Chapter 13: “But you were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles- Taylor Swift”

-o0o-

She had packed everything, the room already tidy, some sheets folded and set aside, and a bunch of dirty mess taken care of. Choonhee did not want to leave something behind, especially not a bad impression to her in-laws. She let out a sigh, seeing Yesung enter their room all squeaky clean, a towel wrapped by his waist, his upper manliness exposed.

It melted her indeed, that she couldn’t help but approach him, eyes fluttering with sparkles that let out most of her beauty. Her arms were suddenly draped on him, smiling, allured by his wet look and powerful aura. “I like your chest,” she whispered.

Yesung, who knew not that his wife wanted to play, shoved her to the side with a quiet ‘excuse me’. She plainly rolled her eyes before turning her back to follow him again.

“Yesung-sshi!” groaned Choonhee, sitting on top of the bed---her legs crossed---as he hastily searched for clothes in their bags.

He looked up, hands still on the pile of jerseys. “Yes?”

She grinned, patting the side of the bed encouragingly. “It’s our last night here. We’ll be leaving tomorrow.”

He nodded. “I know.” Yesung managed to make her feel calm and impatient at the same time. Her temperance level just topped a normal pregnant woman, for every day she had to deal with a boy like Yesung who was so utterly hopeless in romance.

Choonhee simpered, looking at her newly painted toenails. Well, it was her idea to use black as the French tape over the hot pink one. But had he noticed this? Even her flirtatious ways didn’t work over him anymore. Something had changed over the week; she just couldn’t put her finger to it. Was she going senile? Aigoo, she was only 32 years old, which was impossible. Oh, then had Yesung gone senile?

Quickly, Yesung had put on his pajamas before sitting beside her. He observed how gloomy and down she was all of a sudden that he beamed, putting an arm over her shoulder and letting her head rest on his chest.

“What’s up?”

Choonhee just moaned, eyes (somewhat pleading) on him. “Are you ignoring me now because I’ve gone fat?”

Yesung smirked, cupping her chin. “You’re not fat. What makes you say that? I love you more now than before.” She smiled at this comment, her heart childishly accepting this. Surprisingly, he was more than affectionate as he placed his hand over her tummy, trying to feel the baby.

He gave her a disappointing look. “I can’t feel him.”

She laughed. “Aigoo, he won’t respond yet. He’s a bit shy. We often talk in the night. He tells me he’s afraid of you.”

He shook his head, disapproving what she just said. His hand was still attached to her belly, rubbing it occasionally.

“I don’t want him to feel that way,” Yesung muttered. “He must have my voice, your violin skills, and my dancing and looks. Overall, he has to be more like me, and less like you.”

She giggled hysterically, knowing that he was only doing this cheer her up. Naturally, it worked like a charm. Choonhee merely pecked his forehead before lying promptly on the bed. “Good night, honey.”

He did the same, tucking himself close to her. Instead of the pillow, he held her closely, hugging her and burying his face near her black straight hair.

“I didn’t know someone could smell so good,” Yesung remarked, but was ignored for it would seem she had already fallen fast to slumber land. He gave up, closing his eyes for tomorrow was an eye shut away.

-o0o-

“Umma, aren’t we going home yet?” Yungyeo, tossing his I-pod to his twin, asked as he sat next to Taeyeon. His mother was lazily lying on their bed, holding her phone and just staring at it without minding her children.

Taeyeon heard him, not taking any much thought about it though, as she sighed. “Yungyeo-sshi, do you want to go now?”

He nodded. “I miss my friends. I want to play my drums.”

Yumi, bored with her ball, also started complaining. “Umma, are you waiting for appa to call you?”

Taeyeon quickly glared, but stiffly agreed. “He hasn’t called me yet.”

The girl simply looked at her mother with pity. “I don’t ever dream of being in love.”

“You’re right,” Yungyeo muttered grudgingly, impatient with his mother’s confused choices. “I don’t get it actually. Umma loves appa very much but wants him to suffer. Why does umma want that when she still waits for him? It’s confusing. Umma, you’re crazy.”

Laughing, Yumi concurred with his idea. “Love is crazy.”

“That’s different,” Yungyeo argued. “You’re talking about crushing and stuff like those other girls talk about at school. That’s not what umma and appa has.”

Taeyeon didn’t understand it herself, why was she going through all the wait for him, just to hear his voice and then scold him, nag him, boss him...whatever. Was her pride exceeding her abilities to let go and just go home? She wanted to leave as soon as possible but Taeyeon wanted to know if she was even welcome home. She wanted him to learn his lesson, but more assuredly, which is why she needed to hear from him now or he would regret it forever.

But he hadn’t replied, nor called, nor did he text her back. He seemed awfully silent that Saturday, Taeyeon wondering now what was going on. Taeyeon grew depressed at the thought, but if he didn’t want her back, it was okay.

“I’m sorry, darling,” mumbled Taeyeon to the twins, finally decided. “We have to stay here until tomorrow. We can leave by then, I promise. Your father’s being mean again. Just one more night, okay?”

Whatever his decision may be, she had to contact the rest of her friends because of surprising news from SMEU. It was weeks away but they had to make the necessary preparations. So...who was it again? Kim Taeyeon, Jung Jessica, Lee Sunkyu, Hwang Tiffany, Kim Hyoyeon, Kwon Yuri, Im Yoon Ah, and Seo Joohyun, it was just the nine of them. If she were to include Kim Stella who was staying in Seoul that time, maybe they could give her some few lines to sing. A hundred million cash price waited the winner. They could win it.

