Few hours later, they are getting ready to go out to have lunch at the restaurant that will take about ten minutes by car. Jasmine is in her simple white tshirt, a pair of denim knee long high waist skirt and she completes her looks with her pair of white Nike sneakers. She also brings a denim jacket just in case it gets windy as they are near to the sea. She puts all her important belongings like phone and wallet in her simple white plain canvas tote bag. Her style is as usual very simple and comfortable. Kyungsoo is in his black tshirt and blue pair of jeans. He is about to wear his shoes when he sees Jasmine’s sneakers. “Isn’t the design is similar to the sneakers your cousins bought me?” He asks pointing at the pair. She nods immediately. “Yeah, they bought me the same design but in white color because that is my favorite.” She simply explains. “Should I wear it too? You can send them a picture of us wearing the same sneakers.” He suggests. She nods. “That is a good idea.” She replies. Kyungsoo is running inside getting his new pair of sneakers. “How do I look?” He asks her as he is standing with the pair of new sneakers on. She looks at him smiling. “Good.” She replies. “Hyung, can you take a picture of us together?” Kyungsoo says passing his phone to Nam manager. “Sure. Pose.” He says as he captures the moment. “I’ll share it with you later so you can send it to your cousins.” Kyungsoo says to Jasmine. She just simply nods. After having a wonderful lunch at the seafood restaurant he suggested, both of the managers go back to the apartment leaving them at the nearby beach. They want them to spend some alone time together while they can. And the two agree to it without questioning more. “Here Jasmine.” Kyungsoo calls for her name as he leads their way to a shaded area facing the beach. It is still quiet at this hour as the sun is still striking. Thankfully the wind is helping so it is not that hot. They both take a seat on a log under the tree. This scenery reminds her of Jeju. She really likes it.

“What do you have in your mind right now?” Kyungsoo decides to ask Jasmine after a long silent moment between them. It seems like there is something bothering her right now. She clears . She smiles at him before looking back at the wide sea with small waves here and there. It twinkles as the sun is working hard right now. It is so beautiful. “Nothing much, I just miss my family after talking about them the whole morning. Now that I am here, I missed mommy and daddy because they loved the sea. We would just sit by the beach for hours without doing many activities. We just talked and ate what mommy prepared for us. I guess I followed their hobby because I love doing the same thing especially when I am in Jeju. I would go out just to stare blankly at the sea and I would go back home after the sunset. Sometimes I don’t even remember to eat and halmeoni will be there by the door getting herself ready to scold me if I said I didn’t eat. Hehe. Whenever I felt like I don’t want her to waste her energy scolding me, I would just say that I did when actually I didn’t.” She says as she chuckles sharing some secrets. “Being at the beach makes me feel close with mommy and daddy. I feel like they are here with me. I stare at the sea as if I am talking to them silently sending them signals that I am doing fine right here.” She continues without being asked. She smiles bitterly looking at the small waves. Kyungsoo is staring at her and she doesn’t even turns to look at him. She is in her own small world. “Some people asked me weird questions repeatedly. Why do I look fine when I already lost my parents as a small kid? Why do I seem to be happy without them around? Why don’t I look lonely without them by my side? Am I happy not to have parents growing up? Some even said straight to my face that it must feel like heaven living without parents because there is no one to nag at me or to stop me from doing anything I like. They said they were jealous because of the total freedom I own.” She sighs before she continues. “Why do they even ask me these questions to begin with? Why do people have to create more pain in a hurtful young girl? She is recovering herself silently. She doesn’t want her family to feel hurt because of her. She looks fine. She looks happy. She looks okay. The truth is, she never stops missing her late parents dearly. The loneliness and the emptiness left by her parents can never be replaced with something else. It is still there. It will never go. It will be forever there because her parents are irreplaceable. She seems to be fully recovered but in reality, she is still healing. Fourteen years have passed but everything seems like yesterday. She wants the impossible. She wants them back alive. She would give up everything without thinking if that can assure that her parents will be here living with her. But she knows she can’t have that. When she is alone by herself, she is easily distracted with limited memories she had with them. That is why she always makes herself busy so her days will be occupied that she doesn’t have time to think about what happened to her life that day. It was the day the unthinkable happened. She is still that small girl inside. Her life stopped when the police officers came to her house on one rainy night telling her that her parents would never come back. They told her that they were gone. That news was difficult to digest that she fainted by the door in her grandmother’s arms.” She says as tears falling down her cheeks unknowingly. She can still feel the pain. She can still feel how suffocated it was for her that day. It was hard to even take a breath that she ended up unconscious.

