The sun was on the verge of disappearing when they had finally arrived at their stop.

Getting out of the bus, Cheolyong walked by Lina’s side as he helped her get to her house before he would make his way back home.

The walk wasn’t that long but it was still pleasant as they had still some energy left to be able to take on random subjects of conversation. Small laughter here and there, they stopped once they arrived at the foot of the bridge that led to her house on the other side. Instead of leaving her here as she thought he would, he took her hand and helped her walk over until they arrived where she saw her grandmother sitting at the porch on her rocking chair, knitting.

“Oh, g-grandma!”

“Good evening, Mrs. Choi.” Cheolyong politely bowed in front of the old woman as she greeted him back before looking at her granddaughter, slipping a sneaky wink with a slight grin, which made the young woman blush, surprised at her grandmother’s gesture.

“Did you kids have fun today?”

They both nodded her head before Cheolyong turned to face Lina as he placed his hands in his pockets. “I guess I have to go…”

“Thank you for today… I really had a great time.”

“Enough to do it again?”

“Of course~” She softly smiled at him as she stepped closer for a quick hug before pulling away. “I’ll see you at school?”

“Mhmm. Good night Lina.”

“Good night, Cheolyong… And thanks again for everything.”

“Anytime.”

He waved goodbye at the grandmother before he looked back at Lina as he started to walk backwards until he was a few feet away and turned around, crossing over the bridge. Once he was on the other side, Lina turned back and stepped on her porch as she went to take a seat next to her grandmother.

“Did you have a good time sweetie?”

“Mhmm, it was really fun.” Looking at Mrs. Choi, she smiled before leaning in to quickly kiss her cheek; she got back up on her feet and was ready to set food inside when she got interrupted by the old lady.

“Lina? Are you… in love with the boy?”

“Huh? No… Why do you ask?”

“I was just curious… You seemed pretty close; I mean, it’s not everyday I see two friends holding hands like you guys did~”

Lina chuckled at her grandmother’s reasoning and shook her head. “I promise you, we’re just friends.”

“If you say so~”

Lina walked inside without stopping the light laughter that was coming out of , leaving her grandmother to look back to what she was doing as her mind went back to the moment that happened a few seconds ago.

‘But it seems like he’s the one in love with her…’

As for Lina, as she stepped inside the house, she spotted her grandfather sitting on his couch as he was quietly watching TV. She walked over and greeted him with a quick kiss on his cheek before making her way to her bedroom before being stopped in her way. “How was your day pumpkin? Grandma told me you were out with some friends from school today?”

“O-oh, yea… It was fun.” She smiled to the old man as she was tightly clutching onto her purse. “Good, I’m glad to see that you had finally made some friends to hang out with.” He seemed to be very happy with that grin he was giving her and it tugged her heart since she was lying to his face.

“I’m going to get some rest… It’s been a long day.”

“Sure~ We’ll call you when dinner will be ready.”

She nodded and turned around to step inside her room where she softly closed the door. She placed her bag on her desk where she picked out the set of pictures they had taken from the mall’s photo booth and went to lay down on her bed as she took out her light pink diary from underneath the mattress and placed the picture as a bookmark; taking out a pen from the drawer of her nightstand, she turned to a new page and wrote down the date before starting off with writing down her day.

That diary became one of the things that helped her through her parents passing; it used to belong to her mother before it belonged to hers after the reading of their will. She hasn’t thrown away the old writings as she reads them from time to time, just to have a memory so she wouldn’t forget about her parents.

Five years later and that’s one of the thing she was most afraid of.

She had a box full of her mother’s older journals that dated back to when she was a young teenager herself; it was the best reading material Lina ever had since she got to witness through the writing the life of the woman that brought her into the world.

As she was writing down, she was coming closer to the part where they had taken the pictures. She stopped for a minute and looked at the photos while the words of her grandmother echoed inside her head. ‘Why would she think that I would be in love with him?’

She let her fingers lightly graze over the picture as she unconsciously let out a smile before going back to her writing, her smile grew wider with the fresh memories playing inside her head.

Once she was done with her emotional journey, she placed her diary back under her mattress and laid on her back as she stared up at the ceiling.