-o0o-

Sunday came, and apparently, the hospital worked overtime. An illness didn’t choose when it’d attack its victims, so it was likely to be humbly open 24/7.  She sometimes wouldn’t go to work during these days if it weren’t for her upcoming leave. Sica, still stuck in her office organizing her papers for the reunion, heard a loud knock from her door---at once knowing that Donghae was bored too. They didn’t have special appointments that morning thankfully; surprisingly their schedules were a bit loose.

Happily, she stood from her desk and opened the door, finding nothing but a bouquet of flowers on the floor. Stunned, she picked them up, smelling the gorgeousness of nature. It was mixed with various types of flowers, the ones she liked.

Unable to repress the joy in her, she giggled at the silent hallway, biting her lips. She turned left and right, no one was around. She read the small paper inserted in one of the stems.

‘Let’s go to the reunion together.’

She was touched at the lovely gesture, that it made her think so delicately, of why he was being very nice to her. After being cheated before in college, why would Donghae even think of forgiving her? Why their diverse lives were so intertwined with second chances and second regrets...

Still, despite that she searched for him here, right to left, and waited if he’d yell ‘peek-a-boo’ or ‘you found me’, nobody came out.

“Donghae-oppa! Stop hiding! I know you’re there,” she said, staring at the open. Stillness enveloped her station, so she gave up, entering again the office with the flowers at her arms.

-o0o-

“What did she say about the flowers? I picked them out myself, you know. I know they’re her favorites,” she proudly stated on the phone, wondering.

The man sighed sadly, depressed. “She didn’t even expect the flowers to be coming from me, Sooyoung.”

Sooyoung stood from her seat, hearing Onew’s voice falling to the pits of dejection. How could she not expect that they were from her boyfriend? Onew must have been hurt of what Jessica had done, but maybe she also was not expecting such a surprise?

That was rather substandard for him, his heart feeling the stabbing of her voice, how she called Donghae-oppa in the silence, thinking her ex (who was already engaged with somebody else) wanted to go with her.

“What do you mean?” Sooyoung questioned, at doubt.

Onew tried to smile. “It’s okay. She was probably guessing it was Donghae because she knows I usually don’t do that kind of stuff.”

“This Donghae must be really romantic,” Sooyoung stated, a little sour with his defeat.

Onew chuckled unhappily, getting into his car. He was going to the office anyway. “He’s damn perfect, Sooyoung. Jessica seems to be attached to him that way even until now.”

Sooyoung snorted. “Please. You’ve got one thing the guy doesn’t have.”

“What?” Onew asked, unconvinced.

Sooyoung sighed deeply before replying, feeling like she had moved on from the past. “Love, you pathetic excuse of a person. She loves you,” the next few phrases she had in mind were at the tip of her tongue, and gulping, she looked at the sunny weather outside. There was no point of being glum on such a day, especially if it’s as shallow as crushing over Onew. “You love her. And that’s the most important thing of all.”

-o0o-

The night of Kyuhyun’s meeting with investors came so quickly that he felt nervous about it. If they couldn’t take his company in, he would have to beg them to, bribe them to, or something to make sure that the night would turn out all right. His two friends, Ryeowook and Sungmin, also came to meet up with the foreigners in hopes to accomplish their main mission. If this transaction failed, they had to answer to Ms. Cho’s fists.

“Are you nervous?” Kyuhyun asked Haelee, who offered to be his date that evening, and to guide him through his dancing. Besides, he needed a partner, so why not his own teacher?

Haelee was wearing a lengthy silver gown, slits going way up at one side, still looking as pure when the cameras flashed around them. Her hair was curled, gushing down her . She shook her head, a hand already by his arm.

“Not at all,” she muttered.

Kyuhyun smiled, assuring. “Well, I definitely am. I think I’ll die because of this.”

She giggled. “Aish, stop being that way. You’ll do fine. You always had been.”

“You sure know how to make someone feel relieved,” Kyu muttered stingily, sarcasm in his tongue.

Not anymore focus on the business of their visit, Ryeowook and Sungmin were snickering from behind, following the couple towards the entrance of the hotel they were all suppose to meet. It would seem Kyuhyun lost his confidence, not to mention his arrogance, and the way he simply walked seemed different to the two.

They were to have dinner after two hours of discussion. And the dining area of the said hotel was already packed with guests and his co-workers in the firm.

They entered the conference hall, the guards closing the doors behind them. Ryeowook gasped, Sungmin covering his mouth and quieting him down. They were white men, not the kind of white like the Japanese, but a different white, with reddish cheeks and long noses that reflected how prominent and big they were. They did not look Russian, either. They all stood up as Kyuhyun exchanged greetings and handshakes with all of them. He realized then that his mother was just by the corner, also busily encouraging them to help their growing company.

“I’m Kyuhyun Cho,” he introduced, taking his spot at the center. His English had gotten better, so there was no problem at all. “I am the Executive Director of Cho-Lee Business Law Firm Inc. I am pleased with everyone for attending this. Thank you so much.”

He finally sat down, the rest following his lead. His mother finally initiated the discussion, a boring one that is. At his right side was Sungmin, fiddling with an I-pod and putting the tiny headset on his ears. Kyuhyun rolled his eyes, quietly pulling the plugs with a smile on his face. Sungmin glared at him, taking them away from him.

“Stop that,” Kyu whispered.

Sungmin stuck his tongue out. “She’s killing us all when she talks like that.”

“She will, if she catches you doing that,” muttered the younger man.

Haelee also noticed a childish point each of the two defended, repressing her giggles. She was seated next to