Soyul's POV


Jung Hwan's not worth my time. If he wants to be that way, he can go ahead. I don't care.
After a ton of pushing and shoving, I finally make it out to the street since the crowd is taking up space on
the sidewalk. I cross the street and stand on the other side. From over here, the front of the building looks even more crowded. I think if I stay here any longer, my head is going to explode. Literally.

I begin to walk towards the direction of the dorms, and the area seems surprisingly empty. There are only a few people walking outside, and most of the people are inside shops and restaurants. I like it this way. It feels more like I'm in my own peaceful world without a soul in sight.

It's usually cold around this time of year, but today there's only a gentle breeze going around. I'm surprised since it's November which is normally one of the coldest times of the year in Korea.

"Excuse me, you've dropped something." I hear a voice behind me say.

I look behind and see that I've dropped my scarf. I check my bag and realize I've been walking around with it open this entire time. That's strange. I could've sworn that I closed it properly back at the WM Entertainment building.

"Thank you." I say quickly, rushing forward to pick it up.

I lightly brush off my scarf and decide to wear it, despite the nice weather. I've had this scarf since ninth
grade, but it's still in the same condition as when I first bought it.

February 2009

It's in the middle of winter and there's a blizzard outside, yet Jung Hwan still wants to meet today. Someone seriously needs to let him know that normal people don't usually go out of their way to see another person in this kind of weather.

I can sort of understand why he would want to see me though. He recently entered a vocal competition, and I haven't seen him yet. I wonder how he did — he didn't get the results back yet.

Despite my feelings about the time of our meeting, I set out in the cold anyway. I'm wearing his scarf today on his orders. He's being annoyingly bossy and it's completely contrasting from his usual character.
Jung Hwan told me to meet him in front of the school which is about a ten minute walk away from my house. School's out for the winter, but they usually keep certain parts of the building unlocked. I don't know if it's just because they forgot to lock the doors or the locks are broken. It might be both since our school is about as old as my grandmother. They never bother to get anything fixed unless it's absolutely essential for our survival.

The walk to school is horrible. I can't feel my legs, or any other body part for that matter. The cold wind keeps whipping my hair around my face, and it's hard to see through all the snow. I don't have any snow boots so I just wore sneakers, but they're all soaked and useless now.

Jung Hwan meets me at the front gate of the school building, and he's also wearing my black scarf. I notice he's shivering and I laugh as I walk towards him.

"You should have picked another day to meet if you weren't up for the weather." I say, brushing some snow off his shoulders.

He doesn't reply, and keeps a serious expression on his face.

"How was your competition?" I ask as brightly as I can.

He still stays silent.

"What's with you today?" I ask, backing away.

He avoids my gaze and puts his hands into his pocket. The snow keeps falling fast and there's no one else around besides us.

"Soyul," he finally says."we should stop all this."

What is 'this'?

He doesn't give me a chance to speak and continues. "We won't be able to see each other anymore. I'm leaving town tomorrow and I don't want you try to find me."

This isn't the Jung Hwan I've known all these years. There's something wrong with him.

"This is a joke, right?" I say.

He looks up and shakes his head slowly.

"You can't actually be serious. What kind of—"

I can't continue for some reason. This is unbelievable. How can he just leave so suddenly like this?

"Why are you leaving?" I ask, looking away.

He hesitates briefly.

"Personal reasons. I don't have time for you anymore." he answers coldly.

I look up even though I don't want to show my face. He's not looking at me, but I can see his pained expression.

"Idiot. Don't lie to yourself." I say softly.

He looks at me, surprised.

"Come on, anyone can tell from the look on your face that you're trying to lie to yourself, not me." I continue.

I can tell he's embarrassed, and I almost smile. The thing is, I'm not in the mood to smile right now.

"You don't know what you're talking about." He says defensively.

"Don't you think that by now I know you well enough to recognize your expressions?"

"No."

"See, you're lying to yourself again."

"I'm not lying to myself!"

"Whatever you say."

I step towards him, taking his scarf off my neck. I stuff it into his hands and hold out my hand for him to do the same. He doesn't and just stares at me.

"Might as well get it over with now, right? That's why you told me to bring it anyway." I say.
He looks as if he's about to say something, but decides against it. He pulls off my scarf and hands it to me.

"Our friendship ends here just as you want it to." I announce.

"Soyul..."

Jung Hwan grabs my hand but I shake him off lightly.

"I've known you long enough to know what kind person you are. Right now, you're not the person I know. Whatever reason you have for doing this is probably important to you. Don't feel burdened by me and go do what you need to. Thanks for being with me the past few years."

I give him the most of a smile I can manage and turn away. I never thought it would be that easy to ruin everything between us. Sure we've had arguments before, but they never lasted long. Now that I've realized our relationship was that frail and pathetic, there's really no reason I should feel any loss. There shouldn't be, right? I break into a run and let my tears fall. He doesn't go after me.

Idiot.

Notes

Sorry! This chapter has been done for ages but I wasn't able to post it. I'll try to be faster next time.