It’s not for the world to decide whom we spend our life with, Eunji, said my father once, I remember, I was in second year of High school at that time, and was upset over my friend going out with someone whom she wasn’t compatible with. It’s for them to decide whom they love, for its them who would spend their life together, Eunji, not the rest of the world…

And those very words of him, several years later I was yet again trying to convince myself with, although it hurt my heart, strangely; it didn’t even have a reason to. Was it that I wasn’t happy for her? She was someone important for us of the same neighborhood since she was the youngest in the group and yet, the prettiest and we all cared for her, was it that I didn’t feel she was compatible with him? And of course Kim Sung Gyu wasn’t that much of a bad person although I didn’t know him very well, I could feel it that he was someone who could genuinely love another, for his care was sincere, eyes; honest, it wasn’t that he wasn’t compatible with her at all. He would treat her well, treat her the way she deserved it. I figured, it wasn’t at all the case, no. It wasn’t about her, it was about me, myself.

I knew I shouldn’t be feeling this way, angered, pathetic and completely useless; I shouldn’t be throwing a tantrum over something so trivial, it’s just a guy and a girl dating, nothing concerning me; and she was a pretty wonderful person while he was equally pleasant, and none of them had anything to do with me; then why should I be fuming here?

Right, I knew. I envied her, I envied at how she always got, and deserved best of everything while I got nothing at all. It might sound pathetic, gullible even, but truth to be said, there is always a time when one would go tired of how the world goes. Honestly, if one looked at us in a general perspective, wouldn’t both Naeun and I be in the very same element? Aren’t we both ordinary? Aren’t we both just girls just around their adolescence searching for comfort of another? Then what made her so special? What made her so important to deserve everyone’s concern, including mine to grow in it like a delicate flower? What made her so special that she deserved someone like Kim Sung Gyu?

I thought of Kim Sung Gyu and how he acted around me. He was just ordinary, pitying me whenever he got me into trouble and giving me the very same smile that he would give every girl out there, why would I feel so…disturbed? It wasn’t like there was anything between us. Besides, all he wanted to do was to push me off to Nam Woohyun, I figured by how he got my number and by how he happily watched it when he bothered me to no end. I shouldn’t be bothered really, for the one I loved wasn’t any of them, it was Myung Soo, and like hell I knew that he would never leave me by myself. Neither would Howon, I knew, despite all that happened between us Howon would never leave my side.

He and I decided to get drunk that night, because we didn’t have much to talk about, so we bought a couple of beer cans and sipped them one after another, sitting on the slope to my house, gazing up at the starless sky. The wind of balmy and humid, I felt it might rain soon, yet we realized we both needed to get away from the complications in our minds, and even our hearts, strangely. All through the while, we didn’t utter a word to one another but continued to gaze up at the sky. It was just before the bext downpour that one of the streetlights blew off, and Howon decided to call it a night; feeling desperate for a good sleep myself, I gathered the empty cans in the plastic bag, gave Howon a brief hug and a pat on his back before letting him off. I couldn’t decipher the kind of pain he had though; it was terribly hard to read how he felt. He said he wasn’t smitten, and I too felt that he wasn’t since I myself had witnessed how he would be like if he was. Maybe he was just disappointed, or had something more to the say even if he kept everything to himself.

I got rid of the cans and went to the living room searching for my father and figured he might have gone to sleep already, thus I peeked into his room, only to see him sound asleep on his side.  He never slept in the middle of the bed, my father, since he was so used to sharing the bed with someone, first his younger brother, and then my mother who both had…passed on. This fact cringed my heart, how he was sitting through it just fine and I cursed myself for being such a pathetic doofus. There were people suffering more than I possibly did, so what reasons did I have to throw a tantrum?

I had a quick cold shower and simply fell into my bed only to stare up at the roof. I wanted to clear my mind for a while, and luckily the best source was just around the place, wiggling its tale, hopping up and down with a little whine. I laughed at its doing to myself. It was such an adorable little thing, Puppy was. And strangely reminded me so much of Myung Soo.

I reached down, took him and laid him on my lap where he comfortably settled down, staring up at my face with this pair of glittery eyes of his. I wondered what he was thinking, I wondered if he would have complications with feelings and people when he’s grown up. I felt so gullible of myself.

