Chapter 1

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The sweats kept forming as it rolled down the side of his face as he jogged around the neighborhood early in the morning before everyone else. It has become a habit of his to leave the house early just to get the morning fresh air before it gets polluted with the traffic and human beings.

Lee Taehwan took a short break after running around the park for a whole 10 minutes as he leans his arm over the bridge rail, looking over the calm river underneath him and the sun that hasn’t risen up yet. He took a breath knowing it will be a long day ahead of him again for today.

The 24 years old then remembered the dream he had last night that he has been dreaming of the same thing for the last 3 months. It’s a dream which he was a father of a cute little boy who name is Lee Taemin, a little boy who kept asking him to find his mother who’s lost. Every time he dreamt of him, the dream will continue to hunt him for the rest of his day.

“Taemin, who is this woman you keep asking me to find? Why do you ask me to find her and why do you keep appearing in my dreams?” He sighed as he watches over the dark blue sky which should be turning bright in a matter of seconds.

After some time, when the park slowly filled with people, Taehwan took a turn back home to start his day with a cooling shower. He jogged back home trying to avoid the morning traffic but stopped when he saw an accident happening at the other side of the road. Everyone was panicked at the bloody scene where a female victim was lying down on the road unconscious, probably waiting for the ambulance to arrive.

“Hope she’s okay.” He mumbled under his breath and quickly crossed the road when the traffic light turns green.

 

“Taehwan, would you come and have your breakfast first before going? I’ve made your favorite.” Aunt Lee followed Taehwan as soon as he left his room after getting ready for college.

“Aunt, thank you very much but I’m on a diet. Didn’t I tell you?” Taehwan said, turning his body around to face his short tiny aunt.

“I know but you’re going to be hungry if you don’t have your breakfast, that’s why I packed this for you just in case.” She said and quickly ran over to the kitchen to grabbed a plastic filled with 4 huge beef rice ball as she ran back to him, “Here, have this at school then. It’s packed with carb and protein as you need.”

“Thanks, aunt. I have no one but you.” He smiled and gave his aunt a hug before grabbing his motorbike key out and leave the house for the day.

“Have a nice day, my nephew! Kick someone’s today too!” She shouted and Taehwan waved goodbye at her as he rammed his motorbike off to Seoul Central College.

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She pushed the thin blanket off her feet and sat up immediately when her alarm rang signaling that it is time for her class. With heavy sleepy eyes, she forced herself to stand up and walked down to the dormitory girls’ toilet to have a quick shower before class starts at 10. Ahn Haemin looked at herself in the empty dormitory toilet after the short shower she had with her hand ran over the bruises she has on the side of her lips she got yesterday from fighting.

“I don’t even have anything to cover this up.” She hissed in pain as she runs through the bruise on her lips.

Before she could leave the toilet with the small toiletries basket in her hand, her phone in the back pocket of her jeans vibrate and it was from a call from her friend, Dain.

“Where are you?”

“In the toilet. What do you want?”

“Ms. Kang is searching for you. She came to my room just a minute ago saying that you’re not in your room.”

“What does she want? I just woke up and went for a shower.”

“I don’t know but she sure wasn’t looking happy. Don’t tell me you had a fight again.”

“I’ve got to go now. I’ll see you at class later.”

Haemin hung up on the call and left the toilet to go over to her room when she saw Ms. Kang talking with the dormitory manager when the latter turned her head around and pointed towards Haemin. With her feet stomping like crazy, Ms. Kang stomped towards Haemin and stopped with both her hands on the hips.

“What happened to you?” She asked, and turned the handle door as the 2 went inside the empty room where Haemin shared with a junior whom she has never seen before.

“Ahn Haemin, how many times do you need me to repeat this to you?” She grunt in anger but Haemin threw her towel on her head as she dries it.

“Ms. Kang, I told you not to believe in that kind of videos. People don’t even know why I punched those guys in the face but still they’ve got the guts to record a video and sent it to you.” Haemin said but Ms. Kang shook her head in disagreement.

“You’re a student of this school, Haemin. If other people find out that you’ve been going around at night in the alley way with different guys, what do you think our school reputation would be like?” Ms. Kang nagged and Haemin looked at her.

