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Story of Love

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“Dong Woo was the only one she had at that school. She was the only one he had. Naturally he fell in love with her. She took care of him, she was nice to him, and she was like a mother to him. But despite how strong Jae Hwa thought she was, she needed Dong Woo. She needed him to protect her,” Hoya began.

The letters Hoya had read explained all about their lives together in the three years they knew each other in high school. The most was freshman year, which was before Dong Woo started training. After that, he began coming to school less and less often, having less time off. By third year, they almost didn’t even talk anymore.

And graduation year, he was gone completely.

Jae Hwa had grown up in those years, finding the ability to take care of herself after the little scare she had with Dong Woo during first year when he saved her from the upper classman. Hoya recalled how she specifically mentioned how many days it took for her to talk to Dong Woo again, for her to get over the fear of what Dong Woo was capable of.

Freshman year was over, and they ended as just friends.  Dong Woo visited her as much as possible over that break. He got really close with her parents, with her siblings, and even closer with her. They spent every second he had open together. Even when he started training, she’d stay and watch him and then end up walking home together.

One night, after Dong Woo finished up with practice, they walked home together like normal. But there was something different between them. Jae Hwa would constantly look up at Dong Woo and wait for him to look and greet her with a smile.

She loved that smile of is. She always talked about how it was his best feature. She loved the way his eyes glimmered in the soft light, the way his bright white teeth shone even in the dark, the way his thick pink lips curled back over them, the apples of his cheeks growing to an abnormal size.

Everything about that smile was magical, and she wanted to get a look at it every opportunity she had.

“On that night they stood in front of her door. They never spoke of that night again,” Hoya said.

“What happened?” Sung Gyu asked.

“Dong Woo kissed her, square on the mouth.”

Dong Woo did more than kiss her square on the mouth. Jae Hwa wrapped her arms tight around her protector’s neck, pulling his thick lips harder against hers. He couldn’t help but turn her and press her against the front door.

“Their last form of being together was on a night when her parents were out of town. Jae Hwa invited Dong Woo over to her house and things got a little out of control. The last letter I read from her contained a very detailed description of that night,” Hoya said.

“What happened?” Sung Gyu asked again, now on the edge of his seat.

“They took something very precious from each other that night,” Hoya replied, taking a deep breath. Even just remembering all of the emotion that Jae Hwa put into those two letters that he read, along with all the heartbreak he could feel from Dong Woo was making even him emotional.  

“Dong Woo and Jae Hwa…”

“Made love,” Hoya finished, his breathing a little shaky. “Almost eighteen years old. After Dong Woo had basically disappeared from her life, barely coming to school to focus on training for Infinite; that one night they were back together.”

Sung Gyu didn’t know where to look. He could now understand the pain that Dong Woo was going through. He never wanted to leave her. They never wanted to separate, and he could only imagine how torturous it was for Dong Woo to receive these letters from her without a return address.

“They lost contact completely upon our debut. Well, he lost contact with her. And now, every so often, she sends a letter out of the blue. Completely by random,” Hoya explained. “He can’t do anything but read them and be torn apart.”

“Why does he read them? He could just not read them and forget about her.”

“I could never do that,” Dong Woo commented. His eyes were swollen and red from crying. They both knew he couldn’t get to sleep. “She was my first love. I wanted her to be my only love… but I had to let her go. I’m not sure you understand enough… just how badly it hurt to let her go, how much I regretted that one final goodbye, not because of what happened, but because I had to say goodbye. That remains the best and worst day of my life.”

“Dong Woo…” Sung Gyu whispered.

“She was everything to me,” he choked out. His eyes bordered with tears again and he quickly reached up to wipe them clear. “I could never just cut her off,” he whispered, his quivering legs giving out from underneath him.

“Dong Woo!” Hoya called, pushing himself off the couch to rush to Dong Woo’s aid. Dong Woo’s body was extremely weak.

“I’m sorry,” Dong Woo apologized, “I should never have gotten back out of bed.”

“Don’t apologize, Dong Woo. It’s not your fault,” Hoya replied, helping the elder male back up before taking him off to his room.

“What just happened?” Woo Hyun asked, standing in the door way, having just returned home with L and Sung Jong.

Sung Gyu just looked at them.

As night approached, Dong Woo lie awake in bed, contemplating whether or not it was worth it to open the most recent letter he’d received from her or not. Chances were he’d just get upset again. But he did with every letter, no matter what time of day it was, so what made now any different?

There was no difference from now and any other time he read a letter.

He reached over to his bedside table to grab the white envelope, once again without a return address, and stuck his finger under the edge of the flap, lifting it to tear the envelope open.

The letter was on a different color parchment now. It had changed from a bright yellow to soft lavender.  

This letter, by far, had to have made his heart hurt the worst.

He read it out loud:

“Dear Jang Dong Woo,” he paused to bite his index finger, trying to keep himself under control. “I love you, and I miss you so much, you have no idea. Love, Jung Jae Hwa.” Tears streaked down his face for the third time that day.

“If you love me so damn much, why don’t you give me a return address!” he yelled, crumpling up the letter to throw it across the room, bringing his knees up to his chest, burying his face in his hands.  

He sat there by himself for hours, letting the tears slowly trickle down his face to drip off his chin when he was too lazy to reach up and wipe them away. Not like it mattered. The more he wiped away, the more they came. He figured just letting himself cry would relieve a lot of stress.

And by the time seven in the morning rolled around, it did. It tired him out so much that it allowed him to sleep. Though he may not have been rid of the stress, he at least got some sleep.

Sung Gyu closed the door to Dong Woo’s room. “He finally put himself down for the night,” he commented to Hoya who shook his head.

“I feel bad for the guy. He spends so much energy fretting over her. No offense, but she’s really not worth this much trouble, and it bothers me to see that he thinks so. If she’s going to put him through hell and back… is that something he deserves?” Hoya replied. Sung Gyu shook his head and explained that it didn’t seem to matter to Dong Woo and that there was nothing they could do.  In the time that Dong Woo had spent awake in pain, so too had both of the other boys.  

Sung Gyu rubbed his eyes and threw himself down on the couch, pulling the throw blanket off the backrest to cover him with it. “That kid… endures too much for his own good,” he said. Hoya could only agree.

“The sun’s coming up. I think we should both get a little rest. Luckily today is a day off,” Hoya said with a smile. Sung Gyu nodded in agreement with a slight laugh.

“I’m going to crash here,” he said.

“Goodnight Sung Gyu hyung,” Hoya said.

“Goodnight Hoya,” he replied, waving him off before closing his eyes. At least someone would be there if Dong Woo had decided that sleep wasn’t his thing. But thankfully for everyone in the Infinite household, Dong Woo was fast asleep and had no intentions of waking up in the near future.