“Tanah?” Eun-sang said. She sat on Tan’s bed watching him try to pick out a sweater to wear over his blue shirt to the graduation party.

“Yes?” He responded holding up a green sweater and a black one and trying to decide between the two.

“When are you and Young-do going to make up? It’s been over a year already. Aren’t you tired of fighting? I know you miss him. I’ve seen the way you look at that picture every time we go to Myung-soo’s studio.”

“What do you think?” He asked, indicating the sweaters he was holding. Eun-sang pointed to the black one and he nodded. “I don’t know if Young-do is ready to be friends with me again. Remember, I tried being friends with him when I returned from America last year but he was so stubborn.” He slipped the sweater over his head.

“But you guys helped each other out through the Jeguk crisis. Surely, that must mean things are going good.”

“It’s not that easy. Young-do may have forgiven me for missing his chance with his mom but I don’t think he has forgiven himself. He hates himself more than he hates me and until he stops hurting, he may not want to be friends with me.”

“You boys and your ego.”

“I don’t see you being friends with Rachel after all she put you through.”

“It’s different between me and Rachel. I stole her fiancé. Truthfully, I feel really awful about that. I understand how she must have felt.”

“Are you saying you regret falling in love with me?” Tan raised an eyebrow.

“You know, when you do that you look just like Young-do.” She giggled.

“Aish this girl. Answer my question.”

Bo-na looked around at the party guests, “Where is Cha Eun-sang?” Just then, she saw her walk in, arm-in-arm with Kim Tan. She rolled her eyes, “Those two. And I thought Chan-young and I were too lovey-dovey.” She waved at Eun-sang and Eun-sang removed her arm from Tan’s and walked quickly to Bo-na. “Ya Cha Eun-sang, do you know how long I’ve been waiting? You were supposed to get here twenty minutes ago.” 

“Mianhae Bo-naya. Where’s Chan-young?”

“Over there, he’s calling his dad. So, has you letter from Seoul National University arrived? Chan-young told me you applied. I got mine yesterday.”

“I haven’t checked. I guess it should have, I did pretty well on the interview and I hope I get selected.”

“Don’t worry, you will get selected. We have to be roommates, okay?”

Eun-sang raised an eyebrow, “You like me that much?”

“Ya Micheoso? It’s just that Seoul NU is a new place and I just want to stay with someone I know. At least in my freshman year. You think I want to be roommates with you after that?” She flipped her hair and Eun-sang smiled. Rachel and Young-do walked in at that moment. “Why are those two arriving together?” Bo-na wondered.

“Do you think they are…”

“Mwo? As if. Young-do deserves better than Rachel. Everybody knows she’s a first class mean girl.”

“Yeah, but after what their family went through last year I think they may have gotten closer.”

“Are you actually defending Rachel? Rachel who terrorized you most of last year?”

“Well, I did steal her fiancé. Which reminds me, I need to talk to her.”

“About what?”

“You don’t have to make it so obvious you’re looking for Kim Tan.” Rachel said. Ever since they walked in, she noticed Young-do had been slyly glancing around trying to find Tan.

“Truthfully, I’m a little nervous. There has been so much animosity between us for so long, I don’t know how to start over.” Young-do had become more open discussing his feelings with Rachel ever since the day she came to see him at the hotel. They acted like friends and told each other everything. He even told her that he met his mother. She was the first person he told and he had watched her eyes well up in tears as he recounted their first meeting after three years. He had gotten to know her and he realized that she was just a lonely girl. When she had talked about how she felt when Tan and Eun-sang got together, he wanted to hug her and take the pain away; he didn’t though because she probably would have punched him. Together, they had healed and moved past the pain of their first loves.

“You could start by apologizing and then you could tell him about your mother.”

“You think?”

“Of course, you can.” She saw Eun-sang approach and tilted her head, wondering what she wanted.

“Choi Young-do, could you please excuse us? I need to talk to Rachel privately.” Eun-sang said and Young-do nodded. Rachel nodded in Tan’s direction and Young-do left to meet him.

“What do you want?” Rachel asked.

“I’m sorry Yoo Rachel.”

