Sunghwa’s POV:

“Ah, ah Miss Sunghwa, right?”

“Ne, Kibum! I didn’t know you’re still studying?” while I was giving the books to him, still with a shocked face.

“Oh, ne.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t looking to where I was going, mianhae,” as I bowed to him.

“No, it’s ok.”

“SUNGHWA!” a loud voice came from my back, it was Jjongie. I turned back and greeted him. “Oh Jjongie, hi there!”

“Ah, I see you two already met?” Jjongie asked me.

“Ah ne,”

“It’s good seeing you, Sunghwa, I better go now, annyeonghasseyo,” he bowed to us. “See you again tomorrow,” he added.

I didn’t know I was smiling widely when Jjongie snapped at me,

“Ya, Sunghwa, why are you smiling!?”

“Aish Jjongie, let’s go home now.”

The next day, I saw Kibum on the library, he was reading something. I planned to greet him, but I was shy. I was really shy ever since I was young, so yeah. I didn’t bother to go near to him, so I just left the library. It was our dismissal time, Jjongie, as always, was by my side. He always chatted with me, I was curious too why Jjongie didn’t find me weird. I seldom see Kibum, when I will see him, he’s always by himself, reading stuffs or eating cookies, he looks funny though.

School again, I was getting tired of it but Jjongie always cheered me up. Though he just cheered me up with his lame jokes.

“Jjongie, have you seen Kibum around lately?”

“Aniya, why are you asking?”

“Nothing,” I said while we’re walking, we passed by the library and I saw Miss Kim there, yes I will now be able to ask her about our research.

“Ooh. Jjongie, I have to go here, ok? Wait for me here.”

“Good afternoon, Miss Kim. I would like to ask for more details about our research.”

“You’d do your research by groups, so I will just give you the groupings tomorrow, ne?”

“Thank you Miss Kim!” I searched for Jjongie and said that I’ll be staying in the library first because I will get more information regarding our research. “Where’s that book Miss Kim’s talking about?”

“No, no, no, no, not this one…oh here it is!” Finally I got it. I got all the books now and all that’s left is for me to read. The books were covering my face, I should have called Jjongie to help me. Because of my carelessness, I fell, the books were really heavy too.

“Aigoo.” As I picked up the books. Someone helped me and accidentally held my hand.

“Omo?!” I looked up to see who have helped me.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to hold your hand.”

“Aniya, it’s ok. Thanks for helping me anyways.” He helped me get up.

 “What are these books for?”

“They are for our research.”

“Oh, yes, I see. So you’re looking for more information for our research too?”

“Ne, why?”

“Me too, but I still can’t find the world history book that Miss Kim said.”

“Oh, you mean this?” while showing the big heavy book to him.

“Oh hey, you found it?”

“Ne.”

“Well, can I borrow it after you finish using it? But I need it now too.”

“We can share, well I’m not gonna use this that much, so we can just share.”

“De, that’s a good idea.”

We were too absorbed in getting more information about our research, when suddenly my phone rang.  *RING*

“Jjongie, why?”

“Are you still in the library?”

“Ne, why?”

“I’m going home now, I have some important things to do, I’m sorry I can’t drive you home this time. Can you go home by yourself?”

“Jjongie, I’m grown up now, I can go home by myself. Don’t worry.”

“Oh ok, call me when you get home ne?” then he hung up.

“If you want I can drive you home, Sunghwa.” Kibum said.

“Oh, aniya, it’s ok, I can go home by myself.”

“No, it’s getting dark now and it’s dangerous if you’d be going home alone.”

“Ah, ne..Thank you Kibum.”

Every night, before I’d go to sleep, I was always thinking of Kibum and Jjongie, I don’t know why, but I think my weird flu was always attacking me.

“Key, why do you let me suffer every day? Do I deserve to get this much pain?”

I also thought that I needed to say this to Jjongie, he still doesn’t know about Key, that he was my childhood friend who gave me the necklace which I always treasured. He was always asking me about the necklace but I never said anything to him, but then he never got tired of asking me too.

It was weekend, Jjongie came to my house and cheered me up. I guess this was the worst day ever for me, I was sick, and I was so tired, and I really missed my parents, I haven’t seen them for years and I was still waiting for Key. Jjongie’s my only friend, so Jjongie took care of me when I’m sick.

“Sunghwa! Sunghwa, are you alright? What happened? I told you to sleep early and not tire yourself too much, you know you always get that sickness!”

“Aigoo, I’m already feeling bad, and you’re still doing that?” I agree with him, maybe I overworked myself.

“Aniya, it’s not that. I’m just warning you.” He went near me and touched my forehead.

“Ya, you’re burning up! Aren’t you saying this to your maids that you’re sick?”

“They don’t know, they over react when they know things like this, besides I can take care of myself.”

“Chincha? Tell me if you’re feeling bad, I’ll bring you to the hospital, de?” Oh Jjongie, you didn’t have to do that. I guess?

“I guess you need to do something other than just laying there on your bed.”

“What do you want to do?”

“Let’s play!” he said while smiling cheekily.

“Ah, you got my weird flu too, eh?” I said jokingly. He dragged me out of my bed and said that I need to get dressed though I feel like sleeping all day. “Where are we going Jjongie, I’m sick! Where will you bring a sick person?”

“In the park, we always hung out there, we’ll play.”

“What? I thought you’re joking!?” I said and he pouted at me.

“What are we going to play Jjongie?”

“Maybe let’s just talk.” We went to our favorite bench, which was near the lovely tree.

“Sunghwa, may I ask, why do you love this tree so much, eh?”

