A/N - Um okay, so yes: this story involves Sanghyun's father. Now i know Doongie's past and private life is well...private and painful, I thought that involving his dad would make the story more exciting and it explains a lot about this 'fictional' past as well and how Go Ji Young came to be what he is 'today'. But i know playing around and fabricating Doongie's past by using such a painful event is inexcusable as well, so i'll apologize in advance. And for the record, no Doongie's dad or mum is not named as they are in this story. Basically everything here about Doongie and Ji-eun's parents are entirely fictional, so I hope you all are okay with it.

Hugs to ainnur unnie for convincing me to continue writing with this material and I hope you all like how i've chosen to write the story. On a side note...because of Doongie's dad's past...the story has officially lengthened by like three chapters :p Enjoy~

@wookielove - Yup, a fiery end to Ji-yun. Buuuut this might not be the last time you hear from her...hmm hmm hmmm~~~ Haha and yeah, Doongie's dad was a random insert. I hadn't planned him to be there in the beginning, but a long time ago i read a comment (from HanSang i think) who thought Doongie's dad would be involved. But i think HanSang thought Doongie's dad might be a bad guy, so i decided to portray him differently. And yup, i chose a lexus coz...well my dad drives one. Apart from that brand i practically have no knowledge on cars :p Haha and yes, yes COME to my corner! I just did some baking today so we can have tea and everything~~~

@ImaVIPbaby - Ooo two comments from you? What a treat! Hmm i like to think that Ji-yun wasn't evil and that no one is in this story. Or at least they weren't born evil but shaped this way by their pasts. Ji Young will be another example of this. And don't cry! Come join wookielove and me in my special corner and eat cake! I'll even give you extra icing for yout amazing faces~~~~ And thanks for commenting on my other stories!!! *EXTRA ICING*

@HanSang - Haha yuuuup Doongie's dad! Um what's next? Another past story...there were a lot of them i know >< And yeah, i thought this was the best ending for her. And thanks about the poetry~ I've read that poem so many times that it just sprung into my head when i was writing about the fire. That and the 'fire, fire, burning bright' one. 

@T4kara - >< I know, i liked her as well. Don't worry, this won't be the last time you hear from her! Haha and yeah, i didn't think i was going to mess around with Doongie's dad in the beginning because... well it's a touchy subject for our beloved Doongie but then i thought...a lot of people think really badly about Doongie's dad. How about i portray him differently? And so ta-dah! He got involved. 

@ainnurdoongie - *hugs* Thanks unnie for your encouragment. Haha and great song choice! >< And doongie is helpless now! But he'll take charge soon~ Meanwhile, yup, Park Tae Hyun takes over!!! Haha you know 'going crazy' is another song, right???? I think you should just make a comment out of song names~~~

@cazz_96 - Hugs, a Ji-yun converter! And well, it is Sanghyun's father but that's not his name in reality. I just googled 'good korean names' and found it. :p 

And thanks to nearsky for subscribing!!! Wooo~~~ Comment if you have time!

Chapter 54 – Without looking back, he recalls their innocent childhood

Ji-eun POV

I watched Sanghyun lie on the hospital bed, his chest rising and falling and somehow reassuring me with that one simple movement, that one singular rhythm that he was alive – alive.

“Alive.” I treasured that word and let it linger on my tongue, like a lemon sherbet that you don’t want disappearing. I leaned down and gripped his hand, trying not to grimace at the tacky tubes and the plastic-y masks covering Sanghyun. I tried to tell myself that they were helping him even though they looked like they were the life out of him.

Gods, I was the daughter of a doctor. Get a hold of yourself Ji-eun.

“He should be fine.” The doctor spoke from behind me. He was middle-aged with greying hair and heavy spectacles that he constantly was pushing up from the bridge of his nose. “We’re pumping oxygen into him and properly treating that gun wound.” The doctor frowned. “Whatever condition he was living in, it was in no way good for that wound. It was getting infected.”

He started muttering under his breath and I interrupted him. “He’ll recover right, doctor?”

The doctor pursed his lips. “I must say, Park Sanghyun had gone through a lot in the recent few months.” He pushed up his glasses again. “He looks like he’s just returned from a battlefield.”

