Jiyong and Youngbae sit beside one another at a large desk, each boy working on his homework in silence. Their silence is interrupted as a young girl flings open the door, standing with her hands on her hips and her hair in pigtails.

“Ya! Lee Chaerin!” Jiyong turns in his chair to yell at her, his annoyed gaze focused on the eleven year old girl. “You should knock first before entering someone’s bedroom!”

“It’s not like you were doing anything gross.” The young girl says defiantly, looking down at her shoes to avoid his glaring. She doesn’t get upset because she knows he could never really be angry with her no matter what she does. Her attention drifts to the other boy in the room, wearing the same dark blue uniform jacket as Jiyong. “Oppa!” She exclaims, surprised to see Youngbae in his uniform for the first time. “You look so handsome!”

“What about me?” The GD Group heir jokingly pouts but Chaerin walks over to Youngbae.

“I see you in your uniform all the time, oppa.” She says matter of factly as she smoothes away imaginary wrinkles on the other boy’s suit jacket. Youngbae laughs at the antics of his friends, setting down his pen in realization that Chaerin wouldn’t let them do their homework.

“Thank you, Chaerin-ah.” Youngbae smiles and she beams back up at him. “Your uniform is nice, too.”

A blush creeps across her cheeks as Chaerin shyly looks away. Her expression suddenly grows sad as she wishes she could be in middle school along with Jiyong and Youngbae. “Do you like your new school, Youngbae oppa? Is it fun?” Youngbae in nods to her questions in response and is about to say something before Jiyong interrupts him.

“Some guys tried to bully Youngbae-ah but I stopped them.”  He says loudly, causing Youngbae to go quiet. The other boy looks down at his shoes, dirty sneakers he’s had for years.

“Why would anyone bully Bae oppa?” Chaerin asks sadly.

“Ya, Jiyong, don’t tell her that. I didn’t want her to know.” His voice is quiet, defeated. He didn’t want Chaerin to know about how cruel people could be, not yet. He didn’t want to see what a dark world she was born into, the world of the rich and affluent that ruling over corporate Korea. And mostly he didn’t want her to one day become like Jiyong who believed everything his parents told him. Youngbae never wanted Chaerin to reject him just because he was the son of a maid.

“Even though our smart Dong Youngbae was accepted into the school through a scholarship a lot of students don’t feel like he belongs at such an elite middle school. Should a son of a maid be sharing a classroom with the future of Korea? That’s what many students think, but it’s just not true.” Jiyong continued without listening to his friend’s plea to stop. The young girl gasps at his words, her hands covering in horror at the cruelty of middle school students.

“You don’t think that, too, do you oppa?” She asks him pleadingly and neither Chaerin nor Youngbae fail to notice Kwon Jiyong’s silence. The other poor shifts uncomfortably in his chair at the large pause as Chaerin desperately waits for an answer.

“Don’t be crazy, of course I don’t think that. Youngbae is my friend. If he wasn’t at school I wouldn’t have anyone to keep me company.” He says defensively but Youngbae has heard it too many times to believe him. His silence spoke more truth than any carefully worded sentence.

Taeyang stands up to greet Jiyong with a bow, a fake smile straining on his face. The other man doesn’t return the greeting and instead stands with his arms crossed as if expecting Taeyang to quickly leave.

“I had heard Chaerin-ssi was home sick and thought I should check on her,” He says still with that fake smile.

“I’m glad YG Corporation cares so much for its employees. I’ll have to call up Human Resources and commend your efforts.” The young chaebol sneers while the other man’s smile widens. Taeyang is about to reply when Chaerin interrupts.

“Oppa, stop harassing him.” She puts the empty bowl down on the table and stands up. The sudden movement sets off a coughing fit and Jiyong rushes to her side. Taeyang moves to go to her side but Jiyong puts up a hand to stop him.

“You’ve done enough.” Jiyong says through gritted teeth, his eyes dangerous as he soothingly rubs Chaerin’s back in a large circular motion and gives her water to drink. Taeyang pauses, watching the two of them.

“You’re right.” He says to Jiyong after a short moment, bowing to Chaerin. “Hopefully I will see you at work soon so please get better, Chaerin-ssi. I’ll let myself out.” He turns to leave without looking back at the two childhood friends.   

Chaerin attempts to wiggle out of Jiyong’s grip but he holds onto her tightly. The front door shuts loudly and Jiyong nuzzles his head into her shoulder.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were sick? I was worried the entire three hour plane ride back.” He whispers into her bare skin.

“I didn’t say anything because I thought you might overreact and do something crazy like cancel all of your meetings and book a last minute flight back to Korea.” She gives him a pointed look and he pouts at her harsh tone.

“I only did it because I care about you. I know you get lonely easily and I didn’t want you to be sick in an empty apartment without anyone to take care of you.” He says earnestly, pulling slightly away from the hug to study her face. “Was my Hunchae lonely?” He asks with a puppy dog face, holding his arms out wide for a hug and she falls into them. She wraps her arms around his waist and rests her head on his chest, hearing his heartbeat through his white dress shirt.

Chaerin knows that they always seem to be in this position. He’s always holding her and she’s always falling into his arms. She’s not an idiot: she knows that Jiyong wants more. When she pulls away from their embraces, she knows that he has a sad expression on his face that he hopes she’ll never notice. She wants to thank him for being patient and waiting for her for all of these years but she knows that it will kill him. Chaerin snuggles in closer to him, smiling against the fabric of his suit.

