CHAPTER - 31

"That *drops his head down and sighs* You're right, I deserve this."

~Back when they were close, the back story when they were in elementary school~(Note: it isn't the event when he broke her trust)

Ji Ae was really sociable and friendly, where Yeong Hyun was cheerful but cold. When Yeong Hyun first came to the class, "Kids, we have a new friend here! Can you let us know your name?"  The teacher said. "My name is Lim Yeong Hyun. Let's be friends!!" He said cheerfully but the kids could see his kiddish ego. The students were giving disappointing reactions.

"Let's welcome him with big smiles and claps!!" The teacher said.

The students clapped and welcomed him, but not in a happy manner. Looking at their reactions, little Yeong Hyun was sad.

"Go take a seat over there~!!" The teacher said and let him go. He settled down in a place, alone, Ji Ae was the one siting in the desk in front of him. "Today, you guys will pair up with your friend and answer the questions that I give to you, together! Will you do it??" The teacher asked. "Yes, Ms.Jang!!" The students answered. "Good! Now pair up with your friends!" The teacher said and started to get the papers ready. Two kids went to Ji Ae. "Ji Ae, pair up with me. I will help you!" One kid said. "Ji Ae, pair up with me! We are friends, aren't we???" Another kid added. Ji Ae was dumbfounded between them. Finding out that nobody wanting to pair up with him, Yeong Hyun felt lonely and sad. The teacher then found out that Yeong Hyun wasn't paired up.

"Kids, who wants to pair up with Yeong Hyun??"  The teacher asked the children. The children didn't give any reply. Looking around the classroom for the students reactions, Ji Ae raised her hand. "I will pair up with him Ms.Jang!" Ji Ae volunteered. Yeong Hyun was happy but his ego was always there. She then looked at the kids who wanted to pair up with her and said, "Im sorry. You two can pair up!" and then went to the seat next to Yeong Hyun. "Hi, My name's Kang Ji Ae, I'll help you whenever you need one." Ji Ae said cheerfully. "I'm not a kid. I don't need help." He said. "What do you mean you're not a kid? We all are in elementary school, so we are definitely kids." She said and looked at Yeong Hyun who had his eyebrows frowning. "I'm sorry if I bothered you. Ji Ae, stop making others angry." Ji Ae said and hit herself in the back of her head slowly. Yeong Hyun burst out laughing seeing her weird habit for the first time. "*awkwardly laughs* Why are you laughing?" Ji Ae asked. "The way you scolded yourself and hit yourself is so funny." He said and laughed. "Oh really..." She said and looked at him laughing. She started laughing too. "You guys seems to be having a good time." The teacher asked. "Yes Ms.Jang." They both answered. "That's good to hear! Here, you can start doing this together!" The teacher handed them the papers and then left tot the other students. When they were going to start filling up the answers. "Will you be my friend?" Yeong Hyun asked. "Of course! That was the reason why I wanted to pair up with you! Let's be beside each other forever, promise?" She held out her hand for the pinky promise. "Sure! Promise!" He said.

~~End of backstory~~

Back to Yu Ah and Ji Ae...

"What happened? You didn't tell me." Yu Ah asked.

"Sigh, Bo Young said I did the right thing, I don't know how you'll react to it." Ji Ae said.

"Fill me in with what happened first." Yu Ah asked.

Ji Ae sighed and said it to her. After she finished telling her:

"*Gasp* He really said that??!" Yu Ah asked. Ji Ae nodded sadly. "That punk!" Yu Ah rolled up her sleeves and turned to go to his class. But Ji Ae grabbed her. "Let me go, I will teach him a good lesson." Yu Ah said. "Forget it." Ji Ae said with a sad smile.

"Why are you down? You did a great job by protecting Bo Young and telling what he deserves. You did a great job." Yu Ah said and patted her head. "Thank you. Bo Young said the same thing too." Ji Ae said.

"That's good. But do you think we are trusting Bo Young so much?" Yu Ah asked out of the blue.

"What are you talking about?? She really is a trustworthy kid. She isn't sociable too, so we have to be there for her."

"Yeah, that's true. But don't get the wrong idea, I just wanted to ask if we felt the same way. I trust her too." Yu Ah said.

"That's good to hear."

"But, what if she is hiding things from us, when we have told many things to her that nobody knows, except for us???" Yu Ah asked.

"You know that I hate people who hides anything from me, I would even cut ties with them. She knows that and I even stopped Yeong Hyun who is someone I know for a long time, from talking nonsense about her and fought with him because I prioritised her first and not him and that's how the tables have turned. This shows how important she is to us and how much we like and trust her. I don't think she hides anything from me. Let's trust her." Ji Ae said.

"You're right." Yu Ah said.

"Oh right! Talking about Bo Young now, where did she go now?" Ji Ae asked again.