I choked back a bitter laugh. Indeed, he had just come back from one. It might not have been a war ground littered with dead bodies and scattered metal and saturated grounds of blood, but all the same my boyfriend had fought a war courageously and returned a hero. One of those heroes that everyone revers and cheers on, but the hero no one realizes is actually suffering behind the scenes, everyday fighting another battle by mentally grappling for their own sanity.

The doctor, oblivious to my thoughts, continued. “I’ve stitched up the wounds that opened when you brought him here and treated him for first-degree burns, but to be honest much of it is left up to the man himself.” He put down the clipboard and turned away. “Park Sanghyun will recover in time. Unfortunately, all you can do now is wait.”

The doctor walked away, his polished shoes clipping against the squeaky clean linoleum floor and I let them echo away.

“So he’ll be alright then.” Park Tae Hyun let out a sigh of relief. He had been leaning against the wall, shuffling as far away from Sanghyun as was possible in the tiny but cozy room.

I looked up at him. “Will you tell me everything now?”

He nodded. He had been expecting this: the day when he would have to tell his secrets and reveal the past that had started this all.

“I will.”

Park Tae Hyun POV

My son lay in front of me, pale as the sheets beneath him and dark circles ringed his eyes. The product of my failures. The result of what I had not been able to do.

“It all started when I was a child, perhaps about ten.” I found the words flowing out of my mouth and though I had long repressed those memories, I found them flooding out like a dam released. “You see, when I was young, I had two childhood friends. One was Sanghyun’s mother.” I remembered distantly their faces, young and unblemished by time and pain and loss. “And the other was my best friend, Go Ji Young.”

Over fifty years ago…

Three children walked slowly along the path, kicking up the fallen autumn leaves and leisurely taking their time. They were in no hurry to return home where mothers scolded them to behave properly and sit up straight or eat their vegetables or go to bed early.

“What shall we play?” Ji Young asked, his expression one of absolute boredom. He stretched his arms behind him and yawned luxuriously. “C’mon, let’s do something fun!”

“What do you want to do?” Ji Min asked him, her voice soft and sweet as it always was but in her eyes was a gleam.

“Anything!” Ji Young raced forwards and kicked a huge heap of leaves, chortling with glee as they flew up in the air and fell down like auburn snowflakes.

Tae Hyun grinned and charged forwards, jumping high and grabbing one leaf. “Shall we see how many leaves you can grab?”

“Eh?!” Ji Young complained. “That’s so boring.”

“How about this?” Ji Min leaped forwards and landed in another huge pile, sending leaves flying everywhere. “The person who has the least has to treat the other two to ice cream.”

“Deal!” Ji Young grinned and stormed forwards, leaving the other two complaining and racing after him.

Present time…

“We were but innocent children back then.” I said wistfully, trying to remember the exact moment when those days ended and our horrific nightmares began. “Just like any other kid. Just like Sanghyun and Sandara and Durami were when they were little and running around grassy parks, screaming and yelling and having the time of their lives.”

“What changed?” Ji-eun spoke, her soft yet careful voice reminding him so much of Ji Min’s.

What changed?

I gave a harsh laugh. “It’s simple.” I said. “We grew up.”

Around forty five years ago…

Tae Hyun was rushing to meet his two best friends and he was late. They were scheduled to meet up after school had ended but the teacher wanted him to stay behind, to praise him for his work and Tae Hyun had rolled his eyes – what a waste of time.

He had told Ji Min and Ji Young to go ahead and buy him some snacks from their favorite store. They would meet at the park they always went to.

And now he was racing down the hill, skidding at the corner and halting himself as he finally got to the entrance. He was just about to enter when a grave voice filled the park and something inside him told him to stop and watch – this was not his place to interfere.

“I love you, Ji Min.” Ji Young spoke in a low, heartfelt voice. “I love you.”

Tae Hyun was stunned into silence. Love? They were kids for goodness sake, what did fifteen-year-old teenagers know about love. He twisted his body to stare around the corner and watched intently.

Ji Min was blushing, parted in a small form of shock and words seem to be frozen.

“Say something, please.” Ji Young begged her.

“No.” Ji Min whispered, her eyes growing misty. “Love is scary. Not yet.” She begged him.

Ji Young’s eyes closed and his whole body seemed to curve in on itself. “Why not?”

“I’m not ready yet.” Ji Min said and it was true. She was shaking and blushing at just the thought of holding hands and sharing kisses and god knows what else couples did. It was a realm totally out of her hold and she didn’t want to enter it yet. “Maybe one day, but not yet. Please understand.”

