It was morning and the sun caused the sleeping lady to awaken, she scrunched her eyes once they were open immediately wanting to bury herself back into her Brother's bed. Mihyun glanced down at her sleeping babo, watching him as he exhaled light sleep filled breaths, and smiled. She loved how peaceful he looked, no longer sad or afraid, and she brushed a light thumb against his soft cheek wiping away a moist spot from an old tear. His face wrinkled to her touch but luckily he was still fast asleep. Mihyun glanced over to where their Ma had slept and found that she was no longer there, quietly she slid out of the bed. Her first thought was to find her Ma, but before that she crept over to the window and considerately closed her Brother's curtains, she then gave him one last glance over and left.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs Mihyun could hear someone scuffling around the kitchen, she walked through the already opened kitchen door and smiled at the sight. Her Ma was banging the pots and pans about trying to cook what looked like a full English Fry Up.

“Ma you're making a racket” Mihyun lightly giggled as she approached her Mother.

“Oh!” Mama Choi her heels and Mihyun was quickly met with a look of sheer horror. “Seunghyun's still asleep isn't he?”

“Yes Ma” Mihyun rolled her eyes and took a seat at the kitchen bar. “Your golden boy is sleeping like a log as per” She shrugged watching as her Ma simmered down.

“Good, good, I'm going to make some breakfast for us all” She volunteered an explanation as if Mihyun hadn't guessed already then resumed her cooking, with the volume turned right down. Mihyun still giggled, she was so happy that Seunghyun had opened up to them both and it felt great to know that she finally had her little Hyun back. It was also an added bonus that it made her Ma extremely happy too allowing everything to finally fall back into place, just like it had been the past.

Although she quickly remembered what she needed to do and pulled Seunghyun's (slightly crumpled) letter out of her cardigan pocket. She smoothed the paper down against the kitchen counter and asked

“Ma do we have some envelopes?”

“Yes dear the set of drawers in the hallway” Mihyun lifted the letter back up and left the room after hearing her Ma's response. She walked into the hallway pausing by the set of drawers and quickly pulled out the top drawer to take out an envelope. After slotting the letter into the envelope she plodded back into the kitchen, took a pen from the counter and wrote “To Jiyong” on the front. Suddenly an idea popped into Mihyun's head. Without a word she ran back up the stairs, vaulted into her bedroom and scooped her phone off the bedside table. She unlocked the phone seeing that she had one new message which read:

Angel: Good morning baby girl, how are you today? This is gonna sound a bit blunt but is Seunghyun alright? Jiyong won't speak to anyone and it's freaking us out. He won’t leave his room and I don't think he works at the shop any more, do you know anything? I'd love to meet for a morning coffee if you're free? I love you. Dx

Mihyun instantly smiled at the message and fervently typed back:

Good morning handsome, I'm fine how are you? Let’s meet up A.S.A.P where I can explain things to you better. To cut a long story short Jiyong and Seunghyun might not be together any more. We have to fix this and I think I know a way we can. I love you too. Mx

She waited a minute deciding to look at the sealed letter again. Last night both she and her Mother had heard Seunghyun read the letter out and she'd never heard something so beautiful but filled with so much pain. She couldn't even begin to imagine what her Brother was going through and she had no idea how to comfort him. Mihyun had always ribbed Seunghyun about his sensitive almost-bordering-pushover type of personality although in reality she really admired it about him and she wanted to protect that precious part of him. That's how Mihyun was so ready for the day that Seunghyun finally fell in love, she'd been waiting for it, and she knew when she saw Jiyong that he was perfect. Seunghyun had always been an emotional person and Mihyun knew that when her Brother fell in love he would really fall, he'd be so enraptured in it that nothing else would matter, so it came as no surprise to her when he fell in love with another man. She didn't even question the connection because of how deep it would already be, there was no point asking why, she could only welcome and actively encouraged it. Mihyun had noticed the subtle changes in her babo, she felt the change and the shift of belief, and she loved it. She wanted nothing more than to see her little Brother happy, she was his big Sis and she'd do anything for him.

