Schools preparing for new semester to begin.

Free shredding service aims to foil identity thieves.

The day's newspaper was filled with your normal local news drabble, and the television wasn't much better. Sighing, Yeong Hwa reached over to the coffee table and, after a short struggle, turned off the television. The screen flashed for a short second, showing a final glimpse of the female reporter before going to black.

Deciding to check the day's advice column before throwing out the paper, Yeong Hwa flipped through the pages of the newspaper as she pulled her legs up onto the empty section of couch beside her. Everything was empty, actually. Well... empty in the sense that it felt empty. In actuality, Yeong Hwa was sharing the house with three other people, all of whom were peacefully snoring away upstairs. Except for Myung Soo. Like every other perfect piece of him, the guy didn't snore.

"Perfect, perfect, perfect Myung Soo. Perfect hair, perfect eyes, perfect smile, perfect face, perfect body, perfect laugh, perfect humor, perfect... everything," Yeong Hwa thought, feeling her heart begin to pound a bit more loudly at just the thought of him. "Perfect disaster," she added as an afterthought, quickly settling her heart down.

After all, why on Earth would someone like Kim Myung Soo fall for a totally imperfect girl like her? It wasn't even comprehensible! Myung Soo was perfect for any girl, no matter if she was Asian, white, black, straight, or bi... well, that last part may prove to be a bit of a problem. But the point was that he could have his pick of any girl on the planet, so for him to choose to fall for someone like her was perhaps the most unlikely thing since male pregnancy.

"And I'm depressed," Yeong Hwa muttered, snapping the paper open and fixing the headline with a glare that quite possibly could have set the paper on fire. "Focus on the newspaper, not on the end of the world," she told herself, rereading the headline several times until the words finally formed a coherent sentence in her head.

Man arrested after police raid loan shark base of operations.

That was not the usual drabble. Curious about what such an outlandish headline could possibly be talking about, Yeong Hwa snuggled down further into the couch and began speed reading through the article. "Nae Chin Ho arrested after calling sister, who informed police of his whereabouts... charges include tax evasion and child neglect... loan sharks whereabouts are unknown... Chin Ho left his daughter alone after fleeing the country.... the child's whereabouts are unknown..."

"Nae Chin Ho... Nae... Oh God," Yeong Hwa gasped after reading the man's name a few times. Eyes widening to about twice their normal size, Yeong Hwa fell off the couch and cracked her head on the coffee table as she rushed to stand. Groaning, she ignored the sparkles that were floating across her vision and dragged herself to her feet. After giving her head a few shakes to try and clear it, an action that only managed to have the opposite effect, Yeong Hwa sprinted towards the kitchen, where her cell phone sat on the counter.

"Perfect in everything but that useless brain of his! Why did I let him change my number?!"  she thought, flying through the kitchen door and stumbling across the floor. When she straightened up her heart sank as she spotted Myung Soo rummaging around in the refrigerator. Clutching the paper more tightly in her fist, Yeong Hwa tried to hide it behind her back as Myung Soo turned to see who had invaded the kitchen.

"Morning, Yeong Hwa. Sleep well last night?" He asked blearily, rubbing at his half-open eyes and managing a small smile.

Yeong Hwa could only manage to nod as had gone completely dry. Slowly she eased her way across the kitchen, keeping her eyes locked onto Myung Soo in case he decided to ask any other questions. He seemed to involved in making cereal to take much notice of Yeong Hwa, though, giving her the golden opportunity she needed to make it safely to her cell phone.

Swiftly reaching out, Yeong Hwa fumbled desperately with her cell phone as she flipped it open.

No service blinked mockingly across the screen. "Damn it!" she cursed aloud, slamming her fist onto the counter and causing Myung Soo's cereal bowl to jump into the air. Frowning at this interrupting of his breakfast, Myung Soo rested his arms on the counter and fixed Yeong Hwa with a critical stare. Freezing up, she couldn't even breathe as Myung Soo opened his mouth to speak.

"Sorry," she exclaimed sharply, doing a full ninety degree bow to Myung Soo. This caught him off guard, and for a moment all he could do was stare at Yeong Hwa with his mouth hanging open. When the spell was finally broken he let out a long sigh and ran a hand through his disheveled hair, only managing to make the already untidy nest a further mess.

