#6

They both sat at a café just down the street from Yejin’s apartment and had been sitting there, not saying anything for the past ten minutes since they got there. Yejin had been sipping on her drink, trying to act uninterested at what Jongin was going to say as she looked out the window where else Jongin is avoiding looking at Yejin’s way as he hesitated on what he was going to say.

Finally, after a couple more minutes had passed with the both of them still not talking to each other, Yejin had had enough of it. She sighed and turned to Jongin who was playing with his hands on his lap, and cleared making him look up at her.

‘So, are you going to start or…?’ Yejin asked and Jongin stared at her worriedly as it finally hit him that he’s going to tell her everything. Yejin rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest as she leaned back onto her seat. ‘Seriously Jongin, if you’re not going to say anything, I’m just going to leave.’

‘No, don’t,’ Jongin finally said. ‘Please.’

‘Then, what are you still waiting for? I don’t have time, Jongin. There’s so many things that I need to settle for the wedding.’

The word ‘wedding’ seemed to snap something in Jongin as his head lifted to look at her so quickly that it made Yejin wonder if his neck hurt at the sudden movement. Yejin stared at him as she waited for him to start and she watched as he took a deep breath and letting it out slowly before he finally opened his mouth.

‘I didn’t leave you because I didn’t want to be with you anymore,’ Jongin started, heading straight to the point. ‘And it was definitely not because I didn’t love you anymore.’

Yejin’s eyebrows furrowed. ‘But, you said –’

‘I know what I said,’ Jongin cut her off. ‘But they were all just lies to make you let go of me.’

Yejin stared at him confusedly. ‘Why?’

Jongin was quiet for a while and Yejin waited for his answer. He then took a deep breath before he looked into her eyes, making sure that she knows that what he was about to say was not a lie.

‘My dad never liked you, Yejin.’

‘… What?’

Jongin sighed and leaned forward on his seat so that he was closer to her when he explained everything. ‘He only likes you if you were just a friend of mine. He’s never approved of you being anything more than that.’

Yejin’s eyebrows furrowed and was slightly agape at the new information she’d gotten. All throughout their relationship, she had never even realized this and she wondered why had she never been able to see it?

She shook her head slightly. ‘I… I don’t understand. He’s always been nice to me. Why?’

‘It was because he had arranged for me to marry his friend’s daughter.’

Yejin gasped and stared at him in shock and Jongin smiled but his eyes were dull and lifeless as he thought back to what happened back then.

‘I didn’t know why he arranged it. He never told me the reason but I suspected it had something to do with a deal between them. Business, maybe.’ Jongin stated. ‘When I found out about it, I tried to back out and god knows how many times I begged and got into fights with him over it but,’ Jongin huffed. ‘He never once changed his mind.’

Yejin was quiet as she listened. She never imagined that Jongin’s dad was that way because all those times she had met him, the man had always been so sweet and kind to her that she wondered if Jongin was lying to her. But, Jongin looked up at her then, and from the look in his eyes, she knew it was the truth.

Jongin had never been able to lie to her. It was not because he was a bad liar, per se – she’d seen him lie to their professors so many times for handing his assignments in late – but, whenever it comes to her, he’s never been able to pull it off. He’d always break under her stare and curse as he finally told her the truth.

He had ruined so many surprises because of that.

But, she wondered how did she fall for the lie he told her when he wanted to break up with her? Was it because she was blinded by the pain she was feeling in her heart back then that she couldn’t even realize he was lying?

‘When I met you,’ Jongin continued with a smile on his face, snapping Yejin out of her thoughts. ‘I thought that you were so amazing. Someone who understands me perfectly and I remembered thinking that if I were to introduce you to my parents, they’d fall in love with you as quickly as I did.’ He chuckled. ‘And I was right, my mom loved you as soon as she met you.’

Yejin smiled too, remembering how warm his mom was to her when they’d first met and how comfortable she’d made her feel.

‘And from the way my dad treated you, I thought he did too.’ Jongin continued. ‘So, I thought that finally, I’ll be able to change his mind. Finally, I’ll get to get out of this deal he made.’ He paused then and his eyes looked up to hers and she was surprised at the emotions that were swirling in them. ‘Do you remember the dinner we had a few