Daesung didn't blink. He didn't move a muscle. He didn't breathe. He couldn't.

He wasn't sure how long he had been standing there when his mom came rushing in, almost closing the door on the two shopping bags that were holding on to her shoulder for dear life. The only thing that went through his mind was 'Oh, so the world didn't end.', without any emotions attached to it, more like a general observation, like when you realized 'Oh, it's Wednesday today.'.

“I saw Seunghyun run out of the house just now, he didn't even say hi, he was so flustered I'm not sure if he even noticed me. Did you guys fight again? Did you ask him about the application?” his mom asked concerned, sitting them both down as the shopping bags took a well deserved breather in the corner.

Daesung could feel he was standing at a crossroads. He could either choose the easy and paved Self Pity Lane or he could decide to go down the dark and gravelly Make Your Own Fortune Avenue. He wanted to go down Self Pity Lane and jump head first into the Pathetic Pool of Heartbreak Hotel. He didn't have the strength to fight anymore. He didn't even feel sad, he just felt nothing. Except tiredness. He was so tired. He wanted to lie down and never get up. He wanted to quit everything and take the easy way out. But if he did, it would be the same as admitting that Seunghyun was right. At that thought, a stubborn fire was lit in his chest. There would never be a place for them in this world unless they fought for it. And oh, he was going to fight. He was going to show Seunghyun just how wrong he was, he was going to throw it in his face like a juicy cream pie. He almost giggled at the mental picture of Seunghyun covered in cream pie.

He took a deep breath.

And then another.

“Mom. There's something I have to tell you.” he barely whispered as his stomach contracted into a twisted rock, painfully pulling at all his other organs. He had never been so nervous in his entire life. He squeezed the lobster in his hand until it hurt. He didn't even have a recollection of picking it up from the floor.

“Oh, honey. I already know.” his mom put his arm around him as she gave him a warm smile. It took a second for the words to make sense.

“I've just been waiting for you to be ready to tell me.” she added, beaming at him proudly. She wasn't mad. She wasn't even the slightest bit sad. Daesung didn't know how to react. He had pictured this moment so many times, and not once had this been the outcome. He couldn't believe how lucky he was to have such an amazing mom. The second he thought he had figured her out, she surprised him by being so, so, so much better than he could ever have hoped for. He threw himself into her arms, hugging her tighter than anything, tears of relief running down his cheeks.

“Aigoo, my baby Dae. My beautiful baby boy Dae.” she muttered when he eased up just enough for her to catch her breath. Somehow those simple words made the burden that he didn't know he had been carrying around on his shoulders for all these years completely disappear. He felt lighter than air. So light in fact, that he imagined that if his mom wasn't holding him, he would just float away, like a balloon filled with helium. Distracted, he wondered where all the helium balloons went. He imagined there was a special place up in heaven somewhere, where all the balloons gathered and kept each other company. It was such a lonely sight to see a lone balloon fly further and further away with no foreseeable end to its lonesome journey, but if you imagined it was actually on its way to join all the other balloons in balloon-heaven, it was actually quite beautiful and comforting to watch it fly away. Perspective was everything.

“So you know that me and...?” Daesung asked quietly, wanting to come completely clean while he had the courage.

“Oh please! Honey... you two have more drama than my daily soap opera, how could I miss it.” she chuckled cheerfully. He didn't know whether he should be relieved that she knew or embarrassed that they were so bad at this relationship stuff that they couldn't even keep it a secret.

“So, tell me, what did he do now?” she shifted positions, adopting a gossipy 'I'm prepared to listen and find everything he did appalling' posture.

He told her everything, leaving nothing out. He couldn't believe how good it felt not to be alone with all this stuck inside him anymore. He was so detailed that the sun set in the middle of his story and now it was pitch black outside, the only light in the living room coming from a lone lamp on a corner table, enveloping them in a soft but slightly eerie sort of atmosphere. It was just like you imagined how it was before electricity was discovered, a single candle light flickering in the corner, casting dancing shadows every which way, fueling people's imaginations, creating myths and monsters.

“Well, he's absolutely right.” his mom said matter-of-factly.

“What?!?” he couldn't believe his ears, she was taking Seunghyun's side?

“I mean.. oh my Dae-Dae-boo, you must know how far this country is from accepting homouality, you can't get married, you can't have children, your relationship won't be officially recognized by anyone, and you will never know who you can trust with your special circumstances and who will use them to step on you, you could end up getting so much grief and hostility that it will be hard to remember how much you loved each other in the beginning. Life does that to you sometimes, it wears you down, no matter how ready you are to fight it.”.

“Ehh...” he looked at her like she had just murdered his pet hamster.

“Baby... I'm not saying you shouldn't fight... fight... FIGHT...with everything you've got, and I'll be right there beside you, ready to put bandages on all your scrapes and scratches, believe you me. However, you can't go into this battle with a rosy blindfold, thinking it's going to be anything other than a dirty fist fight in an alley where there are no referees and the odds are stacked against you. This is not the easiest lifestyle to pick... well, I guess you didn't get the chance to pick, I'm so sorry for that. But you have to realize what you are getting yourself into. It's not going to be easy.” she said, visibly concerned.

“Easy?! Why does everyone think I want easy? No one's life is easy! You never know what life is going to throw in your face. I mean, you took the traditional 'easy' route and look what that gave you.... a pile of poo, that's what! There are no guarantees in life, that's why you have to follow your heart. We only get one chance to live our lives, so we'd better make the most of it. I know Seunghyun is going to be really good to me, I know he loves me and I love him. I don't want to sound childish, but how often in a lifetime do you meet your soulmate?” his heart stung at the mention of the word soulmate. It was a rare thing to stumble upon your soulmate so early in life, or at all, and now he might have lost him forever.

“I wouldn't exactly call you a pile of poo, although when you were little you did...”.

“Mooom!” he interrupted her, scrunching his nose in disgust.

“Alright, alright. Then what are you waiting for, go get your man!” she smiled encouragingly.

“I've seen how happy he makes you, and how much you have grown and come out of your shell, I'd be proud to have him as my son-in-law.” she added, going in for a great, big mom-hug.

That night he went to bed with so much determination that it kept him awake half the night. He was going to go to school and get Seunghyun back. He was going to knock some sense into him, with force if he had to, he was not going to take no for an answer.

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A/N: Two years since my last update, wow, it wasn't supposed to take this long... but it did :/ For various reasons. I know some might have thought I had abandoned the story, but I never did, it was always there in the back of my head and I have full intention of finishing it, there are very few chapters left now, but I have no idea how long it's going to take. The story will finish itself when it's ready.

I'm not sure if any of the original readers are still even on AFF haha >.< but if you are, thanks for your patience and for sticking with the story through thick and thin, and if you are a new reader, welcome and thanks for making it this far kkk ^^ <3