Chapter 11 – “I Thought You Were Different”

“Yo Seohyun comon, we’re going to miss the flight. There’s only 5 minutes before boarding,” pointed out Taecyeon. Yoona, Hara and the rest of their group was already ahead, in the process of being checked into the plane. Seohyun, on the other hand, couldn’t help but stand outside the gates of the terminal to look for Yonghwa. They had all arrived within 30 minutes of the flight, but Yonghwa was nowhere to be found. The small disappointment she was feeling continued to grow with every passing second.

“He didn’t keep his promise…” she sadly thought. This trip was going to be one where she slowly changed his mind to liking her. Or at least, that’s what she told herself. That wouldn’t happen if he wasn’t going to come on the trip. The Seohyun that had been ecstatic for the plane ride and week they would be spending in Japan was now wishing she hadn’t even gotten out of bed this morning. The clock struck 8:00am, telling her it was time to board, with or without Yonghwa.

“Annyeonghaseyo, may I see your ticket please?” a very polite and pretty woman asked Seohyun. A quick inspection of the ticket indicated her status and she was let through the gates. Seohyun shot one last hopeful glance behind her in hopes of seeing Yonghwa making a last minute sprint into the airport. She was hoping for one of those drama scenes where the guy walks in and runs through the airport desperately, catching the flight at the last second possible.  Sadly, her wish didn’t come through and a few flight attendants forced her into the plane.

“Seohyun what’s wrong?” asked Hara. Hara and Yoona were coincidentally paired next to each other on the plane. “Are you airsick even before the airplane takes off?” Seohyun felt like kicking out someone in a nearby seat and crying into Hara and Yoona’s arms for the whole plane ride. She had so many plans and activities for the trip, but Yonghwa had to not show up and ruin them.

“Ani, nothing’s wrong. I’ll see you guys when we land, I think I’m going to sleep for the two hours of the ride. See you later,” she stated quietly. Seohyun continued her walk to her seat in the back of the plane. Her ticket read ‘25B’ quite a few seats down from where Hara and Yoona were. She hoped whoever had seat ‘25A’ was not someone from Uee’s group or else she would go completely crazy and start a fight or something. When she arrived, she paid no attention to the hooded figure sitting in the seat next to hers and just stuck her bags in the compartments above them. She was in for a surprise when the person next to her spoke up as she sat down.

“Aish, it seems like I can never get away from you can I? Just my luck… I have to spend another two hours more than I have to with you,” the person spoke out. Seohyun didn’t bother to turn around and look at him but decided to take her anger and frustration out on the unknown person.

“What was that? Look I’m not in the mood for your crap whoever you are. Just leave me the hell alone and turn around. If you hate me so much then don’t look at me. I’ll be asleep for the entire flight so screw off!” she yelled. The person beside her had to be someone from Uee’s group in order for him to say that. Who else would tell her that he wasn’t ready for a plane ride with her? Unfortunately her anger blinded her senses enough that she couldn’t recognize who the person was.

“Tch, fine then suit yourself. I’m not going to say anything more if you don’t want me to. Troublesome woman…” the person groaned. At that moment, Seohyun’s head shot to the left of her and directed her gaze to the person sitting next to her.

“Yonghwa?!” she exclaimed happily. Yonghwa pulled off his large hood and revealed his handsome face to the now cheerful girl. “You came! You’re here?! Thank you so much for keeping your promise!” Yonghwa wanted to laugh at her childish actions. She was acting like a little girl at a toystore that was told she could have anything she wanted. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” When her string of thank you’s ended she reached over and wrapped her arms around the grouchy boy. If the world ended right then and there, Seohyun was sure she would die happy. Even though he had just kept a promise, it was enough for her to be that happy.

“Yah! Have you ever heard of personal space? It seems I haven’t made it clear to you already. Don’t touch me ever, got it?” he growled. It wasn’t the first time Yonghwa complained about personal space issues. He seemed to have a larger area of personal space than most people. Seohyun had been reprimanded quite a few times by him for that reason, but she never seemed to learn the lesson. Seohyun pulled her arms off of him and nodded in response to his angry comments.

“Oh my god we’re going to have so much fun this week. I have everything planned out already,” she squealed in excitement. Once again Yonghwa was astounded by her moodiness. She went from depressed, to furious, to ecstatic in less than five minutes. It was only right that he burst her bubble right after.

