When we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning, by dreams that need completion, by pure love that needs expressing, then we truly live life.

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Jieun’s Mom’s POV

            I jumped at the sound of the home phone ringing, nearly burning myself with the tray of freshly baked cookies. It seemed now that Jieun lived away from us, I always baked too much to eat. Baking was my life, and even after giving baskets of pastries to our family friends it seemed like there were too many. Sliding off my oven mitt and tossing it carelessly into the sink, I grabbed the phone and held it against my ear.

            “Yobeoseyo?” I answered, trying to hold the phone between my cheek and shoulders. With my now two free hands I grabbed a toothpick and poked it into one of the cookies.

            “Eomma?” My daughter’s voice that I longed to hear for so long now answered, pasting an immediate smile on my face. I’ve called her a few times last month but it’s been two weeks since I last spoke to her and past a month since she visited. When she left the house I had a feeling her life would become more private from me, but I never understood why she always hid one side of her life so much more diligently than the others. She mentioned Lee Kikwang a few times in our conversations but never went in detail. I didn’t need a psychologist to tell me that those two were together, even though Jieun never officially announced it to me.

            “Jieun-ah, have you eaten?” I asked, glancing at the clock in the kitchen.

            “Ne, Eomma. I actually called because I have a question…” Jieun began, her voice trailing off. What did she possibly want to ask?

            “What is it?” I urged, tossing each cookie onto a glass plate and taking a deep whiff of the magnificent scent that filled my kitchen.

            “Is Wooyoung perhaps… In Korea?” Jieun asked hesitantly, her voice softer than it was before. I recalled the day I had coffee with Mrs. Jang at their house and the phone call she received from Wooyoung. It was true that he’s back in Korea, but if Jieun wasn’t the first person he went to go look for then perhaps he had a reason.

            “I don’t know, Jieun-ah. I haven’t heard anything from his family.” I lied, taking a bite of a chocolate chip cookie. It was still fresh and chewy.

            “Jinjja? Ah… I see. That’s all, Eomma. I’ll call again soon.” Jieun said almost sulking before she hung up. I hated knowing that my daughter felt so upset, but Wooyoung must have his reasons and I have to respect that.

Wooyoung’s POV

            “Everyone eat a lot, okay? There’s a lot of food and I expect to see none left over!” My mom ordered with a welcoming smile, laying out various side dishes on the dinner table. Suzy and Taecyeon had come over for dinner by my mom’s request. She felt in debt to them for watching over me in Canada when in actuality they contributed to tormenting me, but I still felt like I owed them. Taecyeon’s eyes lit up at the sight of so much meat while Suzy stayed calm eating up her kimchi fried rice. My mother had already eaten before they arrived and decided to let us all talk in peace so she went to her room to watch a drama—or whatever she always watched in private in her room.

            “Did you ever bump into Jieun?” Taecyeon brought up, gulping down chunks of barbeque as he waited for my response.

            “Yeah,” I answered plainly, sipping on my spoonful of yukejang. Without bothering to swallow first, Taecyeon proceeded to ask,

            “Did she reject you or something? I saw her with a jerk last night…” I shrugged coolly, having no explanation for it. I knew she was with Lee Kikwang, but that didn’t mean I was out of the picture. I just simply didn’t walk in yet.

            “What was his name? Lee Ki… Ugh, I can’t remember.” He pouted, gulping down his bowl of rice next. Suzy beside him looked disturbed.

            “Did something happen last night?” Suzy asked, slamming down her chopsticks on the table causing the two of us to stop eating. Taecyeon shrugged and admitted,

            “Not much, but I did knock him out.” He made violence sound like an everyday thing. Suzy’s eyes bulged open and her jaw nearly dropped.

            “Wae?!” Suzy demanded. Despite the fact that she was violent herself, her violence usually pertained to verbal attacks rather than physical abuse. Even she knew physical violence was to be the last resort, and for all the years I knew Taecyeon, it took a lot to get a punch out of him.

            “Don’t worry about it.” He insisted, returning to the food on the table. Suzy smacked him on the head, not hard enough to be considered abuse, but hard enough for Taecyeon to choke on his rice.

