Il Woo slapped Jin Woon.

"You are making a very big mistake, Jung Jin Woon! You have not yet entered the military service, yet you are already making a fool of yourself! Why did you have to do that?"

The lieutenant general spoke."I promised your patron that there shall be no untoward incident that shall happen while you are here. I let you in because your patron is my friend. I did this behind the general's back. WHat would happen if he finds out? Do you not know of the consequences of your actions? Many heads will roll, yours included, when the general makes his decisions. Just hope that the general will not hear the news!"

Mr Park rubbed his weary face. "I'll take care of that. I'll try to clean this mess up. In effect, you guys will have to work for me-"

"Excuse me, Mr Park," Il Woo said. "Regarding that...I decide to back out from my plan of coming under your tutelage. I was thinking I still wanted to run my business myself. If you have to take someone, you could take Jin Woon under you. After all, he was the one creating this mess."

Jin Woon and Yong Hwa looked at their elder brother. "Hyung, did you just sell me out?" Jin Woon asked, angrily.

"I don't think it's fair, Hyung," Yong Hwa said.

"Then tell me what's fair. You, Jin Woon, had made a complete fool of yourself. Mr Park promised to clean up this mess for you. Yet, you were angry that I sold you to him. Tell me, who's unfair now," Il Woo said. His mind was racing like numbers in the in the computer, calculating the pros and cons of his decision.

"All right. Mr Il Woo, if that's what you say. I'll take Jin Woon with me."

"Okay, but I told you I'll go along with you if you agree that I court your daughter Jiyeon."

"You are one calculating and smart bastard, Jin Woon," Mr PArk smirked as he shook his head. "All right, you won."

The lieutenant general, worried that the mess would not get cleaned out, whispered to his friend. "Are you really going to suppress any news about what happened?"

"Mm. I will. Just gather all your men who were in the area of the incident and tell them to strictly prohibit anyone from spreading the news. Tell them to sign any form of contract whatsoever, that anyone caught spreading the news would have to pay 5,000,000 wons and be immediately sent to the DMZ, and that they are not going to let their parents pay that sum of money for them. I don't care by what means they have to pay for that, as long as they don't ask, steal, or kill anyone. That should scare the wits out of them."

Yong Hwa looked at the corrupt chaebol. He was thankful that Mr Park had not asked for him at all. It means that he could still keep his contract with FNC. But he was rather sad that Ran Daun no basho would have to replace their bassist. He'd have to tell Shin Hye and Min Hyuk about it. Suddenly, an idea occured to him. He could ask his friend Jang Geun Suk to be the lead singer and lead guitarist while Yong Hwa would be the bassist.

***

Jiyeon was drying her hair. She quickly changed to her outfit because in ten minutes, the cadets are going to have their breakfast. Quickly applying loose powder on her face, she dusted the excess off when the captain knocked at the door. He opened the door and peeped.

"After breakfast, you are to proceed to the office. Mr PArk wanted to talk to you." Then he closed the door again.

Jiyeon sighed. She didn't know why her appa had to be there when she was having peace of mind. That led to having Jin Woon bring trouble on himself too. Putting the towel in a hanger, Jiyeon sat down and put on her socks and her boots. She stood up and looked at herself in the mirror one last time before she left for breakfast.

***

A knock was heard at the captain's offce. The officer barked his order for the person to come in, and Jiyeon brusquely entered and gave a salute. The captain returned her salute.

"Your father wants to talk to you. So, I'll leave you two in this room to talk. Annyeong hasaeyo, Mr Park." The captain gave a salute before he left the room.

"Annyeong hasaeyo, Mr Park." Jiyeon said. Mr Park blinked his eyes. His daughter had greeted to him formally, not even calling him appa. He  stood up from the couch he was seated in, went to Jiyeon andlooked up his daughter from head to foot.

"Looking at you now reminded me of my past when I was still fighting in the war."

And he sat down again on the chair near the captain's table. He ushered his daughter to sit opposite him, which Jiyeon did.

"Aren't you even greeting me like a daughter does to her father?"

"Am I even your daughter?" Jiyeon sarcastically asked. But Mr Park sighed.

"Jiyeon, I am so sorry that you have to be this way. It's all my fault. HAd I taken special attention to you, you would still be living like you used too."

"Are you saying this to win me back? Mianhe, appa, but you cannot make me come back to you."

The old man sighed again and nodded. "Arrasseo. But I have to tell you this. Jin Woon caused a scandal because of you. And I have decided to take the matter in my own hands. I gave orders to my friend to keep the scandal mum by forcing everyone to sign a contract. Everyone who breaks that code of silence will have to pay severely. It was my fault too, I asked my friend the lieutenant general to let civilians enter here without the general's permission. In exchange for that, I will have to take Jin Woon to sign under my company as a recording artist. He agreed on the condition that I will allow him to court you. But then, I'm still not willing to back out from my promise with Mr Go. I still want you and Armand to get engage and marry as soon as summer of next year comes."

