The sound of the wheels of the suitcase being dragged onto the airport floor was the only noise I could concentrate on. All I could think about was Wooyoung. I hadn't seen him for couple of weeks and thanks to all the meetings Mr Davis had set me up with I couldn't hear from him much. The different time zone didn't help either. We couldn't even say goodbye properly because after the phonecall I started packing and left the morning after. I had left Wooyoung at the airport, stealing one last kiss hidden behind the tinted windows of his car. I told him I'd be back in a week or ten days, but it actually took longer than I thought. Problems with a shipment of a batch ordered by Mr Davis required my presence in New York. The businessman had well thought to seize the opportunity to introduce me to some of his associates, a perspective to which I couldn't say no. So I spent two weeks bouncing between office meetings and private parties: I could hardly recognize myself because instead of enjoying the new atmosphere the only thing I could think about was how much I missed the Scandinavian house and having Wooyoung around with his annoying laugh and his teasing. But I was finally going back home.

Once on the plane I got rid of my coat and luggage and I sank into my seat roughly tuckered out. I hoped that nobody would occupy the vacant spot next to me, too exhausted to face a conversation with a stranger for the whole flight, I just wanted to sleep so that the jetlag wouldn't hit me too hard once I was back in Korea. I closed my eyes being lulled by the surrounding sounds but after a few minutes I felt a presence sitting next to me. I opened my eyes slowly to peek at the person with whom I would have shared the long flight.

"It's already the second time we meet by chance. Are you stalking me, oppa?"

I was lost for words when my eyes met Lisa's smiling ones "I could ask you the same!" I chuckled, "What are you doing here?"

"Going back to Seoul, duh!" she mocked me.

"What I mean is: why?"

"Well... Actually... Mister Davis asked me to keep an eye on you, he really likes you and wants to make sure that everything goes for the best. I'll be in Seoul for the next few months, maybe more, so if problems come - and I hope they don't - you can come to me instead of flying back to New York"

"That's actually cheaper and faster! Thank you!"

She nodded smiling. The flight was long, but nice. Lisa and I talked a lot and I realized that she wasn't a bad person, sure she could be teasing, but I didn't mind her presence. She was very smart and the conversation never bored me.

I was very tired though and after a while I felt my eyes closing, lulled by the plane soft movement. When I opened them again we were landing. I fell asleep without even noticing. The early morning sunlight forced me to squint my eyes when I opened the blackout window. Seoul looked so small from that height. I felt my heart jump at the thought of seeing Wooyoung again: I had texted him the flight time and he said he would come pick me up at the airport. When I heard the plane engine go out I fished my phone from my pockets and switched it on. The direct flight took long but I was very surprised when I found my phone ringing non stop, reporting dozens and dozens of incoming notifications. Most of the messages and missed calls where from Jongho. I was going to call him back when his name appeared on my screen again. I picked up, my voice was still hoarse.

"Jongho, what's up?"

"You're finally fucking back! I'm outside of the airport, hurry up! One of the warehouses burned down in a fire last night, I tried to..."

"Ya! Slow down! What warehouse? How could this happen?"

"The fire department said one of the electrical cables was probably in bad conditions, the warehouse was too full and something ignite the fire. Fortunately no one was inside, nobody got hurt"

I felt the anger build inside me. How could he be so irresponsible? I didn't want to make a scene there, not when Lisa could overhear everything and report to Mr Davis. I just cut it short and when the plane doors opened I rushed quickly taking my luggage.

"Something important just happened! I had a nice flight, enjoy your stay in Seoul!" I bowed to Lisa to greet her and left.

Just when I exited the airport and the cold fall breeze hit my skin I realised I had left my coat on the plane, but it was late and I didn't have time to go back and look for it. I spotted Jongho waving at me from a parking slot. I approached him and I could see the worried look on his face.

"What did we keep in the storage?" I asked without even greeting him.

"Small appliances mainly" he gulped, waiting for the next question.

