Chapter Thirty One -   Neighbor 

"Nara?" Dongwoo's eyes were pinned on me, while his parents were filled with bewilderment. 

"Both of you know each other?" Mr. Jang asked. 

"We go to the same school, appa," Dongwoo informed, and I nodded my head with agreement. 

"Oh! Then that's really great isn't it?" Mrs. Jang exclaimed, "Come on, you should join dinner with us,"

And so I did. They cooked beef and chicken for dinner. It was a pleasant one, but still, I couldn't help but feel nostalgic towards the place. After all, this was where I spent most of my times when Sunggyu was still here. I didn't expect his flat to be bought this fast, nor did I expect Dongwoo living right across me together with his happy family. They had not really change anything since every furnitures were still on the exact place when Sunggyu had left it. Only the wall facing the kitchen was repainted to yellow. 

"So, Nara, what are your plans?" Mr. Jang asked as his wife served us fruits. 

"Plans?" 

"School plans for the future," he smiled. 

"Oh," I put down my fork and sat back, "I don't really have any plans yet, but I think I won't go overseas," 

"Oh, Dongwoo's planning to take literature as his major," Mrs. Jang emerged out of the kitchen and placed four bowls of fruits on the table.

I took one and started eating my desert. It had been a while since I ate fruits. Sunggyu never liked them, and if I bought a papaya, I would end up eating alone and it would go rotten in my fridge. 

"What major are you planning to take, Nara?" 

"Oh, I don't really know, probably economics," I answered. 

The only reason why I told them I'll choose economics was, one, it was the most common stream and would look reasonable to any parent, second, my mom told me to take it since I didn't have any exact path. It could be said though, I wasn't really interested in this thing called economics since I thought it was too... Mainstream?

On the other hand, I had never heard about Dongwoo wanting to take literature. He probably never really spread it out. But at the same time, I thought it was pretty reasonable for a Jang Dongwoo to study about poetry and beautiful languages, his eloquent talking style are just sometimes too deep. 

After talking for a bit again, I excused myself and got back to my apartment. It was almost nine, then. I decided to put on my hoodie and went out for a short night walk. I did not expect to meet Sungjong in the elevator though. But yeah, he was in his grey shirt and jeans, going out for a walk too. So we decided to do it together. 

"Dongwoo just moved here," I said. 

"Really?" 

I nodded, and we were quiet again. 

The spring night was quite breezy, but I didn't mind it. It was about five minutes later, when we arrived at the intersection, that I realize that Sungjong was holding an opaque black plastic bag. 

"What's that for?" I asked. 

"You'll see," he gave a subtle smirk.

I gave him a slight punch and a chuckle. 

We went into a small alley, and bad thoughts started creeping me. What if Sungjong was like Woohyun? Or even worse? 

Lucky for me though, he wasn't. Sungjong stopped his steps at a small.... House? It couldn't even be called as a house. It was more of a pile of wood, which was used as a house.  

Sungjong looked at me and said, "A friend of mine lives here, and I'm going to give some foods and clothes for him. Do you want to go in?" 

"If that's not a burden," I said. I mean, I didn't want to cramp the small house, but I didn't mind to go in as well. I was curious what was in it. 

"Follow me," 

Sungjong stepped in the doorless shelter and it was sad, really, to see people living in a place which was smaller than my room. The air was so packed and compressed that I had to remind myself I could still breathe. The place was enlightened only by a small bulb which looked like it could die any moment now. In front of Sungjong, a small figure was resting his back against the wooden piles. On his body laid a piece of thin, shaggy clothing. 

"I'm here ahjussi," 

The old man raised his head and grinned, showing off his almost toothless mouth cavity with only a few crooked yellow teeth. 

"Sungjong," 

He tried to stand up with his bony legs, but Sungjong stopped him from doing so. 

"Don't bother. Your leg hasn't healed yet. I brought you some rice and fruits, eat well," 

I didn't know that all this time Sungjong was doing this. I thought he was that homey kind of guy. 

"Ah, seems like you brought a friend here," the man said. 

I smiled and bowed down slightly, not sure if he could see me under the dim light. 

"Yeah, this is Nara," Sungjong said, "She's my high school friend, we live in the same apartment," 

"Ah... She's pretty," 

"Thank you," I said. 

"Take care of yourself okay? I have to go back now, my mom must be waiting," Sungjong gave him a smile. 

The man nodded and said, "Okay, take care of yourself too. Thank you for coming Sungjong," 

I gave him a smile and bowed once again before following Sungjong out of the place. We strolled back home quietly. I didn't want to say anything. The scene of Sungjong handing out food and other supplies for the man there gave a pang on my heart. I haven't been really grateful these days, and I had actually been complaining about a lot of things like how Sunggyu left, how second year was hard, about my increasing weight, about Woohyun, and hey, the list could go on. 

I realized that I had been too selfish to lend a hand on the unfortunate, I wasn't aware that they actually had more serious problems than me. Eating once in a day was a wild card for them, and yet, I kept on wasting my food. And then it came to my mind that I have so many things to be thankful for. Food, home, toilets, clothes, air, everything, but why do I still feel so hard to be thankful? 

