Hello guys, I just want to apologise once again for being so late with my update. I've been having trouble writing all my stories recently and so, a chapter now takes longer for me to write. Plus I've been rather busy with my job as well (since its the holidays and I want to gain more experience and of course, earn some $$). Thank you so much for waiting. I really appreciate it <3

*Hyukjae’s POV*

“I’m hungry,”

“What?”

 “I..I’m hungry,”

Haemin stood up to walk away, causing me to frown.

“I just confessed to you and your reply is that you’re hungry?! Yah, wait for me!”I shouted as I ran after her.

After catching up with her, I suggested that we grab some spicy rice cake at the shop that we always passed by back in high school. Receiving a small nod as a response, I couldn’t help the smile on my face. While walking, I suddenly thought of something and I nudged her.

“Do you want to race there?”I asked.

“Race?”she frowned.

“Like how we did back in high school,”I grinned.

There was once when I failed a maths test despite her tutoring and I had been really depressed. Haemin wanted to cheer me up and she suggested that we race to the spicy rice cake shop. I had declined her offer since I wasn’t in the mood. However, she didn’t listen to me and proceeded to ring the doorbell of a house. Hearing the front door open, she quickly ran off while giggling. Feeling scared that the owner would think that I was the one who rang it, I ran after Haemin as well and we ended up laughing so hard when we reached the spicy rice cake shop. It was thanks to her small prank that I was able to smile and laugh after seeing my test results.

“Are you crazy? We’re 22 now, for goodness sake,”Haemin almost rolled her eyes.

“So? We’re young at heart. So do you want to race?”I asked again.

“No,”she answered curtly.

“Okay then…,”I shrugged as I drifted further away from her.

“What are you doing?”she turned to stare at me.

I reached for the doorbell of a small house near us and Haemin’s eyes got bigger.

“Lee Hyukjae, STOP!”

But a loud ringing bell could be heard.

“You can run for all you want. I’m walking,”Haemin shook her head.

At that instant, the front door opened and I didn’t have much time to think. I grabbed her hand and ran off. That was when I heard it, a small giggle escaped from her and when I turned to look at her; she was smiling from ear to ear. Seeing that, I couldn’t stop the smile on my face either. By the time we reached the convenience store next to the shop, we were laughing our heads off and panting a little.

“Let’s go in and cool down a little. I can’t eat spicy rice cakes in this state. I’ll perspire even more,”Haemin chuckled as she opened the door to the convenience store.

I followed after her and entered the store. She was standing near the fridge, thinking of which drink to get. She opened the door and grabbed something before throwing it to me. What landed in my hands was a carton of strawberry milk. She grabbed a carton of banana milk for herself before smiling at me.

“My treat,”she gestured towards the counter.

After paying for our milk, we settled down to rest and seeing as how she has beads of perspiration on her forehead, I reached out to wipe them away. Immediately, Haemin turned to look at me, giving me a small smile as she pushed my hand away gently.

“I’ll do it myself,”she cleared .

“Stay at my house while we’re in Incheon, please?”I spoke up all of a sudden.

Haemin’s smile disappeared and she looked like she was actually thinking over my suggestion which I was quite happy about. It beats having her reject my suggestion immediately, right?

“Choco misses you,”I blurt out without thinking.

That caused her to laugh and her pretty eye smile finally appeared.

“I’m only staying because of Choco,”

With that, I drank my strawberry milk with a silly smile on my face.

*End of Lee Hyukjae’s POV*

*Haemin’s POV*

After our meal at the spicy rice cake shop, I told Hyukjae that I needed some time alone. Though he seemed reluctant about leaving me, he still did after making me promise to go back to his house saying that he had called Choco to say I’ll be there and that I can’t go back on my words. We parted ways after many rounds of goodbyes and I made my way towards my own house. My mother doesn’t work and stays home all day and though I wasn’t planning on meeting her, I still wanted to see how she was coping. I envisioned her being all happy with her new family but when I reached the house, my heart fell.

There was a small hole in the wall that surrounded my house where I used to peek out from the inside and when I looked in, I wasn’t able to see my mother. The whole house was dark and it was as if there’s nobody in there. Hearing footsteps, I quickly turned around to see who it was.

“Who are you looking for?”

It was my neighbour.

“I’m looking for my….I mean, Mrs…Mrs Yang,”my heart aching as I addressed her with her new husband’s surname instead.

“Mrs Yang…? You mean the mother of this house? I heard she moved out,”she frowned.

“She moved out? Why?”I asked.

“After her daughter moved to Seoul, it seemed she got a little depressed. Everyday she would argue with her husband. The last I heard, they got divorced last month. Only the father and son lives here now,”she replied.

“Divorced?!”I was in total shock.

My mother nearly got into a depression when she went through the divorce with my father. She couldn’t handle another one.

“Do you know where is she now?”I asked.

“Why do you want to know? Who are you?”she frowned.

“She’s my mother! I’m Haemin. Where is she staying at now?”I asked again.

“Haemin? Omo, you’ve changed so much…..Wait here. She actually left something for you,”

She hurried towards her house and I couldn’t stand still while waiting for her. When she was finally back, she passed an envelope to me. On the piece of paper inside was just an address with nothing else written in it.

“Thank you so much. I’m going to look for my mother now,”I bowed.

“Send my regards!”

*End of Haemin’s POV*

End of Chapter

DarkAngel