Two Years Ago, Seoul National University Hospital 

Rian hesitated, her hand frozen as her eyes darted back and forth. She glanced down at her watch; she was already four minutes late. And yet, she could not bring herself to open the door and go in. 

Before she could make up her mind, the decision was made for her; the door opened, and the middle-aged woman who stood at the door, her hair streaked with gray, smiled kindly at her. “Go on in, he’s been waiting for you.” 

Rian swallowed, hard. She managed to move her head, more a jerk than a nod, as she moved into the room, while the middle-aged lady stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her. 

The man’s hair was thin and gray, his face lined and pained, but he still put on a smile, a smile so similar to that of the man Rian loved. She bowed. “Annyeonghaseyo, Lee Rian-imnida.” 

“Yes, yes. I’ve seen pictures of you. In my son’s computer. He spends a lot of time looking at photos of you in the computer, Rian-sshi.” The aged man gave a kindly smile and indicated the seat next to him. “Come. Sit.” 

Rian sat as demurely as she could manage, wanting to make a good impression. She swallowed again, but was unable to chase away her own nervousness. The elderly man drew in a deep breath. “I truly am sorry that our first meeting has to be under such circumstances, Rian-sshi. But it seems there’s no other way.” 

Rian looked up, startled; the man’s ominous tone did nothing to soothe Rian’s nervousness and worry. 

“I received a call from OZ Entertainment yesterday night. Or rather, my wife received a call. I spend most of the time asleep, you see; my...illness has taken its toll on my body. They said that they were contemplating letting my son debut - I always knew Woojae could do it. Except...” 

Suddenly, Rian realised where this was going. Softly, she volunteered. “Except for me, is that what you mean to say?”

The elderly man swallowed, and Rian realized that this wasn’t easy for him too. “I know it’s wrong, cruel of me to ask this to you. And I know that you really do love Woojae. But he loves you too, and he won’t break up with you, not even if it means giving up the debut he’s worked years and years for. So...you see that there’s really only one way forward.” 

“You want me to break up with Woojae.” It wasn’t a question. The tears were already forming in Rian’s eyes, but she blinked them back, not wanting to cry in front of Woojae’s father, and make him think that she needed to be treated with kid hands. 

“You should understand - well, maybe you don’t, not yet. But when you have children, you’ll understand how it feels to want the best for your child, to want your child to succeed and not be dragged down by others. It’s for the best. For you, too.” Woojae’s father spoke softly, no malice in his voice. Rian jerked to her feet. “Is that all?” 

Woojae’s father hesitated. His lips moved soundlessly, a silent apology, but Rian did not wait to see him articulate the words. She whirled around, her shoulders jerking as she fought to hold the tears back. “Goodbye, Mr Jung.” 

The door closed behind Rian; she bit her lip, the tears stinging in her eyes as her hand clenched around the doorknob. Unable to hold it back anymore, the sobs burst out of her and she fell to her knees, her sight blurred by the avalanche of tears. 

He was right, after all. She knew that. This was the only way forward for both of them. 

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

 “You’re kidding me. JB’s dad ordered you to break up with JB? And you actually listened to him? Jesus, Rian, what the hell were you thinking?” Nana gaped, disbelieving. Ailee was speechless, just staring at Rian. 

“What else could I have done? Mr Jung was right, if I hadn’t done that where would the two of us have ended up? Still two trainees, while the rest of you moved on to become idols, unable to debut or gain success because we stubbornly refused to stop dating?” Rian shook her head. “It had to be done.” 

“So you did it for yourself, then. Not for JB.” A new voice cut in suddenly, cool and detached. The girls whirled around, only to see Kris and Lay standing by the door of the toilet. Nana stared at them, outraged. “This is the girls’ toilet!” Get out!” 

“We’re not even in it.” Kris pointed out coolly, indicating his feet, which, indeed, were right outside the toilet. But his eyes were fixed upon Rian, whose face flushed as she looked away. “You don’t know-”

“You wanted to further your own career, too, didn’t you? You didn’t want to give up your chance at being an idol just because you had a boyfriend.”  Kris guessed. 

“If I hadn’t done it, JB wouldn’t have been able to debut-” 

“Yeah, okay, maybe you did really want JB to have his chance to succeed. But you wanted your own chance too, didn’t you? Don’t make excuses for your own behaviour, Rian. Stop lying to us and stop lying to yourself.” Kris goaded. “Or can’t you even face the truth?” 

Rian’s face was flushed bright red, her fists shaking in anger. Lay grabbed his leader by the arm, his usually gentle, soft voice urgent. “Stop it, Fan. You’re upsetting her.” 

“Upsetting her? I don’t see any problem with that. JB has been upset for the past few years. You should see,” Kris took a step forward, addressing Rian. “how he reacts every time girls are mentioned. Girls. Not even just your name. Why can’t you stop being so selfish and just face up to the truth?” 

“Yifan, stop it. Really. Let’s go.” Lay interrupted, tugging Kris by his arm. Kris allowed Lay to pull him a few steps away, but his eyes were cold, his tone icy as he gave a parting shot. “Maybe JB should find someone who thinks of him instead of only thinking of herself. That fangirl...what was her name? Hye-sung? She seems to be a pretty good match for JB, doesn’t she?” 

This time even Nana and Ailee gaped, staring at Kris like he had grown an extra head. “How can you even...” 

“What’s going on here?” A new voice piped up, startling all five of them. Shi-Hyuk stood there, his arms folded and his brows raised as he eyed Kris and Lay. “What are the two of you doing outside the girls’ toilet? You’re not peeping, are you?” 

Kris scoffed, shooting a cold glare at Rian. Shi-Hyuk’s brows shot up even further. “Is there a problem, Kris-sshi?” 

