CHAPTER 23

FLASHBACK (Sort of; it’s more of a backstory on Yuri’s father)

Soon-Il has been at the top of his classes ever since he started his schooling. It wasn’t much of a surprise to others, he was after all, part the superior bloodline of the Kwons. This family was the home of various geniuses. From Doctors to Military Generals, the Kwons were known to have a superior gene pool and Soon-Il was no exception.

Who exactly was Soon-Il in the Kwon family? He was a lot of things outside of the family but within that cluster, he didn’t have much of a role. Outside of his family, he was a friend to many and some even consider him as a brother. Within the cluster of his family, he was just the son of Kwon Seung-ha, a renowned lawyer and business owner. Soon-Il’s role within his own family was to just uphold the name he was given but that wasn’t easy when he had a father who saw nothing but his mistakes. Although life for him was tough, he never disobeyed whatever his parents told him to do, believing that they knew better.

Soon-Il lived a life full of words he never spoke of. Dreadful as it was, he just knew there wasn’t enough of a reason to change the way things were. Soon-Il had his mind set on the idea that things were just as they should be. Growing up in an environment like his had taken a lot out of poor Soon-Il. For starters, he never fully trusted anyone. That grew out of being watched all the time because of his family’s prestigious name. Whatever he does automatically reflected on their name and thus making him be on his guard at all times. He became too careful in living his own life. Frankly, the way he spent his days couldn’t even be called living but for whatever it was worth, Soon-Il lived.

“Soon-Il! Pass the ball will ya?” his senior calls out to him.

Soon-Il stands up and picks the ball up and throws it right back at the boys who were asking for it. It was a fine spring day and everybody was out to enjoy it. Soon-Il went out of his dorm to take a break from all the studying he’s been doing as of the late. His finals were coming up and to be honest there was really nothing else to do but study. It wasn’t because he didn’t have friends, it was more like he didn’t want to hang out with any of the friends he had. College students around this time of the year are most likely hanging out in bars or going crazy at parties or in this case, out and about playing some kind of recreational sport, just to have that one last bit of fun before hell week comes.

Soon-Il looked all around him and all he could see were people minding their own business, doing whatever it is they were doing and at the center of all these motion was him, standing alone. It made him wonder why he went out in the first place when clearly this wasn’t the place he wanted to be at. No, he wanted to be somewhere else. Somewhere far and preferably somewhere where no one but him knows.

“Another day wasted…” Soon-Il whispered to himself.

When Soon-Il felt like he’s had his fix of the outside world, he started walking back to his dorm with his hands comfortably sitting inside his pockets. His feet felt heavy and just like any other day, he had to pretend they weren’t. Soon-Il took his usual route, walking around the corner of a street, he bumped into someone who was carrying more than what she could.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you.” Soon-Il took the initiative and started picking up papers that scattered on the ground.

“Well, obviously you didn’t. You’re too tall!” the girl retorted as she stood back up. Soon-Il was quite taller than this person and so she was easily overpowered with just one little bump.

Soon-Il picked up the rest of the papers and politely handed them back to the now pissed off looking girl.

“I’m sorry again. I’ll be more careful next time.” Soon-Il threw in a small smile and a bow to compensate but in all honesty he couldn’t care less about the girl.

“You look familiar… Have we met before? Wait. No. I don’t know anyone as tall as you. Where have I seen that face before…” The girl started thinking to herself. 

If anything, Soon-Il had no patience to be dealing with this kind of stuff right now but he had to control himself. For all he knows this girl could be one of those reporters who’ve been bugging him. Everyone’s hungry for a juicy scoop about the heir to the Kwon Empire.

“I’m sorry but I don’t think we’ve met before. Anyways, I’ll get going now.” Soon-Il threw a small smile and bowed again before attempting to walk past the girl.

“Jeez, if you’re gonna apologize, you could at least try and make it sound sincere. And that smile? Please. That wouldn’t even convince a blind person.”

