Listen to Doue... by TVXQ! : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEgAnBtfblA

The sight of the beach mirrored Saya’s feelings. She was terrible at swimming, nothing beyond a pitiful float, but the scene of white foam crashing against the small cliffs and the strip of dull gold lightened her heart. Momentarily, just momentarily, she felt like everything was just right.

The car took a turn and Saya let the light heat warm her face. Verdelann, she thought to herself. Verdelann, the quaint little town that was well-known for it’s location and weather. With a beautiful beach spot and pleasant weather most of the year, Verdelann was rarely vacant. It’s people though were autonomous to the town’s brochure image and was often known for being the mother of radical youths.

However, the only thing that frightened Saya was not the possibility of bumping into bad company.

It was the possibility that she may never recover from her wounds.

Following her parents’ death, Saya found herself looking towards her boyfriend for support. Hyun Joong was different from the other boys. He was a class above the rest and was often bound to magnetically align the female species around him. Despite him being out-of-reach for most, a chance meeting at a music store had started a beautiful relationship between him and Saya. Saya had never expected much from them but for the first time, she wanted Hyun Joong to lean on. She had many social circles to be surrounded with but none of them were even slightly perceptive or empathetic of her pain.

But the more she moved towards him, the more he moved away and one day, another blow struck her.

“You’re too pitiful,” Hyun Joong said, clicking his tongue. “Be strong, what happened to the old Saya?”

“Old Saya?” she repeated in a shocked tone. “Hyun Joong, my parents died in a car crash by the hands of a drunk man who with the wave of his cash, turned my father from a victim into an offender!”

“Saya,” Hyun Joong sighed. “You can’t get beaten up like this, maybe your father really was—”

“Shut. Up.” Saya gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, biting back the angry tears. “You don’t know anything!”

Hyun Joong kept silent. Finally, in a low tone he murmured, “No Saya, YOU know nothing. We’re done.”

Saya closed her eyes and tuned out the memory of the countless number of questions, the unanswered interrogation. Hyun Joong had told her she was weak, that he couldn’t take care of a girl like her.

“I liked you because you were strong and independent. Now you’re just a damsel-in-distress.”

She was told by the lawyers that her parents had only left enough assets for her education and insurance, but a surprise came in the form of a request to shift to her Godmother’s place, in case of any mishap.

“I have a Godmother?” Saya asked in a frail voice. The clerk smiled and answered, “In Verdelann,” almost as if it was worth dying for.

Saya had never visited Verdelann before and she had only faintly heard of the place. Nevertheless, she recognized her parents’ words and handwriting and without any hesitation, packed her bags.

“You’ll love Verdelann.”

Saya awoke from her thoughts and gave a ‘I-hope-so’ shrug. She was sitting in a rugged yellow Hummer that belonged to the 24 year old chauffeur of the day, Yunho. Not only was he her Godmother’s nephew, he was the manager of a hardware store that he boasted of as being the ‘fuel-of-the-town’ and had found a part-time job for Saya to be involved in.

“Part-time?” Saya asked. Yunho gave a smile and looked strictly towards the road.

“Noona gave me the responsibility of keeping you busy. She said she can only afford tears when they come with onions.”

Saya’s lips broke apart and a sound quite familiar to her spurted out. When Yunho beamed at her from the rear-view mirror, she caught herself in the midst of a chuckle.