Round Sixty-Two

 

It was cold. She realized there and then that she had never truly known what being cold really was like till now. Her body was like an old engine, sputtering and struggling to run the system as it used to. Her teeth were chattering and she was shivering all over. She was huddled up against the wall, desperate to avoid the wind that howled all around her.

 

It was the wind, that vicious gust of wind that seemed to scoff at the sorry excuse for protection that her cotton long sleeved top was. It whipped her hair this way and that, getting some of it into her eyes and clinging onto her cheeks, but she was too cold to do anything about it. She didn’t want to lose what little of warmth she had left in her clenched fists.

 

It seemed like a hopeless situation—banging on the door hadn’t helped and screaming herself hoarse didn’t do much to change her situation either. She curled up into an even smaller ball, her entire body working hard to survive the cold as a tear began rolling down her cheek. It left a cool sensation that trailed down her cheeks which made it that much harder for her to ignore. She hated the fact that she was crying. Crying was for the weak. Girls like her didn’t have any tears left. She had cried enough. So as more tears found their way down her cheeks, she mentally chided herself for crying.

 

Crying is useless! Stop! Stop being so weak!

 

But in fact, weakness was creeping up on her and she was losing the battle against the elements.

 

~~~~~
 

Yul waved at Young, Yoong and Hyun as he approached them. Young had invited him to join them for a discussion about his impending wedding.

 

“Glad you came, bro.”

 

“I’m honoured to be your groomsman.” Yul smiled as he took his seat.

 

He turned his head when Yoong made a sudden funny sound that had Hyun jabbing him in the ribs.

 

“What’s wrong, Yoong?”

 

“Yul, you shouldn’t be happy about this. We’re talking about my best friend getting married to a girl whom he doesn’t love. We talking about my idiotic best friend who is insisting on marrying any girl but the one he loves. I’m not honoured to be his best man at all.”

 

Yul’s eyes widened in wonder and surprise as he turned to look at Young.

 

“You don’t love Jade?”

 

“I do.”

 

“Like hell you do.”

 

“Yoong—”

 

“Listen. I don’t care about the reasons you gave me for doing this. I’m violently objecting to this because I’m your buddy. I don’t want to see you suffer for the rest of your life!”

 

“Yoong, he doesn’t love Jade? How do you know that?” Yul asked.

 

“Anyone that has eyes to see will know that he isn’t in love with Jade.”

 

“To be honest, I can’t really tell.”

 

“That’s because you don’t know him well enough.”

 

“I won’t deny that.”

 

Young pointed at him suddenly and exclaimed, “See! He can’t tell. I can’t do this.”

 

To which Yul turned to Young, shocked. “If you don’t love Jade, why did you introduce her as your fiancée at that party?”

 

“He’s a complete moron, that’s why.” Yoong’s patience was visibly running thin. “Young, I’m not against you getting married but I’m against you marrying someone you have no feelings for.”

 

“I do have feelings for her. She’s a long-time friend.”

 

“There you go. She’s a friend. She’s not the love of your life.”

 

“I always knew that I wouldn’t marry for love. This isn’t something that I didn’t see coming.”

 

“Wait, wait, wait…” Yul was having trouble following their conversation. “You always knew that you wouldn’t marry for love?”

 

“Yul hyung, you don’t understand. Young hyung comes from a family that believes in continuing their business within the family. To do that, he can’t just marry whoever he wants. He has to marry someone who can help the business to flourish. This will help the business to prosper and keep it within the family. Yoong hyung would have been stuck with the same fate but he rebelled strongly against it and made a deal with his family to allow him to marry the girl of his choice. Young hyung however, is a very obedient son. He does whatever his parents ask of him. He doesn’t want to let them down.”

 

“And Jade…” Yoong rolled his eyes at the mention of her name, “is a player. She isn’t going to be faithful after marriage.”

 

“That’s right up my alley,” Young said with a nonchalant shrug. “I won’t have to feel guilty about anything.”

 

“What do you have to be guilty around?” Yul asked.

 

“I’ve had countless girlfriends in the past few years. I’m anything but innocent, and a girl like Jade is perfect for me.”

 

“Having many girlfriends isn’t a crime.” Yoong’s voice had risen by this time.

 

“It is if the girl is completely innocent and inexperienced.”

 

“If it is a crime, then what about me? Should I break up with Sunny then?”

 

“Sunny was a player too!”

 

“Sunny was inexperienced before becoming my girlfriend!”

 

“How’s that possible.” Young rolled his eyes as his mouth slanted to the right in disbelief.

 

“Sunny is an innocent girl. She may be very affectionate but she certainly doesn’t have boyfriends to speak of.” Yul couldn’t stop himself from defending Sunny.

 

“Sunny made out with me a few times after I wooed her at the club.”

 

“Young. Making out isn’t the same as going all the way.”

 

“Sunny isn’t that sort of girl. She likes to hug and kiss people but she does it innocently. She had so many boys wooing her back in school but she never did go out with any of them.” Yul was adamant in his belief that Sunny wasn’t the type of girl that Young was talking about.

 

“Well, that’s a far cry from what I know of her then,” Young said slowly. “She was quite the foxy babe in Seventh Heaven and on dates with me.”

 

“She flirts but that’s about it, okay? She’s just very friendly and open to people,” Yoong huffed and folded his arms unhappily.

 

“I have to agree with Yoong on that. Sunny used to kiss and hug all the samchons and ajummas at the market. She was friendly to everyone. And everyone loved her because she was so kind. Not to mention, cute as well.”

 

“Okay, okay…Sunny isn’t that kind of girl. I get it. I have nothing against girls who have many boyfriends either. In fact, I’m about to marry a girl like that.”

 

“And just because you’ve had many girlfriends doesn’t mean you can’t marry a girl who hasn’t had any boyfriends!” Yoong’s voice was now on the verge of turning into a shout.

 

“Guys! Guys! Cool it,” Yul tried to calm them down. “We all have different perspectives on the matter. Let’s put our personal differences aside and hear him out. We all have the freedom to choose who we want to—OH OOH EH OH!”

 

His mobile phone rang, interrupting the conversation. He glanced at it and gasped.

 

“It’s Jessica. I have to answer this, sorry guys, give me a minute.”

 

He hadn’t expected Jessica to call him. She hadn’t replied to any of his messages nor answered any of his calls since he left her home yesterday. She was obviously still mad at him for missing the food tasting session. So now that she was calling him, he’d better answer it.

 

“Sic—”

 

His greeting was cut short when he heard a sob. Another sob soon followed and he was alarmed. Why in the world was she crying?

 

