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"When you meet a stranger, look at his shoes. Keep your money in your shoes."- Michael Stipe

(PS...QUOTES AND PICTURES DO NOT BELONG TO ME, BUT TO THEIR ORIGINAL OWNER."

Tick Tock. The clock ticked. It was the only sound in the room.

Ho-Jun was laying his head on his pillow with his left arm in between. He has been staring at the ceiling for who knows how long. Ever since he came from school he had no motivation to do anything else.

Thump-thump. His heart raced. His heartbeat has also been acting strange. Was he getting sick? That must explain why he was just laying on the bed doing nothing. At this time, he was usually doing his homework or playing video games.

"Ugh!" He groaned and rolled to his side. Seriously though, should he get himself checked at the hospital? What if it was something serious such as a virus?

He thought back to what he must have eaten earlier in the day. Was it the pasta during lunch? No, he was okay after that.

The strange symptoms start happening after he bumped into that girl. Was it the bump that caused it? Okay, that even sounded ridiculous to him.

Knock Knock.

His thoughts were suddenly disrupted. He let out a grunt and sat up straight. "Come, in!"

"Hey Hyung." His brother in his grey sweatpants stepped in and closed the door.

And with that, Ho-Jun scoffed. The only time his brother closed the door when they are together is when he needed something.

"Oh come on. Why are you scowling without me even saying anything?"

Ho-Jun flopped back to his previous position. "Cause I know that you want something."

"What!" Chong-Sik dramatically gasped and clutched his heart. "What makes you think that? I can't believe that you would think so low of me, Hyung?"

Ho-Jun sighed. This brat was starting to get on his nerves. He did not want to deal with his bullshit- especially today.

"Cut the bullshit. What the fuck do you want?"

"You know", Chong-Sik sat crossed-legged on the bed. "If mom heard you curse, she would have your soul, right?"

A small smile appeared on his face. Yeah, mom indeed would have his soul if she even heard a small swear. Most of the time, he would create new words in place for the curse words so that he could still curse and get away with it at the same time.

"Anyways, you remember the favor I asked you last time?" Chong-Sik nervously looked around.

Ho-Jun's forehead's furrowed. He was confused for a second before realization struck him. "Yah! I am not doing that!" He shoved his brother away and got up.

Last month, Chong-Sik came to ask for his help with a girl that liked him. He tried to let the girl down politely but she didn't seem to understand. So Chong-Sik lied and said that he couldn't go out with her because Ho-Jun liked her.

"You just have to pretend. Then she will leave me alone." Chong-Sik threw his arms around.

Hu-Jun scoffed. "You want me to tell her that I like her. What if she agrees to go out with me? Have you thought about that?!"

"She likes me so she wouldn't agree."

"This just sounds stupid. Just tell her no!" He lifted his shoulder in a half-shrug.

Chong-Sik heaved a sigh and shook his head. "Don't you think that I tried that, Hyung? The girl is an absolute nightmare. She wouldn't take a no for an answer."

"Well, that is your problem. Now, get out! I have to study." He grabbed his brother's shoulders and shove him out of the room before slamming the door at him.

"No, Hyung! You can't do this to me!" He kept on banging on the door before he got tired and left.

Ho-Jun shook his head and let out a burst of laughter. His little brother's antics always never failed to shock him. He glanced at the clock on his nightstand and saw it was 7 pm.

"Damn! Where did the time go?"

*****************🔮******************

"I know it is late, Love but I will be home soon, okay."

The young woman's heels clicked as she walked around the alley. She kept on looking behind her to make sure no one was following as she clutched her pepper spray tightly on her left hand.

"It wasn't my fault that my shift ran longer than usual." She heaved a sigh as she quickened her steps. She finished her shift at the coffee shop and was using the alley as a shortcut in that way, she could get home faster. Bad decision on her end but she was desperate as the busses were not running at this time.

Crash!

She suddenly heard a sound. She jumped with fear. "H-hello." Her voice quivered with nervousness. "Da-Eun! Is everything okay?!" Yelled the person on the other side of the phone.

She placed her phone back on her ears. "Y-yes. I am okay. I think I heard something but I might be mistaken."

"Just get out of there, Da-Eun! You know the street is not safe, right?"

She nodded before she started sprinting. She then heard a pair of footsteps running behind her. She increased her pace without looking back. The alley suddenly felt longer than usual. Her chest was starting to hurt and she felt like she couldn't breathe.

Was this how she was going to die? She couldn't help but think. Why couldn't she just wait for her husband to pick her up? Maybe all these could have been avoided.

She kept on running and turning around the dark street. No matter how much her legs were in pain, she couldn't give up. She could hear that the footsteps were now very close to her. She couldn't see the road anymore as the tears were making her sight blurry.

"Da-Eun! Just keep going! I have already notified the police." She could hear her husband's panicky breath as she held the phone to her ear.

The street light came into her view and a smile broke out on her face. Maybe, she was going to make it.

