“Can I alter the rules?” Hyejae asked quietly and Onew laughed in response with a shake of the head.

“Andwae.”

“Je bal. I really don’t know where to begin. So…could you ask me something and I’ll answer you as honestly as possible?”

“Oh. You wanted to alter the rules for this. Arraso. I’ll ask you…” Onew trialed off in thought and then suddenly perked up again.

Hyejae looked at the lights of Seoul as they lit up her face. Onew turned to Hyejae and was about to ask her when he caught sight of her sad eyes once again.

He lifted up his hands and touched the side of her face. Hyejae flinched and turned to look at Onew, her sad eyes replaced by questioning eyes.

“Why…does you’re eyes always look so sad…?” He asked quietly, the wind carrying his voice away from Hyejae’s ears but she still heard him.

Hyejae smiled and said,

“Something bad happened to me about a week or so ago…”

“Can I…ask what it is…?” Onew said quietly again.

Hyejae smiled and for a second, she didn’t say anything and then, she said,

“He broke up with me the very day my best friend died…”

Hyejae said nothing for a second and then continued, in the same quiet and constricted voice she began talking with.

“Before I came to Korea with Hyemin, I had lived in America for 21 years and I had a really good best friend. We were born in the same hospital, on the same day and I treated her as if she was my other half. I trusted her more than my life. She knew me better than anyone else in the world, even myself. And then…that day…”

Onew watched as tears fell off Hyejae’s face and he felt as if his heart was getting pierced.

“I never realized that she had felt so alone when I had left…I didn’t know that she was getting bullied…A day after she…left, my mother called me and told me that she had left me a letter. Just as I was about to race off to the airport, he called me and said that…he wanted to break up with me…” Hyejae’s tears were uncontrollable now and no matter how hard she tried to wipe them away, they wouldn’t leave her.

Onew decided to break the rules for once and pulled her in for a hug.

“…he said that he couldn’t be with me anymore because I wasn’t his style and he was always sick of my whining…I left Seoul for a week. I cried throughout the whole plane ride. My best friend was gone…my boyfriend had left me…I didn’t have anyone to trust anymore…”

Onew felt his left shoulder become wet. He patted her head. That was the only thing he could do for her at that moment.

“My friend…she told me during the letter that she was sorry for everything she had put me through…she told me that she was feeling lonely because she had no one to talk to…and she was scared. She was scared because people were starting to bully her…she was scared and didn’t have anyone to turn to…she died…she left me…she left me!”

She was sobbing now and Onew hugged her tighter.

“It’s all my fault…it’s all my fault…I shouldn’t have some here…I shouldn’t have left her alone in America…it’s all my fault…” Onew looked at the view beside him and knew that there wasn’t anything he could do for her.

The two of them just stood there, Hyejae getting comforted by a guy she hardly knows and Onew hugging a girl he barely knows. And yet…it felt like the two of them had known each other for life.

***

“Yeboseyo…?” Hyejae said to her phone quietly. Her eyes never left the view that was still in front of her. Onew was sitting beside her and was watching her quietly, not making a sound.

They had stopped playing the game.

“Hyejae! Where are you?! You’re with Onew right?! Are you going home yet?!” Hyemin said through the phone. Hyejae knew she was still at the karaoke room because she was screaming and there was someone singing in the background.

“I don’t think I’ll be going home now, no. And yes, I’m with Onew. Why? Are you worried for me?” Hyejae didn’t want her friend to worry, so she joked.

“Yeah…a little. Because I know it’s hard for you to be around people you don’t know very well and you hardly know Onew so…I was just worried that you might feel awkward…”

Hyejae smiled. Hyemin was always there for her and always understood her.

“Kaenchana.”

“Arraso. Call me if you need anything okay?” Hyejae smiled.

“Ne. Annyeong.” Hyejae and Hyemin hung up and Hyejae put her phone back in her pocket and continued to stare at the view in front of her.

Onew and Hyejae didn’t say anything for a second before Onew’s phone rang.

“Yeoboseyo?” Hyejae didn’t say anything nor react.

The view in front of her was breath taking and no matter how long Hyejae looked at it, she was never going to be sick of seeing it. Maybe it was because it was so pretty. Maybe because she finally let go of her burden and thoughts to someone else after the last week and a half of thinking to herself. Maybe it was because she finally had someone to share it with.

“Jinjja?” Onew stated and Hyejae looked over at Onew who was smiling brightly.

Onew hung up soon and Hyejae was still looking over at Onew. Onew turned to look at her and for a second, neither of them said anything as they just watched each other.

“What are you so happy about?” Hyejae asked quietly. Onew smiled contently and broke their gaze first.

“Wanna go out with me tomorrow?” Hyejae stared at the side of Onew’s face.

“Mwo?” Onew smiled and looked down at his hands that were on the top of his knee’s.

“I have the next week off until after Christmas. I just thought that maybe…I could keep you company?” Onew turned to face Hyejae. Hyejae smiled and hugged her legs closer to her. She rested her chin on her knee’s and said,

“Mmm…okay. Where do you want to go tomorrow?” She felt Onew relax next to her and heard him say,

“How about the water park?”