August 1999

Down the rocky road where children are playing with rocks and dirt, old folks are carrying baskets of fresh vegetables on their heads, and homes looked as if they are made of stone laid Taeyeon’s apartment complex just up the small hill. The nice and peaceful place had a beautiful lily garden growing around it with a small river in the back. Gated with one of the finest security locks and also having a 24 hour security camera. There’s one pool attached to a heated Jacuzzi. It’s all located in her beautiful hometown of Jeonju.

“Where is it?” Taeyeon mutters, digging through the many cardboard boxes. Ever since Jessica moved in with Seunghyun, Taeyang decided that he should fill that empty space between Tiffany and herself. That meant a lot of noises at night and unwelcoming third party moments. So to make everyone happier especially her, she decided that it would be best to move out on her own.

“There it is.” She smiled, grabbing her record player and setting it on the cheap wooden table she bought.

Sorting out the rest of her stuff, Taeyeon could hear her phone vibrating for the millionth time. She already knew who was calling her. It was going to be the same person that called her every minute of every day. The one who would call her just to complain, talk or not even say anything.

Letting the phone go to voicemail, she opens up the last of her luggage, throwing the pile of clothes on top of the neat blue bed sheets.

The phone goes on again. Then off. Then back on. It goes like this for another five minutes before she nearly pulls her hair out. So she presses the green button and shouts, “What do you want now, Ji?!”

The man in the other side makes a sad puppy sound, making sure she could hear him pouting. “Why didn’t you pick up the first time?” He whines.

Calm, she thinks. Calm. “What is it?” Falling backwards into the bed, she lets out a huge breath.

“I’m telling you Tae. Something’s wrong. I could feel it. It’s almost as if it’s a bomb ready to explode.” Jiyong says, sitting in the corner at the end of the window after grabbing his coffee. “I’m not paranoid. I promise.”

“Well, have you confronted her about it? I mean if I was cheating on you, I probably wouldn’t tell you about it.”

“Smart one.” Jiyong scoffs, taking a sip of his ice vanilla latte. “And how exactly are you supposed to tell your fiancée that you think they’re cheating on you. ‘Oh hey. We’ve been a little distant lately. Is it because you’re another guy’s ?’”

Rolling her eyes, Taeyeon flips over on her belly. “I didn’t mean like that, stupid. I meant just ask her if anything’s wrong, because you feel like you two are not getting along as well as you used to. And if she were to cheat on you, don’t you think that it’s karma from all girls you’ve been with?”

Looking outside the window at the moving cars and the ever growing rates of couples lately, Jiyong sighs. It seems as if everyone is finding their “someone”, but he’s still stuck in this race. “You know her parents practically set us up.” He tells her for the first time. She’s laying there holding the phone, listening intensely. “I auditioned to be a spokesperson for these new audiobeat headphones produced by her dad. He liked me a lot and said he had a daughter he would love me to meet. His tone felt like if I declined his offer, he would decline me of mine. So I did.”

Taeyeon could feel a strange sadness in his voice. His words seems be to carrying a burden that he wanted to let go.

“We got along and everything. But then I heard rumors that her parents dislike a person she’s been seeing so they’re trying to find her another suitor.” Even though there’s millions of people roaming around the streets of Seoul, he still feels as if someone’s missing. “She’s a nice girl. Not bad. Pretty. Smart. Very different.”

“She’s quite the beauty.” She finally speaks. “And she’s lucky to have you, Ji. Don’t forget that.”

Everything just feels heavy. The cup in his hand feels like it is filled with rocks. The sun’s rays are beaming harshly upon him. The air clogged with too much pollution. Now the tears in his eyes feel hefty and wanting to escape. “Gah Tae why’d you have to move? It not having my best friend here with me.”

The light in her room was growing dim, signaling that night was coming upon them. Taeyeon closed her eyes, laying flat against the soft cushion of her full size bed. The two didn’t exchange any words. Maybe some cars honking, kids laughing, Jiyong sipping on his coffee or Taeyeon slight breathing caused a noise.

