Piper sat alone in a small restaurant she had never been to before, with a cheery name that reminded her of her favorite childhood story. ‘The Secret Garden’ café had a nice name, and she entered on a whim. She had thought about bringing her brother, or calling Hyo Shin, but she had grown to like the solitude. Piper had never actually spent time alone that wasn’t revolved around studying or music. It was nice to explore the city she lived in without trying to keep someone else entertained.

The restaurant was cozy; brick walls, green shutters on the outside and small, round wooden tables each topped with vases of purple flowers. An easel displaying a cheery picture of a sunflower field added to the homey charm of the place.

As she sat eating, the woman who had taken her order came up to her table, a friendly smile on her face. “I’m sure your date will be here soon,” she offered soothingly.

“Oh, I don’t have a date,” Piper corrected. “It’d be kind of hard, since the guy I like has feelings for my best friend. Who has a boyfriend.” She gave a cynical smile, “Gotta love high school.”

“You’re a pretty girl; I’m sure he’s noticed,” the woman offered. “And since your friend has a boyfriend, you don’t have real competition for his affections. It will all work out.”

Piper sighed. “Maybe, but then again Choi Young Do is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma; I don’t think anyone could predict what that guy would do.”

The woman’s ears perked up slightly. “Is he really that confusing?” She asked, sliding into the chair opposite Piper.

“More so,” Piper confessed. “When I first met him, I thought he was your standard bully – well, actually, more so since he tended to take it to the extreme. But when I looked closer, I could see that – like all bullies – he was really sad inside. He keeps lashing out because I don’t think he’s had many people be truly kind to him; he doesn’t know how to act around people without covering up his feelings with snide remarks and anger. Personally, I blame his father. That man can be charming, but I don’t think he can be sincere.”

“Do you think his father is cruel to him?” The woman asked, looking genuinely concerned.

“I only met him once, but he seemed like the type who preferred negative reinforcement.” Piper informed her. “And our school isn’t much better. Everyone there sees each other as either competition or a business connection. I think my brother and I are some of the few people in that school who’s made genuine friends. When you add all those things together, not to mention that he’s probably grown up around that kind of mentality, it’s kind of understandable that he acts like that.”

“This boy, does he know you like him?” She wondered.

“I don’t think so. I did tell him that it hurt when he always chose my friend over me, even though he and I aren’t friends.” Piper sighed. “And I think I might have accidentally stolen his first kiss.”

“Oh my,” the woman gasped. “You were his first kiss?”

Piper laughed sheepishly. “I don’t really know. My ex-boyfriend showed up, and I reacted impulsively. But, on a side note, he did call me pretty. Well, he called a picture of me pretty so I’m not sure if he was talking about the picture itself – which his best friend took – or if he was talking about my face in it.” Piper groaned, “I don’t know. I’m at the point where I just want to pack all of my feelings away and just walk away.”

The woman was quiet, and she gave a small sigh. “Many years ago, I walked away from someone I care about deeply. I regretted it instantly, but I was too much of a coward to see that person again. I was afraid of how I would be treated when I returned; I was scared of being rejected. Every day, I have to same urge to go and find that person, and every day I don’t because I’m afraid. Don’t repeat my mistake; if you truly care about him, don’t walk away from this boy. If you do, like me, you’ll regret it.”

“I’m worried if I do, and if I fall even harder for him, it’ll ruin me,” Piper confessed softly.

The woman reached across the table, her perfectly manicured hands gently clasping Piper’s. “Love isn’t about playing it safe, it’s about risks. If you never try, you’ll never know. That, I think, is worse.”

Piper gave a small, grateful smile to the woman. “Thanks. I really needed to hear that. I haven’t talked to my mom about it, because – well, what high school student talks to their moms about relationships?”

The woman returned the smile. “You’re welcome back at any time. Anytime you need to talk, and you don’t want to talk to your mother, I’ll listen. If I’m not here, just ask for Yoo Kyung Ran; the others will let me know.”

///

Piper practically skipped towards the school the next morning, a new pep in her step after the talk she had with Yoo Kyung Ran in the restaurant. She had even given herself a silver-tipped French manicure similar to Kyung Ran’s – Mrs. Yoo? – as an extra bit of encouragement.

