2AM’s leader Jo Kwon to enter military after their concert.

After Ga-in saw the headline her world stopped. She didn’t think of anything else and abruptly grabbed her Narsha unnie’s car keys. She didn’t want to waste time. The concert was two days away and she knew that he was busy. If she didn’t talk to him now, she wouldn’t have a chance to. How could he hide something so important from me? She thought as she was driving.

Everything…everything from the moment she saw the news till she got into the car was a blur to her. The only clear thing to her right now is Kwon.

She dug her phone from her pocket and started dialing his number. Come on pick it up! She thought, anxiously.

The number you dialed is out of reach.

Exasperated, she dialed Seulong’s number.

“Hello?” he said at the third ring.

“Why don’t you pick up earlier Ong?” Ga-in said irritated.

“What is the matter with you? You call me out of the blue and now this?” Seulong couldn’t believe his friend “Are you driving?” he asked.

“I am. Now listen to me and listen good. Where’s Kwon?”

“He’s with me right now at the concert rehearsal; you know you shouldn’t bother him. He seems rather busy.” He told her.

“I don’t care if he’s busy or what, I need to speak to him right now. Where are you?” she said.

“Oh~ is this about the news?” Seulong said enlightened. “You know, once he makes a decision, there’s no turning back.”

“Just tell me where you are…” she said irritated.

“We are at the concert hall…” he said.

“Right. I’ll be right there…” she said as she hung up. I hope I make it in time, she thought as she sped away.

*******************************

“What was that hyung?” Kwon said as he saw Seulong talking to someone.

“Nothing. Just a friend…so where are we Kwon-ah?” he said innocently which made 2AM’s leader raise a brow at him and shrug.

“Okay, at these sequences I want it to be…” he said as he showed s the papers he was holding.

“You know, we are going to miss you Kwon-hyung” Jinwoon said.

“It’s going to be okay there. You can do it! I survived; I know you will too…” Changmin said encouraging Kwon.

“And after you come out, we’ll still be here…” Seulong said smiling. Their leader just looks at s and smiled. He was thankful for the three of them and they’ve gone through so much.

“Kwon-ah, can we speak for a minute?”

Kwon looked and saw his JYP hyung and excused himself.

Just then, Ga-in went into view and stormed in the concert hall. She saw the 2AM members but not with Kwon.

“Where is Kwon?” she said angrily.

“You came rather fast!” Seulong said amused.

“I was nearby Ong, now where is he?” she said tapping her foot impatiently.

“Ga-in ah, I don’t think now is the time to…” Changmin said.

“He’s at the dressing room at the back…” Seulong said which made Changmin and Jinwoon look at him weirdly.

“Thanks.” She said as she hurriedly went to look for Kwon.

“What was that all about hyung? Why did you tell noona where Kwon-hyung was? He was in a meeting with JYP-hyung. You know both of them don’t want to be interrupted when they are in a meeting!” Jinwoon said worried.

“Don’t worry Jinwoonie, trust me…even JYP-hyung would give permission to this…” he said patting his maknae’s shoulder. “You have a lot to learn maknae…”

“I guess she saw the news?” Changmin said amused.

“She most certainly did.” Seulong said smiling.

***************************

“Kwon, the sequences for the concert is okay to me, but I suggest that we should alter this part.” JYP said as he closed the door of the dressing room behind him.

Kwon looked at the sheet intently and said “I guess that could be arranged.” 2AM’s leader reviewed the other sequences and was oblivious to the fact that JYP was staring at him.

“You know, your members were shocked by the news. They will miss you.” JYP said to his dongsaeng.

“I know, but I have to do this for myself hyung. Sorry if I was that selfish. Sorry if it seems like an inconvienience in the agency’s part…” Kwon said guilty.

“Don’t worry about that. It was your decision to make and when you get out, you will always have a home to return to. Have you told Ga-in yet?” he told his dongsaeng worried.

“I haven’t…but I guess she already saw the news.” Kwon said shrugging.

Just then, Ga-in suddenly barged in the dressing room “Care to explain any of this, Jo Kwon?” she said angrily.

