“I know that you’re angry with me, but I didn’t work as hard as I have just so that it can all go down the drain.” He tied his son’s tie. “Over the years I’ve built an empire that I hoped I would be able to pass down to one of my son’s.”

JaeJoong did the best he could to keep his voice even when speaking to his father. “Your son’s? You say that as if we still matter to you. You haven’t cared about us since umma…,” he was silenced when his father pulled his tie extremely tight, cutting off his air.

“Don’t speak about things you know nothing about boy.” Mr. Kim let his hold on JaeJoong’s tie go. “Now finish getting ready. We meet with the Jung’s in an hour.”

He waited until his father left his room to rub his neck. “Bastard.” Checking himself in the mirror one last time, he made his way to his bedroom door but paused when his phone vibrated. He pulled it out of his pocket and checked the name before answering. “Ah, JunSu, where are you?”

“I’m at the park you used to take me to when we were younger,” was JunSu’s simple reply.

“Yah, come home so I don’t have to worry about you while I’m gone.”

“Aniyo,” he yelled through the phone, startling JaeJoong. “I won’t go home while he’s there. I don’t… I don’t want to, hyung…”

JaeJoong smiled sadly and walked over to his bed to sit down. “Yah, JunSu, do you remember the promise I made to you when we were little?”

“N-Ne…”

“I promised to protect you no matter what, right? Appa… he’s a scary man… but…”

“You won’t work for him, right,” JunSu asked suddenly. “I won’t lose you too will I? I don’t want to lose you too, hyung.”

“Aish,” JaeJoong said on a soft laugh. “JunSu-ah, I’m not going anywhere.”

“Promise?”

“Promise. Now come home. Everything will be fine.” He pulled his cell from his ear and hit the end button while smiling. “Still just a kid,” he mumbled to himself.

A maid suddenly entered his room. “Master JaeJoong, your father grows impatient.”

“Ne,” he mumbled as he stood and made his way out of the house. As the limousine he resided in left the drive thru he smiled to himself when he saw JunSu running inside the gate before it closed.

“You won’t have time for family, friends, or lovers, JaeJoong,” his father said. “… because more then a year from now when you graduate, you’ll be taking my place. You need to think more clearly about your future.”

JaeJoong simply frowned and stared out the window.
 
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“This is embarrassing,” YunHo stated as him and JaeJoong pulled up in front of the school in a limousine.

JaeJoong was so irritated he could’ve sworn he felt his eye twitch. “This is seriously the only car you had left?”

“Ne.”

JaeJoong sighed as he watched the other students gather around the car. “What about your Corvette? Did we not purchase Corvette’s together?”

“My Aunt took it, okay? You know how she likes sporty cars. She’s like a little kid once behind the wheel of one.”

“That old bat is gonna get herself killed one day.” JaeJoong stiffened at what he heard coming from outside. “Oh no. Screaming fan girls.”

“Masters, I hate to be rude, but I’m running on a schedule and I’m due to pick up your father, Sir YunHo,” the driver said. YunHo and JaeJoong stared at each other for a moment before JaeJoong’s eyes narrowed when YunHo got the look on his face that said ‘I have an excellent but idiotic plan.’

“Aniyo…”

“… but…”

“Aniyo...”

“… it might work…”

“Aniyo,” JaeJoong said sharply.

YunHo sighed. “It’s not my fault you’re so pretty.”

“If this car didn’t feel so constricting, I’d strangle you right now.”

“Aish, so moody. Just like a female,” YunHo teased.

With a growl JaeJoong got out of the car and slammed the door behind him. All the students stared in awe until he entered the school and then their attention immediately turned to YunHo who tried to make his way through the crowd, but to no avail.

JaeJoong reveled in the cries for help he heard coming from YunHo as he made his way to class, but was slightly disappointed when YunHo managed to catch up to him when he was right down the hall from class. “So my wish didn’t come true after all.”

“What wish,” YunHo asked while trying to catch his breath. “Me kicking your for abandoning me?”

“Aniyo. The girls making you their slave and me never having to see you again.”

“Haha, very funny. Aish. Those girls are insane.”

JaeJoong glanced at YunHo and saw how disorderly his clothes were. He snickered. “Maybe next time you won’t try to stand out so much.”

Sighing, YunHo stopped and stared at his friend. “On a serious note, what’s really bothering you?”

JaeJoong released a deep breath and stopped as well, but didn’t turn around to face him. “It’s nothing.”

