The night of August 30th,

One month.., Yul turned to the page of the calendar, that contained September in the middle as its main month. 

A faint smile appeared on his face when he saw November 1st on which many little blue stars were drawn. 

Yes. It was the miraculous day that Sooyeon stepped into Yul's life without knocking.

*********

That night.. was one of few rare nights that Sooyeon could not sleep. Her head felt like it held a huge complicated knot inside. She kept sighing once every minute and often buried her face in the pillow.

She had been doing a good job, hiding her identity and living among "ordinary" people. The past nine months had been the happiest moments of her life and the people here were the greatest ones she had ever met.

She had been having too much fun living like a normal person that she totally forgot about her real life.

But today, for the first time, she got to have a lightning quick peek of how deep the affection Yul had for her, how greatly Yul is devoted and attached to her, how genuinely Yul cared for her and how much Yul loved her. And that made her feel guilty for having him all fooled and lied.

All the lies she had spoken came into her head one by one. 

I came from Seoul.

I ran away from Hong Kong to Seoul. I bought a random bus-ticket to any rural town that brought me here. 

I was tired of the city life and decided to look for somewhere to live in to give both my mind and body some rest.

I fought with my boyfriend..no, fiancé and just ran away from there. 

My luggage was stolen. 

I didn't have time to even pack.

I have no family. 

I have my parents and even a sister. 

I worked at a company. 

I was a singer, filmed a drama and now running a business. 

She shook her head until she felt dizzy.

It was not her that caused her head a headache but her real life that she forgot resurfacing. 

It had been 9 months but she still remembered everything very clearly. 

*********

The feminine scent lingering on the clothes her boyfriend was wearing started all this. 

"What's with this smell? It's clearly of a woman."

"What? Jessica, you should understand that my job involves socializing with all kinds of people."

He leaned in for a kiss.

She decided to understand him and forgot about it. 

*********

The next was a single earring she found in his pocket. 

She let it pass for the same reason. 

*********

The thing that triggered her temper was the rumors. The rumors of another girl and her boyfriend having an affair. 

She fought with him all night. 

He denied it but she was not the kind of woman to melt in his words and believe it easily.

So, she walked out and took a cab to airport to go back to Seoul. 

In the exact same way he walked out whenever she pointed out the suspicious things. 

*********

As soon as she arrived at Seoul, she went to the express gate for she had no way to escape from her friends and fans if she remained in Seoul. 

She stood in front of the salesman and asked for a small town which was least populated and located the farthest.

Thankfully, her face was not clearly visible to the man with the tinted glass and her cap. 

The man pointed a name on the map. 

She bought a ticket and waited for the express. 

*********

The bus never stopped anywhere and she was getting hungry. 

Everyone on the bus brought food and she was the only one who did not.

Then, one woman noticed her and offered Jessica her food and a bottle of water. 

She only had some fruits and water for she did not have the habit of sharing a spoon with a stranger and for she did not like the smell and the look of her dishes. 

She fell asleep later.

*********

A huge bump in the road woke her up. It was then that she heard the women from earlier and the other talking. 

From what she heard, the other lived in where she was going to and the fruit woman lived in a town near it. 

The other was asking why she wouldn't live in Seoul when her son was there.

The fruit woman replied that she felt happiest in that town and that it possessed charms that Seoul did not have. 

It interested Sooyeon. 

Just what charms did it have that made the woman stick to it?

*********

The express arrived at its destination. She saw the fruit woman heading to the port just beside where the bus stopped.  

She followed her. 

*********

She was spacing out when the sky was turning slightly red. The beauty of it cheered her up a little. 

The boat came to a stop after a 20 minutes ride.

She had nowhere to go. 

*********

She walked around, hoping not to get lost.

A three-year-old kid passed by her. 

She did not think of following the kid since she did not want to appear creepy. 

But she did the otherwise when she saw a man doing weird moves with his headphones on. 

She was a little scared by him and turned left where the kid headed to. 

Now that she recalled, that person might be Hyoyeon. 

*********

It was so quiet. Until she heard the kid.

"Hi, Yul!"

"Yo, my favorite baby girl! Quite early today, huh?"

She also heard another voice but she didn't see anyone and definitely, the idea of a person being on the tree never crossed her mind. 

There were several benches.

She chose one that was the driest and cleanest. Maybe because it was under a shady tree that the snow could not get to it. 

She sat down. 

A pink leaf fell. 

Yul fell, too. 

He fell hard. 

