Chapter 6
Of Flowers, Ice Cream and Sand

"Seohyun, is that you?"

And he thanked the heavens they were interrupted. The pair turned to the direction from where the call came from and a couple of both brown hairs entered into view, although the female's hair was lighter than her boyfriend's.

And then it hit her.

"Yoona?" Seohyun whispered with eyes wide.

"Seohyun!" and Yoona ran towards her long lost best friend, or so she calls it. The heiress stood up from her seat and happily welcomed the pool of chocolate hair in her arms. "I never thought I'd see you again!"

Yonghwa stood up as well and waited to be introduced while Jonghyun neared towards them as well.

"Me too, Yoona! I'm so happy to see you again!" The black-haired said. Yoona was almost in tears after finally being able to talk and hug her friend again. Seohyun turned to Jonghyun while still in the hug and greeted him while the lad did the same with a nod and a, "We're happy you're doing fine, Seohyun."

Yoona pulled away when she noticed the dark-haired beside Seohyun and gave her friend a questioning look, "Seohyun, is he…?" and Seohyun nodded.

"This is Jung Yonghwa," she said and then turned to Yonghwa, "This is Yoona and that's Jonghyun."

"Ah," Yonghwa moved forward. "The maid of honor, it's a pleasure to meet you." He gave his gentleman smile, took Yoona's hand and gave it a kiss, much to Jonghyun's dismay.

Yoona was shocked and because of two things:

a) that she was the maid of honor and she found out just now, and; 

b) that the handsome stranger suddenly kissed her hand, not that she didn't like it—and this irked her boyfriend once more which went unnoticed for her. And Jonghyun, was well...Jonghyun. His smile turned into an immediate frown and glared at Yonghwa for doing something 'inappropriate' to his girlfriend.

"It's nice to meet you," Yonghwa turned to Jonghyun and extended his hand, expecting a handshake but the Lee heir just crossed his arms and looked away and just nodded. This, however, earned him a hard smack on the head from none other than his girlfriend.

"Ow! What was that for?" Jonghyun whined as he grabbed his aching head. Man, Yoona sure can hit!

"That was for being rude! Mr. Jung was being nice, you know!" she scolded but this just made Jonghyun's anger towards Yonghwa increase since he was already being defended by his own girlfriend.

"It's alright, Miss Im." Yonghwa said when Yoona turned to him to apologize.

This scene just made Seohyun smile. Some things will never change, huh? And this made her miss her friends even more.

Jonghyun just met Yonghwa and he could tell he hates him already. How dare he act friendly when his family practically kidnapped Seohyun from them? And so the Lee man just continued to whine in his head or else he would receive another blow from Yoona.

The light-brown-haired girl turned to Seohyun once more with a worried face and asked, "Seohyun, are you…okay?" The latter knew what she was talking about and gave her a reassuring nod. "They have been incredibly nice to me, Yonghwa's a nice person." She said.

"Hmph," Jonghyun stuck his nose in the air, seemingly disagreeing. "A nice person won't just take you away from your family, you know."

Wham!

"Ow!"

"Jongie! What did I say!"

A pout.

"But it's true!"

"I don't care! You're still being rude."

Yonghwa and Seohyun could only watch them with a sweatdrop. "Seohyun has really nice and caring friends, right?" The dark-haired man commented and the other just nodded. "You'll never get bored, Yonghwa." And they continued to watch the other pair who bickered like an old married couple.

"I'm really sorry about that, Mr. Jung." Yoona gave a bow after she was sure she gave her boyfriend a good lecture while the other just continued to sulk in the background and muttered words like, 'violent girlfriend' which were just ignored.

And Yoona suddenly remembered something.

"Ah! Seohyun, am I really your maid of honor?" She asked gleefully and Seohyun nodded.

"I couldn't have anyone else be my maid of honor, right?"

"Yay!" And Yoona pulled her friend into a hug again.

"Now, why don't we all sit down?" Yonghwa offered after noticing they have been standing for a long time already. Everybody nodded and they sat around a table for 4 and Yonghwa had his and Seohyun's order moved to their new table.

"I'm really happy to see you again, Seohyun. Everybody would be so thrilled if they knew we met and you're okay." Yoona said as the waitress came back and got Yoona and Jonghyun's order. The latter gave their usual orders to the waitress.

"I can't wait to see everybody again." Seohyun smiled.

"Everybody's been so worried about you," her friend said with her worried look again. "But it's nice that the Jungs are taking care of you properly. Thank you, Mr. Jung." She said to the man beside Seohyun.

Yonghwa flashed a smile and nodded. "It's against our nature to not treat ladies properly, Miss Im." And he took a sip of his tea.

