Chasing You

Chapter Five

Catching Cold

She ran as fast as she could to escape Sehun and his explanation that she heard a million times before. She did not want to hear anything that he'd say. He would just tell her that he was sorry, and Sehun didn't mean to hurt her so early in the morning when he thought she was asleep. It was all a blur. When she was running, the tears started again. She opened the door of their house, slammed it, and went straight to the couch. She grabbed a small pillow, and there, she buried her head. It was always like this, and truth be told, she was sick of crying every time she got rejected.

It was a good thing that her mother wouldn't lecture her about sleeping at another house without asking her for permission. It was favorable that Jiyoung trusted Sehun when it came to Ah Reum. She knew very well how good and decent their friendship was, so when Jiyoung noticed how her daughter came in running, she had a clue about what had happened. She looked out the window and saw Sehun by the gate. Jiyoung then came out and went to talk to Sehun.

"Auntie," Sehun greeted; his voice was rough.

Jiyoung gave him a small smile. "My daughter seems to be in a bad mood. Talking to her would be futile... Let me just clear her mind and then you can talk to her. Is that fine?"

Sehun seemed reluctant because he wanted to explain his side right now, but he still nodded since his Aunt Jiyoung had a reason. Ah Reum wouldn't listen to him, so a short time to clear her mind would be helpful on his part.

"Just tell her, I'll wait."

"I will," the older woman promised.

Sehun decided to wait in their yard, and Jiyoung went inside their home again. She sat on the free space where her daughter was lying and pulled her up gently to make her sit up. She was readying herself to knock some sense out of her daughter's head; a common sense that seemed to leave her daughter's mind so many years ago. She hated to see her daughter crying; she had talked to Ah Reum about it so many times, but up until now, she was still unsuccessful persuading her daughter to let go of Sehun. Ah Reum would always tell her that she was more than willing to wait for him. Jiyoung would rarely about where she got that unique kind of perseverance.

"Mom..." Ah Reum groaned; her hair was a mess, and her face was something hysterical to see.

Jiyoung acted like she was innocent. "What? I'm not going to ask anything."

"Why? Am I that obvious?" Ah Reum asked, and when her mother nodded, she groaned again. "I don't understand. I've been waiting for so long, and there have been many times where I almost lost hope, but that's just... It was never completely gone. There is always this glimmer of hope inside me that won't falter. Despite everything, it never fades."

"That shows how serious you are," her mother explained, tucking Ah Reum's stray hair behind her ear.

Ah Reum tucked her legs in and leaned on her mother's shoulders. "Mom, what's the reason I need hope if Sehun won't even acknowledge me? I'm afraid that one day, I'll open my eyes, and I wouldn't feel a thing... Because I'm scared to feel the pain, I'm afraid to be hurt. I don't want it to end like that."

Jiyoung caressed her daughter's head. "You have to understand him also."

Ah Reum sniffed and frowned. "Right. Who am I kidding? He's courting somebody already."

The older Park placed a concerned look on her face for her daughter. She was surprised to know that Sehun was courting someone already. "All I can do is advise you on what I think the better choice but, in the end, your decision will be the key. Do you want to continue this or not?" She asked, hoping her daughter would finally stop.

Ah Reum was silent for a moment before answering. "I don't know."

Jiyoung held her daughter's chin up and said, "Then think of a way to know it."

"So hard," Ah Reum complained, frowning slightly.

Jiyoung stood up and glanced out the window again, seeing that Sehun was still waiting. This was the very reason she was letting her daughter do what she wanted. Oh Sehun, may have been hurting her daughter for a long time now, but he never meant it, he did not want it, but he continued to be a good person to her daughter; a very helpful one if she would sum it up. She was glad that these two kids found a best friend in each other. They were total opposites, and yet, they managed to bring out the best in one other.

Deep in her heart, Jiyoung liked Sehun for Ah Reum, and the Ohs were also fine with it. There was a mutual understanding between the two families already, but they did not want to force Sehun to love Ah Reum; they also were convinced that Ah Reum would not want that. Even though they weren't talking about Sehun and Ah Reum’s friendship frequently, it was already clear that if one day these two would be together then they would have no complaints about it.

"He's waiting outside. It'll be better if you talk to him now," Jiyoung informed.

The little brunette was surprised to hear that Sehun was waiting outside. She had second thoughts about talking to him but when she saw her mother's expression telling her to go and talk to him, she nodded once and did what she was told. "Okay."

She stood up and walked toward the door, opening it slightly due to reluctance. This never happened before. She never showed how bad she felt whenever he rejected her except now. It was out of the blue, and she was not ready for it. That's why, whenever she cried, she would do it secretly. Ah Reum saw Sehun waiting in their yard, and when he noticed her, he immediately walked to her.

"Let's talk," he started.

Ah Reum could not look at him directly. She gripped what her hand found first and tried to take a deep breath before finally opening to speak. "What's to talk about, Sehun? This is not new to me, to us."