“Hey, Ji.”

“Hmm.” He took one last gulp before tossing the paper cup in the bin next to him.

“Go home.”

Ending the phone call without any exchanges of goodbyes, Jiyong got up from the almost empty coffee shop. The bell on the door rang announcing to the baristas his departure into the bluish yellow tint casted on Seoul.

From right to left not many people crowded the streets anymore. It’s only him, walking down on the paved sidewalk alone.

RING. RING.

“This is Chaerin. I’m not here at the moment. Please leave a message after the beep.”

“Hey, babe. It’s Ji…again.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Walking through the vacuumed pink carpet, she spots the door with the numbers 132 in gold. Knock. Knock.

The door opens open immediately to a guy clad only in a neat white robe courtesy of the hotel they’re staying at. He politely ushers her in, not forgetting to check the premises of any wandering eyes. Then he quickly shuts the door.

There she is. Her catlike eyes reciprocating as much passion and lust as he feels. And there’s no remorse, no worries, or any type of anxiety. Right now, it’s just them in their little crazed fantasy. In a world where there is nobody telling them what is right.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another night where Jiyong steps into an empty apartment. He slips off his black Armani overcoat and hangs it on their coat hanger by the door. Gets out of his J.M Weston shoes for a more comfortable blue bunny slippers. ing his nice, pressed white shirt so that only his bare chest is showing, he strips off his pants along with it. Now he’s finally relaxed. Just him in his boxer shorts and slippers, heading for a beer. Something Chaerin would never approve of, because it’s very ‘middle class’ of him to do so.

Like a turn of a switch. Exactly he thinks, sitting on the white leather sofa bought from Alco. The reason why she’s avoiding him is because he keeps doing things that she’s probably embarrassed of.

Quickly, he runs into their bedroom, decorated with items her parents probably bought from all across the globe. He pulls out his silk pajamas and kicks off the bunny slippers into the fluffy brown ones she bought for him. His mind goes on to think that he has to do more for her to understand his heart. So he washes the dishes, vacuums the floor, and does the laundry.

“Okay so I put in one cup.” He mutters. Confused, he decides to just dump the dirty laundry into the washer.

A card flies out, gliding back and forth until it hits the marble floor of the laundry room. Blue Pearl Hotel is written on the card along with the date and time. He checks the clock. It’s been only 35 minutes past the time written. He has time to make it there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The drive there was smooth. Barely any traffic at 9:10 p.m. Everyone is either getting comfy in their home or doing something other than driving. Which meant that Jiyong got to the hotel earlier than he desired too.

The hotel itself was only mediocre. Not too fancy. Not anything Chaerin would get caught being in. So why was this hotel written on the card? Is it from one of her friends?

He walks into the lobby. The bright lights contrast greatly with the street lights outside. The place had a wooden interior, decorated with flower pattern furniture. Most likely to appeal more to the older people. Not far in front of him was the front desk that had only two people working behind it.

“Hello, sir. What can I do for you?” One of the workers, Junsu asked. He had on a light pink shirt with a black tie. On the left was his nametag. The words ‘Manager’ imprinted on top of his name.

“Yes, can you direct me to room 132 please.”

“May I ask what for?” Junsu noticed Jiyong looking at him with skepticism. “It’s protocol sir. We can’t just show you to any room. Especially~” Junsu typed something in the computer. “if it’s taken, sir.”

“You don’t understand. I think my wife is in that room waiting for me.” Jiyong showed him the card. “About yeh high, blonde, catlike eyes.”

The manager shook his head. Jiyong never expected to see her in this type of place anyway.

“Oh, I saw that woman!” The girl working beside Junsu shouted. “I checked her in. She looks very familiar. Is she famous or something?”

Her manager nudged her harshly, shaking his head at the comment. Laughing, Jiyong raised his hand. “No, nobody famous though she gets that compliment a lot. Hmm did she come with anyone else?”

“Sorry.” The girl, Ara, shook her head. “My shift started only about three hour ago.”

