“Hey…” the barista stopped himself from talking loudly.

“Don’t say my name. He’ll hear you.” She glared at him.

“What if he really reported you to the manager?” he pointed at the customer’s complaint form on one of the tables.

“He is right, though. You should be wearing your name tag during working hours. Plus, aren’t you being harsh? He is wearing the same school uniform as you. Maybe he just wanted to be friends.” She turned to her co-worker’s direction and shook her head. She made it clear that she didn’t want anything to do with the guy. And she knew he wouldn’t ever do that.

“Welcome.” She greeted with a loud voice as she slightly bowed to the customer. As she stood straight up to take the order, she was startled by the familiar figure standing before her.

“Kim Bona? Is that you?” the other girl was just as startled. It was not just another girl. She was her friend. The only one. The face that she’d been missing for one whole year. She hastily walked out from behind the counter to greet her properly.

Bona took off her cap to get a clear look of that face. It suddenly reminded her of the incident from over a year ago. Should she feel relieved, or should she be running away? A big part of her wanted to embrace the one person she’d been missing but the big lump of guilt in her heart told her to stop.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to give me a hug?” The other girl pulled her into her arms. The guilt instantly melted away. The cocoa-vanilla smell from her hair made Bona nostalgic about her past. The good ones, mostly.

“I’m sorry, Sojung.” She apologised as she tried holding in the tears. She knew Sojung did not deserve the tears after the sacrifices she made. After all she’d been through, Sojung must’ve wanted her to be happy.

“Why are you saying that? You’re making me cry.” Sojung was already on the verge of tears.

Bona hugged her even tighter. This time, she never wanted to let go. She’d learnt her lesson. What she did a year ago was inconsiderate. She shouldn’t run away. She shouldn’t cut Sojung off from her life.

“Where have you been? I thought I was going crazy looking for you.” Sojung wiped the tears off Bona’s face.

“I’m sorry.” She apologized. Honestly, other than sorry, she didn’t know what to tell her. There familiar stinging sensation struck her heart.

“Are you okay?” Sojung gazed at Bona with concern as she tried to reach for her hand but Bona flinched away.

“I’m fine.” She said and put her cap back on.

“Hey, do you want to sit down for a bit?” Sojung offered when she saw Bona shook in fear.

“No, actually, right now is a bit… The cram schools are ending so I need to prepare for the rush hour.” She told Sojung.

“What about…” Before Sojung could finish her sentence, Bona was already running away. She barged into the staff room and plopped to the ground. Everything around her was spinning around. She could hear the sound of metals clinking gradually fading away. And as time passes, she felt it was getting harder and harder to breathe.

“Murderer.” The voices echoed in her head. The tears streamed down her face. She’d been doing fine without medications for a couple month but as soon as she saw one familiar face, she broke down, overwhelmed by emotions, drowned by the trauma of her past.

“Leave me… alone.” She struggled to speak but the voices wouldn’t stop tormenting her.

…………………………

“What was that?” Wonwoo shook his legs anxiously as he observed the situation. Even though he couldn’t hear the conversation from where he was seated, the hug had to mean something.

“What?” Sojung acted oblivious.

“Do you know her?” he asked. Sojung frowned at his question.

“We used to be seatmate in 10^th grade.” She replied with hesitation. Somewhat, she was still baffled about Bona taking off earlier.

“Really?”

“Here.” She handed the paper bag before Wonwoo could ask any more questions. Wonwoo reached out his hand to received the package. As soon as he did, Sojung took the empty seat start munching on the dessert.

“Go get yourself something else. Here.” He handed her the card.

“Come on, your dad wouldn’t want you to spend your money on me.” She blurted out and continued to eat after. Listening to what she said kind of hurt his feelings. However, he couldn’t deny that there was truth buried in her words.

“I wouldn’t apologize.” She admitted that she didn’t regret her word choices after all.

“I didn’t ask you to.” He told her indifferently as he continued to rummage through the paper bag. It wasn’t like he was looking for anything in particular. It just felt awkward. Just a while ago, he was just like everybody else, trash-talking his dad for being a jackass to his mother. But now, he was hiding behind his money. He couldn’t help but feel ashamed of his current self.

“What are you looking for? I only bring out your clothes and briefs like you asked me to.” Sojung asked after she took the last sip of the iced Americano. Her question made him flustered.

Wonwoo did love Sojung a lot. She was the sister she never had and the cousin that he relied on awfully a lot. But if there was one thing that he could change about her, it was that unfiltered thoughts of hers that went straight to .

“Don’t say that loudly. What if people misunderstood you?” he glanced at other customers in the café who happened to overhear their conversation, from the horrified looks on their face.

“What’s wrong? Why are you acting strange?” she asked.

“We’re grown up now. Stop treating me like a kid.” He complained.

