5 years ago...

Ryujin and Jisung watched wordlessly as a police car stopped in front of them to escort them out of the neighborhood. They attracted a lot of attention ever since they left the mansion as both of their clothes were tattered and covered in blonde. Ryujin never got to see the end result of the battle that was fought...and she was lucky.

Donghyuck managed to find his mother and tried to help her escape. Jeno protected his mother as well as Youngho and Jaehyun were both knocked out unconsciousness as the security guards beat the shit out of them. The police cars had surrounded the mansion, as Mr. Lee knew he had nowhere to hide. He had an extremely abusive behavior and a huge drinking issue that got out of hand right after his losing election. After taking drugs as well, he turned into a complete maniac and attacked every single member of his family.

He lured Donghyuck and Jisung back into the house, and he then tortured them all. He kept the siblings trapped into the basement as Donghyuck and Jisung were freshly beaten as they didn't stay in the basement for too long. As the police then entered into the home, Mrs. Lee tried to charge towards Mr. Lee with a knife to stop him from hurting her sons. However, he managed to take back the knife and was about to attack his wife blindly as revenge and anger blurred his sights.

Donghyuck protected Mrs. Lee, and he was the one that got stabbed instead. The knife ruptured his spine and his stomach, which where he got hurt before. If he was to be stabbed, he was surely not going to survive. Mr. Lee dropped his knife as the blood stained his clothes and his hands as he couldn't believe his own eyes. He never stabbed anyone, and not even his own. The police had stopped the security guards and arrested Mr. Lee as his mother fainted from seeing her son get stabbed.

Jeno panicked as he saw this unfold as he rushed to Donghyuck's side to help him. He covered the stabbed area with all his might but the blood failed to stop as it ran through Jeno's fingers. He looked down at Donghyuck who was weakly breathing as the police immediately then called for an ambulance. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry Donghyuck."

Jeno muttered loudly as the tears ran down his cheeks helplessly as he didn't want to cry but it was something that happened so automatically. Donghyuck laughed weakly as the other did so, trying to brighten the atmosphere despite his pain, "Stop crying wimp. I'm fine."

"Fucking bastard. Stop talking and keep breathing."

"Jeno."

"Stop talking."

"Jeno... I have a favor."

"What is it?"

"All the thoughts and what I wanted to say....it's in a journal. Ren has it. Please..read it."

Donghyuck winced and breathed heavily as he was losing a lot of strength. The paramedics lifted the body up onto the stretcher as Jeno followed pursuit into the ambulance. They did all they can to stop the blood but they were well aware of Donghyuck's case. Jeno shook his head as he replied back angrily, "You can't die right now. I will never fucking forgive you."

"And...please take care of mom."

"Shut the fuck up Donghyuck."

"And Jisung...he really...needs his medication at night in order to sleep. But stop him from doing so. Taking too much hurts him."

The ambulance hurried down the streets in order to arrive to the emergency room as fast as they could. Donghyuck stopped talking a few times in order to focus on breathing as Jeno wiped the nonstop tears running down his cheeks. He sat down on the chair to hold onto Donghyuck's hand as the doctors tried to stop the blood flow and ordered the surgery team to get ready. Donghyuck's face turned pale immediately as he had no physical strength to hold onto Jeno's hand anymore. He turned to look at Jeno from the side, who was blurring slowly within his vision.

"Jeno, I never hated you. Nor will I ever do if you take care of mom and Jisung. I won't ever hate you. I forgive you."

"I didn't ask for your damn forgiveness. Forgive me after you get better."

"And for Ryujin...tell her I'm sorry."

"Hwang Donghyuck!"

Jeno screamed without a second thought as he saw Donghyuck's arm go limp within a few seconds. The doctors immediately dragged Jeno away from the body as he cried out painfully as he fell onto the floor with the force. The bed was then rolled into the surgery room without a second thought as he couldn't see Donghyuck's face one last time. Jeno's hand shook without a thought as he couldn't believe his own eyes and his ears. He didn't want to believe it was true. He stayed on the ground as he waited for the doctors to come back from the surgery room with news that he was alive.

They did come out.

But it wasn't the news that he wanted.

—

I waited patiently at the bus stop like he promised. Why wasn't he here?

"Ryujin."

It wasn't his voice.

I turned nervously to face the enemy of my dreams, as Jeno's face peered down quietly at me. I rolled my eyes annoyingly as I asked him with anger, "Where's Donghyuck?"

