Chapter 2: Snippets of flashback

Hyun Woo and Hyun Joo were the children of the creator of the Jo's business empire, Jo Song Ho and his wife, Im Mi Kyung. Hyun Woo is two years older than Hyun Joo. When Hyun Joo was borned, Hyun Woo did not like her. He felt that she was there to fight with him for the love and care from the adults. He threw his temper frequently to attract the adults attention. However, he began to behave himself when Hyun Jeong was brought to the family.

 

 

Hyun Jeong was the child of Mr. Jo's sister, Jo Eun Chae, and was half a year younger than Hyun Woo. She was adopted by Miss Jo when during one of her visit to the orphanage. Hyun Jeong caught her eyes with her behavior and Miss Jo brought her home without much consideration.

 

When Hyun Woo first met Hyun Jeong, he thought that Hyun Jeong was a doll that Hyun Joo always play with, just much bigger in size. He stared at Hyun Jeong constantly, eyes no leaving the young girl a single moment.

 

Mdm Jo thought that he was uncomfortable with Hyun Jeong and wanted Miss Jo to return the child to the orphanage. Seeing how her mother was rejecting the pretty toddler, Miss Jo had no choice but to bring Hyun Jeong away. However, just as Miss Jo held Hyun Jeong's hand and made her way to the main door, Hyun Woo grabbed Hyun Jeong's other hand and refused to let her go.

 

In order to calm Hyun Woo down and further observe his behavior around Hyun Jeong, they decided to keep Hyun Jeong for a couple more days. Throughout the period, they were surprised that Hyun Woo had not throw a single tantrum or bully Hyun Joo. It seemed like Hyun Jeong's presence had a magical effect on Hyun Woo's temper.

 

Hyun Joo was more than happy to have Hyun Jeong in the house. Not only did Hyun Woo not bully her in Hyun Jeong's presence, she has one more companion and a play mate.

 

Seeing how Hyun Jeong interacted with the other two children, Mdm Jo's heart softened and allowed Miss Jo to keep Hyun Jeong in the house.

 

Since then, Hyun Jeong has been staying with the Jos, although Miss Jo has been traveling around the world frequently for business. Grateful to Mr Jo who took care of her well being when her mother was not around, Hyun Jeong would always help out at home whenever she could. Both Mdm Jo and Mrs Jo grew to like Hyun Jeong a lot along the years.

 

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On the next morning, both Hyun Woo and Hyun Jeong did not talk to each other. Hyun Joo could sense the tension between the two elder teenagers. She wondered what happened between two of them overnight.

 

"What happened between you and Oppa?" Hyun Joo whispered to Hyun Jeong.

 

"Well, I made him angry again. What's new right?" Hyun Jeong smiled to Hyun Joo. "It's okay. Don't worry."

 

On a normal day, Hyun Jeong would sit in between Hyun Woo and Hyun Joo in the car as both of them preferred to sit at the side. However, on this particular day, Hyun Joo got on the car before Hyun Jeong, separating the two, as she knew that, no matter how much Hyun Jeong did not want to sit next to Hyun Woo, she would still do so in order to let Hyun Joo sit at her favourite seat in the car.

 

Hyun Woo was surprised that Hyun Joo was already sitting on the middle seat when he opened the door. He cursed inwardly, knowing that he would have one chance lesser to apologise to Hyun Jeong for throwing his temper at her the night before.

 

He had written an apology message to Hyun Jeong as soon as he went back to his room the night before. He always felt bad to Hyun Jeong after confronting her or throwing his temper at her. He did not know why he always lose his temper so easily at Hyun Jeong. He would then think of ways to apologise to her. The incident last night was not an exception either.

 

 

However, Hyun Joo had disrupted his first step of apology. He needs to think of other ways to pass Hyun Jeong the letter without letting Hyun Joo and others know. He still wants to retain his dignity in front of the others.

 

The journey to school was filled with awkward silence as all of them had their minds occupied with different things. Hyun Woo was thinking of ways to apologise to Hyun Jeong; Hyun Jeong was contemplating to ease out then tension between Hyun Woo and her before the others notice; and Hyun Joo was thinking of her new friends in school.

 

As Hyun Joo left the two for her class, Hyun Woo and Hyun Jeong were walking towards their classrooms with zero communication. Just as Hyun Woo reached his classroom, he stuffed the note into Hyun Jeong's hand, giving her a shock. Before she could react, Hyun Woo had already entered his class.

 

Hyun Jeong read the note while waiting for the first class to start.

 

"Let's go for ice cream after school together? At our favourite ice cream place. I did not mean to be such a meanie last night."