“Didn’t you say you were going to sleep the whole plane ride? You don’t want me to think you’re a liar do you?” he asked evilly with a smirk. “Now go to sleep since you said you would. Also don’t think that it’s going to be easy to make this memorable. I assure you, it’ll be harder than that college entrance exam we took a month ago.” Yonghwa’s threat didn’t scare her. As long as she was with him, it didn’t matter how mad he could get. Seohyun laid her head down in defeat when ordered to sleep. Yonghwa seemed to love sleep as well since he didn’t get much, so he was probably intending to get a good nap too.

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“Alright guys, the room assignments have been determined randomly. Each room will have two people to it and there will be no exceptions. I suggest that you stay separated by gender to keep your hormones in check. Anyone found in a room of the opposite gender will be sent back so fast to Korea you would think it wasn’t even possible to go that fast. Any questions?” The ever so wonderful Shi seonsaeng, ruthless calculus teacher, was appointed head of the trip, much to the dismay of the students.

Yonghwa looked around at the hotel and almost threw up at the sight of it. He had never seen anything like it before. It had the feel of a place where rich people lived, a little like Yoona’s house felt, but there was something different. The feeling of suffocation the place gave off was much stronger than the feeling he felt at Yoona’s house. Once again, the living style of the rich made him sick to his stomach. He felt terrible for spending so much money at a place like this, but it couldn’t be helped. He wasn’t even allowed to carry his own bag to his room which made him even more uncomfortable.

“Hey there, I’m An Young Saeng,” greeted a tall, dark haired, rich looking boy. Yonghwa almost rolled his eyes at the person in front of him. The preppy way he dressed made it obvious that he was a part of Uee’s group. Yonghwa wanted no troubles so he decided to be pleasant for once and respond to the greeting.

“Hi, I’m Jung Yonghwa, nice to meet you,” Yonghwa responded nicely. He heard the boy talking, but Yonghwa’s mind paid no attention to him. Instead, he looked around the room that was to be theirs for a few days. A red color covered the room, much like the color red carpets were colored. The beds seemed like too much for just one person alone. The air was suffocating, filled with a perfume smell that assaulted his nostrils strongly. Even the smell of the place made it seem like a place for the rich. If only he could leave and move into a cheap motel that was more to his liking.

“Hey, when you’re ready come down. I think Shi seonsaeng is going to give us a bit of instructions before letting us go free. Yonghwa nodded politely in response and began to set up his side of the room. Back home he had exchanged his won for yen and brought it with him on the trip. He felt a little unsafe carrying that much cash on him, but he didn’t have a credit card or anything of the sort. However, he wasn’t too afraid of getting it stolen from him. All of these kids wiped their butts with that much money, he was sure they had no use for it.

“Yo Young Saeng, you’re rooming with Yonghwa right?” Young Saeng nodded at the person in front of him in the elevator. “Alright, so remember what we planned. That idiot thinks he can mess with me? We’ll see about that.”

“Seung Ri, what are you planning on doing? You know if you hurt him, you’re going to get caught. Shi seonsaeng won’t give a damn who you are, she will punish you as much as she can,” Young Saeng pointed out. The boy was a little apprehensive at the situation. He had no other choice but to listen to Seung Ri or else his social status at school would go down the drain. If you weren’t a follower of Seung Ri, you were nothing at that school. The best course of action would be to follow anything Seung Ri said, even if it was against your beliefs and morals.

“That idiot is probably carrying piles of cash on him. A poor bastard like him can’t get a credit card so that’s our first plan right there. When he’s not in the room, search his stuff and take whatever money you can find. We can’t have that lowly piece of trash acting like he’s rich can we?” Seung Ri had been planning something for Yonghwa ever since their skirmish a few weeks back. Vengeance was something that Seung Ri had to have in order to appease his anger. In the past, nobody had escaped crossing Seung Ri without being severly humiliated. Yonghwa would be no different.

“What if he comes in? I don’t want to get called a thief or anything. Seung Ri are you sure this is a good idea?” Young Saeng asked hesitantly once more.

