[Flashback]

                “What the hell are you doing here?” I almost shouted as Jonghoon ssaem stopped by my table. There’s no way he’s the person I’m meeting tonight. He won’t have the guts to ask Jaejin’s Umma to set a date with me – he must not have the guts. But the reality I’m seeing now was totally the opposite of my thoughts.

                “Annyeong, Taera. May I have the seat?” greeted him, with a happy smile on his face. I ignored him, turning my attention to the scenery outside the window. There’s nothing much to see, actually. It was just the lights that brightened the night, but that was enough to show my disinterest in him. But he acted dumb by simply sat on the unoccupied seat in front of me.

                “Should we order the food?” Jonghoon ssaem asked again. This time, I turned to face him, giving him a deadly expression.

                “You know what, you can just do anything you want. I’m leaving,” I said, as I stood up from my seat and grabbed my purse and made my way out of the restaurant. Jonghoon ssaem looked at me with a confused face before realising that he was being dumped by me.

*****

                I made my way out of the restaurant to the park. I sat on the swing, looking at the sky to see two stars shining brightly. The stars were closed to each other; they are my parents, I know. I smiled sweetly to the stars, as if I’m smiling to my parents. It was a good five minutes for me, until I felt a tap on my shoulder. I reluctantly turned my head back and to my surprise, it’s Jang Na Gil; a person whom I met last two weeks for a seon. I stood up from the swing and bowed a little to him as an acknowledgement.

                I was terrified seeing him here, where there were only both of us. Since our last meeting, he has always bothering me. Often, he would disturb my seon with any other guy these past two weeks. And to be with him alone here, was really really not a good idea.

                “Ahn-ssi, don’t you have any seon today?” he asked me without greeting me first. What should I answer to that question?

                “Oh, annyeonghaseyo. Ne, Jang-ssi. What are you doing here?”I asked him back. Has he been stalking me? He scratched the back of his head uncomfortably, while his eyes travelled all over the park.

                “I was just walking around, and I thought it was you whom I saw here. I was right then. Uhm, Ahn-ssi, I think you can just stop going for seons,” he uttered, surprising me.

                “Why do you think so?” My question was unanswered as Jonghoon ssaem arrived at that time. Even though it was me who did not want to see him a while ago, I just can’t deny my relief that he’s here with me now – at least I’m not alone with a total stranger who seemed to be a stalker of mine.

                “Taera, was I late?” asked Jonghoon ssaem to me, panted a bit. I was confused at first, but later I got what he was talking about – he’s pretending that we promised to meet here.

                “Ani, I just came,” I said as I reached to his hand, intertwining our hands together. I could feel Jonghoon’s ssaem expression stirred, as he was surprised with my action. But, as somebody who has acted in a movie before, he controlled it well.

                “Who is this, Ahn-ssi?” asked Jang-ssi to me. He seemed flabbergasted seeing my position with Jonghoon ssaem. ‘Hope he’ll buy our acting,’ prayed my heart.

                “This is Jonghoon; somebody from my high school. Oppa, meet Jang-ssi. He’s one of the guys I’ve met in seons before,” I introduced both of them to each other. That was a big fat lie! Since when did Jonghoon ssaem attend the same school as me before? He is ought to be fluent in English if he did so. Jonghoon ssaem held out his hand for a handshake, but Jang-ssi ignored him.

                “NO! This can’t be, Ahn-ssi! You can’t be with this guy! It’s me who should be with you!” shouted Jang-ssi all of sudden. He seemed disturbed with the fact that I’m ‘in a relationship’ with Jonghoon ssaem. He looked anxious; I swear if it’s not because of Jonghoon ssaem was around, I won’t even be here anymore.

                “What do you mean by that? Why can’t I be with him? And why is it you whom I should be with?” I asked, still confused with his act. Suddenly, he grabbed both of my arms firmly that it hurt. My face winced to keep up with his grip on my arms. Jonghoon ssaem tried to remove them, but it’s too tight.

