Chapter 17

I didn't even realize it, but it's been at least a week since I last seen or talked to Se Hun back at his house. I never tried to call him. I wish I could have built the courage to call him and actually ask him myself on how he's doing. Too bad I had no courage. I was a coward and as Se Hun would say... An idiot. I never saw him around by the bus nor at school either. I don't know why, but it made me feel kind of empty and it made me want something bad to happen to me because it seems like those were the only times I could see him. Come to think of it, I could never find them, but they always found me. I guess I was lucky when I went to Hongdae the other week and I saw Baek Hyun, Chan Yeol, and Lu Han.

Deep down, I really was hoping that he was doing fine alone. It's not like Se Hun and I had that kind of relationship to make me feel this way. He was just some guy who constantly saved me during some of my worst times, which is really weird because he always popped out of nowhere. I never knew where he came from. Maybe he was stalking me and I just didn't know it? Hah. That was a funny thought. Also, he was the one who I could cry to. He was the only one who's ever seen me cry like I was dying and he's never made fun of me for that. I guess that was something that I kind of liked about him. Wait. I'm not even trying to explain about my likings to this guy. I went off topic. Shoot. This is giving me a headache.

Talking about headaches, my stupid headache had gone away that day I took medicine from Se Hun. Goodness. It was one of the worst things a human could possibly ever encounter . How is it possible to have a headache last for more than a week? Yup. I'm probably the only one who's ever experienced that. It was not something I want to go through with again. I don't even know how I had gotten nor how it disappeared. I was just happy that it was finally gone and now I could go do the things I couldn't do. Like go get bubble tea to drink. Ah. I was already at the cafe and I had gotten my drink for free today. I don't know why they did, but it must be because they're all starting to like me a little. I'm sure I'm one of their best customers anyways.

That reminded me, my first time I had really talked to Se Hun was here, at the cafe. This was where he came to order himself a cup of bubble tea for himself and Lu Han. Maybe I shouldn't recall it because it was also the time that I got rejeceted for the first and last time. Ugh. Yes. I'm still kind of mortified by it because that was my first attempt. I'm going to be traumatized in the future. I'm sure I won't have any confidence on asking a guy out anymore because of him. Ugh. My life is practically over. Forget it. You know what? I'll stick to studying and then I won't have to worry about asking people out. I should try to get used to guys confessing to me again, huh? But it hasn't been happening for awhile so my love life is over. Yes. I have determined that.

Our exams were finally done and over with. Students were happy that they didn't have to worry or study anymore. Because of that exam week, I'm sure no one had a regular sleeping schedule anymore. But other than the exams being over and students celebrating about it, our school had decided to throw in a small fun festival for us because they wanted to help us all relieve our stress that we had gotten from it. Students were more than happy to have this happen. I, for one, didn't care. I was used to things like this, but to give us a festival? I guess it was something to look forward to since there was nothing fun in my life anymore. I didn't realize it until now, but I think my life is going back to normal...

"Ahn Soo Jin, did you go see your score for the exam?" Jung Ah hooked her arm with me as we walked to the cafeteria. "I finally surpassed two people. My mom's going to be happy."

"Am I still first?" I asked without even really caring.

"Mmm. How do you do so well? I look at one word and I want to throw up already." She said shaking her head. "Aren't you excited about the festival? I heard there's going to be a lot of things to do."

"I guess." I sighed kind of boringly.

"I guess? Geez, Soo Jin, why are we friends? I forget how boring you are." She frowned at me. "Don't you know how fun it's going to be? We get to play games, paint, and do all these other fun activities!"

"I guess I'm not too excited for it." I shrugged.

She rolled her eyes at me. "Anyways, have you been talking to Se Hun lately? You haven't talked about him for about a week now."

Did Jung Ah like keeping count about the things in my life? I mean, I knew about how it has been, but how does she know everything?

"No, I haven't." I sighed.

"Don't you want to talk to him?" She raised an eyebrow at me.

"No, why?" I looked at the food when we got into the cafeteria. I don't know why, but I was really hungry today.