“I’ll tell those people not to look at one person’s mistake and judge the whole school for it.” Haemin answered the usual answer she gave Ms. Kang.

“Whatever the reason is, Haemin, will you please stop getting into anything you’re involved now and focus on your studies instead? You’re going to graduate next year, Haemin.” Ms. Kang pleaded and Haemin nod her head before saying.

“I will if the guys stop bothering me.” She mumbled under her breath purposely not letting her teacher to know what she was saying.

“Mr. Oh told me you’ve not been attending your counseling session.” Ms. Kang said.

“I don’t need one.” Haemin replied and left the room with her small sling bag, leaving her teacher alone in the room.

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Taehwan took a huge bite of the beef rice ball his aunt made for him as soon as he reached the lecturer hall waiting for his friend to arrive. As usual, he would receive things from female students all over the school on his desk and locker but every time it happened, he will give everything to Gongmyung who seems to enjoy every single thing from lunch boxes to chocolates.

“Is a student named Lee Taehwan here?” A male figure entered the lecturer hall where it was still almost empty with Taehwan and a few other students that has arrived.

“Me!” Taehwan shoot his hand up and stood up looking at the guy who called his name.

“I need to see you. Will you come over for a while?” He said as Taehwan quickly ran down the hall steps and stood in front of the male who was a few inches shorter from him.

“I see why the female students fall for you.” The male dressed up in formal shirt with a spectacle on as he scanned Taehwan from head to bottom.

“I have a few things to tell you and I will need your answer before this week ends,” He said but stopped before he could continue, “Before I continue let me introduce myself, I’m one of the school counselor, Oh Sehun.”

“You must be the popular counselor among the female students that I’ve heard about.” Taehwan added and Mr. Oh laughed clearing his throat.

“The reason why I called you is because your homeroom teacher has picked you to be a part of our counseling project for this year.” He started and Taehwan frowned his eyebrow at the sound of counseling.

“Basically, the teachers will picked the student of their choice which they think the students could be a help to other students that needed help,” Mr. Oh continued but Taehwan was still furrowing his eyebrow wondering where this conversation is going.

“You’re selected to be a mentor to a female student named Ahn Haemin under the course Business Management which is a year your junior.” He said as he hands out a piece of paper to Taehwan.

Taehwan read through the paper and laughed at the sudden information he heard, “Mentor?” He laughed and pointed at himself, “Me?”

He continued laughing but stopped when he looked Mr. Oh’s face which has serious plastered on.

“You want me to be a mentor to this female student? Mr. Oh, I’m a sports student. I study sports not human relationship.” He gave back the piece of paper to Mr. Oh with a chuckle.

“It doesn’t matter that you’re a sport student. We have engineering student as well. This is a project that has been going on for a few years now and it has been successful till now that we’re still continuing it. Plus, we didn’t just give this to you without checking whether you’re qualified to be a mentor or not. Looking at how well you managed your time between personal and school, your relationship with other people and also how you manage to kept a good image at school has allowed us to make you a part of this project.” Mr. Oh explained.

“But still,” Taehwan cut him off but didn’t know on how to continue.

“It’s okay if you refuse. I’m just here to tell you that this project exist and maybe you could be a help to someone’s life. I’ll tell Mr. Im that you’re not in. Thank you for your time.” Mr. Oh left after the short conversation and Taehwan went back up to his seat.

“That’s ridiculous.” He chuckled and went on munching on his rice ball when Gongmyung finally arrived in class.

“Hey, friend!” Gongmyung slapped Taehwan’s back real hard when the latter chocked on the rice ball he was eating.

“What are you doing?” Taehwan slapped his friend back but Gongmyung didn’t respond when he saw the amount of food and snacks on his table.

“Are you telling me you received all these this morning?” Gongmyung’s jaw was wide open as he tore a piece of chocolate bar as it goes into his mouth.

“What happened? I saw you were talking to Mr. Oh just now. He’s the school counselor but why was he talking to you?” Gongmyung asked with mouth full of chocolate.

“Nothing,” Taehwan said and took a big last bite of the rice ball, “He just wanted to see who is the popular Taehwan and how handsome he is.” He praised himself but then received a gagged as a respond from Gongmyung.

