; 

She thinks doing nothing for the past fourteen days might get her killed due to boredom any time soon, but that wasn't the case at all. The nuns weren't quite happy when they found out she ran away again, but that was expected of them. When Sooyoung woke up the next day around lunch, little faces gathered around the living room couch and she doesn't want to admit it, but it hurts her deep inside when she notices how familiar most of these faces were. 

"Why are you here?" it's Yeri who first curses at her, and Sooyoung was a little taken aback by her bluntness but she was happy all the same at how little Yeri finally grew some balls. 

It was Yunhyeong next. "What the heck are you doing here again? Why did you come back?!" he was always there for everyone, he acted as the big brother because he was the eldest and next to Sooyoung, Myungeun and Chanhyuk, he was one of the longest orphans to stay ever since his arrival.

Sooyoung was tired of explaining things over and over again; to the nuns, to Yeri, to Yunhyeong, to the little kids, to the new kids. By the end of her first day back at the orphanage, she was beat and tired from talking alone. 

She slept snuggly beside Yeri, on the younger's bed because her bed is being used by a new kind now, and Sooyoung ignores the fact how Yeri along with some others, were still under the roof of the orphanage after all this time. 

"You won't mind if I stay here for a while don't you?"

"No, not at all. You can sleep on my bed anytime."

On some nights, Sooyoung would find herself embracing Yeri in her arms, as if she was still that fragile flower she used to look after. Other nights, they'd lie back to back and Sooyoung would ignore how Yeri still dreams about her imaginary family.

She knows this, because Yeri won't shut up at night. 

Sooyoung has been inside for too long, Yunhyeong declares on her fifteen day ever since she returned. But Sooyoung can't help it, and she tries to testify to this because not too long ago, the Songs came and demanded to see her but bless the nuns, because they wouldn't let them.

"Why?! We ing signed a contract with that little brat! She owes us big time for the things she's caused us over the ing year!"

Yunhyeong and Chanhyuk pushed her back inside to one of the rooms, and she didn't hear anything more than that.

She didn't want to hear anything more than that. 

They kept coming back, and every time, Yunhyeong would make sure she'd be inside and would let the little kids make her preoccupied so that she won't even get a chance to peak out at one of the windows. 

"You were right to come back here, you know." he says one evening as they both wash the dishes. Sooyoung is surprised how she still remembers Wednesdays are the days Yunhyeong does the dishes after dinner. She volunteers to help him, and he smiled in relief at her. 

"Yeah?" 

"Mhmm, I can see why you would." 

They say nothing for a while and that night ended with the faucet being turned off and the plates being placed back in the cupboard. 

Sooyoung still hasn't gone outside, or has even gone near the front door in the sixteen days she's been there. All she's been doing is to help around the orphanage and look after the littles ones along with Yeri and Myungeun. She thinks that's a lot of help already, considering there are about twelve kids below thirteen that needs taking care of. 

She can imagine a life of babysitting and nannying, and wonders how much people would pay for her services. She's gotten accustomed to babysitting kids now that she's even imagining a career out of it. 

She's damned, that's for sure. 

Apparently, the nuns think she's wasting her time here. And of course, they're quite right.

Sooyoung sits on a leather couch in front of the head nun's table, Sister Park, and she sits with her shoulders back and her hands neatly placed on her knees.

"You can't stay here forever, Sooyoung. You're eighteen," Sister Park has always looked out for everyone, but Sooyoung vaguely feels as if she's really looking only at Sooyoung, the one who causes most of the troubles under the roof. "You need to be in college. You need to secure your future and have a good job."

"But Sister Park, you know I don't have the money even if I work all summer, I can't -"

"Who says you need to go to an expensive university?" she cuts her off, worry in her eyes and clearly in her tone as well. Sooyoung looks at her, at how genuine she sounds. "Sooyoung, you can go to a community college. You don't need to go into one of the SKY. You just need to graduate because most jobs need a college diploma these days. I don't want you to walk blindly in the dark anymore." 

She's tempted to say the words I'm not but it would come out as a lie, because Sister Park was right. Sooyoung looks down at her hands, and tries to think over it but can't. 

"I'm setting up an interview for you in a local college." Sister Park says, picking up the telephone on her desk and already skimming through the pages of her phonebook. "I'm sure it's not too late to let you take an entrance exam somewhere, much more an scholarship exam."

Sooyoung looks up, on the verge of gasping. "Bu - but Sister Park, I - "

"You're dismissed now, Sooyoung."

