Chapter 12

When the two entered the house, she can faintly hear movements coming from the kitchen, she knew Yoona was there. She beelined to that direction and found her friend putting ice in the ice bucket.

“I just know you two will need these so I had it prepared.” Waiving at the bucket of ice and the ice cold beer in the cooler.

“Aren’t you joining us?”  she asked Yoona

“I will from time to time, Nana has flu and has been fussing since this afternoon, besides, I think it’s my boss that you two will be talking about, I don’t want to kill him on Monday.”

Joohyun chuckled “Arasseo”

Yoona then moved forward and hugged her tight “Tell me about it later”

“I will”

Jonghyun and Joohyun brought all the essentials in the backyard meaning booze and food.

As she was opening her first bottle of beer, a message came in through her phone.

I’m home. Are you really okay? Is something wrong? Talk to me. Please.

Her mind’s clouded so she decided to ignore it for now. She doesn’t want to say things that she will regret later just because of lack of better judgment.

She turned off her phone and kept it in her bag

“Yonghwa?” Jonghyun asked

Joohyun took a swigged at her ice cold bottle of beer and just nodded. There was silence and all they can hear were the crickets and the noise from the outside. Jonghyun was just waiting. When he received a text from Joohyun he knew immediately that something was off. He doesn’t have any idea of what it is, his first guest is that his parents may not like her.

“I met Yonghwa’s ex girlfriend”

“Who? The actress?”

“Yup”

“So? How was it?”

She smirked as she dumped a handful of chips in , she chewed fast and drank some more

“Excruciatingly painful” swallowing the contents in “if it weren’t for Yong’s sister in law Boa, I would’ve fled the scene”

“Classic” Jongyun laughed

She threw chips on his face “Don’t start with me Jong, I felt like earlier. They were so familiar with each other, It was so obvious that they still want Yong and that Yeon hee girl to be together!”

“Aha!”

“Shut up!”

“Aigoo Seo Joohyun your fuming like hell! I can totally feel your anger now” he laughed harder at his bestfriend’s expense.

“It really really hurt Jong. I’ve never felt so much of an outsider than what I felt earlier. I had no place there. The only reason why they need to interact with me was because they are educated people who were taught not to be rude. Even to strangers”

“I’m sure that’s not the case Hyun”

“It may not be but that’s what I felt, I was so out of place. They were talking about previous vacations that happened like millions of years ago! They even mentioned the time that he and that girl were together”

“I’m sure they didn’t mean it to hurt you or offend you”

“I’m sure they don’t yet it still hurt like ”

“You’re too jealous for your own good Hyun”

“I know, Even I hate the way I feel. I just wish this wasn’t the situation I had to deal with”

“Fact check Ms. Seo, you also HAVE to deal with, being with Yonghwa means numerous family affairs with them, it would mean numerous reminiscent talks about the past, it would mean past relationship conversation slips but here’s what you gotta understand, you can’t control that, it’s not their fault, it’s not yours. It’s just the bitter way of life. You don’t expect Yonghwa to ditch every family gathering just because your there right?”

“Of course not, but then what do I do with how I feel?”

“Toughen up. That’s it. You love Yonghwa right?”

“Yes”

“Enough to stay?”

“I guess so”

“Aigoo, that answer right there will become a problem. You either will or won’t. There’s no in between.”

“Okay, fine! I love him.” Flailing her bottle in the air “I love him too much! There happy?”

“Stop throwing tantrum at me, I’m not the one who’s having an emotional breakdown here”

She kicked her shoes off and began whining

“If only Yonghwa can see you now, I’d bet he’d choose that actress girl over you”

Joohyun then faced her bestfriend “Yah, that’s not funny”

“Who said I’m being funny? I’m telling you exactly what you need to hear.” Pointing the bottle that he’s holding to her “Whatever it was that they were talking about earlier? That happened in the past, something they can no longer get back. But you. You are the present. And you actually may be the future. You can make new memories with Yonghwa, and you can talk about it and make others feel like they are the outsiders. It’s his family Hyun, don’t make him feel that he needs to weigh it out between you and them. You will need to heed this time and some more in the future”

She sniffed. Her tears began falling because she knew Jong was right. She also knew for herself that that’s what she needs to do it’s just that she can’t seem to accept that it’s the situation she has control of.

He let her cry silently while he kept on drinking. Little do they know, Yoona was standing by the sliding glass door that leads to the backyard. She knew of Yonghwa’s relationship with Yeonhee, when she entered the company the two were still together then, She saw how much Yonghwa paid attention to the girl. The amount of time and effort he spent just to keep her happy. Those surprise dinner that his secretary set’s up. The amount of flowers he ask his secretary to send. She was number one. All else were just BLAH. But those were years ago, she didn’t know that it would actually become a ghost with Yonghwa, a ghost that will actually hunt her own bestfriend.