Upon returning home, Seokjin found his mother and grandfather collapsed around the table in the main room. His mother, her eyes welling with tears, ran to take him in her arms when she saw him.

"Seokjin baby, I'm so sorry!" she cried.

She had learned that Mr. Kim had stopped Seokjin from going to Whimoon even though he had worked tirelessly for it. She knew her son's heart must be in pieces and she felt terribly helpless.

"It's going to be okay, mom," Seokjin told her to console her, while looking over his shoulder to meet his grandfather's gaze and console him too from afar. He even gave him a smile which had the effect of saddening his grandfather instead of reassuring him. "I'm going to go to Eunma with Taehyung and we're going to work well. It will be the same that in Whimoon in the end."

Shocked to see him taking things so well, Yoko looked at her son and saw in his eyes that he had already cried before coming and that he had decided to put on a good face so as not to worry her and his grandfather. In reality, he was deeply sad and his mother wouldn't let him pretend, preferring to see him express his suffering.

She already blamed herself so much for not having seen that he was suffering at school and understood that it was her son's smile and compassionate character that had prevented her from seeing the truth.

"No, Seokjin," she said, shaking her head and letting her tears fly, "it's not okay, nothing is okay! They stopped you from going to your dream school even though you worked so hard without anyone's help, that's too unfair!"

"I know mom, it's unfair but I want to try to accept the situation since I have no choice," Seokjin said sadly. "I tried to beg Taehyung's father but it was no use. He says that this is what is expected of him now: that he will take care of my education in the same prestigious high school that his sons attend."

"Just for the honor of the Kims, you will be forced to study there," his mother said, devastated, "with that obnoxious boy Jungkook who drugged you yesterday and those other mean kids who did you wrong!"

She took her son in her arms again, with even more strength and sadness if that was possible, as if to console him even though it was she who seemed the saddest.

"Mom?" Seokjin called, a little surprised to see her inconsolable.

"Seokjin," his grandfather said, taking over from his daughter who was too upset to continue because the suffering of her son gripped her heart with a feeling of maternal guilt. "Why didn't you ever tell us that the other kids bullied you at school?"

In his mother's arms, Seokjin widened his eyes, stunned and seeing that his son did not deny it, Yoko's sobs redoubled. Seokjin wondered: how had this information suddenly reached his family's ears?

"That girl, Yoona, she confessed everything publicly yesterday," his grandfather told him seeing his astonishment. "And your friend Jimin said she was the only one who hurt you, but your mom doesn't believe it. She thinks Yoona was telling the truth when she said everyone hurt you. 

That girl had so much hatred towards Seokjin just because she despised him for Yoko, it was more than possible that other children thought and acted like her towards her son. 

"You can tell us now Seokjin. You have to tell us," the old man corrected himself.

"I..." Seokjin started before stopping.

He had wanted to protect his mother from this grief, which is why he had said nothing. If he admitte now that Yoona had told the truth, his mother would be afraid every school day from now on, knowing that he would go to Eunma. He refused to put her in such a state of anxiety. 

Besides, he had just reconciled with Taehyung but if he revealed to his mother what Taehyung had done to him and what he let others do to him, not to mention Namjoon and his plan to threaten Seung's family, his mother would be terribly angry with them. 

She would do anything to keep him away from Taehyung and stop giving him him affection. However, Taehyung seemed to need it, he was attached to Seokjin's family and not just to Seokjin. And he was going to need it even more when he learned that his mother had abandoned him, that was Seokjin's belief.

Even if he refused to listen to Namjoon now, he couldn't cause worry to those he loved. He had managed to overcome his suffering from the bullying, he had gotten back up, had become stronger, he had become friends with Taehyung again, had become friends with Jimin. And now, even though he had lost his high school and also Namjoon, he wanted to believe that in the future, with his friends, he would be fine. There was no point in worrying his mother.

"Mom, Ji-Chan," he declared, "Yoona is a liar. She hates me and she wanted everyone to hate me and hurt me like her but Taehyung stopped her."