~~~~~
 

Sulli was feeling increasingly uncomfortable. The things that her co-workers were saying about Krystal were bordering on sheer hate.

 

“That managed to close two deals today. What’s up with that? Weren’t you two supposed to stop her from closing deals? She’s not going to quit or get fired if we don’t make it happen.”

 

“Aren’t we being a little too cruel to her?” she couldn’t help asking.

 

“Are you a saint or something? She’s the one who betrayed you. Stabbed you behind your back. Why are you defending her?” a co-worker scoffed.

 

“She didn’t exactly stab me behind mine back.”

 

“Oh, so pretending to be your friend when she’s really just laughing at you and the rest of us in her heart isn’t betrayal?”

 

“I don’t think she was pretending.”

 

“Hah! She’s a royal Jung, Sulli. Wake up. Stop living in your deluded world. She was never your friend. I bet all that time she was laughing at how poor and pathetic we are while she pranced around with our boss’ son in bed, wrecking relationships while she was at it.”

 

“Relax guys, I’ve done something today to get back at her for closing those two deals. I guarantee that she’ll be out of the company by tomorrow,” another co-worker smirked.

 

“What did you do?”

 

The co-worker laughed in a sinister way that sent chills down Sulli’s spine.

 

“I locked her up on the rooftop.”

 

Sulli’s eyes grew big and wide in horror.

 

“You what?”

 

“I saw her out on the rooftop when I wanted to go up for a smoke. So I locked the door from the inside. Bolted it. She’s probably still stuck up there right now.”

 

Unable to tolerate their cruelty anymore, Sulli stood up awkwardly as the rest of them laughed cruelly at Krystal’s plight.

 

“Excuse me guys, I’m going to the washroom.”

 

None of her co-workers answered for they were too busy laughing at Krystal’s predicament and in that moment, she found them absolutely revolting. Why were they so cruel to Krystal? What wrong had she done aside from lying to them about her family background? And did it really matter to them whether or not she actually slept with Young?

 

Right then, a gripping cold sensation hit her as she remembered the words that she had spit at Krystal that day on the rooftop and the cold shoulder she had given to her in the following days. A sickening feeling sank into her heart and twisted it painfully. Guilt also joined in the onslaught of emotions and gripped her with a vengeance as she realized that she was probably the one who had hurt her the most. She had no right to reprimand the others.

 

Her legs carried her to the coat hanger without her realizing it and that was when she knew that the washroom wasn’t where she was supposed to be heading. She had a life and a friendship to save.

