This chapter is intended to give you guys a peek into my mind while I was writing this story, which, if it wasn't obvious already, is my first ever angst/tragic/sad story. Like, ever. XD I hope to answer some of the questions that you guys had while reading this. Think of this as a personal thanks from me for all of your support! In all honesty, if it wasn't for all of you cheering me on, I don't think I would've been able to finish this. And for that, I am eternally grateful to all of you. 

Park Bom
1928 || 2012
21 || 28

1928: Bom lived in a small town located only hours away from Seoul. Her parents owned a small coffee shoppe that wasn't the most successful, but still pulled in enough money to pay their bills. As the family's only child, she was showered with their love and affection. She helped out in the shoppe, working as a barista without pay. One day, Seunghyun showed up during her shift. Once the two got talking and Bom realized that he had nowhere else to go, she talked to her parents, who agreed to let him stay in their household. At the time, she didn't know that he was Choi Seunghyun of Choi Enterprises. They spent their entire time together without her knowing.

Until that fateful moment when he came clean, and told her that he needed to leave to help his father: The Choi of Choi Enterprises.

Not knowing what else to do, Bom lets him go, relying solely on his promise to keep her going.

After he had left, her family's coffee shop had gone bankrupt. Her family, that had previously just earned enough money to be considered stable had unexpectedly lost their lone source of income. Not too long after the incident, her beloved parents passed away in a tragic accident. Suddenly the young woman who was always surrounded by the loving smiles of her family and the comfort of a warm home was left all alone, in a small apartment that barely had enough room to house her. And despite its miniscule size, she was never sure if her small salary that she earned from the coffee shop that was now owned by a new manager would be enough to pay another month's rent. A lot of the time it wasn't. She would have to sell her belongings to make sure that she would have enough to at least stay in a place where she could live. [wishful, Chapter 1]

Bom's character is meant to seem weak and helpless. During the 1920s, it wasn't common for women to really have their own personality. They pretty much lived for their husbands and other male figures in their life. This is the reason why Bom thinks that Dara's ideas, about independence and freedom, are more than a little ridiculous.

2012: The Bom that we see in the epilogue is, in a way, the same Bom from 1928. Under all her worrying and helpless nature, she's a happy-go-lucky girl that loves to laugh. But because of the circumstances of her time, paired with her horrible situation, we don't really get to see this Bom during the story, until the ending. This side of Bom is the side that Seunghyun knew during his stay in her small town. She has already debuted as a singer, while Seunghyun has debuted as a rapper. This is referenced when they complain about "Jiyongie booking the [YG] family car" and "Mingkki and Seungri" not showing up. It is referenced again when Seunghyun remarks about their time together as YG trainees.

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Choi Seunghyun
1928 || 2012
22 || 24

1928:

"...When I was younger, you were never home.... When Mom finally got up the nerve to leave you, the two of you fought for custody over me. I remember being surprised that you were actually trying to fight for the chance to raise me. I remember thinking that you actually cared.

"In all honesty, I'm not sure if you won the custody battle fair and sqaure, or if you bribed the judge with your money.

"Either way, you won. I remember that at first, I was actually excited to be able to live with you. I knew that you were my father, but it wasn't like I saw you often or anything. I was too young to realize that being able to 'spend time with you' meant that I wouldn't be able to see my mother--the person who actually--raised me ever again...

"So when I finally turned eighteen, I left this hellhole [Seoul]. I left to find my mother. The one parent that actually cared about me as a person, and not as the way to continue the family business. I did everything I could to find her: I checked the records, I talked to people that had once known her, everything. Until I finally found out where she had moved to. A small town not too far away from here by train. I bought the first tickets out of here.

"I don't think you even noticed that money had been taken out of your account.

"When I arrived in the town, I asked every person I saw if they had seen her. But not a single person even bothered to really think about it. Except her.

"I remember it so vividly. I had stopped for some coffee at a small cafe. The decorations weren't exactly the best, but I didn't mind too much. The real jewel was the young barista: a woman that couldn't be more than a year younger than me. She was so kind. So welcoming. I remember that there weren't too many customers there that day, though there usually were. It was probably thanks to that that we were able to hit it off so well. She quickly became a close friend of mine, and it seemed that we had so much in common. As we continued to talk, I finally asked her about Mom.That's when I found out that she'd been dead for seven years.