"Ji Ae, she might want to be alone. Let her be alone. We'll talk to her later. Okay?" Yu Ah asked.

"Okay."  Ji Ae said.

"But I really wonder where she went....?" Yu Ah said. Ji Ae nodded.

~meanwhile Bo Young~

"Sigh, a good place to calm down." She said as she was staring at the flowers. She was in the garden.

She breathed out trying to calm herself down and was thinking : "If Ji Ae didn't wake me up, the situation might have elevated to somewhere else. I shouldn't cry at any point. Mom would hate that. I don't want to disappoint her." She then walked in further. She saw a bench which she never knew was there. "Was there a bench here always, or was it installed when I wasn't here? Whatever, I'll just sit down." She said and sat down. She took her phone out and clicked the photos icon. She had her family picture saved in it. She clicked it and zoomed in her mom's face."Mom, how are you doing there? Is dad taking care of you well? How is dad doing? You guys are doing well, right? I don't know if you know it but I had a dream of you. I was a kid and you were there, being beautiful and cheerful as always. We were in a kids playground. Looking at you again, made me feel emotional but I remembered what you always tell and controlled myself. Like you did to your children in the school, you taught me a lesson of life. It felt too realistic. It felt like it actually happened once but I don't remember something like that happened, so that means that definitely didn't happen in real life. Forget that, I was just speaking nonsense. I would've forgotten it because I was so young. Why would I have forgotten memories? That would be weird. Oh right! And I heard another kid's voice, it was a boy's voice. And you said that he would be waiting for me. And then, just like any movie or drama, I was woken up before seeing the kid's face. Wow, how could that happen? Sigh, whatever,  I let it out now, I feel better. And I think I was sensitive out there with my friends. They will ask me what happened, what should I tell? I'll take care of that later. And dad, don't think I'm loving mom more, you left us when I was just 4 years old. So, I don't have more memories with you and I was so much young, so I cant remember them. Don't hate me. But mom, seeing you again made me happy and feel better. It's like, my world looks better now. Thank you mom. I love you and miss you." She said as she as caressing her mom's picture. She then kept her phone back inside her jacket and got up and went toward the flowers. She saw something amusing as she examined them closer. "OH?! What's this? There is a label stuck along with these pots??" She said and went to the other flowers to check if they had them too. "There are labels in these too. Was I just focusing in the watering process and not focusing on the other things?" She said.

"Are you seeing these labels for the first time?" A male voice from the behind asked.

She got startled and thought : "What? I thought I was the only one here." Shen then turned back to look at. She thought : "The spirit guy? I mean, Eun Hyuk?? What is he doing here?" She looked at him  with her eyebrows furrowed. "Umm..Hi??" He asked. "Oh, hi." She said back and looked with the same expression. He was confused on why she was looking at him like that.

"Do you, by chance, not remember me??" He asked.

"Huh? No. I remember you." She said back.

"Then, why did you look at me like that?" He asked.

"Since when were you here?" She asked.

"When you started to look at the labels...." He said.

"Ohh, ok. But why are you here, in the first place?" She asked.

"If you are going to ask that question, then I will have to too." He said with a smile and put his hands inside his pant's pocket.

"Fine, I won't ask." She got flustered and turned back to look at the flowers.

"Just kidding, I wanted to look at..." He said while looking at her and came forward to her, to stand beside her.

She looked at him to focus on what he was saying.

".....at the flowers and relax.." He said. She turned back to look at the flowers. "What about you?" He asked.

"I don't wanna tell." She said as she folded her arms.

"Okay.." He said and chuckled.

"Why would you laugh?" She asked.

"Its nothing." He said.

She rolled her eyes and went forward to the flowers. She then slowly started reading what was written in those labels. She went to flower pot in which a rose plant was planted. "I just got my first boyfriend! Teehee, I'm so happy! I love him so much!" She read what was written in the label. Eun Hyuk, not knowing she was reading what was written in the label, looked at her in shock and asked, "You have a boyfriend?!" He asked with a bold voice. "Goodness! You scared me! Why would you yell?!" She asked.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know it would startle you. But do you really have a boyfriend?" He asked again.

"No, I don't have one. Why are you asking that?" She asked.

"You just said that you have one." He said.

"I was reading the label." She said and pointed at it. He then looked at bending down to the height of the plant pot which was lower than his height. But it was a little but higher than Bo Young. They both were standing beside each other.

She looked at the label again as he was looking at it for a long time.  "Gosh, That is so cheesy." She said as she saw. "I know right." He said and looked at her, without knowing she was just beside her. Not even two steps away. His eyes widened in the realization of how close she was. He couldn't take his eyes away either(A/N lol).

Without knowing what happened, she went to the next flower. After she moved away, he went back to his normal mode and shook his head after getting flustered.