“What is this? What are you apologizing for?”

“I’m sorry I hurt you by falling in love with Kim Tan, I understand how you must feel because he was your fiancé. You must have hurt a lot. I should have apologized sooner. I love Tan a lot and I wished that you weren’t hurt because of us. I hope you can forgive Kim Tan even though you might not forgive me. When Tan and I met, I had no idea he was engaged, I couldn’t help but like him. When I found out about you, I felt really bad because I had already begun to like him too much. I’m never going to regret meeting and loving Kim Tan, but I regret that we ended up making you lonelier just because we wanted to be happy.”

Rachel studied Eun-sang’s face for a few minutes then she sighed. “Cha Eun-sang, I don’t need you to apologize to me, the heart wants what the heart wants. I have to admit, I really hated you at first, I hated you so much I didn’t know how to live with the hate. I liked Kim Tan at first because I felt his loneliness. I felt that we shared the same pain so we grew closer and became friends. When our parents got us engaged, I thought that it would all work out since we liked each other well enough; I assumed we would get to the point where we would love each other so much we wouldn’t be lonely anymore. I was wrong, he grew colder and more distant. When Tan left for America, he seemed like he was dead inside, like he had no reason to live. He was just existing, until he met you. The way you affected Tan was one of the reasons I hated you. You gave him a reason to want to fight and to want to live. Something no one, not even me had been able to do. I had never seen Kim Tan want something so badly as much as he wanted you. It made me jealous, not only of you, both of him as well. I wanted to live, I wanted a reason to be more than just the Heir to RS Clothing. I thought I could have what Kim Tan had if I could just find a way to break you. I was furious. Nowadays though, I’m happier. My mother and I are working on our relationship and I’m moving on from Kim Tan.” Rachel smiled and continued, “So Cha Eun-sang, in a way I should be grateful Tan met you. You indirectly gave me something to fight for and to find a reason to live again.”

“Yoo Rachel…”

“Don’t think we are friends just because we had this conversation, I still hate you a little bit.” She said and walked away. Eun-sang smiled and Lee Bo-na walked up to her.

“What was that?” she asked,

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Kim Tan leaned against the wall sipping on his punch and wondering if Eun-sang was having a good time. He saw talking to Bo-na at the other end of the room and waved at her. She waved back and continued talking to Bo-na. He was bored and he wanted to leave. He only came because Eun-sang kept pestering him. He saw Chan-young approach Bo-na and drape his arm around her shoulder, Bo-na snuggled in and kept on talking. The girl sure could talk. He glanced at where he had seen Young-do standing before but he was no longer there. He wondered where he went. “Did he leave already? How am I supposed to mend fences with him if he can’t even be in the same room as me?” He turned in the other direction and saw Young-do approach him. He swallowed hard. “I can do this, I promised Eun-sang. I can do this.”

“Kim Tan.” Young-do said.

“Choi Young-do.” He replied. Tan thought he felt the room go quiet. Everyone was probably staring at them, expecting them to start punching each other any minute.

“Can we go outside and talk? I don’t like the way people are staring.” Young-do said. Tan nodded and followed him out.

“What do you want?” Tan asked.

Young-do took a deep breath and started. “I want to apologize. I want to apologize for saying all those things about your mother, I want to apologize for not coming to see you off at the airport when you were leaving for America. I blamed you for letting my mom leave without seeing me for the last time. I hated that you left me behind when I needed a friend. I hated you for changing and becoming a better person without me. I thought we were going to do everything together. Be best friends forever, I hated that you were like my brother but you just left me. I hated that I couldn’t hold on to you because I was so ashamed and angry at my father. Most of all, I hated you because all those years, I just wanted to see you. I missed you and I wanted to see you. I wanted to tell you about everything. I wanted us to hang out and play video games like before. I wanted us to go camping like before. I wanted to tell you that I met my mother. Again, after all those years, I met her again.” He took a deep breath to steady his voice. He didn’t know how much he had missed his friend until he let it all out. He felt lighter, freer. It was a good feeling.