"Yeong Hwa, are you feeling alright?" He asked, trying to speak while simultaneously yawning.

"Yes!" her voice came out in the same sharp, panicked exclamation as before. Hardly the type of tone she had been planning on using to convince Myung Soo that everything was peachy keen. "I mean, yes, everything is fine. I'm just a little... um, Myung Soo?" Yeong Hwa asked cautiously as he suddenly crossed over to her and rested a hand on her forehead. Leaning down until their faces were only a few inches apart, Myung Soo locked eyes with Yeong Hwa and tried to tell if she was lying.

Which she knew was a big fat yes, and it was written all over her face. Squirming uncomfortably, Yeong Hwa tried to avoid Myung Soo's eyes as his gaze hardened. "Don't lie to me, Yeong Hwa. Haven't we already been over this? You can tell me if something is wrong," he told her, obviously trying to guilt trip Yeong Hwa into spilling her guts.

"And it's working," she thought, squirming away from Myung Soo's grip. She could tell him what was going on. She could tell him that her father had been arrested... and then what? Have him say, "Oh, sorry to hear that"? There was nothing Myung Soo could do to help her, so there was no sense in troubling him with such a trivial problem... that, really wasn't wall that trivial.

"I'm fine," Yeong Hwa told Myung Soo, forcing her most winning smile onto her face. Her eyes couldn't be persuaded to join on the lying, though, and she knew that the look they had was anything but fine. Because she wanted him to make everything go away. She wanted her prince charming to ride in on his white horse and protect her, just like he had done in the past.

But he couldn't. And she couldn't put those kinds of expectations on him. She was the Warrior Princess for crying out loud! This wouldn't be the first crisis she would have to divert! She could handle it! "And so the prince rode off into the sunset, unknowingly leaving behind his princess as she stood against the dark hordes of monsters. It was the last time they would ever rely on one another, because in just a single week the perfect world they had created would shatter into a thousand pieces," she thought, putting on her best brave face as she slowly backed towards the kitchen door.

"So... I kind of have an important phone call to make. Um, bye," she stammered, reaching behind her for the door knob. As she got a grip and turned the knob, Myung Soo caught sight of the newspaper she was holding tightly behind her back.

"Mind leaving that here?" he asked, pointing to the paper as she moved forward to take it. Once again a surge of panic rose inside of Yeong Hwa as she tried to think of a good excuse. Rather than a snappy comeback, though, all Yeong Hwa could think to do was tighten her grip so, when Myung Soo tried to pull it away, the paper refused to budge. "Yeong Hwa? Newspaper?" Myung Soo said, tugging on the paper once more.

"Since when do stupid Kingkas read, anyway?! Yeesh, it's not like you need this dumb thing anyway!" Yeong Hwa suddenly snapped, jerking the newspaper away from his reach and stalking out of the kitchen. As she threw open the front door and stormed outside, she added a final word for good measure: "Idiot!"

This left Myung Soo to stand dumbstruck in the kitchen doorway and listen to the front door slam as Yeong Hwa made her grand exit. "What..." his brain tried to think as Myung Soo blinked in surprise. "What the hell," his mouth finished when it finally remembered how to form words. Thinking of two scenarios, one in which he followed Yeong Hwa and one in which he stayed put, Myung Soo played both through and decided which of the two was better. Considering the first ended in much pain and blood, with a possible side of his body never being discovered, Myung Soo chose option B and turned back into the kitchen. Rather than death, he would rather finish eating breakfast.

"Just what the hell set her off like that?" Myung Soo thought as he rummaged inside of the utensil drawer in pursuit of a spoon. Glancing out the window, he watched as Yeong Hwa sped down the sidewalk while frantically punching in numbers on her cell phone. "And who the hell is she calling?" Tearing his eyes away from the scene outside, Myung Soo irritably dropped the poor spoon into his bowl with a large splash, sending milk up and over the rim of the bowl and onto the counter. Cursing under his breath, he began searching for a towel to clean up the mess.

"Come on... pick up the phone!" Yeong Hwa urged, pressing the cell phone tightly against her ear as the agitation got worse and her stomach began to feel sick. Her mind was too busy going over all the implications of today's news to give much notice to any discomfort she may be feeling, though, which was probably the reason why she hadn't noticed the bruise on her forehead that came about after running into a telephone pole.