"Sister Park, you can't -"

"Go. Now,"

She opens , but the words get muffled out by the sound of the door banging open and the little squeals of children coming through it. Sooyoung, startled, looks back and sees almost all the little ones outside, grinning widely at her. 

"Sooyoung! Sooyoung! There's someone looking for you!" 

Her heart quickens it's pace and she runs down the front steps to get to him. His arms are already wide open, ready to receive her and place her in his embrace. He must've missed her somewhat in those weeks that he hasn't seen her. Sooyoung has her hands up as well, and she places them around his neck, choking him.

"God damn it, Hanbin!" she seethes through a whisper. Her eyes try to look at Hanbin and only Hanbin, and not at the white-haired giant standing five feet behind them. "Why the would you -"

"Stop," he manages to coax out of him. She releases her grip around his neck and Hanbin throws her a glare. "Well, damn. You almost killed me."

She glares back, pointing a threatening figure at him and his eyes narrow down at it. "You deserved that. you, Hanbin. you!" she whispers angrily to his face. "You're such a pain in the -"

"He wouldn't stop bugging me. What was I supposed to do, Sooyoung?" Hanbin lifts his hands in the air, looking incredulous as he stares at her with wide eyes. "Come on, give the guy a break. He was worried about you. He wouldn't stop asking where you are, and we couldn't handle it. I know I should've told you, but you had no cellphone! I'm sorry! Really!"

Sooyoung is still livid, and Hanbin can obviously see that. But Sooyoung realizes it's not entirely Hanbin's fault, as some of the weight falls on her own shoulders and she hates how she's thinking of the responsibility she has of it. 

Her eyes look past Hanbin, and Junhong is already striding over to her and he doesn't look mad at all - not angry, not betrayed, not anything that was synonymous to those - he looked rather hurt. 

Sooyoung is surprised that she feels the hair on the back of her neck stand. She takes a step back but Junhong is already clutching onto her wrist, an unfathomable expression hidden behind his brown eyes. 

"Why didn't you tell me?" he's hurt, or at least, he sounds like it. He sounds like a wounded puppy that was left by it's master, and Sooyoung feels sick all of a sudden.

"Well, we're not exactly friends." she easily shakes of his grip and she just stares at him, at his eyes, and no matter how much confidence she musters, she falls back one more step behind when he looks at her like that. 

He frowns, and behind her, Sooyoung can hear the rest of the kids mumbling and whispering to each other. No doubt Yunhyeong, Yeri and the others are there among them.  "I -"

"You have no right to be told, Junhong. We're not friends," she says, taking a step back. "We're not near that title. Don't come back, and stop bugging Hanbin about me anymore, okay?"

"But -"

She turns her back to him and it seems cruel, but that's how she is. Sooyoung bites her upper lip and looks down at her feet as she walks back to the door.

"Sooyoung, you can't leave him like that." it's Hanbin, and he's beside her, jogging to catch up to her fast pace. 

"Go away, Hanbin." she mutters, and she's not really sure if he heard it but he must've because he stopped in his tracks and lets her walk back in the orphanage without another battle. 

The others crowd around the front porch, but they make way for her to walk inside. Yeri automatically follows, not failing to fall in step with Sooyoung right away.

"He likes you. The one with the weird hair," 

Sooyoung snorts, but there's a feeling in the pit of her stomach that's far from amused. "I know, it's obvious."

"Yeah, it is." Yeri says, placing a hand on her shoulder as they walk back up to their room. 

It's seven in the morning and Sooyoung wouldn't of have bolted out of bed if it wasn't for Yunhyeong and Sister Yoo, telling her Lami was outside, but that wasn't the part she was so surprised at hearing and that made her run down the stairs in an ungodly hour. 

"Lami's outside.. with that guy from yesterday, the one with the hair? Yeah, he's there with her in the gates." 

Lami was one of the new kids who came after Sooyoung left for the Songs. Her father abandoned her when she was young and her mother and only relative was murdered. Lami's been through so much yet Sooyoung envies the way she smiles; as if her past is non-existent.

"Why didn't you call her in?" she's zooming down the stairs and Yunhyeong is struggling to keep up with her. 

"He doesn't look like a kidnapper, Sooyoung. Wasn't he a friend of your's?"

"No," she snaps, looking back at him momentarily before going out into the summer air, crossing the front yard in her pajamas and hoodie to get to Lami, who she now sees standing in front of the gate, smiling widely at the boy from the other side of it.