"Yeah right, you practically dragged Seohyun out of her mansion." Jonghyun muttered.

"Jongie!"

"That I am truly sorry about, Seohyun. I'm afraid that my father can really be scary when his plans are delayed." Yonghwa turned to the Seo princess beside him and she just gave him a smile.

"Your mother hasn't been quite well, though. She's the most worried out of all of us. She always cry at night and blamed herself for everything." Yoona said. Their orders already came and she took a sip of her drink.

And Seohyun suddenly grew quiet. The mention of her mother made her eyes wide as she put her cup down, trembling as she did.

"Mother…" she whispered.

"Seohyun?" Yoona asked when she noticed how different her friend was suddenly acting.

Yonghwa was taking a sip of his tea when he suddenly felt a hand upon his arm. He placed his cup down and looked at the young lady beside him and asked, "Seohyun? Is everything alright?" The heiress looked up at him with teary eyes and trembling lips and said, "Yonghwa, please. Let's go." He was surprised but realized how difficult it might be for her to discuss the matter with her friend now. With a nod, the dark-haired pair stood up and made a move to leave after Yonghwa placed a few bills on the table.

"Ah, Seohyun? Where are you going?" Yoona asked as she stood up as well.

"I'm sorry Yoona; I'm not suddenly feeling well. It's nice seeing you again though! I'll see you at the wedding." Seohyun gave a faint smile. Yoona was about to follow her until Jonghyun grabbed her by the wrist while shaking his head. The Busan man thought that Seohyun still wasn't ready to hear from her mother again, after all that's happened and this made Yoona regret bringing her up in the first place.

Yoona breathed her 'sorry' and they watched the retreating backs from them.

The door of the tea shop opened and closed as the pair left.

Yonghwa mounted on his motorbike and started the engine and Seohyun sat behind him. She instinctively wrapped her arms around his waist once more but didn't say a word and just buried her face on his back.

"Let's go home, Seohyun." Yonghwa offered and was about to turn to the direction of the mansion but Seohyun pulled him closer and mumbled, "No. I don't want to go back there for now."

"I can't let you go back to your own house—"

"I know, I know. Just take me anywhere aside from this place."

The sand filled Seohyun's sandals as she buried them into the soft land under the swing she was currently sitting on, her pants folded up to a length so that the sand won't cling to the jeans. She swung back and forth slowly, all the while looking down at the floor. She can't help but think at what just happened at the tea shop. She knew she always wished to come back home but when she heard things about her mother, was she really ready to go back?

No, Seohyun thought. I'm not going to cry about it again. She did regret leaving her friend behind at the tea shop and she knew it was rude but she can't help it. She didn't want those emotions running back to her again.

Yonghwa was currently just standing at the pole of the swing beside her. He took her to the park where only a few number of children are present, mostly because the sun is going to set any time soon. He looked up towards the orange sky and saw birds flying around and wind blowing their hair. Sounds of children's laughter echoed across the playground but they didn't mind.

Suddenly, a ball landed on Yonghwa's feet and two 7-year-old boys walked towards him and asked, "Hey mister, can you please pass the ball?" The Jung heir gave them a smile and nodded his head, grabbing the ball and throwing it with little energy to the children.

The other kid suddenly noticed something as he stared at Yonghwa and said, "Hey mister! I think I saw your picture on TV!" The kid with him widened his eyes and nodded, agreeing with his friend.

"Oh really?" Yonghwa smiled, crouching down in front of the kids to meet them eye level.

Both kids nodded. "I think it was a picture of you and a very pretty lady!" One of the kids looked to the side and saw Seohyun on the swings, and apparently watching them, "Isn't she the pretty lady on the picture?" This made Seohyun blink at them and smile. Yonghwa just gave them a chuckle and ruffled their heads.

"Yes, that's true; but the pretty lady isn't in a really good mood right now." Yonghwa said.

"Why?" One of the kids asked while the other suddenly ran off. "Did you two fight? My mommy said that it's bad to make a girl upset or cry, did you make her cry, mister?"

Oh kids and their curiosity. Yonghwa shook his head and laughed. "That's the last thing I want to do right now, kid." He said.

The other kid returned from somewhere and went back in front of Yonghwa and his friend, "Here you go."

Yonghwa blinked at the little white flower the kid was currently offering him and asked, "What is it for?"

The little child, who was currently panting from running from a distance, smiled at him and turned to Seohyun's direction and said, "You should give it to the pretty lady, mister. My mommy said that you should never let a girl go with a sad face; otherwise she's going to make other people sad too. Don't you feel sad that you see her sad?"

The other kid nodded. "It makes me sad to see a gir