"It takes a minute to have a crush, an hour to like and a day to love but it takes a lifetime to forget someone."

-- Unknown.

“When will you tell her?” Hongki’s voice disappeared an instant after Daehyun sprint across them, shrills of laughter that could be heard from miles away followed, with Minhwan and Hyosung hot on his trail as they ran across the park’s field. The park was crowded with people from all walks of life; old and young, families, group of friends. All came together to spend the weekend, winding down after long hard days at school and work place over the weekdays.

It was Sunday afternoon, and just like any other Sunday, it seemed to be a ritual of theirs to have a picnic at the park ever since these two siblings became infatuated with it. Daehyun especially, he was mostly fascinated with the sight of the Japanese teenagers and adult alike dressed up bizarrely, heavily influenced by the Harajuku styles.

“I don’t want to spoil the moment,” Jonghoon answered as a matter of fact and averted his gaze away  from Hongki, knowing what his question meant, and continued to mindlessly strum out song from his guitar. He meant it; he didn’t want to spoil what they were having between them now. He finally found his lost princess after years of searching, and now that she was finally by his side, he couldn’t ask for more when he could be with her just like the old times. To see her smiling happily, hear her laughter, be the one to wipe her tears away – be her shupa-man once again.

“Wouldn’t it be better if she knows it too?” Jaejin butted in, lying on his tummy with an apple juggled on his forehead before Seunghyun grabbed it and gave a monstrous bite.

“Yeah, hyung. Didn’t you say she missed you too? Imagine how happy she’ll be when she knows about it,” Seunghyun added, his mouth full.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, pabo.” Hongki flicked his fingers on Seunghyun’s forehead, resulting a yelp from him before he continued on. “What’s holding you back, really? It’s been a freaking month dude!”

“Well, I’m fine with how things are already for now. Seriously, I am!” A rumble of laughter came out from him when the boys eyed him sceptically, clearly not buying his excuse. “When the time comes, I will all right? Don’t worry.”

“NOONA!”

Just then, a piercing scream of what he recognized as Daehyun’s caught his attention, and he whipped his head to the direction of his voice only to find out Hyosung on the ground clutching to her leg. He was immediately on his two feet and rushed towards her.

“What happened?” His voice full of urgency when he noticed the torn jeans and blood on Hyosung’s leg and her face was distorted with pain. It turned out that she lost her balance while chasing Daehyun and tripped, causing her to fell flat on the ground.

“Daehyun sorry! Noona, Daehyun sorry!” Daehyun was already crying at her side as he hugged her tightly.

“No, it’s not Daehyun’s fault. Noona was clumsy, so noona fell. Don’t cry. Shush,” Hyosung hushed him, her voice gentle despite the clear pain portrayed across her face as she hugged her little brother back with full affection.

“Daehyun-ah, can you please let hyung tend to Hyosung-noona’s wound? Please?” Jonghoon  coaxed him as he continued to cry inconsolably, and he finally released her minutes later after. The wound was pretty minor as she only scraped her knees, but she twisted her ankles pretty badly.

“Get on,” Jonghoon squatted in front of her and motioned her to get on his back.

“No, it’s okay. I can manage... ow!” Hyosung hissed when she tried to stand up, grabbing hold of his hand as she did.

“Don’t be silly, pabo. Just get on, or do you want me to carry you like this?” He immediately swept her off her feet bridal-style resulting a loud squeal from Hyosung.

“What are you doing? Yah, put me down!” She squirmed in his hold before smacking his head.

“Ow! That hurts!” He groaned as he put her down. “I was just kidding!”

“Very cute, but no. Now turn around,” she sounded angry but he could hear her stifling a giggle as she hopped onto his back. She patted his head softly and said again, “Sorry, didn’t mean to hit you that hard.”

“Woah, you are heavier than you look. Ow! Will you stop that?” He retorted when Hyosung hit him again, squarely at his back head, with just the right pressure to reel him forward. “Okay, okay. I was just kidding!” He said again, laughing it off when he heard her heaved disapprovingly.Yeap, it felt just like the old times.

“A whole week with crutches ...?” Hyosung whined again in disbelief as she looked down her casted ankle, back in the comfort of her home. They just got back from the clinic after the doctor confirmed of her twisted ankle, and cast it to avoid from further damage to the cartilage ... or something, he couldn’t recall.

“Yes and in the mean time, you are not allowed to do any heavy chores so leave them to us. Which also means everything, understand that noona?” Minhwan said. He continued to unpack the groceries they bought for tonight’s dinner, already contemplating what to cook with the rest of the boys.

Hyosung was left to supervise them at the side and they wouldn’t let her touch a single thing in the kitchen either, which Jonghoon knew it frustrated Hyosung even further, whatever more to see how chaotic her kitchen was. Hongki and Seunghyun were assigned to wash the vegetables and Hyosung squealed in horror when they actually washed them with real soaps! Disaster didn’t just stopped there as it continued on when Jaejin almost burnt the kitchen when he forgot to turn off the gas, leaving the pan to heat up and eventually caused the smoke detector to go off. They had no choice but to order take-outs in the end seeing how the food were all blacken and burnt to its very root.

