With her hands in her pocket, Jaerin found herself walking along the same corridor. It seemed like she was anticipating something, or rather someone. Walking past a certain studio, she turned her head to the side and peeped into it.

“Looking for me?” A voice whispered into her right ear.

Jaerin flinched a little but pretended to be unaffected. With a confident smile plastered across her face, she turned around. With that, she came face to face with him. Their faces were merely inches apart. However, she remained composed as ever. On the other hand, Lay seemed to be uncomfortable about the close proximity. He stepped back awkwardly and Jaerin merely smirked at his shy response.

“Conceited.” Jaerin remarked.

With that, she turned around and was about to leave. Jaerin’s pony tail swept across swiftly and Lay could vaguely smell the fragrance of her shampoo left lingering in the air. With every step she took, she was actually counting in her heart simultaneously.

“Actually…” He began.

“Bingo.” She thought with a virtual snap and smiled.

“Would you like to join me in my piano practice?” he invited.

“Sure. Why not?” She said with a slight smile as she spun around.

Sitting on the piano bench, Lay began to feel nervous. He felt as if he was going to have a piano recital performance before thousands of spectators. Perhaps it was because he seldom played for others. Jaerin ran her fingers across those black and white keys that looked so polished and familiar.

“Can you play?” he asked out of curiousity.

Not looking at him, Jaerin thought about his question.

“I used to play when I was young. Someone told me that she will teach me ‘Mary had a Little Lamb’ but she didn’t finish doing so.” She explained.

At this note, Jaerin felt a heart being squeezed a little. It was her mother. Many years back, a broken piece of those memories reminded her that her mother had promised to do so. However, she did not finish teaching her the unfinished piece that they stopped that night. She was amused at how she referred her mother as simply “someone” now. She wondered whether her mother still referred her as “daughter” when she spoke about her.

“She probably had clean forgotten about me though.” She thought to herself bitterly.

“Wh-” Before Lay could ask further, she stopped him.

“Didn’t you invite me here to listen to you play?” she cut him off.  

“Oh, right.” Lay recalled as he placed his hands back on the piano.

“Don’t look so afraid. You are acting as if  I am some fierce wretch.” Jaerin joked.

“You are.” Lay replied and chuckled.

“Yah!” Jaerin shouted but did not continue because he started playing.  

Unconsciously, Lay had closed his eyes and was immersed in the world of music. Just like him, she shut her eyes and allowed herself to join him. It was so soothing and for a moment, Jaerin thought she could forget about the entire world. “The world is actually beautiful” crossed her mind for a split second. However, it escaped her mind once Lay finished the piece. She was yanked back into reality, the harsh reality whereby she was thrown away and now hated by almost everyone. Jaerin couldn’t help but laugh.

“Why are you laughing? Did I play horribly?” he asked.

“Nope. You played well.” She reassured.

“Haha. I was still afraid you won’t like it.” He confessed.

“You can play well. Really.” She complimented.

“Thanks.” Lay said as he rubbed his nape awkwardly.

Jaerin’s eyes drifted to the keys and unconsciously, she allowed her body to bring her slender fingers to the keys. Closing her eyes, she could feel the forgotten touch of her mother guiding her little hands through the first few initial keys. Before her, she vividly saw a loving mother and a familiar innocent girl merrily smiling away. She allowed those memories to run as she played on the piano. However, she eventually stopped after a while. Jaerin did not know the continuation to the piece. Just when she was about to open her eyes, she felt a hand guide hers. It came as real warmth and she knew that it was no longer her imagination.

“Its fleece was white as snow.” He sang.

Jaerin opened her eyes and tears welled up in it. They were just so close to completing the song back then, she realized. Lay took his hand back and smiled. He noticed the change in mood within Jaerin but he couldn’t exactly figure out the reason. However, he knew better than to ask. Suddenly, Jaerin’s phone vibrated. Slipping out the phone from her pocket, she answered the call.

“Hello.” She said as she turned away.

“Where are you?” Kris questioned in an annoyed tone.

“I have something on. You can go home first.” She told him.

“I was wai-”

With that, she hung up on him. He was not even done speaking. However, Kris was used to it.

“So you are telling me that he is your business now?” Kris muttered to himself behind the door as he clenched his fists.

Jaerin was getting too comfortable around the new guy and it irked Kris, somehow.

“I am so not picking up your call today.” He told himself before walking off.

─

Jaerin was standing behind the thin wooden door, trembling away with fear consuming her bit by bit. She was listening to every sentence and every single word they shouted at each other. It was the exchange that they thought was unheard by the supposedly asleep Jaerin.

 “Don’t you care about Jaerin?!”

“I don’t.”

Those words shattered her young and fragile soul once again.

In a blink of an eye, Jaerin witnessed her mother walk over angrily and started hitting her non-stop. She could still feel the pain which caused her to cry out even louder.

“Let me tell you, he is not coming back! He is not coming back anymore! He doesn’t want you, he doesn’t want this family anymore! Everything he said was nothing but lies! LIES!” Her mother yelled and tears rolled down her face.

Before the girl could retort, she was brought to the next scene.

“Jaerin-ah, umma forgot something at the ice-cream shop.  I got to go and get it back. You will be a good girl and wait here, okay?” she informed.

Jaerin was in the body of the ignorant young girl so she attempted to use her small hand to grab onto her mother. However, she was too strong for her weak grip. She thought in that way, she would stay and everything would change.

“Don’t go! Umma!! Umma!!” She screamed as she sat up.

Jaerin found herself shocked awake in the middle of the night with sweat trickling down her face.

“Why didn’t you stay?” She mumbled as she buried her face in the sheets.

Kris stirred a little in his sleep as he shot a deadly glare at his ringing metallic possession. He softened when he saw the caller alert. However, recalling what happened earlier in the afternoon, Kris threw his phone aside. Turning his back on the vibrating being, he covered his head with the blanket. The night returned to being silent as the call ended.

“Kris.” The other party called out.

“What?” he asked as he ruffled his hair.

“Yo-You are still awake.” She tried her very best to control her trembling voice.

“What’s wrong with you?” he asked worriedly when he heard her tone.

“Can we go out for a walk?” she requested.

“Let’s meet at the usual then.” Kris confirmed before changing out.

When Kris jogged to the park which the two used to play at, he spotted Jaerin. Her hair was loosely tied up with strands falling all over the place. However, she still looked pretty to him. Walking over quickly, he settled beside her.

“You’re here.” She realized and resumed staring at the concrete pavement.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I… I had a nightmare of them.” She said as her fingers curled up into a ball.  

“I was thrown away again. Kris, I tried. This time, I tried to hold onto her but…but...” She broke down into tears before she could complete her sentence.

Kris brought her head to his shoulders and hushed her like a kid. He always had a soothing effect on her since young. After some time, Jaerin finally calmed down and those tears had dried up. However, she was still laying on Kris’ broad shoulders.

“Are you tired?” she asked.

She sensed that he shook his head and she smiled. In the park that was dimly illuminated by those orange street lamps, they sat in comfortable silence. Jaerin glanced upwards at Kris who began to doze off.

“And you said you weren’t tired.” She mumbled as she closed her eyes too.

Kris could not hear anything as he was already off in dreamland.

“Thank you. Thank you for calling me back, Kris.” She thought in her heart.

She wouldn’t have survived the night alone, without him.  

Author's Note:
It's Friday so I could stay up late to type an update (: Hurray!
I hope you guys liked this chapter ! 
She was together with both of the main male leads in this chapter... (;
Thanks for reading and don't forget to comment! :D