Ha Neul’s POV

I ran all the way back to my uncle’s office, grabbed my laptop, and positioned myself in front of the meeting room where those Super Junior guys had their meeting scheduled. I sat down on the floor beside the door and waited for them to arrive. Automatically, my thoughts wandered back to Jonghyun and our conversation. To think that the guy who’s smile shone so brightly from all his posters had such a vulnerable side… I felt my respect for him increase a whole lot.

But did his mother really see him the way he thought she did? Was there really no other reason? There must be. Definitely! It just needed to be found...

I got so immersed in thinking about it that I wouldn't have noticed the group of animatedly chatting guys entering the room if their manager hadn’t asked me what I was doing there.

"Um, Hwang Ha Neul-ssi? Do you have some business with us?" He even tapped my shoulder because I didn't respond.

But before I could even voice my explanation one of the approximately (?) ten really gorgeous guys standing behind him exclaimed: "Ha Neul??! Hwang Ha Neul??! It really is you!!!"

He crouched down and my completely stunned self was enveloped in his bear-like hug!

"Um, who are you" I managed to ask after a few air-less seconds.

He suddenly let go of me and grabbed my shoulders instead. I looked at him; unsure of how I was to read his actions.

"You don't remember me?!?" He pouted.

"Uhhh, nope?" Was I supposed to? I searched my mind for any possible bishies I'd encountered in the past but no one seemed to match the dejected face in front of me...

"But you are Hwang Ha Neul, right?" He inquired hopefully. "The Ha Neul who adores cats! The Ha Neul who has an older twin brother! The Ha Neul who used to go to Hyeopjae Beach on Jeju Island every summer!"

How the hell did he know all this?!? Was he some stalker, or what?!

"The Ha Neul who's allergic to some totally harmless jellyfish?"

And then it clicked.

No way...

"Hae?" I whispered with tears b in my eyes.

He nodded and smiled; finally getting the reaction he wanted.

"The Hae who saved my life?" I asked again.

I was afraid of getting disappointed again. I had been looking for him everywhere without success. And now, here he was, right in front of me, looking like the prince he'd always dreamed to be while we had been building castles in the sand.

"Yup, that's me, Jelly," he smiled. 'Jelly'... That was the nickname he'd given me after that stupid jellyfish had stung me..

It really was him.

I threw my laptop aside and buried my face in his broad chest.

"I thought I'd never get to see you again," I muttered into his shirt.

When I was a child, my family used go to the Hyeopjae beach on Jeju Island every summer. And every summer I'd meet up with this boy who had also been spending his holidays there with his father. We would build castles in the sand, play with the waves, and do all those things kids just do when they are five and nine years old. And at the end of the holidays, when we'd had to go back home, we had promised to meet each other the following summer again. And we always had.

Until one summer, when he had broken his promise... I had waited for him every day at our meeting spot. Every day of the whole holiday. But he never came. With every day that passed I had become more listless and sadder. Even Woohyun oppa hadn't been able to cheer me up anymore. On the way home I had cried the whole time. But I had still been hoping that maybe he would come in the summer a year later.

He didn't. And I had been devastated. Still, I had waited at our meeting spot every day.

And I had done so every year.

Until my parents had decided not to go there anymore too. Probably because they had seen how I was unable to let go and thought that maybe not being at the place that held so many memories of us together would help.

It didn't though. As soon as I had been old enough to understand how the train system worked I had run away from home to go to the beach again and look for him. My parents had called the police and they had eventually found me at the beach; crying at our meeting spot. I had waited for two days straight without eating or sleeping. But he never came. I had even been in the newspaper: ‘Ten years old child travels alone from Seoul to Hyeopjae beach!'. The whole action got me grounded for a month.

But I never got to see him again.

Until now.

It scared the crap out of me, when one of his friends spoke up. I had completely forgotten that there were a whole lot of people around us watching us curiously. I let go of Hae at once looking at his friend with wide eyes.

"Um, how do you know each other?" I think he had asked.

I looked at Hae wondering what his answer would be. To my surprise he was nervously fiddling with his jacket. Was he... embarrassed?

"Uh, well... remember the girl I told you about the time we went to Hyeopjae beach on Jeju Island for a photo-shoot?" He then said.

"That's her?" A cute guy with chestnut-coloured hair bounced forward looking at me with unconcealed interest. "You're his first lo--?"

He was cut off by his hyung's hand that was covering his mouth.

But I guess Hae still got what he meant for he lowered his eyes and nodded.

And suddenly I was surrounded by a crowd of handsome guys who introduced themselves to me over-enthusiastically.

"Hey, I'm Heechul. Nice to finally meet you!"

"I'm Shindong!"

"I'm Kangin."

"Eunhyuk."

"Sungmin."

"I'm Siwon. How are you?"

"Kyuhyun, that's me! Can I call you noona?"

Oh god, how was I going to remember all these names?! I was even pulled into a hug by some. But I was so surprised I just went along with them.

Finally the guy who'd first spoken intervened.

"Okay, that's enough! You're gonna scare her away!" He shouted and they immediately quieted down.

"I'm sorry," he then apologised to me with a smile. "They get excited easily. I'm Leeteuk, by the way. The leader of this bunch of immature idiots."

I laughed. "No problem. They were just being nice, right?" I smiled at Kyuhyun.

"Of course!" Kyuhyun beamed.

"But Jelly, why were you sitting on the floor like that?" Hae asked as he stepped beside Leeteuk.

Oh, right! I completely forgot!

"You guys were the last on my list of people to install the new app for, so..." I explained.

"Chincha?" Another guy, Shindong, I think, stepped forward. "Me first! I've been waiting for it the most!"

"Sure!" I laughed. He was the first one showing such enthusiasm. "If you want I can do it right now. If there aren't any problems then you'll have it back in half an hour..."

"Yes!" He cheered and handed me his phone.

"Anyone else?" I asked but they all looked at the floor.

I turned to Hae. At least he would be cooperative, right?

But he was also hesitating.

"Um, Jelly," he said in a low voice. "Can we give them to you after this meeting? They're always so dead boring so we play games with our cell phones under the table... I don't know how Shindong plans to survive without his!"

I chuckled. "Arasso. How long will the meeting take?" I asked their manager.

"Probably a bit longer than half an hour?" He answered.

I nodded. "Okay. Then, I'll let you have your 'meeting' now," I said and winked.

"Thanks, it'll be sooo much fun!" Hae winked back.

"See you in half an hour!" I waved with Shindong's phone and walked back to uncle's office.

------

I tried to work on Shindong's cell phone immediately but I couldn't really concentrate with my thoughts circling around Hae. It might have looked like suddenly seeing him again after so many years hadn't really affected me all that much. But in truth, I was shaken.

I'd had to forcefully shut him away somewhere deep in my heart because waking up with his face in front of my inner eye and tears on my cheeks every morning had simply been too painful. It hasn't been too long since I'd celebrated my first day without a thought of him and only half a year back I had started to think of him as a childhood memory...

And now he had come back.

More handsome than I could have ever imagined, with a presence that glowed with charisma, and just as kind and caring as I remembered him. Just how was I going to deal with this?

Even though the wound his disappearance had ripped into my heart may have faded to but a scar, the memory of the pain and distress it caused was still fresh and vivid. I was not ready to give love or even like another chance yet.

"Hae," I whispered and closed my eyes. "Lee Donghae."

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Gosh, why are both my fanfics so depressing at the moment...? T.T I'm sorry, I'll soon get better! ><