"How much?" I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answer.

Jongho kept looking at me with guilty eyes. That wait was getting on my nerves.

"How much did we loose, Jongho?" I repeated with anger.

"One billion, maybe more..." he whispered lowering his head.

I felt all my blood rise to my brain and I moved away getting in the car. If I was standing there a minute longer I would have punched Jongho in the face. I couldn't believe he had been so careless. The warehouses maintenance was his responsibility, how could he stock so many items in just one tiny storage? I felt like I was loosing the ground beneath me: my company was completely at the mercy of Mister Davis, if he decided to stop trading with us I would go bankrupt.

The drive was long and silent. when we arrived at the company building I didn't wait for Jongho and rushed to my office to see if I could fix this mess in any way. I was browsing through various documents on my desk when I felt the phone vibrate again. On the screen I read the notification of a new message, it was Wooyoung:

Ehy! Jongho called me, is everything okay? I miss you...

I completly forgot about him.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

I slammed my fists on the desk so hard that the pen holder overturned, spilling its contents on the carpet. I sat back on my chair closing my eyes and trying to breath evenly but I heard a knock on the door.

"Yes?" I said irritated.

The door opened and Jongho's head shily appeared: "May I...?"

He had never knocked before.

"Come in!" I pointed at the chair in from of my desk and he sat down.

Even if he was trying to hide it I could see that he was shaking.

"San-hyung, you don't need to say anything, I know I fucked up! During these years I put aside some money, it's not a billion, but I can cover some of the expenses. It will be my compensation for the trouble I caused you. If you want to fire me I understand, I just need to ask you one last thing" he paused, raising his eyes for the first time "For the moment don't take back the house, you know my brother lives with my parents, so I can't go back there"

Jongho's apartment, like mine, was paid for by the company.

"Moreover S-Shu..." I felt his voice crack a bit, he coffed and opened his mouth to continue "Shu Hua is sick!"

His words brought an embarrassing silence between us. I'd only seen his wife a few times, but I knew she suffered from poor health.

"Why didn't you tell me?" my voice softened a lot.

"I-I didn't want it to seem like an excuse for my mistakes" he stuttered.

I hesitated. I never really wanted to fire him, he was my friend and I could forgive one mistake even if it was a big one. But I couldn't let this thing go unpunished.

"I'm not going to fire you Jongie! I need you by my side and nobody could ever replace you, but..." I could see him tensing up once again "You have to understand that I can't let this go. It's a big blow to the company and I can't just ignore it"

"I understand" he said keeping the eye contact.

"Keep your savings, it's your money and one day you'll need them. I won't fire you but I'll cut your salary for the next three months. Don't spread it around, okay? I'll just inform the personnel department"

Jongho was stunned and just nodded.

"How bad is Shu Hua?"

"The fever doesn't go down, it's been almost two weeks" He answered, frowning his eyebrows.

I asked about where she was hospitalized and who was the doctor who treated her. I sent a message to a friend and informed him.

"I contacted the head of internal medicine of the Central Hospital. Take the afternoon off and put her there. The hospital where she is now is not a good place"

He looked even more puzzled and said: "But the agreement with the company provides..."

"So what?" I interrupted him "Just move her and don't worry about anything else. The company will take care of the expenses. If the fever doesn't go down it can get worse and I don't want a tragedy to happen!"

He kept staring at me, his mouth gape open.

I continued: "These days you will definitely have something else to think about and I don't want any more accidents to happen. Come from eight in the morning to two in the afternoon, you can help me check how things are going, I'll think about the rest"

He didn't say thank you but I could see gratitude tears streaming down from the corner of his eyes. He just nodded and stood up when we finished out talk.

I was left alone once again and even if the company was still in a bad situation I could feel the weight on my shoulders getting a bit lighter. I took my phone in my hands once again and I was just about to call Wooyoung when the door burst open making me jump on my chair.