Junhong isn't decked in pajamas like Lami and Sooyoung. He's wearing a snapback, a colored shirt and some khakis that matched his sailor shoes. He isn't on a skateboard, but rather, a bicycle and he's so focused on what Lami is saying that he doesn't even notice her at first.

Sooyoung notices him, though, like a lot. It's such a sight to behold to see him like this so early in the morning, and Sooyoung has to remind herself that she should be annoyed and not nervous and awe-struck as she walks nearer to them. 

"What are you doing?" she says to Junhong, but her hands are on Lami's shoulder as she pushes her back and away from Junhong and his bicycle. "Why are you here?"

Junhong looks up at her, and instead of a smile like she would've expected deep down, he frowns instead and Sooyoung feels bad, despite herself. "I passed by, and I bought something for you. But -" his attention shifts to Lami, and Sooyoung looks at her too. " - she kind of wanted it, so I gave both of the banana milks to her." 

"Lami," she kneels down and now they're eye to eye with the little girl who's hands are occupied with two banana milk cartons. One is unopened, while the other is and Sooyoung is quite sure it's near empty already. "You shouldn't take things from strangers. What have I taught you?"

Her smile disappears and she's looking down, clearly ashamed of her actions. She's frowning and avoiding Sooyoung's gaze. "I'm - I'm sorry. But he said he knew you, and he was that boy from yesterday. He looks weird, but he's actually not."

Junhong chuckles, and Sooyoung ends it with a glare. He raises his hands up in mock surrender. "She was outside, playing by herself and she saw me. I didn't approach her, she approached me, Sooyoung."

"I told you not to come back." she says, still glaring at him. She looks at Lami, who extends a hand, offering her the one unopened banana milk carton. But Sooyoung declines it. "Lami go back inside, breakfast will be ready soon. You shouldn't drink that on an empty stomach." 

Lami nods, still frowning before turning her back to them and running off to where Yunhyeong, and now Yeri, Chanhyuk and Sister Yoo are standing. 

Sooyoung looks at them before she sighs and turns back to Junhong, telling, no perhaps 'ordering', him to leave at once. 

"I'll go," he says coolly. "I hope you can stop by the park tomorrow. Jiwon's looking for you too, so are the other boys. They kind of miss you."

She raises an eyebrow. "Are you sure it's not you who misses me?" it comes out cold and so like her, but is that who Park Sooyoung really is these days? After weeks of spending time inside the comforts of the orphanage and playing all sorts of games with the kids, can she still be considered cold and rude? 

She's hesitant on that, but when Junhong looks at her and smiles, she knows she's not sure anymore of who she really is. "I kinda do too, actually. Miss you, I mean. See you around," he adjusts his hat and peddles off before she can even think of a reply. 

She didn't really made any promises yesterday morning with Junhong, but something in her wanted to go back to the park and spend at least just one afternoon there with the guys again. Her board had been collecting dust under Yeri's bed, because the nuns didn't want accidents to happen.

Now she lets her board out and plays all afternoon, after her interview and exam ended.  

She was sweating by the time it was five, and she suddenly wishes her jeans were shorter so that air could pass through her legs to cool her down a little. A towel is slung over her shoulders, and it's Jimin's, who says she can have it because that's how much he missed him.

Apparently, Junhong, the bastard who wasn't even here in the first place, was right about the others missing her presence. Jiwon claimed the team had been pretty hectic when she wasn't around. 

"You're our peacemaker, Sooyoung. The gray in between our blacks and whites. Don't disappear like that again." he had told her before ruffling her hair in a way that she felt was brotherly. 

Hanbin sits beside her on top of the half-pipe just as she wipes her forehead with the towel Jimin gave. "You said you'd tell me about that interview later."

"Yeah,"

"It's 'later' now, Sooyoung."

She turns to him and shrugs. "The interview was fine, I acted of course. I would never be that polite unless required. Plus, the exam.. it was kind of easy actually. I - umm, need at least a 75 to pass."

Hanbin smiles and places an arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry, you'll get a 76."

Sooyoung nudges him by the side. Hanbin complains, but he's laughing. She laughs along before telling him how close the college is to the university he'd be going. 

"Gyeongin isn't that far off from Unchon, we can have lunch together or hang out after class sometimes. What do you say?" 

He looks at her, nodding. "Sounds good, of course, the first day of school meal will be on you, right?"

She rolls her eyes at that and pushes him back, he bursts out laughing again. "You are such a gentleman, I'm flattered."

He chuckles in a subtle way and Sooyoung feels grateful for a friend like Hanbin. 

