EPILOGUE

“Ryung-cha!”

I turned and smiled, “Baek-hyun, you’re late.” I held out my hand and Baek-hyun tightly gripped onto it, and swung my arm back and forth, “Are you nervous? How are you going to tell the big news?” I scoffed, “It isn’t big news Baek-hyun.”

Baek-hyun scoffed and raised an eyebrow with a smirk, “You call being engaged to me not big news? I thought women obsessed about marriages around this age.” I tapped his nose and stuck out my tongue, “Then you’ve been reading the wrong women magazines. Anyway, we are late and everyone is waiting for us. Soo-young is becoming impatient!”

We walked through the doors of an exclusive restaurant and were led by a waitress who slowly walked to our destination. I marveled at the fine decorations and the expensive artworks hanging on the white marble walls. We walked through a door and everyone cheered as they saw both of us walk in.

I skimmed the crowd and my body stiffened as I saw Jong-in’s eyes lock with mine. Our gazes were disrupted by Soo-young who hugged me and turned me away from his sight.

“Ryung-cha, I can’t believe you’re here! I remember right before graduation, you swore to never show up at a reunion of our friends, but here you are! Ugh, I’m so happy Baek-hyun had pulled you into this. You are so lucky to have a fiancé at this time.” Soo-young cooed and pulled from the hug.

I smiled at her and faced Baek-hyun, “You can’t say that too loud, yet. We haven’t told everyone.”

Soo-young giggled and covered her rouge lips with her hands and led me over to Jong-in separating me from my fiancé.

I uncomfortably faced Jong-in and grinned, “It’s nice to see you. It’s been six years since we’ve last seen each other, right?” He nodded. I stared at his eyes, and bit my lower lip. He hadn’t changed at all, and my heart began to flutter at the sight of him.

“Have you been seeing anyone lately?” He awkwardly asked and cleared his throat. I opened my mouth, but Baek-hyun grabbed the crowd’s attention as he loudly clapped his hands and whooped.

“I’d like to make an announcement, and I would like for Ryung-cha to join me up here.” He held out his hand to me and I hesitantly stood up and gently gripped onto his hand for support. My legs shook in nervousness and I faced the crowd and looked at Jong-in.

“Ryung-cha and I have been seeing each other for a few years, and I proposed to her a few weeks ago and she accepted! We’re engaged, and our wedding invitations will be sent out soon! I hope to see you all there!” Baek-hyun cheered. I averted my gaze from Jong-in to Baek-hyun and smiled.

I felt guilty for not telling Jong-in that I was engaged, but when I looked at Baek-hyun, my guilt was washed away. I heaved a sigh and looked down at my feet and felt Baek-hyun part from me. In front of my feet, I saw a pair of black shoes appear before me and I looked up and saw Jong-in.

At that moment, I felt like I saw him when we were still in high school with our uniforms on and adoringly staring into each other’s eyes. I blinked and saw Jong-in’s dark eyes deeply boring into mine, “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

I looked back down at my feet and glanced up at his face, and I gingerly grabbed his hand and led him outside of the room. Jong-in held onto my wrist as I loosened my grip and I gulped, “I couldn’t tell you because... I didn’t want you to feel hurt.”

“I am hurt. Look at me now. If you told me sooner, I wouldn’t have been in so much pain. I would have been happy for you if you told me that night he proposed.”

I daringly stared into his eyes, “Jong-in, this isn’t high school, and I’m getting married. I can’t just break off the engagement because of you—”

“Yes you can, Ryung-cha. If you still loved me you would, and I think you still do love me as much as I still love you.” Jong-in argued. I choked back the tears and glared at him, “Jong-in, I don’t love you anymore. You need to forget the past, and get over me. I was your first love and you were mine, but there are people who are meant to be and Baek-hyun and I were meant to be. Not you and me.”

Jong-in slammed the wall beside my head angrily and bit his lower lip, “But I still love you.”

I gently pushed him away from me and walked back into the room. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I already knew that I broke his heart—and mine. Baek-hyun grasped for my hand as I entered the room, and he smiled at me, “Are you okay?” he asked me. I nodded vigorously trying to hide that I wasn’t okay, and that I was weak. I couldn’t hold myself up anymore like how I used to in high school.

“I’m not going to stop you, but I still want you to know that I still love you. I never stopped, and I probably never will.” Jong-in mumbled as he sat beside me. We sat in the park on a bench listening to the leaves rustling with the light wind. I watched as the multi-colored leaves danced in with the wind twirling and floating to and fro.

“I can’t just end the wedding, Jong-in. Baek-hyun loves me, and I can’t leave his side like this.” I replied keeping my eyes on my hands. I couldn’t make myself look at him any longer because I knew I would start to cry if I did.

“But do you love him back?”

I looked back up at him and my lower lip trembled and Jong-in wrapped his arms around me. He knew that I was going to cry. I began to sob quietly and I grasped onto his jacket, “Why did you have to come? I could have been living happily with Baek-hyun if it wasn’t for you. You are such a life ruiner, Jong-in.”

Jong-in chuckled, “If it wasn’t for me, you would be married to a man who you don’t even love. It’s by fate that we are together.” I chortled at his comment, and wiped my tears with the back of my sleeves, “Shut up. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be kissing you right now.”

“Come and kiss me because I’m free,” Jong-in laughed and pressed his lips onto mine. I kissed him back passionately feeling the fall breeze lift up my heavy heart, and I giggled as we kissed. I started to laugh and I parted the kiss, “Why do you love me?”

“Simple. You are desirable.”

AUTHOR'S note:

The End. Honestly, this was a really short chaptered story although the first chapter could have been broken up into two-three chapters. I hope you all enjoyed it, and please subscribe and tell your friends! If there's enough people who liked this fanfic, I'm willing to write another perspective of this story... 

Thank you again~! 

--thebaozi/eggers_baekhee