Gone

History

Half a year had passed since Jieun had last seen Chanyeol at the party, and she felt a little lighter about the whole issue.

Although it still hurt somewhere in her heart, she could fold Chanyeol into a corner of her memories like the fond memory of one spring day. It was getting a little easier for her to accept that Chanyeol and she lived in a completely different world, and the tale of Cinderella was really.. just a fairytail.

But none of that mattered, because she had Myungsoo.

Jieun sat on the floor of Myungsoo's private photography office, helping him organize all the old pictures that he had to pack away in the shelves. Jieun could feel how much Myungsoo trusted her, because she remembered - he never lets anyone into his private office.

Jieun grabbed a bunch of picture and sorted them based on the dates, clipping them together. Jieun opened the brown box in the corner and to her surprise, only stared at the pictures in silence.

On the top of the pile was the picture of Chanyeol and Myungsoo, with their mothers behind them. Behind Myungsoo stood Mrs.Kim with her hands on his shoulder, and behind Chanyeol was presumably.. his real mother hugging him from the back. She stared at the picture and at Chanyeol's bright smile. She had to say, it was the brightest she had ever seen him smile.

She flipped to the next picture and laughed at the small cut out picture of Chanyeol and Myungsoo from a very long time ago.

"They were still good looking even when they were young," she chuckled and continued to flip through.

Her smile faded away a little as she reached the last picture.

It was the picture that she had seen when she accidently entered Myungsoo's room for the first time at the mansion; the picture of Chanyeol and Myungsoo with their arms around each other at the large baseball stadium, the large camera hung around Myungsoo's neck.

When she saw the picture back then, she didn't know what this really meant.

But now, it all made sense.

Wasn't there a way to bring them back together like this?

"Sorry," Myungsoo walked back into the room with a bunch of cameras in his arms. "I had to change the lenses."

Myungsoo rested the cameras on the large stool and sat down next to Jieun, shrugging bitterly as he stared at the picture in Jieun's hands. He took out the rest of the piles in the brown box and spread them all out, staring at it meaninglessly.

Jieun looked and saw numerous pictures of Myungsoo, Chanyeol, and Suzy side by side.

They looked like the happiest children in the world without a thing to worry about. Jieun's eyes stopped at one picture of the three at their middle school graduation, each of them hugging a bunch of flowers in their arms. She could tell that's when Chanyeol's life became calamitous, because beside Myungsoo and Suzy who were smiling brightly, Chanyeol stood there with a hunched shoulder, his smile dying down.

"What.. exactly happened Myungsoo?"

Jieun asked carefully, looking at his sullen face.

"You don't have to tell me Myungsoo," she looked into his eyes and smiled, holding his hands. "If it makes you uncomfortable."

"No," he said. "I should be able to tell this to my girlfriend."

Jieun bit her lips at the expression girlfriend.

She didn't know why, but everytime Myungsoo said that, she felt a little discomfort somewhere in her.

"As you probably figured out," Myungsoo dragged out the picture of Chanyeol and Myungsoo with each of their mothers. "Chanyeol and I were friends before we became brothers."

He stared at the picture for some time and placed it back into its spot.

"Chanyeol's father was a severe alcoholic and uh.. he would constantly abuse Chanyeol, his brother and his mother. It was during 4th grade that Chanyeol came running to my house with Chan-young on his back, barefeet. He was crying, and I remember he was on his knees begging me to save his mother."

He sighed.

"We called the ambulance and when we got to his house, it turned out that his father stabbed his mother. They got Mrs.Park to the hospital but they didn't make it in time."

Jieun only listened, her heart sinking.

"We found out later that Chanyeol's father had dropped Chanyeol and Chanyoung from the family registration and ran away with another woman. His brother was the only thing that Chanyeol had left, but even Chanyoung was taken away because they were designated to different orphanages in the process."

Jieun looked down and remembered the time Chanyeol mentioned Chanyoung when they visited his mother's grave.

"My father was always fond of Chanyeol because he was a well rounded student. As a friend, he was my role model too. But ever since he went into the orphanage, I think he started going out of track, you know?"

"What do you mean?"

"He had a hard time coping and.. started hanging out with the wrong friends, started doing the wrong things, getting his hands on drugs and cigarettes."

"That young?"

"I wanted to help him," he said quietly. "I didn't want him to lose the amazing life he could have had. I begged my dad if he could adopt Chanyeol, and I knew it was impossible. But being the er for his son, my father agreed. It was only foolish of me to not have realized he had this all planned out."

"Planned out..?"

"Although I was his real son, he didn't see any potential in me as the next inheritor of his million dollar company. As I said, he was always more fond of Chanyeol than I in terms of business. I realized later when I overheard in his study room, that he adopted Chanyeol for the sake of his own company."

Jieun sat there, shocked.

"When my father finally adopted him, it was like a dream come true. My best friend was now my brother. But.. that's when things started changing."

He sighed.

"One day, he called us into our room and told us that I would be going to Italy to study photography, while Chanyeol had to cancel his entrance into a sports high school and enter a business high school. I think it was then, we knew we couldn't stay like the way we did before. I grew to hate the fact that he only saw Chanyeol as the hope of the family, while he grew to hate the fact that he had to give up everything while I got to pursue what I was passionate about."

Jieun only stared at the pictures silently.

" I used to think that I was forced to hate him because of the wall that our father put inbetween us. But now I realized, even if this wall is gone we'd still have our backs against each other."

