“Nicole, it’s time to go,” he said gently, patting the girl lightly on her shoulder.

“Just a minute more please?” she glanced up at him briefly before going back to whatever she was doing; murmuring a silent prayer for her dead boyfriend.

Doo Joon just stared at her pitifully, and he let out a huge sigh. This is just too much. She couldn’t go on torturing herself for the rest of her life.

A second later, Nicole placed a soft kiss on top of the tombstone and touched it tenderly.

“I’ll come back soon to visit you again Junsu-yah. Annyeong.”

She stood up slowly and Doo Joon could see a small smile plastered on her face. A genuine smile; something which he hadn’t seen in a very long time.

“Are you okay Nicole?” he asked tentatively as he looked at her curiously.

“Neh!” she said, giving him a satisfied smile. “We can go now.”

Without waiting for his respond, Nicole blew one final kiss towards the occupied tombstone before starting to make her way out of the graveyard. Doo Joon followed closely behind her while throwing a last guilty glance at the name engraved on the white stone.

If only she knew...

Unable to take the awkward silence between them anymore, Doo Joon decided to speak his mind out.

“Nicole-yah, can I ask you something?”

The middle-length haired girl slowed down her pace as she turned to look at him questioningly.

“What is it Doo Joon-ssi?”

Even after all these time, she was still using formalities with him. He thought...he thought she would grow comfortable with him after all the things they have been through together. After all the times he had been there for her, consoling her.

“How long are you going to keep this up?” he blurted out unintentionally, his curiosity got the best of him.

And almost immediately, he regretted it when he saw Nicole’s half-smile totally washed away by his insensitive question.

“It’s okay...you don’t have to-“

“I don’t know,” Nicole cut him off abruptly, shoving her two hands into her jeans front pockets. “I really don’t know Doo Joon-ssi. It’s getting really tiring, you know? Waiting for someone who will never come back...”

Instinctively, Doo Joon reached out his hand and touched her right arm lightly.

“Mianhe. You don’t have to tell me Nicole.”

Lifting up her head to meet his gaze, Doo Joon could see the tears which had already started b in her once bright eyes. If it was anybody else, they would surely be fooled by the sweet smile that was etched on her face. But he could see, he could see the undeniable pain in her eyes.

“It’s crazy, you know?” she said softly and took Doo Joon by surprise when she slipped her hand into his. “I know that he’s gone, forever. But I still keep hoping and wishing for him to return home again one day. I’m still waiting for that moment Doo Joon-ssi.”

Not knowing what else to do, Doo Joon just gave her hand a gentle squeeze and held on tightly to it. She made no move to pull it away, which was just fine with him.

“Junsu...he was such a tease,” she shook her head amusingly as a distant look appeared on her face. “Even when he came into my life, I didn’t know someone could mean so much to me. And when he left...I didn’t know he would leave me for good.”

“I kept telling him to quit his job for good,” she continued in a regretful voice. “It was just too risky for him; it was putting both of us in danger. And each time he told me that it would be the last time...I believed him. I trusted him...until the day they told me he’s been killed during an undercover job.”

Slowly pulling her hand away from his grasp, Nicole wrapped both arms around her fragile self and Doo Joon saw her two shoulders jerking slightly every few seconds as she tried to keep her emotions under control.

“They couldn’t even find his body for me to bid my last farewell. That...that’s ridiculous isn’t it? That pabo...he left without saying goodbye.”

Doo Joon was this close to letting it all out, really this close to revealing all the secrets which had been kept safely under tight wraps.

He couldn’t bear to see Nicole suffer in this turmoil state, it was just too heartbreaking even for a tough guy like him.

But then Doo Joon remembered his promise, the promise which had been made between two friends who were even closer than real brothers.

And if Nicole knew the truth, her life would be in much more danger than it already is.

In a soft breakable voice, she spoke up quietly; almost inaudible but Doo Joon heard her anyway.

“I’d do anything to have Junsu back here again beside me.”