24th➳

Joshua is calling... 

I bit my lower lip, unsure whether I should answer his call or not. He must be wondering where I was since I disappeared from his sight in the next minute. I was still seated at the curb of the orphanage, in hope that Jaemin and Hoya would walk out of that door and come back home with me. 

Nevertheless, I thought Joshua deserved some type of explanation from me, which was why I swiped the answer button and held my phone up my ear, waiting for him to say something before I could. 

"Kwon Nari! Where are you? You completely disappeared from my sight and you weren't replying to any of my texts! D-do you know how worried I was?!" Joshua stressed out on the other line. 

I bit my lip again and let my head bob down onto the ground as I traced circles on the concrete floors. "I'm sorry. I had to be somewhere. I should have told you, but I wasn't thinking right. I only had one thing on my mind. I'm so sorry, Jisoo."

Joshua's voice softened, "It's okay, Nari. As long as you're safe, it's totally fine. Where are you, anyway?"

"In the orphanage where Hoya and Jaemin are kept confined," I answered, turning around to give the mocking building a huge glare. "The adults there are just the worst!"

Joshua lightly chuckled on the other end. "You think almost majority of the adults are horrible, Kwon Nari. There's no difference between them."

I clacked my tongue before ranting, "Well, they threw me out into the streets! Do you know what they did to my Jaemin and Hoya? They drained out all their emotions. They look like zombies, Jisoo! It's horrible... They force them to sit, they mistreat them and— and I'm scared, Jisoo."

Joshua's voice turned softer on the other end. "What are you scared of, Nari?"

"I'm scared everyone I love will leave me. You, my cousins, Jihoon. I'm scared of all of that, Jisoo," I told him softly, bowing my head lower so that no one could see the tears that were starting to form in my eyes. 

"Nari, I'm not leaving you."

I soullessly chuckled. "With your noona trying to somehow "end" me, I don't think you'll be making your own decisions, Hong Jisoo. As much as I want to believe you, I don't want to. I'm afraid I will be hurting myself in the end."

"Nari, you know I won't do that. Remember, I learn things from you. I won't give up without a fight. I won't stop trying, Kwon Nari. You've taught me that," Joshua said on the other line. 

I looked up, blinking quickly as if trying to stop the tears from flowing down, but I knew my eyes were already coated and glassy. "Thank you, Jisoo."

"Hmm? What for?"

I fanned my eyes, trying not to cry but I kept imagining what would happen if everyone really leaved my side. "For willing to stay by my side for as long as you can. People in my life... they have a tendency of leaving me. I thought it was always my fault, so I used to blame myself. Slowly, I got tired of always taking the blame so I blamed them."

"Nari, I'm not like them. I won't ever be like them, I promise. I don't want to be the person you used to hate from the first day of school," Joshua said, sounding sincere. "Okay? Just trust me. I will do everything I can to stop my noona."

"Thank you again, Jisoo," I thanked once more, smiling. 

"Are you going to come back to the convenient store?" Joshua asked. 

I looked around the area, noticing how quiet it was around here. "No, I don't feel like it. It won't cut my pay, will it?"

"Just for today. It'll go back to normal once you're back in work, Nari," Joshua replied. I could feel his smile even if we were calling. "I'll miss you today, then."

My heart began doing weird movements like speeding up before it stopped then it continued. I stuttered, "I-I-I w-will t-too, Jisoo."

Joshua chuckled lively on the other line. "Already stuttering? Aw, you're so cute, Nari. I wish I were there so I could pinch your adorable cheeks."

I smiled in response. It wasn't like he could see my smile, anyway. So I just said, "I'm going now, Jisoo. You should concentrate on work rather than talking to me. I'll see you soon, maybe tomorrow in school?"

"Okay, I'll see you then. Bye, Nari!" Joshua said. 

"Bye," I replied, pulling my phone away and pressing the end call button before my head bowed down again. I licked my lips and sucked in a deep breath, wiping away the tears that didn't fall from my eyes. I stood up and glanced back at the orphanage for once last time before I headed somewhere else to calm down. 

