Welcome to the club of broken hearts

Where a thousand lonely souls

have passed

Fate. Fate must be playing with them, Kwon Jiyong and Lee Chaerin. The red string attached to them and fate played it to its heart content. It pushed and pulled the red string, twirl it around making them dizzy, but at the end of the day, Jiyong found himself in front of Chaerin again.

Three years had passed, and a lot had happened. He didn’t stay single for Chaerin, for casanova blood was indeed in his body. But then, none of the girls were his girlfriend either. Flings, he would call them.

College life was merrier than high school, at least for him. He met Chaerin not only in the hallway anymore, they finally had some classes together, art. They interact not only through stares anymore, because when fate was being kind it would set them up together in a team where they have to communicate.

And today, fate was being playful and super kind. They were in a same group again, not only that, it was a group of only two.

“It’s a huge project, so I want you all to do your best. You have the whole semester to present to me your best artwork,” Mr. Yang announced before he left the class. Jiyong looked at Chaerin, she was a perfectionist, almost as freak as he was if not more. To start later was not an option.

“So, when do you want to start the project?” He asked casually, leaning his body to her desk, her hair smelled like strawberry today. He wasn’t sure when did he start this habit of smelling her hair, she changed every time, sometimes it was of fresh mints, other times it was musk. Whatever she smelled like, though, he always found himself lost in her scent.

“The sooner the better,” she answered, looking up to meet his eyes. The confidence was always present, even the way she tilted her head and her eyes flickering, it almost looked like it was programmed to enchant people. “Tomorrow?” She asked calmly, gathering her books and put it in her bag.

He smirked, talking with her always makes him happy. The overflowing powerful aura emitting from her, it was no doubt why she was the Queen. She still is. “Your home?”

“No!” She answered quickly, almost too quickly.

Jiyong raised his eyebrow, she almost looked like losing the perfect control she always had, “Well, okay? My place, then?”

For a millisecond, almost unnoticeable, he saw her eyes lost its confident stare, that was a first for him. What was that? He questioned himself, but maybe he overthink. “I won’t do anything to you, geez... Even if I want to, my Mom is always home so-”

“My place,” Chaerin cut him off.

“Sorry?”

“Tomorrow, ten thirty, my place,” She asnwered.

He looked at her suspiciously, but she had worn the queen mask again. She fixed her perfectly fine hair, twirled it once, twice, three times and then smoothing it with her fingers. He noticed she did that a lot when she was nervous. He didn’t even know when did he start acknowledging that.

“Deal,” he agreed, things are going to get interesting, he thought. Because it’s a fact that Chaerin was so much more than what meets the eye.

---

“I didn’t know you start dating her,” Mrs. Kwon chuckled, pouring the soup to Jiyong’s bowl. Her face was obviously happy, Jiyong noticed. He had tried analyzing and extracting answers as to why his mother was always excited talking about Chaerin, he concluded maybe her parents were friends with his. So maybe she had known Chaerin since babies, plus she was a pretty girl, and every mother loves pretty girls for her sons.

So maybe it was true his mother wanted him to just marry Chaerin already, judging from how glowing her face was when he said he was going on a date with Chaerin.

“Actually it wasn’t really a date, we’re just going to do homework,” he grinned and his mother pouted.

“You tricked me,” she said, and Jiyong laughed, his mother is surely one of the cutest. Where else he can find a pouting-like-a-kid mother? “Where are you going to go? Some cozy cafe? Ah, you sneaky little boy... you use homework as an alibi, huh?” Mrs. Kwon teased.

Jiyong laughed again, “No mom, I’m not a tricky guy...” he smiled widely, “I’m going to her house,” he answered, playing with the carrot in his soup. Mrs. Kwon stopped what she was doing for a second. Jiyong was too busy playing with his soup he didn’t notice the surprise on her face.

“She’s really an interesting girl, mom...” he said with a dreamy voice, now playing with the broccoli.