“Out of a sudden? What’s going on? Is your girlfriend here?” Sojung got up from her seat and started looking around. He immediately pulled her back down.

“That’s not the case.” He denied her allegations. Wonwoo glanced at the counter. She still wasn’t back. Wonwoo started to get anxious but he also felt relieved that she didn’t see Sojung talking to him.

“Are you crushing on someone? Who is it? That girl we met at the subway station?” she asked to make him even more tense.

“No.”

“The girl from convenience store.” She didn’t give up.

“No.” Wonwoo rolled his eyes at her.

“That girl from…”

“No.” He interrupted. Sojung stared at her cousin to figure out the obscure behaviour that went out of his usual character. For once, he was flustered when she saw her chatting with Bona and without a doubt antsy for being spotted together and being noticed by Bona.

“Let’s get out of here.” He said when he saw Bona coming out of the staff lounge. Sojung didn’t argue. She let Wonwoo left first and followed him out after making sure Bona was fine. Before leaving, she left her number to one of the employees since Bona didn’t seem ready to see her again.

“Do you mind telling me what’s going on? Because this is so unlike you.”

“I like her, okay? If she sees us together, she might get the wrong idea.” He admitted.

“You like her? Kim Bona?” she asked again for reassurance.

“Kim Bona? That’s her name?” the sudden bomb-drop on her name made him went frantic.

“You didn’t know that? You said you like her.” She asked in bewilderment.

“I do. I like her but she won’t tell me her name. She doesn’t even wear her nametag at school. How should I know?” he tried defending himself.

“Wait, she goes to your school?” This time, it was Sojung’s turn to get flustered.

“Yes, she does. But you said that you guys were in the same year. And now, she is in my year. Does that mean that she’s older? Did she take a break from school?” She didn’t answer him. To be honest, she didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what had happened to Bona since the day she ran away.

Wonwoo waved his hands to get the attention from Sojung. She stared at him with a concerned expression on her face.

“Stop it.” she scolded him and grasp his hands tightly to make him stop.

Sojung took a deep breath as she let Wonwoo go. Folding her arms, she stood in front of him firmly. After contemplating for a few seconds, she made up her mind.

“Listen to me. Stay away from Bona.”

“That’s not a surprise. She told me the same thing.”

“Then, maybe you should listen to her.”

“You make me want to have her even more.” Sojung’s eyes widened. She didn’t know he could be that brazen. It made her flustered. Wonwoo was always reserved around girls and only hang out with boys from his class. Even when they had family gathering, he was glued to Sojung’s side and wouldn’t talk to anyone else. She was glad that Wonwoo was willing to open up his heart to somebody else. but knowing his eyes were on Bona, Sojung couldn’t stop worrying.

“Jeon Wonwoo. I know you’re the only cousin I have and my parents love you so much. But if you come anywhere near her, I have to punch you a little, okay?” she warned him.

“Would you give me a chance? Whatever it is, I’m sure I can handle it. I promise I won’t hurt her.”

“Hey, I’m not joking. I understand how you feel about her but you can’t. Don’t act on it.”

“You’re afraid that she’s not going to be your friend anymore if it didn’t work out? Don’t worry, it will work out.” He tried to convince Sojung.

“You can’t! It’s not just about her. You both could get hurt in the end. Just… listen to me just this once. Please.” Sojung exploded. She started to get teary again.

Holding on to Bona’s secret was hard for her too. As much as she wanted to tell him and explain it to him calmly, she just couldn’t. She wouldn’t jeopardize their friendship. She didn’t want to betray her friend. After what she went through that year, Sojung didn’t want anyone else to know Bona’s past. She had seen the worst. And she will make sure that it will never happen again. She wanted to make sure that nobody come close to Bona. Not even Wonwoo.

“Just go home. I don’t want your dad harassing my family again.” She said coldly and walked away.

“My dad brought her home. That woman.” Sojung froze. She turned around to see the expression he had on his face. Unlike before when his eyes lit up when he talked about Bona, he stared at her solemnly. She didn’t notice it when they were arguing earlier but he had a cut at the corner of his mouth that had scabbed over. Her heart shrunk.

“Try to be nice about it. If things don’t work out at home, you know what to do, runaway.” She said with a bitter smile.

“Go on. Text me when you get home. Tell aunt and uncle I said thanks.” He waved her and watched her pace accelerated as she walked away.

Sojung looked back to see if she had lost Wonwoo. When she realized she was out of his sight, Sojung take a right corner into an alley. Sojung bit her lip to hide the tears. In front of Wonwoo, she wanted to be strong and fierce. She wanted to be the person he relied on and confided in. She wanted to be an adult that he would have faith in. Not like his father who abused him and his mother who abandoned him. Unlike them, she wanted to protect him.