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It was a tearful afternoon for the Jung family who were due to be split again. The occasion was formidable, but they all attempted to keep a painted smile on their faces as Ara wheeled her suitcase out of the house. Her Mom had packed a lot of food in her bag for the long journey back home. Ara's Dad enclosed his arms across his daughter, hugging as tight and secure as he could until he'd have to let her go. Away from him. His eyes misted, sniffing when he had to release the slightly teary girl.

"Make sure to call me when you're home," he said, voice cracking. "Do it early, though. My mind gets especially fuzzy in the night."

The memories of that wretched Saturday night flashed in Ara's mind, but she ignored it quickly. "I'll make a note of that."

Her Mom couldn't stop pecking her cheeks, squeezing the life out of her whilst sobbing. "Take care of yourself. Call me when you need support, someone to talk to, anything! I'll even ship you some dinner from here! I love you!"

"I love you too, Mom."

Kyungsoo certainly wasn't prepared for Ara's Mom's hug too afterwards as Lia gave her a farewell. Since she was the abnormally tall one in the family who towered over her parents when she turned fifteen, instead looking like an anomaly when she stood next to the dwarfs of her parents and sister, Ara comfortably fit in her sister's arms.

"Make sure to ace your end of semester exams," Lia instructed her dearly, patting Ara's back. Then she whispered, "also, make sure you marry him."

That was surprising to hear. Ara pulled away before eyeing up her sister suspiciously. "Excuse me?"

"We all approve of him, so make us proud!"

Ara brushed off her delirious older sister, who was meant to be wiser with age, and took her suitcase down towards Kyungsoo's car outside the house. He took it off her, putting it in the boot, waving to Ara's family one last time as they stood side by side waving back tearfully. Ara was already in pieces seeing the people she loved one last time until she had to return back to reality tomorrow.

An hour later and the car was zooming through miles of greenland. Busan was far, far away and her apartment was even more distant. All Jung Ara wanted more in this world was to be back in the warm enclosure of her family home; surrounded by the people who made her her. However, time had its way and she found herself on the freeway back to Seoul. She lay drowsily on the back seat to prevent her awful travel sickness, which somehow worked. She also refrained from touching her Mom's delicious food until the journey ended.

For the four hours, Kyungsoo and Ara did not say a word.

There was an unspoken tension between them — both didn't feel eased to speak to each other; probably because Ara was falling in and out of sleep the whole way through and Kyungsoo was set on attempting to find quick routes back to Seoul so he could get there before midnight. When they finally arrived back to their neighborhood, the clock struck eleven. Ara was yawning continuously, and Kyungsoo was practically a living, breathing zombie. He just wanted to sleep.

Yet again, no words were exchanged between the pair as they embarked on a short journey back to their respective apartments. Ara wheeled her suitcase through the floor to her door, standing tiredly in front of her beautiful apartment containing her beautiful bed.

Before she entered, however, she turned to the equally exhausted Kyungsoo with a lopsided grin. "Thank you. For everything you did."

He waved off her sincerity with a hand. "Nah, it's fine. Have a good night."

Edging towards him in an unexpected token of gratitude, Ara wrapped her arms around him, holding tight for a few seconds. "No, really. Thank you."

She pulled away and opened her apartment door before she could even see his surprised reaction. It took him a couple seconds to actually comprehend what had happened that moment.

"You're welcome," he murmured quietly to himself, entering his own abode.

There, sitting on his sofa, was Jongdae, Baekhyun and Chanyeol. They were watching an intense movie but jolted upon seeing their shorter friend. Chanyeol didn't hesitate to pull him into a painful hug, but Kyungsoo didn't reciprocate because he was still extremely puzzled as to why these three were sitting in his home. Maybe he was dreaming.

"What the hell?" Kyungsoo gasped, staring at his friends as if they'd disappear in a puff anytime soon.

"You always leave a spare pair of keys at Juhyun's just in case," Jongdae explained whilst eating a bowl of popcorn that Kyungsoo saved for himself. "Junmyeon gave it to us. Also, we waited for your return!"

He ruffled his hair tiredly, cursing Junmyeon in his head. "My return was meant to be a full eight hour sleep. Not a sleepover."

