I'm back! Did you guys miss me?! :D

I would advise you to listen to the male pitch version of Taeyeon's song, If. It's kind of included int his chapter, that's why. hahahahahahaha. I am serious about this... Taeyeon-oppa sounds better than any oppa I've ever heard. I tried lots of Taengoo's songs to lower down the pitch around -2.50 to -3.0 semitones. It was awesome. So, awesome. It's like... why is there no Taeyeon-oppa in this world? T_T (Well, At least, we got Taeyeon-unnie out there. hahaha)

Anyway, consider this as the first part of two epilogue chapters of this prequel. Yes, all the dramas are over but are now more on the linkage of RSCOF to RSDTD. Great way to spoil you, right? hahaha. Nonetheless, I decided to continue this into a sidequel and surprisingly, I am almost done on the 1st season side of RSDTD. See that? hahahahahahah. 

Slower. Much more and more slower. Painfully slow.

Taeyeon-hyung said I should change my style in pursuing her. Right. I think Taeyeon-hyung is suggesting the right thing. This will work. This will work. At least, if it's not, we'll still get to be friends, I hope. Yes. It's a win-win for me. Taeyeon-hyung is right.

I stood a few meters away from the cashier counter of the coffee shop. Jessica is currently busy on the cash register. She might not have noticed me yet. I took a deep breath. Still, the nervousness is eating me. I could hear my heart beating so fast.

Alright. Here I go, Yoong. Here I go. Calm down. Not even a hint of romantic feeling as Taeyeon-hyung said. Right. Here I go.

I approached the counter. Jessica has noticed my presence. Her beautiful sad eyes widened. I am feeling like a crazy fanboy again dying from her cuteness.

"H-hi." I said in a stutter.

"A m-mournful d-day." she said in a stutter too.

Painfully slow. Right. Don't look at her, Yoong. Pretend she doesn't exist.

"I w-would l-like t-to h-have uhhhmmm…" I took a glance. She was staring at me. She quickly looked away and so was I. "D-do you have uhhmmm-- s-suggestion for a g-good drink in the afternoon?"

"W-would y-you like t-to try our special for tod-day? M-matcha green tea w-with Oreos."

Our eyes met again. "M-matcha m-makes me fart, though." I said.

That got her smiled. We both then shared a chuckle. She offered another drink, "How about your usual then?" Our chuckles seemed to have lifted off the nervousness around each other.

"Yes. I think I'll just go with that."

She pulled up a cup and started to write, "One caramel macchiato for…" she paused. A smile escaped from her lips again. She might have remembered my cup stunt before.

Painfully slow.

"Yoong. Im Yoong."

She then repeated, "One caramel macchiato for Im Yoong."

"Thank you." I made it painfully slow again as I just slid the money for payment. Of course, I have to avoid any possible contact. Right. Painfully slow.

I went to the side of the counter to wait for my drink. As she prepared for it, though. I noticed her phone underneath the cash register lit up. She's still using my photo as her lock screen wallpaper. She had noticed it too and quickly flipped it to hide the screen.

Yoong. Painfully slow. Don't . That's not gonna work anymore. Just drop a simple question, I guess? A question with no harm.

"D-did you forget the Pincode I gave you?" I asked.

"Y-yes." she nervously answered back.

"I see. I'll just write it down then."

"T-thanks."

I took a table napkin nearby and wrote the Pincode. 090920. 20th of September 2009, it was the day when we first met at the rooftop.

I slid it towards her. She slid the cup of coffee I ordered in return. "Thank you." I said.

"Thank you too." She said as she took the napkin.

I smiled at her lastly before I left the place.

Well, that's a good start I think. 

---

It is my 20th birthday today. After a nice celebration lunch at my family home on Sunday, I have a scheduled hang out with my hyungs in the afternoon. We will be hanging out in a roof deck of one random apartment building. Sooyoung said that he slept with one of the residents there and have found out about that roof deck. The place is secluded but still has a beautiful view of the cityscape. We often hang out there sometimes since the start of the year.

As I drove my way there, though, I found Jessica on her way towards the campus. Well, it just also happens that the way towards that random apartment building is actually just by the campus area.