“Tell me why are we doing this again?” Hyosung groaned as she picked up the burnt food and wrinkled her nose from the stench. “This entire house will be burnt down in a week!”

“Oh come on noona, give some credits to us! We did our best ...” Minhwan sounded hurt by her comment, pouting with a mouth full of noodles.

“Yes noona, we did our best! At least I saved this before it is completely burnt down. Want some?” Jaejin offered her the half burnt mixed veggies as he chewed some of it. Seunghyun immediately ran to the sink after tasting a small portion and tried to throw it all out. “Yuck! Hyung, did you dump the entire pack of salt in that? It’s so freaking salty!” He said as he spewed the remaining of it in the sink.

“Noona, I’m sorry for being such a bad chef. I won’t cook again after this ...” Minhwan bowed his head, who was suddenly almost on the brink of tears. All of them joined him at his side, imitated his actions and said sorry in unison. Silence filled the kitchen before they heard Hyosung broke into paroxysm of giggles and they looked up to find Hyosung was almost in tears and gasping for air as she laughed.

“You guys are just too cute! It’s okay, I forgive you.” She giggled more as she hobbled over to him before planting a brief kiss on the surprised looking Minhwan on his head, and a loving kiss on Daehyun’s forehead, which Jonghoon wished it was him instead. “That is for being too adorable. All right, now let’s clean this entire mess up!” She smiled at them.

It took almost two hours before the kitchen turned spotless again; all the evidence of burnt food safely disposed away and the kitchen utensils was shiny again. The boys said goodnight to Hyosung and Daehyun as it was late into the night and they were having early classes the next day.

“Thank you again for helping. I don’t know what I would do without you guys,” Hyosung looked up to him with that bright smile on her face. He wished she wouldn’t though because it made it harder for him to leave but he was running out of excuse to stay. Beside, he’d be dead meat if he came late for Mr Nagoya’s class tomorrow.

“You’re always welcome. So, see you tomorrow? Don’t forget to take your meds, all right? Good night,” Jonghoon ruffled her hair and pinched her cheek. She wrinkled her nose at him before waving him one last time and closed her door, and Jonghoon heaved out a sigh of relief as he leaned against the wall. He had been holding on to the urge of hugging her; the need to blanket her with his protection and have her warm and safe in his arms was growing stronger with each passing moments. Just like the old times. He smiled at the thought before making his way to his house.

“This boy is officially under Hyosung’s spell,” Hongki pointed out to Minhwan, who had a goofy grin pasted on his face as he hugged the cushion’s pillow, just when Jonghoon entered the living room. “He had been like that ever since your Hyosung gave that kiss. Watch.” Hongki said before he threw a pillow at Minhwan but he just ignored slam on his head and continued smiling into space.

“Who wouldn’t?” It was the only reply from Jonghoon as he made his way to his bed, a copy of Minhwan’s goofy smile pasted on his face as well.

Is it possible to fall deeper in love with someone?

Because he knew he was.

Hyosung woke up to the blaring alarm clock that went off next to her ear and with a groggy state, she rose slowly from her bed and hobbled to the bathroom for a shower. Getting up in the morning was a challenge lately; her ankle was getting better but by no means could she walk properly yet without the help of the crutches, which frustrated her due to the restricted movements.

Frankly speaking, she was nothing but depressed the whole time but since she didn’t want the boys to worry for her, she faked a smile on her face to ease their worries away. But somehow she noticed that Jonghoon didn’t buy it one bit, as he seemed to always notice how she was feeling down so he’d try to cheer her up every time she was. Thinking of how he’d do such petty things just to put a smile on her face eased the stress away, and she found herself smiling at the thought. Shutting off the shower, she rinsed off and got ready for class in a jiffy.

“At your service, my lady,” Jonghoon bowed down once she stepped out of her door, causing her to burst out laughing. “Gladly,” she replied as she dumped all of her books on him and laughed again when he struggled to keep his balance carrying them. They dropped Daehyun at his classroom once they arrived at campus before having to separate since they weren’t majoring the same course; Jonghoon and the boys majored in Music (Jonghoon and Hongki were in their second year and the rest in their first) while she in Psychology.

Little squeals and whispers from girls filled the room when they entered her lecture hall; they had been nothing but envious of her with Jonghoon by her side all the time, telling her monotonously how lucky she was to have one of the most sought after guys helping her and all. She did tell them they were nothing more than just good friends, which was the actual truth, but no one bought it and shrugged her of trying to be secretive. She was really thankful though that none of them showed any remorse feeling with the situation (even if they did, she was glad they didn’t do anything about it); she didn’t want to experience the same thing again here in Japan. Once was enough.

