Prologue The little innocent girl got out of the limousine and squinted her brown eyes at the sun. She looked into the window and she waved and yelled, "Bye umma! Appah! Oppa!" Her mom and dad waved back at her with smiles on their faces. Her brother on the other hand, sighed deeply and nodded at her. His face was not of happiness but more of concern. He was worried for his little sister. She was such a fragile looking little thing. 'Anyone could get her to do anything!' he thought. The limousine pulled out from the curb and left. The little girl, SooMin, sighed deeply and looked at the huge high school. It was about 7 stories tall and was made by bricks. The bricks had been painted white, but the wonderful gleam of whiteness had turned to a peeling red. She sighed again as she went up the massive stairs. The small girl took two steps for every step and had to leap to go up them. Everyone stared at her, for she was so small and going to high school. SooMin had just started high school today, even thought it was a good half way through the school year. Everyone else knew each other by now and she was shy. She went to the office to get her schedule first and went off to explore the massive school. She was on her way to class when there was a crowd of people right in front of her. She tried to look for a small gap at least a crevice between two people, but she couldn't find any gap. She gasped when suddenly the crowd parted. It was almost like the Red Sea. She was walking through the aisle that the crowd had made. She glanced around... thinking the aisle was for her, when she suddenly heard a loud distinctive voice from behind her. "What do you think you are doing little girl?" SooMin turned around and gasped. Before her stood a tall, medium built girl with long black hair. Her nose was slightly crooked, and her lips were red. But what made her look frightening was her eyes. Her eyes were a deep pool of black. When SooMin looked into them, she felt as if she was drawn into a sudden pitch-black darkness. SooMin shook her head away from her eyes and stummered, "I was just trying to get through." The tall girl glared at her through narrow slit eyes and said, "You... see me after school. Don't worry, I’ll find you." With that, her and her gang of nine friends went through the aisle, pushing her out of the way. SooMin ran into the crowd, which had formed back into the "crowd" again. She frantically searched for her first period class, when a shadow came up behind her. Too scared to look behind her again, she shivered. Goosebumps and chills ran up and down her arm and spine. She turned around slowly. That was when a white, strong hand came upon her mouth and closed it shut. She fought to make the hand go away, but it stayed there. The owner of the hand pulled into the darkness of a closet. A harsh voice said to her, "Don't say a word."  And a blade of a knife pushed into her throat. She nodded and struggled for her life. Chapter 1 The closet was stuffy and barely fit the two people in it. SooMin gasped for breath but stopped when she felt the blade of the knife go deeper into her skin. The owner of the knife quietly said, "Who are you, and what do you want? Why were those girls speaking to you?" SooMin struggled to get out, "I... please… I won't run away. Please take the knife away." The knife jerked away and the voice said, "Now... tell me." SooMin replied, "I don't know why they were talking to me. I was just trying to get through the crowd and they came up behind me... They said that they were going to find me after school.” As she said this she turned around to come face to face with another tall girl. She also had straight long black hair with brown streaks in them.  They were neatly tucked behind her ears and her facial features were about the same as the other girl. But her eyes, her eyes were her beauty. This girl's eyes were hazel, even though she was Korean. When SooMin looked into this girl's eyes, she had to look away for the fear of wanting to stare at them forever. SooMin stummered, "uh... I... I was..." The girl stared at her with her beautiful eyes and said harshly, "I don't care what you were doing. What I want you to do is stay clear of those girls okay? Wherever you are, don't let them know. I'll be watching for you." With that, she went out the door and closed the door behind her. SooMin sat down in exhaustion and started talking to herself. "Gosh, SooMin. You're 14, in 9th grade, and you have a wonderful life. Don't let two unnie deul ruin it for you! Use your strength inside of you SooMin!" The bell rang and she ran out, smelling like a broom closet. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In her first period class, math, she felt so comfortable. SooMin worked the geometry problems in her head like a breeze. Math was the only subject that was comfortable and easy for her. But today, something was wrong. She felt it and looked up from her paper to find at least two pairs of eyes looking at her. She felt uneasy and looked down at her paper again. 'Why is everyone staring today?' she thought. The bell rang and SooMin gathered her books and ran to her second period class, gym. She was not used to being so active and she dropped the basketball at least ten times. The other students and the teacher stared at her as she picked up the ball again for the 20th time. Once again the staring had occurred. 'Had I done something wrong?' she thought. Her third and fourth period classes went by without any staring going on. And soon it was time for lunch. She took her lunch bag and went to the nearest bench and sat down. She opened her bag and peeked in to see what kind of wonders her maid had packed her today. She took out the cases one by one and the first smile of the day crept on to her face. It was kimbap. She ate heartedly and thought about the unnies she had met today. The first unnie had been about in 11th grade, being a kangpae and respected in the school. After all, the crowd had parted for her and her group hadn't they? As she thought about this, two girls passed her whispering. "That's the girl that's gonna get it today by MiKyung." one girl said. "Seriously? Aw, that's too bad her pretty face is going to get messed up," said the other. They both giggled and passed her, staring at SooMin. SooMin looked down and a small tear fell on her new black shoes. MiKyung... that was such a nice name. To think that it was owned by a ggangpae that was going to beat her up gave SooMin the shivers. Just then, a strong big hand pulled SooMin up to her feet, crashing her lunch box and the contents to the floor. SooMin sighed and bent down to pick them up when the same hand pulled her back to her feet again. SooMin slowly said, "Excuse me, I dropped my things. I have to pick them up..." Her voice trailed on as she looked up and her eyes grew big and fear formed in them. It was the girl from the morning that said that she was going to find SooMin. She HAD found her. And she had her gang with her too, clenching their fists. The girl called MiKyung smirked and said, "I told you I’ll find you little girl. This is a big school, and little girls like you shouldn't be running around... alone." They all laughed and MiKyung led her to an empty space away from the other students. They surrounded her and made her go into the center of the circle they had formed. SooMin looked frantically for a small gap that she could go through, but the girls had tightly packed themselves together. SooMin closed her eyes tightly, and prayed for her life. MiKyung grabbed the cuff of her shirt and said, "So, what were you exactly doing? Well, actually I don't really want to know right now. Right now, I have business to handle... with you." She raised her fist and made her first contact with SooMin's rosy right cheek. Tears came up in SooMin's eyes as MiKyung raised her fists again. The second blow made contact with her eyes. SooMin was crying now, and she struggled to keep up straight. Her weak body was not accustomed to this abuse. She gasped for air as MiKyung's fist came up again. SooMin's frightened eyes looked at the fists, fearing of what was going to come next. 'A blow at my left cheek maybe?' SooMin thought. Now SooMin was getting mixed feelings. Feelings of madness, frustration, and sadness came over her. She was mad at her parents, for sending her to a public school. She was frustrated at herself, for letting herself getting mixed up in a problem like this. She was sad because she had let her brother down. She had promised to him that she wouldn't let anything happen to her. And his cute beautiful face had been so worried that morning. She was sure... She came back to what was happening right now, and glanced at MiKyung's fist again. SooMin made a whimpering sound in her throat. All of the sudden, from the back of MiKyung, a loud, but calm voice said, "Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Mikyung slowly put down her fist and tried to glare at the person who said that. As she did, SooMin tried to get out from her grasp, but MiKyung just tightened it. SooMin and MiKyung now both looked back to see clearly who the speaker was. When they saw her, MiKyung's eyes grew wide, and SooMin gasped. It was the girl from the closet... and she had the meanest glare in her eyes. Chapter 2 "MiKyung didn't you hear me? I asked you what you were doing? And let go of her!" the girl said. MiKyung forcefully let go of SooMin that it sent her flying onto the floor. But SooMin quickly stood up and dusted herself off. The unnie looked at SooMin, then quickly to MiKyung. She shook her head and said, "MiKyung... how many times do I have to tell you? Not to be like that...?” MiKyung stared at the ground, which suddenly became interesting to her. "I... unnie... I’m sorry... I won't let it happen again. She was..." The unnie glared and said, "Stop! I don't are. I've had enough and I've had it with you. If I have to teach you personally... fine." With that, she started to drag MiKyung away from SooMin. SooMin was confused. The unnie knew MiKyung, but how? MiKyung seemed to be scared of this unnie... but why? So many questiosn arose in her mind, but her sweet, angelic heart told her to defend MiKyung. SooMin ran after them, yelling, "Unnie, don't! I'm sure MiKyung... unnie didn't mean it. She was just testing me to see how strong I am... rite?" Mikyung just glared at her and thought, 'She just made it worse.' The unnie sighed and said, "SooMin, when will you learn that these things... oh never mind! Just go!" SooMin cocked her head to the side, and thought, 'Why... I don't think that I told her my name...' As they disappeared into the crowd, everyone shifted their attention to SooMin. Suddenly, like a hive of bees, the crowd went back to their socializing. For the rest of the day, SooMin's day went on with no interruptions. She saw no sign of MiKyung either. After school, she waited patiently for her brother. In five minutes, the crowd was pointing at something. SooMin strained her neck to see what it was and she smacked her forehead when she did. Her brother had brought the limousine! 'Silly oppa. Doesn't he know I’ll get more attention, now?' she thought. She quickly got in the car and it sped away. She got comfortable and greeted her brother. "Hi Wannie oppa!" "Hey~ so did you have fun?" SooMin thoughtfully answered, "It was fun…” ”SooMin ah? What happened to your cheek and your eye?” "Wannie oppa... don't get mad. It was nothing serious... Just a few girls beat me up... in the cheek and eye...” "Nothing serious? What are you talking about!?” "Oppa.. There was another unnie too. She was nice... except the knife part..." "Knife?! What knife?! This is getting out of hand! You're not going back! I should have never agreed to this!" "Oppa... she was nice. She protected me. She did your job... See these bruises?" she pointed to her cheek and eye, "these would have been worse without that unnie. She’s pretty too... Your type oppa..." DongWan turned a deep crimson and said, "Name?" "Don't know. She never told me. But she seemed to know mine. I'll find out tomorrow." "So… little SooMin here has her mind set on going back?" said DongWan as he smiled and ruffled her hair. SooMin looked up at her brother, grinned and answered, "YUP~!" Chapter 3 It was 9:00 PM and SooMin had been snuggly tucked in by her DongWan. Suddenly her phone rang. She picked it up and said, "Hello?" "Hello? This is SooMin, right?" "Yes, who is this?" "It's me... the unnie... from the closet..." *snicker* SooMin gasped and said, "How did..." "I just know SooMin." "Unnie… your name?" "You don't have to know that. But for now, just call me unnie. Plain unnie. Listen, SooMin. MiKyung's not going to be at school for a while. I want you to not talk to anyone. No one! If anyone tries to touch you or anything, just run away. You hear me?" "Yes... but unnie... will you be there?" "I'll be watching you, but you won't see me. I have to go now. Take care, SooMin." "Unnie..." *click* SooMin put down the phone and snuggled against her pillow. She fell asleep thinking about the mysterious unnie... and why she wouldn't give her name. For the next few days, school went on smoothly. A week after the "incident" happened, SooMin was walking out of school. DongWan oppa couldn't pick her up today, so she was waiting for her driver. She was waiting, leaning against a tree, reading a book, when a shadow came over her. She turned around and "unnie" was right in front of her. The unnie was smiling and SooMin smiled back at her. "I told you I’ll be here," she said. The unnie put out a hand and SooMin understood her, even without words. This unnie wanted SooMin to follow her… so she did. SooMin put her hand in hers and her unnie led her to her car. SooMin got in, and put on her seat belt. The unnie smiled and said, "SooMin... we're not going anywhere. Unless you want to tell your driver to go back home." SooMin nodded and quickly made a phone call to her driver. She told him that she would be home in about two hours. The unnie smiled again and said, "Okay, SooMin. Where do you want to go?" "Anywhere." "How about Italy?" "WHAT?!" "Just kidding! Gosh. SooMin... I have to tell you... MiKyung moved. She moved to New York." "Why?" "You see... You’re not MiKyung's first victim. MiKyung's done something way~ worse." "… Like what?” "She...killed someone... and I was a part of it..." Chapter 4 "You see… about a year ago, MiKyung and I were really close. But me being a junior and MiKyung being a freshman was a problem. But we made a great team. MiKyung would hold and I would punch. So… bottom line… we were respected. One day, we were walking to MiKyung’s house when a guy was helping his hurt sister. I felt pity for her… it was seriously a sad sight. But MiKyung… she tripped over the girl and got mad. She felt NO pity at all. So she said to me, ‘Unnie… you hold, I’ll punch this time.’ I looked at the brother and mouthed: sorry. But I had to do my job. I held and she punched. That little girl was rushed to the hospital, but after 2 hours, she died. I’ve never heard from the brother since. After that, I took counseling and got out of the “gangster” job. But MiKyung couldn’t. She liked people looking up to her, being afraid of her. She couldn’t stop respecting me though. She said that I was her influence to be what she is now. But I don’t like it." SooMin, who had been listening intently the whole time, finally said something, "Unnie, I'm sure you didn’t want to do it, MiKyung told you to." Her unnie smiled and shook her head. "It’s all over now. So where do you want to go?" "Um… let’s go to my house!" "Alright... fine..." SooMin told her the directions and fell asleep to Shinhwa’s First Love playing. As the unnie looked at SooMin, she thought, 'Oh little SooMin. You don’t know half of it... If you only knew HOW I know you. WHY I'm here…' When they got in front of the big, white mansion, the unnie’s eyes got big. 'It is so big,' she thought. "SooMin, wake up!" "Huh... oh. Oh... we’re here! Go through those gates. Wait, don’t look!" SooMin pressed five numbers. The screen read: Password Valid. And the huge gate opened. The unnie parked her car in front of the house and they went in. SooMin slammed down her books and backpack down and yelled, "WANNIE OPPA! I'M HOME! AND I BROUGHT UNNIE WITH ME! YOU KNOW THE PRETTY ONE?" The unnie blushed but said, "You have a brother?" "Don't worry! You're pretty... no need for make up or anything!" SooMin laughed. "I..." the unnie stopped because just then DongWan came down. "Which unnie? The..." DongWan saw SooMin's "unnie" and stopped daed in his tracks. SooMin decided not to say anything about her being the one with the knife. She let her oppa and the unnie stare at each other for awhile. Then she headed to the kitchen and said, "Oppa! Are you going to stare at MY pretty unnie forever? Let's get something to eat." SooMin went into the kitchen. DongWan kept on staring and asked, "Name?" "..." "Well, mine's DongWan... Kim DongWan." "Nice to meet you... Mr..." "Exucse me? Mr? I'm not THAT old.. How old are you?" "I'm 17... a senior." "Well, I'm 21. So I'm not that older than you. CH! Mister..." He shook his head and went in the kitchen. The unnie slapped her forehead and said to herself, "Yah! What are you doing? You're not falling for a guy... not again! Especially one with a sister! Stop it!!" She went in the kitchen to find SooMin and DongWan stuffing themselves with chicken, bread, cake, and fruits. DongWan said, "ogheupeeh." "Oppa! Unnie, he means come and eat." The unnie smiled at this lovely sight of a brother and a sister. She sat and starting stuffing herself too. They laughed and joked. Twice, DongWan and “unnie” made eye contact but she turned away. She couldn't afford doing this again. The third time, DongWan said softly, "Come on… Let me see it. It’s a pretty face too.” She blushed and grabbed her jacket. "I have to go. Bye SooMin! See you later. Bye... DongWan..." She quickly left. As the engine started, DongWan thought, 'Gosh... she IS pretty.' SooMin thought, 'Hehe... he likes her.' The unnie thought, 'DongWan..." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The next day at school, SooMin waited for unnie but couldn't find her so she left. She had trouble opening her locker too. "This is not my day! What is this?" "Need help?" She looked up and saw a guy. He was tall and had spiked black hair. He smiled at her with his shining, gleaming eyes. "Yes, please..." SooMin answered. Chapter 5 The guy opened her locker and watched SooMin as she put her books in. She got up to thank him. A voice from behind stopped her, "Man! Eric! Where were you?" "Oh, hey, HyeSung and Jin. I was just helping out a girl. She had trouble opening her locker." "Hi," SooMin said. "Hi I'm JunJin and this is HyeSung." "I'm SooMin." "And I'm Eric. Let's go!" Eric, HyeSung and JunJin walked away, thinking SooMin was right behind them. JunJin said, "Hey SooMin... what the?" He turned around to look at SooMin, who was mumbling to herself. Jin smiled and yelled, "SooMin! Come on!" "ME??" "You're the only SooMin that i know." "Oh..." she ran up to them and all four of them walked to their classes. HyeSung and JunJin left for their homerooms and separated. Eric and SooMin's homerooms were next to each other and they kept on walking. "So... you're a freshman?" Eric asked. "Yea.. you?" "I'm a sophomore." "I see..." "How is school so far?" "It's okay. But on the first day of school, I ran into MiKyung." "Oh~ that was bad huh? Wait... are you the girl that everyone's talking about? You got beat up or something but this noona stopped her?" SooMin looked down and answered, "Yea..." "Oh~ well here we are..." "Oh, bye!" "Bye, SooMin! See ya!" That day, Eric was really sweet to SooMin. He walked her to all her classes and got three tardies because of it. But he didn't care. He liked her. After school, Eric, JunJin, HyeSung and SooMin met again. "Hey wanna come to play Pump with us?" JunJin asked. "Sure. But I have to tell my driver first." 'And my unnie.' she thought. "YOUR DRIVER!! okay.. whatever u say..." SooMin told her driver that she was going to be late again. Then she said, "Hang on." "Okay," they answered. SooMin went to look for her unnie. She couldn't find her and turned around to just leave with them. "BOO!" her unnie yelled. "AHHHH~! OMG! Unnie!! You scared me!" "Haha... I know already. Go with them..." SooMin wondered how she knew these things. "Okay, see you later unnie," she said as she waved. She went to Eric, JunJin, and HyeSung and said, "Okay, let's go." They looked at each other and looked at SooMin. "What?" she asked. "We have to walk, that's okay, right?" Eric asked. "Only if you guys take turns carrying me," she joked. "Okay!" Eric, HyeSung, and JunJin said. "I was joking..." But by the time she said that, she was already pushed onto Eric's back. After 10 minutes, SooMin fell asleep on Eric's back. "Aw! She's so cute!" HyeSung said. "Hey, if you ask me... I think Eric likes her," JunJin said. "You do?" HyeSung asked. "Why not?” Eric answered. When they got to Pump, they woke up SooMin gently. "SooMin ah... wake up..." Eric said. "Hm... oh sorry guys. I fall asleep easily." "Aw, it's okay. Eric enjoyed carrying you anyway," JunJin said. Eric and SooMin both blushed and JunJin and HyeSung snickered. For two hours, SooMin, Eric, JunJin, and HyeSung played Pump. All of the sudden, SooMin's eyes got wide. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. Unnie was there... waiting in the doorway! SooMin ran to her and said, "What are you doing here?" "To play PUMP! And to take you and your friends home." "Oh... unnie play JunJin... he's so~ good!" "Alright..." she said. After they were all introduced to each other, JunJin and her unnie played and played until they could play no more. They finally decided to go home. Everyone tried to get into unnie's car, but they didn't fit. The back seat was too small for 3 guys. So HyeSung sat in the front and JunJin, Eric, and SooMin sat in the back. Soon, SooMin fell asleep again. This time, she was leaning on Eric's shoulder. "SooMin! I'm gonna drop you off first. Wake up!" "Okay..." When they approached her house, JunJin, HyeSung, and Eric stared, with their mouths open at the sight of her house. SooMin got out and slammed the door. "Bye, unnie! HyeSung Oppa! JunJin Oppa! Eric Oppa!" She said the last part with a special gleam in her eyes. The car sped off and SooMin went in. A cheerful face that said, “HI SOOMIN,” greeted her. “Where have YOU been?" SooMin smiled, then laughed, and said, "MINWOO OPPA!" Chapter 6 MinWoo and SooMin hugged for a long time. SooMin asked, "When did you come back?" "Oh... a few days ago... had to visit my cute cousin!" "Aw... oppa!" "So... pick yourself a boyfriend yet?" "Aw... oppa, you're so silly! There are no guys that would like me." "Well..." DongWan laughed and said, "Sorry guys to cut in... but I kind of have to leave so... see you later, MinWoo!" "Bye, hyung!" DongWan went out mumbling to himself about how his sister was closer to his cousin than him... no hard feelings or anything though... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the car, JunJin, HyeSung, Eric, and SooMin's unnie were having a nice conversation. "So... which one of you like SooMin?" her unnie asked. "Huh?" JunJin said. "Gosh you guys... I've known her for almost three days now... well... kinda, and I KNOW that one of you guys like her..." "Haha... I think Eric likes her more than we do. After all, he was the one that met her first," HyeSung said. Eric blushed and looked down at his shoes as SooMin's unnie laughed. JunJin held up a hand and said, "Wait a minute!! Just repeating what you said but... what do you mean KINDA?" "Oh... nothing... never mind." "Oh, noona, it's right here," HyeSung said. "Yea... and drop me off here too," JunJin said. They left and waved bye and said thank you. Now, the only ones left in the car were Eric and unnie. Her unnie said, "So... Eric, do you like SooMin a lot?" "Well... I don’t really judge someone by her looks. I really don't know her personality yet." "Yeah... that's good. But sometimes, personality... never mind." "Noona, stop here! Thanks!! Bye see you later!" "Yup... any time... Since I’ll be seeing YOU for awhile... right?" Eric grinned and said, "Right!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MinWoo and SooMin were seated comfortably on a couch. MinWoo asked, "How is school?" SooMin sighed and told him the experience on the first day of school. "Really? Hm... I have to teach that girl some things. Not to mess with my cousin!" "Oppa!! She's really nice now though. She's the one that brought me home." "You should have told me! I would have beat her up right on the spot." "I don't think so. You probably would have escorted her into the house. She's really pretty. DongWan Oppa even thinks so." "Really? Then she must be really pretty! Your brother doesn’t fall for girls easily you know... but you're so ugly. Why would she want to hang with you?" "Oppa!" "Hey... i'm joking. I meant to say: She's probably ugly... and you're too cute for her," MinWoo joked. "Aw. Oppa, you're so cute!" SooMin pinched his cheeks. "HEY! RESPECT YOUR ELDERS!" MinWoo said. "Hey... what's her name anyways?" "Her name... I have no idea." "Really??" "She won't tell me. I don't know why though. I'll ask." