It was a lovely day, and yet it didn’t make me as happy as I wanted to be when I looked outside the window from my seat. Lately, it was tough to concentrate in class. My thoughts were somewhere else, and I can’t seem to focus on anything. The loneliness and emptiness that I felt were growing inside. I can’t seem to shake them off, because that’s how I really felt. Since grandmother passed away, the house felt cold and empty. Suddenly I didn’t like to be alone. Coming home to an open house, not hearing grandmother cook or laugh, felt so unreal. I missed her. I missed how everything was before. 

Today was the day I finally decided to go look for Mr Park Joo Sang after school. I was slightly nervous, though, as I didn’t know what to expect from this visit. How is he going to help her at all? What kind of ‘promise’ did her grandmother make? 

My thoughts were interrupted as Mr Song called out my name several times. I realised that everyone was staring while waiting for me to respond. They were giggling and whispering at the same time. 

“Are you all right?” He asked, with a concerned tone in his voice. Every teacher knew about her situation, so they let her off the hook quite often. 

“I’m okay, sir.” I apologised. “Please continue.”

“I know it’s difficult right now but try to concentrate, okay?”

I nodded. Mr Song was right, I had to concentrate if I want to keep my grades up. My paper was blank, so I decided to write everything down quickly. Even if I didn’t feel like it, I had to keep up. There’s no time to break down right now, even if I want to. 

As I walked towards my locker, my mind was off again into another world or universe. How come she couldn’t concentrate or focus at all? It made me tired and sleepy at the same time. It’s been a while since I had a good night sleep. Suddenly a familiar figure caught my eyes, standing next to my locker. 

“Chanyeol-shi?”

Chanyeol smiled as soon as he saw me, standing properly while I walked towards him. Was he waiting for me, I thought?

“What are you doing here?” I asked, surprisingly but also not in the mood for a conversation, because I didn’t want him to treat me as if I’m an orphan or pitied for me like the others. 

“I don’t know,” he said, as I raised my eyebrow. Then why is he here? “I guess I wanted to know if you’re all right?”

“I’ll be fine…” I faked a smile for him, as I didn’t want him to worry if he was worried, of course. I put the rest of my books into the locker. It was an awkward silence between us, and we didn’t know what to say. Should I break the silence? Luckily Chanyeol thought the same.

“So, if you want to talk…” he hesitated. “You can always come to me.” He scratched the back of his head and smiled. 

Why is he so nice to me, I thought? He knows who I am right? The lonely, awkward and poor kid in school. No one ever made an attempt to really talk to me before —except Chae Won, so why would he?

“Why are you nice to me?” I suddenly asked, realising I might come off the defensive. I didn’t want to think anything of it, but I also didn’t know what his game is. Should I trust him? I can’t seem to control my heart when he’s around. It made me wonder. 

“Why shouldn’t I be?” He asked. 

There he goes again, with this sweet character of his. Why is he doing this to me? Making my heart beat so fast… 

“Anyway, I have to go now. I’ll see you later.” He winked, and left the scene, leaving me speechless. He was sweet, yet weird sometimes. Maybe he was just lovely… It didn’t help though, I might fall for him even more. 

***

Wow, I thought. This house is so big! I could feel the adrenaline running through my veins. It’s probably one of the most prominent places in the district. Again, I looked at the picture I got in my hand, it looked like the same house. I started to feel nervous and could feel my hand trembling as I held onto the picture. There was a big gate in front of her, so she couldn’t enter without permission. I pressed on the button and waited…

“Yes, how can I help you?” 

I startled for a second. What should I say? I was suddenly lost for words. 

“Hello,” I managed to say first. 

“Yes?”

“My name is Kang Hae Ra, is this Mr Park Joo Sang’s resident?” I replied nervously. 

“Yes,” he answered back. “Do you have an appointment?”

“No, I don’t, but…” and paused, “I need to see him.” 

“If you don’t have an appointment, I can’t let you in. Please come back next time when you do.” The man responded. 

“Wait,” I almost screamed. I had to make an attempt to see Mr Park now because when is the next time I’ll be able to? “I’m the granddaughter of Yoon Mi Rae, would you please ask him if he could make time?” 

There was silence. I wondered if he ignored me or that he actually did what I asked him. I didn’t know if it would work but decided to wait a while. A couple of minutes went by, when I almost gave up waiting, I heard a noise, the gate was opening. This was a sign, right? 

“You can come in,” I suddenly heard the same voice through the intercom.

I quickly walked towards the gate, said “thank you” as I went inside… slightly up a small hill… to the front door. It was a massive house! It almost seemed like the Royal family is living here. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but still… 

The door flung open as I reached the front door, I took a step backwards. A man in a black suit and two young maids were standing politely behind him as they bow politely when they saw her. 

“Please follow me,” he said with a straight face, no emotions to be seen. I nodded and followed him inside while my eyes were scanning the whole room. I was genuinely amazed, and it made me more curious about the man I was going to meet in a couple of minutes. The man suddenly stopped, he knocked on the door and went inside. I didn’t know if I should follow him or not, but I did. Again, I was impressed by this room. It looked like a study room or a small library with a lot of books on the shelves. There was a desk in the middle of the room with a big window. 

That must be him, I thought. That’s the man I’m supposed to meet. That man was my grandmother’s, first love. 

“She’s here, sir.” The other man said, and soon after he left the room. 

There was silence. I couldn’t move as I was waiting for Mr Park to turn around and face me. I still couldn’t see his face, even if I looked left or right. He had this familiar aura around him though. 

“So,” he finally broke the silence and turned his back, facing me. “You’re really Yoon Mi Rae’s granddaughter?” He smiled, looking at her… and seemed pleased. 

“Yes sir, I am…” 

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