"WONYOUNG-AH, thank you for your hardwork." Eunbi-unnie told me as she congratulted me for surviving the whole summer break at the convenience store. "Let me do your shift tonight. You can go and take a rest or hangout with your friends."

I was surprised. I know Eunbi-unnie is kind but I didn't know that she would go to the extent of taking my shift and let me have the pay just to go and spend time for myself. It was around four in the afternoon when she texted me, asking if I can come down and meet her up for a short talk.

"Don't look at me like that, Wonyoung-ah. You've done me a huge favor." She smiled widely as she placed her hand on my shoulder. I flinched a bit. "Your friends are done with their summer jobs too, right? Go ahead and have fun before the semester starts."

"M-My Japanese friend did invite us for dinner today..."

"Good then! You can go and have fun. I will take care of the store."

Eunbi-unnie is really nice. I am sure the one she's in a relationship with now is a very lucky guy.

"D-Don't you have someone to spend the last days of the vacation with?" I asked in curiosity. I heard that she's dating someone but no one really knows who the lucky guy is.

"Hmm..." She thought aloud. "We went on the same company for the internship so I guess my girlfriend won't get mad if I make her miss me for one night."

"Is that so?" I asked but then realization struck me as I replayed what she just said. I looked at her and she seemed to enjoy my reaction.

"It's not that of a secret but still be careful on who you are going to share it with." Eunbi-unnie then gave me a playful wink. "She wants me to be proud of what we have anyway."

"U-Unnie..." I believe my eyes were glittering with amazement that time. She didn't know how much her secret lifted my spirit up.

She gave me the warmest smile and patted me at the back. "You did a good job so go ahead and spend your time however you like. See you at the campus."

"Thank you, Unnie! Have a good day~"

I sent Eunbi-unnie away and was about to go back up to our apartment but then—

“Oh, Minjoo~” I immediately turned back to where Eunbi-unnie is and there I saw the pink-haired girl in front of her. “It’s a small world seeing you here.”

“Long time no see, Unnie.” Minjoo politely greeted. “I just come to visit a friend.” She then turned to where I am and at that very moment I just want to evaporate into thin air. I don’t know how I should face her. I don’t know what happened to them anymore since Yujin won’t answer my messages and call.

Yes, I regret everything that I said that night. I regret that instead of being there for her I thought of myself. My conscience haunts me until now but Yujin has completely shut her door from me. I tried to look for her outside, wishing that she might be doing her routine exercise but I never saw her. She didn’t come to the store anymore. There was no way of meeting her again because she didn’t exactly tell me where their apartment is.

I didn’t know that seeing my supposed to be rival would give me this much joy to the point that I wanted to cry in relief. I watched how the two ended their conversation and Eunbi-unnie left the complex.

I immediately ran to Minjoo and she caught me when I almost tripped. “U-Unnie! W-Where is Yujin? I badly need to talk to her. I really have to apologize for everything that I said. I really have to see—”

“Wonyoung-ah…” She gave me a smile which I wasn’t sure if it was a smile to cheer me up because I can see how swollen her eyes are. Her lips just pressed together to make a slight upwards curve and I can feel how tired she is because that smile immediately faded. “I thought you need to know… so I came to tell you…”

She bowed her head a little before looking back at me with those sad eyes. “Yujin… She’s—”

“Please… I am going to die everyday if I stay here. Please… Just let me go…”

“I am not against your happiness. I am actually happy that you found someone who will love you after a long time of being a widow… I am happy for you, Dad. Believe me…”

“But I can’t stay here anymore. If I stay here any longer, I will just keep wishing that you didn’t marry once again so please… Just let me go back to Chicago. I promise I will be good. I promise I will study harder. I promise I will not hurt myself anymore. Believe me… I promise I will not get into trouble again. Just let me out of this house.”

“I am not mad of Mrs. Kim, she’s one of the sweetest people that I met but I just really can’t stay here anymore. I am not mad and please don’t feel bad about me leaving this house. This isn’t anyone’s fault… I can’t tell you the reason but I will just keep breaking if I stay here.”

“If you don