~

돌아와줘.. I want you back back back back back..

~

 

 

 

Several years ago..

 

 

He stood there and waited.

 

 

Small-eyed and smiling, wearing his fresh new high school uniform, outstretching his arms, scanning the crowd of middle school students.

 

 

“Somi! Come here!”

 

 

Thirteen-year old Lee Somi ran into the open arms of fifteen-year old Kim Sunggyu. He hugged her tightly and his eyes stretched into small lines.

 

 

“How was your first day of high school?” Somi asked Sunggyu with a smile on her face.

 

 

“Great!” said Sunggyu. “And how was your first day of middle school?”

 

 

Somi thought for a little.

 

 

“It was alright,” she replied.

 

 

Sunggyu chuckled and grabbed Somi’s left wrist.

 

 

“Let’s take our walk, shall we?”

 

 

Sunggyu always liked to take Somi on walks to places around Jeonju. To places like the local museum, the library, the gas station, wherever.

 

 

Somi blushed and nodded. Sunggyu had always made her feel like she had butterflies in her stomach. She didn’t know why, but he just had that effect on her.

 

 

Sunggyu squeezed Somi’s hands and interlaced his bigger fingers in between her smaller ones. They swung their hands back and forth as they walked down the road, side-by-side, enjoying the nice countryside.

 

 

Sunggyu took off his blazer, which left him in his black wife beater.

 

 

Somi admired his arms. She used to call Sunggyu a shrimp, because he was always very skinny and had sticks for arms. However, now that Sunggyu was maturing, Somi was able to see the faint biceps beginning to form in his upper arms.

 

 

“Wow.. Oppa is really growing up,” Somi thought.

 

 

Sunggyu noticed her staring at him and just smiled to himself with a shy smile on his face. Sunggyu and Somi walked further down the road, until they reached a small cluster of trees.

 

 

There was a small fence separating the two of them from the trees.

 

 

Sunggyu hopped over the fence with ease, although he was sweating because of the humid weather. He wiped his forehead with his left hand and looked at Somi, who was standing on the other side in awe. 

 

 

“I don’t have all day,” Sunggyu said jokingly, gesturing to Somi to follow him over the fence.

 

 

Even though it took her longer to do than Sunggyu, Somi climbed over the fence at a steady pace. She slipped when she reached the top, and let out a small yelp as she fell, waiting to feel the impact of the floor.

 

 

However, she never felt the hard floor against her back.

 

 

Sunggyu had outstretched his arms at the right time, and saved her from her fall. He held Somi bridal-style and he looked into her eyes for a few seconds before she broke away from his intense gaze.

 

 

All of a sudden, something in Sunggyu’s pocket vibrated. He ignored it.

 

 

Sunggyu didn’t put Somi down. He carried her deeper into the trees, breathing heavily. She could feel each of his breaths on her face.

 

 

Somi felt like she was too heavy for him to carry, and she knew that she could perfectly walk by herself. 

 

 

However, she enjoyed the intimacy she shared with the older boy when he held her smaller body tightly, close to his chest and walked on, so she said nothing.

 

 

Somi was awed by the surroundings. She looked at the beautiful lush green trees with wonder, and listened to water trickling in the distance.

 

 

“This is nature,” she thought before closing her eyes.

 

 

“Ding!” Somi’s phone made a noise and she looked at it to see that she had a new message from her older brother, Sungyeol.

 

 

From Yeollie Oppa: 

Where are you? It’s late. I’m worried. You better not be with that Kim Sunggyu again.

 

 

Somi smiled at her phone. It was rare for her to see this side of Sungyeol, because he usually instead of ever showing concern.

 

 

However, Somi’s smile faded as she re-read the last sentence. “You better not be with that Kim Sunggyu again.”

 

 

“What was with Sungyeol and his dislike for Sunggyu anyways?” Somi wondered.

 

 

Sunggyu looked at Somi’s screen and merely laughed.

 

 

Sunggyu and Somi finally reached a clearing. Somi had thought it looked like Sunggyu had been there before, or at least, someone had. There were bags of chips scattered here and there, as well as cans of Pepsi.

 

 

Somi knew it was Sunggyu who had left those things there, because she knew that he loved to drink Pepsi.

 

 

Sunggyu sat Somi on a tree stump, and then took off his backpack and rummaged through the contents of it.

 

 

The silence between Sunggyu and Somi was becoming sort of eerie, but since it was Sunggyu and not anyone else, the silence seemed more comfortable to Somi.

 

 

Somi closely examined Sunggyu, who was still rummaging through his backpack and muttering to himself.

 

 

At the moment, she did not know what to think of him.

 

 

He certainly was not handsome, well, at least when Somi first saw him she thought that he was really, really ugly.

 

 

Yet he carried some sort of charm, or had some strange charisma that made him very interesting to her.

 

 

Even though Somi had known Sunggyu for such a long time, he was still a mystery.

