Walking out of the principal office surely gave him another effect than the one felt when finally exiting the small conference room, that the Embassy had provided as a substitutive sort of judging court for Ryeowook's flash trial.

He felt lighter, infinitely joyful, for some instances even suspicious that everything could still be only a dream and that he hadn't been truly freed of the murder charge that loomed over him.

Yesung's idea had worked. Kyuhyun's parents were considered believable witnesses and the evidence they brought incontestable before the law and the case that uncomfortably bound Ryeowook to something he didn't do at all.

Ryeowook was innocent. After almost twelve, long years, anyone that believed the opposite had to change idea and apologize to the unjustly sentenced man.

Leaving the uncomfortable Embassy episode already behind, Kyuhyun was already moving towards two different frontlines: the first one was, without any further doubts, his upcoming marriage; the other consisted of finding a way to help Ryeowook regain his now stained reputation and clean it of any fault that media and common people loved to attribute to whoever made good press material through gossip.

He managed to book an appointment with the conservatory's principal, hoping that a good talk about what truly happened could trigger his comprehension and accept Ryeowook back into the school as one of its qualified teachers.

However, even though the man had formally apologized for being that rushing to judge Ryeowook guilty - like more or less three-quarters of the human society around the world had done - he felt powerless before the requests forwarded by the youngest students' parents, who thought unsuitable for a man like Ryeowook to resume his position after being almost condemned to spend what remained of his life in jail. 

Appearances seemed to count much more than anything else in this world.

Fortunately not everyone thought of it the same way as the principal and those narrow-minded parents.

Kyuhyun was tightly squeezing Ryeowook's hand in his, while they walked down the hall decorated by whispers and glances of disbelief. Enraged, he only wanted to drag his sad lover away from that cursed place, where no one could fully appreciate Ryeowook's true value.

"Don't worry. We're done with them" Kyuhyun didn't even care to lowere his voice, while passing by all those people that looked at them as if they were dangerous or infected with a deadly disease "After the ceremony, we'll move out of France and live happily somewhere else, just the two of us. These fools have no idea about what they're losing, I'll be more than happy to have you play music for me all day long, instead of sharing you. I actually hate sharing you, you know?" Kyuhyun, red in the face for such a low affront, cracked a smile that looked more like an evilish grin, ready to defy any one that could claim otherwise about his luck of having Ryeowook all for himself.

Ryeowook, instead, was too shocked to actually care about Kyuhyun's blabber. He was shocked to know that his case had been sold to mass media in the first place, and that everyone on the planet had judged him before the court could do so. Despite having cleaned his momentarily dirty criminal record, he was doomed to live with the identity of a totally stranger himself sewn to his back, like Peter Pan's shadow was attatched to his owner's feet.

With void eyes, tired of spilling tears, he trailed after Kyuhyun since his hand was strongly held in his lover's one before him. His head was too full of thoughts and regrets to notice when Kyuhyun had halted in the school courtyard, until he went straight to bump into the man's back and was forced to wake up from his daze.

"Professor Kim!" some students chanted, like in chorus, when they spotted him behind Kyuhyun. The group was scarcely composed by a dozen of boys and girls, but soon it grew until almost half of the students strolling in the courtyard had successfully surrounded the couple of men and blocked them, hoping to get a chance to be heard out.

A tall, brunette girl displaying a cool, tomboyish style, stepped out of the crowd and walked towards Ryeowook with the sketch of a flyer in hands: "Professor Kim, wait a moment please!" she cried out, worried, but ready to speak for the entire group of schoolmates reunited there "We want to tell you that we didn't believe in those crappy rumors spread by reporters not even for a second! And, contrary to what many other teachers, staff people or our parents might think of you, we know that you're not a bad person. You're kind, yet strict with us because you want us to constantly reach improving stages, but that's just what we admire the most in yourself. You're the most loved teacher here! Don't abandon us!"

A fervent chatter and choruses of protest about Ryeowook's departure rose among the students, who didn't want the man to leave them.

Astonished, Ryeowook tried to speak but no sound ever left his throat, despite his quivering lips. He knew that there was someone who still loved him, and his students were the living proof of that. His heart swelled with a wave of unexpected happiness, his eyes got watery as he witnessed the discontent of his students, but felt powerless as for granting their request.

