The next morning came, Lisa woke up with eyes puffy from all her heavy crying last night. It was the first time she exploded that she had the courage to lash out to her father last night. She kind of felt a little fine somehow after saying all the things she wanted to say since then. It felt great inside her, but she worried that because of her ungrateful words last night, things might get worst.

But she just shrugged all of the worries that’s been playing inside her mind, things were worst already from the start anyways, she thought. She slowly sat up from her bed, wincing in pain when she felt her head throbbed in pain. It felt like she was drunk last night, and she’s having a hungover now. She felt like all the water in her system was drained because of the waterfall like tears she gave out last night.

She didn’t notice that she had cried herself to sleep. It really to sleep with a heavy feeling. She gave out a tired deep sigh before standing up and headed to the bathroom inside her bedroom. She smiled bitterly seeing her reflection on the mirror – eyes red and puffy, cheeks stained with tears, her once chubby cheeks that everyone loved was slowly deflating because of her minimal eating.

She sighed again and grabbed her hair in frustration, “Aish, what have you been doing with yourself, Manoban?” she scolded herself as she scanned herself more, her bright aura obviously drifted away from her since she came back home. She frowned at the light bruise that she found on one of her cheek, it pained her to realize that it was caused by her father.

“Aish, pathetic,” she uttered one last time before heading to her bathtub to have a nice, relaxing bath. She filled it up with water and soap and once everything’s prepared, she dipped in and closed her eyes hoping that even just for one day, her mind could relax from all her problems.

Silence surrounded the whole bathroom.

Memories of her and her unnies playing, and goofing around, flashed back in her mind. She smiled at the thought while eyes still closed. And gosh, she missed them.

She missed the people who she first met ever since she stepped foot in Korea. The people who taught her the Korean culture to avoid making fun of herself, and to be get fooled by other people. She was thankful that she had found the right persons to be with while she was away with her family.

When she thought about family, her smile slowly dropped into a frown. All the happenings surrounding her made her feel like the girls treated her more like a family than her own true one, especially the last night’s events. She slowly opened her eyes as a look of disbelief washed over her when she remembered the slap her father gave her.

It was hard and painful. Sure her words were very impolite, but she couldn’t believe that her father would go to the extent of hurting her physically, like he hasn’t been hurting her emotionally. Unconsciously, her hand traced the cheek where her father hit her. It was the first time that it gave her a slight trauma.

She felt more hurt realizing that her father didn’t do that to her older sister. It just really felt unfair for her. She was close to her older sister, but she just couldn’t avoid the thought of what did her sister have that she doesn’t? She had been a good daughter too, just like her older sister, because she looked up to her very much, but her father seemed like not to acknowledge it, for all he did to her was be mean, harsh, and selfish…

All of these made her miss the girls more… If they were here they would probably be furious and want to fight for her. Especially Jennie, among them all she was the toughest one but also the softest. She smiled thinking about them. She wondered if they were doing well again, if the problems they had with the boys were already fixed, she wished nothing more but for things to be well again. She wondered if they would still be marching on their Graduation Day knowing that she wasn’t there. She felt bad for because of her their long time goal would be put into waste, because she was never coming back there until her wedding was settled.

She gave out a devastated sigh thinking about the wedding. Heck, did someone curse her to be in this situation right now? Why does she have to face it? Does she deserved all of this? Why can’t she just be happy and be the one to decide for her own life? Those were the questions that had been running in her mind every time the so called wedding was brought up.

“I don’t even know what he looked like. Even just his name for pete’s sake!” Lisa exclaimed in irritation, “Is he kind? Is he good? Is he good looking–” Lisa stopped listing down her questions when she realized something, “Aish, can’t be. No one could ever be as good looking as my Kookie…”

Her trail of thoughts were interrupted when she heard the familiar knock on her bedroom door. She felt annoyed as someone disturbed her relaxation time. She sighed then got up from the tub reaching her bathrobe and quickly wearing it.

She made her way to the door and opened it without hesitation, then another timid and intimidated Lily greeted her, “M–miss Lisa,” she stuttered again making Lisa roll her eyes.

“Yes, Lily?” she asked without any feelings on her tone.

“Lunch is ready, Miss Lisa…” the girl said making her widen her eyes in confusion and at the same time realization that she had been in the tub for almost four hours now, thinking about how sad her life was.

Her face went blank again when Lily spoke again, “Your father and mother are waiting, Miss Lisa…”

“I’ll skip it,” she said straightforwardly and about to shut her door once again when Lily stopped her and said something more.

