Jiyeon POV

“It’s alright. Nothing much has happened.” I told her lying. If I tell her that I wanted to be friends with Myungsoo and he rejected me, I already know what they’re going to say.

“Really? Why does something seem off about you today?” IU asked me.

I gave them an awkward smile and sighed. “I’ll tell you guys about it sometime in the future.” I told them.

“Why?” IU asked me.

“Because,” I smiled at them trying to think of an excuse but I couldn’t find one. “It’s not something I want to say right now.” I told them honestly.

“Fine, we won’t force you. We’ll be good friends and understand you.” Luna told me.

“Thank you,” I smiled at the two of them thankfully.

+++

The library may have been a horrible place to do our project together. I hated this suffocating silence. Did I ask him to be my boyfriend or what? Why his he acting like this to me.

“I’ll just finish the rest,” I packed up my things ready to leave. I cannot stand this suffocating feeling of awkward silence.

Myungsoo looked at me confused. What is this guy trying to play at? Is he acting ignorant to his own actions? He wouldn’t even look at me and sat further away from me! If I didn’t know, I would have thought I had and infectious disease.

“I’m beginning to feel uncomfortable because of how you’re treating me. I said to forget it but now you made it seem like I asked you to do something terrible. I’ll leave first, no need to act like that towards me.” I told him and took the painting board.

Myungsoo POV

I watched her leave and lean against the chair sighing in frustration at myself. I did want her to stay far away from me but why is it that when she did, I’m feeling like this. It’s not just guilty; it’s something else too.

How can I tell Jiyeon what I really feel? What if she uses it against me? I don’t want to think of her as such a person but these kinds of thoughts won’t leave my head.

+++

“Hello?” I went and answered the home phone.

“Myungsoo, come out and have a talk with me.” I heard the familiar voice.

I sighed as I rolled my eyes. “Leave before I have Momo come and chase you out.” I ended the call. I went to grab the hammer and left to the farm again.

“Myungsoo, do you have the hammer?” Grandpa asked me.

“Yes!” I ran to him and handed him the hammer.

Momo came walking towards me and I patted her head. “Hey Momo,” I smooth her hair out. “Look at this broken fence. You created it did you not?” I . She let out a vibrating sound as if she’s telling me she’s sorry.

Momo is a brown horse that loves being affectionate and close with me. Probably because I’ve been with her since birth but she always comes to me whenever I go to the farm.

“You two stop checking on the fences but the actual horses!” Grandma came to us and shouted.

“Yes!” Grandpa answered her.

“I’ll take over this then grandpa,” I said and went to fix the fence using the wrenches and hammers as grandpa followed after grandma into the horse barn.

Momo stayed right next to me and watched me fix the fence. She would walk away a bit when she got bored of staying. I couldn’t play with her neither because I had to fix the fence. When I looked up to see where she went, she would come back to me making me smiled.

After my grandma, grandpa, and mom, I love Momo the most. She’s such a precious horse for me. She was a great comfort for me when mom left me. She also is my best friend.

“Myungsoo!” grandma came out of the barn and headed towards me.

“Yes?” I looked at her.

“I’m going to the store to buy some medicine for Shinbo, he’s sick.” Grandma told me. “So watch over grandpa.” She told me.

“I’ll go to the store grandma.” I told her, I felt worried about her going out alone.

“Don’t mind me. I’m just an old lady who wants to go out for a walk. So I’ll come back quick okay?” grandma told me.

“Fine, bring your phone with you so I can call and check up on you at least.” I told her.

“Okay little kid.” Grandma told me smiling and shaking her head before leaving the farm.

I hurried up to fix the fence and then headed to the horse barn where the stalls all are. “Momo, no coming in for now okay?” I sort of shouted as Momo tried to follow me inside where grandpa was spreading out the hay onto the ground.

Momo let out a neigh and left to follow the other horses. I began to help grandpa clean out the horse’s stalls and laid out new hay on the ground.

“Make sure to call your grandma in a bit,” grandpa told me while we were working.

“I know,” I told him.

Jiyeon POV
 

“Mom, I’m already almost home so stop worrying.” I told over the phone. She shouted back about how it was getting late. “Well, since we live here now I thought I might as well explore it.” I tried to explain to her my view. She didn’t listen to me and continued to scold at me over the phone. “It’s my bus stop now mom, bye.” I ended the call, as the bus was about to reach my stop and got up.

