A/N - So, finally we learn about G.O's past. Well this is Part I at least~~~ Kekeke, you thought it would all be done in one chapter? Sorry, nope~ Originally it was supposed to be that way, but when i wrote it, it came out like 3000+ words, so i divided it into two. Actually it's quite a nice divide. Anyhoo, thanks so much for the comments, i'm glad you're all enjoying the story! 

@womaninmblaq - thanks for taking the time to comment ^^ Reading it really made me smile, thanks so much for it!!!! Btw, I've heard of the 'thundersky' pairing a lot, but i don't actually know who the 'sky' part is? And so glad Doongie is your bias as well! *high five for Doongie love* He's the best!!!!

@wookielove - I'm glad that I managed to hook you with that move. Wasn't sure if it was too predicatable or not, but the answers are here~!!!

@HanSang - Ah, school -.- I mostly wrote fanfics during classes I couldn't be bother to listen to. Sigh, had one particular teacher who really bored us all to death. Kekeke, sounded like i was working super hard, but i wasn't~ Anyway, all that is done for me. As for G.O, well that girl and her connection to G.O is revealed now! Everyone's elses pasts...well you gotta wait for that one~

Finally, thanks to larive for subscribing!!! Keep them coming!

With Tears Arc~

Chapter 22 – With tears, both he and I regret the past

Seungho POV

At that singular moment, G.O’s face scared me. I had never seen some a forlorn, such a regretful expression. It was like the pillar holding him up had been wrenched away and he was barely standing.

With a quick glance at Joon and Mir to watch over Dara and Cheondoong, I followed them quickly into the lift. The female nurse gave me a sharp look, like Shut up and just follow. G.O on the other hand just ignored my presence.

We stepped out on the fourth floor, walked along the corridor and then the nurse ushered G.O into a small, reclusive room. Her glare told me to stay out. But through the glass I could see G.O sit down and hold a pale girl’s hand. She was tiny and frail, looking like a glass figurine, breakable from the slightest touch.

The nurse closed the door behind the two and then led me back. I didn’t say a word. Her eyes told me the story was tragic enough.

Cheondoong POV

The nurse settled us down.

“I’ll tell you what happened to Byunghee if you promise you won’t badger him.” She said sternly, eyes fierce and motherly. We all nodded in silent acceptance. In the first place, we wouldn’t dare probe him. Not with those pain-stricken eyes he had given us before.

“That girl,” she began with eyes focused on us, “is Byunghee’s girlfriend.”

I suppressed a choke. Girlfriend! G.O?! He of all people I had never expected to have a solid, certain, steadfast girlfriend. He had gone out with so many girls, got drunk and came home covered in lipstick marks and purple bruises that I had never connected him to the possibility of having someone to come home to.

As if sensing my thoughts, the nurses’ eyes narrowed in one me. I gulped.

“Yes.” She said curtly, answering my unspoken question. “Byunghee’s girlfriend. Though he doesn’t like to talk about her because of what happened in the past.”

Seungho leaned forwards with clasped hands. “Can you please tell us what happened. We want to understand him better.”

She nodded. “Well, Cheolyong already knows the story but…” she trailed off as we all turned out surprised glances onto Mir.

“Mir?” I couldn’t help myself. Secrets upon secrets. More things I never knew about were being revealed. Mir looked at us with a sad expression. He nodded.

“G.O’s girlfriend,” he said solemnly. “Is my sister: Bang Hyo Jin.”

I stared at Mir with shock. His sister?! G.O was dating Mir’s sister?

“That’s correct.” The nurse said in a crisp voice. “Bang Hyo Jin was admitted to this hospital over a year ago.”

I twitched at the word one year. That brought back bad memories.

“Originally she came frequently to our hospital,” the nurse continued, oblivious to the dark direction my thoughts had taken.

“My sister frequently suffered from seizures.” Mir took over the conversation. “So she had monthly check-ups. But they weren’t that life-threatening, no…” he trailed off there, his voice breaking.

The nurse took over. “Hyo Jin-ssi never told Byunghee about her illness. And Byunghee found out the hard way...”

1 year ago…

The two of them were sitting, laughing and feeding each other snippets of their dinner. Byunghee lifted his chopsticks, a slice of beef clasped between the two metal poles, and waved it right in front of the girl’s face. She was pretty: a heart-shaped face with shiny hair that brushed against her cheeks.

“Byunghee!” she complained as he floated the meat close to her lips and then pulled back just as closed on thin air. Byunghee laughed and then fed her properly. “Jeez.” She mock-moaned, chewing the food and swallowing it. But she couldn’t help the small grin that came over her face.

“What am I going to do with you?” she fake-sighed and tapped her chin with one long finger.

“You’ll have to retrain me.” Byunghee gave her a mischievous look. “Starting with the doggie treats and the one word commands.”

The girl flashed him a wicked smile. “One word commands?” she asked teasingly.

“Sure,” Byunghee waved one hand regally in the air. “Like lie, undress and-“

Hyo Jin toppled. 

“Hyo Jin!” Byunghee shoved his chair back, the metal base screeching horribly against the gravelly floor. He dashed around the table as his girlfriend collapsed to the ground, convulsing and shaking as if possessed. All around them, people stood up and stared at the girl like she had some sort of deadly illness and they were all too afraid to step closer. “Hyo Jin!” he cried again, gathering the tiny girl in his arms.