It was a moment later that my phone rang on the stool beside my bed. I took it cautiously, and it was an unknown number. It was late that night, and I didn’t pick late night calls from unknown numbers at general courtesy that I left it be. It disconnected and started to ring again. I ignored it up to the third time until it stopped and ringed with a message instead. With a reluctant sigh I took it, only to widen my eyes with befuddlement.

It was Kim Sung Gyu, scolding me why I wasn’t picking up his calls.

For a moment, I sat still, unable to figure out what I could possibly do. To be honest, I wanted to call, to hear his voice to hear what he had to say; which was a peculiar thought indeed, for I couldn’t possibly have that crazy urge to hear his voice; maybe I was completely out of it, maybe I had gone insane nevertheless I took all of this as granted and simply proceeded to give him a call.

He picked up at the third ring, and I could sense the urgency in his voice.

“What was that, Eunji-Ssi? Why didn’t you pick up?”

Why do you care? I wanted to ask in return. Why are you calling me even? There was no damage done, at least, there shouldn’t be…

“I was in the middle of something” I said, rather nonchalantly. “Why do you call?”

“I was worried you see, you should pick up your calls without worrying others” He said, in the very same grave tone and I wanted to scream into the phone in pathetic anger. Why was he worried?

Why did it make me happy and angry at the same time that he was worried for me?

I sighed, without trying to show too much of how I felt. Really, I shouldn’t be feeling anything. “Okay okay, now tell me why you called”

He breathed out heavily on the other end and cleared his throat. “Eunji-Ssi, are you free tomorrow? In the evening?”

Momentarily, my eyes almost popped out. He must be busy dating Song Naeun; why should he ask me that?

“Yes” I muttered carefully. “Why?”

There was a brief moment of silence before he asked. “Mind having coffee with me?”

It was my turn to be silent then, befuddled at his sudden request. Of course, when he asked if I was free tomorrow, I knew he was all about to ask something along the line, but for coffee? My first instinct in return was to ask if I was to come alone.

He chuckled lightly. “Yes…but of course, Eunji-Ssi, if there’s anyone else you want to-,”

I had no one, really, that I immediately denied. “Of course not! Sung Gyu-Ssi, it’s just weird you asked” I replied, being honest. “I didn’t really expect it, since-,”

“Since you’re not fond of me?” He added and laughed. “I get it, Eunji-Ssi, it’s not about anything big, no worries, just for a little while…”

I sighed, and then there it was again, that little falling feeling in my heart. “Alright…I’ll come by”

“Good…I’ll bring the shirt I borrowed…” He added.

“Sure. I have cleaned yours too…”

“Good…see you then” He muttered, he didn’t sound very excited or happy though…he was simply…emotionless.

“Sure…”

And I was all about to hang up when suddenly-

“Eunji-Ssi”

“Oh?” I asked, widening my eyes, surprised.

“Well…about today…”

I felt my heart skipping a strange beat. “Today…?”

He sighed. “Ah. Never mind…I’ll tell you later…nights!”

And even after he had hung up I was still holding my phone against my ear, as though awaiting for him to continue. It felt strange, really, to wait for someone’s voice, to wait to hear it, because if it didn’t come, eventually, all we’ll be left with would be an empty ear and a hollow mind, heart filled with pain.

That was exactly why I couldn’t sleep the entire night.

“Eunji. Really now” Hissed a voice beside me which immediately brought me back to earth, where one of the lecturers was on about the interventions of USA during the cold war period. It was boring, really, and it honestly wasn’t my fault that I was dozing off then and there; the lecture was anything but interesting to me.

“Hold on for a while”

I nodded and tried my best to keep my eyes widened for the next few minutes, and luckily it was the last few minutes of the two hour long lecture; and once he winded up for the day, I laid my head on the table with a groan and tried not to really doze off.

“Eunji…get up, I’m hungry” Myung Soo whined, and I noticed that he was actually gathering my stuff, neatly placing them in my bag. “And your bag, is possibly housing parasites, you see…”

“I don’t care” Was my groggy reply before I finally got up. “Who’s buying today? I’m literally broke”

He sighed. “Alright. I will…so let’s go now?”

