XII

"I'm so emotionally distraught because of you! I hate you!" Rina screamed with tears streaming down her face as she clutched onto her head in pain. It was just too unbearable.

Ryan burst into her room with an angry/annoyed expression. "Would you shut up and get over it?" he yelled at her.

"But he confuses me so much! I can't read Yoo Seungho at all!"

"Oh my god, go get a life! You're yelling at a TV screen at 10PM during winter break when your other friends are probably having sleepovers right now. Doesn't that tell you something?" he snapped at his sister.

She slightly pouted and looked at the ground. She didn't want to admit to the fact that no one was willing to hang out with her. She would then get questioned about Shi Hoo and that was the last thing she wanted to talk to her brother about. Who was older again? Right, she was.

Rina cleared before wiping the tears from her eyes. She switched off the TV and pushed herself off of her bed so that she was standing up. "Um, I'm going to go for a walk." she announced.

"At 10PM? In the freezing cold? Are you an idiot?"

She frowned, looking rather offended by his words. "I'm your noona, you little brat!" She lunged at him, grabbing onto his collar. She was about to hit him but unfortunately, someone stopped her right in time. They pulled her away from her younger brother before anyone got hurt and placed her behind them. She could recognize the person even from the back of their head. "Lee Jong Suk, get out of the way before I punch you also."

"Just because you're on your monthly doesn't mean that you can take your anger out on your little brother," he said with his back faced towards her, "and it doesn't mean that you can make your pretty eyes puffy, either."

He smiled at Ryan, ruffling up his hair. "Get back to studying, kiddo."

Ryan pushed up his glasses before fist bumping the older male and walking back to his room.

Jong Suk turned around, pulling Rina towards him. "You're lucky your parents won't be home until tomorrow."

Her mood changed as she started getting teary eyed and a bit emotionally sensitive. "I-I'm sorry, JoJo. I don't know what's going on anymore, you know? My mind is always such a jumble these days and I just wish that Steven could tell how much I'm hurting because of him." There she was, crying while in his embrace once again.

"Just go to bed," he sighed as he maneuvered her towards the queen-sized bed. Once she was tucked in, he went over to the door and turned off the lights. My best friends are idiots.

"Rina dear, could you please go out to the market to buy seasoning?" Mrs.Kim asked as she danced around the kitchen, preparing for the Christmas dinner.

The girl groaned, opening up the fridge to grab a can of coke. "Why don't you go ask Rie or Ryan?"

Her mother turned around, giving her a look.

She sighed. "Oh alright! Fine, just make me do all the work!"

Mrs.Kim flashed her a grateful smile, pecking her forehead. "That's my girl,"

Rina rolled her eyes. She ran upstairs to grab her coat and was soon downstairs again. Although Christmas was only 2 days away, that didn't mean that businessmen were allowed to get a break. Jong Suk would be working nonstop until dinnertime on Christmas meanwhile Shi Hoo---well---she didn't really know his schedule. What a great girlfriend, right? She was sure that her older sister knew but why would she ask her? Anyways, this meant that Rina would have to walk to the store in the freezing cold.

Fun, right?

After she grabbed the list of things that she needed to buy, she slipped on her leather boots and reluctantly walked outside. She yelped, surprised by the sudden gust of cold air. Because of the wind, tears started forming in her eyes. Quickly blinking them away, she made her way through the snow as quickly as she could in the direction of the market.

The market wasn't that crowded probably because of the snowfall. It didn't take long before Rina had gathered all of the things that she was supposed to buy into a basket. Just as she was about to get in line at the cashier lane, she passed by the ice cream section. "It's never to cold for ice cream," she whispered with a smile. She reached in, grabbed a melon bar, and got in line to pay for her things.

Once she was outside, she unwrapped the ice cream and put it in . Instantly, she got a brain freeze.

Despite the pain, she smiled while continuing to eat the melon bar as she walked home. It brought back memories, so many memories. She tried to forget but she couldn't help it, he had been such a big part of her life. Why try to forget when being with him had been a golden time?

That was what she was trying to convince herself to think. The truth was, along with those wonderful memories were horrendous ones. She hated it, absolutely hated it.

She couldn't tell what the cause for her tears were at that moment. Was it because of the cold or her own pain and suffering?

As she wiped them away, she took a deep breath and swallowed the remaining tears. "I'm back!" she announced when she opened the front door, her voice slightly faltering. She ran inside the kitchen and placed the bag of ingredients on the counter. Her mom looked back at her with a smile, not even noticing her puffy red eyes.

"Thank you, dear. You're free now."

Rina bowed before scuttering away to her room. She needed to talk to someone. It hurt so much but she did this to herself, she reminisced the memories.

"Oh god, I can't lose him." she choked out as she slid down against her bedroom door. Taking out her phone, she pressed the number 1 and waited until the person on the other line picked up. After 3 rings just like always, they picked up.

"Hello?"

"Look, Steven oppa, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for being a brat and ignoring you. I knew that you would never do such a thing but---oh gosh, I miss you. I can't afford to lose you too, Shi Hoo-ah. I'm sorry." Rina cried as she started to hyperventilate.

"Where are you right now?" Shi Hoo asked right after she finished her last sentence.

Choking on her tears, she managed to muster up, "M-m-my room,"

"Stay there."

Protected from the cold as they sat in an Mk2 Café in Jongno-gu while sipping on their hot beverages was Shi Hoo and Rina. A chic European-styled café was the perfect place for the two of them to wind down and talk about things that needed to be discussed between the two of them. It was such a lovely place, the café, and Rina soon fell in love with it.

"Hey, isn't that a painting of Isabella Rossellini?" she asked, jutting out her chin towards the large black-and-white painting of a foreign woman on the wall.

Shi Hoo turned back to look at it. "The actress? From Blue Velvet?"

She nodded. "That movie that the teacher from the piano academy always watched. Do you remember her? The weird lady with the British accent? You had to pick me up once and you met her."

He snapped his fingers, letting out a laugh as he remembered. "Ah, that woman! You've never watched the film though, right?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

She furiously shook her head. "Oh lord, no! After hearing Mrs.McQuillen talk about it for years, I grew sick of it even without watching it!"

"Yeah, never watch it. It'll ruin your innocence," he chuckled.

Sticking her tongue out at him, Rina took a bite out of her panini. "You know, I kind of miss Mrs.McQuillen and the piano academy. After all, it was where I met him."

Shi Hoo smiled, patting her head. "Didn't Jong Suk tell you not to talk about him?"

"Well," she placed her sandwich down, "I decided that I shouldn't let memories of him hurt me anymore. He's gone, right? It's not like he'll ever come back again."

Her boyfriend couldn't help but have his heart swell with pride. She was a strong girl and he knew that. One of the reasons why he fell in love with her was that she didn't let anything get in her way. She was strong mentally and emotionally, although not all the time. She was human also.

"I love you," Shi Hoo said out of nowhere.

Rina grinned. "I love you, too."

Their relationship was okay, now. It was back to normal.