Chapter 6

Min Jae slid to the ground in her dark apartment. She hugged her knees to her chest, and tears silently spilled from her eyes and down her face. Running a pale hand through her hair, she saw that her fine black hair was already falling away between her slender fingers. She bowed her head between her knees and began to sob.

Ji Yong I'm so sorry . . .

She couldn't stop thinking about him. The way his face hardened when he saw Seung Hyun and her, the way his painful glance rested on her face. At that time, she couldn't even look at him.

"I'm such a coward." she thought. "I can't even look Ji Yong in the eye anymore."

Min Jae lowered her head between her knees. She wished she could just shrink into the ground and stay like this forever, thinking about nothing but breathing and unable to see anything but the ground. Through her blurred eyesight, she realized that teardrops were falling from her face, landing on the floor and splashing on her bare feet. She shivered. The apartment was cold.

Suddenly the silence was shattered by the obnoxious sound of her cell-phone ring-tone.

Quickly wiping away her tears with the back of her hand, she flipped open her cell-phone and raised it against her ear.

"Yeoboseyo?" Although she tried hard to erase all traces of crying, her voice was still thick.

"Hey Min Jae . . .wait, are you crying?"

"I'm not!" Min Jae struggled to keep her voice upbeat. "But Seung Hyun, are you okay? Ji Yong punched you pretty hard . . ."

"I'm alright. Just a few bruises and stratches . . . look, I'm really sorry it turned out this way. I didn't mean to get into a fight . . . I'm just really sorry."

"Oppa, it's not your fault. Things just happened the way they did. I-I'm just worried about Ji Yong. Tell Yong Bae to talk to him okay?"

Yong Bae was Ji Yong's closest friend since middle school. He is a warm person-Min Jae prayed that he would somehow prevent Ji Yong from falling into his old ways.

"But you're okay right? Min Jae, I'm really worried."

Seung Hyun's low voice penetrated her thoughts.

"I'm fine."

Seung Hyun didn't buy it. His brow creased with worry, but he backed off.

"Well okay . . . just go to sleep and try not to think." After saying their goodbyes, he hung up.

Min Jae dropped her cell-phone on the ground with a clatter. She resumed the position she was in earlier and tried not to think like Seung Hyun told her to. After two hours of deep breathing, her eyes closed from exhaustion and she fell into a fitful sleep on the apartment floor.