Hye Ri sat on a wooden chair cushioned with yellow. She let her arms rest on the back of the chair as she sat the other way around on the chair. Her head rested on top of her arms as she watched Kevin clean the remainder of her mess, insisting to clean it up even though she was more than halfway done. She stared at Kevin from the dining room to the kitchen. Hye Ri was lost in her thoughts as her eyes followed his blonde bangs, swaying from his gentle movements.

"Done!" Kevin said, happily throwing the rag away and turning to Hye Ri to smile. When Hye Ri gave him no reaction, he frowned and furrowed his eyebrows together. "What's wrong?"

Hye Ri smiled and wordlessly shook her head, stood up and dusted her pajamas off. Kevin pouted at her as she bit back a laugh, feeling a bit light and fluffy but still a bit of bitterness mixed in.

"I'm tired, maybe you should go." Hye Ri suggested, loosening her highlighted hair that was tied into a bun.

"Trying to get rid of me already? We've only been together for an hour though!" He continued to pout at her as she pretended to yawn. 

"Well if you want to stay longer, feel free to. My apartment door automatically locks, so you can leave whenever you feel like it." Hye Ri pointed out, a bit flustered by the thought of being 'together'. What was that even supposed to mean? Like literally together or a boyfriend- girlfriend kind of thing? "I have classes tomorrow, so you should leave soon."

Hye Ri shuffled into her room and turned the lights off with a simple tap on the switch. The darkness comforted her as she secretly smiled, thinking about the kiss. But did the kiss mean anything to Kevin or was it just a pity sort of thing? Climbing into bed, she found herself staring at the bare ceiling, her smile fading away.

What if she wasn't worthy of being his girlfriend? Kevin was such a nice guy, what if he was just trying to be nice by giving her a kiss?

Hye Ri bit her lip, frustrated at her own pitiful thoughts and 'what ifs'. Trapped in her own thoughts, she didn't seem to notice the light streaming into her room from the hallway as the door opened. However, she did when she heard footsteps. She turned to her side, her back facing towards him, feeling bitter about her own thoughts.

"What?" She mumbled to pretend that she was dozing off.

"Can I sleepover? It's late at night already." He asked, moving towards her as she nibbled on her lips, thinking carefully.

"I don't have an extra bed."

"And your point is?" She sat up on her bed, looking at him and raising an eyebrow.

"My point is, a great idol like you will have to sleep on either the sofa or the cold, hard floor." She pulled her teddy bear closer to her and hugged it, to show how nervous she was with having him stay the night.

"Don't think of me that way. So what if you have one bed?" Kevin asked, sitting on the edge of her bed. "We can always share one like-"

"Sibilings do?" Hye Ri blurted out before she could comprehend what she was saying. Feeling flustered from her own mistake, she laid back down, pulling the blanket over her face. "Suit yourself."

Hye Ri felt her face heat up as she felt the weight of her bed shift. Kevin's arms made their way around her waist and he pulled her close to him, frowning.

"So, are you saying that the kiss didn't mean anything to you?" Kevin asked quietly. Guilty. Hye Ri felt guilty. Maybe Kevin really did mean to kiss her and she ruined everything by saying they were siblings. Hye Ri found herself shaking her head as she buried her face into the belly of the teddy bear. "Hye Ri, is it that difficult to accept my heart?"

The teddy bear was pulled away from her and nothing separated Hye Ri from Kevin now. Kevin moved closer to Hye Ri and saw Kevin and how serious he looked. His eyes glistened with tears, threatening to leave his eyes any moment now. Hye Ri found it hard to breathe or even swallow her saliva and tears started to brim her eyes at the thought of hurting him. She was scarred from her previous rejections. She was always rejected, so would things change now? She felt as though she would never be accepted. Never accepted and never will be.

"I don't know..." Hye Ri managed to choke out. Kevin was like- a complete package, while she- wasn't. She was actually far from it. "I can't live up to you. I never will. To be frank with you, you'll be better off with another idol. Why did you choose me when you have other pretty, talented, charming, and nice girls waiting in line? When you practically have princesses fighting to get your attention?"

Her words stunned him and he felt a bit- well, he was taken aback. He didn't like how she considered him as an idol. She didn't like how she didn't consider herself to be "good enough" for him. He didn't like anything she said. He disagreed with everything.