"You have reached the Song residence. Please leave your name and number and we'll be with you shortly," a cheerful woman's voice chimed on the other line. Cursing the message, which she had heard for the fifth time now, Yeong Hwa waited impatiently for the tone. When the long, dull beep finally did sound, Yeong Hwa wasted no time with pleasantries.

"You turned my dad into the police?! What the hell do you think you're doing?! Oh... and this is Yeong Hwa, the niece whom you have betrayed by having her father arrested," the last sentence came out quite heavy on the sarcasm, but Yeong Hwa was feeling too bitter to have any remorse for speaking so rudely to her aunt. The woman had gotten her father arrested after all!

Jerking the cell phone away from her ear, Yeong Hwa smashed down on the red call end button and stared sullenly at the blank screen. It took her a few minutes to realize she had wandered back to her old rooftop room, and, more importantly, that several ahjummas were currently staring at her. Blushing, Yeong Hwa slipped her cell phone into her pocket and bowed apologetically to the woman. Still eyeing her carefully, the women turned and went back to their gossip, occasionally glancing over their shoulder to see if Yeong Hwa was going to do anything else.

Glancing up at the door to her room, Yeong Hwa debated on the pros and cons of going inside. It wasn't like she planned on staying, unless she wanted Myung Soo to come and drag her away again. It would only be a short visit out of curiosity, and maybe to pick up a few things that Myung Soo, in his haste to kidnap her, hadn't bothered getting. There were a few things she had noticed to be missing, but she had never gotten around to retrieving them...

As the idea grew on her further, Yeong Hwa's feet began walking her towards the staircase. Before she was even halfway, though, one of the ahjummas reached out and grabbed her elbow, preventing her from going any further. Surprised, Yeong Hwa jumped slightly as she turned to see who had stopped her. The woman quickly removed her hand from Yeong Hwa's elbow and smiled apologetically.

"You wouldn't happen to be the girl who lives here, would you?" the woman asked, pointing up to the room. She seemed excited about the prospect of having possibly discovered the room's owner, making Yeong Hwa feel the urge to lie. "She left a few weeks ago and hasn't been back since. Everyone's looking for her," the woman continued explaining, although she was quickly hushed by a quick slap on the wrist from one of her friends. Apparently they weren't supposed to inform any possible runaways that someone was on their tail.

"N-no. I just read about the whole thing in the news and came to take a look," Yeong Hwa lied, the words rolling easily off her tongue. Disappointment washed over the woman's face as her shoulders slouched, but her friend quickly picked up the slack in the conversation.

"If you stick around than the nice detective might fill you in on some juicy details," she told Yeong Hwa, winking in a conspiratorial fashion.

"Detective?" Yeong Hwa gasped, her eyes widening to twice their normal size. Mistaking this reaction as excitement, the woman nodded quickly as a broad grin tugged at the corner's of . Even the previously dark and gloomy one had perked up at the mention of this mysterious detective.

"Well, he prefers to be called a private investigator. Apparently the sister of that arrested man hired a private investigator to try and track down her niece. He was here not too long ago, poking around and asking questions. The girl was very secretive, though, and nobody really knows much about her," both woman explained, each picking up where the other left off when details were forgotten. Nodding slowly, Yeong Hwa could feel her heart sink as she glanced over her shoulder at the apartment. A private investigator was looking for her... "Wonder what the terms for kidnapping are," she thought, unsure if it would be Myung Soo or Eun Sun who would get in trouble for "hiding" her all this time.

"He calls himself Lee Joon," the older of the two women added, "although apparently it's not his real name. He changes it while he works in order to protect his identity." The guy knew exactly how to manipulate a woman, telling these ahjummas all about his "secret identity" and making it seem like he was doing work a lot more dangerous than tracking down one little high school student. Of course, she would classify herself as something pretty dangerous...

