One week later

“That’s all you're bringing?”

“That’s all I own…”

“Ah~ Wait until I spoil you then~”

“Yah! Bang Cheolyong! I’m fine with what I got, now scoot!” Pushing him out of the door of her bedroom as he was holding onto one of her boxes, she stuck her tongue out to her boyfriend earning her a chuckle as he ruffled her new shoulder length hair, before walking out of the house to the car that was waiting for them on the other side of the bridge.

Since the episode of the hospital, Lina finally agreed to Mir’s proposal of moving in with him. A part of her was still scared about the big change but she also knew that she couldn’t stand being alone and having the boy by her side was something she was longing for after years of being apart.

Right now, her bed supported three other boxes. Two filled with all her clothes and another filled with her mother’s diaries, leaving the fourth one that was just brought out to be the rest of her personal stuff.

With the rest of the house still intact, she quietly walked around letting the memories that she built come to her in one wave at a time. A nostalgic feeling was roaming around inside of her, leaving her to smile a little at the thought of her grandparents during the first years she moved in with them, just after the death of her parents.

She arrived in front of the stairs and was looking up at the second floor. She was about to step on the first flight when Mir interrupted her as he softly called out her name. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

“Mhmm… It’s about time I climb these stairs.”

“I’ll wait for you here if you need me.”

Nodding her head, she turned back and started climbing up. Since she didn’t have her cane anymore and with the physical therapy she had everyday, it made it much more easier for her to walk. Once she stepped on the last flight, she stared at the closed door to her grandparents room and gulped down heavily before walking towards this direction.

Placing her hand on the knob, she let out a deep breath before twisting it open, letting the door creak before walking inside.

Since the death of her grandmother, she wasn’t able to walk inside that bedroom and hasn’t even touched anything, leaving things as they were. Even after her grandfather passed away, they haven’t even boxed any of his things, not having the strength to go through with it.

She still didn’t have that strength.

She looked around before taking a seat on the bed where she found a torn picture lying there. Picking it up, she carefully gazed at the photograph noticing how old it was since she saw her parents as well as her grandparents in it. Noticing herself, she was starting to remember the day the picture was taken and could only let out a smile with that nostalgic feeling giving her another blow.

Looking away, she got up from the bed and walked to the closet where the clothes were still there, the scent of her relatives still lingering on the fabrics. She let out a shaky sigh and finally walked out, deciding that it was time to give one last visit before officially leaving. As she walked back down, she gave a heads up to Mir about where she was going. He wanted to come with her but she let him know that she wanted to be alone for the moment and that she’ll be quick so as not to worry him.

On her way out to her destination, she took the chance to pick up a bouquet of the small white flowers that would usually grow on the other side of her house. Once she took the amount she wanted, she walked passed the bridge and quietly paced her way to the location she needed to be.

It took her a good walk of twenty minutes before she was standing in front of the cemetery’s entrance. Taking in a deep a breath, she started making her way to the other end, where the trees that grew the same small white flowers were. The closer she got, she also spotted a manly figure standing in front of her parents graves, leaving her confused.

Just barely a couple of feet away, she recognized the man as Mir father. He had leaned in to place a red rose over her mother’s grave before turning around to see Lina, surprising him. “Mr. Bang? Wh-what are you doing here?”

“I think it would be a great time to talk you and I, don’t you think?”

She nodded her head, giving the older man the green light to start explaining himself. “That feud between our two families – well more between me and your grandfather, started all the way back to when your father was still alive. Before you were born and even before he met your mother.”

“You knew my dad?”

“We were best friends.”

“I-I think I need to sit down for this…” Looking around, they made their way towards a bench that was facing the four tombstones. Lina was looking in front of her, still curious but yet afraid to hear the story behind her home while Mr. Bang was staring at the grave of his old friend, letting his mind reminisce the past. A sigh came out from the older man, trying to form the correct sentence to speak out, knowing that a truth she never knew was going to be revealed. “Your father… he had gambling problems.”

“Wh-what?” She turned her head in surprise at his confession. She could hardly believe what he said since she didn’t have any memories of her father having money problems. She had a great childhood.

“Don’t get me wrong. Your father was a great man… He just fell in with the wrong crowd.” From there, Mr. Bang kept on going as he explained to Lina the years of friendship he had with her late father and how close to being best friends they were since they pretty much grew up together. He went on and told her how the addiction brought only trouble to her father to the point that he had to repay the money he’d lost by selling the lands he owned.

