"Come in! Come in!" the bus driver called out to the lady waiting beside the bus stop, "We don't have any seats, but it'll be more difficult for you to stay there in the middle of the rain!"

Youngji took a deep breath as she watched the lady get inside the packed bus. It was already raining cats and dogs, and it made commuting difficult and the traffic heavier.

Almost everyone inside the bus was drenched with rain, including Jackson and Youngji who were already standing inside. They had a hard time getting a cab so they decided to wait for a bus instead, even if they had to stand up during the whole trip.

"Are you okay?" Jackson whispered to her. Youngji moved her head to look at him, and there he was, his face only a few inches away from hers, already standing close to her, close enough for her to feel him breathing. And that made her avoid looking straight at him.

"I--I'm okay," she answered nervously. Since when did Jackson move that close? Based from how she remembered it, they went inside the bus and he stood inches away from her. But because people still kept getting inside the bus, Jackson must have moved closer to her because of the cramped space.

But still... it felt different.

"Please move further inside!" the bus driver called out to his passengers.

The people who were already standing had no choice but to move closer to the back, even if it meant being stuck in a very tight space inside the bus.

The man in front of Youngji briskly took steps backward, and because Youngji was a bit smaller and was already feeling feeble after being soaked in the rain, she lost her footing, and felt herself almost falling down.

"Woah there!" Jackson exclaimed as he swiftly held Youngji's waist to catch her, "What happened to you?!"

"Huh?" Youngji's eyes widened as she felt his hands on her waist. She quickly pulled herself up and swiped Jackson's hands away from her, "I--I'm fine, Jackson Wang!"

"No, you're not! You almost fell down," Jackson gave her a piercing look, "Stop saying you're okay even if you're not, Heo Youngji."

Youngji felt her heart beat faster after hearing his sudden outburst. He may not show it that much, but she was pretty sure he was quite concerned for her.

But she didn't want to assume too much. Besides, Jackson Wang was not the type who would show concern for his rival.

"Be more careful," Jackson's calmer voice interrupted Youngji from her thoughts, and the next thing she knew, he already had his arm wrapped around her, "Hold onto me so you won't fall down."

Youngji couldn't help but to take a quick glance at him.

And there he was, his face looking straight at the window with a poker face on. He just stood firmly in his spot as if nothing had happened.

"I'll be fine," Youngji mumbled to herself, but she didn't expect that Jackson would actually hear her voice.

"You won't be fine without me," Jackson sputtered with an irritated look on his face. And yes, his words just made Youngji even more confused than before. First was Mark, then Jackson. And she also couldn't forget Bambam.

"Stop overthinking," Youngji closed her eyes shut, trying to remove unnecessary thoughts from her mind.

It was the longest bus ride she had ever experienced,

-

"Youngji! You're back!" Mrs. Heo greeted after seeing Youngji enter the house, "But--but what's with that look?!"

"I forgot to bring my umbrella today, mom," Youngji sighed as she placed her wet school bag on the floor. Her mother quickly gave her a towel to dry herself.

"You should change your clothes or you'll catch a cold!" Mrs. Heo spoke with an extremely worried look on her face.

Just in time, Gayoon came out of the kitchen, "Ah! Ji, welcome back," she smiled.

"Gayoon! You told me a while ago that your sister will be fine commuting while it's raining," their mother interrupted. She gave Gayoon a glare, "Look at her, she's soaking wet!"

"Yeah, but at least she came home safely," Gayoon pouted, "If Jackson was not with her, I would totally go through the rain just to fetch her."

Mrs. Heo was startled, "Who's Jackson?!" she had a confused look on her face as she shifted her eyes from Gayoon to Youngji, then back to Gayoon.

"Youngji's friend who is a champion fencer and an Olympian!" Gayoon beamed, "Ah, our Youngji is so lucky to have such friend."

Mrs. Heo shook her head; she did not enjoy Gayoon playing matchmaker to her sister. She knew how naïve Youngji could be, since she never had a boyfriend before. Youngji grew up with the constant care and attention from her mother and her sister, and since she grew up without any men around her, she became very distant with the opposite .

"Have you eaten, sweetie?" Mrs. Heo tried changing the topic immediately. She slowly pulled Youngji towards the kitchen, "We kept your meal inside the oven."

"Thanks, mom," Youngji smiled before entering the kitchen, leaving her mother and Gayoon in the living room.

Mrs. Heo quickly turned to look at Gayoon with a piercing look on her face, "Gayoon, tell me, who is that Jackson you're talking about?!"

"M--Mom," Gayoon spoke sheepishly. She knew her mother was already angry at her, "Jackson is a nice person. I've met him already and--"

"And you'll just push your sister to that man?! Gayoon, can't you understand? You should be responsible enough to protect your sister!" Mrs. Heo was already furious and her hands trembled as she spoke.

"Mom, you don't understand," Gayoon sighed, "You haven't even met him, so don't be too quick to judge. I know you're just worried that Jackson might do the same thing dad did to us--"

"All men are the same, Gayoon!" Mrs. Heo retorted, before starting to walk towards her room. She slammed the door behind her, and left her daughter with a disappointed look on her face.

Gayoon understood what her mother was trying to point out. No man can be good for Youngji. She took a seat on the couch, and held her forehead with her hands. She never liked dragging their father in their conversations, but it cannot be helped.