He insisted we eat out today although I was groggy and really wasn’t in the mood to; however without really feeling like it I followed after him, he lead me to the nearest chicken place and asked me to order what I wanted.

“Ah, just double your order Myung” I said and plopped down on the table. With a reluctant sigh he did just that before turning back to me once the waitress was gone.

“Eunji what’s with you, eh?”

I groaned and buried my face in my hands. Really, I wasn’t even in the mood to talk. I was sleep deprived, I wanted a good comfy nap, and I wanted to go over and hit some sense into Kim Sung gyu’s head for making everything so confusing to me. And also tell Howon to stop worrying too much about the princess and to tell Naeun that her choice of men big time-

-wait…what?

“You look sleepy. Did you stay late and watch that lame drama of yours?”

I looked up and made a face. “Shut up Myung, you watch it too”

He sighed. “What is it then? Another love letter? Or…oh wait, is it what Howon asked you to come for?”

I sat up straight at this, earning from him a knowing nod. “Oh…so it is…” He cleared his throat. “Do you want to talk about it?”

I stared at him for a little while and decided that it was for the best I escape this. Without a word I stood up.

“Where are you going?” He wanted to know.

“Rest room” and I made my way through.

Looking at the reflection of myself on the mirror, yet again I cursed at how much of a pathetic doofus I was being. Truly, there was no reason to be angry, let alone be jealous about something which had absolutely nothing to do with me. There was no reason for me to feel burdened and frustrated, really, Sung Gyu wasn’t even in my level of likability; despite how attractive he looks on the stage and that voice of his which could simply send us off to heaven and how his eyes disappear when he smiles and…

Seriously. He would never increase my level of likability on him. Period.

I shook my head and washed my eyes for the betterment. It was probably the hangover from the previous day on the toll on me again that I wasn’t thinking straight. If I honestly get a hold of myself and look at the different perspectives of the entire situation, wouldn’t it be for the betterment of my petty mental instability?

I splashed a second hand-full of water on my face and grabbed a several tissues, dried my face and took a deep breath. My mission was to see who had caught Myung Soo’s heart and try to be better than she was. My mission was to find who the wonderful being was behind the beautiful letters I received, to see whom I had intrigued; it was thoroughly not to go insane over some random hobo stranger who was seemingly too good to be true, going out with the resident princess, it was not of my concern, or it shouldn’t be.

I returned to the table only to find Myung Soo munching on chicken as though he was attending dinner with the queen. He smiled at me the moment I took my seat and placed a piece of our portion on my plate.

“You know Eunji…” He started after a while, gawking at me with a knowing look. “It’s okay that you refuse to tell me what bothers you…but what worries me is, the more you keep it to yourself, the more it hurts you…”

I wasn’t surprised at his words; after knowing him for two years, I knew him like an open book, and he giving encouraging lectures to me was nothing new. I didn’t say anything though. Instead, I nodded and dipped my piece of chicken into the bowl of sauce.

“It might not be anything I should know….and I’m not a nosy idiot to force it on you, but it doesn’t have to be me. What hurts you, spill it out on anyone to feel better, hmm?”

Nodding I did before taking a bite and finally forced a smile. “I know that our Myung loves me!”

He stared at me, and I realized how wrong what I said was. Certainly I had no right to say it.

But instead of blasting at me or anything, he gave me a smile. “Of course…you’re my best friend”

And I knew that very moment that being his best friend would be all that I will be in his life.

We didn’t talk about it afterwards but went on discussing mundane matters like the couples in the batch and how this lecturer always flirted with one of the girls there, we were both careful to not to touch the sensitive matters, because we both didn’t want to make the situation any more awkward; after lunch we bought ice cream to cheer ourselves up, and returned to attend the afternoon lectures.

During this, I didn’t hesitate to simply doze off and Myung Soo didn’t stop me from doing so. It was at the end of the lecture when Myung Soo mentioned something about someone dating while leisurely organizing my belongings into my bags with a distasteful expression on his face that I suddenly remembered:

I was supposed to meet Sung Gyu over coffee that evening.

