The look of shock on his Mother's face wasn't surprising. She had thought he hated her after all. But when she accepted him into her arms, sobbing and talking of miracles he came to the conclusion that she'd assumed he had died. He could still understand that, the letters had never reached him after all and she could really only come to two conclusions. He hated her, or he had died.

For some reason Yifan's mother felt it necessary not to tell him about the visit she had had almost a month earlier. She was just grateful that he was back and that she could mother him once again. Now they could start afresh. She had been given the court case money from Tao and after hearing how Kris had been living it was clear that the two of them needed to start over again and make a better life for the two of them.

Looking at Yifan now she saw how much he had changed in the past few years. Yes, he looked older, but that wasn't it. The look in his eyes had changed and where before he had a fresh youthful look, now he looked tired, no it was more than that, he looked drained. He had more experience behind those eyes too, and not the good kind. It was clear to see he had suffered more in the past few years than the average person did in a lifetime.

When they were both settled down inside Yifan gave his mother a catch up of what he had been doing all of this time he was away. Albeit, not the full story. He told her about going to see his Father in Canada, and then moving to Korea to follow his dream. His story pretty much ended there. He claimed he had been unsuccesful, slowly losing his possesions to bayliffs and debt collectors and finally being evicted, at which point the letters his mother wrote finally arrived. His mother nodded and acted like she hadn't heard his life story less than a month ago. She felt the strange need to protect him from his previous life.

On top of that, she couldn't tell if Yifan was really lying to her, or if this was the fantasy his brain had created after forgetting about his friends. When he had finished telling her his story, she told him hers.

She explained that a few months after he had walked out she was made redundant. Jobless and desperate, she accepted a position at a company elsewhere. The distance was too far for her to travel from her current house, and the pay at the new company was much lower than her previous one. She had been forced to move to the smaller flat that she lived in now which was both closer to her workplace and easier to afford. But the real cost of the situation had been losing contact with Yifan when he finally tried to come home.

With their relationship improving and new bonds forming, Yifan's mother prepared a good home cooked meal and the conversation turned to what they were going to do now.

"I've been saving up for years, you know." She said nonchalantly. "Without you around and with the cheaper house I started to put aside some savings." She took out the envelope that Tao had given to her.

"I want you to use this to get you on track. Start a course, or a business, anything you want. Just don't waste it, son."

From that night on he started to think of what he could do with the money. His first thought was to use it to become an idol, but he felt that was out of question now. Whether that was because he didn't want to be in the public eye, or whether he was scarred from trying to enter that industry forever after the experiences he had had. Either way, he decided to put the money to use on something much more reliable. The celebrity world was an uncertain world, so instead of that he wanted to find something that would serve him well for the rest of his life. He just couldn't work out what that 'something' was. He spent his days after that sitting around in his mother's house. At first it was a kind of sweet relief, a place to rest and to receive his mother's love, but it didn't take long before boredom started to set in. He felt restless and useless, a burden to his mother who now had an extra mouth to feed. He started thinking about his future once again and it wasn't long until the perfect idea struck him.

He had been listening to some of his old CD's his mother had kept and as his eyes scanned the familiar cases his mind wandered to who the real genius behind that music was. As a youth he had always believed the singer was the true genius, but as he grew older he started to think more about who had scouted that singer and who had invented the clever lyrics. As he had these thoughts once again he realised that while being the singer was out of the question, being the genius behind the singer wasn't. After realising this Yifan had quickly rushed to the nearest Internet Cafe and started searching for his new dream. He found multiple vacancies within an easily accessable radius. Before he applied for anything online he went to the local phone store and bought a cheap but durable phone so that companies could get in touch with him. His last phone had sunk to the bottom of the Han river along with the rest of his belongings in that backpack. He cursed hisself yet again for losing his temper so easily.

Within a week Yifan was signed up to a business and music course and on top of that he became an apprentice at a company that recruit and train musicians. His natural talent shined through and it wasn't long before Yifan had completed his course to the highest level and become a permanent employee at the company. As if Yifan's luck couldn't grow any bigger, his company partnered with one of the biggest entertainment agencies in Asia and as a result his pay was increased. He had never earned so much money in his life and he loved his new job.

However it wasn't all good news. Only a few weeks after he had moved in with his mother, Yifan's memories of his time in Korea started to return. At first they would only come to him in his dreams, but as time went on the memories became more frequent, haunting him both day and night. He hated how easily he had left the people he loved in order to save himself. His selfishness from his youth was gone now, but he it was gone much too late and he still felt like he couldn't shed the guilt from his selfish acts. He worked relentlessly, busying himself nearly twenty four hours a day to distract himself from his troubled thoughts. His busy-body attitude served him well in many ways. It distracted him from his own past, it meant he was praised at work and lead to his successful career; his boss loved him for his enthusiasm and no- attitude to his work, but also meant that when he returned home at the end of a day he was so tired he often fell straight to sleep with no time for memories to cross his mind.

Yifan's expectations of life were different from before. He always thought as a child that when he grew up he would get a good job that he enjoyed, he would find somebody that he loved and they would live happily ever after. Now his expectations of life involve having a job that he's good at, having a place to sleep at the end of the day, and making money to share with his mother. He doesn't socialise, he doesn't make friends, the only person in his life now are his fellow employees and his mother. And Yifan doesn't need anyone else. His aim in life is to survive, and surviving has nothing to do with happiness.

Two years after returning to China Yifan had worked his way up to one of the higher positions in the company and was part of the team that works on scouting talented individuals, as well as deciding which of the musicians that they scouted should be offered a contract. With his new earnings he bought himself an apartment halfway between his job and his mother's house, which was modern and stylish but not too big. Big apartments made Yifan feel lonely, and that's a feeling that he doesn't trust. The rest of his earnings went towards suits for work and petrol for his company car. Part of his job meant that as well as working in his office, he needed to go out to find musicians with talent. Every weekend Yifan ventured to clubs, gigs and small scale concerts to seek out talent. A necessary part of this area of his job was mobility, hence the expensive and beautiful company car that he now drives around in.

It was a Friday morning when Yifan was suddenly called into work early. He was told to wait in his office and to get on with his usual work until the company could spare somebody to speak with him. He had no idea what this was about but he didn't really mind, nothing really phased him anymore and he was always awake many hours before his job even started at 8:00am. Coming into work early actually felt like a luxury. He waited in his office for only fifteen minutes before the door was opened.

A familiar face poked their head through the door and Yifan's face shifted from its usually stoic expression to one of surprise.

“Ah so it was you! I heard your name mentioned in the office and was so surprised to find out we would be working together. Wait, you do still remember me right?” Said the familiar man from where he stood in the doorway of Yifan's office.

It took him a moment to reply from the sheer shock, but after a couple of seconds he smiled a small smile, the first in years, and nodded to the man in the doorway.

“Of course I remember you, but I didn't know you worked here Chanyeol!”

1990stalker here. Guys I am so so so sorry for the long wait between chapters. I had a tonne of very important exams which determined whether I get to study in Korea or not. Fear not, the exams are over and now I have way too much free time on my hands, which means that you should be getting a whole bunch of chapters now!

Don't forget to recommend my story to others, upvote, subscribe if you haven't and I love it when you leave comments. Constructive criticism is welcome as I want to improve my writing skills. Also another reminder here that this is a sequel so if you haven't already you need to read my other story Contract to Their Hearts or else you wont understand this sequel.

I love you my little stalkers, I hope you've been well and that you enjoy this chapter. <3

-1990stalker-