#since1765

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Seoul Gardens Apartment Towers

City of Seoul, Gyeonggi Province

It was already past midnight, and even after searching for half an hour, Kwon Jiyong still couldn’t find Kim Taeyeon. He’s checked the building’s common areas floor by floor – all the cafes and restaurants, all the recreational areas, the rooftop and pent, the swimming area, the spa.

“Come on Taeyeon. Just let me know you’re safe,” Jiyong left his eleventh voice message.

The multiple elevator flights combined with his frantic running only got him nauseated. He really wasn’t sure why he kept searching, when clearly the woman didn’t want to be found. After forty-five minutes, with the children’s daycare as his last spot, Jiyong finally gave up. He stopped before the 14th floor elevator to recover his lost breaths. Just then, a couple in their twenties approached the elevator, and so he tried his best to hide himself. They were walking with their two little dogs. As he stared at the cute pets, Jiyong realized something: every fancy apartment building in Seoul had a pet daycare. It was the last common area that he hasn’t checked.

In a rush, he went to the immediate directory and saw that the pet daycare was located on the 8th floor. With a renewed hope, he quickly travelled towards the place. As expected, it was already closed, but there was a glass area outside the veranda that provided access to the sleeping animals. Upon entering the veranda, there he found the person he had been desperately searching for.

Thank god you're safe. He couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Kim Taeyeon was just sitting there in a chair, facing the glass of the menagerie, peacefully watching the unconscious rabbits, dogs, and cats resting in their lit cages. He approached the girl, and pulled a chair next to her.

“Hey there,” he begun, sitting down beside her. He noticed that she was still crying. Oh . This would be awkward. Taeyeon looked away, and he saw that she wiped her tears. “It's okay. Don't stop crying. I won't judge, and I won't say anything.”

Taeyeon didn’t say a word, and she continued to wipe her face off the tears. She didn’t speak for a while, and Jiyong remained silent too. After a few minutes, she found the strength to stop crying, and she looked back at the animals.

“I don't have a clear out like you. Just go save yourself, and I'll figure something out.”

Jiyong just shook his head, answering, “Don't even think about the problem for now. Just cry your heart out.”

“I don't need your pity!” Taeyeon cried defensively, shocking Jiyong that he jumped. She looked at her with antagonism, and yelled, “Juri gaseyo, and leave me alone!”

“YAH!” shouted back Jiyong, pissed that he was caught off guard with her screaming like that. “Who said I pitied you? I already told you to stop assuming what I feel or think. I am not judging you!”

He stared at her straight to her eyes, aiming for her to see his sincerity. To his dismay, Taeyeon just looked away again. However, the woman actually cried silently. This pleased Jiyong, not because she was miserable, but because she allowed herself to be vulnerable in his presence. He permitted her to wallow in her misery for many minutes, and he just sat there with her, watching the cute cats purr in their sleep.

“Yeah, I'm that kind of girlfriend. I'm hopeless,” Taeyeon finally spoke, her voice broken with her emotions.

“You don't have to explain yourself to me,” replied Jiyong, calmly and assuring. He was on the verge of touching her back to comfort her, but he was afraid the woman would take it the wrong way. He contented himself just listening and watching her grieve.

Taeyeon continued, “I know I'm pathetic, and stupid, and...”

“If you are pathetic and stupid, then I am pitiful and dumb.”

“Wh-what?” she wondered, surprised that the man considered them the same. She now actually had eye contact with him, and she saw that Jiyong was wearing a rather somber darkness in his face as well. The young man then bitterly chuckled.

“Didn't you hear my love story? Audrie played me like a fool for years. I never picked a fight. I never argued. I always let things go. She twirled me round and round and round, and I gladly let her do it.”

Taeyeon recalled everything that Jiyong shared a while ago, and she realized that he was right. He sounded submissive, even obsessive, in their relationship. She didn’t fully see the picture earlier, but now she did. Kwon Jiyong clearly invested more than his girlfriend. Suddenly, Taeyeon felt guilty for brushing him off, and suspecting him of making fun of her. The man always had a way of proving to Taeyeon that all her judgements of him were incorrect. He wasn’t a player, he wasn’t a jerk, and he wasn’t childish or immature. In fact, Kwon Jiyong was somewhat like Taeyeon – hiding behind a mask.

“Can I give an unsolicited opinion?” Jiyong asked permission.

“Why not,” Taeyeon answered, sighing in defeat. She didn’t have the heart to push him away anymore, especially since he opened up to her that much.

“I think that kid’s just as crazy about you as you are about him. That's why he's playing you.”

What he said didn’t sink right in her. It didn’t make sense. She crooked her forehead and even grinned. She replied, “Why would you think that? Did we listen to the same blabbermouth named Tiffany Hwang tonight?”

Jiyong just sniggered, and then the laughter faded. He exhaled deeply, and Taeyeon wondered if perhaps, he was thinking again. Strangely, she found herself looking forward to the words that came out of his mouth.

“Audrie and I have been together for 1,754 days now. I've known her long enough to understand her ways. I'm not obnoxious or anything, but over time I’ve come to know that she treated me like because she loved me in ways she never understood. She couldn't handle how strong the love she felt towards me, so she chose to play. That’s why I let her.”

This only made Taeyeon chortle once more. Her tears have fully waned. “You are obnoxious.”