My first instinct was to panic, followed up by, well, panicking even more, when clear images of him and his rocker persona on stage happened to appear in the back of my eyes…and then him, with Song Naeun. When I turned to Myung Soo, however, he seemed even more upset than he was, primly about my cleanliness, and now about my jumpiness. I could never get his sudden change of expressions you see; they didn’t suit the situation most of the time, thus would confuse me as to why he would look so happy when he get to clean his house and get grumpy when he gets his latte with a straw.

“What?” He wanted to know.

“Nothing…really…” I replied, hesitating a little. I didn’t want to tell him anything yet, you see. He was quite strict about girls being involved with strangers although he held quite a high idea on strangers becoming close acquaintances; he had a way of defining it. Which basically involved his sister. Myung Soo had a little sister, half-sister to be honest, whom he hadn’t seen for almost five years; and what he would always tell me was that I shouldn’t be going around getting unnecessary attention from strangers around be, granted that I was a girl.

He forced a smile. “Are you…still thinking about the letter?”

I widened my eyes, almost having forgotten it. “Eh? Ah…not really…”

“Well, I know you and your jumpiness, really, but don’t get too excited” He said, a grave tone underlying in his voice. “Sometimes things don’t work out as expected”

I didn’t say a word then, in fact I couldn’t find my words to respond. Myung Soo had his way with words, really, and at times he could be truly horrifying, for they could be indeed the truth. I thought of the letter, and wondered where it could have ended up with. I thought of Woohyun, and te first time I met him where he was talking about getting laid, and how he seemed to always be picking on me, even with that highly convincing smile plastered on his face. Was it genuine? Never would I know. I thought of Sung Gyu, and about how he was running around in sweat pants and how the taxi driver reacted towards him; I thought of the impression I had on him. He seemed dependable, he seemed pretty compatible, but of course, looks could be deceiving. Was I wrong once more?

To be honest though, I had no other ways to answer my doubts, given that I had so many doubts and questions which I needed to find answers for, myself. Who had found the letter, who exactly was Nam Woohyun, and why he followed me around so much, why I always run into trouble whenever I meet Kim Sung Gyu, those were complex matters I had in hand, and of course, I had several riddles to solve. All through this, I had Puppy, I had two jobs to attend, and a mock exam coming around. And also to overcome the reviving jealousy I developed on Song Naeun on being so perfect which I had no idea where it came from.

Well, life sure could give you lemons at one point, and of the sourest variety, to be precise.

Myung Soo drove me to the bus stop and left claiming that he had something important to attend after a light tousle of my hair which got my heart running, and I returned home, feeling a little nauseous in the pit of my stomach. I was nervous, really, for I was afraid I would end up staring at how perfect his facial features and physique was rather than listening to whatever he had to say. I was attracted to his looks, really, there was nothing to it more than that, and I suppose, it’s just natural that girls get attracted to the body physique of someone from the opposite gender.

And of course, Kim Sung Gyu looked just fine.

I went home, greeted Puppy who all over my face before taking a quick shower, dressing decently and rushing over to Sung Yeol’s where we were supposed to meet. As I neared, though. I wanted to run back home. I was wondering what really was going on, and if he was actually meaning to meet me to inform me of his relationship with Naeun, I simply wasn’t ready for it, just because I was still drenched in jealousy towards her.

I had already called Sung Yeol to tell him that I had something to attend, only to have my shift moved to the one next morning, and when I entered the café, dressed casually and smirking at him, proudly of my conduct, he seemed definitely irked, and I was almost certain that he would make me carry the garbage first thing the next morning. The café was a little crowded, provided that it was close to the office-closing hours, and many of the customers were those who had come to relax over a cup of coffee and chatter away the mundane matters. Several of them recognized me, since I had been one nice employee at the café for quite a while (Which Sung Yeol would always take as granted and/or say something totally opposing them) and one nice lady actually offered me her place and moved elsewhere because I had once talked about how I liked that particular seat overlooking the street.

And that was where I sat, and waited for exactly twenty eight minutes, doing nothing but watching people passing by, profoundly avoiding Sung Yeol and his judgmental eyes at all costs. In the end I was tired, I didn’t even want to call him and question why ditched me, honestly; weren’t Myung Soo’s words simply true? Of course, I never should have trusted a stranger on the first place, no matter just how convincing he may have seemed to me.

