A/N: I highly suggest old readers to backread. My last update was a long time ago in 2012 >_< Thanyu :)

Chapter 22: Coming out

“Children! We are going on an outing in the weekend!” Ommoni announced enthusiastically at dinner.

Eun Jo beamed excitedly while Seung Jo played his usual disinterested façade.

Ommoni decided that it was high time that they went out-of-town since Ha Ni’s joining them, and she secretly thought it was a celebration for the pleasant progress between her eldest and Ha Ni. It fuelled her hopes that maybe those two would breach past friendship in the days to come.

“Can I pass? I have a lot of things to do in the university, and in the office as well.”

Ommoni waved her hand as if to say ‘nonsense!’ “The whole family will go Seung Jo-ah. It’s just a weekend. You can surely spare time. Come to think of it, we have not had any proper welcome for Ha Ni.” Then she glanced at her. “Forgive us, dear.”

Ha Ni shook her head. ‘It’s not really needed, ommoni. I’ve been staying here for some time now, and you have not treated me as anyone other than your own family. That’s enough for me.”

Ommoni frowned. “Pssh. Needed or not, we are all going in the weekend. Arrasseo?!”

CEO Baek signalled for his eldest son to just concede to his mother’s plans.

“Arrasseo…arraseo.”

********************

“Min Ah, ommoni told me to ask you if you would like to join us in a camping trip in the weekend. It’s just an hour or so from Seoul. You don’t have to bring anything save for your swimsuit.”

“Sure! I really want to meet that new family of yours,” Min Ah added with a wink.

Ha Ni slapped her arm. “Yah! Ommoni has no idea whatsoever so please hold your tongue.”

“I was just teasing you…But is it okay with Mr. Rotten Egg if I come with you?”

“Yah! Stop calling Seung Jo that!”

Min Ah laughed. “You were the one who called him rotten egg first, remember? What’s the other one? My favourite…” Min Ah feigned trying to recall one of Ha Ni’s ‘term of endearment’ to her soon-to-be fiancé. “Aha! Heartless skunk!”

Ha Ni groaned. “Please, he’s not those things. Not all the time, I mean.”

Min Ah eyed her suspiciously. “Why the sudden change of heart?”

Ha Ni briefly related Seung Jo’s story, and the reason behind his animosity against Jin Woo.

“Ugh. She’s one lucky girl!”

Ha Ni looked at Min Ah incredulously. “That’s all you’ve got to say? That she’s a lucky girl?!”

“Because that's what she is! It does not happen to every girl for two exceptional guys to fall for her. She must be really pretty and smart and all…” Min Ah thoughtlessly prattled on.

Ha Ni secretly winced inside and tried not to think about that girl and how thoughts of her managed to sour Ha Ni’s mood. She recalled Seung Jo’s words ‘She’s the perfect girl. She will always be my perfect girl’

“Yes, she’s lucky indeed,” was all Ha Ni could voice out from her thoughts.

Min Ah noticed the lack of enthusiasm in her friend’s tone and suddenly remarked, “Hey! Don’t tell me you are jealous of her?!”

Ha Ni was taken aback at how Min Ah articulated the very thoughts she was trying to block off. 

Min Ah could not have guessed about those butterflies, could she?

“What?! Of course not! I don’t even like Seung Jo to feel jealous of any girl linked to him.” Ha Ni countered too strongly.

“I was referring to Jin Woo, babo. I thought maybe you were starting to develop feelings for him,” Min Ah corrected, but Ha Ni’s exaggerated answer already sowed seed of suspicion in Min Ah’s mind. Could you be starting to fall for Baek Seung Jo, Ha Ni-ah?

“No… Jin Woo is nice but it is crazy for me to fall for him, or anyone, that fast.”

“Yes, too fast and too early,” Min Ah seconded, but her thoughts were already pertaining to Seung Jo. “By the way, have you talked to Jin Woo?”