“And you are not hopeless,” Jiyong responded.

“Yeah right,” she cynically pronounced.

Taeyeon didn’t believe that. She was hopeless. Though it was so agonizing to admit it, Tiffany’s words were thoughts that she had been protecting herself from ever since. The thought of how much she had endured in the relationship made her sensitive once more. Before she could control it, the tears came out again, and this time she couldn’t stop it. Even if Big Bang’s G-dragon was just a feet apart from her, her pride and shame were completely overpowered by her pain. Tonight was the first time she fully acknowledged all that’s missing in her relationship with Byun Baekhyun.

On the other hand, Kwon Jiyong watched the woman break down in tears. It was a pitiful sight, one that he was all too familiar with. Taeyeon reminded him so much of himself years ago, when he also desperately longed to be loved back. He wouldn’t wish that kind of pain to anyone else, even if it was an almost-stranger like his fiancé. If Tiffany was right that this woman was fragile, frail, and stoic, Jiyong couldn’t imagine how she was handling this kind of heartache. It was the most painful emotion he has ever felt, and to know that such a small and delicate woman was feeling it… Jiyong felt unexplainably mad. Like he could just smash the head of who caused her to feel pain. Like he could just do anything to ease whatever was aching inside her. This wasn’t the first time Jiyong witnessed someone cry over a relationship, but this was certainly the first time he felt so affected.

“Choi Seunghyun's wrong,” was all Jiyong could say. He couldn’t bear to hear her silent hiccups anymore. “Baekhyun isn't like me. Baekhyun is like Audrie. I know Audrie better than anyone, therefore I also know Baekhyun. We'll make him realize he's crazy in love with you.”

From that night on, Kwon Jiyong made a promise to himself that he would never allow the woman to cry that way again. Not if I could help it. She didn’t deserve the pain Jiyong had to bear the last six years. If he could feel the pain instead, he would, just as long as someone as pretty and delicate as Kim Taeyeon wouldn’t. Unlike earlier, he gave up hesitating touching her. Jiyong found his hand patting her back, consoling her. He was just glad the woman did not blow off when he did. In fact, she just cried all the more at his touch.

“Like it's that easy,” Taeyeon cried out, covering her face because she couldn’t control her cries. Her palms muffled her voice, and now she was also emotional because she felt deeply embarrassed that Kwon Jiyong was witnessing this. “I’m s-sorry that you’re s-seeing me like this. B-believe me, I wouldn’t c-cry if I didn’t h-have to.”

“You can ing cry all you want. If there’s anyone who understands that feeling better, it’s me,” Jiyong assured her. Now, he actually moved his chair closer to her, and he pulled her head on his shoulder. “None of this is easy. Not the arranged marriage, not Baekhyun, in fact nothing about our situation’s easy. But you're not alone, okay?”

Taeyeon felt an inexplicable relief cover her body, and she felt oddly… comforted. It was as if Jiyong’s warmth and words offered immediate reprieve from the pit of gloom she jumped in. At that time, she still didn’t fully recognize that the man’s optimism provided her comfort, hope, solace. She just stayed in the moment, because being in the arms of Jiyong made the sorrow bearable. Kim Taeyeon cried her out while Kwon Jiyong tucked her in his arms.

When the emotions finally dwindled down, awkwardness crawled back in Taeyeon’s senses, and she slowly pulled herself apart from Jiyong. He offered her a handkerchief, and she took it to wipe her tears.

“We'll get you out of this mess. I promise I'll never leave you hanging,” said Jiyong, looking at her wipe her face. He was just glad the woman has finally calmed down.

Taeyeon nodded, accepting his indirect help. Once she has dried her face, she looked at him and just put on a small smile as a sign of her appreciation.

“Let's go home? It's getting cold,” invited Jiyong. He stood up, removed his jacket, and put it over Taeyeon’s body. She was shivering a little, as she was only wearing a dress with thin material.

“Can we not?”

“Why not?”

“Steph's drunk and lifeless in my house. I'm too pissed at her to clean up after her and see her tomorrow. I really don't want to face her when I’m this angry.”

Jiyong giggled a little bit, because to see Taeyeon pissed off at someone other than him already caused him to celebrate.

“So where should I bring you?”

“Uhm... a nearby hotel? I have an open tab in Shilla,” Taeyeon answered, then she began walking past him. “Let’s go. I’m already tired.”

“That’s nonsense!” exclaimed Jiyong as he followed her towards the elevator. “No way. I’ll just bring you home with me.”

This stopped Taeyeon from walking. Scandalized, she exclaimed, “Are you crazy?! There's a reason why I set this meeting in my home! It's not decent for a young woman to be seen in a bachelor's pad. Worse, just like you said, we are not regular people.”

Ring. Ring. Ring.

But before Jiyong could insist, his phone cut off what would have been an argument. He picked it up and told her, “Wait, hold on. Hello? Grandma? What's going on?”

“Come here in the village. Your grandfather needs you.”

“What happened?” Jiyong asked, suddenly troubled, because he sensed panic in Gran’s voice.

“He is very sick, and he's been looking for you since last week. Every day, he's been waiting for you to come and apologize ever since you ran away in Jeonju!” now Grandma Kwon was in tears. Jiyong closed his eyes in exasperation, and he drew a sigh.

“He's sick? How bad is it?”

“He refuses to eat and sleep until you come and apol