"I cried on the spot.

"I didn't know what to do, and I didn't know where to go either. I wasn't used to being on my own: I always had a maid or butler to serve me in whatever I did, and suddenly, I didn't have any of that. I had run there thinking that I'd be embraced by the warm arms of my mother, but I couldn't even get that. And that's when Bom took me in. She talked with her parents, and they agreed to let me stay in their spare room, free of charge.

"She told me later that I was in a severe state of depression. But to be honest, that entire part of my life has become a hazy blur.

"Despite everything though, she would never give up on trying to make me smile. She was an amazing singer, you know that? She wanted to go professional when she grew older. She would sing to me every night before I went to bed, almost like a lullaby. Her voice was so powerful, yet so soothing..." Seunghyun trailed off for a moment as he remembered the moments, before he forced himself out of his reverie, "I fell for her. Fast.

"I'm not exactly sure what it was that she saw in me, but I guess she fell for me, too.

"In fact, everything seemed like it was perfect. We'd get up to work the morning shift in her parents' cafe together, and afterwards, we'd just spend our time being with the other. Sometimes, we'd go to see movies or go out to eat. But most of the time, we'd just hike up the hill that wasn't too far away from the town. We'd just lay there in the grass together and look out the clouds. Then the sunset. And then the twinkling beauty of the stars. And I realized that even though Mom wasn't there anymore, I would be okay. I could still be happy.

"And then you called." He stopped his storytelling to shoot a look at his father: one that combined anger with disappointment. [wishful, Chapter 5]

Seunghyun's character is meant to be obessessed with keeping his father happy. During the 1920s, and for a long period of time, male children, especially heirs to companies, were raised for the sole purpose of the success of their father's company. They didn't know anything else.

2012: The Seunghyun we see in the epilogue is pretty much the exact same Seunghyun we see from 1928, just like with Bom. However, the big importance in the time skip is that both Bom and Seunghyun are finally to showcase their real personalities. They don't have to worry about what society thinks of them, or how they should behave to keep their parents happy. This is the real them behind the facades. During his time in Bom's town, this is the Seunghyun that he got to be. After the 84 years have passed, he has debuted as a rapper of BIGBANG, while Bom has finally debuted as a singer, as was her dream so long ago.

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What was up with Jiyong, Dara, and Taeyang?

I was actually very surprised when I saw the reactions to my addition of Jiyong, Dara, and Taeyang to the cast. In all honesty, they were only added for certain reasons that weren't necessarily important to the plot. And what is this reason, you ask? They were added to the cast to act as Character Foils. What is a character foil, you ask?

It's pretty clear that Dara and Bom are clear opposites. Bom was a very naive, helpless woman who only knew how to rely on the men on her life. Dara however, despised the idea of not being able to be independent. She believed that just because she was a woman, it didn't mean that she couldn't be her own person. It is also her influence that forces Bom into the train to Seoul. Though Bom is older than her in the story, Dara acts as a sort of guiding light to her, almost a sort of mothering figure.

It gets a little more complicated with Jiyong and Taeyang though, because in my original outline, neither Jiyong or Taeyang were to make an appearance within the story. So let me introduce to you another literary term: Comic Relief.

Before the addition of Jiyong and Taeyang to the cast, the entire story seemed to be filled with nothing but a tragic aura and angst. Because this is actually my first time writing something even somewhat dark (I'm used to writing humorous stories, if we're being honest here), it bugged me a lot. Though the only somewhat funny conversations that the two had were in Chapter 3 alone, I felt like it brightened up the atmosphere considersably. Once I decided that I was going to throw them in, I had to come up with another purpose for them as well. And that purpose was to act as the Character Foils to Seunghyun's personality. Taeyang and Jiyong (or GDYB, as I like to refer to them) are sort of the Yin and Yang to one another, while still maintaining their status as the opposites of Seunghyun. It's pretty clear that Jiyong is the more rambunctious of the two: he doesn't care what people think about him. He doesn't care about what's wrong and what's right. He's kind of selfish, and always thinks of