IV

Shi Hoo and Rina sat in a quiet cafe, isolated from the noisy streets of Seoul. They created small chatter as they sipped at their hot drinks and just caught up on some missing quality time together.

"So," said Shi Hoo, "did you make any new friends?"

Rina smiled, hiding her lips behind her cup. "Go ask JoJo."

He laughed, tracing the brim of his cup with his middle finger. They both loved the inside jokes that the three of them share.

"I'm not sure if this counts but my desk neighbor declared that I'm his friend. I ate lunch with him and his friends."

"It's a he?" Shi Hoo raised an eyebrow.

"Woohyun; Nam Woohyun."

Shi Hoo nodded, not saying another word. The two sat in silence like that for some time until their drinks were done with. Shi Hoo paid and they went on their way back home. During the car ride, Rina asked him many questions. He had no choice but to answer them all.

"Why did you and JoJo follow us over here?" she asked.

"I travel all the time so it doesn't really matter where I stay and Jong Suk was sick of being in one place for so long," he answered with his eyes glued on the road.

Rina thought for a while, tapping her chip. "Why are you guys forcing me to follow the steps of Rie?" It was a sensitive question for everyone and she knew but she couldn't help herself.

"Music isn't a good career path."

She scoffed, turning her whole body towards the door, staring out the window. Such statements pissed her off.

Shi Hoo turned a corner and stopped in front of his apartment. The two got out in silence.

Rina was being childish and she was aware of that fact but what he said still ticked her off. She didn't like how everyone was so against her being a musician. Did it really matter? It was her life, anyways.

"Make yourself comfortable," he quietly said as he went into the kitchen to prepare drinks.

She flipped through some channels and stopped when a drama came up. Shi Hoo came back with an apple juice box for Rina and a glass of non-alcoholic champagne for himself.

Rina's eyes glanced at the champagne for a split second before taking the juice from him.

Shi Hoo sat down next to her, swirling the liquid around in the wine glass as he watched the drama with her. "Isn't that Song Joong Ki?" he asked.

"Yeah."

He sighed at her one-worded reply. "Are you seriously going to be like this?"

She shrugged. "Most likely."

"You're such a child, Rina."

Rina let out an exasperated scoff. "Well I'm sorry for being 4 years younger than you!" she snapped at him. "Sorry for not being Rie!" She slammed her juice box down on the coffee table, grabbed her handbag, and ran out of the apartment.

She hailed for a cab and held in her tears for as long as she could before she reached home.

When she got home, she cried for the rest of the night. Ryan talked to her for hours. They fell asleep with Ryan hugging her.

Rina covered her puffy eyes with make-up when she woke up in the morning. At school when Woohyun greeted her, she replied with a broken smile and a slight nod.

Woohyun was worried, but left it alone because he knew it wasn't any of his business.

During each class break, he would crack corny jokes in hopes of making Rina smile. Some of them could only raise the corners of her lips.

Lunch came and Rina had no appetite. She didn't want to deal with anything so she took a nap alone in the classroom for the whole period.

Woohyun was now beyond worried. By the end of the day, he was dying to know what was wrong with his desk neighbor. He was going to ask her what was wrong but she disappeared from his sight before he could.

Rina did not want to go home. She knew fairly well that Shi Hoo would probably be over and the last person she wanted to see right then was her boyfriend. And so, she wandered around the streets until she passed by a bookstore.

It was cramped and old. Everything was worn out by time. It was silent; it was exactly the place that Rina wanted to pass time in.

Somewhere in a corner of the tiny store was a rocking chair right in the center of where the light from the window shined through. Rina took a random book from the lopsided shelves, sat down, and started reading.

She read until the sun set and she didn't notice that there had been another human being in the store until she had finished her book. Ha Nami was her name, and she brought Rina an old-fashioned lantern. With the lantern as her only source of light, Rina finished all of her homework and continued reading.

When she got tired, she bid Nami farewell with a smile and headed home. It was very late but she didn't care. It didn't matter to her that she hadn't eaten anything all day either, but she managed.

The days became redundant and passed by like that. Rina liked it, actually.

Every day, Woohyun would try cheering her up and it started working. After school, Rina would head straight to the cramped bookstore and read for hours on end until she got bored. She then did her homework, and read again. Sometimes she would talk to Nami while the girl(who was around the same age as Rina) went about taking care of the old books.

Shi Hoo started drinking a lot and Jong Suk had to take him home countless amount of times. Rina was aware of this. She ignored it.

When she felt empty, Rina would cry to herself and Ryan would comfort her until they both fell asleep. The mornings after that, they would act as if nothing happened.

While her relationship with Shi Hoo was in a state of confusion, Rina ran away from it. They avoided each other at all costs but when they did run into each other, they acted as if they were strangers. From just that small argument, the both of them became like this.

Life still went on.

~~~

"Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men,"

-Proverbs 2:12