Sehun had agreed to send Jongin home but with a condition that he didn’t even voice out, only telling the latter that he will know eventually, but when the former drove them to a familiar neighbourhood, Jongin finally realized what Sehun wanted him to do. “Oh Sehun, is it what I think it is?” he asked in wary, something like a bad feeling creeping up to him as he turned to look at the guy beside him, slow and cautious. “Tell me that I’m wrong,” he asked, but instead of answers, he received a smile in return, wide and meaningful. “Oh Sehun!” he exclaimed.

Sehun let out a laugh then, loud and cheerful. “I don’t know what you’re thinking right now,” he started, both corners of his lips quirking up into a full smile, already finding amusement in the other’s despair. “But to enlighten you, I’m bringing you to Soojung’s house,” he finished with a triumphant face-splitting grin sketching around his face.

At the mention of Soojung’s house, Jongin’s jaw dropped, hanging loose for a moment before the guy could finally found his voice. “Why?” he asked, words coming out in the form of long high-pitched cry.

“What do you mean why?” Sehun asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly, looking at the other guy as if the other had asked him an answered question. “I’m doing you a favour, obviously,” he answered with a roll of his eyes.

“Favour?” Jongin asked, clueless expression on his face. ”What favour?”

“Uh did you forget?”  Sehun asked back in a bored tone. “I gave you a chance six years ago but you blew it off so this is the right time to confess,” he finished with a shrug of his shoulder, voice nonchalant.

Jongin’s eyes grew in size then, lips parting in disbelief as a word slipped out of his mouth, “What?”

Sehun then jested, “Or perhaps you’re already giving up on her? I can still take her away—“ Upon hearing Sehun’s words, the expression on Jongin’s face twisted into that of horror, which made Sehun stopped talking in mid-sentence as laughter of amusement escaped his lips. “That’s more like it.”

“What if she’s mad at me when I told her?” Jongin asked uneasily, bundle of nerves growing inside his stomach at the thought of her being furious at him.

“Not my problem,” Sehun shrugged nonchalantly. “That’s for you to deal with. My job is only to drop you off,” he simply stated, not looking at Jongin as he spoke as he had his eyes fixed on the road ahead of him.

Jongin’s eyes widened in disbelief yet again, very much not liking the idea of being left alone while he had to confront the lady. “You’re going to leave me there alone?” he cried out.

Jongin’s loud voice had Sehun furrowing his eyebrows and crinkling his nose before he replied, “Unlike you, Mister CEO, I’m a busy man,” he reminded, face passive. “I’d rather not have my head chop off by my dad than deal with your drama.”

“But—“

“No buts!” Sehun quickly cut him off before Jongin could voice out his excuse. That was the last thing Sehun wanted to hear as of the moment. “You make a mistake, you fix it, yourself,” he pronounced the last word slowly. Just as Jongin was about to speak, Sehun interrupted him once again as he maneuvered to an intersection and coming to a stop in front of a very familiar gate. “We’re here,” he announced joyfully, too cheerful for Jongin’s liking.

“Can we just do this another day?” Jongin asked in a pleading voice, puppy eyes staring straight into Sehun’s eyes. His effort however was deemed futile as Sehun went out of his car, walking around to the other side and opening the door to the passenger seat since Jongin couldn’t do so.

“No can’t do, brother,” Sehun shook his head at the other guy. “Well, it’s time,” he said, motioning for Jongin to come out of the car. With a face painted with a scowl, lips curling down into a frown, Jongin begrudgingly went out. “I’ll send your stuff to your house later,” Sehun told him as he pushed the door close.

“What should I say to her?” Jongin asked, desperately wanting to flee from the place but he couldn’t do so, not when his only means of transportation was Sehun’s car. He couldn’t possibly find a taxi at that area of town.

“What are you? A teenage girl?” Sehun asked in slight irritation, puffing out his cheeks for a moment before he continued, “I don’t know, man. Figure it yourself,” he dismissed with a wave of hand. Sehun then walked around to the driver side of the car and opening the door, he hopped in. Taking out his phone, Sehun’s finger hovered over the message icon. He tapped on the icon and typed on a message to someone. Jongin’s face then appeared through the glass just as he tapped on the send icon, silently beckoning for him to pull down the window. Putting down his phone, Sehun pulled down the window on the passenger side then.

“Can I say something, Oh Sehun?” Jongin asked, his eyes gleamed but it went unnoticed by the said person.

“Shoot,” Sehun said distractedly as he busied himself with putting on his safety belt.

“You’re an ,” Jongin grumbled out loud, bottom lip protruding into a childish pout.

Sehun rolled his eyes in return. “You’re welcome, Kim Jongin,” he mockingly said before his hand shot up to make a salute gesture. “Good luck, Kim Jongin!” he saluted the said guy before he drove away, car speeding away, turning smaller and smaller in Jongin’s voice before it resembled a speck of dust and disappeared altogether.

