“NICOLE! NICOLE ARE YOU INSIDE?”

Nicole who was making the breakfast in the kitchen jumped a little at the sudden noise outside the house as she promptly walked to the main door. Soon as she swung open the door, the sight of breathless Seungri appeared in front of her.

“What happened to you?” Nicole asked confusedly, surprised to saw him in the early morning.

“Did Jiyong hyung come here?” he asked, still trying to catch a breath.

Nicole raised her eyebrows. She didn’t need a further explanation when Seungri said his name. “Did something happen to him?”

“He disappeared since last night, and we can’t contact him. We’re afraid he would do something dangerous, you know what I mean by that.”

She could see Seungri's face turned serious, and she knew what he means by dangerous. It could be related to Kwon Jiyong’s revenge. She remembered how mad he was when his friends tried to stop him from doing his revenge. And that means he didn’t want his friend to know when will he execute his plan. And today might be the day.

“I hadn’t seen him for months,” she muttered.

Seungri breathed out and nodded. “I see. If you by any chance see him around, please call me. We’re going to find him.”

“Can I go with you?” Nicole took a step forward and caught his arm. “Maybe I can stay at his house and inform you if he is back while you guys find him.”

Seungri paused at her volunteer and nodded seconds later. He brought her to Youngbae’s house, which according to Seungri was the place where Jiyong had been living in since months ago. It surprised her a little to know that he moved out from their neighborhood as well.

Youngbae gave her his number in case she needed it before he and the others left the house. Being left alone, Nicole silently observed her surrounding. She suddenly remembered when she came there the first time when Jiyong came up to save her from those thugs. Sometimes she wondered, how her life could turn into uncertainty after he met Kwon Jiyong. Half of her wanted to blame him and curse at him for making her life harder, but half of her realized that he was also the victim of this chaotic. And with that fact, the thought of hating him shaken out of her head.

As she plopped down on the sofa, her attention distracted to the red mark on the calendar that placed on the table. She narrowed her eyes to take a better look. The date that marked with the red pen was today. Nicole leaned closer to the table and noticed the small notes alongside the mark and gasped a little. She pulled out her phone and looked up for the place that noted in the calendar. Several minutes later after she obtained some information, she decided to go to the bus station.

Her mind wandered around within her head, reassuring herself that she might be right this time. As the bus came and the door opened, she stepped on carefully while looking for her seat. One by one the passengers boarded the bus. There weren’t many people on board, and she could tell that majority of the passengers were people in their fourty or fifty. A woman who looked like in her fourty sat next to Nicole and placed her bag underneath her seat. Nicole diverted her attention outside the window when the bus drove off leaving the station.

The ride to her destination will take five hours; that was what the source informed her. And with the sudden bad weather, it definitely will take longer time than usual. The rain eventually ceased when the bus arrived at the final stop. After she got off the bus, Nicole walked to the entrance of the bus station and started searching for the direction.

“Young lady, can you help me?”

Nicole turned back and walked closer to the woman who called her that happened to be the woman who sat next to her before on the bus.

“Can you help me bring my stuff to my car?” the woman asked again, pointing her finger at the plastic bag full of fresh vegetables on the ground.

Nicole smiled and nodded politely, following the woman and help her lifting up her stuff inside the car carefully.

After closing the door, the woman shook Nicole’s hand and smiled gratefully. “Thank you so much for your help. Where do you want to go? As my gratitude, I’ll take you there.”

“No, it’s okay,” Nicole refused quickly, still giving the woman a polite smile.

“It’s okay. It’s not a trouble at all. Where do you want to go, huh?”

At her insist, Nicole pulled out the paper from her bag. “I want to go to this place. But I don’t know where it is.”

The woman narrowed her eyes as she looked at the picture of the house the younger showed and paused for a moment. “This house seemed familiar,” the woman mused and then her face lightened up seconds later. “Are you looking for Han Yi Ran?”

“Han Yi Ran?” Nicole repeated.

“Yes, this house is hers. There’s only one person who loves lilac in this village, and it’s her,” the woman explained. Nicole watched her pointing at the flowers in the picture and hummed. “But why are you looking for her?”

Nicole watched how the woman gave her a curious look, and all she could do was only smiled and shook her head. To be honest, she was clueless about her decision to go to this village. “I’m not looking for her, but actually, I come here for someone else.”

“Are you perhaps coming for memorial service?”

Nicole’s mind flew back to the calendar and the small note she saw in Youngbae’s house. “Yes, you are right,” she said, quickly nodded her head.

“Ah, it’s the memorial service for her daughter and son in law.” the woman pointed out. “I will take you there, then.”

Nicole smiled widely and bowed. “Thank you very much.”

“No problem,” the woman patted her shoulder and told her to get inside her car.

According to the woman, the village is small, so that’s why every villager knows each other. The scenery outside the window where the golden paddy field ready for harvesting was beautiful. The woman beside her would honk her horn to greet the villagers on the side of the road sometimes, and it warms Nicole for some reason.

When their car entered the unpaved road, the woman told her to fasten her seat belt. Nicole’s hand automatically hold on to the handle as the car began to bumpy.

“There she is,” the woman suddenly spoke, earning a glance by the younger as the car came to a stop. Nicole could see an old lady waving in their direction.