"Hye Ri, what I want isn't a princess. What I want isn't a perfect, barbie doll. What I want is a girl, with imperfections that I consider to be her perfections. Despite the unhappy times you have, the fact that you can still smile everyday captivates me. The fact that you don't want to burden me with your past makes me want to protect you."

The last sentence caused Hye Ri to choke on her saliva. She wanted to push him away and bombard him with questions, shocked that Kevin would've even caught on. His arms tightened the more she struggled, until she calmed down.

"Hye Ri, you're quite an actress, but it's too bad I've acted in quite a few dramas and movies. You obviously have a past that you don't want to remember. I won't ask you about it, Hye Ri... but don't push me away, okay? Nobody's past is all sunshine and rainbows. And neither is mine. So don't push me away."

"You don't understand." Hye Ri mumbled bitterly. "I've always been rejected. It won't be long before you reject me. Once rejected, always rejected."

"Hye Ri, I wouldn't reject you even if the world wanted me to." Hye Ri felt Kevin's arms pull her even closer to him, as if they weren't close enough. She could hear his heartbeat and it was surprisingly calming. She was tired. With everything. "You must be tired. Go to sleep and don't fret about this. Just trust me." Kevin murmured and all Hye Ri could do was given in and nod.

"I'll trust you." She muttered before falling into deep sleep.

Somewhere Else In Seoul

Eun Joo bit back a yawn as she pulled her pink blanket out from the closet. She shuffled over to the sofa and fixed the blanket on the sofa confortably, before stretching her arms a bit. Soft sounds of someone coming down the stairs caught her attention as she struggled to fight the sleepiness off of her.

Dong Ho stood by the stairs, his recently dyed brown hair was a mess and he hugged a pillow while holding another pillow. Eun Joo silently willed for Dong Ho to go back to bed, afraid that any moment she would collapse from fatigue. She fought off her selfish thoughts and silently cleared .

"Dong Ho, what are you doing down here?" Her soft voice motivated Dong Ho to shove the pillows into her arms and head back upstairs to retrieve his white blanket and throw it onto the living room floor. Smoothing out the wrinkles of the blanket, he took the pillows and neatly placed them on top of the blanket. "What are you-"

"Shhh..." Dong Ho placed his index finger on his lips to tell Eun Joo to stay silent. He brushed past her and grabbed her pink blanket, placing it on top of his blanket. Getting under the soft blanket, Dong Ho shot Eun Joo a look. "Sleep here." He patted the space next to him as Eun Joo hesitantly stared at the space.

"I don't think it's a good id-" Eun Joo was cut off by Dong Ho as he flopped down.

"Just come here. I took your blanket and my blanket. We have no other blankets in this house, so you either sleep freezing or sleep next to me." Dong Ho was supposed to be asleep a hour ago but Eun Joo's past bugged him and he began to wonder if she had cried other times when she was in bed or even the sofa. Dong Ho snapped out of his thoughts when he heard something drop against the sofa, staring at Eun Joo who laid on the sofa. "Why are you so stubborn? This time, I'm not giving you a choice. Sleep next to me."

Isn't it enough that you know about my past? What more do you want? What I want is to be alone.

"Alright." Eun Joo replied, dragging herself to the pile of blankets and pillows that resembled a sleeping bag. It wasn't a request but an order. She snuggled underneath the covers, her back facing Dong Ho as he stared at her. "Good night."

"Good night." Dong Ho whispered as he closed his eyes, feeling his tense muscles relax at the thought of Eun Joo next to him. If she was in pain or crying, he'd be able to know right?

Wrong. Eun Joo thought, her eyes were wide open and she wasn't planning to get any sleep tonight. Or maybe... she was. When she had heard the quiet, rhythmic breathing pattern of Dong Ho that signaled that he was fast asleep, she turned over to her other side. His eye bags were bigger than hers, not that it was surprising, but it showed that he had worked hard. Resisting her urge to touch his cheeks, she remembered his words earlier today.

"Just do whatever you want for once. Don't fight yourself."

