Hi guys! Thank you for supporting my story till this point :D I'm planning to write a special chapter in a different point of view apart from the main characters and I wanted to know which one you would prefer. So I made a poll that would be at the end of this chapter and I'll keep it till the day I post chapter 27.

This chapter is all in Jihoon’s POV, hope you like it!

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Jihoon’s parents had been surprised when he said he would be staying a couple of weeks with them in Busan, but they still received him with open arms. During his first couple of days he tried to keep his feelings at bay, but his mother knew there was something going on with him. He thought it was probably the mention of returning to Japan. So after breakfast on his third day there, his mother invited him to walk in the beach and sat on Jihoon’s favorite spot.

They stayed in silence for a long time watching the sea and the people that started arriving to the beach. It was supposed to be a relaxing time, but Jihoon felt anxious. His mother wasn’t even looking at him, but when Jihoon’s breath started getting heavier, his mother started humming one of his favorite songs as a kid. It was the first song he had learned in the piano and his mother always asked him to play that song for her birthday, it didn’t matter where he was.

“Jihoonie, you know you can tell me if there is something wrong. Is it your work? Something happened with Soonyoung? With Mingyu?”

At the mention of the latter Jihoon bit his lower lip and looked down.  Suddenly his mother’s arms were around him and his head was on her shoulder.

“Tell me what happened with him.” She said softly.

Jihoon was just planning to tell her they had broken up, but as she started petting his head, something she hadn’t done again after he moved to Japan, he told her everything. About meeting Seungcheol in Busan and then in Seoul, about his conflicted feelings, about the songs and about his painful breakup with Mingyu. About how he was so scared of his feelings and that he wanted to see Seungcheol as much as he didn’t want to see him, because with every day that passed, Jihoon found more and more reasons to cut everything with Seungcheol, even when his heart was hurting from just thinking about it.

“You need to talk to him.” Was the last thing she had said giving him a tight hug. She believed that he should be honest with Seungcheol about his feelings and if the other decided to keep his engagement then there was no more things to talk about, but if he was willing to break it up, then Jihoon should expose all of the other  things he was thinking. Only by exposing his fears to the other, they would be able to see the reality in which they stood on.                                                                                                                                               

And with that conversation in mind days had passed. Soonyoung had called him to check how he was and Jihoon couldn’t say he was doing that bad. During the day he would help his mother with her music classes and the housechores or maybe go to the community center to entertain the neighbors with music and enjoy walking and swimming in the beach. But during the night, when it was silent all the complicated thoughts would return to him and he had end up writing a song about it. Because every time he thought about Seungcheol it was like a fire lighting in his heart, but the feelings turned to be too much and the situation too complicated and the future so uncertain that it felt like he was burning. He had sent the song to his friend and Soonyoung had promised to be there for him no matter what happened and Jihoon appreciated that.

And if he was not thinking about his situation with Seungcheol, he was thinking about Mingyu. And he wanted to smash the piano every time he started creating a sad melody and the first words that appeared in his mind were ‘I’m sorry’. After their last meeting in the apartment in Seoul, he didn’t have any news of the other or talked  to him and it wasn’t like that didn’t happen before when the other was abroad, but this time Jihoon knew there wouldn’t be any news or calls at all, never again.

All those thoughts kept him up at night and that turned into a ‘zombie look’ every morning that only coffee could fix, a fact that he kept hiding from Soonyoung. He didn’t want the other to know he was returning to his caffeine addiction. But on the other hand, he was glad he had a busy schedule at day, he would die from overthinking if he didn’t, so he focused on practicing some songs to celebrate Mr. Kim’s birthday on the coming days.

But what he wasn’t expecting to happen was to see Seungcheol when he was about to eat his spoon of rice at the community center. He was so startled he didn’t know what to do, he wasn’t prepare to meet the other like that, so he ignored him the best he could even when his eyes were dying to catch a glimpse of him.

He sent a message to Soonyoung telling him the news only to find out the other was the one that told Seungcheol about his whereabouts and he wanted to shout at him. He had told him not to tell the other about it and yet his friend had done the contrary without warning him beforehand.

At one point he felt like he was suffocating from trying to stay away from the other and that was when his mother told him he looked tense and that he should go to the beach to relax. And she was right, sitting on the sand, with the sound of the waves and the sea breeze was really helping him. But he should have known Seungcheol wouldn’t gave up that easily and suddenly he was there, calling his name with that voice Jihoon liked so much.

But the ache in Jihoon’s chest just allowed him to answer in a bitter tone. And he almost felt his heart stopping when Seungcheol said he had broken up his engagement. There had been a smile almost forming on his face when he noticed Seungcheol’s expression, after all, he had been with Yoon Jeonghan even longer than he had been with Mingyu. And just by the mention of Mingyu and their fallen relationship all Jihoon’s insecurities started overflowing from his mouth and before he realized, he had thrown all of them to Seungcheol.

