2 p.m.

“Yah, didn’t you say you wanted to eat Korean food this morning?”

Jonghyun ignored Yonghwa’s protest as he kept flipping the western food menu on the table. He tried to maintain his calm expression by reading the choice of steaks, while at the same time he felt like cracking up upon seeing Yonghwa's confused eyes.

“Unnie… didn’t you say that you are meeting Jonghyun oppa only?” Seohyun whispered with her eyes glancing at the 'unwanted' person next to her.

"Just... choose something to eat, Seohyun-ah. Okay?" Yoona whispered back.

Seohyun pouted and continued looking at the menu. When Yoona asked Seohyun out for a lunch with Jonghyun, Seohyun was quite sure that it was only the three of them. She never expected Jonghyun to bring along his boyfriend, particularly since their relationship was still strained.

For the CNBLUE leader, this moment had never crossed his mind before. When Jonghyun suddenly asked him to come along to lunch with Yoona, his suspicion was mainly about possible relationship between the two. He never imagined to find his girlfriend staring at him like she was seeing a ghost.

Yonghwa continuously reminded himself to question Jonghyun once they arrived at the dorm.

“So, Jonghyun-ah, are you working on something together with Yoona nowadays? You know—like projects, collaboration, or something,” Yonghwa narrowed his eyes at Jonghyun.

“Well, we have an ongoing project at the moment,” Jonghyun replied as he glanced at Yoona, “But I can’t tell you now, it’s still a secret.”

“Ah, why? I want to know,” Yonghwa frowned.

“It’s a surprise, oppa. We will tell you later,” Yoona smiled knowingly.

Jonghyun glanced at his wristwatch. 30 minutes until the scheduled time, yet the couple still acted like they were strangers to each other. Knowing Yonghwa’s temper, the arrival of Kyuhyun and Shinhye might further irritated him, unless Yonghwa could loosen his ego before the long-awaited discussion began.

He decided that he needed to heat up the atmosphere, so that the bickering couple would at least talk to each other.

Jonghyun began to engage Yoona in a conversation about the upcoming Fine Arts Festival, including discussing their planned performance and the preparation. Yoona played along well, she even asked about CNBLUE collaboration with senior SNSD members. However, it was only two-way conversation, since Yonghwa and Seohyun chose to remain silent.

He eyed Yonghwa before he began to blabber—and exaggerate—about Yonghwa to Yoona, in a hope that Seohyun would give her attention to the discussion.

“… we rarely have a chance to rest properly these days. Once we even panicked when Yonghwa hyung’s voice turned hoarse because he caught a cold. I was afraid that his vocal nodules are back! But Jungshin managed to—”

“The vocal nodules return, oppa? How could it happen?” Seohyun abruptly asked Yonghwa as she put her fingers on his neck, as if checking his condition.

“Oh—no, no, it’s not like that,” Yonghwa widened his eyes at Jonghyun, “Yah, what are you talking about? It was just a cold!”

"Aigoo... we believed it was more than that. Your voice was really creepy," Jonghyun added innocently.

Seohyun’s cold expression slowly turned into a worried one. “Do I have to always remind you to rest and take care of your throat? Aish, really…”

“Why not? You know that I often forget about that since I am busy doing other things!”

Seohyun squinted her eyes, suddenly grew irritated. “Do I really have to do all the work here? Am I your manager or what?”

“Don’t you use that tone of voice when talking to me, you know I hate it,” Yonghwa snorted.

“Whoa, whoa… take it easy, guys,” Jonghyun tried to calm the two, “Come on, it’s been weeks already. Aren’t you two tired of it?”

“Not until I learn the real truth,” Yonghwa emphasized with his eyes fixed on Seohyun’s.

Yoona was going to add something, but their orders fortunately arrived in time. They began to eat their lunch quietly. While eating his steak, Jonghyun glanced at Yoona, who subsequently looked up to him and mouthed “what to do?” in which Jonghyun replied “just wait and see”.

Suddenly two familiar figures arrived at the front door of the restaurant. Jonghyun, whose seat was facing the entrance, signaled Yoona by slightly kicking her leg. Yoona looked up and saw Jonghyun moving his eyes, telling her to turn around and look.

The two figures spotted them and approached their table slowly. It was a cue for Jonghyun and Yoona to handle the situation immediately since the couple did not know about the plan.

“Hyung,” Jonghyun said as he wiped his mouth with a tissue, “Are you still interested in our project?”

Yonghwa looked at Jonghyun as if saying, “what are you talking about, so sudden”, but he subsequently nodded and continued eating his spaghetti.

