2013

The hotel lobby was bustling with patrons waiting for the check-in time. The reception was packed with people who were mostly tourist. I roamed aimlessly. I smiled at the bellboy who passed by with a cart full of luggage. I clutched the pink box I had in hand as a crowd of tourist walked in my direction.

“Choi Seunghyun?” asked a petite young woman in front of me. She was wearing a dark brown blazer with matching knee length skirt. I smiled, and glanced at her name tag.

“Sandara Park?” I murmured under my breath. The name seemed to ring a bell but I couldn’t recall.

“You know me?” I asked.

“We went to high school together. What are you doing here?” She asked.

“I was looking for someone.”

“Are you looking for Alice?” she asked nonchalantly. I was honestly surprised she figured it out so easily.

“Ne.”

“She doesn’t work here anymore. She has her own restaurant now. It hasn’t opened yet but I think she would be there overlooking the renovation work.”

“Oh jinjja?”

“Ne. It’s at Cheomdangdong district. If you want, I’m going over there to help her. You can come with me.” she politely offered.

“Sure. That’s great. Thanks.” I bowed my head before following her to her car.

We arrived in front of a currently constructed building with plastics covering what was supposed to be the door. Carefully we stepped in and rubbles of wood and bricks laid on the floor in front of us with a few men standing on ladders fixing new tiles to the walls on my right.

“Sajangnim!” Dara shouted over the sound of drills and hammering. She waved from a far and happily ran over to Alice who was busy talking to the contractor. She was immersed in the blueprint she had in front of her. Dara handed me a safety helmet before fastening one on her own head. It was then that Alice looked up that she noticed me.

“Surprise!” I smiled at her, with my arms wide open wanting an embrace. The shock was clearly on her face as she walked over and pulled me into a tight hug.

“Omo! What are you doing here? Did you bring your baby? Is Irene here?” She asked.

Suddenly the wound reopened and my heart hurt again as if it happened yesterday. I heaved heavily and cracked a smile despite the pain.

“It’s a long story.” I answered simply.

“Maybe you guys should go for lunch. I’m sure you got tonnes of things to say. I’ll stay and take care of things here.” Dara offered.

“Really?” She asked.

“Yeah, I had lunch with Minho from accounting.” Dara smiled cheekily.

“Wah! Jinjja?” Alice said.

“I’ll tell you next time. Now go. Go! Before I change my mind.”

“So…” I asked with my voice trailing, uncertain of what to say first. We have not spoken to each other since the last time I saw her in New York. Never in my mind I imagined that was my last chance to turn our fates, now she’s a married woman, my heart ached even more.

“So how are you? What happened to Irene and the baby? What about the wedding?”

“We didn’t work out. The weddings off. It turns out that Irene had an affair with one of my business partner who is actually the father of the baby.”

She reached over across the table and held my hand in hers. Her eyes were full of sympathy. Her comforting eyes were what I missed the most.

“I’m so sorry to hear that.”

“Gwenchana. I wasn’t ready to be a father anyway. So you, married life is good I guess? With the restaurant and everything?”

“Well, yeah. Jiyong thought that it would be safer that I have my own place so he can have bodyguards looking after me and stuff. People are scary sometimes. A few months after we married, there was this girl who would stalk me at work.”

“Whoa! That’s the power of G-Dragon. But seriously Alice, I know he’s Lily’s dad and all and she needs him but are you happy with him?”

A small smile cracked at the side of . She hesitated for a while as she thought deep for her answer.

“Well, there’s a lot of things I didn’t get right in my life but this family, Jiyong, Lily and me, somehow we are making it work so my one simple answer should be yes.”

I downed the last of the whiskey I had in hand. The burning sensation travelled down my throat. Funny how one simple yes could hurt me so bad. It felt as if I was stabbed in the heart over and over again. So I cracked a smile that could mask the pain I was feeling inside.