“Taehyung, could you call all the kids?” Sandara asked from behind her desk. “It’s almost lunch time.”

Taeyeon nodded and flew toward the garden where the kids were playing. “Food time, food time is here,” she shouted. All those little heads immediately turned to look at her and then pattering little feet started to scramble toward the dining room. Laughing, she picked a lame boy who was trying to keep up with the other kids. “Let’s outrun them,” she whispered to the boy conspiringly.

The boy looked at her with utter adoration and nodded in full agreement. “Hurry, Tae Tae noona. Hurry!” Noticing Taeyeon’s lifted eyebrow, he grinned sheepishly, showing her the gap where his teeth were supposed to be. “I mean Tae Tae hyung Hurry, Tae Tae hyung Hurry!!”

Chuckling, Taeyeon ran toward the dining room while the boy in her arms squealed with delight.

From her office, Sandara smiled indulgently as she watched the scene outside. After their fateful talk two weeks ago, after Taeyeon told her the reason she had run away from home, she had asked Jiyong to let Taehyung help with her charity work and he had agreed. And ever since she had stepped in here, Taeyeon had been indispensable to the orphanage that she was running. The staff loved her generous and affectionate spirit, and the kids had been totally drawn to her. Her sunny smile and cheerful disposition had made this dreary place became a better place for the unfortunate little ones.

She almost went back to her desk when she suddenly saw her son running purposefully after Taeyeon. “Well, well,” she muttered to herself. “Someone has an agenda there.” She wasn’t blind. She knew something was going on with them, and had been for the last couple weeks. With renewed interest, she watched as her son grabbed Taeyeon’s hand and turned her around. “Ouch,” she said and chuckled with amusement when she saw Taeyeon’s smiling face turned blank and she brushed him off like a fly. “I see you’ve found your match, Son. I wish you good luck,” she mused aloud as she walked back to her seat, giving them the privacy they deserved.

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“Taehyung,” Jiyong called her, clutching her arm like a lifeline while trying to infuse some cheerfulness in his -lately- somber voice. “Let’s get some lunch. I know a place nearby that serve great pizza.”

“I’m not hungry yet, but thank you for asking, Mr Kwon” Taehyung said stonily, trying to shrug his hand off her.

Wincing at her tone, Jiyong looked at the person in front of him exasperatedly. Ever since their kiss half a month ago, Taehyung had been invariably polite to him, and he started to hate that polite tone as much as he hated his pitiful self-control. It was undeniably the biggest mistake in his life. He didn’t know what had prodded him into signing his death warrant and kissing her when he had pretended not to know her gender from the start. Maybe it was because her eyes had seemed so vulnerable and compelling at that time. Maybe it was the faint apple scent that was uniquely hers had muddled his mind. Or maybe because seeing her so unhappy had triggered a need in him to protect her and cheer her up, to keep her mind off the things that had bothered her. Whatever it was, it had obviously made some dormant suicidal instinct in him came to life, and he had impulsively tasted the forbidden fruit. The taste was beyond words, but the price he had to pay was dear too.

~Inside Jiyong’s memory ~

It all started when Taehyung had called him to breakfast. He had been joking around with Yunho on their way toward the dining room when he realized that Taehyung wasn’t coming with them. After asking Yunho to go first and tell his mom that he would join them shortly, he had tiptoed toward where Taehyung had remained. She had been too preoccupied with her thought that she didn’t seem to realize his presence.

“Aren’t you coming? What are you doing standing here like a statue?” he asked just softly