Minseok followed Eunjung up the stairs to Saehee's bedroom. He was nervous to face her. Though he had mentally practiced what he wanted to say to her, at that moment his words were all gone.

"Eunjung-shi, do you think it's alright that I'm here?" Minseok suddenly asked. It was obvious that he had lost his confidence once they were outside her room.

"I know you're nervous, but I believe out of anyone, you're the one that she needs to see right now." Eunjung reassured him. He nodded in understanding. Eunjung left him so that they can have their privacy. Minseok exhaled, and then knocked on the door. "Saehee," he called out.

In the bedroom, Saehee raised her head after hearing the familiar voice. She was still in the same spot in the corner, except now spread out on her back on the carpet. Minseok?! She shot up to her feet, surprised that he was right there. She lost her balance and had to grab onto the wall for support. It had been almost two days since she fled to her room and refused to leave it. Luckily, her room had a private bathroom, but no food. She was fatigued and hungry. She had tried to do math to relax her nerves, but to no success. Her bunny imaginary friend would drop in every so often and ask her the same things: "Aren't you hungry?" and "Don't you want to see Minseok?" She wanted to answer 'yes' to both of those questions.

But with him right outside her door, she wanted nothing but to run away again. She wasn't ready to face him—at least not yet. "Saehee, open up," he called again. Saehee went to her door and made no movement to open it. "No one's home," her voice came out raspy from dehydration. Minseok caught her change in voice. It was different from the soft, timid sound that he liked so much.

"Saehee please," his voice came out desperate, "I want to see you..."

Saehee's heart ached. Am I really bringing so much pain to him? She set aside her negative thoughts and opened the door. Minseok dashed in and embraced the small girl. Saehee gasped at his sudden action—not daring to wrap her arms around him—though she desperately wanted to. The two just stood there in their embrace for a long period of time, before Minseok let go, satisfied at the hug. He hadn't realized that he missed her that much. Once letting go, he examined her appearance. She had dark circles under her eyes, and her hair was unkempt.

“Let’s talk.” Minseok led Saehee to her bed to sit. Saehee leaned her back against her head board, hugging a pillow to her chest. Minseok sat cross legged in front of her in the middle of the king sized bed.

“Can I go first?” Saehee whispered in an almost inaudible tone. Minseok nodded his head. It took a moment for Saehee to get her words properly thought out and her voice under control. “I’m sorry about the other day. I didn’t mean to run away. I didn’t want to run away.” Tears were already threatening to fall. Minseok reached out to hold Saehee’s hand in attempt to comfort her. Her hand was tiny, yet rough from her not taking care of her skin over the past few days. He instinctively laced his fingers with hers.

“It’s not your fault. I didn’t tell my friends about your condition, so they threw questions at you. I’m sorry you had to go through that. I can’t imagine how uncomfortable you felt.” Minseok hung his head low, all the guilt building up inside him.

Saehee furrowed her eye brows. So they were just being themselves to me… she thought.

“I’m glad,” Saehee showed a small smile, “that you didn’t tell them.”

“Really?” Minseok was surprised at her words. She nodded her head with her smile still visible. He was appalled that she forgave him so fast. His greatest fear was that Saehee would blame everything on him and never want to see him ever again. But seeing as to how she wasn’t angry, made him curse himself for him thinking that. Saehee’s not that kind of person, he smiled to himself. Minseok had a sudden urge to open himself up to her more. He wanted to share his experiences, in hope that she’ll appreciate them.

“When I was released from the hospital I had to go to school. I wasn’t use to it because I hadn’t been there in a long time. People intimidated me and I wanted to run away.” Minseok explained.

“Like how I ran away…” Saehee took in all of his words to heart.

“My parents let me stay home for a few days, and then eventually they forced me to go. They told me ‘if you don’t give it another shot, then you’ll never be happy.’ It motivated me to work hard.”

“You’re parents sound like nice people,” Saehee forced a smile; images of her own parents flooded her mind.

Minseok’s eyes widened, completely forgetting about the situation with her parents. “Sorry! I’m really dumb! I need to think before I talk,” Minseok apologized exasperatedly, while letting go of her hand out of feeling insecure of their skin touching.

“It’s fine Minseok,” Saehee managed a small grin, “You weren’t being insensitive. What happened with my parents happened and that’s all there is to it. I can’t get angry, especially when I’m not the only one who’s lost their parents. That would be insensitive of me.”

Minseok gulped, still feeling guilty. He reached out to take hold of her hand again, brushing her knuckles with his thumb as a way of saying thanks.

“I’m really ashamed of what I did that I couldn’t face any of you. So I requested to not let anyone in.” Saehee admitted, the smile fading from her face.

“I understand.”

“How can you understand so easily?” Saehee laughed, but not out of humor.

“I guess you can say that I think we have a lot in common because I probably would’ve done the same.” Minseok smiled cheerfully at her. Not only would he have done the same thing, but more that he’s done it before. He understood because he went through the same thing.

“I see,” Saehee blushed again. She felt relieved after getting everything off her chest.

“I really missed you.” Minseok mumbled, averting his eyes from Saehee out of embarrassment. Saehee’s face grew a deeper shade of red; she hid her face in the pillow she was hugging. “I missed you, too. It felt…strange to not see you,” Saehee said.

Minseok chuckled, “Good, so I wasn’t the only one.” He tightened his grip on her hand. This moment that the two shared was priceless to him. He liked how even though it was embarrassing, they spoke freely about their feelings. He wished that that would never change between them.

Lay’s suggestion suddenly popped into Minseok mind: “Hyung, how about you confess to her?”

He fidgeted in his sitting position. He contemplated if right now was the right time to do this. Even though before he had already crossed out that suggestion, his throat was really itching to confess at that moment. The way Saehee was staring at him right now made it look like she harbored the same feelings as him.

"Do you remember that piece I played you on piano?" He blurted out the question.

"Oh, the one with all the meanings?"

"Yeah, do you remember the meanings?"

Saehee nodded, "I love your this, your that, your everything..." she recited by memory. She would always recite it to herself because it was a precious memory to her.

"I love you." Minseok completed the phrase. Minseok's heart sped up, hoping that she caught his intention of asking her that.

"Yeah, that was the last part of it," Saehee smiled at him. Minseok mentally face-palmed; she clearly didn't sense his intentions. But he laughed it off, realizing it was Saehee he was talking to: the girl who had anxiety in front of people; the girl who blushed a lot; the girl that liked math more than anything else; the girl that he loved unconditionally.

"So are you hungry?" Minseok grinned.

Saehee chuckled, "Starving."

A/N: I'm worried that my story is starting to rush ; ___ ; is it? Or is it okay as it is?

(updated: 12-21-13)