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The walk to the lecture hall from the dormitories building takes at least a good 15 minute if Haemin were to take her time. Haemin couldn’t help but to kept yawning every minute, trying hard to keep her eyes open. The night before, she has just ended her part-time job at a cafe when she was stopped by her two older twins who would always ask her to give them the money their parents left for her. But nobody really knew the story behind the fights she had. Nobody knows what their relationship is with her and she wouldn’t want anyone to know about her family matter not even her best friend, Dain.

2 years at college and she was a normal student until she got into a fight with her twin brothers to the point that she got labeled as the wolf in sheep’s skin student. Videos started going around saying that Haemin was involved with ion outside school. People tend to stay far away from her and ignored her even during group projects but now that it has been a few months, she has already gotten used to it.

The 23 years old pushed the huge door to the lecture hall opened when the class has already started. She quietly walked up to where Dain was and sat beside her friend.

“Did you take your time again? Exams are coming up, my friend.” Dain shoved her notebook and told Haemin to copy everything down.

“If you don’t want to be nagged again, write everything down.” Dain said in dissatisfaction and continue listening to the lesson.

Three hours into the lecture, class ended and it was finally time for lunch break. Instead of fighting their way through the long queues at the school cafeteria, both Haemin and Dain sat at the schools’ rooftop as Dain take out 2 lunch boxes in her bag.

“You should give me money seeing that I keep cooking for you lunch.” Dain joked but received a roll-eyed respond from Haemin.

“I’ve told you that I should give you money but you’re the one who rejected it so it’s your lost.” Haemin poked onto a piece of rolled egg and pop into .

“What did Ms. Kang want just now?” She asked with a scoop of rice flew into .

“The same thing over and over again.” Haemin replied with a sigh and looked at Dain, “I’m getting sick and tired of it.” She continued.

“You should tell her the truth that those guys have been disturbing you. If you don’t tell her then she wouldn’t know.” Dain advised but Haemin chuckled as her respond.

“You thought I didn’t tell her what happened? I told her that they were the one who started first, my friend, but all she could say is that the school’s reputation will drop if people know I’m from this school. She doesn’t even care about me.” Haemin said and continued, “Not like I wanted to be care.”

“Then what about Mr. Oh? He’s your counselor isn’t he?” Dain asked.

“Don’t even talk to me about him.” Haemin stuffed with a whole lot of rice.

“Let’s go and report to the police if the school can’t help you.” Dain suggested but Haemin shook her head.

“I wouldn’t get the police involve in such a small matter.” Haemin answered.

“It’s not a small matter, my friend. They punched a female until you have bruises all over your face. It’s a harassment.” Dain said concerned.

Haemin’s phone rang and Mr. Oh name appeared on the screen. But instead of picking it up, Haemin ignored as the phone continue to rang a few times more.

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“So you’re telling me your son came to you again last night?” Gongmyung repeated what Taehwan told him while eating their lunch and Taehwan nodded his head as a respond.

 “What does he want this time? Does he want you to find his mother again?” Gongmyung asked when he already knew what Taehwan has been dreaming of.

“He is still asking me to find his mother but how? Who in the world is his mother and Taemin?” Taehwan shrugged his shoulder.

“Are you sure you don’t have a son named Taemin in real life?” Gongmyung but Taehwan nudged Gongmyung’s forehead hard that it left a red mark.

”I mean why then did he ask you to find his mother if you’re his dad. If you’re his dad then that means he’s asking you to find your wife.” Gongmyung said and Taehwan chocked on his rice and soup as he coughed it out.

Gongmyung let out a huge smile on his face, “You like it don’t you?”

“Stop before I make you stop.” Taehwan lift his spoon towards Gongmyung as the latter avoid him with a huge laughter non-stop.

 

The last class of the day ended with Taehwan walking up to his locker room to grab his punching gloves he placed in the sports hall locker. He grabbed it out as he heads down to the gym to get his evening workout done.

“He must be kidding about this mentoring thing. Does he forget I’m a senior and that I’m graduating soon? How could I then focus on my studies?” He chuckled by himself as he pushes the door open where he was welcomed by all the sweaty male students.

He find his way to the punching bags as he did a slight warm up before the workout began. But before anything could start, he heard a group of guys talking to each other about the topic he too would want to join.

“So, did you say yes to being the mentor for the student?” A guy asked his friend.