"Aren't you... A little... Sad about it?" 

"Why would I be sad?" I asked turning to look at her.

"You constantly were with him and then all of sudden... It's like you two never really met. It's as if everything that happened between the two of you never happened... Like that month and half never existed." Jung Ah was talking as if she was telling a tale. I laughed and shook my head. She even remembered how long Se Hun and I interacted. "Soo Jin, you have one month left."

Shoot. How could I forget about the bet already? Maybe it's because I haven't seen Se Hun in so long that I didn't even think about it? I heaved a sigh and grabbed myself a tray of food. When I sat down, I didn't even touch the food I had bought. I sat there and thought about how I could see him again. I have to win this bet. I'm sure Jae Hyun's already practicing to kiss me. Ugh. How disgusting. I shivered thinking about that... I wanted to puke just having that stupid image in my head. Great. What am I going to do? I already lost a weeks worth of time and I won't probably see Se Hun again unless... Sounds kind of dumb, but unless I get hurt! Wow. I'm really asking for my own death. I shouldn't be thinking this.

"What are you going to do?" Jung Ah asked me, taking me out of my thoughts. 

"I don't know..." I hit my head a few times. "What should I do?"

"Go find him." Jung Ah said it as if it was that easy. Hah.

"I don't know why I'm even doing this..." I looked at Jung Ah and rolled my eyes. "He already knows about the bet. What's the point in doing this? I don't get it." Seriously. Why was I still even doing this? Couldn't Jae Hyun just start a new bet so we can make this more fair and so I don't have to go make someone fall in love with me? How frustrating.

"That's right... Se Hun already knows about the bet. He's not going to fall in love with you. It's over. Soo Jin, I'm sorry to say." Jung Ah dramatically grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "But I think you're going to have to give up and surrender to our stupid Choi Jae Hyun. There's no way you'll win this bet. I'm sure he already knows it. You're going to have to kiss him." She dug through her pocket and handed me her chapstick.

"What are you doing?" I looked at her chapstick and glared at her.

"You have to get ready to kiss Jae Hyun. No one likes chapped lips." She winked. "And it's going to be your first kiss..."

First kiss. Oh right. I never told her about Se Hun and I... And how we... Kissed...

"See... About that, Jung Ah..." I coughed to clear my throat. 

"When did you and Se Hun kiss?" She raised her eye brow at me.

Wow. I didn't even get to tell her what I wanted to say and here she is assuming it already. Okay. Okay. She's Jung Ah. She knows everything even if I didn't say everything. I just shook my head and went to pick at my food. I couldn't tell her the details. She would think I'm making it up and also, it's too embarrassing to talk about.

"Tell me, Ahn Soo Jin!" She yanked at my arm.

"What are you talking about?" I played dumb so I could avoid her.

"You're going to die." She squeezed my arm.

"Good." I stuck my tongue out at her. "That means I won't have to tell you anything if I'm dead."

"YAH!" She screamed in my ear.

I'm sure I was deaf now.

When I got home I saw my mother and father sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea with each other. They waved at me happily, as if they've never been so happy to see me. Actually, it was kind of true. It was weird seeing that they were both here at a time like this since I never get to see them until it was time for bed and if I saw one of them, I never got to see the other. They would usually be at work right now making money and I would be home alone with one of them. I was happy to see them. I sat down next to my mother and held her arm and hugged her.

"You must be as surprised as we were, huh?" My father laughed.

"What are you two doing home? Aren't you two supposed to be at work?" I raised an eyebrow.

"We both got off early today." My mom lightly tapped my arm. "Hmmm? Since we're all finally here as a whole family, should we go out and eat something?"

"How about you choose a place to eat, Soo Jin." My father suggested.

"Really?" I was surprised to see that they wanted to actually go do something. "Don't you guys have things to do?"

"No, if we had things to do, don't you think we'd be at work instead of home?" My father raised his eyebrow at me. "Come on, Soo Jin. I know you have something on your mind."

