Chapter 19 (1/1)

The sun was glorious. It was the best summer ever with warmth weather and beautiful sunshine. HyoMi took off her sunglasses and braced herself.Her heart stopped. Right now she was standing in front of the corner of the street where that tragic accident happened and changed her life completely. But it didn’t any matters now. The only thing was coming back to her was YongGuk and all the memories involved. Yes, she came back for him. Right here in Ijakdo.Step by step, she moved closer to his house. Was he home? Was he working anywhere else? It had been five years already. How much did he change? What if he had a girlfriend? Or worse, what if he got married? Would he recognize her? Was there anything left of her inside his heart? Hope he would consider her as a normal girl, not as his little sister anymore. HyoMi shuddered with all the thoughts and almost fainted because her heartbeat wasn’t stable.There it was. Her body was shaking harder. The house… Wait a minute, what had happened? The house! Where was it? All in front of HyoMi was a flat deserted piece of land. She rubbed her eyes several times to make sure that what she was staring at was true. She felt dizzy all of a sudden and felt like she wanted to collapse.“Andwe…”, HyoMi looked around to see if anyone could answer her questions. There must be something wrong. Maybe they moved away, she hoped. Luckily, she saw an old woman sitting in front of a house near there. Without wasting another minute, she dashed towards her and asked, “Excuse me, grandmother… Do you know anything about the house which used to be there on that empty plot?”“Which one?”, the old woman asked slowly in return with a shaking voice. She was very old, and so she spoke extremely slowly, which made HyoMi feel more anxious. “Oh that one?”.Suddenly, she burst into tears. “You come too lately, young lady! You’re late!!!”“M—mwo? Halmoni… what are you saying?”, HyoMi could feel her heart twisted inside her chest.“They’re all dead! That family… they died in the fire. No one was alive!”, the old woman’s words stabbed into HyoMi’s heart. NO IT COULDN’T BE! She was speechless, choked with pain.“You mean… … … You mean… … … YongGuk…”, HyoMi fell down on the ground. Died! He died! Two flows of tears streamed down from her eyes.“That’s right, young girl ah… YongGuk is dead!”, she cried loudly and acted like he was her son or something.“Omoni!”, another lady padded out from inside. She must have been that grandmother’s daughter, or daughter-in-law. “OH ARE YOU OK?”, she helped HyoMi to get up when she found her sitting powerlessly on the ground.Seeing HyoMi’s face in great fear, she knew right away that there was something wrong. Therefore, she asked, “Are you looking for someone?”HyoMi wiped her tears and repeated her question while sobbing, “Do you know the family that used to live over there?”“AH! You’re looking for Bang YongGuk sshi’s family? His mother and grandmother moved to Jeju! They’re living happily and luxurily there!”“Dae?”, HyoMi dried her eyes completely with the back of her palms, “You mean they’re still alive?”“Of course!”, the lady burst to laugh. Realized HyoMi’s strange question, she turned to the old woman and groaned, “Aish… omoni! What did you tell her? You said something crazy again right?”.Then she turned back to HyoMi and bowed to apologize, “I’m very sorry Ms., very! My mother has mentally illness. She’s not really… you know… lucid. So please forget whatever she just said!”“You mean…”, another line of hope appeared in HyoMi, “You mean he’s still alive right? Then do you know where does he live?”. Her face was lightened up by the thought that he wasn’t dead.“Ah… If you ask for Bang YongGuk sshi, he was going out with JiEun sshi to prepare for the Wedding. I heard that it will be held next month!”, then she urged his mother to get back inside and she closed the door.Had just been got out from the painful thoughts that he was dead, now she received another piece of news: He was going to get married, with JiEun unni!But how strange, a smile formed in HyoMi’s lips. “He always denied that there was nothing between them… now they’re going to get married!”. She looked up at the sky not to let her tears fall down again. Why was it so hurt? When she was with him, she always hoped that YongGuk and JiEun would be a couple but now… why did she feel so painful?Shrugged off her own silliness, HyoMi decided to go home and just let what happened today be another nightmare. When she started walking towards the intersection, she noticed two familiar figures coming up the other way. They were talking and smiling happily. The happiness of two people was about to get married.She hid herself behind a big tree and watched them getting inside JiEun’s house. So that was where her plan ended. This secret would be kept in her heart forever. “I hope you always find a reason to smile!”, she turned around and walked away. == “WHAT?”, HyoSung shouted to the phone.“I really don’t know…”, Zelo also didn’t know what to do or where to find HyoMi. “When we got out of the airport and she just disappeared!”“She left her phone home on purpose so no one can find her”, HyoSung nodded. She had to admit that her sister wasn’t naïve at all. “Listen, Zelo! She planned about this so I think you should just enjoy your trip and let her do whatever her want, get it?!?”“Nae, arraseo!”, Zelo replied obediently, then he hung up on the phone and continued enjoying the fun two sexy girls in his lap.“Aish, HyoMi ah… what are you thinking of?”, HyoSung felt a bit worried as her sister might do something stupid if there was anything ruined her plan.“Don’t you worry babe!”, HimChan hugged her from behind, “Do you forget something?”HyoSung turned around to look at his eyes and found what he really meant with that question from there. “Ah…!”, HyoSung smiled in relief, “You’re right Channie ah… You should make a call now!”“Now I know why she asked for your card visit!”, she was so surprised at her sister’s big plan. “She prepared for all of this!”“Then we shouldn’t let her down, right?”, HimChan smirked against her cheek, “Thanks to her, we found each other. Now we should help her too!”“Are you trying to be a good brother-in-law to impress me?”, HyoSung hit his shoulder slightly and hugged him tight.“Don’t you see?”, they kissed.