“Mr. Oh said someone else was selected to be her mentor but he didn’t want to so Mr. Oh picked me in his place.” The friend replied and Taehwan furrowed his eyebrow at the familiar story.

“But who again did you have to mentor?” The guy’s friend questioned as he punched into the punching bag.

“Ahn Haemin.” He replied.

“Ahn Haemin? The girl who’s involved with ion outside school that went viral?” His friend said and he shrugged his shoulder as he punched into the punching bag hard that it swayed almost an arm length away.

Taehwan’s ear perked up when he heard the familiar name Mr. Oh said this morning. With a slight turn of his head, he looked at his replacement in being the mentor and saw someone very familiar to him, Seo Kangjoon.

“Seo Kangjoon?” Taehwan whispered and start wearing his glove as he start with a few punches.

The night was still young when he ended his evening workout as he quickly walked to the school parking lot to his bike as he quickly rammed off back home. On the way back home, he stopped his bike at the side of the road to grab a few can drinks at the nearest convenience store. After getting everything that he wanted, he heads back to his bike but stopped when he saw a woman and 2 guys standing in front of each other at the alley way.

One of the two tall guys grabbed the woman’s lower hand and it made Taehwan wanted to just get in there and finish them up but the woman punched their face with a hard fist and threw them down on the cold hard ground. Taehwan was taken aback as he decided to just be a watcher.

“Aren’t you guys tired of this already? I told you I don’t have anything!” The woman shouted on top of her lungs and squat down as she cries out loud hugging her knees.

“I don’t care. Until the day you give me the money, I will continue to hunt you for the rest of your life. So if you don’t want to see our faces anymore, go and find the money mother gave you!” The one guy spat at the side of the woman as they both left the alley, leaving the poor soul crying her eyes out.

Taehwan wanted to walk up to her but stopped his step when her phone rang.

“I’m coming back. Sorry.” She stood up and wiped her tears as she tried to be as if she never cried and walked out from the alley way from the other side.

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The shift for Haemin ended at 9 at night and she quickly took the chance to take the bus back to the dorm. She take a seat at the side of the window as she take a look outside the bus. It was a city that was filled with traffic even at night. People were out and about walking to their different destination while her destination being Seoul Central College.

She couldn’t start but to keep thinking what happened to her twin brothers after their parents divorced and went their own way. When it happened 6 months ago, her mother wanted to bring her to Japan to live there but she didn’t want to adapt to a new place with new people so Haemin insisted in staying by herself at the dormitory.

The family of 5 separated within months and she didn’t hear any news from them until her twin brothers decided to come and asked for the money their mother left for her. The family of 5 was a happy family that everyone envied of but happiness doesn’t last long when their parents decide to divorce.

“Mum, dad, where are you guys now? Aren’t you worried about your daughter here?” She let out a tear in the bus and sobbed quietly.

“How could they do this to me? How could I report to the police about my own brothers? I don’t even have much money left to pay for my school fees and they’re asking for it.” She continue sobbing trying to let out her feelings.

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“Daddy, daddy wake up!” Little Taemin shook Taehwan up in his dream.

“What?” Taehwan opened his heavy eyelid up and looked at the worried little boy.

“Daddy, mummy’s crying!” He said hurriedly and Taehwan quickly sat up as he followed little Taemin behind as they head towards a female figure.

“Now is the chance for me to finally see who this boy is asking me to find.” Taehwan was determined to see the female who was crying but before she could turn her head at little Taemin calling, Taehwan woke up.

 

“Lee Taehwan! Wake up! It’s already 6 in the morning! Aren’t you going to jog like you usually do?” It was his aunt’s voice.

Taehwan’s eyes went wide open from the shock and wanted to sleep back to see the female’s face.

“Give me 5 minutes more, aunt!” He shouted back and tried closing his eyes to return to that dream but failed.

“AISH! Why can’t you turn your face when Taemin is calling you?” He ruffled his hair in annoyance and pushed the blanket off him as he stomped out from his room to get ready for school.

“Does that mean I have already found her? I kept dreaming of Taemin asking me to find his mummy and today I dreamt she was in front of me crying?” Taehwan looked at his reflection in the mirror in the college’s toilet and was confused to the dream he had. He washed his face with the cold water from the tap and left the toilet back to the lecture hall.