November 6th, 2009

It was Friday night. The four CNBLUE members went to have a dinner together in a restaurant as a treat for themselves to have succeeded in making their music well-known. Jong Hyun sat next to Yong Hwa facing both their younger bandmates, Jung Shin and Min Hyuk. Jung Shin went to sit in front of Yong Hwa. After they have ordered the meal, Jong Hyun took the chance to interrogate Yong Hwa.

"Hyung!" Jong Hyun called Yong Hwa. "I hope you don't mind me asking but what happened back then between you and Shin Hye? I can no longer see both of you together."

Jung Shin nodded fast to show his interest in knowing the situation as well. "We saw you left the stage in a hurry and then we saw you standing alone outside the Union," he managed to finish his sentence when Min Hyuk tried to cover his mouth. Min Hyuk sighed at the failure. Jong Hyun gave Jung Shin a disapproval glare to let him know that he shouldn't finish his words.

"Were you guys following me that day?" Yong Hwa gave them a curious look.

Jung Shin let out an innocent smile. "Sorry, Hyung. We were just curious and when we walked out of the Union, we just happened to see you. But we didn't know what actually had happened."

Yong Hwa was touched at their concern. "I guess we are not meant together." Yong Hwa tried to smile to show that he had braced himself for that but the smile was brittle. Even a kindergarten kid could tell that. And then there was a quiescent silence for a moment until Jung Shin spoke to them.

"Ah right! Talking about Shin Hye, she has been absent from classes for about a week already. None of us in my class know why though," Jung Shin informed Yong Hwa, thinking that he might be interested in her whereabouts. 

"Oh, really?" Yong Hwa muttered. He tried his best to pull off a glazed look on his face.

Jung Shin was disappointed at Yong Hwa's reaction. At the same time he felt weird. He didn't dare to ask Yong Hwa for the reason but he knew Shin Hye was not happy either. He saw how Shin Hye had totally changed in the class. She talked less. She smiled less. All she ever did was burying herself in books. How can two people who were in love with each other made a decision to go separate ways, he thought. 

Min Hyuk noticed the thoughtful look that Jung Shin had and he knew there was a secret that he could dig up from Jung Shin after the meal. But for now, he need to think of something to brighten up the mood, he thought. It was supposed to be a dinner to celebrate their success but by the look of it, one will thought they were having a dinner to console themselves.   

"Oh the food is here," Min Hyuk said when he saw the waiters coming with many dishes. They had Soondubu Jjigae (Soft Tofu Stew), Seolleongtang (Ox Bone Soup), and Yangnyeom Tongdalk (Seasoned Fried Chicken). While having dinner, the four guys talked about their plan after college.

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November 9th, 2009

It was early morning. The class was yet to start in 30 minutes. There were not many students in Yong Hwa's class. Some of them were yet to arrive whereas some of them were chatting along the corridor. Yong Hwa was revising his notes on Synthetic Biology. He would rather spend any free time he had revising lecture notes or composing songs. He would get himself preoccupied with all those sort of things to make him distracted from thinking about his broken heart. He was trying to understand the chapter on molecular cloning when Jong Hyun came dashing into the class followed by Jung Shin. 

"Hyung! Hyung!" Jong Hyun cried out as he approached Yong Hwa.

"Why do you look like you have been chased by someone?" Yong Hwa scrunched his eyes up in curiosity.

"I think I know why she left you," Jong Hyun continued. He paused, gasping for breath while he drew out the chair next to Yong Hwa to sit in. He looked at Jung Shin, who was leaning his body against the wall on the other side of Yong Hwa, before focusing back to Yong Hwa.

"I heard that she's moving away."

"How did you know that?" Yong Hwa raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

"The rumour spreads like wildfire in my class," Jung Shin added.

"And you think that's why she has been drifting away from me?" Yong Hwa asked to be sure.

"Yeah!" Jong Hyun and Jung Shin both replied in simultaneous. They noticed the corner of Yong Hwa's lips was pulled down a bit and his upper eyelids dropped. 

Yong Hwa pulled himself together to not let him carried away by the emotion. "Thanks for telling me," Yong Hwa looked at both of them in turn.

"No worries, Hyung," Jung Shin said. "We could only do this to help you. Are you going to see her?"

Yong Hwa nodded, smiling thinly. Then Jung Shin walked out to his class and Jong Hyun went to his seat, with his eyes still observing Yong Hwa's reaction. Yong Hwa's mind was wandering throughout the classes that day. He couldn't really pay attention to the subjects being taught in the class nor did he had the heart to do so. "She could have just let me know," he launched into his own inner monologue. "What is the big deal of telling me the truth. Why did she say there is nothing we could do to fix this?"

As soon as the class ended that day, he quickly grabbed his bag and rushed to Shin Hye's house. He rang the bell when he reached in front of her house and the door was opened by her brother, he assumed, based on his look and appearance. It was his first time meeting her brother. He gave his polite greetings and introduced himself to her brother.

"Annyeong haseyo. I am Jung Yong Hwa, Shin Hye's friend," He bowed politely. 

"Annyeong haseyo. I am Shin Hye's brother, Shin Won." The other guy replied. "I'm glad that I am able to meet you at last. I've heard a lot about you from Shin Hye."