                “Because he might be with you because of your wealth! You can’t trust him! He just wanted to cheat you!” screamed Jang-ssi right in front of my face while shaking both of my shoulder furiously. That’s when I realised the reason on why was he got so worked up whenever I went to seons; he was the one who’s after my wealth. Not once, I’ve mentioned about my status or my family background to any of those seon guys; so how could he get to know about it? Unless he really was after my properties. The pain on my arms has gone once Jonghoon ssaem got to remove his hands of mine.

                “That’s not a way to treat a lady, you know?” said Jonghoon ssaem, dragging me away from the scene. But the Jang guy played dirty by throwing a punch to Jonghoon’s ssaem face. I was in panic state as I stood there watching Jonghoon ssaem did not do any counter attack. Just when he was about to plant another punch on Jonghoon’s ssaem face, I found myself back. I ran in between them; making Jang Na Gil stopped his flying punch abruptly.

                “You are the one who’s after my money! Not once had I told any of you seon guys about who I am! Not a single thing on my family background. There’s no way you could have known it unless you were already aiming for it,” I said to him. His expression immediately changed from red furious to pale guilty. I grabbed Jonghoon ssaem’s hand and hauled him away with me.

*****

                “Is it still hurting?” I asked Jonghoon ssaem as I put on some ice on his bruise on his cheek. I took him to my house immediately after that. Ugh! I’m so dead; manager oppa is so going to kill me tomorrow.

                “I’m okay, he didn’t punch me that hard,” he replied to me, trying to smile. However it just turned out to be a grimace.

                “Ssaem, geojitmarhajima. I was there; I saw how hard he punched you. The bruise is pretty bad, it won’t heal overnight. There goes your handsome face,” I said, half to him and another half ranting to myself. My hand was still putting on some ice on the wound when I realised him smiling sweetly to me as if he was not experiencing any pain. I jerked one of my eyebrows upwards, questioning his act.

                “So you do care about me, huh?” he uttered, still smiling. I rolled my eyes a response to his remark when my heart was beating so fast.

                “I care about my life more. I’d be dead meat if manager oppa knows what happened tonight. That’s the reason for me to attend you now. Plus, we’re still friends regardless of anything that had happened.” He messed my hair to my answer and suddenly pouted. His sudden change of expression made me wonder whether or not he’s having a spilt personality.

                “Tae, I’m hungry. Feed me,” he rubbed his flat stomach while saying so. I stopped putting ice on his wound seeing how fine he was now.

                “Make them yourself,” indifferently, I said that to him. His face turned into a bit sad – was he trying to imply his aegyo on me? He knows better that any aegyo won’t work on me.

                “Mweoya~~? It’s your house, not mine. Uh~ ppalli feed me, or I’ll cry.” Blackmailing, huh? I don’t buy that either.

                “Just cry then,” I said as I walked to the kitchen taking the towel and a bowl of ice with me. I expected him to stop asking for me to make him food, however he didn’t. Instead he really cried out loud.

                “Uwaaaaaa~~ Taera won’t feed me~~ She’s abusing me~~ Uwaaa~~ I’m hungry,” cried Jonghoon in the middle of the living room. I tried to bear with it for the first two minutes, but as it gets louder and non-stop for the rest of the minutes, I just can’t take it anymore.

                “Oh fine! Fine! I’ll make dinner! Just stop wailing, whining or whatever!” I said, throwing my hands to the air. Hearing that, he clapped his hands happily in the living room.

[A few minutes later]

                I set up the table as soon as I finished cooking while Jonghoon ssaem helped to put the rice into the rice bowls and made some drinks for both of us. After finished setting up the table, I put the dishes on the table, with Jonghoon ssaem already waiting impatiently, clapping his hand as he saw the dishes. He must be very hungry – he kept on asking me how long was it going to take when I was cooking.

                “Jalmeokesseumnida!” he exclaimed happily, digging the food as soon as I finally settled down on the chair. I stared at him for a while; wondering when was the last time he acted childish around me. He has always acted matured around me as he said that it’s such a burdensome for me to be a mother to five grown up sons.

                “Eh, aren’t you eating?” his voice startled me, taking me out of my own world. I just nodded to his question, hastily picking up the chopsticks. He started to pile a few dish into my rice bowl making my rice ended buried deep down the dishes. I widened my eyes to him only to see him chuckling.

