"Jiyong-goon, are you finished?"

"Ne. Here it is, Seonsaengnim." Jiyong handed the test to Mr. Lee, his teacher. He smiled at his friend as he sat down at his desk, who looked back at him with worry in his eyes, but smiled back as well.

You see, Jiyong had a bit of a … problem. His grades had dropped drastically - so drastically that it had shocked even him. Perhaps it was because he didn’t focus as much on his schoolwork now.

I’m just thankful that Seunghyunnie Hyung doesn’t know yet, Jiyong thought with a grimace. Oh, if Seunghyun knew … then Jiyong was dead.

RING!

“Class dismissed,” Mr. Lee called. Everyone rushed for the door, wanting to escape the classroom as fast as possible. “Mr. Kwon,” Mr. Lee suddenly called.

Jiyong paused and turned.

Mr. Lee beckoned him. “A word, if you don’t mind?”

Jiyong winced. Uh oh. “Ne, Seonsaengnim.” He turned to his friend who was waiting for him and muttered, “You go ahead. I’ll catch up.” He turned back around and headed toward Mr. Lee slowly.

Mr. Lee inclined his head toward a chair in front of his desk. “Have a seat.”

Jiyong sat down and for the next ten minutes, he watched as Mr. Lee marked a test. The final score was 17/45. At the top, quickly scribbled, read ‘Kwon Jiyong’. Mr. Lee handed the test to him with a sigh.

Jiyong buried his face in his hands, despair rushing through his body. He heard Mr. Lee sigh again, and patted his back. “Jiyong-ah, is something wrong? Your grades have dropped so suddenly. Are you feeling alright?”

“Ne.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know, Seonsaengnim.” Jiyong couldn’t look Mr. Lee in the eye.

Mr. Lee just sighed. “Jiyong-ah, if this continues, then you won’t be able to pass. No matter how much I want to allow you to graduate, these grades are unacceptable. At the moment, you have a 40% chance of passing, but I think if you try hard for the next five months of school, then you’ll have at least a 70% chance of passing or higher.”

Jiyong nodded, eyes cast down at the floor.

“Just imagine how your parents would feel-” Mr. Lee stopped.

Jiyong bit his lip. “My brother,” he corrected quietly. “I don’t have parents.”

“Oh, yes … My apologies.”

“It’s okay,” Jiyong sighed.

Mr. Lee hesitated for a moment before saying, “I’ll write a note for your guardian to sign regarding this matter. Get it signed by next week, understand me?”

Jiyong nodded and took the note. Mr. Lee patted his shoulder. “Remember, report cards come out tomorrow before the one in June. Dismissed, Mr. Kwon.”

Jiyong bowed to Mr. Lee before exiting the room, his heart heavy.

**********

He was screwed if Seunghyun saw this note. He entered the house, carefully folding up the note before Seunghyun could see it.

“Hey, Yong-ah!” Seunghyun said, ruffling Jiyong’s hair. “How was school?”

“Good,” Jiyong smiled. He handed his bag to Seunghyun before saying, “I’m going to my room.”

“Sure. Just tell me when you're hungry,” Seunghyun replied. He lightly swatted Jiyong’s bottom affectionately.

Jiyong shut the door to his room and took out the note, sighing. He opened it up and read it.

To Kwon Jiyong’s Guardian(s),

    It has come to my attention that lately Student Kwon Jiyong’s grades have dropped. At the moment his chance of graduating is 40%, but if Student Kwon Jiyong raises his grades for the next five months, then it will be possible to graduate. If you have any concerns, please contact me. Thank you.

    -Mr. Lee

“I’m screwed,” Jiyong groaned, burying his face in his hands once more. “What will Hyung say?”

A knock on the door startled him, and he quickly hid the note before calling, “Come in!”

The door opened, revealing Seunghyun with a plate. “Hey, Jiyong-ah,” he said, sitting down beside Jiyong. “Hungry?”

“A bit,” Jiyong shrugged. He took a piece of the sandwich Seunghyun had brought him. He nervously chewed on the sandwich, wondering why Seunghyun still wasn’t leaving. Normally Seunghyun would give him his food, ruffle his hair and then walk out. But today, he was watching Jiyong through his brown eyes.

Finally, Seunghyun said casually, “How’s school, Jiyong-ah?”

Jiyong almost choked on his sandwich and managed to mutter out, “Fine.”

Seunghyun hummed thoughtfully, taking a piece of the sandwich. “I was just wondering when report cards were coming out. Shouldn’t they come out? You haven’t brought home any so far.”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Jiyong shrugged. “One in June, I guess.”

“Huh. Someone told me that it comes out every three months.”

Jiyong chewed on his sandwich and swallowed it with difficulty. “That’s weird,” he said nervously. “We never got report cards.”