“Promise me one thing: that you will sit and listen to everything. You won’t leave,” Jonghyun asserted.

"Of course I will. Why would I want to leave, anyway?"

"Maybe, because of this," Jonghyun said as he got up from his seat.

Cho Kyuhyun and Park Shinhye arrived at their table and greeted them, somehow timidly. Yoona glanced at the couple who looked at the newcomers in confusion, questioning “what the hell is going on” with their eyes.

Yonghwa impulsively stood up. “Yah, Jonghyun-ah! What are you—”

“Hyung, you have promised to sit still and listen,” Jonghyun said, sternly, “This is our project: to make you and Seohyun stop fighting. You said you want to hear the truth? Listen, then. The ones who can provide you the most definitive answer are here.”

Jonghyun took out his money from his wallet and put them next to his unfinished meal. “This will cover my lunch and Yoona’s. We will leave now, hyung.”

Yoona glanced at Yonghwa and Seohyun; both looked dumbfounded with the situation. “Seohyun-ah, I will see you later, okay?”

Jonghyun patted Kyuhyun’s shoulder and thanked him before he reached Yoona’s hand and led her out. As they walked out, Jonghyun threw his last glance to the couple, who seemed to have begun talking with Kyuhyun and Shinhye.

He continued walking, completely unaware that he was still holding Yoona’s hand until they got out from the restaurant. Yoona could feel her heart suddenly beating so fast.

~~~

3 p.m.

“You said you are free until seven?”

Yoona turned her head to look at Jonghyun, who stood a few steps behind her with a cellphone on his hand. She nodded and stepped down from the concrete line above the pavement, where she lingered to test her balance over the last few minutes.

“Let’s do something together. Today is also my day off, so I have nothing to do,” Jonghyun said.

“Really?” Yoona’s doe-eyed gaze suddenly seemed more alive and excitement spilled over her voice, “So where are we going?”

“Hmm… let’s see,” Jonghyun paused to recall something on his memory, “I heard there is a film screening event at the Museum of Art. I honestly don’t know what kind of movies they are playing, but I assume it will be fun to watch.”

“Film screening? Like the one we attended in the past summer?” Yoona just spoke her mind out. She covered with her palm in reflex when she realized what she just did.

Surprisingly, Jonghyun was not bothered by her words. She had expected Jonghyun to be somehow taken aback, but he just nodded casually.

“Yes, I suppose it’s similar to that one. I think they hold two film screening events in a year; one in summer and one in winter,” Jonghyun looked down, somehow avoiding her eyesight. “Well, of course we can do something else if you don’t want to.”

“No, I’d love to. Let’s watch some movies,” Yoona quickly agreed.

“OK,” Jonghyun said as he led the walk to the opposite site of where they were standing.

Jonghyun seemed like in a better mood after they decided to go to the film screening. He started talking about what happened in the restaurant and how he could predict that Yonghwa would nag at him when he arrived at the dorm. Yoona laughed along, saying that she also felt sorry towards Seohyun, but she maintained that what they had done was for the sake of the couple.

They kept their topic casual during the conversation, in which neither of them discussed about their personal life, let alone their relationship. The two remembered that Jonghyun decided to keep their distance from the past.

“Yah! It’s Japanese anime movie festival!” Jonghyun exclaimed as he pointed to the board near the entrance of the museum, “Mamoru Oshii, Katsuhiro Otomo, Makoto Shinkai, and the one and only Hayao Miyazaki!”

Yoona widened her eyes in excitement when she found out that the festival featured the films produced by Miyazaki, her most favorite Japanese animator. She had watched almost all of his movies and her favorite was the Castle in the Sky, the first movie created by Studio Ghibli.

“Ah, too bad we arrived too late,” Jonghyun pouted, “The screening of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind began an hour ago…”

Yoona looked at the screening schedule and matched the time on her wristwatch. “There is something coming up in the next fifteen minutes. Five Centimeters per Second. Have you heard about that?”

“Makoto Shinkai?” Jonghyun tilted his head as he read the director’s name. “I think I’ve read about him somewhere. He’s dubbed as the next Miyazaki by some critics.”

"Ah, he is him? I've heard about him too, but I haven't seen any of his movie,” Yoona replied.

"Let’s find out, then. Besides, the sunshine is getting hotter,” Jonghyun said as he put his hand above his eyes.

The two wandered inside, looking at the exhibition showcasing the arts and miniatures of the movies. They walked inside the room separately, with Jonghyun mostly lingered around the screening of mini movies on several TVs and took his time to watch Mamoru Oshii’s short film titled Je t’aime. Yoona, meanwhile, spent her 15 minutes by looking at Ghibli’s merchandises, including Totoro dolls and the replica of Howl’s Moving Castle.

They entered the studio at 03:45 p.m. and sat on the middle row of the seats. The studio felt deserted since there were only around a dozen of people watching the movie. Jonghyun guessed that it was because most students usually attended afternoon classes or had community meeting at this hour.

The two did not talk to each other until the screen played the beginning of the movie; two youngsters walking under sakura trees and falling petals. For an hour, at least, Jonghyun and Yoona couldn’t catch a glimpse of each other’s eyes; even when both were unaware that they had tried to steal a glance on one another.

