Chapter 30.
The Florist.{Edit}
{Catching Dreams.}
They were crushed.
All of them.
They felt hurt, betrayed and angry. How could Nana leave them at a time like this, how could she leave Sungyeol like this? Didn't she know this period was the period where Sungyeol needed her the most. How could she just leave with a short note like that?
Everyone thought Sungyeol would break down and cry, but to their amaze, he didn't. In fact, Sungyeol believed fully that Nana would return to him one day and told them so. He said that, no matter where Nana was, she would always come back to him, hopefully. And he tried reasoning to them that Nana needed some time and a breather to get used to his past. He tried convincing everyone, but more importantly, he tried convincing himself that Nana hadn't abandoned him.
Regardless of what he tried telling the others, he himself was the one that was really afraid.
He was just trying to put on a brave front for his brothers and Yvonne.
But just that one short note, and Nana was gone for almost four years. Sungyeol waited for her everyday, and even still, now, after such a long time, he was still waiting for her to return. Because just like Dongwoo said, Sungyeol was the kind of rare species that would only love the same girl for the rest of his life. He would never change, he would never forget.
It was heartbreaking to see their friend like this, especially Yvonne.
She thought it was her fault that Nana left.
Because she couldn't hold her back when she left.
She couldn't look at Sungyeol for weeks and submerged herself in guilt and sadness. It was only after L had baarged into her house, taking her out and meet the rest of the guys. The moment Yvonne saw them however, she bowed profusely and told them she was extremely sorry for what had happened. She attempted to run back home after that but was blocked by L who told her to look at their faces. Yvonne gulped hard before looking up, and saw that everyone was actually smiling at her.
Not fake hypocritic smiles.
But normal and warm smiles.
They didn't blame her for Nana's disappearance. How could they? It really wasn't her fault in the first place. But as they tried asking her what did she think had happen, Yvonne said she really had no idea what was going on. She just received a phone call from Nana who said she was at the airport and she needed to leave the country for an important matter. She then told Yvonne that she would back one day and to bring the letter in Yvonne's letterbox to the guys.
She brought the letter to them, which was actually the note that told everyone she was leaving the country for the moment. What part of that note was a letter even? In any case, the guys nodded solemnly at Yvonne. They thought it was best to wait for Nana to return before getting angry and making wrong assumptions. However, one note and four years had passed. It was hard to ease the pain and angst in the guys' hearts and mind. Although it did bug them that Sungyeol was perfectly normal, as if Nana had just gone on a holiday and that it was no big deal.
Sunggyu offered to find her.
But Sungyeol refused and rejected that idea.
He said he wanted Nana to come back on her own. It was bothersome really, and tiresome to watch. He acted as if it wasn't a big deal when it was a bloody big one. Four years without so much as a single letter, or a call or even a simple text. That was a very big deal for them all.
And within these four years, many things happened.
Many, to all of them each.
Sungyeol had fully recovered after staying for two months in the hospital. Everyone visited him everyday. School had began but he wasn't able to go back. Mrs Lee was shocked to know Sungyeol was blind and visited him along with her son everyday. It was tragic for her to handle and she spent the first week of visiting Sungyeol crying most of the time.
When Sungyeol heard that he couldn't see anymore, he didn't get angry, nor sad, nor even a little agitated like they thought he would. They were braced for an explosion, which never came. In fact, he smiled and said he was happy to be even alive, and that was all that matters. However, he did have one small regret, he told them about it too. And that was he wasn't able to see their beautiful faces anymore. As he heard sobbing sounds and sniffs, his hands reached out to touch Woohyun's face.
"Aww don't cry Nana, I'm still alive! Are you feeling better?"
Everyone, other than L and Nana, left the ward to cry another round before returning. Only his two closest friend and love stayed by his side and listened to every comforting words he was saying. How ironic was that honestly. And as Sungyeol touched L, he hugged the man and called him Sunggyu before asking if he was alright. L had to take several deep breaths before telling Sungyeol the truth. He wasn't Sunggyu, and the ious person's face he had touched was Woohyun and not Nana. Sungyeol gasped lightly before saying a quick apology.