Millions of thoughts ran across her head, especially regarding the type of life she would’ve had if her parents had never gotten into that car accident, but then again, it always led her to think about Cheolyong and if she would’ve even met him if her life was different.

Because she thought of him as the best thing that’s ever happened to her and she was thankful for it.

Without her consent, she was soon falling asleep, only to be waking up with the sun shining through her small window as it hit her right on her face. A small groan out of , she rubbed her eyes open before sitting up on her bed. Looking down, she realized that she was placed under her blanket, making her think that one of her grandparents must have walked in last night.

Not having the energy of getting up, she fell back against the mattress and closed back her eyes as she turned her back to the rays of the sun, letting herself rest a little bit longer.

Just as she was about to close her eyes, she heard the creak of her door as it opened to let her grandmother slip through the crack. The noise caught Lina’s attention as she turned around and smiled at the sight of the old lady. “Good morning grandma~”

“Good morning sweetheart, did you sleep well?”

“Like a baby~”

Mrs. Choi chuckled as she walked in and sat at the edge of the bed while Lina took her turn to sit up. “I’m about to leave for the market and your grandfather is already out. Since you had a big day yesterday, I thought it would be fair and leave you to rest while finishing up some homework if you haven’t already done so.”

“It’s okay grandma, I don’t mind joining you.”

“Are you sure? You know that on Sundays there isn’t really anybody.”

“I’m sure; I’ll go and get ready right now.”

“Okay then, I’ll make you some breakfast.”

With her grandmother in the kitchen, Lina quickly got dressed and cleaned herself up before joining the old lady at her table with her morning meal ready. Once they were done, they made their way towards the market where the teenager started to tell about the day she had with Cheolyong. The excitement and clear happiness that was voiced out through her words caught her grandmother’s attention as she glanced from time to time towards Lina noticing the glow that was surrounding her.

The old lady smiled to herself, enjoying the lively Lina that was walking next to her. As for the teenager herself, she didn’t realize how out of herself she was by talking to her grandmother about yesterday’s event as she was still enjoying the bits and pieces that were left while letting her fingers run through the new scarf she was wearing around her neck.

“He even bought me this… It’s pretty grandma, isn’t it?”

“He knows your color~ It’s suits you very well dear.” Mrs. Choi softly patted her granddaughter’s head as she looked down and smiled at her; from what she could tell, she knew that Lina was completely clueless about the boy’s feelings for her, which left the old lady perplex on their relationship, especially because of the boy’s background.

She also knew that things would be worse if her husband would to ever found out about Lina’s actual friend and knowing the man, it would leave their granddaughter devastated.

From there, they had arrived and spent the morning at their stand and since there wasn’t really anybody passing by, Lina was reading her book while her grandmother was knitting. From time to time, there would be a couple of customers where the two ladies would take their turn to serve them but besides that, there wasn’t a big crowd; usually Sundays were always like that.

“Grandma, is it okay if I pass by to see Grandpa?”

“Of course dear! Bring him a couple of fruits too.”

“Sure~”

Once Lina was gone and Mrs. Choi was left all by herself, a few minutes later, she spotted Cheolyong not too far away from where she was; the boy looked like he had some chores to do and noticed him coming closer to her.

“Good afternoon Mrs. Choi.”

“Good afternoon Cheolyong-ah.”

“Is Lina here?”

“You just missed her actually; she’s with her grandfather. May I help you with something?”

“O-oh, hmm… actually I was wondering if you could give her this for me?” He handed over a new novel he had to the woman as she looked back at him with a gentle smile on her face. “I’ll make sure she gets it.”

“Thank you.”

“Hmm, before you leave, may I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“About Lina… Are you in love with her?”

The boy was left with his breath stuck in his throat at the sudden question that he was asked; he stood frozen in his spot as he looked back at Mrs. Choi with his eyes wide open trying to figure out how to answer the lady.

“You don’t have to be scared, boy, just tell me the truth.”

“I-is it that obvious?”

“Well, I can see it but I think Lina is too innocent to notice that gaze in your eyes whenever you look at her. Are you going to tell her?”