“Don’t worry, Seohyun and Uee are going to keep him busy all day long. There’s no way you’re going to get caught. When you’re ready to do it, I’ll be outside the door with you keeping watch. We’ll have this right where we want him.” The elevator doors opened, allowing Seung Ri to stride arrogantly towards the front lobby. He could already taste the sweetness of his revenge and was enjoying it. All he had to do now was wait for the perfect time to keep his plan going. At the lobby it seemed as if everyone was ready for the meeting with the teachers before everyone got to head out into the city on their own.

“Alright class, it seems like everyone is here already so listen up. For today you will be allowed to roam Tokyo on your own without us being there. Please travel in groups and don’t go into any shady places. You all signed release forms, so if you get in trouble, I’m not obligated to come to your rescue,” Shi seonsaeng coldly stated. Of course she would say something like that to them, it wouldn’t have been Shi seonsaeng if she hadn’t. “Be back here at 5:00pm so we can head to dinner together and please stay out of trouble. If you’re all ready to go, you may leave.” The excited crowd of students split off in their respective cliques and left the building loudly. Only Hara, Seohyun, and Yoona remained in the lobby, probably waiting for Yonghwa.

“So what are your big plans for making this trip memorable?” Hara asked. “They better be good for that grouch to have any fun. I’m sure he hasn’t had a bit of fun in all 18 years of his life.” Yoona also threw Seohyun a worried glance. They were all used to Yonghwa’s attitude since they hung around him so much, but with Seohyun this excited, she was bound to get hurt. She was far too hopeful of Yonghwa liking her back, and they were afraid she would end up crying if things didn’t go her way.

“Omo! Seohyun are you here waiting for Yonghwa-shi?” a fake voice asked from behind them. The three girls turned around to meet the queen of the school, Uee. “I guess that means all of us will be traveling together. Isn’t that wonderful?” Hara went into kill mode upon hearing Uee speak in that sugar-coated voice, but was calmed down by Yoona to avoid any incidents. Seohyun’s blood began to boil at the sight of the girl she detested, but also managed to calm down. Even if Uee was with them, there was no way she was going to bring her down.

“Are you guys ready to go?” The four girls turned their direction to the new person in the conversation, Yonghwa. “If you are let’s go, we don’t have all day.” Seohyun’s feet instinctively started moving her to his side as she usually did, but was stopped by Uee’s actions. Uee ran up to him in a girlish manner and linked her arm with his. Inside her head she had just killed Uee a few times over. Seohyun’s anger also grew at the thought of Yonghwa scolding her about personal space. How could he reprimand her for that when he was letting Uee get all over him? The trip was off to a rough start, but she wouldn’t let that stop her.

“So Yonghwa-shi, where do you want to go today? There are so many places that are fun in Tokyo and I want to show you them all.” Uee’s voice sent chills running down his spine. It was full of aegyo and her smile was no different. Everything about Uee, her posture, voice, actions, made Yonghwa want to break into a huge smile. Needless to say, Uee’s actions made her want to kill her in a different way each time. It was starting to get harder and harder to control her temper.

“Yonghwa, want to go to-” Seohyun began.

“Oh, this place is amazing for its traditional Japanese food. Comon, let’s go in,” Uee cut her off. Yonghwa nodded and followed the girl dragging him into the large Japanese restaurant. It had a very traditional feel to it. Paper walls, large posters with Japanese calligraphy, waitresses dressed in Kimonos, everything about it screamed Japan. While Seohyun wasn’t particularly angry about the restaurant, she hadn’t gotten to suggest Yonghwa somewhere to go. This was the only day for 3 days that they would be able to roam free, meaning it was her only chance to get points with Yonghwa.

“Oh, I forgot something at the hotel. I’m sorry Yu Jin-shi but I have to go back and get it really fast. Do you mind waiting her for me? I’m really sorry, but I need to go get it,” Yonghwa apologized politely. Before Uee could open , Seohyun took action quickly.

“I’ll go with you. Comon, let’s go, you don’t want to keep Uee waiting,” Seohyun burst out loudly. She grabbed the loose cloth on Yonghwa’s sweater and began to drag him out of the door. He managed to pull himself free and glare at her before setting off towards the hotel. Yonghwa seemed a little miffed at the fact that she had just done that. The awkward and silent atmosphere demonstrated that.

“Don’t do that again,” he finally spoke up.

