30

Sohyun walked over to Tao's house and she opened the door with the key, entering the house, immediately walked to the living room. "Tao, your dinner," she said and placed it on his table, opening up the container and taking the food out, placing it on the plate.

"Thanks, you can go now," Tao said as his eyes never left the screen and his fingers were flying all over the keyboard. Sohyun bit her lip. "I think I'll stay here longer, maybe it's better." Tao knitted his eyebrows together then smiled as he pressed save.

He stretched his arm and massaged his head, then looked at Sohyun. "What did you say just now?"
She sighed softly and rested her chin on the table. "I'm confused."
"Confused on what?" he asked, switching off the computer and turning on the television as he slurped on the noodles.

"I don't even know what I'm confused about," she murmured, which was covered up by the volume of the television. Tao glanced at her then back at the television. "What did you say again?" he asked, raising his volume.

"Kris confessed to me this afternoon, but I'm confused," she said and looked down. "What should I do?" she asked herself, also wanting to know the answer. "I've been haunted by this feeling ever since I was young and I also tried to cover it up, but recently, it just came back to me, all this at once." She pressed her lips into a firm line and sighed softly.

Troubled, puzzled, and confused.

Her eyebrows knitted together and biting her lip, sighing again. "Goal!" Tao cheered loudly and clapped his hands, his mouth full of the noodles.

He glanced at Sohyun and scoffed. "Aish if you're not going to watch the match then go back."
"What? I'm here to talk to you, and yet you didn't give a response," she mumbled.

Tao looked at her frustrated face and sighed again, placing the bowl down. "Alright alright. Well, just follow your heart. That's all I could say."

"Follow my heart?"

"If your heart says yes, just go ahead, if you feel it's not the time, then just wait, until you're ready," he advised, while Sohyun pondered for a moment. "Wait, that's it?" she asked herself.

Tao rolled his eyes again at her. "Actually, I have no idea what you are waiting or confused about. I just know that if you're not rooting for Arsenal or Manchester United, get out of my house," he said and stood up, pushing Sohyun out of his house.

Once she was out of the house, Tao cracked a smile and shook his head. "Silly, Kris told me everything before you did," he whispered to himself and grinned as he dusted his hands. "All of us have done what we are supposed to do. It's all up to you now, Sohyun."

"Tao, I have something to tell you," Kris said softly, sitting beside him, fidgetting in his seat nervously while Tao looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "Fart it out then."

Kris looked at him and scooted closer to him. "I think, I really am in love with Sohyun," he whispered while Tao rolled his eyes. "I told you I'm a fortune teller," he said while Kris tapped his chin. "When did you say that?"

Tao bit his lip and shook his head. "Now this isn't the main point. The main point is, did Sohyun accept?"

Kris sadly shook his head. "She said she isn't ready. But, I don't know why. I'm going over for dinner later on, I just hope things won't get so awkward.."

"When did you like her?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. It just slowly came. When I guide her, taught her, understand her better, the feelings just came as well and I just can't help but get attracted to her. When she was so clumsy meet Seyuk or Yesuk, I felt angry with her for not taking care of herself I have to take care of her. When she was alone with me during the Hong King trip, I felt a need to protect her, I felt I had to give her a sense of security around me, and I just won't let anything happen to her. And-"

"And now I totally understand your feelings. Explanation, not needed." Tao cut him off. "Totally understand. Just, go for your dinner, treat it as meeting getting to know her family members, okay?"

Kris slowly nodded and walked out of the house.

Once Tao closed the door, he immediately screamed and shout, cheering as he danced around the living room, jumping onto te couch and he immediately dialled BT. But before BT picked up the call, he quickly hung up. "Why don't I give them a surprise?" he grinned and nodded. "Tao oh Tao, you are the one and only genius in this world!"

-

"BT, don't you remember? When Sohyun was young, she was lost in the park, and we couldn't find her, only ten days after her disappearance, she came back," her sister said, bringing those memories and flash backs back, made her remember the incident clearly. It was the hardest time of Sohyun's life, and also hers and BT's life.

BT creased his eyebrows and thought, then nodded his head. "I remember. That was when she was five years old and we just moved into this house, with the park just a few minutes walk," he said, and his voice slowly trailed off, looking down, his fists clenching tightly.

"I remembered, I was buying her ice cream while she was sitting on the swing, playing all by herself. My eyes were focused on her throughout the entire time. I only turned my head to face the owner of the ice cream to pay for it, and when I turned, she was gone," her sister softened once she said it.

"G-gone?"

