Disclaimer: We don't own boys over flowers

"You…." Sobbed Mrs. So, "have… another business meeting? You just returned from one last week."

"I'm only trying to do what is best for our family," her husband protested. His wife looked like she was on the verge of another one of her hysteric sobbing episodes.

"I can't believe… you would…. do this to me. Again," she said as she burst into tears.

Il Hyun increased the volume of his stereo in an attempt to drown out the voices of his parents. Even though his bedroom was locked shut, his father's voice carried. Things between his parents hadn't been good for a long time now, but for the past month, things had gotten progressively worse.

"Is he not going to come back?" asked a six year old Yi Jeong.

Il Hyun heaved a sigh. Even though his brother was too young to fully understand the severity of the situation, he was old enough to understand that his parents were unhappy.

"No, he is just going on a short trip. He will be back soon," he assured Yi Jeong.

"Why is Omma crying?"

"She just misses him. That's all."

Yi Jeong didn't seem entirely convinced by that explanation. So Il Hyun put his arms around his brother and asked, "How about we record another episode of So chronicles?"

About a year ago, Il Hyun had begun to record a series of cassettes for his brother. In them Il Hyun mostly recited bed time stories, complete with all the voices, for his little brother.

Yi Jeong became animated by this suggestion. He loved recording these tapes.

Il Hyun put an empty cassette into the recorder and began…"So the last when we left off, Maria had encountered a strange man in the woods. Would you like some bread?" Il Hyun grunted, doing his best creepy man impression.

As the story continued the room began to ring with Yi Jeong's laughter. Il Hyun was glad that his parent's fight was temporarily erased from his brother's mind.

_oOo_

"Why are you standing child, take a seat child," suggested Yi Jeong's mother

Ga Eul sat down in a chair in front of the women, attempting to not let the awkwardness show. She was contemplating what to say when Mrs. So spoke, "This is all very good child. Did you make this yourself?"

Ga Eul nodded.

"Forgive me for prying but I haven't seen you before. Have you known my son a long time?"

"No, ma'am we met a while ago, through a mutual friend."

"I see. It's nice to know that he has friends who take good care of him. He has always been the one to take care of others, even when he was a child. I guess that is partially my fault."

"That does sound like him."

"He has always been a good son but I'm afraid he is a little too hard on himself. He sells himself too short."

Ga Eul was saved from answering by Yi Jeong's arrival.

"Here Omma, have some water."

Ga Eul proceeded to walk away when she paused at the door on hearing Mrs. So's voice.

"Take care of each other."

"Did you say something ma'am?" she asked

"I said take care of yourself, child."

Ga Eul looked like she wanted to say something but was stopped by Il Hyun's reappearance.

"Omma? Hey, how are you doing?" Mrs. So's face lit up on seeing her oldest son approach . It had been too long. Ga Eul observed this reunion with a smile on her face. The two boys were gathered around their mother's bed. Mrs. So was gently patting Il Hyun's cheeks and Yi Jeong was smiling widely. It was nice to see him smile again. It almost didn't seem like they were in a hospital.

_oOo_

"Yes, I understand the consequences of my actions," said Woo Bin dryly. The dean of the hospital was giving him an earful for misuse of hospital equipment. He not only had to pay a huge fine but also had to listen to a lecture that was showing no sign of ending. He realized that it could have been worse and it was only because he was a friend of Ji Hoo, and the Yoon family was a generous donor to the hospital, that he wasn't kicked out, but the dean had been rambling for an hour.

"And I hope you are more careful from now on, young man."

Woo Bin nodded. It seemed that the speech had finally come to an end, not wanting to test his fortune, he and Jae Kyung shot out of there.

"So, do you want to have some lunch?" he asked his companion.

"No, I'm not that hungry and you should probably get back to Yi Jeong."

Apparently hospital food was so bad that even Jae Kyung wasn't eager to taste it.

"So, how is the new roommate working out?" After two weeks of searching, Jae Kyung had finally found herself an agreeable roommate.

"Great, she doesn't grow any drugs or want to blow up the planet. Actually, she doesn't want to do much of anything. She is hardly ever around. She just paid the rent and disappeared. Should I be worried?"

"Well as long as she hasn't mentioned any satanic cults yet, it'll be fine." Jae Kyung looked at him with understanding.

"I'll be off then, have to get back to work."

"Hey Jae," she turned around to face him, "thanks for coming," he said while putting his arm behind his head.

"Don't be ridiculous." She tugged her hand in the pocket of her lab coat. "That is my job." She waved him bye and proceeded towards the exit.

With Jae Kyung still on his mind, Woo Bin began to make his way to Yi Jeong's mother's room. Jae was working extra shifts in the porridge shop and had also started attending some classes in her university, as opposed to doing everything by correspondence. Even though she was her usual bubbly self, the stress was beginning to creep in. Woo Bin suspected she was in class when he had texted her, but she had still come. He could always depend on her. He hoped her new roommate wasn't a nut head. Jae Kyung had enough problems already.

When Woo Bin reached Mrs. So's ward he was greeted by the sight of the irresponsible, selfish , brother ditcher, Il Hyun talking to sweet innocent Ga Eul. The devil.

"Ga Eul is a sweet and loving person. You don't deserve to listen to her voice and you most certainly don't deserve her cookies," said Woo Bin. He snatched the box of cookies from Il Hyun and began to eat one.

Woo Bin was pleased to see Il Hyun walk away from there, Ga Eul was not. She gave him a disapproving look and chased after Il Hyun.

_oOo_

Ga Eul found Il Hyun sitting on a bench, near the ward, two corridors across from them. She took some coffee from a nearby coffee machine and offered him some. He gave her a weak smile, then walked to a trashcan and threw all the coffee in it.

"This coffee machine never functions well." He motioned for her to follow him.

