Chapter 29

Min Hee

...ring ring...
 

"The number you have dialled is unavailable."


Tap tap tap.


...ring ring...


"The number you have dialled is unavailable."


Minhee lets out a desolate sigh for the nth time that night. "How could he do this to me? What does he take me for?" Minhee grumbled at the screen of her smart phone and redialled Jung Kook's number but the line was never connected.

After their disastrous "date" two nights ago, Minhee decided that it wasn't the ending she wanted. She had learnt that Jung Kook had long forgotten the feelings he once had for Minhee but she refused to face the truth.

Why?

Jeon Jung Kook had rejected the hearts of many girls - be it cute or pretty - because of Minhee. That same Jung Kook who never looked at other girls other than Minhee. Jung Kook's undying feelings for Minhee was the reason behind the tears of so many girls. That Jung Kook who would follow Minhee to club activities just to get her to notice him-

How could he could he be the same Jung Kook as the one who had daringly dumped Kim Min Hee the other night? What was those feelings then? Wasn't he suppose to pursue her if he loved Minhee? Was it not love then?

"I should've hold on to whatever feelings he once had towards me." Minhee sighed in resignation.


----


Jung Kook gave Soyeon a look of adoration as he took in her reactions to their kiss. Jung Kook couldn't tell if she liked it or hated it. She had her eyes rounded in shock and her slender fingers cupped in a cute manner.

"Ehhh?" Soyeon lets out a faint squeal. "Ehhh? EEEHHHHH?!!"

Was it too much? Did she hate it? But she kissed him back!

Soyeon giggled and Jung Kook can't help but to giggle back, feeling the tingles in his tummy. "Oh god you're unbelievable." Jung Kook breathed out before he bend down to capture her lips once again.

The world had stopped spinning and time was still. There, that magical feeling again! It's so beautiful and perfect in every way possible.







It was more passionate than the first kiss they shared earlier, with neither of them holding back as the shyness dissipated. It went on for a while with neither of them wanting to let go first. Jung Kook cradled Soyeon in his arms, afraid of breaking her as she held on to him for dear life as they knocked the breath out of each other.

Soyeon pulled out first to catch her breath, her eyes lighting up the dark night. "Do we, like each other?" She finally asked the question with a smile so bright that it would put the moon to shame.

Jung Kook laughed at her question. " I guess so." He brushed the hair covering Soyeon's face as he looked into her eyes. "Have you been liking me?"

Soyeon pulled her gaze away from his and gave a curt nod.

"Well, I don't like you." Jung Kook answered with a smirk on his face. That finally got Soyeon to turn to look at him. A slight disappointment painted her face as she furrowed he brows at him. "I don't like you." Jung Kook repeated.

"Then, why did you-"

Jung Kook cut her words with a peck on her lips. "I don't like you." He pecked her lips again.


"Because."

Peck.

"I."

Peck.

"Love."

Peck.

" You."


After each peck on her lips, the smile on Soyeon's face grew wider. She could no longer think straight. Her head is buzzing with dizziness, it was too much for her to take in. She was too content, that's for sure. But--

"How did you know it's love and not just your mind playing tricks on you?" She can't help but to ask. Everything just went so fast and Soyeon herself wasn't sure in which category her feelings for Jung Kook is. She had never been in love before, how is she supposed to know? Soyoen can't help but to feel cautious.

"Through experience." Jung Kook answered as he cupped Soyeon's face in his hands. He could see the apprehension in her eyes and couldn't blame her for that. He had asked himself the question before too.

Jung Kook gently pulled Soyeon by her waist towards a boulder behind them and sat her down gingerly as he took a seat beside her. Soyeon nudged her elbow on his sides, looking up at him with clattering teeth, shivering.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Jung Kook chuckled as he took off the blazer he was wearing and wrapped it around Soyeon's shoulders, finally realizing that she was cold. Jung Kook shifted closer to Soyeon, with no other intention than to warm her up, causing the blush on her cheeks to rise.

"Do you want to know how I was so sure about my feelings?" Jung Kook asked rhetorically. "I didn't."



"A year ago, I fell in love with a noona that caught my eyes at first sight. She was more than pretty, yet not quite beautiful. A kind-hearted, passionate noona that never failed to impress me. Although she did not even spare me a little glance in return, that's what attracted me to her. And so, I rejected others and gave all my to her."


Soyeon nodded as she listened on. "So that's why you told off the girls that asked you to be their boyfriend." She recalled the scene from where she had accidentally listened in to Jung Kook's cruel rejection towards a girl which eventually made the girl cried hence the first impression she had of Jung Kook.


Jung Kook gave her a sheepish smile in return. "Well, I waited for her. But then I got busy and it somehow distracted my mind off of her. Before long, I had forgotten all about her. That's when I knew it. I love noona of course, but not in the romantic way. The love I had for her was of respect and admiration. Something I could not fully fathom."