"He is a nice man, you know," Sungjong took me out of my reverie, "He appreciates everything," 

I shoved my hands into the pockets of my sweat pants and said, "I can see that," 

Sungjong scoffed, "Isn't it funny? I mean, people like him still can utter a 'thank you'," 

"Yeah, I was just thinking about that," I said. 

We walked again, and I had no idea where we were walking to. I was just trailing Sungjong. The city centre must still be crowded at ten, but it was already quiet here in the neighborhood. 

"Nara, do you mind stargazing with me?" 

"Stargazing?" I looked up, to confirm if there were any stars to gaze on. 

Sungjong nodded. 

"How do you stargaze?" I asked. 

I had never stargazed, and I was actually really curious about people having stargazing as their hobby. Like, what do you do? Look up and see the stars until your neck hurts? 

"Does that mean you don't mind to stargaze with me?" 

I smiled, "No, of course I don't mind," 

I followed Sungjong into a small park, it had a grassland where we lied ourselves down and stared up to the blue sky with jewels of stars dispersed everywhere. Now I get the meaning of stargazing. It was nice. All you have to do is lie down, and enjoy the show. 

"Sometimes I wonder if you and Myungsoo... Are going to be together," 

I smiled at the thought of Myungsoo, "Yeah, me too," I said, "What do you think?" 

"That's for you to wonder," Sungjong said with his wide eyes gazing up. 

"Sungjong, what should I do tomorrow?" 

"Call him in the morning and wish him a happy birthday, treat him nicely, Myungsoo would like that," 

I let a chuckle escape from my mouth, "It's his birthday, but I don't know why am I getting nervous here," 

"They say, thinking about a person too much makes you feel nervous," 

"Really?" I smiled, still looking up at the vast sky, "Where did you get that from?" 

"Books, of course," he said before adding quietly, "And experience," 

I bit my lips. What should I say now? 

"Shoot Nara," 

"Hm?" I frowned. 

"Throw me whatever it is at the tip of your tongue, I won't get offended," 

I sighed, "Sometimes... I just wonder... If it's..." 

"Hard?" He cut. 

"Yeah," I spoke quietly. 

He gave a sad chortle, "It is Nara," he glanced at me, "After all, what's not hard in life?"

*** 

I was late and freaking out.

I couldn't be late! Not that day. It was Myungsoo's birthday and I had planned everything so perfectly the night before. So, I wanted to arrive at school right when he does, so that I could give him his present (which i had neatly wrapped two days ago). At the same time, it would all seem so natural, and I wouldn't seem so eager. But now, I was freaking late, and everything would be ruined.

"!" I stumbled on my shoe, but luckily didn't fall.  

After tying up my shoe lace, I clung my back pack, and rushed out. I ran through the hallway, seeing that the elevator was in the verge of closing.

"Wait!" I shrieked, and the man inside it was kind enough to hold the door open for me. Of course he was kind enough, he was Jang Dongwoo. 

Gaining all my consciousness, I panted like I had ran a marathon. Okay, I was exaggerating. Dongwoo chuckled at me before pressing the button on the elevator that brought us to the first floor. 

"Do you ride the bus or walk?" Dongwoo, as friendly as usual, asked. 

"Oh, I usually go with Sunggyu, but since he's not here, I'll walk," I said, "How about you?" 

We went out of the elevator, "I usually drive, but I want to start walking," he said while giving me his signature grin. 

"Oh, why?" 

"Why not?" He shrugged as we went out of the building, joining the crowded road. 

The summer sky is starting to overtake spring. The air was moist and thick, and no, it wasn't comfortable if you're wondering. 

"Because it's hot? And dusty? And tiring?" I retorted. 

Dongwoo gave a small laugh, "But isn't it great to feel the sun basking your skin?" 

"What's so great about it?" I scrunched up my nose. 

He shrugged, "Who knows? You might not be able to feel it one day," 

It was like God had been flicking on my forehead these days. He was reminding me to be thankful, be thankful and be thankful. 

"Hey, how's you and Ailee?" 

Dongwoo cleared his throat, and I suspected that it was because he didn't know what to answer, and not because he had a sore throat. 

"I don't know Nara, you can see that it's not really going well, but I guess every relationship has ups and downs yeah?" 

"Yeah," I mumbled. 

How could Dongwoo be so optimistic about everything? 

"Oh, there's our school," He grinned, "Living here isn't really bad huh?" 

"Why did you move anyway?"

"The usual reason," he shrugged, "Appa got a new job and it's more convenient if we move here," 

I nodded as we entered the school premises. When we reached the second floor, Dongwoo bid a goodbye to me since he needed to go to his class on the third floor. Without Dongwoo beside me, my heart started being nervous again. What if I bumped into Myungsoo on the way to my class? 

And I did. 

And that was when I realized I had forgot to bring his gift to school since I was in a hurry. Just... Crap. 

Hello Everyone :) How are you guys doing? I'm sorry that my update recently (or always) . I don't know what's happening... I realized that there were irrelevant parts, plotholes, weird stuff everywhere in the story, and I'm sorry for that :(

But, hey, I was thinking about making a fanfic with the same characters and setting, but a different point of view, so here's a poll down here, and I would like to ask a favour from you guys to choose which pov should I write from :)

It will be really really extremely appreciated! Thanks! :D