 

 

His “bad boy” facade was what interested Somi in the beginning. When Somi was seven years old and he knocked her ice-cream out of her hands and then walked away without apologizing. Somi had chased after him, screaming and crying. She smiled at the memory.

 

 

Somi had never imagined thinking of him in such a romantic way, and yet there she was now, looking at Sunggyu as he continued to dig in his backpack for something.

 

 

Somi concluded that she definitely liked him, and by his actions and words, she had a feeling that he liked her back as well.

 

 

And then there was Sungyeol.

 

 

Sungyeol, Somi’s brother, who had always disliked Sunggyu.

 

 

Somi didn’t know why, when, or how the dislike started, but Sungyeol had always said that Sunggyu was “trouble you’re getting yourself into”.

 

 

Somi found it strange, because Sungyeol and Sunggyu were always in the same year and the same classes, but they never seemed to have clicked. She remembered they were once partnered up for a project before, but when she walked into Sungyeol’s room to see what they were doing, both Sunggyu and Sungyeol had sour looks on their faces.

 

 

How could someone even dislike Sunggyu, Somi didn’t know.

 

 

He was just.. so.. well.. how could anyone not like him?

 

 

Somi kept her eyes on Sunggyu as he finally pulled something out of his backpack.

 

 

It was a single locket, and two keys.

 

 

“This..” Sunggyu held up the heart-shaped locket.

 

 

He began to walk towards Somi, who was sitting on the tree stumped that he had placed her on earlier.

 

 

Sunggyu knelt down on one knee in front of the tree stump, and gestured for Somi to lower her head.

 

 

Sunggyu put the locket around Somi’s neck with shaking hands, and took one of the  two keys and began to unlock it. He handed the second key to Somi.

 

 

Somi clenched the key in her hand, forming a fist around it and holding it tight, as if it were the most important thing in the world.

 

 

The lock clicked open, and on one side, Somi saw a picture of herself when she was about seven years old. That was how old she was when she met Sunggyu.

 

 

On the other side was a picture of Sunggyu, who looked about nine. His two front teeth was missing and he looked absolutely adorable. He was smiling hard, and his eyes were thin lines.

 

 

“I was cute, wasn’t I?” he asked Somi with a sheepish grin on his face.

 

 

Somi could only nod in silence, closing the locket and holding it close to her.

 

 

Sunggyu chucked and pinched Somi’s cheek.

 

 

“Aigoo,” he laughed. “Is my Somi touched by my gift?”

 

 

Her face turned even more red, if that was possible.

 

 

“Wait.. did he just say.. my Somi?” Somi thought.

 

 

Sunggyu stood up from his kneeling position on the floor. He helped Somi up to her feet.

 

 

Sunggyu took both of Somi’s hands in his bigger ones. Somi could feel the blood pulsing through the veins of Sunggyu’s hands, which warmed her own.

 

 

Sunggyu took Somi’s right hand and placed it over his heart.

 

 

“Do you feel that?”

 

 

Somi felt Sunggyu’s rapid heartbeat, and her own heart began to beat even faster.

 

 

Somi was silent.

 

 

"You make my days worth living. I don't know what I would do without you, but that day is comi-" he choked on his words.

 

 

Sunggyu began to cry.

 

 

Somi had never seen Sunggyu cry before, not once in all those years that she had known him.

 

 

So why was he crying now?

 

 

“Somi, I love you.”

 

 

Sunggyu carefully examined Somi’s face for her reaction.

 

 

Then, something in his pocket vibrated again.

 

 

Sunggyu pulled it out and his expression turned from sad to terrified.

 

 

“Oh no.. Oh no.. I thought I went as far away as I could.. They heard it all.. I’m in trouble..” Sunggyu said, his face paling.

 

 

"Somi, you need to run. They'll take you too if you stay. One day.. If I can.. I'll be back for you.. I don't know when.. But I will be back.. Don't worry.. I'm so sorry this had to happen now, I thought that we would be safe here.. but I knew it would happen sooner or later.. When you turn 18.. go to.. go to.." he never finished.

 

 

Sunggyu grabbed Somi and pulled her into his tight embrace.

 

 

He held her close, and for a moment she thought that he was going to kiss her, but he suddenly pushed her forward.

 

 

“Don’t forget me. I have no one but you. I’ll never look at or think about anyone but you. Please, trust me.”

 

 

Sunggyu shoved Somi forward again, and with that, Somi ran towards the fence, not looking back.

 

 

As Somi was climbing over the fence as fast as she could, she heard a helicopter and the sound of a megaphone.

 

 

“We warned you, Kim Sunggyu.”

 

 

Somi heard his desperate pleads and screams.

 

 

Somi successfully climbed over the fence and sat on the other side of it, listening to the cries of the boy she loves, cowering into her own knees as the sound of his voice finally died off.

 

 

There was only silence now.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

*Author’s Note: The next chapter will be about Sunggyu and Somi’s first time meeting, and it will also show parts of Somi’s 17-year old life! I’m planning to introduce all the main characters early in the story, so you’ll be seeing lots of new faces in the next few chapters!