November passed and December came. Ah-ra sighed and covered herself with the blanket, she dreaded dinner time because it was always the time that Jinyoung would come over to visit her and not only that, he would always try to drag her out of the house for a date. She couldn't come up with anymore excuses, the first week she had told him that she was sick. Second week, stomach cramps. Third week, busy packing up her things. 

" Not coming down for dinner?" Dal-rae slowly approached her little sister to check up on her.

Ah-ra tightened the grip around her blanket but her sister still managed to pull it off from her. 

" I'm tired." she weakly replied and tried her best to sound like she wasn't feeling well.

Dal-rae ruffled Ah-ra's hair and nodded. 

" I'll bring the food up to you then. Rest well." 

Ah-ra heaved a sigh of relief and leaned against her bedrest, she was glad that she wouldn't have to face Jinyoung today. At least that would make separation easier and at the same time, Dal-rae could spend more time with him at the dinner table. After all, they used to love each other, and Dal-rae was Jinyoung's first love, a man won't easily forget his first love. 

While Ah-ra was deep in her thoughts, Dal-rae proceeded to the kitchen to prepare food for her little sister. The atmosphere was awkward because her parent's were still in a cold fight, because of Ah-ra, they had decided to throw aside the idea of 'divorce'. As she placed the food into a bowl, Jinyoung stood up to call Ah-ra down for dinner. He himself was impatient, he hadn't been able to spend time with her. 

" Jinyoung sshi..." Dal-rae softly called out to him and had her eyes set on the food tray.

" Oh? What is it?" he approached her as he uttered those words.

" Take this to Ah-ra. She's not feeling well. She will definitely feel better with you by her side." she added on and passed the tray to him.

Jinyoung raised his eyebrows and showed his gums, his plan had definitely worked. He was glad that Dal-rae had finally found her own lover and was a much more happier person than before. Having Baro by her side had definitely changed her 360 degrees, matchmaking them together wasn't a bad idea after all. 

" I'm taking this as an action that you're blessing-"

" Of course. The past is truly the past. Make her happy." Dal-rae grinned and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

With the tray in his hands, he made his way to his beloved room. Since she wasn't feeling well, he had been thinking of what he could do to make her laugh and smile. He tilted his head to the side and grimaced at the thought of having to make cute and silly faces, he was bad at it. 

" Oh? You're here already? Need my help?" Shinwoo offered Jinyoung his help by opening the door to Ah-ra's room.

Ah-ra who heard this from her room, immediately slid underneath the covers and grabbed the sides tightly. 

" Thank you, Hyung." he politely bowed and proceeded to enter her bedroom.

He shook his head as soon as he saw her underneath her covers. He placed the tray aside and sat at the corner of the bed, by now he knew that Ah-ra was avoiding him. She had been coming up with excuses to not meet him, ignoring his calls, replying to his texts at a later time. Without even saying a word, he pried the blanket open, revealing Ah-ra's crunched up face. 

" Ha... so what kind of excuse are you going to give me?" he muttered those words and leaned closer towards her face.

" I'm really sick. I... I ate something bad for lunch and... I've got a bad stomach ache...so oppa, you'd better leave. It's infectious." she incoherently uttered those words and reached out for the blanket to cover herself.

Before she could do that, Jinyoung pulled the blanket away and swiftly picked her up into his arms. 

" We should get you to the hospital then. It's been 3 weeks. I'm worried." 

Ah-ra widened her eyes and bit her lips hard, now that she was in his arms, there was no way to escape or even make an excuse. 

" but I don't want to go to the hospital. It's costly." she retaliated and tried to stand up on her own.

Seeing that she was struggling so much in his arms, he placed her down on the couch and approached Shinwoo who was busy eating. Without even saying a word, he understood what Jinyoung was asking for, he went up to the first aid kit box and brought out the needle box. Jinyoung let out a slight smirk and gratefully took the box from Shinwoo's hands. 

" No..." Ah-ra furrowed her eyebrows and hid her face in between the couch pillow.

" This will make a disrespectful brat like you feel better." Jinyoung thought to himself and grabbed Ah-ra's thumb.

Shinwoo tried his best to not laugh and continued to stuff food into his mouth, since Ah-ra was trying to play hard to get, it was fun to add fuel to the fire. 

" That's the best remedy for a bad stomach ache. Don't worry, you'll feel better in a jiffy." he sarcastically commented and shook his head while smiling.

Jinyoung nodded his head in agreement and tied a string around her thumb to constrict the bloodflow.. Making sure that he had sanitized the needle with the alcohol wipes, he slowly brought the needle closer to the edge of her thumb.

" Go out on a date with me or get prick by this needle." he whispered those words into her ears and bit his cheeks to hide his amusement.

" Fine..." she clenched her teeth together and stood up to pick her coat.

