The next day when woke up, you spent several minutes staring up at the glow-in-the-dark stickers on your bedroom wall. The events of yesterday were still fresh in your mind, but you also had a night's sleep on it, which gave you a slightly different perspective on the situation. Unfortunately, that still didn't change the fact that Jinki quite possibly lied about his entire life to you or the fact that your chest still dully throbbed.

    "I didn't think heartbreak was literal," you muttered, thumping yourself soundly on your chest and wincing slightly before mentally reminding yourself not to do that again.

    If you thought through this logically, things would probably be different, but you couldn't think through this logically. All you could think about were those long nights spend on the couch, talking into the early hours of the morning about…life. You had asked him about college, his parents, his childhood, his fears, his wants, his everything. You had wanted to know everything about him, soak it in. Even when your eyes were fluttering shut and your breaths were becoming deeper, slower, you had always managed to whisper that you wanted to know more about him before falling asleep.

    And you had told him everything too. About your family, your hopes, your dreams… You had confessed to him your deepest fears, watched as his eyes glimmered in the dim moonlight and felt safe as his lips brushed across your forehead. All of what you had said had been true, but everything he had said had been a lie.

    Now, the seed of doubt was planted in your mind. If he had lied then, how many other times had he lied? You remembered one late night when you were particularly tired, all but conked out on his shoulder as you struggled to form the words of your request.

    "Can we…" You let out a small sigh as you tried to think of the next words. "I think my parents are going to be around this area next month…" You yawned widely and snuggled deeper into Jinki's extremely comfortable shoulder. "Maybe we can go visit them." You held your breath as Jinki laughed, sluggishly but steadily.

    "I'd like that."

    The dull ache in your chest intensified, and you let out a long breath, staring at the cracks in the ceiling. You really did need to have the apartment renovated sometime. A soft knock on the door made you flinch and then you made a noise of acknowledgment.

    "Breakfast is ready."

    "I'll be out in a second," you said quietly, slipping out of bed and pulling on a suitable outfit for the day. You didn't look at Jinki as you sat down at the breakfast table and looked down at the omurice in front of you.  You only ate half to it before the silence was too much for you to bear. "I'm going out to the store for ice cream," you muttered, grabbing your wallet and cell phone as you quickly exited the apartment.

    You went to the convenience store, bought your ice cream, and soon dumped it in the trash, bitterly reminded of that day you had shared ice cream with Jinki at the park. Before you hadn't considered the amount of memories you had made with Jinki, but now it seemed like everything reminded you of him or the times you two had spent together. You didn't like it, being haunted by the past. It was a new feeling to the you that had always wanted to look forward to the future and the things it would bring.

    Sighing, you eventually placed yourself on a small bus stop bench before pulling out the business card that you had stowed in your wallet. On the one hand, it was definitely a betrayal to call this number. It meant admitting that you had been strung along, lied to straight out. On the other hand, it was definitely an opportunity to learn more about Jinki. It meant that perhaps you could discover who the real Lee Jinki was.

    It took you a few minutes of furious foot tapping and lip biting to finally decide to dial the number, standing up and walking away from the bus stop for some privacy. You didn't want anybody else to overhear this conversation.

    "Yes," you said once the call had been picked up, "I'm calling on behalf of asking for compensation for damages done to my apartment previously." After answering the regular mundane questions such as your name, you were connected through to the man you were hoping to speak to.

    "It's so nice to hear from you," the man said.

    "Can I meet you?" you asked hurriedly, glancing at your watch. "I think we have things that we need to talk about."

    "Meet me at the café in thirty minutes."

    You glanced at the watch again and then at the slowly approaching bus before replying that you were ready and willing. It only took you fifteen minutes to make it to the café, and you were almost, almost ready to put your head through the wall when the same dapper man from the previous day appeared before. You waved him over and drank a long sip of your green tea to try and calm yourself down.

    "I can see that you've asked."

    You nodded abruptly, pursed your lips, and then finally blurted out, "Please tell me everything you know."

    And then you learned. It took you five cups of green tea and three chocolate chip muffins until you reached the end of the story, and your legs were still jittery as the man across from you, Kim Kibum, excused himself to use the restroom.

    Lee Jinki was born on a snowy day in 1989. He came into the world with his whole life planned ahead of him. In the beginning the plan was for Jinki to inherit the company when he was settled down with a family, but around his seventh birthday, his father had dashed off with a younger, more attractive woman and now spent his time playing on the beaches of various countries around the world with his long-time mistress.