 

Hyun Jeong smirked after she read the note. She took out her phone and sent Hyun Woo a message.

 

"Are you treating? I'm not going if you are not treating. :p"

 

"Of course I am treating. So are we going together?"

 

"I don't think Hyun Joo will end at the same time as us today again. Shall we go library for revision while waiting for her?"

 

Hyun Woo stared at his phone after reading the above message. He was contemplating if he should wait for Hyun Joo for the ice cream treat or simply go with Hyun Jeong.

 

"What time does her day end? Shall we go just by ourselves?" He replied.

 

Hyun Jeong did not reply until the first lesson was over.

 

"Hyun Joo will be upset if we go without her. Can I check with her? If she doesn't mind us going without her, then we will go after school?"

 

The day passed by quickly. Things had return to the normal after Hyun Woo apologised to Hyun Jeong. However, Hyun Jeong did not tell him the arrangement for the ice cream treat.

 

After the last bell rang, indicating the end of the school day, Hyun Woo left his peers and went to find Hyun Jeong at her classroom.

 

"So are we going now or are we waiting for Hyun Joo?"

 

"Lucky for your wallet, Hyun Joo wants to spend more time with her friends. We will come back to school after eating ice cream? Do you want to tell Uncle Hae Sung to come at a later timing?"

 

Hyun Woo nodded his head and made a call to the chauffeur. Just as they were leaving the school, Hyun Jeong saw Ji Eun.

 

"Where are you guys going?"

 

"We are heading for ice cream. Hyun Woo oppa is treating." Hyun Jeong turned and smirked at Hyun Woo. "You can join us if you are free!"

 

Hyun Woo knew that nothing good was up in Hyun Jeong's mind when she smirked at him.

 

"Ya, you can join us if you are not occupied for the afternoon."

 

The trio was so engrossed in their conversation while walking to their destination that they did not realise a group of girls was following them.

 

The group of girls was also from their high school. All of them were in their second year of high school. Their leader was Im Hye Jin, who had always admired Hyun Woo since middle school. She was in the same middle school as them, but none of them noticed her. She was an average looking girl who did not stand out from the crowd. Ever since she entered high school, she changed her appearance. She wore contacts instead of spectacles and looked more fashionable.

 

It was only through the school projects in high school that made Hyun Woo noticed her. They were in the same class in high school and had a few projects together and had interacted with each other on a few occasions.

 

She was not happy with Ji Eun hanging around with the Jos. She had no choice that Hyun Jeong often hangs out with Hyun Woo as they were cousins and stayed under the same roof. She did not like an outsider like Ji Eun to be around Hyun Woo. She was afraid that Hyun Woo would develop feelings for Ji Eun instead of her. She could not afford to lose to Ji Eun, after all she believed that she is better than Ji Eun in all areas. There is no way that Hyun Woo would choose Ji Eun over her.

 

However, her only concern is Hyun Jeong. Ji Eun is Hyun Jeong's close friend. If Ji Eun was to ask Hyun Jeong to help her, Hye Jin might not even stand a chance in the game. She needed to get Hyun Jeong out from the picture.

 

The group followed the trio into the ice cream shop. Hyun Woo noticed Hye Jin and smiled at her in acknowledgement of her presence. This made Hye Jin blushed a little.

 

The trio sat at one corner after getting their ice cream. Hye Jin was observing their interactions. She was jealous that Ji Eun could eat with Hyun Woo and even get a treat from him. Hyun Jeong must be the reason. She must get Hyun Jeong out of the picture as soon as possible.

 

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Two weeks had past since the start of the new semester. Everyone was busy with their daily schedule which revolved around school and club activities.

 

Hyun Woo, Jun Young and Hye Jin were grouped together for a class project. They were preparing for the project one day at Hyun Woo's place. It was raining throughout the day and the rain evolved into a storm by the time the group ended their project preparation.

 

"Do you guys want to stay for dinner?" Mdm Jo asked. "I can ask the chauffeur to send you home after the meal. No worries over the transportation home."

 

"Sure! Thanks for the offer, Mdm Jo." Jun Young replied.

 

"Thank you." Hye Jin added. She was not familiar with the Jos. As much as she wanted to spend more time with Hyun Woo, she did not want to alone dealing with them until she knows more about them.

 

Hyun Woo realised that Hyun Jeong was yet to be homed by the dinner time. Hyun Woo and Hyun Joo did not go home with her that day as she had her club activities after school. However, her club activities usually end around evening time and she would reach home before dinner. She would always be home for dinner unless there was some event that would last till late night. In such scenarios, she would inform the elders that she would miss dinner at home.