~~~

5 p.m

"Are you still hungry or what?"

Yoona couldn’t stop being amazed when she heard Jonghyun ordered another large portion of french fries and a jumbo chocolate milkshake after he finished half of his jumbo chili dog.

“You want some?” Jonghyun said as he munched on his sausage, “you’re going to practice tonight, so make sure you eat something before then.”

Yoona frowned, though she could feel her stomach growling when she looked at the variants of patties in the burger stand. She subsequently remembered that she did not finish her seafood penne earlier at the restaurant.

"I will have one corn dog, please,” Yoona told the man behind the stall.

“Also one small portion of french fries and one small strawberry milkshake,” Jonghyun suddenly butted in to the order.

“Yah, those are too much for me,” Yoona hit Jonghyun’s arm. She immediately turned to the seller, “just a corn—”

“Make it as I said, please,” Jonghyun interrupted as he handed his money to the seller. He turned to look at Yoona. “You need to eat more. Can’t you see that you need to gain weight a bit? You’re too skinny.”

“I cannot practice if I am too full, it’s uncomfortable.”

“You won’t; I only ordered small portions for you,” Jonghyun said sternly.

She let the argument ended and sat still, waiting for their orders to finish. When Yoona said she would pay for her own food expenses to Jonghyun, the latter shrugged and said, “It’s not a big deal. Let it go.”

They decided to eat the meal in the park near the Museum’s Amphitheater and were lucky enough to find an empty bench under the shade of a big oak tree.

“So, what do you think about the film?” Jonghyun asked suddenly.

Yoona took a bite of french fries. “I thought at first that after all those years, the two would meet each other again somehow, somewhere in the future. It’s so sad to see how Takaki tried everything for their long distance relationship, but… they just naturally drifted apart at the end.”

Jonghyun nodded as he sipped on milkshake. “Well, for me, it’s so realistic. I like how the story goes and ends.”

“Why?” Yoona furrowed her eyebrows. “I don’t get it. I thought everyone loves a happy-ever-after story.”

"Because if everything has a happy ending, we're probably dead by now."

She almost choked on her corn dog when she heard Jonghyun’s blunt reply. “How could you say that?”

“Because this is real life. You can say it’s a happy ending basically when everything ends—or when we died,” Jonghyun casually said, “Life goes on and on, Yoona, and during that process, everything can always happen.”

“But I still think it’s possible to have a happy ending with our relationship,” Yoona argued, “How about a couple who married forever without ever breaking up?”

“One of them will die, sooner or later. Or they can die together, if that’s what you mean,” Jonghyun paused, staring off into the distance. “Remember the French film we watched last year? Love Me if You Dare?”

Yoona nodded, but a part of her heart flinched a bit. She looked at Jonghyun’s face and wondered: how could he mentioned their memory like nothing happened? Wasn’t he the one who said he wanted to keep their distance from it?

“I believe that the movie depicted a happy ending of a relationship: the couple died together. Well, of course if we don’t count what can happen in the afterlife—if you believe in the latter, though,” Jonghyun said.

And why she felt like hurting inside every time she saw the blunt expression on his face today?

“But, of course, we can have different opinion about it—about what happy ending means. It’s just my perspective,” Jonghyun added as he took another bite of french fries and ended it with his milkshake.

A question suddenly struck Yoona’s mind—if not feeling. What about us?

Their business of taking care of the couple had ended and Yoona wondered about the possibilities that could happen. Would they remain as friends who would call each other to schedule a lunch, or would they return to the way they used to in the last couple of months; Yoona with her books and ballet, and Jonghyun with his poems and music?

Would the two naturally drift apart and forget each other’s presence, just like how she had forced Jonghyun to do back then?

Or can we just be friends like we used to be?

But Yoona should admit that there was another kind of feeling that struck her every time she insisted that they were just friends.