The curiosity had struck me, though. Why is she on the campus on Sunday?

So then, yes. I decided to snoop for a bit and followed her sneakily.

She is currently wearing a gray hoodie, large shades, and surgical mask. She was heading towards the accountancy building and to the locker hallway. She stopped in front of my locker.

Hmmm. I wonder what she's going to do... Wait. I think she's planning to open it.

The lockers in my college building are locked through a six-digit number code combination. And now, I think she's trying to open it. Hmmm... Does she even know my locker code?

Whoa. She did get to open it, though. 

I was fascinated. I think she figured out I am using the same six-digit code as the Pincode I gave her. I sighed deeply. She really is a smart one. I am falling so hard again. Aigoo...

She placed a gift box inside. Afterwards, she locked it again, probably placed the same number as it was before. She seemed to have wiped her fingerprints too. Tsk tsk. Such a clever girl.

But, yeah, just as Taeyeon-hyung said, I have to make it painfully slow. Thus, I will not confront her this time. I waited for a few minutes after she left. Then, I approached the locker and took the gift out.

I quickly went back to my car and opened it. There was a greeting card, dozens of face masks, a cute deer cartoons bookmark and a limited edition luxury pen. Wow. I think this has cost her loads of money. I remember this pen is being imported from Europe too. I was already eyeing to buy this one before. She might have noticed it from me while I browsed my phone while with her.

I looked at the greeting card she gave. I laughed at it so hard. She used ransom letter stickers. It was so hilarious. It looked like a creepy message from a stalker.

'Study. Study. Study. Don't stop and reach for your dream, handsome future lawyer. Always take care of your radiant skin too, okay? I'll be watching you. Happy birthday.'

She remembered.

I sighed deeply. She is such a real silly girl. If I didn't know she's the one who placed this inside my locker, I would really be creeped out. I could have mistaken her as a real stalker.

She's really making it hard for me not to fall in love with her more.

But yeah, slow, painfully slow. I'll just have to pretend I thought this was from a random sasaeng then.

---

"Baby Yoong! Happy birthday!" my best friends, Yuri-hyung, Taeyeon-hyung, and Sooyoung greeted me as I got into the rooftop.

"Thanks, hyungs!"

They all hugged me. It seemed they have already started drinking while waiting for me. Well, they are clingy towards me now. So, I guess they are all somewhat a bit drunk already.

We all then occupied the four loungers set up with the beer trunk at the center. It's only us four. Sooyoung said Hyoyeon-noona won't be able to go since she'll be hanging out with her 'ex-girlfriend' Jessica. I do know they were just fake dating back then since Jessica told me about it. And yes, blabbermouth Jessica also told me Hyoyeon-noona's not really gay and was just faking it for Soo.

Sooyoung was too much envious back then, though. But yeah, we all did have wild imagination during that time. Come on, Hyoyeon-noona and Jessica together. That would be like a really hot girl to girl relationship. On the other hand, though, Taeyeon-hyung and I seemed to have thought the same months ago when we found out about Stephanie, the dream girl. She and Jessica could make a real hot damn lesbian couple.

The hell. I am not even drinking alcohol yet and I am already saying these silly things. Anyway, even if it is my birthday, I was not allowed to have too much alcohol though. I lost the draw for who will be the driver after this session. Yup. I am not exempted even if it's my birthday.

"How are you doing. bud?" Sooyoung asked me.

"Good."

"You seemed to have moved on from Justine quite fast, eh?"

"Well, I realized there are lots of things in life other than love. Studies. I will just focus on studies from now on."

"Really?" they all asked back.

"Yeah. See this?" I drew out the luxury pen from the chest pocket of my shirt. "A stalker gave this to me. She said I should study, study and study to pursue my dream to become a lawyer someday. So, I will."

"So, that stalker changed your mindset in life?"

"Yeah. Sort of. It just made me realized too that if ever I would want to settle down, I have lots of options. There are many fishes in the sea. I could even marry that stalker someday. Who knows."

"You're right." Soo said. "I'm glad you're already okay, Yoong."

"Thanks."

Taeyeon-hyung was now looking at me in confusion, though. I nodded at him, "Don't worry, hyung. I am still doing it painfully slow. Like, really slow."

