*SHK’s POV*

It’s been three days since that incident outside the house and I find myself constantly smiling ever since. I haven’t felt like this in quite a while and I must say that it feels nice, so far. I haven’t seen Joong Ki in all those three days since he’s been very busy overlooking things in preparation for the contract signing which is scheduled on Wednesday of next week. And I don’t intend to interrupt him, I know that he has a lot of things going on even if he says otherwise and I don’t want to add to the things that he has to worry about.

He, however, tries to squeeze in some time to text me in between meetings or whenever he has the time and calls me before going to bed, which I find kind of sweet. In return, I keep the supportive fake fiancée act and ask my secretary to send him food from time to time. We don’t need unnecessary problems such as people being suspicious of us to arise at this moment and besides, he has the tendency to skip meals whenever he’s busy, so, yes, I’m just trying to be thoughtful here.

Joong Ki has been good to me in all these few months of fake engagement and I want to return the favor. Yes, I didn’t like him at first and I thought bad about him, but constantly proves me wrong, showing me how good of a man he actually is. He did live up to his vows and still continues to fulfill them.

Leaning against my swivel chair, I try to picture out a future with Joong Ki. He does seem to genuinely care about me, and at this moment, I’m quite sure that I have already started falling for him, so, what’s stopping me?

Well, the world is full of possibilities for me and him, everyone seems to be in favor of us being engaged especially our fathers. Even both our companies will benefit greatly if we ever do end up together, not that taking over my father’s company is that pleasing to me, but then that would mean I’d be able to help him continue his legacy and even contribute to the progress of the company he’s worked almost all his life to establish and manage.

But still, there’s that pessimistic part of me, which I’m trying to ignore but keeps on nagging me of the things that might go wrong. That everything seems too good to be true. That there must be a catch that I don’t yet know of. I have this fear deep within me that keeps on telling me that this feeling of happiness might all just be temporary and that things might change for the worse in an instant.

I shake my head lightly, trying to get rid of those thoughts, not wanting to spoil my mood. Why am I thinking about those anyway? I should be enjoying the moment since positive, excitable feelings like this rarely happen to me.

Noting that it’s already past office hours, I stretch and prepare to leave. Just before I grab my bag, my phone chimes, informing me that I have a message from Joongki.

Big Boss: Where are you?

I smile, touched at him making an effort to text me though he told me that he was going to be in several meetings the whole day.

Beauty: Office. I’m about to leave, though. You?

Big Boss: I’m off to somewhere important.

Beauty: Oh, okay. Are you going to TMI tomorrow?

Big Boss: Yes. Couldn’t say no to Ah In. I’ll pick you up after work tomorrow, would that be okay?

Beauty: Fine with me. Ya! You shouldn’t text while driving. I have to go now. Take care

Big Boss: Yes, Ma’am. You, too. J

Still smiling, I put my phone back to my bag and start to exit my office. I skip happily, heading towards the building’s car park where I left my car. I see my car and start to approach it when I see a familiar figure standing right next to it.

“Hae Jin,” I say and he turns around.

“Hye Kyo,” he greets and I stop walking to face him.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, wondering why he’s here. “Do you need anything? We could go to my office and talk, I’m not in a hurry, so, let’s go?” I say, starting to turn back and walk towards the entrance of the building.

“Hye Kyo, I want you back,” he says and I stop from walking.

“W-what?” I must have heard wrong, right? There’s no way that….

“I still like you, Hye Kyo. I want you back in my life,” he says. No, this isn’t happening.

“Hae Jin…” I say, not really knowing how to react when he cuts me off.

“Will you hear me out first?” he asks and starts talking before I could even respond. “So Hee and I already broke up. It just wasn’t right. I still like you, I didn’t know it at first, but now it’s clear to me. The moment I saw you with Joong Ki, I instantly felt it. I know I left you hanging, and I regret it every day. I wasn’t ready and I was a coward doing that to you. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry,” he says, staring at me pleadingly.

“I already forgave you. It was a long time ago, let’s forget about it” I say, seeing him looking like that tugs at my heart. Despite everything that he’s done, I still couldn’t forget that I once cared so much about him. It still couldn’t erase the moments when we were there for one another.

“Don’t you get it, Hye Kyo?” he says, taking a few steps towards me and reaching for my hand while I’m too stunned to protest. “I want you back. It’s you, it has always been you, even when So Hee and I were together, it was you who I was thinking about. It was you in my heart.” No, no, no. He can’t mean that. This isn’t happening. No.

“No. Stop it, Hae Jin. I’m already engaged,” I say, pulling away from his grasp.

“Do you think I don’t know?” he says, shaking his head slightly. What is he talking about? “Do you think I don’t know that you getting engaged to him was just to make me jealous? To get back at me for what I did to you?” he says and I’m taken aback. Does he really know about Joong Ki and mine’s deal? Or is he just relying on his assumptions?

