Mirae felt like crying. She could feel the betrayal oozing from her internal organs. Park Hyoshin. Her oppa. She was forced to share the one big day in her life with that cockroach?

Mirae felt her wrists ball up into little fists on either side of her dress.

Hongbin was standing on her right. Hyoshin stood on her left.

“Smile for the camera, you little punk.” she heard Hongbin say through gritted teeth. He wore his signature smile, but she could tell he was upset that Mirae was the one chosen to stand next to Park Hyoshin. She looked to her left to see Hyoshin slightly shift his weight uncomfortably. He could probably pick up the negative energy and the animosity between the two adolescents but decided to say nothing.

Mirae forced a smile, but in reality she was dying inside. Her fists were now white and she was overcome by the biggest urge to punch a dent into the pretty boy’s face.

“Okay, stop.” the photographer called out, lowering his camera down, cocking his head to the side. The director noticed this, furrowing his eyebrows. Mirae scooted as far away from Hongbin as possible. Hongbin looked the other direction. Park Hyoshin shoved his hands into his pockets, smiling nervously. Mirae saw the director coming over. He didn’t look too happy.

“You.” He looked at Hongbin, then turning over to point at Mirae, “And you.” Mirae looked up, surprised at the tone of the director.

“Follow me.”

The two exchanged glances of deep resentment at one another before following the director over to a little corner. Mirae saw from the corner of her eye, Hyoshin looked worried, before he was approached by a makeup artist to touch up his makeup.

The director stopped to a halt before whirling around to face the two idiots.

“What in the world is up with you two? You look like you’re going to rip off each other’s heads!” The director’s voice was stern. He crossed his arms together, tapping his goot, demanding an answer.

“Well?” He said.

“We’re sorry director-nim. It won’t happen again.” Hongbin said, his voice low and his head down. Mirae nodded, bowing slightly to show her apology. The director sighed, knowing that he was being a bit too harsh.

“I’m going to assign you two homework.”

Mirae looked up at the director, questioningly. Hongbin looked confused, blinking.

“We are going to hold off the photoshoot for tomorrow since the rest of the shots are going to be outside and we don’t have the time to set up artificial nature. I want you two to stay together until you figure everything in under 24 hours, failure to do so...well it’s not always too late to hire other models.”

Mirae had the urge to cry again. This photoshoot so far was a total disaster and it was all Hongbin’s fault. Hongbin, on the other hand was just as upset, his eyes downcast. This was almost as bad as the day when Leo had taken away his camera because he forgot to clean the dorm.

“Arraseo?” the director raised his voice.

“Ne..” the two replied in unison.

“I can’t believe we have to do this.” Mirae grumbled. She eyed the pink stretch band on her left wrist. She was now changed into her normal clothes standing next to a moody, pouty Hongbin. He wore the opposite end of the stretch band on his right hand.

“Oh trust me you brat, I don’t want to do this either. I just want to get this over with so I don’t get replaced.”

“Calling me a brat won’t work either, you idiot.” Mirae hissed

“Hypocrite.” Hongbin muttered under his breath.

Mirae ignored him and eyed the letter the director gave them. On the the sheet was a bunch of instructions and questions the two had to answer about each other. Each of the tasks were numbered and had to be completed in under 24 hours.

“The first one says we have to visit places we both hold a dearest value to.” Mirae looked up from the sheet.

“Where to?” She sighed.

“I don’t know, you go first.” Hongbin slouched.

“Fine.” Mirae thought about it before she tugged on the string.

“Let’s go.” she said

“Where to?” Hongbin sighed, mimicking Mirae unintentionally.

“You’ll see when we get there. Let’s go.”

They both stood in front of an old brick building. Mirae knew how to sneak through without the guards noticing, where she and Hongbin snuck to.

Mirae crouched in front of a window, where she observed the middle school children answering questions. She could see them learning quadratic equations, which, Mirae, naturally in because, ew, math. The teacher, a middle aged man, stood in front of the board writing down the answers the students called out. He smiled at them with big eyes, the same ones as Mirae…

“What the hell, what are we doing at this private school?” Hongbin called out. Mirae pulled him down to crouch, and slapped a palm to his mouth to keep him hushed. Panic was over her face as she slowly peaked a little over the window. Thankfully,nobody heard him. She breathed slowly, closing her eyes.

Hongbin was pissed because they had to take the subway for an hour and he had to cover his face otherwise there would have been commotion from the public and media about ‘Vixx’s Hongbin with a mysterious girl’ or something ridiculous like that. He seriously hated this but one look at Mirae’s face when her eyes were closed, struck him. Hard.

“M-Mirae?” Hongbin whispered. Mirae fluttered her eyes open. Hongbin looked worried. She smiled a faint smile before peaking over the window again. Hongbin was puzzled by her actions. Why was she being so secretive? Hongbin noticed that she kept on staring at the middle aged man, a little smile gracing her lips.

