If you had asked Boa what she had thought about Kim JaeJoong when the school year had begun, she would probably tell you that she believed him to be a pompous . But that was four months ago. Now she simply saw him as a teenager that was overwhelmed with decisions that would either make or destroy his future, and from what she’d observed, when he made a decision he tried his best to keep his loved ones in mind. JaeJoong was more kind-hearted then he gave himself credit for. He just had a strange way of showing it. He had to be cruel to be kind.

… and it was that moment when they’d reached the hospital that she noticed just how cool he really was. It was like a scene out of a drama and something that Boa would never forget. Boa envied how brave he was able to be about the situation even though she knew he was as scared as the rest of them to find out about what happened to HyoJoo and JiHoon.

“YunHo kept calling me… but I didn’t pick up…,” JaeJoong said softly as they stared up at the large hospital. “Kamsahamnida, Boa. If it weren’t for you I wouldn’t be here right now.” With that, he placed his hand on top of her head, patting it gently and walked in ahead of the rest of them.

“What do you guys think happened to them,” ChangMin asked gently.

“I don’t know, but I hope they’re okay,” InSu added.

“Should we go in or wait here,” Boa asked after a moment.

No one answered.

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

JaeJoong had finally reached the floor that HyoJoo was being held on. The main reason he hadn’t come was because he didn’t want to know what condition HyoJoo and JiHoon were in, but when Boa had come to him he’d felt as if he’d regained his courage again.

He stopped in the middle of the hallway when he saw YooChun leaning against one of the walls. He looked distressed, as he tried to comfort SeulGi who was crying in his arms.

“YooChun-ah,” he said in a low voice but loud enough for them to hear.

They both turned to look at him with wide eyes. SeulGi left YooChun’s arms and walked up to JaeJoong. He couldn’t argue with the fact that he deserved the slap he received. “What the hell took you so long? Did you know we’ve been trying to reach you,” she yelled at him.

“SeulGi,” YooChun began.

“Shut up, YooChun. He deserves a lot more then the slap I just gave him.” Her shoulders shook and she lowered her head as tears began to fall down her cheeks again. “We were supposed to be friends forever. Why did things have to get so complicated?”

JaeJoong reached out to touch her, but she slapped his hand away and pointed down the adjoined hallway. “Go fix what you should’ve fixed a long time ago, or else I’ll never forgive you!”

Sighing, JaeJoong headed in the direction she pointed in and spotted YunHo sitting in a chair outside of a room next to Ayumi. “You heard her…,” was all he said as he stared ahead. “Fix it, so we can all have peace.”

Without a word, JaeJoong entered the room and closed the door behind him. His eyes widened when he saw HyoJoo lying on a bed, unconscious with JiHoon on his knees beside it obviously asleep and holding her hand. “JiHoon,” he said as he shook him awake. “Wake up.”

JiHoon snapped upright and glanced up at JaeJoong. He blinked a few times before replying. “Why are you here?”

“I came to see how you guys were…”

“You came to check on us?” JiHoon snapped. “Since when have you ever cared?”

“You know that’s not true…,” before he could utter another word, he was rammed head first in the stomach, his back hitting the door hard. “Yah! What are you…”

They wrestled for a moment, each trying to gain dominance over the other. JaeJoong knew that they couldn’t fight in here because they could harm HyoJoo, so he had to find some kind of way to get JiHoon outside. And without thinking, he pushed JiHoon away from him and ran out of the room with JiHoon on his tail, ignoring everyone he passed.

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

“Yah,” a boy called from a distance. “JaeJoong-shii.”

JaeJoong tilted his head to look at the boy calling him, his expression blank, eyes observant. “What’s up?”

“You don’t always have to hang out by yourself, you know. I didn’t introduce you to the others for nothing,” the boy said as he approached him. JaeJoong didn’t understand why this boy was so interested in getting him to be sociable.

“Most of them I’ve already heard of from my father, so it wasn’t anything new. Besides, I’m used to being by myself.” JaeJoong’s eyes returned to the water.

“Your umma and appa don’t ever hang out with you,” the boy asked.

“They’re always busy.”

The boy felt as if he was getting nowhere. “JaeJoong-ah… don’t you feel alone? I mean, we’re only kids. The main reason that I wanted to be friends with you was because I thought you were pretty cool.”

“Ne,” a feminine voice chipped in.

Two girls approached them.

“Ah, SeulGi, HyoJoo. You remember JaeJoong, right?”

“Ne,” HyoJoo said enthusiastically as SeulGi nodded with a smile. “I have an idea. Let’s make a deal.” She pressed her finger against her lips as she observed JaeJoong who slightly shied away from her gaze. “I’ll bet you that I can get you to smile by the end of the year.”

