End of the Road

At the End

"If you love him so much, don't force yourself," Luhan told. "Even if it hurts, even if the world ends, even if you lose him again and again; go back to him, Namjoo. If that's where everything started, then go back to base one. Start over...with him, with Hoon, with your whole life.

"No matter what happens, just remember that you're doing this for yourself. What they say to you has no value. And when you lose him again, hold onto him with even more strength than the last. You'll never lose what belongs to you again. Whatever happens, I, your friend, will be at your back. So don't worry about anything and go back to him."

+++

"Are you ok?" Hayoung asked when Sehun came for Ki Hoon.

Sinking down onto a bench Sehun stared desolately at the healthy grass, "No."

Smiling Hayoung stretched her feet out before leaning back, "It feels good to see so many emotions flowing through you. Before this you seemed kind of like a robot."

Hayoung tightened her smile when he looked at her.

"I don't mean it in a bad way," she told, "perhaps the end of something means the start of a new beginning. You know how a caterpillar has to become an ugly cocoon before it can turn into a pretty butterfly or how a snake sheds its skin for the new? Perhaps, this just calls for an end to what you used to have. A relationship has to be premature before it can grow."

There was still no strength to be felt in his eyes.

"So what I'm saying," Hayoung went on, "is that you're giving up what you used to have for something better to come. It's just reforming your relationship for something new and it can't be anything bad. Nothing stays the same forever."

"She hates me."

"Maybe she does," Hayoung agreed and Sehun's heart sunk, "but she didn't say she didn't love you."

Sehun turned back to look at Hayoung.

"You still have a card to put on deck, don't you?" Hayoung reminded.

That was right. He already thought things through earlier. Even if Namjoo hated him all the way to hell, he still had to do what he had to.

"I'm sorry, Hayoung," Sehun apologized, "for everything."

"It's ok," Hayoung smiled again, "you're just a bit slow. I can forgive you for that."

Sehun turned away with a soft smile.

The very next morning he sat at the very spot he had with Namjoo long ago when he first ran into her again. It was here that she told him the story about her father and her heartbreak. It was here where they shared their very memories and it was here where he would fix everything. He believed hope was still fluttering its wings around him even if he couldn't see it.

Hope had been with him all along. That was the very reason why Namjoo had been brought back to him in the first place.

"Do you like your mommy more? Or do you like Nice Man?" Sehun ruffled Ki Hoon's hair while he sat on his lap.

Ki Hoon was too busy playing with a piece of weed to look at him. "Mommy."

Smiling, Sehun put an arm around him to hug him close. "Rascal."

This he knew might be the very last moment he might have with his son if things didn't work out. Even if he wouldn't be able to live with it for the rest of his life, he still had to accept things as is.

He turned around at the sound of tires churning against the ground and watched Namjoo step out. Ki Hoon immediately spun around before climbing to his feet and charged straight at her.