He went and sat beside me. “You know my childhood friend right?”

“I know about it, but you never wanted to talk about it. Why?”

“Well, you always knew that I never want promises to be broken, everybody wants that, I guess.”

“What about it?” I didn’t answer Jjongie, I just sighed and didn’t look at him.

“I guess this childhood friend of yours broke his or her promise to you?”

I nodded. I stood up and went near the lovely tree, and looked for the circle Key drew for us. I was shocked to see that it was still there.

“Key..” I whispered in the air. Jjongie followed me. “What’s this circle?” Jjongie pointed at it.

“It says Key & Dear. What do you think does it mean?”

“I’m Dear, my childhood friend is Key. He’s the one whom you always asked me,” I thought in my mind.

 “Jjongie, you see …” I stuttered.

“What, what?”

“Never mind Jjongie..” as I looked away from him.

“I’m sorry Jjongie,” I added. Jjongie just hugged me and said nothing. “Thank you Jjongie!”

School again and again, but that was fine, I have no other choice. I wasn’t still feeling fine. Miss Kim gave us our groupings, and after we finished working on our research, we passed it to Miss Kim. After our class, Miss Kim told me to meet her at her room, she said she needed to talk to me, but what is it about?

“Good morning Miss Kim,” as I bowed to her and entered her room.

“Please, take a seat.”

“What are you going to tell me Miss Kim?”

“Let’s just wait first, ok?”

“Good Morning, Ma’am!” someone greeted Miss Kim. I turned to my back and saw Kibum. Why was he there?

“I asked both of you to go here because I’d like both of you to work together on another research.”

“Mwo!?”  we both said it.

“Yes, I’ve seen and checked your papers and as far as I know, both of you are really good. So, I’m counting on both of you, de?”

“Oh..ok Miss Kim.” I said.

Miss Kim gave us the details and said that we should start later, or tomorrow. Kibum talked to me about it and I said that we should just start tomorrow cause I really wanted to go home now, I’m not getting any more fine.

“So, seeya tomorrow!” I said. While walking back, I was feeling something unusual. I rubbed my eyes and saw bright lights, what was it?

I was kinda feeling dizzy so yea, maybe that was it. Jjongie saw me and asked me if I was alright, maybe he noticed I was a little bit dizzy during our math class..

Kibum’s POV:

I greeted Sunghwa and we started doing our research. Sunghwa’s really quiet, she just talked to me when she asked me something.

“Sunghwa, you’re almost finished there?”

“Ne Kibum, how about you?”

“Ne,”

“Uhm, Sunghwa, can I walk you home later?”she stopped writing and looked at me.

“Mwo? I mean, sure yea, we can.” She smiled back at me.

She looked cute wearing our uniform, with her little back pack and she held some of her books.

“Come on now,” I said.

“So Sunghwa, how long were you friends with Jonghyun?”

“Oooh, 4 years already.”

“Oh, I see Sunghwa.”

We happened to stop by the park. I looked for the lovely tree, but Sunghwa didn’t know it.

“Are you looking for something Kibum?”

“Ne, it’s here.”

“Oh…the lovely tree?” she smiled and whispered but I heard it, keke.

“You know this lovely tree Sunghwa?”

“Uh, actually yes.” She nodded.

“How about you?”

“Oh, remember my friend?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Well, it’s actually about her, that’s why.”

We were talking for some minutes then suddenly we saw two kids were playing with a bike, they looked so cute though. But then, the girl fell from the bike. Sunghwa got shocked and ran towards them, I followed her and we helped the little girl.

“Hello, are you alright?”

“Thank you for helping me unnie!” the girl said.

“Noona, thank you too!” the girl’s friend said.

I remembered Dear again. I remembered when I first helped her, cleaning the dirt on her knees. I have always been thinking of her ever since I left her.

“Those kids better be careful next time,” she whispered to me.

I was chuckling when Sunghwa asked me, “Why are you chuckling Kibum?”

“Well, I remembered my friend, she fell from her bike too, when I first taught her to ride one,” I smiled back at her.

It was getting dark, so I walked Sunghwa home now. She thanked me and bade goodbye to me.

That night, I was thinking of Dear, as usual, it has been almost 4,380 days for me since I left her and I swore, from day to night, she’s always in my head.  Suddenly, I remembered Sunghwa, she helped those two kids, she seemed so worry about them, I wonder why. I opened my secret box, yes I call it that and looked at the stuffs stored there. I saw a picture of Dear, I took a picture of her when I saw her, I thought she was really beautiful as ever. Dear never knew why I felt close to her. “If you only have known the truth why I didn’t keep my promise..if only Dear.”

*flashback*

“Appa, why do you have to do this?”

“Kim Kibum, you need to follow me. You don’t have any other choice than to obey me.”

“But please appa, I can’t leave, I can’t leave tomorrow. Not tomorrow.”

“What’s so special tomorrow that you’re worrying much than worrying about your umma’s state now?”

“I understand appa, but please can you just let me go to the park tomorrow? I just need to do something first before leaving, appa.”

“But come back early, or we’ll be left out,” appa said with a shrill tone.

*end*

I didn’t have the choice but to obey appa, I can’t stand the fact that I just wished I saw Dear on the day she liked the most. I’m sorry Dear.

I wonder if she got my bear and key necklace. I still hope so that she had read my letter or she’ll never understand me…never ever. I could still clearly remember that I told her to give someone another chance when someone made a mistake, but I think when I’ll see her again, that one chance she gave me is already over. I don’t know who to blame, I don’t know if what I did was right or wrong. If someday that happens, I’ll never give up on Dear.