♥

I sat down in a convenient store near Han River, feeling like I betrayed the one I worked in. I ate instant noodles by the river, in hope the noodles would calm down my stressed mind. 

"Hi Nari."

I turned my head to the direction of the voice and found Jihoon walking towards my table with that smile of his. "Woozi? I guess you weren't joking when you said you know where to find me. Seoul's a really big place, how is that possible?"

Jihoon took a seat at the same table as I sat in and shrugged. "When you've been running for ten years around Seoul trying to hide and find a place to rest, you discover places and such. What are you doing here? Don't you usually go to work at this time?"

"I skipped today," I replied in a soft mumble. 

"Why?" Jihoon asked, concerned. "Did something happen at work?"

"No, nothing happened at work." I wanted to tell him, but I didn't feel like it. Having one person know what was up was enough. "I don't feel like talking about it, Jihoon. Sorry."

Jihoon gave me a smile. "It's fine! You should really stop calling me Lee Jihoon, though. I changed my name, Nari. You should only call me Lee Woozi."

I looked up to meet his eyes. "I can't. No matter what, I can't. I've been calling that name for so long, Jihoon. Whenever I call you Woozi, I feel like... like it doesn't feel right."

Jihoon looked down and avoided my eyes for a second. "I'm sorry Nari. The name Jihoon reminds me too much of my old life and my parents."

I put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a hopeful smile. "Your past will haunt you if you don't accept it and move on. I don't want to grow up, but no matter how long I try to hold onto my childhood, there's still going to be a part of me that will grow up. I don't know what's growing up like, but I think I know a little about how it's like. There's a lot of thinking."

Jihoon winced for a moment before nodding. "I know. I know what it was like because I acted like an adult after I ran away. At first, it felt nice and all but then I came to a conclusion it was horrible. I was an idiot back then."

"You still are now," I whispered, giving him a smile. 

"Yah," he said, giving me a warning look. 

I gave him another smile in return before I stood up. "It's nice seeing you around, Jihoon, but I'm emotionally tired today so all I want to do is go home and sleep. You know how I don't like too much thinking. It's a shame I have to do a lot of it these days."

Jihoon also stood up and stood in front of me, chuckling lightly before ruffling my hair playfully. "You're adorable, Kwon Nari. I'll see you soon, then. I'm unloyal to places—I never stay in one place at all."

I laughed and waved a hand at him. "Okay, Jihoon. I'll see you around, then. You always seem to know where to find me when I can't seem to."

Jihoon only smiled in return before he ran ahead. That boy. He never seemed to stop running. When will he stop running away from his problems? When will he stop running away in life? Question is, when will I do the same thing?

♥

Back at home, I glanced up at the same door I see everyday I return home, only to find that it looked different today. I stared at the white piece of paper stuck on the door with big words in bold and tinier ones at the bottom of it. 

ATTENTION: FINE

We are placing a fine against Ms. Kwon Nari and her mother for not paying the house loan and everything after. A fine of 500, 000 Korean won has been placed upon the Kwon household. It must be paid within three years or the following household will be to be jailed for up to two and a half years. Thank you for your understanding. 

I let out a frustrated groan before tearing the piece of paper that was stuck on the door. I crumpled the stupid piece of paper and entered the apartment, disposing of the useless thing into the bin. This was out of the blue, and I knew who was behind this already. 

Hong Jiae. 

Did she really hate me that much? It wasn't like I was stealing her boyfriend or anything, so why does she have to cross the line so much? It was like she only wanted to drama in her life. As if her life wasn't great enough. 

I plopped onto my bed, hearing the old springs make a sound. I closed my eyes and fixed my side bangs properly and tried to calm down the inner beast that wanted to climb out of me and fight Jiae. I didn't want to get into too much trouble so I rather just stay away from her as much as possible. 

But how was that possible? How was it possible when Jiae clearly declared a war on her own and she's getting money involved? That was low of her and she was playing dirty. Why was she picking on someone who didn't have money? 

