Chapter 87 - That Year When Part of Me Died 1

"Ah, ..." Dr. Kim cleared his throat, a little pained, but it wasn't as if Ye Rim couldn't know. They had already called each other in the middle of the night to say strange things, intimate things. "I went to visit my noona. I go visit her grave often."

FLASHBACK

"Jun Hyeon, if anything makes me regret trusting you, I swear to you, it gotta have a payback. Be responsible to these girls!"

That's how Mr. Kim admonished his son, a little away from the other three teens, but not far enough away that they wouldn't hear. The two girls and the boy stifled their laughter as Jun Hyeon replied calmly, with a responsible smile from the top of his eighteens,

"Yes Dad, don't worry, we won't do anything wrong while you're away."

Maybe Mr. Kim was more concerned that his son would be irresponsible to his daughter's friend Na Ra than to Jun's friend, the gentle and cheerful Lee, could get to persuade Ji Hyeon to do something she didn't want to do. He knew his twin children very well.

"Okay, I'm going to the capital to pick up your mother and go solve your aunt's problem, and then we'll be back here, so I hope I'm not asking too much of you, huh?" the a.d.u.l.t looked to the young people for cooperation as he had to leave, and the youngsters would be alone.

"You can go, Mr. Kim," Lee said, "We'll be fine. Don't worry."

Drive carefully, Dad!" Ji Hyeon agreed, we'll take care of them well," she referred to their friends, invited for a weekend at the family cottage.

"Have a nice trip, Mr. Kim," wished Na Ra, Ji Hyeon's best friend, waving goodbye.

Tightening his coat around him, the man got into the car, leaving with a nod to his children and their friends. As soon as the car disappeared from sight, the youths celebrated the fact that they would be alone and without the supervision of a responsible a.d.u.l.t.

"Wohoo! We have all night just for us!" They gave a collective high five, coming in quickly because of the cold weather of early winter.

The plan devised by the twins seemed to go much better than expected now that their father had left Jun Hyeon responsible for everything. Each of the four youths had their expectations for this weekend at the Kims cottage, but Jun Hyeon was only partially aware of which they might be.

Since returning from Switzerland from his long and painful recovery, things had changed a lot at school. His sister had become the prettiest and one of the most popular girls in the final years of school, and had become friends with Yoon Na Ra. Together, the two ullzangs were beautiful to look at, but for him, Na Ra was a celestial being. Jun Hyeon's heart failed the first time Na Ra passed by him without even seeing him, and he knew what it was like to have feelings for a real girl for the first time.

To help him get his grades back, an advanced student volunteered to help Jun Hyeon's studies. It was unexpected, but that's how he met Lee Dae Won. They were water and wine, but Dae Won was patient, persistent and dedicated, and managed to get Jun Hyeon to enjoy his studies anyway.

Jun Hyeon soon realized that Dae Won looked at his sister as if looking at a window of a candy story, and though Ji Hyeon was kind toward Dae Won, she didn't seem to have any interest in the high school's flower boy. Dae Won attended all the extra classes Ji Hyeon had, and even shared a taste for music. He frequented the twins' house and even tried to keep up with Jun Hyeon in sports, especially if Ji Hyeon was together.

"You like Na Ra, don't you?" Ji Hyeon asked her sibling as they returned from driving lessons.

"But she doesn't even see me," he replied.

"Maybe she likes you, and she's only intimidated because she thinks you look always angry," the noona laughed, delighted. "We have to solve this, or you two will never be together!"

"Would you do that? Would you really ?!" he was excited, and remembered, "Are you finally going to give Dae Won a chance, too? After all, he's shy, it's going to take another ten years to do something."

"Look who's talking… " she sneered. "But… I don't know."

"You don't know what?"

"I don't know if I like him that much."

"But what's to dislike about him? What's your problem, girl?"

Ji Hyeon was always like this, always wanted the unattainable. Maybe it had something to do with their past as child stars. Perhaps deep down she felt a little superior to the mortals who reportedly admired her. He shrugged and thought that if she gave Dae Won a chance, she'd see how cool he was.

So when Ji Won convinced everyone to allow this weekend with her bestie for the sole purpose of making it easier for Jun Hyeon to be close to Na Ra, he called Dae Won to join them.

After an afternoon full of silly games between the four, Jun was in a state of complete excitement, as he could see that Na Ra liked being around him, laughed at what he was talking about, and inevitably got close almost all the time. They bumped into each other unintentionally, and she didn't stop him when he mockingly poked one of her wonderful dimples. He knew he just had to do everything right, and maybe he could tell her he wanted to be her boyfriend. He just needed some time alone with her.

He had no worries about Dae Won or his sister. Ji Hyeon was very mature and Dae Won was every girl's dream, polite, patient, mature and romantic.

When Ji Hyeon went to make popcorn for everyone to watch a horror flick on the big couch and under the duvets, Jun figured he could have a little moment with Na Ra alone.

"Dae Won, why won't you help my sister in the kitchen? She's alone, she's going to need help bringing the popcorn buckets…" he gave a deliberately malicious intonation that Dae Won's cover might break the barrier between him and Ji Hyeon this time. As he spoke he approached Na Ra on the couch, wrapped in his own edredon, hoping to be able to hug her casually as soon as Dae Won left the room. "Na Ra and I are going to choose the movie," he grabbed the control and dimmed the lights to watch the movie in the TV room. With an devilish expression he asked Na Ra, "Are you sure you want to watch a horror movie? Before you said you were afraid."

Na Ra nodded with wide eyes fixed on him, and asked,

"Jun Hyeon, are you sure only those duvets are enough? I mean, it's pretty cold. Really cold."

Jun Hyeon thought it was cold, very cold as Na Ra said, but he also thought it was a great opportunity to hug her, so he didn't answer, but Dae Won, the ever-helpful Dae Won, intruded,

"What if we light the fireplace..."

The youngest man just stared at him, trying to give all the signs that he was interfering, bringing up misplaced well intentioned ideas.

"Well, maybe you can ask Ji for more blankets, hyung," he suggested, motioning for hyung to get out of there.

Dae Won nodded quickly and went into the kitchen, leaving both of them alone.

He wrapped his edredon around Na Ra, wrapping her around so she wouldn't feel any cold, and crossed his arms and coiled beside her as they looked at the movie options on the TV menu.

"Jun Hyeon… We can share the blankets," Na Ra suggested after a while, out of compassion. He thanked the dim light for hiding his satisfaction smile. He accepted and went under the same covers as Na Ra, she squeaked in fright at how cold he was, took his hands and rubbed with her thin, delicate hands… Jun Hyeon was in the Heavens.

As he was about to wrap his arm around her for a hug, a sudden uncomfortable feeling came to his mind. They were both taking too long in the kitchen. A strange feeling made Jun Hyeon turned away Na Ra, saying,

"Be right back, just will check why popcorn is taking so long ..."