The cold wind blew against the both of them, Jinyoung shrugged his shoulders and pouted. He didn't understand why Ah-ra was as cold as the weather today. She wasn't smiling nor was she cracking up jokes. He was afraid of upsetting her by saying something that he shouldn't say, throughout the walk, she didn't even turn around to look at him. He tried to search for the problem but he just couldn't find any. They were just fine the other time.

" Are you upset with me?" he carefully walked up next to her and observed her facial expressions.

" No." she answered him coldly and avoided eye contact.

He tilted his head to the left and scratched his neck.

" Are you avoiding me?" he squinted his eyes and expressed himself in frustration.

Ah-ra blinked her eyes repeatedly at his sudden words, he was right at the spot. For a moment, she felt really guilty because she was the one seeking an argument with him, he did nothing wrong but here she was making him crack his head to find the reason to why she was acting like a brat towards him and making stupid excuses.

" So...you're really avoiding me?" he raised his eyebrows and reached out for her hands.

" How did you figure that out..." she muttered those words under her breath and pouted.

" Ah... I get it. Before I elaborate on that...let's get something light to eat." he grabbed her closer to his body and walked down the streets with a huge smile on his face.

The both of them headed towards the nearest cafe and sat down for a cup of coffee. Jinyoung surveyed the cafe and ordered sandwiches for the both of them, after all Ah-ra wasn't in the mood to eat since she was acting like a child with that pout on her lips. He sighed and reached out for his wallet while he paid for the orders. With the food in his hands, he gently placed it on the table and took his seat. He lovingly stared at her and couldn't resist his temptation to pinch her lips.

" Aigoo. You're 21 and you're still acting like a baby. So...about this thing called ignoring me..." he commented and bit into his sandwich.

" Onni really likes you a lot! Wait, she loves you. She deserves you more than me because I'm not perfect-" before she could even fully explained herself, she was cut short by him.

" For once, I wanted someone that would be afraid to lose me. I'm always the one terrified of losing the people I hold close to. I doubt that anyone would ever fight to keep me in their life, and you, Shin Ah-ra have successfully proved that theory. I'm disappointed. I'll...I'll just eat. Don't bother about it. Yup. Just abandon me." he lowered his voice and focused on his sandwich.

Ah-ra panicked as soon as she saw tears glistening in his eyes, had she really hurt him so much by just one mere sentence? True enough, he spilled tears while stuffing himself with the sandwich. He was a man with little tears, the last time he had cried for days and night was after being dumped by the girl he loved, but now yet again, just when he thought that he had finally found his true love, she had actually been planning to abandon him. Ah-ra was different to him, she was special to him, she made him realize that being mean was going to get him nowhere. She made him kick his habit of stuffing himself while eating, it was a habit that was inhabited in him after Dal-rae had told him that he was too skinny. 

" Oppa..." she guiltily reached out to grab the food away from him but he simply swallowed it all down.

She blinked her eyes repeatedly and watched him cover his face with his hands. He was crying silently. Ah-ra placed her hands behind her neck and tried to find a way to make him feel better, like cracking a joke. Even after much persuading, nothing she did cheered him up. Like a small child, the more she tried to make him smile, the more he louder his cries would get.

" I'm really sorry. What can I do to make you feel better? Oppa...Jinyoung oppa..." as she comforted him, she took the seat next to him and patted his back.

" Ignoring m-my calls, r-rejecting dates, n-not wan-wanting to see me. I...I can tolerate it but..." he choked on his tears and incoherently spoke while gasping for air to breathe.

" Don't cry... I'm really sorry. Should we go on a date now? Please smile for once... I won't do bad things anymore so-"

Jinyoung shook his head at her words, he was too upset. She was leaving in 30 days, three weeks had been wasted. 

" Let's go." he stood up abruptly and walked out of the Cafe without waiting for her.

" Oppa, wait for me. Where are we going?" Ah-ra bit her lips hard as soon as Jinyoung flagged for a cab.

" Get inside, take this. I'll call you in a bit." he passed Ah-ra a package and directed the taxi driver to the destination.

He slammed the door shut and walked away without looking back. Ah-ra tried to make him stop by knocking on the window to attract his attention but he never looked back, she slumped into the seat and sighed. He was totally mad at her, she thought. She fiddled around with the package and shook it, but there was no sound.

" Wonder what he's up to..." she mumbled to herself and looked out of the window. 

She blamed herself for making him cry and throughout the whole journey, she was literally cursing herself for making such a sweet and caring person like Jinyoung shed tears just because of her own selfish acts. How could she even come up with the decision to leave him when all she gave him was sweet memories and beautiful promises.

" A man that shed tears for you is a keeper. It means that no one else could love that girl more than him."

Those were the words that Shinwoo had said a few years ago during one of their night talks. Ah-ra cupped her chin and took a moment to reflect on her own actions. 

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An update! Busy with school work and projects but tried my best to come up with this chapter. ^^ Sorry.