He couldn't answer me without looking up into my eyes. I got chills throughout my body as my neck could feel the coldness of his action. Immediately, I got a sense of what may happened but I wish I didn't have known. I wish I could have just stayed waiting for Donghyuck forever at the bus stop. I shook my head as I laughed without a thought, "You're kidding right?"

For the first time, I could hear the sincerity within his voice and seriously....I saw the tears running down his eyes silently as he held onto the bus stop pole for support. "I'm sorry...I never wanted to say this...he..."

The strength in my legs dropped to the ground as I fell down onto the floor as the the clouds represented the gloominess within the atmosphere. I didn't need to hear more as the pain within my chest grew immensely as the tears all came down without a stop. He couldn't keep his own promise as he sacrificed himself for his family to stop the argument. The winds seemed a little chillier today, and the sun failed to shine through as there were mentions of a storm coming soon.

I had to confess..I wanted to confess. And I wanted to go with him to our first date...he stole my first kiss. And he stole my heart...and now he disappeared forever. Leaving me with nothing....

—

Ryujin and Jaemin soon got together as he was the only one that could really help Ryujin out of her slumber. High school ended with a depressing afterwards as the talks around the school was about Jeno's family. It was never easy for her, as she knew she would be trying to get of her feelings that came through so difficulty. She could never forgive Donghyuck for placing his life on the line......

Jeno left to the States with a dramatic breakup with Yeji. Youngho and Jaehyun both left to Japan to find their own interests as their mother followed as she needed to get her mental health checked up. Jeno was determined to find his own dreams, and he didn't keep in contact with anyone but Jisung.

And Ryujin got married to Jaemin soon after, but they both knew it was very difficult for Ryujin to completely forget about Donghyuck. She knew that it was difficult to forget about the left feelings and each burning desire of thinking Donghyuck was living whenever she woke up from a nightmare.

—

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Donghyuck asked with annoyance as we sat down together after a detention day. It was a quite chilly day but it was somewhere that he went straight afterwards since Jeno was summoned by the principal. The garden was a beautiful resting place, and I kept a mental note that I should visit here more often. Donghyuck made me follow him after detention ended, and I have no idea why. I scoffed at him for even wanting to know what it was before I replied back, "I don't know."

"Everyone has a dream."

"Not me."

Donghyuck bitterly scoffed at my response as if it was a mandatory thing for all teenagers to have dreams. This made me upset for even conversing with him as I asked him with a mocking tone, "Then what's yours?"

Donghyuck played with his notebook as he scribbled things into his notebook earlier during detention. Jeno kept trying to pry into his notebook on what it was but Donghyuck refused to show him despite always listening to him. Then Donghyuck placed the attention on me to get him distracted, and that seemed to work right away.

He didn't answer for awhile as I stared at the soccer field since it was really awkward for us to talk after the incident where Jeno and him were annoying the hell out of me. He then responded with a seriously calm tone that I never expected him to say, "I want to have a happy family."

I was taken slightly aback as he responded with a cheesy response. I laughed without even thinking as he turned to glare at me for being rude. I cleared my throat to stop doing so as I replied back after doing so, "Um, sorry...just didn't expect it."

Donghyuck shrugged his shoulders before replying back as he then added as he stared out onto the field, "I want a happy family since I'm never happy. I would rather see my children happy and go through things that I don't need to go through."

I nodded quietly and I heard him scribbling something again before wrinkling the paper and shoving it into his pocket. Jeno soon called him on his phone, and he forced me to follow so that we wouldn't be caught in a secret place of the school garden. I wondered what he wrote so quickly and acted like he didn't as I followed him mindlessly down the hallways to where his friend was waiting at the door.

It's still here today, and inside the notebook he so cared for....within my grasp and within my room that I will forever protect the last memories and dreams of him.

"I want a happy family with you, Han Ryujin."

The letter is still selcouth... something I cherish as it's so marvelous...and heartbreaking.

—
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Yes it has ended.... honestly, I wrote so well in the beginning, I felt like it got worse as the chapters went on. I hope the storyline made sense. I kind of stopped writing in the middle and it made it confusing for me on how to continue the story. Thank you for supporting this story until the end. I wanted to go for a dark route and I think I accomplished it. The next story is going to be uploaded shortly afterwards so make sure to check that out as well. Thank you for loving Selcouth until now and also please keep routing for NCT and ITZY!