Chapter 3: “That I can’t even see anyone when he’s with me- Taylor Swift”

                -o0o-      

Seohyun had been keeping her things in order since the other night, keeping all of her old stuff inside a trunk in her walk-in closet. Marveled easily of how the house still possessed memories of her past, she paid no attention that it was already being sold to an interested buyer next week, asking her to reserve it until then. That evening when she ate in the dining room alone, she thought about leaving and staying at her fiancé’s apartment. Sure, she would definitely miss the house, but she had to sell that old house of hers Kyuhyun had left her. It had been two years since the divorce; it was just too creepy to remain in the shadows of yesterday.

If she could just run the seconds of the clock backwards, she would---just to check that what she and Kyuhyun had was real. But all of that appeared to be nothing, dispersing into tiny dusts that run about in the open, nothing to the eye. Quietly while drinking the hot coffee she brewed, she stared at the stairs and flashbacks flew at once right before her eyes.

And this was the first time, in almost two years, had she actually thought about him again. She tried to forget but it occurred to her that it was lethally impossible.

He was dashing up the staircase, playing tag with her. Seohyun was running away from him, as the two raced up the steps and then down again, ending both together on the floor, lying and laughing as though they were indeed that young. Kyuhyun was celebrating then the luck for getting his license as a lawyer, while she already got hers as a doctor a month before. They were planning their marriage during that moment, as she got bored and ran up back to their bedroom. He followed her, not expecting that they would be tangled up in a game. As they lay on the carpet rug, he managed to give her undeniable kisses, storming her with pleasure...

And another moment aroused her, when the two of them were attending a boring free-will seminar; it was when he had proposed to her. They were tasked to the archery, and as Seohyun hit the red mark, it ignited the fireworks behind, filling up the sky with wonder. Before she knew it, she read a piece of paper that was attached to a balloon floating towards her. It said: “Seo Joohyun, will you marry me?” The background song was Super Junior’s “Marry U”, thrilling her in surprise that Kyuhyun was at the other side of the field, with a bored expression on his face, holding out a bouquet of flowers...

Or that time that she had crossed the aisle, wearing her white gown, Kyuhyun holding his hand out...

And when they were at the roof to stare at the stars, a meteor shower wowed the two, celebrating the first Christmas they had together. Kyuhyun named a star after her, the middle one out of the three bright stars in Orion’s belt. Seohyun was already sleepy that she couldn’t help but fall drowsy unto his lap that night...

She found herself saddened (but not totally) after recalling the remnants, for if there were good memories to keep, there were those ugly ones worth forgetting...

In the kitchen, by that sink, she remembered Kyuhyun yelling at her, baffling her and horrifying her. She was begging him to stop it, or else she would not be afraid of leaving. But he didn’t stop, and they continue to argue until the wee hours of sunrise...

At the couch, when Seohyun found him asleep in it, again drunk from work, she wasn’t expecting him to be telling her off. And it started yet another catfight, frightening Seohyun. He never bothered to apologize for any of his mistakes, for he was much to full of himself to do it. He was too high to notice all the wrongs he did to her.

He ruined her life. He wasted their life. Why did she love him so? Why did she give him that chance? Why did it happen? She was a fool to think that they really lived with love.

Still patiently packing her things into her bags, Seohyun at once encountered a song she had written long before, about the same time he had left. It wasn’t finished. She looked at how the ink blotted on some parts of the papers---some notes were already erased.

‘I still remember the look on your face,

Lit through the darkness at 1:58

The words that you whisper just us to know

You told me you love me so why did you go...away?’

It was too harsh to read any further that she stowed it away, crumpling it and throwing it to the trash bin. Whatever she and Kyuhyun had was history, no more songs to back it up and no more extra stories to twist the truth. What they had was beautiful, too bad that they had wasted it on for their promised forever. There was no forever. Perhaps they were both wrong.

Her cell phone rang. She picked it up at once only find the caller ID coming from her fiancé. She ignored it only for the meantime, still trying to forget Kyuhyun.

-o0o-

“You don’t care about Jinhye! You only care about Kyuhyun-sshi!” Sunny was running her hands through her hair huffily, yelling at Sungmin as they changed into their nightclothes that evening. “You’re lucky I didn’t miss my partnership with Jasmine. I thought I was dead for sure earlier. It was a good thing Choonhee decided Jinhye to perform first, or else I would have never gotten the promotion. But instead of being happy about it, I’m here nagging you to boredom again.”

Sungmin agreed. “You’re right. This is boring.”

She was infuriated by the response that she threw a pillow at him, angrily releasing all her rage at her husband in sheer fluffiness. Before they knew it, a pillow fight emerged, Sunny versus her husband Sungmin, who too was an expert at the game. No limits to how many shots they get to his the other; it was until one gave up.