Mihyun jolted when she felt her phone vibrate:

Angel: That doesn't sound too promising, I'm glad you're fine though. I'll pick you up in five minutes. Be ready Dx.

“Dammit!” Mihyun cursed throwing the letter and her phone onto the bed then dashed over to her wardrobe. She wasn't expecting that response so fast and this caused her to worry, she really hoped that Jiyong was O.K.

After five minutes of panicking and rearranging her appearance Mihyun ran into the kitchen quickly explaining to her Ma exactly where she was going

“Ma I don't have time to explain but I'm going to see Daesung who’s Jiyong's friend and we're going to sort this, I need you to keep Seunghyun in the house, keep him distracted and do what you can to take his mind off things. I'll be back as soon as I can” And with that Mihyun was clambering to the door, shoving her shoes on and sprinting out of the house before her Ma could even breathe, let alone reply. Mihyun sighed once she reached the garden gate and immediately slapped her forehead, she'd left her handbag behind but luckily she had her phone and Seunghyun's letter tucked into her denim pockets. Before she could run back in the house to retrieve her lost goods a small black car pulled up to the curb and Daesung hurriedly climbed out of it.

“Mihyun!” He called as he ran up to her.

“Daesung?” She called back a little worried by the shell of a man who was currently flinging his arms around her. He looked like a right state. Daesung was usually a total perfectionist, it was one of things which had attracted Mihyun to him, he deserved the best and expected nothing less. However, today Daesung's normally angular blonde fringe was pushed back clinging to his sweat drenched head. His clothes were completely mismatched and his little grievance against odd colours had been totally ignored, this worried Mihyun. She returned the embrace then ordered “Quick we better get in the car before we're seen” Daesung nodded at this and led her to the car, opening the door for his girlfriend first then climbing into the other side. He quickly drove off.

The car remained silent until Daesung pulled up into nearby car park and stopped the car. Mihyun didn't mind actually she was just as desperate to tell him everything and so she did.

“What went wrong then?” Daesung turned the ignition off “I thought they got on really well? Especially when we saw them pretty much making out on the balcony”

“Yeah well, it wasn’t as if we were busy or anything…” Mihyun scoffed fondly remembering their own little make-out session against the wooden trellis, well before the space had been invaded by her Brother and consequently forced them to move elsewhere. “Anyway let’s not get into that right now” Embarrassed and slightly flustered by the memory she crossed her hands over in the air and changed the conversation “Dae what do you know about Jiyong's parents?” Mihyun took off her seat belt and turned sideways to face her boyfriend.

“Not much” Daesung shrugged taking off his belt to mimic her position, he reached across the gear stick and held her hand. “All I know is Ji hates them, as soon as he was old enough to move out they pretty much kicked him out the door. It's sad really but what can you do? Me and Bae were already flat sharing so Bae offered the spare room to Jiyong and that just kinda stuck. Bae knew him from way back and I got to know him as time went on obviously. I always just assumed that he hated them because they couldn't wait to get rid of him, you know, some sort of built up resentment. Why? What happened?” Mihyun raised her free hand and gently lowered it over their held hands, she calmly squeezed Daesung's hand before explaining everything. Whilst she told the whole story Daesung's mouth hung open and he could barely respond, he tried to nod but failed when his head didn't move. Mihyun felt a little relieved to be able to talk to someone, someone who had a connection with Jiyong, she was hoping that it would give her some inside scope.

“That's terrible!” Daesung sadly exhaled after Mihyun had finished explaining the situation. “So you want me to give this letter to Jiyong and make sure that he reads it?”