“Hmm.” Seunghyun gave Jiyong a thoughtful look before popping the last bit of his sandwich into his mouth and patting his head before walking out.

Jiyong was sweating cold sweat. Seunghyun couldn’t know! He couldn’t!

Report cards actually did come out every three or four months. Jiyong’s report cards were good for a while, but they steadily began to drop. Eventually, he got C’s and under. That was when Jiyong began to do something he had never imagined himself to - forge Seunghyun’s signature.

Jiyong felt panic - he couldn’t let Seunghyun find out! Quickly grabbing a pen, he signed Seunghyun’s signature on the note without hesitation and then shoved it into his bag.

I’m sorry, Seunghyunnie Hyung, he thought, but I can’t let you find out.

And he laid down on his bed to take a nap.

**********

Jiyong ran home the moment the dismissal bell rang - he was panicking. He couldn’t find the note he had put into his bag. He must have dropped it in his room while he was half asleep this morning. Cursing himself, he panted, “Seunghyunnie Hyung can’t see that!” He burst into house and stopped.

Silence.

Seunghyun’s voice couldn’t be heard. No, ‘Hey, how was school?’, or ‘Yah, Yong-ah. You here?’ What in the world was going on?

Jiyong put his bag down and quietly walked up the stairs and slowly opened the door to his room. He entered, breath held. His heart sank.

Seunghyun was sitting on a chair, legs crossed and reading a book. He didn’t even look up when Jiyong entered. Something was up.

“Uh … Hyung?”

A deathly silence.

Gulping, Jiyong saw something white at the corner of his eye on his bed and picked it up. His mouth went dry. It was the note with the forged signature.

“Care to tell me what that is?”

Jiyong let the note drop. “H-Hyung, I can explain,” he began nervously.

“Oh, you’d better explain.” Seunghyun glanced at him with raised eyebrows. “Because I recall no memory of receiving or signing that note. So, explain.”

“I-I had to,” Jiyong stammered, wiping his sweaty palms on his pants. “I-I-I-” He dropped his head, unable to say anything. What could he say? ‘Sorry, Hyung, but I couldn't let you see’? “I’m sorry,” he said in a small voice.

No reply. Just a stern gaze.

“I’m really sorry,” Jiyong continued, unable to look Seunghyun in the eye. “I …”

“Kneel.”

Jiyong gulped, but did so obediently. Seunghyun usually didn't tell him to kneel. Only when he was in big trouble. He was in big trouble with a capital B.

"Hands above your head."

Choking back a gasp, Jiyong reluctantly raised his hands. Seunghyun crossed his arms, standing up and walked out of the room.

He came back with a bowl of uncooked, hard rice and poured it on the floor in a square shape. "Roll up your shorts."

Having a bad feeling about this, Jiyong reluctantly rolled up his shorts up to about mid-thigh. Seunghyun pointed at the rice. "Kneel."

Jiyong's eyes widened. "K-Kneel?"

Seunghyun gave a nod.

Swallowing back a small sob, Jiyong slowly lowered his knees onto the sharp grains. He winced as they poked and stabbed him.

"Stay like that until I manage to calm down."

Seunghyun picked up his book and continued to read.

Ten minutes passed and Jiyong whimpered. He wanted to plead and beg and wail for forgiveness.

With another louder whimper, he placed his hands on the floor and leaned into them, trying to take off as much weight from his knees as he could.

"Hands off the floor."

"But-" Jiyong began.

Seunghyun slammed the book down and glared. Jiyong immediately took his hands off the floor and Seunghyun glared for a few more moments before picking up his book.

Another ten minutes passed. Jiyong was in immense pain. He never knew something so small could hurt this much.

He felt something wet trickle down his cheek, and into his mouth. Tears. One dropped, and then another, and another. His shoulders shook as he struggled to stifle a sob.

A sigh came from Seunghyun. "Stand up, Jiyong-ah."

Jiyong slowly raised himself to his feet with difficulty. His knees stung from the small grains. He quickly wiped away his tears.

He watched as Seunghyun sat himself down on the bed. Seunghyun found a comfortable position, then crooked his finger at Jiyong. "Come. Let's get this over with."

"H-Hyung ..." Jiyong was frozen.

"Jiyong-ah, don't make me come get you."

With a small sob, Jiyong stumbled over to Seunghyun and threw himself over his knee. He waited, trembling.

No swats fell. No hard hand slapping down on his backside. Nothing. Instead, a gentle yet firm hand carefully sat him up.

Jiyong looked at Seunghyun in confusion. "H-Hyung?"

Seunghyun Jiyong's hair. "I want to have a chat with you first before we begin." He sighed. "Jiyong-ah, I don't understand. Why did you do this?"

Jiyong felt the tears start to well up again. "I had to," he sniffled. "I'm sorry! I ... I didn't want you to know! I didn't want you to s-see my grades." He wiped at his eyes. "You would have been mad! I don't want to be yelled at!"