Ha Ni shook her head. She did not even know what to talk to him about. His past with Seung Jo was not really any of her business.

Speaking of Jin Woo, he was already a few steps from them when Min Ah saw him approaching.

“Jin Woo…” Min Ah just said, as if to warn Ha Ni of his presence.

Ha Ni smiled at him awkwardly.

“Hello, Min Ah. Can I borrow Oh Ha Ni later today? There are just some important things I want to tell her,” Jin Woo said point-blank. And when he saw Min Ah’s reluctance, he turned to Ha Ni. “Is it alright, Ha Ni? I will bring you home after, don’t worry.”

Ha Ni was slightly alarmed, and she looked at her best friend, silently pleading for rescue. How to go home afterwards was the slightest of her worries. What mostly worried her was Seung Jo and her promise to him that she would try to keep things between sailing smoothly, part of which was Jin Woo-related.

Upon seeing the distress on Ha Ni’s face, Jin Woo sighed and said, “It will not take long. I promise. I would get you after class and get you home after an hour. Just dinner.”

Min Ah kicked Ha Ni’s leg and spoke for her. “Of course you can. Ha Ni’s just dying to try that new American restaurant nearby.”

Ha Ni choked slightly and nodded resignedly. Dok Go Min Ah! You traitor! >_<

After repeating that he would pick her up after her last class, Jin Woo left them.

“Mwo?!” Ha Ni mouthed at Min Ah. “I was asking for help, you witch!’

“And so I did. Hahahaha! There are a lot of things to be cleared up, and doing it as soon as possible is the best way to go.”

Ha Ni pouted. “But it’s too soon… I don’t even know what to tell him. What if he asks questions?”

Min Ah rolled her eyes. “Duh. Then you answer him.”

“Easy for you to say.”

Min Ah raised her fist. “Oh Ha Ni fighting!”

********************

Ha Ni called Seung Jo to inform him that she could not report to the office because Jin Woo asked her for dinner to talk about something. It was clear from Seung Jo’s long pause that he was not in favor of the idea of Ha Ni and Jin Woo going out for dinner, but his recent truce with Ha Ni made him control himself to be less bad-tempered.

“Okay. We had our deal. I hope you won’t forget.”

Ha Ni felt relieved. “Yes, I won’t. Thanks!”

"Don't go home too late," were Seung Jo's last words.

********************

Face to face with Jin Woo was a rather awkward moment. Ha Ni tried trivial topics to make a conversation, but it seemed that Jin Woo was not to be swayed by casual talk. After all, he asked her out for a reason.

“I know it’s none of my business and I should not ask, but is it true?” Jin Woo decided to go in for the kill.

Ha Ni tried to looked confused at his question, but that only made Jin Woo more specific in his line of questioning.

“Are you truly engaged to Baek Seung Jo? Are you really going to get married to him?”

Ha Ni knew she was cornered and there was no way to evade his interrogation. True, it was not Jin Woo’s business to ask about her personal life, but with the advice of Min Ah, Ha Ni felt that he had to know the truth, or at least some parts of it. Because they were friends, and Ha Ni barely made new friends when she came to Seoul. And because if truth be told, Ha Ni was also starting to suspect that Jin Woo might have started to develop some feelings for her. Even Min Ah and Seung Jo told her so.

Ha Ni nodded, refusing to meet his gaze.

Jin Woo sighed. “Actually, I guessed as much. Even before Seung Jo told me.”

Baffled, Ha Ni asked, “How could you have guessed? We never told anyone. Only CEO Baek knows, and I’ve only told Min Ah very recently.”

Jin Woo explained that he was very close to Seung Jo in the past, and so he knew of Seung Jo’s dilemma about getting in an arranged marriage.

“At first, when I found out that you were staying in their house, I did not really imagine that it’s you. It’s not everyday that a family friend lives with them, so that fact alone made it suspicious… but then, it’s too early. So I discounted my theory.”