“Exactly” Mihyun nodded “I know it's going to be difficult but we have to do something, we can't just wait around”

“I'll do my very best” Daesung smiled that oh so brilliant smile and Mihyun couldn't stop herself from blushing as she passed him the letter. “You know you're so beautiful when you're like this” He leaned forward and traced a gentle kiss on the ridge of Mihyun's forehead. “I hope Seunghyun realises just how lucky he is to have you for a Sister” Mihyun beamed

“I hope so too” She sighed and fell into Daesung's welcoming embrace.

Groggy eyes accompanied by a perplexed frown scanned the shadow of an intruder as they shyly made their way through the sleepyhead's bedroom.

“I've made you some breakfast” The voice airily cooed. Seunghyun rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat up, woozily gazing about the room as if he was waking for the first time.

“I'm not hungry” Seunghyun instantly replied falling back against the bed and letting out a long sigh. “Sorry Ma” He politely added whilst crawling back underneath his duvet. Then he remembered something and sat bolt upright, searching his body for the missing item. “ where's my letter?!”

“Language Seunghyun” His Ma strictly pointed out.

“Sorry…” He mumbled as his search continued. “Ma where's my letter?”

“What letter?” Seunghyun could read her like a book and knew that she was trying to play dumb though he had no idea why.

“You know my letter I wrote last night to Jiyong?” He checked his pyjama pockets, nothing, his bed, still nothing, floor, nope, nada, zip, zilch. “Where is it? I don't remember...”

“Mihyun's got it” Mama Choi lost the plot and sat on the edge of her Son's bed. “She said that... that she would post it on her way to work”

“Oh right...” Seunghyun cleared his throat and threw his duvet away from him. “You're such a liar but I won't question you” He rose to his knees and crawled across the bed to his Ma, once there he wrapped his arms around her breathing in her fresh morning scent.

“Good” She replied patting her Son's arms and snuggling into the touch. “Now come on I don’t want your breakfast to get cold” She pulled Seunghyun’s arms which almost escalated into a piggyback ride but before she could move he wrapped his legs around her and like a dead weight forced her to fall back on the bed. They wiggled about for a bit, laughing and just generally play fighting until Seunghyun’s Ma remembered her Son’s crippling weakness. She spun around, shuffled onto her knees and grabbed her Son’s wrists with one hand then before he could escape she used her free hand to tickle his sides. Seunghyun immediately burst into tears and she dropped his hands to strengthen the attack.

“O.K- O.K- I give- give up- please- please!” Seunghyun wheezed as a fresh batch of tears escaped his pleading eyes. Slowly Seunghyun’s Ma stopped the attack and with a raised questioning eyebrow asked

“So does this mean that you’ll do as I say now?”

“Yes!” Seunghyun shook his head in contradiction just to playfully spite her, she lightly tapped his shoulder and climbed off the bed. With Seunghyun following behind Mama trundled off down the stairs and into the kitchen, as soon as he stepped through the threshold of the room Seunghyun instantly caught a whiff of the yummy greasy food and without any further arguments he sat down and ate the entire thing. It was absolutely delicious.

Once breakfast was finished with Seunghyun had an idea, he helped his Ma wash up all the used kitchenware and during their synchronised job Seunghyun informed her of this grand plan.

“Ma you don’t have to worry about me” He said whilst taking a washed plate from her and drying it. “I’ll be fine” In reply she gave him a disbelieving look so he continued to explain “I’m going to look for a job, see what I can find and get my life back on track” Seunghyun knew that he had all the right tools now, he strangely felt ready to do something and he was going to enjoy it no matter what. And if one day Jiyong came back, well, at least there would be someone to return to.

“That’s good to hear dear, I’m pleased” Seunghyun’s Ma offered a reassuring smile “Just don’t stress yourself out over it, I don’t want you to go crazy and be work obsessed”

“Don’t worry I won’t be” Seunghyun shook his head. He wasn’t going to be one of those idiots who near enough kill themselves from working too much but he wanted to work and he needed an excuse to leave the house. After the washing up was finished Seunghyun felt a little nip at his bare toes and looked down to the floor, oh no, the little yapper was loose. “Bom? That hurt!” He waved his foot and the dog bounced back a few steps.

