“It turns out that after being unlucky for so long there’s some sort of universal balance in need of restoring and the tiniest bit of luck might come your way.

I took a chance that day, opening that gate to leave my house and see the outside world. I realise now that if I hadn’t of hit rock bottom then I wouldn’t have met Jiyong. It’s funny how these things work out, you never quite expect life to happen but it does. Blink and you might miss it, spend too much time wallowing in your own misery and you’ll definitely miss it.

You know you taught me a lot of things, like how to ride a bike and how to read but most of all you taught me to love and in doing so I’ve found myself. I’ve found the person that I’m supposed to be; a Son, a Brother, a friend, and a lover, all these things are the strands which, when woven together, make me - make Seunghyun.

It’s been so hard without you here and I wish you could be by my side again, undoubtedly telling me off for not finishing my homework or being bored with school. I hope you can see what’s happening and I hope you’re happy, I miss you. I always will.

Ma’s fine by the way, she’s enjoying her retirement far too much and when Jiyong’s not working you can bet all the won in your pocket that he’s with her, in the garden starting some new project which will ‘reinvent the very notion of modern day gardening’. I’m not jealous, actually I enjoy just sitting and watching them do all the hard work. Ma says that you used to love sunflowers so she and Jiyong planted some. I hope they’ll grow right up to the sky where you can see them - if you’re up there.

As for Mihyun she moved out to house share with Daesung and another couple. Oh, you might not know them, it’s my friend Seungri and his boyfriend Youngbae. It’s cute how Daesung (for some reason I still don’t know) insisted on Bae moving in with him. Mihyun loves it though and she and Daesung are actually engaged, you’d hate Daesung of course, he’s so perfect for her and spoils her rotten not that she isn’t spoilt already mind you. I’m looking forward to the wedding, with Jiyong in his cute little baby blue man tux and he’ll probably kill me for telling you this but he’s a little scared of sharing the job of ring bearer with the fluffy spawn of Satan. Yes it’s true, Mihyun’s ring bearer is going to be Bom but don’t worry I’m assisting her. I won’t question Mihyun’s sanity anymore and swiftly moving on, I have to admit that I’m partially guilty for Mihyun’s move in with Daesung’s friend(s). A month after the Private View and the subsequent exhibition Jiyong and I found a flat in Itaewon, well there’s a long story behind that. 

It was a strange month, I returned to work with Seungri and we decided to renovate the shop. We’ve been working on it for a while now however, after a while Mr. Lee confessed something to us. He never went to Japan on holiday rather he’d gone to the hospital where he had to have a cancer operation. We were so shocked but I felt nothing in comparison to his Son Seungri, he was stricken. A few weeks passed and I came to work one day to find Seungri crying, being comforted by nothing but a bottle of hard liquor and his own tears. Mr. Lee had passed away during his sleep, according to his Doctor the cancer was widespread and Mr. Lee didn’t have an operation. The man knew that he was not going to outlive the cancerous spread, spending his last week’s helping us with changing the shop.

I helped Seungri through his pain as best I could but at the same time I was distracted by Jiyong. He’d applied for the residency and of course he got it, he works at the gallery from Nine am ‘til Midday then works on the second floor above, in his studio space. His work is amazing and it grows with every day that passes, he’s so talented I can’t help but be proud of him all the time. To tell you truth once the exhibition ended the actual gallery itself implored Jiyong to sell his piece to them so that they could store it in their permanent collection, so I had this little inkling that he would get the residency no problem.

One day I came into work and Seungri gave me a different set of keys, he told me that his Father had gifted him the shop in his will but, like he said before, it wasn’t something he wanted for himself. So he wanted me to have the shop and the flat above, signing us over the lease and all the etcetera’s that followed. At first I was going to say no although that was a pretty futile thing because we’re talking about Seungri here and once he’d explained how he wanted to move out of this place to further his relationship with Bae, well I couldn’t exactly refuse as I didn’t want the shop or the flat to go to waste.

So that’s what I do now, Seungri pops in every now and again to check up on me, but I run Key’s Bookshop. It’s not particularly difficult though I did have to hire someone, it’s funny because this kid is so much like me, his name’s Dongwook and he’s quite the soft headed bookworm. When we’d finished the renovations more people started visiting and I hope with time we can do Mr. Lee proud by our work.

I hope I haven’t disappointed you Pa. I still think about you a lot although nowadays when I feel upset Jiyong is always there to make me remember the good things. We’ve been together for just over a year now, we’ve settled into our little nest of an apartment and I’ve never been so happy. The part of my day that I look forward to the most is when we’ve both finished for the day, Ji normally gets home way before me and I always seem to walk in whenever he’s cooking dinner. It’s our careless dream. We eat together and discuss our days then once we’re finished we settle onto the sofa for the night, that’s the best part of my day. And I get to live that over and over again for the rest of my life.