There. He lied to his family. It was, it was a half-lie but a lie nonetheless. Like Jimin had done the day before, he was going to pretend that it was Yoona who had harassed him and her alone. After what she had done to him in front of everyone, it wouldn't be difficult for him to explain how much this girl hated him and had made him suffer. But lying to his mother and grandfather hurt him.

He broke away from his mother and asked his grandfather:

"Ji-Chan, can you take care of mom? I would like to go wash. I'll tell you about it after that, okay? And can you prepare a kosher for me? I feel like my head is going to explode. Oh, and is lunch ready? I'm so hungry I could eat Jimin!"

The two adults gave a weak smile. Seokjin always used that expression to laugh. And if he joked now, it was to ease their sorrow. He was an empathetic child who consoled others despite his own suffering and made them smile again. Seokjin was their blessing.

They decided to give him time to wash and eat to regain his senses before continuing the discussion.

Then, they listened to him tell what Yoona had done to him. He did this while selecting certain anecdotes and trying not to tell the worst ones, because it seemed to him that the less serious ones already seemed difficult to bear for them.

Even though he didn't really want to, given his new relationship with him, he saw fit to point out that as long as Namjoon was at school with them, no one had dared to pick on him. He clarified that it was his last year which had especially been difficult because Yoona had not dared to hurt him in front of him and had waited for him to leave for high school. Yoko was reassured by this, wrongly believing that Seokjin was trying to prove to her that Namjoon had been up to the task.

"What about Taehyung?" she asked suspiciously, wondering if Taehyung had been partly responsible since Yoona was his girlfriend until recently.

"It was Taehyung who decided that Yoona couldn't stay in the same school as me anymore because he refused to let her hurt me and he arranged for her to be expelled," Seokjin told her, so that his mother can be reassured of Taehyung's role in this story. 

Even if Taehyung had hurt him more in middle school while Namjoon appeared as his protector, after the revelations that Namjoon had made to him about his real intentions, it was Taehyung his mother should like, not Namjoon. It was his belief but he couldn't tell her that. Taehyung had been mean but even he had sincerely decided to change while Namjoon had pretended to be someone nice to him when in fact he was someone mean, selfish and insensitive.

"Taehyung has been there for me and now everything is fine," he concluded. "I just hope..." he began, frowning, suddenly thoughtful.

"What's wrong Seokjin?" his mother worried.

"Um, nothing serious mom, I just wonder if Yoona is going to go to Eunma too," Seokjin said worriedly. "

To his great surprise, his father and grandfather giggled.

"What is it?" he asked curiously.

"Seokjin, haven't you been curious about the school Namjoon and Taehyung are going to go to? It's an all-boys school, Yoona wouldn't be able to go there, even if her parents had been able to enroll her!" Yoko taught him.

"Really?!" Seokjin exclaimed, surprised and happy.

"Yes," his mother agreed. "Apparently these boys' families want them to focus more on their studies than on girls. It's a shame, you won't be able to meet a girlfriend there," she regretted.

"I-I'll be fine, mom," Seokjin said quickly, because he had in mind both the pest Yoona who had been Taehyung's girlfriend but also the discussion with Namjoon and Taehyung about girls and their hatred of football. "I don't need a girlfriend, I have football and that's enough for me."

"If you say so," Yoko laughed when she saw her son all embarrassed.

Seokjin was reassured to see his mother smile and he smiled back. If Eunma's biggest problem was that he wouldn't get a girlfriend there, then he was relieved:  if it was a boys' school, he would be safe there, far from Yoona.

He would just have to avoid Jungkook and Namjoon as much as possible, but that would probably prove less arduous than having to avoid Taehyung, Jimin and their entire school during this last year of middle school.

He would join the football club and take his classes seriously during the three years he would have to spend there. Then he would be a free adult, completely free to make his own choices, freed from his obligations to the Kim family. 

Yes, it could only be better.

"I'll be fine, Mom, Ji-chan, don't worry," Seokjin told them with a newfound sincere smile. 

After all, he was that kind of person: a positive person who fought for his dreams and got back up despite the challenges.