Nodding, Jiyong put on a gloomy face, hoping to get the manager’s sympathy. It worked since he noticed Junsu biting his lips, inwardly contemplating on whether or not he should let him check it out. He finally let the poor man go since he said he didn’t need a key and just wanted to go up there to make sure. Junsu thought there could be no wrong in letting Jiyong make sure his wife isn't in any danger.

“It’s just upstairs and to the left.”

~~~~~

Thump. Thump. Thump. His heart felt like it would explode in any minute. He’s shaking. Legs wobbling. Droplets of sweat just pouring down his face. It really didn’t take long for him to reach the room, but somehow it felt like forever. As if every step caused the hallway to stretch ten times longer.

The room number 132 labeled in big, bright gold.

But he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t bring himself in knowing the real truth. In his head, he wanted everything to be perfect. No more messed up Jiyong. A more stable family man like he always wanted. A pretty wife that took care of him, who would smell like vanilla, cook fried rice, wear cute slippers and laugh at lame jokes as loudly as she could.

“Hey babe! I’m going downstairs to get some more drinks.” A man in his early thirties walks out with a wrinkle bathrobe on. He smells of alcohol and sweat. In the gap between the man’s disheveled head of hair and the big white wooden door was a woman’s head.

Jiyong doesn’t even think twice when he stops the man from shutting the door. He slams the door back in open position so that his eyes could see the truth. In that rented one bed hotel room laid a beautiful woman with skin that shined with after glow. Her messy blonde hair added edginess to the smearing of black eyeliner down her cheeks and even over the blotches of red lipstick. Her toned body covered slightly with twisted, white sheets. But her face was priceless of it all. She had a look of confusion, shame, sorrow and most of all relief.

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It’s four o’clock in the morning. Taeyeon only had about three hours of sleep due to all the cleaning she felt she had to do before going to bed. Lying stomach down on the bed, snoring and even drooling a bit, she hears a faint blow. Ignoring it, she rolls onto her back, stretching her body in ways no one can imagine. But the smack, smack, smack sound won’t stop ringing in her head. Frustrated, she firmly rubs her ears, hoping to get the annoying sound out of the room.

Her phone goes off. She picks it up to see that she received over twenty missed calls in the last couple hours from Jiyong, which she then connects it to the thump sounds she keeps hearing.

She slips in her pink bunny slippers, trudging her way out of her bedroom to the front door where the sounds grow louder. There’s no surprise when she sees her neighbors looking at her with angry eyes, pointing to the inebriated man outside her door. She excuses the both of them before dragging her unkempt friend into the living room and onto the sofa she bought at a cheap furniture place.

He smiles as he hits the soft material, hugging onto the fake leather pillow. She sits at the other end, a bit irritated yet glad that he’s here in one piece and not drunk outside in a dark alley or club. Her hand unconsciously goes to plays his hair, wiping away the sweat and tears mixed along with it. He doesn't need to tell say anything for her to understand what happened.

“It hurts so much Tae.” He silently cries, huddling himself into the fetal position.

“Shh. Just go to sleep, Ji.” She keeps petting him in a way her mother used to do for her.

“When I wake up, will you be here?” He asks with a touch of drowsiness.

“I promise I’ll be the first person you see.” She smiles.

~~~~~~~~~~

She keeps her promise. When he wakes up because of the sun’s rays hitting his eyes, his eyes open up to see his best friend sleeping with open. A small trail of saliva dripping out of and on his chest. She’s sleeping in the most awkward position he notes – one leg up, arms outstretched and head tilted down towards the ground. But she’s here, he laughs, gently wiping the wet mess on her chin. She’s here nonetheless.

Thanks for all the subscribers and comments!!

Please do keep subscribing and commenting (: It really does help my inspiration to write. Lol I lied! Next chapter will be the moment you all have been waiting for! Gtae <3 Sorry for all CL lovers. I didn't mean to make CL into a cheater. It's just that her character in this story is haha.