IUislovely~ Congrats on finding clue #2 and I will not answer whether or not if you are right...) Because then that will give away the development of the story :P  But you are the closest and most recent so I chose you as the winner for today. :) So good job!~ please continue supporting the story ^^ I hope you enjoy it! If you have any suggestions, questions or request inbox me ~ 

Narrative P.O.V

“Hongki Oppa!” Ji Eun stormed inside her home whilst chanting his name. “Hongki~” She repeated but received no response except for her own voice echoing in the empty hallway. “Hongki?” Her voice saddened.

She looked inside the guest room and it was left the way it was this morning except this time Hongki wasn’t under his blankets. Her attempts of trying to find Hongki came to an end when she realized Hongki was no longer here anymore. He was nowhere to be seen, and her heart thudded as she was afraid that may have been her last morning with him. 

She sat herself on the edge of her own bed and sighed heavily, “oppa…” she whined. She stretched her arms across the bed and felt a weird lump. She looked to the side and held the object in her hand, “a cellphone?” she flipped the phone on and recognized the familiar phone that belonged to Hongki.

“Oh… What is this doing here?” She questioned to herself. She knew it was wrong to look at peoples personal belongings but she couldn’t help it when the touch phone accidently censored her finger; causing it to open the history of his recent calls/messages.

The notification read: “Missed Call, ‘Mother er,’” and the number appeared in the history more than 20 times. She gasped when she read the name, “is this a person Hongki hates?” she supposed.

At the same time as she was contemplating, her cellphone beeped alerting her with a previous message from her unnie, and she picked it up with her free hand as the other one was holding onto Hongki’s (phone). She read the message from Unnie, as a smile lit across her face, “Unnie won’t be home till later, something came up at work and I won’t be able to cook you dinner for today. Sorry Ji Eun!” her smile suddenly vanished and turned into a disappointed grimace. “Alone again,” she whispered to herself. 

Meanwhile….

Hongki P.O.V

“, I left my phone at her house… Ahh , now I have to go back…” I said angrily, realizing how stupid I am. I deliberately left the house earlier in order to prevent myself from “bothering” them again, and now I have to go back to retrieve my damn phone. “Damn it!” I cursed to myself, whilst getting ready for work. 

“Hongki oppa, gwetchana?” Hyuna asked from the cashier next to mine. "Yeah,” I nodded trying to come up with a plan in my head to reclaim my phone. Hyuna peered over my shoulder and hugged me from behind, whispering, “I missed you yesterday, where were you?” I nudged her away from her grip and said imperturbably, “Nowhere really...”

“Liar! Humph,” Hyuna pouted, trying her best to be ‘cute,’ “I heard you were hit or something… Are you okay, oppa?” she dug her chin behind my back, while her fingers crawled on top of the surface of my stomach. I couldn’t stand it any longer as I tried to push her away and yelled, “I’m fine, leave me alone,” I yelled irately.  “Why are you so cold again, oppa?” she complained, “Did something happen?…” her eyes were filled with worry. “Just leave me alone, it’s none of your business,” I replied coolly.

I wasn’t usually like this to her, she’s been a good friend of mine since we were young. She always acted like a little sister to me, as she constantly looked up to me as her, oppa, “older brother.” Even during the times when I yelled at her, she still stood by my side, like a pabo (fool). Just like how I was in the past, -a blinded idiot who tried to protect my mother, without realizing I was actually setting myself up for self-destruction.

---------

The supermarket wasn’t as busy today since it was a Wednesday night, but I still had to restock every aisle and do the cashier as well. The only employees were me and Hyuna at the moment; I’m assuming most of the other employees quit because of the incident from 6 months ago, and no one applies here anymore, well... not till I am gone at least. -Luckily, I’ve been close with my manager for a long time so the chances of him wanting to fire me are slim, despite the fact that I was the main reason why our customer service was slow….

-------

It was really quiet in the market, while I re-stocked the bottom shelf … “Hongki!” I heard a familiar voice shout behind me as her footsteps became louder. I stood up and her head bashed onto my back while her arms clung around my waist, “I found you…”she panted. I turned my head around and looked at her whilst she was still hugging me, “Ji Eun?”  

She looked up and struggled with her words, “I have your… phone oppa, Hongki,” she let go and handed me over my phone. “You sound like you just ran a mile… Where’s your sister?” I asked as I turned around. “She’s at work… She usually comes back at 4 am when she works overnight,” she replied.

I looked at my phone and the time read, “10:00 pm.” “Thanks,” I secured my phone into my pocket this time. “No problem,” she smiled.

Narrative P.O.V

“Today at school…-” she couldn’t finish her sentence as Hyuna cut her off, “Manager Yeon is looking for you, oppa!” 

“Ah, okay, Ji Eun wait a second,” Hongki hurried to his manager’s office, while Hyuna approached Ji Eun, with an unwelcoming gesture. She beamed down upon Ji Eun’s face, and scowled, “What are you to my Hongki oppa?” she said coldly. Her eyes were filled with anger and hatred the moment she caught Ji Eun and Hongki in a warm embrace.