"We don't want a sleepover either, dumbass. We just want the gossip!" Baekhyun refuted from beside Chanyeol, his bright eyes wide and excited. He was a lucky man; working at home instead of suffering from early shifts like the rest of the others. "You didn't even care to tell any of us that you'd be in Ara's parent's house for a weekend!"

Kyungsoo flopped down on the edge of the sofa, ready to argue back at their claims. "I didn't even know! All I was prepared to do was to drive her there and back, and then pick her up when her visit was over. I didn't even have spare clothes or toiletries!"

Jongdae was intrigued now, sitting forward to see how his friend survived the weekend. "How'd you even brush your teeth?"

"They had spares. With clothes, I had to borrow Ara's fathers'."

"When Juhyun found out, she was steaming," Baekhyun suddenly sniggered. "Who told her again? Oh, yeah, I think it was me. Indirectly!"

Kyungsoo seriously felt like slapping the smile off his face. Baekhyun's lack of secrecy was one of the main reasons he was sceptical of the closeness of their relationship. How did he even tell his ex–wife? Juhyun, of course, did not have the audacity to get angry at him for staying with Ara's, but she was an easily jealous person. For the years that they were a couple, Kyungsoo hardly had any female friends. On the other hand, Juhyun had dozens of male friends that she was close with.

"How'd you manage to do that?" He questioned in irritation.

"I had no idea when I told Taeyeon over the phone that Juhyun was with her! Anyways, she's going to yours tomorrow morning to drop Kyungri off, so have fun with that."

He just knew the nonsense she would come out with. Even if she was an incredibly smart woman, Juhyun was very straightforward with her disses. He knew that she'd somehow put down Ara, the person that the she apparently got close with, and complain about other things he really didn't have time to care about.

"So what was the sleeping arrangements, Soo? Who'd you sleep with?"

When Jongdae asked that, Do Kyungsoo wanted the floor to swallow him up. The nights in the comfy Busan home was beginning to flash in his mind as he attempted to create an effortless lie. He certainly did not want the guys finding out; especially with the presence of Byun Baekhyun who had the most loose lips ever.

So he shrugged his shoulders and began his fib. "Oh, I slept in the living room, actually. Pretty comfortable being there on my own."

His friends ate it up like cake. None of them refuted his lie or sensed that he was missing a very important chunk of what had actually occured. Kyungsoo was very gifted to know how to fib without people realizing, unlike most of his friends. If they did find out, however, the teases would never end. When they eventually left after a long, torturous interrogation, Kyungsoo padded over to his bed and slept.

That night, he only managed to get five hours of sleep until his dreaded meeting with Im Juhyun.

—

It was unsettling for Ara not having her parents beside her when she came back from university. She missed knowing that her Mom would always have hot food waiting on the dinner table, and her Dad, although frail and ill, never failed to crack a cheesy joke to put a genuine smile on everyone's faces. That same smile grew on her face as she bounded through the hallway to her apartment that draining Monday evening. She couldn't wait to just sit on her sofa and watch reruns of her favorite TV show whilst chewing on some sugary popcorn. Never salt popcorn, she hated it.

In a flash, Do Kyungri was sprinting towards Ara in lightning speed from the other side of the hallway, screaming out her name like a prayer. She situated her small self in front of Ara, hugging her knees. The latter picked her light body up, a playful grin etched on her face. Min followed behind looking very uncomfortable as she walked up to the two. Immediately, Ara pulled away from her small friend, apologizing, whilst the former hadn't stopped scanning her up and down, her blonde eyebrows furrowed.

"You must be Ara, right?" Min asked, a subtlety of curiosity laced in her voice. The questioned was puzzled at who this woman was, but it became apparent when she realized that it was Kyungri's babysitter.

"Yeah, I am," she responded with a friendly smile to ease the awkwardness between the newly aquainted two.

Then Min nodded her head silently whilst digesting the information. "Then you must have a knack with Kyungri. She seems to love you."

"Yeah...we've spent a lot of time together," Ara answered bashfully. Kyungri was just a very sweet girl; nothing to do with Ara and her way with children.

"I can tell. The girl can't stop talking about you."

