I received a call from Sanghyuk; that Seunghoon is at the police station. He got into fight with Hajin and that nobody was around to bail him out. His father didn’t pick up his call so Sanghyuk called me instead, even though I’m pretty sure Seunghoon was against the idea.

When I arrive, Sanghyuk is there to get me.

“Hajin is the son to his father’s client. Seunghoon’s father is furious so he isn’t coming,” Sanghyuk explains.

I act as Seunghoon’s guardian and bailed him out the police staon. I bring both Sanghyuk and Seunghoon to a nearby Korean restaurant for a warm dinner. It’s been quiet for awhile as I watch the two boys stuffing themselves. Seunghoon doesn’t seem too thrilled about having dinner together but the sight that he’s having one in front of my eyes soothes the anxiety that has been plaguing my mind these past few days. But then another feeling is taking me over, and I can feel it building up inside me. I take a deep breath.

“How are you doing, Seunghoon?” I finally broke the silence.

Seunghoon hesitated before he answers. “Good.”

“You don’t...” I choke on my own words, “it doesn’t look that way to me.”

“Teacher...” Sanghyuk looks at me worriedly. I have to clench my fist so hard in order not to break down in front of these boys.

“I’m fine, really. This will be the last time you see me in trouble...” after a short pause, “I swear.”

I nod and smile at him. “I know. I trust you.”

Seunghoon looks away. “You don’t have to cry, jeez...”

“I’m not crying!” I quickly wipe away my wet eyes as I give him a judging side look. “So are you coming back to Intae’s studio?”

“No.”

His answer had me taken aback. “What do y-”

“I’m not coming back to Intae’s studio. There’s still a lot for me to learn by myself. I had been too dependent on you guys.” Seunghoon pauses shortly, “you’ve done so much for me, and I think it’s time that I decide for myself.”

“But Seunghoon, Intae and I are ready to provide you any assistance in order to-”

“I’d never give up my dream… Don’t worry about that… I just… Need some time to think... And to find a way to convince my dad. Afterall… He’s the only family I have.”

“Seunghoon, I...” I don’t know what to say. I have never expect that he would say that, ever. I should be supporting him if that is his decision, but to be real honest, I’m not confident that that could happen.

“Please... Teacher...”

“I’m sorry…” I feel so sorry, so much regret for not being able to help him more than I did. Because he deserves so much more.

“Don’t be. I’ll be fine.”

“Intae and I will-”

“No, don’t. I’ll be okay. I’m sorry for all the troubles I have caused. And… Thank you for everything. I’ll be good, I promise.” Seunghoon says each word carefully, and then stands up and bows to me. As soon as he turns around, I stand up.

“Seunghoon!”

Seunghoon looks back at me, waiting patiently for the words I’m about to say.

“I’m... I’m very proud of you.”

He smiles, even though it looks so bitter, but he smiles at me. He gives me one last nod and then walks away.

-

5 months later…

Seunghoon is cleaning up the tables at the restaurant he works at. He glances at the clock, and it’s only ten minutes away from midnight. He takes a deep breath and steels himself for whatever work that is left. He quickly wraps up his works and bids goodbye to the restaurant owner.

Seunghoon is so tired he almost feels like his body is tearing apart. Even then, he just stares at the bus passing by, choosing to walk home to save whatever pennies he could save. Yoonyul was right all along. Life is tough, especially if you’re a drop out. He couldn’t afford any better job than the minimum paying wages because he doesn’t even have a high school diploma.

But Seunghoon doesn’t regret his decision.

He tried his best at his new school, and stayed on his father’s good side, but his father still refused to let him pursue his passion. But Seunghoon wanted to keep his promise with Yoonyul. He never gave up his dream, which led him to many fights with his father until he was finally kicked out of his house.

Now, Seunghoon leaves alone in a shabby rooftop room with no toilet or heater. It’s still hard to make ends meet, despite the low renting rate. When he gets home, it’s way past dinner time, but he hasn’t had any yet. He is too tired he doesn’t even fix himself a quick instant noodle. Most of the time, he just falls asleep, exhausted.

On his off days, Seunghoon would make music in his room. Sometimes he takes a walk outside with his guitar, and plays music by himself. On the weekend, he might get the occasional gigs at cafes or clubs. Today is one of those days. He takes the train and gets off at the sixth station and walks to the cafe. He had performed at the cafe once before. The manager said his band is not available all of a sudden and asked Seunghoon to come here several days ago.

Seunghoon walks towards the backstage, towards the preparation room. To his surprise, the room is already occupied by a bunch of guys.

“Hey, you must be the guy who performs here previously,” one of them approaches him.

“Yeah. And you guys are...?”

