Mirae turns her head. Dr. Yoon is standing underneath the archway, holding a glass full of red fruit punch.

    “I’m so happy you came! The garden is right under this archway.” Dr. Yoon waves her over. “Mrs. Hwang, will you be staying?”

    “I’ll stay for a few minutes,” she smiles, and Mirae subconsciously takes her mother’s hand as she walks under the archway.

    “Oh, it’s beautiful!” Mrs. Hwang trills, clapping a hand to . Beautiful baby blue lilies jet out in front of trimmed emerald bushes. Peach trees and apple trees and cherry trees stand on the far side of the orchard, their branches intertwining with each other. Twisting beryl laurels wrap around a fresh, white gazebo in the center of the garden. There is a lot of green, which is not a Good color.

But Mirae takes a deep breath, concentrates on not itching her palms, and walks forward.

She spots Jaesun, Nurse Hyeri, and several other familiar faces sitting in the gazebo. Mirae waves, and they cry out in greeting.

    “Hey, Mirae.” Do Yura, an 8th grader at Daegu Middle School, gives her a huge bear hug. “How’re you?”

    “Doing good, and you?”

    “I’m peachy!” Yura giggles, pointing to a peach tree. “Get it? Peachy?”

    Everyone groans. “Yura, please,” Mirae laughs, shaking her head.

    “I’m happy you came, Mirae!” Jaesun pats her on the back. “Oh, and you must be her mother! Nice to meet you!”

    “Hello,” Mrs. Hwang smiles. “I’m Hwang Miyun. Thank you for inviting us.”

    “It’s a pleasure to have you!”

    As Jaesun and her mother make small talk, Mirae sits down with Yura and a few of the nurses.

    “I love your dress, Yura!” Nurse Jangmi tells her. “Blue looks really good on you!”

    “Thanks.” Yura grins. “I bought it last week, actually. I saw the ruffles and couldn’t resist!”

    Nurse Hyeri smiles at Mirae. “I love your dress, too, Mirae! I’m a big fan of sundresses.”

    Mirae looks down distastefully at her bright yellow dress. “My mom made me wear this,” she sighs. “But I like it. It’s super comfy.”

    “Hey, Mirae.” Someone taps her on the head; her mother is grinning down at her. “I’m going to go, okay? Call me when you’re done. Have fun!”

    “Bye!” Mirae hugs Mrs. Hwang.

    The garden party is nothing like Mirae expected it to be. It’s fun. Nurse Hana braids flowers in her hair, and Chang Jina and Park Hongbin have a punch-chugging contest (Hongbin won, and promptly threw up afterwards). Mirae is laughing blissfully when Jaesun clears his throat. She turns around.

    Her eyes widen in shock.

    “Sorry to interrupt, everyone, but I would like to introduce you to my wife and son!” Jaesun announces. “This is Kim Subin, the prettiest lady in the world-,”

    “Oh, stop.” Mrs. Kim blushes, slapping her husband affectionately.

    “-and this is Kim Jongin, my son!”

    “Hello.” Jongin smiles stiffly as he bows deeply. “It is nice to meet you all.”

    “Whoa, he’s hot!” Yura hisses in Mirae’s ear. “Do you think I should go for him? Whoa, Mirae, you look like you’ve just seen a ghost!”

    “I have to go,” Mirae utters in Yura’s ear. She stealthily makes her way through the throng of people, heading for the white archway. If she can just sneak away without anyone noticing, maybe Jongin won’t see her-

    “Oh, Mirae! Jongin is the same age as you! Come meet him!” Jaesun shouts.

    It feels like time has frozen. Mirae is glued in place, her eyes closed and her face contorted in a wince. Jongin is staring at her, simultaneously thunderstruck and mortified. Slowly, haltingly, Mirae pivots around on her foot and faces Jongin.

    “Hello,” she whispers nervously.

    Jongin doesn’t reply.

    “Jongin?” Jaesun asks tentatively. “Are you-,”

    “I’m fine, Father,” he says in a robotic voice. Jongin gives Mirae a forced smile. “Hello. My name is Kim Jongin.”

    Mirae blinks. She stretches out her hand. “I’m... Hwang Mirae. Nice to meet you.”

“Jaesun, we’re out of punch!” someone calls. Jaesun claps Jongin on the back.

“Well, I’ll leave you two, then. Take care of Jongin, Mirae!” Jaesun winks and walks away.

Jongin and Mirae look at each other. Neither of them utters a word.

So Jaesun is Jongin’s father. Jaesun has bipolar disorder... which explains how Jongin was able to relate so much to me. But he’s on the other side of the relationship. Does that mean he’s felt that way before? Or maybe he still feels that way-

“I can see you thinking,” Jongin says in a stony voice. “And let’s make this clear: no one else finds out about this. Not even your little friend. Otherwise I’ll tell them you have OCD.”