For the rest of the summer, Seokjin and Taehyung ignored Namjoon who did the same in return and only focused on his summer classes.Even if it was still hard for Seokjin, he had to face the facts: Namjoon's behavior was not due to any drugs, he had indeed become hostile towards him. 

 The two youngest stayed together throughout their last month of vacation, even when Jimin's family invited Taehyung for a few days at their vacation home in Busan. Happy for her son, Yoko was grateful to the two boys for taking care of him and making him forget his sadness.

It was on this occasion that Seokjin saw the sea for the first time and he was so amazed that he uttered the most enthusiastic "Wow" of his life and Jimin declared that he looked just like him now. Seeing Seokjin get excited about the most mundane things according to them had become the second most satisfying activity in Jimin and Taehyung's eyes. The first was to see him happy, just happy.

When he returned from this short vacation, regarding his specialty for high school that Mr. Kim urged him to choose, Seokjin, having no other passion than football, decided to let Taehyung choose for him, which the other did with pleasure. As he had developed an early interest in music before even entering middle school, this is what he chose for both of them.

Seokjin had already seen him many times with a music theory book in the garden, sitting next to him while he played football. And he had also heard him play the violin and the piano sometimes, but he had never played an instrument himself and he had no confidence in his abilities at all. He was good with his feet, not with his hands, that was his certainty. 

"Tae, I'm not sure I can do it. Maybe it would be better if you chose that for yourself but for me-" he started.

"Stop saying that! Of course you can, if you put your mind to it, just like you did for football," Taehyung immediately rebuked him, who had no intention of letting Seokjin choose a specialty different from his.

"I could never put this much effort into anything else!" Seokjin protested.

"Did you try anything new before you said that?" Taehyung objected.

Stunned, Seokjin realized that Taehyung wasn't wrong. He had always been convinced that he would love nothing more than football and this had perhaps made him prohibit himself from being interested in other things. However, there was nothing to prove that he wouldn't love if he didn't try.

Lately, he had been able to discover to what extent art, whether clothing or music, seemed to interest Taehyung in whom he had only ever seen an heir, a person who could afford everything but who had only no real passion. 

He was happy for Taehyung and he told himself that he could try to be interested in it too, both to please his friend but also because he was curious to know if he might like it. Never as much as football, he was sure, but at least a little.

As for Taehyung, he saw that there was a chance that Seokjin would find interest in his own passions and he intended to make sure that Seokjin accepted. There was a time when he would have just forced him, but that time was behind him: he wanted Seokjin to willingly choose to share this with him.

"But I have so much catching up to do compared to you!" Seokjin protested, who wondered if he could really feel at home alongside students who, like Taehyung, had been taking music lessons since childhood.

"That's true," Taehyung admitted arrogantly, earning a pouty look from Seokjin. "But dad is going to bring a teacher for you and I'm going to help you too."

"You will help me?" Seokjin asked, excited.

"Yes," Taehyung affirmed, "what musical instrument do you want to learn to play?" 

"The piano," Seokjin replied without hesitation.

There was an imposing ivory piano in one of the living rooms of the Kim house that he could only look at and he was suddenly dying to know how to play it.

But to begin with, he had to learn the basics of music theory and it was a part that he didn't really like. But after a while, he was finally able to sit next to Taehyung on the comfortable bench in front of the piano and start playing simple duet pieces with his friend.

This pleased him.

And it also pleased Taehyung who forced Seokjin to come and play with him even when he didn't want to, claiming that he had to train harder to be up to the task at the start of the school year.

From afar, Namjoon observed with a somber look these special moments that the two youngest spent together. Seeing them smile at each other when they played the piano reminded him that he was now deprived of Seokjin's smiles. Even though he tried to ignore it, he saw that sometimes, Seokjin couldn't help but look at him in pain.

Namjoon had caused this strangeness himself, he knew it, but that didn't take away anything from this odious and painful feeling that was strangling him. 

It was he who had allowed his little brother to enjoy this happiness with Seokjin.

As for him, he would have nothing. He had no right to happiness.

He had made his choice and he could no longer go back.

_______