Hello readers! School has started, so updates may come a little slower now, but bear with me. I will keep writing as long as you guys keep reading, so don't let me down! Enjoy Chapter 4:

“So Kim Tan is gone? Just like that?”

“I heard he got shipped to America.”

 “He’s there all alone. Supposedly his family just put him on a plane and that was that.”

“Oh look, there’s Lee Bona! Let’s ask her!”

Bona heard the whispers behind her and quickly made a beeline for the broadcasting room. She hurriedly unlocked the door and slammed it shut before her schoolmates could catch up to her. Thankfully she had the room to herself.

She was unsure how to feel as she slumped onto the couch and stared at the tiles on the roof.

She was hurt; she was hurt that Tan had left without a word and did not bother to tell her. He had disappeared to America and strangers had found out about this before she did. They were in a relationship for more than a year, but now, it seemed like she didn’t even exist to him.

She was angry. She was angry at herself for still caring about what he thought. She did not want him to affect her like this, but he did.   

She was also very, very confused. She did not know what to do next. How was she going to face everybody? Her friends, her classmates, her parents? She wished she could just melt into the couch and disappear. And as she lay there, slowly withering away, a certain voice began echoing in her head.

“…your fire is dimming. Don’t let it go out, Lee Bona.”

The words kept repeating themselves over and over again and they began coaxing her out of the hole she had dug herself in. She realized what a sad sight she must be right now; She had locked herself up and was wallowing in self-pity. What had become of her? She, of all people, was not allowed to suffer from heartbreak. She was strong. She is strong.

With newfound motivation, she walked over to the microphone and flipped on the broadcast switch.

“Attention Jeguk students. I, Lee Bona, am officially announcing my break-up with Kim Tan. Do not ask me why and do not bother me with questions. The names Lee Bona and Kim Tan will no longer have any ties. I am only saying this once, so do not test me. That is all, Lee Bona- out.”

Bona had not thought of what the reprecussions of this could be, but decided not to waste her time dwelling on it. She walked out the broadcasting room with a bounce in her step and although she heard whispers all around her, everyone had heeded her message and did not dare approach her.

The rest of the day proceeded without any interruptions and before she knew it, she was home. She had been thinking of this all day, and although she knew it would be hard, this was something she had to do.

Bona started with her walls. She began tearing off all the pictures of the couple. Their first date. Her seventeenth birthday. Their monthly anniversary celebrations. She tried not to look at them as she dumped them into a large garbage bag.

Next was her closet. She put all the purses, the jewelry, the clothes, and other luxurious presents he had bought her in a box and sealed it. She was going to put it in the “throw-away” pile, but came up with a better idea. She set the box to the side and tackled her drawers next.

This was the part she dreaded the most. Bona pulled open the first drawer and began emptying it. Every item she pulled out hit her with a wave of nostalgia.  She found the tickets to the first movie they had watched together. She remembered wondering why they even needed tickets because Tan had rented the entire theater. She found a keychain he had given to her from France. She was pretty sure he had forgotten to get her a gift from his vacation and bought this last-minute souvenir at the airport. She also found the notes; All that remained of the little notes they used to pass to each other in class were crumbled, faded pieces of paper. The ink had all but disappeared and barely any of them were readable. Everything went into the garbage bag.

She quickly blinked back tears as she dumped everything down garbage chute. She went back into her room and picked up the box of gifts she had set aside and made her way to her maid, Yoonji’s, room. Bona had concluded that Yoonji would appreciate these gifts more than the garbage would and this was the least she could do for the woman who did so much for her.

As Bona rounded the corner, she saw Yoonji bustling down the hallway.

“Ah, I was looking for you, miss!”

“I was too, here take thes-“

“Someone is here for you!”

“Me? Who is it?”

“A young man, he’s from your school, he was wearing the Jeguk uniform. I thought it was Kim Tan at first, but this boy is so more charming and polite! Tan’s not even that great, in my honest opinion.  Anyways, I think he said his name was Chanyoon? Chanyoung? He was right behind me, where did he go? Ah, there he is!”

Bona looked past Yoonji and saw the boy wandering around aimlessly, seemingly observing the paintings on the hallway. He finally made eye contact with Bona and gave her a casual wave, as though this was his house and she was the guest.

“Yoon Chanyoung?!”

A few hours ago.

Chanyoung tapped his foot on the pavement and kept taking glances at his watch. He had been waiting for almost forty-five minutes and Bona was nowhere to be seen. The girl in question had told him to meet her outside the library right after school, but that was before she put on her big show for the entire school.