“Eh?” was SeulGi’s response. “He doesn’t smile?”

“Aniyo. That’s why everyone’s scared of him. But if I can do that then he’ll have more friends, right JiHoon?”

“It might work,” JiHoon replied and shrugged.

“Arasseo,” HyoJoo said and nodded. “If I can get you to smile by the end of the year you have to be friends with us whether you like it or not.”

JaeJoong sighed and shook his head. “You guys are dumb.” He began to walk away with a bored expression on his face.

“… but,” HyoJoo continued. “If I don’t then we’ll never bother you again.”

Stopping, JaeJoong thought about that for a moment and glanced at her over his shoulder. “Deal.”

By the end of that year he’d lost the bet.

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

JaeJoong ran as fast as he could. There wasn’t just memories buried at that beach. There was something that could possibly save his friendship with his best friend. The first person who had ever given him a second glance. The first person who’d ever really cared about him. How could he have been so foolish to let such a friendship fall apart in the first place?

“Yah! Stop running,” JiHoon called from behind him.

He couldn’t. The beach wasn’t far from the hospital and their old elementary school.

“We were supposed to be friends forever. Why did things have to get so complicated?”

JaeJoong could see the beach ahead of him. Just a little bit more and he’d be there.

“Next year we’ll be going to middle school, so why don’t we make a time capsule or something. And after we graduate from high school we’ll come back to open it. All of us together,” SeulGi suggested. JiHoon and HyoJoo looked at her like she was crazy while JaeJoong kept his eyes on the water.

“Why would we do that,” JiHoon asked. “Someone could dig it up.”

“Ne,” HyoJoo agreed.

“I think it sounds cool, and we won’t put anything really valuable in there in case someone does dig it up,” JaeJoong added. “We can use my lunch container. We’ll put our name on what belongs to us, and we can’t peek when putting it in.”

They looked at JaeJoong surprised that he would agree to such a thing, but instead of arguing with him about it they agreed to it. They all decided to go to different areas of the beach to pick their items and put their names on them, and once they were done they headed back over to each other an object behind their backs.

“Arasseo,” JaeJoong began as he held the container out in front of him. “No one look down and place their object in the container on the count of three. One… two… three…”

They had buried it in front of the rock underneath the boardwalk. Dropping to his knees, JaeJoong took his jacket off and tossed it to the side. Without a second thought he began to dig, and just when he’d felt the coldness of the lunch container on his fingers, he was tackled.

“Do you think this is a game,” JiHoon yelled as he grabbed JaeJoong by the collar and punched him in the face. He punched him again not feeling satisfied, his body shaking slightly. “She’s meant everything to me since we were kids.”

JaeJoong’s heart broke at the despair he saw in his friends eyes. “JiHoon…”

“You were my best friend. I would’ve done anything for you, but you… you turned your back on us as if we’d never existed…,” he yelled and punched him again. “How can you live with yourself knowing how cruel you are?!”

Smiling sadly with blood sliding down the side of his face from his mouth, JaeJoong replied with, “Am I really so cruel?” And just like that the tables turned and JaeJoong kicked JiHoon off of him. “You betrayed me!” Supporting himself with one of the pillars under the boardwalk, JaeJoong rose to his feet and wiped the blood from his mouth.

JiHoon flipped himself to his feet, and coughed still feeling the force of JaeJoong’s kick.

They silently stared each other down before they were charging at each other. The last time they’d gotten in a fight they’d been interrupted. Now was their chance to finish what they’d started almost nine months ago.

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

“We have to find them or else they’ll kill each other,” YunHo said to everyone. “Any ideas where they might be?”

Everyone thought about where they could be for a moment.

“Ah,” SeulGi suddenly said. “There’s a beach near here. We used to hang out there a lot when we were kids. So, maybe…”

“Ne. We passed that beach on our way here,” Boa added.

“Arasseo. We’ll go see if we can find them at the beach first, and if we can’t then we’ll split up and search all of Seoul if we have to.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

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

“How do you think I felt… when you got my… girlfriend pregnant, you bastard,” JaeJoong panted as he kneed JiHoon in the stomach. Too weak to stand anymore JiHoon fell on his side, panting for air. JaeJoong followed suit soon after and stared up at the sky. “If you loved her so much to begin with… then why did you let me fall in love with her…? Why… didn’t you… stop me…?” he asked weakly and closed his eyes. Why didn’t you save me from the pain?