Jonghyun could not—and did not—belong in the same box as Taecyon or Donghae, since Jonghyun was different than the other guys around her. He was something else, though Yoona was not sure what he exactly was in her eyes.

Slowly, the same feeling from a year ago slowly creeping up inside her. The very same feeling she had once denied.

Was it love? Was it just a fling? Of course, like Jonghyun had said, everything could always happen. But if a happy ending meant they would be dead, then she preferred their relationship to just never ended, so that she did not have to bother choosing the variants of endings.

Yoona glanced at Jonghyun who seemed to be enjoying himself at the moment. He leaned his back on the bench, eyes closed, while humming a song of a foreign band in a low-tone of voice that competed against the wind.

“Lee Jonghyun. I should go to practice,” Yoona felt like gulping a bowl of thorns when she said it.

Jonghyun checked his wristwatch and frowned. “It’s still six. What’s with all the rush?”

Yoona raised her eyebrows. "You still want to sit here?"

"Yeah... let's just enjoy the moment," Jonghyun replied with a slight smile on his face.

Behind his faint smile, though, Jonghyun thought over two things, namely enjoying the present and another thing that contradicted it: time. Sitting next to each other like two old friends, watching the wind blowing her hair, talking about anything that came up from the air; he secretly wished that 7 p.m. would never come.

He decided that the wish was his own version of a “happy ending” for tonight, but he knew it would be impossible.

~~~

7 p.m.

Jonghyun and Yoona walked towards the entrance of the Dance Performance department in silence; the man buried his hands inside his jeans’ pockets while the woman crossed her arms above the chest.

Once or twice Yoona greeted her friends who seemed to be going to the studio too and Jonghyun casually waited not far behind Yoona, looking at the pavement while maintaining some distance from her.

"This is it," Yoona said when they reached the entrance.

Jonghyun pursed his lips as he looked up to her. He tried to look at Yoona on her eyes, but he immediately turned his face away. “Go on, then. Don’t be late."

But Yoona just kept staring at her shoes while biting her lower lip. She wanted to say something—thank you, Jonghyun? Take care? Let’s eat sometimes—but her mind could not cooperate with her tongue.

“I should say thanks to you,” Jonghyun paused, “for helping us to make Yonghwa hyung and Seohyun able to finish their issue. Please also send our warm regards to your unnies, they have helped us a lot.”

“I will. Thanks for helping us too,” Yoona said, attempting to be more cheerful, “Also, thank you for today, Lee Jonghyun. I had a great time.”

“That’s a relief, then,” Jonghyun smiled, but his voice turned icy cold.

For a minute that felt like an eternity, the two just stood awkwardly while looking at each other’s shoes. They did not know what else to say, but at the same time they hoped one of them would say something; just to make the night longer.

"Well... okay, then. I am going to go inside," after a lot of thoughts, Yoona decided to leave. She looked up once again to Jonghyun and asked, “Will we see each other soon?”

Jonghyun smiled faintly. "Maybe we will."

They bid each other farewell at 07:10 p.m.

Walking home by himself, Jonghyun tried to reason with his own mind. Why couldn’t he say goodbye casually like “okay, I’ll see you soon” or “let’s eat together sometimes” to Yoona earlier? Why should he think too much?

Why couldn’t he fulfill his own words; to act like a friend to her without remembering anything about the past? Why did Yoona also acted differently towards him and seemed to calculate every move when they were together that day?

As he thought it over, Jonghyun suddenly realize that the saying he had overheard somewhere yesterday at the classroom might be true.

If two past lovers can remain friends, it's either they are still in love or never were.

But the bigger question was, were they even lovers in the past?

 

 

---

Author's Note:

After more than 6 months that feels like FOR-E-VER, I finally updated this story! OMG IT FEELS SO GOOD. I am really truly sorry to everyone who always reads my stories because I update this story so late :( it was because I was sooooo busy with my work and my college things. I hope you all won't be mad at me :( 

So how do you think this chapter is? Well, I used several references for writing this chapter. First, the names of the animators above are real and they are famous for making great anime movies! My favorite? Makoto Shinkai and the one and only Hayao Miyazaki! Second, 5 Centimeters Per Second is a good anime movie and it's one of my favorite. It doesn't have a happy ending, but it's great! Third, Love Me If You Dare is a French Movie and you can google it (because it kinda hard to tell the synopsis here, it's too good and complicated), I recommend all you guys to watch it.

I'll try to update soon. Please do comment, subscribe, and upvote if you are interested! xx

P.S: Kindly read my newest Fanfic about Jongyoon: Heir & Heiress.