Seunghyun tried to work extra hard cleaning that night. He knew Jiyong was still recovering, despite his hardworking exterior. When Jiyong noticed Seunghyun was working hard though, it just made him work harder. Seunghyun couldn’t keep up with Jiyong and eventually laid down on the wood floor of the practice room, gasping for air. Jiyong laughed and kept working. Seunghyun watched the boy leave and groaned. How could he work like this everyday? It was torture. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to think of ideas, when he felt a sharp kick to his side.

“Yah! It’s time to leave,” Jiyong said. “You’ll have to tell me about meeting with the Hyungs tomorrow seeing that we didn’t really have time to talk.”

Seunghyun looked at the clock on the wall. It was 10:17 pm. A little earlier than the previous night but still later than he would have liked. He sat up and brushed himself off, causing Jiyong to grimace.

“Yah. Try and not put that dirt back on the clean floor. It just makes it harder for me to pass inspection.” Jiyong said.

“Inspection?” Seunghyun asked.

“Yeah. Everyone has it. Once a week Papa YG comes in to check on everyone’s work. He isn’t usually here but when he is we all have to do well, including me.” Jiyong explained.

Seunghyun nodded; a little shocked that YG himself was going to inspect his cleaning skills. It made him feel a little sick.

The ride back was like the first day. Jiyong and Seunghyun listened to music while Jiyong fell asleep next to him. Seunghyun liked the comfortable feeling he had next to Jiyong but it didn’t last very long. Jiyong bit his lip, muttering something in his sleep. Seunghyun couldn’t understand him but Jiyong biting his lip made his heart race. What was it about him that put him in this state? He sighed and shook the younger.

“Mmm?” Jiyong said sleepily, looking up at Seunghyun.

“You should stay awake until it’s your stop. I don’t want you to end up lost at the end of the line while you are sick and this late at night.” Seunghyun told the sleepy Jiyong.

“Arasso,” Jiyong said, stretching his arms. “Are we at your stop?”

“Almost. I just wanted to make sure you were awake.” Seunghyun said quietly, handing the earbud to Jiyong.

Seunghyun reached up to pull on the stop line when he felt a hand touch his leg. He looked down to see Jiyong looking up at him with a small smile on his face.

“Thank you for helping me today and taking care of me.” Jiyong said.

Seunghyun returned the smile, trying to ignore Jiyong’s hand on his leg. “It was no problem. The guilt would have eaten me whole if I hadn’t.” He said.

“Spoken like a true Hyung,” Jiyong said back to him. “You should get off. This is your stop.”

Seunghyun nodded and got off the bus. He watched it pull away and walked to his house. He suddenly got really nervous. He hadn’t told anyone that he was staying out to help Jiyong. His blood turned to ice as he saw the front room’s light on. He knew this was going to be bad. He walked up the stairs into his house to see his noona on the couch watching some drama while his mother was at the kitchen table with a shot glass surrounded by a few empty bottle of soju and one that was half full.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” Hye Yoon said teasingly seeing Seunghyun by the door.

Seunghyun tried to silently signal for her to be quiet but she seemed to be in a vengeful mood for some reason.

“Omma, look who is here.” Hye Yoon said coolly before sliding out of the room with a teasing wave.

“Seunghyun? Is that you?” his mother slurred.

“Ne.” Seunghyun said quietly. He hated that he knew the reason she was drinking.

“Where have you been? Do you know how late it is?” She asked him accusingly.

“I was helping a friend who was sick. He needed help with his job or he would be fired…”

“I wasn’t asking for excuses, Seunghyun. Why didn’t you tell your omma that you were going to be out? Did you want her to kill herself from worry?” She asked him, her voice escalating.

Seunghyun got really nervous. He knew his mother cared about him and worried for his future but the fact that it was making her depressed made him worry.

“Your father would be up with me now if he didn’t have such an early shift tomorrow. Do you know how hard he works to send you and you sister to the schools you attend?”

Seunghyun shook his head. This was obviously going in a direction he didn’t like.  His mother probably knew something he didn’t.

“We don’t have a lot of money, Seunghyun. We only want the best for you and your sister. So, when your math teacher and your Korean teacher and your English teacher all call me to inform me that you are not only struggling but failing their subjects, how does that make me feel, as a mother? We can’t even afford to send you to a Hagwon!” She said pouring herself another shot of Soju.

Seunghyun scrambled to sit down and take the bottle to pour for his mother before she swatted his hand away.

“Yah! Don’t pour for me. I’m not sure I even want to look at you after what you have done today. Go to bed.” She said bitterly.

Seunghyun bowed and turned to leave the room. His feet trudged down the hallway. He never felt so terrible and guilty in his life. He knew his family was tight on money but he didn’t know his school cost them so much of it. He went into his room and fell on his bed. Tears streamed down his face. He’d rather that his father was awake to beat him than to hear his mother’s bitter disappointment in him.

He his side and looked at the shadow of his school bag. He pulled it towards him, pulling out his rapping notebook then grabbing a flashlight from his desk drawer. He ran his fingers over the cover and sobbed. Why couldn’t he be smarter? Why was this his only talent? He couldn’t believe he deluded himself into thinking he could be a famous rapper. Those things don’t happen to pudgy, dorky boys who play with toys.

He sniffed. He wished he had that bear figure that Jiyong gave him. He could use some comfort and that little bear just seemed to make him smile. Wait. He couldn’t have. Seunghyun reached back in his back checking every pocket when he felt a familiar hard plastic against his hand. He pulled it out to see that the note he had put had been replaced with another. Seunghyun fumbled to unfold the paper. He had asked him what the bear’s name was. Jiyong replied “He is yours to name. We should hang out this weekend. Call me. (02) 831-9437“

Seunghyun’s hand shook with the note in it. Jiyong wanted to hang out with him? He gripped the bear tightly. He had Jiyong’s phone number. What would he want to do? Jiyong was so mature. Would he want to do things like his high school friends or would he want to do something cooler like go to a cola club? He suddenly got really nervous. He couldn’t go to a club. Girls made him really uncomfortable. He could barely look at a girl without going red. Please don’t let him want to go clubbing.

He needed a distraction before he tried to sleep. He turned to his abandoned rapping notebook. He forgot that he had notes in it from Teddy. He scrambled to open the book, looking at each page. He hadn’t written on every page but most pages had little scrawled ideas like “upbeat tempo” and “duet?” on them. Some were more detailed than others. One rap had a whole plan laid out for it along with an “I like this idea, can I steal it? (;” Seunghyun flipped through the whole notebook until he got to his last entry, the cherry blossoms.  There were only 4 words written next to it. “You should tell him.”

Seunghyun felt like all the air had been out of his lungs. His blood drained from his face. Teddy knew who this was about? Is that what the smile and shoulder embrace was about? Teddy was okay with how he felt? Then why was he having such a hard time with it?

He put the notebook on his desk and buried his head under his pillow. This was going to be a long night. He started to feel some compassion for that manager and his late nights and dark circles. He knew it wouldn’t be long before he had some too.