We ended up in Myeongdong. I don't know why I chose that place, but I wanted to be there with my parents. We walked around the area together with my arms hooked with one of their's. I know I'm almost graduating and heading to college, but I'm never too young to do these things with my parents and also, it's been the longest time since we've actually got to do something as a family. I mind as well take this oppurtunity and cherish this moment while I can.

"I'm craving pork..." My dad said looking around the area.

"I'm craving beef..." My mom said smiling.

"How about we have both?" I suggested.

"Do you have money?" My mom asked.

"I could if appa would lend it to me." I playfully smirked as I turned to face my father.

"What did you want to eat, Soo Jin?" My father asked. "Whatever you want, we'll eat, but it can only be one or the other; not both."

I tapped my chin and thought about it. "Pork."

We went into a restaurant that was filled with people. We luckily got a seat and got our order taken. My parents sat across from me and we patiently waited until our food would arrive. We finally got to talk as a family. I learned about my father's job and how he's been working with the elderly and was trying to start a fundraising event soon to raise money to build a new home for them. My mother had been dealing with annoying people at work and said that she wanted to move to a different position as soon as possible. I told them about how I ranked first again in academics. They were once again proud of me and had decided that they would order extra pork just to celebrate it. I don't know why they were always so happy about it; I guess it's because no one's ever beat me.

After we were done eating, we had decided to go shop around the stores. I ended up buying myself snacks on the streets to eat while we walked around since I was kind of bored. Geez. My stomach is going to kill me later.

My parents had bought me two new pairs of jeans, three pairs of t-shirts, a crewneck, and two sweaters. I guess those were one of the perks of having parents shop with you. They bought you whatever you wanted and even if you weren't thinking about buying something, they offered anyways. I was thankful to have them as parents. Even though we don't interact much, it was a good feeling to have them here with me and to spend time with them.

I went over to a different area to shop at while my parents looked at jewelry. Over at where I went, I was looking at hats and cutesy couple things. Why was I looking at this when I clearly don't have a boyfriend? I don't know. I always liked looking at things like this. It made me want to have a boyfriend one day and do these cute things even if he didn't want to. I at least want to do it once in my lifetime while dating someone. Maybe it's because I wanted to show the world that I had a boyfriend. Hah. But that will never happen because I'm Ahn Soo Jin. I don't have such things called boyfriends and I only worry about school. Yup.

Just as I leaned forward to take a closer look at the hats, I felt someone yank my purse quickly, breaking my straps. I turned around and saw a man running off with my purse. What the hell? I started to chase after him. I was never atheletic and I wish I was at this moment. How could some lowlife think about snatching my purse when I'm supposed to have a happy day? Was it really just too good to be true? What a bastard. If I catch this guy, he's freaking dead! I'm going to put him under my freaking hitlist! Nevermind that, but I was catching up to him. He bumped into older lady and fell onto the ground. I jumped on top of him and grabbed my purse, but just as I was about to get up and leave, the guy pulled me down and pulled out a knife. He cut the same arm that was cut before and I started bleeding. He grabbed my purse and ran off. I stood there, shocked. Everyone around me just stared. They were all shocked to see that it had happened as well.

I fell onto my knees and grabbed my arm that was spilling out blood. An ahjusshi nearby quickly started to call the police while an ahjumma and a few others started to grab things to help me with my bleeding. I was losing conscious. Great. I'm going to pass out in front of all of these people and my parents probably don't even know that I'm gone. I looked ahead to see if I could still get a glimpse of the stupid bastard who took my purse, but instead, someone stepped into my view. They were wearing all black; black pants, black t-shirt, black leather jacket, black shoes, blonde hair... Blonde hair? I looked up but just as I did so, my body had decided that I should pass out. And so I did.

**A/N: UPDATE! Hehe. Enjoy it if you can :P I've started a new story so go and read it too and subscribe or anything! It's called Goodbye Autumn. It features Chenchen <3 But note that I won't be posting until I'm done with this story though, but please still support and read :D. Please read and comment. I'd love to hear about your opinions, so please don't be a silent reader. Thank you and read with lots of love! Keke~! Muah!