Dearest Haneul,

It's me, Hyun Ki. By the time you recieve this letter, it will be too late to stop me. I don't know whether you'll have heard the news yet but I've passed on into the next world. As my younger cousin, I've always cared a lot about you. I was always ecstatic whenever Joon sent me a photo or an update on what was going on. We were really close back in the day and I'm glad we were able to reunite again and share some good memories here. 

I know I also owe you an explanation at the very least: Do you remember me telling you to come home because they knew there was one more family member? That family member was un-named and didn't have a gender- they did not know who they were looking for. They blindly flew back to London in the hopes that someone would be alive. Upon finding no one, they travelled to Korea on a whim. I was alerted of their arrival by an acquaintance in customs and they soon realised Seoul harboured the final member. I'm so sorry that it has come to this but I thought it best that I be the one to deal with the consequences.

I will never forgive myself for my father's actions and this seemed to me the only way of expressing my guilt. Although I cannot bring your parents or Joon-hyung back, I can tell them you are well and I'll watch over you always. I'm sorry to leave you and I don't want you to feel any burden because you deserve to live so much more than I ever could. I am the son of the man who betrayed his own blood family. I have no one in this world left besides you. This is all for the best.

Haneul, always remember how strong you are. With me gone, the 'last' member of our family is eliminated. You can live the rest of your life shouting from the rooftops and being free. Keep your loved ones close and never lose them. Be the clever girl I know you are and make us all proud. We'll be watching you every step of the way. 

I've known this day was approaching for a while now but strangely, knowing you'll be safe is enough to let me pass in peace.

Take care, I love you always,

Hyun Ki

 

 

The letter trembled in your hands. It had arrived the next morning.

'Haneul-ah? Are you-'

'Go away.'

 

***

 

It was 3 days before your birthday and 2 days since Hyun Ki's passing. It was also now 68 days since Luhan had moved out but who was counting?

A day is a day.

It's just 24 hours.

24 hours of misery for you and then when those 24 hours are up, on come another 24.

Again and again.

A harsh and never-ending cycle. 

Most of those hours were spent holed up in your room. Huiling was now staying in Lay's room as Kris had decided to camp out in the living room just in case you decided you'd want to come out during the night. You never did though, hardly touching the food that was left out for you.

Seohee rang around a few times a day, as did Jinri and Jaemin together. Jiyoung and Chihiro were often only able to stop by late at night and even Aaron was brought in to try and lure you out. He had sent you a text alerting you of his arrival in the hopes that you might want to talk to him. It was all in vain though, of course. You refused to leave for anybody and your body was heading for shutdown. At one point, you out momentarily and it was Chen who happened to be in the room beside yours that heard. He frantically tried to open your bedroom door that had been locked and barricaded by yours truly and the boys spent the next 3 hours agonising about how to open the door.

On the surface, they looked fine but the picture in the dorm was a completely different scene. Just as what once was, everything was falling apart. D.O woke up in cold sweats, shivering with worry and Kai slept like a restless wreck in the bed beside him. Chanyeol threw himself into studying, something he had never really done, doing everything he could to stop himself thinking about the pain you were in. Whenever he heard you screaming and crying, he would clench his fists and try to pull himself together, using his mp3 player to listen to music that would drown out the background noises. He began to work overtime with Xiumin having to drag him back home way past midnight.

Tao was more than worried. He was beside himself as was Sehun. They constantly asked if you were okay whenever they walked past your door and if it wasn't for their lovable nature that you missed so much, you would have surely thrown something at the two of them in anguish. Baekhyun came back with gifts after each English lesson he had and he left them outside your door. They had been given to him by the numerous girls that had their eye on the boys, all hoping to get on the good side of Baekhyun by buying small presents for you. Naturally, you didn't give so much as two s but the thought was there at least. 

Maddie and Ah Ri had called but as the laptop was outside in the main living area, you weren't able to speak to them. They tried to video call you privately through your mobile but you declined. Eventually they gave up after hearing from Kris and Baekhyun that you still hadn't shown your face.

Suho had been kind enough to write up an extra set of notes from each lecture you missed and on one occasion when a rather difficult topic had been discussed, he stayed up all night passing sheets under your door whilst talking it through with you. You never answered him when he asked if you understood but he kept going nonetheless. 

And you learnt.

You learnt everything you had missed and you were up to date when you eventually returned. The day you returned, that morning, you had had a sudden brainwave. 

Am I going to carry on like this? Really, Haneul? How about you just it up and see how it goes? Just for a day. Give yourself one day.

