SEVENTEEN

Four Years Ago….

“Oppa… I like you…”

There. She said it.

And, Seohyun smiled nervously while her hands remained outstretched towards him for the letter she prepared with that confession. However, Yonghwa stood in front of her blinking several times and opening and closing his mouth like words seemed to evaporate from his brain.

She remained standing there waiting for him to say something—anything, until she realized she was not going to get any reply.

The letter got crinkled in her hands.

“Oppa…”

“Hyun… Seohyunnie… I-I don’t know what to—“

It was getting harder to breathe. Her eyes were stingy. Her heart throbbed so loud.

“I… y-you don’t have to say anything… I’m sorry… O-Oppa…”

It was clear to her. She made herself believe.

“Seohyun, i-it’s not what you th—“

Seohyun ran away before he could trample on her heart some more.

Her feet took her away, far away from him… from that place…

She cried ignoring the voices calling her back.

She ran away ignoring the world.

~~~

The moment Seohyun fled crying, Taeyeon stood and dashed towards Yonghwa who was, at that moment, on the move towards Seohyun. The other girls ran instinctively after the youngest.

Taeyeon didn’t need to say anything instead she let her fist and legs do the talking. Yonghwa too was surprised by the attack that he didn’t do anything more and willingly accepted the blows.

“KIM TAEYEON, STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!” Jessica said sprinting towards her vicious friend who looked terribly possessed by an otherworldly kind of evil. But, a hand gripped on her arm that stopped her on her track.

“Don’t. Let her be.” It was Tiffany who was standing there watching the whole scene— calmly.

“What the hell, Tiff? Stop her!” Sica said again but the other girl remained still her hands balling on her sides. “Tiff, come on! Look what she’s doing! Yah, Yonghwa just stand and go! Kim Taeyeon, stop!”

“I’m sorry, Jessi, she needs this.”

Fany just shook her head that all Jessica could do was to cry in sheer desperation, “WHAT THE FㅛCK IS WRONG WITH ALL OF YOU!?”

She was frantically screaming at everybody but nobody seemed to care so she speed dialed her driver waiting outside the school.

It was only after there was blood on Yonghwa’s face that Tiffany stepped in and got hold of Taeyeon, “Come on, Taeng, that’s enough…”

As if it was the only thing the short girl was waiting for, she stopped but glared at the blood-drenched guy on the ground, “Nobody makes any of these girls cry, especially the maknae. Got that, ?!”

With that, they both turned away and headed towards where Seohyun and the other girls run off to. However, Sica went to her cousin and attempted to wipe his face with her handkerchief, “Oh my god, Yonghwa, I’m sooooo so sorry—“

“JUNG JESSICA, ARE YOU COMING OR WHAT?!”

It was Taeyeon so Jessica stood, wiped her knees and looked apologetically at Yonghwa then walked away like the rest of the world.

~~~

“Seohyunie, come on, open up!” Sooyoung banged on the door.

Sunny held on to her friend, “I think we should leave her alone.”

“We can’t do that!” Hyoyeon muttered worriedly, “She needs us now!”

“I know… I know… but she chose to lock the door!” Sunny insisted.

Sooyoung rolled her eyes and hit louder, “Come on, hon! Open up or I’ll tear this door down!”

“Scoot over,” Yuri pushed her friends aside, “Got the spare key from ajumeonim.”

It was Yoona who got in first and almost jumped onto the bed. Seohyun was hidden deep in her covers but they could still hear her sobbing softly. Yoona looked at her sister worriedly, her own tears b on her eyes, “Unnie, what should we do?”

Sooyoung lay on the bed and fitted herself beside Seohyun, “Hey, baby… talk to us…”

There was a soft sound but barely audible that they exchanged glances.

“She said ‘no’…” Hyoyeon sighed but patted what seemed to be Seohyun’s bottom, “Alright, we’ll be outside. We won’t leave you here, okay?” She stood followed by Sunny and Yuri while Sooyoung and Yoona remained on the bed.

After almost an hour, Taeyeon, Tiffany and Jessica came barging in and found the three on the living room watching TV.

“Where is she?” Taeyeon asked.

“She’s sleeping now. Sooyoung and Yoona are with her.”

“Damn! I’ll hunt that douchebag to hell!”

Sica crossed her arms on her chest, “Ya… stop ranting! And don’t mention anything about that right now or in the next couple of days, will you?”