Soon-Il stopped and turned right back around.

“I’m sorry if I offended you in some way but I really am sorry for what just happened. I didn’t mean to bump into you.” He was taken back by the audacity of the other person but of course he can’t blow his top over something this petty.

The girl smirked and looked at Soon-Il condescendingly.

“Ohhh. Now I remember. You’re a Kwon, right? You’re that hot-shot lawyer’s son. I guess you have to be nice, even to rude people like me. It must to have everyone watch your every move but then again you’re swimming in money. It can’t be that bad, heck it can’t be bad at all.” The girl said with a tone Soon-Il did not like at all.

Soon-Il looked at the girl’s face, letting all of its details sink into his mind.

Pretty face yet she ruins it with that mouth of hers. You really can’t have it all.

He kept looking for any signs that the girl was some kind reporter but he found none. Soon-Il figured that she was probably a student like him. With his hands still inside his pockets, he approached the seemingly rude girl, getting in such a dangerously close distance. Soon-Il leaned down, close enough for his mouth to be near the girl’s ear.

“A girl with a pretty face like yours, shouldn’t be running like that. Especially in front of a person tempestuous person like me.” Soon-Il whispered each word and with each one spoken, sent waves of blistering cold daggers down its receiving end.

Soon-Il stepped back and looked right in the eyes of the now frightened girl. The girl had every right to feel the way she did. The guy that was apologizing to her just a few seconds ago was now looking at her with the most horrifyingly dead eyes.

Their little silent exchange lasted till Soon-Il decided to walk away. The girl let go of the breath she unknowingly kept in. An unsettling feeling came over her as she watched Soon-Il’s back slowly disappear. She thought that maybe she went too far with her unfiltered talk to a complete stranger nonetheless and she did but it’s something she would realize and accept on her way home. For now, she would just walk away with the image of that gaze that was upon her just seconds ago, wondering how it came to be like that.

--

*Knock Knock Knock*

“Soon-Il! Open up!” Someone shouts from the other side of the door

Soon-Il sighs and closes his book. He gets up from his chair and opens his door only to be greeted by a friend.

“Why aren’t you dressed? The bonfire’s about to start!” a guy said as he saw Soon-Il in his usual jacket and pants outfit

“Because I’m not going.” Soon-Il was about to close his door when the guy stopped him and pushed it further

“You’ve been holed up in here from days now. Have a little fun!” the guy proceeded to do a silly dance

“Exams are a week away. I’d rather prepare for them than to go to a bonfire where everyone gets drunk and possibly even hurt, considering the amount of people who attend.”

“You’re always studying anyway. I’m sure you can answer everything without working a sweat!”

“Who even sweats, taking exams?”

“I do and I’m not that smart so put that together and you have future me getting drunk and having fun at that bonfire. So let’s go!! I’m not taking no as an answer.”

Soon-Il shook his head and reluctantly went to his bathroom to get dressed. Truthfully he’s been considering going since he’s been bored out of his mind with all of the reading he has been doing. He wasn’t planning on staying long though, he figured he could look around for a while then leave before things get crazy.

Heading out of their dormitory, Soon-Il and his friend walked to the field where the bonfire would be held. A huge tower of wood greeted them. There were fire trucks and ambulances on stand-by just in case things get out of hand and they always do.

Loud music started to play and everyone started dancing. Along the way, Soon-Il lost track of his friend. There wasn’t much to see after all. People were drunkenly chanting the school cheer and shouting more incoherent things as he walked around the field. The bleachers were completely empty and so went there to sit and just watch everyone hover around the great wood tower that was already consumed in fire. Soon-Il opened a can of beer he got on his way to the bleachers.

His eyes focused on the burning tower. Soon-Il admired how the fire danced along with the people around it. It was the only sight to see or so he thought.

“I knew I’d find you here.” A strikingly familiar voice said.