It was when I was just about to leave that I felt presence behind me, and whoever it was, covered my eyes. I didn’t say anything though, or react nastily the way I did whenever Myung Soo did that, instead, I took a deep breath;

And came into conclusion of one certain fact.

This wasn’t, under any circumstances, Kim Sung Gyu.

“Whoever you are, you aren’t Sung Gyu” I said, matter-of-factly. There was a muffled sound then, as though someone was trying not to laugh, and this was strangely familiar.

Well, in fact, way too familiar, for it was simply so easy to read into his tactics of catching women’s hearts.

“Nam Woo Hyun”

He let go of me and burst out laughing. “Oh my! How did you do that?”

“That was just easy” I said, just as he took his seat, comfortably before me. “You were being noisy, as always”

He made a face. “Ah…that just hurt me”

“Suit yourself” I said with a smirk. “Why are you here, anyway? You aren’t the one I am supposed to meet”

“About that…” he said, and gave me one of his signature, cheeky smiles. “Sung Gyu Hyung’s not coming today”

I rolled my eyes. “Tell me something I don’t know? You see, I guessed it already, he’s always on time when he comes to trouble me, if he’s not on time; he’s not coming”

He chuckled. “You’re quite observant eh?”

I decided to ignore him. “Anyway, why was it that he needed to meet me, again? Because, you see, I don’t have all the time in the world-,”

“Be my date” He blurted out. And I stopped dead on my words, flabbergasted.

“E-eh?”

He let out a light chuckle. “Sorry…it came out the wrong way…let me try again” He said, smiled and cleared his throat before starting again. “Jung Eunji-Ssi…there’s this, how should I put it, an event? Yeah? this occasion, a formal dinner night, where I’m invited to attend…and since I don’t have anyone to go with, would you be my date for the night?”

I sat still, analyzing everything that happened and what he said. At first, nothing seemed to interconnect, since I wasn’t very bright to determine whether the matters and reasons had any real connections, but with a further analysis, throughout which Nam Woohyun sat and casually waited for my reply as though he was waiting for his mother to give him his portion of cake, I realized that there was something strangely fishy.

“That’s why Sung Gyu-Ssi wanted to see me?”

He nodded. “Yeah…to invite you to come with me, since I…well, was a little flustered to ask you myself”

“Why?” I asked. I expected him to be taken aback, but he wasn’t, in fact he seemed nonchalant, as always, unchanging his posture before he replied. “Because you can’t be his date, obviously, that’s why”

The very statement, strangely, very strangely, pricked hard on my frail heart. I had to gulp hard to overcome the unnecessary sentiments.

“Well, I can’t say anything, because I don’t know what and where this is” I said, sounding as straight and decent as possible.

“Ah, that won’t be a problem. To simply put, this is going to be a little…surprising….and if you’re worried about going with me, Sung Gyu would be there too”

Sung Gyu’s name surely had a sense of safeness, to be honest, maybe because I had begun to see him in quite a different light, maybe because, to me, his smile had always been reassuring…and promising.

“When is it?” I asked next.

“In four more days”

“Where?”

He smiled. “Ah, can’t tell you…”

I frowned. “What?”

“A formal dinner, of course”

“Why?”

“Told you it would be surprising….can’t burst the bubble yet”

“But why?” I whined, this time, a little annoyed, and in response, Woohyun sighed and looked gravely into my eyes.

“Jung Eunji-Ssi…”

“Yeah”

“Do you have trust issues?”

I widened my eyes and sat back. “Why would you ask me that?”

“Because you ask me so many questions!” He said, making gestures with his hands. “When where what why? Do you not trust me at all?”

I sighed, recalling what Myung Soo said earlier. But was it bad? To trust someone whom you never knew before?

Was it difficult? To overcome it if I get hurt by trusting one? A stranger?

But when I looked up, and met with Woohyun’s reassuringly smiling eyes. I couldn’t really trust my words. I had hurt him, I figured, up to an extent where he didn’t seem to look at me through the same glittering eyes. I felt guilty truly. He did mention it was a formal dinner, and I who had been in the pit of Underground where so many corrupted things happen, and had lived through it, was afraid to attend a formal dinner with someone who seemed definitely worth trusting from head to toe. Was I being delusional again? Was I thinking too far? Was I taking his concern as granted? Wasn’t I a stranger for him too?