"This is all your fault, dad," Gayoon whispered to herself.

Unbeknownst to the two, Youngji heard everything they talked about, as she only stood a few inches away from the thin wooden wall separating the kitchen and the living room.

She felt her heart beat faster after hearing her mother and her sister's argument. And what was worse was that her father was mentioned again.

And Youngji hated it.

Memories came back every time she heard about her father, the man whom she trusted for so long, but ended up ruining it. Although it had been fourteen years since her father left, she couldn't help but still feel the pain of being abandoned by him.

She was just four years old. Gayoon was ten. They were inside their bedroom, sitting in front of the door, listening closely to everything happening outside. Gayoon was hugging her tightly as she cried her eyes out. It was the worst day for the young Youngji.

The two can hear the loud voices and the crashing plates downstairs. Their parents were having a fight, a fight which seemed would last forever.

"I am not stupid, Hyungjun! I know that call came from a woman!"

"There you go again, Nayoung! Go on, keep being suspicious!"

"Oh yeah?! You think you can fool me with that backfiring of yours?! Stop putting the blame on me when it's your fault! I have stayed silent for three months! But all along I knew you were hiding something from me for three months already, and counting!"

A loud crashing sound was heard again.

And was followed by heavy footsteps heading upstairs.

"Where are you going?!"

"Away from you and your loud mouth."

"Unnie," Youngji mumbled as she held Gayoon tighter, "What's happening?" she asked with a worried look on her face.

Gayoon just forced a smile, "Mom and dad are just trying to fix things," she spoke calmly as she wiped the tears from her sister's face.

Youngji gave her sister a hopeful look on her face. She trusted Gayoon very much; she was the only person Youngji gets strength from.

"Everything will be alright," Gayoon whispered as she covered her younger sister's ears. For a few hours, Youngji just stayed beside her sister in front of their door. She waited until Gayoon removed her hands from her ears, trusting that everything would be fine afterwards.

But she failed.

Their father left.

And Youngji spent her entire childhood believing that he would come back. She waited for her father's return. And whenever she would ask Gayoon about it, her sister would only respond with a smile and a "maybe dad is just busy".

"Hey, Ji, are you okay?"

Youngji was startled. She was cut off from her thoughts after hearing Gayoon's voice. There she stood in front of her with a confused look on her face.

"Have you eaten? Did you see your meal inside the oven?" Gayoon asked as she went to get Youngji's food.

"Thanks," Youngji smiled as her sister placed a bowl of clam chowder and a plate of rice in front of her.

"You should take some rest afterwards," Gayoon spoke, "I know commuting was very hard for you. You need to take enough rest so you won't get sick," she added before leaving the kitchen.

Youngji nodded.

Gayoon was still the same. She was still the older sister who worried a lot for her.

-

The warm feeling of the blanket was enough for Jackson that night, even if he didn't eat dinner. He was still wearing his uniform, which was still wet from the rain. He was too tired to change or even to eat. All he wanted was to stay in bed and sleep.

But his slumber was interrupted by his ringing phone.

"What the--" Jackson groaned as he reached out for his phone on top of the table beside his bed. He squinted his eyes as he tried reading the bright screen of his phone.

It was a call from his coach.

"Coach Hwang, yeah," Jackson answered the phone.

"You skipped practice today!" the booming voice of his forty-year-old coach was heard from the other line, "I told you to come over after your class! Where were you?!"

"I just did something important," Jackson explained, "Don't worry, I'll make it up next week. Chill."

"How am I supposed to chill, you jerk?! The Asian games will be in six months' time, you should be practicing already! South Korea will depend on you to get a gold in fencing!"

Jackson rested his head against the pillow as he listened to his coach's ranting on the other line. A few more minutes passed, and he heard himself cough.

"What was that?!" Coach Hwang immediately asked after hearing Jackson.

"No--nothing," Jackson held his neck as he spoke, trying to stop another cough from coming out...

But he failed.

He started coughing for a minute, and Coach Hwang was still on the other line to hear everything.

"Are you sick?!"

"I am not," Jackson answered.

"Did you get wet from the rain today?! I told you, Jackson Wang, to take good care of yourself! Now what are you doing? Taking your health for granted?!" Coach Hwang exclaimed.

"Look Coach, I just coughed. I was not having a cardiac arrest."

"The next thing you know, you already have fever," Coach Hwang spoke, "You take your medicine immediately then go to sleep! I'll call you again tomorrow!" with that, Coach Hwang already ended his call.

Jackson had an irritated look on his face. He knew Coach Hwang only meant well, but he still didn't like his coach acting like a psychic for predicting that he was going to be sick.

"Pfft. Fever is for the weak. I am not weak," Jackson scoffed, "Therefore, I shall not have fever."

And with that, he went back to sleep.

___

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Hello again! So this will be the last update for the month. Thank you so much for sticking with me and my pretty slow updates. Special thanks to the wonderful people who gave upvotes: 18jjae, SistarsStar1, and Kira503. I also had this fic reviewed, thank you so much for Cherry Blossoms Graphics & Review Shop for their hard work and kind words. :) You can read the full review here.

So I've been seeing fics who have those playlists and all, so I made one for this. If you need something to listen to while reading this chapter, you can check out this playlist. ;) Fifteenth chapter up, please let me know your thoughts. Happy reading, folks~