As his classmates started pouring in one by one, Daesung stared at the chocolate milk he had placed on Seunghyun's empty desk. He had yet to arrive. Daesung hoped the chocolate milk would take Seunghyun back to happier times, to remind him of when they fell in love with each other. He hoped he would see that their love was worth fighting for, and if he didn't, he was going to show him, by any means necessary.

The teacher came in and closed the door. Daesung glanced concerned at Seunghyun's empty chair. Why wasn't he there yet? Why had he picked today of all days to be late?

“I have an announcement to make before we start.” the teacher said. “Due to personal reasons, Seunghyun has transferred schools and won't be finishing the year with us. Unfortunately it happened so unexpectedly, that he didn't have a chance to say goodbye, but he asked me to give you all his best. Now, for some calculus!” she droned on but Daesung couldn't hear a single word she was saying.

There were hushed whispers in every corner of the classroom.

Transferred?

He transferred without telling him where he was going or for how long?

Daesung's brain was having a hard time getting a grasp on the situation.

When Seunghyun said goodbye... this was what he meant? A forever goodbye? For real?

Was he really never going to see him again?

And then twenty years later, they would meet on a random street by coincidence, older, grayer, made bitter by life and love lost, and they would pause for a second and look surprised at each other, both trying to hide the familiar torment in their hearts, before passing each other by, without so much as a nod of recognition, as if nothing had ever happened between them. Two strangers, passing in the night.

Daesung sprang up, his chair flying into the desk behind him, startling the teacher who accidentally made a line through half of the formula she had been writing, turning around, her face a giant question mark. He too was surprised. He didn't remember making a conscious decision to stand up. Everyone was staring at him, waiting for his next move. He couldn't be there right now. He needed to find Seunghyun.

So he ran out of the classroom without a word, and just kept on running. At first he wasn't sure where he was going, but then he realized he was halfway to Seunghyun's house. He knew Seunghyun wouldn't want him showing up there unannounced. But tough luck. If he was going to extract himself completely from his life without a proper warning, he forfeited the right to tell him what to do.

He was all talk, though. Once he arrived at his house, he hid on the other side of the road, not wanting to get Seunghyun into trouble with his mom. He scoped the place out. There was someone in the garden, probably a gardener or a caretaker. It didn't look like anyone was home, but he wanted to make sure. He quickly crossed the road.

“Excuse me.” he called through the gate.

“Yes?” the caretaker looked up, puzzled.

“Is Seunghyun home?” he dared, knowing such a direct approach could come back to haunt him.

“No, I'm sorry, master Seunghyun moved to Seoul this morning. He won't be coming back.” he informed him in a formal, courteous manner.

“Oh... o...okay... Than... Thank you.” Daesung stammered, stumbling backwards. He walked down the street in a daze. He was gone. Seunghyun was really gone.

Daesung could feel his whole world come crashing down on him, brick by brick. And it hurt, as if actual bricks were raining down on him. There was an abyss in front of him, black and endless, and he was just walking towards it without the slightest attempt at avoiding it.

He was too shocked to cry.

There were no thoughts in his head. It was eerily quiet. Like the calm before the storm.

For the longest time, he just wandered around, not wanting to go home and face reality. He knew that the moment he walked through the door, the dam he had built would burst and the tears would never end. He wasn't ready for that yet. So he just kept walking.

It was already dark when he finally dragged his zombie behind home. The walking dead. It described him only too well. His mom was still at work, so his house looked as lonely and abandoned as he felt.

He sat down on the sofa, taking a deep breath, waiting for the tears. But all he could feel was anger. The anger had dried up all the tears, boiled them until they turned into vapor, disappearing into thin air.

What was Seunghyun thinking? It wasn't like this was some dramatic daytime soap opera where you theatrically threw your life away for all the wrong reasons. This was real life. If you were so fortunate to get a chance to experience even the slightest hint of happiness, no matter how fleeting, you took it. There was no telling whether you would ever get the chance again. Life was for the living, it was now, it wasn't meant for some vague later that would perhaps never come.

He decided to use the anger to fuel his new plan. He was not going to give up. The world was clearly expecting him to, but he wasn't going to give it the satisfaction. He didn't have time to crumble down and feel sorry for himself. He had bigger fish to fry. He had until the end of the school year before Seunghyun got married. He was not going to let that happen. Not on his watch.