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Her unnie put her car keys down on the table in the apartment that she lived in by herself. She sat down on her chair and started to talk to herself, "YooRa yah. You can't do this to your life again. Don’t' fall for another guy please! You promised yourself before. Don't do it again! Especially for a guy with a sister! Stop it, YooRa!" She picked up her car keys and flung it across the room. It hit a mirror and it shattered. YooRa started sobbing. Her cell phone rang and she quickly dried her tears and went up to get it. "Hello?" "Hello?" "Who is this?" "DongWan..." "Oh... hi..." "Hey… tell me. What’s your name?" "YooRa... Choi YooRa." "Pretty name, but why were you so hesistant?" "It's something about my past. But I have to face the fact that it's over." "I see. Hey do you know where the World Cafe is? Can you come there right now?" "Sure... it's really near my house. I'll be there in about 10 minutes." "All right. I'll be waiting... YooRa." YooRa hung up and shook her head. "YooRa snap out of it! He wants to just meet you as friends! He just wants to be friends. Isn't that what you want? Come on! All because World Cafe is where..." YooRa decided to take her car and got there within 5 minutes. She ran up to World Cafe and looked for DongWan. DongWan was waiting for her at a table in the corner of the restaurant. "YooRa ah! Over here!" "Hi…” "Hey... how have you been doing." "Uh... you saw me yesterday." "Oh yeah... silly me." "..." "So... you want to tell me about the past that you can't forget?" "No..." YooRa played with an edge of the tablecloth. "Come on, YooRa. I want to know you more. You can tell me." She told him the story that she told to SooMin. "It's okay YooRa. You didn't mean it did you?" By now, YooRa had tears in her eyes. "But no one understands! Does anyone know that the guy… the girl’s brother…” "You can tell me YooRa. I have no one to tell." "HE WAS MY BOYFRIEND!" Even DongWan wasn't prepared for this. YooRa was a sweet, but tough girl. She seemed pretty smart too. She wasn't the type to kill her boyfriend's sister. "YooRa ah... I’m sorry I didn't know." "No one knows. Except Andy, my ex-boyfriend, and Jina, his sister. And you. This is so bad to my reputation DongWan. I don't even know why I did it. When I mouthed sorry to him. He was looking right into my eyes with those... The past... it hurts a lot, DongWan. And it's still hurting sometimes. Especially when I look at SooMin." "Why SooMin?" "When Jina was at the hospital for those 2 short hours, Andy and me were always by her. For a short time, Andy left to get some water, and only Jina and me were left. Jina said, 'Unnie. I want you to do something for me.' I said, 'Anything, Jina. After what I did to you... anything.' I expected something romantic from her. Like: Can you tell my boyfriend goodbye? Or something like that. But what came out of her mouth surprised me. She said, 'Unnie. There's this girl I know. A close friend. Her name is Kim SooMin. Can you take care of her for me unnie? Please. While I’m gone, until we can see each other again, take care of SooMin. Please unnie?' The pity in her voice touched me, and I agreed, not even knowing this girl named SooMin existed. But later, much later, Andy told me that Jina's last words to him were: Oppa, tell YooRa unnie to carry out my request. He asked me what request. and when I didn't tell him, he got mad. He broke up with me. Not because of not telling him, but he couldn't look at me after I killed his sister. And I couldn't look at him either…" DongWan moved next to her and put his arm around her, "YooRa ah. It wasn't your fault. And I’m going to stress that point from now on. IT WASN'T YOUR FAULT!" Right when his arm touched his shoulder, YooRa jumped up. "DongWan oppa, you don't understand. I made a promise to myself. To carry out Jina's last request. So I stalked SooMin. Well... not actually STALK her but I follow her. Not into her house or anything. Just watch for her. At her junior high school, too. It was so hard! To have her not notice me." "YooRa. Don't worry. I'll be here for you now." "Oppa!!!! That's the thing you don't understand! THAT'S WHAT I CANNOT DO! I CAN'T HAVE YOU BE HERE FOR ME!" Chapter 7 DongWan looked hurt, and confused. "I don’t understand, YooRa." "Of course you don’t..." she had calmed down now, "no one does." "Can’t I help you to understand YooRa? Can’t I be the one that you turn to for help when you feel down? Can I be that person?" YooRa looked at him and asked, "Are you..." "Yes. I am asking you out. Will you go out with me? Ever since I saw you that day. My heart, it skipped at least a beat YooRa. Now, that I’ve heard your story I want to be your special person. Your boyfriend. And I'm sure that you won’t kill my sister or anything right YooRa? And YOU didn’t even kill Jina." "Oppa… I'm sorry. The past just went in too deep. The scar of it, I can’t make it go away! I'm truly sorry, I really am. When I'm ready oppa, I’ll tell you, I promise." DongWan looked hurt but smiled, "You sure about that? You’ll come to me when you’re ready?" YooRa nodded and said, "Yea, I will." But in her heart she knew that she would never be ready. They ordered orange juice and they left. DongWan and YooRa stood there, thinking about what to do next. "How about we watch a movie?" YooRa suggested. "Nah. That’s too original. How about… a stroll in the park?" "All right then. A stroll in the park it is." So, for 30 minutes, they walked around the park. They came upon an ice cream shop and YooRa pointed at it. "Hey, oppa let’s go over there and get some ice cream!" YooRa pulled DongWan toward the store and made him sit down. She went up to the cash register and said, "I would like a rainbow sherbet for me and a…. DongWan oppa what do you want?" "Strawberry." "Okay. And a strawberry." "That will be $5.87. Out of a ten. And here’s your change…. There’s six…. Seven…. Eight…. Nine…. And ten. Thank you come again!" YooRa smiled and accepted the two ice cream cones. "Thank you!" ‘YooRa yah. How can you be so happy? After making my heart so miserable….’ DongWan thought. "Oppa! Here’s your ice cream!" YooRa gave DongWan the ice cream and they ate. Later, YooRa got tired of her food and she even played with it. She put it on DongWan’s face and laughed. DongWan put his strawberry ice cream on her face and he laughed. Soon they had to go outside because of the noise they were making. They kept on putting ice cream on each other’s faces and starting laughing. "Okay, let’s stop now YooRa." DongWan said. "Aw, okay. Wow, that was fun." "Yeah that was…. I guess." "Why, DongWan oppa, what’s wrong?" "Oh nothing." Soon they were walking in front of World Cafe again. YooRa asked, "DongWan oppa... I’ll take you home." "No it's ok... I need to walk and think things over." "No!" YooRa, with all her might pushed DongWan into the car. "Gosh, you're pretty strong for a girl." YooRa blushed and seemed like she didn't want to talk about it. "Well... I've had experience." She drove him to his house and waved goodbye. "Bye Oppa!! See you later!" "Bye YooRa yah! See you later too! Good night!" DongWan watched YooRa drive away and his heart ripped in half. 'When will you understand that I can have no one in this world except you. When I saw you... YooRa yah!' DongWan thought. In YooRa's car, she was thinking something else. 'DongWan Oppa... I like you so much too. But right now I’m not ready for a relationship... not after I got hurt like that. My life is so messed up. And YOU, rich, nice, sweet DongWan, YOU want to go out with me! I can't believe it!! I know I like you... but I can't love you yet. I'm so sorry DongWan Oppa... Someday, I will go to you, I promise.' Chapter 8 YooRa got home and stayed in the pitch black of darkness. She stood there, letting her bag slide of her arm. She closed her eyes and counted to 10 slowly. 1….. 2…… ‘Why does my life have to be so miserable? First, Andy… and now DongWan Oppa wants to go out with me. Will most regular girls find that miserable? That she got asked out by DongWan Oppa?. Normal girls would think it’s a dream come true. But why am I not like the normal girls?’ 3….. 4….. ‘And DongWan Oppa doesn’t even know half of it. Does he? Did I tell him all of it? I don’t think so. Do I have to endure this pain of guilt? This guilt of killing Jina?’ 5….. 6….. ‘But maybe DongWan and SooMin are right. Maybe I didn’t kill Jina. MiKyung did, didn’t she? Why am I living with the guilt of killing Jina?’ 7….. 8….. ‘Because maybe the guilt of helping MiKyung is getting to you. YooRa ah, stop it. You’re not controlling yourself. What happened to being the toughest girl in school? Everyone still looks up to you. What’s wrong with you?’ 9….. 10….. ‘Maybe, just maybe, you’re falling in love again YooRa. With DongWan Oppa….. No! don’t even think about love anymore. Love, there is no such thing as love. People say they love you because they have to. Do you think you loved Andy? Do you think he loved you?’ All these thoughts came to her at one time. She didn’t know why she was acting like this. All of the sudden, too. She had always been there with SooMin. She had fulfilled half of Jina’s last wish already. Now, why was she feeling so guilty? ‘Because you killed her you dummy!’ “NO!” At the sound of her own voice, she screamed. She fell to the floor, sobbing and thinking of DongWan. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DongWan slowly walked back and forth in his gigantic backyard. ‘Why doesn’t she want me? Why will she refuse? Has any girl refused me before? I don’t think so. Why does YooRa have to be the first?’ He got mad at himself and kicked a rock and it landed in the small pond next to him. He sat next to a bench by the pond and put his face in his hands. ‘Why me?’ SooMin, up in her room, shivered. “Oh my, it’s pretty cold tonight,” she said as she walked to the window. She closed her window but a hunched small figure stopped her. She peered closer, with her eyes strained. “DongWan Oppa?” She quickly threw on a coat and got another jacket for DongWan. She ran outside and soon she was behind him. “Oppa, isn’t it cold? Here, put this on.” SooMin’s voice started DongWan and he quickly looked up. “Huh? Oh, thanks SooMin.” “No problem oppa. Hey, what are you feeling so down?” “Well, I kinda met YooRa today.” ”You did?! Without me?” She jokingly showed DongWan a puppy face. DongWan shook his head and SooMin saw a little grin coming on his face. “Yeah, sorry it was without you though. But you would have made it worse.” ”Why? What went wrong?” “I asked her out. I really like her. I know I don’t know her that well to be her boyfriend yet, but she seems like a nice girl.” ”Why is that so depressing? Surely she wouldn’t have refused you… Oppa…. Are you saying…” “Yes, she did refuse me. She did SooMin. The first time in my life that I was rejected.” “Oh, oppa! I'm sure she had a good reason.” SooMin put her arms around DongWan’s neck and hugged him tightly. For a while, they stayed in that position, until DongWan quietly got up with SooMin and went into the house. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The next day at school, YooRa was waiting for SooMin. SooMin sighed at the sight of YooRa and asked, “Unnie, why did you refuse DongWan Oppa?” “Is he… okay?” “I don’t know. He said he wasn’t feeling well.” “Oh, well I hope he’s okay.” ”But unnie why did you refuse him? Do you know that no one has ever refused him before? Why you out of all people?” “I couldn’t SooMin. You don’t understand.” She realized that she hadn’t told the full story of Jina and Andy yet. In fact, she realized that NO ONE knew the full story of Jina and Andy. “Unnie, I have to go now. I’ll talk to you later. Or maybe I’ll hang with Eric today okay? Is that okay?” YooRa nodded and smiled, “Of course,” she said. SooMin was happily walking to her fourth period class. She hadn’t seen Eric the whole day so he figured he was too busy. She kept on walking, eager to get to her class. She felt something tap her shoulder lightly, and turned around. Eric's smiling kind face was in front of her. SooMin let out a deep breath and said, "You scared me!" "WHEW! You're breath stinks. I should get you Listerine or something for your birthday." "Oppa~~~ you're so mean~!" "SooMin, you know I was kidding right? Hey, when IS your birthday anyway?" "Why?" "Just... cuz...." "Well... it's next week. Hey, it's EXACTLY next week." "Really?! How come you didn't tell me before?" "Eric oppa. We only met like yesterday..." Eric grinned that famous grin of his and said, "Oh yeah huh?" SooMin shooked her head as if she was thinking: guys! Eric dropped her off at her fourth period class, and ran to his class. He was afraid that he was going to be late again. He ran into the door two seconds after the bell rang. "ERIC MUN! YOU'RE LATE AGAIN! NOW YOU HAVE TWO AFTER SCHOOL DETENTIONS!" the teacher yelled. "Sorry..." "It's just that Eric is walking SooMin, the new girl, to class everyday. That’s why he's late" someone from the back said. Eric glared at that person and said, "You're right, I am. That's why I’m late to class." The teacher looked surprised and said, "Well, Eric Mun, it's good to see you're helping out a person in need. I will take away your detention." "Thank you." The class rose into a hysterics of noise and complaining. Eric just smiled and leaned back on his chair. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ YooRa couldn't concentrate in her pottery class. She was a skilled potter, and her apartment was filled with jars and bowls she had made. But for some reason the clay kept on slipping out of shape. Her hands kept on shaking and she couldn't keep it the spinner spinning. The teacher walked around and stopped in front of YooRa. "Choi YooRa! Concentrate! This is the last pot you're working on for the quarter. Better shape up!" YooRa tightly closed her eyes and opened them again. 'YooRa... don't let DongWan oppa get to you. You did nothing wrong. You just refused him.' The teacher yelled, "YOORA!!!" and YooRa went to work, trying to make it the best clay pot she had ever made. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "OPPA I CAME EARLY FOR YOU TODAY!" SooMin yelled as she came in the house. But instead of her brother, it was MinWoo who came out. "Hey SooMin. DongWan's in his room. Hey, I brought a friend over. You wanna meet him?" "Sure.... why not?" "Wait up then... HEY ANDY COME DOWN HERE! MY CUTE LITTLE COUSIN'S HERE!" A voice from upstairs said, "Okay... let's see how cute this SooMin really is." SooMin frowned at MinWoo and he smiled sheepishly. "Oppa! Why did you say that for?" ”I felt like it." MinWoo's friend came down the stairs and looked at SooMin. And SooMin looked at him. He looked familiar somehow. But she knew she never knew anyone named Andy before. MinWoo pulled him over, and said, "SooMin, meet Andy Lee... Andy, meet SooMin Kim." SooMin realized why he looked familiar right when MinWoo said his name. Then at the sound of Andy, she gasped. Chapter 9 “Ah… Ah… Andy? Lee?” SooMin said. “Yeah… why? Do you know me?” Andy asked. “Uh… oh my god… I…” SooMin plopped down on the couch. ”Then… you’re… I can’t believe this.” “What? I don’t get it.” Andy said. “You’re… Jina’s brother. And Yoo… YooRa unnie…” Andy’s face turned white all of the sudden and answered, “Yeah…” MinWoo looked confused and said, “Can someone update me here?” Andy smiled a little and told him the exact story that YooRa told her. He added nothing and left out nothing. But why did she fell like something was missing? MinWoo expressed his sympathy for him and hit his shoulders. “Man… I never knew.” ”It’s okay. It’s over now. No one really knows except you, SooMin, me, my parents, and YooRa and MiKyung.” He said the last three words very softly. DongWan sped down the stairs and hugged SooMin. “Know what? Are you MinWoo’s friend? Sorry, I don’t think we’ve been introduced. I'm DongWan. SooMin’s brother. MinWoo’s cousin. I was in the shower. What’s your name?” “Andy… and your question. Know about my sister…” DongWan looked confused but SooMin got up and whispered something into DongWan’s ears and he frowned. “You’re Andy? YooRa’s ex…” “Yeah…” “Jina’s brother?” “Yeah…” For a few minutes, there was silence. SooMin sighed and said, “I’ll go up now. Bye. See ya around Andy!” They all nodded and couldn’t resist smiling at SooMin. When SooMin went up, MinWoo said, “I’ll get some rest. You guys talk about that pretty YooRa girl.” Both Andy and DongWan blushed, having their own experiences with YooRa. “So… you went out with YooRa?” DongWan asked softly. “Yeah…” “Oh… she seemed very… she couldn’t forget about your past…” “Really~? Seemed like she WANTED to break up. Killing my sister like that… Think about it…. Killing your own boyfriend’s sister,” said Andy in a mean tone. “Hey. Don’t say that.” ”Hmph… what do you know?” ”Well, I know she really didn’t mean it. If you think about it MiKyung was the one that really did it you know. I also know that she won’t say yes to another guy because she can’t forget about you.” ”You mean…” ”Yeah I did. I asked her out. I couldn’t help it. She was just a sight for sore eyes. But she refused. She said that she couldn’t love anyone after you. You hurt her a lot.” “Yeah well she tore my family apart…” ”What do you mean?” “I don’t think she told you the whole thing, did she DongWan….?” “I guess she didn’t…” “Well listen closely because YooRa has too much pride to admit it…” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SooMin’s cell phone rang. ‘Gosh… I was just getting to sleep too,’ she thought as she picked it up. “Hello?” “Hello? This is SooMin’s cell phone right? Is this SooMin?” SooMin knew it wasn’t YooRa unnie. She wouldn’t ask if it was her cell phone. “Yes, this is SooMin. Who is this?” ”Hehe… if you really want to know. It’s me, little girl, MiKyung.” SooMin’s eyes went wide, her heart skipped a beat, and she fell to the floor, causing the cell phone to fall out of her hands. Chapter 10 MinWoo searched for a towel in the bathroom after he had taken a cold shower. “Ah… that was refreshing. But where’s the towel? Aish~ SooMin ah~! Can you give me a towel…” When he heard no answer for a long time, he thought, ‘What is that little girl doing?’ He just used the small hand towel that was there and ran into SooMin’s room. “SooMin ah! I called you and… OH MY GOD! DongWan! DongWan, COME HERE MAN! OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH! DongWan!” DongWan and Andy came running into SooMin’s room and DongWan said, “Gosh MinWoo, nothing to scream… OH MY GOD! WHAT HAPPENED!” MinWoo and DongWan panicked and started yelling, “Oh my god” at each other. But Andy, the sensible one, dialed 911 and when they asked for the address, he hurriedly let DongWan talk into the receiver. DongWan yelled, “You know what the address is! It all comes out in that stupid computer of yours! JUST HURRY UP AND GET HERE!” He hung up and Andy stared at him in surprise. MinWoo, meanwhile, had found the hand phone and talked into it but no one was on the other end. He searched for all the calls that were made in the last hour, and the latest call was a long distance call. He frowned and cocked his head. Soon they heard ambulance sirens outside, and MinWoo and DongWan carried SooMin’s body into the ambulance. Andy just stared as SooMin was being carried in. DongWan and MinWoo jumped in DongWan’s car and asked, “Andy, if you’re coming, better hurry.” ”Yeah…” and he jumped in. Before even the door closed, DongWan sped off after the ambulance. During the whole ride, DongWan and MinWoo were murmuring, “Oh my gosh, I hope she’s okay. Hang on, SooMin… hang on…” Meanwhile, in the back, Andy was thinking what caused SooMin to faint.  When they got to the hospital, DongWan and MinWoo jumped out without even locking the doors. Andy shook his head and smiled at their concern for SooMin. He locked all the doors and walked in through the doors. MinWoo was saying, “Is she okay doctor?” ”Yes… her body just went into a shock. I don’t know what it was though.” MinWoo said, “I found a phone near her. Do you think that was the cause of it?” ”Hm… maybe. Is her body really weak?” ”Well, she falls asleep easily.” ”Well, we know she’s not going to die so stop worrying. Are you her brother?” ”No, her cousin. Her brother’s over here,” MinWoo pointed at DongWan. The doctor understood DongWan’s concern for his sister and said, “It’s alright. She’ll probably let out tomorrow.” DongWan looked up at the doctor and said, “Thank you.” DongWan walked off to make a phone call. “Hello?” ”Hello? YooRa neeh?” “Oh… DongWan Oppa?” ”Yeah… hey I'm at the hospital.” ”Hospital… why?” “SooMin fainted…” ”WHAT? Oh my gosh! I’ll be there in five minutes. I’ll bring along a friend too. That’s okay right?” “Sure…” *click* DongWan hung up and ran back to where MinWoo and Andy… Oh shit! He had forgotten that Andy was there. He ran back to the phone and dialed her number frantically. “YooRa yah! I don’t think you would want to come right now. Just make her friend come.” ”Why? Don’t worry. I just picked up Eric. We’re almost there.” *click* ‘Oh man! Oh man! Kim DongWan! What have you done? Now, YooRa and Andy are going to see each other! You are dead DongWan!’ MinWoo ran to DongWan and asked who that was. DongWan closed his eyes and said, “MinWoo! I’ve done the most stupid thing in my life! I just called YooRa to come.” MinWoo made a face and said, “Uh oh… that’s bad DongWan Hyung.” ”I know!” Just then, YooRa’s voice could be heard, “NO!! NOT KIM SOOBIN! KIM SOOMIN!” A guy’s voice interrupted and said, “Never mind. I think it will be faster to find it on our own.” YooRa and Eric walked around and spotted DongWan. YooRa whispered to Eric, “Hey, make a good impression on him. That’s SooMin’s brother. But I don’t know who that other guy is.” ”Okay. Thanks noona.” As they approached DongWan and MinWoo, they saw that they were looking for someone. But luckily, Andy had gone to the bathroom. DongWan and MinWoo wept their brows and smiled at YooRa. It was MinWoo's first time seeing her and he thought she was okay. Eric asked where SooMin's room was and DongWan told him, eyeing him suspiciously. After Eric left, DongWan asked, "Hey YooRa. I want you to meet my cousin, MinWoo. Hey does Eric... have interest in SooMin?" "Hey, MinWoo. Yeah... I guess you could call it that." "Is he a good boy?" "Yea... he's sweet. He’ll be sweet to her, don't worry." "They're not going out yet though right?" "No. But Eric said he's going to make it soon. He doesn't want her to get hurt like that. He said that he might ask her out today." "Oh... I see." MinWoo said, "Uh, sorry to interrupt but SooMin's birthday party is coming up in a week, and don't you think that we should plan something. Like a surprise a party would be nice." YooRa nodded and said, "Yeah... that would be..." DongWan said, "Hm... A surprise party... with all her friends?" "With all whose friends?" a voice startled DongWan and MinWoo and caused them to look up at the speaker. The both smacked their foreheads with their palms and turned the other way. They didn't want to see this. YooRa didn't recognize the voice and turned around, "SooMin's birthday..." Her eyes turned into big circles and she took a step back. "Oh my gosh! Andy!" Chapter 11 “Miss me, YooRa?” Andy asked, even thought he was surprised himself. YooRa looked around frantically and ran out of the hospital. DongWan glared at Andy and ran after YooRa. “YooRa yah~ where are you?” DongWan spotted a hunched figure with shaking shoulders on a bench. He sighed, put his hands in his pockets and walked over to her. “Can I sit here?” YooRa moved over without looking up. DongWan’s heart went out to her. “YooRa yah~ I know you’ve been hurt. But can’t you seal up that scar? I’ll help YooRa… Please…” YooRa looked up and her blurry vision showed DongWan. “I… I really like you, oppa. I really do. But I just can’t let go of how much hurt I had to go through. I'm sorry…” DongWan looked down and asked, “Then… can we just be really good friends?” YooRa nodded and smiled, “REALLY good friends.” Hand in hand, they walked in the hospital. MinWoo had taken a seat in a corner, but Andy was still standing up. “So… how are you YooRa?” Andy asked. DongWan was about to say something but YooRa got there first, “I’m fine Andy… how are you?” ”I'm doing okay too. But I'm not sure if Jina is…” YooRa looked like as if she was going to cry again and DongWan came over and put his arms around her. Andy eyed them suspiciously and asked, “So… how is MiKyung?” YooRa said, “I don’t know. She’s in New York.” ”Why?” ”I sent her there… for reasons…” ”Reasons? What… did she try to kill someone again? Like she did to my sister… But I bet this time you weren’t part of it right?” YooRa bit her lip and answered calmly, “No… but she tried to hurt someone. SooMin, in fact.” ”Oh really? Watch out, DongWan. Someday… your sister just might be gone. I recall it was in THIS hospital that Jina died.” DongWan’s anger had been boiling inside of him and he couldn’t stop it from exploding. “HEY! DON’T GO AROUND BLAMING OTHER PEOPLE. IF YOU NEED SOMEONE TO BLAME, CALL MIKYUNG IN NEW YORK! YOORA DID NOT DO ANYTHING WRONG!” Andy looked surprise but kept his cool, “Really? Well, let’s see… Where would MiKyung be if someone hadn’t bailed her out of jail?” YooRa shook her head and said, “STOP!” “Or maybe… you should tell them… or should I?” YooRa shook her head and burst into tears. ”Do you know who bailed them out? MY PARENTS bailed them out. Think about it… my own parents, whose daughter had been killed by two teenage girls… They bailed THOSE teenage girls out! Can you believe that? I couldn’t believe it. I told them not to do it. But would they listen? NO! They just said, ‘Andy! You have to face the fact that even though we don’t bail them, they’ll get out of jail anyway sooner or later. It’s better to make them take counseling.’ CH! Counseling! Did it…” “SHUT UP~!!!!!!!!” MinWoo finally stood up and said. All three of them and looked at MinWoo in surprise. MinWoo continued, “WE’RE HERE FOR SOOMIN! I'M HER COUSIN! AND DONGWAN HYUNG… YOU’RE HER BROTHER! BUT HAVE YOU NOTICED WHO’S IN THERE RIGHT NOW! ERIC! HER FRIEND, ERIC! NO, NOT HER CLOSE UNNIE, NOT HER COUSIN, NOT HER BROTHER! BUT HER FRIEND!!” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “YooRa yah~ are you sleeping?” ”Hm… no… who… Eric?” ”Yeah… YooRa noona and me decided to pay you a visit… We heard about what happened.” ”Oh… it was nothing really. You didn’t have to come.” ”No. It’s okay. And I brought you this…” He pulled out white and red roses from his back. SooMin gasped and stammered, “Oh… it’s beautiful… Oppa, you shouldn’t have.” ”I know I shouldn’t have… but I love you too much,” whispered Eric. “What?” SooMin asked, still looking at the flowers. “SooMin ah… I know that I don’t really know you that well, and I know that you don’t know me that well either. But we’re friends right?” ”Of course! And JunJin and HyeSung oppa.” Eric nodded and there was a moment of silence. “But…” ”So…” They both laughed. “You go first,” SooMin said. “Alright. SooMin… what if this happens again? And no one is there for you? It’s really lucky that MinWoo didn’t have a towel… But what if it happens again, SooMin? Who will be there for you?” ”I don’t know… probably DongWan Oppa…” her voice trailed off. “SooMin, look at me,” SooMin reluctantly turned to look into Eric’s eyes, and Eric went down on his knees. SooMin just stared and allowed Eric to finish. “Will you be mine?” SooMin opened her mouth, just to close it back again. “Oppa… I… I don’t know what to say.” ”Just say yes, SooMin. And my life is complete.” SooMin couldn’t force her mouth to say yes so she just nodded her head up and down. Eric smiled at her and slowly got up. He bent down, picked up her hand, and looked into her eyes. “Heem neh lah Kim SooMin,” he whispered. Chapter 12 "She can go home now," the doctor said. MinWoo and DongWan got up and started asking him questions. "Will she be okay?" "She won't have to come back right?" "Does she have problems?" The doctor smiled and said, "No. She be fine." "WHEW!" DongWan and MinWoo said. When they got in the room SooMin was sleeping. Without waking her up, MinWoo put her on DongWan's back. SooMin slept silently all the way to her house. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 'She's coming soon,' YooRa thought. She was in SooMin's room, cleaning. From her desk, SooMin's cell phone rang. YooRa automatically ran to it, but debated if she should answer it. She sighed and answered, "Hello?" "Hello? This is SooMin's cell phone right?" YooRa frowned but couldn't catch on to whose voice it was. "Yes, but she's not here right now. Who's calling?" The other person hesitated for a moment then said, "Can you tell her to stay clear of YooRa unnie. And tell her that I'm coming soon." YooRa looked confused, but a light bulb turned on in her head. "Mikyung eeh neeh? What are you doing?! Where are you?!" A surprised girl on the other end stammered, "Un... Unnie?" *Click* MiKyung hung up the phone and thought to herself, 'What the...' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Soon, Eric, YooRa, DongWan, MinWoo and SooMin were gathered around a table full of food for SooMin's welcome back party. SooMin said, "Thanks you guys. But I was only gone for one day..." MinWoo said, "Naw... it's ok... Everyone missed your cute face!" DongWan suggested, "Hey. Let’s all go to World Cafe. It's really nice there." "NO! Let's not!" Everyone turned to look at YooRa. She turned red and said, "I mean... it's okay here right?" MinWoo shook his head and said, "It's too boring~!" Everyone except YooRa jumped up and ran to get ready. In five minutes, Eric and SooMin were walking hand in hand, MinWoo and DongWan were talking, and YooRa was behind them all, hating to see World Cafe... again. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ YooRa fidgeted with her drink while MinWoo, DongWan, Eric, and SooMin laughed and joked about something. DongWan noticed YooRa's odd behavior. SooMin got up and excused herself to go to the restroom. Only DongWan, YooRa, and MinWoo were left, because Eric said that he had to make a phone call. MinWoo rolled his eyes and said, "PSH! Have you noticed the phones are right next to the restroom? Betcha Eric doesn't want SooMin out of his sight." In YooRa's mind, a flashback occured just then. <I>"Oppa~ I have to go to the restroom!" "Okay..." But Andy had followed her. "Oppa? I said I have to..." "I know. I have to make a phone call." "CH~ you just don't want me out of your sight." Andy just grinned and said nothing.</I> It was YooRa's own voice that broke her own flashback. "You know... *ahem* a lot of things happened at this place..." MinWoo and DongWan stared blankly at her. "It was here... this very place that everything happened." "Like what?" MinWoo asked. "I... I... I met Andy, met Jina, Met their parents... broke up with Andy... It was here I decided never to love someone again..." Chapter 13 MinWoo looked confused. "HUH?" YooRa shook her hread and said, "Never mind." "NO! Tell us!" DongWan said. YooRa looked stuck and decided to spill it. "When I was young, my mom died. My dad, who grieved for her so much, was no help. I couldn't look to him for help... so I just lived my life as a kangpae. One day, my dad disappeared. He never came back. I don't know where he is. My parents were both only-child’s so I had nowhere to go. I couldn't just go to an orphanage and sign myself up. So I lived alone. I lived on the money I got from odd jobs. I... I also had to steal money too. I was such a bad girl. Until my friend introduced me to Andy. We met here, at World Cafe, and we hit off right away. One day, he said to meet me here and that his family was coming. I walked here and Jina, and his parents were waiting. I had dinner with them. That night, Andy asked me to marry him. Of course I refused. I wasn't ready yet. But the day after that... I killed Jina." "No! You! Didn’t!" DongWan yelled, emphasizing every word. MinWoo nudged him and smiled apologetically at the other customers. "Well, Andy called me to World Cafe one last time and broke up with me. He went home and left me here, sitting all alone. I made a promise to myself right there. Never to love again." Just then, SooMin and Eric came out together holding hands and laughing. MinWoo scrunched up his nose and asked, "Did you wash your hands?" SooMin smiled and said, "No," and she started rubbing her hands on MinWoo's back. "AH!" But no one noticed the gloomy looks on DongWan and YooRa's faces. Soon they decided to leave and DongWan paid. Eric said, "Hey, hyung. I can take SooMin out somewhere right?" "Yup!" DongWan said. "But be home by 9!" MinWoo added. SooMin frowned and said, "Maybe~" They all went their separate ways, Eric and SooMin, YooRa, and MinWoo and DongWan. "so~ what do you want to do?" Eric asked. "Um... let's go to a noh ree dong san!" "All right." They took Eric's car and went to a nearby noh ree dong san. Eric exclaimed, "Hey! Let’s ride the Viking!” SooMin got a scared look on her face and said, “I'm scared…" "Don’t worry! I'm here… I’ll hold you okay?" SooMin laughed and said, "Okay then." They got on and SooMin looked like she was going to puke. "SooMin ah! The ride didn't even start yet!" "I know... But I’m scared..." Suddenly the big ship started swinging back and forth. "AH!" SooMin yelled as she hung onto Eric. "I'm scared!" Eric grabbed on to SooMin's hand and said, "You okay?" "AH~ make it stop!" Eric turned to look at SooMin and immediately yelled, "Hey! Stop the ride! EMERGENCY!" The operator frowned but stopped the ride slowly. The other riders mumbled, but Eric led SooMin off the ride. His loud voice apologized, "I'm sorry! We really are! But my girlfriend's not used to this. Go on with the fun! I'm truly sorry!" The noise got quieter and as they passed the operator, Eric heard something like: Teenagers. Eric patted SooMin's back and asked, "You okay? Sorry~ I thought..." "It's okay. I'm f..." SooMin suddenly leaned away from Eric and threw up on someone's shoes. "Ugh! Watch it!" SooMin looked up and said, "I'm so sorry. I'll pay for them. I really am..." She turned, about to throw up again. Eric looked up and started to apologize. "We're very sorry... HYUNG?!" "ERIC?!" Chapter 14 “Yo~! How long has it been Eric?” ”I don’t know… maybe 4 months! Gosh, ever since you moved, and didn’t give me your phone number.” ”Sorry dude. I forgot… and I forgot your phone number too. So who’s the girl?” the guy nodded his head towards SooMin. Eric grinned and put his arm around her, “My girlfriend. Like her? Too bad! She’s mine!” His hyung shook his head and rolled his eyes. SooMin still looked worried and was muttering, “I'm sorry. I’ll pay for them… I promise I’ll pay for them.” He stuck out his hand said, “Hi. I'm Brian. I was one of Eric’s closest hyungs… until HE lost contact with me,” Brian said as he grinned. “Hey Brian! Where are you?” Someone from the back asked. “Hey Hwanhee! Over here!!” “Oh… hi… you must be Brian’s friends. I'm Hwanhee, Fanny, Yoon Suk… whatever you want.” “Hi, I'm Eric. And this is my girlfriend SooMin. Brian Hyung and I ran into each other right now. SooMin kinda… puked on his shoes.” Hwanhee looked down at Brian’s shoes and pointed at them, “Haha!! That’s what you get for being so mean to me!” Brian grinned and said, “Well… they ARE your shoes…” Hwanhee groaned and smacked his forehead. SooMin still felt so bad and she said, “Oh… Hwanhee oppa… how much were they? I’ll pay for them. Is 50 dollars enough?” Hwanhee looked surprise and took a step back. “Whoa there Miss, SooMin. I don’t take money from my friend’s dongseng’s girlfriends… That’s not right.” “But… I… I'm really sorry.” ”It’s okay… It’s ok… Brian’s the one that’s wearing them right? Hehe.” SooMin smiled uneasily but still looked concerned. Eric broke the silence and said, “Hey… how about we ride something that SooMin and all of us can ride now.” ”Hey how about the thing that goes around with horses on them?” Hwanhee asked. “It’s called a Merry-Go-Round you dork!” Brian answered. SooMin and Eric laughed while Hwanhee tried to mess up Brian’s hair and Brian tried to run away. They got to the Merry-Go-Round and chose a horse. The soft music started and Eric and SooMin held hands, reaching out from their own horses. Brian and Hwanhee, meanwhile in the back, were fooling around. They got their belts and starting twisting and knotting them onto the poles. SooMin turned around to see what was causing so much noise and she exclaimed, “You guys! What are you doing?” Hwanhee and Brian, who weren’t used to having girls look after them, looked up in surprise. “We… we were… uh…” SooMin glared at them and said, “Put those back the way they were.” She turned to face forward, grabbing Eric’s hand tighter. Eric turned around and grinned and shrugged his shoulders. Brian and Hwanhee got to work and by the time the ride ended, the belts were all straight and perfect. “That’s better,” SooMin said. “Where do you want to go now?” Eric asked. “Uh… let’s get something to eat. I'm hungry!” Brian said. “You’re always hungry!” said Hwanhee. Eric and SooMin turned to look at each other and laughed. “Do you guys always fight like this?” SooMin asked. Eric added, “I know… you guys fight like a couple or something.” Hwanhee and Brian glared at each other and turned away. SooMin and Eric laughed again and started walking towards a hot dog stand. Eric ordered two hot dogs and SooMin and Eric went to cover their hot dog. SooMin just got ketchup on hers. It was nice and simple. Eric, on the other hand, got ketchup, mustard, onion, relish, chili, and cheese. SooMin’s eyes got wide at the sight of the big messy hot dog and asked, “Eric oppa? How can you eat all that? It’s so… fattening.” Eric started to bite into his hot dog and answered, “You see…. Guys exercise. We dance, do sports, run around… but girls just sit there and let all the fat go around their bodies.” ”You dance?” SooMin asked. “Yeah… even though JunJin’s the best. I rap, HyeSung sings.” ”Wow… rap for me oppa.” ”Uh… how about some time JunJin, HyeSung, and I can put on a concert for you or something. Just for you. Singing, dancing and rapping, okay?” ”Okay.” They finished their hot dog and went to find Hwanhee and Brian. They were playing with their food. It seemed to have been chili cheese fries before it was all smashed into mashed potatoes. SooMin shook her head. “You guys! I think SooMin and I are going to go now. See you later hyung!! Oh yeah… Brian. What’s your number?” Brian motioned for a pen and SooMin pulled one out from her bag. He wrote down his number and gave it to Eric. “Thanks, hyung!” “Bye Eric! Bye SooMin! See you guys!” Brian and Hwanhee said. “Bye!!!” They went out of the noh ree dong san after riding three more rides that SooMin wasn’t scared of. SooMin said, “Eric oppa. I'm sorry I'm not any fun. You couldn’t even ride the Viking because of me. Sorry…” Eric turned to face her in the middle of walking. “SooMin ah! Don’t ever say that! You don’t have to be sorry! And plus, I had fun! I don’t think it could be better than what we did today. I get to hang all day with my cute little pretty girlfriend!” SooMin blushed and said, “Aw… oppa…” Eric felt good inside and decided to take SooMin to a galbi jib. They sat down and looked at the menu. “Hm… how about the couple dinner special? It comes with eight servings of galbi and sang choo and everything.” ”Sure.” SooMin answered. They ordered and started talking. “Oppa… the reason I fainted… it was because I got a call from MiKyung.” ”Why? Why did she call you?” ”I'm not sure.” “Hm… that’s a mystery.” “I hope she calls again. Then I can ask her why she called. ”Yeah…” Then, a waiter came up to them and asked, “Are you Kim SooMin?” SooMin cocked her hread at the waiter and said, “Yes, I am.” The waiter shouted, “I found her!” A UPS man came up to them and expressed his thanks for the waiter and gave him a tip. SooMin kept on looking at the UPS man. “Uh… is there something for me?” ”Oh yes… someone came by and said that you were at this galbi jib and said to give this to Kim SooMin.” ”Really? What is it? Who was it?” ”We don’t know who it was. Before we could ask her for an ID she left,” he said as he handed her a box. “Thank you… hm… it’s a girl you say.” SooMin and Eric were left there with a box between them. ”Open it,” Eric said. “Okay…” SooMin tore open the lid and looked inside. She gasped and took out a letter attached. It said: I’ll be watching you Kim SooMin. Be careful!” She turned it over but there was no signature on the back, even though she had a good idea of who wrote the note. She looked inside once again and took out the thing inside. It was a small, white bear doll. It was holding a heart in the middle that read: FOREVER. But that was not the thing that made SooMin drop the doll and scream. It was the fact that it had a small knife in the heart. With blood dripping