Chapter Eight

Daehyun’s Point of View:

Holding my head in my hands, I rested myself on the couch. Ae Hwa gently sat beside me but not too close.

The money was used for the boys, so that they have a place to stay and some food to keep them alive. I guess money for the rent was taken away as well. I didn’t mind and I wasn’t angry, I was just...guilty, that’s all.

For other people, I know they wouldn’t have reacted the same way as I had but I couldn’t help it, the money wasn’t even mine anyways. I’m guessing that you guys are wondering why I’m like this, right? Let’s just say that I didn’t live in a family like Ae Hwa’s. I wasn’t spoiled. I wasn’t unloved. I wasn’t rich.

My family used to be chased by loan sharks almost every day. My father left me and my mother when I was still in middle school. He was a gambler and left us with a huge debt that was impossible to pay off. The worse thing was that I wasn’t the only child in the family that my mother had to take care of. I have 5 other siblings.

My mother was a strong woman and inspiring, too. She took care of 6 children all by herself and still had to deal with loan sharks. When some of my siblings and I finally got older we took up multiple jobs just to help out our mother. Ultimately we paid majority of what the loan sharks were chasing after.

During that time, school was starting to become a big problem for me. Work took up too much space, distractions were everywhere and my grades dropped – which to me, was surprising. My IQ was high.

Eventually I was, well...let’s just say I got hurt, a lot.

Never had I ever planned to tell my mother this as I didn’t want to worry her anymore that she already is. However she found out, thanks to Youngjae, and decided to use the money that we had be saving up to get me into a school where nobody knew me. She bought me an apartment and paid the school fees. Of course I resented this and refused to go, but she insisted and the look in her eyes couldn’t make me decline.

This made the rate of our money drop and I felt the guilt rising. Today made everything worse. Thinking back to then and how hard we worked to earn the money made me realise that I might’ve done the wrong thing.

I was torn. My guilt was for both parties, my family and my friends. I just wasted the money that my mother had given me so that I could finally live a peaceful life just so that the guilt that I felt for the guys would go away. They’ve done a lot for me and has stilled stayed beside me this whole entire time, and I will keep on repeating this until my guilt has finally worn off. I always did take them for granted.

I rubbed my forehead and thought for a while. Ae Hwa still sat beside me not saying a word which surprised me as I thought she was going to blurt out why I was so stressed that I was losing my apartment. But I spoke too soon.

Ae Hwa’s Point of View:

“Daehyun, are you...uh...okay?” I asked him.

He kept his head in his hands and didn’t reply in any way.

I didn’t want to attack him any questions but my curiosity got the better of me. I didn’t understand why losing an apartment was a big deal, I mean it is just an apartment anyways, there are other places to live plus he has Youngjae.

“Can’t you stay with Youngjae?” I asked.

He shook his head.

“Get another apartment with the money you’ve earned from the cafe?” I asked again.

He shook his head.

“What about your parents? They—” BANG! I was interrupted by the sound of Daehyun slamming his hands on the coffee table.

I became startled and flinched a little by his sudden outburst. He was a cheetah as he quickly got up and hurried to his room, slamming the door shut. I flinched again.

What did I do wrong? I asked myself.

Sighing, I looked over to the coffee table to see the cake still there an uneaten. Might’ve not guessed, but today is my birthday and I was hoping to eat this cake with someone, someone meaning Daehyun. The girls haven’t called me or anything to say happy birthday because I never told them when my birthday was. It didn’t seem that important.

I sighed again. Daehyun must be mad. The moment I mentioned his parents he just got up and walked away, maybe he’s like me, what if his parents to care for him? Or am I just over thinking it? I don’t know anymore.

My mission is getting harder and harder as time goes by.

Then it came to me. What if I helped him get some money to buy him a new apartment, would that help? I guess it would!

I smiled at my idea, jumped up from the couch and started dancing to crazy by 4minute. I immediately stopped once I noticed what I w