I exited the bus and happened to see a grandma hitting her shoulders. She was letting out a deep sigh. “Aigoo, I shouldn’t have come.” I heard a grandma saying as she looked at her watch.

“Um, excuse me grandmother?” I called out to her.

“Oh, am I stealing your seat?” the grandma asked me and was about to get up.

“Ani, ani!” I stopped her. “I thought you might want some help. You look really tired.” I told her.

“Oh,” the grandma nodded. “There’s still thoughtful young adults like you in this world. Well then, I would love you to help me out.”  The grandma told me.

“Well, then, where’s your house grandmother? I’m sure you live around here since you look worn out from walking.” I guessed.

“You’re smart,” the grandmother laughed. “I live in ____ Street.” She told me.

“Oh, the farm area?” I looked at her surprised. “Then you must be tired.” I felt worried for her and grabbed her bags. “I’ll send you to your house then.” I told her.

“Thank you child,” the grandmother told me.

While we were walking, she talked about her family a bit to me. She said she had a stupid grandson and an annoying husband. Although she badmouthed them a lot to me, I could tell she cherished those two a lot.

“Look at this,” she took out her phone, which showed miss calls from her grandson to me. “This kid worries about me too much,” she laughed and called him back.

“What?... I’m almost home here…Ani, don’t come get me, I’m literally a few blocks away from home. Did you and grandpa finish your works at the barn?... Good job, I’m here so don’t worry. I’m hanging up.” The grandmother said and ended the call.

“You have a great grandson.” I told her.

“I don’t know about that,” the grandmother shook her head and stopped walking. “My house is right there.” She pointed to a white house.

I looked at it and saw someone very familiar running out of the house. “Grandma! What took yo—!” he looked at me surprised.

Oh! He talks….My mind is in shock!

“Myungsoo, take the bag from this young lady.” The grandma spoke. “Child, do you want to drink something before you go home?” she asked me.

“Ani,” I shook my head unable to look away from Myungsoo.

The thing that I was the most surprised of is hearing his voice. It was so different than what I expected. Not a bad different, and this kind of different couldn’t be explained with words.

Myungsoo POV

“Myungsoo, why are you just standing there?” grandma called out my name.

I opened out my mouth but was unable to say anything. I felt sort of afraid for a moment. She heard me speak. But I don’t know that other feeling that I was having. It was as if I was relief to see her for some reason.

I went over to her and took the bag from her. She remained frozen, like how I would be if it weren’t for my grandma looking at us.

“Child, stay and eat lunch with us. I’m just so thankful that you helped me today so let this old lady repaid you in this kind of way.” The grandmother told Jiyeon.

I looked at my grandma wide eye. She never lets people into the house easily! Why is she asking Jiyeon to enter the house without a second thought?

“Ani, it’s alright grandmother. I have to get back home before it gets dark.” Jiyeon looked away from me and right then, I felt the awkwardness sweep in again.

I watched her step back from me after bowing to my grandma and walked away. My grandma nudged me and looked at her surprised.

“Take the pretty lady home Myungsoo. It seems like you two know each other.” Grandma said giving me a sneaky look.

“B-But—” I just didn’t know what to say. I really didn’t.

“Hurry, I’ll carry this home.” My grandma took the bag and from me and then went inside the house.

I stand still awkwardly. Well, it’s going to feel awkward around her no matter what, might as well follow her to make sure she gets home safely. I ran after her and it took me a while to find her walking touching her phone. She almost hit into the telephone pole so I pulled her away surprising her.

“Thank you,” she looked up and saw me and froze momentarily. “I didn’t hear anything. I’ll be going now.” She bowed to me and walked away.

Strangely, she made me felt like the bad guy for my actions. I mean, I don’t know how the situation came to this, but now I feel like I did her wrong. Not that she made me felt wronged!

“You don’t have to send me home.” Jiyeon’s voice woke me up from my thoughts.

I looked at her and saw that I was trailing after her like a lost puppy. I nodded my head feeling embarrassed for some reason as she walked off again.

“Ji—” I opened my mouth but couldn’t really say anything.

Try living with your mouth shut around strangers for the longest time ever. When you open your mouth, you really can’t speak. But what I wanted to tell her so bad at this moment before she disappeared was unclear to myself also.