“You met your mother? How is she? Did she ask of me? Where is she?” Tan asked. Digging through all that hate and all the blame must have been hard for Young-do, he thought to himself.

“She is well. She runs a restaurant and she asked of you.”

“Tell her I said hi.” Kim Tan said. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and started to go back inside. He was half-way there when he turned and looked at Young-do who was still standing in place. “Young-doya,” he called out to him, “I’d like to visit your mother’s restaurant with you. If that’s okay. I have missed her cooking. Call me.” He turned and kept on walking back inside.

“What was that about?” Eun-sang asked when Tan came back in and put his arm around her waist. She was standing with Chan-young and Bo-na.

“What was what about?” Tan asked.

“Oh please, the entire room saw you and Young-do together. Did you guys go outside and fight?” Chan-young asked.

“Well if they fought, wouldn’t Kim Tan have bruises all over his face? Young-do is no joke, he does Judo and stuff.” Bo-na said.

“Did you kiss and make-up?” Eun-sang .

“Yes, we did.” Tan replied seriously and all three of them’s jaws dropped.

“Mwo-rago?” Bo-na asked.

“We have a date sometime soon. He’s going to call me.” Tan said.

“Eun-sang, did you put him up to this? You made him reconcile with Choi Young-do?” Chan-young asked.

“Daebak! If Kim Tan and Choi Young-do are getting back together, say goodbye to your boyfriend Cha Eun-sang. The two of them were practically joined at the hip before. They did everything together. You are about to be part of a love triangle Cha Eun-sang.” Bo-na tsked tsked. She patted Eun-sang on the shoulder as if feeling sorry for her and walked away with Chan-young.

When they had gone, Eun-sang smiled at Tan. “I’m proud of you.” She said.

“Yeah?”

Kim Tan got dressed in a black jeans, white T-shirt and a blue jacket and waited for Young-do at the gate of his house. Young-do was supposed to pick him up to take him to his mother’s restaurant. Young-do finally arrived in his car and Tan got in without a word. Young-do drove to his mother’s restaurant in silence. When they arrived, she was attending to customers. She beckoned them in and told them to sit themselves and that she would be with them shortly, so they sat. She eventually came up to their table, Tan and Young-do sat side by side. “Omo Tanah. It’s been so long. You are so tall now, and so handsome. Aigoo, how have you been?”

“I’ve been fine omoni. You look good too. You’re working hard.” He said and bowed without standing up.

“Aigoo, such good manners just like always. But Young-do told me you two had a fight, what was it about? Was it a girl?”

“Omma.” Young-do said.

Tan glanced at him and then smiled at his mom. “Aniyo omoni. It wasn’t anything like that. I was a little angry that Young-doya didn’t come and see me off when I left for America. But we’ve resolved it all now, haven’t we Young-doya?”

“Of course we have.” Young-do replied.

“That’s good, very good. You two shouldn’t fight. You were inseparable, like twins. Everyone always wondered why you loved each other so much. Tanah, would you like some Soondae?” she asked,

“Neh omoni, kamsahmnida.” He replied and she patted his hands and went to bring two bowls of Soondae for the both of them.

They ate their food in silence, and when they were done, Young-do’s mother asked them lots of questions. They both talked to her but never each other. When it was getting late, Young-do told his mother that he had to leave and she bid them goodbye and made them promise to not fight and come together to visit her again. Young-do dropped Tan off at the front of his house. He was about to get off when he stopped.”Young-doya, I may be going back to America soon. Would you like us to start over again before I leave? I’d like us to give our friendship another go. I realize I never told you, but I missed you too and I was very sad when you didn’t come to see me off at the airport. So, before I leave again, can we start over?” He put out his hand for a handshake and Young-do grabbed it and shook it firmly.

“I’d really like that.” He said. They both smiled at each other.

Author’s note: Hi everone, taking a break from finals to write this chapter. I hope you like it. I tried to toe the line between making Young-do and Tan’s reconciliation heartfelt and keeping it from veering into homoual territory. I hope I did a good job. I’ll be bringing Won and Da-kyung back from their honeymoon in the next chapter and also be introducing Jung So-min’s character. Watch out for that. Thanks for reading.