Fany sighed and patted Taeyeon’s shoulder, “Let’s sleep here tonight. I’ll ask for extra mattresses and stuff to be brought in her room…”

They all crammed in Seohyun’s bedroom. Sica and Yoona slept beside Seohyun on the bed, and Sooyoung took the couch. The bedroom floor disappeared among the mattresses and pillows and sheets as the rest of them squeezed on every available corner of the room. 

In the middle of the night, Tiffany spread an arm beside her but tapped it when she realized it was empty. She sat up and noticed the streak of light coming from the bathroom and Taeyeon emerged wearing a jacket over her pajamas, “Taeng?”

“Seohyun’s gone…” Taeyeon said in a hushed tone and tiptoed her way into the door. “I’m going to look for her.”

Fany squinted her eyes towards the bed and noticed only two bodies were snuggled deep in the covers, “I’m going with you.”

“No, I know where I can find her. Go to sleep.”

“Hmmm…” Fany scratched her head sleepily, “Okay, just send me a message when you find her.”

“Will do.”

Taeyeon jogged to the playground and her hunch was right. Seohyun was on the wooden swing chair quietly looking up in the night sky were stars scattered everywhere. She sat beside her sister, “Hey, sport.”

“Unnie,” Seohyun smiled, “I’m sorry… if I made you worry… again.”

“That’s okay…” Taeyeon ruffled her hair, “Do you want to talk?”

Seohyun looked at her Unnie. Taeyeon may be very strict and would totally guard her from the world but she was a gentle soul. She knew that her pain would surely hurt her sister as well. The thought left her lips to quiver and she ended up crying again.

“Awww, come’re, you,” Taeyeon pulled her sister in her arms and soothed her hair as she cried on her chest, “Everything’s going to be okay, old sport... I’ll make sure of that…”

“He doesn’t like me that way, Unnie, and it hurts…”

“So he’s the greatest fool of all for not liking the most beautiful, the kindest and the nicest girl in the world.”

“No… no… aniyo, I’m not that…”

“You are that and everything else, my sweetest precious baby sister,” Taeyeon bit her bottom lip to stop herself from crying, “And he’s stupid not to realize that. One of these days, when he comes to realize you are everything he threw away, it would be too late, right?”

Seohyun didn’t answer that but she sobbed gently in her sister’s arms. Taeyeon felt responsible. If only she realized it would happen that way then she could have stopped it. But, she encouraged her sister and now Seohyun was breaking and she couldn’t do anything to stop her from hurting. Taeyeon clenched her fist in anger, she wanted so much to scream and cry but all she could do was to breathe deeply and be calm for her sister.

When she felt Seohyun was getting heavier in her arms, she fished for her phone and composed a message for Tiffany that was probably awake and waiting for them.

 ‘She’s with me now. Be home in a jiffy.’

Fany’s reply came in fast, ‘Glad to hear, will wait till you get here. ~mywifey’

~~~

The next morning, they got up late and were still lazying on the bed when Sica opened the door with her other hand on her phone, “Okay, daddy! Thank you, I love you!” She cracked a beautiful smile at her expectant friends, “Attention children, I just got off the phone with daddy. We’ll be flying to Jeju in an hour for the weekend. Parents will be informed and no need to take anything because we can all go shopping there!”

A happy commotion followed the announcement so Jessica continued, “All we need is a hearty brunch!”

Fany pushed her in and peeped, “That’s been settled by ajumeonim, so why don’t we all go down and start the party!”

As everybody scampered out of the bedroom, Jessica remained standing on the side until they were gone. A welcoming smile met her eyes so she sat on the bed beside their youngest friend, “Heyyy, love…”

“Unnie…” Seohyun wrapped her arms on Jessica’s waist. “Thank you. I know why you’re doing this.”

“You’re welcome, sweetie. Let’s have fun, okay?”

She nodded, “Yes, I love you…”

“And I love you…” she giggled touching the tip of Seohyun’s nose.

~~~

“You have to leave.”

“What? You’re throwing me out?”

“I am so not throwing you out. I’m telling you what you should do.”

“Isn’t it the same as throwing out?”

“Look, because of you Taeyeon won’t talk to me. She has been ing like she never ed before.” Jessica massaged her temple and mumbled almost to herself, “God, I can’t believe that woman can better than I can.”

“You have nothing to do with this! Why don’t you tell her that?”

“Believe me I told her every conceivable thing there is to tell. Thank goodness Fany is there to keep her off from clawing on me.” Jessica walked towards the aircon then fanned herself with her hands, “Taeyeon has been protecting her sister all her life—we have been protecting her for whatever in hell the reason is. You must understand, you hurt Seohyun and the girls, especially Taeyeon, won’t sit around on this one. You are my cousin and Taeyeon hated me for that fact. Go back to Busan, stay there for awhile. I know your life is here now but this won’t last forever. Please.”