“Did my mother know?”

“That’s how he changed actually. It was love at first sight for him.”

She couldn’t help but let a smile escape at the mention of her parents meeting for the first time, her eyes gazing over to where they were right now. “I miss them so much…”

“I miss them too. We may have ended things badly between me and your father, but I never stopped on helping him even though he was stubborn and kept refusing my help.” She chuckled as his words brought her back to how similar the situation sounded when it came to Mir and her with their constant arguments. “What about my mother? Why the red rose?”

“Ah~ Your mother… I’ll have to admit this after more than twenty years later, but I had the biggest crush on Linda. I would’ve done anything for her. It’s still one of the reasons why I kept helping your father too. But from the moment she saw the man, I knew I didn’t have a chance so I just let her go and that’s when I met my wife.”

“Was my dad that troublesome?

“Well, not until he started to get addicted to gambling. When he lost those lands, I bought them back for him. When he found out, he was waiting for me to give them back but I never did.”

“Why?”

“So he wouldn’t lose them again. He had hit the lowest point of his life when he lost everything. Those lands were his only source of income and I knew that he was going to use them again. Your grandfather got so angry… He didn’t want to believe that his son had become like this and blamed me for everything, saying that I was the bad influence, since I was the troublemaker between the two of us, and that’s how the fighting started… When he passed away… I try to make amends with your grandfather but things only got worse, which led us to also fight about the house since, technically, it was part of the new lands that I came to own.”

Another tired sigh coming out him, Mr. Bang fetched out from inside his jacket documents that he handed over to Lina, leaving her perplexed about the content.

“Your father’s lost properties are now your own. Everything has been legally changed so that you become the new owner.”

“Wh-why?”

“It’s time to move on Lina. I already feel guilty for putting you in a hospital… And I was hoping that your grandfather knew what I did, as well as your father. I wanted to protect him and hoping that by losing this much he would stop. He was a very good man.”

She handed him back the documents, which left him surprised. She thanked him for his gesture and simply told him to keep them. “Since I’m leaving, I can’t really keep an eye on them…” She let out a slight chuckle as she glanced down before lifting her head back up to look at the man. “Would it be o-okay if you hmm…”

“I’ll take care of your house, don’t worry. Cheolyong asked me the same thing this morning. I promise I’ll keep an eye on it.”

“Thank you.”

He got up and took one last look at the graves before looking back at Lina and wishing her good luck. Thanking him once again, he walked away and left her on her own. She got up from her seat and as she was tightly holding onto the flowers in her hands, she walked towards each and every one of the tombstone where she placed the flowers until she got to her grandmother’s.

Backing away, she could feel tears in the corner of her eyes and just let them roll down her cheeks. Even though Mir was able to convince her to move in with him, she still refused to believe him about her not being at fault for the loss of her family. Now that she was leaving them behind, a bigger guilt was taking place inside of her, leaving her to hesitate on whether to go through with moving on or just stay here.

She sat down and started pouring out her feelings starting with her parents by telling them how much she was missing them and even chuckled bitterly by letting out the fact that she was wearing her father’s shirt, though she fixed it up to fit her with the sleeves cut around her elbows along the hem of the shirt torn off, and by cutting her hair short like her mother used to have them; just around the shoulders with no bangs. When it came to her grandparents, she was left speechless. She had so much to say and didn’t know where to start but ended up by apologizing to her grandfather and asked for forgiveness for the stress she caused him when he died.

“You’re not here to ground me anymore about Cheolyong but… I just want you to forgive him or just accept him. I know you had trouble with his father but he makes me happy and now that he wants me to move in with him… I can’t be on my own grandpa. I need him. I’m madly in love with him and I can’t bare the thought of you being mad at me about him… Please say yes. Give him a chance.”

Turning to her grandmother’s grave, she held in her sobs. Clutching tightly onto the fabric of her patterned skirt, she looked down at her lap before gazing back up.

“Cheolyong told me what you asked him to do. Why didn’t you come and see me though? I didn’t even had the chance to hold on to you so you wouldn’t leave… I failed to keep you here and I’m so sorry. I tried to take care of you the best I could but I couldn’t even do that properly… You didn’t have to go through the trouble of hurting yourself. I was so angry when I found out what you did but knowing why… Grandma, I was happy living with you. I never thought about the ‘what if’s’ because I was content with how things were.”

