Lessons From Romance

A Gift

Stopping in his steps Luhan turned to look at her.

"You like her that much?" Chae Yoon went on. "Even when she's with the man of her life right in front of her? Don't you think that's embarrassing? You want to embarrass yourself by loving someone who's committing incest?!"

Luhan's eyes barely grew stern before he calmly ordered, "Lower your voice. Do you want to embarrass yourself by screaming in the middle of the night?"

Chae Yoon lightly gritted her teeth together.

"Why?" Luhan began. "Why'd you take her shirt? You clearly know that was a gift from her brother."

Chae Yoon let out an exasperated snort, dumbfounded by how Luhan was still on Namjoo's side even after telling him about Namjoo's infatuation with Kai.

"Why? Are you angry I took your girlfriend's belonging?" Chae Yoon cooed.

"No," Luhan calmly answered, "but I guess you're only good enough for someone else's shirt."

Her insides literally boiled as Luhan walked away.

"Luhan!" Chae Yoon screamed. "I swear I'll make you regret this!"

"====="

Fact was Namjoo was feeling gloomy. She didn't feel an ounce of exhaustion in her body as she sat down on her bed. Her heart was sick over the shirt Chae Yoon had taken from her. Her head was clouded and she couldn't breathe even inside her own apartment. The world suddenly seemed to be weighing down on her.

Luhan still upset her, because his words had bothered her ever since Chae Yoon brought up that question during dinner. It had rung so loudly within her conscience becoming a screaming voice. It was as if she could see the words running around her head and she had been so worried. Namjoo most feared that what she'd said had affected Kai.

Namjoo would want to die if she knew she'd hurt him.

Everything just seemed so obvious at the dinner table. She hated that she was so conscious of everyone around her when she shouldn't even give a damn at all. Thinking about it brought her spirits down.

Where was Kai when she needed him?

No one other than Kai had ever stood on her side.

Heartsick, she grabbed her keys and left.

As she drove toward her hideout she could hear in her head people calling her an embarrassment; a shame to her family; the downfall of the Kims. Everyone would hate her and she'd become the biggest shame.

But...but Namjoo couldn't help it. The only person she ever felt love from was Kai alone; she loved him for who he was and what he gave her. He was her biggest hope, her strongest pillar, and her biggest living smile. Everything about him made her feel whole.

Who else...among the living world, who else could make her feel that way?

Only Kai knew her.

The playground was as barren cold and deserted as she. Stepping out of her car toward the empty playground she listened to the soft thud of her footsteps. Walking toward the swing set slowly she reached out for the cold chain and sat down.

The dark world, which belonged to her only, was vacant like her own dimension.

At eight-years-old she only remembered stepping into the large Kim mansion being told this man would become her new father and these were her new siblings; get along with, be good. At that time her grandfather, her mother's father, had just passed. The funeral kept her mom from her and Namjoo wasn't allowed to the funeral hall. Inside the large home small kid Namjoo easily found herself lost in, her sisters looked at her strange and took to devouring the few old toys she'd come with out of curiosity.