Fourty Five

Shin Hye smirked. “I thought she already told you the reason.”

Kai said nothing. He was hoping that Soori would trust him but it turned out the other way around. He wanted to hear everything from her, clear out the unlevelled thoughts running around his head.

“I guess she’s too much of a miss goody-two-shoe.”

“Cut the chase Shin Hye.”

“You don’t know the feeling of unrequited love. Well, girls practically surround you everyday. You just have to choose.” She laughed bitterly.

“This isn’t the answer that I’m looking for.”

But Shin Hye ignored him. “I had to long for you when you were my sister’s boyfriend, long for you even though we were just friends. Everyday, I hoped that you would just look at me and realize that I’m better that those ty girls you used to date.”

She blinked causing her tears to roll down her cheek. “It was painful seeing you kiss different girls and I just have to live with that. I left, unable to bear with it. And now, I came back knowing you’ve changed.”

“I’ve always wanted to be the one who would change you. “ She continued.

“Shin Hye—“

“But now my father came up with a proposal, how could I resist such a thing that would make me happy, and as a matter of fact help your company.”

“What do you mean?”

“The reason why your company’s able to barely survive after its loss was because of our engagement. Your father accepted the proposal in exchange for financial help.”

Kai was a bit angry towards his father but he remembered seeing his father’s tired face. He must have been struggling a lot.

“But what has Soori got to do with this?”

She looked at his eyes. “I am a woman. I get jealous seeing the guy I loved be with another girl. I threatened to fire her parents from their job if she continued your relationship.  I’m selfish, I know that. But would you rather sacrifice your father’s company, whom he had worked so much for, just for Soori?”

***

“Hey” Lay called her for the nth time.

“Neh?” Finally she woke up from her trance.

Lay pointed to the books. “You’ve been stacking the books at the wrong place for an hour.”

Soori’s eyes widened and she immediately corrected her mistake. “I’m sorry! But why did you tell me now? You could’ve told me earlier!” She whined.

“I’ve been trying to get your attention but you wouldn’t even budge. It was like talking to a zombie.” He chuckled.

She felt embarrassed. “Oh.”

“Actually you’ve been acting like that for a week. But it got worse today.” He pointed out. “Not only that but you’ve been dazing a lot during classes as what Miyoung and Jihyun have told me, you frequently talk a lot to your food and it’s been scaring them and you—“

“Okay, I get it!”

“If this happened because of your breakup, then I guess this is your way of coping up.”

Soori immediately looked at him, who was busy organizing the books with a faint smile on his face.

“I’ve never seen you cry; meanwhile Kai’s acting like a baby all the time. That guy, he won’t even eat properly and he takes out his frustration by bullying Shin Hye.”

“He told me,” Lay trailed off. “that he was hurt because you wouldn’t say anything to him. In my view, it was a bit unfair to him though.”

Lay heard a faded sniff; he turned to look at her. She was crying.

Soori finally allowed herself to cry. “I’m so weak.” She sobbed. “I miss him. I miss Kai” Lay tugged her in for a hug and tried to lull her a bit.

“I’m a really bad person for doing this to him, but I just can’t, Lay. If..If I continue, my family and my friends might get hurt and I can’t allow that to happen.” Her tears seemed to flow endlessly. This is because she deprived her tears to flow for a long time, and now it won’t even stop.

“What did Shin Hye do?”

“She fired my parents Lay, and now she told my friends would be next if I don’t act immediately”

***

Kai was on his way to the hospital after receiving a call. His father has experienced a recent heart attack, and he couldn’t bear to the pain much longer. Although it was a quiet ride for him, his head was a bit noisy with thoughts about what Shin Hye told him.

He finally arrived at the hospital, knocked on the door and went in. His father never looked this vulnerable. He was lying with white sheets around him, looking serene as he slept. Kai took a seat and stared at his father silently. He noticed many small things he didn’t even cared before, like how his hands became callused and his hair started turning gray. All of a sudden his father’s eyes fluttered open.

“Son?”

“What should I do?” It hurts a lot upon seeing his son acting like this. He assumed that Kai finally knew the reasons.  “I don’t know what to do.” A tear slipped past his eyes. Too many things were happening at once and it isn’t easy finding out the answers to such complicated problems.

“I used to hate you a lot before, but I realized a lot things; things I shouldn’t have done. And no matter what happens, you’re still my father, but a lot of things are happening and I just…I just don’t know what to do.” Shin Hye was right. He couldn’t sacrifice his father for the girl he loved. He knew his father had struggled a lot for the company just to support their daily life and to provide him everything he needed. Kai knew his father was doing this for his own good.

“I’m sorry son. If I had been a good father, you wouldn’t have to experience this.”

“I love her, father, I just can’t erase my feelings and….“ Silence grew as Kai couldn’t continue talking.

“I, too have made sacrifices. And those sacrifices paid off in the end. It doesn’t have to work out immediately, it takes time son, but for now you had to make choices; choices that are for the good of all.”

His father clasped his shoulder. “It may hurt a while, but time heals everything.”

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