                “Yahh! Ssaem! How am I going to eat the rice then?” I said, frowning. Dude, I’m hungry, you know?

                “Feed me those that you don’t want, then,” he said slyly, with a smirk formed on his face.

                “Mweoya~ Ssaem, you know I don’t share my cutleries with anybody except Jaejin, right? Oh wae~~” I whined to him. I can’t possibly put them back into their respective bowls. Jaejin’s Umma is ought to kill me then.

                “Ppalli before I’m too full~” he sang, pretending to pick another dish. Just before the food got to his mouth, I shoved some from my bowl in front of his eyes. His eyes widened in shock, before jerking his head backwards a bit. I can just change the cutleries afterwards, rather than finishing all of these.

                “Tae, I use my mouth to eat, not my eyes, you know?” he said, pointing to his lips. I sighed before shoved the food into his mouth to which he replied with a big grin. Me, on the other hand gave him an annoyed expression. I kept on feeding him until the rice in the bowl can be seen again.

                I stood up afterwards, to change my cutleries. By the corner of my eyes, I saw Jonghoon’s ssaem face fell, but hey, this is my house. No one tells me what to do. After grabbing a new pair of chopsticks, both of us started to eat again. The dinner was in silence except for the sound of our cutleries. Jonghoon ssaem who finished first, stood from his seat and ready to take his bowl, glass and other things to the kitchen when I stopped him from doing so.

                “Just put it there, I’ll clean it up later. Go and watch the television,” I shooed him away. Not long after that, I finished mine and started to clean the table and washed the dishes. The leftovers were kept in the fridge in case I got too lazy to cook. After making sure everything has been cleaned up, I walked to the living room, where Jonghoon ssaem sat, watching the television. I took the seat next to him, poking his arm on the process. He turned his face my side as a result of my act earlier.

                “What are you watching?” I said, throwing my glance to the television. Cartoon?

                “Some cartoons. It’s been so long since I last watched them,” he said, returning his attention to the television in front while resting his arm around my shoulder. If you say that’s an act of intimacy, no, it’s not, because my part-time job is being FT Island’s arm rest.

                We laughed throughout watching the cartoon, recalling our own childhood times. And when it’s commercial break, I felt that my throat was dry due to the excessive laughing. I went to the kitchen and made two mugs of hot chocolate for both me and Jonghoon ssaem. When I was in the living room, the programme has already started. Jonghoon ssaem turned his head my way as he heard my footsteps.

                “What were you doing at the back? The show has already started,” said Jonghoon ssaem. I handed him the mug, pouting.

                “I was making this. Why didn’t you call me?” I said, settling myself on the couch. As soon as I sat, he slung his arm on my shoulders again.

                “I’m sorry,” he said. I shrugged it off and concentrate on my watching. But I could felt that Jonghoon ssaem has changed his watching object from the television to me. Feeling uncomfortable, I looked back at him.

                “What’s wrong?” I asked him, in case he’s feeling not well because of the fight just now.

                “Ani, it’s just that the way we’re acting now, is like a married couple,” he said, looking straight to my eyes. I could sense where this conversation was leading to.

                “Ssaem, please, not now. I was just about to forget about it,” I muttered, head down. I just can’t look into his eyes now.

                “I’m on the other hand; don’t want you to forget it, Taera. Please, just this once. Give me a chance. I promise I’ll make you happy.”

                “But, ssaem, we don’t love each other. What’s the use of having a family without love? It won’t last.” I tried my best giving reason hoping that he would understand. Instead, he took both of my hands and lifted my chin up so that our eyes could meet each other.

                “Ahn Taera, I love you. Will you marry me?”

[End of Flashback]

A/N: Fast update, I know :) I'm proud of myself to be able to write this much in 2 days with a pile of homeworks done. Teehee. Hope you'll like it :) And yes, this is still Taera's flashbacks after being left by Jonghoon. 

I'm sorry again if I confused any of you guys :(

Gomenasai!!

Love, ChocoBun.