"Yah! Wait for me!" Hana complained when she realized that Chanyeol had no plans of slowing down. 
  

At all.

She had long stopped walking then burned her gaze at the back of his head. She huffed when the guy did not made any effort to stop and listen to her. 

"Yah! Park Chanyeol! This is not considered as making peace!" She hollered and that successfully stopped the guy. 
  

"You're still so grumpy! If you're really trying to make peace, then it takes more than taking me out on a restaurant!" She exasperated when the guy finally turned to look at her, frowning. 

  
"You're unbelievable," she mused before looking away, annoyed. She click her tongue, trying to control her temper. 

  
Chanyeol, on the other hand, scoffed lightly the moment she looked to the side. Just what was he supposed to do? He looked up the starry night sky, sighing before an idea hit him. 

  
In her peripheral, Hana could notice the tall guy walking towards her she chose to ignore him. If he really wants to make peace, then he needs to put some effort in it. 

It's not going to be as easy as 1, 2, 3.

   
"What do you want me to do?" The girl heard Chanyeol asked upon reaching her place. She also noticed that he leaned his face to be on level with hers but her annoyance is the only thing that runs in her system now. So instead, she backed away from him, to send him a glare. "Don't ask me that, you should know what to do! I already took the initiative to make peace the last time we fought! It's not even my fault in the first place!" 

  
"Sorry." 

  
"What?" Hana was too flabbergasted to digest what he said so ended up gawking at the guy. "I'm sorry what did you—"

  
"I already swallowed my pride apologizing." Chanyeol glared at her, "Dont you think you're suppose to accept my 'sorry' now?" 

  
"Yah! Park Chanyeol!" She started. The guy arch a brow at her. "Don't you know that saying sorry must be meant, straight from the heart?! Also you shouldn't obliged people to accept your apology! They will forgive when their ready!"

  
The fashion designer tried his best not to roll his eyes at this ridiculous woman. So, instead, he opted to raise his eyes so it wouldn't look like he's actually trying to roll his eyes at her. 

  
"What do you want me to do then?" He asked seriously this time. "Nothing." Hana deadpanned before walking past the guy in pure disappointment. This conversation is going nowhere. 

He can't seriously ask her want to do, right? All she needs is sincerity, coming from him but he can't give her that.

A hand stopping her from moving made the girl halt her tracks. Chanyeol did not made any efforts to walk in front of her but she heard another sigh coming from him. 

  
"I'm sorry. I really am. Sorry for being a despicable jerk who's very much obsessed with winning, and thinks that's I'm working with a doll. Sorry for being grumpy all the time." 

  
The moment he saw her walking way past him made a memory to swim in his thoughts, causing him to act before his mind. 

"Always remember. Not everything's about winning. It's also about the friendship and relationship build along the way. If you acquired one of the two, then, you already won."

  
Park Chanyeol decided to finally get things over with and reached for her elbows. 

  
Hana finally looked behind her to find the guy looking at everywhere else than her face, looking embarrassed and almost...

Scared. 

   
To say that she was surprised was an understatement. This would be the first time ever that she witnessed him looking like this. Most of the times, Park Chanyeol appeared all high and mighty so she thought that there will never come a time that he would bend. 

That night, Hana realised that Park Chanyeol had removed one layer of his skin for her. And she's happy for it. 

  
"You're forgiven!" The guy heard the girl announced which prompted him to look up and was almost blinded with her beaming smile. 

But that wasn't the only thing he noticed, the warmth that blossomed in his chest unexpectedly caught the male off guard too.

--

"Since we've made up," Chanyeol started as they walk side by side, curiosity eating up his insides. He knew that there was something wrong the moment she fainted. It's not like her to feel all nervous and anxious about things.

"What had caused you to faint that time?" 

Upon hearing this, the shorter stopped walking, the former copying her, before letting out a hum. "Well..." She trailed off. 

"Well?" Chanyeol repeated and she sighed before she turned to face the guy, "I'll tell you if you tell me what happened after that first!" 

The tall guy frowned at her before walking again, "I asked first," he said in an undertone. 