L then nicely assured Sungyeol he could slowly recognized them since they would visit him every day. Woohyun even argued to stay in the hospital to personally take care of Sungyeol. But Sungyeol shot the Doctor down and said he was now a teacher instead as well as a Doctor, therefore he couldn't just leave a few hundred kids just because of him. He then told Woohyun to go back home to rest with the others.
It wasn't that easy to drive them away.
Therefore, they left only after several and countless pleads and assurances.
Nana refused to leave at all. And when Sungyeol told her to go back to rest, she said she'll rest beside Sungyeol. The tall man didn't want that and was about to tell her to leave again when Nana sent out a killer move. He whined and did agyeo to Sungyeol and asked why didn't he want her beside him. And even though Sungyeol couldn't see a single thing, he could certainly imagine the scene in front of him. He was weak for her, and therefore said nothing and just let her stay beside him.
She left only when Sungyeol was asleep and came back just in time every morning when Sungyeol woke up. It was tiring honestly. And Woohyun thought she might give up soon because of the stress and fatigue. He was wrong and right. Wrong because Nana looked as determined as ever to take care of Sungyeol. Right because Nana did leave them. In any case, he did admire her energy and love for Sungyeol.
For the first three weeks after Sungyeol woke up, Nana came everyday along with the rest of the guys after class. They always bring something nice for him and although Sungyeol couldn't see, his other senses were getting stronger. And he could actually guess who was the first who walked into his based on the scent they have and the sound of their footsteps. He was able to know if it was his brothers that were here, or Nana, or the doctor and nurse. And he was now facing the direction they were in when they spoke, but not the exact location.
Meaning - He knows they're on the left side, but not where on the left side.
Sungyeol was worried about his studies after his second week in the hospital. Sunggyu had no idea what to do honestly. Because Sungyeol being blind means he would have a lot of difficulty for himself than others. He couldn't really continue with his own studies and nor can he get a decent job. Sunggyu then asked back Sungyeol what he wanted to do now after he was out of the hospital. Sungyeol told the oldest he had thought about that for a while now.
He told all of them that he wanted to go back to Le Fleurs. They said no immediately. How was he able to do the delivery and pack the flowers even when he couldn't see. It was going to be too difficult for him they said, but Sungyeol was stubborn and said he wanted to still try. He had been doing that job for over a year and said he could decorate and arranged the flowers with his eyes closed. That wasn't funny at all. While the brothers protested again, Sungyeol interrupted them and said that was the only thing he knew how to do now.
He couldn't possibly do nothing, or anything else for that matter.
He needed to do something, or he would feel like a worthless and uselsess person.
He didn't want that.
Sunggyu didn't know what to say. Only after a while, Sunggyu brought some random flowers and asked Sungyeol to arrange and make a decent bouquet. Sungyeol broke in a wide smile. Of course he knew what do to, he arranged them neatly. First, touching and checking what kind of flower it was before putting them together. It was a lovely bouquet. Slightly unbalanced and uneven but still pretty. And after he passed the test, he told L to bring more flowers to the hospital so that he could get used to their texture and scent.
It was one of the happier moments he had in the hospital when he was alone.
Everyday, Nana would accompany Sungyeol to walk around the hospital garden and told him stories about school and herself. And Sungyeol listened in interest. Many times, he wished he could tell Nana that he loves her. But as he had nothing and was nothing but a blind man, he didn't want to bring her down and so waited for his own chance to recover. He only prayed Nana would never give up on him.
He couldn't lie.
His heart shattered when they told him Nana was gone.
It hurts so badly.
After two long years, they graduated.
Just the other four guys along with Yvonne.
The five of them were at the graduation ceremoney, wearing their gowns and were extremely happy to see Sungyeol coming along with Mrs Lee and her son beside them. Everyone in the graduation was surprised to see Sungyeol, their mysterious prince back in the school. They were shocked when they saw him using a walking stick and realized the reason why he left school was because he had gone blind.
Sungyeol was smiling brightly and was holding all the bouquets in his hands with Mrs Lee and her son, Baro, helping. Baro had finally recovered from his illness and was able to come out of the hospital a year ago. He had heard a lot of things about Sungyeol from his mother and had promised to help him no matter what. Baro was sixteen now, and had helped out in his mother's flower store along with Sungyeol.