“Eh? Don’t do what?” Seohyun asked cluelessly.

“Don’t pull me like that again. I know you don’t like Yu Jin-shi very much, but don’t act like that around her. It’s not my fault that you two are in that childish war with each other but don’t fight in front of me. Every time I see you and her together you always attack her while she has to take your abuse,” Yonghwa pointed out. Seohyun couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She was being lectured by Yonghwa on how she was the evil one in the argument? He must be either blind or stupid or both to see things that way. His feelings for Uee were evident in his way of speaking and Seohyun was one step closer to exploding.

“What? Are you serious? Yonghwa, you don’t know Uee like I do. She’s just lying and keeping up a fake personality around you. She’s really-”

“There you go again, badmouthing her. She can’t even defend herself right  now and you’re talking bad about her. Seohyun, just keep quiet for now please. I came here to have a good time, but with you around it’s not happening. If you’re going to be like this then leave, I don’t have time for your childishness.” Seohyun closed before arguing back. Things weren’t going as she had planned at all and it was killing her. If only she could get rid of Uee, she could set things right. Yonghwa picked up his pace, leaving her slightly behind.

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“Aish! Damn it,” Yonghwa complained when back in the lobby. Seohyun had waited for him when he went up to his room to check to avoid any more fights with him. He obviously hadn’t found what he was looking for but she didn’t want to ask. Any more words from her were sure to set Yonghwa off. “I can’t find the money that I had in my room. Ugh, now what the hell am I going to do? I can’t do anything if I don’t have any money. You know, I should have never even come to this damn place to begin with. Thanks a lot for dragging me here, I appreciate it greatly.”

Seohyun just walked away from him. If she opened , she was surely going to start a huge fight in the hotel lobby. No matter how much she liked him, she wasn’t going to take his abuse. How was it her fault that he lost his money? She didn’t drag him here with a gun pointed to his head, he could have refused. If he couldn’t go on a date with his precious Uee, it was his own damn fault. She continued to stomp back to the restaurant that Hara and Yoona were at with Uee. She wasn’t going to take this anymore since she didn’t deserve it. If Yonghwa wanted to be with Uee alone, then she would let him be alone with her. She had better things to do than to deal with him and Uee being mean to her.

“Hara, Yoona, let’s go. I think Uee and Yonghwa want to be alone here. We’re going to go find something else to do. Bye Uee, bye Yonghwa,” she bid farewell upon entering the restaurant. Hara and Yoona nodded at the pair sitting together and followed Seohyun quietly.

“Seohyun why are you so mad? What happened with Yonghwa while you were gone? He doesn’t seem to be too happy with you either,” Hara pointed out. Seohyun just stomped her way into an arcade she found along the way and got some coins from the change machine. Yoona and Hara exchanged worried and confused glances as they continued to follow her. Seohyun found a game where you punch a target as hard as you can to test your strength. Coin after coin was spent while Seohyun threw angry punches at the red, cushioned material.

“Stupid Yonghwa! Stupid Uee! Ugh I hate you both!” she yelled with every punch. After spending enough coins for thirty punches, Seohyun was left breathless and with no strength in her right arm. Hara and Yoona stood in her way before Seohyun walked towards the counter to get more coins.

“Seohyun, what’s wrong? You know this isn’t the right way to fix things. You’ll only get yourself more worked up than you already are. Please tell us what’s wrong,” Yoona begged. Seohyun just brought the two girls into a group hug and tried to keep herself from crying.

“I don’t know what to do guys. I told myself I was going to keep strong and no break down when he rejects me but… it’s too hard. I want to be with him and make him laugh. I want to stand next to him and have fun. I want to go to a nice restaurant and even feed him. I wish he would let me be near him, hug him, even… ki-kiss him,” she admitted shyly. “It’s so hard to keep myself from jumping onto him and telling him that I want to do all of that with him. Ugh! But thinking of how he treats me when he’s with Uee, I just want to take him and beat him to death.”

“Alright, calm down Seohyun. You can’t back down now, the fight has just begun. Uee will do anything to get people on her side, but she’s not that patient. Soon enough she will get bored of playing around with Yonghwa and he will realize you were right,” Hara explained. “Just wait and see what happens. Don’t beat yourself up too much.” Hara’s words fell upon deaf ears. Seohyun didn’t seem to have any intentions of dropping her anger. Uee and Yonghwa had made her too mad for her to do that now.