Being the man in the house, he knew he would easily be allured by her aegyo. Suddenly she was already on top of him, laughing aloud with her pillow at ready. He was covering his face from her attacks, giggling as she did each one.

“You’re heavier than the last time,” Sungmin commented as she stopped, Sunny finally sitting next to him. “Lee Sunkyu, don’t tire yourself.”

Sunny rolled her eyes, scoffing. “Huh. Do you really think I’m tired, Sungmin-oppa? I’m never tired with all the stuff I have to do and I have to bring Jinhye to school tomorrow because you won’t be able to bring her around. Jasmine is expecting I’d be early tomorrow. I suppose your Kyuhyun-sshi won’t wait anymore---”

He initiated a kiss on her lips, stopping her endless rant. He cowered inside their sheets, yelling, “Good night dear. Sleep tight. I love you.”

Sunny was used to how he would easily sweep her off her feet, but she found it amusing at times. She chuckled quietly before getting under the sheets herself, clinching unto him from behind. His arm hastily traveled towards her as the two fell asleep under the bright light.

“Sweetie...you forgot to switch off the light,” Sungmin stated, but realized she wouldn’t budge at all. He squirmed away from her grip, doing it himself and getting back to his bed as soon as he was done. Tomorrow, he and Kyuhyun were going to finalize Dong Communications’ building permit.

-o0o-

“Someone already bought the house?” wondered Jessica as she and Seohyun met up at the café the following week.

On their vacant hours, the two would often see each other in the café, to talk about how life was on their side. Seohyun worked in her own clinic, the clinic Kyuhyun had bought for her own convenience. Sica would leave the hospital when she had the opportunity. They would have coffee and bread for an hour, and then talk, and then get back to work. That was how life was between the two doctors.

Seohyun nodded. “Yes. I’ll be living with Yonghwa starting this Sunday. That’s four days away. Finally, we could be together.”

They were engaged for almost months now; surely, the wedding was due that same year. Seohyun, after he left, had been dating other boys her age, meeting them through her patients in the hospital, going on dates with them until she met him again, her previous sweetheart. It just happened instantly; Yonghwa just clicked, and she realized time had flown so quickly indeed, after she and Kyuhyun were divorced.

Sica smiled in delight, getting excited. “I just remembered that. Oh, I hope you guys really work out. From the very beginning, I knew that you were two were destined for each other.”

The other girl laughed, remembering her early college days. “Aish, please, unnie.”

“It’s a good thing Kyuhyun left you that house,” she added, seeing the girl’s face drop. “You’re making money out of it. Does he know you’ve already sold it?”

Seohyun shook her head. “But, there is no need for that. The title of the house was mine; he left it to me. He can’t counter that.”

Jessica gave a strong nod. “I miss Sunny and the rest already. I miss Taeyeon-unnie. She’s in Seoul. I miss Yuri who’s in Seoul too. I miss the rest of them. I wonder where Sooyoung is. I haven’t seen her in ages. I want to invite her so badly. It seems like she didn’t receive my emails since then...”

Upon remembering the other girls, Seohyun swiftly drank all of her tea, suddenly apprehending that all of them were invited to Jessica’s birthday on April 18.

“Unnie, your birthday is on Saturday,” Seohyun reminded her. “You’ll be 31, then. Are the rest coming?”

Jessica was way ahead of her, sending emails to the others two weeks before the event. “I invited Stella Kim over, too. You didn’t meet her but she was the maknae before you came along. You remember Siwon Choi, right? Sooyoung’s hot ex-boyfriend? He went out with little Stella before our Sooyoung. I met up with her the other day. She was a patient in the hospital.”

“She must be an interesting person,” Seohyun remarked. “Did you invite your sister as well?”

“Who? Krystal?” She nodded, scowling. “Yeah. Krystal’s in her third year in medical school, but she said I could borrow her for a little while.”

“Both Jung sisters are turning out to be doctors,” she commented. “You must be proud of her.”

“Not quite,” Sica noted. “Her grades are a lot worse than mine. And she wants to be a neurologist. Silly girl.”

Seohyun smiled, getting up. “What’s wrong with being that? I wanted to be one, before they said I would better off be a pediatrician. And I’m a major in pharmacy, so no big deal.”

“I have to go now, dear,” Sica stated, drinking her tea and looking at her watch. “Duty calls. Donghae-oppa wanted me to be there at once.”

-o0o-

“Dong Communications said they have been receiving wonderful feedback from their customers,” Sungmin reported to Kyuhyun who was fiddling with his Rubik’s Cu