And after saying all that, he just wanted to know if Seungcheol was willing to accept the reality that was to be with Lee Jihoon, not only to meet occasionally, but to deal with his everyday bad habits that were so distant from the life of a corporate heir. He had told Mingyu that even if Seungcheol didn’t want to be with him he would be okay, but still he was so scared to look as he waited for his answer.

“…but is that the everyday reality that you want?” He had asked hugging his legs tightly.

Jihoon felt and heard Seungcheol moving from his seating place beside him and he started shaking nervously with his heart knowing what answer he wanted to hear.

“Yes. I want that reality.” Seungcheol said with a secure voice and Jihoon felt his heart exploding in excitement “A reality with a Jihoon who hates formal parties, who  would fall asleep if I talk about the finance section of my projects, who doesn’t want me to take pictures of him, who would ignore me for hours if he gets inspired with a song and yet,” Jihoon looked up only to see Seungcheol’s sincere gaze on him as he grabbed his hands “he is the same Jihoon that every time we go to eat will buy a lot of meat just for me, who convinced his friend to accept my younger brother in his dance studio, who makes time to give me singing lessons and listen to my problems.” Seungcheol said with a bright smile.

Jihoon turned speechless, because he wasn’t expecting Seungcheol’s answer to be that direct and with all those reasons behind it. His heart was beating fast and loudly and it felt like there a war between his feelings and his thoughts, but with a trembling voice his thoughts were voiced out first.

“You know things are more complicated than that.”

Jihoon knew he sounded skeptical though Seungcheol looked so sure about wanting to be with him. He also wished he could answer with the same certainty, but he was scared. His only boyfriend had been Mingyu and their relationship had developed in the intimacy of their cohabitation, while with Seungcheol things seemed to be out in the open for everyone to see even before they started.

“I know, but I don’t want that to stop us from trying.” Seungcheol said giving a soft peck to Jihoon’s hands.

He liked the feeling of Seungcheol’s hands in his; they gave him strength to voice out his feelings. Because Jihoon was sure he didn’t want to let go of the feelings he had developed for the other. Because he trusted Seungcheol and they deserved to try it. But maybe he took too long to answer, because the other moved to sit beside him again with a deep sigh.

“I know you still have some doubts, but please don’t ask me to stay away from you or forget about everything between us like in your song.”

Jihoon’s eyes opened in surprise and Seungcheol bit his lower lip and turned to look to the other side, like realizing he wasn’t supposed to mention that.

“Kwon Soonyoung sent me your song…” Seungcheol said with a guilty tone, now looking down to their connected hands.

Jihoon was so ready to kill Soonyoung.

They stayed in silence for a moment after that and Jihoon took his time to look at the other. His hair moved slowly with the breeze and his puppy eyes gave back furtive looks like expecting Jihoon to say something; and Jihoon couldn’t help but smile. He wanted his reality to include Seungcheol.

“You know…the song I sent Soonyoung wasn’t complete.”

Seungcheol turned to look at him confused and Jihoon took out his phone from his pant pocket. Jihoon took a deep breath before pressing play. They listened to the song in silence, but he could hear Seungcheol sigh when the part about forgetting everything came.

“My heart won't bear it if you don't let me go.

Let me go

Forget everything you know, don't expect me to miss you.

And erase each lyric even if it's your song.”

But the other almost jumped in excitement when the last verse started.

“Stay here with me

Allow your eyes to steal my breath

Force your mouth to never be far away from mine

And although in the end I don't have all the answers

My heart won't bear it if you let go”

Jihoon looked at the other’s eyes and mouthed the last words.

“Stay here with me”

Seungcheol gave him the biggest smile he had seen on the other and suddenly Jihoon’s back was touching the sand with Seungcheol hugging him tightly.

“Seungcheol” He said softly feeling the other’s weight crushing him.

The other pushed himself up with his arms but remained on top of Jihoon. And then he stayed in silence just looking at him, making Jihoon feel embarrassed.

“What?” Jihoon asked knowing he was blushing.

“You said you want my mouth close to yours.” Seungcheol said with a cheeky smile.

Jihoon frowned and was about to push him away, when he felt Seungcheol’s lips on top of his and he let himself smile in the kiss.

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The lyrics are the translation of the song "Dejame ir" by Andres Cepeda and Morat. The lyrics in Spanish are the following:

“Mi corazón no va aguantar si no me sueltas

Déjame ir

Olvídate de todo lo que sabes

No vayas a esperar que yo te extrañe

Y borra cada letra aunque sea tu canción

Quédate aquí

Permítele a tus ojos robarme el aliento

Obliga a tu boca a que ya nunca esté lejos

Y aunque al final no tenga todas las respuestas

Mi corazón no va aguantar si tú lo sueltas

Quédate aquí”