L.Joe’s POV

As Mir and I got into his car that was parked at the parking lot, with Mir in the driver’s seat and me in the passenger’s seat, we quickly buckled our seatbelts and he the ignition, the engine roaring to life. Then he turned to face me. “You know where she is, right?”

I nodded.

“At her house,” I said the same time he answered, “At the library.”

We gave each other looks. Which one of us is right? Where should we go first?

“I’m pretty sure she’s at her house,” I said, knowing that that was where she was. “I mean, she’d want to visit the place where her mom’s presence used to be, right?”

“Don’t you think she’d rather be at some quiet place where no one would disturb her, but not close to where her mother’s presence is? I mean, if she’s back at her house, wouldn’t it hurt even more for her?”

He’s got a point but he doesn’t know her as well as I do, even if he is her boyfriend. That’s what I told him but he was still firm on his decision. He argued back with the point that just because I was her best friend, it doesn’t necessarily mean I knew everything about her. He was her boyfriend and they see each other more than I see her, especially since they live together in the same apartment.

“That’s a rubbish excuse,” I snapped testily.

“How is it rubbish when it’s not even an excuse?” he shot back.

I gritted my teeth, wishing I could just throw him out of the car but this was his car. I was about to tell him we’ll visit both places when his phone went off, giving us time to cool down before we get into a more useless and heated argument.

“Yeobosaeyo?” he said through the receiver. Then his eyebrows furrowed. “Key?”

I turned to him questioningly. His friend, Key? But his next words were what determined where Yuri was at now.

“You’re with Yuri at the park?”

Yuri’s POV

I sat at the edge of the hill and looked down to the water below me. Slowly I took my shoes off and stared at my wrapped foot. I didn’t dare take out the wrap. Then I slowly dipped my foot inside the cool, rushing water and gasped, first at pain but then at the relaxing feeling.

I closed my eyes.

“Hey.”

I looked up and saw Key smiling over me. Huh, he always seemed to be wherever I am. The cinema, the stores, now this. Was he stalking me?

No, I’m just kidding. Of course he’s not.

He sat down and did the same, dipping his feet into the lake. “Hi, what are you doing here?”

Mir didn’t tell him?

He then noticed that I was wearing white and the puffiness in my eyes from the tears. Key reached out to take my hand, sensing that something wasn’t right. “Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked. “Are you okay? What happened?”

I shook my head and hugged him. I’ve ran out of tears to cry. “Umma passed away.”

He gasped. “But — oh, no.” He hugged me tight. “Was it her funeral today? Why are you here instead?” he asked some more.

“I ran off.”

He nodded. “I noticed,” he said dryly. “The others must be worried about you.”

I shrugged. I looked around. No one was there. In fact, where we were at the park was deserted. I guess it was because it was already evening and a lot of people were going home for dinner.

Well aware that Key was watching me, I took my feet out from the water and stood up.

“What are you going to do?” he asked, confused.

Without bothering to give him an answer, I looked at the lake. He followed my gaze and seemed to know what I was thinking about. His eyes grew wide and he began to stand up as well, his hand reaching out to me. “Andwae —”

Too late.

I’d dived inside the water, diving into the deepest depth of the lake. I decided to swim closer to the other side. Key was probably freaking out. I held my breath for as long as I could before I emerged from underwater. Key was taking off his shirt to dive in. He had a look of relief when he saw my head bobbing above surface.

But then I dived back into the water and swam back to him. Just as I was about to reach the hill, suddenly I felt pressure hitting me on my right side and turned to see that Key had dived in as well. I swam back up.

“Hi,” I said when he came up.

“Why is it when something bad happens, the girls always have to perform a crazy stunt?” he gasped, out of breath. “This is like something you take out from a drama!”

I just shrugged and made a huge splash toward his direction. As he gagged, I swam backward, admiring the clear blue sky.

Umma, I hope you’re happy now. Your suffering has ended, finally. Umma, rest in peace.

“Yuri!”

I looked up to see Mir and L.Joe looking at me from the grassy hill with a worried look on each of their faces. Key was getting out of the water. He must have called them when I was underwater.

Darn him.

I decided to just continue floating on water. I didn’t want to go up to them just yet. Let me enjoy this peace and quiet while it lasts.

“Yuri.”

I looked back toward the boys. Mir was calling me. His eyes were filled with so much hurt and sadness that it sort of made me feel guilty for making him worry about me so much, and not just because I disappeared from the funeral.

L.Joe, however, had a look of amusement on his face as he watched me swim around. He turned and said something to the older boys but they didn’t think it was very funny. Key rolled his eyes while Mir scowled. He shrugged and looked away. He shot me a helpless look and I knew he tried to make a joke out of this situation.

I shrugged, waving at him, telling him I acknowledged what he tried to do for me. Then I swam back to the waiting Mir and Key, bracing myself for the scolding. As I got out of the lake, Mir immediately put his arms around me and led me toward the direction to the exit of the park with Key and L.Joe following behind.

As we neared the entrance, I saw people giving me weird looks. I don’t blame them. I probably look like a drowned rat, my dress all wet and my hair tangled up into a wet knot.