"I've always wondered if I could bring you guys back together," she said. "Just like this." she picked up the picture of Chanyeol and Myungsoo, arms around each other.

"That'll never happen."

"Yes it can," she nodded quietly.

Myungsoo looked at her with a soft smile.

"You said he had to give up everything," she looked into his eyes. "Chanyoung."

He looked at her.

"If we find Chanyoung, we can give him the large part of his life that he's lost."

"I-" Myungsoo snorted. "I can't."

"Yes you can," she looked into his eyes and nodded.

'What use is it? Do you think he's going to bow down to me and say thank you let's be on good terms again if I bring Chanyoung infront of his face?"

"That's not what I mean-"

"If I did that 9 months ago before he got appointed to the U.S it could have worked but he's leaving now Jieun. Father will not allow Chanyeol to be dragged back just because of family and love."

"What..?" Jieun asked, doubting what she had just heard.

"America..?"

"Y..eah," Myungsoo stuttered. "You didn't know? He's been appointed to the U.S headquarters-"

Before Myungsoo could finish his words, she stood up and rushed out of the room, out of the apartment, her heart beating anxiously.

She grabbed her bike and frantically cycled all the way out of the apartment complex, on her way to the mansion.

Myungsoo watched from the window with a bitter smile.

"I knew it."

Jieun trashed the bike on the floor, past the lamp post where she had first met Chanyeol, up the steep steps that she would always climb up with Chanyeol behind her. She felt tears flow down her face as she rushed up the steps and pushed the heavy gate, running toward the large mansion. All the lights of the rooms were turned off except the one in the far corner; Chanyeol's room.

Her leg was still mildly in pain because of the cut, but she knew limping would slow her down.

She hated him even more.

How could he not say a single thing this entire time?

She rushed through the big door and up the grand stairs, running toward his bedroom.

She burst the door open and watched as the room that was once filled with baseball trophies and posters of famous baseball players had all been stripped off, and nothing remained except the colorless furniture. Jieun watched as Chanyeol walked out of the closet room with his baseball uniform in his hands, staring at Jieun dumbfoundly as he hid the uniform behind his back.

On the bed was his large suitcase, and next to it was his passport and plane ticket.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, startled.

She looked a the plane ticket, then at him.

She walked up to him and punched his chest, shoving him around.

"What are you doing?" Chanyeol screamed and grabbed her wrist.

"You didn't think this was worth mentioning before?" She grabbed the plane ticket and held it to his face.

He sighed and released her, snatching the ticket off her.

"It's none of your business," he tucked the ticket back into his passport and continued packing. Jieun watched as he slipped his baseball uniform off the hanger and folded it neatly, placing it into his suitcase.

"Don't get married." she blurted.

He paused for a second but continued packing.

"Don't go to America."

He ignored her.

"Stay here."

He sighed and turned around and was about to say something when Jieun's watery eyes stopped him.

"Stop joking around," he turned his view. "This isn't a child's game."

"You don't listen to me anymore," she chuckled meaninglessly. "But then again, did you ever?"

"Ok, what do you want?" he shot at her.

"Do you remember what I said to you before I left?"

"It's not too late. It would only take one word, if you said you liked me."

"You remember,"

"What was I supposed to do Jieun?" he slammed his baseball jacket on the floor.

"Why can't you be honest about what you feel?"

"500 thousand. That's the number of employees and family members I have to take responsibility for - 500 thousand. Try taking on 500 thousand lives, and see if you can be honest about what you feel."

"I-" Jieun couldn't say anything.

"You want me to be honest?" he looked into her eyes.

She only looked back at him, lost in thoughts.

"Fine, I'll be honest with you." he sighed. "Truth is, I'm still madly in love with you. Each day I cry myself to sleep because I've lost the love of my life to my brother. Because each time I think of you I always think about the things I couldn't do for you, my heart aches so much that I have to be on pills every night. I have to pretend I love someone that I don't, when my head is filled with you 24/7. And do you know what's worse? I have to travel away from the person I love, all the way to the other side of the universe where my return is not even guaranteed anytime soon. I have to work like a dog for someone who I've never considered my father in the first place, and I can't escape."

Chanyeol blurted without a single breath and slapped his face to stop the tears coming out.

"Even if I want to be with you, I can't." he said. "Not anymore."

She took a step toward him but stopped when he backed away.

She slipped out the pendent from her pocket and gave it to him. "Here," she said, hurt.

He quietly took the pendent and slipped it into his pocket.

He zipped up his suitcase and grabbed his passport and ticket, looking at Jieun one last time before he walked past her, out of the door.

"I will wait." Jieun blurted.

Chanyeol paused for a second, then continued his way downstairs, into the car and gone.

Jieun felt like the entire world was collapsing on her.

She could survive the past 6 months without seeing him because she knew he could be reached somehow. But now, she could no longer walk into the mansion and see the face that she wanted to see.

"I lied too Chanyeol," she said into the empty room. "I thought I had finally forgotten you, but everytime I see your face, I know that.. I'm madly in love with you too."

But her words were no use, for he was already gone.

Author's Note

Hi guys! I'm sorry, I update like.. every century I swear. It's just that College applications are due at the end of next month and I still have a ton of college essays to do as well as taking some SATs and managing my grades.. I found time today because it was the only day I had some time left. I was watching Scarlet Heart Ryeo and I literally cried at the part where 10th Prince Eun was killed by 4th Prince So. It was so sad when Haesoo was reminiscing all the time she had with Eun I was like bawling my eyes out god