    The shock of the scandal had shaken the company to its core, and it had also shaken Jinki's mother. From that year on, she began to prep Jinki to take over the company. On his 18th birthday, Jinki legally inherited the company and all of its assets from his mother who officially retired. At his mother's request, he dropped the name Jinki, which apparently was reminiscent of his father's name, and became Onew, chairman and CEO of Lee Laboratories. Then, on his 20th birthday, Jinki vanished, and here, two years later, he was found again.

    "We'll need to send a car to pick him up," Kibum said as he sat down at the seat across from you again and looked disinterestedly at his Blackberry.

    "Wait, what?" you asked, putting down your tea cup and staring at Kibum with barely disguised surprise and also confusion. "What do you mean?"

    "We've found him now. He'll need to resume work right away."

    "No," you replied, and you weren't quite sure why you were so adamant about this not happening. Maybe it was because you still remembered Jinki's crestfallen face form the night before. Maybe it was because that memory now overlapped with the dull expression on the photo Kibum had showed you the first time the two of you had met. "No. You're not taking him."

    Kibum looked up for his Blackberry and studied you closely. "You're defending him now? When he's lied to you this entire time?"

    Biting your lip, you shook your head. "He lied to me, yes…but…" You couldn't bring yourself to say the rest out loud. Because Jinki had lied to you. He had betrayed your trust, but despite everything, despite the pain left in your heart, you couldn't bear to let him lose his smile. You didn't want to be the person who put that sort of expression on his face.

    "I'll contact you in a week," Kibum said brusquely as his Blackberry began to vibrate. "I have another meeting to attend. Meet me here in one week at ten. If not, I'll be forced to take other measures."

    Before you could ask the man what other measures he would take, he swept out of the café leaving you completely speechless and confused at what you had just done. It seemed that your feelings for Jinki had run deeper than you imagined.

    That evening when you returned to the apartment, utterly exhausted from walking around all day to try and sort out your thoughts, there was a warm dinner waiting for you on the table and also a new vase of sunflowers. You looked around, but there was no sign of Jinki anywhere. Looking at the dinner on the table, you let out a frustrated sigh.

    "You really do know how to make me feel like a jerk, don't you?" you asked, sitting down at the table and beginning to eat the rice that was set out. After the meal is done and cleaned away, you stared at the sunflowers for a while before retiring to your room where you waited until you heard the front door creak open. It was only then that you allowed yourself to sleep, hoping for peaceful dreams as your eyes slid shut.

    The next morning Jinki was not there for breakfast either, and you wondered just how long he was going to give you space. Admittedly, it was nice. You didn't have to suffer through long, awkward silences or feel silent rage at being tricked bubble up underneath your skin whenever Jinki frowned at you, but at the same time, your anger was slowly but surely cooling, replaced by a heavy sense of guilt in the pit of your stomach.

    You hadn't even let Jinki explain himself. Your stomach sank as you remembered a previous situation somewhat related to the current one you were in. When Jinki had just assumed that you had liked Himchan previously, you were not only insulted but also hurt that he hadn't listened to your side of the story. Of course, that had resulted in something good, your confession, but still…the feelings must be correlated somehow.

    It only took you a few more sips of your chicken soup before the guilt settled down fully, and you pulled on your shoes hastily at the door, grabbing your bag on the way out. It was time to find Jinki and settle this.

    You found him at the place where you had your first date. It was just like Jinki to be there. He had always wanted to please, always wanted to make you feel appreciated.

    "Jinki," you said, and the boy quickly stood up from where he was sitting at the shoreline of the lake. "Jinki…" You let out a small yelp as he spun around on his heel to run away but only ended up falling onto the stones instead. You got there while he was pulling himself up and caught onto his arm awkwardly. "Jinki!"

    He seemed surprised as he turned around and looked at you with wide eyes and a frowning face. "Did you like the chicken soup for breakfast?" he finally asked.

    "Uh, yeah," you replied lamely, glad that you at least were having some sort of conversation, but this wasn't the type of conversation you wanted. "I met Kibum-ssi."

    Jinki's eyes widened, and his frown grew deeper. You felt your stomach drop even more, if that was even possible.

    "I told him that you're going to stay with me," you continued, unsure of what else to say.

    "You did?"

    Jinki's obvious surprise made you purse your lips, and then you shrugged.

    "I just…didn't think you wanted to go back yet."

    Jinki stared at you, and you stared back at Jinki. The atmosphere wasn't any less awkward than before, and suddenly you felt a sudden fear at the thought that things might never go back to the way they were before.

