Loila’s POV

“She always liked the sky, that’s how you got your name…” I stared at my Uncle. I had been listening to his story while I ate the rest of my meal, not taking much of it in. I did find out that he was a bit of a nerd in high school, which was an interesting thought, you’d never tell now.

“Pardon?” I didn’t know how to react; I must have heard him wrong, like always.

“That’s how you got your name. Your Mother loved the sky.”

“Wait, slow down!” I held up my hands. “You mean Kate was my mother!?”

“Of course she was. Do you not understand Korean? I can say it in English…” He smiled warmly as he drank his beer. It was the same beer as the Stalker. It snapped me out of my thoughts.

“When did you start drinking that type of beer?” I asked suspiciously.

“I’ve always been fond of this brand, but I’m really addicted to it now. Why? You know you’re not old enough yet and I’m going to be a responsible guardian, no alcohol!” He said in a mock ‘fatherly’ voice. I tried to ignore the beer and get back to my Mum.

“How come my Dad never told me any of this?” I was struggling to keep a straight face. “Surely it must be awkward for you now; you live in the same house.”

“It’s not awkward because Brian never knew. He never cared for little things, except you, of course. He always kept you close; I had trouble getting my hands on you!”

“Why are you so nice to me? I’m the child of your first love and your brother. I don’t know how you do it!”

“It’s easy. Kate loved you, so I love you. Brian does too; he’s just had a hard time since Kate died.”                                                                                                             

“He’s the one that left her!” I exploded. Uncle Rod apologised to the other customers.

“Just because they got a divorce, doesn’t mean that they didn’t love each other. Do you understand now? Brian doesn’t hate you; he hates himself for what’s become of you. Even when he was there, he missed most of your childhood because of work. He worked to keep you safe and happy so you never had to worry about those things. I was lucky enough to see most of your early stages.” I was still staring and the beer. “Sky, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” It seemed like the only thing I could say, my name, my parents, my whole family had more meaning than I expected. It was so much to take in. “I’ve got to go home.” I stood up slowly and Uncle Rod grabbed my wrist.

“Please stay. I was just about to order more drinks.”

“Thank you for telling me about all this, but I really need some time to think about this.” He let go of me and shrugged.

“Remember the job offer, it’s still standing.” He grinned as I left and when I looked back he was still looking which made me shudder. I got in a taxi and went all the way home, it wasn’t until I got in bed, that I realised I had left Cloud in Uncle Rod’s car.

“I guess I’ll have to see you soon.” I said to myself as I fell asleep.

I woke up feeling groggy and tired. I kept having weird dreams about my Dad. I didn’t feel like going to my cooking lesson so instead I cooked some pastries at home. Hy was helping me make the icing when my phone rang. I was going to leave it ringing until I saw who was calling. “Hi Thunder!” I said cheerfully. Slowly, we were becoming casual again.

“Hey, do you want go to for a walk?” He asked shyly. I nodded but then realised I was on the phone and he couldn’t see me.

“Sure, where do I meet you?”

“Um… Outside the front door.”

“What?”

“I’m out the front. Oh, there’s a letter for you too…”

Cheondung’s POV

Sky and I walked to the park where Kimchi was buried. After Sky threw out the letter she seemed quite happy that I was talking to her again, so I took that as a good sign. I wasn’t going to ask her out again just yet, I just missed talking to her.

“What’s in the container?” I asked.

“It’s just some pastries I made. Do you want to eat one?” She opened the little blue lid and pulled something out. I took it and chewed slowly.

“This is delicious!”

“Thanks! I made them to apologiseto someone.” I stared at her. She mustn’t mean me. “My Dad…”

“Oh…” I took another bite of the delectable pastry. “Where’s Kimchi’s grave?” She stopped walking and smiled faintly.

“Right there. He’s right there.” She skipped towards a raised mound of grass. “I haven’t been here in ages. Gosh, the grass has grown heaps.” She patted the ground lightly. “I still miss Kimchi; it’s a little bit sad, right?”

“Of course not.” I joined her. “If I lost Dadoong, I’d probably stop everything just to cry. Speaking of Kimchi, I’m hungry, do you want to eat?”

