Sunggyu kicked an empty coke can as he aimlessly walked around the streets of Seoul. Grumbling as the coke can rolled away from his path, Sunngyu ruffled his hair in annoyance. He was in a bad mood. It wasn’t unusual, however. He was used to it- going for walks in the city late at night. He needed fresh air. Sure, the air is Seoul wasn’t very clean, with pollution and all, but anything was better than the suffocation he experienced at home. Sunggyu continued walking with a slouch, staring at the ground as he recalled the incident which caused him to leave his house.

“I’m 19! I can do what I want!” Sunggyu yelled, taking a step towards his parents in anger. Mrs. Kim looked at Sunggyu with a scowl on her face.
“No! You live in this house, therefore you must obey the rules! You can’t come home any later than 10pm! Look what time it is, it’s 11:30! You’re 1 and a half hours late!” she raised her voice, staring angrily at her son.
“No! I have a life, damnit! I can come home when I want! You treat me like I’m some possession of yours, and I am sick of it. When will you realise I have my own goals and wants,” Sunggyu lowered his voice slightly.
“Goals? What goals? Don’t tell me you’re still ‘dreaming’ you’ll make it big with that lousy band of yours. What is it called? Oh, ‘INFINITE’,” Mr. Kim rolled his eyes, making Sunggyu’s blood boil.
“Don’t you dare talk about my friends like that,” He growled, dangerously low. His parents were taking it too far. Why did they have to bring INFINITE into this mess?
“You seriously think you’ll make it big? You just graduated high school! You still have college to go to, and when you do, do you think you’d have any time to work on that ‘goal’?” Mr. Kim raised his eyebrows at the younger male.
Sunggyu clenched his fists in rage, “I’m not going to college,” he mumbled.
Mrs. Kim choked on her spit, “what did you just say?”
“I said…” Sunggyu blinked slowly, glaring at his mother, “I’m NOT attending college.”
“What has gotten into you, boy?! If you think you’re going to be fine with that band of yours you better think again!” Mr. Kim advanced to his son, his voice engulfed in anger. “You are going to college whether you like it or not!”
“You are such an ungrateful child!” Mrs. Kim exclaimed, raising her hands in annoyance.
Sunggyu’s eyes shifted to his mother, widening in the process, “what? Me? Ungrateful? What about you, huh?! You’re not so innocent yourself! When was the last time you actually let me do something I want? When was the last time you ever praised me? I worked my off in high school to get the best grades I could, for YOU! And what do I get in return? Nothing. You didn’t even say you were proud of me! So is that it? Are you NOT proud of me? Am I just a worthless burden to you? Should I go DIE for you to be happy?!” Sunggyu reached his tipping point. There was no turning back.
Mr and Mrs Kim were taken aback, but they weren’t going to back down just yet. “We give you a roof over your head! You have food and water! What else do you want?!” Mr. Kim yelled, his face becoming red.
Sunggyu leaned dangerously close to his father face and uttered words in which knocked his parents senseless, “I want you both to get out of my life.”
With a turn of his heels, Sunggyu ran out of the house.

“It’s always the same. Every day I seem to do something wrong. When was the last time we had a normal conversation?” Sunggyu put his hands in his pockets. “I really hate them. It’s obvious they don’t love me, I mean they’ve never said it for as long as I can remember.”
He stopped walking and looked around at his surroundings. There was just a 24/7 local pharmacy on the other side of the road, and no one on the streets. Well, it was 12:00am, and there were no karaoke bars or clubs around for people to enjoy. Sunggyu sighed and looked up to the pitch black sky and wondered if he’d ever be able to escape the madness he experienced at home. Would he ever reach a point where he and his parents actually agreed on something? It didn’t seem like it; they never supported Sunggyu, and chances are, they never will.

Soojin hurriedly ran into the local 24/7 pharmacy, mentally slapping herself for forgetting to but the puffer in the morning. ‘Stupid, stupid, stupid!’
Having lost her parents at the age of 14, Soojin was taken care of by a family friend, as her parents had no siblings. When she just turned 18 a few months before, she decided to stop being a burden to her caretaker and moved out with her 5 year old younger brother. In order to give her younger brother the best life she could, Soojin dropped out of her senior year in high school and got a job as a café waitress. Sure, she didn’t get much income but it was manageable. She’d pay what needed to be paid and whatever was left over (if there was any) she’d either save it for future payments or treat her younger brother. Soojin’s life revolved around her brother, and she worked her off to take care of him.

Her 5 year old brother, Choi Jaehwa suffered from severe asthma. Anything could trigger an attack, from dust to a long run. Because of this, Soojin took extra precaution. She always made sure the tiny one bedroom apartment they were living in was always clean and Jaehwa always had a puffer in case of an attack. This is exactly why at 12:00am, Soojin was hurriedly running to the local pharmacy. No, Jaehwa wasn’t having an attack; he was sound asleep in their apartment with their trusty next door neighbour Mrs. Jung watching over him. Yes, Soojin had woken up her next door neighbour and asked her to take watch over her younger brother for a little while as she went down to buy a new puffer, but Mrs. Jung understood. Soojin just wanted to take good care of her brother, which even meant going to buy a puffer at midnight. She was a worry-wart, to put it simply.

 “Is that all?” the cashier looked at Soojin awkwardly. Soojin hurriedly nodded, puffing. Quickly paying for the puffer, the cashier gave her the receipt. “Have a good… night.”
“Thanks, you too,” Soojin nodded and took her phone out as she hurriedly stepped out of the doors, checking the time. “12:06,” she whispered to herself, running across the road as she fumbled with her phone.

*Ding* Sunggyu looked away from the dead sky and averted his eyes to the pharmacy doors. Immediately, his breath hitched and his heart raced. A beautiful young female ran out with a pained expression, her hair flying in all different places and she ran across the empty road towards where Sunggyu was. She was looking down at her phone, not paying attention to where she was going. Sunggyu, knowing she was about to crash into him, couldn’t move. Even with half her face in the shadow of the moonlight, she was still possibly the most gorgeous girl he’d ever seen. In a matter of seconds, the girl bumped into Sunggyu. Startled, she mumbled an apology without looking up. Sunggyu looked down at his feet, shy all of a sudden. ‘Is she looking at me?’ He looked back up to see that the girl had already started running off. His lips parted, but no words came out. Slowly bringing his right hand up to his chest, Sunggyu could feel his heart beating like crazy. Watching the unknown girl run away, Sunggyu’s eyes widened. This couldn’t be! Was this… Love at first sight?

Soojin bumped into a man as she reached the other side of the road. Afraid he was some creep, she didn’t dare to look up at him and mumbled a ‘sorry’ before taking off. Turning the corner, out of the man’s sight, she looked down at her phone. It was 12:07.
“It’s only been 60 seconds.”

First chapter up! The purpose of this chapter was to introduce the characters, basically. Tell me what you think! ^^