It was nearly noon and the sunlight shone through the blinds, waking Gary up. In a dazed state, he stepped down the couch.
He realised he stepped on something soft. 
Gosh Jihyo was sleeping on the floor... and she didn't stir even when he had stepped on her hands. Even though he felt guilty, he couldn't help but chuckle at how she slept like a log.
He knelt down beside her and tapped her lightly. 
"Jihyo-ah...." He whispered.
She instinctively brushed away his hands but didn't wake up. 
He chuckled, shaking her hand slightly harder. 
"It's noon already.... do you want to wake up?"
"Hmm...." 
Finally, he resorted to the ultimate move. He pinched her cheeks, lightly so it wouldn't be pain, but hard enough to wake her up.
She blinked and rubbed her eyes groggily. 
"Ahh... oppa.." she mumbled.
"Can I wash my face in your kitchen?" He asked. She nodded. 

He got up to wash up, while Jihyo sat on the floor in a daze, still half-asleep. After a few minutes, she finally decided to go to her room to wash up. She checked her phone after she washed up.

12:03pm

No new messages.

She sighed, feeling a wave of disappointment. She still hoped that Chang Joo would apologize for the previous day, and hoped everything would be fine. She missed his morning greetings and cheesy lines. She’s going to miss his teasings; she’s going to miss whining in front of him; she’s going to miss him taking care of her.

Unknowingly she broke down in tears again.

Meanwhile, Gary was done washing up. He didn’t know if Jihyo was in the mood for lunch, so he prepared to leave. Even though he was reluctant to leave her alone, he had plans for the afternoon.

He went to her room bid her goodbye but he found her sitting at the corner of the bed, sobbing softly.

He went up to sit beside her and patted her back.

She turned around and hugged him. “I’m.. I’m missing him so much…. Oppa…. I’m going to miss him…”

He hugged her back but didn’t say anything. He was in a dilemma. Should he clarify things with Chang Joo, so they can be together again; or wait for her to get over him and then be with her.

In the end, he decided. He couldn’t let her suffer. He couldn’t bear to see her cry like this so who-knows-how-long. He would hate to let her go again, but he wanted her to be happy more than anything else.

“Jihyo-ah,” he said softly. “Oppa will help you clarify things with him ok. I’ll tell him that we’re just siblings…”

To his surprise, Jihyo shook her head.

“Aniya, oppa…” she said between sobs. She was calmer now, and he sobs slowed down, but she was still crying. “I…. don’t think I can treat him the same way…. As I did in the past…. After…. After last night….”

Gary was at a loss of what to say. Jihyo pulled away from him, rubbing her eyes to get rid of the tears.

“I guess… we aren’t meant to be….” She finally said. “I just need time to…. To get over him….” She smiled weakly, to show that she would be okay eventually.

Gary nodded, a small smile forming on his lips.

“So… I guess you have to go?”

“Huh?” Gary had already forgotten that the main reason he came in was to say goodbye.

“I mean…. I have already wasted so much of your time…”

Time spent with you, is not wasted, he thought.

He shook his head. “I don’t think I should leave you alone.”

She smiled shyly. “It’s okay… oppa. I’m a grown up,” she assured him.

“Do you want to join me?’’ he asked, abruptly.

“Huh?”

“I’m visiting an orphanage this afternoon…. You can join me, if you have no plans…” She didn’t respond. “If you don’t want, then I’ll just postpone the visit,” he shrugged nonchalantly. “So what do you want to do today?”

“Aniya oppa… I don’t mind coming with you.” She smiled. She had no plans, and visiting an orphanage is a meaningful thing. At least she has something to distract her mind from Chang Joo.

And so, the both of them made their way to the orphanage. It was a long drive there, because it was in a rather secluded part of Korea. Not a very modernized part.

When they were nearing, Jihyo caught the glimpse of the name of the town. “Omo,” she gasped. “I lived here when I was a kid!”

“Ah, jjinja?”

“Mmm,” she nodded her head confidently. “I’m quite sure, even though I don’t really remember, my parents do talk about it sometimes….”

