On the weekend, Jieun was surprised to see Jungkook standing in front of her door. She was glad that she was all dressed and ready to step outside, but she couldn't help but wonder what he was doing. He also seemed very bitter to see her, so she was sure that he didn't want to visit her. Which probably meant…

"Uncle Kiha told me to invite you for lunch," Jungkook revealed. "Say no."

Jieun forced an awkward smile. "Why is he inviting me to lunch?"

"He thinks that I need to make a good impression on you. He said that you've seen too much of my 'rotten side,' whatever that means," Jungkook informed her.

"Well, you don't have the best personality," she muttered. She looked at him in the eye. "What are you guys eating for lunch?"

"Nothing special." He scowled at her. "Oh god, please don't turn into those types of teacher."

Jieun clicked her tongue and crossed her arms. "What do you mean by 'those types of teachers'?"

"You know what I mean. The annoying teachers who up to the kid's parents."

She snorted. "Okay, just for that, I'm going to go to that lunch with you."

Jungkook frowned. "Why? Why do you have to come with us?"

"Because you're inviting me to come with you, duh. Besides, your uncle has a good point," Jieun said, grabbing her purse from the side. "You need to work on that personality."

She stepped outside of the house and locked the door behind her. She walked right past him and made her way up the hill, while Jungkook groaned and followed behind her.

"You're that kind of annoying teacher who likes to torture her own students, aren't you?" he said.

"Think whatever you want," Jieun told him. 

She looked back at the hill, but she didn't need to walk far. She saw Kiha coming down the hill, dressed in a simple black t-shirt with ripped jeans. He looked up from his phone and waved at Jieun and Jungkook.

"Hey! I'm glad you can join us for lunch!" Kiha exclaimed.

"I'm not," Jungkook uttered below his breath.

"Ignore him. He's just grumpy, that's all," Kiha said, messing with Jungkook's hair. The boy whined a bit before finally removing his uncle's arm away from his head.

"Uncle Kiha! That took me hours to comb and gel!" Jungkook exclaimed.

"Appearance is nothing when you get to my age. Get used to it," the uncle said nonchalantly. He rubbed his chin and looked at the distance with a strange smirk. "People always asked me why I look so youthful. I say it's because I didn't do anything to my face when I was your age. If you want a face like mine, you know what to do."

Jungkook huffed, but he didn't say a word back. Jieun raised her eyebrows, amazed at how much control his uncle had over him. Even though the uncle was blurting out what seemed to be complete nonsense, Jungkook didn't even try to say something.

But in all honesty, the uncle isn't a good looking guy, Jieun thought, looking elsewhere. What does Jungkook see in that man?

Her thoughts were disrupted when she heard a classic ring tone coming from Kiha's pockets. He reached down and fished for his phone. He slightly raised his eyebrows, then looked at Jieun and Jungkook.

"Excuse me for a second. I need to take this call," he said. He quickly swiped the green button and walked away for a brief moment.

Jieun quietly walked besides Jungkook and whispered in his ears, "Who's he talking to?"

Jungkook shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. It might be the newbie."

"The newbie?"

"Yeah. He's a new guy who comes over and picks Kiha's works. They send him here more frequently because he actually gets Uncle Kiha to get his work done in time. Recently he's been having trouble with money, so Uncle Kiha wanted to invite him for lunch and pay for the meal." Jungkook stared at Jieun. "Haven't you seen him? He's the janitor at our school. He really works hard."

Jieun shook her head. "No. In fact, when I was about to meet the janitor, he disappeared."

"Really? Hm, the newbie isn't a shy kid. He's pretty friendly once you get to know him," Jungkook muttered. "Well, he doesn't like to be in the center of attention so much. He's kind of quiet. I think he's suspicious, but Uncle Kiha thinks good of him, so I'll think that he's a good guy, too."

"Is that how things go?" Jieun asked him. "Do you just follow your uncle's opinions?"

"That's none of your business."

Jieun was about to say something, but Kiha came over to their side. He scratched his head and let out a disappointed sigh.

"The newbie can't come," Kiha said. "This . I was planning to take him out to a buffet, too." He glanced at Jieun. "Well, at least I got you."

"Hey, hey! Uncle Kiha, I think you're forgetting about your favorite nephew," Jungkook said hurriedly, waving his hands.

"Yeah, yeah. I've always got you." Kiha scratched his head and stared at his phone. "Well, this really . I had a feeling that something would happen if you two meet." He looked at Jieun's brown orbs. "You have the same kind of eyes that this guy used to have when I first met him."

