If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.

ミ★~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~★彡

Jieun’s POV

            I lay lifelessly on my bed, staring out the window that had slightly fogged up from the drizzle of morning rain in the warm summer air trying to depict the blur of images past the translucent glass as I sighed to myself. My mom was downstairs in the kitchen—her favourite area in the entire house—lively baking new recipes she discovered on a French website. There were no sounds in my room other than my own breathing; in fact, it was so quiet I could hear my mom’s whisk whipping against the metal bowls periodically and the sounds of her slippers skidding across the kitchen floor from the counter to the oven. How long has it been? A week? A month? A year possibly? I closed my eyes and took another deep breath, coughing slightly as I exhaled and then opening my eyes again. Who was I kidding? It had only been three days since my high school life disappeared along with the final grips of spring’s mystifying breezes, and I could recall the tiring times when I prayed for this day to come faster. My payers finally came true; I was free from teenage hell. So why in the world was I laying on my bed like a rotting corpse, having nothing better to do than catch dust? There’s a simple explanation for my lack of motivation to perform any work; because I missed Wooyoung. I missed how he always impulsively put his arms around me as if we were the closest friends in the world, how soft his hands felt as they held onto mine giving me support when I was nervous, how his genuine smile gave me confidence—I missed it all.

            “After tomorrow we won’t have a reason to see each other again.”

            His words rang in my mind like funeral bells, giving off an unpleasant vibe in my once peaceful room. Normally by now he would’ve sent me over fifty text messages, but after waiting so patiently for three days I received nothing. Who was I to even think I had the right to phone him? I probably hurt him so much on graduation night that he no longer has the guts to see me again.

            “Aniyo; I don’t love him.”

            Gently slapping both my cheeks with the palm of my hands, I lifted my head upwards only to let it drop back down onto my pillow. I was probably too blunt with my words. They were true, but just because I didn’t love him now didn’t mean I couldn’t later on. I pulled my pillow from under my head and dropped it on top of my face. Who was I kidding? Love wasn’t a word that I could use lightly like this.

            “Stop moping around already, honey. You’re on summer vacation, why don’t you go out with a few friends and have some fun?” My mom’s worried voice made me jump into a sitting position, tossing my pillow back onto my bed and straightening out my hair with my fingers. I puffed up my cheeks playfully and pouted,

            “I don’t have any friends.” My mom placed her hands on her hips and opened to protest, but no sound escaped. Her eyes blinked rapidly a couple of times and then she sighed; I was speaking the truth. I had imagined that by now she would know full well what kind of a social outcast I was, and throughout the past three years of my life she had never cared, so why now? Smiling in the midst of my victory, I turned around and pretended to make my bed, hoping my mom would leave me alone. Instead, she suggested,

            “Why don’t you call Wooyoung?” Immediately I froze, both physically and mentally. After a few seconds of living as a mindless statue, I turned around and saw my mom’s serious stare. Why can’t I call Wooyoung? I’m not sure, I just feel like I can’t!

            “Forget it, Umma. I’ll go out and get some bubble tea.”

Wooyoung’s POV

            Back when I still had school to attend, I thought homework was probably the most sleep provoking activity in the world, but after spending a whole two hours with my dad in this grocery-market place, I really missed dozing off in Math class. I shouldn’t really complain because my dad was carrying everything, but following him around like a dog was not my idea of fun.

            “You continue whatever you’re doing. I’ll sit here and wait.” I suggested, pointing to a small area filled with chairs and tables near a bubble tea shop. He rolled his eyes and nodded, lugging his heavy bags with him to the bakery as I slid out a stool and sat down with the glowing menu board in front of me. It felt so embarrassing to be in such a filthy place, and to top it off I had to come with my dad. Maybe back when I was ten this would mean nothing, but now that I wad eighteen it seriously would hurt my pride to be spotted here by someone familiar. I pulled up the hood to cover my head, despite the fact that it would flatten my hair and dug my hands into my sweater’s loose pockets. I could imagine that I probably looked like some thug right now, but this market was pretty ghetto. If anything, I was blending in.

            “Watermelon with tapioca pearls please.” A shockingly familiar but sweet and soft voice spoke to the cashier ahead of me. My eyes darted downwards from the glowing menu board to the girl standing at the concession. I squinted slightly and gasped, covering my mouth with a hand when the girl turned her head around to stare off into the distance, allowing me to catch a glimpse of the side of her face. There was no mistaking it; she was Lee Jieun. I could have sworn that she looked in my direction, but my gangster disguise probably prevented her from recognizing me.

