━━━━━ 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.

Turning to face each other once again, the two friends just stared at each other before the older was engulfed in a hug by the younger girl. He tried to pull away but the girl tightened her hold on him instead, not caring about getting her clothes wet too.

"You'll get sick my little dove." Youngjae tried to hide the pain in his voice as he held onto Eunae, not wanting to break down in front of the two teens.

Hearing, Youngjae's voice and the old nickname that he gave to her when he first met her, made the girl's eyes glossy with tears as both of them got emotional meeting each other again.

Giving in, Youngjae held onto the girl once again as silent tears fell from both of their eyes. Eunae nuzzled her head further into the older as he placed his chin on top of her head.

"I need to go," Youngjae once again softly said.

"Promise me that you won't leave again."

Instead of replying, he gently loosened Eunae's grip around himself as he turned to look at Seojoon and spoke.

"Take her down carefully and make sure she doesn't fall sick."

"Wait— what do you mean by that—"

Not glancing back, Youngjae turned back and started heading towards the uphill cemetery again.

Before Eunae could run up to him again, Seojoon held her once again as he led her downhill while she struggled to escape from his grasp.

"Let me go—"

"You can't stop him from doing that. Take deep breaths again." Seojoon spoke in a soft tone to not instigate her further.

Somehow controlling her breath, Eunae tried hard to not let her emotions get the best of her.

Seeing her not struggle against him, he loosened his grip on her before placing his hand on her shoulder and letting her cool down a bit more before heading downhill once again.

══════════════════

Meanwhile, Youngjae had ignored the rest of the people gathered for the burial walking up to the cemetery. Seojin and Jinhee tried to call out to him but he paid them no heed, not wanting to interact unnecessarily.

Once reaching the cemetery, he saw two figures near a grave which he assumed to be his mother's. Kang Joonsang stood beside Park Soochang whose knees gave up as he kneeled beside the freshly buried grave of his dead wife.

Moving closer to the two figures, Youngjae saw his father on the ground and his father's best friend standing beside him.

He could make out the features of his mother's face in the portrait hung on the grave. Lee Myungjoo's face in the portrait adorned a beautiful smile. She looked happy in his eyes, something that he wished he could've seen on her face quite often instead of her disappointed face.

No matter how much he disliked his mother, he didn't want to believe that she was no longer alive when he first heard about it. There was no way that Lee Myungjoo would die that easily, it must have been another tactic of his mother to bring him back. Surely it was just another one of her tricks.

However, standing in the middle of the grave where there were clear indications of this being no joke, the seriousness of the reality hit him hard.

Once he accepted the truth, his body trembled as his eyes filled with tears again. He felt overwhelmed with all the emotions that flooded him.

Moving closer to the grave once again, he couldn't handle it as his knees gave up too, and he burst down crying like a little child, calling out for his mother.

He wasn't even old enough; it had hardly been 20 years and most of it was deprived of love and affection from his parents for the sake of getting good grades. He didn't get to tell her everything he wanted to; it was too late now.

══════════════════

It had been a few weeks since Park Soochang had moved out of the SKY castle while Youngjae went on his path once again.

Eunae wasn't hurt over the fact that Youngjae went somewhere alone again; what hurt her was that he cut off all contact with her. How was she meant to get in touch with him now that he went completely off-radar?

It took her a week to get over the shock and feeling hurt from Youngjae. To make up for all the study time she lost during that time and to distract herself from reality, Eunae studied whenever she got the time and opportunity to.

Being so immersed in her studies that she didn't notice someone else moving into the house that once belonged to the Park family.

Deciding that she needed a break from studies after studying continuously for so many weeks, Eunae wore a hoodie while grabbing her headphones to go for a walk around the neighbourhood.

Closing the main door behind her, Eunae took in a deep breath as she looked around. It had been too long since she was able to enjoy the nature around her. Everything looked much greener now that it had rained.

Moving down the stairs, she turned on the music in her headphones as she headed down the road to take a much-needed stroll.

══════════════════

Walking back home after taking a stroll in the neighbourhood, Eunae basked in the gleaming moonlight. Due to the rain, it had been hard to see the moon. Maybe it was just her not being able to see the moon for a long time but according to her, the moon looked exceptionally pretty that night.

At first, seeing the lights on at the Park family house didn't seem unusual. However, when she remembered that they had moved out and the house was supposed to be empty, she did a double take to look at the house properly to make sure she was hallucinating.

The house lights were very much on indicating that someone had either moved in. Confusion ran through her mind, wondering when had the new neighbours arrived; nonetheless, she didn't stay back there long before heading home.

Once she reached home, she didn't bother changing her clothes before going to the kitchen to look for Seulgi. Finding her mother in the corner taking out plates, Eunae softly called for her.

"Hmm. What happened?" Seulgi asked.

"Did someone move into the Park family's house? Cause I saw the lights of that house on."

