Chapter 10: Realization

It was dawn, even before letting the Sun come up, did Sooyoung decided to head home. This time, she was riding the bike, but just as slow to her liking. By the time she arrived, she noticed a few sneaky journalists outside their entrance gate.

She sighed and decided to take the secret back door entrance which was around at the other side of the block. With a successful escape, she got her keys and entered without anyone even noticing it.

Sooyoung then called a maid and told her to keep the bike safely away. The maid just nodded and did as she was told. Sooyoung then climbed the stairs to her room but before she could make it all the way there, her father suddenly came by. “Oh honey, you’re home quite early.” Mr. Choi says as he signals her to come down and sit by him. “At least I’m home.” Sooyoung says as she takes a seat across Mr. Choi.

“So, what do you need?” She asks as if she’s in some kind of hurry.

Mr. Choi raised his eyebrows yet again at his daughter. “Where do you plan on going today?” he asks, curious of Sooyoung’s thoughts. “Busan.” She says as she quickly places her hand over quite surprised herself by what came out of . “Busan?” “Yes. I uh…. Need to give Jonghyun something.” She replied which was actually quite true on the contrary.

Before answering, her father adjusted his way of sitting before crossing his legs. “Well, if it’s really important then I don’t mind at all. What time do you plan on leaving?” asks Mr. Choi. Sooyoung bit her lips. “I plan on leaving in an hour.” She answers. Her father just nodded. “Well, you are a big girl now. I trust you with your decisions.” He says before approaching her and giving Sooyoung a kiss on the forehead and then a hug.

Sooyoung was left speechless but she still smiled and hugged him back. “Thanks Dad.” She whispers in his ears before rushing off to her bedroom. Mr. Choi just smiled, shrugged, and went back into his office.

She hurriedly got a small backpack and placed in her small gift for Jonghyun. Then she went off to take a quick shower before finally getting ready. Sooyoung then decided to just walk to the train station. She then noticed soft snow falling which made her smile. She was wearing loose sweat pants, a comfy shirt with a thick enough cloth jacket. There was also a gray beanie on top of her hair to add up.

It wasn’t long until she reached the station just on time for the first train leaving for Busan. Hurriedly, she got her ticket and went inside. When she found a good seat, she can’t help but feel there was something about that seat that made her a bit curious. She then faced the window next to her and was surprised to see a writing that showed:

“수영”

It was clearly written on the window with a cold breath. It somehow froze because of the cold weather and she couldn’t seem to erase it. Just then, she did feel like she knew who wrote that and more yet, who sat on the seat she was sitting on, last night.

Soon, the train started moving and she closed her eyes as she hugged her back pack before drifting off to dreamland.

Meanwhile, Jonghyun was already on his way to the airport, along with his mother and two siblings. Before leaving the house, he had already everything he needed with him; documents, tickets, clothes, although, he did feel kind of guilty for leaving his guitar. “Well, anyways, I’ll just be gone for a week or so. I’m pretty sure it won’t be that bad.” He thought trying not to gulp in all his words at once.

“Jonghyun! Are you ready! The taxi is already here!” Mrs. Lee shouted from outside the house. He then inhaled and exhaled before finally going out with his luggage. But before he could enter the taxi, two pair of small arms made its way around his two legs. “Oppa! I’m going to miss you!” Pan-da says as she sniffs. “You’ll come back soon right hyung?” Jiseung says with tears forming in his eyes.

Jonghyun smiled and crouched down to their level. “Don’t worry! Big brother is gonna come back! I promise!” He says as he shows both of them his two pinkies, signaling the two twins to do the pinky sign. “Promise!”

After that, he then hugged both of them. “Now don’t cry anymore and listen to Mom while I’m away okay?” Jonghyun says as he gave them a wink before finally going inside the taxi which drove off immediately once he was inside.

Since the traffic wasn’t quite heavy, he reached the airport in no time at all. He quickly got his things from the trunk of the car and just went ahead inside. After checking in, he realized it was still quite early so he just roamed around the whole airport, while holding his cell phone. Jonghyun honestly wanted to call someone so bad right now, but he was quite nervous since she didn’t know that he’d be leaving for the airport.

~

During that time span, Sooyoung woke up to find out that they had already arrived and the sunlight of Busan reached her eyes. “So I’m finally here.” She says as she stretches her arms out as she steps outside of the train. She then took out a piece of paper, which had some kind of address written on it.

*flashback to a few hours before*

Before finally going out of the house, Sooyoung again was called by her father. “What is it Dad?” she asks again hurriedly.

“You slow down yourself a few times you know.” He chuckled. “Dad…” Sooyoung says as she rolled her eyes and stomped her foot impatiently.

“Okay Okay, I’ll make it short. Here.” He chuckles before giving her a piece of folded paper. “What’s this for?” the girl asks. “Well, I thought you might need it.” Mr. Choi says as he gives her a quick wink. Once she read what was written, she gave her father a smile and a kiss on the cheek before finally going off.

“Thanks Dad! You’re the best!” she says quite jolly while Mr. Choi just stood by the door watching his daughter almost slipping as she turns to the next corner. “Aish, that clumsy girl.”

*End of Flashback*

“#447 Block 3 Suyeong-gu District” Sooyoung whispers again what she read on the paper as she got out of the train station. She then quickly got a taxi and went inside. “Where to Miss?” the driver asks. “Suyeong-gu District please!” she answers quickly. “Right away miss.”

