Shinhye forced her eyes open only to be greeted with a sore feeling in her watery eyes and an endless aching in her head. It took her a while to adjust moderately to the longing pain before she could focus on where she was. She had regained consciousness in a strange, Victorian style room, and suddenly she felt startled.

            “Don’t move,” A woman respectively older than her insisted, holding her back down by the elbow. Shinhye had no strength to argue, so she lay her head back down on the silk-laced pillow and sighed. The woman was sitting on a stool beside her bed, squeezing out cold water from a wet towel and patting it on her forehead. The cooling feeling reduced the aching quite significantly, but her left arm still stung and throbbed. She tried to glance at it but the wound was now wrapped and bandaged appropriately.

            “I don’t mean to be rude but—“Shinhye’s questioning was interrupted by an overwhelming pinching feeling in her left arm.

            “Here, I’ll spray more medicine.” The woman offered, and then grabbed an unlabelled jar with translucent liquid and sprayed it over the bandages. It reeked of mint that stung her nose, but it calmed the pain.

            “You were saying?” She continued; curiosity in her eyes as she changed the towels again. Shinhye temporarily forgot her train of thought, but it all came back to her in a second.

            “Who exactly are you?” She took another thoughtful glance around and declared that she had never seen a building designed as so in all the places she’d visited in Korea. The woman’s onyx eyes were locked on hers, and a sudden coldness washed over Shinhye’s body. A mediocre epiphany emerged in her mind and she cringed, wondering if this was some gang ready to use her for ransom or something as unthinkable. The woman noticed her curiosity replace with fear and uncertainty.

            “My name is Kang Minjung,” She smiled, trying to appease the tension that had just formed. Shinhye had no time to smile back. The room’s door opened and in stepped Minhyuk with a warm mug of hot chocolate that he immediately offered to Shinhye. She gladly grabbed it with her stronger right hand and took a sip of relief. She said her last name was Kang—she must be Minhyuk’s mother.

            “Did I interrupt something?” Minhyuk asked, looking from Shinhye’s face to his mother’s and back confusedly. There was an awkward silence filling in before Minjung sighed,

            “Nothing, we were just introducing ourselves.” Shinhye realized how rude she was for not giving her name.

            “Mianhamnida, my name is—“

            “Park Shinhye; a lovely name might I add.” Minjung complimented, making her interruption slip by anonymously. Shinhye only nodded, finishing the rest of her hot chocolate.

            “Children; now might be a good time to explain what exactly happened.” Minjung suggested with parental authority in her voice that was once welcoming and warm. Minhyuk didn’t look alarmed at all, and took a seat on the end of the bed Shinhye rested on.

            “Shinhye, I’m really sorry I wasn’t fast enough to stop you from getting hurt.” He apologized sincerely, grabbing onto her right hand and holding it in his. Her palms were frightfully cold.

            “Don’t apologize. It wasn’t your fault.” She thought about it for a moment, but she knew she was right. It wasn’t Minhyuk who attacked her, and he had no control over the stranger who did.

            “I was the one who wrote the letter. I shouldn’t have been stupid enough to ask to meet in a secluded area, but I didn’t know that students never wandered in the back campus.” He explained, guilt filled his every word. Shinhye still wasn’t mad, because she understood he was a new student. A new student couldn’t have known all that.

            “There was even an announcement…”

            “Stop, it’s okay—really. I’m still alive, and I guess that’s all that matters.” Shinhye insisted. Her head started to ache again and she didn’t feel like playing sympathetic, nor did she care for their sympathy. She just really wanted rest.

            “Take it easy, okay? We can chat more after you nap.” Minjung decided, getting up and slowly shoving her son out of the room. He clutched in his hands the empty mug of hot chocolate and hesitantly left Shinhye alone to rest, glancing back a few times with ulterior intent masked with fake worries.

@}--,--'----

            Yonghwa left the school immediately without bothering to sign out or come up with some hoax excuse of being sick. This involved someone’s safety—probably Shinhye’s—and he felt an unavoidable need to find her. If he just saw her face once and knew she was okay it would be enough, but he had no idea where the hell to start looking. His instincts told him to check her house, and he was glad that he knew at least where her house was. He decided that if she wasn’t at home—since she could have fallen sick and left school—he would go straight to the house of roses. It seemed bizarre that he would even go there, but the rose petals seemed like a pretty legitimate clue. He sprinted effortlessly along the sidewalks until he saw the house number that belonged to Shinhye. Anxiously, he rang the doorbell praying that she would answer. Sunhwa, Shinhye’s foster mom opens the door and is startled by the young man panting on her front door steps. He looked up, allowing their eyes to meet which invoked a gentle gasp from Sunhwa. Yonghwa’s determined eyes were unmistakably similar to her husband’s and for a second, she felt compelled to pull him in for a hug. Yonghwa ignored her strange pause, seeing her as no different than any other middle aged woman and poked his head through the door to scan all he could see of the house.

            “Is Shinhye home?” He asked immediately without even a proper greeting or introduction. Usually he had a sensible amount of politeness towards adults but his mind was frantic and he didn’t care for formalities in such circumstances.

            “No she isn’t, but who might you be?” Sunhwa dared to question. Her heart beat grew faster and she tried not to get her hopes up too much. The young man caught his breath and stood up straight,

            “My name is Jung Yonghwa, I’m Shinhye’s classmate.” He finally introduced, hoping this woman wasn’t one of those crazy sensitive ajummas who beat kids for not speaking formal all the time. Thankfully, she didn’t scold him. Instead, her body froze and her heart stopped for a few seconds. His voice echoed his name through her ears—Jung Yonghwa, a unique name carefully thought up over long months of contemplation that held a meaning deeper than the visible surface could not be just coincidence. She never imagined that he would be the one to find her. Her lost son had found her.

            “Anyway, if she comes back let her know I dropped by.” And with that, Yonghwa darted back down the street, leaving Sunhwa breathless in disbelief. He grew up so handsomely; she would have never imagined he would be so close, yet so far away. 

A/N: Some holes should be filled in this chapter ^^ Yonghwa is their son, not Minhyuk kekeke (: Hope you're all still liking the plot! More will be revealed next chapter, I promise, and then a few clues in the earlier chapters will make more sense. Please leave a comment :D!! <3