***

A breezy afternoon and Soojung had just gone home to fetch some things that she thought would help Jongin into remembering her a little more. She still wasn’t aware that Jongin had just been discharged from the hospital, not having any idea at all, not when Sehun purposely hide that fact from her. An idea of a shower had invaded her mind upon entering her house, thus, settling herself inside the shower stall, water sprinkling down her delicate skin as she relaxed her tired limbs. It was when she got out of the bathroom that her phone dinged and a message notification popped up. It was a text from Sehun, telling her that he had left her a present, a huge one, he emphasized with capital letters, in front of the gate to her house. One of her eyebrows rose questioningly but she didn’t reply the text back. Instead, Soojung opened her closet and put her clothes on before she strode outside. Her phone dinged again, however, as she received another message just as she opened the front door of her house. Thank me later, it read; a little smiley face just at the end of the sentence that meant much more than it appeared to be, if only she would know.

Contrary to what Sehun had claimed there was to be, there was no present at all, however, when Soojung pulled open the gate, sticking her head out to look further before she walked out completely in case she had missed it, looking right then left, in every direction possible, but there was none.

“Weird,” she mumbled to herself, finding it strange that Sehun would bother sending her text of such words but not actually giving her one. Shrugging her shoulder and taking a note in her head to ask Sehun later, Soojung was about to close the gate but a shadow loomed over out of nowhere, casting the cemented ground, the shade getting smaller and smaller before it dissipate and a person appeared before her.

Soojung looked up and her expression had turned into that of a surprise when Jongin came into view, on top of that, he was on his two feet, though still in casts but he was there, standing in front of her in one piece. “Jongin?” she blurted out in her state of surprise, eyes widening in pure disbelief. It was as real as a dream, she might say. Soojung never imagined seeing him standing in front of her house right at the very moment, not very soon, not when he had claimed to lose his memory few days ago, not when he didn’t want to get close to her, always keeping a safe distance between them.

“Soojung,” Jongin uttered, voice coming out as low as a whisper that Soojung almost didn’t hear him. He didn’t look at Soojung as he spoke, eyes downcast as he bit his bottom lip, seemingly nervous to even chance a glance at the lady. He visibly fidgeted on his spot as he waited for the lady to speak.

“What are you doing here?” Soojung asked, a little dazed to even think straight. Then suddenly something clicked on her mind. “Wait—“ she paused for a moment and that was when she remembered Sehun’s message, of thanking him later. That huge present that Sehun had left in front of her house turned out to be a present in the form of Kim Jongin, she realized a second too late. “You remember me now? Is your memories back? Do you remember me, Kim Jongin?” she asked, words escaping like bullets, slipping out one after another in the speed of light, piercing right through Jongin’s chest straight to his heart, guilts building up and bursting inside of him at once.

“Actually…” Jongin started, trailing off as a hand shot up to scratch his nape nervously. He didn’t think this day would come so fast because he wasn’t ready to confront her, not near ready to confess the truth, his feeling, everything. Jongin took a deep breath before he spoke up, eyes not quite meeting the lady just yet. “I never forget you,” he told her, stuttering a little out of nervousness.

“What?”

“I never lose my memory…” Jongin explained again, voice sounding like he was hesitant, with his words, with himself. A part of him was hoping that she heard his words clearly but at the same time he wished she wasn’t, because she would hate him then, loathes him even and Jongin certainly wasn’t ready for that.

“What—“
 

“I lied to you, Soojung,” Jongin inevitably confessed, voice still came out in a whisper, still feeling scared, still feeling the pit of his stomach being twisted uncontrollably since the moment he came. “It was all an act. I never lose my memory but I pretended to—“ he couldn’t finished his words as Soojung stopped him in an instant, realization finally dawned on her and she felt as if a bucket of very cold water was being thrown to her right from the above.

“What the hell, Kim Jongin?” She cried out, voice went an octave higher without her realizing because that was how she felt, anger. She felt angry that Jongin had lied to her, on such thing to top it off. She had been very concerned about his condition, had been feeling miserable, sad, guilty all at once in the past few days, but over an act. “What the hell were you thinking? Why did you lie to me?” she asked hotly, desperate for an answer, a rational reason or even an excuse to come out of Jongin’s mouth, but her voice came out croak as a whimper threatened to escape her parted lips.

“Because I thought you and Sehun were together!” Jongin countered instantly, voice came out a little defensive, and he hated how it sounded stupid even to his own ears. He was embarrassed if he had to admit, for having to say it out loud, for even having such idea in his mind. He was ashamed of himself to say the least.

Soojung furrowed her eyebrows at his words, feeling confused and bewildered. “What makes you think we were together?” she asked curiously, but her eyes were still gleaming with rage. Nothing had happened between her and Sehun that would give away the idea of them being together, as far as she knew. She had rejected him, though Jongin wouldn’t know that, but could he be?