"I-I thank you all for thinking so dearly of me, but-" he tried to calm them, but those words ignited an opposite reaction.

"If the principal doesn't want to hire you back, we will stop attending classes!" some of them threatened, and others nodded.

"Look at this!" the girl offered him the colorful flyer that had yet to be fixed with the final layout "We're all gathering money to book the Opera theater stage and organize a concert for you. We're sure it might help you relaunch and advert your reputation as one of the greatest pianists of modern times, please..." she shifted on her feet while pleading him to accept the piece of paper and take a look at the project which all those young students were investing so much efforts into.

"I don't deserve it" Ryeowook sighed "It's all about your precious savings, that theater costs too much for you, it would be just bothersome"

Kyuhyun interrupted him with a light squeeze on his upper arm. His tender gaze suggested the pianist to surrender to the will of his obstinate students and accept that gift of high consideration. He shook his head and silently smiled, wanting for Ryeowook to understand that maybe this could be a solution to his latest trouble.

In the meanwhile the students were kept hanging, hope overflowing from their facial features as they intended to pour all their appreciation for their professor in the project.

"Thank you" Ryeowook exhaled in the end, still a bit flustered and unable to find proper words to convey all his gratefulness for the thought "I hope you're right this time" he cracked a little smile and accepted the flyer, taking a look at the advertisment plan: he was to perform a rather demanding setlist of compositions in order to catch the attention of the attending public "I better put together a convincing performance if I want to take back my legit place in this school, right?" he giggled in the end, sounding much calmer than before, his heart filled with a last sparkle of hope.

Having managed to make him change his mind, the gathered students loudly cheered for their professor and promised not to let his expectations down.

"I'm not the only one who loves you so much then, I should feel jealous of them all" Kyuhyun grinned into his lover's ear as his hand sneaked around Ryeowook's waist and drew him close to his side, while the couple walked away from the little crowd of students. Ryeowook, finally a bit more relieved, chuckled behind a hand as he leaned in the hold and let Kyuhyun kiss him on a cheek: "Don't feel threatened, I am grateful to them, but you're the only subject of my deep love...no matter what happens"

"No matter what happens?" Kyuhyun asked again, in a sort of confirmation. Already on the other side of the school gate, away from the latest source of the pianist's problems, Ryeowook stopped in his track and turned to Kyuhyun, busy at teasingly straighten the latter's shirt collar before successfully pulling it so that Kyuhyun was forced to bend a little bit down in his direction: "No matter what happens" and despite not feeling like the happiest person living on Earth due to his sudden dismissal from the work he loved, Ryeowook felt in need to open up in a sincere smile and mesmerize once again Kyuhyun, as if that were the very first time.

"Have faith in those little brats, they're offering you the chance to show the world your true colors" Kyuhyun said after pecking Ryeowook's lips twice or thrice. He held him around the shoulders and made way up to the place his car was parked.

"I only hope they're right. I wouldn't want them to waste so much money on me, I don't deserve it" Ryeowook shrugged.

"Now, look at me" Kyuhyun halted once again. This time Ryeowook was made twirl around right before getting inside the car, where he briefly rested his back as he attentively looked up at Kyuhyun "You deserve much better than that, but they love you and don't want to lose you. Every chance to fight is a worthy one, don't let them down!" he murmured as his hands lovingly cupped Ryeowook's face and held him merely one breath apart from his own "I'm sure it will work, your music is to be judged, not you. But, hey! If it doesn't work, I'll personally pay all your students back and add something more for their disturb" 

Ryeowook's corners of the mouth lifted in another smile while he slowly nodded: "You're the best man I could have ever wished to marry, Kyuhyun" he decleared as his body crashed against the other man's, his chin rested on Kyuhyun's shoulder and his arms closed around his body, small hands travelling on his shoulder blades in soothing caresses.

"I know" Kyuhyun acknowledged his lover's words, but while most of the time his statement could be meaning just a display of his huge ego, this time he was a little worried about such a high consideration Ryeowook nurtured towards him. Not that he disliked any of it, but sometimes Zhou Mi's words threateningly resonated in his brain, especially the part about him being the only source of Ryeowook's true harm.