Eventually, the dreaded time of 5:00pm was coming up fast. With only 30 minutes left before the assigned meeting time, Yonghwa and Uee made their way back to the hotel. Uee left Yonghwa in the lobby as she said she wanted to take a quick shower before heading to dinner with the class. Yonghwa had been content with the day he had spent with his childhood love. It wasn’t every day that he got to relax and unwind that much with someone like Uee. The thought of Seohyun being annoying to him almost brought his spirits down, but he managed to shake the thought away. He decided to walk around the garden the hotel had to keep himself occupied before the time came.

“Dude, so when are you going to score with Seohyun?” Yonghwa heard a male voice ask. He hid himself behind a large bush and peeked out into the direction the voice came from. A few meters away were Young Saeng, his roommate, and his new enemy, Seung Ri. If he had heard correctly, this was a talk about Seohyun’s and Seung Ri’s personal life, and he had no intention of continuing to listen to the conversation.

“I don’t know, she’s such a little that I can’t stand her anymore,” Seung Ri admitted. Yonghwa’s ears perked up at the words that came out of Seung Ri’s mouth and kept him in the spot behind the bushes. “She’s such a prude and she barely even lets me touch her. My dad won’t let me break up with her because of the ties it would bring with her dad, but I’m getting sick of it. Don’t worry though, I’m sure I’ll get her to loosen up during this trip.”

“You mean you’re gonna get her to do it with you soon? You might want to reconsider that with Shi seonsaeng around,” Young Saeng warned.

“Man, screw that lady, I’m not afraid of her. I bet even though Seohyun is such a quiet little mouse, that she can give me a really good night. I mean, she’s probably still a right? s are always the best to . They might not know anything about , but the way they feel is just, I can’t even describe it. The cries of pain when I first go in are going to be music to my ears,” Seung Ri explained. Yonghwa was disgusted at the way Seung Ri was speaking about Seohyun. It wasn’t because it was her, but he couldn’t stand any man talking about a woman like that. The fact that it was Seung Ri saying this only made it worse.

“Dude, you are going to have the time of your life with her. You know it’s always the quiet ones that are the freakiest. She may be a kitten when out in the open, but when the lights go out she could be a tiger. You never know,” Young Saeng joked. Seung Ri laughed at his comment and hoped that was the case. Either way, he was sure that he was going to be doing things with Seohyun pretty soon, which angered Yonghwa.

“Tch, and you call yourself a man,” Yonghwa scoffed.

“Well, well, well, look who it is… the poorest bastard in the whole school, Jung Yonghwa,” Seung Ri teased. “What do you want? You know listening in on other people’s conversations is rude, then again I guess your piece of parents didn’t teach you that when you grew up.”

“Oh, is that so? Well didn’t you parents ever teach you how to treat a lady? Obviously it is your piece of parents that didn’t teach you even the slightest bit of manners. Then again, what else could I expect from a piece of trash like you. Why don’t you do the world a favor and just disappear. People like you shouldn’t even exist,” Yonghwa sneered. It wasn’t like Yonghwa to be this angry and get into other people’s business, but nobody deserved to be talked about like Seung Ri just had.

“Well, what are you going to do about it?” Seung Ri taunted.

“Oh, I’m going to do something about it. Do you want to see what it is? I’m sure you’ll be pleasantly surprised,” Yonghwa taunted back.

“Well, what is it then-” Seung Ri was about to taunt back before feeling Yonghwa’s fist connect with his jaw. Young Saeng stayed back as Seung Ri flew a meter or two into a bush. Yonghwa dusted off his fist and wiggled it to make the slight pain in it go away. Seung Ri dragged a hand over his bloody lip to keep the metallic taste from tainting his mouth. He would have talked back, but his jaw hurt too much to even make a sound. Yonghwa stood there in a fighting stance, ready for any of Seung Ri’s dirty tricks.

From a distance, Seohyun, Hara, and Yoona saw Seung Ri fly into the bush upon contact with Yonghwa’s fist. From their point of view, Yonghwa came out of the bushes and threw a punch at Seung Ri. To them, it looked as if Yonghwa had just punched Seung Ri for the hell of it, without any reason at all. All three girls ran towards the scene where a one-sided fight was taking place.