He took her down two more corridors near another coffee machine. They sat there in silence for some time, just sipping their coffee.

"I know this floor of the hospital quite well. Particularly this corridor," said Il Hyun. Ga Eul gave him a sympathetic look.

"I have some really happy memories associated with this floor." Ga Eul looked at him like he had sprouted two heads.

"Yi Jeong was born here." Il Hyun had a small smile on his face, and for a second, just a second, his eyes lit up. "I still remember the day so well. My aunt handed me tiny red faced baby Yi Jeong. She told me that he was my little brother, and I must always protect him. When he grabbed my hand with his tiny fingers I promised myself that he will have a better childhood than I did, that he will never have to face what I faced. " Il Hyun walked to the nearby window. He put his hands on the windowsill and started staring into the distance. After an excruciatingly painful pause, he continued, "In retrospect that was the first among the many promises I failed to keep." He turned to face Ga Eul and then quickly turned back towards the window. "You must think I'm awful Ga Eul, abandoning my little brother like that. Woo Bin certainly thinks me to be the devil reincarnate."

Ga Eul wanted to contradict him but after Woo Bin's little display she couldn't come up with anything. Il Hyun did not wait for her to think of a rebuttal.

"I guess things just got too much for me."

"Yi Jeong has some fond memories of you. I'm sure you must have tried."

"I thought my father would be easier on Yi Jeong because he had a knack for pottery, even at a young age, but he put him through a different kind of hell. When he was six he enrolled him in this national level competition for pottery. He would tirelessly work Yi Jeong all day. Yi Jeong was so little then, too little to protest. He would come to my room at 4 am at night crying . He was tired and wanted to sleep. He wanted this to end. So two weeks before the completion, when my dad had gone to a party, I snuck him out of the house to bus headed for camp."

"The same camp where he met the F4?"

Il Hyun smiled at her. "My father was furious but it was worth it. Completely worth it."

_oOo_Flashback _oOo_

"You have no concern for your brother's future?" Mr. So yelled at Il Hyun. He then took a pottery piece, one that Il Hyun was proud of and smashed it. "Your work is garbage. You are a complete disappointment but must you spoil my star child as well."

Il Hyun's father continued to wreak havoc on Il Hyun's room. He ripped the poster of Il Hyun's favourite band from the wall. "This is what you waste your time in? This is what you waste my hard earned money on? Good for nothing, awful sounding noise? " He picked up another one of Il Hyun's pottery pieces and said, "But then again, I guess that is all you can do." He then noticed the stack of tapes lying on Il Hyun's table, the tapes he and Yi Jeong had spent hours making.

"Dad, please dad, let them be," Il Hyun begged his father. He loved those tapes .

His dad dropped them to the ground and then crushed them with his feet.

"I hope you have learned your lesson, son."

_oOo_ End flashback _oOo_

Il Hyun was brought out of a trance by the sound of Ga Eul's voice.

"That trip meant a lot to Yi Jeong," she said. Il Hyun smiled at her. At that very moment two kids, a boy wearing a hospital gown, and a girl in a blue dress passed them. They both had their arms outstretched, like wings of an airplane, and were making engine noises with their mouths. A forty something old woman came chasing after them. Il Hyun let out a chuckle. This brought back better memories for him.

"There were other less dramatic times as well. I took him on a …" as if remembering who he was talking to Il Hyun paused, "a picnic with his friend, the daughter of his pottery teacher."

Il Hyun remembered that day so well. Yi Jeong was so excited. He and that little girl Eun Jae looked so adorable , sitting together on the grass, chit-chatting. That entire month his father was out of the country, so Il Hyun got to do many activities with his brother. However, six months after that, everything changed. The fight that got him to leave was engraved in his memory. Something he didn't think he could ever forget. Yi Jeong's father was training him harder than ever. Yi Jeong was cooped up in his house, practicing pottery, seven days a week, for a month. He was beginning to grow restless. So one weekend, Il Hyun snuck him out of class, and took him to Seoul Children's Grand Park. Yi Jeong had wanted to go to there for a long time now.

When Il Hyun came home he was faced with a furious father.

"You should be ashamed of yourself." The smile his brother had on his face that entire evening made it difficult for Il Hyun to feel regret or shame. "Are you so jealous of your little brother's success and talent that you are determined to ruin his future? Does me favoring him over you as my heir bother you that much?"

"He has been doing nothing but pottery for twelve hours every day for a month. He is eleven, Appa, cut him some slack."

"So you want your brother to turn out like you, a complete utter failure? " Il Hyun had heard enough at this point. He stormed out of there, banging the door behind him. It was that day when he considered leaving, really considered it, for the first time. And he told Ga Eul as much. His father did his best to keep Il Hyun from his brother after that. Yi Jeong's classes had more security. He even began to attend many of Yi Jeong's classes as well. The entire month after that their father kept track of Yi Jeong's every activity.

"I felt that I had just made things worse." He began to pace the floor, attempting to gather his thoughts. Then settling on a bench, he continued,

"A week later, Yi Jeong won the best potter in Korea, junior division. I was so proud of him. My father offered to take him out for ice cream that day. Yi Jeong wanted me to come, but my father turned him away. He told him I had work and would be joining them next time. Yi Jeong seemed happy. He enjoyed pottery much more than I did. I thought things would be easier if I left.

"It must have been hard for you, making it on your own."

"I'm sorry for unleashing all this on you. I guess I wanted one of Yi Jeong's friends to not hate me. I realized I have made mistakes and now I feel like a cheat for coming back into his life, now that he is successful. "

"Yi Jeong misses you. I'm sure he will appreciate you sticking around."

A/N Hey guys, sorry for the long wait. We had a lot of things going on. However, you don't need to worry, we aren't going to abandon this story.