She smiled widely as she came across Eun Sang and Tan, their hands clasped together. “Going public, I see?”

“You’re in a good mood this morning,” Tan remarked.

Piper shrugged, the smile still on her face. “Let’s just say someone reminded me that I’m too awesome to mope around.”

She walked alongside them as the students began to gossip, pulling out their phones to text the latest news to the rest of the school. Tan insisted on walking Eun Sang to the broadcasting room as he and Piper kept up a playful banter about who would be more welcomed there as Eun Sang’s : Tan or Piper.

They stopped short when they saw Young Do in their path, looking disdainfully at Tan and Eun Sang’s joined hands. Tan sighed heavily, and Piper began wondering how she’d turn Kyung Ran’s advice into actions.

“This is the holy land of education, where intelligence and liberal arts breathe.” Young Do reprimanded. “What are you doing?”

“Young Do-yah, you have such a way with words.” Piper remarked, a small smile on her face and her head tilted to the side. “And a flair for irony, too.”

‘Win? Fail?’ she wondered internally. ‘Ugh, flirting is hard.’

“Go to the broadcasting station.” Tan instructed the girls. “I just have to play with him now. You’ve seen it before.”

Eun Sang looked warily between the boys, anxious about the confrontation she knew was coming. Piper allowed her to take the first steps, following beside her as they passed Young Do.

“Cha Eun Sang.” Young Do stopped her. “Answer your phone from now.”

“Keep going.” Tan urged.

“You know, I’m fine with you trying to spare Eun Sang from the drama,” Piper scolded Tan, “but I’m not okay with you talking to her like a puppy. She’s your girlfriend, not your pet.”

“No fighting!” Eun Sang demanded. “Both of you!”

“Especially you,” Piper advised Young Do as Eun Sang walked on. “We’ve all seen how good you’ve been using your words instead of your fists. Don’t ruin it now.”

“Why did you say that?” Eun Sang wondered as Piper caught up to her.

Piper sighed and shook her head, “I have no idea.”

///

“Hey, Kim Tan,” Piper caught up with her classmate as they headed to lunch. “Eun Sang-ah…well, she’s not very good at keeping secrets from me. She told me that Yoo Rachel knows about your mom and that you’re not staying at home…you okay?”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “And if Eun Sang was to tell that secret to anyone, you’re not the worst choice.”

“I’m going to take that as a compliment,” Piper informed him.

“You should,” he conceded, “though it’s not going to remain a secret for long.”

“What? The engagement being over or the...other one.”

He breathed out heavily. “Both.”

They noticed the number of students rushing to the cafeteria was well beyond the normal amount that would be excited for lunch. Tan reached out and grabbed one of the students rushing by.

“Is something going on?” He asked her. “What’s wrong with everyone?”

“Lee Bo Na and Rachel are making Kang Ye Sol sit in the Social Care Group seat.” She informed him, pulling out of his grasp and continuing her way to the cafeteria.

Piper and Tan exchanged worried and startled looks, and made their way into the cafeteria. Rachel had seated herself beside the chair Young Do normally occupied, Bo Na sitting in the seat to the left of Young Do’s empty chair. Ye Sol was standing, facing the victim’s chair, tears streaming down her face.

“What are you doing?” Rachel questioned calmly. “Sit.” Ye Sol was motionless. “I said sit.”

“What’s going on?” Young Do’s lackeys came over, confused as to why their table was occupied. “Why is Kang Ye Sol...”

“She lied about her mom working at a hostess bar.” One of Ye Sol’s former friends answered.

“Oh my God.” Another one of them sneered.

“I would say we should help,” Piper muttered softly to Tan, “but I don’t think I’m that nice.”

Tan began to walk towards the table, “I don’t know if I’m much better.”

Piper followed him for the sole reason that she didn’t want to be standing alone while the debacle went on. Though she wasn’t going to help Ye Sol – a mean-spirited girl and a bully – she did start to feel a little bad as she neared her front-row seat to the spectacle.

Bo Na lifted her hands to her face, attempting to hide her identity from the growing crowd of onlookers.