“Seung Ri!” Seohyun called out once she reached the bleeding boy. Yonghwa looked at her and the other two girls with a confused look, but paid no attention to them afterwards. His hate filled stare continued to be directed at the piece of trash that was named Seung Ri. After Seohyun inspected Seung Ri’s wound, she turned her gaze to the boy that had done that to him.

“Just what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Seohyun angrily asked Yonghwa.

“He just came out of the bushes and threw a punch at Seung Ri. He said that he wasn’t happy that Seung Ri was richer than him and that he was going to do something about it. I didn’t know poor people could be so savage and jealous of us,” Young Saeng lied. Yonghwa chuckled at the things he was hearing. First they talk about a girl so vulgarly, then they have the nerve to tell such wild stories. Those people never ceased to amuse him.

“Yonghwa is that true? Why did you do that?!” Seohyun yelled.

“If that’s what you want to believe than yeah I did that. Do you have a problem with that?” Yonghwa joked. It wasn’t worth getting angry at the situation in his mind. It was obvious Seohyun was  going to defend her boyfriend over him, but he hoped she would at least try to get both sides of the story. “Seung Ri, what do you have to say about this?”

“You poor bastard! Why did you punch me like that? Seohyun, tell this clown to get lost. I’m not in the mood to see him right now,” Seung Ri lied. Another chuckle escaped Yonghwa’s mouth when he heard Seung Ri’s response.

“You’re laughing at this? Yonghwa do you think this is a joke? You could have seriously hurt him,” Seohyun angrily explained. She directed all the fury she had in her body at him through her eyes. Never had she imagined that she would have to use that kind of look on him, but she felt he deserved nothing less.

“You know… I thought you were different Yonghwa. I thought you were just misunderstood and you needed someone to open your eyes for you. I guess I was wrong to think that huh? You are just what everyone here calls you: A poor bastard. I feel stupid for even believing that you were a good person. I don’t even know why I even bothered to put up with your atrocious attitude. You’re mean to people who are nice to you and now apparently you’re violent too. You’re no better than any of the worthless people that go to this school. Leave, I don’t want to see you more.”

Hara and Yoona watched quietly from the sides, not believing what they were hearing. Seohyun was insulting Yonghwa with some powerful words and was completely serious about them. Yonghwa was also left speechless. If there was ever a moment where Seohyun was angry, this was definitely it. Seung Ri inwardly smiled at the punishment Yonghwa was getting and felt that getting hit that hard was actually worth it. He threw Young Saeng a thankful glance and a wink to which Young Saeng responded with a wink of his own. Yonghwa dug his hands into his pockets and turned around to leave. Before he took more than two steps, he stopped and gave them one last glance.

“You know, I thought you were different too, Seohyun. I guess I was the biggest idiot in the world to think that. Thanks for pointing out what I really am to you, I appreciate it,” Yonghwa thanked the girl that continued to glare at him. The glare softened into a gentle look once she heard the pain in Yonghwa’s voice. It was the same pain that she heard come from him when he had that nightmare a few weeks back. The sad, dejected, disappointed tone that lined his words made her heart sink instantly. “It’s good to know that I’m nothing better than a worthless piece of trash. See ya around.” He resumed his walk away from the group and faded into the distance.

Hara and Yoona also felt the dejection in Yonghwa’s voice and were tempted to run after him to help straighten things out. It was unbelievable that they would ever see Yonghwa show any kind of emotion in front of them. It was undeniable that he had been hurt by Seohyun’s words. Hara supposed that deep down, Yonghwa did care for Seohyun as a friend since she was the only one that bothered to talk to him. Hearing those words from your only friend must leave a wound so deep that nobody but him could understand it.

Author’s note: Cliffhanger? Sorta? I don’t know lol. Anyways, next chapter is going to introduce a new character that will become rather important in the chapters to come. Summer is here and no more school for four months yay!!! Sorry I haven’t updated. My family has been crazy since I got back and I’ve been rather busy. I don’t want to start to work again but I need money, so updating might become crazier then. Until then, I plan on updating regularly. I’ll update tomorrow evening I think to make up for the lost time. Sad Hyun and Yong make me sad :(. I’ll make it better soon! Peace out everyone :).