[Two weeks later.]

WooHyun’s POV

Knock, knock.

I looked up from cleaning the dishes at the sink to see So Eun standing in the doorway.

Beautiful, gorgeous. She always took my breath away.

“Hey”, she said, smiling slightly.

“Hello”, I answered, sounding breathless.

“Want help with that?”, So Eun asked, motioning to the dishes.

“You don’t have to…”, I answered, but she grabbed gloves and began helping me anyways.

 This is what I love about her.

She isn’t afraid to do something.

“Is there something on my face?”, she asked, starting to blush.

Oh, I must’ve been staring.

“Sorry”, I said quickly and dropped my gaze to the bubbles and water.

“How was prom?”, I asked her.

“Wonderful. It was just Myungsoo and I since no one wanted to go with us…”, So Eun laughed cheerfully, and continued, “But I think I preferred it that way.”

I sighed; I didn’t want to hear about her and Myungsoo. I’d rather talk about us.

“So Eun, about that time when we slept together at the bakery-”

“Whoa, WooHyun, someone might misunderstand you…”, So Eun blushed in earnest.

“You know what I mean. Besides, there’s no one else here,” I explained.

“Actually, I have something to say about that too”, So Eun replied.

My breath caught again. Is she going to say the same thing as me? That no matter what happens, that part of our hearts will always be reserved for each other?

“WooHyun… I really needed help that night… and you were there for me. You’re the nicest person I’ve ever met, including when you weren’t rich.”

She is going to say the same thing!

“-But I can’t involve myself with you like that anymore. I’m going to be loyal to Myungsoo. I want to be with Myungsoo more than anybody else. I’m sorry, WooHyun.”

 I stared at her, disbelieving.

 “We can be friends, right?”, So Eun asked me, hesitantly.

 We can be friends? You’re saying you’ve just used me and you’re throwing me away, but you want to be friends?

I don’t think so.

I suddenly kissed her, without any warning.

She yelped softly, surprised.

I kissed her deeply, not realizing I was pushing her up against the wall.

She tried to protest, pushing at my chest weakly…

But I could tell her heart wasn’t really in it. She wasn’t pushing with all her strength.

I broke off the kiss first, breathing hard.

She stared at me with wide eyes, also breathless.

“Don’t tell me you want to be friends until you really mean it”, I told her bitterly, and left her standing there.

So Eun’s POV

I could not believe what had just happened.

He’d completely changed the situation on me!

There was no hesitation in my heart about who I wanted to truly be with, and I was going to let him know!

I followed him out of the kitchen and grabbed his arm and twirled him around to face me.

“I mean it!” , I shouted at him, “I just want to be friends with you. That’s all! I don’t like you like that!”

But WooHyun wasn’t looking at me- I followed his gaze: Hae Young was standing at the doorway of the café, her scarf wrapped around her neck messily, her hair spilling out of her ponytail.

Her eyes, behind her nerdy glasses, were wide open.

WooHyun snatched his arm away from me, and replied coldly, “We can discuss this later- When it’s not business hours.”

“GOOOD MORNINGGG!”, Sungyeol skipped in, pushing past Hae Young at the door. She nearly fell to the floor, but Hoya was able to grab her.

“Hey, Sungyeol, calm down, yeah?”, Hoya asked, laughing.

 Frustrated, I went to the Ladies’ Room to change into my work clothes.

Hae Young also came in to change.

“Um… So Eun-sshi. I don’t mean to intrude… but is it too much to ask you not to hurt WooHyun like that?”

“What are you talking about?”, I asked, annoyed.

You don’t know anything about us.

“Well, you may not have seen his eyes when you told him you didn’t want to be with him… but I did. And-”

“I don’t want to hear it”, I snapped at her. I know I’m being a total jerk, but there’s no way I’m going to keep leading him on when I’ve already made up my heart and mind.

“You’re being rather selfish, you know”, Hae Young told me sternly, “you never even considered Dambi unni’s feelings in this, did you?”

“Maybe she should work harder to keep her boyfriend”, I replied carelessly, finishing buttoning up my shirt and pulling on my apron.

Suddenly, I felt my apron whipped off of me and shoved to the ground.

I looked up at Hae Young, disinterested, but I was slightly frightened by the fury in her eyes.
“Just because she’s not a controlling like you doesn’t mean she isn’t loyal to her boyfriend”, she said, her voice cold as ice.

She picked up her bag and left, making sure to shut off the lights as she left.

Myungsoo’s POV

So Eun had already left early that morning, as she always did.

I love morning sleep on Sundays, so I didn’t leave until probably… an hour after she did?

Anyways, my sole reason for working at that café, which was watching out for So Eun, seemed illegitimate now.

She was fine and I trusted her even with WooHyun around.

I was actually hoping to get fired, so I could focus on developing my own stocks now.

Surprisingly, Nam Corporations was doing fairly well and so far, I had no intention of pulling out my investments.

