Sehun woke up with a loud gasp.  His whole body was covered in cold sweat as he tried to swallow with his racing heart.  Instead, he ended up with a coughing fit.  He quickly glanced around the dark room and realized that it was just a dream.  A simple dream. 

            He slipped out of bed and out the bedroom.  After he drank a tall glass of water, he his coffee machine.  He walked out onto the balcony of his condo as he watched the sunrising over Seoul, bringing life to the bustling metropolitan city.  He stared down into the city, in hopes of finding her.

            It had been 10 years already since she left suddenly without a word.  He had even tried to find her through private agencies, but she had disappeared without a trace along with Lee Jongsuk.  He hoped that even though he wasn’t able to provide the care and love she longed for, that at least Jongsuk was able to.  Grandfather Kim had left, too, after she did and cutted off all contacts with the Oh family.  The promise he and Grandfather Oh made couldn’t be kept.

            I wonder where Minah is, thought Sehun before the beeper on the coffee machine went off.  The sound of it pulled him back to reality, back to where he should be and not the past.

            It was a good thing that Miss Song, his secretary, had left a note in his car to remind him about going to the school.  Lotte have been sponsoring and supporting many impoverished elementay schools in the less affulent districts of Seoul for many years now.  Since Mr. Oh and Sangchul are both out of country in Japan, it was Sehun’s duty to visit all the schools and see how Lotte’s charity is supporting the schools and children’s lives.

            For this morning, Sehun will have to go to Kwanghoon Elementary school, located in the Yeongdeungpo District.  The school had went through some rough patches in the past with limited textbooks and school supplies for the children.  On top of it all, the roof of 4 of the class rooms fell last year during the winter vacation due to the corroding wood.  Lotte immediately stepped in since the school district was already in a low budget since the school year was already ending.

            When he got to the school, the principal quickly showed him  around the school and the new roof the company had helped with.  Sehun was able to go to each classroom and breifly met with the children.  Then, he decided to have lunch with them.  He was happy that he was able to help out these disadvantaged children in all the ways he could with his father’s company.  Their innocent, happy smiles warmed his heart as they shyly hugged him when he bid good bye.

            Before he drove away from the school, he wondered how his miscarried child would be like in school.  It would have been at least 9 years old if the accident never happened.  Sehun quickly pulled out his wallet and fished for the small, laminated sonogram picture of the dead child.

            The sound of his phone going off startled him as he quickly placed the picture  aside.  “Hi, Mom.” answered Sehun.

            “Yah, Oh Sehun.” said Mrs. Oh.  “Remember that you have a date tonight, alright?  I don’t want you to bail out on another girl.  The matchmaker will pull you out of the program and I did not spend millions of wons on this just for you to ignore all these suitable bachelorettes.”

            Mrs. Oh had been trying to get Sehun to date again after his one and only girlfriend after Minah left and dumping Krystal, Hwayoung.  They were together for 2 years, but Sehun knew that something wasn’t right and decided to end the relationship.  Even though Hwayong was the perfect woman and was similar in some ways to Minah, he just didn’t love her the same way.

            “OK, OK.  I’ll go.” agreed Sehun, being slightly irriated.  The last thing he wanted was to have an argument with his mother in the middle of an elementray school parking lot.  “I just forgot last time, Mom.  It wasn’t on purpose.”

            His eyes travelled to the picture of the fetus as it sat on the passenger’s seat.  He knew it all too well that he didn’t show up at the last blind date because he didn’t want to.  The sound of Mrs. Oh’s voice drowned in the memory of Minah’s laughs, as Sehun felt a shiver go down his spine.  The skin of his right hand tingled as he remembered her soft, gentle touch when they held hands.  After talking to his mother, he drove towards Gangnam, but his mind was anywhere but stuck in the past. 

            Has it truly been 10 years?, thought Oh Sehun.

            To Mrs. Oh’s disappointment, the blind date didn’t go as well as she had anticipated.  The moment the taxi drove his date away, he called his mom to tell her that he want this “matchmaking crap” anymore.  She was so frustrated with him that she refused to talk to him for 2 weeks.  Whether he was invited to her 50^th birthday party or not, he was there.  Sehun caught his mother’s dirty look across the room as he held his 2 year old niece in his arms.  He just smiled and she narrowed her eyes at him, as she walked over. 

            If anything, she should be happy that she already have grandchildren from Sangchul, thought Sehun.  His older brother got married 4 years ago to a lovely Japanese woman.  Hana is their first born and they have another one that will be due soon.  Our family will grow and continue to be happy even if I have a loveless life, Mom.

            “I don’t understand why can’t you just date again.” asked Mrs. Oh, quietly as she came to his side.

            “Grandma, Grandma.” laughed Hana, as she reached out for her. 

            Mrs. Oh smiled as Hana came into her arms.  Then, her smile dropped as she turned to Sehun.  “There is a sweet girl that I would like you to meet.  Her name is Shin Joo, who is the niece of the CFO of the Shin Cooperation.” she suggested.  “She is younger than you by 2 years and graduated from Yonsei as well with a Bussiness Management degree.  She is currently heading the Community Outreach department at Shin Cooperation.  She has many hobbies like hiking, surfing, and kick boxing.  I’ve meet her many times before and she is polite, smart, and quite generous.  Maybe you two can even start a non-profit organization or something.”