Chanyoung had to applaud her for her actions. Announcing your break-up on public broadcast was nothing short of gutsy. A simple post on her blog saying that they had broken up would have been easy enough, but leave it to Bona to be so flashy.

Whether it was intentional or not, Chanyoung had a feeling he was getting stood up. He was about to just head home and forget all about it, but something made him hesitate. Truthfully, part of him had been looking forward to their meeting. He genuinely wanted to teach her and help her succeed; she had so much potential and it would be a shame to waste it. Another part of him had wanted to meet because he was determined to make her fulfill her part of the bargain as well. Elections were coming up and she had promised him her aid. And well, frankly, another part of him just wanted to mess with her and see her reaction. Without a second thought he hopped into a cab and set off.

Finding Bona’s house had been easy enough. He was grateful that almost anything and everything was on the Internet these days, but he was also worried about what other information of hers was floating around out there. He knew from his father’s work that the lives of Korea’s top families were not as perfect as they seemed.

He made his way to the front gate, and was unsurprised to see the security guard staring him down.

“What is your business here?”

“I’m a classmate of Lee Bona. I’m here to see her.”

The guard eyed him suspiciously as he pressed the button to call into the main house.

“Yoonji-yah, there’s a boy saying he’s here to see Bona-ssi. He’s wearing a Jeguk uniform, yes.”

“Ah, it must be Kim Tan! Let him in, let him in!”

The guard opened the gate without another word and directed Chanyoung towards the main path.

He knocked on the front door and heard frantic footsteps scrambling towards him before the door whipped open.

“Kim Tan, I’ve heard so much about you, it’s about time you finally visit our Bon- What? You’re not Kim Tan!”

Chanyoung gave the woman a sheepish smile. “No, I’m Yoon Chanyoung, a classmate of Bona’s.  Nice to meet you.” He gave her a low bow.

“Oh, what a fine young man, come in, come in!” the woman he presumed to be Yoonji took him by the arm and led him inside.

“I thought you were going to be Kim Tan, that’s Bona’s boyfriend, you know. Our Bona is very popular with the boys, but what would you expect? She’s nice, smart, and beautiful. If you want her for yourself, you better be prepared to fight for her, Kim Tan is big competition,” she said seriously as she looked Chanyoung up and down, examining him. “You have nice facial structure,” she boldly reached out and touched Chanyoung’s cheek, which immediately turned bright red in embarrassment, “and good skin too. How are your grades in school and what are your future pl-“

“Oh, it’s not like that!” Chanyoung said as he waved his hands furiously, “They’re not together anymore anywa-“ he quickly clamped his mouth shut when he realized what he was saying.

“Not together anymore? Did they break up? Oh, I knew that boy was bad news! Not once did he come to visit Bona or meet the family. Bona always went out of her way to do things for him, and did he appreciate any of it? No! Our poor Bona, no wonder she’s been so quiet.”

Chanyoung ran his hand through his hair nervously. He felt bad that he had spilled the beans and hoped Bona would not kill him for revealing her secret.

“If you don’t mind, ahjumma, do you think you could pretend like you don’t know anything? I think Bona wanted to wait for the right time to tell you all and I don’t want to ruin that for her.”

Yoonji sighed and Chanyoung watched as she slowed down her pace and the pair eventually came to a stop in the middle of the hallway.

“That’s our Bona, always keeping things bottled in. Ever since she was little, she has been like this. Her parents and even her older brother were so worried back then when she was a child. She would fall down a scrape her knee, yet not even one tear would fall. I don’t know how she holds it in, but she does. And as she grew up, that wall she built has become stronger and stronger.”

She paused, and looked at Chanyoung curiously. “How well do you know Bona?”

Chanyoung answered truthfully. “Not very well. But she’s…different than what I imagined. She’s very… puzzling.”

Yoonji gave him a warm smile. “Now I’m only saying this because I'm a good judge of character and you seem like a fairly decent boy. So let me share with you a little secret about Bona.”

Chanyoung was unsure of how to respond and decided to just keep his mouth shut and listen.

“The iron wall she has? I think she built it because of how big and precious her heart is. When Bona loves, she loves with everything she has. She will do anything and everything for you. She will not stop until she is everything you asked for. That’s exactly how she is with her parents. She loves them so, so much, she does everything she can to be perfect for them. She loves so much that it hurts.”