“Oh I completely forgot to walk the dog!” Seunghyun’s Ma turned from the sink and knelt down in front of the dog, it started to excitedly bark. “Oh Bommie! I’m so sorry, we’re not supposed to- I mean- we have to stay at home today” Seunghyun was truly puzzled by his Ma’s panicking so much so that he couldn’t help but laugh.

“I can take her Ma, don’t worry about it” The offer was there but Seunghyun had no idea if he could control the darn thing.

“Hmm” The woman hummed and ahh’d for a few minutes, obviously having some sort of internal mental struggle.

“It’ll give me a chance to get to know her” Seunghyun near enough begged as a sudden urge to leave the house forced him on. “Plus I need some fresh air, I’ll just get showered, dressed and we’ll head out? You stay here and relax Ma” As much as he loved all the effort in which his Mother was putting into keeping him happy Seunghyun felt as if he was going to gradually lose his sanity if he remained cooped up all day. Anyone could see that she’d been told by someone, Seunghyun was guessing Mihyun, to keep him distracted for god knows what reason and he needed to escape for a bit.

In the end Seunghyun won and he raced upstairs to shower and change, he didn’t think about what to wear and just shoved on a black t-shirt with some jeans. It looked hot outside, Seunghyun observed as he opened the curtains once he’d finished changing and so he didn’t bother to put on a coat or a hoodie – well he didn’t have a hoodie anymore. Sighing Seunghyun brushed the thought off and left his room.

Making his way downstairs Seunghyun put on some shoes then headed for the kitchen, once there his Ma merely handed over the dog which was already wearing its sparkling pink lead and advised

“Don’t be too long out and don’t go far, if you’re not back within the next hour I’m coming after you and it won’t be pretty”

“I won’t be long Ma” Seunghyun looped Bom’s lead around his wrist and tugged her towards then out of the door. “Come on Bom, walkies” He called as she jumped up and down with excitement.

When Seunghyun’s Ma had said “walk” Seunghyun actually believed that they would walk, he imagined that it would a refreshingly calm experience. However, that couldn’t be any further from the truth and as Bom was always a few paces ahead of Seunghyun he had no choice but to be dragged down the street after her. Apology after apology seemed to roll off his tongue as he bumped into people, whenever Bom bark at someone, or when the damned dog tried running into the road causing Seunghyun to drag her back onto the path and apologise to the driver or cyclist. He had no idea that a little dog could be so strong and pushy. By the time they reached a little greenery, which Bom seemed to recognise and get even more excited about, Seunghyun was relieved to find a little peace and quiet. Loosening his grip on Bom’s lead Seunghyun studied the small park, it felt familiar but he couldn’t exactly remember how or why. Bom seemed to be quite happy plodding along a little dirt track and leading Seunghyun further into the park. It was a little empty, though Seunghyun blamed this on it being a weekday and just assumed that everyone was work, they walked around for a while.

Taking in the beautiful scenery Seunghyun felt a little more relaxed, a little calmer, and once Bom’s pace slowed he decided to sit down on a rather wonky bench. Bom jumped up on the bench beside him, snuggling into his side and quickly took a nap. On the other hand, Seunghyun couldn’t stop looking around the park absorbing the sound of nothingness, the invigorating smell of nature, and the sight of the beautiful greenery. Just as he was about to lower his head and close his eyes for a moment he noticed someone in the distance, some idiot was trying to climb up a tree and they were pretty much failing. A camera was strapped to their side and they were trying to reach for a branch which was quite clearly a heck of lot taller than what they were. Seunghyun was tempted to tell the poor soul that he’d never reach the branch but he then got distracted by what they wearing. Truly Seunghyun had never seen something so hideous; the person was wearing a lime green vest which had highlighter pink stripes running down the sides and all that dizzying colour was paired up with some strange cut off purple shorts – obviously the guy had no fashion sense whatsoever, though Seunghyun couldn’t really talk but he could laugh.