"Kidnapped. By a woman," BT explained. "The woman kept her in her house. The house was so old and the walls were already peeling. She drew down the curtains, so no one knew what was going in there. Sohyun would hide in the closet, refusing to come out after seeing there were rats and dust everywhere on the floor. When it was day, the curtains covered the windows, and Sohyun would just cry. When it was night, it was even worse. That woman didn't even turn on the lights, and Sohyun had to live in the dark for more than a week. She didn't dare open her eyes, didn't dare to listen to anything. Because once she knew she opened her eyes and listen, she would hear mice squeaking and the woman's voice."

Kris cringed and he softened. "I.. I didn't know that she had such a sad past. No wonder she was scared of the dark.."

"We looked for her, everyday without fail and only on the tenth day the woman went out and SoHyun could escape. When we saw her, her clothes were dirty and she looked so weak and haggard, she could hardly even stand. To imagine a five year old kid to be traumatized like this, we were to be blamed too," BT sighed and clenched his fists even more.

"It was when that woman was caught by the police, then we knew that the woman's child was dead, and she captured Sohyun, thinking she was her child," her sister explained. "After keeping in a dark compartment, she was claustrophobic."

"She felt lost, abandoned and alone with no one to help her whenever she cried or screamed for our help," BT said, shaking his head and closed his eyes. "After she came back, she wouldn't even talk or eat. It was only a few weeks then she would recover to her normal state."

"No wonder she was panicking in Hong Kong, and actually cried when the lift broke down, she thought about the past, that haunted feeling," Kris murmured and softened.

Her sister sighed once more. "We helped her to forget everything about it, and she slowly let go of the past, but when she was in university, the feeling came back to her." She bit her lip. "She was doing her major exam, and she was in a relationship with a student studying law too. He was two years older than her, and once he completed his studies, he immediately dumped her for another girl."

"And what made her hurt the most was it was her best friend that cheated on her with her boyfriend at the crucial point of time when she was studying. That bastard told her right in her face that he was a bright student to everyone, popular and smart, while Sohyun couldn't match his status with his." BT shook his head in disgust, fuming.

"That was her first relationship, and her first relationship made her lost hope in all other relationships. That first relationship which she took it seriously and made her lose concentration in her final exam. She almost failed and she even wanted to commit suicide, but fortunately BT and I were there for her. That exact same feeling, ditched, abandoned."

"And after leaving for further studies, at least Sohyun didn't see him again and hopefully will never see or remember him."

Their anger and concern for SoHyun can never be expressed by just saying it out, and they guess it can never will be. "From that day onwards, Sohyun gave up on any other relationships, and also dare not experience a new one. It's a big blow for her."

Her sister walked towards the end of the room and took out a box that was under the table, dusting it and opening the cover, then taking out a piece of paper that was slot in between the two pages of a magazine.

"Sohyun wrote a diary. Containing all of the memories she spent with her boyfriend, and after they broke up, I immediately burned the diary away, I hope Sohyun would never remember that relationship again, but I know it's impossible. But I just hope to relieve the pain, and not having her to be inflicted by the pain again," she said and handed a piece of paper to Kris.

It was yellow and the ends of it was burnt, having the end to be brown and black.

"I guess this is fate. The last page containing Sohyun's grief on the break up was written here, and it flew out of the diary, you can take a look." She forced out a smile and shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe because she thought that being with you would be turn out like her first relationship, being ditched."

Kris read the paper and his grip on it tightened. When he finished, he loosened his grip and took in a deep breath. "Silly girl, she really is silly.." He sighed then looked at them. "But.. I don't understand why she's afraid to be with the person she wants to be with."

BT whacked his head and groaned. "You idiot. No girl likes to start over with a new guy again. Getting to know a guy all over again, learning how to feel comfortable with him, giving her mind, body and soul to him, sharing and spilling those secrets to him again. Meeting a new guy's family and getting to know them again," BT explained.

"Having them to accept her again. Opening up and letting him see the real and vulnerable side of her. Going through her trust issues and placed her trust on a new guy which she had no idea whether that guy would be the one for her," her sister continued. "Sohyun's scared, scared to know you, scared to fall in love, but mostly scared that you would leave her, just like how that scumbag left her alone. She doesn't want that feeling to come back to her, get it?" she said and Kris blinked, nodding his head.

He walked out of the house and bumped into Sohyun.

Her eyes widened in surprise and she gulped, taking a step towards her left, while Kris blocked.
He took a step closer to her. "Meet me at the park, tomorrow morning. 4am."

"4am?!"

He nodded his head. "I'm going jogging, with you."
"J-jogging?" she repeated, asking.

He nodded his head again. "I'll teach you something new."

Sohyun watched him enter his car and drove off. "Jogging.." she murmured, looking down at the ground. "But why does he want to go jogging? Early in the morning?"

BT and Sohyun's sister looked out of the window and sighed softy to themselves. "I wonder what Kris is going to do, I hope he can help Sohyun in forgetting the past," she said to BT and patted his shoulder, nodding his head.

-----