“It’s too early to cry.” Rachel mocked Ye Sol dryly. “Aren’t you going to sit? That’s your seat!”

“Lee Bo Na!” Chan Young called, arriving at the table seconds behind Tan and Piper. “What are you doing?”

“I can explain.” Bo Na fumbled. “Kang Ye Sol...”

“You go play soccer.” Rachel cut her off, eyes still locked on Ye Sol. “This is girls’ business.”

Tan, who Piper thought was going to watch alongside her, suddenly grabbed his stomach in an overdramatic show of pain. “I’m hungry.” He grabbed a plate of food from another student’s hands, “It looks so good. I’m sorry, but can you move?” Tan asked as he walked up to Ye Sol. When she didn’t move, he brushed her aside. “Thanks.”

Everyone watched in surprise as Tan sat in the victim’s seat, seemingly obtuse to the connotations. Everyone was fully aware he knew what the seat meant, which is why his gleeful expression at his plate was all the more confusing.

“Kim Tan! What are you doing?” Rachel demanded.

“What am I doing?” He asked with a mouthful of food. “Eating. Why aren’t you eating? I’m going to eat if you’re not.” He remarked, reaching for Rachel’s plate.

“Don’t you know what that seat is?” She interrogated, her volume rising.

“This seat?” He played ignorant. “The closest seat to the food?”

Eun Sang walked up between Chan Young and Piper, her eyes widening as she took in the situation.

“Tell me it’s not going to be as bad as I think it’s going to be,” Piper whispered down to Eun Sang.

Her fleeting hopes were dashed as Young Do walked past, heading directly to stand beside the seat Tan was occupying.

“Aw, ,” Piper muttered, dropping her head in disappointment.

“What are you doing?” Young Do asked lowly.

Tan grumbled, “How many times do I have to say this? I’m eating! Can I eat here?”

“You’re breaking the rule.” Young Do reminded him with a smirk.

Tan flung his plate onto the table. “I made the rule. I can break it.”

“You made it, but I’m the one who maintained it.” Young Do insisted. “You cannot break it without my approval. You can’t break the rule. I will show you why. It’s because that seat is for this.”

To demonstrate what that seat meant, Young Do bent down and grabbed Tan’s plate of curry and dumped it on Tan’s blazer. A collective gasp came from the students surrounding the table. Tan looked down at his dirtied jacket, his jaw tightening.

“Up until yesterday this seat was for this,” Tan began, slowly standing up and shrugging out of his jacket. “But as of today, this can happen. Cha Eun Sang, orry.” He apologized, glancing over at her momentarily before turning and flinging his dirty jacket in Young Do’s face. “Go wash it.”

The boys stared each other down, poison shooting from their glares, that was only broken when Eun Sang pushed through the crowd and pulled Tan away by the wrist.

“Come out.” Chan Young grabbed Bo Na’s wrist, pulling her out of the cafeteria as well.

The crowd dispersed, no more entertainment for them, leaving Rachel sitting alone and Young Do and Piper standing in silence. Utterly fed up, Piper copied the actions of Eun Sang and Chan Young. She swiftly grabbed Young Do’s arm, pulling him out of the cafeteria and onto the roof.

“Don’t think you can do that again,” Young Do warned her. “I only let you drag me along because I don’t approve of violence against girls.”

“Oh will you shut up?” She growled, catching him off guard. “I have had it with you and your antics. I’m tired of trying to justify why you act the way you do.”

“Who asked you to?” He sneered, beginning to move past her.

She caught his arm and forced him back to where he had been standing. “Is that what it’s like in your world?” She fired back. “People only do things for you because you ask them to, rather than a desire to be a good person?”

“No, I tell them to, and they do it,” he growled.

“Well, that’s just sad.” She scoffed. “What, is asking a weakness, too? Tan once said that at Jeguk High, one should never take the side of the weak. If someone weak stands by the weak, then they would just be weak. Is that why you hide behind that bullying persona of yours? Because you’re afraid that if you show sincerity, people will construe it as weakness?”

“Shut your mouth.” Young Do hissed.

“I won’t do anything of the sort.” Piper retorted. “I thought, just maybe, that you were on your way to being a better person. I thought that maybe you liking Cha Eun Sang would have a positive effect on you, but it’s just made you bitter. You keep trampling on people, and if you keep doing that you’ll be alone. You’ll have no one. That’s a fate I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.”