I guess you’re wondering if I’ve spent all my money yet, the answer is no and despite what Ma might tell you I only brought that one Bearbrick and Jiyong watched me do it so he can back me up, not that he does as he’s always automatically on Ma’s side despite everything. It makes me laugh as well as want to find the nearest exit. You’d laugh at them, the way they chant their tisks and tuts at me with the same click of their tongues, I swear Jiyong perfected it just to spite me. Putting that aside, I have to say I did buy one rather expensive thing with my money. After doing a little research for Christmas I brought Jiyong a new camera, one of those fancy SLR ones. Yup, I completely outdid myself present wise although Jiyong did scold me for spending so much money on a camera. It didn’t matter though because he refused to let me take it back so I guess I won.

Talking about him (when do I stop honestly) Ji eventually started speaking to his Mother again and now they’re at that annoying part of their relationship where they have to call each other every week just to chat about the most pointless things. Ji always seems to give me a weekly update about some guy’s friend’s Mother who passed away last week or something ridiculous like that. I’ve learnt that it’s a habit of his to find out random titbits and share this new found knowledge with me and the rest of the universe.

Ji’s spoken to his Father once, I just wish he was more like you. He’s still as narrow-minded as ever although he has started “accepting” Jiyong back into his life (well especially after Ji’s Mother threatened to walk out on him) and Dami’s fine too. She’s got herself a new man (Admittedly its Yonghyun’s school tutor but that information is hush hush) and the little man is doing well. He’s such a bright spark and it makes me laugh every time he attempts to nibble at Ji’s smartphone, recently Dami added the little extra words “There’s an app for that” whenever the event would occur which would cause Ji to snatch his phone and clip me around the head. I guess I deserve it when it’s my forgetful brain which can’t seem to handle the instructions of ‘once you’ve finished playing with it put it back in our bedroom’ and follow them.

It’s strange because whilst I look back and tell you all about this I still feel as though some part of this is just a dream. I think that one day I might wake up, still stuck in my room, wondering what my life would be like outside of my little box. Then I shudder, I don’t want to even consider what my life would be like without my scrawny shop assistant, without Jiyong, without my soul mate.

If I have to say one thing before I go Pa, it would be that I have no regrets about my life, I know that I probably should have but honestly, if I wasn’t so unlucky I would’ve never met Jiyong and I wouldn’t be where I am today. If anything I’m always looking forward to the future, wondering what will happen to us next and what obstacles may come our way.

Whatever happens I’m happy to experience it all just as long as Ji is by my side. We can do anything, together.

I love you Pa. Thank you”

Seunghyun stood up, brushing the dirt from his knees and instantly he felt a tender hand find its ways along his waist. He lifted up his arm so that his boyfriend to lean into his shoulder and once they were locked together Jiyong spoke

“The sunflowers are beautiful Hyunnie, I’m sure he would’ve loved them”

“Thank you” Seunghyun gently placed a kiss on Jiyong’s temple. “Come on let’s go home” He turned to face away from the grave though once they took a step forward Seunghyun glanced over his shoulder, giving one last smile to his Pa. The next thing Seunghyun felt was the warmth from his boyfriend’s hand which softly linked with his own, their silver yearly commitment rings clinking together in the process.

“Home sounds good to me” Jiyong quietly answered giving Seunghyun’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “Perhaps when we get back we can get some takeaway or something? I promise this time I’ll let you have some of my chicken”

“Oh you do know how to treat me” Seunghyun playfully replied causing the pair to fall into a fit of giggles. “You spoil me Jiyong Kwon and with the promise of your chicken I shall accept your offer” They wandered down the street, heading back to their apartment.

“Bingu~” Jiyong slipped out of Seunghyun’s embrace and started to jog away. Seunghyun could only laugh and chase after his boyfriend

“Ya! Sooo funny” Seunghyun shouted after Jiyong, at the recollection of one of their past conversations Jiyong doubled over and had to stop running. Once Seunghyun had caught up he merely slapped his boyfriend’s behind and kept on walking “And for that little comment mister you can buy all the chicken in the world for me” He smirked when he felt Jiyong’s bony fingers weave their way between his.

“Now Seunghyun, don't be unreasonable” Jiyong coyly smiled, idly swinging their held hands as they walked.

It doesn't matter what I try, it all ends the same,

And here I go again...

Hey that's the story of my life,

I had a good plan but it didn't go right,

Oh no I'm overdrawn,

I check my account and the money's all gone,

Why me I don't know what to think

I finally get aboard and the whole boat sinks

Seems to be the story of my life.

Just when it seems like it's turnin' 'round for me,

There's always something that ends up happening,

I found my car but I can't find my keys.

I get to the party a little too late,

And once again the music stops to play.

-Smash Mouth's Story Of My Life.

Gosh I really hope you enjoyed the ending. I don't want to leave a huge essay as I'm a bit of an emotional headcase right now but here goes. Thank you dear reader for helping me to enjoy my writing again, I can't thank you all enough for reading, commenting, subscribing, upvoting, the whole shebang.

I feel like I have truly grown with these characters and this story has been such a huge part of my life. I'm so honoured to have shared this experience with you. I never in a million years thought that people would enjoy my writing and because you guys have I'm so touched.

OK before I blubber on too much, I've got a ton of new gtop stories to post. Seriously I won't fall off the face of the earth so look forward to all my new stuffs!

I love you guys and I can't wait to start this journey again with a new story. <3