As Shin Hye slapped Min Hyuk, she cried and let out some harangue before running out of the gallery. She ran and ran despite her heels, not minding if they should break. As she ran and ran, a familiar voice boomed from behind.

"Park Shin Hye!" 

She turned around to see some of their old foes coming to her. One of them was the guy who shot her in the arm.

"Well, well, well! It seems that our guy had turned into a lady!" the boss sneered.

"And it's been three years, I guess," another quipped.

Shin Hye was not in the mood for some jokes because she was crying because of Min Hyuk.

"You still in a fight, huh?" they taunted her.

Shin Hye thought her habits had died, but it resurfaced.

"Are you insulting me????"

And they moved forward to assault her. Shin Hye took off her shoes and dropped her purse, then proceeded to singlehandedly subdue her enemies. Her fists and her feet had slowed down for years of not fighting but they never died. The fighting spirit was still there.

"YAAAAAAA!!!" she screamed as she began kicking them one by one.

The other henchmen were down, save for the boss. As he was about to punch Shin Hye's feminine face, a kick flew out of nowhere. And Shin Hye saw the bloody face of the boss on the ground. When she looked up, it was Jong Hyun, smirking down at the boss.

"How ungentlemanly of you!" he taunted him back.

"Jong..." Shin Hye remarked.

Jong Hyun looked at Shin Hye, distracted that a pretty lady would be down fighting dirty with gang members. He smirked again and taunted her the same way he used to do her back then.

"Does it even suit you--"

"YAAA!!!!" the boss began to scream as he started to attack.

Jong Hyun was swifter and did a roundhouse kick, kicking the boss on the face and letting fly a Swiss knife. The other gang members began to get up, and another round of fight ensued. As the boss was about to go grab his knife, Jong Hyun let out one last round of kick before grabbing Shin Hye by the wrist.

"Gaja," he ordered.

Shin Hye looked at her shoes and her purse, but Jong Hyun grabbed only her purse before running away with her. The other members ran after them, but because they were old, they were not able to run as fast as the kick- duo.

But along the pavement, the Marguerite Vodka shoes lay unattended...

****

It had started to rain while the two made a run for it, and good thing, the goons did not catch up with them. Both of them were soaking wet by the time they got to Jong Hyun's pad. And it was Shin Hye's first time to be there.

"Please... please feel at home..." Jong Hyun said in between pants.

Shin Hye looked around to see a cozy pad, though Jong Hyun was still at his messy nature. He led her to the bathroom so that she can rinse herself. But Shin Hye saw that Jong Hyun was blushing.

"Ah... geuge... I don't have... uhm, you know... girly stuff..." he stammered.

Shin Hye knew what he meant. Why would Jong Hyun store girly undergarments in the first place?

"Tsk, I know you would be storing some if you are bringing a girl here," she .

"Aniya!" he ed. "I may have flirted with TOP-hyung's girlfriends still, but I never brought them here."

Shin Hye was about to close the door when Jong Hyun told her that she was the first girl that he ever brought in his pad. Shin Hye blushed, nodded, and locked the door. After she bathed, she opened the door to see some of Jong Hyun's clothes (a shirt and sweatpants) on the floor and a towel. Might as well make use of what was there...

****

When she got out of the bathroom, Jong Hyun was waiting, and shivering.

"Uhm... if you need something, there are some food in the fridge, or you can cook some of my noodles," he told her. "In the cupboard over there."

"Ne..."

Her voice was so solemn that he suddenly realized something was up. He got inside the bathroom to bathe, leaving Shin Hye alone to dwell in her own thoughts. Her thoughts were so deep that she forgot that she had to prepare something to eat for the two of them.

"Omona..." she thought when she remembered the bribed noodles in the cupboard.

****

Shin Hye was busy preparing a feast of noodles and eggs for her and Jong Hyun (some kind of a night snack) when she saw him inside his room. Jong Hyun was still a bit out there, she thought. Why would he let his door be left ajar? It was easy to call him that way because the food was waiting. As she was about to knock, she realized Jong Hyun was talking to someone.

"I'm taking care of her, Hyung," Jong Hyun said.

By "Hyung," was it Yong Hwa? Her face went pale, and so, she peeked from the open door. And she heard the conversation.

"I'm sorry for making her cry, Jong Hyun-ah," Yong Hwa said, his voice remorseful.

"Yeah, you better be," Hyunnie said. "I was there when she cried. And where were you? You left her for some I don't know...and now, you are wanting to get back with her?"

Getting back with whom?

"I realized that I still love her, Jong Hyun-ah," Yong Hwa said.

Shin Hye was torn between hatred and the little bit of love left in her heart. Though angry, that little piece of love overpowered the hatred.

"Thank you for taking care of her," she heard Yong Hwa said.

"If you were that thankful, did you, at least, try to contact her? Call her? Or even send her a note that the two of you will do a video call?" came Hyunnie's bitter voice.