She turned away, beginning to walk towards the stairwell to lead her back to the school’s interior. Something bubbled inside Young Do, and he stalked over and grabbed her arm.

“Don’t turn your back on me!” He snarled, spinning her to face him.

“I should have turned my back on you ages ago!” She shouted as she faced him.

Young Do reeled, both at her words and at the force with which she had hurled them at him.

Piper breathed in deeply before continuing and a normal volume, “Do you even understand how hard it is to look at you – knowing you have this huge potential to be an amazing person – and watch you throw it away time after time?”

Tears had pricked the corners of her eyes; she was crying over him again. But what surprised her was that Young Do eyes had turned red, though there was no trace of tears in them.

“It’s that,” she indicated with a weak gesture, “those moments of the real you, of that humanity that you seem so desperate to try and hide, that keep me coming back.”

“Who are you?” He questioned, drawing in a deep breath to steady himself.

“I don’t know,” Piper admitted. “A fool, perhaps?”

///

It was just past dinnertime at the McPherson home. Piper had been quiet the whole meal, but Parker brushed off his parent’s questions with the same comment: Piper was worried because Eun Sang and her boyfriend are fighting. It wasn’t the truth, and they were aware of that, but they didn’t press.

As the twins helped Nan bring the dirty dishes to the sink, there was a knock on the door.

“I’ll get it,” Piper offered.

She was surprised to see Hyo Shin standing on her doorstep, even more so when she noticed his eyes were puffy and his complexion splotchy. He had been crying.

“Hyo Shin-ah,” she breathed, her heart hurting as she looked at him.

“Piper-ah, you said if I needed a place to stay I could come here,” he began weakly. “Is that still true?”

“Of course,” she cooed, stepping out and grabbing his suitcase before linking her free arm in his. “Come inside.”

He was trembling slightly in her arms. She wondered what had happened at his home to cause this kind of reaction. It was clear he had been crying before he had come, but he had pulled himself together just enough.

“Hyo Shin Sunbae,” Parker acknowledged as the two walked into the kitchen.

“Mom, Dad, this is my friend Hyo Shin from school,” she introduced, her parents looking at the boy with the same concern she had when she saw him at her door. “I promised him if he needed a place to stay that he could stay here, no questions asked,” she emphasized. “Please don’t make a liar out of me.”

Pearl smiled warmly, standing out of her chair and going to greet the boy. “Any friend of our children is welcome to stay here. Though, I do have one question,” she admitted. “Have you eaten dinner yet?”

Hyo Shin gave a small, watery laugh. “Yes, ma’am.”

“If it makes you feel more comfortable, you can call me mom,” Pearl placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “After all, you’ll be living under my roof.”

“And with that comes the house rules,” Pádraic informed him gently, standing next to his wife. “Weekend homework must be done before movie night, and while the older kids don’t have a curfew or bedtime, we ask that you keep the noise level to a minimum for the rest of us who go to bed at normal hours.” He gave appointed stare at Piper, known for her all-nighters.

“Thank you, mom… dad,” Hyo Shin bowed.

“I’ll show him to the guest room,” Piper told them, gently guiding her friend towards the stairs.

She led him to the empty room next to Prosper’s, situated across the hall from Parker’s room. As soon as they entered, he sat heavily on the mattress. Piper sat next to him, unsure how she should comfort him.

“I left a note for my parents,” he finally spoke. “Saying if they didn’t try to find me, I wouldn’t skip my college admissions interview.”

“You don’t have to give me any explanations,” Piper quietly interrupted. “I told you: no questions asked.”

The door creaked open, and Prosper’s tiny head poked through. “Hyung, will you read to me tonight?”

“You don’t want me to read to you?” Piper wondered.

He shook his head, “Hyung’s voice is better.”

Hyo Shin and Piper laughed lightly, the mood successfully lifted.

For those of you with a keen eye, yes there were a few lines borrowed from The Vampire Diaries. Oops.

What can I say? Those lines are just extremely fitting for the relationship between Piper and Young Do, and I couldn’t help it.