“I’m going to get you sick.”

“You can make me as sick you want.” He looks down at her with a smirk, ruffling her hair as punishment for teasing him. “I would die for you.”

“Stop being over dramatic,” She says with a gentle laugh as she moves her head to look up at him. She knows he’s being serious.

The car is silent other than the sounds of other cars being quickly passed by. Taeyang’s knuckles grip the steering wheel so painfully tight that they turn white. His eyes are focused ahead of him, his teeth gritted and his heart beating angrily. Jiyong was as big of a self-obsessed jerk as he had always been. Taeyang should have known that but it still made him furious. He hates Kwon Jiyong for always having Lee Chaerin at his side. He hates that Jiyong can have whatever he wants without any effort. He hates that Chaerin always settles for Jiyong.

Taeyang turns suddenly into the parking garage of an affluent apartment complex, his tires squealing against the road at the change of direction. Navigating through the garage, he pulls into a spot with the least amount of cars around it. He grabs his cell phone out of his pocket, calling the first number in his speed dial.

“Hyung, I’m on my way up to your apartment.” He hangs up before the man on the other line can respond as he steps out of his car, walking toward the elevator. His breathing is heavy and his feet stomp down heavily as he walks. Taeyang tries to calm down as he presses the floor number on the elevator. He rubs his face out of frustration as he waits for the doors to open up to his destination. When the elevator doors open he can see Teddy Park waiting outside of his apartment down the hall.

“I was just about to go out,” Teddy says grumpily as he kicks the wall with his Italian leather shoes. Taeyang can tell, looking at the older man’s sharp suit and smelling the hint of after shave.

“You’re not going anywhere anymore,” The young president gives him a serious look. “We need to talk about the plan.”

Teddy nods, letting Taeyang into the apartment as he follows behind him. He doesn’t know what happened but judging from the younger man’s face it couldn’t have been good. Taeyang paces around the living room, rubbing his chin and messing up his hair. Teddy gets him a drink from the bar by the kitchen and watches with a raised eyebrow as Taeyang takes the drown, quickly downing it.

“You know Lee Chaerin?” Taeyang asks angrily, turning to look at Teddy with dangerous eyes. Teddy looks taken aback by the sudden question, nodding slowly as he sits down.

“We met a couple of years ago.”

“And why the hell didn’t you tell me?” The pacing stops and Taeyang stands with his legs planted firmly on the wood floor. His eyes bore intensely into the other man’s, his face scarily calm despite the venom in his voice.

“I didn’t think it was anything worth mentioning,” Teddy replies, trying his best to return the intense gaze. It’s been a long time since he’s seen Taeyang like this and it’s never before been directed toward him.

“She calls you Teddy oppa.” Taeyang says, his stern facial expression breaking only to turn into a frown. “Please, I’m begging you, please, tell me that you were just friends.” His angry turns desperate, his eyes pleading and more sad than livid.

“It was never anything serious,” Teddy begins but notices Taeyang’s look and quickly adds, “We were just friends and now we hardly even see each other anymore.”

The lie isn’t enough to satisfy Taeyang and he throws his tumbler down in frustration, shards of glass and ice scattering across the floor. Without a word, Teddy goes into a closet and gets a broom and dust pan, picking up the broken pieces of glass. He throws away the mess as Taeyang in an exhausted mess falls onto the couch, his face in his hands as he lays down in silence.     

“Youngbae-ah,” Teddy calls out to him with a gentle and brotherly voice. “Don’t be mad at me, Youngbae-ah. You know I’m a up, I made a huge mistake.” Teddy tries to soothe him as he sits across from him on a chair.

“Kwon Jiyong came home from his trip to Japan while I was visiting Chaerin.” Taeyang says suddenly, moving his hands to look up at his brother with the eyes of a young child. “I hate anyone who spends time with her. But more than anything I hate that I spent ten years without her. I hate that I didn’t get to see her grow. When I was at her apartment I saw so many photographs of them together it made me sick. I wanted to be at her graduation and I wanted to go to Paris with her.”

Teddy moves to sit next to Taeyang on the couch, resting a hand on his shoulder without saying anything because he knows whatever he says won’t matter.

“She had a picture of us.” He starts to cry, the tears gently falling down his cheeks. “She remembered my birthday… I haven’t celebrated my birthday in eleven years.”

“We just need to stick to the plan,” Teddy says calmly as the younger man wipes his tears and nods in agreement.

“No matter what the cost, GD Corporation will burn to the ground and the Kwon family will suffer for their sins. Kwon Jiyong will be knocked off of his pedestal built by the pain of others and he will be left with absolutely nothing.” Taeyang’s voice is steady, the words easy to speak because he’s rehearsed them over and over again in his head. For eleven years he’s told himself these words each time he looks himself in the mirror.

Teddy’s gaze wanders to a portrait of a woman smiling beautifully, surrounded by flowers dutifully replaced each week. Taeyang looks, too, his eyes sad no matter how times he looks at the portrait. He can almost see her sitting in front of them, smiling.

“Never forget, Youngbae-ah. Never forget that he killed our mother.”

- - -

Author's Note: Hi! Sorry this chapter was a bit late. My plan is to update two chapters every weekend so please look forward to that. I am really busy with school so I'm not able to update everyday but I promise I'll never abandon this story (or any of my other stories.) Please comment or leave suggestions, I love to read them! And as always, thank you for the support!