I looked angrily at the door and what I saw shook me deeply: my mom stormed in the room closing the door behind her and approached my desk with apprehension slamming a paper bag on it. I looked up confused and I saw that her eyes were red and puffy. She had been crying.

"San, how can you be so shameless? Aren't you a man?" she yelled in my face.

I looked at her even more confused as she pushed the thick envelope closer. I opened it wondering what it was hiding. I looked inside before extracting the content: there were five sheets of thick, smooth paper. I took them out and I felt panic freezing my body when I realized what they were. Five photographs in black and white ink which immortalized Wooyoung and I engaging in a passionate kiss against my car in Itaewon. I opened and closed my mouth a few times without knowing what to say. Too horrified to think about any kind of justification.

"What were you thinking?" my mother yelled again.

"Omma... I..." I stuttered trying to catch the line of thoughts invading my head.

"I knew something was off but I didn't want to admit it! You've been hiding it from us all this time. It's a good thing that your father died prematurely because if today he was still alive and had come to know what you did, for him it would have been worse than death" she broke up in a desperate cry.

I put the pictures back in the envelope and locked them in my drawer. My hands were shaking. I was in pain for my mother's sorrow, I felt guilty but also very hurt. Somebody was following us. That's all I could think about.

"Who gave you the envelope?" I asked with shaky voice.

She just shook her head continuing sobbing uncontrollably. I stood up and went close to her, putting one hand on her shoulder, she didn't push me away and I took it as a sign that I could hug her. She hid her face against my chest, and even though she kept crying I felt that her hiccups were getting less and less. I caressed her head softly.

"I'm sorry, omma!" I whispered.

"Oh, San..." she said after a while "I know you like that boy, I always knew"

I waited in silence as she calmed down completly.

"But this can't go any further. It will ruin you!"

I thought about Wooyoung. How could something so precious ruin me? I didn't want to loose him. I tried to speak up, to let her understand how important he was to me.

"Omma, I lov..."

"I don't want to hear it, San!" she yelled once again, "I don't care! End this thing or if you can't just keep it hidden. Find a woman, get married, live a normal life, please!"

I felt like I was going to crumble. There were many things I wanted to say but the words just didn't want to come out. I felt disgusted with myself. Guilt taking over. If my mother, the person that was supposed to love me unconditionally, couldn't accept me for who I was, how could I do it? I opened my mouth to speak but somebody knocked on the door once again.

"Aish! Who the hell is it now?" I cried out, tired of that morning that seemed never ending.

"I'm sorry!" Those long legs that I grew accostumed to see made their way in my office "I didn't want to interrupt but you left this on the plane and I thought..." Lisa stopped talking looking at my mother with a surprised look.

"Lisa!" My mom called her looking as surprised "Do you know each other?" she asked, her eyes travelling from me to her.

"Eonnie" Lisa bowed deeply.

Eonnie?

"My boss and San-oppa are business partners so we happened to..."

"How do you know each other?" I asked in shock this time completly confused by the odd situation.

"San, don't be rude! Lisa and I go to the same gym, we had a few classes together and she helped me a lot" my mom looked at Lisa with a warm smile, her disappointment looked completly gone.

"It was a pleasure to see you again, eonnie. I just came to give you your coat, oppa. I'll leave now!" she handed me my jacked and turned around after bowing once again.

"Wait!" exclaimed my mother "San and I were about to have lunch"

"Were we?" I asked confused but my mom elbowed me in the ribs.

"We would be extremely happy if you would join us" she smiled.

"I would gladly tag along then"

Just great! I put my coat on and followed the two women out of my office.

A/N

I know I'm late but: happy birthday Wooyoung! During these days I thought a lot about him and I was very sad about his loss. I never wanted to hug him as much as during these days. I hope his brothers are giving him all the love, I'm sure they are ❤️

How are you guys? I hope you liked the chapter. It's a bit longer than usual but since I can't write as often as before I thought it was better this way. Don't forget to vote and comment!

Love ya xx