It was not like he couldn't understand where Seunghyun was coming from. Growing up in the shadow of that robot-scarecrow of a mother was bound to leave him scarred with a jaded view of the world. But he was not going to let Seunghyun get lost in the darkness, he was going to become his light. He was going to show him life wasn't so serious, it wasn't black and white. Life was all the colors in between. He was going to prove to him that he didn't need his help, he only needed his love. He was perfectly capable of standing on his own two feet, and those were some sturdy feet, they had already been through a lot.

He vowed to pass the audition with flying colors, becoming a successful entertainer who could not only take care of himself, but his mom and Seunghyun as well. And maybe even a puppy, too. A puppy would be nice. He was going to eliminate the reason Seunghyun was using for this ridiculous marriage of convenience. He didn't need a rich guy, he needed Seunghyun. He was prepared to work a million jobs until he reached a point where he could support them with the profession of his choice. He didn't need a provider, he just needed him to be there, by his side, through thick and thin. They were good for each other. Together they were strong and they could take on the world. He was going to make him see.

*****

Daesung skipped home, his heart bouncing with hope. After a week of around the clock practice with G-Dragon and Youngbae, he was starting to believe his plan might actually work. The audition was going to be a walk in the park.

There was a ruckus up ahead. He saw two thugs storming out of his house.

Oh no! Not again.

He ran into the house, finding his mom crying on the floor.

“Mom! Mom!! Are you alright?” Daesung frantically checked every inch of her body to see if she was hurt.

“What did they want? We weren't late with the payment! I always double check!” he asked, his forehead wrinkled with worries.

“He did it again.” his mom barely got the words out, her voice shaking between sobs.

“No! They can't keep doing this!! We have nothing to do with that lowlife anymore! Why should we have to pay for his mistakes?” he growled. He cursed the stupid, useless piece of trash who was supposed to be his father. It was one thing to be absent from his life, there was another thing to keep ruining their life long after he was gone. He had left them with a mountain of gambling debt, and just disappeared. When Daesung was younger, there were always loan sharks swimming circles around their house. But they had worked relentlessly hard and dug themselves out of the ginormous hole his father had pushed them into.

This was not happening. Not again.

He had worked so hard to reclaim his future, to rebuild the ruins his dad left, piece by piece. And the moment it started taking shape again, his poor excuse for a father smashed it down in one fell swoop.

The next few days were hell on Earth. His mom stopped eating, taking on extra shifts, running on emptier than empty. The way things were going, even if he got the scholarship, he couldn't afford to accept it. His dream, shattered. And he was too busy with his part time jobs to pick up the pieces. They had discussed going to the police, just as they had when he was younger, but decided against it. It was too dangerous. They didn't have anything on them that would stick, and they would only retaliate for ratting them out. He was also considering quitting school so he could spend more time working. A high school dropout. There went his plan to convince Seunghyun. It just proved Seunghyun's point. The world . And it was going to continue to . Forevermore.

“Dae dae-boo!!! Dae-bear!!!” his mom slammed the door, shouting his name.

Oh no. What was it now?

But her tired, overworked face was sporting a giant smile. It was bright enough to thaw his frozen heart.

“What's going on?” he couldn't help but smile too, even though he had no idea why they were smiling. But with a smile like that, it had to be good news.

“I got a huge bonus at work!” she sang at the top of her lungs.

“No way! Why? Did you get a promotion?” he asked, confused. It was too out of the blue, and the timing was way too perfect for it not to be suspicious.

“No, they just said it was an overdue bonus, something about some miscalculation.. back pay... interest... I don't know, I didn't understand half of it.” she giggled, half-embarrassed. “But the best part is that it almost covers the entire debt!! So I went straight away to pay what I could, and the guy said that he'd give me a lump sum discount, so the loan is paid in full!” she beamed. “In full! Can you believe it? Dae-bear! We're free!!” she squeaked, hugging him half to death. “And he even said that since it's been so long and we've squared away all the debts, he'd take us off the next of kin list, so they'll never bother us again!” she danced around with him still in her arms, bursting with relief and happiness.

“Free! Free like a bird!” she sang repeatedly, not able to contain her joy.

This made no sense. It was all too neat. Suspiciously so. Was Seunghyun watching over him, like he said he would? He was glad they were finally free, but at what cost? He had a bad feeling about this.