Kwon muttered under his breath, “That didn’t take long…”

Ga-in saw JYP and was momentarily self-concious. She was about to retreat but she focused on the issue on hand and stood her ground.

“I’ll leave you two alone.” He said to Kwon.

“I’m sorry for barging in like this oppa…” Ga-in said bowing but JYP just patted her shoulder.

I just hope you come out of this alive Kwon, JYP thought as he closed the door.

As soon as the door closed, Ga-in approached Kwon like an angered wild cat. If the situation wasn’t this tense Kwon would’ve laughed at the silliness of it but once he did that Ga-in wouldn’t forgive him ever, so he waited.

“What the hell is this all about Jo Kwon? Care to explain?” she said, hands on her hips.

She looks adorable right now, he thought. Sighing, he said “The news is true. As soon as the concert ends, I’m going to enter the military and will be gone for about 2 years.”

“Why did you decide on this so soon? Why hide this from me?” she said almost shouting.

“I already planned this out Ga-in noona…” he said and she cringed on the fact that he’s calling her noona. “I wanted to do this for myself…”

“Why did you wait for the news to get to me before I knew about it? What the hell is this Kwon-ah? Am I not that important anymore?” she said teary-eyed.

Kwon looked at her and took a step closer but she stepped back. “No, you have to explain to me everything…” she said.

He sighed and took a seat. “I wanted to tell you but everything was too complicated for us these past few months…and you even proposed that we should concentrate on our careers first, what was I supposed to think Ga-in ah?”

That did it. Her eyes softened and she took a seat next to him. “I know it’s my fault. I suggested this setup. But Kwon ah…” she looked at him in the eyes. “If I didn’t do this we would’ve destroyed something so beautiful. Every time we talked to each other we were angry. We aren’t there for each other anymore. What was I supposed to do?” she said tears finally falling.

Kwon saw her crying that he couldn’t take it anymore. He hugged her and they stayed that way for a while.

After she drained herself of all the emotions that were bottled up, she said “What happened Kwon ah? What happened to us?”

“I don’t know…I guess we are now facing reality…” he looked at her and said “Ga-in that night at Jeju…what you saw between me and Rin…”

Ga-in put a finger in his lips to silence him “I know…I know it’s neither yours nor Rin’s fault. I admit that I’m jealous. I was insecure of our relationship.”

“Insecure?” he said confused.

“This was something…” she said then locked eyes with him “What we have was something I didn’t want to lose. What we have is special and beautiful that I was too afraid to lose it. We both know that our careers are too important to us but I also didn’t want to lose what we have. I’m too selfish, aren’t I?” She admitted.

He took her hand and entwined it with his. “What we have is too important to me Ga-in ah. Don’t ever tell me that you’re selfish because equally I am too…maybe more.” He said and she smiled.

“How I miss that smile of yours…” Kwon said tenderly touching her face.

“I missed you too…so much.” She said. “I guess we were just punishing ourselves with this silliness?” she said laughing which made him laugh with her. How he missed the sound of her laughter.

She leaned back at the couch resting her head on his shoulder and said “So what now?”

He looked at their entwined hands and playfully poked it. “Do you trust me?”

Ga-in jerked her head up and looked at him seriously, “Of course I trust you…don’t ever doubt…” she said but he pressed his lips on hers.

“And you should trust that I’m doing this for me…for us. We need to grow separately for the moment and before you know it, I’ll be back.” He said smiling.

“Who gave you the idea that I’m going to sit here and wait around for 2 years, I might be dating someone else by that time…” she said chicly.

“Yah! SON GA-IN!” he said angrily which made her laugh.

I missed this, she thought as she kissed him.

“I will try my best to wait for you…” she said teasing him which made him raise his brow. She laughed and added “I love you yeobo~”

His eyes softened as he told her back “I love you too yeobo~ more than you’ll ever know.”

