Mr. Kim's heart dropped down to his feet when Hakyeon grined like he had just won the lotto.

"Do you know each other?" he asked.

"Yes... a little"

CHarlotte took a seat next to her father. the awkwardness was heavy between those three.

"yes, we take some classes together" charlotte answered without malice, but she still didn;t understand why hakyeon was there. "am I interrupting something?"

"No" her stepbrother flashed his political smile "I was just asking Mr. Kim to help us out with our start up"

'what?!' Mr. Kim thought and glanced at his son.

"our? you and that scary of yours?" charlotte asked with her usual innocent tone.

"Leo" Hakyeon corrected her.

"right. well..."

"yes, so mr. kim was kindly accepting to invest in our project since his wife is really fond of art"

"is that so, dad?" she looked at the man that had been silent for a moment

"yes" he hesitated a bit. Still surprised by his son's clever response.

'like father like son' the man thought.

"I think mom will like the idea very much. She loves whatever is related to painting, sculptures and thise thing. My dad here had to buy a whole gallery for her collection" charlotte told entusiasticly

Hakyeon would be lying if he said that the image of his father's perfect family didn't stir a nerve.

"So...do we have a deal mr. Kim?" hakyeon polietly ignored Charlotte.

"Yes. We do" the man reached out to his son.

"I'll call you tomorrow for the details"

Without further delay the lion's friends stood up and bowed polietly to them before walking out feeling full of himself.

Once he was out he spoted leo's car a few meters away while looking for a taxi.

Leo smiled when he noticed hakyeon walking towards him

"Well, well, well. Isn't this better than uber?" he said as he opened the door.

Leo drived without asking what hakyeon was doing at the building; he waited until his best friend mentioned the topic.

"guess what?" Hakyeon actes as if he had suddenly rememebered it.

"what?"

"I got us a new sponsor...sort of"

"what?!" leo stepped on the break so hard that hakyeon's seatbelt had to bounce him back "who? how?"

"okay, but promise you won't get mad"

"just tell me" leo knew where exactly this was going.

"your rival's ex father in law" N lowered his voice but still leo repaired on the 'ex'

leo looked at him with eyes wide open "your father?"

"yup, the biological one" hakyeon tried to sound funny to reduce the growing tension "you see...he tried to lure me into the bussiness world" he scoffed and faked a smile "even after he made me sign that contract"

"hakyeon" he knew his friend was holding back the rage inside. his eyes were starting to

"I wanted to beat the ... but in that moment charlotte apppeared so I had to get the best out of the problem, right?" he faked a smile again "and it ended that way"

Leo sighed, calming himself down and started to drive again "well done, i guess?"

"yeah... anyway!" he cheered up again leo was already acostumed to Hakyeon's mood swings "I've got intel for you. the blonde asked my step sister for a divorce. so you better hurry or he might try to steal your girl....AGAIN"

"I'm sure he can't"

................................................

The bus dropped you right in front of the abandoned gallery. the place looked lonelier than usual. only the noises from the wind and birds could be heard, like one of those scenes in horror movies when something bad is about to happen.

"what is leo thinking? where is he?"

you rubbed your hands to get a little warmer. that day was one of the coldest from that winter. you thought that leo was going to be there before you arrived so you wouldnt have to wait outdoors but his car was not there and you werent that brave or stupid to enter an abandoned building by yourself.

the sound of you phone startled you a little. It was from Leo.

"hello?"

"hello?" he answered back

"leo? where are you? I'm already outside the building"

"Sorry, I'm going to be a little late, there is a lot of traffic. can you wait inside?"

"what? no no no. no way" you sounded scared

"it's alright. Hakyeon was there just a a few minutes ago to confirm everything was okay"

"So? you sent him in like cannon fodder? how cruel" you joked

even if it was a small sound; you could tell leo giggled on the other side of the line. 'how cute'

"he volunteered"

"are you sure? we can come back tomorrow"

"no!" he urged "it has to be today. it's okay, just enter, i'll be there soon"

you rolled your eyes "okay, but if something happens to me, i'll blame you"

"yes, yes. just go inside already" he ended the call.

You took a deep breath and walked in, phone ready to call the police in case something happened. it was only a two floor building; in the first one there was only the reception and then an empty room with a glass wall with a vinil sign that read 'book store'. to the other side only a hall that led to the gallery room in which there elevators and stairs. the only thing that could give you more confidence to keep going was the emergency lights on.

"hellooo?" you said as you crossed the place where a door was supposed to be, and immediately realized that you made the most common mistake in horror movies: alert the psycho, killer, etc.

as you walked on your toes, you had to turn right to the elevators but of course they weren't there so you took the stairs to the principal room. Light started to shine as you went further but you only felt even more scared.

