A/N: HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUNA <3 Hehe, sorry for the one-day absence. I have no excuse apart from sleeping in. Sorry 'bout that. And I'm further apologizing for this chapter because of obvious things upon reading. I'll make it up to you on the next.

 

AND! This is the song Soojung will be playing somewhere in the chapter. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_2tUS8uHmQ

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

Jung Soojung would have chosen to stay sleeping in the protective comfort of Sulli’s being – lying on her lap under the soft sunlight, snuggled in her embrace, or just be generally carefree.

 

But that’s Sulli.

 

She isn’t as carefree as she looks. In fact, the first thing she had said the moment Soojung’s eyes fluttered open was “go home”.

 

Soojung does, but not without the little red ribbon Sulli used to tie her sticks together. She could tell that Sulli was curious when she started tangling it around one hand.

 

She ended up sitting in front of the piano when she got home, staring at the keys, and moving her fingers across the blacks and whites as she let the theory of one song move across her memory.

 

She pushes only a few chords down but refuses to play the song until it was clear in her mind.

 

.

.

.

 

From his study, Jung Yunho notices the familiar chords that played in a messy blur.

 

He puts his notes down and leans back in his chair, waiting for his daughter to put the pieces together.

 

.

.

.

 

Soojung, with one deep breath, starts playing the familiar melody, thinking that it would make her understand what her father didn’t let her—

 

And thinking that maybe – just maybe – it will revive what unsettled issues they left wandering about the emptiness of their home—

 

Maybe even breathe life back into the pale-colored walls—

 

Or maybe even find her father when, for years, he refused to be found.

 

.

.

.

 

Change the World. Composed and played by a free western musician, Eric Clapton.

 

That’s what the song was. He knew; he remembered.

 

The music played soft and uncertain. He wasn’t sure what term this was in Italian – or if there is any term for it in the language of music.

 

But he stood.

 

He stood from where he sat and made his way out of his office to see the image of his daughter playing at the hall below.

 

Sitting before the piano in the middle of the lobby, playing one song he will remember for the rest of his life, was his daughter, Jung Soojung.

 

He was well aware of that, even as the faint memory of his wife playing that same song floated back into his head.

 

Things were becoming frighteningly clearer, as clear and as crisp as the first time it happened.

 

One thing was still as vague as the hurtful memory of his wife leaving though – love.

 

He blinks at the realization.

 

He always believed that he loved his daughter—

 

—until something warm escaped his eyes, unfamiliar and small – too small, but enough to break his heart into a million pieces all over again.

 

He had always loved his daughter and that was true—

 

But he had forgotten how loving was like and maybe, while he had forgotten, he had failed as a father to show his daughter the love she deserved too.

 

.

.

.

 

The last time he cried was when she had completely walked out of his life, taking the biggest piece of his heart with her.

 

His daughter was about six then.

 

She was six and she tugged at his bigger hand, pulling it free from the song he was just about to finish playing on the same piano Soojung would be playing on until she grows older.

 

He made sure he had wiped his eyes free from tears before turning to his meek little daughter. He smiles at her.

 

‘Dad?’

 

She smiles and climbs the piano bench, settling herself beside her father.

 

‘Dad, I’ll play too, okay?’

 

He chuckles, completely amused.

 

‘Why?’

 

‘So I can play like mom.’

 

He doesn’t say anything. Back then, he thought that he only waited for Soojung to clarify.

 

‘Mom is dad’s music, right?’

 

He could only blink as he watched Soojung trying to reach both ends of an octave on the piano with her tiny fingers.

 

Frustration was apparent in her face as she frowns at the difficulty of achieving the task she was trying to accomplish.

 

‘And you’ll be a much better pianist,’ he decided to play along despite Soojung’s obvious frustration.

 

‘Uh-huh, we’ll do so much better,’ little Soojung says and Yunho only laughs.

 

He laughs and pulls his daughter into an embrace.

 

He laughed because he knew he had to mask the hurt—

 

—and he held her because he couldn’t show her his tears.