everywhere. Chapter 15 Eric rushed to her side and asked, “What is it?” When he saw what it was, he asked, “Who would play a mean trick like this?” SooMin sobbed and answered, “MiKyung…” ”Why?” ”She called… I think she’s coming back. Oh Eric, I'm so scared. I don’t know what to do.” ”It’s okay. You have MinWoo, DongWan, YooRa noona, and me… none of us will ever let MiKyung touch you okay?” SooMin felt a little better and nodded. Eric put the bear back in the box and told the waiter to throw it away. He wiped off the blood off of SooMin’s hands. He turned to face her and asked, “You’re okay right?” “Yeah… I'm okay now. Let’s go home. I think I lost my appetite after that…” Eric nodded and told the waiter that they were going to leave. The waiter frowned and said, “But your order is almost done.” Eric said, “I’m sorry, but she’s kinda grossed out… we’ll come back next time. And here… here is some money for the inconvenience. Sorry about that!” And he led SooMin out the door, into the car. Eric switched on his engine and the CD Player blasted with music. SooMin quietly asked, “Oppa… can I have some quiet? I'm sorry. Can you turn it down?” Eric smiled and said, “No problem!” And he turned off the music, and SooMin closed her eyes. She fell into a deep sleep, and had a dream. ***** “Oppa~! Don’t leave me!” ”I’m sorry SooMin ah. But I have to. I have no choice!” ”Oppa~!” Out of nowhere a voice cackled, “SooMin ah!! I'm gonna get you now.” MiKyung was standing there with the white bear doll in her hands. ***** SooMin got up quickly with her forehead sweating. Eric turned to look at her and asked, “Hey… SooMin… are you okay?” ”Yeah… I just had a bad dream that I was telling an oppa don’t leave me. And he said I'm sorry SooMin ah. But I have to. I have no choice. Then MiKyung unnie came out holding the bear in her hands.” Eric scrunched up his face. “I don’t like that…” ”Me too. Let’s go home.” They went to SooMin’s house, to find DongWan and MinWoo there. “Hey… why did you come back so soon?” MinWoo asked. “We kind of had… interruptions…” Eric said. SooMin and Eric told them the story about the bear in the restaurant. DongWan turned furious and started to yell. “DO YOU THINK THAT MIKYUNG DID IT? GOSH IF SHE DID… I'M GONNA KILL HER!!” SooMin shook her head and said, “I don’t know… but I'm going to my room to sleep. I need some rest. I think all this excitement is tiring me out.” Eric nodded and hugged her goodbye. “Bye oppa!” SooMin said. Eric answered with a cheery “goodbye” as well. SooMin dragged herself up the stairs into her room. She saw a little white note on top of her desk. It said: Hey! My little cutie is back! I cleaned up your room for you. I wanted to do it. I hope that you don’t end up in the hospital again. By the way, someone called on your handphone and I answered it. I think it was MiKyung eeh… Did she call you before? What is she saying to you? Call me when you get back okay? From, YooRa Unnie. SooMin put the note back on her desk and went under her blankets. “SooMin ah. Don’t worry… you have DongWan oppa, MinWoo oppa, Eric oppa, and YooRa unnie. MiKyung can’t get you. Don’t worry…” she said to herself as she drifted off to sleep. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Downstairs, MinWoo was leaving. “I don’t think that SooMin wants to have fun with her cousin right now.” MinWoo said. DongWan nodded and said, “Maybe I should just leave her alone too.” ”Yeah…” MinWoo left and DongWan plopped down on the couch. Why was MiKyung doing this to his little precious sister? He picked up the phone to call YooRa. ”Hello?” ”Hello? YooRa?” ”Yes… DongWan oppa?” ”Yea, hey I just wanted to ask you… but did you know that MiKyung was contacting SooMin?” YooRa answered, “Yes.” And she told him the story about the phone call she received. DongWan frowned and told YooRa about the bear incident. “All this is coming up to nothing. I mean… anyone from school can be doing this to her.” YooRa suggested. “Yeah… but does anyone have a reason to? SooMin is new, she’s not that popular, and she’s going out with Eric. I don’t think anyone in school knows that yet.” ”But then how does MiKyung know?” DongWan had nothing to say and for awhile, the phone line was silent. “Hello? You still there?” YooRa said. “Yeah… just thinking. Why does MiKyung bug her so much? We have to find out.” ”Yeah… we should…” “YooRa yah… I know that I’ve been bugging you lately… I'm really sorry. But since the first moment I saw you, I couldn’t stop the feeling. If I'm bugging you, I'm sorry.” ”It’s okay, DongWan oppa. I'm really sorry too. I just can’t seem to let go.” ”I understand. Well, I have to go now, bye.” ”Ahn Nyung!” *Click* YooRa sighed and put down her receiver. Right after she put it down, the phone rang again. She frowned at it and thought, ‘Only a few people know my phone number…’ She picked it up and said, “Hello?” ”Hello? YooRa unnie?” ”SooMin?” *snicker* “Ha~! What an insult. Calling me the name of a small girl who can’t do anything for herself. Who needs her oppa deul? Unnie… listen and listen well. I’m coming back. And I don’t care if I get put into jail for what I’ve done and what I will do. I’ve been in it before and I know I will go back. You can’t do anything about it.” ”MIKYUNG AH! WHERE ARE YOU! TELL ME NOW!” *snicker* “Unnie yah… you have to understand. I still respect you and all, but you’re not my master. And I'm not your slave. You can’t order me around, because now… MiKyung is on her own.” *Click* YooRa shook her head and put her head down on the table. She glared straight in front of her at nothing and tried not to cry. What have she done? To SooMin? To Andy? To DongWan? To herself? Chapter 16 The next day, it was SooMin’s birthday. Eric, JunJin, and HyeSung came up to her and yelled, “Happy birthday!!” SooMin smiled and said, “Thanks you guys. I think DongWan oppa forgot… He just looked at me when we passed the hallways.” Eric smiled because he knew the secret and said, “Naw… he’s probably just worried because you know… the MiKyung thing…” SooMin was not convinced and answered, “Yeah…” JunJin stuck out his present and said, “Here. Your birthday present. It was on short notice, I found yesterday, so I just gave you something small. Next year, I’ll get you something big okay?” SooMin laughed and said, “No… I'm grateful enough for you guys. Thanks.” She took the present and opened it. Inside of the wrapping paper, there was a box. She opened the box and a CD came out. SooMin held the CD, looked at Jin, obviously confused. Jin laughed at her face and said, “It’s a CD… of all my favorite songs. I hope you like them. Oh… they’re kinda special too. You’ll see, just listen to it today.” SooMin nodded and HyeSung gave his present, “Here. I just found out yesterday too so I just ran to Morning Glory and got you this.” SooMin gratefully accepted the gift and opened it. It was a cute notebook, and a set of metallic pens. She said, “Thank you!” HyeSung said, “So you can write down how cute I am…” SooMin laughed and Eric gave him a punch. “Gosh Eric. I meant how cute ERIC is.” They all laughed and went to class. That day, it was a good day for SooMin. After school, Eric gave her a hug and said, “I’ll give you your present later. For now, I have to go. I think I'm late!! Bye!” SooMin said, “Late for…” But Eric was already running out of the campus. SooMin looked sad and walked along all alone. *beep beep* She looked up to see a car. “Unnie!!” YooRa smiled and opened the door for her. “My little princess. Get in.” SooMin got in and put on her seat belt. “Wow… why are YOU here?” ”Ch~ you don’t want me to be here? Fine. I’ll leave then… Get out.” ”No… I was just asking…” YooRa laughed and said, “Oh. By the way, happy birthday SooMin ah!!” SooMin smiled and said, “Thanks. Where are we going?” YooRa looked straight ahead and said, “Somewhere.” She stopped in front of a house and said, “Get out now.” ”Why? Where is this place?” ”Just get out…” SooMin got out and stared at the house in front of her. It was a good-sized house with flowers all around the edge. She cocked her head to one side to see if she knew this place. YooRa opened the gate for her and SooMin went in. YooRa said to her, “Wait out here for a minute okay?” SooMin nodded. YooRa went in and closed the door. After five minutes, YooRa still hadn’t come out. SooMin went towards the door and knocked on it. “YooRa unnie?” No one answered. She thought, ‘That’s weird…’ She turned the knob. It was open. She turned it all the way and opened the door. It was pitch black dark. She stepped in and closed the door behind her. “What the…” ”SURPRISE!” The lights suddenly turned on, putting her in the middle of DongWan, MinWoo, YooRa, and Eric. SooMin was speechless and looked past them. There was a banner on the ceiling with: HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIM SOOMIN on it. There were balloons everywhere, each one specially designed with HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIM SOOMIN on it. SooMin finally said, “Thanks you guys…” DongWan came forward to give SooMin a hug. “Oppa… I thought you forgot.” DongWan stared at SooMin and said, “I will NEVER forget my little sister’s birthday.” DongWan stepped back and MinWoo gave her a hug. “My cute little cousin… happy birthday!” SooMin smiled as YooRa gave her a hug. “SooMin ah… I promise I’ll be there for you okay?” It was Eric’s turn and he gave her a long big hug. He whispered into her ear, “I love you.” SooMin said, “I love you too.” SooMin looked up and asked, “Where is this place?” ”Oh… we just borrowed it from a friend for awhile,” MinWoo said. After all the hugs, it was time for the cake. It was decorated with baby blue frosting with red, orange, yellow, blue, and purple flowers. In the middle, it said HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOOMIN! WE ALL LOVE YOU! SooMin gave a cry of delight and said, “Thank you everyone… I don’t know what to say.” They all started to sing Happy birthday to her. SooMin made a wish to herself. ‘Please don’t let anything bad happen to anyone in this room. And JunJin and HyeSung Oppa.’ She took a deep breath and managed to blow out all 15 of them. Everyone whooped and cheered. DongWan handed SooMin her present. She carefully opened it. Inside, there was a scrapbook. It had all their fun times, memories, and cherished moments together. SooMin smiled and said, “Thanks oppa.” DongWan nodded. MinWoo came forward and handed her a big lumpy package. SooMin started to open and said, “Gosh oppa. You’re a lousy wrapper…” MinWoo frowned. SooMin gasped and started to laugh. “Oppa! Thanks…” It was a Jjang goo doll. MinWoo said, “Look…” and he pressed his hand. It started to do its ung dung eeh choom. Everyone laughed and SooMin asked, “Where did you get it?” ”At the shijang.” YooRa gave SooMin her present and SooMin opened it. It was pager. “I thought… since you have a cell phone and all. And if you turn it off then I could just page you…” SooMin smiled and said, “Thanks, unnie.” Eric turned to her and said, “My turn!” He gave her a small gift-wrapped box. She curiously opened it and there was another box. She opened the cover and gasped. It was a beautiful necklace. It was made of silver, and had a diamond in the middle. Tears came into SooMin’s eyes and looked up at Eric. “Thank you so much oppa. It’s the most beautiful gift I’ve ever gotten.” Eric put his arm around her and said, “Anything for my SooMin.” Soon, the party was over and everyone said their goodbyes. When SooMin and DongWan got home, DongWan’s cell phone rang. “Hello?” He answered. “Hello? Is this SooMin’s older brother?” ”Yes, this is DongWan. Who is this?” ”MiKyung… I'm sure you have heard about me. Yes, I'm the one that killed Jina. Yes, I'm the one that beat up your little precious sister. But if she’s so precious to you… I wouldn’t be letting her do that…” ”Do what? What do you want?” ”Make Eric break up with her… today.” ”What? Why should I listen to you? What will Eric do to her? What do I say?” ”Listen… I know you love her and all. But you don’t want HER to get killed too do you? I did it once, and I could do it again. The only way to protect her…  is to make her break up with Eric.” ”Why? You barely even knew SooMin. And plus it’s her birthday today. Don’t make it miserable for her.” ”I know it’s her birthday today. That’s why I picked it. And I knew SooMin… well enough anyway. Just do it Kim DongWan. If you don’t want your sister to die. Tell Eric to break up with her.” *Click* DongWan stared at the phone and said, “She’s getting weirder and weirder everyday.” He put his head between his legs and said to himself, “What are you going to do now. There is no choice but to tell Eric to break up with her. But how can I do this? I know how happy SooMin is with Eric. Why do I have to do this… especially on her birthday! But I don’t want her to die…” He finally picked up the phone and decided to call Eric. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “What? Why? Am I not good enough? What’s the problem?” Eric was confused and DongWan felt so sorry for him. Breaking his heart like that. DongWan answered, “It’s not that Eric. It’s just that… I… I think we should leave her alone for awhile.” ”WHY?!” “Calm down Eric. Everyone is staring… Please... it’s for your own good, and hers. Just please listen to me. I have to go…Break up with her by today... I’m really sorry. I know how much you love her. Trust me I really do.” DongWan left a stunned and hurt Eric behind. Eric tightly closed his eyes and thought, ‘Why me? Especially on her birthday too. Why me?’ Eric stepped outside and took a deep breath of the fresh air. He slowly flipped open his cell phone and dialed SooMin’s number. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “You wanted to see me oppa?” ”Yeah…” SooMin smiled and said, “Oh by the way… Thanks oppa. I heard that the surprise party was all your idea. Thanks!” Eric shook his head and swallowed. SooMin was just making this harder for him. Acting all cute like that and smiling at him. “SooMin ah…” his voice cracked. “Yes…” ”SooMin ah. I love you. But… I… I don’t know how to say this.” ”Oppa… just say it… it’s okay.” ”I… I don’t think… I don’t think that we should be together.” This was not what SooMin was prepared for. “Why? Oppa? Why?” Eric shook his head and bit his lip to try not to cry. “I… I’m sorry SooMin. I… I’ll come back, I promise.” Tears started to come down SooMin’s face and she asked again, “why?” Eric shook his head again and picked up his jacket. “I have to go. Good bye SooMin.” As he went out the door, he could feel SooMin’s eyes on him. ‘Oh those beautiful eyes…’ he thought. SooMin bit her lip and started to cry again. “Why? Why does he have to do this to me?” She put her head down on the table and cried and cried. This had been the worst day of her life… the worst birthday… Chapter 17 SooMin slowly walked in the house and DongWan Oppa was waiting for her. “Why so gloomy on your birthday, SooMin?” he asked. SooMin burst into tears and ran to her brother. “Er… Er. Eric broke… up … with me…” She sobbed and told him the story of what had happened. DongWan felt so bad about what he had done. ‘I’m so sorry SooMin… it was for your own good,’ he thought. At loud, he said, “I'm sure he had a good reason. It’s okay; don’t cry SooMin. Don’t cry.” SooMin stopped crying a little and said, “I'm gonna get some sleep. I have to go to school tomorrow.” DongWan watched SooMin go up the stairs and tried not to cry. ‘What have I done? SooMin will be miserable now. It’s all my fault. MiKyung can’t do anything to her…’ DongWan started to go up the stairs, to get some sleep of his own. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Yo, Eric. Why so sad?” JunJin said as he playfully punched Eric on the arm. “Oh… it’s nothing. I… I don’t want to talk about it.” Eric kept his head down and kept on walking. JunJin saw SooMin walking and ran up to her. “Hey… do you know what’s up with Eric?” SooMin started to cry again and said, “Yeah… we broke up yesterday.” JunJin stared, wide-eyed. “You… you guys broke up? Why? Wasn’t everything going fine yesterday? I… I don’t get it. Eric’s not like this.” SooMin shook her head and said, “I don’t know… I'm just gonna go now.” She started walking to her class. In the hallways, it seemed like there were thousands of whispering people all around her. “Hey… didn’t you hear? Eric and her broke up…” ”Do you know which one broke up?” ”No… but I heard it was SooMin. She thought she was too good for him or something.” ”Tsk tsk tsk. Doesn’t she know that Eric is the dream of every girl?” ”Don’t forget JunJin!” ”Still… Eric’s better.” ”Don’t you guys know that SooMin is the dream of every guy?” ”I know… she better get ready for a line of guys by the end of the day…” SooMin walked along, pretending not to hear. But what she did hear only brought tears to her eyes again. She walked into her homeroom. Every pair of eyes was upon her and her every movement. She put her head down on her desk and sobbed. The day passed with SooMin and Eric running into each other twice. They both whispered, “Sorry,” and went on. Eric… he felt so miserable. Why did hyung tell him to break up with her? SooMin… she felt miserable too. Why did Eric break up with her? SooMin walked into her house, with DongWan and MinWoo talking. They suddenly stopped when she came in and looked at her tear-streaked face. MinWoo walked over and hugged her, “I'm sorry… I'm sure Eric had a good reason. I'm sure he still loves you.” SooMin nodded and walked up the stairs, very slowly. DongWan’s heart ripped and said, “I think I'm gonna ask Eric to get back with her again. No matter what MiKyung says.” MinWoo shook his head. “No… I think her heart is going to get played with if he does that. She won’t understand. Eric doesn’t understand either. Just leave them alone.” Up in SooMin’s room, she was lying on her bed. She was looking at a pile of stuff on her desk from yesterday. She spotted the CD that JunJin oppa gave her. She slowly opened the case and popped it into her stereo. It blasted with music. “What you gotta do, what I gotta do, keep me up and makin a cash, in flash, at last do you wanna see the light…” The rapping turned softer and Jin’s soft voice said, “SooMin ah… Happy birthday! Eric, HyeSung, and I got this CD together for you. We’re gonna sing some songs and give you little message okay? Hope you enjoy!” The CD played YO! And T.O.P. A message from HyeSung came on. “SooMin ah!! Ahn Nyung! I know that we barely know you, but we’re gonna be the closest of friends. I just know it. Don’t get sick and eat well okay? We all love you! I’ll always be by your side!” SooMin smiled and thought of cute HyeSung oppa saying that. Then Eric’s voice came on. “Just one breath of your hair, just one kiss on your lips, just one hug, means more than livin forever without.” The song Nothing and Forever With You came on. The narration in the beginning hurt her so much. ”It’s been so long since you left me, I’m amazed in days, how we could go a day, without each other.” A message from JunJin Oppa came on. “SooMin ah!! Nah dah!! I hope you’ve been well. We, oppa dul, are going to be your closest friends!” HyeSung in the background yelled, “Hey~! Don’t take my line!” Jin continued, “Ignore HyeSung. He’s a little wacko, don’t you think? I’ll make sure that we go to Pump a lot! I hope that you get SO good that one day you’ll be able to beat me. Well, I'm out! Bye!!” Then the CD played Only One, All Your Dreams, and First Love. Then Eric’s voice came on. SooMin got up to skip his message, but something stopped her. “SooMin ah!! It’s your cute loving boyfriend, Eric! Of course, you’ve been waiting for MY message right? After all, this IS the special message. I just wanted to tell you that whenever you need someone to talk to… I’ll always be here okay? I LOVE YOU KIM SOOMIN!” SooMin burst into tears as the CD continued to play Soul, and Wedding March. SooMin took a deep breath and put the CD back in the case. She missed Eric SO much. Suddenly her phone rang. “Hello?” she answered. “Hello? SooMin… come outside… I’ll be waiting.” *Click* SooMin frowned and decided to go outside. She threw on a sweater and walked outside. She saw a turned around figure waiting for her. “Um… did you call me?” The girl turned around and said, “Yes… Long time no see SooMin.” SooMin gasped and her eyes got wide. It couldn’t be… could it? MiKyung? Chapter 18 “Yeah, it’s me. MiKyung eeh. So how have you been with YooRa unnie by your side?” “…” ”Nothing to say, eh? Well, let me tell you. I'm here for a reason. So tell me… how much of the story did YooRa tell you?” SooMin reluctantly told what YooRa unnie had told her. MiKyung shook her head and said, “I thought so… She only told you THAT much… Well, I guess I have to tell you the whole story then.” ”See… she never told you WHY I killed Jina did she? Not only did she trip me… but she did something worse. I was going out with someone… the nicest guy in the world SooMin. You know how that feels? To have ALL the girls in the school jealous of you. I heard that you went out with Eric… but you broke up yesterday. I’m sorry about that. Well, anyways… Yes… I went out with KangTa oppa. But HOW was I supposed to know that Jina had eyes on him as well? Jina… Jina Lee… the cutest girl in the school… against the toughest girl in the school. So, whom did Kang Ta oppa pick? Of course, Jina. What was I then? I was just a little brat who wouldn’t give up her boyfriend to make a little girl happy. That’s what I was. Didn’t people realize that the day we broke up… it was a day before our 3rd year of going out? DIDN’T ANYONE REALIZE THAT? I don’t think even Kang Ta realized that. So, who was the most popular couple in school now? Jina and Kang Ta… I always dreaded bumping into them. They were always kissing, hugging, always doing it in front of me! It made me mad… it would make anyone mad.” SooMin listened intently and felt a little pity for her. But what she said next erased any pity that had built up inside her. “So… I decided to kill her. I didn’t know how yet… but I knew I was going to do it. And just my luck… a week later, Andy and Jina were there, right in the middle of the street. I told YooRa unnie to hold and I’ll punch. Because I knew that Andy and YooRa unnie were going out. So I punched her enough… I kicked her enough… I beat her up bad. I left her there… but YooRa and Andy rushed her to the hospital. Of course, I had done my job. I killed her. Do you know who was at the funeral? Almost everyone from the school, YooRa, Andy, and KANGTA!!! Of course… KangTa had a reason to be there right? I mean… they were going out for a week now. Kang Ta gave here three dozens of roses… He threw it right on the top after everyone threw their own flowers on the coffin. I was SO mad! KangTa had NO right. But after YooRa unnie… became “innocent” again, I still respected her though. She had helped me revenge Jina. But after YooRa and Andy broke up… I was nothing in her life. NOTHING!” SooMin held up her hand and said, “Stop it, MiKyung unnie. I’ve had enough. Can you stop now? I think I better be going…” MiKyung shook her head and said, “Listen, Kim SooMin. I had a good reason. I don’t know WHY I was put into jail. And I don’t know WHY Jina’s parents bailed me out. They WERE weird people. But I'm warning you. I can do the same thing again. I have a reason to kill you too. Jina… that girl… she wanted YooRa unnie to protect YOU! Understand? I don’t like ANYONE that has something to do with Jina.” ”But... I don’t know Jina. Not personally…” ”But she knew you. And that’s all.” MiKyung turned and walked away, with SooMin looking at her oddly. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SooMin went in the house and called DongWan oppa. She told him about what had happened and he told her to call YooRa. SooMin called YooRa and luckily YooRa was heading towards their house. After a few moments, YooRa came in. SooMin told YooRa to sit down and she told her about MiKyung and her “talk.” YooRa sadly nodded and said, “It’s true. And Andy knew too. But I don’t know why he broke up with ME… but I understand. It was the day of our 4th year… when we broke up…” For a while, SooMin, DongWan, and SooMin just sat there, not saying anything. Suddenly, YooRa stood up and said, “I'm gonna do what I should have done long time ago. I'm gonna go to the police station. And report on MiKyung… this is not the ONLY bad thing she’s done you know…” SooMin nodded and said, “Yeah… maybe you should do that. Then all of us will feel better.” DongWan nodded too and told her to hurry. YooRa left and went to the police station. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Sir… I’m Choi YooRa. And I'm here to report someone.” ”And what did this someone do?” ”She… Sir… there are at least two things she did that are against the law. Which one do you want?” ”All of them... and her name.” ”Her name is MiKyung… Lee MiKyung. You know the Robbery of Sun Rise Bank? Last year?” The guy nodded and she said, “That was her… it was all her. I think she still has the money hidden away somewhere. She also killed someone. Check her records… she was in jail before. For killing that that little girl. But…” ”But someone bailed her out.” ”I know… do you know who it was? It was that little girl’s parents. BECAUSE THEY KNEW THAT MIKYUNG WAS GOING TO GET OUT OF JAIL ANYWAYS!! BEFORE THEY BAILED HER OUT, SHE WAS THINKING OF DIGGING A HOLE! RIDICULOUS IF YOU ASK ME!” ”Miss... contain yourself. Calm down.” *sigh* “I’m sorry… I just get so carried away. Will you please try to look for her? Someone else is in danger because of her. Please look for her.” ”Do you have a picture?” ”Don’t you? I mean her records and everything…” ”Oh… here it is. We’ll try to find her as soon as we can. Goodbye.” ”Good bye.