            “You mind telling me your connection to that player?” Taecyeon asked after his choking subsided. Suzy seemed to have shrunk in her seat, her expression was hard.

            “You shouldn’t be the one concerned about him. Wooyoung is the one that needs to keep an eye out.” Suzy answered, eyeing me seriously. I pointed at myself and mouthed the word ‘me?’ receiving a nod.

            “Honestly are you stupid or just pretending to be an oblivious idiot? He’s going out with your girl. He’s a player. He was a player back then, he’s a player now. Jieun is going to get hurt.” She explained, adding emphasis to certain words. I never expected their relationship to end well, but this was not my place to interfere yet. If I were to walk into her life this moment and demand them to break up, I would look like the desperate fool who made a mistake leaving to Canada just to come back to beg for forgiveness from the girl he passed out on. This wasn’t how I wanted to make my reappearance. The confusing thing was that if this wasn’t the right time, then when would be? If I waited until I debuted, would it be too late? Until then, would I be able to just stand on the side and watch over her invisibly?

Jieun’s POV

            After last night, I felt like my mind would never be at rest again. I knew Wooyoung was back. He had to be back. I had no solid proof, but if Taecyeon was here then he had to be too. It was really late at night as I sat at my bus stop, yawning exhaustedly as I leaned against a light post. Taped on the pole was an old poster advertising the JYP global audition. They took place not too long ago and though I really wanted to give it a shot, I didn’t feel like I was ready. Reading over the list of countries, I was surprised to see that Canada was among the seven on the list. Still, what were the chances of Wooyoung passing the global auditions and coming back as a JYP trainee? It turned out that I didn’t need to regret not giving the JYP auditions a try, because my vocal trainers at Seoul’s Institute somehow got me a meeting with a manager at Loen Entertainment to propose a deal with me. The meeting with them ended just an hour ago, and with a new set of lyrics in my hands, I sat leaning against the cold, metal light post. Loen Entertainment made a temporary partnership with JYP Entertainment who was seeking a female vocalist to duet with Im Seulong, an idol I knew briefly from variety shows. Loean Entertainment needed new, young and promising artists to promote their title and turned to the institute for directions, somehow leading them to me. They proposed that if I record the duet successfully in the studio with Seulong for free, they will take me on as a trainee and allow the duet to be my debut performance as well as assisting Seulong in his step towards becoming a solo artist. Of course, this opportunity was definitely once in a lifetime so I agreed in a heartbeat, but a part of me wondered whether I was ready. It didn’t matter whether all my vocal teachers thought so, or if all my classmates agreed I was the best candidate, in the end, I was the one that needed confidence. My hands brushed over the title; ‘Nagging’.

            “What a weird song name…” I giggled quietly to myself, my eyes browsing over the lyrics shaded in hot pink. I never hoped for a shortcut to reaching my dreams, but since I was given this opportunity it would be plain stupid if I walked right past the opened door. The ringing of my cell phone interrupted my complex thoughts, and after looking at the caller ID that read Lee Kikwang, I picked up.

            “Kikwang? How’s your… Um… face?” I asked forcing my worry, only to hear awkward laughing in the background. The laughing wasn’t what bothered me, but the voice of a girl. There the sound of swishing water and suddenly glass shattering on the ground followed by a loud thump.

            “Kikwang! Get a hold of yourself!” Yelled the girl voice; followed by the sound of a slap. I could recognize her voice anywhere. It was Ham Eunjung. Why is she with Kikwang and did she just slap him? I had a hand covering my mouth with a silenced gasp, too scared to speak through the phone.

            “Eunjung, I have something to say.” His drunken voice groaned. There was some ruffling before his voice took over again.

            “Saranghae,” He blurt, and the line went dead. The sheets of paper on my lap dropped onto the dry cement sidewalk along with my cell phone. 

A/N: Hey guys!! Here's another update! You can all thank HeartMilkyCouple for encourage me to update tonight because I really wasn't planning on it ^^! Haha, ooh lala things are getting intense (somewhat)... I said that about last chapter. Suspense is a good thing! Sorry It's not too long. I finished writing this at 1:56am :\