"Oh, that! It took you quite long to notice actually. A new family did move into that house just last week."

"Did you meet them?"

Nodding her head, Seulgi replied, "We did when I was at Seojin's place for some tea when she came to give us rice cakes for greetings."

Chuckling softly at the memory, Seulgi continued, "You should have been there to look at the faces that Seojin and Jinhee made when she gave us the rice cakes."

"Damn it! I can't believe I missed it."

"I think they would probably have that same expression when she starts joining in the neighbourhood activities. All we know about her is her name, Lee Sooim. We'll probably get to know about her more when we visit her place tomorrow for lunch."

Eunae just nodded before trying to discreetly sit at the dining table but it was caught by Seulgi.

"Don't think I can't see you, young lady. Go and change first then only you can sit for dinner."

══════════════════

Seunghye stopped cleaning the shelf as she picked up the statue that Myungjoo had given them. She had a feeling that something was wrong the night when she went out with the twins in the snow.

It had snowed for the first time in the year when Seunghye took her twins outside to give them a break from studying. The three people just stood there when they first stood outside, taking in the beauty of the neighbourhood that was further enhanced by the snow.

The peace didn't stay for long before Kijoon attacked his mother and twin with snowballs. Soon the mother and twin's trio broke into a playful snow fight, giggling and enjoying their time together.

Seunghye stepped back a bit letting the twins play when she noticed Eunae and Hyunae making snowmen in front of their house. Calling out for the two, Seunghye motioned for them to come to their house to play.

Soon the four teens enjoyed their time together, playing without any stress which caused Seunghye's lips to curl up into a small smile. However, her ears picked up very faint noises coming from the direction of the Park family's house.

Turning to look at their house to check whether she heard correctly or not, she noticed shadows moving around very frantically as if something was wrong.

She felt suspicious of the whole thing but she didn't think much of it knowing that it was fairly common for them to argue; it wasn't new to anyone. She wondered whether if she had done something different that day, would it have made any difference.

Snapping back into reality, she placed it back where it belonged before leaving to finish other tasks.

══════════════════

"And that girl standing there is my dearest darling, Roh Eunae." A loud and clear voice rang through the hallway of the school.

Eunae looked up from the book she was holding while standing near her locker. When she heard a voice call her that, she immediately recognised who it belonged to. There was only one person she knew who'd call her cute nicknames just to spite her.

Lips curling into a scowl, she rolled her eyes at the annoying boy who was accompanied by his twin and someone else whom, she was sure had never seen before.

The twins were showing Hwang Woojoo around their school, introducing him to other castle children.

"How real of you to show your true personality on the first day to someone new! It's a miracle you haven't scared him off yet you imbecile." Eunae replied sarcastically before turning to look at the new boy.

Giving the boy a small smile, Eunae introduced herself properly while extending her hand for a handshake, "Hi there, I am Eunae. Unfortunately, I am friends with these hooligans here."

"Hwang Woojoo."

"He and his family are the ones that recently moved into the Park family house," Seojoon informed the girl in front of her with his ever-soft voice which was met with a cute smile from the said girl.

"Ah, so it was your family. Welcome to the SKY castle."

Woojoo just gave her a small smile in reply while nodding his head not saying much.

Sensing the awkward silence that fell in between the group, Eunae excused herself and left to go to her next class.

She knew she couldn't judge the new boy so easily just based on one meeting, but something in her mind made her keep her guard up against him. Again, it was too soon to know who he truly was.

On the other side of the hallway, the three boys watched Eunae's figure getting smaller as she walked away from them greeting other students. Seojoon watched her leave with adoration showing in his eyes, not caring about how obvious he was being.

It took him a moment to realise that he was also supposed to be in the same class as her which caused him to hurriedly bid goodbyes to his twin and Woojoo before calling out for Eunae once again as he jogged towards the girl to walk with her to the class together.

Noticing the look in the older twin's eyes, Woojoo nudged Kijoon before asking.

"Does he like her or what?"

Chuckling, Kijoon replied, "Oh, they both do. I have been watching them act like this for years now. Everyone in the Sky castle has a bet going on when they'd finally get together."

"It's cute though, how soft they are for each other. It's just that they are our own annoyingly cute version of 800k words of slow-burn fic."

Both boys chuckled at Kijoon's words before leaving for their respective classes.

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

- 𝑨𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 -

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

A/n:

I know this update is a bit late but hey, at least I made it once again. Sometimes I feel like instead of republishing the unpublished chapters, I should republish them separately so that people will actually read this again but I also feel conflicted about losing my views. Should I republish in the same chapter or should I publish in a new one?

Anyways once again, please re-read all the chapters because I will be changing almost everything, as in how I've written it. The basic plot is the same, with just more and properly defined which is the reason behind these changes so please don't miss them out.

Feedback is always appreciated.