”I’m sorry but we don’t allow cats in the rooms.” It was the fifth time today that I heard that. Why didn’t any of the hotels allow cats in the rooms? I sighed as I slung my bag over the shoulder and then walked out through the door with Sooni tightly in my embrace.

After this morning’s events I told Sung Yeol that I couldn’t sleep over at his place anymore, I told him it wasn’t fair to him or MyungSoo. But I could’ve never imagined how much Sung Yeol tried to pursue me into staying. MyungSoo on the other hand hadn’t said anything; he had kept his mouth shut and only looked at me. I didn’t know how I was supposed to take his actions; maybe he didn’t want me to stay.

Either how, I’d left Sung Yeol’s apartment. And then I went to wash my clothes before I started to look for a place to sleep at. Something that was easier said than done because none of the hotels I’d been to want to take Sooni in. The worst problem, it was starting to get late and it was harder to find a hotel.

Did I really have to sleep outside today as well? At this point it seemed like that because I didn’t want to return to Sung Yeol’s place again. How humiliating wouldn’t that be.

“HWANI.” Someone was shouting my name out loud and I froze for a second and the thought that it might be Sangmin and his friends. But after I turned around that fear left my body as I saw who it was, Yong Sook.

I smiled as he ran up to me; a smile was also playing on his lips as he looked down at Sooni before he gently her fur. “What are you doing out this late?” he asked and I showed him my bag. “I ran away from home.” I tried to sound as unbothered as possible, but honestly I missed to have a home which you returned to each day, instead of this, changing homes every other day.

“You can stay at my place if you want.” Yong Sook uttered and immediately answered that I would be more than happy to stay at his place. It meant that I was safe for at least one more night. Once my adrenaline rush calmed down I asked him it was alright, “of course.”

Half an hour later I stepped inside Yong Sook’s apartment, it wasn’t big and only had one bedroom. Meaning that one of us had to sleep on the couch in the living room, something that I wouldn’t mind doing because I got real shelter for the night. And that was more than enough.

“Are you hungry?” Yong Sook asked from the kitchen after that I’d settled down my bag on the floor and let Sooni down. She seemed really happy to explore the new surroundings, “yeh.” I said as I slumped down on the couch before I asked him if it was okay if I the TV.

“Do that.”

I pressed the power button and some sort of drama flashed on. I don’t know how long it had been since I last saw one. It had to be years since the last time, mainly because I’ve been so deeply into my laptop. But after all those messages I didn’t dare to turn it on, because I was afraid that the same person would’ve written more.

After settling down I scoped Sooni up in my arms and let her rest on my stomach as I waited for Yong Sook to finish whatever he was cooking up.

A few minutes later he called for me and I carefully let Sooni down on the floor again before I walked up to the small table in the kitchen. I didn’t know why I laughed when I saw that it was ramyeon that he had prepared, maybe because the image of MyungSoo flashed before my eyes when I remembered that he had gotten me that. But my smile faded once I remembered the look he gave me this morning. He still didn’t like me. But why did I care so much about what he was thinking.

“Are you okay?” I shook my head in a try to clear it away from any thoughts of MyungSoo; he was the least problem I had right now. “Yeh, I’m okay.” I weakly smiled and brought my chopsticks to the bowl. My mind was on other things the whole meal and I guessed that I hadn’t been that much of a company to him.

MyungSoo.

He was the only thing that had been running through my mind the whole day, and thus also ruining it. I didn’t understand why he was doing this to me. And not to mention Sung Yeol, why did I give in so easily when he kissed me? Did I like him, was that it.

But then, why was MyungSoo the only one that kept bothering me, not Sung Yeol. Ugh, it was so frustrating that I wanted to scream. “Hello?” Yong Sook was waving his chopsticks in front of my face as he tried to keep himself from laughing out loud. Had I really been so gone in my thoughts?

“Sorry.” I mentally slapped myself in the head and tried to keep up with his talk, something that I found rather hard. And not to mention when he began to ask questions about why I ran away and what made my ‘parents’ so bad that I’d actually done it. I hesitated, would it be the right decision if I told him what they were doing towards me.

Something inside me broke and I found myself begin to explain all the things that had happened to me during my stay at their home, plus how they threatened me to never speak about those things. Tears accompanied me as I spoke, but as I finished the whole room became quiet. I know, it has to be hard to know what you should reply to something like that. So honestly I didn’t except any reply for him. Especially not the one he gave me. He told me that I could stay here as long as I wanted.

I smiled grateful at him. Even though he had been absent from my life for so long I still found him to be more reliable than Sung Yeol and MyungSoo. Maybe it was because we had actually spent a year together a few years back. I didn’t know for how long we had talked but once we had finished the clock had already hit past 11PM and my eyelids had started to get heavy.

“You can take the bedroom.” Yong Sook offered but I declined, I couldn’t take the place he used to sleep. He lived there and I didn’t. But he objected and told me that it was fine and that he didn’t mind to sleep on the couch.

It wasn’t without a heavy heart that I laid down on his bed and drifted off to the busy nightlife that were pumping outside the window. And with the thoughts of how school would be the next coming day. Hopefully Sangmin would keep himself away from me after what Sung Yeol had done to him.