7. sieben

“That is ridiculous, Oh Sehun!”

Sehun winced, hearing the shout coming from his phone right on his ear. He had told his father that he wanted to cancel the marriage because he was bored. She’s no fun, and he simply didn’t like her anymore. And that shout was what Sehun got for revealing such a stupid reason.

“There’s just a month left and you’re cancelling this?” His father asked in disbelief. “You’re being incredibly stupid, Oh Sehun. I never teach you to be this kind of stupid human being!” Sehun knew very well that when his father already called him name, it meant that he was beyond pissed by his son’s action.

“Still, it’s good that I tell you now, not a month later.”

“I don’t care what happened between the two of you. All I know is, you should work things out no matter how, because there’s no cancellation. You heard me clearly, Sehun.” and Sehun met with a continuous sound of disconnected tone rummaging through his ear.

The man could only sigh. You should’ve known that I really don’t want this to be cancelled either, Father.

He and Haneul had agreed to still do the preparation while finding a way to tell their parents about the cancellation of the wedding. And tomorrow, both of them had to do the fitting for their dresses. Sehun didn’t meet her today, simply telling her that he had something to do with the company when he didn’t have anything to attend. The man wandered aimlessly around the town today, trying to distract his mind from the girl, but the more he tried, the more he thought about her.

Sehun didn’t know that falling in love could be this painful. For the first time in his life, Sehun regretted falling in love.

The man just went back inside the car after stopping a while, getting himself a bottle of coffee at the Seven Eleven when he realised a notification popping up on his screen.

3 missed calls

Sehun left his phone inside the car when he was going out, and he missed three calls from his fiancé. Haneul called him. It was already late, and it really left him wondering why. Sehun knew very well how she never even once called him first. It was always him. So there must be something happened and the man couldn’t help but worried. Sehun really hoped it was nothing serious. The worries slowly creeping inside his veins as he waited for her to take his call. And when the call finally picked up, he was greeted with a total silence.

“Cupcake?” Sehun called hesitantly. He was used to call her with the nickname, and he was getting more comfortable as he never miss the blush that was blooming on her cheeks every time he called her that.

“Ng?”

Sehun swore he heard a sob before she answered him, making the worries grew even more. “Sweetheart, are you okay?”

“Y—yeah. I am.” She answered, trying hard to hold back the sob by biting on her lower lips.

“Are you sure?” She couldn’t reply, because she’s afraid that she would break into a sobbing mess and made Sehun worried. Well, Sehun was already worried though. “Haneul don’t lie to me, you’re crying.” And yes, that actually triggered the tears to spill out more from her eyes, and now Sehun heard clearly that she was sobbing. “God, baby, are you home?”

“Se—sehun.”

“Yes?”

“Can you—“ She sobbed. “—pick me up?”

“Mother,”

“Yes, Darling?” The older that was enjoying her morning reading a book, stopped her reading and lowered her glasses before turning her head to look at the owner of the voice. Haneul walked closer to her mother’s study desk, hiding her hands behind because she was afraid the older might catch her trembling hands.

She’d been thinking about it through the night and she wouldn’t avoid it anymore. She had to be responsible for the mess she made, and this has to be one of the starts.

“Hi, Darling, what is it? You look troubled,” She frowned. “Come sit here,” The older rose up from the chair and pulled the daughter’s hand to sit on the bed.

“M—mom…” Her voice came out trembling as she tried to hold the tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes.

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?” Her face really turned concerned as she knew how troubled her daughter was when she started calling her Mom.

“Mom, I made a mess.” She whispered and looked down on her fingers, didn’t dare to meet her eyes. She felt her mother gently squeezed her shoulder, hinting her to continue. “Is there... Is there any way to cancel the wedding?”

Her mother frowned. There’s a cold silence between them for some seconds before the mother gently held her chin to see her face clearly. “What happened? Did Sehun do something bad to you?”

“No!” She replied quickly. “No, Mom. Sehun has been so kind to me.”

“Then why?”

“I—I’m...” Haneul stuttered. “I know it’s really selfish, but I’m in love with someone else. I don’t want to hurt Sehun any longer.”

“Oh, Dear...” The mother ran his fingers through the younger’s hair. “It must be hard for you.” She said with the gentlest voice she could, knowing her only daughter was going through such a difficult situation. Because she knew very well how it felt. “Why didn’t you tell us before?”

“Because it happened after the engagement. I’m really sorry but it was me who played with the fire.”

“Does he know that you’re engaged?”

Haneul shook her head sadly, “No, he doesn’t know. That’s why I told you I’m screwed.” The tears started welling on her eyes. “But I’m going to tell him soon. I have already talked about this with Sehun too.”

“And he’s okay with it?”

“He’s not.” Her heart really hurt when she said it. “He said he was okay, but I don’t know, I just feel that he’s not okay.”

“But...” Her mother seems hesitated. “But you know it would be hard to cancel the wedding, right?” The younger nodded. “It probably sounds selfish of us to ask you this, but can you still consider marrying Sehun? It’ll be hard for you, Darling. But this wedding is not about you and Sehun only anymore. It’s already about the whole family.”

“I know, Mother.” She whispered quietly.

The silence engulfed before the mother finally said, “Come here,” Mrs. Kang opened her arms wide and let the daughter crashed on her chest. She hugged her and patted her back. “It will be really hard, for us, especially for you. But if you really think your happiness comes from marrying the man you love, then we would be so wrong to take that happiness away from you. If you really think that he’s the one, then I will support you, Darling.”

“Really?”

“Yes, but you have to think about everything thoroughly, especially about you and Sehun, and the whole family. I beg you.”

“But, Father...”

The older just smiled bitterly, knowing what the daughter might ask. “You know it will be so hard to make him understand, right?”

She only nodded. But the thing that made her so relieved was that her mother actually understood. “Thank you, Mother. Thank you...” Haneul hugged her mother even tighter. She might be scary sometimes. She might be hard to understand with all the decision she made for her only daughter. But when it comes to her happiness, Haneul knew very well that her mother would support her with every means she had.

Sehun was running along the Han River Park, eyes scanning around looking for the auburn haired girl, calling her name every once a while. Sehun drove there right away after the girl told him where she was. He didn’t ask anything else, immediately pushing the gas pedal as he mumbled, hoping that the girl was safe and nothing bad happened to her.

Luckily, it didn’t take him long to find the girl, sitting all by herself on the grass near the water, not so far from the colourful bridge. He let out a sigh of relief as he found her petite figure, her wavy hair was down getting blown by the wind sometimes. The man closed the gap between them, but she hasn’t noticed him coming. She was hugging her knees to her chest, burying her face down so no one could see. Sehun took off his jacket and gently put it down on her shoulder.

Haneul was still sobbing.

“Hey, Cupcake.” Sehun squatted down in front of her. She didn’t lift her head, but Sehun could hear her sob which was getting harder. “Ssh… Ssh… come here.” He tried to lift her head, and she revealed her messy face, cheeks stained with tears, with her hair sticking out here and there. Sehun gently wiped her tears with his thumbs, caressing her cheeks. His hand threaded through her messy hair to fix it. Haneul couldn’t stop crying, and Sehun kneeled before circling his hands, embracing her with all his might. He drew circle on her back, and he let her cry her heart out, although he still didn’t know the reason behind those tears for sure.

Haneul buried her face on his shoulder and cried. She had no choice but to cry harder when the man engulfed her into a hug as soon as he came. There’s this sense of security surrounding he