"Oh! I am honoured to meet you," Yong Hwa said. He could see the interior of the house as her brother was standing in the doorway, and much to his surprise, it looked exactly the same as the way it was when he came over during summer break. No sign of packing had been done. No sign of boxes at all. "I'm sorry but I heard that the whole family is moving away. That's why I am here," Yong Hwa explained his presence. 

Shin Won didn't reply his question instead. "Don't have to be that formal with me." Shin Won said as he closed the door behind him. He put his arm around Yong Hwa's shoulder and dragged Yong Hwa into walking with him down the street in front of the house. "And if you don't mind, I would like to have some brotherly talk with you." 

Yong Hwa followed Shin Won's steps until they reached the cafe down on the corner. Shin Won ordered two Caffe latte for them. They stayed silent until they were served with the coffee. 

"I don't know if what I'm doing now is right,but..." Shin Won paused, taking a sip of his coffee. "...but I feel the need to tell you this."

Yong Hwa waited patiently for what Shin Hye's brother had got to say to him.

"My sister...do you like her?"

"Yeah, I do," Yong Hwa honestly replied.

"Of course, what a silly question I asked," Shin Won faked a laugh while taking another sip. "To love and to be loved, is something that I myself have experienced it." He paused, as if thinking of the right words to say. "The path we take to love that someone, though sometimes it can be hard, we are willing to endure it."

"Eh?" Yong Hwa was slightly alarmed at Shin Won's words.

"Yong Hwa, my sister...she is diagnosed with bone cancer, Parosteal Osteosarcoma on her rib. It was spotted when she kept complaining about the pain she felt after the accident she involved in earlier this year."

"Can it not be cured?"

"We had the tumor removed in April and thought that everything had gone well until the day that you brought her back home. We went to have her diagnosed again and doctor found that another tumor was identified. She has started to receive her treatment which explains why she couldn't attend the class. So now all we can do is to support her and pray for her to be healthy again." Shin Won took another sip from his cup. He waited for Yong Hwa to at least say something but the guy in front of him just sat in stunned silence.

"She doesn't want me to tell you because she doesn't want you to worry about her. But seeing her unhappy nowadays is the reason for me to make this decision. And I think it's not fair either for you."

Yong Hwa couldn't believe what he had just heard. He could feel the clash of emotions inside him.

He felt devastated that she had to suffered from that horrible disease.

He felt hopeless not being able to do anything to help her.....

He felt foolish at the same time thinking how he believed that she had broken his heart.....

He felt mad at himself for not being able to tell between her sincere love and infatuation.....

He felt relieved, however, knowing that the love they had together was real.....

But most of all, he felt scared. Scared of what the future holds for them....for her....for him. 

"Yong Hwa, I hope you can always be there for her....to support her. And I hope you can prove to her that your love has always been sincere." Shin Won said before he added, "And whenever you need someone to talk to, you know you can always rely on your hyung here."

At the end of the meeting of the two people, Yong Hwa thanked Shin Won for letting him to know the truth. Yong Hwa decided to take a walk before heading home as he felt like his mind messed up whereas Shin Won went straight back home, only to find Shin Hye waiting for him in the living room.

"Oppa, you told him, didn't you?" Shin Hye asked in a trembling voice.

"Mianhae, Shin Hye-ah. But I think it's not fair to let him fooled like that," Shin Won voiced out his opinion.

"Oppa, do you think I did this for myself? I did this for him...for us. I want him to just forget me and let him enjoy his life. I don't want to be a burden to him," Shin Hye tried to reason her deed.

"So you think love is being a burden to him? Shin Hye-ah, it doesn't matter one way or another, he is still hurt by both."

Shin Hye's eyes were tearing up. She didn't say anything after that but instead grabbed her coat and an umbrella and walked out of the house. All she ever thought of at that time was to find Yong Hwa although she didn't know what she could say to him when they came face-to-face.

She walked down the road that led to the cafe. She was sure that he couldn't be that far from that cafe. Her intuition told her so. She kept looking right and left to find where Yong Hwa could possibly be. And then her eyes caught a glimpse of a figure that she could recognised from far, sitting in the rain on the kerb outside the cafe.

She tried to approach him but when she saw him crying his heart out, she didn't have the courage to face him so she stood there, weeping in sorrow.

"Mianhae..Yong Hwa-ah...Mianhae..." she whispered to herself.

......................................

I’m happy
I’m happy enough that we had those kinds of moments
I understand
I understand enough that all meetings have an end

So don’t lie to me
Please don’t lie to me
That’s what’s hurting me

So don’t lie to me
Please don’t lie to me
That’s what’s hurting me
Love’s no sympathy

I’m happy
I’m happy
I’m happy that we even had those kinds of memories
I understand
I understand
I understand everything even if you don’t say those words you don’t mean

I’m happy
I’m happy enough that there was that kind of laughter

And if you have to go
Then I will let you go
And if you have to go
Then I will let you go

[Nell - It's Okay]

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A/N: Dear readers, here is the eighth instalment to my story. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. I always thought that I have written that long but when I tried to read the whole chapter, I felt it was so short. Sigh. By the way, when I first thought of this story I only thought until the next chapter that I am going to write. Now I guess I am going to face difficulty on how to end this story. Laughing at myself. Anyway, thank you for reading this banal work of mine. 정말 죄송합니다 여러분.

Oh and Happy Birthday to our male lead here...huhu...I'm guessing the surprise that Shin Hye has prepared for him....hm......and the teary-eyed Yong Hwa when he saw her surprise..hm...