Min's tone almost sounded forlon to her, the once close relationship between Min and Kyungri no longer there due to Ara's looming presence. The latter felt terrible. She hadn't expected to snatch Kyungri's small but warm heart — it just happened. Then Min shook her head dismissively before placing a secure hand on Kyungri's shoulder.

"Say goodbye to Ara, now," Min cooed softly to the resisting child. "Your Dad should be coming home soon."

But she wouldn't budge. Putting Ara in quite the predicament, being the one causing it and all. She attempted to ease Kyungri's surprisingly tight grip on her arm by holding her tiny hand, but she would yell out incoherent words expressing her distaste. Ara just wanted a giant hole to form in the middle of the hallway, sucking her embarrassed self into it; never to be seen again. Min equally wanted to disappear into thin air. All she wanted from today was to finish the job without any hassle. It was hard enough looking after her quickly deteriorating grandmother — she also didn't want to deal with a crying three year old. She shook Kyungri's shoulders firm enough for the girl to get the message, but gently so that she didn't burst into tears.

However, none of the methods were effective. It wasn't until Kyungsoo actually came back from work at that exact time when she behaved. He saw the issue and came fast, literally pulling her away from Ara and towards his apartment. This left the peeved babysitter and exhausted Ara on their own.

"I'm just gonna go. Nice meeting you," Min concluded shakily, turning on her heel and following the small family into their home. Ara stood there without word for a couple minutes before going into her own apartment.

She sat on the sofa silently just watching some TV, not really absorbing it. The old conversation she had before going to her parents' house with Kyungsoo rang in her head. He was complaining about how Kyungri didn't get along with Min, which was very obvious when she wouldn't even comply with simple orders. Such a shame, really. Kyungri was such a kind young girl who usually respected her elders. She wondered what caused her to be so rebellious.

Two hours later and Ara just knew who it was when the door knocked. She let the familiar person in to an 'I told you so' look etched on his face. Sitting straight onto the sofa slightly vexed, he rolled his eyes.

"Didn't I say that this was bad?" Kyungsoo began, tone laced with venom. He spent a long time consoling his annoying daughter into sleeping; her cries still directed to the estranged Ara across the hall.

She was speechless for a second but sighed. "Yeah, I didn't know it was that bad, honestly. What happened to her?"

"Oh, I seemed to forget to mention that Min quit on me today. She told me that there was no point in her being paid to chase Kyungri around the whole city."

That made Ara feel totally horrible about the whole situation. She didn't know that her relationship with the small child resulted in a quitting. She wished that she could swoop in and help Kyungsoo with the problem, but university was becoming more and more strenous as semesters came and went. She simply didn't have the time. Whilst Kyungsoo zoomed straight into a full–blown rant regarding how Juhyun had entered his apartment that early morning with a snarl on her face, leaving him with his small child and pent up anger from how she treated him, all Ara could do is listen. Unlike how he always had a solution for her, she just sympathized. Mean, yes. But she was an indebted university student with too much on her hands.

"Please," Kyungsoo found himself pleading to Ara. "I don't know what to do. I can't lug her around anymore! It's not fair on her and me."

Ara exhaled, thinking hard for a few seconds. Could she even find time to look after Kyungri? But right now, all she could remember was how much Kyungsoo helped her out when she needed help the most.

"Okay, fine," Ara replied, nodding.

"Thank you thank you thank you! I'll pay as much, or more! Your help is so needed right now."

She laughed his thank you's off. "You know I'm not doing it for the money, right? Although it is a bonus."

Little did she know that Kim Taeyeon had sent a text until her eyes averted down to her miniscule phone beside her on the sofa. Ara swiped to read the text carefully.

Be ready tomorrow for six. I'm going to pick you up! Bridal dress picking?

When Ara's lips were curled up weirdly, Kyungsoo piped up. "What's with the grinning?" He asked his neigbhbor still dazed, re–reading Taeyeon's text numerous times.

"I've been cordially invited—" she mimicked the formal invitation to Juhyun's wedding — "to help choose the bride's dress. I guess I'm more involved in this wedding that I'd anticipated."

—»

exciting thing to do if Juhyun's there. I just want to say a huge thank you for getting me up to 200 votes, guys! It's such a beautiful sight to see, and keep voting and commenting! Another thanks!