“We’re taking over the stage now. Sorry to break this to you but you’re no longer needed here, dude.”

Seunghoon frowns. “Wait. What was that again? I didn’t hear anything from the manager. Why suddenly-”

“Dude, face it. We’ve been in this game for longer and you’re a nobody. When they say you’re out, then you’re out.”

“But the manager didn’t say anything about-”

“He doesn’t want you here anymore.  You’re just filling in the gap while he seals the deal with us. This place is ours to start with. Honestly, you’re just so-so.”

“Watch your mouth.” Seunghoon’s jaw hardens.

“What? It’s the truth! You’re just a wishy washy kid who thinks he’s all that just because you carry around a guitar. Let’s be honest, you’re just doing this because the girls dig it don’t you? Come on, I heard you dropped out of school. That says a lot.” The guys turns around only to share his laughter with his bandmates. What he doesn’t expect is a firm punch flying towards his jaw.

Too bad for Seunghoon. He might have fought a lot, but he has never win alone against five grown adults.

Which resulted in him being thrown in the alley with bruises (and perhaps a broken rib or two) all over his body. To his surprise,  a tall, familiar figure is leaning on the wall at the back of the cafe, as if waiting for Seunghoon.

“You’re done yet?” Intae asks. He threw away hsi cigarette and squishes it under his feet.

“What... You’re waiting for me?” Seunghoon asks, barely keeping himself conscious. He is starting to see Intae double. .

Intae shrugs. “Honestly, I paid for the band to perform here again. I’m sure you met them already.”

Seunghoon sighs. “ you.”

And the world turns black.

-

As soon as he opens his eyes, Seunghoon sees Intae. The older man is sitting next to his bed, looking as if he has been waiting for a long time, for Seunghoon to be awake.

“Good morning,” Intae tells him with a lazy smirk.

Seunghoon feels a little confused. He looks around. The sun has just risen outside. And the room pretty much looks like a hospital to him.

“Am I in a hospital?” Seunghoon asks.

Intae simply shrugs. “Pretty obvious, don’t you think?”

Seunghoon sighs in regret. He slowly brings himself up. Deep inside, he curses himself for being careless, letting himself being helped by Intae again.

“I shouldn’t be here,” he tells Intae. Intae glares at him before he looks away as he sighs in disappointment.

“Look at you. Shouldn’t you be thanking me, huh?”

Seunghoon’s gaze lowers. “Thank you,” he says softly, but it surprises Intae. Intae wonders how much this kid had went through to have humbled him this much.  Seunghoon would never say such things to him before. All this time, they had been crass to each other.

“Is that all? Don’t you have anything else to say? Any questions?”

Seunghoon hesitates a bit, and then his lips parted, “how is she?”

Intae chuckles, his smile a cross between amusement, disbelief, and expected surprise.

-

2.00 p.m.

After my class ends, I receive a surprising news from Intae’s phone call. He said, ‘I found your little pet. He’s in the hospital with me.’ He didn’t tell me who it is, but I know already. I rush to the hospital, heading straight to the room that Intae texted me. As soon as I open the door, a mixture of emotions rush through me. My chest feels stuffy all of a sudden as I stand stiff at the doorframe. Intae is there, sitting on the visitor’s chair next to Seunghoon who is on the hospital bed. Seunghoon doesn’t look well, with lots of fresh bruises on his face and bandage around his head.

“Seunghoon… What’s going on?” I turn to Intae when Seunghoon seems reluctant to open his mouth.

“You know him. Got into a fight.”

“I wasn’t fighting,” Seunghoon retorts, annoyed, but Intae just chuckles.

“Yeah, he wasn’t. He just let himself gets beaten up.”

“Oh, Seunghoon.” I walk to him and wrap my arms around him, “It’s okay now… Everything’s okay now…”

After a few of moment, I hear Intae clearing his throat.

“Okay, that’s enough.” Intae says.

-

New Year’s Eve.

11.45 p.m.

In the end, Seunghoon doesn’t graduate high school. Anyway, he is now officially Intae’s personal intern, working hard under Intae, doing all sorts of odd jobs aside from making music, and Intae sort of forced him to stay in the dormitory along with the company’s young and aspired trainess. I’m just glad that Seunghoon has a roof to stay under, and an adult to lean on. He also gets to make friends who share similar passion with his.

On the other hand, I still teach, as a part timer in a cram school at night. During the day, I’m a graduate student. As for Intae, well, of course… He’s sweet and shy in the day and edgy and bolder during the night. I guess I get the best of both worlds.

I knock on the door and then enter his studio. Intae briefly looks up and smile at me. I take a sit next to him. Intae fiddled some buttons on the control board for a while and then turns off his computer.

