*Ai's POV*

Did I hear right? Does Wooyoung really like me? I couldn't move or speak. I was in too much shock.

"Ah! Ai unnie!" Yoobin squeaked as she turned to find me standing there.

Wooyoung turned around and he looked equally shocked to see me there, but he tried to hide it. "Ai... How long have you been standing there?"

I tried to gather my words. "I- Uh-- I came to give you your keychain. I think you dropped it on the bench," I said trying hard not to stutter. I held out my hand with the bear keychain. I was pretty sure my hand was shaking. 

Wooyoung took the keychain from my hand. "Thank you," he said without looking me in the eyes. 

"Well... goodbye," I said. I didn't know what else to say.

"Goodbye," he replied.

I looked at Yoobin and waved goodbye. I turned around and slowly walked away. It started out as a slow walk and then I quickened my pace until I was practically running.

I was still trying to believe the conversation I overheard.

Does Wooyoung really like me?

*Wooyoung's POV*

I stared at the silver bear keychain. Did she overheard our conversation? Yoobin is pretty loud when she talks. How long has she been standing there? So many questions raced through my mind. I sighed and slipped the keychain into my pocket.

At that moment, I felt a vibration in my pants pocket. I took out my phone and answered the call.

"Yeoboseyo?"

"Wooyoung?"

"Yes appa?"

"Can you please come over to the hotel right now? There's an emergency meeting." My father hung up right away and I sighed. That's all I've been going to nowadays. Meetings, meetings, and more meetings. It was able to get my mind off other things, but it still put more stress on my shoulders.

I put the phone back in my pocket and held out my hand to Yoobin. "Gaja. Appa is calling for us."

***

Fortunately, there was a day care at the hotel so I just left Yoobin there. She didn't like it and insisted on seeing appa, but I told her it was a grown up meeting. When one of the woman who work their distracted her with a stuff animal that talks, I quietly slipped away and headed up to the meeting room.

I opened the oak double doors to see my father, Sandeul, and his father sitting at the table already. I excused my tardiness and took a seat right next to Sandeul. He looked at me and gave a small nod. I've noticed the way he acts when he's around his father and when he's not is different. When he's around his father, he keeps to himself and doesn't talk to anyone else. Honestly, when we were younger, I thought he was a robot. He didn't show much emotions. Then again, during that time, the only time I saw him were during those trainings and nothing else. Now that I've seen him in school, and other places, he's a happy and bright kid.

Although today... he seems worse. Dark circles were under his eyes, and it may just be me but he looks skinnier. It's like the life was out of him. I looked at him and then at his father who seemed to be in a good mood. Was that possible? Times like these make me happy that my father isn't like that. I looked at my father who looked quite professional today. He must be serious about his new job.

"Now that everyone is here," said Mr. Lee, "let's start the meeting. Junghwan, Wooyoung, since you still have your schedule later on for training, I'll try to make this meeting as short as possible." He looked both of us, hoping for some response but we stayed quiet. He translated our silence as "Yes sir."

"Now, I call this sudden meeting because something urgent came up. And since my son and Minwoo's son both go to the same school, I feel like they should be here." 

This caught my attention. I pulled my eyes away from the table and looked at Mr. Lee.

"I already informed Minwoo about it and of course Junghwan knows as well." Mr. Lee examined me with his cold eyes. "Do you know Wooyoung-sshi?"

"Know what?" 

He leaned back, astonished. I honestly didn't think it was possible for him to show any other emotions other than coldness. But then again, that astonished look still had a cold front. "You're in the top class yet you don't know? Even my boy here knows!" 

"That's because we had nothing to do with that Seonu. My son got into the A Class fair and square," my father interrupted. 

Mr. Lee looked at his friend and sat back. He nodded, taking my father's words into consideration. "True... true... I mean, my boy is very smart, but putting him into the A Class would have seem to obvious so I asked him they could put him in a lower class."

I started to get a bad feeling about this. Could they be talking about...

"Well since you don't know Wooyoung-sshi," said Mr. Lee who interrupted my thought, "I guess I'll just tell you." He sat forward and bore those cold, emotionless eyes into me. "The school that you and Junghwan go to, Jihwan High School, one of the top public schools in South Korea, is losing money. They were so desperate that they asked us hotel owners to help them." He made air-quotes at the word 'help'. "They were lucky that most of their students's parents work at one of our hotels. A friend of me and your father's asked me for help. Your father was already out of the hotel business so he didn't even bother seeking his help."

When Mr. Lee said that, I saw my father flinch. 