 

~~~~~
 

It was unbearable. Really unbearable. She had always been a fighter but at that very moment, she had a death wish. Anything to end the suffering. It was just too cold out on the rooftop. She had lost track of the amount of time she had been stuck up there in the finger numbing cold but she was certain that she didn’t have any more body heat to lose—she was so cold. She tried to wriggle her fingers and toes. Were they still part of her body? Was she going to die out here in the cold? If she died, would anyone find her? What if she was never found?

 

Her thoughts grew wilder and wilder as she got colder and colder.

 

~~~~~
 

She couldn’t get back to the showroom fast enough. Fortunately, they hadn’t gone far for their dinner and the place they were drinking at wasn’t far from their dinner place either. But it seemed to take forever as she hurried through the crowd on the streets.

 

She hastened her footsteps even more when she saw the building. Frantic hopes that Krystal had somehow left the rooftop had occupied her mind every step of the way but there was an ominous feeling that refused to budge from it. Finally, she reached the building and hurried into it.

 

“Sulli? What are you doing back here at this time?”

 

She looked around, surprised by the sudden voice and spotted Hyunseung.

 

“Hyunseung! Please help me. I have a very bad feeling that Krystal is stuck up on the rooftop.”

 

“Krystal? Stuck on the rooftop?” Hyunseung walked towards her immediately. “I’ll help you.”

 

“Thanks.” Sulli was relieved to have someone else with her. She was afraid that she wouldn’t know what to do if she found Krystal in bad shape.

 

They made their way up to the rooftop and Hyunseung opened the door. Sulli rushed out at once and the blast of nipping cold wind made her worry even more. How could Krystal withstand such cold winds for so long?! She looked around the rooftop but there was no one around. For a moment, she was relieved. Perhaps Krystal had managed to get off the rooftop. But a shout from Hyunseung sank her heart instantly.

 

“Krystal! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Hyunseung hollered.

 

She spun around and saw what Hyunseung saw—Krystal was trying to take off her clothes. Hyunseung grabbed her arms and pinned them down, preventing her from doing so. The shock of seeing Krystal in that delirious state numbed her and everything seemed to be as surreal as a dream. Hyunseung was yelling at her but she couldn’t make out what he was trying to say. The pain and guilt within her had swelled up and was constricting her airway—she could hardly breathe.

 

“SULLI!!! I NEED SOME HELP HERE!!!”

 

Finally, Hyunseung’s yell broke through the haze that had rendered her motionless and she hurried to Krystal, taking off her coat along the way. She put the coat around the shivering girl and hugged her tightly as tears wet her cheeks like the rain.

 

“Sulli, let’s get out of here. This is not the time to be sobbing. Come on!”

 

Sulli nodded and galvanized by Hyunseung’s urging, she helped him to bring Krystal back into the building.

 

~~~~~
 

They sat Krystal down on a couch in the lobby. There was nothing left to do except to warm her up the best they can while they waited for the ambulance to arrive. Krystal was still shivering and her lips were almost blue.

 

“W-W-What a-a-re we w-waiting f-f-or?” Krystal asked.

 

“An ambulance. We need to get you to the hospital.” Hyunseung had to answer her because Sulli was sobbing too hard to say anything coherent.

 

“O-O-Oh.”

 

“Krys…I’m so sorry.” Sulli wept as she hugged Krystal as tightly as she could, hoping to pass some of her own warmth to the poor shivering girl.

 

“S-Sul-li…”

 

“Krys…”

 

“Sulli, get a grip. Krystal needs you to stay strong. What good are you doing her if you’re just going to keep on sobbing?”

 

Sulli looked up at Hyunseung in surprise and blinked. She hadn’t expected him to be so dependable in an emergency. “Y-You’re right.” She tried to stop crying and wiped her tears with her hands. “You’re absolutely right.”

 

“We’ll need to inform your family.” Hyunseung rummaged through Krystal’s bag which they had retrieved from the office and fished out her mobile phone. “Call them.”

 

Sulli took the phone and looked at Krystal who told her the password to unlock it.

 

“Krys, who do I call?”

 

“U-Unn-nie…”

 

Sulli browsed down her contacts list and found ‘Unnie’.

 

“Is this the one?”

 

Krystal nodded. “U-Unnie…”

 

“I’ll call her, don’t you worry.”

 

~~~~~
 

Yul leapt up from his chair as though he had been electrocuted by it.

 

“WHAT? KRYSTAL IS IN THE HOSPITAL? Don’t worry baby, I’m already on my way to my car now. I’ll be there as soon as possible.”

 

“Y-Yul…w-what if…what i-if…”

 

“Baby, Krystal will be fine. She’s a strong girl. The hospital will take good care of her.”

 

“Okay…”

 

“Sit tight, baby. I’m coming to you.”

