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 Never in Hyoyi's life did she ever become that shocked when she saw Nam Woohyun (Though she was really shocked about the whole half lives thingy). How many years had it been? Two? Three? ...Five years? She couldn't remember, she couldn't count. She didn't count. The years didn't matter for the surprised girl, but the person itself did. Woohyun returned? What a miracle. Though not many people knew their story, Woohyun played a major role in this one.

 And that is why she needed to hide their relationship.

 But, too bad. Fate was just too playful - Especially with Jung Hyoyi. 

 Why? Because Kim Myungsoo was there. And he could totally see the whole scene.

 "W-Woohyun... What are you doing in here? How... What!?" Hyoyi was confused with Woohyun's grand entrance in her life. "You... Where had you been?" Woohyun calmly took a sip of "his" coffee and asked the girl, "I've been looking for you for years, you know? And I know about Myungsoo." He cleared his throat while Hyoyi was still jaw-dropped. He chuckled, "Close your mouth." He literally closed Hyoyi's mouth. "You'll catch flies." He chuckled. Being the happy-go-lucky person he was, Woohyun didn't care about the situation. What mattered most for him was that Hyoyi was by his side once more. "You..." Hyoyi muttered under her breathe while Woohyun asked to repeat her words again since he didn't her it clearly. 

 "You... You're acting like nothing happened for the past few years!?" Her switched again. Hyoyi was mad once more, thank you for making the situation worse, Nam Woohyun. "I... I can't believe this! Heh. Is fate playing around with me? Am I cursed or what!? What kind of sorcery is this!?" Hyoyi shouted at Woohyun, though he didn't get all those questions. She sounded like a crazy person at that time, which made Myungsoo worried. What the heck is happening?! Whom is she talking to? He neared Hyoyi's table. "What are you talking about - " Woohyun was cut off. "Shut it, Nam Woohyun. I already heard the news, you made Hyorin pretend as me, right? Why would you do that?! Do you hate me that much to the point that you'd replace me?!" Hyoyi was close to tearing up.

 "Woohyun...?" Myungsoo was in front of their tables now with all heads turned into them. Everyone in the cafe was shocked by the commotion. It wasn't only Myungsoo.

 "Where have you been? ...You do know Hyoyi?" Myungsoo asked, making Woohyun more confused.

 "Wait, you know Hyoyi?" Woohyun faced Myungsoo then faced Hyoyi, his eyes itself asking for questions.

 Hyoyi sighed deeply. "You wouldn't wanna know about it, Kim Myungsoo." She shut her eyes close and tried to calm down. "Let me talk with Woohyun for a minute before explaining things, okay?" She asked a favor. Myungsoo nodded as he watched Hyoyi stand up from her seat and dragged Woohyun outside of the cafe. Of course, Myungsoo couldn't stay that far behind so he have to stay somewhere near Hyoyi.

 They left the whole cafe confused.

 Woohyun's eyes grew bigger as he saw the expression in Hyoyi's face as she dragged him out of the room. Clearly, it would always be her usual, save-me-oppa face. But that was in the past. All in the past... The Hyoyi he knew changed, well, not really.

 Well, the first time he met Hyoyi, she was the ice princess of the ice age and not the princess of butter land. But then as soon as Hyoyi grew up, she was gradually changing. She became that fearful, typical dongsaeng. That one little, baby sister who would always hang on the arms of the elder. But since after she entered Middle School, she became self-conscious and went back to her old self again. Was it because of him? He would never know... But  this time, he actually would. "What are you doing in here?!" Hyoyi asked in a whispering-shouting manner. "I'm here because I was looking for you for the past few years!" He answered back. "What? Looking for me? You replaced me!" Hyoyi demanded.

 "I replaced you to buy some time!"

 "...What?" Hyoyi angled her head in confusion. "To... Buy some time?"

 "Yes." Woohyun prepared himself to narrate a story. "When you were gone to I-don't-know-where, I asked Hyorin to replace you. At that time, she seemed like she was looking for you too so I've decided to cooperate with her." He informed. What? Why would Hyorin look for me? Hyoyi raised an eyebrow. "I decided that it needed to be Hyorin to replace you since you two look alike and she seemed like she had enough information about how the way you act and whatsoever. And since she had already accepted it, there was no choice but to continue the plan." Woohyun continued. "I used her to replace you since Umma had been worried and looking for you at that time. To lessen her stress and suspicions in your class, Hyorin replaced you, making them believe that it's really you."

 "Then, what were you doing at that time?" Hyoyi bit her bottom lip, waiting for Woohyun's answer to come. "I was looking for you." He answered. "I was looking day and night, 24/7. And I reached to the point that I didn't attend school for a few days. And now years passed... Le t me ask you, where were you?" Woohyun asked with genuinely worried eyes which were very visible to read. Hyoyi gulped and took a glance at Myungsoo who was just behind them, leaning on the cold wall like a cold city man and kept his eyes straight on the two. "You... Will never know." Hyoyi mumbled the mid-sentence. Woohyun bit his lip and looked at her straight in the eye. He cupped her cheeks and searched her wandering eyes. The sudden action shocked Hyoyi and Myungsoo, who was watching carefully in the background. It made Hyoyi pink. She read Woohyun's eyes and was shocked with the emtions she saw in it. The eyes are the soul of the person, as they say. It was so sad, lonely, desperate and... Empty.

 "Remember that time?"

 Always, you took care of my childishness.

 For listening, I would always be thankful...

 So why would I forget of that time?