She liked Jonghoon, more than she thought she would but the feeling was nothing more but of a love for a friend. Nothing more, because she had given her heart to that one person and he didn't give it back to her, even after all these while. I hope he's not thinking anything about falling for me, she sighed. He had been acting chivalrious to her lately, not that she was complaining but she wished it was just an act of a love towards a friend. Call her naive, but that was the only thing she would think of.

Hyosung willed herself to get immerse with the professor’s lecture on evolutionary psychology but her thoughts would wandered off somewhere else everytime she did. Nevermind, I’ll look through it again tonight. She sighed in defeat and couldn’t wait for the lecture to end. Thank god it was her only class for today, she could barely make it for one. She texted Jonghoon that she’d be off to the city alone after class which caused much protest from him, but she ignored it and warned him about his grades. He had no choice but to let her go, so she walked (or hobbled) to the first destination in mind – Yoyogi Park, which she could spent hours just looking at the fascinating non-stop activities happening around it. Just an excellent place for her to keep on thinking about things.

She stopped on her track when her ears caught the sound of familiar voices as she passed one of the music stores, and she spun her heels to see the familiar faces that was once (and still was) dear to her. She smiled sadly as she watched B2ST being interviewed on the fifty inches screen, greeting and telling their Japanese fans about their future activities in Japan. How she missed them and particularly him.

Oh stop it, Hyosung! You have moved on, remember? She knocked herself on the head, trying to shake away the thoughts. Just then, her tummy made a sudden loud growl causing the person next to her to laugh. She broke into laughter too, just to cover her embarrassment and quickly made her way out. No wonder! She realized after looking at her watch that it was way past lunch time and she haven’t had any yet. She headed to the nearest food stall and ordered two boxes of Takoyaki before making her way to the park.

“Thank you, aunty! I love you!” She hugged Mrs Yukichi, the stall owner whom she came to befriend with after countless of stops there, for adding an extra free box of Takoyaki to her order. She was about to take off to her actual destination when she accidentally bumped into a passerby, causing her to lose balance and fell, bringing down the stranger together with her.

“Oh no! My food! Ow, my ankle!” She winced in pain as she rose from her squished Takoyaki and held on to her foot when it started to throb. She forgot about her pain when she realized the stranger hadn’t rise from the ground, causing panic to attack, thinking that he might have fainted from the collide. “Sir, are you okay? Sir, please wake up!” She shook her stranger with full urgency.

“Sir, are you okay?” She asked again when her stranger suddenly sat up and turned his back to her. Weird. She tried to look at his face but to no avail when he kept turning away from facing her. Frustrated, Hyosung got hold of the stranger’s shoulder and made him stop. He bowed his head down immediately and remained silent. What is wrong with this weirdo? Annoyed, Hyosung peeked under the large hoodie that covered his head to look at him ... and fell back.

Oh my god .... no way.

She quickly reached for her crutches and stood up, ignoring the throbbing pain in her ankle and was about to head off when the supposed stranger hand held on to her arm, refraining herself from walking another step.

“Noona ...” She could feel her breathing halted at the sound of that familiar deep voice, now desperate as he tugged her again when she tried to loosen his hold. “Please ...” His voice fell to a whisper. He slowly released her when she stopped putting up a fight and turned her face-to-face with him, but she still refused to meet his eyes.

“H-H-Hello ...” She stuttered badly as she felt tighten and braved herself to look at him in the eyes for the first time in months, an awkward smile on her face. “I-I-It’s be-b-been a whi-wh-while,” she whispered, stumbling on her words again.

There before her, stood one of the people whom she thought she’d never meet again, towering a good couple of feet above her with mixed expression sketched on his face. Sad. Happy. Surprised. Angry. Close to tears. Disbelief. All jumbled in one.

Dongwoon.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

She met Dongwoon. DUN DUN DUN! I wonder what would happen next? Would she run away, or would she stay like he told her to? Is Kikwang together with him, or is he not? Okay, that was such a terrible insight on what's going to happen on the next chapter. I'm sorry for my lack of imaginative teaser. LOL. *slaps self.

Again, thanks a million to all my subscribers (new and old) for reading this. Yes, you too, silent readers! Without your support, I don't know whatever would motivate me to continue on writing. Pardon me for my lack of good English, but I'll try to improve better with each update!

People have been asking me about A Love That Never Alters.

WHEN WILL YOU UPDATE, YOU LAZYBUM! IT'S BEEN THREE WEEKS! DON'T MAKE ME THROW GRENADES ON YOU TO MAKE YOU UPDATE!

Okay okay, that was an exaggeration. LOL. But yeah. I'm sorry! *bows head in shame. It's just that I'm a little busy at the moment, and am quite caught up in updating this story more. I do have an update for ALTNA, but it is not done yet. I'm sorry, again! I promise, I'll update it soon. Just don't put too much hopes on it though, but I will update. Just ... I'm not sure when. SORRY!

*runs away.

Heh. Heh. Heh.