Ji Young nodded. “Okay, one day. Just remember that I’ll be here when the moment comes.” He held out both his hands and Ji Min grasped them gratefully.

“Thank you.” She said with a brilliant smile that melted Ji Young. “Thank you.”

Ji Young nodded and then dropped her hands. For a moment, the air was filled with an awkward silence and I took it as my cue to enter.

“Hey guys!” Tae Hyun yelled, falsely cheerful and trying to pretend I had not seen their little scene. “Did you guys get my favorite?”

“Oops, we might’ve forgotten.” Ji Young joked and there was a devilish gleam back in his eyes as they played around and then Ji Min joined in and they were all laughing, like the teenagers they were. And for a moment that little scene was forgotten, although Tae Hyun knew deep inside all three of us never forgot that conversation.

Particularly for him.

Because for the first time, Tae Hyun started looked at Ji Min. And he started noticing she was growing up. She was no longer that little girl with a wicked grin and the propensity to set up the most devilish pranks. She wasn’t just another guy of our little group. She was a girl. And she was beautiful.

And perhaps at that particular moment, Tae Hyun started falling for Ji Min as well.

Present time…

“So you both fell in love with Ji Min, am I correct?” Ji-eun said in a soft voice. What a love story: so sweet and so innocent was the beginning that she feared, just like in the movies, it would have the most nightmarish of ends.

“We did.” I admitted. “Both of us didn’t know it at first until at least five years later.”

“What happened?”

“Well we grew up even more.” I laughed at the memory. “We graduated high school and went to university and we were still together.”

“And then?”

“And then Ji Min fell in love.”

“With you?

“Yes, with me.”

Around forty years ago…

“I’ll miss you guys.” Ji Young said seriously, looking into Tae Hyun’s eyes first and then Ji Min’s. Both stared back at him, equally serious. They had been friends for so long that the thought of parting, even for just a few years was a shocking one.

“I wish we were all going to the same university.” Ji Min said wistfully for the fourth time that day. She simply echoed the thoughts in all of them. But they knew that Ji Young had wanted to go to Seoul University all his life and the scholarship they were offering him was priceless. So go he would.

“I’ll be back before you know it.” Ji Young said and then roughly grabbed the other two in a big hug. Muffled against their scarves, he tried to suppress the tears that wanted to come.

“We know.” Tae Hyun patted his back and hugged him just as fiercely.

As the piggy in the middle, Ji Min complained. “You’re squashing me, guys!”

That made them break apart, laughing. They all cherished this last moment beside the train tracks just as much as they dreaded the sound of engines and the puffing of smoke that would signal the breaking up of their little group.

“Come back for Christmas, okay?” Ji Min grabbed Ji Young’s hands without thinking and shook them roughly. “You better!”

Ji Young laughed. “Of course I will, or else I think my imminent death will arrive.” He winked and Ji Min swatted him playfully.

“Idiot!” she said, but it was in a joking manner and they all laughed. Then there was the sound of screeching metal and the pounding on the tracks. The train had arrived. All three of them stared at the brown colored metal with a kind of annoyance. As if it was to blame.

It made them all silent. They knew what was coming.

“Well then,” Ji Young finally said in a rough voice. “I guess I’ll see you in a few months’ time.”

The other two nodded with sadness held in their eyes. “Take care of each other.” Ji Young said and hefted his bag onto his shoulders.

He leaned over to whisper something to Tae Hyun. “Take care of her, okay?”

Tae Hyun grasped his shoulder. “Of course.” And Ji Young saw in his eyes that he meant what he said. “You take care of yourself, brother.”

Ji Young grinned. “Doubting me already?”

And then the train door slid shut and the train was chugging its way out of the station and carrying Ji Young far, far away. They watched the train until it became a blur in the horizon and the dark night set. They watched and watched. Neither of them cried. They were too old for that now. But inside, a part of them was already missing.

It hurt Ji Min and so she took Tae Hyun’s hand and he let her. And for that moment, she thought that maybe, just maybe, everything would be okay. 

A/N - Part I of Park Tae Hyun's backstory completed! Phew, there's quite a lot of it to go, so i hope i won't become too boring. Anyhoo, enjoy for now!!!