13th✯ 

"Annyeong!" he greeted happily with his happy grin. 

I turned back around to check if Mom woke up yet but was glad my scream didn't affect her sleep. Turning back to Sanha, I asked him, "Yah! What are you doing here?! I told you never to come here!"

Sanha pouted. "Wae?"

That was when I began hitting him. "Aish, if I tell you not to do something, you should listen to me! Now leave before—"

"Aerim? Is someone by the door?"

"Eomma! Noona with someone!" 

Oh, no. This can't be good. Sometimes I just wished Daeul knew how to lie because I needed him to keep this a secret. 

"Aish!" I muttered to myself, pushing Sanha into the empty hallway next to our door and rushing back in to close the door, as if no one came to visit us. 

"Aerim? Is someone there?" Mom appeared by the door as well, staring at me and the door. 

Putting on my angel act, I smiled at her and shook my head. "No, it was just a person who was lost. He thought that he was supposed to go to this door, but it was the one across the hallway."

Mom furrowed her eyes at first before she nodded in reply. "Oh, okay. Did you make Daeul his food? Was he hungry?"

Glad that she finally dropped the subject, I nodded. "Nae, he was. So I decided to make him egg sandwich. It's okay, right?"

"Nae, it is. Thanks for thanking good care of your little brother, Aerim-a. Eomma's really tired these days because of work," Mom told me, massaging her shoulder.

Feeling my heart beat anxiously because of the fact Sanha was just outside and could knock on our door any second now, I immediately suggested to Mom, "How about to take a rest?"

Mom eyed me with a suspicious look. "Aerim, I just woke up from my sleep."

I knew that. Now it made me look stupid. "Ani, not sleep. Just lie down and rest. You probably need to relax your body more."

Mom was smiling. "Oh, keurae? Take good care of your little brother then. Ani, wait, I have to bathe him first."

My legs were itching to walk outside and snap some sense into my cousin, but I was afraid of rushing too quickly. It would have looked suspicious. I didn't want Mom to meet her nephew whom she hasn't seen in who knows when. 

At least, that's what I think. She never talked about Sanha before, but since Jeonghan knows about him, Mom should know too, right?

"Arasso, I'm going to wash Daeul up. But, is something wrong, Aerim? You look tense," Mom noted. 

"Ani, nothing's wrong," I replied with another forced smile. "Eomma, can I go out? It won't take long, I promise. I just want to get something in the convenient store nearby."

"Huh? Oh, well, all right. Don't take too long because it's dark out now. Do you need money for it?" Mom asked me before she walked off to the kitchen. 

"Ah, no thanks. I just want ice cream and I have money with me. I won't take long. I'll be back soon!" I bowed and walked out of the apartment, where I saw Sanha. Shutting the door and without words, I dragged Sanha into the elevator with me. 

He was smiling without a care. Like he didn't know he nearly got me in trouble. "Where are we going?"

"Shut up. I don't want to hear you talk right now," I hissed, folding my arms over my chest as I stared at the floors descending. 

"Is Aerim mad at me?" Sanha asked with a smile as he leaned in closer to me so our eye levels were the same. "Hmm?"

"I told you to shut up, didn't I? Geez, Yoon Sanha! Don't you understand words sometimes? I clearly told you not to come to my apartment and visit me! Look, my mom doesn't know about the whole show thing and I don't think I'll see myself telling her about it. So, I beg of your cooperation, please don't visit me here again."

Once I was done talking, I turned away and stared off in the corner of the elevator so I wouldn't have to look at Sanha. 

Although, Sanha made sure he was visible to my eyes as much as possible. Grabbing a hold of my arm, he apologized, "Mianhae, Aerim. I heard you and Rocky went to the amusement park. I guess I got a little jealous so I wanted to visit you."

I couldn't even react properly to that. So when the elevator doors opened for the lobby floor, I walked out on him. I didn't even try to hide the fact I felt a little grossed out by that. 

"Yah, Yoon Aerim! Wait for me!" Sanha yelled from behind. 

I pretended not to hear him and continued walking at a fast pace speed. 

Sanha caught up to me and gripped onto my wrist, turning me around. When we met eyes, he smiled. "Wae? Are you falling for me too?"

I broke free from his grip on my wrist and laughed a sarcastic laugh. "Mwo? Falling for you? You're out of your mind. Yah! Why would I in the first place?"

Sanha cutely grinned and looked everywhere else but my eyes. He was laughing lightly as well and brushed the back of his head. "Aniya."

I stared at him oddly. "You're such a weirdo, Yoon Sanha. Saying I fell in love with you." I shuddered at the thought. "See, I have goosebumps because of you!"

As I showed my arm to Sanha, he only took it as an opportunity to wrap it around his waist with a satisfied smile. "Wah, this feels good."

