My Only One (Prequel to Hello Again)

chapter 17 - is it really you?

It's been exactly a year.

It's 2020. And I have been alone all this time.

A lot has happened and I'm here to tell you what I lost and gained.

She never messaged or called back, when I did, her number was gone. She changed to a new number. I would check how she was doing with her family, occasionally talking to Matthew but eventually I stopped.

One day I had the idea to go to LA and find her. And I did just that, I begged Yoo to find her and he did.

I went over to LA the next day after I asked him and found her.

From afar.

I watched her as she happily walked out of a Starbucks holding a coffee cup chatting to her friends that she made there and I watched in the shadows. I followed her around for a while and I just wanted to tell her that I was here, but.

I couldn't.

I watched her be happy.

Without me.

And that was when I realised. You just can't change some things.

so I went back to Korea and resumed my life there.

I could only remember one thing that happened for about 6 months that I felt like I wasn't myself anymore

I became a machine. A robot to my own self. The part, the version of who I never wanted to be again.

A monster.

I killed and killed over and over again, I remember holding my target's neck by his dying breath as I brutally skinned him alive as my squadmates watched at my brutality, my anger.

And I left him to hang there, as a message to people like him.

I became what they were. Criminal. Scum. That's who I was. Until I stopped.

I quit, after realising who I was after I had cut my wrists in the bathtub of my own apartment.

That's when Minji saved me, if it wasn't for her. I would be dead. She came in and called over the guys to save me and that's what she did.

I owe it to her.

If.

She was still alive.

After she saved me, I gave her the chance she wanted and we became romantically linked. For a few months. I would unleash all the lust I had, the shit I wanted to do with Somi. I brought her out on dates, we did things together until I came home one day.

And that's when I got the call from Yoo himself.

She died.

In a mission gone wrong, protecting our friends.

And that set me off on one last mission to kill those involved, and I did not hold back.

Dear god, I did not.

I murdered everyone that was involved in a fit of rage who murdered Minji, who had harmed my friends.

God, I could remember the begging. The screams, they were just normal people too who just worked for some big bad boss but I didn't care as I slit their throats or I jammed my knife so far in their eyes as they asked for mercy, and when I finally got to the boss. I just shot him. Right between his eyes and I felt.

Nothing.

Because I had already lost too many friends. I had lost her.

I was numb.

That was my real final mission, to avenge her. In her memory. But she would be horrified of who I become. And I stored away my gear in the barracks of where my bed used to be in base. And that was the last time I ever saw them.

Yoo-Joon, Hanwool and Seoyeon.

And Yoo.

I did nothing but say goodbye to them as I remained an empty shell of who I was.

Last I heard, Seoyeon and Hanwool quit too. They retired and went to the lives they wanted.

And I'm happy for them. And Yoo had made a new squad and I hope he won't call me again one day.

But, I found peace eventually.

After all this time, Yerim had called me, texted me. And that kept me a little bit happy.

She would tell me about her life there, how much she loves it. She found a boyfriend who treated her right, and how I was.

I told her that Somi left and I was all alone.

She would listen to me talk for hours and she would be there.

She was all I really had, just hours away from me in another country and that wasn't entirely bad.

I ended up working in a convenience store nearby so I could save up my funds of what I had left which were still trillions of won that I didn't want to spend since money wasn't something I care about but I wanted something to keep me at bay.

And oh yeah, if I haven't mentioned. My bike blew up.

Not really fun, especially since I loved that bike. Blew up after some fucking goon threw a grenade at it. Never bothered to replace it since well, she was one of a fucking kind.

And here I was.

Walking home from dropping off money to Minji and Daehyun's families from the bank where I encountered a girl who was kneeling on the floor, I could see that she had scraped her knee and was wincing in pain as she held it.

I kneeled down to her and she looked familiar, she was wearing a facemask as I was too.

Those eyes.

Could it really be you?

And that was when. I realised, maybe I have another chance at life again.

and if only, I hope that this girl was Sharon.

(AU: and that's a wrap on My Only One. I had planned to go on for more chapters but uhm, I wrote out the plan and I realised they were a lot shorter than I expected them to be so I had to combine them together. And that's why it ends here. I'm sorry if the story wasn't what you expected and that's completely my fault. I'm more of a romance guy as you can tell so action scenes were a bit hard to do and having to convey such emotions during it but. I can say that this isn't my best work or neither is hello again but to be fair. I feel like I've disappointed you guys in a way that at least I tried. And that's what matters more. But yeah. This is it. This was the prequel to Hello Again which I had planned before making Just a Manager and I had decided to make that book first and then this. I'm grateful that you guys stuck around and gave me feedback, good or bad. I just don't mind. I'm sorry I couldn't write more to the story but these were all I had left in the planning of the book leading up to now. So I just wanna say that, thank you. I really appreciate you guys for reading this okay attempt at a book. It was quite the challenge since I had a lot of writer's block and stress coming up towards school season but, I still loved writing it and I hope you liked the book even though it's not anything special but. I still hoped you liked it in a way/ That's all I have to say for now, a new book is certain and will focus  more on a girl next door situation with an idol or group I'll choose, putting away my usual guy becomes a manager and then he dates them scenario. But again, this is it. For now.

Thank you for reading, and staying with me all this time.

Author-nim)