"Would it be okay to do whatever I want.... not for once... but from now on?" Eun Joo asked Dong Ho softly, knowing that he wouldn't be able to hear her. The silence that came from Dong Ho made her shake her head. "I'm so silly. These things last once and only once." 

Eun Joo found herself leaning closer to Dong Ho. Just this once, she'll be selfish. Just this once, she won't resist her urges. Right now, she wanted to sleep. No matter how much she was trying to resist it, she closed her eyes and fell into sleep.

Seven In The Morning

Pushing her messy hair from her face, Hye Ri yawned and sleepily opened her eyes. With messy blonde hair, Kevin was still sleeping next to her and Hye Ri couldn't help but stare at him. She felt a strange urge to kiss Kevin and she leaned close to him, having a mental fight with herself as to whether or not she should kiss him. Kevin shifted in his sleep and Hye Ri looked away and spotted the clock on her desk, reading 9:47 a.m.

Shooting out of bed while trying not to disturb Kevin was the hardest thing Hye Ri ever had to do. Flinging her closet door open, she grabbed her white dress with pink and orange stripes and tip toed to the bathroom to wash up and change. Rushing out of the bathroom, she bumped into a sleepy Kevin.

"Wha-"

"I'm going to be late for class if I don't hurry." Hye Ri explained in one short sentence before pushing past him to grab her bag. "I guess I'll see you later." She slammed her apartment door shut in a rush to get to the campus, her watch reading 9:52. Her class started at 10:20 and it would take her approximately thirty minutes to get there.

"But I'm a student here!" Hye Ri protested, crossing her arms at the security guard that refused to let her into the building. Apparently the school had decided to assign the new security guard a morning shift on the day Hye Ri forgot her Student ID. "Why don't you call the office and see if they have a student with my name."

"Well, my job is to keep this school safe. Forgetting your ID is your problem, miss. So just go home and come back with your ID." The security guard replied without much emotion.

"But my class is starting in a minute! I can't be late!" She tried to reason with him. "Please let me in!" She was desperate. The stares she got from her classmates when she was late was bad enough, but she was already late twice. A third time and she might just be suspended from school. The security guard stood his ground, causing Hye Ri to sigh defeatedly and turned to leave.

Whatever. If I get suspended, I could use a break anyways. Stupid security guard. Hye Ri thought and she bumped into someone.

"Hye Ri! I'm glad I found you!" Kevin's cheery voice caused her to send him a bewildered look.

"What are you doing here?"

"You forgot your ID card, idiot." Kevin said, poking Hye Ri's cheek. "You're lucky I saw it and came to bring it to you." Without another word, Hye Ri grabbed her card from his hands and shoved it in the security guard's face.

"I told you I'm a student here!" She said childishly before running off to her class, leaving Kevin to stay with the security guard. After a few minutes of silence and surprise for Kevin, the security guard turned to Kevin.

"Girlfriend?" The security guard raised and eyebrow and Kevin nodded, slumping his shoulders a bit. "Good luck with her." The guard chuckled and gave Kevin a pat on the back as he left dejected.

Eleven A.M.

Eun Joo's eyes fluttered open as she slowly sat up on the blanket, tossing a look at the clock. The space next to her was empty and she held back a bitter sigh, lying back down on the blanket.

"What are you doing?" Eun Joo refused to open her eyes and replied with a muffled voice.

"I just want to stay here a bit longer." To be honest, it's been a long time since Eun Joo had slept until 11 in the morning. She was used to tossing and turning at night and then waking up in the early hours to cook breakfast or maybe even lunch for Dong Ho.

"Well, you should get up and wash up soon. I made breakfast or lunch or brunch." Eun Joo nodded as she pushed the blanket away from her. "My cooking isn't bad. Let's eat it while it's still warm."

"I'll go wash up. You can start without me." Eun Joo replied, getting off of the blankets, sleepily walking towards the bathroom.

"When are your classes?" Dong Ho asked, leaning against the wall next to the bathroom door.

"At one," Eun Joo answered, closing the bathroom door. Not much was said as she washed up and headed out to the dining room to eat their brunch.

Dong Ho was right. His cooking wasn't bad and it definitely made Eun Joo feel much better. For once, she didn't have to prepare the meal. For once, she got to eat cooking made from the heart. This was home food and she missed it so much. Throughout the meal, she had suppressed the urge to vomit after eating and found it easier to eat this meal.