"Hakyeon?" you called with a really low voice but there was no answer you were about to run back but you streched your neck to see where the light was coming from and discovered it was from dozens of candles scattered on the floor and on top of boxes all over the room.

On the walls, hanging, there different sizes of frames you moved closer to see one of them, and you knew immediately: it was a printed part of your very first conversation with Leo, USER9011.

USER3021: Hello.Does anyone know about the process for X scholarship"

User 9011 replied: there's no such scholarship...

User 9011: you should erase that post, not a lot of people can get that, and if they know there is going to be more demand of it.

User 3021: aren't you being a little bit too egoistic?

thet last part was circled with blue pen and had a note:

'first impression: FAIL. I thought you were rude and not very smart'

then moved to the second frame with a smile already forming on your face.

User 9011: it's for your own good. You may be left out if more people apply. But well since I already applied. Here is what you got to do.

User 3021: Well, thank you. But isn't going to be an inconvenient if I apply too? You might be left out of the program.

User 9011: Dunno, seemed like you really need it since you deleted the post. And you found about it on your own which is really hard... maybe that's why. Good luck.

User 3021: Looks like we're on the same boat...thank you.

'You still worried about me, even after calling me egoist. It made me think you have a strong personality but you aren't stubborn'

The smile grew wider and you looked around but there was no signs of Leo, so you started reading the third one, amd the fourth and the fifth. each had a handwritten note by him on what he thought while texting with you.

User3021: just a question; are you a man or a woman?

User9011: why? Are you a stalker? A ert?

User3021: I was just asking!

'I guess I sounded like a woman in your mind, lol. I was a little bit offended"

"you actually did" you giggled. the next frame was bigger than the previous one.

User3021: OMG! Thank you so much. If I ever meet you, I'll treat you to a good coffee shop.

User9011: I'm not interested; I use this for school purposes only. Why did you even add me as a friend?

'I actually meant it but I was happy deep inside that you added me as a friend'

User3021: it wasn't me it was someone else who went into my account. And you accepted it! Are you a loner?

User 9011: I'd think what you're saying is a lie but since someone else accepted the request too, I'll believe you. I'm not a loner but you must be... being online at this hour on a Friday night... how sad...

'Low key asking if you had a boyfriend'

You: I'm a girl so it's not uncommon but you are a guy so it's even sadder...

'No, it has nothing to with being a girl. LOL. You only have one friend just like me'

Next frame

You: well, some people just have it easier. We have to try harder in order to get what we want.

<>

User9011: just our luck I guess.

You: I really love our school but being around too many rich kids can be frustrating...P.S. If you are rich just ignore this.

User 9011: I'm not rich. And to me, it's not frustrating it's more like "annoying". They don't know the value of things and take everything for granted. After all, their future is granted.

the whole conversation was circled with pen.

'Why did I even tell you that? I guess it was easy to talk with someone on the same boat and it is still easy even to this day'

A small frame was next. It was a fragment of the day you published Christina perri's a thousand years and he replied.

'At that time i couldnt understand why you were suffering for him but i wanted you to be happy so i helped you to crush his wedding...that didn't work though....'

And so the frames and conversations and notes continued until you reached the last one.

It wasn't the screenshot of a chat, it was a message he hadn't sent.

'You know I am not good talking, right? But I couldn't think of a better way to tell you my feellings than this.

hope it didn;t scare you that much.

I've typed and backspaced so many times already that I think I forgot the original message but the original idea is that I want you to know that I don't want to be fighting with you for something like my jealous self.

I'm sorry for making you think I don't trust you but the truth is that I was just feeling insecure and i should have believed in you just like you believed in me first.

That was it. No more frames or notes to read, only you in the room lighted by candles or so you thought until someone covered your eyes from behind.

You gasped and tried to remove his hands that you immediately recognized.

"Leo?"

You thought he'd uncover you eyes when you guessed but he didn't.

"Be my girlfriend" he whispered with a voice so quiet that you woulnt have heard if the room wasn't as silent.

"you won't regret it. I promise" he added after a few seconds had passed without an answer.

The sound of your pulse echoed in your ears and maybe leo felt the rising tenperature of your face. 'A perfect moment' could be the title of that instant.

You placed your hands on his and nodded with a smile that passed onto leo's lips. Words weren't needed.

He let out the breathe he was holding as he waited for your answer.

Unexpectedly, your chest felt lighter, as if everything was right again now that you had his arms around you and his head buried in your shoulder.

"Thank you"