It was the first time Jessica said that word. ‘Please’. Jessica Jung, heiress to the Jung Empire, never begged to anybody— except this time. But he was stood firmly defying her words. “I am not leaving.”

“Sheez! Do you really have to be stubborn right now?”

“I will fix this.”

“If you don’t leave, I’ll fix you myself.”

“What are you going to do? Tell ‘daddy’ about it?”

“You… just don’t have any idea what I can do, Yonghwa. Jessica Jung gets what Jessica Jung wants. Watch your back.”

Yonghwa slammed the door shut and walked out of the house. It has been days and he tried so hard to talk to Seohyun but she has been guarded closely by the girls. He felt like himself thinking that Seohyun was hurting and that was all because of him.

“Oppa… I like you…”

Her words were nothing but perplexity. They caused nothing but confusion. Among everything else, he started asking why he didn't sense it right away.

Seohyun likes her. He smiled silly but ran a hand through his hair.

What good does it bring now that he cannot even see her?

~~~

After a few days, Jessica was surprised to find her baby sister in her room crying, “Krys? What’s wrong, love? Why are you crying?”

“Daddy said Yonghwa Oppa went back to Busan and he’s never coming back…” Krystal sniffed loudly.

She stopped. So, her plan worked. But… why did it feel—

“Oh my god…”

“Unnie? Where are you going?!”

“Stay here, I’m bringing him back…”

Jessica ran off to find her father. She found him in his home office busily signing some documents so she knocked gently. “Hi, daddy…”

“Hi, sweetheart…” Mr. Jung smiled but continued scrolling on the papers, “Come in… what is it?”

“Uhm… it’s about Yonghwa…” her heart drummed in her chest when her father finally dropped his pen and took off his reading glasses.

“Sooyeona…”

“Daddy, what happened to Yonghwa?”

“He’s back in Busan…”

Jessica studied her father closely, she knew he was lying, “Daddy, where’s Yonghwa?”

Finally, Mr. Jung stood and walked over to her, “Look, it doesn’t concern you.” He put a hand on her daughter’s shoulder.

“Daddy, tell me where he is, please! Because wherever he is right now is because of me…”

“What?!”

“I-“ she bit her tongue in an attempt to stop herself from crying but tears eventually found their way out.

“Jung Sooyeon, what are you talking about?!”

“Where did you send Yonghwa?”

“In… in a substance abuse rehabilita—“

“Oh god…” Jessica shut her eyes tight, “Get him out…”

“What?!”

“I said get him out! I was the one who put that—that something in his bag and I was the one who sent you that anonymous note!”

“What?! Oh my god, Sooyeon, what have you done?” He stared at his daughter, disbelief written all over his face. He was reminded of how Yonghwa looked the night before when he called him in his office and sprawled the contents of his bag and found a package of weed. Yonghwa denied everything and cried but he didn’t listen. Looking at his daughter, he couldn’t believe his sweet Sooyeon could do something so appalling like that. However, she was his daughter so there was nothing more for him to do but protect her and fix the problem she caused.

“I’m sorry, daddy,” She couldn’t stop herself from crying out loud, “I’m so sorry, daddy! I will never do that again, I promise! Please, get him out of there! He didn’t do anything wrong, I’m so sorry…”

“Oh, darling, why did you do that?”

“B-because—“

“Aigoo, I knew it. Do you think just because you’re a girl, I would make Yonghwa my heir?”

Jessica blinked twice because it didnt even cross her mind but that would be a great excuse so she just nodded.

“Okay… okay… I will call at once and correct this mistake but I have to send Yonghwa back to Busan, okay? The poor boy…”

“Did you tell anybody about this?”

“No, I was planning to keep it a secret until he finished a program but it won’t be necessary now.”

“I’m really sorry, daddy…”

“That’s okay, darling and I’m glad you told me and by the looks of it you regretted what you did. That's enough relief for me.”

“I am, daddy, and I know I would regret this for a very very long time… it could have ruined him…”

“Don’t worry and stop crying now, he is still undergoing drug tests and since he didn’t use, it would all turn negative… no harm done, baby…”

“Thank you… don’t tell mommy I did this… please.”

“I won’t… go now and comfort your little sister. She’s crying her eyes out too.”

..................................................................

there you go... tied some loose ends

the end is near but don't be fret ㅋㅋ coz i kinda extended this ^^

thanks for the beautiful comments (kyyaaahhhh~) and upvotes!

will be back some time this week~