A few days have passed and Aedda was still out of herself. Since the night she ran away from Granny Sora's house, she has been all silent and her face became very pale and sort of distorted because of too much frowning and sadness.

 

"Lady Aedda, here's your dinner. Please eat up, you haven't touched your food since this morning," Hyo Jin entered the room with a tray of meal. She is Aedda's attendant and best friend since childhood, a gorgeous and intelligent young lady who is an orphan. She was adopted into Aedda's house as one of the attendants, and at the same time, she became a scholar with a degree in medicine at the age of 17. She is 3 years older then Aedda. Now she is in charge of Aedda's well-being, making sure she eats healthy food and her body is in good shape.

 

"Thank you, but I don't have the appetite now. I'll eat later when I feel hungry," Aedda forced a smile at her best friend and continued looking out of the window where she was sitting by. It is her habit to sit by the window and look over the wonderful view ahead, that is the river beyond the garden forest where the sun sets at night.

 

"What happened Lady Aedda? What made you into this ball of- of sadness and- and anxiety?" Hyo Jin asked, looking at Aedda from head to toe as if judging her. Aedda looked at her and chuckled at Hyo Jin's expression on her face.

 

"It's nothing... Just my period coming, perhaps," Aedda replied.

 

"Don't joke with me, I know your menstrual schedule very well, and it should have been 9 days already since your last period. C'mon, tell me what's up?" Hyo Jin said as a-matter-of-factly. In fact, she knows everything that's happening with Aedda's body, being her personal doctor.

 

"Alright..." Aedda sighed, "Hyo... Have you been in love?" she asked, quite not expecting for an answer.

 

"Seriously? That's your problem? Do you really want me to answer that?" Hyo Jin asked with her left brow raised and her arms crossed in front of her.

 

"Well, I'm not expecting you to answer it anyway, it's okay," she said.

 

"Well my lady, sorry to disappoint you... But I'm in love now, haha!" Hyo Jin answered victoriously.

 

"What? With whom? And since when? Tell me!" Aedda suddenly got interested and started to nag Hyo Jin to tell her story.

 

"Okay, okay, stop shaking me," Hyo Jin said and sat down beside Aedda by the window. Aedaa began to open her ears widely. "We've been dating for a month now, he was in the same academy as me," she started.

 

"We were practically the same, both orphans.. Both taken in to a noble family as attendants.. Both sent to the academy and became scholars and achieved a degree in medicine. We were just friends before, we liked to study together and hang out during our free times. Before I knew it, he became special to me and he was beginning to take a space in my heart," Hyo Jin said sweetly, with her face blushing like a tomato.

 

"How did you know you're in love?" Aedda asked impatiently.

 

"At first I didn't know about it. It's just that, as time went by, whenever I am with him and whenever I see him, my heart started to flutter, it's beating so fast like it's about to come out of my chest. My cheeks burn and it feels very hot, even if the weather is cold. That's how I feel around him," Hyo Jin said enthusiastically, gripping Aedda's hands while smiling like a fool in love.

 

Aedda was happy for her best friend, and at the same time, curious about how it actually felt like. But something suddenly came to her mind, like a picture or a scene that happened when she was a child.

 

"Wait, wait... Do you remember when we were kids? We had playmates before who were boys right?" Aedda asked out of nowhere, her eyes were big and glowing.

 

"Yeah, the 5 of us were friends. I can't remember their names though, why?" Hyo Jin asked, confused of the sudden change in topic.

 

"Remember the little boy who came from another village? The one with the black hair, but when the sun reflects on his hair, it looks like a shade of red?" excitedly, Aedda asked her friend who was now munching on the dumplings that was supposed to be for her.

 

"Ah- nope? Can't remember him. Who's he? Why'd you suddenly remember?" Hyo Jin answered with still chewing.

 

"What? You don't remember him at all? Argghh! I thought you knew him too!" Aedda was disappointed. She thought Hyo Jin would relate to her if she told her what she remembered about him.

 

"I think the time he came was the time I was sent to the academy, maybe that's why I didn't get to know him. But you could still tell me, what is it? Was there something special about that kid?" Hyo Jin encouraged Aedda to tell.

 

"Aaah, so that's why my memory says you were not there, just the two of us. Well. After all the kids, including you, went to the academy to study, I was left alone to study at home, remember? Then one day at the river after my class, I met this boy sitting alone on the side, throwing rocks across the river. I approached him and we talked, we kind of gotten close with each other," Aedda narrated like she was reminiscing a distant past.

 

"So? Let me guess. You two became friends, right? And then? Where's he now?" Hyo Jin said, simply putting aside the plate of dumplings she just finished eating.

 

"I considered him a very close friend. I don't know where he is now or if he's still alive, but remember what you said, about how you feel when you're around the guy you're dating-"

 

"A boyfriend. That's what you call a guy you're dating."

 

"Okay, okay. Your boyfriend. The things you said you feel around him, maybe I also felt that before when that kid was around me. But I was still young before, around 8 years old? Could you consider that as feeling in love?"

 

"Whaaat? You're a flirt at 8 years old??? Who falls in love at the age of 8? Hahaha!" Hyo Jin said teasingly while laughing quite loud.

 

"Eeeeh! I was not! I just thought that was considered as love as well. Hmmmpf! Never mind. Forget what I said," that was Aedda throwing tantrums and stomping her feet towards her bed.

 

"No, no, no... I was just joking, you silly," Hyo Jin was still recovering from her hearty laughing. "In one of our classes, the teacher mentioned something about kinds of love. There are a few that I can recall: First love, Puppy love, Real love. I'm quite not sure of its differences though."

 

"Care to explain? My teacher didn't teach me anything about that," Aedda commanded, hiding her interest on the topic.

 

"They say Puppy love is a romantic love that is felt by a child or teenager and that is not considered by adults as true. First love is quite related to the puppy love, where in the romantic feeling is felt towards a person for the first time. However it is not restricted by age, anyone can feel that at any age in their life. Real love... Hmmm? That's the serious one. When you're at the right age and time and the feelings you have for that person is strong enough to go against all odds, that's the real love," Hyo Jin explained in detail while Aedda was just quietly thinking about it.

 

"What if I saw that boy again? Will I finally know what kind of feeling or love I felt for him before? I'm kind of curious now," Aedda looked at Hyo Jin with hope in her eyes.

 

"Who knows, maybe this time you'll finally fall truly in love."