Fourty Four

All throughout the day Kai kept looking for her hoping to talk and patch things up. The only problem was that he couldn’t find her. In his mind, he kept thinking that she’s purposely avoiding her. What is the real reason?

He kept his footsteps rapid in order to catch her in time, even though his hand was swelling with pain. A silhouette he knew so much flashed through his vision. There she is, her back facing him, waiting for the bus.

“Soori!”

Her body froze. The person whom she wasn’t ready to talk to was behind her. But she regained her pace and immediately went to the bus, as it finally arrived.

“Hey!”  But Kai was fast and he managed to grip her arm and pull her backwards. Soori didn’t utter a word until the bus closed its doors and drove away.

“I need to go home Kai.”

“We need to talk.” His voice was firm and it was scaring her a bit.

Nevertheless, she fired back. “We don’t have anything to talk about.”

“We do!” He was angry. This side of him, she never got to witness before. She realized, Kai did treasure her a lot. But what was she supposed to do?

***

Soori remembered the words Shin Hye warned to her from their last meeting.

If I ever see you hanging out with him, just be ready for your parents’ unemployment and ooh, maybe I should include some surprise for your friends.

It was dreadful talking to that girl. She couldn’t wait to end their conversation, but she had to leave with a heavy heart. Who knew Shin Hye could be this indubitably greedy and exceedingly obsessed with someone?

The car jerked forward as Kai tramped the brake. Soori left her thoughts and looked at him; his hair was disarrayed, his hand still showing some bleeding.

Soori had no choice but to be dragged to his car. Kai had to push her since she was resisting a lot. An awkward but somewhat comfortable silence grew between them as they were travelling to wherever Kai has in mind. If they talked, who knows what she might say.

She looked out the window and saw the Han River.

Kai suddenly went out of the car and went to open her door. He just stood there waiting for her to come out and eventually she did.

The wind was strong and her hair kept covering her face. Kai’s back was facing her. The thought of hugging him from behind raced through her mind. But it’s over.

“I figured we could talk here undisturbed.” He faced her. “So, how about you tell me everything?”

She looked at him but she didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t just blurt out to him what Shin Hye said to her. Both of them might be in trouble than they already are. And he didn’t need to know about this. She just kept being silent.

She was startled that he laughed a bit. But it was definitely not a cheerful one.

“You won’t say anything huh.”

A couple of minutes passed by and neither of them spoke a word. Looking over the river as the sun sets was what they all did as of that moment. Soori was a bit relieved that he didn’t force her to talk. Kai still does care about her.

“Soori.” He spoke. Kai took a couple of steps until her could reach out to her to hug her. He kept his hug firm and tight.

“Please” His voice broke. “don’t be like this.” He kissed her forehead. “I’m sorry” He kept on repeating those words until Soori felt clogging up from unspoken words. She wanted tell him everything but her family came first for her and she couldn’t bear with the idea of her parents or her friends having to suffer in the situation they’re not even involved in. And besides, their engagement wouldn’t bring burden to Kai’s life, meanwhile their relationship would bring nothing but that.

Kai’s embrace never loosened and Soori kept fighting her tears. “I love you” He her hair. “so much”

It was painful and before her tears could break out, she pushed him away. “I’m sorry Kai.” She looked at his sorrow-filled eyes. “I don’t feel the same way anymore…we’re over.”

He laughed half-heartedly but later on broke into a sob. “Am..I such a bad guy?”

She felt like her heart’s going to be crushed at the sight of him like this.

Soori smiled forcefully, trying her best not to show her real emotions. “No, you’re a good guy Kai. You’re the one who should be called angel.” She caressed his cheek and wiped his tears.

He held her hand. “Are we really over?”

lied again. “Yes.”

***

Days are counted until graduation and every student could feel the tension they felt. After high school would be college and who knows what college might bring. Soori could only cross her fingers as she waits for her acceptance letter from Seoul University.

As she was putting her books on her locker, the corridor suddenly went busy with girls and Kai.

Kai. It’s been a week since she last had an encounter with him. Last week was packed with people questioning about their relationship, actually it was the top gossip of the whole school. They eventually knew the real answer when Kai wouldn’t even say one word to her. When he looks at her, it would only be filled with dullness. It was depressing and really agonizing. In short, he was giving her the cold shoulder.

“Soori? You ready to go yet?” Lay had invited her to go to the library after school to ask some help about organizing some books. She agreed nonetheless, it could probably forget her mind about Kai. But she was wondering why Lay hasn’t asked her about her relationship with Kai.

She smiled. “Yes sir.”

Soori was waiting on the hallway for Lay, who forgot something and went back to retrieve something. Students were out of the school at this time of the day and yet here she was standing pathetically. But she suddenly heard a noise. It was coming from the music room.

The door was slightly opened and she poked her head in.

Her heart started feeling pain at what her eyes witnessed. She saw Kai and Shin Hye, who managed to get in to the school, making out.

She immediately went outside before the two of them could see her peeping.

“Soori?”

“Oh, Lay.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. We should get going.” Lay nodded, but he was quite unsure.

***

“Tell me.”

Shin Hye scoffed. “And I thought we were finally doing it.” She found herself being tied to a chair while Kai was interrogating her. Kai was left to no choice but to use this method in order to make her vulnerable and to force words come out of . And it worked.

“If I’m not satisfied, then were not leaving here.”

“Tell you what exactly.”

“Your blackmail with Soori”