“HEY!” Someone called. We turned around to see Mir standing with crossed arms. “What are you doing?”

“We’re just visiting Kimchi, why are you here?” Sky asked sweetly, she couldn’t stop smiling, it was contagious.

“I was taking... Soju! Yeah, Soju, for a walk. He went to the bathroom though…” Mir stuttered to explain. It was obvious he was lying.

“Oh, I haven’t seen Soju in ages!” I shook my head and sighed at Sky’s oblivious statement. “We were just about to go get some lunch, do you want to come?”

“Who’s paying?” Mir asked with slight interest.

“Oh, I forgot my money. I’ll go home and get it-”

“I’ll pay.” I smiled. “Don’t eat too much, okay?”

“LET’S GO!” Mir grabbed Sky’s arm and they skipped towards the shops. I felt a bit jealous but tried to ignore it. “He’s only being nice.” I told myself. “I have to stop this feeling.”

Mir’s POV

Cheondung left early in the morning and like last time, I followed. He looked like he was talking to himself so I didn’t bother to interrupt, I did not need another awkward moment. He went all the way to Loila’s and then Loila and he went to the park. I should have stayed home but I didn’t trust him, he seems nice and cute at first glance, but he’s completely charming underneath, which isn’t a good thing for Loila, she’s too clueless. At the park, I could see that Cheondung was going to make a move so I interrupted them, luckily they didn’t know I was following them. I grabbed Loila and we skipped to one of the most expensive shops. “Maybe we should go somewhere cheaper, Thunder is paying after all.” Loila worried.

“Nonsense, he’s rich. Come on, look how nice that looks!”

We left Cheondung to pay and I patted my full stomach. “I think that’s the best thing I’ve eaten all month!”

“Should we go get Soju now?”

“Oh, um… I got someone to keep an eye on him!” I laughed. Soju was still at home.

“This is so comical…”

“You always say that!” I said accusingly as I poked her in the arm. Cheondung was still inside but I decided to start walking, Loila followed behind reluctantly.

“Say what?” She kept looking behind as though she was breaking some sort of rule by walking with me.

“You always say ‘this is so comical’, it’s like your catch phrase.”

“Ah! So the Stalker has finally found out my catch phrase!” She put on a mischievous expression and her chin.

“Hey, what happened to calling me ‘good citizen’?” I asked. I was genuinely interested.

“You don’t have Soju with you.”

“Of course not. I don’t like alcohol!” We both laughed at my bad pun. Cheondung came up behind us and cleared his throat.

“I missed it!” He whined as he held on to Loila. “Let’s go back to the park!”

“No, let’s go get ice-cream!” I glared at Cheondung. “Two can play at that game!” I thought.

“Oh, I don’t mind where we go.” Loila looked uncertain so I grabbed her arm.

“This way.”

“No,” Cheondung grabbed her other arm and tried to pull her in the other direction. “This way!” We both kept pulling and Loila didn’t know what to do.

“Hey, stop.” She said gently. “Come on, we can get ice-cream and eat it in the park. Please stop fighting! You’re acting like children, since when does this happen in real life?”

“This way!” We called as we both pulled her jumper sleeves. It made a ripping noise and Loila screamed.

“STOP!” We both let go and she checked her jumper closely. She found a little hole and wiggled her finger through it. She sighed. “You ruined it…”

“I’m sorry.” I looked at the floor.

“We can get another one.” Cheondung suggested.

“It’s okay. Look, it’s a worm!” She moved her finger through the hole and smiled. “I have heaps of jumpers, although this was one of my favourites. I could go for some ice-cream though.”  I nodded in agreement.

“Why don’t you eat one of them instead?” Cheondung pointed at the container.

“Loila!” I cried as I grabbed on to her shoulder. “What’s in your container?”

“Just some pastries.” I held out my hand and poked my tongue out towards Cheondung.

“I only made a small batch, the rest are for Bae.” Loila apologised.

“I guess I got the last free one.” Cheondung smirked. I clenched my fists hard; it was taking everything I had to not punch him in his cute face. I probably would have if I wasn’t holding onto Loila.