Hongbin poked her, Mirae glanced over at Hongbin, eyebrows furrowed.

“What?”

“I said what are we doing at this private school? You’re supposed to answer me. I know you probably have no interest in academics, you’re too stupid. And you aren’t that creepy to not only stalk Park Hyoshin, but now you’re stalking a math teacher?” Hongbin sneered. Mirae ignored his phrase, but sighed. There was no point in hiding it. She ahd broguht him out here, that being her fault, and he had the right to know if she led him all the way to the other side of Seoul.

“You have to promise not to tell a soul, you understand, Lee Hongbin?” Mirae’s voice was stern. Not like her usual voice.

“What is it?” Hongbin asked.

“You can’t tell anyone we were here today or who that man is. You have to swear-”

Hongbin interrupted her. “Just tell me so we can get out of here.”

Mirae glanced at the man, who laughed at something the students had said. This made her heart twist into a notch.

“That man over there…”

“Yeah?” Hongbin urged.

“He’s..he’s my biological father.” Mirae finished, her voice sounding bittersweet.

Hongbin didn’t know what to think. He studied Mirae’s face, seeing some sadness and loneliness in the way she said ‘dad’, as if the word were foreign to her.

“Biological father?” Hongbin questioned, “Wait..you don’t live with your dad?” Hongbin peeked over to see Mirae’s face. Her head hung low. She looked over at Hongbin before shaking her head.

“No. He left me and my mother when I was six.” She silently said, as if the thought pained her. Hongbin felt awkward at this. Here he was, acting all vapid. Mirae on the other hand was trying to get along and here he was acting like a poop. He felt a pang in his heart. He convinced himself it was pity mixed in with guilt.

“...sorry about that.” Hongbin muttered. He could hear the children calling out answers and the sound of Mirae’s father teaching the class.

“It’s no problem. I’ve gotten used to it at this point.” Mirae pursed her lips, taking another glance into the classroom.

“Why do you not want anyone to know about this?” Hongbin asked.

Mirae looked over, biting her lip. She shook her head.

“Tell me.” Hongbin persisted. Mirae furrowed her eyebrows at him. Why was he suddenly acting like this?

“I’m sorry.” Mirae blurted, closing her eyes shut.

Hongbin was surprised. “Sorry?”

Mirae faced him, her hands clenching her skirt, as if she were to make a confession.

“Yeah. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have dragged you here, but...I hadn’t seen my father in months and I used this assignment to my advantage to come see my father. I’m sorry if you don’t care, but my father still means a lot to me.” Mirae felt her lip quiver a little.

Hongbin seeing Mirae felt his heart twist, almost as if the pulse in his heart had stopped. Even though he wasn’t on the best terms with Mirae...seing her like this almost made her seem human.

Almost.

Hongbin rested his back against the brick wall taking a seat next to Mirae. He took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry too.”

Mirae looked up at him. He looked sincere. She was surprised that the angelic and smug Lee Hongbin could look so… human. Well almost. Not quite.

But almost.

“Sorry for being so mean to you, and irrational too. There. Now can you tell me what’s going on? Why are you hiding from your father like this?” Hongbin looked at Mirae who perched a little into the window. The class was dismissed and her father left the classroom. Students were buzzing around, some sleeping while others catching up on the latest gossip while others studied.

Mirae looked him dead in the eye. “I’m not supposed to keep in contact with my father. If I did, my mother would kill me.”

“Howcome?” Hongbin asked.  

“Well…” Mirae hesitated, “My father was quite abusive, and an alcoholic as well. One time he never came back home. I was six at the time so my memory isn’t that good, but I remembered my mom crying hastily putting on her jacket before locking the house door behind her. My mother had left me alone in the house so she can go look for my father. After that, I don’t remember much, but what I do remember is that my mom had sat me down in my room one night when my father had slammed the door on her face. She told me that my dad wasn’t going to come back...and that he had left our family for another woman.”

Hongbin sat there. He was speechless. He thought about what Mirae had said to him and it made him wonder how much more extra stress he had caused Mirae to have, even though she was dealing with things like this as well. He felt exactly like what Mirae had called him...a cockroach. She had dealt with so much and he just acted like a bully, making her have a harder time. He swallowed the lump in his throat, before saying something bold.

“You had mentioned how much you cared for your father...do you ever think you can forgive him?” Hongbin’s expression looked guilt-stricken.

Mirae unclenched her skirt before staring at him, that same bittersweet expression and voice, her lips in a faint smile.

“No, I don’t think I ever can.”

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A/N: Waahhhhh I'm so sorry! I've been studying for exams and been taking diploma-prep courses that has filled up my schedule! Hipefully this chapter might make up for it?

I won't be updating for 2 weeks since I have exams, but I will update during the summer, and who knows? Maybe I might finish this story when September rolls around?

Until next time, if you've cared to stick around :) and thanks again!