YunHo glared at his back. “Don’t lie to me. If it were nothing you wouldn’t be even more moody today then what you normally are.”

“I’m not moody.”

“Right. And I didn’t just get attacked by a swarm of girls.”

There was a long pause before a sigh was heard from JaeJoong and he replied, “My appa came back yesterday. He’ll be here until graduation.”

“He’s going about it that way, is he? I could sense that something was up during the meeting last night.” He made an attempt at fixing his clothes as he spoke. “What happens if you don’t take his place?”

JaeJoong turned around to face him then. “I’ll be disowned and he’ll most likely ruin any future I could possibly obtain on my own out of anger. JunSu’s upset too, because his birthday’s coming up but appa couldn’t care less.”

“I already know that you want to make your own living, but are you willing to risk being disowned?”

“What’s this I hear about being disowned?” JaeJoong and YunHo both turned to look at YooChun. “Aish, JaeJoong, you’re just as stubborn as always.”

“I’m not being stubborn. You don’t understand…”

YooChun tilted his head to the side. “You’re right. Maybe I don’t. I can tell you one thing that I do understand though and that’s that if you don’t go through with this you won’t be the only one affected. It’s well known that when one son doesn’t inherit his father’s legacy, the second son gets chosen on a whim.”

JaeJoong frowned. “I know that…”

“How can you be so selfish and throw such a responsibility at little JunSu?” YooChun shook his head. “We also won’t be able to help you if you’re poor because it’s your father that funds our parent’s corporations. If we support you not inheriting your father’s legacy then that jeopardizes everything that our parents have worked for.”

“YooChun,” YunHo said in an attempt to shut him up.

“Aniyo. He needs to hear this. It’s about time someone told him about the consequences of his future decision.”

“Message received,” JaeJoong uttered before turning away from them and continuing down the hall.

“YooChun,” YunHo said on a sigh. “You didn’t have to be so blunt about it.”

YooChun shrugged. “He has a whole two years to figure out what he’s gonna do in the future, Yunnie, so no worries.” He patted YunHo on the back. “After all, he has been the leader of our group since elementary school. He’ll make a reasonable decision when the time comes.”

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

“Hey, Boa, why aren’t you playing,” YunHo asked as he approached her.

Boa jumped, surprised. “W-What? Oh, uhm, I wouldn’t want to interfere.” She tried to hide the blush that covered her cheeks by slightly covering her face with her scarf.

“Because you don’t know how to play?”

“I-It’s not that…”

YunHo sat down next to her on the bench and watched the others play soccer. “Why do I get the feeling that you don’t like us? You seem… so detached from everything.” He smiled sadly. “It’s kind of like you’re the female version of JaeJoong except I know that he does like us.”

Boa’s eyes widened at that. “I-It’s the opposite… actually…,” a barrier seemed to form around her and YunHo could feel the strength of it. “No one at this school seems to like me because they all think I’m stuck up and everything… only JaeJoong-Oppa kind of tolerates me…”

All YunHo could do was stare at her for a moment before he replied with, “I like you, Boa-ah, and I think you’re brave for standing up to those girls even though they were stronger then you.”

Her eyes met his. “Y-YunHo-Oppa…”

“Boa, there’s something that I’ve been meaning to ask you.” He cleared his throat as he stared at her intently. “Will you go out on a date with me? I know that we’ve only been in school for a few weeks, but I would really like to take you out to dinner and get to know you better.”

Boa’s face reddened so much to the point that she looked like she was going to explode. “O-Oppa… but I’m not rich like you guys… I’m just average…”

“Hm. I see.” He stood up and saw the disappointed look that suddenly appeared on Boa’s face. ‘So, she is interested,’ he thought to himself. “I guess, for our date, you can show me how to be a normal kid again? How does that sound? I barely get any time to myself, but I’d be willing to make time for you, Boa-ah. What do you say?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to… I just have to study for exams… and work and stuff…”

“How about after exams then?”

How could anyone resist his charming smile? All Boa could do was nod.

“Great. See you later.” He waved to her as he made his way to the field completely oblivious to the soccer ball that was heading in his direction at full speed.

“YunHo, look out,” Ayumi called out.

It was too late. YunHo rubbed the back of his head where the ball had struck and hissed in pain. “Aish, YooChun, you kick hard.”

“My bad,” YooChun replied while trying not to laugh.

“You did it on purpose,” SeulGi growled while smacking him in the back of the head.

“YunHo-ah, SeulGi’s being abusive again,” YooChun whined while rubbing his head.