 

“Okay…”

 

Yul hung up and turned to Young who was also standing on his feet. The lanky man wore a look of utter concern on his face and it was obvious that he wanted to know what the matter was very desperately.

 

“Yul, what the happened to Krystal? Why is she in the hospital?”

 

“I don’t know. Sica didn’t say anything. She was sobbing too badly.” Yul tried to shake off Young’s grip on his arm to no avail. “Will you please let me go? I have to hurry to the hospital. Sica needs me there.”

 

“I’m going with you!”

 

And with that, Young pulled Yul with him and dashed off without even saying goodbye to Yoong and Hyun.

 

~~~~~
 

It was madness in the car. Young was pestering him to drive faster, grumbling about his speed of driving and repeatedly mumbling about how if he were the driver, they’d be at the hospital by now.

 

“If you’re the one driving, we’re very likely to be in the hospital for the wrong reasons. Now please keep quiet. I need to concentrate on driving.”

 

Not surprisingly, Young didn’t manage to stay quiet for long and all Yul could do was sigh inwardly at his plight.
 

It was no better when they got to the hospital. Young behaved like a madman, hounding nurses to find out which ward Krystal was in whilst Yul tried to call Jessica to find her. Jessica wasn’t picking up her phone and Young was driving him nuts. So he was very much relieved when the nurse finally told Young that Krystal was in the first class ward, 1024.

 

Young literally ran all the way to the ward, frightening some nurses along the way when he stopped them to find out where the ward was. And soon, it became rather apparent to Yul that this was not normal behaviour for a man. This was the behaviour of a man who cared immensely for the person in the ward.

 

Could it be that the girl that Young truly loved was Krystal?

 

He didn’t have time to ponder over that question, however, for he soon found himself at ward 1024 and Young had already dashed in without him. He entered the ward and saw his lover sobbing next to a pale looking Krystal. His heart went out of the younger Jung as he wrapped his warm, assuring arms around Jessica who immediately buried her face in his chest and wet his shirt with her tears.

 

As he patted her head gently, he told her repeatedly that Krystal was going to be alright. The younger Jung certainly looked as though she was already getting better for she was actually smiling at Young who was tearing like a boy who had lost his favourite toy truck.

 

Could it be that Krystal liked Young too?

 

It suddenly dawned on him that the two of them certainly hung out a lot together. Yet, they were so close that he had seen them more as siblings than lovers. Perhaps, he was wrong.

 

~~~~~

 

This was too much to deal with. A sobbing ice princess, a shivering icy cold princess and a sniffing dishevelled princess’ friend were already a handful without the two princes who burst into the ward unannounced. The tall, dark and handsome prince had latched himself to the sobbing ice princess whilst the lanky prince knelt down beside the shivering icy cold princess and apologized profusely with tears running down his cheeks.

 

Hyunseung could have sworn that he was in a mad house.

 

The sniffing dishevelled princess’ friend was alone and looked rather pitiful. She sat away from them and sniffed quietly in a corner, trying to not be noticed. But he noticed. And as much as he didn’t want to, he couldn’t help but to go to her. It was odd. Wasn’t he supposed to be wooing Krystal? Hadn’t he gone up to the rooftop with Sulli in the hopes of finally getting through to her by saving her?

 

He had tried. Lord knows he tried. But no matter what he said or did, Krystal simply would not give in to his requests for a date. So much for his plan to become her husband and enjoy her inherited wealth. Not to mention, Hara, the mastermind, who certainly did nothing to help him. Instead, she had insulted his ability to attract girls when he approached her for help. He had half a mind to tell Junhyung the truth about Hara after that but he held his tongue. He wasn’t a fool. Junhyung was not likely to listen and a girl like Hara wasn’t going to be easy to get rid of. He would just have to wait for an opportune moment.

 

He found himself putting his arm over Sulli’s shoulder. He found himself whispering comforting words to her. He even found himself wiping the tears off her face gently. And for a minute it seemed hilarious to him that he should end up taking care of the friend of his target.

 

~~~~~
 

“Get me to Seoul Hospital. Fast.”

 

“Yes, Mr. Jung.”

 

Mr. Jung was furious. At the moment, he wanted nothing more than to see his daughter and to make sure that she was alright but right after that, he was going to make sure that the heads that were responsible for putting his daughter in hospital rolled into the gutter.

 

~~~~~
 

Young stood up and bowed low to Mr. Jung.

 

“Mr. Jung, I am very sorry about this. I will get to the bottom of this and make sure that the people who did this to her don’t get away with it.”

 

“I want their heads to roll.”

