~

모든 지나간 시간 속에 넌 날 찾아와.

In all the time that’s already passed by, you come and find me.

~

 

 

“No.. No.. Where is it?!” Somi searched all over her room, taking apart everything and making a mess.

 

 

She ripped books off her shelf, checking behind them. She threw all her textbooks off her desks and searched in every drawer. No locket.

 

 

“UGH!” she exclaimed in frustration, leaving her room and tracing her steps to the front door.

 

 

“What’s wrong?” Sungyeol asked his sister, toothbrush in hand.

 

 

“Nothing.. I’m just stressed out about a test,” Somi told him.

 

 

“Oh, okay..” Sungyeol scratched his head. “Well, it’s only nine but I’m gonna be going to sleep. I have classes all day tomorrow and I need to get up early to take Jureumie for her yearly shots.”

 

 

“Goodnight, oppa!” Somi tried to sound calm. She didn’t want Sungyeol to know that she was looking for the locket, because he would only disapprove. After all, he really disliked Sunggyu.

 

 

“Yeah, see you tomorrow morning. Or tomorrow afternoon. Cause you’ll probably be on your way to school by the time I get up,” Sungyeol went to spit out the toothpaste in his mouth and go to bed.

 

 

“Eung, goodnight!” 

 

 

Sungyeol nodded.

 

 

Somi kept looking around the whole apartment, only to find nothing.

 

 

“I should find it right away. If it’s lying around somewhere, it should still be there. If I wait too long, someone might pick it up,” Somi thought.

 

 

She ran out the door without anything, leaving her phone and purse behind.

 

 

“Ding!” Somi’s phone went off.

 

 

From: Howonnie

Are you sure you’re okay? Goodnight, bestie!

 

 

A few minutes later, another message came.

 

 

From: Neighbor Woohyun

Let’s talk.

 

 

~~~

 

 

It was almost 11:00 pm now. Most stores were closed, and Somi had already checked the bingsoo cafe.

 

 

“Have you seen a locket?” Somi had asked the worker there.

 

 

“I’m afraid not. And we’re about to close soon,” the worker said.

 

 

“Are you sure?” Somi asked.

 

 

“Yes. I’m sure. Now, look at the time! It’s 10:00 pm. We’re closed, bye.”

 

 

“Can I check the CCTVs? Please? I want to see if I walked out today wearing the locket or not,” Somi persisted.

 

 

“Look kid, not just anyone can check our CCTVs. Just buy a new locket,” the worker said, shuffling Somi out the door and locking it behind her.

 

 

And that’s why Somi was slowly walking down the street, retracing every single step she took.

 

 

“It has to be somewhere..” she muttered to herself as she looked at the ground, hoping to see her locket lying on the floor.

 

 

“OOMPH!” Somi walked straight into someone who was running, and she was blown off her feet.

 

 

“Watch where you’re going!” a familiar male voice hissed.

 

 

“L oppa?” Somi looked up and met eyes with Myungsoo, who looked down at her with a surprised look.

 

 

“Somi?” Myungsoo smiled immediately. “What are you doing out so late? It’s close to midnight!”

 

 

“Nothing, I’m just gonna go home now,” Somi sighed, walking away.

 

 

“Hey,” Myungsoo chuckled and pointed to the opposite direction. “Your house is in that direction. I’m headed there too.”

 

 

“I’m gonna take the long way home. Bye oppa,” Somi didn’t look back at Myungsoo and continued walking on, looking on the ground for her locket.

 

 

“Wait!” Myungsoo ran up to Somi, and she felt his jacket cover her shoulders. He slung an arm around her. “I can’t let my best friend’s little sister walk around alone at night. What if there’s a creep, waiting to kill you or something?” 

 

 

“Haha, very funny,” Somi laughed dryly, shrugging Myungsoo’s arm off her shoulder and handing his jacket back to him.

 

 

“What’s wrong? Why are you so down? I’ve never seen you like this,” Myungsoo kept following Somi.

 

 

“I’m not in the mood to talk, oppa,” Somi was starting to get annoyed.

 

 

“Well, you can tell me anything. I won’t judge,” Myungsoo smiled.

 

 

“Well.. It might be good to let out my feelings. Maybe if I had someone to lean on, I would feel better..” Somi contemplated.

 

 

“Don’t tell Sungyeol oppa anything, okay?” Somi held out her pinky.

 

 

“I promise,” Myungsoo linked pinkies with Somi. He didn’t seem like the type to spread secrets, anyways.

 

 

“So, on my first day of middle school, Sunggyu and I went out for a walk..” Somi began.

 

 

