Summer passed. Autumn came like the smooth breeze of falling leaves. The trees were decorated with red and yellow highlights with orange mixed into the bold colors. The weather got cold, but people liked the cool air that summer left behind. When September started coming in, students went back to school. Jieun, Jiho, and Minah were gone for a few weeks, trying to catch up with the second semester.

That left Jiyong alone for a few months. He didn't really know what was going on with Jieun and the rest, but he did have a vague understanding of how they were doing whenever Minah came to complete her shift.

"They're fine," she had told him a week before. "Currently the school has been asking us what we want to do, and they're thinking hard about that."

"What do you want to do?" Jiyong had asked. The only response he got was a hard blush and silence. 

If they're thinking about their future, Jiyong thought one day, then they would come to me and ask, right?

And he was right. The three delinquents had came over to the store one day, asking him what he wanted to do when he was younger.

"I want to follow you!" Wonshik exclaimed. He frowned. "I wrote that on my paper, but the teacher told me to find a realistic dream."

"That's why I wrote a convenience store worker, but then the teacher ripped it up and told me to be more ambitious," Changshik revealed.

"King Kwon, what did you write?" Kyungsoo asked.

"Me?" Jiyong asked. He thought about it for a few minutes. "I said that I wanted to succeed my dad's business."

The three boys looked, genuinely surprised. Their king had never talked about anything family-related. Well, for the most part, anything about Jiyong's history was a taboo. It was strange for them to hear him talk about his family, but it intrigued them to listen more.

"Your dad had a business?" Kyungsoo repeated.

"Yeah. It was a good one, too. I wanted help bring his name up. He was my role model," Jiyong revealed.

"Did the teachers tear your paper like mine?" Changshik asked.

"Nope. They supported it whole-heartedly."

Changshik frowned. "Why is it that some adults favor one occupation more than others? I thought happiness mattered."

"It's either money or happiness, and you have to choose one. You can't choose both," Wonshik complained. He looked at Jiyong. "What did you choose, King Kwon?"

"I chose money," he said. Pure expression of disappointment shadowed the three's faces. "Later, I chose happiness."

They brightened up, but fell back into a confused expression.

"Why did you choose money before happiness first?" Wonshik asked.

"Money is what I grew up with. I thought that was the only thing that mattered. Money made me happy," Jiyong said honestly.

"What changed?" Changshik asked.

Jiyong looked at his fourth finger with a bitter expression. "People changed. That's what changed." He looked at them with a weak smile. "I was living a life where money controlled me. I didn't want that anymore."

They were confused. What did he mean by money "controlling" him? 

"So how did you choose happiness?" Kyungsoo asked him.

"I threw everything away," he said. Then, in a quiet voice, he added, "I ran away."

There was a moment of silence. Although the three wanted to press on the conversation, they knew very well that Jiyong didn't want to. They were lucky that they got to hear a bit of what he had to say about his previous life, and they made sure to hold onto it and treasure it.

"Well," Wonshik started, slowly getting up. "I need to go. I need to find out what I want to do with my life."

"Same," Changshik said. "I also have to feed Boss."

"How is the cat doing, by the way?" Jiyong asked.

"Great! She's pretty aggressive though. She caught a dead bird for me. It was gross, but cool," Changshik said.

Jiyong's ears perked up. "A dead bird?"

"Yep. Unfortunately, it was a small baby chick. We have no idea where it came from," Kyungsoo said.

Oh. Jiyong recalled an old dream he had early about a dead chick. This sounds like a dream I had. How odd.

"Anyway, you guys should go," Jiyong said, quickly pushing away the thought. "It's getting late. I'm sure Jiho will be looking for you."

"Oh shoot. I almost forgot about Jiho," Kyungsoo said. He was the first to rush out the door, following by Wonshik and Changshik.

When the three left, Jiyong found himself alone. He paused for a moment, then closed his eyes gently when he figured that no one was going to come in. He rested his elbow against his chin as he leaned his cheek against his fist. With his eyes still closed, he took in the silence and tried to remember the bits of memories he had held in the past.

* * *

The future was a hard topic to talk about, especially for Jieun. She had always dreamt of marrying Chanyeol and staying home as a housewife. However, she couldn't go back to Chanyeol anymore. She was done with him.

Unfortunately for her, he was not.

On that particular night, Jieun came back from the library only to find Chanyeol leaning against a random wall. When she stopped walking, the broken boy quickly swung his head to the side. In one swift movement, he uncovered his hood and removed his bangs from his eyes. He walked towards her in a brisk manner, then grabbed her wrist so that she wouldn't run away.

"What are you doing here?" Jieun asked. She frowned. "How do you know I live around here?"

"I've heard that you're living with Minah. Minah didn't tell me this, but some of her old friends did," Chanyeol explained. "Plus, I know where Minah lives."