 

“Certainly, sir. I will personally see to it that it happens.”

 

“Daddy, don’t. I don’t want Young or you to do that.”

 

“Soojung ah, Daddy’s heart is bleeding for you right now. You can’t ask me to stay calm and smile knowing that the people who made you look so weak and pale are still out there, enjoying the results of their evil deeds.”

 

“Daddy, please. I don’t want this. It’s my own fault for insisting on staying in Young’s company after that scandal. I was stubborn and now I’m paying for it.”

 

“Soojung, my dear girl…it’s not your fault. Don’t think like that. You are so brave yet so quick to blame things on yourself. Where is that self-confidence of yours? Have more faith in your actions. The blame is not on you.”

 

“Daddy…”

 

“Don’t worry, Daddy is here. Daddy will protect you.”

 

~~~~~
 

Yul had Jessica wrapped in his arms as they sat on seats beside the snack machine that was outside Krystal’s ward. The doctor had declared that she was not in danger, and neither was she severely ill. She had been warmed up with blankets and a cup of warm chocolate and was doing alright. They were told that she would stay the night and her temperature would be monitored but a discharge should be possible the very next day. Upon hearing the news, a sigh of relief was heard as everyone’s worries were alleviated. Shortly after that, Jessica wanted to get a snack so he accompanied her to get some.

 

“I’m still angry with you, by the way. Just because I called you to come doesn’t mean that I’ve forgiven you.”

 

“Baby, I’m here because you need me. It’s okay if you haven’t forgiven me yet. I’ll make it up to you. I promise.”

 

“I want to slap the person who locked her up there. How could anyone do such a thing?! What if she wasn’t rescued and died from the cold? That person would be a murderer!”

 

“And to think that she had kept it all to herself all this time. If it weren’t for Sulli, we wouldn’t know the truth about what happened.”

 

“Yul…I feel so hurt. Why didn’t she tell me? Doesn’t she trust me? I’m her unnie. Why didn’t she tell me?”

 

Yul her hair and kissed her tears away.

 

“She’s very headstrong and stubborn. She also has a kind of strength and pride that prevents her from seeking help. A rough childhood can do that to some people.”

 

“Did it do that to you too?” Jessica looked up at him with glistening eyes that bade him to answer her.

 

“To a certain extent, it did.”

 

“And is that why you don’t really want to tell me about your childhood? Just like how Soojung doesn’t want to tell me about her troubles at work?”

 

Yul stilled and he clenched his jaws as that familiar sensation of his guts twisting began.

 

“I don’t really like to talk about it. It was rough. I’m just glad to be away from it all. I’m all grown up now and in control. I’m no longer powerless to change things. I can control my life and live it the way I want to. And I have you. You made everything change for me.”

 

“I did?”

 

Yul smiled down at her beautiful, innocent expression and nodded. “You’ve made me change for the better. You’ve taught me what it is to let go, let loose and have some fun. You’ve also taught me how to love.”

 

“I have?” she blinked in wonder, like a girl who had just seen her Prince Charming for the very first time.

 

“Mmmhmm. Because of you, I now know that being in love means that it’s okay to not be in control. I certainly can’t control you and you really drive me nuts at times but it’s okay because I still love you at the end of the day. And it’s okay to make mistakes because you won’t leave me even if I make them. And…”

 

“And?”

 

“And I’ve learnt how to be myself when I’m with you. You seem to be able to accept me just the way I am and I can do whatever I want to you, anywhere I want to.”

 

Yul chuckled upon seeing the tint of pink on Jessica’s cheeks as she lowered her eyelashes.

 

“So if you’ll just forgive me and stop being angry, I’d like to take your clothes off and kiss every inch of you. Then I’ll be your horse and you can ride me all night long.”

 

“Yul…” she gasped.

 

“Oh, and just humour me here. I’m just wondering why I can still hear you from the outside of your room. I thought you wanted to soundproof your room?”

 

“I wanted to! But Daddy said no. He said that he isn’t going to allow me to until we get married.”

 

Upon hearing that, he couldn’t stop himself from laughing at her answer and her adorable pout only made him laugh even more.

 

~~~~~

 

Taeng stared intently at Tiffany’s schedule for the week. It was packed to the brim. He sighed, feeling somewhat depressed. It had been some time since they’d gone out together and he wanted to bring her somewhere nice for a treat. Unfortunately, her schedule didn’t look like it was going to cooperate at all. But maybe…if he shifted this over here…and that over there…

 

Several minutes later, he straightened his back and patted it proudly. He had done it! He had managed to clear an evening for her so that he could bring her out for a nice dinner at least. Dinner and a movie. And a walk.

 

~~~~~