Just as she was about to come out of the alley, she felt a pain in her head. She stopped running and placed her hand on top of her head and brought it back to her view to see that there was blood. Her eyes were starting to get blurry and she fell on the floor. Just as she was about to lose consciousness, she caught a blurry figure with a smiling emoji mask looming over her body, and with that, her hand finally loosed the grip of the phone with the voice of her husband yelling in the background.

"Yah! Wake up lazy heads! You will be late for school!" Bong-Soon banged on the doors of her daughters' room. She was not in a good mood today for some reason and these girls were making it worse.

"I am ready, Umma." Yu-Jin opened her door. She came out looking like she had just gotten out of a fight. Her tie was undone and her shirt was untacked.

Bong scoffed and placed her hands on her hips. "What is this?"

Yu-Jin had a dumbfounded look on her face. She looked around and glanced back at her mom. "What do you mean?"

Bong-Soon let out an exasperated sigh and grabbed the bottom of her shirt. "Why are you not wearing your uniform properly."

"I am wearing my uniform correctly."

"I am not even going to bother. Come down and eat your breakfast." She shook her head and went down the stairs.

Yu-Jin gave a half shrug and headed towards the bathroom. She didn't have the time to deal with that as she was having this nagging headache. She wasn't able to sleep last night with all thoughts running on her mind.

She glanced at her reflection. Her hair was messy and her skin looked dry. She couldn't help but disliked how she looked. The dark eye circles and her acne weren't even making things better. She should probably start taking care of herself better.

"What are you doing?" Jin-Yu stood beside her as she took out her makeup kits. Yu-Jin turned towards her sister who looked like she has just gotten out of a drama. Her hair was shiny and straightened. Her bare face looked as smooth as a baby's skin. Her uniform was proper and neat. For some reason, Yu-Jin felt even worse than before.

"Damn, when do you even get the time to do this?"

Jin-Yu stopped brushing the makeup on her face as she stared at her sister through the mirror. "What do you mean?"

"Your hair, your uniform, and even the make-up." She threw her hands in the air.

Jin-Yu tilted her head and looked back at her outfit. "Umm, that's cause I wake up at 4 am to freshen up."

"4 am?! Just to dress up?! That's ridiculous!" Yu-Jin gave a bitter laugh.

"Hey! Beauty takes time!" Jin-Yu snorted.

Yu-Jin rolled her eyes and took out a hairbrush from the cabinet to brush her hair. "Why do you even commit all that time to look beautiful? I mean, you are already beautiful the way you are."

"First of all, aww! Thank you and secondly, I just like it." She went back to applying the concealer to her face. "Besides, you need to start taking care of your skin better, or else your skin would look horrible when you age."

Yu-Jin cringed. "It is none of your business. Besides, I don't have the time for it. I need to focus on my education more."

"You could still focus on your education and your health at the same time, you know."

"Says the one almost failing all her classes ."

"Hey! It is not my fault that education is not my forte."

Yu-Jin whirled around and put her hands on her hips. "Now, you and I know that is bullshit."

"Please, not everyone is like you. All you do is gaze at your book." She place her palms together and mockingly pretended to read.

"I am this close to spraying water on you and destroying all your "hard work".

"I swear, if you do that, I will burn all your books."

"Yah! They were about to launch at each other before their mother's yell disrupted them. "If I call your names again, then I will come up there and whip you!"

Yu-Jin took a step back and scoffed. "We will finish this later." And left the bathroom.

"Annoying idiot," Jin-Yu whispered under her breath.

"I heard that!"

"Damn you!"

"Well, I will be damned." Chong-Sik heaved a sigh.

Ho-Jun stopped reading his book and looked up to his brother who was sitting beside him at the library for some reason.

"Now what?" His voice was held with annoyance.

Chong-Sik's eyes were bulging as if he saw a ghost. Ho-jun followed to where he was looking to see a short petite, brunette girl looking around- probably looking for someone.

At first, he was confused as to why his brother was glaring daggers at her before realization struck him. She was the girl that was harassing his brother.

"I am out of here! I am not in the mood to talk to her today." And with Chong-Sik started sprinting towards the back door while looking back to make sure that she wasn't seeing him.

As he was busy walking backward, he bumped into a figure and ended up tripping on them.

"Ouch!" The person screamed.

Ho-Jun rolled his eyes and turned back towards his book. Yeah, he wasn't going to deal with his brother's antics today.

Chong-Sik got up in a plank position with the person under him. "I am s-" He lost his words as soon as he saw who the person was.

"You!" They both yelled at the quiet library disrupting the peace.

Ho-Jun heaved a sigh. This was going to be a long day.

Another day, another update. This one took longer as I was having a writer's block. As you can see, my schedule is random but I try to update at least once a month. I appreciate your patience!

I know things seem slow, but it is a K-drama, we need to build the tension before the action. Soon, things will get spicier and darker (with comedy and romance of course ;)

Please feel to comment and vote. I would really appreciate that!

I will see you next month with a spicier chapter!

Word Count: 1973

Love,

Jiana ❄️