“I-I’m…fine…” she choked out as her body shook uncontrollably and her eyes rolled back.

“I’ll call for an ambulance.” Byunghee hurriedly yanked his phone from his pocket with one spare hand. “Just hold on!” he pleaded.

“No!” Hyo Jin held out on trembling hand to stop him from dialing a number. “It’ll…be…over in a moment.” She gritted her teeth and rode out another wave of pain.

Byunghee faltered and tears came unbidden to his eyes as he watched his girlfriend and felt helpless. Sure enough, three minutes later the shaking subsided and Hyo Jin’s shoulders relaxed partially.

“Hyo Jin?” he whispered, pushing sweaty hair out of her face.

“Mianhe, Byunghee.” She whispered, sounding tired beyond belief. She struggled to sit up and Byunghee helped her back into her chair. She still trembled with the exertion.

“What was that?” Byunghee asked her, eyes still watching for signs of another relapse. “Did you just have a ?”

Hyo Jin reached for the glass of water and drank it with difficulty. Then she spoke. “Yes.” She admitted. “I have from time to time, but this one was worse than usual.”

“You have .” Byunghee choked out, sounding like he had difficultly wrapping his head around the concept. “You have !” his voice grew harsher. “And you never told me?”

Hyo Jin’s eyes grew frightened. “I didn’t want to…I didn’t know if you would stay with me…if you knew…” she whispered, feeling tears bud in her eyes. “I couldn’t bear to see you walk away!” she cried.

“I wouldn’t leave you!” Byunghee shook her shoulders. “I love you!”

“Do you?” Hyo Jin whispered, looking at him straight in the eyes and not caring how tears fell like silver streams. “Can I really believe you when you say you’d spend the rest of your life with a…with a cripple like me!”

“Cripple?” Byunghee was taken aback at the desperation in her voice. “You’re not a cripple?”

“I might as well be.” Hyo Jin said bitterly. “I never know when a may come on. Sure they’re usually not too bad and I just have to ride them out, but they’re getting worse now. And I’m sure no man would want a liability like me for a wife.”

“Liability!” Byunghee was shocked at this sudden dark turn the conversation had taken. Sure he had seen pain and sadness flash in his girlfriend’s eyes from time to time, but never had they been so dark as they were now. Never had she let on the fact that for the six months they had dated for, she had been worrying and suffering all this time.

“And I never even saw it.” Byunghee whispered, realizing how much of a failure he was. “You were hurting all this while and I never even saw it, you never told me anything, you never trusted me?” At this revelation he turned around and stared at her. “You don’t trust me, do you?”

Hyo Jin stopped crying. “Trust you?” she said. “I-“

“You never trusted me! You never let me into your heart even though I told you everything. You just – you just – assumed that I couldn’t handle it. How can we be together if it’s like that?!” Byunghee hissed out, his emotions ragged and twisted like snakes in a pit.

“Of course not!” Hyo Jin yelled back, her hands gripping the arms of her chair. “You think it’s easy to just trust you with information like that! For goodness sake G.O ,” she hissed, using his stage name the way a chef uses a knife to carve a carcass, “Do you really think I could just trust an idol with everything! I don’t even know half the things you do on tour!” she cried.

Byunghee staggered back. Everything was spiraling into chaos, crashing the way waves would slam into hard rock.

“I can’t do this.” He said mutely, one hand covering his eyes so he did not have to see the crying wreck of his girlfriend in front of him. “I can’t do this.”

“See,” Hyo Jin said bitterly. “You’re just walking away, like the rest of them.”

“I’M NOT!” Byunghee roared, silencing Hyo Jin. “I’m not walking away because of your .” He said in a quieter tone. “I’m walking away because I can’t deal with a relationship that has no trust, has no belief!”

Hyo Jin stared at him.

“I’m walking away because I love you and because I can’t bear to be with someone who won’t even tell me they’re suffering from something as life-threatening as .” He dropped his hand and stared at Hyo Jin, her eyes dark pools of sorrow and her frail body lit up by the moon above them all. “I love you,” he said again, the distance between the two increasing. “I love you but I’m not sure you love me.”

“I love you!” Hyo Jin screamed in desperation. “But I’m scared!”

Byunghee just shook his head. “Being scared is okay, I’m not saying you can’t be, but secrets…they never work. And so long as there are barriers between the two of us, our relationship will never work.” He his heel and walked away, trying to erase the moonlit memory of just now.

He heard fresh sobs erupt from Hyo Jin, heard the crash of glass as her hand smashed against the table and heard his cold footsteps on the gravel below. He must look like a cold demon to everyone, but he couldn’t deal with liars and dragon dens full of secrets.

Byunghee flipped open his phone and sent a quick text – Cheolyong: come pick up your sister, I’ll explain later – and left.

Present day...

“That wasn’t the end of it.” Mir spoke as the nurse left the story hanging. “What happened next was even worse than her first .”

I looked at Mir and tried to analyze him, but his body was curved in on itself as if his skeleton couldn’t support the being, his eyes were slits of darkness and his mouth trembled.

“You see,” he said. “My sister didn’t end up in hospital from .”

He shook his head, strands of gold-brown flying. “She ended up in hospital from a car crash.”

A/N - Hmm, hmmm, how was this chapter? Exciting enough? I had great fun writing it, so i do hope you liked it. Tomorrow's chapter will reveal details about the car accident and even more of Cheondoong's little secrets~ That's right, its not over yet!