TWENTY ONE

Ji-hoo stopped at......a porridge shop? Yeah! Your guess is right. It's where Jan-di works. Is Ji-hoo gonna announce officially that he and Jan-di are dating or planning to date anytime soon and I'm gonna be the witness for it. No way,Jun-pyo would kill me.

"Come on!" Ji-hoo caught my hand and pulled me inside the shop making me pause my thoughts.

There stood Jan-di,Ga-Eul and their boss. I kinda felt uncomfortable because I didn't talk to Jan-di ever since that incident and now I gotta face her ,in her workplace. It's really awkward.

Ji-hoo made me sit in one of the empty chair and made Jan-di to sit beside me. This is the peak of awkwardness. I dropped my head low as I'm not ready to make the situation even more awkward by making eye contact with anybody,especially Jan-di.

"Arya!" Ji-hoo spoke up as he sat across from us in the same table. I lifted my head up and looked only at him.

"Yeah?" It did came out as a question.

"I think you punished her more than enough. Now talk to her." He said eyeing Jan-di. Is it that simple like how he had said it? I turned to my side to look at Jan-di,she gave an apologetic smile and slowly placed her hand on mine which was on the table and gave a squeeze.

I'm so confused now. Should I talk to her? Should I forgive her? Wait,am I really mad at her in first place? Actually,nope. I cannot hold on to anger more than a day. All my anger was vanished when I gave her that chit. Yet,I didn't talk to her ,if I had tried ,that island scene would have been flashed in my mind and I would end up thinking about how heart broken Jun-pyo had had felt at that moment,which was so depressing because that was my heart breaking moment too.

"Arya,I- ugh I'm-" Jan-di tried to explain something but I cut her off.

"I'm not mad at you at all. I was but after pouring it out in the piece of paper,it kinda faded away." I honestly said,still looking into her eyes which had filled with tears that would flow down at any moment.

"Why didn't you go talk to her then?" Ji-hoo asked as he rested his elbows on the table and leaned closer,making me cut my gaze from Jan-di and turn to him.

"I -uh I don't know." I said and moved my gaze down to the table.

"I know." I heard Ga-Eul say.

"No,you wouldn't." I kinda said in a low voice.

"Arya,I heard you and Jun-pyo talking the other night in Jeju island because you guys were standing outside my suite." Ga-Eul said. My eyes widened in shock. "Just because you didn't wanna think about that incident and him, neither you came up on your own to talk to Jan-di nor gave her a chance to apologize to you. Am I right?"

I kept starring at Ga-Eul as she exactly spoke my mind out loud.

"Ga-Eul? Tell me the truth. You can read people's mind,don't you?" I asked with a smile. Ga-Eul chuckled but Jan-di and Ji-hoo looked puzzled.

"Girls?" Jan-di asked narrowing her eyes at us.

"Who is that 'him' you referred to?" Ji-hoo asked Ga-Eul.

"You didn't tell them?" I asked Ga-Eul.

"No,I thought it would be better if you said it." She said.

"Okay." I took a deep breath and prepared myself to recall that day. I told them the story.

"So,Woo-bin huh?" Ji-hoo asked cocking his brow with a smirk on his face.

"There's nothing to be happy about that, I guess." I deadpanned at Ji-hoo.

"Awe,don't get down. I think he likes you too." Jan-di being Jan-di tried to cheer me up. Ga-Eul bobbed her head beside Jan-di.

"Now I get it. Just to make Woo-bin jealous you purposely kissed Yi-jung yesterday,right? If you had chosen Jun-pyo, he might've fainted in shock." Ji-hoo said.

"You what?" Jan-di asked with her eyes almost out of her socket. Ga-Eul looked....sad? Why? I can investigate about that later.

"No no no. You've got it all wrong Ji-hoo." I said going into a panic mode but somehow calmed myself down and told them another story about that kissing scene.

Ji-hoo had a smirk plastered to his face the whole time since me and Jan-di spoke,Jan-di had different shades of expressions and Ga-Eul seemed a bit zoned out.

We talked for sometime and even finished our lunch by having a delicious porridge made by Jan-di's boss, then I and Ji-hoo left the porridge shop. We hopped on his motorbike. I think only part of his plan is executed and that's patching me and Jan-di up.

"So? Where are we going next?" I asked from behind,still holding on to him like a monkey.

"We are here." Ji-hoo said after turning off the engine,pointing to our left side.

It is a beautiful park.

We walked into the park in silence then sat on a wooden bench near the swings.

"Um - I'm sorry for your parents." Ji-hoo spoke up in a low voice, sitting next to me with his gaze on the children playing in front of us.

Before I could say something in return, actually I had nothing to say but I thought of saying 'it's okay',he cut off my imaginary voice saying ," I lost my parents in a car accident too. You are lucky though, as you didn't watch the accident getting unfolded in front of your eyes but I did and I was the reason they died. If I hadn't closed my dad's eyes while driving,they would've still be here with me and my grandpa wouldn't have abandoned me either,as he accused me saying his son died because of me." He finished with a small sigh.

"I wanted to talk to you right after the day we met in that coffee shop when Jun-pyo dragged you along but I didn't get a chance. I don't know why I'm saying all these things to you." He chuckled and turned to face me,finally.

Do you know what he saw? Obviously me,I'm sitting beside him but not the normal me,I was sobbing terribly after listening to his story. As I imagined him being abandoned in his small age without anybody by his side ,made my tears flooding down my cheek. God cannot be so unfair.

"Arya!" He slowly cupped my face and tried wiping away my tears.

I looked at his eyes through my blurry vision,his eyes looked thirsty for love and care. I pushed his hands away and got up from the bench. He got up too and looked at me with a confused look. I felt a bit of pain in my chest and I couldn't stand it anymore.

I hugged him tightly and buried my face in his shoulder,sobbing. He hugged me back.

"I'll be there for you always." I said after pulling back from him. He just gave a half smile.

Without looking at my surrounding, I just kissed on his cheek and hugged him again. He was at a bit of shock at first then his usual chuckle came out and he hugged me back too.

"Arya?!" I heard a familiar voice calling out my name from my right.

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