Hyuna’s face was only inches away from Ji Eun’s as she felt her hot breath brushing across her skin. “What do you mean?” her voice trembled in fear, then she felt a strong clasp on her wrist as Hyuna gritted her teeth at her, “were you the one who hurt him yesterday?” she yelled harshly. “Are you the one who made him sick?“

Ji Eun was too afraid to say anything and the fact that she was hurting Ji Eun made it worse for her to think. She peered over Hyuna’s shoulder and saw Hongki mouthing something in the background, “tell her she’s pretty,” that’s all Ji Eun read from Hongki’s lips, before he went back to restocking the shelves. Ji Eun was confused but listened to his suggestion anyways, “you look … really pretty…” she stuttered.

Hyuna let go of her grasp and backed away a bit, “omo, really? Do you actually think that?” she smiled and changed her tone of voice. The atmosphere changed from intimidating to serene just like that, as if she just transformed into an entirely different person. She flaunted her hair and chuckled, “thank you…” she blushed.

Ji Eun looked at her confusingly while examining her; her body figure looked like those types you would find in a fashion magazine, she had eyes like a Barbie-doll, a smile like a princess, and everything about her was absolutely pretty; except for the fact she seemed weird…

“So are you Hongki’s girlfriend?” her voice saddened but she was a bit more respectful now. I blushed and denied shyly, “aniya… he’s just an acquaintance…” I answered honestly, “He saved me the night before… Sorry if I caused trouble to both of you-“

“Ji Eun, let’s go,” Hongki cut her off and grabbed her by the wrist forcefully. “Yah! Hongki where you going?” Hyuna shouted from behind. “Take over my shift, kay? I’ll owe you back, thanks.” Hongki said nonchalantly, while escorting Ji Eun out of the supermarket.

Hyuna kicked the shelf angrily, while watching the two leave. She clenched her hands into a fist, “Yah!” she cried in jealousy…

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

It was a breezy night in Seoul, while Hongki walked Ji Eun home, -just in case she wouldn’t get kidnapped or … but he was still trying to keep his distance from her, as they both walked in harmonization.

Hongki cleared his voice, *ahem, “About what happened before… Hyuna is just a bit crazy, sometimes,” he gazed down at the ground trying to avoid eye contact with Ji Eun. “Oh no it’s okay,” she smiled calmly. "Who is she?" she asked curiously but I just shrugged, "a friend," I replied apathetically.

When they reached home Hongki was about to say goodbye but Ji Eun reached for Hongki’s hand, causing him to turn around, “what?” he sighed. “I don’t like being alone… And I don’t want you to be alone outside either... especially in the cold, oppa… Can you just please stay here with me tonight?” she stammered whilst she stared down upon her shoes, holding onto his hand firmly.

He turned around and placed his hand on top of hers, trying to remove it from his, “arasseo,” he said unpleasantly.  She smiled widely and jumped for joy. She quickly grasped onto Hongki’s palm guiding him into her house, “remember, not to call me oppa…” he sneered. “Ah… Mianae…” she bit the bottom of her lip whilst she took off her shoes inside.

“Are you sleepy, Hongki?” she looked up at him with her smiling eyes. “Not really…” he lied. She held onto his hand once more and hastily pulled him up the stairs, causing Hongki to almost trip. “Yah, let go!” he yelped. She finally let go of him once they reached the rooftop.

“See look! Hongki!! The star is still up there!” she exclaimed happily. “It’s as if the star shines brighter when Hongstar is actually here,” she said childishly, -still believing in her own false fantasies… “Whatever you say,” he sighed.

Ji Eun felt happy to finally gain Hongki’s friendship approval and couldn’t resist her urge to hug him. Without hesitation she swiftly embraced Hongki into her arms, “I’m so happy I got to meet you~”… However Hongki refused to hug her back, and instead he tried to free himself from the embrace.

“I don’t get why you are so annoying!” he yelled angrily and pushed Ji Eun away, as he jumped down from the top, landing back inside the room, as he picked up his pace and left her house.

Ji Eun sat on the rooftop alone and her heart ached when she watched him leave.  

Tears started to form in her eyes as familiar voices from her childhood echoed through her mind, “Don’t go near me… You’re weird…” little kids screamed and pushed her away. "Annoying little mutant! Aish... Don't touch me!"  

Ji Eun wrapped her arms around her knees, burying her face behind her legs, sobbing quietly till the voices left her head...

***

Hongki was just below the rooftop, listening to her cries and weeps. He didn’t mean to hurt her feelings, he just didn’t want to ruin Ji Eun’s life, because he assumes that anyone who shared a relationship with him always ended up in a tragedy. He believes that she deserves someone better, which excludes Hongki as one of her choices.

The sound of her cries made Hongki’s heart swell in pain, though he usually would care less about others, but he felt that it was necessary to not leave the poor girl crying in the cold. After several minutes of reluctance and waiting for her to quiet down, Hongki went back up to the roof with a blanket from the living room couch in his hands.

“She cried herself to sleep…” he said quietly, feeling guilty... He wrapped her body with the blanket as he carried her into her bedroom. He pulled the blankets up to her neck and sat next to her on the bed, watching her sleep. “Why would a person like you ever want to be friends with me?” he thought in his head, and a strange sensation melted his heart once again, as he watched Ji Eun sleeping peacefully, and beautifully....