Soon-Il turned his head to the voice’s direction. His eyes laid on the girl from earlier. She was close to being the last person he wanted to see but fate does its own thing and now she was there, about 3 feet away from him.

Soon-Il turned away and went back to looking at the fire tower, all the while taking sips from his can of beer.

“You can’t ignore me forever.” The girl said with confidence. In her mind, the heir to the Kwon Empire would come around eventually.

“…”

“I circled around the field a few times just to find you, okay? I wanted to apologize for earlier.”

“…”

The girl sighed and came closer to Soon-Il. She sat down beside him and proceeded to take the can of beer that Soon-Il was about to take a sip of and took one herself.

“Will you at least look at me? Gosh. For a Kwon, you sure are rude.” As soon as those words slipped away from , Soon-Il felt a surge electricity run up his back.

“It’s too bad I’m not like them, huh? I’m not nice but I have to be. I don’t like it here but I have to be here. I could care less about being a lawyer but I need to be one. I’m not perfect but I need to be. Why don’t you tell me more about how I should be? I’m sure you could give me a few tips.” Soon-Il icily said.

He clearly had enough of this girl’s antics and so Soon-Il got up and was about leave when the girl stopped her.

“Oh come on. Really? That’s all? Hey, news flash rich kid, there are people that have it much worse okay? You’re not the only one with a screwed up life here. So what if you’re family’s too perfect? Guess what? Some people don’t even have a family to begin with so don’t act like you’re the king of the unfortunate.”

The girl spoke nothing but the truth. Compared to others, Soon-Il was very much lucky but that wasn’t the angle Soon-Il was tackling. It was just that every time he hears something about how he should be because of his family, it ticks him off automatically. A day hasn’t gone by without something or anything reminding him of the sole fact that he cannot screw up because it all fall down on his family’s reputation.

“You think I don’t know that? Whether or not I’m better off than them doesn’t matter. Why? Because the way I feel and I guarantee you everyone else who’s as ed up as I am or even more, will always be like I’m the last person on God’s list.”

Watching Soon-Il get all worked up, amused the girl infinitely. She took it upon herself to laugh heartily and continued to do so up until Soon-Il tried to walk away again.

“Alright, alright. You win, Kwon kid. You can’t stand to lose an argument huh? I honestly thought you were about to apologize. It’s good to see that Mr. I-have-to-be-perfect-because-I’m-a-Kwon has this kind of side too. It makes you more human.”

When Soon-Il didn’t dare to speak another word, the girl came closer to him and extended her hand.

“Yuna, Im Yuna from the Theatre department. You probably know my younger sister, she’s sort of famous here. She’s in the Fashion and Arts department. I’m the older yet strikingly uglier sister but hey I love that kid so what the heck.”

Soon-Il just looked down at the hand offered to him and still couldn’t believe the turn of events. He was familiar with the famous Im from the fashion department although to be honest, Soon-Il thought that Yuna was prettier but that was something he’d think of later. In the end, Soon-Il shook his head and continued walking away, this time Yuna didn’t stop him.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Kwon Soon-Il!” The girl said, making sure Soon-Il would hear as he disappeared into the night.

--

(Still a flashback/part of the backstory)

“Yuna! I’m gonna go and get something to eat, want anything?” a girl said as she stood up

“No. I’m good, thanks!” This Yuna girl said smiling back at her friend.

“Alright, suit yourself. I’ll be back in 15.” The girl left Yuna and now she was all alone inside the campus’ auditorium.

The theatre department was preparing a small play for an upcoming event. Important people from the theatre industry would be there and so it was crucial for the chosen handful students to be at their best. Now, Yuna wasn’t into acting, at least not openly. Yuna was an aspiring playwright but she secretly wanted to put herself to the test and actually let the things she write transform her on stage. She chose to keep it a secret because she always thought she wasn’t good enough to be in the spotlight. Now, she and her friend that just left were checking the stage designs and sound system.