Dangerous to Myung Soo, and Yoogeun, and Seo Hyeon, and Eun Sun, and her husband... all these people who had been nothing but kind to her, and because of one stupid mistake her father made she was suddenly putting all of them at risk. Groaning inwardly, Yeong Hwa cast a few nervous glances around the area to make sure that this Lee Joon wasn't going to suddenly pop out. Then she bobbed a quick bow to the two women and muttered an apology before speed walking away and back towards the house. Now being outside didn't only pose a risk because of her fellow classmates, but because of a freaking private investigator!

By the time she got back Yeong Hwa felt that she was about to die so, with the three steps up to the front door too much to handle, she collapsed on the bottom step and tried to shade her eyes with one hand. Panting heavily, Yeong Hwa pulled out her cell phone with the intent of calling her aunt until the damn woman picked up her phone. She didn't care how long it took, Yeong Hwa needed to talk some sense into this crazy !

Before she was even halfway through the number, though, the phone suddenly began ringing and her aunt's number flashed cheerfully across the screen. Even though she was glad for the opportunity, Yeong Hwa was finding her mind suddenly coming to a blank. Just what was she supposed to say to her aunt? Leaving a few voice messages had been easy, but now she actually had to talk to the woman face to face... ear to ear?

Inhaling deeply to steady her breathing, Yeong Hwa pushed the connect button and held the phone to her ear. "Yeong Hwa? Why would you change your cell phone number?! I've been working so hard to contact you, and yet all this time you've been hiding from me! Where are you? I'm coming to pick you up right now! I can't believe your father would do this to you! And no, I did not mean to get him arrested. All that happened was he called me, told me that you were left alone and that he needed someone to care for you until he could get back, and so I went to the police to ask for help in finding you. I didn't know they would track the cell phone call and arrest that idiotic man you call 'dad'!" Her aunt rambled, the words barely understandable.

"Looks like there is no problem with me not knowing what to say," Yeong Hwa thought, pulling the phone away from her ear and using the opportunity to catch her breath. Behind her, Myung Soo's face appeared in the kitchen window.

Once she was sure her aunt had gotten out what she needed to, Yeong Hwa returned the phone to her ear. "Hey, calm down."

"Where are you?! Yeong Hwa, you can't be living on your own in the streets like this! The least you could have done is stay at the apartment your father rented for you! Although I'm sure money was beginning to grow tight... but still! You're not even getting proper meals at the school now that it's summer, and-"

"Calm down!" Yeong Hwa snapped into the phone, instantly silencing her frantic aunt. Sighing heavily, Yeong Hwa held her head in one hand while she pressed the cell phone more tightly against her ear. "Listen, I want you to call off the private investigator. Tell him that his services are no longer needed," Yeong Hwa slowly instructed her aunt, trying to form a plan in her mind. She needed to do something about this whole mess before it escalated any further, after all.

"His services are very much needed, Yeong Hwa, because as far as I can tell you are not in my household," her aunt retorted back, showing the quick temper that Yeong Hwa had inherited from this family. "I know that as a teenager you may feel ready to be independent, but-"

"I don't, though. I'll come and live with you, but only when I'm ready. There are still a few things I need to wrap up," Yeong Hwa explained, glancing back at the house as the feeling of being watched crept over her. On the other end of the line, her aunt began to protest against this. "Listen, you have to trust me. I just need a few more days to wrap things up, and then-"

"No! You are just a teenager, you cannot possibly be living on your-"

"And then I'll call you. You can come and pick me up from the room dad rented me, and I'll come and live with you. Just give me a few more days." Yeong Hwa continued loudly, speaking right over top of her aunt. From the other side of the kitchen window, Myung Soo winced.

A few more days... that didn't leave him much time to confess to Yeong Hwa. Or convince her to try and make a relationship between them work out by not ignoring him at school. Oh, and he would probably also need to explain things to Infinite. "Damn... this is just getting harder and harder," he thought, gently thumping his fist against the glass.

Hearing the subtle noise, Yeong Hwa whipped around to see who was watching her. Myung Soo was faster, though, and had hidden out of view before she could catch a glimpse of him. Frowning, Yeong Hwa kept her eye on the kitchen window as she wrapped up the conversation with her aunt: "A few more days. I promise." Then she hung up the phone.