"What do you think?" Dong Ho asked, taking a bit of kimchi.

"It's good." Eun Joo murmured, taking a spoonful of rice and putting it into .

"Right?" Dong Ho beamed before coughing and looking away feeling embarrassed by his change in attitude. "I don't know if I'll be able to do this, but I'll try to make you a meal everyday. Whether it's breakfast, lunch, or even dinner."

"You don't have to." Eun Joo answered, reluctantly looking up despite the fact that she wanted to be left alone. "You're an idol and I understand that you're a busy person." She stood up to leave the dining room table, as she was 'done' with her meal.

"Dong Ho, I know why you're treating me this way. It's because of what you've heard about my past. For ten years and counting, I've pretended that was past was completely normal. And you should too." Dong Ho felt an uneasy feeling growing in the pit of his stomach as he watched her head upstairs to grab a change of clothes.

Was it wrong to pry into her past? He only wanted to get to know her better. It's been months since they've been legally married. Months since Hye Sung walked back into his life and played with his feelings to get him to like Eun Joo. Or at least give her a chance. Someone else was obviously trying to give him a chance and some help. And it was about time that he actually tried to give Eun Joo a real chance.

Somewhere Else in South Korea...

Walking down a familiar path, he took his camera out and snapped pictures of the scenery. The flowers surrounding the dirt path and the tiny, wooden house that surrounded it. It seemed as if nothing had changed after ten years. The group he was traveling with was far up the path than he was. Not that he cared. This was his home and he wanted to do more than come and leave.

The other photographers were definitely missing out on this scenery and he continued to stop and take pictures. The other photographers didn't seem to notice how he stopped every few steps to take a picture and how the gap between him and the group was getting larger.

The group stopped in front of this large vacant spot in the middle of two wooden houses, wondering why there wasn't a house here. To them, it was a waste of space. There was a huge plot of land that could fit a house or two and yet no one had bothered to touch the land.

He stopped next to the group and took a seat on the boulder right across the vacant spot, not interested in helping others figure out why there was a huge space there. After staring at the ground for a while, he found his right hand pulling something out of his pocket.

A yellow hair tie.

"I wonder how she's doing..." He muttered, staring at the hair tie. He was determined to find her and give her back the hair tie. Well- his intentions were to find her and pay her back in any way possible. His life... he owned it to her. Though he wasn't sure that he could do anything to please her, he was determined to do so.

He was suddenly remembering th game of tag and other visits. The girl had definitely visited other times, but the time in which they played a game of tag was the most memorable. Of course, it was because something big happened, but it was mostly because of how pretty she looked in that dress.

Of course he'd thought she was pretty in other clothing, but maybe it was because she was in a yellow dress. Yellow afterall, was her favorite color. He pulled something else from his pocket to reveal a yellow band aid. A small one. An old one. From ten years ago. He had planned to give it to her since she was hurt, but he didn't have the chance to. 

"Kim Myungsoo!" A fellow photographer beckoned for him to come. Putting the hair tie and band aid back into his pocket, he stood up reluctantly and headed over to the photographer.

"L. You know I prefer to be called L." He muttered the the photographer, Hoya. Hoya shrugged and tapped his watch.

"We're moving up this path now to take more pictures. I didn't want to leave you behind." Most of the group had left the spot and he watched Hoya run after the group, leaving him alone. 

In the middle of the dirt filled spot, a tiny yellow flower stood there. Alone. Isolated. It was beautiful. And he took a picture of him, before looking at the tiny figures way up the path. There was nothing else to do now. He had seen the thing he had wanted to see the most.

Looking at the flower one last time, he ran to catch up with his fellow group mates.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

*To be honest, I didn't plan out this chapter. I got too lazy and tired. Also, another to be honest, I didn't bother editing this chapter either. >.< Sorry!

And yes! Kim Myungsoo, otherwise known as L, is the child hood friend of Eun Joo! (Most of you guys voted for him in the last poll!) :D I'm sorry for the crappy part in the middle, but I want to end this story soon. It's been going on for long enough, hasn't it? You guys can start expecting a few weird changes happening here and there, but this will all lead to the end of the story. Enjoy!*