I laid the flowers on the ground. As I expected, a lot of people attended Bom’s funeral two weeks ago. Seeing all those people made me ask God “why not me?” When Bom told me she’s dying, I felt like I died myself. I thought I mentally and emotionally prepared myself already. But when she died, it was nothing I expected. The pain, the loss. . . no one could prepare themselves for a loved one’s death even if they tried to. It was too overwhelming. The pain made me feel like I died over and over again.

 

“I still can’t believe you lied to me,” I said in a thick voice. “You said WEEKS not DAYS. You’re so unfair, do you know that? How could you hurt your parents like this? How could you leave all your friends just like that? How could you abandon me? And how dare you to break his heart?”

 

I looked ahead of me and let the tears fall silently. I breathed through pursed lips. I looked down again. A bittersweet smile curved my lips. “I’m sorry but I’m afraid I can’t fulfill the promise I made. You understand why, don’t you? You should have seen his face when. . .”

 

I took in an unsteady breath. “I’m leaving by the way,” I continued. “I might not come back anymore. I just wanted to see you one last time, though not literally. You know I love you, right? And I missed you so much.”

 

I broke into tears again; my whole body shook from the intensity. When the tears subsided, I wiped them off. “I’m being a crybaby again, huh? After all the times I cried alone in the dorm, my tears should have gone dry already. But I’m not as strong or as optimistic as you.”

 

I fell silent as waves of emotions came over me. I sighed a while later and bid my goodbye to Bom. I turned to leave. It’s not just Bom I’m leaving behind but I’ll be leaving Bom’s bestfriend behind, too. I don’t think I could look back again after everything that happened. I’ll forget this part of my life from now on. I’ll try to make new happy memories.

 

I stopped in my tracks as I saw Jiyong from afar. He was carrying a basket of flowers. I panicked for a moment. What should I do? Should I change direction? Should I run away? Should I hide? Should I pretend I didn’t see him? But he already saw me and this might be the last time I’m going to see him. I might as well face him for the last time. I willed myself to walk. We walked past by each other without greeting or glancing at each other. It’s as if he doesn’t know me and I don’t know him, too.

 

“I heard you’re leaving,” he loudly said. I stopped but didn’t dare turn around. For some reason, I knew he had his back on me too. I wanted to ask how he found out about me leaving but then I remembered I told Auntie and Uncle – Bom’s parents – about it.

 

“Yes” I answered.

 

“Good,” he said. “Please tell me you’re not coming back anymore.”

 

My throat instantly locked. My tears started falling again. How much more heartbreak could one person take? I took a deep breath and cleared my throat first before answering his question. Surprisingly, my voice came firm and steady. “No, I’m not coming back anymore.”

 

“Thank you for that,” he said. “You’re not that selfish after all.”

 

“Thank you, too,” I returned. “For the memories.”

 

I’m not just leaving everything behind after all; I’m leaving EVERYONE behind, too. This part of my life will be nothing but memories from now on, simple memories that I can replace.

 

~o~

 

My things are all packed. I’m all set to leave when I heard a knock on my door. With a frown, I went to get it. A tall, handsome man greeted me. “Yes?”

 

“Miss Sandara Park,” he smiled.

 

“Yes?” I repeated. The guy smiled again, looking relieved.

 

“I’m Lee Minho. I work for your grandfather.”

 

“I’m sorry but you must have mistaken me for someone else. I don’t have a living relative. . . .” I trailed as he smiled.

 

“I assure you I’m not mistaken,” he smiled. Why does he keep on smiling? “Can I come in first? It’s a pretty long story”,

 

“I don’t really. . .”

 

He chuckled. “If I wanted to do something bad to you, I could have done that already.”

 

He got a point. Though I’m still reluctant, I opened the door wider and let him in. I led him to the receiving area and offered him a seat. I sat down across him.

 

“So what’s this all about?” I opened.

 

It turned out that my father was rich. He and his father had a fight because the latter didn’t like my mother for him. He was disowned. I never thought that things like this do happen in real life. Like seriously? I’m a granddaughter of some wealthy man?! The old man, it turned out was not getting younger.

 

“You’re the sole heir of everything he owned.”

 

“W-what?”

 

“Give him a chance to make up for the mistakes he did to your parents before”.