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ YooRa walked out of the police station and felt so good. She had actually done it. MiKyung couldn’t do anything to anyone now. The whole city was on her. And if they didn’t find her fast… she herself would go after her. She was walking to her car when she spotted a familiar face. “DongWan oppa?” ”YooRa yah!” ”What are you doing here?” ”I was just wondering… if you want to eat with me…” ”Sure… anywhere except to World Café please.” DongWan laughed and said, “Sure…” They got into YooRa’s car and DongWan drove. He drove to a nearby restaurant and parked. They got out and went in. During their meal, DongWan decided to try again. “YooRa yah… are you ready yet? Can you please come to me now?” ”Oppa… please… I’ll tell you when I'm ready. Please... I just need a little more time.” DongWan nodded and said, “I understand.” In his mind, he thought, ‘Please YooRa… Come to me soon. Please be ready soon. I can’t wait that much longer. I need you. You need me. I love you YooRa…’ Chapter 19 A few weeks had passed and SooMin and Eric were friends again. Even though they weren’t as close as before, they said more than hi when they passed each other. One day, MinWoo, DongWan, SooMin, and Eric were all at SooMin’s house when YooRa burst in, breathing deeply. “I…I…The… The police… they found… MiKyung…” “WHAT?! WHERE?! HOW?! WHEN?!” Everyone shouted at once. “I…” DongWan spoke up, “Let her catch her breath…” They all waited patiently for a minute and YooRa finally spoke up, “They found her… they found her in front of Kang Ta’s house. She was screaming, ‘You have no life KangTa! I hate you! YOU BROKE UP WTH ME ON THE DAY BEFORE OUR 3RD YEAR! I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU KANG TA! I HATE YOU!’ They took her to a hospital and found out that her life was completely messed up. Her mom and dad got divorced before she was born and her mom left her when she was only a week old. She was put in an orphanage as Kim Ji Won. At the age of 10, she was smart enough. She ran away from the orphanage and changed her name to Lee MiKyung. Of course she stole money from streets and begged for money too. She collected/stole enough to buy herself a very small apartment. She went to school, bought herself clothes, and pretended to have parents. She signed all the papers and said that she was staying with her sick grandmother and she couldn’t come to any school conferences. She lived liked that for 5 years. That poor girl. I ALMOST felt sorry for her. She confessed all this at the police station. She knew she was done for. She’s serving a life-long term in jail.” MinWoo, DongWan, Eric, and SooMin laughed and cheered. YooRa said, “I'm gonna call Andy and tell him what happened.” She called him and everyone listened. She hung up and said, “My mind feels so cleared out. MiKyung’s finally gone…” MinWoo, DongWan, Eric, SooMin, and YooRa went about, hugging each other. When Eric and SooMin hugged each other, not even knowing that it was each other, they blushed and hurriedly went along. DongWan saw that and felt so bad. He held up his hands and said, “Stop!” Everyone turned to look at him and he looked down. “I have a confession to make. Eric, SooMin, I'm so sorry you guys. One day, MiKyung called me and told me to tell Eric to break up with SooMin. She said she was going to kill SooMin if I didn’t. I had no choice. So I told Eric to break up with SooMin. I'm so sorry… forgive me. Now I see how much you guys really like each other.” Eric and SooMin were quiet and they quietly looked at each other. Eric quietly whispered, “SooMin ah… Will you be my girlfriend again?” SooMin nodded and said, “Of course.” Eric hugged SooMin and spun her around as SooMin laughed. Everyone laughed at Eric and SooMin’s happiness. DongWan glanced at YooRa and he was surprised to see that YooRa was already looking at him. DongWan motioned to her to come outside and YooRa and DongWan quietly slipped outside. MinWoo, Eric, and SooMin noticed them going out. They quietly sat down and Eric and SooMin slipped their arms around each other’s waists. MinWoo glared at them and said, “Ch~” SooMin and Eric laughed and they all wondered what DongWan and YooRa were doing. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “YooRa yah…” ”Oppa… I know what you’re gonna say. I guess I'm ready now…” “Really, YooRa… are you serious?” ”Yeah… DongWan oppa…” “YooRa yah… sarang heh…” ”Me too…” They looked into each other’s eyes and YooRa leaned on DongWan’s shoulders. DongWan put his arms around her shoulders and they stayed like that for a long, long time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The next day, Eric and SooMin walked into school together. JunJin and HyeSung stared at each other and at them. “Are you guys…” ”Yes…” they both said. HyeSung and JunJin laughed and they all walked into class, like the old times. Chapter 20 Two months later, DongWan and YooRa were together, and Eric and SooMin were together. They were at World Café after watching a movie and DongWan spoke up, “I can’t believe that it’s been already two months. It seems like a year.” ”Well time flies when you’re having fun,” Eric said. “Yeah… especially with cute girlfriends right?” DongWan said. They all laughed and drank their juices. “SooMin ah… let’s go… we need to be heading home now.” DongWan said. Everyone said their goodbyes and DongWan and SooMin walked out. Eric and YooRa went their separate ways. YooRa got in her car and turned on her engine. She pulled back and went into the busy intersection. ‘I have such a great life. A nice boyfriend… a wonderful dong seng. Why couldn’t it be like this a year ago?” She drove to the hospital, since she had made an appointment for a yearly check up. She got there and went in. she waited in the waiting room and the nurse called, “Choi YooRa.” ”Yes…” she dropped the magazine she was reading and went in. They went through the daily check-up. The doctor frowned and said, “Hm…” YooRa looked worried and said, “Yes... Is there something wrong doctor?” ”Tell me… were there any diseases in your family? Like things that can be passed on?” ”Not that I know of… is there something wrong?” ”YooRa shi… I don’t know how to tell you this… but…” ”Please… doctor. I'm sure that it will be easier for me if you just say it right out.” ”I… I discovered some cancer cells in your body. If you start chemo-therapy from today, we might be able to…” YooRa stared open-mouthed at the doctor. “What are you talking about? I have a great life… I don’t have cancer…” ”We’re sorry… but the test results are certain. If you start today… we might be able to…” ”Able to what?” ”Able to let you live a little longer…” ”What are you talking about? How much time do I have?” ”The cancer cells have come up recently… so I say about 10 months…” ”10 months! DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO EVERYTHING I NEED TO DO IN 10 MONTHS? I WANT TO HAVE A GREAT LIFE DOCTOR!! I WANT TO HAVE A FAMILY! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?” “I'm not doing it to you… you just have to face the fact that you have cancer… hundreds of people everyday have to face that fact… you’re not alone.” YooRa shook her head and didn’t believe the news that had just been put upon her ears. “Nonsense!” She ran out of the hospital. She ran into the middle of the street, her teary eyes covering half of her vision. A car coming from the back of her saw her and honked. But YooRa couldn’t hear anything. The driver slammed his brakes, but it was too late. YooRa’s lifeless body flung onto the cement. The driver got out, slammed the door and looked at the damage he had done… He gasped. “It… It can’t be… YooRa?” Chapter 21 YooRa was rushed to the Emergency Room. She was lucky that she was right in front of the hospital, but not lucky enough. She was in the ER for about two hours. She was unconscious for most of the time, but for a short while, she was able to regain her consciousness. “Tell… tell… DongWan… Kim DongWan… I love him…” she went into another state of unconsciousness and never woke up again from it. The doctor stepped out, looking for the young man that had yelled for help. “Are you YooRa’s…” ”Yes… I'm here for her. Is she alright?” ”What did you say your name was?” ”Andy…” ”Well… Andy. What kind of relationship did you have with her?” ”I… I was a friend.” ”Hm… I'm sorry. We couldn’t do anything for her. When she struck the cement, too much blood was lost. We’re truly sorry.” Andy felt his body freeze. How could this happen? He had killed her… He had killed YooRa. The sensible girl that had been his first love. YooRa… his YooRa. He put his face in his hands and sobbed. He couldn’t do anything about it. It was too late. He went to a nearby payphone and looked for Kim DongWan’s phone number in the phone book. ”Hello?” ”Hello? Is this Kim DongWan’s house?” ”Yes… do you want to talk to him?” ”Yes please…” ”Hello?” ”Hello DongWan?” ”Yes this is him… who is this?” ”Andy…” ”Oh… hi. What’s up?” ”Can you come here? To the hospital…” ”Why?” ”Just don’t ask any questions and just come okay?” *Click* Andy hung up and waited for DongWan to come. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DongWan’s sneakers made squeaking noises on the polished hospital floor. “Andy? What’s up dude? What happened?” ”It’s… It’s… YooRa…” DongWan’s face turned pale and he started to yell, “What happened!? What happened to her?!” “She… she… I hit her DongWan. I hit her with my car. Too much blood was lost. They couldn’t do anything for her. I know how much you loved her DongWan. DongWan… she’s gone.” DongWan took in short breaths and shook his head. “YooRa is not dead!! She’s not gone! She’s HERE! WHERE IS SHE!” DongWan fell to his knees, sobbing. “YooRa… YooRa… My YooRa…” Andy fell to the floor with him and together, they cried for their loss. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DongWan and SooMin bent down their heads, crying. SooMin thought, ‘How could YooRa unnie leave DongWan oppa like that? Oh… unnie…” DongWan and SooMin went up together to get a last look at her. She was dressed in a white, flowing dress. She had make up on and looked beautiful, despite the fact that she wasn’t in Earth anymore. DongWan burst into tears again and SooMin turned to comfort him. “She was my only love, SooMin. YooRa… she will always be in my heart. I wanted to be with her. I wanted to… I loved her and I always will love her.” The coffin was closed and the dirt hitting the coffin was too much for DongWan to bear. He walked away from the gravesite, leaving SooMin to throw a rose down for YooRa unnie. Eric put his arm around SooMin and together, they wept for the person that had always been there for them. Eric looked at SooMin and thought to himself, ‘I’ll try to be here for you. I’ll try…’ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A week later, SooMin was worried. Eric hadn’t called yesterday and she hadn’t seen him in school the whole day. She managed to find JunJin and HyeSung and she asked, “Hey you guys… do you know where Eric is?” Jin and HyeSung looked at each other and said, “Uh… he told us to give this to you.” He handed her a letter and a box. “Thanks… but do you know where I can find him?” Jin shook his head and he said, “Just read the letter…” They walked away sadly looking back at SooMin. SooMin frowned at them and opened the letter. It read: SooMin ah~ I'm so sorry… by the time you read this; I’ll be on a plane to America. I’m going to study. I'm sorry I couldn’t tell you before, but I just couldn’t force myself to say it. I'm going to miss you. I'm coming back in a year, but I have to continue my studies there for 3 years. I’ll be on breaks though. The longest break will be in about a year… so I’ll come then. Until then, Kim SooMin, wait for me. Wait until I come back. Don’t let your heart wander off to someone else. I love you… I always will. I promise I won’t let my heart wander. And you promise me that you won’t let your heart wander. I’ll write you I promise. I LOVE YOU! ~Eric Mun~ SooMin folded the letter and put it back in the envelope. For some reason, tears wouldn’t come. She knew that Eric and she would be back together again soon. She closed her eyes and thought of his warm hugs, bright smiles, and his soothing voice. She opened the box and took out the thing inside. It was a doll. It was a white teddy bear. It was holding a heart in the middle that said, “FOREVER.” Attached to it, there was a note. “So you won’t think of MiKyung when you see it… but you’ll think of me.” SooMin smiled and put the box in her locker… the place where Eric and SooMin had met. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DongWan walked along the sidewalk with his sister. They were holding hands, something they hadn’t done for the longest time. Six months had passed since YooRa and Eric had left them. They were walking to YooRa’s grave. They got there and DongWan carefully placed a variety of different flowers on her grave. DongWan nodded to his sister and she nodded back. SooMin understood that DongWan needed time for a while… alone with YooRa. She wandered off, enjoying the warm summer sunshine. “YooRa yah… YooRa… how were you? I’m sorry I couldn’t come recently. I came with SooMin today. That was a good idea huh? Do you know how much SooMin is missing you? We all miss you. I love you forever! YooRa… I love you…” DongWan got up and went to find SooMin. SooMin smiled at his brother. He had been so heartbroken. He wouldn’t eat anything for five days after YooRa died. SooMin finally got him to eat, telling him that YooRa unnie wouldn’t want DongWan to die like this. He had gotten so strong these days. He had been visiting her everyday… until last week when he stopped. He wanted to come today and SooMin followed him. They walked, passing World Café. They looked up at it and smiled. DongWan slipped his arm around SooMin’s waist and SooMin leaned on him. Together, they waited for the day when they would be back in their loved one’s arms. END ******************************************