"And you know that I'm not the type who will let you go just like that without having said a word," Sehun immediately chirped. "Look, I care about you, okay? Ah Reum, you are my best friend, and if it is hard for you to accept what I just said, you should know that it's hard for me to say it also. Hurting you is always the last thing I want to do."

Ah Reum’s mouth opened slightly because of what she heard. "The last thing you want to do? Sehun, you've been hurting me for the past decade."

"Sorry for being honest then," he said in his defense.

She did not react instantly but when she did, she shook her head and smiled uncomfortably to herself. She could not tell if Sehun said that to show her that she was unreasonable or if he was apologizing. "No, don't be. It's my choice to go on."

"I told you to stop already," Sehun scolded. "Because I can't think of any other way that won't hurt you...."

He was right. In this kind of situation, they were in, there was no way Sehun wouldn't hurt Ah Reum. He simply didn't like her in that way, so stopping would do the trick. Sehun would be freed, and Ah Reum would also be freed from the pain, but that was not how it worked for the brunette.

Placing a sad smile, Ah Reum spoke in a small voice. "I think stopping would be much harder than to continue this. At least with this, I can tell you what I'm feeling. But if the time comes that you need to be with Da Eun, then as long as we're friends, it's fine with me."

"Do you think I'll believe that? I'm not blind when it comes to your feelings."

Ah Reum could only smile at him because he was totally missing the point.

"Being friends with you after that with no changes at all; do you think that's something small? Sehun, that's big. That is everything to me because there is no assurance that we can be like this after you and Da Eun start dating," she explained.

Sehun knew that. He also knew how hard it would be for them to maintain their friendship if he started dating Da Eun. "If you strongly think that Da Eun and I would be together, then why do you keep on doing this?" He asked, waiting for an answer.

"Because I have this vain hope that's telling me that someday you will love me back," Ah Reum whispered, finally letting go of what her hand gripped.

"You're that confident," Sehun commented.

She nodded and with a strong face she said, "Yes, I am that confident."

"Nothing will change," Sehun said, offering his hand.

Ah Reum smiled a small smile and accepted it, "Yes, nothing."

...

"I can't believe it!" Yerim exclaimed, surprising Ah Reum, "Winter Dance is SO near."

Ah Reum’s ears perked up when she heard a word in line with dancing and dates. "For real? Oh my gosh! I got to ask Sehun. Pronto! "

"Are you sure?" Yerim immediately asked.

Ah Reum looked at her friend incredulously. "Yerim, what kind of question is that? We never know; he might say yes."

The blonde-haired girl let out an awkward giggle. "But... what if he doesn't?"

Ah Reum frowned at her friend's words. Yerim had always been supportive, but evidently she was acting unsupportive now. They were talking about Winter Dance, and the plainest definition of it was that it's just a dance; in a dance, you could ask as many people as you want to. It was impossible for Sehun to reject her offer.

"I'm used to it," the brunette mumbled, hoping it didn't reach Yerim’s ears.

"No, you're not," Yerim retorted, proving that she heard. "You still cry whenever he brushes you off."

Ah Reum felt embarrassed as Yerim said that and tried to think of a way to defend herself. "That doesn't stop me from believing that he'll say yes, this time, though. I won't stop believing in him, no matter what."

"Sehun is so lucky," Yerim pointed out; her voice was quiet.

"I'll be luckier if he will accept me," Ah Reum said.

Yerim looked like she was about to shed tears for her friend. "Oh, Ah Reum."

Yerim wanted to tell her that she has it all wrong. Sehun was the one who was lucky to have Ah Reum as his best friend. Sehun was fortunate to have someone who was waiting and willing to wait for him for so long. Sometimes, Yerim wanted to strangle Ah Reum and tell her to snap out of it. That Oh Sehun would never return her feelings, and that Sehun would just continue to hurt her, and that she was more than enough for Sehun, but he was too blind to see it, and that Oh Sehun was not worth it. But Yerim never said anything because she, too, witnessed how beautiful their friendship was. Ah Reum may not have been telling stories about their friendship, but they could see it.

"Ah Reum, goofy boy wants to see you," Seulgi said as she walked in the room.

"Goofy boy?" Ah Reum asked, completely and utterly clueless.

"Xing," Seulgi answered.

"Oh! Why does he want to see me? Did he tell?" Ah Reum asked, feeling unreasonably excited.

"Something about the Publicity Committee," Seulgi lazily replied.

Ah Reum quickly stood up. "Oh, gotta go. See you two later."

Yerim gave Seulgi a concerned look in which Seulgi knew what it meant. The Ice Queen just shook her head. It meant not to interfere anymore. Ah Reum chose this, and because she chose this, she should live with it. Yerim was distracted when Sooyoung suddenly came. She was about to tell Sooyoung what had just happened and how worried she was for Ah Reum, but she chose not to, for it wouldn't make sense.

Meanwhile, Ah Reum was traveling down one of the school's hallways to find Yixing. She ran past several rooms already before she saw a blonde-haired b