 

She did not tell Aunt Se Yeon or Mdm Jo that she would miss dinner at home that day. Hyun Woo checked his phone and there were no miss calls or messages from Hyun Jeong.

 

The only conclusion that Hyun Woo could come up with that would ease his mind was that Hyun Jeong was stuck in the storm and could not make it back on time for dinner. He did not want to think that she has met with some accidents. Despite this, he was still worried for Hyun Jeong's safety as it was getting late at night.

 

Hyun Woo quickly changed after eating his dinner.

 

"Where are you going?" His mum called out.

 

"To pick Hyun Jeong. I am pretty sure she is stuck somewhere in the storm." He then turned to Aunt Se Yeon and said," Can I bring along a few big bath towels as well?"

 

He also picked up Hyun Jeong's slippers as he went out of the house to the garage for the car.

 

He expected Hyun Jeong to be drenched and hiding somewhere from the storm. There was usually the case when she was caught in the storm. She would not call for the chauffeur to pick her up even though she was stuck from getting home since young.

 

"Where are you now? Do you know how late it is now?!" He typed in a message as he board the vehicle.

 

Jun Young sat at the passenger seat in front whereas Hye Jin sat next to Hyun Woo at the back.

 

Jun Young gotten off at his place first as his house was nearer to the Jos as compared to Hye Jin's.

 

Hyun Woo made a call just when Hye Jin thought that she would have some moment alone with Hyun Woo after Jun Young got off.

 

"Where are you now? Do you know how late it is now?"

 

"Jo Hyun Jeong!" Hye Jin cursed in her mind upon hearing Hyun Woo.

 

"I am..."

 

"Bye Hye Jin. See you tomorrow in school!" Hyun Woo said as Hye Jin alighted from the vehicle.

 

"Hye Jin?"

 

"Hye Jin and Jun Young came over this afternoon for our project discussion. Don't you think you can divert the focus? Where are you? Uncle Hae Sung and I are going to pick you up."

 

"I am at the convenience shop near school."

 

"Okay, you better stay there. We are making our way there."

 

Hyun Woo was glad that he chose to look for Hyun Jeong instead of waiting for her at home. The journey from the convenience shop is about an hour to their house at night, considering the frequency of the buses at night. He did not want to let Hyun Jeong to travel alone, especially late at night.

 

On the other hand, Hye Jin was clearly unhappy with Hyun Jeong as she believed Hyun Jeong had destroyed a chance which could bring Hye Jin closer to Hyun Woo. The thought of getting Hyun Jeong out of the picture grew stronger in her mind.

 

Soon, the black vehicle pulled to a stop in front of the convenience shop. Hyun Woo entered the shop with a huge umbrella and a towel. He saw a girl in uniform, shivering at the bar. She was entirely drenched and her black inner wear could be easily seen by others. He walked towards the girl and covered her with the warm towel. The girl was shocked initially and smiled when she saw that it was Hyun Woo.

 

"Hyun Woo oppa!"

 

"Yah! How can you be so drenched? Where is your school coat?"

 

Hyun Jeong pointed to her bag.

 

"My books are made of paper and they cannot be wet. They will be destroyed if they get wet."

 

Hyun Woo did not know if he should laugh or get angry at the girl in front of her. He wondered if there is anyone else that would treasure their books as much as Hyun Jeong.

 

"Come, let's go home."

 

Hyun Woo put a hand over Hyun Jeong's shoulders as they walked out of the convenience shop while Hyun Jeong was carrying her school bag, taking extra care to ensure it did not get wet.

 

 

In the car, Hyun Woo was helping Hyun Jeong to dry her hair while she tried to get more warm under the layers of towels and jacket. She had also changed out of her wet shoes into the slippers which Hyun Woo brought for her.

 

"I am pretty sure you won't be able to make it to school tomorrow."

 

"Are you sure? I will be find after a good sleep tonight!"

 

"No, I am going to tell Grandma to keep you at home tomorrow. You definitely need more than a night's worth of sleep to recover."

 

Hyun Jeong shrugged and turned around.

 

"Stop moving your head. I am trying to dry your hair before your cold get worse. And please, do not sacrifice your school coat for your bag, especially when you are drenched."

 

Hyun Jeong did not get what Hyun Woo was trying to say and gave him a confused look. Their chauffeur, Uncle Hae Sung, heard and seemed to understand what Hyun Woo was implying. He had a small smile while glancing at Hyun Woo. Hyun Woo caught his glance and could not help to blush a little. He did not know how to put his point across to Hyun Jeong such that she would understand and he would not be embarrassed.

 

"Just do as what I say." He decided to brush it off this way.