Yuna checked her phone for what seemed like the millionth time that week. She had left her house and had been wandering around the town to hide. She found herself being at Square 1 again. She couldn’t trust living beside Jonghyun so she had to run away again. She had tried contacting her dad countless of times, but he had yet to return back her calls. Her anxiety increased with each passing second, worried that the thugs were going to jump on her anytime.

Hyejeong had been calling her countless of times but she had ignored them all. She had only told her that she was quitting the job and didn’t offer any other explanation to it. Her stomach growled as she continued walking aimlessly. She had almost used up all her savings and was down to her last 10 bucks. She entered a bread shop and ordered the cheapest set she could afford.

As she sat down munching slowly on her bread, her mind wandered off to her dad again.

“Appa, where are you?” she mumbled to herself again. “They found me. I’m scared.”

“Yuna-ah,” a voice interrupted her chain of thoughts.

She looked up and immediately froze at the sight of the man in front of her.

“Jonghyun-ssi,” she uttered.

She immediately stood up, knocking over her chair as she did so. Slowly, she backed away from him, afraid that he might hurt her. He approached her quickly.

“Yuna-ah, I’m not going to hurt you. Believe me,” he kept saying.

Although she still couldn’t trust him, she had no other choice but to give in. She was blocked by him and there was nowhere she could go. Jonghyun stepped closer to her and she tried to act brave and stared him in the eye. But instead of hurting her, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in for a hug. She felt a sense of warmness in his arms and she could feel her heart beating faster.

“What are you doing?” she whispered, fidgeting to get out of his clutch.

He hugged tighter, and whispered back into her ears. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Why did you run away?”

Yuna pushed him with all her might, and finally got him off of her. “I need to get away from you! I’m not safe around here and I don’t trust you!”

“And you think running away on your own is safe? Do you know how fast those men can find you? The best thing you can do right now is trust me!”

She watched him with widened eyes, taken aback by his exasperated tone.

“I’m going to protect you from those guys. So don’t run away anymore. Stay with me, and I’ll help you,” he told her.

 “Why are you acting like this?”

“Like what?”

“Like you care about me,” she finally found the word.

He was stumped and didn’t answer immediately. He looked like he had just realized his own actions. He looked back at Yuna then took a step back, realizing he had crossed the line of comfort between two people. He returned to being the silent cold guy she was used to.

“Mian,” he uttered.

Seeing his disappointed face, Yuna felt guilty for sounding harsh towards him. He really did look like he was speaking the truth and was sincere with his words. She wasn’t used to being offered help.

“Aniyo, it’s fine. Do you want to sit with me?” she asked him softly. “I still want to finish up my bread.”

He darted his eyes from Yuna to the bread on the table then nodded like a little kid. He followed Yuna as she sat back down munching on her bread. He sat there silently, watching her eat up her bread. Feeling uncomfortable, Yuna tried to ease the tension again.

“Do you have money now?” she asked.

He checked his pockets, and nodded again.

“Do you mind buying me more?” she asked. “I’ve only got enough for this and I’m starving.”

At first, he looked at her blankly, as if waiting for her to tell him she was kidding. But when he realized she was serious, he laughed and stood up to buy more bread for her. Yuna smiled as he left her, knowing she had succeeded.

They walked off together after buying the bread. Yuna had agreed to return back home after Jonghyun pointed out that she was penniless.

“I do care about you, you know,” he suddenly told her.

“Hmm?”

“I’m not just acting like I care about you. I do really care about you. Whatever you’ve done in the past, I still consider you as a friend.”

Yuna didn’t respond and continued walking in silence. She could see their building but she stopped. She had to tell him the whole story. He deserved at least that.

“I’m sorry,” she started off by apologizing. “For what I did to your brother. I hadn’t meant to.”

He didn’t say anything and continued looking at her, so she continued.

“He had my father tied up and he was going to hurt him. I couldn’t just watch my father die in his hands like that. So I..I..with my hands..”

Yuna could never bring herself to say it out loud. Jonghyun stepped closer and placed her hands into his.

“You don’t have to explain it to me,” he told her.

His hands felt warm on hers and for a moment, she forgot what she was talking about.

“But what I’ve done in the past affects you. This is not something you can just forget and forgive,” she mumbled.

“There’s a reason why I’m a musician in this town. I got sick of my father’s ways and I didn’t want to be like him. That’s why I cut off all ties and ran away here with Yonghwa.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“So you can see that family isn’t as important to me as it is to you. You love your father. I hate mine. My brother got killed because he wanted to be in that business of thugs. He got what he deserves and it’s been three years. So, no, I don’t have any hard feelings towards you for doing what you did. I’m here for you.”

“Why are you being so nice to me?”

He looked into her eyes, and for a moment, she thought he was going to say something, but then he let go of her hands and continued walking.