She scowled. "What do you want, Chanyeol?"

"I want us."

"I don't."

"Please, Jieun," he said in a small voice. "I was wrong."

She didn't look at him in the eyes. "You don't know what you did wrong."

He kept quiet. She was right. To Chanyeol, it didn't seem like he did anything wrong. It seemed like things just went wrong—that their relationship took a wild turn. Still, he pressed on, asking for her to come back to his side. He was miserable. Venting out his anger just wasn't the same. Sure, he swung a chair or two at her, but so what?

"Please, Jieun," he repeated. "I'll do anything."

"Leave me alone," Jieun snapped.

"Why won't you come back to me? I said I was sorry!" he said, raising his voice. His patience was limited, and Jieun was aware of this. Still, she stood her grounds.

"Chanyeol, if you don't know why I left you in the first place, then there is absolutely no way that I will come back to you."

"What? Is it because you love someone else?" His expression grew cold. "You like Jiho, don't you? You were really cheating on me, right?"

Her eyes grew wide, offended. "How could you possibly say that? Chanyeol, I've told you several times that Jiho is my friend! I—" She stopped herself, then let out a shaky sigh. "Can we just stop it here? Things will be much better if we officially recognize that there's nothing between us anymore—"

"But there is something between us!" Chanyeol insisted. His grip around her wrist became tighter, and Jieun flinched from the pain.

"Let go, Chanyeol! It hurts!" she told him. "Don't make me call the cops!"

"Why aren't you listening to me?" he asked, clenching his teeth. "Jieun, what made you change? Where's the Jieun I loved? The sweet Jieun who loves me?"

Jieun couldn't believe what he was saying. What made her change? Her change? She wanted to scream at him for being a blockhead, but the only thing she wanted to do was have Chanyeol let go of her wrist. Her hand was turning as white as snow, and she swore that she saw fingerprints marking her thin wrist.

Right when she was about to scream, she heard a voice behind her: "Park Chanyeol, let go of her right now!"

The two looked up and turned. Minah glowered at Chanyeol, then marched over to the two. She used all of her strength to pull the two apart. Jieun quickly withdrew her hand to the side and gently rubbed her sore wrist. As she hid behind Minah, the angry girl took a step forward and crossed her arms.

Chanyeol looked at her in disgust. "Ugh. It's only you."

"Well, it seeing you, too," Minah snarled back. "What the hell are you doing around here?"

"This is my business with Jieun. Leave the two of us alone—"

"Heck no! I'm not going to leave her with you. If you know what's best for you, I suggest you leave," Minah told him. 

He only growled. "You were a pest from the beginning. Tell you what, if you leave me with Jieun for a couple of minutes, then I'll give you two—no, three—friends back."

Hearing this, Minah let out a fake laugh. "Really? You're giving me something that you took away? How thoughtless of you, Chanyeol. I found better people to hang out with. Get out of here."

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into, Minah. You know that I can take people away from you just like that," he said, snapping his fingers at the last word.

"You've already taken away everything I had. You stripped me down to the core. Now, leave," Minah demanded.

"I'll only leave if Jieun asks me to—"

"Please, leave," Jieun said quickly, not waiting for Chanyeol to finish his sentence. He gave her a pure look of horror, as if he was being backstabbed. He took a couple of deep breaths, then slowly nodded.

"Okay," he said. "Then I'll talk to you next time, okay? Jieun, please reconsider my request."

He walked away, leaving the two girls alone in the dark. Minah quickly locked arms with Jieun and pulled her closer to home.

"Didn't you break up with him?" Minah asked her.

"I'm trying. He's not listening," Jieun said tiredly.

"Does he do this often? You know, come here and try to talk to you? He doesn't come near you at all at school."

"It's kind of what he does. I'm hoping he'll get tired of it soon." A small smile appeared on Jieun's lips. "Oh, and thanks."

"No problem," Minah said. Actually, Jiho was the one who told me that something like this would happen.

But she kept quiet about the situation, hoping that Jieun would never figure out that Jiho was behind the rescue. She was envious of Jieun, especially since she got someone to watch her back. Deep inside, Minah wished that she had someone to watch over her, but she desired that the person watching over her would be Jiho.

As Chanyeol walked away, he reviewed his current situation and the conversation he had with Minah. Suddenly, a dark smirk formed on his lips. He looked down at his phone, scrolling through his contact list.

"Heh. 'Strip,' eh? That kind of sounds like fun," he murmured quietly. He let out a raspy laugh as the corner of his eyes landed on Minah's back. His eyes were wild, filled with utter hatred and corruption. "Indeed, that sounds like a lot of fun…"

* * *

There was a tall, sophisticated lady walking down the halls of the glorious Max Fashion Brand building. She walked with an aura of pride and dignity. As she came closer to the receptionist desk, the employees stiffened. The air suddenly felt heavy. When she was in front of the round desk, she laid her hand on the surface as if she owned the place—as if she was the boss.