They received a big hug each from the tall man and he presented them the flowers he had personally arranged according to their personality. Sungyeol couldn't find a better family and better brothers. He was so happy that he sobbed along with the rest of them, if he had actually been able to. Although he wasn't able to graduate the same time as them, he knew his time would come soon and paid no attention to the whispers and gossips from everyone else in the artrium where the ceremony was held.
Sungyeol wanted to cook for everyone after the graduation and even he himself knew how ridiculous that sounded. He wasn't allowed to of course ever since that horrible incident at all. Sungyeol had accidentally put his hand into boiling water, thinking it was where he had soaked the meant and cried out loud when he felt the pain. Everyone rushed into the kitchen and Sunggyu looked murderous to whoever that agreed to let Sungyeol cook. The guys drank during the celebration too although only when Baro and Mrs Lee had left.
Sungyeol had asked them what they were going to do since graduation was over.
The guys kept quiet.
Honestly, they had no idea what to do.
They had dreams of their own of course. But they didn't want to leave Sungyeol alone and behind. And Sungyeol understood that even before the guys had said anything. He told them to rememeber their dreams and to pursue them instead of staying at home and playing house with him. Hoya and Dongwoo were the two obvious ones, their dreams were to be dancers and famous. Just the two of them.
There was an audition a few days later and they had thought it try it out. They stopped to think twice when they saw Sungyeol. L wanted to travel around the world as said before, taking photos and writing articles about the places he'd been to. But that would mean he would be traveling more of the time and he didn't want to leave his best friend behind. Sunggyu was getting serious into interior designing and had clients in his third year. He started a business a month before graduation and was thinking of expanding it. But that would mean he would spent more time with his work than with Sungyeol.
Woohyun was promoted in their final years and was now the head of the Science Department, he was forced to stay back in school for longer hours too, and he had thought to reject the offer, because of Sungyeol.
Everyone was pulled back because of Sungyeol and they didn't want that.
The fact that they could leave him was already causing their dreams to change.
And Sungyeol noticed that now. He was blind, but not stupid.
"You know you don't have to always think about me right?"
"But Yeollie.."
"It's time to think for yourselves and your dreams. You guys don't have to stay back because of me."
They sighed loudly.
It was hard to make such a decision.
Sungyeol, or their own dreams.
"You guys have the abilities to be the best and achieve your dreams. You guys are talented and good at what you do. Therefore, you don't have to accompany me all the time because I'm a handicap person. I'm just as fine as you guys. I can live by myself too so don't worry. Go out, do whatever you want, live with what you can. Just remember that if anything happens and didn't go right, I'm always here for you. We're always togther too. I'll be waiting for Nana to return as usual."
They could understand how he could he so so cheerful when he was the one everyone was worrying about. They looked at one another before sighing again. Sungyeol was still thinking that Nana was coming back. It had been two years, it was time Sungyeol woke up from this dream of his and accept the fact that Nana wasn't ever coming back.
"I know you're not happy that Nana had left or why I'm still wishing she'll be back."
Damn, how did Sungyeol knew what they were thinking?
"You guys don't have to say aloud for me to know. I just know. And thinking that Nana could return was the only thing makes me excited and happy for the next day. I look forward to everyday that Nana would come back then. It gives me the determination and willto live and survive another day too. Because to be honestly, it's tiring to be blind. And I hope you guys can see from my point of view. Don't kill my only hope."
He shut them up.
And they didn't say a single about Nana about.
They then told him their promise that they would achieve their dreams for him.
And they did.
Within another two years.
Sunggyu's company was now the largest interior designing company in Seoul. Most of the offices, buildings and houses around were designed by him. And although they were a huge company, he didn't discriminate the poor and the rich. As long as they were people who wanted to have a lovely home were always welcome into their doors and have a interview with the designers. And all the designs were approved by Sunggyu first before sending to the cilent.
The funny thing however, was that as a CEO, he was usually the busiest one in the company. But Sunggyu would always leave the office on the dor by six. He'll bring his work if he had to but he would always leave by six. He had cancelled important meetings just because of that and everyone wondered why he would leave on the dot. His only reason was that he needed to pick someone up. They thought he had a kid even though he wasn't married. Funny wasn't it?