I looked back over my shoulder and I saw water dripping down, glistening Key’s stomach, showing off his abs.  I smirked as I saw female passersby gawking and whispering, giggling when he looked at their direction. I knew Key was grimacing. He hated it when girls only like him for his looks, not for his personality or heart.

Typical es.

When we got to the parking lot, Key said farewell, hugging me one last time before he went to his own car. Mir led me and pushed me gently inside the passenger’s seat of his car, ignoring the fact that I was dripping wet and was probably going to stink up his car. L.Joe got in at the back without any hesitation.

In silence, Mir drove L.Joe home first. Then he drove me home.

“Mianhae,” I finally said after a few minutes of silence, not being able to stand the awkward silence nor the fact that he was mad at me. “Please don’t be mad. I know I was reckless and all and I didn’t mean to make you worry about me but I . . .” I trailed off because my apology seemed fake. I actually did mean to worry them. I have no idea why.

I wanted to cause worry on them. I didn’t know why. I just did.

“Yuri, everyone was worried about where you are, not just because you took off without telling us, but it was also because knowing you, you’re always shutting people up. It’s not fair to all of us, okay? You know you’re not the only one who is suffering too. We love your mother as well,” he said in a strange voice I do not recognize.

My heart sank. He was disappointed in me.

“I understand you need to do this because you are feeling upset over the loss of your mother,” he went on, keeping an eye on the road, “but please, next time, wait until I’m there with you and not when Key is with you, arraso?”

I shook my head. Seriously, even after all of this, he can still find time to be jealous? Mir never ceased to amaze me, I tell you.

Once we got back to the apartment, I went to take a bath to get out of my wet clothes and also before I catch pneumonia. When I was done, I came out to the living room and found Mir sitting on the sofa. I went to sit next to him.

He put his arms around me and pulled me close to him. He leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on the top of my forehead. I closed my eyes as he moved down to my eyelids, to my nose, to my lips. His hands slipped around my waist and I s my arms around his neck, subconsciously moving closer to him.

He bit on my bottom lip, begging for entrance. So I parted my lips and felt his warm tongue sliding inside. Our tongues danced together inside, as we fought for dominance. He won, eventually, but only because I let him.

I pushed him down, getting on top of him and his hands went under my shirt, sending a tingling feeling down my spine at the kinship. As I buried my fingers into his red locks, I felt his hand creeping up to my bra strap, his legs strapping around my waist. I pulled back and looked at him. He looked back up at me, his hands down to my waist. He pouted a bit and I giggled. I leaned back down. “Not yet,” I whispered into his ears.

“Soon,” he growled.

I nodded and laid my head on his chest while he hugged me. I sighed and he my hair softly. We laid there for awhile. Then we heard a click and quickly sat up just as the rest of the other members entered in through the front door.

I smiled weakly at my brother, who looked furious. “Yah, Lee Yuri, do you have any idea how worried I was when I realized that you were missing and that your phone was not with you?” Joon scolded, running his fingers through his hair like he usually did whenever he was frustrated. He threw my bag in my direction and Mir caught it smoothly, passing it to me.

I looked down. “I – I needed to get away from there for awhile,” I muttered.

He arched an eyebrow in my direction. “That is a really pathetic excuse, even for you,” he snapped at me and I flinched.

I understand he was mad. And I also knew it was no point in arguing back because I was in the wrong. And I doubt calling him ‘oppa’ would make him feel happy. He was really mad.

“Mianhae,” I muttered.

He shook his head. “Yuri, I understand your pain. But you need to stop trying to run away from people and start opening up to them! What if something bad happened to you and we had no way to contact you? Do you know how upset Appa was?! How could you be so selfish? Why do you only think of yourself? Yuri, this is not just about you so stop acting like it is! We are all hurting too! She was my mother as much as she was yours! And what about Appa? He loves her! Now all he has is us, but you chose to run away. What kind of feeling do you think that will give him? That his own daughter does not want him? I know you don't have the best relationship with him but work on it then!”

I blinked back the tears but they were spilling too fast. I hung my head and when I saw Joon’s feet near me, I winced, preparing for a blow.

Instead, he sat down next to me and hugged me. I felt something hot and liquid on my cheek and I realized he was crying. I hugged him, crying again. “Oppa, I’m so sorry,” I cried. “I didn’t mean to worry you. Okay, I do, but I feel bad. I did not know I would hurt Appa like that. It was not my intention. I just needed to get away and I admit, I was impulsive. I let it get to the better of myself and without even bothering to consider other people's feelings, I just acted on my own. I know I tend to shut people out because of that. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t shut me out,” he whispered.

I nodded and we embraced each other again, comforting one another over the loss of our dearest mother. Seungho, G.O, Mir and Cheon Doong joined in our group hug. Soon the door opened and Teen Top, Minzy and Taemin entered. They came and hugged us too, with me and my brother in the middle of everyone.

Umma, you may have left us, but you didn’t entirely leave us alone. But, Umma, you left Appa by himself. I promise you I’ll fix my relationship with him so he won’t be alone.

Umma, I love you.

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Aish, I feel sad. One more chapter to go D:

Hurrr, both Mir and L.Joe were wrong. Tsk. Some boy/best friend. xDD