“O–okay, I’ll tell them, but please Miss Lisa take care of yourself,” Lily said in her soft comforting voice. This made her face softened a bit, she was so busy clouding herself with anger forgetting that she had still this one friend that cared for her.

“T–thanks Lily…” she said while her head was bowed for she felt shy and embarrassed for being mean to her all this time. Lily smiled at her softly and nodded her head, she was about to walk away and go down when she remembered something.

“Miss Lisa, your father told me something,” Lily said making Lisa shot her head up just by hearing the word father.

“W–what is it?” she somehow kind of felt nervous.

“He told me that you and him will go somewhere later…”

“J–just the two of us?” she stuttered again, she wasn’t prepared to be alone with her father, not when the scenes last night were still fresh for the both of them, she felt kind of scared facing her father after what all she said last night, especially now that she knew he had the capability of hurting her.

Lily nodded much to her dismay, “And he said something about you should wear something nice and elegant, you’re going to meet someone later,” Lily added making her furrow her eyebrows thinking of who might it be.

Then realizing something, made her mood annoyed, “Tch, must be the so called fiancé,” she mumbled irritated.

“What was that, Miss?” Lily asked confusedly that made her shot her eyes up again to her and shook her head lightly.

“Ah, nothing, just tell him I’ll be ready,” she said quickly then when Lily nodded, she closed her bedroom door and went back on bathing again. This time quickly than ever for she worried her father might get angry if she prepared longer than expected.

She washed herself and when done she went to her closet and just picked a simple mint green off–shoulder dress that stopped just above her knees. As much as she hated preparing for this, but she got no other choice left. She went back to her bathroom and faced the mirror.

She ironed her hair straight then put on a light and simple make–up to make her face a little brighter, giving more attention in covering her bruise on the cheek before wearing her three inch black high heel. When done, she headed downstairs and saw that her father was already waiting for her in the living room.

“Ready?” her father asked without looking at her. She nodded and answered a quiet yes before her father stormed out of their house and into their car. He went for the driver seat, while she took the passenger’s seat.

They drove to their destination with silence surrounding the whole car. She thought she won’t survive the dull atmosphere but she breathed out a light sigh of relief when they stopped in front of some fancy restaurant. She quickly went out when her father went out as well. She waited for her father by the door as he gave the car key to the valet parker.

Not long after, her father went to her direction and led her inside the restaurant. She felt nervous as they went further inside in some kind of one of the private rooms in the restaurant, her heart beat rapidly when they stopped in front of a sliding door, this is it… She thought.

“Behave, be nice,” she heard her father say before it slid the door open revealing two men dressed in simple suits, one seemed like the age of her father, while the other one who had his head bowed and a blank expression on his face seemed to likely be around her age.

She saw the older male waved at her father happily with a warm welcoming smile, “Ah, my good friend, how have you been?” the old man said.

To her shock, her father smiled back, a genuine one, “I’ve been fine, how about you?” her father said with a kind voice making her ears perk up for it sounded very strange and unusual.

Her father motioned her to take the seat beside him, across from the younger man who didn’t even glance at them when they arrived.

“So this is Lalisa now? What a beautiful lady,” the old man commented that she just returned with a slight smile and bowed her head too like the person in front of her.

“Yes. Lisa, this is Mr. Leechaiyakul, my good friend and business partner,” her father introduced that she just bowed in respect for the said man that had his wide smile all the while they have been in that room. Then she saw her father turned to the younger man about to introduce him too, much to her unwillingness but she couldn’t anything now to back out.

“And this young man is his only son, heir of the business,” her father informed.

“Ten, your fiancé.”

The day went by quickly and it was now already evening, the girls were in the living room loafing around as usual. Jennie and Rose were lying down on their carpet together while watching a movie on their television entitled, “The Vow”. While Jisoo occupied their long couch and plumped herself onto it while busy scanning her social media sites.

She got bored scrolling through Instagram that she exited it and turned to the movie too. She could hear her younger friends sniffing silently as the movie went on. She let out a soft chuckle seeing them cry over it, it amused her how much a movie could affect her friends. Even Jennie, she knew she wasn’t easily affected by romance, drama kind of movies, but now, she’s shedding tears with Rose.

Well with Rose, she was used to her already. She was the most emotional one among their group that’s why it became normal for her to see her cry whenever they were watching these kind of movies. She turned back her attention to their television as she was getting immersed by the movie, she was about to cry too because she felt sorry for the leading man because no matter how hard he did, the leading lady couldn’t remember him.