She went to the next flower. She saw the same rose but black in colour, with the same label stuck in the pot and the same nickname. "We broke up with each other. *crying face is sketched on the side*" She read. She giggled and said, "That was meant to happen anyway though, first loves aren't meant to be true, except for some cases. Sadly, it wasn't true in your side too." She said as she read the label. She looked at the black rose. "Tch, why plant the black rose, when she or he broke up though? Black rose is really pretty. The colour itself is pretty. I don't get people at all." She said out of rage.

"Why? Do you like black colour?" He asked.

"I love it with my whole heart. Why? You don't like it?" She asked.

"I don't know. I don't get normal vibes from black colour." He said.

"Tsk tsk, I don't get normal vibes form you guys either." She said and looked around. He chuckled under his breath.

She looked at another flower. It was a red coloured Anemone. "My job as a teacher..." She slowed down reading as she was reminded of something. She got deep into thoughts. She then shook her head and continued reading. "My job as a teacher is starting today finally, in this prestigious school. Hope I give out a good impression to the students...This will be here as memory of my first day in work." She finished reading. "Looks like, this was kept by a teacher from our school." He said. She nodded slowly. "What is the name of this flower?" He asked.

"Anemone." She said.

"Don't they live in the water?" He asked.

"Those are sea anemone. These are normal anemones. This called a poppy anemone, because it in red colour." She said.

"You must know a lot about flowers."

"Maybe...?" She said.

"Did you learn about them by yourself?" She said.

"With someone else." She said and then went towards lavami. She crouched down to look at its label. But there was none. She held the pot up and looked at it, but didn't find it anywhere.

She then looked at the bottom of the pot. "Found it." She said and tried reading it. But the label being in the bottom, she found it hard to read. She tried to lift it and read it, but it was really uncomfortable. She got an idea and then went to Eun Hyuk. "You. Hold this up for me." She said.

"Oh okay." He said and got the flower pot in his hand.

"Now hold it up."

"Like this?"

"A little bit higher."

"Ok..now?"

"I told a lil bit higher! So, that I can be able to read it."

He sighed and held it in another position.

She gave up yelling at him and tried to cope up with him. At the moment, she lost her balance because of her ankle which wanted to dance at that time. "Oh? Ahh-" She was startled. The moment she was going to fall, he grabbed by her waist and held her with one of his arm as the other was busy holding the flower pot. She got hold of his hand. "Are you okay?" He asked with a worried look.

"Huh? Oh? I-I'm fine. What about the flower pot?"

"It's safe. But is that what is more important than your safety?" He asked.

"Huh? Wh-What?" She asked being flustered.

"You're okay, right?" He asked.

"Yeah..I am.." She then realised how she was standing, that is, was being held by him, she backed away from him.

"What about this?" He asked.

She then took it away from his hand and started reading by herself.

"We shall not become apart. Lets make a lot of memories together. Let's be together forever. And I will confess that I like you! Wait for me!" She read it.

She smiled under her breath. "Ohhh that flower is pretty!" He tried to reach the flower. But Bo Young got protective of it. She pulled away the flower pot from his reach and that surprised HER too. She thought : "Huh? Why did I do that?" She looked confused.

"Is that yours? You look protective of it." He said as he awkwardly took his hand away.

"Huh? N-no, it's not mine. It's Ha Sang's, he said we should not touch it. You shouldn't get in trouble with him too. I'm sorry if you misunderstood." She said.

"Oh. No, Its okay." He said.

She kept lavami aside and came back. She started gazing at the flowers.

"Do you like flowers?" He asked.

"What?"

"You always come to water the flowers, and you know a lot about them. You must like flowers so much."

"How do you know that I come to water the plants everyday?"

"Uhh..umm..you enter the school just before I do, so I can see where you go. You came to the garden, every morning." He said.

"Oh."

"So do you like flowers?"

"Who doesn't?"

"You're right. But there are people who avoid them..."

"Who?" She asked.

"They avoid flowers because they are allergic to them." He said.

She lowkey started smiling as she didn't expect that answer.

"You're smiling? Do you find it funny?" He asked.

She shrugged as she smiled again.

"So pretty..." He said.

"What?"

"The flowers!! The flowers are so pretty..." He said.

She agreed by nodding.

After few moments of gazing at the flowers, she was going to leave the garden. 

"I have to go to class. Bye." She said and started leaving.

"Okay, bye.."

"Oh and, thank you for helping me."

"What..?"

"Earlier, when I was going to fall, you held me and I forgot to thank. So, thank you. I'll leave now." She said and started leaving the garden.

"Byee..." he said and waved slowly.

"What are you doing here??" someone from the entrance of the graden asked....

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CHAPTER - 31 END

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