            Sehun barely retained any of the information his mother just told him.  It sounded like she recited all these facts of the woman from a script or something.  He was uninterested and didn’t care.  But, Mrs. Oh did.  Knowing well that he didn’t want his mother to be upset at him over something as simple as dating, he forced himself.

            “I’ll consider her.” said Sehun, with a monotone voice.

            “Really?” asked Mrs. Oh.  “Then, you can meet her tonight since she is accompanying her uncle after all.”

            Sehun forced a smile and nodded his head.  “I’ll meet her later then.” he said.

            “Sehun,” smiled Mrs. Oh, happily.  “I’m so excited that you are thinking about this.”  She turned to Hana and laughed.  “Oh my little Hana, you and your brother might have a little cousin soon.”

            Sehun had an urge to roll his eyes, but didn’t respond to it.  “I’ll be back, Mom.” he said, as he excused himself. 

            He didn’t want to tell her that he wanted to go upstairs to his old bedroom.  Mrs. Oh had been against him holding onto Kim Minah after she realized that his last relationship didn’t work out because he was still holding on.  It wasn’t that she was, now, against the girl…  It was that she just wanted him to move on and be happy without her, but he couldn’t.  He didn’t want to forget about her and the warm feelings he had for her.  He wanted to keep her nestled up in his memories, forever haunting him with wispy dreams.

            As he stepped up the staircase, guilt found its way into the pit of his stomach.  He haven’t been back in the room ever since he started his relationship with Hwayoung.  After being away for 5 years, he had never felt so regretful before about abandoning the room and leaving it in darkness as he did to Minah.  The only proof he had left that the girl was ever in his life was what that was still in that room, the minimal pictures he had with her, and his memories.

             Sehun opened the door and was startled to see a figure in the room.  She was quite short with a bob haircut and a round body even with her back facing him.  Her dress looked cheap, simple, and unfitting for her body type.  If anything, it accentuated her body type rather than flatter it.  Who ever she was, it was obvious that she didn’t fit in the party and he narrowed his eyes at her.

            ”Who are you?” he asked, sternly.

            She seemed distracted by the wedding photos of him and Minah.  He didn’t want to leave to get a maid to get the woman out, afraid that she might steal something important such as Minah’s jewlery.  Mr. Oh had given Minah a beautiful earring and necklace set as one of their wedding gifts and it was still sitting in the closet, untouched.  Suddenly, the woman looked over her shoulders at him and turned around.

            She didn’t say anything, but quickly stepped past Sehun and out the door.  She wasn’t carrying a purse nor did her dress seemed to have any pockets.  She didn’t have any jewerly on so Sehun calmed down a bit.  He quickly closed the door behind him and locked the door.

            “What a weirdo.” he muttered under his breath, as he took in a deep breath.

            He quickly walked into the closet and the lights.  The only clothes left were Minah’s.  He had moved out 5 years ago and took all of his belongings so the only things left were hers, to preserve his memories of her.  He immediately checked the jewerly drawer and everything was intact.  He walked out and frowned at the dust that collect all over the room.  His parents must had told the maids to not clean the room anymore after he moved out.  They must had also forgotten to tell them to put protective covers over the funitures to protect them. 

            A distinct layer of dust piled on the sofa as Sehun dragged his finger across the arm rest.  He let out a sigh as he stepped into the bathroom.  All of her skin care items were still in place along with her feminine hygine products like her pads were still there, as if she never left.  After checking the bathroom, Sehun walked over to his desk.  Her study books for the college entrance exam was still there along with the college text books she abandoned.

            From what Sehun remembered, she dropped out of school not long after she left him.  Jongsuk graduated the following Febuary and he tried to confront the man.  The guy wouldn’t spill the beans on where Minah was.  Sehun even tried to follow him home in hopes to see Minah, but he was one step ahead of him.  Jongsuk had led him to a place nowhere near where Minah was located and Sehun gave up trying to find her himself.  After going to the professionals, they claimed that she disappeared without a trace after dropping out of Yonsei.

            Did she die?, thought Sehun, in horror.  Where in the world could she be if she disappeared without a trace?

            Knowing well that Mrs. Oh will start questioning where he was, he quickly turned off the lights and headed back downstairs.  As he walked down the steps, he could see his mother talking to the woman he met in the room earlier.  His mother seemed to be genuinely happy as she smiled at the mysterious person.  Suddenly, she hugged her which Sehun thought was strange.  He didn’t know that his mother had a young friend like her.

            She’s probably from one of the charities or volunteer sites Mom works with, thought Sehun.

            The woman already bid his mother good bye and left by the time he stepped on the first floor.  He smiled as he walked over to her.  “Who is she, Mom?” he asked.

            “O-Oh, Sehun.” she said, startled.  “You scared me.”

            “Sorry.” he apologized.

            “She’s just a close friend that I never talked about.” explaied Mrs. Oh.

            Sehun nodded his head, as he glanced toward the door as she exited.  “She looks like someone from the lower class.  How did you two met?  Through volunteering?”

            “No,” replied Mrs. Oh.  “Through a strange series of unfortunate events.”  With that, she excused herself and left to greet other guests.

            Sehun flashed a confused look at his mother’s back as she walked away.  What does she mean by that?, he thought.

AUTHOR’S NOTE:

            Hope you all enjoyed this update!!!  Sorry, it’s been forever since I wrote anything.  >_<  I’ve been super busy, but hopefully this update will keep you all excited about this story!!  ^^

LOVE,

loveFORyunho