Boa actually laughed at the scene that was being played out before her until she realized that a certain person was missing. ‘I wonder where JaeJoong-Oppa is,’ she thought to herself.

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

His fingers moved gracefully along the keys of the piano almost as if they had a mind of their own. The song he was playing was one that his umma had taught him when he was little. It was a song that he loved and would never forget.

“That sounds really sad.”

JaeJoong messed up on the song out of surprise and swung around to see Boa standing in the doorway of the music room. “You shouldn’t sneak up on people like that,” he said on a sigh.

“Mainhe. Don’t stop because I’m here. It’s sad, but beautiful.” She approached him and leaned against the piano.

He tilted his head as he stared at her. “Too late. I’ve already lost my concentration. What are you doing here anyway?”

She blinked. “Stalking you. Well, kind of. You weren't with the others, so I came to find you.” Placing her book bag on the piano, she dug inside it and pulled out a lunch container much like JaeJoong had a few days ago. “I never repaid you for the lunch you brought me, so here. I made it myself.” She placed it in front of him and tried not to become agitated when all he did was stare at it.

Lifting up a single finger and pointing at the container, he asked, “Is it poisoned? Am I really that mean?” He made this adorable, curious face that Boa had to force herself to ignore.

“Aniyo,” she growled. “Are you gonna eat it or not?”

He eyed her suspiciously. “What about you?”

“I already ate.”

“Hm.” JaeJoong opened the container and picked up some rice with the chopsticks. Standing up, he closed some of the distance between him and Boa, holding the chopsticks out to her. “If you don’t die, then I’ll eat it.”

She blushed and stared at him like he was crazy. “Y-You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Aniyo.” He poked her lips with the chopsticks. “Be a good servant and eat it.”

It took her a moment to think about what she was going to do before her lips wrapped around the chopsticks and she ate the rice. “Happy,” she asked while chewing.

He waited for her to swallow and nodded. “Ne.” Picking up some more rice, he used the same chopsticks she had to taste the lunch she had made for him.

“A-At least use different chopsticks. What’s wrong with you?”

“Why? Do you have cooties,” he teased. “Hn. I taste hard work in this dish.”

Boa sighed and tried to keep her embarrassment under control. “What does that mean?”

“It means I’m happy.” He ate some more rice before speaking. “Ah, the wonderful taste of a servant trying to please her master.”

“Yah, what’s with the ‘servant’ title all of the sudden?”

“I was thinking,” he began as he ate a piece of eggplant. “… and I’ve noticed that I enjoy picking on you.”

She glared at him. “You’re the worst.”

“So I’ve been told, but you must not think I’m that bad if you made me lunch.”

Her blush darkened. “S-Shut up. I’m just repaying you for the lunch you brought me.”

JaeJoong found her embarrassment intriguing, but he decided that he would give her a break for now. “Kamsahamnida then.”

A silence fell over them while he finished off his food and Boa’s curiosity ached to know the answer to the question she’d been thinking about since she had talked to YunHo-Oppa a short while ago. “Can I ask you something?”

“You just did,” he replied bluntly.

“You know what I mean.”

He smirked. “I can’t read minds.”

“D-Do you like me?" she blurted out suddenly. "I mean, you’re just tolerating me for the rest of the year, right?"

JaeJoong considered his answer for a moment. “I guess you could consider it a form of tolerance…”

“I see…”

“… because I don’t know enough about you to like you, but I don’t dislike you either,” he added. "Why do you ask?"

She stared at the ground. "It's nothing, but YunHo told me that he liked me because he thought I was brave and I don't see it."

"You do have a strong will. Especially if you were able to stand up to me the way that you did."

"Tch. You weren't being fair."

"Life isn't fair." JaeJoong sighed at that statement as he thought about his father. “Besides,” he continued as he handed her back her container after he had finished eating and made his way to the door of the music room. “If I didn’t like you,” he dropped the chopsticks in the trash and glanced at her over his shoulder, “You would know.” Just as soon as the words had left his mouth, he left, leaving a confused Boa staring at the open space of the doorway.

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

A/N: I have to admit that I rather enjoy writing this story. Btw, I had been searching for a really good Boa/JaeJoong story too, but they are so hard to find nowadays. So, I wrote my own. ;D Next chapter coming soon. Also, don't get excited... <.< I'm just catching up to how many chapters I had posted on Winglin. XD Next chapter will be up soon though. XPAlso  Also, don't get excited... I'm just catching up to how many chapters  Also, gs