"Yah! What do you think you're doing? Yah, let go—"

A memory played. One I've never seen before, but somehow felt like I did. Two kids held each other, arms around each other and stepped on the streets with big, goofy smiles. They looked at each other and laughed. They looked to be best friends for life, inseparable with one another. They looked like they were six, but I couldn't recognize who they were. 

Eventually, my mind felt heavy and I nearly fell onto the ground if it weren't for Sanha holding on to my waist and catching my weight. 

"Yah, neo gwaenchana? (Yah, are you okay?)" Sanha worriedly asked as he thoroughly examined me. "What happened?"

"Ah, my head feels dizzy. Wait, I need to take a seat. Ah." I limped my way to a bench nearby and put a hand over my head. I began seeing stars and blinked them away. 

"What happened to you?" Sanha asked. He put a hand over my forehead as well. "You're not sick. What's wrong?"

I shook my head and closed my eyes. "I just feel tired."

"This won't do. I'm taking you home."

"No," I weakly stopped him, grabbing onto his arm once he stood up. "Look, I really don't want trouble to start coming. It's bad enough a stranger came up to me out of nowhere today—"

"Stranger? What stranger?" Sanha cut me off and asked. 

I clammed my mouth shut and mentally slapped myself. Gee, so much for keeping it a secret from people, Yoon Aerim...

"Aerim? What are you talking about? Who's this... stranger that approached you? Was he bad? Did he do something to you? Are you hurt?" Sanha bombarded me with questions. 

I shook my head too vigorously, slapping it with my hands even. "No! Stop! Too many questions. I'm feeling dizzier, oh gosh."

Sanha was able to catch me in his arms and couldn't help but give me a frown. "Aerim, what's really going on with you these days? I'm really concerned. You fainted once because of a red scarf, you ran away once when you looked into my eyes. Now you're feeling dizzy over me putting your arm around my waist and even mentioned some stranger. I'm really worried for you, Yoon Aerim."

If Sanha were to put things in that way, it made me wonder what my life was ever since I met Yoon Sanha. If I never had the chance to meet him, would things have been easier? Life has its way on making your life seem like the worst, but it has a reason to why it's like that. So right about now, I was wondering what my reason was. 

"I just want to go home. I'll see you soon, Sanha. I'll walk back on my own. P-please don't follow me," I begged, standing up. My legs felt like jelly and I knew I wasn't in a good state to walk back home, but still did so anyway. 

"A-Aerim!" Sanha then called for me as I forced my legs to walk. 

Slowly turning around so I faced him, I weakly asked, "Oh, wae?"

"T-take care. I don't want you getting hurt. I may be just part of the show as your boyfriend but that doesn't mean my care for you is a show as well. I want to take care of you, only if you let me. Obviously, you still don't trust me with those things so I'm hoping... that you would trust me more from now on?"

I stared into his eyes. It wasn't those pair of playful eyes I was staring at right now. They changed into a worrisome pair and he was being sincere with his words. 

Smiling weakly in reply to his words, I gave him a small nod. "I will. I'll try. I'll see you soon, Yoon Sanha."

Sanha smiled back and sent me a friendly wave. "Okay! You better! Bye!"

Sanha's back to normal once again, I thought before I walked away to head back into my apartment. I bet Mom would be disappoint to see I didn't really buy anything, but I could just tell her that I ate the ice cream at the convenient store as an excuse. 

Pushing the door open, I noticed a pair of black shoes by the sides of the mini hallway of the front door. This takes me back to when I was excused for school and saw my brother's shoes. What was I doing to myself? Why do I keep replaying memories I don't want? As if I wasn't tired enough.

"Oh, look who it is."

I glanced up from the floor and found Dad sitting idly on the couch in the living room, grinning at me with Daeul in his arms. Unable to contain my smile, I ran up and threw my arms over him. "Appa!"

"Noona!" Daeul excitedly greeted. 

I ruffled his hair playfully. "Daeul!"

"Oh, Aerim, you're back from the convenient store?" Mom then appeared in the living room, fixing her thin coat over her body. "I'm just about to set the table. Will you help me?"

"Nae," I answered, standing up from the couch to help Mom in the kitchen. 

Daeul unexpectedly trailed behind me, leaving Dad to watch his news shows and whatever he watches. Probably the sport shows like football. I think he's a fan of Lee Donggok or something. 

After helping Mom set up the table, the four of us sat by the table. These days, before we ate our meals, we glance at Jeonghan's empty seat and give him a silent moment he needed. We still weren't sure whether he wad dead or alive. 

"Well, let's eat."

Even the food I ate couldn't stop me from rethinking and replaying all the moments Sanha had rephrased to me when we sat on the bench. It was true all of those happened, the only question is, why? Why have those things started happening? The only thing that connects all those moments were Yoon Sanha. 

