hwayoung, please calm down--"

"Calm down??? You want me to calm down? I haven't seen you for three years--"

"Well, I'VE seen YOU!" Sungjong exclaimed firmly, silencing me. I paled. How could my Step-Brother have seen me, when I hadn't seen him at all for the past three years?

"What are you talking about?"

"Father found out all about you... When you left, he had guys watch over you. He was heartbroken that you would do such a thing as running away from him," Sungjong sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.

I scoffed. "Yeah, right. Heartbroken? He doesn't know the meaning of the word. I doubt that he knows what a heart is."

Sungjong glared pointedly at me. "He knows the meaning of the word, Hwayoung. I know that Mom wasn't nice to you, but I could tell that Father--"

"My FATHER was not affectionate, nor did he care enough to speak a word to me. He was bewitched by your mother. And that's all." I spat angrily. Just hearing Sungjong speak bothered me. After all those years of dodging, dipping, ducking, and diving, Sungjong was finally speaking to me as if all of that were a hallucination, MY hallucination. "Since when did you speak this much, Sungjong? When did you develop these skills? When I ran away?"

"Look, Hwayoung, don't take this personally, but you weren't the only one who was bitter about the marriage--" I raised her eyebrows at this. "But, I was, too. The only way I could deal with it was to not speak to anyone. Our parents aren't exactly the greatest in parenthood, you know."

"I know. Which is why I had to do a double take when you said that my father was heartbroken."

"What I'm saying is that he DOES love you. And he wants you to come home."

I opened my mouth to reply, but couldn't. Why? First of all, from the obvious shock of discovering my ex-Step-Brother's ability to speak. Second of all, the fact that he was bitter about the marriage, too. (In fact, I had thought that he was just bitter towards ME.) And lastly, Father wanted me back. Why would that bastard want me back? Of what use am I to him?

I wanted to voice my anger, hatred, disappointment, and curiosity to Sungjong. But, would that make a difference? Not now that he mentioned that Father had men following me. Suddenly, I was creeped out. Men following me? How could they have reported about me to Father unless they were really involved in my life? I am a private person and I refuse to broadcast about my life to anyone except Sungyeol.

Lee Sungyeol. Did he know about this the entire time?

"Sungyeol-oppa knew about this, didn't he?" I whispered. Sungjong widened his eyes at this.

"H-How did--?"

"Is he reporting back to Father, or something?"

"NO!!! I told him about the men and he tried to keep them away from you. Believe me!"

"How can I believe you now when I believed that you were a mute all these years?" I muttered pointedly. Sungjong rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"I'm sorry, Hwayoung. Look, you're right about Sungyeol-hyung. He knew about it. But, as the men were trying to find out more about you, one of them being your former next-door-neighbor who looked through you -drawer, your father began to grow weary. He wanted you home. Soon, even Mother got tired of his complaints..."

"So, what are you trying to say? That I should go to him just because he wants me back? Fat chance! If he wants me back, too bad! He had the chance before I left to include me in his life! NO!!! He was too obsessed with your mother! There's no way, no WAY I'm going back and nothing you say will change my mind."

With that, I stomped away, leaving a speechless Sungjong gaping after me.

*****Hey, all! I just wanted to start off by saying the cliche, "I'm sorry for the late update! It's all because of school!" The thing is, that's the truth. My update is late because I have school. I don't want to have a pity party, but I have to explain my situation, first... I have two part-time jobs, as well as school, church, drama team (at church), and small group. So, I'm sorry to say, but AFF is going to be my last priority. Please bear with me because I know that this is a fairly new fic. I'm doing my best to keep my updates going, however, with my new schedule, it's really impossible. I just wanted to say this as a heads-up. I do appreciate all of my readers and subscribers because I write for all of you and myself, as well. Please continue to have love and support for this story, but I will still be updating them! I'm so sorry for the inconvenience, but I truly love you all! As always, please comment and subscribe! Constructive criticism is also welcome. I truly appreciate it! :)*****