 

.

.

.

 

Jung Yunho nearly gasps at the realization that, once again, the hurt deep in him made itself known.

 

His daughter stops playing and, immediately, Yunho wipes at his tears.

 

At this point, he decided that some things have to be done; some lines have to be drawn.

 

He pulls out his phone and dials for Soojung’s driver.

 

‘Seung Pyo?’

 

The unsuspecting driver shuffles on the other side of the line before answering.

 

‘H—hello, Sir?’

 

‘I need a small favor.’

 

‘Yes, sir, of course. What would that be?’

 

‘Soojung’s friend—what’s her name?’

 

Seung Pyo pauses, until he remembers that Soojung only seems to have one friend.

 

.

.

.

 

On the Monday that followed, Soojung was rather worried to have not come across Sulli at the hallways – not even once.

 

She should have seen her in the morning or at lunch, or at least she should have gotten a note or two.

 

She pulls out her phone only to realize that she didn’t have the other girl’s number.

 

Her face distorts in disgust.

 

Feeling that teeny bit of clinginess worries and annoys her, but not having Sulli’s number was just ridiculous.

 

She’ll remember to ask after last period.

 

.

.

.

 

Sulli wasn’t the sharpest when it comes to Calculus, and as far as she’s concerned, she had put extra effort for the supposed subject—

 

So, sitting at the Principal’s Office at that period worried her.

 

The old, friendly looking Principal seemed to be struggling with his phone.

 

Feeling the uneasiness settle itself in her, Sulli decided to just help the Jurassic person with his phone.

 

‘Excuse me, sir. Do you need help with that?’ she says as she puts on a sickly sweet smile on to mask her general annoyance over being pulled out of Calculus.

 

‘Oh, thank you, my child.’

 

She takes the device from his extended hand and discovers that it was a touch-based smart phone.

 

‘Can you give the last number on the Call Log a call please?’

 

Sulli does and hands him back the now dialing device, hoping to be able to get out of the office soon.

 

‘Hello?’

 

Sulli could hear the faint voice of what seemed to be another male on the other line.

 

‘Ah, yes. I’m sorry I took long, Mr. Jung. She was a little hard to find. Yes, yes. It appears that Choi Jinri is the Sulli you are looking for.’

 

The old man is babbling about and is chuckling, but the only thing that Sulli heard was “Mr. Jung” and immediately her focus fell out of the principal’s incomplete little teeth.

 

She sinks into the chair she settled herself in.

 

‘What did I do?’ she mumbles to herself, Calculus completely forgotten now.

 

.

.

.

 

Sulli bows nearly ninety degrees the moment Yunho enters the Principal’s Office. She didn’t have that good of a first encounter with him and she wasn’t sure she left a good impression.

 

The principal chuckles at Sulli’s behavior.

 

‘I’m not sure what you need with her, Mr. Jung, but this girl is an excellent student,’ he began as he beckons for Yunho to take the seat opposite the one Sulli had been sitting on earlier. ‘So, it is quite my concern if a parent of another student calls for her.’

 

‘It’s a private matter, Sir,’ Yunho answers with a hint of a smile, ‘but, I assure you, it will not affect her academic performance nor does it have anything to do with it.’

 

‘Okay,’ the old man stands up from his chair and Sulli felt like begging for him to stay. ‘I’ll be leaving the two of you then. I have an inspection to do at one of the third floor classrooms.’

 

As soon as the door clicks shut behind the old man, Sulli gulps and keeps her head down.

 

‘I shouldn’t have judged you.’

 

And already Sulli looks up at the older Jung.

 

‘Excuse me?’

 

‘I shouldn’t have judged you, Ms. Choi,’ he repeats, keeping his eyes at Sulli like a detective would a convicted criminal.

 

‘—and I don’t have the right to tell you to stay away from my daughter now that she’s better than how she has been for nearly twelve years.’

 

Sulli keeps mum.

 

‘I can’t keep you from her when I haven’t been there for her.’

