I was about 16 and I was homeless. My parents died when I was young and I was put into an orphanage, but I hated it there so I ran away. Even though I ran away I was still miserable; I had nothing, absolutely nothing. People were constantly after me as well because my parents were in debt when they died. So I had to hide and run away a lot. I was starving too; I was lucky if I found something to eat once a day, but I rarely did. I had nowhere to sleep, so sometime I wouldn’t even bother sleeping. I didn’t go to school and it’s not like I wanted to go to school anyway. I tried to get a job, but no one would hire me. One night I was just walking down the street when a few guys spotted me.

“Hey guys, isn’t that Yang Hyori?” one of them asked. “Oh my god, it is! DUDE GET HER!”

That’s when I started running. I was hungry, tired and I didn’t know where I was going. I just kept running, but the fatigue got to me. I ran into in an alleyway which ended up being a dead-end. They surrounded me; I had nowhere else to go.      

I was standing against the wall and there were 3 men getting closer to me. “Just kill me already.” I said coldly to them.

One of them laughed. “Now, there’s no fun in that! You’re a pretty girl; we’ll enjoy our time with you.”

“Disgusting.” I mumbled under my breath. I was deciding whether I should try to run or not. They didn’t have a gun with them, but I saw that one had a knife. I kicked the one with the knife in an area where he didn’t want to be kicked and he fell to the floor. I punched the other two and ran.

“.” I heard one of them say. “You’re not getting away!”

They came after me and the one with the knife grabbed my collar. “You know maybe we should just kill you.”

“Do it.” The other guy said to him.

I closed my eyes, I was ready to die, and I had no reason to live anyway. I was anticipating for him to slit my throat or something, but nothing happened. Next thing I knew someone had pulled me into their arms and the three guys were on the floor dead. I looked at who was holding me. He was gorgeous. He had light brown hair and was really chinky.  

“Are you okay?” he asked me.

I nodded, but then everything out. I had fainted, probably because of how weak I was and all the running I had done.

 

-----

 

I woke up with the sun shining in my face. I was in an unknown room on an unknown bed, but it felt good to be on a bed again. I heard people talking and I sat up in bed. Someone came into the room.

“Oh you’re awake.” It was the boy who saved me last night. He looked even better since I could see him clearly in daylight.

I was speechless; I didn’t know what to say so I just nodded.

He chuckled. “I bet you’re hungry. Come on.” He walked out of the room and I followed. I walked into what looked like the living room I saw five other guys and a girl.

“Our guest finally woke up!” the one with red hair spoke.

“You slept for a long time.” The one with big lips added.

The girl spoke this time. “There’s food in the kitchen, after you eat I’ll go get some clothes for you so you could shower, but first let’s introduce ourselves. I’m Jang Jaehwa.” Then she pointed to the boy that saved me. “That’s Lee Byunghun, but people call him L.Joe.”

Then she pointed to each of the other boys. “Bang Minsoo, known as C.A.P. Lee Chanhee, Chunji. Ahn, Daniel, Niel. Yoo Changhyun, Ricky. And Choi Jonghyun, Changjo.” They all waved and I waved back.

“What’s your name?” L.Joe asked me.

“Yang Hyori.” I replied as Jaehwa grabbed my hand and led me to the kitchen. She got out a plate, put some food on it, and gave it to me.

“Eat up.” She smiled and walked into another room. I sat down and dug in. It was like heaven in my mouth. I haven’t had food like this in forever and I finished everything super quickly. The guys just did their own thing. Chunji and Ricky were watching tv, Changjo and Niel were playing cards, and CAP was reading a book. They didn’t make me feel uncomfortable at all. L.Joe came and sat next to me.

“I’m guessing you don’t have anywhere to go.” he said.

I nodded. “I’m actually homeless…”

“How old are you?” he asked.

“16.” I answered.

“I see. I’m 16 as well. You can stay for as long as you like.” He smiled.

I nearly died. He was so cute. Jaehwa came out of the room with a towel and clothes and handed them to me.