Gary nodded. He lived here too… in the orphanage. But he didn’t mention it. He had never told anyone that he was an orphan, except HaHa. The rest simply thought that he didn’t like to mention his family members.

They finally arrived. There was only one carpark at the end of the town, so they had to walk a fair distance to the orphanage.

Jihyo got a shock when they walked past the playground. It was like a deja-vu moment.

Suddenly, she found the place familiar, like she had seen it before somewhere- With the playground in front of the hospital, and rows of shop houses beside it.

True, she lived here before, but that was more than 20 years before. It’s impossible that she remembered it so vividly.

Then, she remembered. It was the same scene as her dream! She stood there, dumbfounded. Perhaps…. it wasn’t a dream, but a long forgotten memory… If that’s so, was she the girl then? And who was the boy?

“Hey!!” Gary shouted, waving his hands in front of her eyes, bringing her back to reality.

She blinked her eyes in shock.

“What’s wrong,” he asked.

“Nothing… it just looks…. Familiar….”

He flicked his fingers at her temple gently. “Of course it is, silly. You lived here once….” He laughed it off.

“Yah, do you even remember what happened when you were five or six?”

Yeah. When I was six, I watched my parents died in front of me. He winced at the memory, but he didn’t say it.

“Let’s go” was all he simply replied.

They finally reached the orphanage. The children flocked to him like bees.

“Gary hyung!” “Gary oppa!” “Gae! Gae!” the children greeted him. He just laughed and ruffled their hair. Jihyo looked at him laugh. She had never seen him laugh so heartily before. His eyes disappeared into crescent shapes and his mouth was in the widest smile ever. He was literally smiling from eye to eye. She smiled at him.

“Yah, hyung!” a cheeky looking boy called as he ran and jumped onto Gary’s back.

“Yah! Jun Suk!” he laughed. “Don’t do this! Its dangerous!” he smacked his head gently with him on his back, both of them still laughing.

“You say that to him every time, but still let him do it every time,” a gentle voice chuckled.

Gary turned. “Ah, good afternoon Mdm Park!” he said as he bowed. Jihyo followed him.

“This is Jihyo, my friend.” He gestured to Jihyo. “This is Mdm Park, the in-charge of the orphanage.”

The elderly lady nodded at Jihyo. “It’s the first friend you’ve brought here, Gary-ah. Someone special?” she teased.

“Aish, aniya…” Gary blushed. “Where’s YongHui?” he asked, changing the topic.

“Ah… that boy…”Mdm park sighed. “He’s back to his old self again….. YongJie was adopted recently…”

“Ah….” Gary nodded. “I’ll try talking to him.”

“If you can find him,” she sighed. He shrugged. Of course I can. He searched for his energy and felt that it was by the pond.

He turned around to tell Jihyo where he was going but she was already surrounded by kids.

“Ace Ace!!!” “Mong Ji!!!!” “You are the running man Jihyo?!!” “I want your signature!” “Eonnie you are so pretty!” she was bombarded by questions from the little happy pills.

Their eyes met and they smiled at each other.

He gestured to tell her that he was going to the pond. She nodded.

“YongHui?”

The 8 year-old turned his head slightly but didn’t look at Gary.

Gary sat down beside him. He shifted himself to be further away from him. Gary sighed. He didn’t know how to comfort him. He patted his back, but the boy pushed him away.

“You can’t stay like this forever… you have to eat and talk and go back to bed,” he said gently. The boy ignored him and continued plucking the grass on the ground.

“Oppa… the kids want to….” Jihyo called out to him as she half walked, half-dragged by the bunch of kids towards the pond. She then realised the tension in the air. “Oh…” she muttered. “I’m…. sorry..”

The rowdy kids didn’t seem to notice the tension and continued cheering and chattering loudly. YongHui frowned and he plucked the grass even more furiously.

“Come on, children, let’s play at some other place…” Jihyo struggled to control the kids.

“Gary oppa!” “Gary hyung!” the kids continued to chant in unison.

“Shut up!” Yong Hui said. He didn’t yell or shout. He just simply said. It was almost like a calm ‘said’. But there was a menacing note to it.

“Let’s go somewhere else…” Gary finally stood up and ushered the children away. Jihyo and him exchanged worried looks....