To her surprise, they quickly reached the said district quite quickly. Before she left the taxi, the driver spoke again. “Um, I hope you won’t mind, but are you somehow resemble Choi Sooyoung very much. She’s my daughter’s idol.” He says as he scratches his head nervously.

To Sooyoung, it was the first time she heard someone actually idolized her, despite her image, so she found it very honorable. “Well then, tell your daughter that her dad has personally met Choi Sooyoung.” She says cheerfully while giving him a spare autographed picture of her that was in her wallet.

“Oh my…wow… I can’t believe it… Wow thank you so much Miss Sooyoung! She’ll be very thrilled when she learns about this! Have a wonderful day!” the driver thanked before finally leaving. Sooyoung was still in smiles when she roamed around the district.

She then quickly came by a house with the number “447” and quickly went to its front door. “This must be it.” Sooyoung thought. She then knocked on the door not only thrice, but actually five times due to both her excitement and nervousness.

It wasn’t that long until she could hear steps coming closer and eventually the door opened. “Oh hello, is there anything you need?” the woman asks. Sooyoung nodded as she finds so much resemblance to Jonghyun by looking at her face. “This must be his mom.” She thought to herself.

“Ah yes! I’m Choi Sooyoung! And I’m here to give Jonghyun something!” she says as cheerfully as she could. But apparently, her eyes let her see the smile on Mrs. Lee’s face turn into a crooked frown. “He…didn’t tell you?” Mrs. Lee nervously gulped.

Sooyoung’s cheerful face also disappeared by the woman’s words. “Tell me….what?” she asks, this time feeling something was off. “I think you should get inside first. Come in and make yourself at home.” Mrs. Lee told her as she guided Sooyoung inside and instructed her to sit down before giving her a cup of tea.

“Thank you Mrs. Lee. May I ask now what Jonghyun didn’t tell me?” she asks nervously. Mrs. Lee just sighed before saying anything. “He’s on his way to Hong Kong. He just left for the airport not too long ago.” She informs. At first, Sooyoung didn’t say anything and just nodded. “Aish that jerk! Why didn’t he say anything about going outside the country?!” she thought vigorously angry and disappointed. “I’m so sorry Sooyoung but I would just like to thank you personally.”

With Mrs. Lee’s words, Sooyoung looked at her again, curious as to what she was saying. The older woman then smiled more naturally towards her. “You see, Jonghyun is a lot stronger now because of you. You inspire him, Sooyoung. And I’m grateful for that.” She tells to the young lady. “And, if I’m not mistaken, his flight doesn’t leave yet in an hour. Maybe you can still see him.” Mrs. Lee says to Sooyoung while giving her another warm smile.This time, Sooyoung’s eyes lighted with hope.

“Really?”

“Yes. But you should hurry now because it’s almost noon rush hour. Go on now!” Mrs. Lee tells her again she helped Sooyoung with her things and jacket. “Thank You Mrs. Lee!” Sooyoung shouted from outside to the woman by the door before running off to find another taxi.

Jonghyun’s mother was still by the door and shook her head before chuckling. “Oh, young people nowadays. They all seem like my own child.” She says to herself before going back into her house.

Just then, Sooyoung found the taxi she rode earlier that was still roaming around the district. “Taxi over here!” she shouted to get his attention, which was successful to her delight. “Oh Miss Sooyoung! Where to next?” the driver questioned before chuckling. “To the airport please! Oh and if it isn’t much, can we go a little faster?” she instructed and asked as she quickly got in. “Sure no problem for someone like you!”

As expected, traffic became heavier and Sooyoung panicked more. Forty minutes passed by when she already reached the airport ever since she left. “Thank you sir!” she said to the driver before running off. While she was hurrying, her cell phone then suddenly rang and quickly answered it seeing who it was.

“Jonghyun! Where are you! I’m here at the airport! Aish you jerk for not telling me!” Sooyoung said all out at once as she was looking for Jonghyun through the glass windows. Jonghyun bit his lips when he found out where she was. “What are you doing here?” he asks as he hears the flight attendants saying to finally turn off their cell phones.

“I forgot to give you something. Please come and get it.” Sooyoung begs this time with scared tears forming in her eyes. This time, Jonghyun was also getting teary. He really didn’t want to hear much more less think what Sooyoung is like right now. “I’m really sorry Soo. But I’m already inside the plane and that-“

“Excuse me Sir please turn off your phone now.”  A flight attendant told him while he just nodded. “I’ll miss you but don’t worry, I’ll be back soon, just like what I promised you.” And with those words, the connection finally broke off. Jonghyun then out down his phone as a single tear flows down. “I’ll tell you when I come back.”

Sooyoung was already crying really hard as she slumps down to the sit on the floor, not caring what other people might think of her. She still had her phone by her eyes.

“I love you.”

Sooyoung finally mutters but she knew Jonghyun couldn’t hear it. She then wiped her tears and stood up. “If it’s going to be like this, then I’ll wait. I’ll tell him that immediately when he gets back. And that’s a personal promise to myself to say that.”

♥.*.♥

Note: Sobs. I almost cried while writing the last part. Poor Soo and Jong. But Yey! At least Soo already figured out her feelings! huhuhu But I promise you things are definitely going to get a little more interesting with a burning soul (lol what a pun.) Anyways, thank you all so much for the comments and subscriptions! Please don't stop showing you feedback and please tell me what your thoughts on this! Thank You for reading and Have a nice day!