Her phone has been ringing non-stop for the whole night. Young Do hadn’t chased after her when she left the convenience store, but he called her twice. The rest of the calls were from one person: Kim Tan. Eun Sang didn’t want to answer any of the calls so she busied herself with doing her homework while Bo Na sat on the bed behind her watching variety shows on TV and chatting with Chan Young. At one point the constant vibrating buzz became too much so she switched off her phone.

It became easier.

Still, the question remained in her head. Of all the things Young Do said to her, that question bothered her the most. Maybe it’s because it made her think, or maybe it was just the fact that she didn’t know the answer to the question. As simple as it was, it made Eun Sang think of everything that has happened throughout the months.

Before she went to bed that night, she switched on her phone to send her mother a message telling her that she’s okay but in her inbox were two messages. She clicked on the first one.

It was from Kim Tan. It read: Where are you? Why haven’t you been picking up?

Angry tears brimmed her eyes as she frantically tried to wipe them away with her sleeve, her heart felt burdened. As time went by it was starting to become cleared to her, the way she was supposed to live according to someone else’s will, the way she could be summoned.

Suffocating was the word to describe the feeling she felt. With a sigh, she wiped away the remaining tears and proceeded to the next one.

The sender of the message wasn’t much of a surprise compared to the message itself. From Choi Young Do, it read: Thank you, Cha Eun Sang.

Eun Sang stared at her phone for what must have been minutes, her eyes scanning through and rereading those five words again and again as if it would naturally make sense if she read it enough times. Thank you? What did she do for him that could possibly require the Choi Young Do to thank her. Shouldn’t he yell at her or say something threatening to her for leaving him in the convenience store just like that? Why would he even – She glanced at the clock, it was already two-forty six in the morning. Whatever she did or whatever those words meant, Eun Sang would save it for tomorrow.

That night she slept with a rattled heart.

Weekend came along and Eun Sang spent those days working and running errands. She came by Kim Tan’s house to get some new change of clothes whist successfully avoiding Kim Tan and the rest of the family. She kept herself busy with work and study sessions with Bo Na and Chan Young. It was a rather uneventful weekend, but Eun Sang wouldn’t call it peaceful – not with everything still going on; peace was a long way from here.

Eun Sang left early the following morning – too early and the school gate wasn’t open yet. She decided to walk along the street nearby and maybe buy her breakfast from a convenience store along the way. But when she spot an all too familiar figure sitting inside the store she stopped walking. There he was, Choi Young Do sitting on a stool and eating ramen as if it was his everyday routine – and maybe it was, she wouldn’t be surprised.

Young Do looked up, his face was blank and so was Eun Sang’s mind. She ducked her head and quickly walked away, she’d just have to buy her breakfast at the canteen in school then. When she reached the crosswalk, she sighed and waited for the red light to turn green. She felt rather than saw someone approach her and she didn’t have to turn around to see it was him.

But she did.

He cocked his head to the side like a child, a small smile playing on his lips. “Aren’t you going to say good morning to me, Cha Eun Sang?”

“Why did you follow me?” She asked.

“Aish.” He feigned hurt. “Why do you always have to answer my question with one of your own? Are you never going to give me a proper answer?”

Eun Sang looked at him, she wondered what it’s like inside his head. He was rich and he acted like it, yet there’re things that he did that made her feel otherwise. The boy was a mystery inside a mystery and it dumbfounded her to no end.

Instead of giving him an answer like he wanted her to, she decided to try her luck. “Why did you say thank you to me?”

The smile that he gave her in return was almost gentle and unlike him if it wasn’t for the fierceness in his eyes. “And I thought you would never acknowledge my words for you, like you have done so many times.”

Something tugged at her heart and she just stared at him, words seemed to have left her. It wasn’t the first time Choi Young Do has said something that made her utterly speechless.

“Yah, don’t look at me like that.” He pointed at her warningly. “It makes me nervous.”

The traffic light turned green and Young Do momentarily broke his gaze from hers to look at his right. Whatever he saw – Eun Sang could see someone standing across the street from the corner of her eyes – or whoever he saw was clearly not Young Do’s favorite. She looked over and saw Kim Tan standing at the crosswalk opposite them, she recognized his car parked five feet away from him by the street.

Eun Sang didn’t miss the look of utter disbelief and rage on his face. Apparently Young Do thought it was amusing, his hand found her right wrist naturally and before her brain had a chance to comprehend what was happening he slid his hand downwards, weaving his fingers through hers. Eun Sang looked up at him.