“Everything you need is in the bathroom.”

“Thank you.” I told her and walked towards the bathroom.

I took a nice hot shower, it felt so good. These people barely know me, but they’ve treated me so kindly. Tears began to fall down my cheek. I came out and most of the guys were gone. L.Joe was sitting on the couch reading a magazine and Jaehwa was on her laptop.

“Where did everyone go?” I asked them.

“Out, they’ll be back tonight.” L.Joe answered me.

“Byunghun, why don’t you take her out?” Jaehwa was still looking at her laptop screen.

L.Joe put down the magazine and got up to go put on a hoodie since it was chilly outside. “Let’s go then.”

He led me out the door.

“Where do you want to go?” he asked me.

I shrugged. “Anywhere.”

He smiled, “Okay, to the mall it is.”

The walk was somewhat awkward. We didn’t really talk to each other. I tried to ask him a couple of questions, but he would reply with short answers and vice versa. I could tell he wasn’t a big talker. I asked if he lived with all those people and he said no. They were all just good childhood friends that hang out with each other. It was actually his house and they would sleep over for as long as they want to, but they did go home eventually. He asked me about my parents and I told him they passed away when I was young. I could see the pity in his eyes and that’s something I hated more than anything: someone that pitied me. 

We arrived at the mall. I had no idea why we came here though because I had absolutely no money to buy anything but it’s whatever. We mainly just walked around the stores looking through the windows, occasionally going in to look, but not buying anything. He asked me if I wanted something and I shook my head. I was already in his debt; I didn’t want to owe him anymore. We passed by a jewelry store and one of the necklaces caught my eye. It was a silver and gold heart pendent. I stared at it for awhile before walking away, knowing that I would never be able to buy it.

“Hmmm, would you like to go home now? Since it seems like we aren’t going to buy anything.” L.Joe asked me.

I nodded.   

_____

It’s been six months since I’ve been staying with them. I felt like I finally had somewhere to belong, but still I felt empty inside. Jaehwa asked me if I wanted to go to school, but I declined her offer because school is expensive. I tried to get a job, but Byunghun said it wasn’t necessary.

Byunghun and I started to get closer. He was the one I mainly spoke to and he took me out to places whenever he wasn’t busy. I don’t know when or how it started, but I think I began to develop feelings for him. I was sitting down talking to Jaehwa one night when she brought it up.

“Hyori, I see the way you look at Byunghun. You like him don’t you?” she asked me.

I blushed immediately. “What! I would never.”

“I see you blushing, no need to hide it. I think he likes you too. He usually looks at girls with disgust because they tend to throw themselves at him, but the way he looks at you is different. I can’t believe our little L.Joe would consider liking someone.” She got up from her seat. “If you like him, you should tell him.” She winked at me before heading off to bed.

 

Did I like him? I don’t know. I guess I did, but maybe it was just because he was always there for me and he was the only person that I could talk to. I decided to go to the park for some fresh air. It wasn’t that far from Byunghun’s house so I just went alone without telling anyone. I was sitting on a bench just thinking, when I started to get cold. I had forgotten to grab a sweater on my way out. I started rubbing my arms for some heat when I felt something drape on my shoulders.

“Silly girl leaving the house without a sweater on a cold night like this, you’re going to get sick.” I looked up and saw Byunghun looking down at me. I blushed.

“Thanks.” I said to him.

“What are you doing out here?” he asked me.

“Just thinking.”

“About?”

“My life at the moment, I don’t want to keep relying on you or Jaehwa plus I feel like a big burden since you guys already have a lot of people to take care of; your boys.”

Byunghun sat down next to me. “Look, you don’t have to worry about any of that. Didn’t I tell you before you could stay for as long as you like? Don’t worry about those things.”

I felt tears begin to form in my eyes. Byunghun was really an angel sent to help me. I would probably be dead without him here at the moment. He’s help me through so much. Before I knew it actual tears were falling down my cheeks. I felt him pull me into his arms.