"Is Shim Changmin here?" she asked. She spoke in a pleasant silvery voice.

"D-Do you have an appointment?" the employee at the front desk stuttered. The worker bit her tongue, regretting that she stuttered at a presence of a stranger. 

"No, I don't, but he should know who I am," she said. She casually pulled out a card from her wallet. "Well, never mind. If he's not here, I can wait in his office. You recognize this card, right?"

The employee squinted. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but—"

"She can pass," an older worker said from the side. "I know this woman. She's Changmin's friend."

"Partner," the woman corrected. "I'm his partner."

They didn't say another word. The employee showed the woman to the elevator.

"Would you like me to call Mr. Shim?" the employee asked. "He's not in his office, but it is open. He left briefly to get some paperworks from home. He said he was on his way a few minutes ago."

The woman removed her sunglasses. "Yes, please do."

As the elevator door closed, the lady found herself alone in the narrow room. She remained standing straight and tall, never faltering for a moment. She placed her sunglasses in a luxurious case, then placed the box in her branded bag.

The door opened with a short ping! sound. She stepped outside and made her way to Changmin's office. As the employee told her, the door was opened. She stepped inside the room with full confidence and examined the area. She let out a small scoff when she saw how messy the room was: paperworks scattered on the floor and the computer was left on. She sat down at the CEO chair and looked at the computer.

"How are you doing financially, Shim Changmin," she muttered. She rested her chin against knuckles and clicked on random documents. Her cat-like eyes searched for anything odd, for any secrets he might be holding. 

Blackmail to X Company, blackmail to Z Corporations… Oh! A blackmail for Y company! How interesting, she thought. She let out a heavy sigh and began to type. "Is blackmail all you have, Changmin? Seriously, it's like you're not even trying to hide anything…"

Her fingers paused. She spotted an unusual folder—a folder that she had never seen before. She looked above the computer, checking to see if Changmin was anywhere close to the office. Seeing how he wasn't coming any time sooner, she decided to click on it. 

She froze when she saw what was inside the folder. Her skin paled and her eyes widened. Inside the secret folder, there were pictures—pictures of Jiyong. 

Her heart nearly stopped when she saw those pictures. She went through every picture, examining every inch of detail. He was frightfully skinny, not to mention that he looked tired.

But he's at the beach, so he must be having fun, she thought. She giggled softly when she saw pictures of his annoyed expression and his hand covering the camera. Her smile disappeared when she saw him talking to two young girls. As she looked through some more pictures, she noticed that he was often with these girls, but he was always smiling when he was with this one particular girl…

"What are you doing?"

The low voice had startled her. She quickly jerked away from the computer and raised her hands to her side as if she was being pointed with a gun. She looked up with wide eyes, staring at Changmin who looked at her in shock.

"Are you going through my personal stuff?" he asked.

"I didn't, I…"

"I have cameras," Changmin said, pointed at the multiple small cameras in the room. "I can use this against you. Now, tell me what you've been doing."

The woman narrowed her eyes. "Okay, fine. I was snooping around. I was looking at how you were doing financially. I don't believe what I've read in the articles. I know that you have some kind of influence there."

"Is that all?" Changmin asked. 

"I saw Jiyong, too," she revealed. She wasn't going to hide this. If she hid it, then she would never get answers, and what she wanted was answers. "You know where he is? Have you been hiding him?"

"Get out," Changmin snapped, pointing to the door. "Just get out."

"No, I refuse. I want to know where Jiyong is." She looked at him with a bitter expression. "You know that I've been looking for him for years. These pictures are recent, too. Tell me where he is."

"Wait, I haven't done this properly yet," Changmin said. He stormed over to his computer and made sure that there was no USB files or recording devices around. He began to speak in a lower voice. "I want something. I'll tell you where Jiyong is, and you give me—"

"Changmin, do you think this time to make deals?" She got up from the chair. She looked at him with cold eyes. "Tell me where he is."

"You can't make me," he said, smirking. He liked this—a lot. He liked knowing something while other people didn't. In this case, he liked knowing where Jiyong was while the familiar woman had no clue.

"Okay, fine," she said. She dialed up her phone. "I'm calling my best friend, and you should know who. He's a professional detective, and you know that, right?"

"Are you filing a missing person report?"

"No, but I can do so much worse than that," she said. Changmin felt a shiver travel down his spine. "And you know that I can do worse, right? So, I'm giving you two options: One, tell me where Jiyong is, or two, be prepared to be sued. You're blackmailing Company X, right? I don't know if you knew about this, but Company X is a good partner of mine, and I'd do anything to help out my partners…"

It only took one glance and one gulp for her to understand what Changmin's answer was; she smirked and crossed her arms, waiting for his delayed response.