“Yes, Seung Jo said so. That I came too early. That’s why he got pissed at me. For disturbing his freedom…” Ha Ni related.

Jin Woo continued, “But what really made me suspect otherwise was when he kept dropping hints.”

“Hints?”

“Yes. You see, Seung Jo and I had a bad history in high school. A long story.”

Ha Ni kept silent, unsure if she would admit that she already knew of their hostile past.

“But the bottomline is, Seung Jo kept warning me to keep away from you. That’s when I realized it.”

Ha Ni looked extremely apologetic. “Mainhe Jin Woo. I did not mean to deceive you… but it was really not something I can easily tell my friends. Min Ah was furious that I only told her recently. Actually, even my parents  do not know about it.”

Jin Woo’s jaw dropped. “Huh? What do you mean you parents do not know? How come you are in your situation if they do not know about it. It’s the parents that match their children.”

Ha Ni shook her head and a tear fell. “This is all my doing.” Ha Ni then told Jin Woo the circumstances on how she got to be in her current position: her family’s company, her deal with CEO Baek, her internship in the company with Seung Jo as her supervisor.

“Ha Ni, I think it’s wrong to sacrifice yourself in that way, especially that your family does not even ask you to do anything.”

“They’ve always kept me well cared of. It’s time I do something for them…”

“But…”

“Nothing can change my decision Jin Woo. It’s my responsibility now.”

Jin Woo sighed. “How about your relationship with Seung Jo? As I see it, he isn’t even nice to you.”

“No, we’ve reached an agreement. His manners are actually improving.” Ha Ni smiled, then hesitated to add that the reason of her recent truce with Seung Jo was when he told the story of his first love and heartbreak, partially caused by Jin Woo.

Finally plucking up enough courage, Ha Ni decided to go all-the-way in being honest with Jin Woo and said, “Jin Woo-ah… I already know.”

One look at Ha Ni’s expression and Jin Woo immediately understood what she meant. His past with Seung Jo’s first girlfriend. The source of their conflict.

“He told you.” Jin Woo said. “I’m not sure how he painted me in his version of the story but I assure you, it was not my intention to hurt people. Not my friend. Some things just happened beyond our control. Jiyeon and I never even got together…”

Jiyeon. So that’s her name.

“I hope whatever happened in the past won’t affect our friendship, Ha Ni-ah. I hope Seung Jo’s not prohibiting you from being friends with me.”

“Actually, he is. But he can’t stop me from being friends with anyone,” Ha Ni assured Jin Woo. “I feel sorry about what happened between the two of you, but it was all in the past, and I wish you two could at least reconcile, if not get back to the old friendship you had.”

Jin Woo smiled bitterly. “You think I never attempted that? I did. Not just once. But Seung Jo was, and still is, very mad at me. Did he also tell you he hit me square in my jaw that time?”

Ha Ni nodded. “Maybe I can help.”

“How?”

“Leave it to me.”

********************

Baek Seung Jo was already at the gates when Jin Woo brought Ha Ni home.

The two males had a 5-second staring bout before Seung Jo pulled Ha Ni to the gate opening.

“How can you come so late? I had to tell mother an alibi why you skipped office today.” Seung Jo said irritably as they walk into the foyer.

“Well we talked about a lot of things.”

“You told him about our situation?”

“Yep… and told him I want to do something to patch you up.”

Baek Seung Jo looked at her in disbelief. “You did what?”

"Don't be mad..." Ha Ni spoke so softly as if doing so would lessen the impact of what she did. “I invited him to the family outing this weekend.”

 ********************

A/N: Tada! I'm back! Hopefully not too late that I already lost readers :P The usual excuses, been busy blah blah. But actually it was difficult for me to write the continuation from where I left off. Let's just say I ran out of ideas and motivation. The good news is, I now have outlines for 5 chapters so updates will be coming more often soon. Happy reading! :)