Hyorin sat on the edge of her bed and waited. It had taken a lot of effort to wake up this morning and the fact that her new trainer might be coming this morning definitely didn't help. At least, she really hoped that it would someone else. Anyone else, but Jaejoong would be ok with her. She let out a breath as the minutes ticked by painfully slow and eventually no one came. It was almost noon and she stood up, confident that if no one had come by now, then no one would come for the rest of the day.

It was sad that without her training, Hyorin didn't really have anything to do.  So she did what had been her usual activity lately, which was to lay back in her bed and stare up at her ceiling. Usually she would replay memories of her old life.  She would see them projected onto that empty white ceiling. She would see her mother nagging her to clean her room, the day she had tried to make her breakfast for mother's day, or the face her mother made as she tried to eat her burnt breakfast with a smile on her face.

Sometimes, if she was feeling lonely enough she would play out what her life would have been like if none of this had ever happened. She would imagine her life coming home from school and finding her mother angry that she late, but then she would apologize and everything would be ok again. She would go to bed and the next morning her mother would wake her up screaming that she was going to be late for school. In the beginning, she would cry endlessly whenever she remembered her mother, but now she viewed those images only with a regretful smile and determination. She was here for her mother, like her mother who had sacrificed herself to keep her daughter alive, Hyorin would give up anything she had to make sure that the people who took her mother away would pay.

Today was different though. The images and memories that played out on that white ceiling weren't of her mother or what could have been. It was a memory that she couldn't seem to top thinking about, no matter how hard she tried to forget. She groaned in frustrationand went to grab some clothes. She would train on her own. Since no one had come by anyways then she had no reason to just sit in her room. She just had to stop thinking about that moment. It bothered her and made her uncomfortable.

Hyorin walked quickly down to the workout room that had the machines in it. She wondered if she should just settle for the treadmill. She stopped suddenly when she reached those tall doors, the sounds of a running treadmill could be heard. It was going by so fast that she wondered who it could be as she pushed the door open and walked in. Hyorin watched in surprise as the very person she had been trying to not think about ran on the treadmill. His back was to her, but she knew it was him. The treadmill seemed to fly by at an impossible speed under his feet and he had a pair of headphones in his ears, which explained why he didn't hear her come in.

She stood off to the side wondering  what she should do as she watched him. His shirt lay on the floor, soaked with the sweat that now slid down his back. She should turn around now and go, but she just couldn't pry her eyes away. When he suddenly stopped running and turned she was caught like a deer in headlights. His dark eyes betrayed none of the surprise he felt as he simply picked up his shirt and walked past her without a word. Hyorin didn't stop him and she didn't say a word as he simply walked past her, not even sparing her a glance.

Choosing to ignore the slight disappointment she felt when he brushed her off like that she found that she had lost any urge to work out so instead she headed back to her room. Hoping that she wouldn't meet him on the way she rushed back, jumping in surprise and dread when someone grabbed her arm suddenly.

"Ah Hyorin! Sorry, did I scare you?" Yesung asked, a carefree smile on his face.

"Just a little, what's up?" She asked him.

"So, your training's started again?" He questioned as they walked side by sideand he noticed the clothes in her other hand.

"No, I was going to do some exercise, but I suddenly just didn't feel like it" Hyorin answered with a small smile.

"Did you ever talk to Jaejoong? Maybe you two are just going to start training later today?" He offered helpfully.

"No, I never talked to him" She responded quickly, an image flashing through her mind, "and if no onecome for me by now then they won't, so I'm left on my own for yet another day"

"Hmm... In that case, you wanna do something fun?" Yesung asked her a bright smile on his face.

"Sure?" Hyorin answered hesitantly.

"Don't worry, just come on" He said, pushing aside the nerves he felt as he grabbed her hand and pulled her to the main doors of the building.

"Wait, what are you doing?" She asked him, fear lacing her tone as she dug her heels into the floor and pulled her hand back when they reached the front doors

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"I'm pretty sure I can't leave this place!" She said, suddenly whispering as she eyed the two security guards with blank looks on their faces.

"Why not? It's not like you're a prisoner here, besides you're not going alone" He explained as he stood his ground and grabbed her arm gently.

"I just... what if we get in trouble?" She asked quietly.

"We won't, I promise. Now let's just go" He insisted as he pulled her along and Hyorin followed nervously.

Theywalked up to the guards, Hyorin keeping her head slightly bowed, still nervous about what they were doing. Yesung on the other hand, walked leisurely up to them and flashed them his identification badge. The men looked at the badge and nodded as they let them pass through, not even bothering to check out Hyorin's identification after Yesung just explained she was with him.

Hyorin looked back in shock as she stepped out of the usuallysuffocating building with Yesung. It had been so easy to leave that she wondered why she had never asked to go out on her own. Yesung was right afterall, it wasn't like she was a prisoner right? She looked out at the streets illuminated by the bright sunlight and a smile spread on her face. It had been a long time since she had been outsidein the morning with no particular mission in mind. She took a deep breath of freedom as she followed Yesung to a silver car that she assumed was his.

"We're going to celebrate today" He announced proudly as they got in.

"Celebrate what?" Hyorin asked as he started the car and quickly drove away from the place where Hyorin promised herself to at the very least for one day, to forget existed. Her hand extended out the window and she felt the wind running through her fingers.

"It's my birthday" He said simply as Hyorin turned to him suddenly.

"Really?! Happy birthday! Why didn't you tell me earlier? I didn't get you anything..." She said rather guiltily.

"That's ok, your present can be that you'll celebrate it with me" Yesung answered.

"Ok, but I owe you a birthdaygift ok?" She asked as she suddenly felt excited at what they might be doing today.

"Yeah, yeah" He said.

"Yesung... can I ask you something? You don't have to answer if you don't want to" She added quickly.

"What is it?" He asked as they rolled to a red light.

"Not that I'm not happy that you want to spend today with me, I really am glad you know, but wouldn't you rather spend your birthday with your family?" She asked him curiously.

"I... don't really talk to them anymore" He answered truthfully, "I had a fight with my father a long time ago and left and somehow, I just don't have the guts to go back. I mean it's not like I can even proud of what I've been doing up until now"

"Why don't you just leave this place and go back to your family? I'm sure they miss you" She said softly.

"I might maybe someday, but for now I've got my reasons for staying. Now, let's just forget that we're both stuck in that place and let's just enjoy our one day off" He said suddenly.

"... You're right, sorry. What are we doing today?" She asked excitedly.

"I'm not sure, I wasn't quite sure we'd get this far in my plan so let's just see whatever looks fun" Yesung answered.

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I'm updating twice tonight as an apology for taking too long to update! It's just that I had a lot to take care of and so I kind of lost track of time and suddenly it was like two weeks later. I'm not really happy with this chapter but I like the next one a lot more mostly since I kind of feel like sadly this was the chapter to help me get back into fic writing mood and so... yeah I'm sure you all get it...

thanks for being so patient! ^-^