 I will never forget about those favors. I hid them inside, along with my feelings...

 ...And tried to never show them again.

 Yesterday, what did you eat?

 What did you do?

 How much did you think of me?

 Why don't you tell me these!

 Me. You. Affection. Love. Like. Hate. 

 ...Is it still not enough?

 That yesterday which passed just like a few years.

 A few years of looking for you. Of finding you...

 Was it just wasted that easily?

  In front of her was her new family. It was the birthday of her new mother at that time and a celebration for her being a part of her new family... Which she didn't need. She glanced at the people in front of her. One by one, she judged her new family memebers. From now on, I'll be in these people's care... She noted on her mind. Jung Hyoyi was not a Jung anymore, but now is a newly transformed Nam. Nam Hyoyi - Her newly given name. Her eyes squinted a little as the realization of eating lunch with her new family came to her... And Hyoyi didn't like it one bit. She tried to keep it in, but there was this urge in her to shout her hate out. To voice it out, to prove it out. To prove that she was never part of this what they call "family".

 In front of her was their lunch placed on the table. There were bunches of food; in fact, it was enough to feed an whole orphanage. In the middle of it was her step-mother's birthday cake. It was of the color pink, with white frostings on top of the cake itself. The words "Happy Birthday" was written in glossy white whip cream on the very middle of the cake. There were a few dots of frosting on the sides of the cake, while there were pink flowers on the edges of the pastry. There were four colored candles by the side of the words "Happy Birthday". They were of the color blue, violet, yellow and pinkish red.

 She glanced at the man in front of her. His name was Nam Woohyun, only a few years older of the middle schooler Hyoyi. He was handsome and very appealing - With that eyesmile and killer smile of his, no woman would not fall for him. He was of average height and had a very messy hairstyle, which added more points for him. Woohyun noticed Hyoyi glancing at him, and he returned it with a smile. It creeped Hyoyi out so much to the point that she wanted to stand up of the table and use diarrhea as her reason for not wanting to eat anymore. She then took another glance at the woman beside Woohyun - Her supposed mother, Mrs. Nam.

 She had a few wrinkles visible under her eyes. She had that motherly smile in her and that kind aura bursting out of her. Hyoyi realized that she was truly a mother. But not hers, that is. Her black hair tied into a loose ponytail - Her hair reached 'till her shoulders. Her small eyes and thin, dry lips; Hyoyi took note of all this. "Is everything alright, my dear?" Mrs. Nam asked while Hyoyi was gulping in some of her juice. The word "dear" nearly made her spit her drink out. It disgusted her; being called "dear" by some stranger she never knew. Just hearing the word sent chills under her spine. 
 

 She hated that one word.

 Since it made her remember about her deceased mother - The only person who called her by that.

 It made her want to cry out loud so badly...

 She slapped the table and stood up, making an impact with Woohyun and Mrs. Nam. They were very surprised and weren't expecting it from her new family member who was supposed to be happy. But instead, she was burning mad inside. Mrs. Nam didn't knew she would behave like that, "Wha... What is wrong, Hyoyi? Is there something wrong about my cooking? Did you not like it? H-Here, I'll change it all back. V-Voice it out, my dear." She stuttered in fear with the little girl. "Don't... Don't call me that!" Hyoyi shouted with her fists clenched. The sudden shouting made Mrs. Nam flinch for a while. Then there was Woohyun who stood up because he couldn't handle what was going on in front of him, "What is wrong, Hyoyi?! Can't you see that Umma's already worried? You don't need to shout, you know!" He scolded the younger.

 "No! You don't understand! And you're not all worried at all!" Hyoyi debated, "If you really are worried, you wouldn't bring me into this family! I want my parents back... I want them back! Where did you hide them?!" She pointed at the two, who seemed really, really scared with Hyoyi's rebellion. They didn't see that coming. "And I... I will never call her "Umma", and I will never treat her as my mother! My mother... She's just out there. I know it. So don't make yourself my mother. Don't feel so close to me when you don't know anything!" Hyoyi's whole face cringed and forced herself not to cry; while Woohyun took her shoulders and shook her whole body. "Hyoyi! Wake up! This is reality! Your parents are dead, and we are the only one you have left!!!" Woohyun reminded Hyoyi, who kept on denying and got loose out of his grasp.

 Hyoyi stomped her feet with her eyes wet and blurred and ran out of the house. The two watched her as she ran without any exact destination. She had to admit that she was childish at that time, but she had a reason to why she rebelled. To why she refused her newly found family, to why she denied the truth... All she wanted was to escape the cruel reality that she had been living on for the past few years of her life. She headed and visited the Han River - All alone, by herself. Hyoyi kept on running and running with her tears falling down on her now wet cheeks. In her mind was all her memories running along, lingering and wandering. The memories made her heart ache - The memories of her once complete, happy and laughing family now faintly sliding away. There was one thing she remembered. 

 The Han River, where they would usually take their Saturday afternoon strolls.

 The river where her father and her would randomly throw rocks and see who would get the farthest.

 The river where they usually held their yearly picnics.

 It was the river where her biological parents died in an accident...

 It was the favorite place of her mother... Who was celebrating her birthday at that time.

Hi peeps.I'm sorry I wasn't updating that much for the past few days. I was really busy trying to catch up with school since I was hospitalized for 2 days and 3 three nights and the days before, I got terribly sick. I tried to make a double update yesterday. But it was an epic fail, lol. So the "double" part is this one posted only today, yeah... Sorry for being so random and awkward. I hope you enjoyed the update! 

-greasyinspirit