The wheels in Chanyoung’s head began spinning at light speed. These were very special, very precious words. He had been so curious about Lee Bona, and he had finally discovered her secret. This was supposed to satisfy him, but why did he still feel so lost? Chanyoung prided himself on his intelligence. Throw any question, any problem at him, and he can understand it and solve it easily. But this, this he did not understand at all. How do you love so much it hurts? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of love in the first place? And how can you love someone so fully that you don’t even think about yourself? He did not have an answer to these questions, and this feeling of not knowing bothered him to no end.

“Well, that's just a little food-for-thought for you. I’m giving you a chance and I don’t give them out often, especially when it comes to my precious Bona.”

And then, within the blink of an eye, Yoonji seemed to transform back into her chipper self and bounced down the hallway once again.

“Bona should be around here somewhere,” she said as she led them through the labyrinth of hallways. He was deep in thought as he kept on pondering her words, barely keeping up with Yoonji.

He heard another voice begin speaking, and he snapped out of his daze. He looked around and his eyes landed on Lee Bona, but she looked noticeably different.

Instead of her primly pressed school uniform and neatly styled hair, she was wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt with a large, cute owl printed on it. She was make-up free and her hair was in a messy bun. Chanyoung saw her forehead lightly glistened with sweat and her clothes were also wrinkled, as though she had done some rigorous work or cleaning.

He did not know why, but he decided that he might prefer this version of Bona. Yes, Bona was beautiful. He didn’t like admitting it because he knew it would feed her ego, but it could not be denied. But seeing her like this, in all her pajama glory, it was a more innocent, a more pure beauty. It made her feel real.

While all these thoughts running through his head, all his body managed to do was give Bona a quick wave. He was confused when he watched her eyes widen in surprise and she quickly dropped the box she was holding and sprinted away.

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” Bona thought as she quickly ran back to her room and slammed the door behind her. She looked into the mirror and groaned when she saw her reflection.

Today had to be the day she wore this t-shirt and she couldn’t even bear to look at the mess her hair was. She threw herself onto her bed and curled into a ball of embarrassment. Chanyoung would for sure hold this against her for the rest of her life. Why was he even here? How did he even get into her house?!

She had no time to continue berating herself when she heard a knock on the door.

“Bona? Are you in here?” a voice called through the door.

“Of course I’m here, this is my room! This is my house! What are you even doing here?”

“You stood me up!”

Bona walked over to the door and stood right in front of it. She could just imagine Chanyoung standing on the other side, hands in his pockets with that smug smile on his face.

“I apologize for forgetting, but that’s all I’m apologizing for. You have no right to come to my house!”

“We made a deal! I’m just trying to keep our promise.”

“We can continue tomorrow, just leave and never speak of this again, okay? Or I’ll break both your legs!”

Chanyoung laughed out loud. “You can try.” Bona did not respond, so he continued. “You’re only human, Bona. You don’t have to be perfect all the time. You don’t have to constantly be put together.”

More silence.

“If you want to let your hair run wild or wear your-“

“Please stop!”

“Are you even listening to me? I’m saying it’s okay. People aren’t going to hate you just because you decide not to wear make-up today. If they do, then they’re not worth your time.”

Bona bit her lip. Who did he think he was? Barging into her house and saying all these things to her. She was annoyed that was for sure, but beneath all that, she did start thinking to herself: did he have a point?

She stared at her hand, which rested on the doorknob. All it would take was a simple twist of her hand, but it felt like moving a thousand bricks to her. He could be right. But he could also be wrong.

She took her hand off the doorknob and slid down to the ground, leaning her back against the door.

“I’m sorry for yelling at you, but you do have to admit that you were wrong to come here without telling me.”

Chanyoung heard her sit down, and proceeded to sit down as well, leaning his back against the other side of the door.

“There could have other options, yes, but this seemed like the best plan. And I got to see you in an owl t-shirt that little kids in my apartment complex wear, so I would say it’s a good call.”

Bona thumped her fist against the door, giving Chanyoung a momentary scare.

“I’m serious about breaking your legs. Both of them. And you don’t know what that would do to a potential class president.”

“Ah, so you haven’t forgotten about our deal.”

“I keep my promises. I have a few ideas for you.”

“I’m listening.”

And the two continued talking as though the door between them was invisible.

There goes Chapter 4! I know there wasn't as much Chanyoung/Bona interaction this time around, but I promise there will be more Chanbo action next chapter and beyond. I have a lot of ideas planner, so stay tuned. Thanks for reading!