"Our friend, Jang Ga Eun used to work for me but in the end, he became greedy. He tried to steal money from me so I fired him. A few years later, he opened his own hotel business and became one of the top hotel owners here in Korea. I took notice into all the hard work that he did so I apologized and lend him a hand. It started as just us who were donating the money to your school, but it seems like it wasn't enough. Word spread of our actions and we were almost revealed to the public, however hotel owners children go to that school. They can't stand to see their children suffer so they pitched in to help. It was all going well until Jaegyu turned his back on us and left suddenly. We don't know why though." He looked at my father and my father looked back at him. Like they were having a silent conversation. I have a feeling they do know why. Mr. Lee turned back to me. "Being the nice person I am, I took over his spot as head 'donor' and continued. However, it seems like we were found out. This secret was only known to the Principal, certain staff members, the student council, and some students. Now, the whole faculty has been found out and they are threatening for us to stop by telling on the police."

"But aren't they right?" I asked. Sandeul shot me a look like 'Are you crazy?' I guess you're not suppose to question him during his lecture. But it had to be done. If I could put an end to this, I will. And now I have the chance.

I ignored Sandeul's silent warnings and looked Mr. Lee straight in the eye. And let me tell you, not the easiest thing ever. It's like when you were little and your broke your mom's most expensive vase and she starts questioning you and you finally give in. But this was ten times worse. 

"If you continue this, you would be found out eventually. It's better to put an end to this now that later. If you get punished now, at least it won't be as bad as your punishment later. Shouldn't you find some alternative way to solve our school losing money?" I waited for Mr. Lee to give a reaction. At first he just stared at me and I thought I was dead. My dad would lose his job, he would lose the restaurant, and we would lose our house. Instead, he just laughed.

He sat back and tried to hold back his laughter. "Your son is really something Minwoo! Smart boy, very smart!" He stopped laughing and look back to me. A smirk crept on his face. "You are right my boy. I already foresaw the pros and cons to this."

"And you still agreed to do it?" I questioned once more. 

He sighed. "Call me crazy, but I just did it. Plus, I couldn't let my son go to such a school. I would transfer him to another school but..." He voice trailed off and so did his stare. I looked over to Sandeul whose expression darkened. It must have been some personal manner. 

Mr. Lee coughed. "Anyways, I agreed to help them and they're doing a lot better now. Plus, Soomin High has agreed to merge with Jihwan High. Because of all of these factors, I've decided to give up my position and stop this nonsense."

*Sandeul's POV*

Did... Did I just hear right? My father... is actually trying to do something good? I looked at him with new found respect -- or at least something close to it.

"Really abeoji?" I asked, still not believing it.

He nodded. "Yes. After going through this in my mind, I've realized how wrong this is and should be stopped immediately. The staff of Jihwan High and us hotel owners will have a meeting sometime this week to think it over. Hopefully during that time, we can put an end to this." 

I stared blankly at the table and slowly nodded. Is my father really trying to do something good? Has he finally seen the light? I was so angry when my father agreed to help Jaegyu's father and I was even angrier when Jaegyu's father left and my father took his spot. Now he's going to stop it. I don't know what has gotten over him, but if it was possible for my father to become 'good' then I hope it would happen.

My father looked at everyone in the room and nodded his head. He looked over to the clock that was hanging from the wall on his left. "It's getting late and I don't want the boys to be late for training. I call this meeting to an end."

Wooyoung and I nodded and stood up. We bid farewell to our fathers and left the conference room. We walked out of the room where my father's secretaries work. We didn't say a word until we reached the elevators. Once the doors slid shut, I muttered a "Wow...."

Wooyoung turned to me. "You didn't expect your father to agree with me?"

I thought before answering. "Yeah. Plus, he's actually doing something... good. Usually he only does things that would benefit him, but is he really thinking about others?" I couldn't help but laugh.

"Unless..." Wooyoung started to say "there's some motive behind it."

The small smile on my face started to die out. I haven't really thought of it that way, but Wooyoung could be right. But what could my father benefit from ending this deal? He didn't have to send illegal money to our school anymore. He won't be in trouble -- or, he won't be in much trouble. Because the school's situation is getting better, he doesn't have to help them. What could he gain from all that? 

I leaned against the color elevator wall and realized I didn't have my bag with me. The door slid open and Wooyoung was already walking out. He stopped midway and looked back. "What's wrong?"

I messed up my hair a bit. "I forgot my bag in my father's office. Could you just go without me? I'll meet you there."

Wooyoung nodded. "You sure you don't want me to come with you?"

I shook my head. 

"Well okae then," he said and I watched as he disappeared down the hall. The doors closed and I hit the button labeled 15. I felt the elevator shoot up a couple of floors and come to a sudden stop. I ran as soon as the doors open and back to my father's office. The door was opened ajar and I was just going to run inside but I stopped when I heard my father speak.