With a light shake of his head that thought escaped him and as if nothing had truly happened to ruin his mood, he craned his neck to reach Ryeowook's, where he planted small, repetitive kisses and tried to coax him to calmness.

---ooo---

"Damn, why must I be this late?" Kyuhyun mumbled as he dodged every corner of the house, furniture included. "Because you're an idiot, Cho Kyuhyun, a perfect idiot who checked a brand new project instead of following and supporting your fiancé during the most important day of his life!" this other half within himself pushed him to curse out loud as he walked up to the front door and abruptly stopped.

He twirled around and hopped back into the living room, where his suit jacket was. Grabbing the garment, he quickly put it on, straightened the hems of his jackets with a quick move of his hands, loosened his wrist cuffs enough in order not to feel them too tight on his skin and, after passing by the mirror, studying his outer looks, fixing his bangs with a slight nod of satisfaction, picking up the car keys, he finally rushed outside.

Cho Kyuhyun was about to follow Ryeowook and Zhou Mi to the theater early that morning, since it was the big day of Ryeowook's sort of comeback performance after the short two weeks hiatus from his teaching position. However, when he was right on the door, he got a sudden phone call from the office branch in Seoul about a brand new project in joint collaboration with the American partners that needed his supervision.

Work. Yet another important day was about to be screwed up because of his work, and Kyuhyun would probably never forget that killer stare Zhou Mi had given him before accompanying Ryeowook outside. His lover was perfectly fine and even understanding towards Kyuhyun's necessities - or maybe he was too stressed about wanting to deliver a flawless performance later, and didn't even give a damn about Kyuhyun's unexpected delay - but Zhou Mi wasn't the least as understanding as his best friend was. 

The Chinese had recently stated in Kyuhyun's face which were, according to him, Kyuhyun's faults towards Ryeowook, that included: monopolizing him, showing too much jealousy and too little support, feeding an infinite sea of lies, prioritizing his work and the list wouldn't have ended that soon.

He didn't want to mention the fact that Ryeowook was way too devoted to Kyuhyun, almost to the point of reaching obsession, but he believed he loved Ryeowook enough so not to perceive it as one, instead as true, deep love. Which was the case between them, of course. But Zhou Mi was one to easily trust people, just as much as he mistrusted them all, one never knew whom happened to enter his life, anyway.

So, after spending more than one hour in front of his computer screen, totally drowning in phone calls, Kyuhyun finally managed to take notice of the running time and rush to his destination with the only hope to make it in time to enter the hall without missing any of his lover's compositions.

Or...yes, that was what he wished for, while stuck in the traffic jam.

"Where the are you?" Yesung gave him a call. Sitting at his honor place among the crowd, he earned a bad glare from Kyuhyun's mother next to him, who had happened to hear the curse against his own son. The lawyer cracked an apologetic smile, half nodded with his head and turned to the other side, where Kyuhyun's empty spot ironically filled the space between him and Zhou Mi's seat.

"I know!" Kyuhyun yelled as he threw another fist at the steering wheel "I'm stuck between tons of other cars, if I could just transport myself there with the power of some psychic abilities I clearly lack of, well I'd glady do that!" 

"Hurry up and bring your here, lights are about to go off and when that happens a group of students is gonna introduce Ryeowook on stage!" Yesung hissed and explained.

"How's the hall?" Kyuhyun bit his lips as the thought of him missing the performance was pure torture. He didn't want to imagine Ryeowook's deep look of disappointment, if he ever got notice that the person he loved the most in the world was late at such an important event.

"The crowd's packed! Tickets have gone sold out and there are journalists on siege position right in front of the backdoor" Yesung's words didn't really reassure Kyuhyun, even though he had hoped that Ryeowook's value could be properly celebrated.

A light beep coming from his phone interrupted his call: "Wait a minute, I've got a text to check" Kyuhyun put on halt Yesung's call and fiddled with the touch screen buttons to open his mailbox. But he better had to ignore it, because now that he saw the content of the text, he couldn't possibly go back in time.

He wished he had never known what was happening right on the other side of Paris.