Woohyun was the most hardworking one among all fo the brothers. He had worked double hard and was hardly a Drama Queen anymore. And only to Sungyeol was he still that mushy and cheesy adorable Mi-dearest he had self proclaimed he was. He worked hard for all of them so that he wouldn't disappoint any of the people that matter to him. He was, according to Dongwoo who told Sungyeol so, more handsome than before. And slightly bulkier too. In school, he would sing when there was an occasion and was praised for his wonderful voice. He was like an idol in school - Namstar.
Dongwoo and Hoya easily passed the audition that week after Sungyeol told them to go for it. They had two more rounds to go and passed them with distinction. They were accepted instantly with their skills, looks and dance and when asked if they wanted to be a solo artist or in a group, they told the interviewers about one another. The interviews had no idea Hoya and Dongwoo were actually friends and was pleasantly surprised to say yes. They began their training and debut nine months later with the name they had came up by themselves.
Infinite H.
When the company asked why that name, they said it was with them for two years. They said it was nice and didn't change it. Now, after close to a year, they were extremely successfully. They managed the capture the attention and hearts of the fans since their debut and have been going strong since. However, the only bad thing was that they needed to move out of their house since their saesang fans had found out about their house and bombarded them. Everyone was sad that they had to leave and had lived in their new house for close to two years too. They promised to come back often. And they did. Five times a month, for dinner.
L worked in the Le Fleurs until graduation before going for an interview at a magazine company. He was interviewed as a photographer though the receptionist thought he was interviewing for a model position and had led him into the wrong room at first. Thankfully, there was a notice on the door that read For Models Only that allowed L to get away while he still could. The Editor interviewed him herself and he shown them their workds. There was a particular photo they had really liked and asked who was the model in the photo. L replied it was his best friend.
They asked if his best friend could work with them as well as a model and L got quite a shock. He shook his head and said Sungyeol wasn't able to. When asked why, he told hem on the spot that Sungyeol was blind now. The interviewers wenr into a blank state and apologized later for asking. They then said L's idea of travelling around the word was good and they would love to hire and sponsor him on the trips. L was jubliated. L soon became his pen name and he went back to be Myungsoo.
Myungsoo went on his first trip to Japan. And after spending two weeks in that place, he came back with so much detail and information and articles that the company said they could use the information he had for three months worth of article. Therefore his job was soon slacker than usual. He only needed to spent one month at a new country, and spent three months at home doing nothing. He loved his job.
Yvonne moved out of her parents house three days after succesfully landing a job as a Human Resource Manager and was working hard. She had Myungsoo kept in contact more than the rest of the boys. After a few months, she was utterly bored with job. It was unbelievably hectic. They went out a few times together and found his obsession with takeing photos fun. After a few shorts, Myungsoo told her she was talented and she went to get a camera herself. After a few weeks, Myungsoo brought her to his company and showed her off to his boss.
The company saaid they only needed one travel photographer but Myungsoo said Yvonne was more of a fashion photographer. They hired her on the spot as their current photographer was taking maternity leave. Yvonne quitted her old job the same day and left the building with all her stuff. She had found photographing really insteresting and wanted to do it.
More importantly, she had found the guy that she really wanted to be with as well.
Myungsoo and her have been going out for the past five months behind everyone's back.
And the others were just to busy to bother.
It was probably a known fact that they both liked one another since Year One in University.
After Sungyeol had correctly hugged Yvonne, he smiled at whatever he was looking at. He knew the guys were around him, so it didn't matter who he was looking at. It had been quite some time since all of them came to see him. Everyone's schedule was so packed. He knew Sunggyu had taken off every month on this date and L was currently on break, so what about the others?
"Dongwoo hyug and I'd just finished out first concert and the company gave was a few months break."
"That's so cool!"
"It's a long awaited vacation if you asked us."
"So now you're free."
"Yep! And we're going to spend more time together!"