~~~

 

 

“Hey! OPEN UP!” Howon pounded the door to Somi’s apartment.

 

 

“What do you want?” Sungyeol opened the door, half-asleep, carrying his beloved cat in his arms.

 

 

“Is Somi there?” 

 

 

“Yeah, she’s sleeping,” Sungyeol said, as Howon barged into the apartment and ran into Somi’s room.

 

 

“…So where is she? She didn’t answer my goodnight text, and I could tell something was wrong,” Howon asked Sungyeol.

 

 

“What? Where could she be this late at night?” Sungyeol whipped out his phone and called Somi.

 

 

“I wanna reset~ I wanna reset~” Somi’s phone went off on her desk.

 

 

“Great. Her phone is here,” Howon rolled his eyes. It was typical of Somi.

 

 

“Oh.. Look! She has unread messages,” Howon looked at the message preview on Somi’s iPhone.

 

 

From: Neighbor Woohyun

Let’s talk.

 

 

“Woohyun.. Nam Woohyun? Neighbor Woohyun? Oh. That’s right!” Howon snapped his fingers.

 

 

“What?” Sungyeol asked him.

 

 

“Somi probably saw Woohyun’s message pop-up and went out right away to talk to him. Wait..” Howon looked at the phone. Woohyun had messaged Somi at 9:30 pm. It was well past 11:00 pm now.

 

 

“Let’s go talk to Woohyun!” Sungyeol said, quickly exiting the apartment and walking down the hall to knock on Woohyun’s door.

 

 

“Ehh.. So annoying,” Woohyun sat up in bed and threw on a shirt, and shuffled over to the door.

 

 

“What do you want?” Woohyun was faced with a worried-looking Howon and a still-tired Sungyeol.

 

 

“Where’s Somi?” Sungyeol asked.

 

 

“Dunno,” Woohyun said. “Wait? What’s wrong?” 

 

 

~~~

 

 

“And so today, I lost my locket. That’s why I’m out here looking for it,” Somi concluded her long story.

 

 

“Oh..” Myungsoo didn’t really know what to say.

 

 

“Well, let’s check the bleachers, cause that’s where I last remember having it. During Howon’s try-outs.”

 

 

“Ahh, this place holds a lot of my high school memories,” Myungsoo said as they approached Jeonju High School.

 

 

“You were a student here last year!” Somi laughed.

 

 

“But still,” Myungsoo smiled. “There’s the bleachers, where exactly were you sitting?”

 

 

“Over there! On the right side, in the front,” Somi crossed her fingers and hoped her locket would be there.

 

 

“Nope.. Not here,” Myungsoo looked around, plopped himself down on the bench and let out a heavy sigh.

 

 

“Ugh.. What am I going to do?” Somi buried her face in her hands and tried not to cry.

 

 

Myungsoo didn’t really know what to do. He just sat there awkwardly and patted Somi on the back.

 

 

“That was the last thing that connected me to him,” Somi sniffed.

 

 

“Hey, it’s gonna be okay. Everything’s gonna end up fine. Sometimes, you just need to forget and move on,” Myungsoo said, putting his arm around Somi.

 

 

“Yeah..” Somi said, still thinking about the locket and not really taking his words in.

 

 

There was an awkward, but comfortable silence.

 

 

“You’ll be my baby baby baby whoa-oh~ No guy but you~” Myungsoo’s phone went off, causing Somi to jump.

 

 

“Hello?” Myungsoo picked up the phone, sending Somi a light-smile.

 

 

“Myunggie! Somi is gone, can you come over and help us search?” Sungyeol’s voice was urgent.

 

 

“Oh.. Ha.. She’s with me..” Myungsoo mumbled the last three words.

 

 

“WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING WITH MY SISTER AT MIDNIGHT?! DID YOU CALL HER OUT OR SOMETHING? ARE YOU DOING SOMETHING AGAINST HER WILL? WHAT THE HECK, KIM MYUNGSOO!” Somi could hear her older brother screaming on the phone and chuckled.

 

 

“Sometimes, maybe I think he does love me,” Somi thought. 

 

 

She was happy to know that her older brother cared about her.

 

 

“Calm down,” Myungsoo sighed. “We ran into each other. I didn’t call her out or anything.”

 

 

“Why was she out? Huh?! It’s so late! And you, you didn’t even bring her home! You know it’s dangerous for her to be alone out at night, especially with all the drunks around,” Sungyeol sounded annoyed.

 

 

“We’re just talking,” Myungsoo rolled his eyes.

 

 

“Don’t you dare roll your eyes, Kim Myungsoo. I know you just did. I know that tone,” Sungyeol said over the phone. He knew Myungsoo too well.

 

 

“Okay, okay. I’ll bring her back now. Geez,” Myungsoo hung up before Sungyeol could yell at him some more.

 

 

As Somi and Myungsoo were walking home, Somi nudged him with her elbow.

 

 

“Oppa?”

 

 

“Yeah?”

 

 

“Thanks for listening to me today. I knew I could trust you,” Somi was back to her happy self. “I feel so much better after letting all my feelings out to someone.”

 

 

“Any time,” Myungsoo grinned.

 

 