He watched the strangely clothed person try several more times and continued to watch as they stopped jumping, lifting their camera up and then dramatically falling to the floor. Seunghyun laughed, what a fool. After a few minutes his conscience got the better of him and Seunghyun started to wonder if he should go over and check on the guy, he hadn’t moved for a couple of minutes now. Never mind, Seunghyun shrugged, remembering just how much he wanted to be on his own right now and how the last stranger he’d spoken to -  well that didn’t work out, did it?

Instead Seunghyun decided to stay put and just cautiously watch the guy from afar, trying to ignore the growing curiosity which instructed that he get up from the bench and talk to the guy. More minutes passed and still the guy didn’t move. O.K Seunghyun there’s no harm in just going over and making sure he’s alright, Seunghyun stood up and lifted the sleepy Bom into his arms before heading over to the guy.

Famous last words Choi…

“Excuse me are you O.K?” Seunghyun asked as he approached the figure “Did you fall? You were never going to reach that branch, you do realise that don’t you?” The figure bolted upright and turned his face to look at the speaking stranger. Seunghyun stopped in his tracks when he recognised the guy’s face, the guy’s amber lit eyes, those familiar yet still breath-taking features, and the way the guy’s head was tilted.

“Se-Seunghyun?” It felt like an apparition, it just couldn’t be, how could this be-

“Jiyong?!” He tried to move but the only thing that did was his arms which gripped Bom tighter, closer to his chest.

Both were frozen, both struck by fate once again, although this time it didn’t feel good, it wasn’t comforting to see those exquisite features. No this time it hurt. Seunghyun wanted to fall to his knees and beg Jiyong for some sort of forgiveness, to do anything that he wanted and try to reconcile and fix things. Though at the same time Seunghyun felt furious, he wanted to demand an explanation and force Jiyong to face up to his own truth.

So Seunghyun shut down.

“Well now I know that you’re just fine” He hastily continued “I’ll just, I’m gonna, bye Jiyong” Seunghyun turned away, taking a step and breath forward. He wanted Jiyong to run up to him, to plead with him to stay, to explain everything, but when he felt nothing Seunghyun could only take another step forward. Gradually the steps became more frequent and before he knew it Seunghyun was out of the park, walking back in the direction of his home.

Well what did he expect? Some sort of explanation, an apology maybe, or hell even a word of reassurance would’ve been just grand. Still there was nothing. Still no Jiyong, still no “Seunghyun please I’ll explain everything to you just give me a chance!” Nothing. No sounds, no sights, just a stupid man who for a minute there believe in fate again.

Seunghyun didn’t tell his Ma about his encounter in the park, it wasn’t as if he was trying to hide the truth from her anymore rather it was just a case of Seunghyun not wanting to talk about it and relieve the still raw experience again and again. Once he reached home he acted as if nothing had ever happened, well in all honesty nothing had happened, that is until he left Bom with his Ma and jogged up to his bedroom. Seunghyun told her that he needed some time to just let his emotions out and she agreed, so that’s exactly what Seunghyun did. He ran into his room and jumped onto his bed, releasing silent tears and punching the living daylights out of his innocent pillow. He kicked his duvet from his bed and near enough ripped the sheets from it, nothing was safe. It didn’t take long for Seunghyun to feel tired though and before he could get up and destroy anything else he collapsed against the bed allowing the cushioned mattress to catch him.

A week had passed since Seunghyun had last seen Jiyong and still he continued as if nothing had ever happened. He was going to be just fine and like he’d told his Ma Seunghyun was focused, determined, to find a job and live life. Over the past week Seunghyun had near enough slipped into the role of doting housewife, he spent his time cleaning, gardening, learning how to cook, whilst job hunting and today he was going shopping with Mihyun. Now he wasn’t exactly excited about the prospects of shopping but if Seunghyun was going to get a new job then he needed to impress his prospective employers. Ever since Seunghyun’s hair change Mihyun had insisted on taking him shopping for some new clothes and as the week progressed Seunghyun just couldn’t bring himself to keep saying no. At first Mihyun had constantly poked fun at her Brother for the change in style and colour, calling him names like caramel top and curly mop, but after a while she tried to use it as an excuse for Seunghyun to leave the house and get what she called “an upgrade.”

