Avoiding Hyosung became harder as the days went past. She placed herself on the team whenever the project was being headed by him, and she always found an excuse to go to his office. She didn’t bring up that night but he always waited for something less than professional to come up.

            He tried to keep his distance, more for the sake of his heart, and less for that of Jinli’s. It was selfish but it was also difficult when he couldn’t bring himself to love her. She just simply didn’t matter to him. After she turned him down, Daehyun shut himself from her, and now they barely spoke.

            “I have a meeting tonight,” he told her and she nodded.

            “Won’t be home?”

            “No. The maid will make dinner.”

            “Okay.”

            And then that was it. They had given up putting on a show for the maids. It was now universal gossip that the two of them slept in different rooms and sooner or later, his parents would hear about it. Daehyun didn’t care. He wasn’t the one who had chosen the route. He had more pressing matters on his mind.

            There was a knock on his door and he called out, “Come in.” His eyes glanced at the time. It was only ten. There was only one person who he knew would come this early and his heart tensed.

            Sure enough, Hyosung stepped in demurely. She smiled when she saw him sitting there. “Hey Daehyun. I know you’ve always liked the wraps that I made so I brought some in.” Hyosung placed the plastic container on his desk and smiled shyly.

            Daehyun stared at the food. The door suddenly opened again and he jerked his head up. It was Youngjae and the moment he saw the two of them together, his face tightened. He strode over and gave Hyosung a sneering look.

            “Wow, breakfast! I didn’t know chef was a part of your job description.” Hyosung grit her teeth as Youngjae unabashedly reached in and took out a wrap. He examined it before lifting it up. “If I may help myself.”

            He popped it into his mouth. He chewed before making a face. Daehyun watched him spit something out into the palm of his hand. His eyes flashed as he crumpled what looked like a piece of paper. “I think you left the packaging in there. Not trying to secretly kill off our manager, are you?” He placed a stack of files on Daehyun’s desk rather forcefully and left, still clenching his fist.

            Daehyun stared at the door and then at Hyosung, who was looking away. He cleared his throat and pushed the container back towards Hyosung. “Thank you, I already ate.”

            She clenched her jaw. “Keep it for lunch.”

            “What do you want from me?” It had taken him days to work up the courage to ask. He was almost scared of the answer.

            “You, it’s as simple as that.”

            “You left me,” he responded fiercely, not looking at her. Instead, the scuff mark on his carpet was now very interesting. “You left me without a word. You left me and made decisions on your own without even telling me. How do you expect me to feel?”

            “I thought I was helping you.”

            “By what? Breaking my heart and leaving me to marry her?”

            “I didn’t know that was going to happen. I’m sorry, Daehyun.”

            “Sorry won’t cut it. Sorry doesn’t reverse two years, Hyosung.” It was the first time he’s used her name and now he finally met her eyes. She was crying. If there was one thing he hated, it was seeing her cry. It had always made him immediately apologetic and this time was no different.

            He bit his lip. “I didn’t- the words just came out, I-”

            “Better have meant everything you said.” Himchan walked in and threw the two of them a disgusted look. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you, Ms. Jeon. I should have known to check here first. Please kindly compose yourself. We have a meeting with your sector’s boss and I doubt he would like to see you behaving so unprofessionally. Manager Jung,” and he turned towards Daehyun with just as much contempt in his voice. “I expected better of you.” The rebuke in his voice was obvious and Daehyun gripped his pen even tighter.

            Hyosung threw him another look and left. When the door was once again firmly closed, he reached for a wrap, curious to see what it was that Youngjae had seen. He bit into one carefully and saw a piece of paper. He took it out from between his teeth and stared at it.

I love you. I’m sorry.

            In a hurry, he unwrapped the rest of them and saw that each one had the same thing. His heart squeezed painfully again and he sat back in his chair, his work completely forgotten.

***

            “Surprise!”

            Jinli looked up from her multiple sketches and swatches of fabric choices to see Taewoon smiling before her. “Hey. Nice of you to come to Busan.”

            “Yeah. Good of you to leave Seoul and not tell me about it.”

            “Oh I’m sorry. It sort of came out of the blue. I was sort of snatched back against my will.”

            He propped against her door and observed her. “You have a good eye for these things. No wonder all the customers demand that you do their houses.”

            She laughed modestly. “It’s really just because I know when to coordinate and when to clash. I guess I can read people and their styles easily.”

             Taewoon smiled. “It’s still a talent.”

            She felt more self-conscious as she continued to work. “Is there a reason why you’re here?”

            He paused. “I wanted to give you something.” Jinli felt herself on edge. Even though her relationship with Daehyun was nonexistent, she still felt hesitant to lead him on in any way. Taewoon sensed her hesitation and gave a shyer smile. “Oh come on. That ring on your finger is a large enough keep away sign. This is just a friendship thing.”

            “Alright,” she said grudgingly. “It better be good. This project you’re interrupting is for the mayor’s cousin.”

            “Like I said, all the hot shots want you,” he smiled. He took out a small box from behind him and placed it on her desk. “Open it.”

            She did cautiously and saw a bracelet. “Taewoon!” He didn’t say anything and she looked at the bracelet more carefully. It had an infinity symbol and two happy smiles next to it.

            “See? It’s a friends thing.” He took it from her and put it on for her. “It fits perfectly too.”

            Jinli shook her sleeve over the bracelet, not willing to look at him as his face fell. “Thank you,” she said simply.

            He shrugged. “I thought of you and got it. No biggie. I’ll see you around. I should be coming here to do a training session with Hana, so you’ll see me.”

            She smiled graciously. “Let’s get coffee sometime.” And she felt relief to see that he resumed his good spirits.

            The bracelet felt heavy on her wrist and she felt almost guilty. She didn’t want to think of how she would explain to Daehyun. But then she realized that she didn’t care. She didn’t know how he interacted with Hyosung, but she wasn’t going to allow him to come between a good friendship. As long as she maintains it that way, she was fine.

I sort of know where this story is headed.

I don't quite know if I can realistically make what I want to happen happen, so you may have to put up with a little far-fetched bits of fiction I suppose