Heeyoung grabbed her sweater and walked straight to the front door as she woke up.

"Ya! Where are you going? You haven't even had your breakfast! Heeyoung-ah!" she could hear her mom yelling from the kitchen. She didn't even bother to answer it. I don't give a damn. She slammed the front door.

It had been her 3rd day without talking to her mother since Heeyoung had been emotional lately. She didn't understand what the exact problems were, but she just hated everything. Everything seemed wrong.

She ended up at the apartment's park after buying her breakfast from the convenience store across the street. She would rather spend her bucks than to have breakfast with her mom. If Niel was here, I wouldn't be this desperate. The situation wasn't kind enough to her. Everything isn't fair. The world's not fair.

She held her cup ramen while thinking about Niel. She just missed that kid very much. She was the one begging to her parents on the first day they moved to the US. Then, she's back in Seoul and deep in her heart she's begging to move back to the US. You can't always get what you want, Heeyoung. Screw it.

She didn't realize she was crying all along, holding her uneaten cup ramen. She wiped her tears and started to eat. She couldn't taste anything but she just forced herself to eat or else her weak body could make another problem she had to solve.

"Hi." Someone waved his hand in front of her face, startling her. Oh gosh, I'm daydreaming again. She raised her head and there he was. A cute boy around her age was staring at her just a few inches from her face.

"Woah! You surprised me!" Heeyoung half shouted at the boy's face.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I've been wondering if you're okay. You've been sitting here daydreaming, sobbing, daydreaming, and then sobbing again. I'm just worried," the boy explained.

Great, Heeyoung. Now even a stranger worried about you. "I'm fine," she forced a smile.

"Nah, you're not. At least I can see you're still got your sanity there," the boy said in sarcasm. No, I'm not. "Well, I'm Ricky. I haven't seen you around here before. Do you live here?"

"Okay, I admit it. I'm not fine right now," Heeyoung answered, defeated. "I'm Heeyoung and I don't live here. I'm an intruder."

"What?! You should leave before the keeper got you here!" Ricky was panicking from Heeyoung's answer.

She chuckled at his reaction. "Gotcha. Why you're so stupid to believe my joke. Well, the joke was only the last part. I really am Heeyoung. You're so funny, Ricky. Look at your face!" her laughter grew bigger.

Ricky's face was burning red. "Ya! You're not funny, you know!" he pouted.

"I am not. You're the one funnier!" she replied, still laughing. The boy named Ricky had made her feel better somehow. Maybe he just got an entertaining look. "Nice to meet you, Ricky. I live on 6th floor." She smiled at him as she finally recovered from her laughter.

"You look prettier now although I had to sacrifice myself to be laughed at. You're smiling now after all." He smiled back at her. "I live in 7th floor. But I haven't seen you around here before."

"It's my first week here. I just moved back from the US," she explained to Ricky whom then sitting beside her.

"Why do you look so troubled?" he asked curiously.

"Things don't go well lately." Heeyoung stared blankly. "I just don't want to be home right now, that's why I'm here."

******

The bell rang.

"Wait a moment," Ricky told Heeyoung before he ran to the front door.

Heeyoung was randomly flipping through the TV channels. She’d been staying at Ricky's place, stupidly agreed when Ricky asked her to visit his place somehow. He even made her lunch. His cooking was quite good for a boy at his age. They shared a lot about their lives. Heeyoung herself didn't understand why she could easily open herself to Ricky, but not for L.Joe.

"Heeyoung-ssi, this is my brother." Ricky was dragging along a taller boy beside him. The older boy looked confused. "Say something!" Ricky snarled at him.

"Ya!" the older boy frowned. He changed his facial expression towards Heeyoung right away, "H-hello, Heeyoung-ssi? I'm Chunji. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Chunji-ssi." She smiled and gave him a slight bow.

"How long have you been here, Heeyoung-ssi? My brother must’ve treated you poorly. I'm sorry," Chunji asked. There's a little fight right after he finished his sentence. It's Ricky attacking Chunji.

She went silent. Seeing them teasing each other made her missed Niel even more, remembering the good old times when she used to do that with Niel.  She shook her head a bit, "I've been here for hours." She grinned awkwardly. "And no, he's not! He even made me lunch and it's not bad to be honest."

"Ah, don't try to make him flattered! I know how his dish tastes like." And they fought again. Ricky was really lucky to have a funny brother like Chunji. "Why don't you have dinner with us here? I brought some food," Chunji offered.

"Just say yes!" Ricky convinced her.

"Okay." Heeyoung agreed, followed by Ricky's cheer and Chunji's smile.

Let me forget my problems for a while.

******

Minsoo had been keeping his eyes on the couple for days. No, they're not a couple, he thought, forcing himself to think positively. They just seem to be so close. The couple didn't realize that Minsoo had been eyeing them. They're at the school field's side just chatting and joking as usual. Minsoo couldn't think straight anymore. He had to admit that the new girl's charm had attracted him slowly but surely although in a weird way, but he just couldn't do anything since the last incident between him and her. She seemed to hate him very much. He didn't mean it to be that serious though. He kicked a pebble and decided to leave as he couldn't stand them anymore.

******

"You look better these days," L.Joe started.

"I may look so. But not really." Heeyoung shrugged, not yet wanting to tell him about her family problem. She didn't heart to tell him that she's a bit better because of Ricky, her new friend, either. "I'm sorry if I annoyed you with this behavior I have. I'm just not ready to share it with others, yet." She looked at L.Joe. Actually I don't want you to take pity on me. She still felt guilty towards L.Joe who she’d known longer than Ricky for not sharing with him about her life while she almost had spilled everything to Ricky.

"It's okay. I won't force you to. I'm just worried about you. I want to remind you to take care of yourself still. No matter how many problems you have." He smiled sincerely. "Just tell me if you want to share and need help. I'll be there for you." He put his hand on top of Heeyoung's hand.

Why it feels so awkward in a sudden. What's this. The thought started to haunt her somehow.

******

"We need to talk," Heeyoung's mom stated as Heeyoung closed the front door. Heeyoung eyed her a bit and walked straight to her room.

Her mom grabbed her arm already before she barely managed to get into her room. "Now what?" Heeyoung asked, uninterested.

"You should fix your behavior," her mom told her, still holding Heeyoung's arm.

"Me? At least now I know from whom I got this behavior you hate," she answered sarcastically. "From you."

Heeyoung's mom struggled to hold back her anger. Her hand restrained back, almost slapped Heeyoung's head. "Tell me what do you want," she asked Heeyoung, trembling in anger.

"I want to go back to the US and I want Niel right now because nobody could understand me even my own family,” she spluttered. “Oh wait, do I even have one?"

"Watch your mouth, Park Heeyoung! You're the one begging to come back home to Seoul and now you're taking it all back!" Heeyoung's mom yelled.

"I was! I admit it! I was begging to come back home! But what happened lately it's you forcing me to move with you here when I didn't want to! Now I don't have anyone who understand me well as Niel does! Even Niel is better than my own parents!" Heeyoung exploded. "Just stop caring about my life anymore! Don't make it worse! I've had enough!" Heeyoung ran off to her room, started crying again.