The sun isn't setting down yet, so Sooyoung thinks there's still more time for her to spend here at the park. After jumping and flying around on ramps, railings and half-pipes, she proceeds to the circle of boys gathering around at the base of a half-pipe and joins them in showing off. 

It hasn't been long since Sooyoung's interest in skateboard and her membership in Menha but she already has a reputation as being one of the best in air and grab tricks. 

She performs the one she does best, and heck, even the ones she hasn;t mastered yet because she's that hyped at being back on a board again after weeks of being trapped in the orphanage.

"Do a Japan air, Sooyoung!"

"How about Varial? You're awesome at that, Sooyoung!"

"Oh! Do a Mctwist! A Mctwist first!"

"No, a Crosbone! Crossbone!"

Sooyoung ends up doing all of those they wanted, and she's dizzy of flipping and jumping and flying that she tips backward and into Jiwon and Hanbin's chests. They laugh and push her back up, regaining her balance.

They all holler, but a thundering clap ensues and catches her attention. She turns to the source, surprised at how she expected it to be Junhong. 

"You're a total pro," he says, walking up to her with a small smile. It's hesitant and cautious, as if he's observing what her reaction would be before he makes his smile even bigger.

She smiles back, tight and not forced at all. "I skated almost everyday after all."

He doesn't say anything, at least not right away. He extends his hand and the other boys are already dispersing and going their separate ways and Junhong's next words are muffled by the chattering of the others that fill the stale, summer air. "Come with me, I have something to show you."

She blinks, swallows, but says 'okay'. She doesn't take his hand, or rather, he's unable to because he sets it down and starts walking away. 

She follows him. 

She might as well, because she's acted so rash towards him lately that he sort of, kind of, feels a little bit bad (and guilty) about it that she wants to apologize. Lami had said some things to her yesterday, about Junhong, and she feels like she really needs to apologize.

He leads her outside the park and over the fences, where a mini forest grew. He stops in front of a tree, and turns to her then.

"Can you climb?" he asks

She stops as well, pointing to the tree in front of them. "What? This? This tree?" she looks up at it, and feels like the top is too far for her to reach. But she can climb it, but only to a point where she felt safety was limited to there only.

"Yup," he says nonchalantly.

She looks at him with narrowed eyes. "Yes, why?"

"Because the view up there is amazing." he says, grinning widely. He steps to the side and gestures for her to go first. "After you?"

They settled themselves on branch thick enough to be a chair. There were near the top, but Sooyoung stated she didn't want to go any further. She wasn't exactly afraid of heights, she just wanted to be safe. And this came from a skater, of all people.

Junhong was right about the view, because it was like the city was spread out just for her in these tall buildings and complexes and skyscrapers. She can see the main highway from where she sat with Junhong right beside her, with approximately seven inches of space in between them.

"Thanks for sharing this view." she says, leaning onto the bark of the tree, her feet dangling in mid-air, suspended from where she sat. It was a long drop to the ground, but she didn't want to think about that. Not now when the view of the sunset seemed so surreal. 

He doesn't say anything, and this causes her to look at her from the corner of her eye. Just a peek, a fleeting glance.

He sits there, eyes forward and smiles so serene she almost thinks he's at peace or something of it. He doesn't turn to look at her, nor does he make any move that might surprise her, causing her to fall and crash on the ground with a dozen broken bones as a result.

She looks down at her lap, then back at the urban view she finds very beautiful. It's like looking towards the future, and she can imagine it now.

An apartment of her own, perhaps a pet dog and a cat or maybe just a dog or just a cat, a bedroom she can decorate and re-decorate by herself, maybe a car if she's rich enough with her part time jobs, and maybe... maybe a boyfriend too. 

She can see her own future in front of her, all she needs to do is grab it for it to come true.

"You know, I'm sorry. For being so mean last time,"

"It's fine. This view is me saying that it is."

"Thanks for sharing it."

"Yeah, I know. You're welcome."

He finally looks back at her, and her lips part a little at the sight of him looking so cool and fairly attractive that Sooyoung has to look away and mumble something under her breath about the sky being beautiful and about him being so kind, after all this time. 

x. 

sorry if it took so long of me to update. anyways, congratulations to red velvet for their wins! also, on their first win, joy seemed to be so overwhelmed she cried a lot ;u; like aww. dun cry bby. // by the way, lami is part of the smrookies and she's quite young, born in 2003 which makes her 11 or 12 now. 

p.s, if there are any mistakes, spelling errors, etc. please tell me! ^^