“Because I thought you still love him!” Jongin reasoned out. “And when I told you he’s back, you had cried and my mind just did it work. At that time I thought that now that he’s back, you’ll finally be reunited and there’s a possibility that you’ll accept his love. It didn’t help that the day we were supposed to lunch out, I went to your house and saw you and Sehun talked in front of your house, and he—“ Jongin heaved a breath before he continued, “I saw he held your hand so of course I was jealous and hurt. I was always there for you, through all these years, and just at the thought of you two being happily together made my head a mess.” He cleared his throat before he continued on, ”I had already accepted that you weren’t in love with me, that you only see me as a friend, and that I will never get the chance, but, I don’t know. Maybe a part of me still wished you would so I had acted before I could think everything through. It wasn’t my intention, Soojung. Really, it wasn’t,” he sighed, a little relief that everything was finally out in the open, and it was as if a weight had finally been lifted off of his shoulders, but then a huge part of him was still afraid of what might come next.

“Did you even think of my feeling, Jongin? Were you even feeling guilty at making me felt miserable?” Jongin was a second away to answer but Soojung continued on without stopping. “I was devastated,” she told him honestly, emphasizing every word and that had Jongin feeling like a prick, , and a douchebag, just everything that could deem him as the worst person that had ever existed. “I didn’t know what to do when you asked me who I was. It was as if my world had crumpled down into nothing. Did you even think for a second when you acted cold towards me, like we were enemies? I was clueless, Jongin. I didn’t have any idea why you acted the way you were. But it was all—it turns out that I had worried over nothing, over an act?” she emphasized, an angry push on her tone at every syllable. “Did you enjoy watching me making a fool out of myself, Kim Jongin?” she asked in a furious manner.

“I—I’m sorry,” was all he managed to say but Jongin knew that it wasn’t enough. He knew that a sorry wouldn’t fix everything, anything, not right away, not anytime soon. But what more can he say?  Words certainly won’t convince the lady. It certainly won’t change her mind.

“You’re sorry?” Soojung let out a snort in incredulity that had Jongin pursing his lips into a thin line. “And then what? You expect me to forgive you right away?”

“I’m not expecting you to, not when I had done something unforgivable, something stupid,” he admitted, instantly looking away in an embarrassment before he gathered up enough courage to look at Soojung again, straight in the eyes of the other. “But please, please just give me a chance,” Jongin pleaded.

“I don’t know, Jongin. It’s just—“

“I love you, Soojung. I really love you—“

At that very moment, Soojung could feel a fluttering in her heart, flapping of butterflies’ wings inside her stomach, blood rushing up to paint her cheeks with scarlet red that she hoped would not be noticeable.  He finally said the words. “Kim Jongin,” Soojung pronounced his name softly, hoping the guy could stop talking for at least a second.

“I can’t picture myself living a day without you—“

“Jongin—“ she said his name again but was cut off once again.

“You’re like the other half of me that I can’t live without, Jung Soojung. No one understands me like you do. No one care for me much more than you did. You helped me overcome my fear, of being in love. You did. And every time I had this thought of you leaving me because of how awful of a person I am, you ended up proving me wrong in the end. You never left me, Soojung, not even once. You were here, you’re always here by my side even when I did stupid things, even if I annoy you and I know most of the time I did,” a chuckle escaped his lips, bitter and humourless, before he continued, “There is so much more that I wanted to say but maybe this will help me explain everything.”

“What do you me—“ the lady didn’t even have the chance to finish her words as Jongin leaped forward and kissed her, lips meeting the other in haste, in desperate need to make her understand just how deep, how big, how unconditional his love was for her. There were unspoken words in the kiss that Soojung seemed to understand, can seemed to make out, though her mind was in such a lot of mess to make coherent words, her brain had gone haywire, incapable to function the moment their lips brushed against each other. Her eyes that grew in size out of shock had finally closed shut as she responded just the same, pouring out her feelings all at once and hoping that Jongin too could understand what her heart felt through their connecting lips.

He turned his head but before Jongin could initiate a much more than the touch of their lips, Soojung had opened her eyes and as if she had just been awaken from her sweet dream, had been knocked some sense into her head, her eyes widened yet again, looking like they were just a second away to bulge out of their sockets and she jolted on her spot, instantaneously breaking their kiss. Out of breath, chest rising up and down, Jongin panted out, “Sooju—“

The tall gate was slammed shut on his face before he could even finish calling her name, before he could comprehend what had just happened.

Author's Corner:

Unusually long chapter because the initial plan was to make this the final chapter but I felt that it'll be too long and I don't like long chapter haha! So... yeah... The next one will be the final chapter. Just a heads up, I'm not going to update fast, so don't expect an update tmr or the next day or the next because I like taking time in laying out my ideas. Lets flood the comment section, shall we?