And no matter what, I knew, if Sung Gyu would be there, I was safe, for I had seen how well he would keep his eyes out for me, and I had even let him in my house, he was such a wonderful gentleman, therefore, his friend couldn’t be that bad.

In the end, with a long reluctant sigh, I nodded in agreement and smiled. “Alright…I’ll come with you…then…”

His face immediately changed, as would a withered flower once watered, and it eased my tightening heart a little. “I knew you would! I’ll take good care of you”

I smirked. “Well, I can’t wait! But don’t expect me to wear provoking clothes”

He burst out laughing. “I won’t allow that! And of course, they would look pretty strange on you”

“What?”

Still laughing, he took something out of the bag he was carrying. “Here…hyung asked me to return this to you”

Remembering what we had talked about the previous night, I too, pulled out his cloths which I had washed along with Myung Soo’s and neatly pressed, and handed it over to me. He had, by now, ceased laughing.

“I’m not going to ask what they are and how it happened that you had to exchange parcels” He said, after stuffing the paper bag into his back pack. I didn’t say anything though, since spilling green tea latte on my chest didn’t sound to be that much of an interesting tale, and he too, didn’t seem like he wanted to he air either. Without another word, Woohyun took the menu into his hands.

“Well, since we hadn’t ordered yet, why don’t we now?”

However, things were going terrible in my mind that I couldn’t sleep the entire night, causing me to wake up pretty late the next morning, the alarm being my voice blaring on the phone saying that I shouldn’t pick up the phone. It was Sung Yeol, I knew, for I had put my voice as the ring tone so that I would know I shouldn’t be answering it unless I wanted to be blasted for my doing. The clock on the stool read thirty minutes passed nine, a perfect retaliation which implied that I was doomed for good.

Without wasting a second then, I washed, got dressed, stuffed my face with the toast that my father had made for me before he left and rushed out of the house, after a quick good bye to Puppy. It had rained the previous night, therefore the ambiance was still cold and humid, the roads were slippery that I tripped countless times on the way to the bus stop.

And the buses were extra crowded, much to my disdain and I had to suffer momentary suffocation all throughout the ride, making it worse, Sung Yeol was at it again; I mentally prepared myself to face the circumstances once I got there, which would basically involve heavy labor without recess.

By the time I reached the stop which was a few feet away Sung Yeol’s, I was literally out of it. My hair was disheveled, clothes rumpled, and drenched in sweat, reeking of, well, human; but the hell I cared for being presentable, given that the first and the foremost errand I would be running would be most undoubtedly to carry the week’s garbage. With a deep sigh, I took a seat on one of the stools to break a breath;

And that was when I felt it, the scent of apples and Spring, ever so close to me; out of instinct, a shiver ran down my spine for a reason unknown, and slyly I looked to my side, following the scent, only to land my eyes on the figure two stools away from mine, leaning on the stall’s side panel, eyes shut tight. Out of intuition I figured that something wasn’t right.

I began to tremble internally. Was I to make a move? I wasn’t certain, but he surely seemed to be requiring someone’s attention. I tightened my hands into fists, cleared my throat and called out his name. He didn’t move an inch, thus I tried again, feeling my heart beating faster; only then he reacted, looking up languidly, and I noticed how broody his eyes were, and his lips, usually flushed of soft pink were pale, skin chalk white; I figured, he was sick.

“Ahjussie…what are you doing here?” I asked, moving closer. “Are you sick? Does it hurt anywhere?”

He didn’t answer me though, he just watched me, eyes unmoving and slowly shook his head before muttering a throaty ‘I’m alright’.

With much hesitancy I reached out and placed a hand on his cheek, since as always, his forehead was covered with his red-brown hair. He was as cold as porcelain, and I noticed that his hands were placed right above his stomach.

“Ahjussie, does it hurt there? You got a tummy bug?”

He shook his head. “I’m fine”

“Then just what are you doing here?”

He took a moment to take a few long breaths and replied. “I was going for work…”

“Work?” I looked around, panicked, searching for his car. “What are you doing here? Where’s your car?”

“Came by bus” Was his brief reply.

“Where do you work? Is it nearby?”