 

Yunho leans back into the chair where he sat and bows his head, ending up staring at his hands.

 

Sulli bows her head as well; she felt that it wasn’t right for her to keep her chin up when Soojung’s father had his down.

 

‘I just have one thing to ask of you—‘

 

He sighs deeply and, in a second, his pride was evident in his eyes as he lifts his gaze to bear them into Sulli’s tentative ones.

 

‘—don’t hurt her. Don’t ever.’

 

And in a single blink, Sulli’s eyes were stern, almost like his—but she chose to smile.

 

‘If you want to warn anyone about hurting the other, sir,’ she began, ‘that would be her.’

 

‘Excuse me?’

 

‘She can hurt me—‘

 

Sulli’s gaze fell and she smiles at the thought of Soojung.

 

‘—she can hurt me as many times as she wants—‘

 

Then, for a moment, Sulli looked amused.

 

‘—it’s already painful as it is to be with her when she’s broken and I hate being hurt too.’

 

Yunho moves his hand to fold his arms, and Sulli immediately caught sight of the sparkling silver band around his left hand’s ring finger. That’s when she found the courage to say it to him—

 

‘—but I let her hold my trust even when I wasn’t ready. That’s why I know—that I’d let her hurt me as many times as she would but I think she’d be worth it.’

 

Yunho suddenly finds himself shaking his head.

 

‘Bob Marley,’ he says and it surprises Sulli. ‘The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for.’

 

Sulli finally smiles freely and she was almost nervous that she looked like a bumbling fool in front of Soojung’s father – one bumbling fool for his daughter.

 

‘That crazy man is right again,’ was all Sulli could say.

 

At that moment, Yunho almost wishes that he could tell that one woman somewhere at the other end of the world that he’s always thought she was worth the hurt—

 

—and that he knows that his daughter is in perfectly careful hands.

 

Then, worry suddenly washes over him.

 

He knows and has seen what sacrifices his daughter would go through for the ones she cared for, and it would only be fair if he told Sulli of Soojung’s plans.

 

‘Has she told you?’ he asks.

 

Sulli looks at him, confused.

 

‘She will be elsewhere to further her music studies after High School.’

 

‘Elsewhere?’

 

Sulli thought one blood vessel must have sent the wrong message, because her heart beat painfully and loudly enough to ring through her ears.

 

.

.

.

 

Soojung could see Luna and Amber coming down the stairs at the end of the

hallway and cranes her neck to see if Sulli was with them.

 

Seeing that the other girl wasn’t, she decides to just hurry over to them and ask for her whereabouts.

 

‘Hi,’ she greets them with a smile, but they greet her and smile even wider at her it almost scares her how creepy they were being.

 

‘Have you seen, Sulli?’

 

And their smiles were even creepier.

 

‘Oh, you know—‘ Amber pulls out her cellphone from her pocket and scrolls down her contact list ‘—I think she’s playing that no-number-giving skit on you too, so I’ll just give you her number.’

 

Soojung looked grateful and was oblivious to Amber’s exaggerated generosity over their friend’s details and Luna's brow wiggling.

 

‘Here.’

 

Amber holds out her phone for Soojung to see.

 

Soojung takes down Sulli’s contact details and nearly cracks up at Sulli’s pre-teen picture wolfing on a cake on the contact picture.

 

Luna and Amber throw each other knowing looks.

 

‘She was with us at Calculus but she was pulled out,’ Luna explains as she just remembered, worry suddenly evident in her tone.

 

‘Pulled out?’

 

Now, it was Soojung’s turn to frown in worry.

 

‘Yeah, she was asked to go to the Principal’s Office.’

 

‘Do you know why? I mean, I don’t think Sulli’s the type to be sent to the office.’

 

Both Luna and Amber suddenly crack up and it worried Soojung even more.

 

‘She was sent to the principal at Middle School once,’ Amber chuckles at the memory. ‘You know how she rarely gets in a foul mood right?’

 

Soojung nods.