"Yah! I heard–" she was quick to complain but her words were cut off when he spoke again, prompting her to follow his steps or she will surely fall behind. 

"That time, after fainting, you were rushed to the nearest hospital immediately."

The girl nodded, she was dying to know about that guy but she knew the taller still has something to say.

"Of course the judges didn't accompany us as they can't leave the show as it is, but some staffs joined us. There was this particular judge though that seemed to be so worked up about the fact that one model fainted."

She nodded. "Happy?" 

She looked up to see him regarding her with a bored look and she frowned. There he goes again. "Yah!"

Chanyeol frowned at her. "What else do you want to kno–"

He was shocked out of his wits when she all of a sudden stormed towards him, yanking him lower, her fingers straighten his brows, standing on her tip toes. 

"You're frowning again, you look like you're bored again" she mused but froze the moment she realised how close their faces were. 

Here she was, standing on her tiptoes, the fingertips on her right hand touching the ends if his brows with straightened in shock, her left arm entangled with his right ones as she was keeping him leaning down. 

But she couldn't deny the fast beating of her heart when she noticed the guy's gaze falling somewhere on her face, ending on her parted lips. 

Almost instantly, Hana pushed the guy with all her might, her eyes almost bulging out of their sockets as she looked at him accusingly. She reached for the front of her chest as she could still feel the erratic beating of her heart. 

She was nervous.

Very very nervous. 

"T-t-thanks for the food." She said all of a sudden, running away from the tall guy, who was as equally shock as what happened. 

--

Reaching their house that night, Hana immediately locked herself up in her room (yep, the attic), trying to calm her nerves. 

What she did out there was so not her. Just what was she thinking when she yanked him closer to her. Not only that...

Has he smelled her breath? 

It would be very embarrassing if he does. 

With all those thoughts in her mind, Hana unconsciously gripped the front of her shirt where her heart was located and felt her organ thumping wildly against her ribcage. 

She was feeling nervous. 

Whether it was good or bad, she doesn't know. 

--

Unlike the girl, Park Chanyeol did not immediately went home after what ensued between them. Soon, he found himself sitting on one of the swings at the playground near the neighborhood, looking up the starry night sky another memory clouding his mind. 

--

Seoul, 2012

Chanyeol sat at one of the swings at the nearby playground near the neighborhood where he currently rents a flat. He was feeling weak, as if he hadn't eaten for days. 

Well, who wouldn't, right? When you just learned that your mother passed away while you were busy in participating in a competition you lost.

He checked his phone again. 

35 missed calls from his noona. 

He shut his eyes tightly as he felt another wave of tears coming, his hand that was gripping his phone together with his free hand moved to pound on his head as the tears he was busy keeping at bay finally raced down his cheeks one by one. 

"Why are you such a loser?!" He shouted, continuously pounding on his head, as if he could turn back time if he does so. 

"Why can't you win that contest?" He whispered, finally losing strength in his hands, dropping his mobile phone in the phone in the process which lit up the moment it hit the ground. 

He read the caller id as I'm Sua but he could've cared less. He doesn't care about anything at the moment, pain was the only thing he recognizes right now.  

Another light from his mobile phone prompted him to pick it up only to have him throw in anger, it towards the playground post, shattering the device into pieces. Shouting in pure frustration. 

"Chnayeol-ah. We've already had her body cremated."

Ever since then, Park Chanyeol was set on winning every competitions he join because that's what he promise her. He promised he would come home after winning.

But even so, after winning every competition that followed after that unfortunate one, Park Chanyeol never once went home. 

Let alone answer his father and Sister's calls. 

Because that's his atonement. 

Atonement for being greedy. 

Greedy of making his sick mother proud. 

~ end of chapter 16~

A/N: so yeah, that's it. That's actually the reason for his winning obsession.  But oh well, we'll still dig deeper into it. 

Guys, I don't know why but I'm not getting the feels right,whyyy???

Am I turning numb now? I Don't know, I can't focus on the feels in this chapter. 

I feel weird. 

Should I summon my inner persona? Kkkk