You arrived 10 minutes late to a demonstration on how to suture a wound. Frantically apologising to the professor, he smiled and welcomed you back. All your lecturers and teachers were informed about the situation and you took your place beside Lay who nodded and acknowledged your arrival. 

'Where's Suho?' you asked, lifting the needle out of the packet

'He's at the nurse's office. She's giving him some vitamins.'

You nodded. 'Ah okay.'

'You...?' 

He didn't know how to continue. He noticed you had made the effort to try and cover your dark under-eye circles with some bb-cream and curled your eyelashes to mimic bright and awake eyes. 

'I'm alright now, don't worry' you said, adding a smile to reassure him.

You watched as Lay carefully began stitching up the fake wound in the sponge you had been given. He suddenly stopped and turned to you with a playful smirk plastered on his face.

'I see you've missed me.'

'What?'

'You can't stop staring at my handsome face'

'Oh get over yourself, Lay!' you laughed, 'I was just admiring your sewing. It's really good.'

'Well I had a good teacher, didn't I?'

'Did you? Who was it?'

'You clutz. It was you, silly! Remember when you taught me to sew up hems?'

'I did?'

'Yeah! When we needed to remake the curtains? Oh come on-'

'Oh right, I remember! I remember that!' you jumped up and down, holding onto Lay's hands which forced him to jump up and down too. 

Your professor looked up and upon seeing you enjoying yourself, he made a mental note and sent a text to Mr Park.

Ms Shin is back again, sir.

 

---

 

Completely unaware of what was going on, on the other side of Seoul, Luhan and Minki had laid down their routine to a T. Dripping with sweat, Luhan hit the play button on the stereo and the music blared out of the speakers of the underground practice room they were in. A female trainee came into the room and upon seeing her, Minki turned off the music immediately.

'Oppa, you're too loud. We need to practice too.'

'Mianhae, we'll turn it down a little.'

'Thanks!'

She turned to leave but turned around just before you reached the door. 

'By the way... Luhan-oppa?'

'Yeah?'

'Hwaiting!'

She ran off down the hallway to her own training room and Minki sat down on the floor feeling dejected. Luhan bit his lip and passed him an energy drink and his towel, sitting down beside him in silence.

'Don't. Okay? Don't think what you're thinking.' he said

'It's all true though, Luhan. Maybe I should just give up?'

'We're going to get through together, Minki-ah. Okay? Together. We'll do it.'

'But-'

'Look. I've heard from some of the other trainees that the guy from Busan-'

'Junsu?'

'Yeah, him. He's hurt his leg and his partner isn't very good either.'

'So?'

'So it's more than likely that the both of them will be eliminated and we'll both be able to debut.'

'In an ideal world.'

'Look at this audition as a challenge, Minki, not a problem.'

'But-'

'Say it. Say 'this audition is only a challenge but I will be triumphant'.'

'Luhan-'

'Say it.'

'This audition is only a challenge but I will be triumphant.'

'There we go. Feel better?'

'I do, actually.'

'Then?'

Minki stood up and held out his hand for Luhan. He grabbed it and jumped up, ready to start practicing again.

'Let's do this,' Minki said, 'Let's go in, win it and kill it.'

 

 

 

---

---

I have to hand it to one of my wonderful subscribers. Back in July last year, I asked in an author note what my subbies thought was going to happen when Haneul returned to London and Subongee♡ wrote this:

'They call up Haneul's cousin to persuade her into going back to Korea. Her cousin agrees after being annoyed by Ah Ri and Maddie for so long and (within the midst of trying to get her to go back) ends up telling her the true reason why she cannot stay in London, a.k.a, the gangs that had gone after her family have realized that there is still one member of the family left. They will will hunt her down and it'll be too dangerous for her in London and she must go back to Korea. The thing is, is that he didn't tell her that they were actually looking for him, not her, so he in the end sacrifices himself to end the harassment of the gang to his/her family and leaves her a letter as her mother and father did before her spilling out more juicy secrets about his uncle and how he really cared for her safety and other sentimental stuff ^_^'

I can now say that 7 months later, the secret plot has been revealed! Yay! I've been planning this for such a long time! The first half was put in the last few chapters of 'That Girl, That Boy' and the rest has finally come out! See how hard I have to plan? Aigoo.

 

p.s I'll admit: ma baby Chanyeol looks good with any hairstyle ok

*just in case people who don't speak English as a first language are wondering: 'to a T' means 'precisely' or 'acurately' ^^