*********

She was glad she introduced the name "Jung Sooyeon", and not "Jessica Jung".

She did it to avoid being discovered but she also liked how her unfamiliar name sounded when Yul and Yoona called her. 

She was glad Yoona was a friendly person.

She was glad Yoona asked her if she wanted to have breakfast with them. 

She was glad she agreed to do so. 

She was glad she came to this town. 

She was glad she met Yul. 

*********

Yul made her forget everything. 

Humiliation, pain, anger, disgust, shame, hate, unhappiness, ....him. 

Yul was a kind person. Weak-hearted, shy, gentle and nice. She knew it for sure. 

It was all written on his face. 

He was really bad at lying. 

But he could be very obvious at times though. 

He never talked his fondness for her out loud nor did he showed by action. 

But still, it was evident. 

The smiles that kept appearing whenever he was with her.

The looks of worry when she was sick.

The way he made sure she got everything she wanted and needed like the trip to the mountain and the sneakers he bought. 

Babo..

She waited for him to confess his love for her entire day. 

The mountain was a perfect place. 

But that babo did not let a word out. 

She waited in front of the inn, too. 

But that babo still didn't. 

She got impatient. 

She knew exactly that Yul was in love with her. 

Before she knew it, she kissed Yul. 

*********

She had no intention of taking this relationship so seriously. 

She thought it would be like any other ones she had previously. 

Everyone either wanted to take a ride of her popularity or just wanted to date the "Jessica Jung" for a brief moment of having a gorgeous girlfriend.

What she was not aware was that Yul was different. 

He loved her. Innocently, without any other intention. 

He gave his all out for her.

He cared for her. To the point that he got all restless and uneasy even by a slightest twitch of her eyebrows. 

That was why Sooyeon refused to go back to being the "Jessica Jung" and lied to everyone in order to put her identity away where no one could find out. 

After all..

Nobody has ever loved and cared for her as much as Yul does. 

*********

Flashback

In the evening,

Sooyeon was relaxing under the tree. It was Yul's favorite one where they first met.

She giggled, recalling how Yul fell down from the branch. 

Babo...

After closing her eyes and resting for minutes, Sooyeon stood up and dusted her pants as the sky was darkening as if it was gonna rain. 

"Jessica,"

Upon hearing her name, she almost instantly responded but stopped when she realized that no one in the town knew the other name of hers. 

Turning around, she saw a familiar man in suit.

"Oppa.."

"Oh my god. Look at you! What's with those junks you're wearing?", the man exclaimed. 

She stared at him. She never expected him to be there at that moment. 

"What's with that weird slippers, too?"

She was reminded of their fight and was upset that he kept mentioning about her clothes when he met her for the first time in months. 

"You look like a total mass, right now. Do you know? Now don't be mad at me anymore and let's go back to our home.", he pulled her hand. 

She stayed firmed without words. 

"Those were just groundless rumors, Jessica. I'll get rid of her if you want me to. And I can't bear to live without you even a day more. I've been so lonely these months so consider this as a punishment, okay?", he grabbed her shoulders. 

Tears rolled down upon her beautiful face. Still no word was said. 

"Don't be like this. I ran to you as soon as I knew where you are despite my busy schedule. Now, let's go.", he attempted to move her again. 

"Whether I do or don't, it's my choice. You can't force me!", she shook off his hand on her wrist.

"So are you not coming back? What about your company?", he frowned. 

"I..I need time."

He looked at her frustratedly. He could not understand her at times like this. 

"Okay,"

"I'll give you a month so think all you want. I have to go back now. I'm pretty busy but I'll make sure to visit you often."

"Bye, Jessica.", he kissed her on the lips.

The rain poured down heavily the moment Jessica stepped into her room. 

End of Flashback

*********

A wave of emotions crossed her heart at the thought of her fiancé.

The thing she felt when her friend told her about the rumors was too bitter to forget. 

Reading indirect posts on the other woman's SNS was something she never wanted to experience again. 

The stress she had to face while working in the entertainment industry, the comments of hatred written by people who were once her fans, the hardships of keeping a happy face when she was the total opposite inside.

She was not sure if she wanted to go back. 

She fell asleep when a bright shaft of sunlight shined on the picture of hers beside her bed through the little gap between two doors of the window. 

The picture was taken on her birthday. She was flashing her breathtaking smile as she stood on the cherry-petals covered street beside the endless row of huge cherry trees.

She looked so happy. 

Yul made her so happy. 

*********