“Shhhh, don’t cry Hyori. It’ll be okay. I’ll always be here for you.”

I looked up and he wiped my tears away. After that he bent his head a little and I closed my eyes. I felt our lips touch and it was the best feeling ever.

We walked back home hand in hand. Jaehwa saw us from the window and smiled to herself.

 

_____

For the next year and a half, it was the best time of my life. I had five great friends that were always around. I finally got a nice job and last but not least I had a wonderful boyfriend. Nothing could ruin this for me now. Or so I thought nothing could, but little did I know that people were watching me. They’ve been watching me for over a year and at this point it was the best time to ruin everything for me.

Byunghun called and told me to meet him at the park because he had a surprise for me. I was walking towards the park when I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around and saw no one there so I kept walking. I didn’t see him anywhere and called him.

“I’ll be there in a few minutes honey.” He said to me.

I decided to just walk around some more while he came. Little did I know there a man behind a tree watching me. The man pulled out a gun and aimed for the back of my head. He pulled the trigger, but that’s right when Byunghun appear and went behind me.

“.” The man said to himself.

I heard a gunshot and turned around to see my boyfriend lying on the floor blood oozing out of his shirt. I screamed.

“BYUNGHUN. WHAT! HOW!” I look around and saw the man behind the tree. He must’ve been someone sent to kill me, but shot Byunghun instead.

Tears started streaming down my face as I called an ambulance. I bent down and put his head in my lap. “Byunghun stay with me, the ambulance is coming, don’t you dare leave me.”

He pulled something out from his pocket; it was a small blue box and handed it to me.

“I love you Hyori.” He whispered before closing his eyes.

“NOOO. BYUNGHUN DON’T CLOSE YOUR EYES. YOU HAVE TO STAY!” I put the small blue box in my pocket and held his hand. “Byunghun…”

The ambulance came and he was rushed to a hospital immediately. I waited outside the emergency room and called Jaehwa and Teen Top. They came immediately as well.

“Where is he?” Jaehwa asked me.

“He’s still in the room.” We all sat down and about an hour later the doctor came out.

“Lee Byunghun?” he asked.

We all nodded. He looked at us sympathetically. “I’m sorry, but he couldn’t make it.”

At that moment my heart broke, it was as if everything has been ripped apart from me. I bent down and cried. Everyone cried.

After that I went back to the house depressed and in pain. My one true love has been taken from me and it was my fault. That bullet was meant for me not him. I remembered that he handed me a blue box and I opened it. It was the silver and gold heart pendent necklace that I remember looking at the first time he took me to the mall.

 

I took out the necklace from under my shirt. “This is it.” I showed it to Sumi. I looked up at her and saw she had tears in her eyes.

“Omg Hyori Unnie… your story is so sad.”

I sighed. “Well, what can I do?”

“Do you still love him?” she asked me.

“Even though it’s been 2 years, of course I do and I probably will always love him.” I answered her.

“Will you ever love anyone else?”

“Hmm… maybe. When the time comes, but for now I have photography, and tutoring you of course. All I can do is just reminisce about the past.” I put the necklace back into my shirt. “Now finish your problems!”

Sumi pouted. “BUT I WANT TO KNOW MORE! Like what happened after his death? And like where did you guys go and all your dates and you know that good stuff. YOU MISSED A LOT OF DETAILS ABOUT YOUR LIFE WITH HIM!”

I chuckled at her. “I’ll save all the details for another day.”

“Fine. Unnie. You know Unnie, I could hook you up. I think Sungyeol Oppa likes you.” She giggled.

I glared at her. “Sumi.”

“Fine fine I’ll finish my work.”  

 

I walked up the hill with flowers in my hand. I bent down when I reached my destination.   

LEE BYUNGHUN. 1990 - 2008

Forever will be missed.    

I placed the flowers down. “Byunghun-ah. It’s been two years since you’ve been gone. Rest in peace, arraso? Don’t worry about me anymore. I’m doing just fine.”  

     

 

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