Jiyeon faked a smile. "Geurae? So you managed to sell me out to Mr Go. And I bet Il Woo Oppa sold Jin Woon Oppa to you. I agree to the proposal of you taking Jin Woon Oppa and he courting me, but I will never agree to marry Armand Oppa. I have set my mind on that, and you can't force me."

"Don't make things difficult for me, JIyeon."

"You made things complicated for yourself by entering a contract you were very sure but you never consulted me. I will not enter that marriage with Armand Oppa."

"Ah, really. But I get what I want. And I'll have you two marry even if Jin Woon is under me. I believe that boy likes you very much."

"Mm. And I like him too."

"MWOH?"

"At first, I hated JIn Woon. But I started to see events in my life from way back then, and I remembered having encounters with him as a child. Yes, Appa, I like Jin Woon Oppa. And you cannot force me into anyone I didn't like like how your parents set you up with eomma. If you really care for me, you stop the chain of events from happening. If you cared for me, you should stop being selfish and push your unhappiness on me, just because you never got to marry Jin Woon Oppa's eommonie."

The old chaebol sighed again and brushed his palms over his weary face. He looked at his daughter and stood up without saying a word. And he walked towards the door and left.

***

Jiyeon exited the captain's office when her officer met her. She was told that Jin Woon was in the visitors' lounge, waiting for her. The lad wanted to talk to her, she was told. And so, Jiyeon went.

Walking through the semi-lighted hallways, Jiyeon noticed Jin Woon leaning on the doorpost, his left leg tucked under his right one. Jiyeon went straight to him, but she stopped in front of him. Jin Woon slowly opened his eyes and smiled at his classmate.

"Let's talk, jebal?" Jiyeon asked Jin Woon.

***

Jiyeon's POV:

The place seemed very familiar...like, I've seen this scenario a few months ago. Jin Woon Oppa and I were seated side by side on the bleachers on this very gloomy and rainy morning. Neither one of us spoke anything at all...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YciJbKBYuE8&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL995B36CB12F9E5A0

The rain had started to fall like cats and dogs. The ground was very much drenched that pools of flood started to reform. I watched Jin Woon Oppa look at something far away. I feel like something's clouding his mind.

"Jiyeon.."

"Mm?"

"I...Mianhe..."

"For what?"'

"I..I shouldn't had joined you in your training earlier. Now, I don't know how I'll get out of this mess."

I sighed as I held his hand.

"Appa told me he'd take you under him. But you told him too you'd agree if he agrees your courting me."

Jin Woon Oppa looked at me. He searched through me eyes. He wanted to see if I approved of his decision.

"It didn't occur to me that my insanity would affect you too," I told him.

"Jiyeon, yes, you are a crazy girl. And I could say it's your craziness that made me this way. It made me want to look at you, and only you."

I looked at the sky again and sighed. I knew I was weird, even when I was still a little girl. I felt different from everyone else, even from by bestfriend Suzy. But when I became a tween, and then a teen-ager, I decided to adopt to what's in and what's fashionable. But somehow, my other personality begged to be released. And it never occured to me that someone would actually like my personality.

"Geurae? I..I don't know, Oppa...it seems like...it seems like you were suddenly foreign to me right now..."

"M..mwoh? How so?" Jin Woon asked me exasperatedly.

"I liked you and all..but..I feel..I wanted to be alone...I wanted to be by myself. It's not that I don't love you anymore...it's just..."

"It's just you were confused with your decisions all along, is that it, Jiyeon?"

"Where did we go wrong, Oppa?"

Jin Woon grabbed my hand. "What? We haven't even started yet!"

"That's the thing. We haven't even started becoming us, and yet...and yet..I feel that I'm not yet ready for anything..for this..for you..."

"Shall I give you time?"

"Please don't wait for me," I pleaded as I looked at him, tears falling from my eyes. "I was too naive to even see that we weren't meant for each other. I felt it was a one-sided love in my part; that you had to give up on Nicole just because you fell for me unexpectedly. I felt that was too fast, Oppa. I felt that I should give you back to where you belong."

Jin Woon Oppa's eyes turned misty. "I admit it was one-sided for you to begin with, but do you know what, Jiyeon? I don't really care for that because you can see now that your love's been requited. And no, I can't go back to Nicole anymore. I now see her as one of my friends. You are what's giving color to my world now, Jiyeon. It's you..." and his voice faltered after he said this.

But I didn't allow it to come to me. I stood up. "Mianhe, Oppa. I hope that you'll understand. I'm still too young to decipher what love is. MAybe you'll find someone better, and maybe I'll forget you. Maybe you'll forget me too, and I'll be someplace where my life will hang on a balance. Mianhe, Oppa. I hope that you know that it matters..."

Leaving Oppa all alone on the bleachers, I went back to my room crying. All the feelings I had for him, all the things I did for him, and all the hopes I had for him...maybe they just don't matter...