“No, sunbae-nim. Everything is fine. We were just on our way back to the practice room.” Lay spoke up before Kris could, tugging him away and towards the practice room, his voice a low hiss as he addressed Kris. “Seriously, just can it for now and let me do the talking.”

Kris made a face, but did not retort. 

Shi-Hyuk waited until Lay and Kris disappeared around the corner before turning back to the trio of girls. “And the three of you? What are you waiting for?” 

Ailee flushed. “Um...sorry, sunbae-nim. We’ll be on our way now.” She grabbed hold of Rian with her right hand, and Nana with her left, pulling them along. As they moved out of earshot, Nana hissed to Rian. “We’re not done with you yet, Lee Rian.”

Rian’s face looked as if it was carved in stone; she did not respond to Nana’s words. 

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

Seojoon watched admiringly as Kai showed off his dance skills; the EXO main dancer grinned as he danced, his charisma practically exploding as he whirled on the floor. 

“He’s good, isn’t he?” JB muttered to Seojoon, who nodded wordlessly. “Yeah, he’s quite impressive.”

“Yeah, and he’s just a kid, too.” JB replied. Seojoon turned to look at his best friend, brows raised. “Hey, isn’t he like, just eight days younger than you? You make it sound like you’re his much older senior or something.” 

“Yah, is Jason not here yet?” A voice demanded from the doorway; Shi-Hyuk frowned as he glanced about the room, then at the clock hanging on the left wall of the room. “Damn, he’s really late! Hang on, let me message him...” The Dream High rapper quickly typed a message into his phone and sent it before turning back to the dance students. “Okay kids, continue practising. JB, come with me for a moment, will you?” 

JB frowned, confused as to why Shi-Hyuk was pulling him out of the class. Seojoon met his eyes, just as confused as he was. “Guess you just do as he says.” 

JB shrugged, getting to his feet and walking to the door, where Shi-Hyuk stood. Shi-Hyuk slung his arm over JB’s shoulder, his manner casual as he led JB away from the practice room, around the corner, where he stopped, the two of them standing out of earshot of anyone else. “So. How have you been doing, JB?” 

JB’s brows rose. “Hyung, I don’t quite get what you mean.” 

Shi-Hyuk rolled his eyes. “Oh come on, quit pretending, JB. I still remember the way you were when you first came to America, okay. Angry at America, angry at EXO, angry at us, angry at yourself, angry at the whole wide world. I know that was a really bad time for you, JB. But are you doing better now?” 

JB shrugged. “I guess so. I mean, I’ve been with the other twelve for quite a while, and they’re all pretty awesome. It’s just...it’s kind of uncomfortable being back in Korea.” 

“Is it uncomfortable being back in Korea, or is it uncomfortable being back near Rian?” 

JB started, startled by Shi-Hyuk’s words.  “What do you...how do you know about...” 

Shi-Hyuk smiled, not unkindly. “I’m not that dense, you know. I’ve noticed how awkward you guys look around each other, and I remember Baek-hee telling me about how the company forced you to break up with your girlfriend when you first debuted. Rian was that girlfriend, wasn’t she?”

JB looked down. “It’s that obvious, huh?” 

“And you’re still mad at Rian? For breaking up with you?” Shi-Hyuk questioned. JB’s head shot up, his words defensive. “It wasn’t Rian’s fault, she had no choice. She did it for me, so that I had a chance to debut. Just...”

“You’re starting to wonder if you would have been happier not debuting, and staying together with her instead. No, you’re not starting to wonder. You’re been thinking about that for a very long time already, haven’t you.” Shi-Hyuk guessed astutely. 

JB rubbed his temples, the coldness and composure suddenly sliding away from his face. Shi-Hyuk watched as his trainee went from the confident, experienced young idol to a vulnerable boy seeking comfort. “I don’t know, hyung. If I’d had a really successful career, been happy in my chosen career, maybe I wouldn’t regret my choice that much. But now, after everything that’s happened...I’m not just not happy, hyung. I’m very unhappy. Did I choose the wrong path?” He looked up at Shi-Hyuk, his eyes seeking solace from his mentor. 

Shi-Hyuk hesitated. He knew it would be wrong to tell JB what he had overheard Rian saying; Rian had told only her two friends Ailee and Nana, in the strictest confidence, and Shi-Hyuk had been the one eavesdropping. He had no right to tell JB anything that Rian had said. And yet, with JB looking up at him so pleadingly, the pain in his eyes so palpable, Shi-Hyuk could not stop himself. “JB, you’re wrong. It’s not as simple as that...”

------------------------------------------------------

And the truth is finally out! I'm sure most of you have probably guessed it by now; however what I think is really fun is that Shi-Hyuk overheard too! Shi-Hyuk is really my fav character from Dream High here; he's a great mentor and hyung, always making sure he takes responsibility for his trainees and treating them like family too. In a way I like to think this is kind of his development from DH1; in DH1 he was always the one with no family to speak off, and it was the other DH members who "took him in" (i.e the teacher giving him a place to stay; Samdong's mum feeding him food like she was his own mother, etc) But now Shi-Hyuk has become much more confident, has grown into himself, and now he's the one helping others and encouraging them, treating them like family. 

So we finally find out just why Rian broke up with JB. The truth is that although she did it so JB could debut, the selfish reason was that she also wanted to guarantee her own debut. But it's clear her promise to JB's father is more important; it's the reason why she has refused to get back together with JB, so as not to be, in his father's words, somone "dragging him down". Also, I think Kris was all kinds of awesome in this chapter; he's the first person to call Rian out on her selfishness, and as a leader, specifically JB's leader, his first thought is for JB, how Rian's actions are hurting JB. Honestly I think JB is really quite lucky; he has both Shi-Hyuk and Kris looking out for him. 

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! And remember, comment and subscribe!