~~~

 

 

“YOU—” Sungyeol walked up to Myungsoo and almost punched him in the face, but Woohyun stopped him.

 

 

“Hey, hyung, calm down, it’s alright. Look, Somi’s safe, see?” Woohyun said.

 

 

“HOW-” Sungyeol began, only to be cut off by Howon.

 

 

“SOMI! I WAS WORRIED SICK,” Howon engulfed Somi in a hug.

 

 

“Geez, you two,” Somi looked at her older brother and her best friend. “Calm down. Plus, Myungsoo oppa was with me.”

 

 

“Do YOU like HER?” Sungyeol blurted out, looking at Myungsoo and pointing to Somi.

 

 

“No, I don’t. We’re just friends. It’s a good oppa-dongsaeng relationship,” Myungsoo reassured Somi’s overprotective older brother.

 

 

“Yeah,” Somi added, hitting Sungyeol on the back of his head.

 

 

“And you! Why are you running out and about in the middle of the night?” Sungyeol prodded Somi.

 

“Oh, I lost.. my wallet. So, I was looking for it. It had a lot of money in it, you know,” Somi said.

 

 

Howon knew that she was lying, but he didn’t say anything. Somi had nothing in her wallet earlier that day, when they went out for bingsoo. He would ask her later.

 

 

“I see.. Well.. That was very stupid of you, Lee Somi. You could’ve been kidnapped! Or worse, and killed! But, since no one’s hurt, I guess it’s okay,” Sungyeol was calm now. It didn’t take much to calm him down.

 

 

“I’m sorry oppa! I promise I’ll never ever go out alone at night again,” Somi hugged Sungyeol’s arm.

 

 

“Oh alright,” Sungyeol chuckled. “Let’s go in. I’m tired, and I’m sure Jureumie is too. My poor baby!”

 

 

“Wow, so now that you know I’m okay, you’re back to putting your cat over me? I see how it is,” Somi joked.

 

 

“I need to be getting home. Bye guys,” Howon said. “I’m glad you’re safe, Somi. See you!”

 

 

“Bye Howonnie,” Somi smiled at her best friend, before starting to follow Myungsoo and Sungyeol into her apartment.

 

 

A hand grabbed her arm.

 

 

“Can we talk?” Somi turned to face Woohyun.

 

 

Sungyeol gave Woohyun a look. “First Myungsoo, and then you?”

 

 

“Just let us talk, hyung,” Woohyun pleaded.

 

 

“Fine, but you better be in your bed, falling asleep, in ten minutes, Lee Somi,” Sungyeol said, before stepping completely into the apartment and closing the door behind him.

 

 

~~~

 

“Is there something you need to say?” Somi tapped her foot. She still wasn’t in the best mood, cause she still hadn’t found her locket.

 

 

“Are you in love?” Woohyun asked Somi.

 

 

“What kind of question is that?” Somi thought to herself.

 

 

“No..?” Somi responded.

 

 

“What does this name mean to you? Kim. Sung. Gyu,” Woohyun slowly said, carefully watching Somi’s expression.

 

 

“I- I don’t know anymore.”

 

 

“You’re 17, right?” Woohyun asked her.

 

 

“Yes,” she replied.

 

 

“Your birthday is May 11th..?” Woohyun questioned.

 

 

“Yes.”

 

 

“You’re turning 18 this year, if I’m correct.”

 

 

“Yes,” Somi replied.

 

 

“Well. That’s all I need to know,” Woohyun smiled, before reaching into his back pocket.

 

 

Somi looked at him, curious.

 

 

Woohyun slowly pulled out Somi’s locket.

 

 

“Here you go,” he gave it to her. “Please don’t hate me. I’m doing this for you. For him.”

 

 

And without another word, he went back into his house, locking the door behind him.

 

 

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

 

 

*Author’s Note: This chapter was fairly long and might have been confusing. If you need any clarifications, please comment~! and OMG I think Myungsoo would be really good to have as an oppa in real life. He's smart, handsome, and seems reliable.. Ehehe.. In real life, I would rather have Sungyeol as a friend to play around with, and Myungsoo as my oppa.