"What's wrong?" Yesung's voice from the speaker woke Kyuhyun from his daze. Even though the man had considerably paled, started to sweat cold and his heart had seemed to stop, he found the necessary strength to press his thin phone on the ear and share the shocking news with Yesung: "It's the hospital. They've got instructions to inform me when Jiwon would have gone into labour"

Yesung held his breath, almost not wanting to know how the gears in Kyuhyun's brain were overly working in stress: "So?" he gulped with difficulty.

"I...I need to go. Siwon's not here and she doesn't have anyone to help her with the delivery" Kyuhyun closed his eyes and let out that sentence that weighed so heavy, yet was the only right thing to do.

"There's plenty of doctors at a hospital, they will perfectly take care of her!" Yesung argued.

"I...will rush to Ryeowook's side as soon as Jiwon and the baby are safe and sound. I owe her at least this" Kyuhyun explained, hating himself for the grave decision he had just opted for. Ryeowook was surely going to hate him too for abandoning him in favor of the woman who had almost successfully ruined their lives.

"And how much does she exactly owe you, Kyuhyun? Mhm?" Yesung tried to reason with his best friend, but it was too late "Kyuhyun?! You !" the man contained a curse as the line had been hang up and it wasnt surely time to argue with his dead phone, now that Ryeowook had just walked on stage and was about to fix himself at the piano stool.

Ryeowook looked a bit too shy as he stood under the spotlights and carefully eyed the gathered crowd. He didn't really expect his concert to go sold out, especially not after the bad gossips on his behalf. However, as soon as he turned around and sat on the piano stool, as soon as his feet reached the pedals and his fingers stretched on the black and white keys to tune the instrument, a newly confident smile emerged on Ryeowook's lips, fully aware that this was just the thing he knew how to do at his best and which, for that reason, wasn't to be a source of worry or fright.

He just needed to play and showcase his valuable talent to everyone willing to hear him; thoughts, opinions and judgements didn't matter, they came in second position compared to his huge love for music. And that instict drove him to pour his soul into the overflowing notes that filled the huge hall.

He only wished for Kyuhyun to be in the crowd and see that new version of himself, a new, confident man that he had come to love after fixing his own worries and that he hoped Kyuhyun could appreciate from the bottom of his heart, because that would have been the man who would have showed up at the altar soon, very soon.

Thoughts of the imminent ceremony popped up in his mind, as he linked the biggest emotion of giving himself to Kyuhyun as his lifelong, most precious gift, with the freedom conveyed by the music he played. Kyuhyun was his all, Kyuhyun was the freedom of love itself, a bright red symbol of passion.

Kyuhyun was... He smiled as he noticed Kyuhyun's absence from the crowd. 

Ryeowook's head turned in the direction of his supporters because his eyes couldn't stand the sight of his beloved pearl white keys turning ruby red, he wanted to understand why they were dyed that color, first of all. Then, he would have asked the reason of Kyuhyun's absence, if he ever managed to make it to the end of the day. But he would have understood, always, whichever his lover's excuse for abandoning him was.

Thus, his smile wasn't the least bitter, or resentful. His lips parted and let out a sigh, probably the very last one - or so he feared - which instead came out as a cough of iron-tasting blood. Like carmine lipstick, his lips glowed under the pale spotlight, but he couldn't see it of course, he could just feel the dense trickle slowly running down his chin and falling on the little pool that had previously stained the keyboard.

After the loud bang that had interrupted the harmonious flow of the music, the stream of his thoughts of love, people screamed and started to rush outside the hall, others watched in struck terror as Ryeowook slowly slipped down in his seat and fell unconscious on the keys, his friends and family ran to his side to offer first aid.

"Ryeowook!" Zhou Mi painfully screamed, his trembling voice resulting overcasting compared to the other scared chattering of escaping people "Ryeowook, wake up!" the man knelt by Ryeowook's side and gently held him in his hug.

Kyuhyun's parents tried their best to contact the ambulance despite neither of them knowing any French or English, and in the end they were helped by some students that still lingered around the scene to provide help as best as they could; Yesung instead had ran in the opposite direction and was fighting against time and space in order to reach the spotted shadow of the man he believed to be the only culprit and whose identity he feared to know so well.

