Ilhoon is speechless as Min-Ji begins to break down. Her breathing becomes shaky and she slides her hand into her short hair, gripping at it tightly trying to not cry. But after four years of not talking about it and keeping it to herself, it painfully reopened old wounds.

She never would have thought that she would be spilling her past to Ilhoon like this. For the past three years Mi-Sun and her had been coming here for ice cream, and the first time happened to be Ilhoon's first day working here. He spilled ice cream all over Min-Ji and she would have beat him half to death if Mi-Sun hadn't convinced her to calm down. And since then they had chatted often about their lives when Ilhoon was on a break. Two years after they first came here Sungjae started working here also and they would pick on the new employee lightheartedly. But even after knowing him for so long, she had grown used to the idea that people couldn't be trusted.

After the incident, Min-Ji's family moved. Her and her siblings transferred schools, and the boys who attacked her were expelled after Key exposed them to the principal. The principal was nice enough to understand that the reason behind there expulsion would be kept private so Min-Ji wouldn't have to deal with people talking about it. For a few months Min-Ji wouldn't speak to anyone about what happened, so only Key knew the full story. She knew that it had been Yun-Hee who set her up, and in her frightened state she had told that to Key, but he never said anything about it to anyone knowing his sister wouldn't want that.

When they moved she cut her hair and stopped trying to fit in, she didn't want to meet people like Yun-Hee again and she didn't want to talk to anyone anyways. To Min-Ji, other people became low, she began to judge everything they did and didn't want to associate with them. The only people she would trust were the ones her brother trusted. Then there was the two at the ice cream parlor, who she bacame close to without even realizing it. And her sister really liked them as well, and she was happy her sister could make friends so easily and be happy.

But now, telling all of this to him, she didn't feel so tough anymore. She had always been strong, or so she thought. But now that she thinks back to the past four years of her life she was just afraid. Afraid to get hurt again. And knowing that she had been hiding from her past made her feel worse. That was four years of her life, gone. Without being able to accept her past and running away from everyone who tried to approach her by being cold.

When she begins to sob Ilhoon knows he should get her out of here, where there were prying eyes. "Sungjae take over my shift." he says, taking off his apron and throwing it to the boy. Sungjae is about to object, but sees Min-Ji crying and nods silently. Ilhoon bends down in front of Min-Ji and put his hand on her shoulder. "Come on, lets get out of here." She nods, sniffling and gets up letting him lead her out onto the streets. As they walk she tries hard to hold her tears in, only letting a few slip.

Soon they arrive at a quiet park, and he sits her down on a bench. "It's ok to cry now, Min-Ji. Nobody will see here." he says softly.

Min-Ji doesn't hesitate to let her tears fall once again, and she sits their sobbing on the bench. It felt good to let out all of her pent-up emotions, and she didn't want to hold it in any longer now that she has started to let them out. She planned on crying until her tears run dry, and Ilhoon is willing to stay with her until that happens. "Wh-Why..." she sobs. "I've been ignoring people this whole time and it's not their fault. It's mine. my own insecurities. I feel so stupid!" Ilhoon rubs her back as she lets everything out. "And now that I've finally realized that it's too late. Everyone hates me, and now I don't have any friends."

"I thought we just explaines to you that we are your friends, Min-Ji." she looks up at his smiling innocent face. "You aren't alone, and you never will be. You will always have Mi-Sun. and your brother. And you have me and Sungjae, as well as all of the other employees at the parlor, too." he reassures her comfortingly. Seeing him trying so hard to comfort her she feels regret.

"I'm sorry..." she says quietly.

"Don't be."

"Well, for once, I am sorry. I'm sorry for not realizing that you guys were my friends. I'm sorry for spilling all of this onto you, when you shouldn't have to deal with this. I'm sorry I haven't exactly been the most pleasant person..." Min-Ji apoligises uncomfortably.

Ilhoon chuckles. "You got that right."

"YAH!" she yells at him, punching him in the shoulder.

"Feel better now?"

For a second she thinks. It did feel really good to get this all off her chest. She hadn't cried like that since the night the incident had happened. Since then she promised herself to forget about it and never cry about it again. But even though she was just crying, everything seemed clearer now. Min-Ji nods. "I guess I do feel better."

"Good, I'm glad you could open up to me. You always seemed so distant, but now I feel like we're closer."

Min-Ji silently nods, looking out at the park. Having a friend feels so surreal. She had spent years only having her sister and brother, and sometimes her brother's friends but she had never really made one on her own. Even in elementary school she had only found a fake friend out of Yun-Hee.

"...Ilhoon?"

"Yes?"

"I'm glad your my friend." she looks at him and smiles a real smile, not faked, just a real happy smile.

Sorry... no Yonghwa... I will get back to him next chapter :) What do you guys think so far? If anyone is still reading, lol. I feel like nobody is... If thats the case I will just take a brak from this story cuz i have 2 other online ones to work on and 1 I am writing offline.