Kyungsoo is surprised to see Jasmine crying. He is shocked to finally know what she actually feels. This time, she doesn’t need to be asked. She willingly shares with him. She never looks this vulnerable in front of him. He grabs her hand holding it tight. She is still looking at the sea crying silently. “That little girl attended her parents’ funeral still hoping that it was just a nightmare that on the next day when she woke up, her parents would be there waiting for her by the bed as they normally did. But guess what, that morning, she woke up and when she looked around, they were nowhere to be seen. She was alone crying on the bed as she realized that it was real. No more morning kisses and hugs from her parents. It ended yesterday. It was the first time she said goodbye to her parents who were leaving home for an emergency work. Yes, it was the first time because she was never left alone. Her parents would bring her wherever they went. But not that day, it was as if they knew that they would go forever. They didn’t want their only child to suffer like they did. And for her, she could not accept the fact that she was sick was the reason her parents leaving the world without her. She was left alone in this world because she fell sick on that day. Why of all days, she had to be sick that day? She kept on questioning herself. She wanted to be there with them. She wanted to die with them because just imagining walking on this earth without them was scary. Let alone living in reality without them. It was very scary for her. At the age of seven, she was all alone despite having her family around. She started to shut everyone out from her life. She refused to see people. She refused to talk. She denied all the offers to help her. She didn’t want to be disturbed. She rejected the idea of leaving her home. She wanted to wait for her parents. She was in denial for a long time. She ended up being hospitalized for more than a week because she fell seriously sick as she refused to eat. She was unconscious for a few days that her family was worried to death thinking that she would never make it. But she woke up again. Only then she realized that she was hurting her loved ones by rejecting reality. She was hurting herself by denying the truth. She knew that her parents would not like that. She knew that she was not that alone. She still had her family who sincerely love her. She knew that her parents would not like to see the sad and the broken her. She didn’t want them to feel guilty for leaving her behind and the most important thing is, she didn’t want them to be disappointed with her poor choices in life. She wanted her parents to be proud to have her as their one and only little girl. Hundred days after her parents’ passing, she started her new life being a stronger and a better version of herself trying to live the life in the best way up until today. She has been treating herself quietly.” She says as she takes a deep breath. She then turns to look at Kyungsoo. “Honestly oppa, I am not that strong. I am still trying. But having sincere people around me who treat me with care, it helps a lot. So thank you for being my guardian angel. And thank you for not stopping me from crying.” She says looking at him trying her best to smile with tears still falling.

Looking at this beautiful girl in front of him, it makes Kyungsoo realizes that you can’t definitely judge a book by its cover. Someone may look fine but inside, they are suffering. And someone may look like they need help when they are actually living a happy life. We can’t simplify people’s life like that without knowing the real situation. “I know this is a cliché question but are you feeling better now?” He carefully asks. She nods. “Yeah, I never talked about this after the last time I did it many years ago with my cousins. It is because I don’t feel like I need to be that open with anyone. But this time, I know that I need to be this transparent with you so that you can stop blaming yourself for not doing enough for me. Being away like this is fine because I know you never forget to worry about me. You are doing your job well as my sunbae. Giving me a call here and there whenever you have time, I really appreciate that. And when life gets too busy, you send me text messages asking me if I am doing fine. And I also know that you personally asked Kang manager to stay in Seoul so he can look after me when you actually normally have both of them by your side when you are working. Me being this open to you means that you are doing a great job. You don’t have to make more effort to make me feel comfortable. You have done enough. And the most important thing is I trust you. And I thank you for that. It is never easy to trust someone especially men but the efforts that you made showed me that trustworthy human being named man other than my family does exist.” She says looking straight into his eyes to make sure he feels convinced. Kyungsoo is speechless. He doesn’t know what to say. He grabs both of her hands holding them tight. “Thank you for acknowledging and for accepting me in your life Jasmine. You don’t know how much it means for me. Thank you so much. To be truthful with you, I never made this much efforts to convince anyone before in my life. I don’t know with you, I really want to try my hardest to make you feel comfortable. And I really don’t want to lose you from my life. Please don’t ever leave me without any notice.” He says to her showing an obvious fear in his eyes of being left.

“Oh I guess, I should let you know this.” Jasmine suddenly looks serious. She has something to share. Kyungsoo is feeling nervous as he waits. “It is made final. It is confirmed already that I am leaving for Germany by the end of July or early of August. So that is a head up for you. I am not going to leave you without informing you first.” She says sharing the news he has been nervously waiting for. July? That soon? “Does the company know already?” He asks her. She nods. “It is important for me to inform them the earliest possible because me leaving will change the whole plan and schedule of LOVE. I don’t want to cause them heart attacks. Having a mild one is enough.” She says to him. “July is not that far from now. How long will you be there again?” He asks her. “It is stated in the official letter that I’ll be there for four to five months maximum. It depends.” She lets him know. He is surprised to hear that. “That long? I thought you will be away for two to three months only.” He says being honest. “Oppa, this is not like vacation. I am attending school there.” She reminds him. He nods. “I know but it is just hard for me to accept the fact that you will be that far away from me for that long.” He says being honest. She smiles. “Oppa, we have been away for months long now. It is not that you see me every single day. We only get to see one another once in a while. I don’t think it will be much different.” She says. “But you’re here in Korea. We are not countries apart.” He adds. “I promise that I will contact yo