He nodded, and I thought of the nearest decent place where I could guess he was possibly working, I mean, he was said to be a busy man, he couldn’t possibly be doing a menial job.

“Is it AD concepts? The IT place?”

He shook his head. I tried again. “The-the law firm…? Lee, Jung and whatever the other name is?”

He shook his head and finally looked up to meet my eyes. “SK”

I widened my eyes. “SK? SK what? I will take you there…”

“C and C”

“SK C and C?” I almost stopped breathing. He worked there? He worked at SK C and C? He worked at this large scale multinational IT Corporation? I wanted to melt into a puddle and die.

So that explained why he was such a busy body.

“But Ahj-Su-Sung Gyu-Ssi…it’s a lot far from here…haven’t you been there on the bus before?”

He shook his head, yet I knew all before he did. With a sigh, and letting Sung Yeol’s bantering go to the hell with it, I placed a hand on his shoulder. “Come on, let me drop you off”

He didn’t move though, so I let him be and moved ahead to flag a taxi. Once I had, I took his hand which he squeezed hard the moment mine reached his, and reluctantly he stumbled towards the vehicle. I made him sit gently, and sat beside him myself. He immediately leaned against the door and closed his eyes. I could see the sweat shining against the white of his skin, hands trembled the slightest, and I wouldn’t deny just how terribly scared I was.

I was all about to tell the driver the destination when he reached out and took hold of my arm.

“Not to the company…” He whispered to me so lightly, I could hardly even grasp his voice. “I’ll…go home”

“Oh…” I agreed with a nod. “Okay…you don’t look like you can work, anyway…”

“Eunji-Ssi…” He called out.

“Hmm?”

“You…don’t have to come”

But of course, I could simply let him off, but by the look of it, he seemed like he needed help, he didn’t seem like it at all that he should be left alone.

“No, its okay…I’ll come”

He didn’t reply.

I told the driver the destination, which I had to elaborate due to his poor knowledge on directions and sat back, staring at Sung Gyu’s back, tracing with my mind his uneven breathing. He would take one long breath once in a while, and he seemed to be trembling a little, and I noticed, he had his palm pressed tightly on a side of his waist.

I reached out and placed my hand on his.

“Sung Gyu-Ssi…is this where it hurts?”

He didn’t reply.

“Sung Gyu-Ssi, answer me! Does it hurt here?”

He nodded, much to my greatest fear. “How long had it been? A few days?”

He didn’t answer, yet again, but I knew the answer myself, regarding how he sounded over the phone the other day, and the fact that he couldn’t come the day before.

With a deep breath, I recollected my self before audaciously moving towards where his hand rested, to the hem of his shirt. It wasn't that I hadn't seen a man's abdomen before, of course I had seen my father's and Howon's and even Myung Soo's, but thinking how long we have known each other, it did quite make it uncomfortable for me. but this wasn't the moment for set backs. I took another deep breath, gently moved away his hand and raised the hem of his shirt;

only to be greeted by a bulge on his skin, just by the pelvic, and my assumptions were simply proved right to me.

He pulled down his shirt, I noticed, a little distressed, but this wasn't the moment for anything, he needed to be treated, immediately.

Honestly I wanted to punch square on his face, what was he thinking? My father went through this a few months back, it was so terrible that I could remember it all, clear as crystal, he had to go through surgery afterwards, and what his doctor informed me was that if I had been any late, I could have even lost him.

Out of instinct, I panicked hard, I almost lost my voice, yet I was strong enough to reach out and call the driver. “Ahjussie, we need to go to the hospital”

It took us only a few minutes to reach the state hospital, thanks to the driver and his cooperative driving, and soon as we’ve reached there, I paid the fair and firmly held Sung Gyu by his arm, with the help of the driver I led him inside. But with the not-so-brilliant mind of mine, I couldn’t exactly explain the symptoms, Sung Gyu barely had the strength to speak, but I told them of my assumption, and I had been right, much to the doctor’s relief.

“You did a good job, young lady, and indeed he requires a hernia repair.” He said to me with a kind smile. “The patient will be immediately taken into surgery. Are you his family?”

I shook my head.