Still she poked fun at him which brings us back to the present.

“Caramel Curly Carrot Camel Top come on!” Mihyun called from the bottom of the stairs “The mall will be closed by the time we get there!”

“Oh for the love – Will you SHUT UP Mihyun?!! I will be there in a second!” Seunghyun hollered from his bedroom, running a hand through his hair for the millionth time. Something didn’t look right and he couldn’t get the style to look exactly how the hairdresser had, frustration was boiling his brain. If Mihyun wasn’t careful she’d quickly find herself on the receiving end of Seunghyun’s rage.

“Oh come on! What could you possibly be doing up there?! Putting your make-up on?!”

“Of course I am I can’t seem to choose the right shade of LIPSTICK!!” Seunghyun shouted back “I’m afraid that it won’t match my HANDBAG!” He pulled a disgusted face at the mirror and sighed, giving up he grabbed his wallet and phone from the bedside table. “And don’t even get me started on what shoes to WEAR!” Now Seunghyun was definitely not in the mood to shop as he walked down the stairs (wondering just how slow you’d have to be walking for it to be considered as a snail’s pace) Seunghyun continued to shout stupid things at Mihyun. Shouting at her about the most ridiculous things seemed to calm him down a little bit, to humour him in a strange playful way, and Mihyun understood only greeting him with a much needed eye roll.

Apparently Mihyun was in a rush for a completely different reason, it was obvious that time wasn’t an issue because according to Seunghyun’s phone it was just after 10am, and as a little black car pulled up this reason seemed to present itself. Mihyun climbed into the car first and ordered that Seunghyun sit in the back, well where else was he going to sit on the bloody roof? He shook his head and slid into the car then Seunghyun wished he could escape, wished that he could melt into the seat of the car and disappear forever. Sat in the front, in the driver’s seat, was Daesung who smiled that overly white flash of teeth and behind him, sat in the back with Seunghyun, was Bae.

The two people who reminded Seunghyun of Jiyong the most were sat within touching distance of him. Now he definitely didn’t want to go shopping.

“Seunghyun! How are you?” Bae spoke the question as if its answer was the easiest response in the world. As if the question was just commonplace and meaningless, Seunghyun immediately looked out of the window.

“Fine” He briefly replied through gritted teeth. Though he acted as if nothing was wrong, what he felt was a different matter especially when two of the biggest reminders in the world were sat nearby.

“Good good” Bae smoothly replied as if he didn’t care.

“So Mi we’re off to the mall then?” Daesung near enough sang out the words, excitement bursting from his throat.

“Yes we are” Mihyun giggled at something and Seunghyun sighed, he wondered if he should ask about Jiyong? If he was alright? If they were alright? For a moment a bitter stubbornness caused Seunghyun to stay quiet and continue his blank stare out of the window.

After a while in the car silence prevailed and this caused Daesung to switch the radio on, at first Seunghyun wasn’t paying attention, ignoring the sound of happiness, but when he recognised the song his heart froze. It was that song. The song that Jiyong had danced to with the barman, the song which prompted Seunghyun to be bold and tell Jiyong exactly how he felt. And now it all seemed rather pointless.

He sighed again although this time Seunghyun rested his overheated head against the cold glass window. A second later someone was patting his arm and when Seunghyun turned to look at the person he shivered, suddenly everyone in the car was looking at him even Daesung who was no longer driving. That’s when Seunghyun realised that they were finally at the mall.

“You sure you’re fine?” Bae asked tapping Seunghyun’s arm once more.

“As fine as I can be” Seunghyun shrugged as he opened the door and escaped the car.