I closed my eyes and let sleep take over my mind. I like sleeping. It helped me escape reality, even for a moment. 

Jiae 

"The notice has been given to Ms. Kwon Nari, Ms. Jiae," the man on the other line informed Jiae. 

Jiae's lips etched into a grin as she replied, "Great. Good work, Lawyer Kim. Money has been transferred into your bank account, I hope you enjoy them." 

"Thank you so much for that, Ms. Jiae. Call me anytime if there are any other issues you would like me to address and if you need any more help," Lawyer Kim said. 

"I will. Thank you once again, Lawyer Kim," Jiae said once again before she ended the call. The door of her room suddenly opened and Joshua stormed into her room without asking for her permission. Jiae did not look pleased by Joshua's sudden entrance. "Jisoo, you've been trained with manners. Knock."

"How could you do that?" Jisoo asked in a calm tone. He told himself not to throw a fit right now. He needed her to talk. 

Jiae pulled out an confused face and asked him, "Did what?"

Jisoo's hands curled into knuckles as he slightly raised his voice, "How could you do that to Nari? Why are you being so mean to her, noona? She didn't touch you, she didn't swindle you, she didn't do anything wrong to you! Why are you being so childish?"

Jiae's confused face switched into a furious one. She stood up from her bed and folded her arms, telling Jisoo, "Hong Jisoo, you're being childish. We are classy, sophisticated people and we do not deal with beggars. Nari is one of them. Why are you protecting her?"

Joshua's fists tightened as he continued to calmly talk to her even if he was mad that she continued to talk about Nari like she was some person with Ebola, "Noona, you don't know her that well. Why would you say such things to her? You are wrong to judge her. Seeing you like this makes me somehow hate our title. Rich people. Do you really think we can hide behind our money title forever?"

"Hong Jisoo."

"Noona," Joshua called back with a straight face. "Noona, just because we're rich doesn't mean we have any of the right to do this. We're supposed to be completely educated with all the money we have but you're displaying a behaviour related to a criminal."

Jiae stormed in front of Jisoo and slapped her hand across his face, surprising Jisoo himself. "You disrespectful bastard."

Jisoo's hand covered the cheek that Jiae slapped but he didn't show any sign of losing. "Same goes to you, noona."

Jiae's eyebrow twitched as she said, "I will make Dad ship you all the way to America to study if you continue acting this way, Hong Jisoo."

"This is how you deal with problems? By sending them off? By watching them get destroyed? Noona, I didn't know you were this low," Jisoo said in reply. 

"Leave," Jiae said, roughly turning him around and pushing him. "Leave! I don't want you in my room right now! Leave!"

Jisoo didn't fight back. Instead, he just left as she wanted him to. Jiae shut the door in his face, even locking it as she messed up her hair. She pulled out her phone and dialed a number. 

"Nae, Ms. Jiae?" Lawyer Kim asked on the other line. 

"Is it possible to speed up the entire process? Instead of three years, how about three weeks?" Jiae asked, pacing around her room. 

"I will try, Ms. Jiae," Lawyer Kim replied. "May I ask why?"

"No questions asked. Just do as I say, Lawyer Kim," Jiae answered. 

"Nae."

"Thank you," Jiae said before she ended the call. She stared at the closed door of her room, wondering if Jisoo was still standing out there but she didn't care. "That isn't my brother. He's not the same Jisoo I love. And that's all because of Kwon Nari."

~Author's Notes~

hi guys! it's been tooooo long! and here's an update after so long, oh gosh! forgive me! I was actually supposed to publish this right before my hiatus but the first version didn't get saved and I was so done because I wrote it until the end and it didn't save so I just didn't bother to retype it and I went into hiatus short after so yeah! Forgive your Marshmallow Kyungie! >.<

Anyway, thank you so much for 7.2K views for this book! I love all your support, all my wonderful Kimichies! ❤

That's all for this update, Kimichies! Until the next one! :)

xoxo

Byun Sang Kyung