 

~o~

 

“You look exactly like that ,” the old man said. I was taken aback with his crudeness. “But you got my son’s eyes, my eyes,” he then chuckled. “I take it Minho told you that you’ll eventually inherit everything I own?”

 

“Yes,” I stiffly answered.

 

He laughed. “You seemed to be more practical than your mother.”

 

“Yes,” I nodded and held my chin up high. “But I didn’t come here because of your wealth.”

 

“Whatever,” he waved off. “But there’s a lot of work to do on you.”

 

“A. . . a lot of work to do on me?”

 

“Yes,” he said, eyes narrowing. “You’re obviously one of those gullible, easy-to-lead astray kind of person. That won’t work in this world.”

 

Is this the chance I’ve been waiting for? A new life?

 

“You have to study abroad.”

 

~o~

 

After five years

 

I’m back, I silently told myself. Funny, I thought I won’t see this place anymore but here I am. I thought I fooled the old man into thinking that after my studies, I’ll be running back in his arms happily, he thought wrong. For all the years I was away, I learned a lot of things, met different people, became worldlier and made new memories. I became a wild rebel.

 

A playful smile curved my lips.

 

~o~

 

Minho rolled beside me, panting. I laughed. “You sound so tired,” I said.

 

“I am,” he said. “I’ve been working my off to get that Presidential recommendation.”

 

“But I thought the old man’s going to give it to you?”

 

“That’s before that jerk came,” he mumbled darkly. “Mr. Park seemed fond of him.”

 

“I can help you if you want,” I teasingly said.

 

“How?” he asked and looked down at me.

 

“I can seduce him , tease his senses until he could think of nothing else but me. And then, when I’m sure he’s into me, I’ll inform you. You will let the old man catch us in a compromising situation and I’ll accuse him of harassment or .”

 

“You really are your grandfather’s granddaughter,” he laughed.

 

“Speaking of, I need to go. I haven’t seen the old man yet.”

 

“You went straight here?” he panicked.

 

“Relax” I said. “He doesn’t know anything of our liaison.”

 

“You’ve really become a troublemaker” he said. I just laughed and climbed out of bed, not minding my . I picked up my undergarments and stuff that were scattered everywhere. When I put everything on, I went to the door.

 

“See you around!” I called.

 

When I was in the car, my thoughts drifted back to Minho. It would have been fun if I stayed longer. I snorted as I remembered what happened. He sure did look surprise when I appeared in his doorstep without warning. But of course, I’m not emotionally involved with him. It’s just casual between friends.

 

“You’re late!” a voice boomed as soon as I arrived at the old man’s place. I looked up and saw him.

 

“I just went somewhere to have fun,” I said and kissed him in the cheek.

 

He grunted. “I'm getting old, young lady. I'd better see you doing good in work or else-”

 

“Where's your sense of fun, old man?” I rolled my eyes. “Don't worry, I'll be dropping off to the EMPIRE tomorrow.” I added sarcastically.

 

~o~

 

“Hi there, y!” I greeted. Minho looked up and smiled at me. He leaned back on his chair lazily. I took it as in invitation to come in. I closed the door behind me and walked lazily towards him. He looked at me appreciatively.

 

“Nice dress,” he said.

 

“I'm aiming to seduce,” I winked as I made my way between him and his table. I pulled myself up in the table and pulled him by the tie. He chuckled low in his throat as he slowly closed the distance between our faces. But before we could even kiss, I heard the door opened.

 

“Hey, I got- oh, sorry. I'll just come back la-”

 

“Oh, it's okay,” Minho said. He turned to me and leaned on y ear. “It's him,” he whispered.

 

“Oh really?” I slyly said. I jumped to my feet and turned around. My smile faltered for a moment but then I was quick enough to regain my composure. I smiled seductively at Minho. “Aren't you going to introduce me to him?”

 

“Oh, of course. Where are my manners?” he chuckled. “This is Sandara Park and this is Kwon Jiyong”

 

“Hi!” I greeted. “Anyways, I better get going. It looked like you two got something very important to discuss,” I said then tiptoed to Minho's ear. “Piece of cake,” I said and ran my tongue along the side of his ear again. I turned to Jiyong and walked to him. I held my hand out. “Nice meeting you.”

 

He looked down at my hand then back at my face. I shrugged and dropped my hand to the side. I ran my tongue along my lower lip and winked at him. “See you around,” I said in a low voice and went out of the office. As soon as I was out, my knees started trembling.