Performing will just be one of those dreams that she won’t be able to realize. No, not in this lifetime, Yuna thought. She was the assistant director of the play, while that’s not remotely close to performing, it’s still something big. Maybe even bigger than acting and because of that, it made her forget the whole wanting-to-be-on-stage drama she’s been having.

“Ahhhhh! God I’m hungry. I should’ve asked Minah to get me something.” Yuna says to herself in a particularly loud voice that echoed inside the auditorium.

Yuna got up from her position of sitting on the stage. She dusted off her pants and went down to the aisle but then she got one of the biggest surprise of her life, standing in front of her.

“Oh. My. God.” Yuna said amusingly as she saw Soon-Il standing near the exit, carrying a bag of what seems like food and drinks.

“This is me being a Kwon and it’s also me apologizing for the way I acted the last time we met.” Soon-Il walked down and closer to Yuna and handed her the bag that contained an assortment of bread and as well as cold drinks for at least 5 people.

“Wait. I’m confused. Is it the ‘Kwon’ in you that’s apologizing or is it the real you?” Yuna said as she laughed afterwards. She was definitely appreciated the gesture but the whole concept of it was something she found funny.

“Think what you want.” Soon-Il simply said.

He left that auditorium feeling much better than he did before he went in. 3 days passed since he last saw the peculiar girl. A feeling he couldn’t explain started to gnaw his existence right after that fateful encounter with her on that night. It was rattling enough for him to go all through the trouble to track down Yuna and buy food and drinks for the rest of the people he was told she’d be with. He found it odd that, he only found her inside and no one else. The extra food and drinks would be her problem now and not his, Soon-Il thought. Or so he did.

“Hey!” Yuna shouted as loud as she can, again making sure that not only Soon-Il’s attention was grabbed but other random students’ too.

“Why’d you bring so much?” she asks

“Someone told me that there were 5 of you working inside the auditorium.” He says

“I see. Well, my friends are already out having their lunch so how about you and I split this and let’s give the rest to random people?”

“No.” he quickly says but unfortunately it was enough to throw her off.

“Great then. Let’s go!” Yuna says as she hooks her arm around Soon-Il’s.

“What the hell are you doing?” Soon-Il alarmingly said. The sudden contact took him by surprise. Yuna let go of her hold on him and laughed a bit. It seems to be that even the smallest thing he does makes her laugh.

“You went all the way here just to give me food, the least I could is share it with you. I’m not as mean as you think I am.”

“…”

“Silence mean yes so let’s go!”

Yuna started to drag Soon-Il across the campus and into the park nearby that had benches. Usually students go there to study but it was also a place to eat packed lunches.

“So, how’s the whole lawyer thing going for ya?” Yuna asks as she stuffs bread into . It wasn’t the prettiest sight but it was something to see.

“It’s okay.”

“Not much of a talker, I see. Hmm wait if you’re taking up law proper now then you must be way older than me…..” Yuna realizes this fact but even then she didn’t switch to a more formal tone.

“No. I’m not.”

“Ohh then you’re still taking up your pre-law subjects then.”

“Wrong again.”

Soon-Il’s reply were quick and short but that really didn’t stop Yuna from continuing on with the conversation.

“Then what? You can’t be nowhere near my age if you’re taking up law proper now. That would only mean that you’re still taking up your pre-law stuff.”

Soon-Il took a sip of the iced-tea he bought before replying.

“I’m already taking up law proper subjects and the last time I checked I’m only 20.”

Yuna choked on the bread she was chewing on when she heard what Soon-Il just said. She was surprised. She was older than him by a year but he was far more advanced in his studies. She quickly reaches for her drink and gulps a ton before continuing on.

“I’m older than you? What the!? I’m in my second year! How is that even possible?”

“I’m in my 3^rd year of law proper and it is possible. I’m here, aren’t I?” Soon-Il figured that there was no need for any formalities as well. From the first time he met Yuna, the latter hasn’t used it either so why should he?

