“Lia?”

My heart stopped. Jungkook and I both looked towards the direction of the voice, and there they were. My parents stood before us and their expressions seemed just as surprised to see me as I was to see them.

Jungkook the only person unaffected by what was happening stepped forward, pretending that his confession wasn’t just interrupted by my parents’ appearance.

“Do you know each other?” My parents didn’t answer so I responded first. “These are my parents.”

Jungkook instantly reacted as if hot fire had been placed beneath him. He rushed over to my parents to shake their hands. “Hi, my name is Jeon Jungkook. I am your daughter’s classmate, and also her-”

“Lia, what are you doing here?” My father cut off Jungkook, not even sparing him a glance.

I gulped the log in my throat. There was no point in lying anymore. “I go to school here.”

My mother gasped, finally returning to a normal state. On the other hand my father seemed to be seething with anger. “You are supposed to be going to school in the city just outside of home, not Seoul.”

I kept my head down, trying to grasp onto the situation.

Originally my parents had only agreed to let me go to a boarding school only because I said I would be enrolling at the school just outside of our home city. I managed to get them to sign off the papers for my enrollment only because at the time they were still too absorbed by Kyung’s death to bother noticing the school was written on the papers to be in Seoul.

For the past few years I had convinced them that I was fine without having them visit, and I would come home every break to appease them so they would never worry about coming to see me at school.

I never figured one day I would be busted like this. Especially not on the anniversary of Kyung’s death.

Jungkook somewhat beginning to understand what was going on stepped forward. “Um, I’m not too sure as of what exactly happened, but the school that Lia is currently going to is a formidable school. It is also probably one of the best in our country so if it is the academics you’re worried about then you shouldn’t. Lia also is at the top of our class, and is bound to get into a good college.”

My mother looked at Jungkook her eyes seemed weary. Of course they were today was Kyung’s death anniversary. It was always like this. My parents and even I stopped celebrating my birthday since Kyung’s death.

“You’re Lia’s classmate?” Jungkook nodded his head eagerly. “Yes, I am also the dean of the school’s son.”

He properly weighed the situation and decided against telling them that he was also my boyfriend. That was probably the best choice to make in this situation.

“Lia, you lied to us. It doesn’t even matter how good the school is. You know that it is too far from home.” He paused to look at Jungkook briefly as if he were weighing him out.

“As soon as this school semester finishes you are coming back home.”

This made my heart drop. “There’s no point in going back home. I’ve already been here for a while. I’ve made friends and am on track to go to a good college. Changing schools so abruptly will not do any good.”

My rebuttal only seemed to anger him more. “That is exactly why you will come home after the school term is over. So then you can finish the rest of your schooling at the school back home. You can still graduate with good grades and go to a good school.”

He wasn’t completely wrong. That wasn’t the issue though. I kept glancing to Jungkook beside me, trying to figure out the appropriate words to say.

I was running out of excuses. “I really like this school.” He shook his head. “That doesn’t matter. You’re in danger in a big city like this. It’s too far from home.”

Jungkook finally found the words to say. “Sir, I have been looking after Lia and I can promise to you to make sure that she is kept out of harm’s way.” His voice almost sounded desperate.

My father seemed a bit swayed by his words, but did not falter much. He kept his eyes on me. “Lia, you know why I am saying this. You need to come home.”

His words bit into me, and made tears spring into my eyes. It was frustrating how everything seemed to revolve around Kyung’s death. That was exactly why I left home. I was sad and I couldn’t be surrounded by the guilt of his death anymore. I wanted to escape from what happened.

It felt as though every moment I was with my parents was a reminder that Kyung wasn’t there anymore.

My voice shook. “I know why you want me to come home, it’s because you want me to stay alive. You don’t want me to die too. That’s the thing though. I’m still alive and that is exactly why I had to leave.”

The words that I had always kept to myself hit my parents like a train. They were so shocked that it made them speechless.

“I won’t come home.”

I then my heel and ran back towards school. Away from my parents, and the hurt looks on their faces.

I just wanted a life that didn’t constantly remind me of how it was my fault Kyung died. I wanted to just move on, and forget what happened. It seemed though that would never happen. Maybe some higher being didn’t feel I deserved to move on.

Just as I reached the gates of the school a hand grabbed onto my wrist stopping me in my tracks. I was ready to turn around and see my father or mother there, but it was Jungkook.

A surge of guilt went through my body because I had left him behind.

He took a couple deep breaths. He probably ran after me. His fingers were warm wrapped around the inside of my wrist. “Lia, what happened back there?”

I shrugged. “Nothing.” He scoffed. “That wasn’t nothing.”

“It’s nothing you don’t know.” He knew my secret already. That meant he knew why my parents were upset. I honestly didn’t feel like retelling it.

His eyebrows knit together in confusion. “What do you mean? I don’t understand anything that happened back there. You said someone died?”

Now it was my turn to be confused. “Didn’t you say that you knew my secret? Isn’t that how all of this even began?”

He finally released my wrist to shove his hands in his pockets. He stood there still in his nice suit and tie, but he seemed to suddenly become sheepish. Guilt was written all over his face.

“I lied.” His eyes cast downward. “What do you mean?”

I could visibly see him gulp. “I lied about knowing your secret. I had overheard you one day when we were first years talking to Minyoon about how no one could know the truth about you or else you could get kicked out of school.”

The tears that I had kept in from earlier were really threatening to fall now. “So you never knew the truth? You just used my pain and history as blackmail?”

The seriousness of the situation really began to set in and his eyes widened. “No, I didn’t mean it that way! It was just at the time I brushed it off as nothing special, but then I began to watch you more and I found you interesting. I thought that my life was boring and I thought that if I could just be around you more then maybe-”

This really made me scoff. A dry laugh came from