“I’m done,” he says. He stands up, and I stand up along with him. He puts his arm around me and we leave the room together. We come across Seunghoon at the lift lobby. He has just left a studio room with a trainee and seems to be in a discussion. Whenever I see Seunghoon, I feel like my world brighten up.

“Seunghoon!”

“Oh…” Seunghoon looks at us with a blank expression. He gives me a small bow and then clears his throat.

“Are you done for the day?” Intae asks him. Seunghoon nods. And then Intae adds, “Good. Don’t go anywhere and rest at home.”

Seunghoon clears his throat. “Tch. I go wherever I want,” Seunghoon mutters under his breath which I could clearly hear. I laugh at their banter as Intae rolls his eyes.

“I heard that one song you made for Crush. I really love it. I like the lyrics too. You wrote the lyrics for that song, didn’t you?” I ask Seunghoon.

Seunghoon nods, looking so adorable when he is totally abashed and trying his best not to show his happiness underneath that cold exterior, but the small smile which cracks on his lips sort of gives it away.

“That was my first time writing lyrics…” he mumbles.

“It was? But it was so good! You have a knack in literature, I should have realized that before.”

“It’s because he half-assed his homework all the time,” Intae chips in. I subtly glare at him, but he looks nothing but proud to have outdone Seunghoon in their childish banter. Seunghoon’s expression has always been subtle in everything, but he does look annoyed at Intae’s remarks. Well, Intae is stating the truth, but he could have act more mature. Tsk, tsk.

After giving a tiny glare towards the older man, I turn to Seunghoon. “The past doesn’t matter anymore. We should have a chat sometimes.”

“Yeah. Sure, I guess,” Seunghoon shrugs.

“Shall we leave now, Miss Bae?” Intae asks me with a fake smile. Hee, annoying Intae can be fun sometimes.

We both step into the elevator. I wave at Seunghoon as the elevator door closes in, and he smiles back at me.

As the elevator goes up, Intae observes the number rising at the floor indicator. And then he suddenly asks me, “are you that happy to see him?”

I smile at the elevator door. “Uh-hm.”

Intae chuckles. “Are you trying to make me jealous?”

“Tch. Why should you be, when you’re the one who stole my heart.”

Intae finally looks at me. My heart pounds against my chest to see his handsome smirk, but when he does that, I know that he’s up to no good.

“What…?”

“You’re so perfect…” Intae walks towards me, forcing me to step backwards until my back meet the cold stainless steel wall.

“Intae, don’t,” I warn him, but he probably isn’t taking me too seriously because I am smiling.

His face gradually inches closer to mine.

“…I just want to kiss you.”

And he takes my breath away.

When we get onto the rooftop garden, there’s a mat lying on the ground, waiting for us, with a bottle of red wine in an ice bucket and a couple of wine glass on top of it. To top it off, the small garden is decorated with Christmas lights all over form last Christmas. I didn’t expect for Intae to prepare anything special because I thought we are just going to watch the new year fireworks together. The sight is just amazing. We both sit on the mat, snuggle up to each other for warmth with wine glass in our hands.

I love how simple it is, just him and me, spending time together where there’s no people around in a nice place.

I rest my head against his broad shoulder as I look into the starry sky. “Intae?”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you so much.”

“Anything for you, my queen.”

I laugh. Cheesy, but I love it, because he only says those things when we’re alone.

“Not just for this, but for everything. Including Seunghoon.”

Intae shrugs. “I feel like I have to.”

“Why do you insist on helping Seunghoon so much? I know it’s not because of me.”

“Because I was just like him when I was younger. I was so lost, and there were a thousand times when I wish I could lean on someone. And of course, he’s talented, and brings in cash for the company.”

I chuckle against his chest.

“It must have been hard for you.”

“I didn’t regret a thing. If I was given a chance to turn back time and change my life back then, I wouldn’t. If things were different, I might not meet you.”

I look into his eyes, and I see so much gratitude and love. I’m feeling the same too, but there’s nothing in this world can show how thankful I am for having met this man in my life.

“Me neither. I wouldn’t change a thing either,” I tell him.

The fireworks started. He grabs my fingers and gently kiss me on the lips.

True, I don’t like bad boys, but my special Intae is an exception.

A/N: It's the final chapter! The story has ended, finally! Big, BIG apology to all my faithful readers. I really didnt mean to take so long between updates, especially for the final chapter. The ending is a little lacking, but I hope you guys enjoy it anyway. There were loopholes and shortcomings, but honestly this story is one of my precious ones. I really adore each characters: yoonyul, intae and seunghoon. To all those who comment, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with me. Thank you so much for reading, for sharing your love with me. Thank you so much guysss!