When he looked up to meet his mother’s stare he found her smiling, “She is Ji, She is,” she smiled at him.

---

Her house was big, no, scratch that, it was huge.

Jiyong found himself staring at the door in front of him, observing every little detail of it. It was a habit, he was an overthinker, he analyzed everything but after that he just shrugged it off.

When Chaerin opened the door for him he couldn't suppress his surprise. There she was in her simplest outfit. An oversized tee and denim shorts, her hair was in a messy bun and instead of some intimidating high heels, a rilakkuma slippers were on her feet.

“Hey, sorry it took me some time, the door is pretty... far,” she chuckled. She looked so much more at ease now that they were in her house. The air of confidence was still present, but not as threatening. In fact, it felt almost... warm.

He smiled at her, feeling comfortable already in the new place, which rarely happened to him. “It’s okay, I was enjoying the scenery,” True enough, the garden was beautiful. It looked like a perfect place to have a picnic or just spend a lazy afternoon, there was a little swing at the corner, near a little fishpond and a gazebo. His eyes stared at the swing a little longer.

“That’s my favorite place to brainstorm, you want to go there?” She asked, noticing how he stared at the swing with interest. He nodded.

“Kay, I’ll get my book inside, you wait for me there,”

He looked around, the scenery was indeed beautiful and the atmosphere was nice. The swing was under a huge tree, it was nice to spend the time there all day long, because the tree will guard anyone from the harsh sunlight. The pond and the gazebo was like something out of a chinese painting, with pink waterlilies and Kois. Everything made him felt like home, like it was right where he belonged.

“Nice, isn’t it?” Chaerin’s voice brought him back to reality he didn’t realize leaving. She was carrying a bag, filled with books he supposed, and a tray with two glasses and a jug of orange juice. “Sorry, I’m running out of snack,” she smiled, putting the tray on the gazebo floor.

Jiyong should felt weird, because this kind of smiling, warm and welcoming Chaerin wasn’t the one he used to see. But he didn’t, instead, it felt like he was finally seeing the Chaerin he knew was hiding behind the queen facade all the while.

“It’s okay,” he answered, “I brought sandwich,” he continued, pulling out the lunchbox his mother had prepared. He felt like a kindergarten kid sometimes when his mother did this, what kind of college student brings lunchbox? And a casanova at that? But his mother insisted, so there it was, a lunch box filled with sandwhiches.

She stared at the lunchbox in his hand, and when he opened it her eyes still focused on it, and on the sandwich. It almost like she had never seen sandwich ever before.

“Here,” he gave her one, and she looked startled.

“Oh, sorry,” she took it and stared at it. Jiyong observed her.

“You should say thank you, not sorry, and you should eat that, not just staring at it,” he said in a light tone, for a second he felt that somehow the atmosphere changed.

She looked up from the sandwich and found a grin etched on his face. She was contemplating for some seconds before finally gave him a little smile, “Thank you, it’s just.. it’s been so long since the last time I had sandwich, it’s... my favorite,” she explained.

“It’s a good thing I’m here,” Jiyong replied smugly, and ended it with a naughty grin.

She stared at him again, “It is,” she smiled and finally took a bite of her sandwich.

Don't be scared of your shadow

You can't hide from your sorrow

(Sooner or Later - Duncan James)

Author's Note:

I am trying my best here not to hit the exclamation button because it'll makes me look like I'm angry more than excited, heh.. Thank you so much for all the warm welcome and comments and subsriptions :) Really appreciate them.

I guess I'm writing more confusion than answers in this chapter, but well... the hints and clues are everywhere, and it won't be as fun if I answer every questions straight, right? Please do feel free to throw me any questions, although I may not answer it right away, but maybe it's something I missed in the planning. Plus, I love reading your guests and ideas, so keep 'em coming too! :) I'll try my hardest to satisfy you all, thank you so much!

/bows