"Ryeowook, you can do it, I know you can do it!" Zhou Mi frantically spoke to the pale ghost of his best friend, slowly fading away in his arms. He began to cry and his blood-stained hands cupped Ryeowook's cold cheeks to warm him up: "Don't ever think of closing those eyes, you brat! Don't do that, understand?!" he shouted from the top of his lungs, but Ryeowook only smiled this dumb smile that never whitered from his thin, ruby lips.

"Mi..." he croaked. The flame that had set on fire first his stomach, where the guilty bullet had hit him, was now spreading everywhere else and his body ached, it stung and burnt despite being totally paralysed in Zhou Mi's arms. Tears were gushing from his eyes, but he didn't even notice he was crying, not until Zhou Mi began to wipe those crystals of salty water with his thumb.

"Mi..." again he tried to speak, but failed since a clot of blood was stuck in his throat and slowly climbed up with each of the words he tried to speak.

"Don't speak, Ryeowook. Help is on the way! We'll take you to a hospital and there you'll be fine again, just don't ever close your eyes! Listen to me, damn!" Zhou Mi dared to lightly scroll his dying best friend by the shoulders, realizing afterwards that it wasn't a very wise move to do, since Ryeowook's wound had only opened a few inches more.

"Kyu...Kyu-hyun" another cough of blood stained his jaw, but he bravely endured his pain "Tell..him..I love him...tell..him..I forgive him...every-thing..." and there it was: the only thing Zhou Mi had never wanted to say to Kyuhyun - if he were the petite man - was shoved directly into his face in hope of being declared to Kyuhyun.

"No, no, no" Zhou Mi quickly shook his head in denial. He was too proud to do that, but in particular he wanted Ryeowook to tell his lover about what he felt for him: "I won't say anything to him, because you'll tell him. Remember? You are about to get married to him, you can't let him down, and most importantly...you can't let him live with me alone! We might set the house on fire or blow it up!" 

Ryeowook coughed again, this time probably emitting a faint laugh at Zhou Mi's words, but that hurt and his eyes were feeling too heavy to be kept open. 

"Eric was here, he shot Ryeowook, causing him a deadly injury. The good news is that I ran after him and caught him, the bad one is that the ambulance is gonna rush to take Ryeowook to the hospital but...he doesn't look very good"

The light bothered him, voices all around bothered him, but he could still decipher what the familiar voice of Yesung was explaining over the phone, probably to Kyuhyun and not hiding a hint of desperation. Then his slow breath stopped and his sight darkened. 

Peace was finally dawning on to him.

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A/N: No, I don't hate you...you might be wondering why I make my bias suffer this much... well, I talked about a lot of things in this fanfiction, I couldn't simply let all those points go wasted! I needed to shape them all into a seemingly believable circle with a beginning and an end that could perfectly follow up. So, if I mentioned a lot of troubles, shouldn't I at least look for a way to solve them all?

Ryeowook's violence has got a theraphy session with the doctor; Eric's threat to Kyuhyun (by exploiting Ryeowook) has got Ryeowook charged with a crime he didn't do; now Ryeowook gets shot, which, if you think about it, had to be the right way ever since Midnight Blues! The shot that hit Ahra was supposed to be hitting Ryeowook at the beginning, this comes almost twelve years later but the cool thing is that it happens! I'm sorry, I'm rambling because it's very late and I am not able to think/speak in English anymore at this time of the day (I still need to go to work tomorrow morning and gosh I need plenty of rest because I'm not feeling very well) but I'm here for you...just try to think about it for a second, if you can. 

I purposely thought of this chain of events, not because I wanted to anger or get my reader bored with all this series of mishaps, but because they NEEDED to happen in the initial plan of my story. I was a bit disappointed to read that you got bored T_T It wasn't my intention...anyway...I've finished writing the very last chapter, but I need to check it out tomorrow before updating it.

In the meanwhile, please comment to this chapter as well and let me know what you think about the said "circle" in the plot.

I'm sorry for not replying to your comments in the meanwhile, please be aware that I highly appreciate them all and I always leave a little spot to mention all of you readers in my notes ^^ I'm happy as long as you're happy :D