(A/N: I'm soooo sorry this update is so late I know I skipped a week sighs I've been facing writer's block :((( so here is an update finally sighssss it's not very good though I'll try my best with the following chapters okay! Much apologies :(((( )

chapter 6:

"대신할 자린 없을 테니까 "

"But you are irreplaceable"

___

Eunbi has decided to leave the rest behind in the house first to go open up the gates because they were taking too long.

Yuna knows that she just wants to have some time alone, so Yuna has let her off. Meanwhile, Sowon is still busy screaming at the other kids.

"So, how was your time with Youngji?" as she approaches the gate she hears a warm voice from the house next door, realising it is Jackson's mother.

"It was fun," she's still the same after all these years," she hears Jackson's voice next, "But I didn't know she was coming again today?" Eunbi presses her ears against the wall to listen.

"Well, I didn't expect them to be staying over in Seoul," Eunbi stiffens up, hearing the statement.

Yuna stands at the main door of Eunbi's home and watches her. The initial shock quickly disappears as she realizes what Eunbi is actually doing. "As if that will help," Yuna jokingly scoffs to herself as she continues to watch Eunbi, even though she cannot hear what Eunbi is listening to.

"Her father came for work matters so they got a hotel here," Eunbi sighs. At least she wasn't staying over, she thinks, and feels much relieved compared to before.

"Youngji," Eunbi mutters under her breath, so that's her name, she thinks.

"The two of you were so close as children, we were all thinking that you two would get married when you grow up," Eunbi hears Jackson choke listening to his mother.

"What?" Jackson exclaims. He seems to be shocked.

"Well, if it wasn't for us going back to Hong Kong," her mother adds.

"Get married, huh?" Eunbi mutters under her breath, "maybe they should."

Eunbi hasn't thought of him for a while. Eunbi doesn't know when it started, but part of her has given up.

She's given up thinking about him or reminiscing her times with him, those memories that would make her heart flutter like butterflies whenever she'd remember them, however little they may be.

However, Eunbi thinks that things have changed. She doesn't want to remember him anymore. Every memory would just lead her to the latest one, the heartbreaking one. She doesn't know how she should feel either. After all, she doesn't have the right to be so awfully impacted by that simple incident; they are still far from friends.

Thankfully as time passes, Eunbi thinks the pain has stopped, or so she feels.

It's hard for her: to not look at the side of her home where Jackson's home is, to pretend not to hear his voice whenever he calls, to resist the urge of watching him dance in the front yard every Saturday morning, but she's come to be able to do so, even though it makes her heart ache.

Even though it hurts, Eunbi tries to make herself forget her feelings for him.

Sadly, although he doesn't appear in her mind anymore, her heart feels empty with the longing to be with him, and the pain of not being with him. Eunbi cries. Has she really fallen in love? 

Jackson silently watches as Eunbi walks towards her home with a slow, steady stride. His eyes follow her down the lane, to her gate and into the front yard. He does this soullessly; it seems like his mind has left him every since Eunbi has stopped talking to him.

They haven't even talked a lot, he thinks. He doesn't know why she's starting to distant herself; it's all been a mystery to him.

The days when he could wake up in time to see Eunbi off for school, his greetings would be ignored with Eunbi walking away for school without any response at all. He also begins to realise that Eunbi hasn't been watching him dance on Saturday mornings anymore.

Jackson scratches the back of his neck, pondering about what he should do if Eunbi would continue to ignore him.

His eyes widen upon a sudden realisation: they have yet to exchange mobile phone numbers.

Has Eunbi never asked him for it? Has he really forgotten to ask her? Jackson shakes his head. Maybe they aren't as close as he thinks they are after all.

Jackson bitterly purses his lips and buries his face in his palms. After everything, they are still strangers.

Still, he does not get it. Why does his heart cling onto her so much? Why does it seem like he needs her, even though they are far from friends?

Tears well up in his eyes. How has Eunbi become such an important part of him, without him knowing it?

Eunbi groans as she sees the time. It's almost two in the morning, meaning that she has been studying for about two hours, yet all she's done is memorise the first page out of ten pages. Her exam is in three days and at this rate Eunbi thinks she won't even be able to pass. She lets out an ear-piercing, unidentifiable sound as she buries her face into her palms. Suddenly, she begins to cry.

She hears hurried footsteps up the stairs and then the twist of the knob on bedroom door, but she does not look up.

"Eunbi, what's wrong?" she hears her mother's warm, concerned voice, but she does not answer.

Her mother walks over and puts an arm around her. She gently rubs her body as a form of comfort, but Eunbi does not stop crying.

Why does it hurt so much? moves, but no sound is produced.

"It's okay," her mother says, "you're a smart girl, you'll do well," her mother's sweet voice does not seem to console her that night.

It is now she realises: she isn't stressed about her studies; something else is bothering her, but she does not know what.

The emptiness in her heart is painful, and Eunbi's tears do not stop. She realises what has been missing from her life, or rather who.

Although she refuses to believe it, an answer comes to her mind that it is Jackson.