“Judging by the look on his face, you’ve either done something he didn’t want you to or you didn’t do something he wanted you to.” His tone was light, but they held just the same – if not more – amount of menace as he stared straight at the person across the street.

They didn’t cross the road despite the green light, everything around her seemed to drift away. Like she was submerged in water and all she could hear were the loud hammering of her heart against her ribcage, all she could feel was Young Do’s warmer hand enveloping her colder one.

Kim Tan took a step forward, then another one followed by the next and somehow Eun Sang felt herself and Young Do doing the same. Kim Tan’s gaze stayed locked on her as they walked past him, she could feel the force as his shoulder brushed past hers.

But they didn’t make it far, a hand seized her left wrist with much force than Young Do had – she was starting to question at the back of her mind why her brain immediately chose to compare Kim Tan’s touch to his. Young Do’s hand whipped forward and grabbed the hand that was holding her wrist, everything stayed static for a moment. Eun Sang recalled the last time the three of them were in a similar situation, when they were in the cafeteria.

She glanced at Young Do standing next to her, his eyes were fixated on Kim Tan. The boy who had forced her to eat with him, the boy who had tripped her multiple times in front of the student body, the boy who had sent terror shooting down her spine in that cafeteria – Eun Sang found it hard to relate that boy to the person with his fingers interlaced with hers. Their faces were the same, but they’re just not the same.

“Cha Eun Sang.” Kim Tan spoke, his voice demanding her to look up at him.

Her mind raced.

“Where have you been?” He asked. “Why haven’t you been answering my calls? I told you not to leave! I told you to stay put and stay where you are supposed to be. I told you – ” His words were cut off when she pulled out of his grasp.

Eun Sang’s chest felt heavy as she uttered her words, facing Kim Tan in a situation like this forced her to search deep within. “I can’t do this anymore.”

“What?”

“I can’t do this, Kim Tan.” She half whispered, tired and frustrated.

Kim Tan flung Young Do’s hand away and faced her, his anger dissipated into desperation and guilt. “I’m sorry. I can’t promise you – ”

“It’s not about what you can promise me. Do you know how much I am suffering?” Tears stung her eyes as she continued. “I don’t even know where I am supposed to be so how can you? You always expect me to do what you want without even thinking if it’s the right thing, if there are consequences. We are so different in so many ways – too different. I’m tired of living in in fear and having to walk on eggshells because I’m afraid of what your father will do. I do not have the luxury of not doing things recklessly and taking risks. Even if I do, I don’t know if this is the way to do it. Maybe you are – ”

“Please don’t.”

She forced herself to look him in the eyes. A part of her knew that she might come to regret her decision of hurting the boy she owed a lot to, but there was one thing she knew without a doubt. “Maybe you’re sure about your feelings, Kim Tan. But I am not. I can’t do this anymore.”

Distraught took over the boy’s features as realization dawned on him. Young Do on the other hand remained completely still and silent, she could feel his gaze burning through her.

Eun Sang let the tears fall, she reached out to hold his hand. “I owe you a lot for what you have done for me, I will try to repay you in some way. But let’s just leave what happened in America behind, maybe some things are just meant to be left as it is.” With a squeeze of his hand, she tried to smile at him. “I will see you around, Kim Tan. Take care.”

He held her hand tightly, and she let him. She let him hold it until the blinking green light turned red, then it was time. Slowly – but without hesitation – slipping out of his hold, she walked away leaving the boy behind and Young Do trailing behind her.

They kept on walking; they kept walking until Eun Sang’s legs stopped. She was grateful for the hand holding hers – the hand that never let go first– while she made the decision of ending and putting a chapter of her life behind.

A/N: (´∀｀)♥ Annyeong my dear readers, I hope you've all had a lovely Christmas! Chapter 2 is up and as always I had a lot of fun writing this and I hope that you've all enjoyed reading it as I've enjoyed writing it. Thank you for those who have chose to follow this blog and this story, and for those who have left me sweet messages, thank you so much :) it really makes me happy to see get to know what you guys thought.

I'm halfway done with Chapter 3 and if anyone has suggestions or prompts, please feel free to message me and I'll see what I can do about it :D 

Lastly, thank you all for reading and please look forward to the next chapter. Hope you guys will have an amazing new years~ I will talk to you again in 2014!

-Vannie