Then a tear escaped her eyes but she quickly wiped it when she felt her phone vibrated on her tummy. She grabbed it then unlocked it to see her notifications. And to her surprise, it was from Twitter and it was from Jin. She forgot that she had the notification whenever he’ll post something. In curiosity, for it’s been a long time since she heard from him, Jisoo didn’t waste any second and tapped it.

‘@jinseokjin retweeted @geewonii’s post just now’

But instantly, she wished she didn’t… she wished she had the notification turned off when Jin posted something… She wished she wasn’t too curious about him… She wished she didn’t miss him…

A pang of pain strike through her heart seeing Jin’s new post. A new post where it was a photo of him and a girl, that looked a little older than him, both of them carrying drinks with the caption, ‘It was nice seeing you again, I hope we could do this all the time, thank you for your time, I missed you.’

‘I missed you’. She hoped that he would be saying that to her not with the girl he was with a while ago. Judging by the picture were it had a bright sunny background, she figured they went out earlier today and he was home by now eventually.

This is the first time that she felt jealous that she didn’t know how to handle it, that she abruptly got up from the couch and hastily grabbed her hoody from their coat rack and stormed out of their house slamming the door shut behind her.

She quickly hailed a cab and told the boys’ address to the driver. She couldn’t believe this. Is this why Jin doesn’t want to talk and listen to her? Is this why he didn’t want to be near with her again? Is this why he avoided her and loathed her because she found someone else already? Those were the thoughts that clouded her during the damn ride.

She was getting impatient that she told the driver to drive a little bit faster because it was urgent. The driver didn’t ask anything anymore that he just obeyed what she said. She knew that she should stay calm first before concluding anything. But heck, considering the situation that they were currently in, Jisoo couldn’t help herself but to judge and assume things in her way.

She felt hurt, angry, and confused at the same time it’s making her paranoid. She knew Jin couldn’t do that to her but she couldn’t help herself but to think the other way. She knew he was loyal, but right now… She’s confused, negative thoughts filling up her mind. She knew she should trust him, but at this rate, she doesn’t know anymore…

When the cab stopped in front of the familiar gates, she quickly paid the driver and went out of the vehicle, not wasting any time and continuously pressed their doorbell, that she heard running footsteps coming her way, “Coming!!” she heard someone shouted from the other side of the gates but that didn’t stop her to press it.

“Noona!” it was Taehyung who opened it with a surprise expression clearly not expecting her to be in their home right now. She didn’t greet him and just barged inside, Taehyung following behind her with a confused yet worried expression.

He followed Jisoo inside and saw her stop when she finally got a sight of his Jin hyung. Jin, Jungkook, and Jimin also stopped playing around when they saw Jisoo standing just a few steps away from them, glaring at their Jin hyung who was obviously shock from her sudden appearance but in a split second a blank, cold expression washed over his face, staring back at Jisoo.

“Kim Seokjin, we need to talk right now!” Jisoo shouted, hearing the fury in her voice, Jungkook and Jimin didn’t hesitate to slowly walk away from them and went beside Taehyung who was behind Jisoo, shocked from their sweet and playful noona’s sudden outburst. They went to the kitchen leaving their eldest friends in the living room to have a private talk, but because of their yelling, they could still hear what they were fighting about in the kitchen making them sigh sadly.

“Why are you here?” Jin asked in a firm voice.

Jisoo moved forward to him, “I said we need to talk,” she repeated with same firm voice.

“What is there to talk about, Jisoo?!” Jin lashed out.

“Is that why you wouldn’t want to talk to me? Is that why you refused to listen to me? Is that why you didn’t want to be near me again? Is that it Seokjin?!” she questioned him continuously her temper was getting the best of her.

Jin gave her a confused look, there’s only one reason why he didn’t want to talk with her again, but right now she’s asking him as if there’s another reason for that, “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play innocent with me! I thought you were loyal and faithful to me! I thought you refused me because of Jinyoung, but turned out because you were seeing another girl just right after we had unclear things between us! How could you fool me–”

“Said the girl who fooled me first,” Jin coldly said, cutting her words midway, Jisoo fell silent because of that. She saw a mixture of hurt, anger, and disappointment flashed in Jin’s eyes. Right there, she knew she had hurt him by her words but what could she do, it’s hurting the hell out of her too. They’re just feeling the same level of pain right now, there’s nothing in between.

“I didn’t know you could judge and accuse me that easily just because of a simple picture,” Jin spat out in disappointment. He finally figured what she was talking about, probably she had seen his post just now that made her barge in here, she probably felt jealous and angry that she’s letting her temper rise making her lash out to him.