 

‘She was moody because her dad tried to get in touch; she ended up punching a classmate in the face over an accidentally broken pencil.’

 

Luna and Amber crack up even more at the memory of the annoying boy’s bloody nose, but Soojung somehow felt bad at the timing of her knowing about this.

 

.

.

.

 

‘She hasn’t settled where it would be. Germany though is what she’s been preparing for.’

 

Sulli hisses as she accidentally bends her thumbnail over the still fresh memory of Mr. Jung telling her about Soojung’s plans as she fumbled with her fingers.

 

Soojung did mention that she took German and Italian Language courses apart from her music courses and it just annoyed Sulli how it never occurred to her what those extra-curricular classes were for.

 

She pouts. She had just painted that nail too.

 

‘Germany,’ she mutters to herself for the umpteenth time.

 

She clicks her tongue and decides to just go home before everybody else got out of class and it would be harder for her to be away from human beings.

 

She stands up from the waiting bench and readies to walk away when one boy accidentally bumps at her.

 

‘HEY!’

 

‘I’m sorry,’ she says lifelessly.

 

She kneels down to pick her things up when that same boy barks at her again.

 

‘Watch where you’re going you idiot!’

 

And that’s when her hands completely freeze from gathering her things.

 

Her eyes narrow dangerously.

 

.

.

.

 

And, for the second time that day, Choi Jinri was brought to the Principal’s Office.

 

.

.

.

 

‘I’ve only just allowed you to settle one issue with Mr. Jung and even praised you before him,’ the Principal says as he sighs and struggles to make another phone call. ‘Now, I have to call your mother?’

 

Sulli’s hand was dipped in a bucket of ice and the boy seated across her was sobbing into a towel that was soaked in both his blood and tears.

 

Sulli watches as the old man mumbles about buying a technologically challenging phone.

 

She clears and holds her better hand out, ‘I’ll dial her number for you, sir.’

 

Sulli lazily keys in her mother’s number, but she stops midway.

 

She deletes the whole thing in a few taps and opted to just dial a different number—

 

Her father’s number.

 

.

.

.

 

Ju Rin sat quietly across the restaurant table from his daughter who was equally quiet.

 

‘So,’ he said as he decided to break the awkward silence, ‘you broke that boy’s nose.’

 

Sulli looks up at her father, expression unreadable.

 

‘You’re not angry I did that?’

 

Ju Rin chuckles and gives his daughter a thumbs up, much to Sulli’s confusion.

 

‘Why would I be angry?’

 

‘Dad—‘ Sulli looks at him in disbelief ‘—I got myself a three-day suspension.’

 

‘You decided to have me called to the office instead of your mom. I have no reason to be angry.’

 

Sulli raises a brow.

 

‘I’m probably glad you haven’t hit me yet after everything I put you through.’

 

And that brow goes back down.

 

‘Tiffany-unnie’s not angry that you’re here?’

 

Ju Rin shakes his head.

 

‘But she knows you’re with me.’

 

Ju Rin nods, a smile still plastered on his lips.

 

Seeing how his smile didn’t waver, Sulli lets that odd feeling in her tummy untangle. She pushes the menu in front of her dad and points out about seven dishes.

 

‘I want all of those.’

 

Ju Rin nods in affirmative, but before lifting his hand to call for the waiter, he eyes his daughter and props his chin on his hand.

 

‘You’re upset, aren’t you?’

 

Sulli shrugs her shoulders and simply sips from the glass of water prepared for them earlier.

 

‘Is it a boy?’

 

‘Nope—‘

 

‘So—it’s girl then.’

 

Sulli nearly chokes at the question.

 

‘Ah, your mom owes me pizza money.’

 

‘You’ve been betting on my uality behind my back?’ Sulli asks, exasperated.

 

‘I had to know how you were doing too. It’s not like it’s the only thing we were talking about.’

 

‘God!’

 

‘Since you’re too overworked, I’ll take that as a yes.’

 

‘Dad, stop it!’