“No… I’m afraid it will ruin our friendship… I don’t want to lose her, she means a lot an-and she needs me and I don’t want to leave her by herself.” The grandmother carefully looked at the boy, feeling the sincerity of his words. She nodded her head in understanding before speaking back up to the boy.

“Okay then, but if you truly care about Lina like you say you do, don’t change anything between you two, okay? I don’t remember seeing her this happy since the passing of her parents and knowing that its because of you makes me want to trust you. You know the ordeal that is going on between our families and you know that if her grandfather finds out, you won’t be able to see Lina ever again.”

“I understand.”

“Good. Be good to her Cheolyong, she needs someone like you.”

“Yes ma’am.”

With the day over, they were finally back at the house where Lina was helping her grandmother prepare dinner while her grandfather had just walked through the door, greeting both ladies.

Just from the tone of his voice, they both knew that something was wrong, which led Lina to feel something tug inside her heart, as if something bad was about to happen.

“Are you okay grandpa? You don’t look so well…”

He came walking through the kitchen while holding a book in his hand; the sight left Lina frozen as she looked at the novel before glancing back up at her grandfather letting shivers run down her spine from the glare he was giving her.

“What’s this?”

“I-it’s a book, of c-course…”

“And where did you get it?”

“The library…”

“Really? Then why is it written on the cover: ‘property of Bang Cheolyong’?”

“I-I don’t know, maybe he donated it or something?”

“Lina.”

“Y-yes, grandpa?”

“Tell me the truth.”

She breathed out while she dropped her head to look down at the floor before looking back up at the old man. “He… he gave it to me…” She saw the man’s jaw clench at her words making her heart squeeze at the sight, knowing that he was going to get angry. He took a few steps closer and handed her the book. “Tomorrow at school, you’ll give him the book back. Clear? I don’t want you associated with this boy, do you hear me?”

“Y-yes grandpa.”

“Good.”

She placed the book against her chest as she watched him walk away from her. She turned around and saw the look on her grandmother’s face that looked like she was sorry for her husband’s coldness towards the boy. She hugged her granddaughter for support before pulling away and looking back at the girl. “Are you okay dear?”

“Mhmm… I thought it would be worse than this.” She tried to lighten up the mood with a light chuckle but quickly let her smile disappear as she stared down at her feet. “I just don’t understand why he hates him so much… He’s a nice boy, right? He’s… He’s a good friend…”

“Your grandfather just has some issues with his families and… and they never got resolved… He’s afraid that they might hurt you, he’s just trying to protect you.”

“Protect me from what? Cheolyong has been the only one nice enough to be my friend. Ever since I moved here, he’s the only one that treats me nicely…”

“Lina?” The girl in question, turned around only to see the shocked expression on her grandfather’s face. “Did I hear just right?”

“A-about what?”

“You and that boy? Is he the one you spent your day with yesterday? Is he that friend?!” She flinched at the sudden loudness in his tone of voice as she took a step backwards towards her grandmother who was still standing behind her, placing her hands on her shoulders. “Gr-grandpa, I can ex-explain-”

“I forbid you to see that boy!”

“But Grandpa! He’s the only friend I have! Can’t you make an exception for me? Please?”

“I’m sorry Lina but I won’t let you near him. Even if it’s the last thing I do, I don’t want you anywhere near that trouble maker. He’s just going to cause problems and hurt you, just like his father and every damn one of them in that family! Do I make myself clear?”

“Grandpa… Please… He makes me happy…”

“Are you telling me that you’re in love with him?! Lina! How could you do this!”

“I’m not in love with him! He’s my best friend! He’s the only one that respects me and treats me right! Am I not allowed to have someone like this? Everybody at school is just pure mean to me and he protects me! He pushes them away! Grandpa, I’m begging you, please… Give him a chance…”

“I’m sorry Lina, but after the hell your father went through because of that boy’s father, I’m not going to let history repeat itself, is that clear? Being the one to raise you, being your guardian and your grandfather, I know what’s best for you. It’s for your own good Lina. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes grandpa…”    

A/N: Are you guys still with me? >.<

There's a little bit of drama as you can see but the real drama is coming in the upcoming chapters~ :3

Lots of love, xo

P.S - For those who are interested, I put up my first non-MBLAQ story, which will come out soon :
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