Sungjong thought he had hearing loss as he heard the name that came out from Mrs. Gahee’s mouth, although he was sure he didn’t have it before.

“Pardon me?”

Mrs. Gahee cocked her eyebrow. “My nephew’s name is Dongwoo. Did you know him?”

So, Sungjong’s ears worked perfectly well. He heard the name correctly.

“Ah, yeah, I met him some times before.” Sungjong replied while faked a smile. He didn’t want to make Mrs. Gahee disappointed anyway.

“Oh my God, really? Did you two go along well?”

“Err… Yeah… Kind of…”

Yeah, of course Sungjong lied at this. How come they would go along well when both of them love the same person? How come they would go along well when Dongwoo crashed his hope to be with Hoya? How come they would go along well when Sungjong’s heart broken into million pieces because of Dongwoo’s relationship with Hoya?

“Woah, good! At first, I wanted to introduce you to Dongwoo, but I’m glad that you two already met! So, what do you think about him?”

Sungjong wasn’t sure of what answer he could get for that question, because everytime he thought about Dongwoo he could only think about his pique to him. Then, Sungjong remembered that the brunette man always greet him cheerfully when they met in Hoya’s restaurant.

“I think he is a cheerful person.”

“Yes, he is. He is really cheerful since he was a little kid. But…”

Mrs. Gahee stopped talking in the middle of her sentence, and Sungjong couldn’t help but curious about the rest of the words that this middle-aged woman wanted to say. “But, what?”

“But…” Mrs. Gahee continued. “Several years ago, when Dongwoo was eight years old, his father was dead because of airplane crash.”

Sungjong’s eyes widen. “What? Really?”

Mrs. Gahee nodded weakly, her eyes started to get teary. “Yeah, it really happened. But, it wasn’t the end of it. 2 years after Dongwoo’s father died, his mother, my younger sister, died because of the blood cancer that she had suffered for a long time.”

Sungjong could see that Mrs. Gahee’s tears started to fall, dampened all over her wrinkled-cheeks.

Mrs. Gahee continued again. “Dongwoo had no one at that time. He is the only child in that family. So, I and my husband decided to adopt him. But, my husband died 1 year ago because of lung cancer, and Dongwoo is all I have now.”

“I… I’m sorry to hear that.” Is all Sungjong could say.

Mrs. Gahee forced a smile, obviously she didn’t want to worry Sungjong much. “That’s okay.”

Sungjong didn’t know that Dongwoo suffered this much. He suddenly felt regret to hate Dongwoo. He didn’t deserve the hate after what he had gone through.

“Have you met Sungyeol’s older brother before?” Mrs. Gahee asked again.

Sungjong furrowed his eyebrow. “You mean Hoya?”

“Yeah, that’s right, Hoya. I think Hoya is an angel that God sent for Dongwoo.”

“Angel?” Sungjong asked in confusion, obviously clueless why Mrs. Gahee said like that.

“Here’s the story, when Dongwoo’s father was dead, he still acted like he was okay. He would still smile to everyone, although I knew those smiles weren’t from his heart. But, when his mother was dead, he completely changed. He became so quiet, he never showed his smile anymore, and he distanced himself from the world. Until one day, I went to Hoya’s parents’ house with Dongwoo. I remembered Hoya kept urging Dongwoo to play with him although Dongwoo already refused him, and in the end he gave up and started to play with Hoya. When they played, I heard Dongwoo’s laugh. I was really surprised because it was the first time I heard him laughed again. And after that time, Hoya and Dongwoo started to spend more time together. Dongwoo also started to change to his usual self. He started to smile again, he started to be cheerful again, and he started to open himself up to the world.” Mrs. Gahee smiled as she recalled her memories.

Sungjong realized something after he heard Mrs. Gahee’s story.

‘So, this is why Hoya chose Dongwoo although he said he loves me.’

Hoya is a nice person, and Sungjong knew it from the start. Hoya wouldn’t have guts to leave Dongwoo when he knew he is everything to Dongwoo. Hoya would let his love go for someone’s happiness.

Sungjong himself realized he should budge this time. Although he was a selfish person, but he still have a heart, okay? He didn’t dare to see Dongwoo’s smile fade away again. It was enough for Dongwoo to feel hurt. Sungjong didn’t want Dongwoo suffered in his whole life. He deserved happiness too. Even that means Sungjong must let his love go away for the second time, but he thought it was worth it.

“Hey, Sungjong-ah! Are you alright?”

Sungjong shook his thoughts away as he heard Mrs. Gahee called him.

“Yeah, I’m alright.”

Mrs. Gahee furrowed her eyebrow. “No, you are not. You cried.”

Sungjong immediately touched his eyes. He was surprised that there was water all around his eyes. He didn’t even realize when he was started to cry.

“Dongwoo’s story is really sad. I think that’s why I started to cry.” Sungjong said while he wiped his tears away.

“I know.” Mrs. Gahee smiled knowingly. “I’m proud of Dongwoo because he could persist to every misery that he had gone through. I’m also thankful to Hoya to bring the cheerful-Dongwoo back.”

Mrs. Gahee took the last sip of her drink. Then, she stood up from her seat. “So Sungjong-ah, I have to go now. It’s really nice to meet you again anyway.”

Sungjong stood up as well. “Yeah, it’s nice to meet you again, Mrs. Gahee.”

“Okay then, bye! See you later!” Mrs. Gahee waved to Sungjong in a brief seconds, and stepped away from the stall.

As Mrs. Gahee wasn’t available in Sungjong’s vision anymore, he took his phone from inside his bag. Then, he searched for a number in his contact. Hoya’s number.

~~~

A/N: So yeah, the reason why Hoya chose Dongwoo was finally revealed! Did you guys already expect his reason to be like this before? ^^