"That's why I am sorry to her..." Yong Hwa said. "I took her love for granted. I took her for granted... Knowing that she loved me before I knew it... And because I took her for granted, I was simply thinking she was there because she was always there for me."

"That is not the right way to love a girl, Hyung," Jong Hyun said.

"Ara. I know that it was my damn fault," Yong Hwa said. "It took her guts to confess to me. I should have, at least, made an effort to keep her. Please take care of her for me until I come back."

Jong Hyun was defeated. He was just... a keeper to someone else's girlfriend... and he, just a second choice.

"Ne... Hyung," Jong Hyun said.

Shin Hye was overwhelmed at the revelation that Yong Hwa still loved her through all the time that they were apart. So why did he break up with her? In her confusion, she ran to the kitchen and began eating the noodles, letting tears fall down her eyes.

"Yong Hwa... wae????" she thought in tears.

****

After the video call, Jong Hyun went to the kitchen because he smelled the heavenly aroma of noodles. Pork soup could be better, but some packs of noodles were all he had, and it was good on a rainy night. When he got to the kitchen, he saw Shin Hye sobbing while storing noodles to her cheeks.

"Shin Hye-ya!" he exclaimed in concern. "Wae? Are you hurt somewhere?"

Shin Hye pounded her chest and sobbed.

"Wae...? Who made you cry? Huh?" came Jong Hyun's query.

Shin Hye swallowed her noodles before talking. "Min Hyuk... and Yong Hwa..."

"Min Hyuk-ah?"

And so, Shin Hye told him what transpired that night at dinner and at the gallery. Jong Hyun was disturbed that he did not even know that the two were dating. Of course, Jung Shin could have told him but was stuck in a date with Min Young.

"Why did Jung Shin not tell me?"  he told her. "I never knew the two of you were dating behind my back..."

"Jong Hyun-ah~~~" she sobbed.

"So... Hyukkie... still... never got over you?" he asked, and she nodded. "What about Hyung?"

And she told him she had heard the video call conversation. And this time, Jong Hyun shut up.

"I never realized Hyung was still in love with me," Shin Hye told him in between sobs. "I miss him so much..."

Jong Hyun began to grab his chopsticks and dug into his noodles. Shin Hye noticed that he was hurt because he still loved her, after all.

"Jong Hyun-ah..."

This time, tears fell from those burning eyes.

"Gwaenchanha, Sweetheart," he assured her. "I may have loved you now, but I know I will forget you. You and Hyung were meant to be together."

The two of them silently ate their noodles and eggs while dwelling in their misery.

****

Jong Hyun got inside his room and told Shin Hye to be comfy on his bed.

"I will be sleeping on the couch in the living room... you know..."

She knew he was already conscious not to lay in bed with a girl friend.

"Eung..."

She was still in deep thought when he sat beside her and held her hand. And again, Shin Hye cried in front of him. Jong Hyun's heart was greatly touched, but in pain. In his mind, he remembered the first time he fell in love with her, their first kiss together, their fights together, the first time he saw her transform to being a lady... He wanted so much to kiss her right there and then and to make her his woman. But sadly, she really belonged to someone who wanted to get back with her.

"We once thought we were soulmates, geuchi?" he asked her as he wiped the tears from her eyes, and Shin Hye nodded. "I guess it is true when they said that not all soulmates have a happy ever after."

Shin Hye looked at his solemn face.

"We were not meant to be lovers, not meant to be married... I guess... we will just be best friends," he said. "Of all my best friends, you were the one whom I bared my heart and soul the most without pretenses."

Shin Hye agreed. Amber had been her best friend too, but it was Jong Hyun who saw most of her sides, even receiving her share of hates from him. Tears started to stream from her eyes again as she looked at him, and he was wistfully tracing the scars on her hand, the scars that had been brought about from years of fighting with him.

"You will never be mine, Shin Hye-ya," he told her. "But at least I am glad you gave me a friendship that not the other guys can ever have with you."

"Ne...." she said.

Jong Hyun scooted next to her and combed her hair with his fingers. Shin Hye blushed as she stared back at his burning eyes, which was sadly looking back at her.

"Mianhande, I still love Yong Hwa-hyung... It will always be him," she confessed.

"Ara..." he whispered.

And they continued staring at each other.

"The first time I kissed you, you were a man. Now that you are a girl... can I kiss you... again?" Jong Hyun asked.

"Huh?"

"Just... just a way of saying goodbye, you know," he said. "This will be the last time I will get to kiss you... to hold you like you are mine."

Shin Hye nodded and allowed him before closing her eyes. And she felt his warm breath getting near to her... And finally, Jong Hyun's lips touched her lips gently. And she kissed him gently too.

It was not a torrid kiss like the first time that they had. The kiss that they shared were... gentle goodbye kisses.

~~~~

And that ends the Shin Hye-Jong Hyun alternate ending. (Don't worry, Min Hyuk and Shin Hye will have their own closure too.)

Up next! Yong Hwa and Shin Hye back together! ^_^

So stay tuned, yeoreobun! ^_^