Kiha began to walk, leading them to the buffet. Jieun slightly tilted her head, dumbfounded. Before Jungkook had the chance to catch up with his uncle, she grabbed his arm and pulled him back for a second.

"What does he mean by 'same kind of eyes'?" she inquired.

Jungkook shrugged his shoulders. "How the hell am I supposed to know? Those were my uncle's words, not mine."

~ ~ ~

At the buffet, the three settled down and began to eat once they filled their plates with as much food as they wanted. As they ate in silence, Kiha started to bring up random topics that Jieun couldn't quite keep up with. When he figured that she was practically lost in his words, he paused and began to ask her about her own life.

"So, how old are you?" Kiha asked her. "You look fairly young."

"I'm twenty two years old," Jieun revealed.

"Twenty two? Geez, that's an eleven-year difference between you and me," he commented.

Jieun's eyes widened. Eleven years? I thought he was much older than that.

"Big deal. So she's old," Jungkook muttered, playing with his food.

"I heard that you moved here. Is it far from where you were before?" Kiha asked, completely ignoring his nephew's words.

Jieun forced a smile. "Yes. It's quite far, actually."

"Miss any of your friends? Do you contact them frequently?"

"I try. Both of my friends are actually very busy. One is a popular singer and the other manages her schedules and all that," she told him.

Kiha raised his eyebrows. "So both of your friends are in the entertainment field? Why didn't you go and join them? I think that would be a heck of a lot more fun than sitting around and teaching."

Jieun forced a smile. "Actually, I tried to go into business once, but I didn't find it enjoyable."

"I can relate. I was supposed to take over my father's company when I grew up, but nope! I had Jungkook's father take it over for me. Now I'm here enjoying life and happiness," Kiha said, smirking at himself. 

"Yeah, but the only difference is that you were probably more talented than she was," Jungkook said.

"What made you go into business in the first place?" Kiha inquired.

Jieun's smile faded. "I… There was someone I wanted to meet and talked to. He's one of the top guys in the business field, and I really wanted to meet him."

"Let me guess: he was your first love and he left you for some stupid reason," Jungkook said sarcastically.

Jieun's eyes slightly widened. "A-Actually, that's pretty much on point."

Jungkook stopped eating for a moment and stared at her. "You're kidding me, right? That's so stupid."

"That'd be a pretty good story, though," Kiha mumbled. "I can imagine myself writing it."

"Uncle Kiha, no. That story . You have tons of better stories to write about," the nephew told him. He shot a glare at Jieun. "See? You're contaminating my uncle's creative mind. Please stop with your sappy love story."

Jieun was a bit hurt, but she figured that he was right. What was in the past was in the past. She was supposed to throw it all away. Nothing in the past was every going to come back.

Never ever, she repeated in her head. 

"But you must've really loved this guy to the point where you would even attempt to go into a field you didn't like," Kiha said, acknowledging her. "You've got some guts. Not a lot of people choose love over dreams."

"But that's just the wrong choice," Jieun mumbled.

"Is it?" he asked. "I disagree. Sometimes, if you choose love, it can lead you to a dream." He paused. "Well, that's just my insight on it. What do you think, Jungkook?"

"Dreams should dominate over love," Jungkook answered.

"Hm. Maybe I'm the one thinking wrong," Kiha said. He quickly shrugged off the thought and devoured his meal. 

Everyone silently resumed their meal. After a while, there was another ring that disturbed their silence. Kiha searched for his phone in his pocket, pulled it out, and checked to see who had sent him a text.

"Oh, hey. The newbie sent me a text," Kiha informed them. "It looks like he's coming over for dinner."

"Dinner? What are we going to do for dinner?" Jungkook asked.

"Get delivery, duh. I'm not going to go out here a second time," Kiha said, snorting. He looked at Jieun. "Would you like to come over to our house for dinner?"

"O-Oh, no thank you. At this rate, I don't think that I'm going to eat dinner," Jieun said, turning slightly red.

"Well, come over for some coffee later."

"I'd rather not—"

"Just come," Jungkook said, continuing his meal. "Uncle Kiha is pretty persistent. Besides, you might be helping him with his stories by coming. After all, he gets inspiration from real life events."

~ ~ ~

Surprisingly, Jieun did come over to their house. She sat in the kitchen, watching Jungkook finish up his homework while Kiha was dialing up for pizza. She was told to help herself with some coffee on the kitchen counter, but she wasn't where to find any mugs. The dishes were still dirty and she swore that the sink had even more cups and plates, if that was even possible. She wanted to ask Jungkook, but then she didn't want to disrupt a student's study. She was going to ask Kiha, but he seemed too busy with ordering food.