    "I'm sorry," you quickly said, grabbing Jinki by the wrist to make sure that he didn't run away. "I didn't listen to you. I didn't let you explain. It was because…I was angry. I just want to know why you didn't tell me. Did you not trust me? Did you think that I would sell you out? Is that what you think of me? I—"

    Jinki grasped your other wrist and quickly reversed the situation, pulling you into a long hug. "I never thought that. Can I…explain?"

    "Of course."

    Jinki began by telling you about his childhood, his real childhood that is.  Born December 14, 1989, Lee Jinki lived his entire life in a world of steel buildings and steel hearts. On his fourth birthday, he had his first bout of clumsiness, falling down a slide at his preschool's playground. Around the time he was five, he began to attend dinner parties, groomed as his parent's perfect child. When he was seven, his dad left, and Jinki became Onew.

    Onew didn't have friends. Onew had business partners. It was a hard concept for a child to grasp, but his transfer from a regular public school to an elite private one shook him to his core. Suddenly, everyone who he was around had their own agendas, their own intentions. You wouldn't think that it was possible for children to be so manipulative, but when parents wanted a business deal, they would arrange it through a play date.

    So Onew had grown up, matured into a fine 18 year old. His clumsiness was a problem, so his mother had surrounded him with the children of other prominent businessmen and women. This group of people was meant to be his safeguard, his iron shield. Kim Kibum was one of those men, and apparently there were three others as well, but Jinki hadn't mentioned their names. They were meant to clean up his mess if anything went wrong.

    "I think they might have been the only real friends I ever had," he remarked sadly, picking up stones from the shoreline and chucking them at the water as he continued with his story. "They had a lot of trouble when I disappeared."

    "Why did you?" you asked, pulling up your knees to your chin as you stared at Jinki from your place on the shore beside him. This was a Jinki you had only glimpsed before through teary eyes and questions of worth. This was a Jinki who smiled but only in a sad way, a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. You weren't sure about what you felt about this Jinki, but maybe…maybe you felt bad for him.

    "Why?" Jinki asked softly, staring out at the rippling water of the lake. The park really was a beautiful place in the summer. You wondered why you had never gone there before before you realized that you had never had somebody to go with before.

    "Why," you echoed.

    "Because," Jinki said, even softer than before, "I was tired, and I was selfish. My whole entire life had been spent doing things for others, so I wanted to do something for myself. I wanted to know if people would like me for Jinki and not Onew."

    "So," you said, and your heart was pounding loudly in your ears as if you had just finished running a marathon, "did you find out anything? Did you find out if people like you for Jinki and not Onew?" This was the moment of truth, the moment where you found out if there was still trust between the two of you or not.
    
    "I did," he said, and then he leaned forward, placing one trembling hand on the nape of your neck and—

    His lips were slightly chapped but oh so warm, and you didn't want to close your eyes, didn't want to miss out on the moment because this was here and now with Jinki. He pulled away a few seconds later, a red blush decorating his cheeks, and you were sure that your cheeks were equally as red.

    "We're okay, right?" you blurted out, painfully awkward but eager for a resolution for the problem of your throbbing heart. You were answered when Jinki drew you close again and wiped your mind clean of any doubts. You wondered how you were so close and so willing to give this all up in the beginning, but right now, that didn't matter because Jinki was here with you. Anything else could wait until later. Right now, you were content.

A/N: IKASDFLKJAPERUAERJ. I'M SORRY. THAT WAS SO CLICHÉ AND UGGGGGH. Luckily for me, I like to read clichés as much as I like to read racing car au fanfics XD. (*cough cough* Arbitrage *cough cough*) Anyway, that's the last chapter before I leave you guys until (hopefully) mid-July. My summer is going to be super busy, so I don't know when exactly I'll be able to update. I just have a lot of things that I need to do. >< But if you guys are feeling lonely without this fic, I recommend that you go and read eexiee's fics. I know I always advertise her, but it's because I love her that much XD Also you guys are super fast at commenting o_o. JUST SAYIN' I HAVE A GREAT IDEA FOR WHAT WILL HAPPEN AFTER THIS, AND I KNOW ONE THING THAT WILL HAPPEN NO MATTER WHAT. ;D I'll give you a hint to what this thing is. It's one of eexiee's favorite things to read in fanfic. :3 Thank you for all new readers and old <3 You're making this story really wonderful for me! I'm going to put it out there that Onew isn't even my bias. LOL. Minho!!! <3 Maybe I'll write a Minho scenario next, hmmmm.... Kekeke~! Anywho, actually going now~. Have fun reading!