Hyerin entered Siwon's office unannounced and found the latter going through a few photos that she didn't bother to know about as she took the seat in front of his desk. Siwon looked up from what he was doing and sent her a friendly smile despite the interruption. 

"Hyerin-ssi, what are you doing here?"

She crossed her legs and leaned back comfortably before sharing her news with Siwon. "I think I've created the opportunity for you and Hyukjae to be closer together."

"Oh?" Siwon was surprised to hear it but was more than interested to learn more. "How so?"

"I heard down the grapevine that he's been having some trouble...making decisions." She pursed her lips together and leaned forward closer to Siwon. "It seems he was offered an opportunity to join a dance company in the U.S. Time Slip? Was that the name he said?" She feigned ignorance and hid her smile when Siwon took the bait. 

"Oh. I remember that name! It's been his dream to go there ever since college." 

"Yeah, but unfortunately he feels tied down by his responsibilities here." She sighed sadly then walked towards the window just to add a little more flare with her acting. "If only someone could help him out by making the choice for him."

Siwon watched her carefully, not sure what she was asking him to do. "What do you mean?"

"Don't you think it would be great if Hyukjae could just follow his dreams with no strings attached?" She hinted as she emphasized the latter part of her statement. "I mean, Shindong seems to be doing a fine job on his own and we could always hire another instructor who's just as capable."

"You-You mean you want me to convince him to leave?"

Hyerin rolled her eyes at how slow Siwon was being. Taking in a deep breathe, Hyerin turned back around to Siwon, placed both hands on his desk and got straight to the point. "You need to fire him."

"What?" Siwon didn't feel right doing that at all. "Hyukjae would be devestated if I fired him."

"Oh, come on, Siwon! Of course not! He's going to thank you because you're going to be doing him a favor by making his choice clear for him." She tried to convince him. "When he's in the States, you can support him better and it'd be a lot easier for the two of you to get together because he'd only have you. Donghae would no longer be in the picture."

Siwon still doubted Hyerin's plan a little bit but he had to admit the idea that Hyukjae could rely on him again was tempting. Not to mention he'd be able to support him much better in America than he could here in Korea without as much restrictions. That was enough for him to nod his head in agreement much to Hyerin's delight. 

"Okay. I'll take care of it."

Hyerin smiled and went by the window again towards the small tray of alcohol to grab the two of them a glass of wine to celebrate when something caught her eye. The garden view of Siwon's office showed Hyukjae and Donghae and judging from Donghae's expression, she could tell that he was upset. Her suspicion was only confirmed when Donghae showed Hyukjae the envelope that she had given him earlier. Satisfied that everything was going according to plan, Hyerin happily poured her and Siwon a glass to celebrate. She just finished pouring their drinks when she looked up again and saw Donghae grabbing Hyukjae's arm. She frowned and put down the glasses as she tried to observe closer to determine what was happening when her eyes widened at seeing the two of them kiss. 

"NO!"

Siwon was startled by her outburst and immediately stood up to check on her but was stopped when she hastily turned around with anger and obvious signs of contempt on her face. 

"Hyerin-ssi, what's wrong?"

Hyerin caught sight of Siwon's apprehensiveness and quickly fixed herself. Hyerin tried to cover up her outburst by laughing it off. 

"Oh, I must be tired." She placed a hand over her head and looked out the window again but Donghae and Hyukjae were no longer in sight. Something inside her snapped, and she quickly excused herself to go deal with the matter herself.

Siwon watched after her, concerned and a little confused. He glanced outside to where she was looking at earlier but found nothing. Siwon shook his head to take his mind off it and went to grab his phone to text Hyukjae. He would just have to take Hyerin's word for it as he focused his mind on Hyukjae. There's nothing more important right now than him. 

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

"I'm so stupid." Hyukjae mumbled to himself as he wiped the tears off his eyes but fresh tears kept on flowing. He's heard Donghae say he loves him twice now and there's nothing else in the world that he'd much rather do than believe those words coming from his mouth, but he just couldn't. Not after what happened today. Remembering Donghae's unusual behavior today brought fresh new tears to Hyukjae's eyes and he cursed himself for still crying over it. Bringing his knees closer to his chest, Hyukjae kept his head down and tried to organize his thoughts. 

This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. This is exactly the reason why he's kept his feeling locked and away from Donghae for so many years because he didn't want to feel this way. The disappointment and pain he was feeling was nowhere near to what he thought it would be. The reality of it was much much worse because even though he wasn't rejected, he was still hurting. He was still heartbroken and so very disappointed with how things turned out for them. Why would Donghae accuse him of something like that? What has he done for Donghae to think that he would ever just leave him behind without saying anything? Did he really think Hyukjae would just fool around with him just because? Does he not know him at all!?

"That idiot." Hyukjae sniffled as the urge to be with Donghae increased the more he thought about him. "Stupid. Idiotic. Moron. I hate you..." Hyukjae whispered and felt his heart constrict saying those words because his heart and mind knows that those words were not true. He's never said a bigger lie than he did at that moment because Hyukjae knows, despite everything that's happened today, he still wants and loves Donghae very much. 

His phone vibrated on the table and Hyukjae tried to dry his face before he checked to see who had messaged him. Frowning at the name on his screen, Hyukjae begrudgingly opened to see what Donghae wanted from him. 

Fr. Haek

Hyuk, I'm sorry. Please talk to me. Let me explain. 

Hyukjae sniffled and was about to reply to him but found himself unable to say anything back so he decided against it. Not even two minutes later and he received another message.