 

‘So, I have two girls, and two boys.’

 

‘DAD! I’M STILL A GIRL!’

 

‘I know, I know—‘ Ju Rin leans closer to his daughter and wiggles his eyebrows. ‘So, what’s she like?’

 

Sulli sighs and lets herself fall back into the comfy seat, even shaking her head as if it would rearrange her thoughts.

 

‘Dad?’

 

Ju Rin nods his head, beckoning his daughter to go on, and he keeps his eyes open for her, reassuring her that he was more than willing to listen.

 

‘I’m sorry I shut you out.’

 

He definitely didn’t expect that. Sulli had said it so surely that it almost seemed as if she came here with him to say that.

 

‘I guess I was just afraid to get hurt.’

 

Sulli bows her head and she fumbles with the fork on her side of her table.

 

‘I go around showing everyone I could be tough, but—‘ the fork she held cluttered on the table against her shaking hand ‘—the truth is I was very scared. I was scared that if I let you in you’ll just hurt me again.’

 

The older of the two’s back slouched as he listened and anticipated even more hurtful words to come. He was ready – for nearly thirteen years, he had made himself ready.

 

‘And I still hate you,’ Sulli says as she rolls her eyes—

 

But Ju Rin only laughs.

 

‘That’s it?’

 

He laughs again and Sulli wasn’t sure anymore if the tears in his eyes hinted joy or too much laughter.

 

‘You make me feel hated for nearly thirteen years and that’s it?’

 

‘Okay,’ Sulli’s says, sounding like the best idea just made it to her head. ‘Why don’t we try something else?’

 

She looks up momentarily in thought.

 

‘How about—I despise you.’

 

Ju Rin cracks up even more.

 

‘Oh, you still think that’s funny?’

 

‘Yeah.’

 

‘How about—I abhor you.’

 

‘That’s lame.’

 

‘I hate your guts?’

 

‘Are you kidding? That’s even worse.’

 

‘Just get my food, old man.’

 

.

.

.

 

Soojung comes home frustrated.

 

She only got to know that Sulli got called to the Principal’s Office twice today and she refused to answer her calls. She even let Seung Pyo drive her to Sulli’s only to find that she wasn’t there.

 

The little jumble of evil little emotions in her tummy has grown into full-blown emotional rebellion that she even nearly considered leaving her phone in the car in retaliation.

 

—but she remembers there wasn’t any spoken commitment between her and Sulli as she spots the red ribbon she likes tangled with her fingers.

 

She snorts at the thought and took her phone with her inside the house, slamming the car door stronger than necessary. She doesn’t even greet Seung Pyo back when he tells her goodnight.

 

Soojung makes her way to the lobby and she notices the even deeper silence surrounding the house.

 

It would seem the maids have gone home early—

 

—which was strange because there was that undeniable smell of deliciously barbecued meat coming from the dining room.

 

She makes her way to the table to find her father sleeping, head buried in his folded arms on the table where the less carefully prepared food was.

 

It wasn’t hard to tell that he had prepared it himself.

 

She felt that pang of guilt in her heart that she immediately pushes down as she moved to wake her father.

 

‘Dad?’

 

She gently shakes him and he wakes up startled.

 

‘Oh, you’re home.’

 

‘Yeah.’ Soojung bites her lower lip nervously.

 

‘Such a shame,’ he said as he stared at the still set food before him. ‘The food’s all cold now.’

 

That was new.

 

But Soojung didn’t waste time being surprised, she pats her father on the shoulders just before taking her seat next to him.

 

‘It’s fine!’ she tells him as she immediately took three pieces of meat to her plate. ‘I’ll race you to five.’

 

Yunho chuckles and got himself one slice, aware of his daughter’s undeniable love for meat.

 

He plays along though, ‘loser washes the dishes.’

 

‘Game on.’

 

That night though, they ended up washing the dishes together despite Yunho’s deliberate loss.

 

And that ribbon messily tied around Soojung's hand, Yunho notices how she carefully removes it before helping him out.