Kyungmi let out another strained sigh as another day passes by with her and Chanyeol ignoring each other. Whenever she tried to approach him at least to apologize to him for such a vague answer last night, Chanyeol would either pretend to not hear her or would busy himself with something else. Kyungmi knew that pressuring Chanyeol would only make things worse at the moment, so she decided to go out of the bookstore for a bit to get her bearings straight.... and cool her head. She knew it would be a risk to go out but the tension in the store with Chanyeol not talking could create an earthquake... and there was also the presence of the Chanyeol’s parents, whom she didn’t want to worry.

Kyungmi exited the shop door, making up an excuse that she wanted to feed the pigeons in the nearby park (though she wasn’t even sure if there were any pigeons there in the first place), and the Parks just simply accepted it. She left the shop, Chanyeol never looking up from his work to say goodbye.

“Chanyeol,” Mrs. Park peeked from the counter to the shelf where Chanyeol was busy restocking it. “You didn’t even wish Kyungmi a safe trip. Did you two have a fight?”

“It’s nothing, umma.” Chanyeol simple stated, turning his back and heading back to the storage room before his mother could interrogate him any further. His mother could only sigh.

Kyungmi was making her way down the usual cobblestone path, hands in the pockets of her black coat. She really didn’t know what to do next. She had so many problems in her mind that she didn’t know how to handle them all. First, she was becoming a serious runaway and she knew her brothers could hide her disappearance in the household for only so long (not that anybody probably noticed). Second, the issue with Siwon and Taecyeon kept bothering her, most especially the former. Siwon had mentioned some pretty strange stuff during her near death experience with the guy. Third, the fact that Jongin had seen her in the bookstore. What if Jongin told Luhan about it? Would Luhan believe him? Jongin was the kind of guy that always had something else up his sleeve. Then, there was Chanyeol. She couldn’t understand her relationship with him anymore. What made her say that they weren’t best friends when they really were?

Kyungmi had been thinking so deeply that she didn’t realize she was walking straight into the back part of the Mae estate. She blinked several times before gasping and going into full blown hysteria.

“Wh-What the-?! What am I..?!” She whispered in a panicky voice as she turned around, hoping that no one saw her. Her legs had unconsciously led her back home. She hadn’t realized that she was already missing the place until she finally looked up from her anxiety attack and straight at the huge estate. It was like a wall of isolation, but she had lived here all her life, regardless it wasn’t a happy one. She mentally sighed, unable to control the urge to sneak in. She wanted to see the hallways, the rooms, the walls that had her’s and Jongdae’s doodles on them. She wanted to see it, possibly, for one last time. She sneaked in through the back door.

She slowly opened the back door of the estate, peeking around and taking light steps. She knew that around this time, most of the servants were in the first floor lounge area, cleaning. She closed the door lightly and sneaked in from the kitchen. The smell of the baked bread made her realize that she hardly ate breakfast, thanks to all of her worrying.

“Snap out of it, Kyungmi.” She chanted, passing the stacks of pastries and into the hallway. She tiptoed her way up the stairs where she was nearly caught by a maid if she wasn’t so busy carrying the laundry. She hid behind a pillar as she passed by. But as she poked her head out, she didn’t expect the next thing to happen.

“Kyungmi?”

Kyungmi stiffed, whipping her head to the source of the sound. She was face-to-face with Jongdae who had a shocked look on his face. “Jongdae?”

Jongdae’s face froze but after a few seconds, grinned madly, “Well, if it isn’t Killjoy Kyungmi!” He walked up to the pillar and pulled Kyugmi out like she wasn’t in serious trouble.

Kyungmi hestitated, “Wait! Don’t! I can’t!”

But Jongdae gave her a serious pull, causing the black sheep to fall straight into her brother’s arms. Then, Jongdae spoke in a low voice, one Kyungmi wasn’t prepared to hear, “Be quiet and just go along with me.”

“What?” Kyungmi grumbled, trying to get herself together but Jongdae was dragging her from the hallway quickly, as if someone was watching them. “Wait, where are we...” But she knew where they were going. They were going to Jongdae’s room. Kyungmi was dragged all the way to his room, confused and terrified. Jongdae was about to open the door when he heard footsteps from the distance. He grabbed Kyungmi and pushed him in his room before shutting the door, separating them.

“Young master?” Taecyeon’s voice resonated in the hallway. Kyungmi cringed from behind the door as she listened.

“Hi, Taecyeon.” Jongdae clapped his hands and motioned for him to come closer, “How are you?”

“Er... I’m good... sir?” Taecyeon was looking perplexed, much like everyone else whenever you’re in a conversation with Jongdae. “I heard a little commotion. Is everything all right?”

“Terrific.” Jongae smiled and snapped his fingers, “Terrific... Terrific... Terrific Taecyeon!” He pointed at said butler with a smile as he mentally noted another nickname.

Taecyeon gave a disturbed look but masked it immediately, “Er, yes, well...” Then he was eyeing the door of Jongdae’s room suspiciously, his nose up in the air like he needed to smell it. “Why aren’t you going in your room, sir?”

“Well, I wouldn’t want to miss a change to talk with you.” Jongdae grinned quickly before he looked at Taecyeon sharply, “Say, are you sure you’re good, man? Yucky Yifan hasn’t been overloading you with work, has he?”

The mention of Yifan’s name made Taecyeon pale like tofu.

“That’s no good,” Jongdae shook his head tragically, “Whatever can we do if we lose you? How about I fix you up with one of my special wines? It’s got plenty of Angelica to help with indigestion.”

Taecyeon looked around the hallway for some sign of miraculous intervention that wasn’t coming. “Oh, no need, sir. If everything’s all right, I’ll be going then.” He said quickly, taking a short boy and speed-walked back to the first floor.

“Sure, call me when you want it~!” Jongdae waved at the retreating figure before entering his room, greeting Kyungmi with his signature crooked smile, “Ooh, spicy Kyungmi, you know eavesdropping’s bad. What if I was talking with a lover?”

Kyungmi questioned the validity in that mentally but gave a confused look at her brother, “You didn’t rat me out, why?”

“Well, why do birds fly?” Again, an irrelevant response. Jongdae walked in the room, pulling Kyungmi with her and making her sit down on one of the single chairs as he sat himself across her on the footstool. “I’m just doing what brothers do best.”

“You mean... like trying to save my skin?”

“No, I mean, giving you a scare.”

Kyungmi tensed, knowing Jongdae, once he’s satisfied with some