𝑨𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 - 𝑆𝑘𝑦 𝐶𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑙𝑒

𝟒. 𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬

━━━━━ A LOUD THUNDER RANG THROUGH THE SKY as it continued to rain heavily. The dark-cloud-filled sky made it seem as if it was almost nighttime.

It was as if, even the sky was shedding tears like the people standing around the grave watching the casket that held the body of Lee Myungjoo being lowered.

The shocking death of Myungjoo had left everyone confused and heartbroken. All of the older women, couldn't help their tears running down their faces, but Seojin, the closest to her, couldn't stop trembling and sobbing throughout the burial.

Park Soochang stood beside the foot of the grave, carrying the portrait of his dead wife, completely emotionless looking like he was trying to convince himself that this was all but a dream.

In the back of the crowd, Eunae stood with Seojoon, sharing an umbrella. She didn't know how to process the fact that this, this was the end of Myungjoo.

She wasn't sure how she felt about the death of Myungjoo. She wasn't exactly close to the older woman. She didn't hate her, but she didn't like her too. After all, she did hurt her older friend a lot.

Too lost in her thoughts, Eunae tuned out her surroundings unintentionally. She felt overwhelmed by all the emotions that she was experiencing all at once, causing her heart rate to increase.

She didn't realise how hard she was breathing until Seojoon noticed it and immediately reacted.

Holding the umbrella in the other hand, he used his now free hand to gently grab hold of one of her hands and softly whispered her name while caressing her hand so that she wouldn't get startled.

Snapping back into reality, Eunae blinked a few times to recall where she was and then turned to face Seojoon. Just by the body language of the girl, Seojoon understood that Eunae was feeling overwhelmed.

"Do you want me to hug you?"

Pressing her lips in a straight line, Eunae nodded slowly as she hugged Seojoon; the boy held her softly for a few moments before using his free hand to gently caress her back as he placed a soft kiss on her forehead, a small gesture to calm her down.

"Take deep and slow breaths," Seojoon whispered leaning down closer to Eunae.

Following his instructions, Eunae took deep and slow breaths to calm down her racing heart and thoughts. The overwhelming thoughts and feelings, however, didn't stop tormenting her.

Not being able to stand the sensory and emotional overload, she pulled away from the hug and covered her ears while closing her eyes as she tried to compose herself.

Knowing that staying there any longer will cause more harm to Eunae, Seojoon quickly wrapped his arm around her once again and excused themselves before taking her away from the cemetery.

Walking down the road, Seojoon noticed a tall figure with a bag and cap covering his face heading towards the uphill cemetery.

As the figure approached closer, Eunae looked up at the figure and saw the face of her older friend that had run away from home.

It had been almost a month since anyone had seen Youngjae. His rain-soaked clothes clung to his lean figure making it look like he had lost some weight. His eyes appeared duller and more emotionless than before. Eunae had never seen him like this even on his worst days. The news of his mother's death seemed to have taken a huge toll on the barely 20-year-old boy.

Meeting the eyes of the two teens in front of him, he gave them a small smile before walking ahead again.

As he passed by Eunae, Youngjae felt something grab his jacket and give it a light tug. Looking back, he saw Eunae's hand tugging his jacket.