"And then I was told to marry you. I wasn't happy at first, to be honest. It was ridiculous. But I couldn't care less now." He smiled at the memory. "Because I got to know you."


"You reminded me of noona in one way or another and I'm not sorry to say that's what caught my attention at first. But then I began to notice that you're much more than what noona was to me. You have this vibe that pulled me into this beautiful yet painful world. I love all the roller coaster of feelings you made me feel at the same time I hated it because I became weak in your time of sadness and worries - it's painful to me."


"We're not supposed to feel anything for each other, I had promised you that before I marry you. So I told myself to get rid of this...this attraction I had for you. But when I see you with other guys, I couldn't help the monster in me from coming out. I hated it." Jung Kook tilts his head as he looked at Soyeon and Soyeon could see the worry in his eyes.

"I asked Jin hyung about this. Because it freaks me out how this feelings is much powerful than the one I had with noona. And Jin hyung gave me a simple solution." Jung Kook paused for effect.

Soyeon chewed on her bottom lips in curiosity. "What?"

"Imagine that my loved ones had died." Jung Kook answered with an amused chuckle. "I imagined umma and appa being dead and it felt horribly painful. I told him that I would be sad. He then asked me to imagine the members dead. I felt sad too. I imagined noona dead too, and I felt that same sadness." Jung Kook tore his gaze away from Soyeon and absentmindedly watch his feet playing with sand. "I imagined you dead and I couldn't breath."


"I didn't realize that you meant the world to me. I couldn't imagine what would happen to the world without you.  A part of me died imagining a world without your smile."


The silence that followed was deafening. 


"That's how you knew," Soyeon said, her eyes b with tears. "


And that's how Soyeon knew it too. She loves Jung Kook romantically. 



Because she too felt the pain when she imagined living in a world without Jung Kook.




Jung Kook stood up and kneeled on one knee before Soyeon. He took hold of Soyeon's hands in his and gave it butterfly kisses, sending tingles down Soyeon's spine. 


"I like you." Jung Kook spoke, causing Soyeon's heart to skipped a beat. "I've liked you for a long time and from now on, I definitely won't like anyone else."

"Will you be mine?"




---


The moment Xiumin stepped into class that morning, he could already feel the heavy mood of the students. "Monday blues," he yawned as he plopped on his seat. Everyone either had their heads on the table or caught in a dull conversation with their friends. Even the happy virus couldn't spread the happiness that morning.

"Yeol, you seemed weird this morning." Xiumin asked the said boy as he took out a bun to munch on.

Chenyeol's ears perked up and he raised his head from the table. "The morning seemed so dull and quite and it dampens my mood." Chanyeol answered and his mouth pouted in a cute manner. "Soyeon's not here."

"Where is she?" Luhan asked from the seat behind Xiumin. "She never missed a day of school before."

Chanyeol raised his broad shoulders in a shrug indicating that he didn't know anything. "Do you know anything Kai?" Chanyeol asked Jong In who had been staring off into spaces over Soyeon's empty seat.

Jong In lets out a nervous chuckle. "Hmm, no. Not really."


Bzzt Bzzt.


From: Lee Soyeon
Can you help me to collect any notes given by teachers? I'll meet you after school today! ^^



From: Kim Jong In
Where are you? Are you back in Seoul? 



From: Lee Soyeon
Nope. I'll be there in a few hours. Thank you in advance Jong In! Love ya  :)



Sigh. Jong In stared at the last text message sent in by Soyeon. She's still the same Soyeon he knew - a ball of sunshine and rainbows. But why does he feel as if she's not exactly the same Lee Soyeon anymore? 

"GUYS!" Lay called out as soon as he stepped into the classroom. Heads turned to the front of the classroom at Lay's lack of sense to disrupt the quite morning. Lay bowed in apology at his classmates before running off to the rows of table occupied by the Exo gang, knocking several tables on his way.

"Look at this. I found this on a foreigner's photography page." He shoved his phone at the bewildered looking boys as they all huddled together to view Lay's smart phone. "Do you recognize these people?" Lay asked as he scrolled the pictures on his phone.

Jong In could feel the blood drained from his face. There, on the page of a photography website are pictures of a beautiful pair of a couple on a date. The girl and boy had a bright smile on their face as they walked down a beautiful valley lined with street shops.

There were also pictures of the couple laughing at trinkets at one of the street shops, having the time of their life. It was a beautiful picture that describes a thousand words indeed. Any human being with a heart who laid eyes upon this picture would have to agree that the photographer had captured one of the beautiful moments of a lovely couple.

But Jong In couldn't feel the same way. Because-


"That's," Xiumin began.



"Soyeon," Luhan continued.



"And Jung Kook." Chanyeol finished everyone's sentences.