Seunghyun sighed again. He took Jiyong's quivering chin and looked into his eyes. "Hyung would have been angry, yes, but never disappointed. We would have talked about it, and I would have helped you. Hyung is sad that you lied to me."

"I didn't lie!" Jiyong sniffled. "Not really."

"You hid something from me," Seunghyun said firmly. "In my book, that's the same as lying."

Jiyong was silent. Seunghyun let go of his chin and said, "So do you know why you're going to go over my lap?"

Silence.

"Answer me, Kwon Jiyong."

Jiyong gulped. Uh oh. His full name had come out. But he stubbornly remained silent, lips tightened.

Seunghyun sighed, sounding exasperated. "All right, then," he said. "You can answer my question while your backside is being tanned."

Jiyong grunted when his stomach hit Seunghyun's knees. His trousers and pants were pulled down.

The first swat made him gasp. It hurt! He jerked when the second one landed. Seunghyun was only using his hand, but it was hard and calloused.

Gritting his teeth, Jiyong clenched his jaw, determined not to let any sound this time. He would not cry. He wouldn’t. Jiyong bit down hard on his bottom lip, struggling not to cry out. Normally by now he would be howling and begging for Seunghyun to stop.

But not this time.

“So?” Seunghyun prompted, swatting down evenly and randomly, making sure that Jiyong didn’t know where the next one would fall. “Giving me the silent treatment, huh?”

Jiyong just snarled and spat out a nasty word. Seunghyun cracked his hand down on Jiyong’s thigh, scolding, “You ever say that word again, Kwon Jiyong, and you’ll be in the corner with soap in your mouth for two hours!”

A yelp escaped past Jiyong’s lips - the smack to his thigh had hurt too much to hold in. He felt his eyes begin to prickle with tears and he clenched his eyes shut. He wouldn’t cry. He wouldn’t cry. He wouldn't cry.

“You’re not sorry? You don’t regret what you did?”

Jiyong trembled, his defenses beginning to crumble slowly at the swats and the harsh scoldings Seunghyun was saying to him.

“You don’t care about losing my trust? You want me to be unable to trust you? You want me to be upset with you?” Seunghyun bent down and said quietly, in Jiyong’s ear, “Do you want me to be disappointed in you?”

Jiyong burst into tears at the thought of Seunghyun not being able to trust him, at the thought of Seunghyun being disappointed with him. “Nooooo,” he sobbed, burying his face in his hands, struggling to hold back in his cries. Eventually he gave up and began crying into Seunghyun’s leg.

“D-Don’t hate meeee!” Jiyong sobbed, clutching desperately at Seunghyun’s leg. “Pl-please, I-I’m sorryyyy.”

Seunghyun continued swatting, though he did lighten up. “I could never hate you, Yong-ah,” he said gently. “Or be disappointed in you. I’m disappointed and angry and upset with what you did, not with you.”

Jiyong struggled to catch his breath while Seunghyun lectured, still spanking.

“You lost my trust today, yes, but you can gain it back eventually. Jiyong-ah, trust is very hard to gain but very easy to break. I want you to remember that, all right?”

“Uh-huuuhhh,” Jiyong mumbled through his sobs.

“Do you have anything to say to me?”

“I’m sorryyyyyy! I’ll be g-good! I’ll be good, I p-promise! I … I’ll … never do it a-again!”

“Araso,” Seunghyun said. “I’ll hold you to your promise.” He bent down and held out his pinky finger. “Pinky promise.” Jiyong linked pinkies with Seunghyun with difficulty.

“You break that promise, Kwon Jiyong, and the paddle’s coming out, understand me?”

“Yeeesss!” Jiyong bawled. “Pl-pleeeaaasee! Please d-don’t p-p-paddle m-meeeee!”

“As long as you keep your promise,” Seunghyun told him. He pulled Jiyong up and let his sore and red-hot bottom hang between his thighs and hugged him.

Jiyong wrapped his arms around Seunghyun’s neck, bawling into his chest. “I-I … I w-want …” He struggled to get the words out.

“Hmm? What was that?” Seunghyun murmured, bending down and putting his chin on Jiyong’s head. “Can you repeat that for me, my precious Yongie?”

“I-I-I w-want the t-trust back?” Jiyong voiced timidly.

“You want it back? You’ll have to earn it.” Seunghyun’s voice was firm.

Jiyong began to cry again, but Seunghyun quickly hushed him, rocking him. “You can gain it back eventually,” he murmured gently. “It’ll take a while, but eventually I will trust you again.”

Jiyong held up a pinky. “P-Promise?”

Seunghyun smiled. “Promise.”

They linked pinkies.

**********

So … second chapter. How was it? Please comment, tell me what you think. I hope you enjoyed! Ideas are welcome for the next chapter! ^_^