“I trusted you Jin–ah –”

“I trusted you too Jisoo. But guess what happened? It crushed into a million pieces, because of who? None other than you, yourself,” he told her that caused the tears to start rolling on her cheeks, Jin looked away, “I trusted you too much that it really pained me to hear it personally that you didn’t want me and that guy was actually better than me…” he took a deep breath as he prevent himself from tearing up too, seeing her tear up made his eyes watery, he then turned to her with eyes full of pain, “Jisoo, am I not enough?” his voice breaking.

Jisoo teared up more seeing Jin in his current state. She never knew that it would be this painful to watch the person you love stop all his emotions from coming out when clearly he had this strong want to let it all out.

“Jin… If you could just listen to me even just for once, then you wouldn’t be asking me that… Please listen to me…” she said with a pleading voice and tried to reach out for him but before she could even lay a single finger on him, Jin backed away avoiding her, hurting her even more.

Jin stubbornly shook his head no, “What is there to listen? I’ve seen enough, and I trust what I see more than I trust you now,” he spat out, “And you know what’s even more painful? I trusted you to push and move him away from you but none of that happened!“

“Jin please you’ve seen it wrong! You’ve heard it wrong! Please all of this is wrong!”

“So you’re saying I’m wrong?!”

“Please just listen to me right now, I didn’t mean that way, you left at the wrong–”

“Jisoo, just stop–”

“–time I’ve said something more after that, yes he hugged me but–”

“I said stop–”

“–I pushed him away, then I told him to stay–”

“I SAID STOP!!”

Jin angrily shouted. He couldn’t handle it anymore. He just refused to listen to her. Jisoo fell silent and shock at Jin’s outburst. It was the first time she saw him shout out of anger. She walked towards him and reached out for his hand but Jin retracted it quickly and held his palm out in front of her signaling her to stop approaching him.

“Jin…” Jisoo called out in broken voice.

Jin sighed tiredly and massaged his temples, “Just go, Jisoo,” he sternly said.

“No, Jin–”

“Please just go,” Jisoo fell silent again. Seeing that Jin doesn’t really like her presence anymore, she turned her back from him and ran out of their house, slamming their door close in the process.

Jin breathed in and out heavily as it pained him to push her away. But as much as he wanted to hug her there and then when she teared up, his anger got the best of him.

Hearing the door slammed, the three went out of the kitchen and went to the living room seeing Jin grabbing his hair out of frustration.

“What’s wrong with listening Jisoo noona?” Jin heard Jimin asked in a slightly angry tone, he lifted his head up and found Jimin glaring at him making him furrow his eyebrows.

“Jimin–”

“Is it that hard to shut up and listen to what she wanted to say for a while?” Jimin asked, anger was now more evident in his tone. Jungkook and Taehyung were just quiet watching the two of their older friends talk.

Jin sighed again and turned to him, “Look, you weren’t in my shoes, you wouldn’t understand,” he reasoned but it didn’t made Jimin back off even just a little bit.

“In your shoes, no, but in Jisoo noona’s, yes. You knew how I felt when Rose refused to listen to me when we broke up, you knew how painful it was, can’t you imagine how much pain is noona feeling right now because of your stubbornness?” Jimin scolded. Jin fell silent for a while hearing that his dongsaeng was now lecturing him when it was supposed to be the other way around.

Feeling tired and didn’t want to start a fight with Jimin, he sat down and quickly dismissed the conversation, “Just shut it. Don’t get involved in this,” he said in a cold tone making Jimin scoff bitterly.

Feeling done with his stubborn friend, Jimin turned around and headed for the door making Jungkook and Taehyung alarmed, “Hyung, where are you going?” Jungkook asked.

“Following noona, it’s raining so badly,” Jimin said and grabbed an umbrella before hurriedly went out of their house. He looked left and right trying to find Jisoo. He sensed that she hasn’t gone too far from their house yet. He quickly went to the way that led him to the main road.

He alerted himself in any case of sign of his friend, then he breathed out in relief when he saw her standing by the pedestrian lane waiting for the time for them to cross the street, he hurriedly went to where she was when he saw she was already damped by the rain.

He quickened his pace more when the stoplight signaled that the people could cross the street already, but suddenly he sensed himself running for Jisoo was crossing the street without even looking at her way, and fear washed over Jimin when he heard a screeching car going towards Jisoo. He ran and ran about to grab Jisoo by the arm, but–

“NOONA!!!!”