“What? Did you just skip the whole pre-law thing? I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to have a pre-law degree before entering law proper.”

“Who said I skipped? I just started early. It’s high school that I skipped. I’ve been in college for a few years now.”

Yuna felt especially skeptical about what Soon-Il said but then she remembered that he was a Kwon. He was a part of the gene pool. The almighty gene pool that made everyone second to them.

“Wow. Your life must really . I mean come on! High school is like the highlight of one’s life. You missed out on a lot man.” Yuna said as she shook her head in clear sympathy for Soon-Il.

Just then an idea popped into Yuna’s head. She was the kind of girl that just does whatever and whenever she wants and nothing and no one will get in her way even if it was someone like Soon-Il.

“Do you have time? I want to do something and I need your help.” Yuna starts off seriously, this time.

Soon-Il’s ears perked up, hearing the somewhat urgency and seriousness in her voice.

“Maybe. What is it?” Soon-Il replied.

“Uhm I kinda need help with some props. You seem to be a fit guy, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind lifting some stuff right?”

Soon-Il thought about it for a while. There really was no harm in helping, plus him doing it would most likely make him feel better about whatever it was that has been bothering him ever since the bonfire night.

“Okay.”

Yuna simply nodded, making sure to mask the excitement she had in her.

--

After giving away the rest of the food Soon-Il had bought, the two went on their way back to the auditorium. With Yuna’s impeccable luck, her friends haven’t gone back from their own lunch breaks which was perfect for something she had in mind.

Yuna lead Soon-Il through the aisle and soon up the stage. He stood on the side waiting for Yuna to say something but the latter ended up leaving him all alone on the stage while she went to the back to grab something. Being the patient person he was, Soon-Il quietly waited for Yuna to come back without even moving an inch from where she left him.

Seconds after, Yuna came back with a cassette player and placed it on top of the chair nearby. She set it up and pressed play. Soft piano music filled the auditorium followed by a voice singing. Soon-Il did not recognize the song at all but he understood the lyrics.

“This is 情人的眼淚. In Korean it’s---“ (click here to listen to the song)

“Lover’s Tears. I know how to speak Chinese. What is it for? I thought you needed help with props?” Soon-Il innocently asked.

“Of course you do…” Yuna mumbled. “I lied. You said you didn’t go to high school right?”

“Yes. And so?”

“That means you never had your first real dance. And no, those fancy parties you rich people attend don’t count. It has to be that one grand ball every high school has. I figured it’s not too late for you so let’s go!” Yuna went to the side to where Soon-Il was and extended her hand.

Soon-Il, just like the last time, just stood there looking at the hand that was offered to him,

“I’m assuming you know how to dance. You can’t not know how to. You’re freaking rich! You guys live for clichés like this.” Yuna added.

Soon-Il’s were frozen, impaled, nailed, glued and more to the floor. He couldn’t move and soon enough his heart caved in and started beating wildly.

“Jeez. It’s just a dance. Lighten up.” Yuna said as she grabbed his hand and led him to the center of the stage.

“Put your hand here….” Yuna guided his right hand to her waist “then hold my hand with your other one.”

Soon-Il was at loss for words, his mind went completely blank. It was as if his senses were flushed down to the point of no return.

“Just follow my lead, okay?” Yuna gently said as she started moving slowly.

Truthfully, Soon-Il has attend a lot of formal parties, courtesy of his family of course but he never really danced with anyone before. Yuna was his first and that fact alone made this whole thing an extremely bad idea. The two stumbled here and there but eventually Soon-Il got the hang of it.

“See? It’s not that hard.” Yuna said “This isn’t really a waltz song but I really like it. It’s my favorite song…”

Soon-Il didn’t say a word in that moment because later on, just like before, he would soon realize that he never wanted that moment to end.

--

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