"It's not easy as it seems Minwoo," I heard him say. I stopped in my tracks and listened in on their conversation.

"So why are you trying to stop it?"

I heard my father sigh, and he sounded pretty depressed. This was new to me. My father has always been this cold figure who only wants the best and thinks discipline is the best form of parenting. He never showed any weakness -- at least not in front of me.

"It is true that Jihwan is getting better, that is one of the reasons why I decided to stop." My father paused for a second before continuing. "But it's also because I'm losing money myself."

I don't know how Wooyoung's father reacted but it was silent. Finally he said. "W-what?"

"Donating money to the school wasn't easy, but I had to do it for Junghwan. Plus, getting close to Ga Eun again was my real motive. He stole money from me when he was still working for me so I fired him. I never understood why he did that. I assumed it was because he got greedy and couldn't stand to see how successful I became. When he finally came back asking for my help, I thought it was the perfect chance. I took his position so that I can learn more about him."

"What do you mean Seonu?" Wooyoung's father asked.

"Ga Eun was working as a loan shark. He was gaining money from others just to work as a loan shark. He was almost found out so he left Korea for his hotel to rot. I was amazed over the fact that he was able to raise a hotel himself and was quite impressed. Later on I found out he used the money he stole from me to build that hotel.He was quite successful the first couple of years but he started to lose money once more. That was around the time Jihwan was losing money. Since his son goes to that school, he used it as a cover up." He paused and sighed. "I was too stupid to not realize it sooner. I was thinking to myself 'Why can't we just openly donate to the school?' but Ga Eun told me 'No. Jihwan has such a high reputation. It would be terrible if the public heard about their situation. We must keep this amongst ourselves.'" I heard my father laugh but it sounded sad. "Ga Eun was always so persuasive. It turns out, half of the money being donated to the school was used for his sake. He used it for his hotel and all his debts. That's why it took so long for Jihwan High to get back on track. And it turns out they weren't even losing that much money. It was all a trick!" I'm guessing my father threw something because I heard something break. Like a glass ornament. 

"What happend to us?" I heard Wooyoung's father said. "You, me... Jaemin and Ga Eun... We used to be best friends back in high school all the way to college."

"That was in the past!" My father snapped. "Friendships don't last forever! Nothing lasts forever! That bastard Jaemin... he tricked me as well! We were suppose to go to the top together and conquer the hotel business. Then he got greedy and sabotaged me. Got me fired and I had to work from the dirt all the way up! I thought I could count on Ga Eun after that but he betrayed me as well!" There was a minute of silence. "When they all left me, I thought I still had you. But then you decided to leave me as well."

There must have been an awkward silence after that.  

I slowly stepped away from the door, not believing what I just heard. I turned away and ran. I ran in to the elevator and punched the button 6. It moved down and once the doors opened, I ran out and headed to the place me and Wooyoung were to have our training.

"Did you get your bag?" Wooyoung asked as he saw me. "Woah. Why do you look pale?"

I shook my head. "The door was locked. I'll just get it later. And I'm fine. I was just in a hurry to get here."

He gave me a skeptical look but decided against on saying anything. "Well okae then. We should hurry up. The one who's training us today is that annoying secretary of your fathers."

"Mr. Jang?"

"That one," Wooyung said.

I laughed. "I don't like him either. Whenever my father is away on business trips, it's usually just me and my mom. But since my mom is also busy, I rarely see her. She's the only one in my family that I like. Usually I would try to get myself in trouble. That way, she can put her work on hold and pay attention to me." I laugh at all my memories. "Whenever I do something wrong, it's Mr. Jang that reports to her. And sometimes he reports at the worse of times."

I recalled one memory where me and my mom were planting in the back yard. It was great, just the two of us. Mother and son bonding time. Then he would show up and ruin everything. My mother would scold me, but it gave us more time together. At least she doesn't slap me in the face. 

We finally reached Mr. Jang's office and I opened the door. Mr. Jang looked up and scowled. "You could have at least knocked."

I looked over at Wooyoung, who had the same expression as me. We braced ourselves for the torturous training we'll be receiving and stepped inside the room. 

I AM SOOOOO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING SOONER T^T How long has it been? 3 weeks? OTL I am so sorry. I've been busy and I had another stupid writers block not to mention I was also lazy

So I know this chapter is boring and I'm pretty sure the next one is going to be boring too, but once it gets to chapter 28 I believe, things are going to get interesting! :D  This chapter was just mostly focused on the whole situation with the school and such~ Yeah... boring chapter is boring. 

Uhmm... Any questions or comments, just leave a comment below~ ^^ Please? ;A;