Sungyeol heard Hoya's voice rising one octvane higher and laughed along with the rest. He knew the man wanted to go home but apparently, he couldn't again. Hoya had went back home a few days ago, his real parents home and tried speaking to them. His mother was all for letting him come home but his dad still had some resistance against his son as an idol. He didn't think it was a decent job, yet it wasn't stopping him from cutting out a article about his son and keeping a scapebook about him. His father was a big guy with a soft heart really.
He too had missed his son and had hugged him tightly when he saw Hoya at their doorstep. It had been too long since Hoya was away from home and he cried along with his sons and wives. Back to Le Fleurs, he looked radiant as ever if Sungyeol could see it, and he suggested a cool idea.
"Let's all go to Jeju again. It was so much fun the last time. Shall we? Pleaseeee!"
"Kyahahaha! Hoya you're still that baby!"
Dongwoo's crazy laughter echoed in the shop.
He was still that happy go lucky guy, even after that incident.
From the minute Dongwoo was finacially stabled, he had fired private investigators to find Hanuel. He recalled Wooyun saying Hanuel's parents were going to bury her overseas and told them to search overseas first. However, they had tapped into her parent's passport and found out they didn't leave the country at all. In fact, they hadn't leave the country for the past three years. Dongwoo thought that wasn't right. Were they so heartless that they didn't visit their daughter when she was buried too.
And then it hits him, her parent had lied to him, knowing Woohyun would tell Dongwoo about Hanuel's condition. Hanuel's parents had buried her in the country. His investigatros managed to find the exact location of Hanuel's grave and texted it to him. Dongwoo rushed out of the recording room and hoped into the cab. He had memorized the address and told the driver to step on it, leaving poor Hoya to explain to their manager where Dongwoo went. He called the rest after when he caught sight of Dongwoo's handphone. They went towards the address too.
When Dongwoo realized the place, he had another shock.
The place where Hanuel was buried, was the same place Sungjong was buried.
In fact, they were just seven graves away. Dongwoo kneeled down in front of Hanuel's grave and cried. He apologized time and time again that he was sorry he hadn't noticed her and couldn't find her. He had really believed she was buried overseas. He had not believe when Sungyeol told him Sungjong had visited him in a dream and that Hanuel was in Seoul. He thought Sungyeolw as just comforting him!
Gosh he was so stupid!
He cried and cried and his brothers were looking at him. Woohyun had picked Sungyeol up and they left immediately. They reached to find Dongwoo kneeling on the ground with his head touching the tombstone. His heart was crying. And the rain started pouring. It was, painful tow atch. Haneul's parents were monsters, as if killing their own daughter wasn't enough, they led Dongwoo to be seperated from his love for so long. It took a while for his tears to dry and they softly brought everyone home, wet from the rain.
Dongwoo was in a dazed and his manager, who knew everything about Hoya and Dongwoo, helped the idols took a day off from work. Their CEO couldn't say anything else, Infinite H was blooming right now. It's just one day too, it wouldn't mind. Sungyeol sat beside Dongwoo and told the crying man about what his thoughts.
"Dongwoo, don't you realized, Hanuel never left you."
"At least you found her, at least she's back with you. Isn't that nice?"
"So don't cry anymore."
Who couldn't understand that double meaning? But Dongwoo smiled after that. Sungyeol was right again. They were never apart. And he thanked the tall man for his kind words.
Currently, Woohyun was planning the trip, he was having school holidays along with the students. Yvonne said she had to go back to work later in the night since the model could only make it in the night, causing Myungsoo to roll his eyes. most of the models were trying to get close to him, not knowing he was already attached to the photographer who were taking their photos. He disliked all the models. They guys were showing their schedules arounf when a familiar bell rang.
Sungyeol immediately stood up and said welcome and Myungsoo did the same. He said old habits died hard and laughed. A beautiful lady walked in with her luggage and sunglasses. She was wearing a huge hat and had long brown hair. She walked towards the front and suddenly stopped when she looked up. She looked around for a second and noticed the person she was looking for wasn't there. Sungyeol was hidden right at the back by the other guys. The girl grinned slightly before speaking.
Her voice all too familiar.
"I'm looking for Lee Sungyeol."
{Edit} Finally. It took me three hours to edit this. And I'm going crazy with editing. Damn. She's gone and back all in one two chapters.
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