Woo-jae reached out and grabbed the bag positioned precariously at the top of the swing. After straining for a few moments, he finally caught hold of the bag and managed to pull it down. A bright smile crossed his face, and Rian, standing next to him, whooped, “We found it!”

Woo-jae flipped open the cover of the bag, pulling out a tattered pair of old, worn-out  trainers. He exclaimed, “My treasure!” Looking up at Rian, he grinned again.

Rian’s delighted expression faded slightly, and she stared dubiously at the pair of trainers, “This…this is yours?”

Woo-jae nodded. He looked down at the shoes, “This represents my hard work and sweat, the effort I’ve put in to be able to debut.” He hesitated for a moment, then took one of the shoes and pushed it to Rian, “For you.”

There was a pause as Rian stared at the shoe. Her face showed disgust for a moment, but seeing Woo-jae’s bright expression, she tried to hide it. Reaching out, she took the shoe with the tips of her forefinger and thumb.

Woo-jae did not notice Rian’s expression and continued happily, “I’ll wear out ten pairs of shoes before I debut. And…for every pair, I’ll give one to you.” He looked up at her and smiled sweetly, “Like a couple ring.”

With that, he strode past her, expecting Rian to follow.

Rian turned around, staring after Woo-jae. Then she hurled the shoe at Woo-jae’s back. Woo-jae stopped and slowly turned around, startled by her sudden attack. Rian snapped at him, “What’s this? Why in the world are you giving me trash like this?”

Woo-jae’s expression turned indignant as he protested, “But…that represents all my hard work and sweat, how can you…!” After a moment, he made a face and turned away. But after a few steps, he stopped and turned back, about to ask Rian if she really meant what she had said.

What he saw gave him a pleasant surprise. Rian was kneeling down and carefully wiping the dust off his shoe, her expression bright despite her previous words.

Rian looked up as footsteps approached, and was startled to find that Woo-jae had turned back and was standing beside her, his expression happy. Woo-jae knelt down beside her. He hesitated for a moment, his eyes darting down for the briefest of seconds. Then he reached up and kissed her gently on the cheek.

Rian’s eyes widened in shock. As Woo-jae withdrew and stared at her with hesitant eyes, Rian’s hand reached up and touched the spot he had kissed. Then, abruptly, she stood up, “You…are lousy.”

“What?” Woo-jae stood up, his expression bewildered as he stared at Rian. Rian repeated her previous sentence, “You’re lousy!” Then, she stepped on Woo-jae’s shoe, hard.

Woo-jae’s expression became even more bewildered, “What in the world are you doing?”

“…So that your shoes will wear out faster.” Rian replied with a mischievous smile. Then she jumped onto his shoes with both feet, as hard as she could. Woo-jae stared at her for a second. Then he smiled as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JB’s expression hardened at the memory. Rian only looked down, “Do you have anything to say?”

The idol was just as silent as before, his eyes fixated upon the girl he had once loved. Rian said quietly, “I don’t have anything to say either.” She rose to leave, but JB shifted to block her. Rian looked at him questioningly.

JB’s eyes flicked briefly to her face before looking away. In a strained voice, he asked, “Do you still have them?”

When Rian looked puzzled, JB elaborated, “Do you still have my nine pair of shoes?”

Rian’s expression became shuttered, “Why would you ask that?” She gazed up at him, her eyes colder than before, “Why do you even care? You are the one who chose this.”

“You wanted it as well.” JB’s words were barely more than a whisper.

Rian looked away, unable to meet his eyes, filled with anger and pain. Taking a deep breath, she replied, “Then we should leave things as they are – this works just the way we want it, doesn’t it?”

JB’s temper flared. He spun around, grabbing her arm roughly, “Is this really what you wants? Are you happy this way? Is this what you wanted back then ask well?!” He shook her roughly, furiously. Then he stopped abruptly at the sight of the tears in her eyes. His jaw clenched.

Rian whispered, “Let go of me.”

Slowly, JB relinquished his grip on her. His expression colder than Rian had ever seen before, he turned away from her.

Then Rian reached out a foot and stepped on his shoe. He did not look up, but Rian knew that he had acknowledged it. With that, she strode past him.

JB looked up, and released a deep sigh. Looking at the stars, he whispered to himself, “Stars…they only look good from afar.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Yah, Shin Haesung! Shin Haesung!” Yoojin shouted as he searched about the forest, looking for the missing girl. He raised his lamp, but there was no sign of her. He made a noise of frustration, and he started to shout again, “Shin Haesung! Where are you?”

At last, he found her behind an old, gnarled tree, digging desperately at its roots. He frowned, kneeling down beside her, “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Searching for the treasure!” Haesung replied without ceasing. Yoojin blinked, “What? But…I thought you’d just be hiding here and crying, so-”

“As opposed to sitting about and moping, why not use my unhappiness to fuel myself and get something done?” Haesung answered.

Yoojin stared at her. Slowly, he was beginning to realize that perhaps Shin Haesung was not all as weak as she seemed.

Haesung was startled when Yoojin shoved the lamp at her, “Take this!” She looked at him, “What?”

“I’ll do the hard work. I’m a guy, remember?” He pushed her to the side with a grin, and began to take over her job.

Haesung watched silently by the side, his eyes upon Yoojin’s face. A smile slowly, unconsciously crossed her face. Then she reached out and touched his arm gently. 

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New chapter, people! Did you guys like it? Not much in terms of plot development, but there's a good cut of JB/Jiyeon, in which slightly more of their backstory is revealed, and even Yoojin/Haesung. The Yoojin/Haesung part is kinda self-written - I never bothered to watch that scene before, cos I hated Haesung then, and even my liking for Yoojin wouldn't save the scene. I couldn't be bothered to go back and watch it either, so I decided to completely rewrite it. 

I'm aware that I'm changing Haesung's character a bit. But for my plot, there's not much choice. JB admires those who fight for themselves. The Haesung in DH2 is a perfect example of someone who does not. So for JB to take pity on Haesung and help her, she MUST have some redeeming quality. With not much choice left, I decided to change Haesung's character somewhat, so that she would be more likeable, and let the story flow more smoothly, instead of being ridiculous and not understandable like DH2's plot. What do you guys think of this?

It looks like this story is going to be much longer than I expected it to be. Already 10 chapters...gosh. I hope my readers won't abandon the story, though. So please continue to support this fanfic, and remember, comment and subscribe!