Sighing, Yeong Hwa played with the cell phone in her hands while staring blankly down at the sidewalk. The only change in the white cement was the occasional ant scuttling across, which quickly became a splattered ant after Yeong Hwa's shoe was done with it. When this got boring for her, Yeong Hwa crawled up the stairs and lay out on the small patio in front of the door. Staring up at the wooden awning over head, Yeong Hwa waited until her eyes got tired before finally letting them droop shut.

Half a second later, the door creaked open and Myung Soo stepped out onto the porch. After closing the door behind him he waited for Yeong Hwa to say something, but she seemed adamant on ignoring him. Sighing, Myung Soo took a seat beside her on the steps and tried to think of what to say that would cheer her up. Muttering something along the lines of "go away" Yeong Hwa rolled onto her side, back facing Myung Soo.

"So... have a nice walk?" Myung Soo finally asked, hacking at the thick ice that had settled between him and Yeong Hwa. Then the ice pick broke as Yeong Hwa sent out a new layer of chilly frozen water with her pointedly silent behavior. "Yeong Hwa-"

"Just leave me alone," Yeong Hwa snapped, suddenly sitting bolt upright and fixing Myung Soo with the darkest glare he had ever seen. It would have been more frightening if she didn't look about to cry, though. Keeping any surprise or sympathy off his face, Myung Soo nodded and rested his arms on his knees, drifting into the same silence as Yeong Hwa. "I mean leave physically," she complained, reaching over and trying to push him away. Myung Soo remained rock solid, though.

"School will be starting soon," he announced, his voice making it seem like this was the first time the subject had been broached. Rolling her eyes, Yeong Hwa stood to leave. Barely thinking about his action's consequence, Myung Soo reached over and wrapped one hand around her wrist, keeping her from going inside. "We should go on one last trip together. Um... meaning me, you, and the twins, of course," he decided, adding the last bit after an awkward realization that his words could be taken the wrong way.

"Where?" Yeong Hwa asked, trying to pull her wrist away from Myung Soo's grip.

"That... is a very good question," he thought, unable to come up with an answer himself. Thankfully God gave him a few more minutes to think by making Yeong Hwa's cell phone begin ringing. Reaching into her pocket, Yeong Hwa pulled out the phone and glanced at the caller ID. Without a word, she opened the phone and pressed the ignore button. A minute later, the phone went off for a second time.

As he watched Yeong Hwa struggle against the mysterious callers attempts to get a hold of her, Myung Soo couldn't help but notice the cell phone charm dangling from the cell phone. If he remembered correctly, it was one of the charms she had won from the Chilseok festival during her sudden gambling binge. Besides a handful of other charms, he could recall her having gotten several free passes to Lotte World.

"The perfect spot for one last trip," he thought, opening his mouth to tell Yeong Hwa about his new idea. He was interrupted by a sudden string of curses coming from her, though, as she violently turned off the cell phone and, after a moments hesitation when she was about to throw the phone, it into her pocket. Snapping his mouth shut once more, Myung Soo decided to wait a minute for Yeong Hwa's temper to cool.

"Well? Where do you propose we go?" she demanded, not even managing ten seconds of silence. Eight point five seconds was not long enough for her to cool off that fiery temper of hers, but if he waited to answer her she would only grow even more irritable.

"Lotte World. You won all those free passes, after all," he told her, trying to keep his voice as cheerful and friendly as was possible.

"Lotte World?" Yeong Hwa thought about the idea as she slowly sat on the step. Lotte World was the last place this Lee Joon person would be looking for her, so what harm was there really in dropping by for a visit? Besides, she did want to get in as much time with the twins as she could these next few days. And their older brother... "Okay. How about tomorrow?"

A u tho r's N ote: Well... last week's promise went out the window *le sigh*

This chapter was supposed to drum up sympathy for Yeong Hwa's situation, but... seriously... even I don't feel much sympathy for her! Yeong Hwa is even annoying me, and I've made her this way! ARGH! Where has my tough, independant, cool protagonist gone?! ((I honestly have no idea what happened. She seemed okay in the beginning, but now...))

Anyway, I'd like to apologize to anyone who finds Yeong Hwa annoying. I'm not quite sure how to fix her character, though, since the story kind of relies on her being clueless...

Oh, and I know that hiring a private investigator is a bit excessive on her aunt's part, but I wanted to use Lee Joon XD