The rest of the day consisted of Seunghyun being relentlessly dragged from one clothing store to another. All the man had to do was robotically nod and Mihyun would buy yet another complete outfit, in all honesty Seunghyun trusted her so he just went with whatever she chose. Daesung and Bae were always stood either side of Seunghyun as if they were his keepers afraid that he would run to the nearest exit, however Seunghyun was too tired to bother, too drained from their cheerfulness and he couldn’t run even if he wanted to try.

Soon lunch time rolled around and Daesung started to whinge that he was hungry. Seunghyun had gone back to barely eating a thing, he just cooked for everyone else and took a very small portion for himself, so he hadn’t even noticed what the time was. For a while the trio were arguing about where to eat, there were so many fast food places to choose from and one seriously picky person. This picky person was the one who insisted on eating at the mall in the first place and now he was stood linked with his girlfriend and tugging her off into the direction of what looked like a Sushi Bar. Seunghyun purposely dawdled, he just didn’t feel hungry, and unfortunately for him Bae noticed.

“Dae me and Seunghyun are just going outside for a minute, you and Mi enjoy your food” Bae spoke ahead to the pair who simply nodded and continued their journey forward “You with me now” He reached back and grabbed Seunghyun by the arm, forcing him to turn around and out of the nearest exit. Once they were outside Bae dropped Seunghyun from his hold and he sat down on a convenient metal bench. “Sit down I don’t bite” Bae sounded oddly annoyed, a little impatient even, so Seunghyun didn’t argue with him and he quickly sat down beside him on the bench. “Now let’s rewind the day shall we? Hi Seunghyun! It’s been a while, how are you doing?” Seunghyun tried to keep his gaze collected and focused, he wasn’t going to give anything away. Out here, sat here, in the blistering hot summer sunshine Seunghyun felt too exposed, this place was too public and he wanted to show everyone that he wasn’t some sort of sympathy case, he was fine.

“Hi Youngbae, I’m fine, how are you?” Seunghyun apathetically replied, he kept his eyes locked onto a bin which was opposite them.

“Cut the bull” Bae snapped, turning his body sideways and lifting his legs up on the bench to face Seunghyun. “Just tell me the truth”

“That is the truth” Seunghyun shrugged “What are you expecting me to say?”

“I don’t know!” Bae’s voice suddenly rose in volumes “I just-” He froze as if he’d just realised that he was near enough shouting, still Seunghyun didn’t look at him. “I’m sorry” Now it Bae’s turn to sigh “I didn’t know what Jiyong had planned, if I had known that he was going to introduce you to his parents I would’ve said something, I would’ve told you all about them and I could’ve-”

“It doesn’t matter” Seunghyun finally looked in Bae’s direction and he could see that the guy was falling to pieces. “And it’s not up to you to be honest with me. I have nothing to say to you because I just don’t know, I’m sorry if you want me to break down and tell you about just how much I miss Jiyong but I won’t. He was the one who left me in the middle of nowhere and he was the one who didn’t say anything to me in the park”

“The park?” Bae frowned “What happened at the park?”

“Nothing happened” Seunghyun looked back at the bin “I saw Jiyong, wondered if he was O.K, turns out that he was just fine so I went home. Look Bae, I really appreciate what you’re trying to do, honestly I get it, but now we just have to move on. It won’t do anyone any good if we just keep living in the past and obviously Jiyong is comfortable there so, you know, that’s that” He shrugged yet again and stood up “I still love him, I always will, and he knows that. Hopefully he’ll read my letter and decide what he wants to do, until then you should just support him, I’m sure he could with a friend right now”

“But what about you?” Bae weakly asked

“You don’t have to worry about me” A small smile tried to curve Seunghyun’s mouth and he stood up “I’ve got my family and I’ll be O.K. Jiyong doesn’t have his family on his side so he needs you, you have to be the family that he deserves” He turned back to glance at Bae “I’m heading back in now, I’ll see you inside” And with that Seunghyun re-entered the fray of white walls and manic shopping.