Of course, WooHyun had never been an idiot.

 Suddenly, somebody came around the sidewalk and started walking up to the apartment complex I was exiting.

“Myungsoo.”

“Sunggyu hyung?”, I asked, startled.

We’d hardly talked to each other ever since…?

 “You’re on your way to work, right?”

I nodded.

“Let’s talk for a bit. The café doesn’t open for another hour.”

Surprised, I followed him to a bench and we both sat down.

“I’ll keep it short”, Sunggyu said, without looking at me, “So Eun’s cheating on you.”

“No, she’s not”, I said, “maybe she did before, but she said herself she didn’t have her head on straight. Right now… it’s a different story.”

Sunggyu sighed and said, “You don’t understand.”

“Hyung, you don’t understand”, I replied, trying not to be offensive but also trying to be very clear, “you don’t understand what she went through. She needed WooHyun more than me during that time… but now she’s herself again and she wants to be with me.”

Sunggyu sighed and said, “All right. I’ll trust you for now.”

I nodded and hesitated before saying, “Thanks, though. For… you know, looking out for me.”

Sunggyu looked at me then.

It was quite a weird feeling. Hyung’s eyes that I knew so well… seemed so far away from me now.

“Myungsoo. I have to admit something to you, or else I’m going to go crazy.”

“What is it?”

“I feel responsible for WooHyun taking the company. I persuaded him to take the company. And Dambi? She’s my ex-girlfriend from only four months ago. Do you know why I broke up with her? Because I never saw her since I worked eleven hours a day, went to school eight hours a day, did homework for two hours a day, and slept three hours a day. And now… I can’t pay for Hae Young’s tuition, so she has to go to an all-boys’ school and pretend she’s a guy to study…And you and WooHyun are at each other’s throats all the time. Plus Sungjong, Hoya, and Sungyeol never trust me anymore… What am I supposed to do?”   

“Dambi?”, I said, shocked, “Dambi as in WooHyun’s girlfriend?”

“They aren’t really going out, Myungsoo. WooHyun’s just using her as a trophy wife. That’s why… Dambi doesn’t even care that WooHyun’s cheating on her with So Eun. But I care. I want her out of that relationship.”

“Why don’t you just win her over again?”, I asked him, “Once Hae Young gets into college, you don’t have to worry about her tuition anymore.”

Sunggyu grimaced and said, “You don’t understand… how much she hates me.”

But I was thinking about something else.

“Sunggyu hyung… how come you never asked me for money? You know I have enough to help you out…”

Sunggyu laughed bitterly and said, “I’m your hyung. How could I ask you for help? I still have my pride, if nothing else.”

“Pride”, I repeated bitterly. “How foolish. So you have your pride? Does that feed you? Keep your family together?”

Sunggyu looked at me intently and said, “You say that, and yet you’re just as prideful as all of us. You are the one with so much pride you’d rather legally split with your parents than admit that you were wrong. And WooHyun’s so prideful he can’t ask for help even though he’s emotionally dying right now.”
“So Eun’s so prideful she moved out of the house rather than live with me just because I indirectly offended her”, I added to the list.

“And Hoya, Sungjong, and Sungyeol are all so prideful… they’d rather believed we threw them away then… accept that they like to abandon us”, Sunggyu said slowly.

“We’re all… still children”, I replied, “We all treasure our pride more than our lives and each other… How foolish.”

“Myungsoo-”

“What about Dongwoo?”, I asked, suddenly realizing we hadn’t discussed him, “Actually, I haven’t seen Dongwoo for a while… Where’s he been?”

Sunggyu shifted uncomfortably, looking away from me.

“Sunggyu… what is it?”

“No, it’s  nothing.”

“Tell me”, I said, my voice hard.

“Dongwoo… is at the hospital right now”, Sunggyu admitted, closing his eyes, “He was diagnosed with lymphoma two weeks ago.”

“Lymphoma?”, I repeatedly weakly.

“Yeah… it’s just a mild form but… he has to be there for a while”, Sunggyu said, his eyes still closed.

“Sunggyu… The problem between me and WooHyun… I don’t know what’s going to happen. And the same goes for Hoya, Sungyeol, and Sungjong. But between you and me, can we make a truce to always be honest and to always help each other out no matter what?”

 Sunggyu looked at me and I knew he wanted to say no, he wasn’t going to accept help from someone like his younger brother, but I stared him directly in the eyes, telling him not to be foolish. Don’t be prideful.

“Yeah”, he said finally, “yeah.”

“All right”, I said, getting up, “Let’s go to work, and afterwards… let’s go visit Dongwoo.”

a/n: i love sunggyu. okay, this story is getting too complicated for me. i need to just sit and think about this thing is going. there are so many storylines already and i'm not even done introducing plot lines. XD it's getting boring and emotionless because there's just so much drama going on and it's all unfinished. XD if anyone wants to critique it i'm open to hear it. or just tell me what you want to know more about! <3 X]