Why did I even come here? she wondered. She checked her phone, wondering if Minah or Jiho called. Unfortunately, none of them called, and she could probably think of a good reason or two. She let out a sigh, but stopped midway when she saw Jungkook narrow his eyes at her.

"Can you go and sigh somewhere else?" Jungkook snapped, resting the temple of his head against his knuckles. "I can't concentrate if you breathe so loudly."

She dropped her jaws wide open, unable to contain her shock. He looked at her for a brief moment, then reached for chin with the hand carrying a pencil. She flipped the pencil so that the dull end touched her chin, and pulled it up so that she would close .

"And don't open your mouth like that. You just look stupid," he said.

Jieun forced a smile, but curled her fingers under the table. The nerve this boy has when his uncle is distracted and not watching…!

Ding dong!

She raised her head and stared at the direction of the sound. Kiha glanced behind his shoulders and looked at Jungkook.

"Jungkook, do you mind getting the door? It's probably the newbie," Kiha said.

Jungkook dropped his mechanical pencil on top of his notebook. "Okay, got it."

"Oh, and take Jieun with you, too. You know that he doesn't like it when he walks into a room and sees some stranger," Kiha said.

Jieun pointed at herself. "Wait, I have to go to the front, too?"

"Come on," Jungkook said, motioning her to stand up. She awkwardly got up and shifted her feet across the kitchen, her eyes still on Kiha. Jungkook frowned and grabbed her arm. "Will you hurry it up?"

Jieun yelped as he dragged her away from his uncle and to the door. Before Jungkook opened the door, he turned to Jieun and pointed at her.

"Don't be insensitive, okay? The newbie's tall and all, but he's the most fragile guy I know. Only speak when he speaks, alright?" he warned her. Jieun nodded as he unlocked the door and swung it open. She raised her head to smile at the newbie, but her smile dropped when she saw who the man actually was.

Her heart stopped. She couldn't hear what Jungkook was telling her. The moment her eyes met the tall boy's eyes, she paled and shuddered. Memories—awful, terrible memories—washed her head as she continued to stare at the man's shocked brown eyes.

"Chan…yeol…?" Jieun said in her shaky voice.

Hearing his name escape her quivering lips must've clicked something. The man quickly turned and rushed out of the house with an expression equally—if not, then more—terrified of what he saw. Jieun rushed after him, running out of the house and looking down from the top of the hill.

She saw him scramble down the hill and could hear him panting from the bottom. He was still running with one hand clutching his heart and the other hand swinging back and forth to gain more momentum. Jieun slowly dropped her jaws and started to listen to her heart race in fear.

Chanyeol. Park Chanyeol. That stupid ex-boyfriend of hers. What was he doing here? Why was he here? He couldn't possible be here, right? It must've been some kind of illusions. Her mind must've been playing tricks on her. It had to be—oh god, it just had to be!

But if he wasn't Chanyeol, then why did she run away? a voice in her head asked. Jieun was starting to feel dizzy. So it must've been Chanyeol. It really was him. It—

"Jieun, what are you doing?" Jungkook asked from the door. "Did you scare the publisher or something? Do you two know each other?"

"W…What was the man's name again?" Jieun asked, her hands folding into two. Please don't be Chanyeol. I beg of you, don't be Chanyeol—

"You need to listen the first time someone tells you something," Jungkook nagged. "I told you, his name is Park Chanyeol."

"P-Park… Chanyeol," Jieun repeated. She was feeling sick. Her mind continued to spin and she was slowly seeing double. "Park Chanyeol… P-Park…"

She suddenly collapsed on the spot. Jungkook widened his eyes and rushed towards her, picking her up and shaking her.

"H-Hey!" Jungkook shouted, nervous. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"Park Chanyeol," Jieun whispered in between her breaths. Her eyes began to close on their own, no matter how much she wanted to keep them open. Her body shook and she could no longer support herself. Tears began to escape her eyes as she clenched her hands on Jungkook's shirt. "P-Park Chanyeol…"

"What about him?" Jungkook asked, half-annoyed and half-scared.

Jieun looked into Jungkook's eyes. At one moment, she swore that she saw Jiho supporting her instead of Jungkook. The next blink—right before she officially closed her eyes—she didn't see Jiho in Jungkook's eyes. Rather, she saw a man so familiar and so desirable that she used her remaining strengths to touch the man who only brought pain to her heart.

"Jiyong, help," was the last word she breathed before she saw the black scene.