Getting back up on her feet, she spoke up her goodbyes for the last time as she wiped her tears away from her cheeks. “I’ll come back to visit soon, I promise.”

Ready to walk away, she stopped when she spotted Mir standing further away, hands in his pocket and a small smile on his face. They met halfway until they were close enough to hug each other tightly. “I was afraid you had changed your mind and ran away.”

Pulling away from his chest, she looked up at him and tiptoed to peck him on his lips before smiling softly at him. “Sorry I took so long. I ran into your father… We talked things out.”

“Everything’s good?”

“Mhmm.”

“Are you ready to go?”

“Yea, but is it okay if we go back to the house real quick? I want to give it a last look…”

“Okay but before we go, there’s something I want to give you.” Out of his pocket, a familiar golden necklace was dangling in front of Lina; a gasp out of , the emotions were suddenly hitting her right in the face leaving her eyes to well up with tears of surprise and happiness. Seeing her old mother’s necklace back in her sight, she took it as the sign she was looking for, the one that told her to live her life the way she wanted to, the one that would allow her to move on and be happy.

She was forgiven.

Putting it around her neck, she thanked him with small tears rolling down her cheeks, grateful for finally being able to live stress free and have something she been wanting for a long time.

She turned her head, giving a last look at her family before turning back to Mir as she took a hold of his hand while they started making their way out. The walk back home was relatively quiet, and comfortable, without seeming to be in a hurry to leave knowing that for Lina, this was the hardest part. “You can wait in the car, I’ll make it quick.”

“Take your time.”

Nodding her head, she walked back inside her house. To the living room, she picked up from the coffee table her grandmother’s knitting kit and tightly held onto it against her chest before walking back to her empty bedroom where the furniture was the only thing left with her desk, closet and drawers emptied. She found her cane placed by her nightstand and grabbed it before she walked back out, gave herself one last tour until she stood by the main entrance, letting out a shaky breath.

She placed her cane by the door, her fingers lingering, and started closing the door behind her before completely locking it with the only set of keys she had. She stood still for a few seconds and turned her back where she found Mir waiting by the car. She made her way to him where both of them stood in front of each other silently, somehow left in an awkward moment.

His eyes glanced down at the knit kit she had and curved the side of his lips into a smile, as he took it away from her hands. “Are you planning on knitting something for me?” She giggled at his playfulness while stepping closer to him and wrapping her arms around his waist where she let her hands fall straight onto his bum, placing them inside the back of his pants pockets. He was left startled by her action as he slightly jumped and looked down at her with a shocked expression.

“What? You can touch mine but I can’t touch yours?” She pouted by sticking out her bottom lip and earned herself to hear him laugh before feeling his arms around her, kissing her lips. “I’m just not used to you being the one touching it.”

“Yah! What is that suppose to mean?”

“I’ll tell you on the road. Come on, I want to get out of here before you change your mind again~”

She laughed at him as they pulled away and kissed him once more before they took their place inside his car, finally ready to go. As he was about to shift to ‘drive’, she placed her hand above his as she softly called him out, making him gaze up at her.

“Thank you for not giving up on me. I know I’ve been the b-”

“Best thing that’s happened to me.” A cheeky grin plastered on his face, she let out a light laugh and leaned closer, making him do the same until they were inches apart. “I love you.” She lingered her lips against his, making her heart skip a beat before pulling away. “Getting swept off my feet by you is the best feeling I’ve had~”

“And because of that, you won’t be able to touch the ground anymore…” He kissed her again, letting her smile between their locked lips and pulled away. “…I’ll be holding you for a very, very long time Choi Lina.”

“And I wouldn’t want it any other way Bang Cheolyong.”

A/N: 

It's the end! Voilà!

Feedback is much appreciated, I would really like to know what you guys thought about this story. Was it good? Did you like the concept of the story? Did you like Lina or was this all crap? >.<

There were times when I wanted to give up because I felt like this story wasn't good enough for your liking so I got really scared and re-did it but even after that I was still very much worried :/

I hope I didn't bore you guys with this and if I did I apologize.

In the meantime you can either enjoy a Yongguk romcom or I'll see you soon with a future Joon story :3~

Lots of love, xo