“I wasn’t planning on spreading this information,” Mirae responds quietly.

“Good.” Jongin walks away.

For the rest of the party, Mirae finds her eyes drawn to Jongin, who is conversing with the other guests, laughing in a contrived manner. Once again Mirae is struck by how different he looks: instead of his usual haughty demeanor, Jongin is quiet, withdrawn. When Yura approaches him and tries to flirt with him in an incredibly awkward way (Mirae sees some of the nurses giggle and shake their heads behind their hands), Jongin politely chats with her. It is strange seeing him act so nice. But he is obviously acting; it is clear he feels uncomfortable around these people.

“You seem quite taken with my son,” a playful voice teases. Mirae reddens, whirling around. Jaesun is grinning cheekily down at her.

“I’m not. I wasn’t even looking at him.” Mirae lies. Jaesun clears his throat. “Okay, okay. I was looking at him. But I don’t like him or anything.”

“Jonginnie’s so cute. I remember when he was little, he used to have a girlfriend every other week.” Jaesun sighs affectionately, while Mirae rolls her eyes. A player since a young age, huh. “He always used to come to me and tell me about Gayun or Jiyoung or Hyoyeon... oh, he’s such a popular boy... it’s a shame we never talk anymore...,” He trails off, looking rather despondent. Mirae tilts her head.

“What happened?” she asks, before hastily adding, “If you don’t mind me asking. Sorry.”

Jaesun gazes at his son, who is staring at a cluster of daffodils listlessly. Several moments of thick silence pass.

Then he murmurs, “I hate my disorder.”

Mirae’s eyes widen. She looks at the man in shock. Kim Jaesun is the last person who Mirae thought would admit that. She viewed him as a paragon of strength, an unflappable icon of positivity and energy. And now he’s admitting it?

Mirae’s gaze slides back to Jongin.

    What happened between him and his father?

    The following Monday, Suyeon tells Mirae, “It turns out Jongin quit the bet, too.”

    “What?” Mirae exclaims, shooting up from her chair. Their history teacher throws them a nasty look from his desk. “Why did he?” Mirae asks in a quieter voice.

    “I don’t know,” Suyeon responds, scrutinizing Mirae’s expression. “I thought that you would’ve known.”

    “I don’t...,” Mirae says, uncertain. Did he quit because of me? Why?

    “Whatever. Well, Sehun and I talked about it, and we agreed to tutor on alternate days.”

    Mirae gasps. “Wait, you talked to Sehun? When?”

    “Miss Hwang, if you can’t keep quiet, then I’ll give you detention,” the teacher barks. Mirae bows apologetically and turns back to Suyeon.

    “We just talked,” Suyeon shrugs. I won’t give you the full details until you stop lying to me, Mirae.  

    “Wait, did he call you? Did you see each other somewhere? Did he come to your house? Oh my god, tell me!” Mirae whisper-shrieks excitedly.

    “I don’t know,” Suyeon mumbles. “Okay, let’s work on our classwork.”

    “Oh. Okay.” Mirae blinks.

    “Hey, you guys.” Jihae is standing over the two girls. “Who won the bet?”

    “Well, no one. We both kind of quit.” Suyeon winces.

    “What? Are you serious?” Jihae groans. “All that work for nothing. Well, I guess my favor’s repaid, Mirae. But if you guys wanna dress up like that some other time, it wouldn’t be a bad idea. Just saying.”

    “Thanks.” Mirae smiles.

“You should go as ty maids or something to the Halloween Dance. That would be pretty hot. But don’t be ty nurses. The cheerleaders and I have already called that.” Jihae tells them.

Suyeon’s eyebrows furrow in surprise. “The Halloween Dance? Whoa, is it that time already?”

“It’s only, like, 3 weeks away. How did you not know that?”

“We were a little... preoccupied.” Mirae exchanges a knowing look with Suyeon.

“Oh yeah, you had the bet going on.” Jihae flips her hair. “Well, whatever. At least show up. You two can’t just study all day.”

    “Mirae, we could offer a Halloween discount,” Suyeon gasps. “30% off and free candy, maybe... or maybe we could dress up and tutor-,”

    Jihae slaps her forehead. “You two are hopeless.”

A/N: I HOPE ALL THESE UPDATES MAKE UP FOR A MONTH AND A HALF OF NOT UPDATING LOL. So yeah WOW so many of you smart cookies correctly guessed Jaesun's true identitiy (Kai's dad) several chapters ago. Smart smart smart ;)