***************************

Ga-in was walking around near where 2AM’s concert was being held, nervously. It was THE concert day and she was anxious. This was the last concert before Kwon would enter the military and 2AM would temporarily have solo projects. This was also the concert where he would formally thank and temporarily say goodbye to his fans. She decided not to attend the concert to his protests.

*flashback*

“Why won’t you attend yeobo~ This is going to be the last concert before I enter the military and it means a lot to me if you do…” he said pouting.

“We’ve talked about this and you shouldn’t make that face…” she said smirking.

“Why, does this turn you on?” he said whispering to her, which made her blush.

“You two make me wanna gag…” Seulong said, cringing “At least everything’s fine.” he said as the couple reddened at his comment while Jinwoon and Changmin were laughing.

*end flashback*

“Unnie?” Rin said suddenly which made her break out of her reverie.

“Rin ah” she said smiling. Rin was with Sunye and the latter just nodded at them.

“I guess I’ll be going in then…see you around Rin, Ga-in unnie.” Sunye smiled.

Rin just looked at Ga-in guilty. “Unnie, I’m sorry about last time. I didn’t mean it. I didn’t want to lose you as a friend. I—“

Ga-in stepped closer and hugged her “That’s alright; we were all victims of the situation. Don’t worry about it. Besides, I wouldn’t want to lose a dongsaeng right?” she said smiling.

“Thanks unnie…” she said hugging her back. Rin broke the hug and asked her “Aren’t you going to watch the concert?”

“No I’m staying…go, you might miss the concert besides Minho oppa and the other BEG unnies are watching. I just wanted stay here.” She said and Rin smiled at her before she went in the concert hall.

RING…RING…

“Hello?” Ga-in said

“Yah~ Ga-in ah why aren’t you here?” Miryo told her and she could hear the fans screaming in the background.

“We’ve talked abut this and Kwon understands” Ga-in said.

“Anyway, you’ve got to listen to this!” Narsha said which made her curious. She even heard a ‘that’s so sweet’ comment from her JeA unnie.

“I AMs! This would be the last concert together as a group…for now.” Seulong said which earned cries from their fans. “And now I will give the floor to our leader Jo Kwon!”

“I AMs! This might sound a little selfish after all the support you’ve given us but I would like to inform you of it because all of you are too important to us…especially to me.” Kwon sighed and continued “The news is true…I will temporarily leave 2AM. I will be entering the military for 2 years…” he said as the crowd wailed.

“Please do continue to support 2AM. Please continue to support the solo projects of my members Changmin, Seulong and Jinwoon. Everything they will go through is also my pride. 2 years is a short time everyone. I will be back before you know it.”

“Everything we do is all for you…everything I do is for you. Please wait for me. I love you” Kwon said as Changmin grabbed the mic.

“And with this, we would like to sing the song that started it all and which means a lot to us, this is ‘Inorae’” Changmin said

And as the instrumentals of their first song played, Jinwoon said, “We will meet you all as a complete 2AM soon…” 2AM’s maknae said in tears while the crowd was starting to chant “2AM...2AM…”

“Oh my God Ga-in ah, that was too beautiful…that was….memorable” JeA said between tears.

Ga-in didn’t need anyone to explain anything to her. She knew Kwon’s last line was for her. She cried for the fans and she cried for their guts to face their supporters.

I love you.

*****************************

“What are you doing today Ga-in ah?” JeA said as she saw her maknae come in the studio.

“Oh nothing unnie…I just wanna give my best too while Kwon is doing his…” she said smiling.

“Are you sure you won’t want to see him off?” she asked her dongsaeng.

“I’m sure unnie…” Ga-in said as she went in the booth “I want to practice this song…” she said smiling.

JeA just smiled at her maknae’s strength and said “Get ready…”

A/N:

Forever and Always – END. And yes, I was listening to “Inorae” while writing 2AM’s speech at the concert, it seems fitting. After 214 pages and 2 years of being off and on hiatus I finally finished my first and memorable (and long) AC fanfic. Thanks to everyone who supported and cheered me on eventhough sometimes I let you down on my slow updates. I am very thankful for you guys. An epilogue is in order, yes?