“I should go there quickly before she nags at me,” the woman said as she stepped outside.

Nicole got off the car, her eyes following the movement of the woman who jogged toward the old lady as the two busied themselves with some stuff the old lady had. She was just standing by the car for the next few minutes until she saw a figure approaching her direction. A relieved smile crept across her face as she moved forward toward the person. On the other side, upon seeing the girl, the person halted, his expression showed that he was shocked at her sudden appearance.

“I found you,” Nicole said after standing in front of him.

Kwon Jiyong was still bewildered at her sudden presence in front of him. He then looked over her shoulder to see the car that parked behind her and looked back at her.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, failed to hide his surprise.

“Can’t you see? I come all along from Seoul to here to find you. Why didn’t you call your friend that you’re here? They're all worried that you suddenly disappeared since last night.” Nicole said, looked up at him in utter disbelief.

Jiyong barely moved or gave her any reaction after his shock expression faded and changed to unreadable. In the other side, Nicole noticed his appearance changed a bit. He was even more skinny than the last time she saw him. He let his hair grow to the point it nearly covered half of his face and changed the color to black. But most importantly, and surprisingly for her, there was no trace of scars or wounds on his face like the other day. It relieved her a little at the thought that he hadn’t been in a fight recently.

“Oh, Se Young you bring someone with you.” the old lady came to their side and gave Nicole a bright smile as the latter turned to her and bowed.

“I brought her here because she said she wanted to come for your daughter’s memorial service,” the woman whose named Se Young replied.

Nicole could see the curiosity on the old lady face as she examined the younger. “Really? You know my daughter and son in law?”

“She’s my friend, grandma,” Jiyong spoke suddenly.

“Is Jiyong the person that you are looking for?” Se Young neared the girl. Same like Jiyong’s grandmother, her eyes spark with curiosity.

“Y-Yes,” Nicole said hesitantly.

“Kwon Jiyong, now you bring a girl this year to meet your parents, huh? My kid has grown up into a man.”

Nicole heard a slight groan of the guy as she looked up at him. Se Young was still giggling over her joke when Jiyong’s grandmother took Nicole’s hand and flashed her a radiant smile.

“So are you Jiyong’s friend?”

“Yes, grandma,” Nicole said nervously.

“Why didn’t you tell me that your friend is coming?” she scolded Jiyong, her eyes glared him. Jiyong didn’t argue back though he also had zero ideas that the girl would come to his grandmother’s house. He gave her a brief look before his grandmother continued, “I’m happy that someone wants to visit my house. Are you hungry? I’ll cook some foods for you.”

“No, it’s okay, grandma,” Nicole refused politely.

“No, you are my guest, It’s my obligation to serve you some foods.”

“Then, I’ll help you,” Nicole insisted. 

The older hissed. “No, I’ll cook by myself.”

Nicole eventually gave in and nodded obediently.

“Jiyong, bring your friend around while I’m cooking. Don’t forget to show her my garden.”

Jiyong exhaled deeply after his grandmother went inside her house with Se Young. His attention diverted back to Nicole as he gave her a look as if he was ready to bombard her with endless questions.

“How do you know I’m here?” he finally asked.

Nicole looked up at him and smiled inwardly when his expression turned clueless. “Are you forgetful?” Jiyong wrinkled his forehead at her words. “There are so many notes you wrote in Youngbae’s calendar. I’ll assume that you forget occasionally.” she .

After hearing her explanation, Jiyong loosened his puzzled expression. He didn’t consider himself as a forgetful person, but sometimes he writes a reminder notes for an important event.

“Is today the commemoration of your parents?” Nicole asked, attempted to ascertain whether the notes she saw in Youngbae’s calendar true or not. Jiyong replied her with a quick hummed as he averted his eyes from her and placed his hands inside his jacket pocket.

“Did they tell you about it and send you here?”

“I found it out by myself. Your friends didn’t even know about it,” she affirmed and walked toward the front yard. Her smile automatically spread across her lips upon seeing the dwarf lilac tree surrounded the yard. “Is this the garden your grandma said before?”

Jiyong watched her mesmerized by the flower from his spot while kicking the small stone on the ground. “No, the garden is in another place.”

“That aunty is right your grandma must be like lilac a lot,” Nicole mumbled as she walked back toward him. “Let’s go there. I want to see the garden.”

Jiyong raised a brow. “I suggest you not.”

“Why not?” Nicole blinked in confusion.

“It’s in the hillside. You’ll be tired and give up on the midway. I don’t want to exhaust myself in a vain attempt.” Jiyong said confidently, but Nicole seemed unwavered by his words and keep insisting him to bring her there.

Eventually, Jiyong couldn’t win over her and accompanied her to the hillside. They walked on the unpaved road, and sometimes Nicole shrieked when she nearly tripped over the stone, but Jiyong caught her just in time. She almost wanted to give up midway, but then she realized he’d throw a tantrum for not listening to him earlier. After walking for one and a half hour, they finally arrived at the hillside. Nicole gasped in amazement when she saw the view in front of her. Varieties of flowers, ornamental grass, and growing grass filled the sloping side of the hill, formed a beautiful and eye-catching garden.

“Your grandma plants all of this?” Nicole turned to Jiyon