“Gu Jaehee, you have been called to the office. Kang Taejoon, you as well,” the teacher called out to the two.

The two roommates looked at each other in confusion. As far as Jaehee knew, she hadn’t done anything to warrant being called to the office, and Taejoon most likely had to meet with his manager. Taejoon however, felt a sense of foreboding creeping up on him. He knew that he had no jobs scheduled for today, and he could think of at least five incidents in the past day alone that could reveal his naïve roommate’s deception. Both teens walked over to the office, both wary of what they were about to face, although unknowing of the other’s caution.

Taking a deep breath, Jaehee mustered up her courage and opened the door, only to have all that courage suddenly vanish at the sight that faced her.

Taejoon, alarmed at Jaehee’s sudden loss of color and almost imperceptible swaying, gently pushed her behind him and faced the people waiting for them, only to be confused as to what had caused such a reaction. It was not until he heard Jaehee whisper “Mom, Dad,” that he understood.

Taejoon paled for a second and just as quickly regained his color. It wasn’t as if he wasn’t expecting something like this to eventually happen, he thought wryly to himself. He was ready for it.

“Hello Mr. and Mrs. Dawson. May I ask what has brought you here?” he asked calmly.

“It seems as if you already know,” her mother replied.

“What? He doesn’t know anything! Please leave him out of this,” Jae Hee pleaded, in fear of both her parents’ reaction and Taejoon’s towards her deception.

“Shall we go to a more secluded area? This place doesn’t guarantee privacy, which is what I suspect you want,” Taejoon offered.

“Yes, thank you,” Jaehee’s stepfather replied.

:::

As Taejoon guided the family to a more private setting, Jaehee’s mother studied him carefully. She wanted to see the reason why her only daughter had chosen to risk and sacrifice so much for this young man. So far, she hadn’t seen anything too impressive; something that could inspire such devotion from her only daughter. But then again, she hadn’t really interacted with him, and teenagers were always difficult to understand. Her thoughts were broken by Taejoon’s sudden stop.

“This is where I go when I need to be alone, and no one has ever found me here. I think this will suitable for our purposes,” Taejoon said.

Looking around, Jaehee’s mother had to agree. A secluded gazebo hidden near the far end of the woods; it was a wonder that he had found it in the first place. Turning her mind away from the beauty of the location, she focused on the reason why they were here in the first place.

“Jaehee, please explain to me why you traveled to South Korea only to masquerade yourself as a boy and enroll in an all-boys school,” her mother demanded.

Wincing, Jaehee sighed and then looked horrified. “Taejoon doesn’t know-”

“…that you’re a girl? I figured it out a month ago, which is why I tried to get you to go back home,” he cut in smoothly.

“B-but… w-what?” Jaehee stuttered.

“Jay, give your answer now or you’ll find yourself facing much more severe consequences once we return home,” her father ordered.

She sighed, knowing that she was trapped. “You know the state that I was in a few years ago,” she began.

Nods of understanding went all around, excluding Taejoon, who was at this point looking confused.

“I was severely depressed, to the point that I had to be hospitalized for it. If they hadn’t caught it in time, I would have most likely committed suicide,” Jaehee expanded for Taejoon, albeit in a rather emotionless voice which contrasted sharply with her usual animated self.

Taejoon nodded in understanding, and then paled as the words fully sank in. “No…”

“What brought me out of my depression was you,” she spoke to him. “What you said when you won all those years ago, they struck me deeply. It made me realize that I was allowing my depression to get the better of me, and that I wasn’t fighting to be happy. It pushed me into fighting to stay happy, and to be who I wanted to be, without being pressured by others.”

At her words, Taejoon couldn’t help but to smile at her. He now fully understood what Jaehee had meant when she had shouted at her brother and pleaded for him to let her stay. In the maelstrom of emotions now sweeping over him, he also felt relief over the fact that she had chosen to live; for he would have never met her if she hadn’t. There was also pride over being the one to help her to fight, although he would have had no idea of how much he had helped her if they had never met.

“What does that have to do with what you’ve done?” Her mother asked softly, now having a better understanding of her daughter’s motives.

Still facing Taejoon, Jaehee continued to speak to him. “You gave me so much, and I wanted to return what you gave me to you. You helped me to want to live and be happy, and I wanted to help you to jump again, and to bring the smile back to your face.” She then turned to her parents and continued. “This was the only way I could think of that would bring me close enough to actually help him.”

“You’re still in trouble. No matter how noble your intentions were, you still acted foolishly. What if another boy figured it out and tried to blackmail you? You could have been attacked!” Her stepfather lectured, and he would have continued if not for the involuntary actions of the two teens.

At his words, Taejoon’s face darkened in rage and curled his hands into a fist. In drastic comparison, Jaehee paled and grasped onto Taejoon’s arm, as if she was unconsciously seeking comfort.

“What happened?” her father asked, barely holding back his fury at the thought of his daughter being violated in such a way. To elicit such a reaction from mere words alone meant something had happened, and he wanted to know who needed to be punished for his actions.

“We were helping out a friend’s mom at her inn, but there were other workers there. One of the workers seemed way too interested in Jaehee, so I kept an eye on her and him. He somehow figured out that she was a girl, and was going to her. He managed to sneak away with her, but I managed to find them in time and sent him running before he laid another hand on her,” Taejoon answered, laying a hand across Jaehee’s shoulders and drawing her close, almost as if reassuring himself that she was still there and in one piece. “I didn’t know she was a girl at the time, but after that, I made sure to keep a closer eye on her and helped her out of several more predicaments.”

“Thank you for taking care of her. If she had been hurt without us even knowing what was going on, I would have never forgiven myself,” Jaehee’s mother told Taejoon, spontaneously drawing both teens into a hug.

At her embrace, both teens relaxed, or at least as much as they possibly could under the current circumstances.

“As much as I’d like to continue lecturing you and track down that person who dared to try to lay a hand on you, that is not the reason why we’re here,” her father grumbled.

“What?”

A/N: This story is meant to be a short one; most likely no more than three or four chapters. Please let me know what you think!