In the midst of my own thoughts, I didn't even realize that Mom dropped her metal chopsticks in the middle of our peaceful mealtime. She seemed to be staring at her phone when it happened and all heads pivoted at her direction. 

"Eomma, wae?" I asked, concerned from the way she was suddenly acting. 

"It's... it's your brother. He... he sent a text message! L-look!" Mom showed me the screen of her phone and true to her words, it was a message from Jeonghan. 

Jeonghan: he's not okay. in fact, wouldn't it be better if we had a phone call?

Dad also read the message and his eyes furrowed at the message. His chopsticks were slowly set down and that made my heart pound anxiously. 

"Call him," said Dad in a serious tone.

Mom squeaked, "W-what?"

"Call him," Dad repeated. "Just call his number."

I gulped and watched as the atmosphere suddenly turned tensed. This obviously wasn't going to be good. 

Mom hesitantly tapped the call button on her phone and put it on loud speaker. It rang a few times but eventually, the call went through. "Y-yeobosaeyo?"

There was a deep chuckle on the other line as they finally spoke, "Well now, you actually called."

Mom handed the phone to Dad, who seemed to look grim. "Who is this? Where is my son? What have you done to him?"

"Long time no see too, Mr. Yoon," the person on the other line greeted. 

I had chills travel down my spine at a rapid speed. I just wanted to hold Daeul at that very moment. 

Mom whispered to me, "Aerim, take Daeul and bring him to your room. We'll handle this."

"But—" I wanted to protest but Mom sent me that scary look I've always been afraid of ever since I was a kid. One look and I immediately carried Daeul in my arms and brought him to my room, shutting the door behind me. 

"Noona, what's happening?" That was honestly the first time I've heard a correct sentence come out from Daeul. 

Turning my head to his direction, I crouched down so our eye level was the same. "I don't know, Daeul-a."

"Where's hyung? Who's that on the phone?" His sentences kept getting better and it was somehow scaring me. 

I sighed, my eyes lowering down to the floor. "I don't know, Daeul. I don't know what's happening right now, but I'm scared."

"What do you want with our freaking family?!" I heard Dad yell in a husky voice outside. "You're out of your mind!"

As a result in that, I hugged Daeul close in my arms. "Daeul, promise me that whatever happens, you'll grow up into a good, little boy?"

Daeul seemed confused by that but nodded anyway. "Nae, noona. I will."

I continued to hug Daeul closely, trying not to cry. 

"I know it's you, Mr. Yook! What is wrong with you?! I've ended that job years ago! Why are you bringing up the past once again?!"

I paused. 

Mr. Yook? Job? Past?

My attention directed to the closed door. What was Dad talking about right now? 

"Daeul-a, go to my bed, okay? Noona wants to check on something for a while," I quietly instructed Daeul, pointing at my bed. 

Daeul was an obedient little brother so he followed my orders and climbed up my bed and quietly sat on it. While he was out of the way of being able to hear words he may not understand but question me about, I tiptoed to the door and opened it up a little to hear more accurately whatever was happening right now. 

"Enough is enough, Mr. Yook," Dad said sternly. "It's been years! Why are you doing this now?"

I was so confused in that moment. What was this all about Mr. Yook? Who was Mr. Yook and what relation does he have with Dad and why does he have Jeonghan's phone? The situation was confusing and it gave me mixed emotions. 

"Fine," Dad then said, pulling me away from all my assumptions in my head, "I will see you tomorrow. The same place we ended things. See you then."

~Author's Notes~

Okay, I'm late on this but SEVENTEEN AND TWICE'S COMEBACK ARE SLAY!!!

I don't know why people don't seem to like Pretty U as much, but I'm in love with it! I thought about it today in school and kept smiling like an idiot. Their album is really great— amazing— awesome! (there's no word that can describe it the best) 

Twice's comeback!! Oh my gosh, it's amazing! JIHYO BECAME SO PRETTY, SHE'S MOST LIKELY TO BECOME MY NEW BIAS HAHAHA the song is addictive and the m/v is awesome!! Twice has become my theme song :>

I've done most of my fangirling in the past two or three days already by spamming my groups (they're probably irritated but i don't give a sh*t i don't give a f*ck ;))) i can't contain my fangirling HAHAHA) 

Also, thanks so much for 4K views already, despite the updates coming slow! I'm only able to update like Thursdays and Fridays (mostly Fridays) so I'll do my best from now on! :)) 

Pretty U and Cheer Up are most likely to be on repeat from now on, with the rest of the songs in LOVE&LETTER (i still haven't listened to Twice's album but will do that later and they might be on repeat on mine too) 

I'm hoping Astro will have a comeback soon, oh, when will that happen? :< i really hope soon, i want to see my mj oppa and rocky oppa soon <333

Okay, I'll leave you guys with this :>

See you guys in the next update!

xoxo

Byun Sang Kyung