JiHoon coughed before answering. “I didn’t know… how things would play out… I’d thought that I was over her… but when she came to me that night…”

“You… fell in love… all over again…”

“Ne…”

JaeJoong mustered up enough energy to kick JiHoon in the side from where he was laying. “Aish… I should’ve kicked your … a long time ago…”

He groaned and kicked JaeJoong back. “You know better than anyone… that you can’t help… who you fall in love with…”

“Ne… it’s the worst…,” JaeJoong his stomach and started to crawl over to where he’d been digging before he was tackled a few moments ago. Sighing, he pulled the lunch container out.

JiHoon sat up and watched him, his eyes widening when he recognized the container. “You remembered…,” he said with a sad smile.

“You keep saying… that I don’t care…,” was JaeJoong’s reply as he tossed the container over to JiHoon. “Take a look… I’m not as cruel as you think…,” without another word, JaeJoong rested his back against the rock as he watched JiHoon go through the container.

JiHoon pulled a photograph out of the four of them together and flipped it over. On the back JaeJoong’s name was written along with the sentence ‘my extended family’.

“Is the baby going to be okay?”

“Ne,” JiHoon replied as he continued to stare down at the photograph. “We were lucky. Now I’m just waiting for HyoJoo to wake up. I really do love her, you know. I want to marry her.”

“I know.” JaeJoong got to his feet and ran his fingers through his hair. “JiHoon, when the baby’s born I want you guys to come back to school. We miss you.” Turning away from JiHoon, he walked out into the water until it was up to his knees, and the moment he dived in he could feel all the pain slowly wash away, swept away by the waves.

JiHoon ran his hand over his face, wiping the tears away and looked up when he heard someone call JaeJoong’s name. Getting up, JiHoon walked over to the water too. The picture slipped from his hand and was carried away by the wind.  Without a second thought, he dived into the water as well.

“What the hell are they doing,” Ayumi yelled.

A small smile touched YunHo’s face. “They’re healing.”

“Healing? They just jumped into the freaking ocean,” HyeSu exclaimed.

“He’s right,” SeulGi added. “They were finally able to make peace with each other.”

The others watched silently.

JaeJoong swam to the surface and with a sharp intake of breath began to swim to shore. He looked up and saw SeulGi heading towards him. “Mainhamnida,” she said softly while observing his bruised and bloody face.

He did nothing but smile and hold his arms open to her.

“… but you’re soaking wet.” She took a step back when he took a step forward. “Yah! Aniyo,” she yelled as she ran down the beach with JaeJoong chasing after her. To her dismay, she didn’t get very far until he caught her and carried her to the water despite her struggles. JiHoon helped to keep her still.

The others chuckled lightly as they watched the display. It suddenly seemed like a weighthad been lifted off of all of them. A worry that was no more.

“I’ll kill you both,” SeulGi yelled once she was soaking wet, and chased after JaeJoong who ran passed the others laughing. JiHoon followed after them, yelling for SeulGi to be gentle.

A mischievous thought crossed YunHo’s mind and he glanced down at Boa who glared back at him with a ‘don’t even think about it’ face. Ignoring the warning, YunHo picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder. When he’d reached the water, he lost his balance and they both fell in.

Boa shrieked at the feeling of the cold water, and clung to YunHo for support who in turn wrapped his arms around her.

“ChangMin told me about what you did. Kamsahamnida,” he said into her ear.

She blushed and buried her face in his chest. “I was just doing what was right.”

“I know,” he replied as he lifted her head up so she was looking at him. “It’s one of the reasons I like you.” He traced his fingers along her cheek, and she stared up at him as if she were in a trance. “You know, I don’t think we ever really made it official that we were dating,” he continued before gently pressing his lips to hers.

Boa’s eyes closed on instinct as she drowned in the feeling of his lips against hers. She couldn’t believe that her first kiss had been stolen by Jung YunHo. Her number one.

“We never went on a date either,” he said after breaking the kiss.

“Ne,” was all Boa could say. The kiss they had just shared had been everything that she’d wanted it to be, but she felt like something was missing. Ever since about a month ago she’d been feeling weird. Her heart didn’t race like it used to whenever she was around YunHo, and she wasn’t as excited to see him anymore. She knew that it had nothing to do with him, because he was a great guy, but… maybe my body’s going through changes, she tried to make herself believe.

… but when she glanced over at the others who were now chasing after each other, she finally realized what it was that was missing.

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

The nurse had only gone in to check on the patient, and hadn’t expected what would happen next while she was changing the sheets.

 “JiHoon… JaeJoong…,” HyoJoo said in a low voice.

“Doctor,” the nurse yelled as she ran down the halls. “Doctor, she’s awake! Her eyes are open!”

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

(A/N): Another chapter complete. :) Thanks for all the support as well guys. It helps to keep my spirits up. ^^