"How slow?"

"I'm just watching from afar."

He chuckled, "That sounded too creepy, man."

"I know but it's still painfully slow, you know."

"Alright. Alright." he said.

Soo asked us. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Nothing." we both said.

We continued with our drinking session with our incoherent talks. As usual, it's all nothing but nonsense topics. It's always been like this for us. Well, it's kind of a bit weird now since Yuri-hyung looked somewhat contemplating in his life decisions. He didn't explicitly tell us something about his contemplation but rather, he's more of asking us of our own experiences. It's like what he's doing now.

"How would you know when it's time for you to give up?" he asked us. Yuri-hyung is always like this. He never asks straightforward questions. Instead, he asks us very cryptic ones.

"Give up on what?" Taeyeon-hyung asked back.

"Like, give up on your aspirations."

Sooyoung then answered, "Mine is whenever my dad is like drilling me not to do it. For example, I want to pursue computer science. But then, my dad said I should take up Business administration since I'll be handling our conglomerate in the future and there is no future in the course that I want as he said. Do you know my response to that? Don't freaking pry into my life. I'd rather not graduate. That's how I give up on my aspirations. I ended taking up BA though."

I asked, "So, basically, you will give up once somebody meddles in your aspiration?"

"Sort of. But, in general, it irks me in a way when someone tries to run my life. It's always been like that to me. Being a Choi is hard. The public will judge you and control you especially when you are a handsome chaebol heir. That's how my aspirations are wasted then. I got no choice but to deal with it. I'm not really completely giving in, though." He looked at me. "You are luckier. You are also from a chaebol like me but at least, you got the freedom to decide on what you want."

"I don't exactly have the freedom but I just know my family knows what's best for me and I trust them with it. But, when it comes to my wants, they respect my decision. It's more of a give-and-take situation."

That seemed to have had him realized something and transcended to his thoughts, "Uhuh..."

Taeyeon-hyung uttered, "I can never apply that to myself. For me, family first. Their decision first before mine. I just got no choice."

Yuri-hyung asked, "So, you're the same with Sooyoung then? You give up your aspirations when someone tries to meddle with it?"

"Well... not exactly. I will still pursue it. But it's just that, when every possible way to get it has been exhausted or no longer feasible to pursue, I think for me that would be the time I will give up on my aspiration. As long as there is a way, I will still proceed. But when it's always a dead end any way you look at it, it's a sign for me then."

"I see... but, how would you know if it's a dead-end?"

"You'll realize it yourself, Yul. It's like point A to point B. There could be other points in between that you can use to get to point B. However, you realize there's no freaking way for these other points in between to get to point B. No matter what you do and it's because there's a gigantic line at the center. You couldn't exactly cross that in the first place. Makes sense?"

"Hmmm. Yeah, I think I kinda understand it..." He then looked at me, " How about you, Yoong?"

"To me, failure is never an option. Once I completely failed, I think I'm just going to give up."

"How will you know if it's a complete failure?"

"When reality hits you right on the face. Like straightforward slam on the face. Like you get a B on your exam. That's a slap on the face, direct slap."

"I see..." He then gotten immersed in his thoughts.

"Why are you asking, Yuri?" Taeyeon-hyung asked him.

"Nothing." Then, he went into silence. After a few moments, though, he summarized, "So it's time to give up your aspiration when, number one, someone who has been there been like telling you that there's no point in reaching for it. Number two, when no matter how much you analyze the situation, there's no possible way to accomplish it. Or number three, when reality directly strikes you in the face, showing you that it's over."

We nodded back. Though it was not really nod-and-nod for the three of us. It's more of a nod with hesitation. Well... it can't exactly be absolute that way, right? There will always be an exception to the rule if you still want to proceed with your aspiration.

"Why are you asking, hyung?" I asked Yuri-hyung. "Come on. Just tell us."

"Well..." He sighed deeply. "I think it's time for me to give up my aspiration, that's why."

"What aspiration of yours exactly?" Soo asked.

"About me meeting her."

"Why?" I asked.

"I already have the first two numbers on it. You guys tell me all the time there's an unlikely chance. That's number one. Number t