More Secrets of the Heart Series

So I was recently inspired to write this commentary on my Heart Series. There’s something making me cling to this, and just as I’ve written a few of the Untold Stores, I would now like to reveal a few things about the main story.

I may have previously mentioned some of these in old author notes, so my apologies for any repetition.

There’s a lot of symbolism in this story that even I can’t recall off the top of my head. I also played with formatting and messing around with poetic prose. A major factor that worked its way into the stories was weather though. I relied on it a lot to convey the mood, and that’s why you’ll find that a lot of the serious scenes were done at night or in the shadows of the Tech Shop.

My initial reason for writing this story was because I wanted to do something with KyuWook. In the first chapter, there was a sudden shift in voice when Kyuhyun and Ryeowook were kissing even though they were “just friends”. That entire paragraph was just for the sake of starting a mess. I had no idea what was going to happen and I certainly wasn’t expecting it to be the start of a very complicated relationship between the main characters.

From there, the whole development of KUG and Zhoumi came and so on.

First, let’s start with the couples.

KyuWook:

As many of you know, they’re just a mess. In fact, at several points, I considered whether or not it was healthy to be shipping them in the story. They really aren’t good together if you really think about it. The way I wrote it was meant to give both sides of one relationship and that’s probably the biggest reason why people are so sympathetic and frustrated with the tale.

Kyuhyun was a confusing character to write. His personality was undefined for such a large majority of the story. However, I think it’s about time that I clear up what’s wrong with him. Hopefully I revealed enough information over the course of those three stories, but if I didn’t, I’ll clarify things now.

He really does love Ryeowook. His changes in attitude over the course of the story are reflective of his growing maturity. Remember, they were first year high school students in the beginning and I did my best to show his immaturity and frustrations caused by both hormones and peer pressure. What he did to Ryeowook at the end of Soft Heart was due to a mixture of pent-up emotions and affection coming out in the wrong way. Often times, adolescent boys are prone to displaying their feelings of love through violent outbursts and cruelty in order to gain the attention of the one they like.

In Kyuhyun’s case, he wanted to be free of Ryeowook, yet he truly wanted to have Ryeowook show concern for him. Since they were children, Kyuhyun had always been the one showing concern, and so in a strange way, he was hoping for Ryeowook to do the same and take care of him.

That’s the biggest reason for why Kyuhyun had such a change of heart as he watched Ryeowook taking control of his life and standing up on his own two feet. Internally, Kyuhyun was realizing that this boy was growing up, and just maybe, they were finally on the same page and wavelength.

All of this does not combat their outward displeasure though. Ryeowook was scared to be hurt again. Kyuhyun had too much pride to apologize and make amends in Lost Heart and thus, they fell into further disarray.

I could probably talk about Kyuhyun’s character for days on end, but I’ll stop. It’s probably still confusing, but I hope I’ve cleared up just a bit of how his brain works. Also, many of you probably realized that Donghae’s role in the story was to help further the maturity of Kyuhyun. He was supposed to be the friend and advisor that Kyuhyun had never had.

Our World:

The recurring theme of Kyuhyun and Ryeowook living in their own world held far deeper emotions than I planned. In the beginning, I just put it in to make a play on how KyuWook is always said to be stuck in their own little world during interviews and T.V. programs.

Over time, the meaning grew. It became a symbol of how they felt for one another. I never really talked about their childhood or their abandonment issues. As children, they were pushed together without knowing anything. On one hand, Ryeowook grew up in the home for boys. On the other hand, Kyuhyun was abandoned by his family. There aren’t many indications of that, but that’s what happened. His cold and distant personality comes from that bitter resentment.

The only one to ever break through that hatred was Ryeowook as he was so ignorant and gentle as a child. Kyuhyun felt attracted to the boy and wanted to keep him like a child would want to keep a special toy. No one else was allowed to damage or touch his possession, and that’s where the “world” truly comes from. Kyuhyun wants to protect Ryeowook because he needs Ryeowook to never leave him – which is why you’ll find that Kyuhyun is always the one leaving in the stories.

The moment their world truly shatters isn’t the day Kyuhyun leaves. It’s the day that Ryeowook leaves at the end of Strong Heart. That’s the only moment in the entire trilogy where readers see the almighty Kyuhyun crushed.

This is further emphasized by the final lines of the Epilogue which speak of their world being repaired. Also, there are more indications that Kyuhyun has truly grown into a fine young man by the fact that there are others allowed inside their world.

In the end though, they agree that they can leave behind everyone else to be together again – just the two of them.

HenWook:

Do any of you still remember their prominence in Soft Heart? If so, there’s a reason for that. In the original plan, I was going to have Henry be the rival love interest that made Kyuhyun realize what he was doing wrong.

In the end, however, everything else overshadowed this idea and therefore it never worked out. Henry and Ryeowook had all the makings of a pairing, but I’m glad that the story went in the direction it did.

MinWook:

Surprisingly, I don’t have much to say about this relationship. If anything, it would be that Sungmin was desperate. His entire character was pitiful except when he was interacting with Minho.

The way he and Ryeowook fit together was nice, but it was never enough to build a true foundation. I would probably blame it on one of the major themes I put in the story: The thin line between love and hate.

In this case, Sungmin didn’t hate Ryeowook. Rather, he was compelled to keep Ryeowook beside him because he was driven my built, pain, and the wish to make Kyuhyun hurt. There was a deep lack of sincerity by the second half of Strong Heart.

YoungSaeng/Ryeowook:

This was just in there to mess with Kyuhyun. YoungSaeng developed into a true character though and soon became a respectable person. I actually imagined him as much darker and colder, but somehow, he became a good guy – just like Minho.

Minho/Sungmin:

First things first, they really weren’t meant to be together. I knew they were going to interfere with Minwook, but the actual coming together of these characters was unexpected. Minho was supposed to be an without any redeeming qualities.

And then he became the sweetest character ever.

They were supposed to end up together by the last fifteen or so chapters of Strong Heart, but the KyuWook ending was coming too quickly, so their story was cut short. I originally had plans for them to fall in love and write that entire scene out. That didn’t happen.

Zhoumi/Eunhyuk:

Goodness…there was definitely a lot of background knowledge necessary to understand this pairing. I guess you could say that their story was never written out as they came into Soft Heart with an established relationship.

Mir/Taemin:

This pairing was supposed to happen without a doubt. And then somehow he ended up with Dongwoon. I swear that with all of my heart, I wanted Taemin to be with Mir. Their relationship was building up to love and Dongwoon was just an obstacle to that.

Mir/Dongwoon:

I fell in love with them. After what Taemin did in Strong Heart, it became clear that Mir/Taemin were far too dysfunctional. To be honest, as I thought over it, they were just using one another and that hardly accounted for a healthy pairing.

Taemin needed someone pure and loyal. If Mir couldn’t be those things, then Taemin didn’t want anything to do with him – which explains his departure while Mir is missing.

Mir knew of no one else that actually cared for him so much. Without much memory or emotional support, he immediately gave into Taemin’s advances, which as you hopefully remember, leads to a lot of risqué situations.

The appearance of Dongwoon actually made Mir realize that there was another way to be with someone though. Instead of awakening the emotions in Mir, Dongwoon cultivated them and brought Mir out of his shell – something Taemin wasn’t able to accomplish.

***

Well, this is the end of my commentary. If I think of more funny or interesting things, know that I’ll be looking at them.

As many of you can tell, I’m all about character relationships. My stories are focused on the development of characters.

In the future, I’ll work harder to narrate in order to cover all of these assumed things.

Sincerely,

Pandorasv13