“You knew that I was back, didn’t you? And you did this to spite me. And you’ve succeeded. I realized that I still have feelings for you and that they never even left,” he says and right then I know that he’s believing what he only wants to believe. He thinks that I had everything planned out from the beginning.

“Hae Jin, stop it. I like Joong Ki,” I say, surprised at what I just said.

“Like? Are you sure, Hye Kyo? I know you, you don’t trust people that easily. Have you forgotten that I have known you for a really long time? I know you, I know every single thing about you, what goes through your mind, how you feel. I know you,” he says. No, you don’t know everything about me.

“You’re wrong, you don’t know me. Leave me alone, Hae Jin. I’m happy now, and you should be, too. Just let me be,” I say, wanting to get away from him, but he’s blocking my car. I’m not liking this conversation any bit.

“I can only be happy with you, Hye Kyo. Please give me another chance. Another chance to prove to you how much I love you, how much you’re meant for me and not for that guy. Hye Kyo, you’ve only known him for a few months. Do you really know the real him? Do you even trust him fully? But us, we’ve been through so much together, have you forgotten that?” he asks. No I haven’t.

“We have history, what we had once was beautiful. Don’t you want to continue it?” he asks. No, this can’t be real. “You don’t know him, Hye Kyo. What if he’s only after your company? What if he’s just using you? What if there’s an ugly part of him you don’t know of? I know you hate starting over, can’t we just continue from where we left off?” He’s poking on my doubts about Joong Ki spot on. No, stop it, Hye Kyo. Joong Ki’s not that kind of man.

“If your company is what you’re thinking of then I’ll help you. My family owns an equally influential company, we can secure a really strong partnership…”

“You don’t need another guy, another start where you constantly doubt that something wrong might happen. What you need is to revert to something familiar, to something you are already sure of, to what we once had. A strong foundation. I can be the guy that you need, Hye Kyo. I have already proven that to you once and I can tell that you still have feelings for me. I already learned from my mistakes, I don’t intend to repeat them. Take me back, Hye Kyo. Please take me back,” he says. No, don’t believe him. Stop it, Hye Kyo.

I start walking away from him, from all the things that I don’t want to hear when he hugs me from the back, stopping me.

“Please Hye Kyo, give me another chance,” he please and I don’t respond. What is happening? I don’t understand this. One moment I feel extremely happy, then this happens. What happened to letting things me?

“I’m not giving up Hye Kyo, I’ll come back. And I’ll get you back,” he says hugging me tighter before pulling away and walking towards his car while I stand here frozen, still shocked by that unexpected encounter, my mind filled with a whirlwind of thoughts. 

--- 

*SJK’s POV*

I drive excitedly towards SGC’s parking lot after confirming from her that she’s still at her office. I’ve been so busy these days that I didn’t have the time to visit her. I know that everything’s for the incoming contract signing and I’m more than grateful that she understands, but I couldn’t take the torture of not seeing her much longer, so I decided to leave work early to surprise her.

Wanting to make her even happier, I even dropped by one of the stores she likes and bought her a handbag, which of course wasn’t easy, I had to ask assistance from the saleslady in charge. I really hope it would make her happy.

Finally, I arrive at the car park and looking for a space to park my car into, when something catches my eye and my smile fased. I initially went here in the hopes of surprising Hye Kyo, but it turns out that I’m the one who’s in it for a surprise as I watch Hye Kyo being back-hugged by a man I don’t recognize. He moves his head, leaning deeper into her hair, his face now visible to me and I squint harder realizing that the man who’s with Hye Kyo is no other than Park Hae Jin. What the hell is happening?

I watch as he whispers something to her ear then pulls away, retreating to his car, while she stands there, frozen in place. I continue to stare at her as she slowly lifts her arms and wraps them around, hugging herself. I know I should approach her, but I don’t know what to do, what to feel, how to react. I’m still too shocked at what happened to even move.

Instead, I kept my eyes on her, watching her as she slowly approaches her car, leans her head against the steering wheel and stays like that for a few seconds. She then starts fastening her seatbelt and drives away, leaving me staring at her retreating car with chest aching, my plan of surprising her forgotten.

---

I feel tired. I couldn’t sleep last night, thinking about what I saw at the parking lot. What was that about? Why was that jerk hugging Hye Kyo? And why was she letting him? Did they somehow get back together? The thought painfully pierces through my heart like a bullet.

I really thought that we were already okay. That she’s already starting to return what I feel about her. But was I wrong? We kissed. I thought that was it, that she was already starting to open her heart for me.

But then again, when I come to think of it, it was only me who did the kissing. I kissed her and she let me. I poured all my emotions in that k