“Then you must contact his immediate family”

With that, he left me to take care of a few papers, which I filled with my trembling hands. I remember it quite well when my father had to go through the same procedure, and he got back to being normal almost immediately, which was quite a relief; the surgery didn’t take that long, which I remembered very well too, therefore I decided to stay, just so that I could scold him good once he wakes up.

I had no idea how to contact his immediate family though. Except for Woohyun, who’s his best friend, I had absolutely no idea about his family or acquaintances, which was quite disappointing. I tried to contact Woohyun, but his phone was switched off. I called Sung Yeol then, and informed him of the situation; since he was quite the sentimental guy, he set me off the hook this once and I promised to work over time the next shift. The rest of the time I just sat and waited; analyzing all that happened in a nick of time.

Only twenty minutes had passed since I got down at the bus stop that morning, and during that little time, I had come to know that he wasn’t the kind of a person I should be playing around with, just because he was giving me a terrible time, and also that he was ignorant, and took even the most grave matters as granted. I didn’t know it anymore whether I should be hanging around him anymore; indeed, I had no reason to be doing so. He was a busy man while I was just a little lame college girl, and he was ignorant, he put me into trouble, nonetheless; he was of the type that I should steer clear of.

However, the more I pondered upon it, the more I come into realization;

It was becoming harder and harder for me to pull away from him.

I thought of Song Naeun, I thought of how lucky she was to be dating someone like Kim Sung Gyu.

During the wait I had fallen asleep for a brief moment, and was woken up by the doctor whom I spoke to before. He gave me a smile when I looked groggily into his eyes.

“Tired, miss?”

I gave him a silly smile.

“Well, the surgery was a success, it’s been a while now, and we’ve taken him to a room already. He woke up a few minutes ago. We didn’t disturb you since you were peacefully asleep. He asked to see you…”

I stared at the doctor for a while longer, absorbing all he said and in the end, I gave him a nod. He reciprocated with a smile before leading me to a spacious private room; it was one of the VIP suites usually given to the high-class people, which made me even more nervous. It made me reflect on all the terrible things I had done to him.

Sung Gyu was up already, lying down like an old man, looking up at the ceiling, and upon noticing my arrival, he turned to my side and smiled.

“Oh, so you stayed”

I could only manage a nod.

“Why? You look surprised?” He said, his voice almost a whisper. “Is everything alright?”

I nodded again, and followed when he gestured me to come closer.

“Hey, Eunji-Ssi…Thank you”

“Well, That…” I stuttered nervously. “That’s my pleasure…Sung Gyu…Ssi…”

“The doctor said I could have died, if I didn’t come any sooner…” He continued, still smiling. “So I guess, you saved my life”

I said nothing, but stared down at his hand, which was now attached to an IV tube. He wasn’t as pale as before now, the color had now returned to his skin, lips were flushed pink, hair disheveled, and I had this strange urge to rearrange it, which I held back with much distress. The afternoon sunlight had casted spectrums on the white of the sheets, there was something strange shining in his eyes. He looked…strangely beautiful in my eyes, and in all honesty, that very moment, I wanted to cry.

He stared back at me for the briefest moment, eyes fixated on mine before chuckling the slightest.

“Eunji-Ssi…are you okay?”

“E-eh?”

“You look…flustered. Did anything happen?”

I shook my head. “No…it’s just” I took a deep breath before pointing out. “You’re in a VIP suite”

He gave me a smile. “Why, I wonder”

I shrugged. “But Really, Sung Gyu-Ssi…”

“Ah, well…some things better go unexplained…" He said, smiling. "by the way, did you contact anyone? I shouldn’t be burdening you…”

“No! You’re not burdening me…not at all”

He chuckled again. “I trouble you all the time so you’re used to it?”

I shook my head. “Anyway, Sung Gyu-Ssi, the doctor did ask me to contact your immediate family, I tried to call Woohyun, he didn’t pick up his phone, so I didn’t know-,”

He raised his brow at me questioningly, which made me even more nervous.

“Why, you should have contacted my brother…”

I lost my voice. “Your…brother?”

He smiled. “Yes, my brother…and his name is Kim Myung Soo”

Hello dear readers.

Thank you for waiting and tolerating my long chapters, however, I need you to know that my updates would be slower than before since college started, I would try to update as frequently as possible.

Love,
Achini