            “Gomapseumnida!” She bowed slightly with a smile and took the cup of bubble tea from the cashier’s hands and headed to an empty table away from me. I chuckled to myself as I watched her fail at sticking the straw through the lid, having to take five stabs at the cup before getting the straw through. Her shoulders tensed at my chuckling; could she have possibly heard me? I quickly scanned the entire area, realizing no one familiar was around and decided to have a little fun with her. Smirking with my hood still covering my head, hiding my eyes from clear view I plopped onto a seat beside Jieun.

            “So…” My voice trailed off. I was trying to disguise it to sound huskier so she wouldn’t recognize me. Jieun was tapping her cup gently on the table, clearly terrified of the fact that some random gangster looking guy had just come and sat down beside her. I glanced at the cashier; she paid no attention to us at all.

            “You come here often?” I smirked, watching as Jieun’s eyes bulged. Just to push her buttons, I slid my chair slowly closer to hers; dang I probably looked like a e right now! I was trying far too hard to hold in my laughter.

            “Pyeontae!!” Jieun yelped, grabbing her drink and pulling off the lid. Before I knew it, the watermelon bubble tea that was once in the cup was now all over my face and sweater. I did not see this coming at all. At times like these, if it were an actual e I would’ve expected Jieun to run away but instead she stood in front of me, shocked. After wiping off the majority of the tapiocas from my face, I pushed off my hood and coughed.

            “Omo!” Jieun gasped, nervously handing me a napkin.

            “Yah, what was that for?” I joked, knowing that it was completely my fault anyway. She was still shocked at what she did, but she managed to apologize.

            “I thought you were a . Mianhe, Wooyoung oppa…” I shook my head, smiling. This was probably the most unexpected thing that has never happened to me in my life, but I wasn’t mad at all. I shot a glance at the cashier who was now glaring at the two of us and the mess we made. After voluntarily cleaning up, I informed,

            “The next time a creepy guy does that to you, don’t just stand there; run.” Jieun laughed at my advice, defending,

            “I would have run but after dousing you with my bubble tea I recognized your face from behind your hood.” We were now walking side by side, taking our time to stroll down the busy marketplace. My wet and sticky sweater was now in my hands, and the two of us were just casually conversing.

            “It makes sense that you’d recognize me.” I added, causing her to stare at me with suspicion.

            “What do you mean?” She cocked her head to the side and her pace slowed. I stopped walking and so did she, and strategically, I inched my face closer to hers. The muscles in her face completely tensed up and I heard her softly gulp.

            “You had plenty of time to memorize my face.” I smiled, teasing her again. This probably brought back memories of the year-end musical.

            “Tch!” Jieun was clearly pretending to be annoyed when she slapped my arm with her right hand. We headed towards a bench away from the market’s pedestrian traffic and stared out at the biking path before us. The large tree above us provided sufficient shade from the drizzling drops of rain from the light gray clouds above us. Today’s weather seemed inappropriate for Jieun to just be wandering around in such a place alone. As if she read my mind, she explained,

            “My mom was complaining about how I never leave the house. She wanted me to call you but I felt like a nuisance so I just came here alone.” She lifted up her right palm to catch the falling droplets of rainwater that dripped down from the green leaves and branches, smiling as the small puddle of droplets grew bigger in her palms. I did the same and sighed; I never realized that it had been so long since we last spoke to each other. The first three days of summer vacation felt so hectic for me because of some emergency that my distant auntie got into. She was a distant relative so it shouldn’t have affected me much, except that she had gotten into a car accident in Canada and my mom had to rush there to help her for whatever reason. I never bothered to listen to the details. In any case, now that my mom was temporarily gone, I had to keep my dad company more often which , but at the same time I regret not even sending Jieun one text. She was probably getting the wrong message due to the lack of communication.

            “What about your other friends?” I asked, never recalling her mentioning other people to me. She flipped her palm over to face the ground and the puddle dripped towards the grounds, some drops sliding to her fingertips before falling.

            “I don’t have any.” She admitted. Her head was down and she was staring at her own shoelaces.

            “What will you do when I’m gone?” I asked. I remembered the duet we sang at graduation. Those lyrics of confession could not have been for me; after all, she said out blunt that she didn’t love me. If I were to leave she would still have the person she wrote the song for, whoever he was.

Jieun’s POV

            “Gone?” I repeated at a slower pace. He was really leaving?

            “I’m probably going to study in Canada. I have some family there I could live with.” He smiled lightly, staring out into the gray sky as he nodded to himself. This idea of living in Canada must be really exciting for him, and though I was happy that he was moving forward, the selfish part of me wanted to cry.

            “I’m not sure.” I managed to choke out in a voice steady enough to be passed as normal.

A/N: I apologize for not updating earlier! School is a little hectic haha. And this chapter is a little random.... xD Oh well. I didn't edit it yet because it's late so I'll edit it tomorrow; just want to post it up now so my eager readers can move further into the plot ^^! Thanks for supporting my fanfic! all your kind words make my day (:!