f o u r ;

After that night, Dong Jun didn’t come for her anymore. Tae Eun waited day and night; at the shop, outside her house, near the bus stop – but he didn’t step foot into any of the places at all.

After three months long of endless waiting, she almost gave up hoping.

Almost.

She came home from work one night, and found her grandfather lying on the bed, gasping for air helplessly.

Tae Eun rushed to his side immediately.

“Harabeoji...” she cried out in sheer desperation. “What’s wrong? What’s going on?”

She could see the difficulty in his eyes as he fought for every single one of his breath. Tae Eun gripped on to both of his hands tightly, the tears already b in her own eyes. She could feel it.

She could feel how close she was to losing him – the one person who mattered the most to her, the only family she has left.

“Harabeoji...” she whimpered. “Please just hang in there for awhile more. I’ll get help for you, okay? We’ll go to the hospital – “

But at the mention of hospital, she felt his fingernails digging into her skin painfully. She knew what he was trying to tell her.

Even during crucial moments like this, he still refused to get help.

It made her so frustrated.

And a moment later, she could feel him releasing his clutch on her gradually – and in that exact second, she saw how he heaved out his final breath, with both of his eyes still wide open.

“Harabeoji!” she wailed out.

She didn’t know how much time had exactly passed. She didn’t know how long she had stayed in that position, grasping onto her dead grandfather’s hand with head laid limply on the empty space next to his still body.

She couldn’t even move a muscle. It was as if, time had paralysed her momentarily.

That was until she heard footsteps approaching her, and a second later – she heard his voice calling out for her tentatively.

“Tae Eun-ah?”

“Harabeoji used to bring me here everyday, after halmeoni left us. He said that they used to bring my mother here when she was a kid, and she loved it a lot.”

Tae Eun threw her gaze across the calm blue sea, as her thoughts reeled back to the happy moments she shared with her grandfather. A smile formed on her face unconsciously.

“I think I have a lot of things in common with eomma. Harabeoji always said so too.”

Dong Jun kept his gaze down as he played around with the thin tree branch he had picked up along the way. He could only offer a listening ear, because he didn’t know the right words to say to make her feel better.

“It must be nice to still have your mother around, isn’t it?”

It took him awhile to realise that Tae Eun was directing her question at him.

“I wouldn’t know,” he said after a pause.

“What do you mean? Aren’t you – “

“I’m an orphan,” he replied curtly. “Just like you.”

It was her turn to be silent now.

“I’m sorry,” she spoke up finally, in a very soft, breakable voice. “I didn’t know.”

He chuckled without any amusement at all. “Of course you wouldn’t.”

He could feel her staring down at him, yet he didn’t lift up his head to meet her eyes. He already felt burdened enough, somehow.

“You know, after that night...I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”

Dong Jun could sense the hesitation in her voice. He knew she was being very careful with her words, afraid of possibly hurting him in any way.

And it just made him even guiltier.

“I couldn’t afford to be anywhere near you,” the words slipped out from his mouth before he could even stop himself.

Of course her next question was, “Why?”

He couldn’t retract back his words now. So, he said simply,

“They would’ve come after you.”

Again, another, “Why?”

Dong Jun let out a small sigh. “Didn’t I tell you, the less you know, the better?”

“This is not fair, Jun.” She had said it in such a strong voice, that it surprised him even. And for her to call him Jun instead of her usual Junnie, it basically means she was being adamant about the whole thing.

Or, stubborn, just like what Dong Jun have said before.

“You have to give me something here. You do not, make me run with you, and then disappearing for a whole of three months and suddenly come back into my life like as if nothing has happened!”

She stood up abruptly, causing Dong Jun to be taken aback slightly by her sudden action. He started to get up too.

“Tae Eun, listen – “

“I will only listen when you decide to tell me the truth.” she said firmly. “If you can’t at least do that for me, I guess we should really stop seeing each other.”

She turned around, ready to leave, when she suddenly stopped and glanced over her shoulder briefly.

“I can’t be with someone who likes to keep things from me,” she said quietly.

Dong Jun opened his mouth, ready to say something – anything that would make her stay, but at the same time, he was still having contemplations.

“It’s a shame, really. I actually do like you, Junnie.”