A/N: this chapter is for my two lucky subscribers; sakura2442 and leejahyunri! i hope you will follow the story till the end! thanks!^^

as for new readers, please comment and don't forget to subscribe! the story gets interesting as the plot develops, i promise!^^

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Deliveries on Saturdays were easier to do because I didn't have to rush too much. Appa usually sleeps in on weekends and rarely goes out too. It gave me extra time to be by myself, to enjoy the fresh morning air, to think of the possibility that someday I wouldn't be doing this anymore. I would be far away and wouldn't have to worry about anything anymore. I pulled on the brakes when I arrived at the boy's house. And I was bewildered to find him sitting on the front steps. I dismounted my bike and approached him slowly.

“Ah, noo-!” he cried when he saw me but quickly corrected himself. “I mean, I was waiting for you!”

The kid was kind of cute, I hate to admit it but it was true. It had something to do with the way he spoke. It was just pure childishness. I have never been so interested in a younger boy before. But judging by his height, which was taller than me, it would be safe to say that maybe he was younger than me since I'm so short.

“Have you-” I started but he abruptly ran up to me and placed something on my head. I was so taken aback by his sudden action that I forgot to blink. When I felt my eyes sting, I blinked furiously as I placed my hands on the thing that he put on my head. It was a helmet and I figured it was a baseball helmet because it only covered the left ear.

He grinned bashfully and hurriedly said, “I wanted to give it to you before you run away again. So that the next time you ride by my house you won't get a headache if my ball hits you on the head.”

I stiffled a laugh and nodded in understandment. That was interesting. Just watching him scratch his head shyly made me want to smile. I didn't know how he did it, but he caught my attention. Then I reminded myself that I wasn't supposed to be attracted to anyone. I might get attached to them. But the boy had such a strong effect on me, like a magnet finding another opposite side they would get attracted to each other. I fought off the pull and turned my back on him. I wanted to run away but his hands held mine firmly, not letting me leave.

“Noona, please don't go!” he pleaded. “If you can just tell me why you keep running away, and then I'll let you go. I want to know.”

He had a lot of courage to say such things. Especially to a stranger like me. But why did he want to know? Oh great, he was making me curious about him by being curious about me. It was very peculiar, but interesting. I turned my head and gazed at him from the corner of my eye. His grip on my hand was warm and tight, just proved how determined and serious he was about this. I gave up and faced him, his expression hopeful and persuasive.

I let out a sigh and went to sit on the steps. Then I started telling him about why I didn't want to be close to anyone, to know them and leave them hurting when I was gone. The kid was a good listener but I only told him the half-truth. And surprisingly, he was kind enough not to ask for more details. When I finished telling him, he kept silent while bobbing his head up and down. I gave him time to absorb everything, to understand possibly. It was strange actually, to tell someone – a foreign kid in this matter – about my feelings toward his home country, our home country. It must be really awkward for him, to ask a girl about herself and to have to listen to her babbling on and on about it. After a few moments, he finally spoke up.

“We're on the same boat, noona.”

I stared at him inquiringly as his eyes smiled at me. I tried to smile too but it didn't reach my eyes. There was something odd about him, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I noticed that he had an earring on his left ear which seemed out of place because of his innocent complexion.

“I don't want to be close to anyone too,” he told me. “Because I don't want to hurt them when I leave them behind. I don't want them to miss me...and I know how much that hurts...”

He had a glum look on his face. He was really serious about this. It touched my heart to know how similar the situation we were in. Not to mention that he actually shared a mutual feeling. But I didn't push for further information from him because he respected my privacy and I would his. I kind of felt relieved to know that he understood me. If he didn't, it would have been such a waste of my breath and time telling him about it.

“My name's Shin DongHo, by the way,” he held out his right hand. “What about you, noona? I mean, what about you?”

I giggled and took his hand. It felt as warm as the sun, so welcoming and nice. A sincere smile spread across my face, “Just call me noona.”

~~~~~

“Aigoo,” he chuckled. “ You can't even catch that?”

I didn't have the slightest idea as to why I was doing this. We were in his garden playing catch and having tea. Once we got our introductions aside that morning, he invited me over for tea and baseball. At first, I had no intention whatsoever to accept his invite at all. But when the clock struck four in the evening, I found myself standing in front of his house. I didn't know how it happened, it just did. I didn't have anything better to do anyway, so I just went on with it.

“I told you I wasn't good at this,” I pouted and then ran after the ball. The ball rolled into a bush and I had to get down on my knees to reach for it. But as far as I tried to reach out my hand, I couldn't grab the ball. It was too far, I couldn't even lay a finger on it.

“Noona?” I heard DongHo call out but I ignored him.

I was too preoccupied with the bush. I managed to get my head in it so that I could have a better look of where the ball was. I spotted it and extended my arm to get a hold of it. I grinned to myself when I got it and pulled myself out. But my hair got caught in the twigs and leaves. I tried to wriggle myself out but I ended up pulling on my hair and it hurt!

“Noona!” I heard DongHo gasp, his footsteps coming next to me. “How-what happened?”

“The ball! And my hair! Ugh...” I couldn't express it in words anymore. My hair felt like it was being vacuumed so I started crying instead. I sobbed and started pulling myself out again but that made me wail. My head was throbbing in pain and I just wanted to get out of the evil hair-pulling bush.

“No, stay still!” DongHo whispered, holding my shoulders. “Just stay still and I'll get you out.”

Sobbing uncontrollably, I heeded his words and let him slowly pick out strand by strand of my hair from the bush. I couldn't stop crying even though I knew that I was going to get out of it without feeling anymore pain. But I just felt so frustrated and miserable in its grasps. At some point, DongHo stopped what he was doing and I caught him staring at me. His lips curved up into a smile as he brought his hands to my face and then wiped the tears away using his thumbs.

“You know, noona, this is my first time seeing a girl cry and wiping away her tears for her.”

That sure wasn't the same case for me. But I didn't tell him that. “This surely is my first time getting my hair caught in a bush,” I tried to laugh the pain off. He laughed too as he continued to carefully pick out my hair. A handful of hair later, my hair was finally free from the wicked bush. But I was still crying, the tears just wouldn't stop.

“Aigoo, noona...” he cooed as he led me to the table where we had our tea prior to our game. He sat opposite from me and took a napkin to dry my cheeks. “I gave you my helmet for a reason, you know.”

He was right, I was possessed while on the way to his house that I forgot to bring the helmet along. I also had this strange feeling when I was with him. I couldn't seem to shake it off and it made me feel awkward around him. It must be my bad luck following me again. I felt so pathetic, the boy must be thinking the same thing.

“You're not pathetic, noona. Just clumsy.”