Bae shifted in the front seat of the car, he was restless and annoyed, all he wanted to do was curl up into a ball and dive into the endless pit which was his bed although he knew that sleep wasn’t going to come easy to him tonight. Daesung was babbling about Mihyun, this was a sickening habit of his, he rambled on about how perfect is she and how much fun he had shopping. The guy had been so wrapped up in spending the day with Mihyun that Bae didn’t have the heart to tell him about what was going to happen. He’d decided after his chat with Seunghyun that he needed to have it out with Jiyong, he needed to put the wheels in motion and figure out why his brainless best friend was forcing this perfect specimen out of his life. The car quickly pulled up into the apartment complexes underground car park and it didn’t take the pair long to reach the apartment, Bae was a bundle of nerves and as soon as they entered their home he immediately searched for Jiyong. Daesung plodded off to his room and Bae faintly heard him say something about wanting to phone Mihyun so he let him. Well Jiyong obviously wasn’t in the living room, Bae looked around, everything in here seemed normal. He checked Jiyong’s bedroom, still no one, and just as he was about to give up Bae heard a sniffling noise creep out from behind the bathroom door. Pulling down the bathroom door handle Bae cursed, the stupid thing was locked, which left him with just one choice.

“Ji is that you in there?” He called wrapping his knuckles against the wooden surface. The sniffling abruptly stopped “Jiyong you better open this door!” Bae knocked again, still no sound. “If you don’t open this damn door I’m gonna kick it in!”

A second later the door opened and a set of bloodshot eyes harshly greeted Bae.

“What were you doing in there?” Bae asked scanning a shaking Jiyong for answers, the guy laughed in a bitter sounding response

“Going to the toilet, why is that illegal now?” Jiyong crossed his arms over his chest and leant against the door frame.

“Just what is your problem?” Bae actually snapped, he snapped so badly that even Jiyong couldn’t mask his surprise, out of all the people on this planet Bae was always the chilled out type and it was rare for him to lose his temper. “What have you been doing all day?”

“Nothing” Jiyong paused as if he was trying to make up something but Bae wasn’t having any of it.

“So what have you been up to recently? Seeing as you don’t talk to me or Daesung anymore?”

“Nothing” Jiyong replied again, his emotionless expression returning.

“Really? Because a little birdy told me that you’ve been enjoying leisurely strolls in the park” Bae embedded the story a little bit just to gauge Jiyong’s reaction. As expected Jiyong’s eyes widened again “So when you were enjoying Mother Nature did you happen to come across anyone? You know anyone at all?” Jiyong merely shook his head “This is pathetic” Bae sighed and balled his fists up in frustration. “You’re pathetic!! Just what in the hell are you playing at? Don’t you know that people have ing feelings?! You can’t just leave people hanging! I don’t understand” Without warning it dawned on Bae that Jiyong was wearing that green hoody, the hoody that belonged to Seunghyun, and there was a little piece of paper sticking out of its right pocket. The feeling made him feel sick, why was Jiyong behaving like this when it was so blatantly obvious that the idiot was still madly in love with Seunghyun?

Bae gripped at the hoody and shook Jiyong with all of his strength. Hopefully that would knock some sense into him...

Okay so I wrote from Bae's POV again but with this chapter I wanted to give some balanced points of view. To explore the relationships between Seunghyun, the people surrounding him and how everything affects them as a whole. I also wanted to show that shift in Seunghyun, in his mind as well as his attitude. I hope you like it and don't worry you guys it can only get better :)

Thank you to all my lovely subscribers! I can't thank you all enough for your support!
And I also want to thank every single person who has commented on the story so far, this is such an amazing learning process for me, I love you all - I really do! Your comments help me so much and mean so much to me, I'm still amazed that people read this!

Seeing as I'm still on my Easter break you won't have to wait long for the next chapter, I hope to get it uploaded in the next couple of days.