BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ATE HEERA!

[kyle's notes]: i don't know what else to put in this section.. maybe i should stop ranting haha.. thank you for keeping up with me :)

WARNING: LOTS of ERRORS ahead

Yu Jin surveyed around the perimeter of the house to see if there were any openings—aside from the door—that she could peek into. From where she was standing, her vision could gather a huge balcony covering almost the whole second floor on the front. ‘What a huge room this is.’ There were windows on the first floor, but the curtains were down. ‘Useless.’

Still on the long gown she wore for the purpose of attending Mr. Lao’s party, she carefully shuffled to her feet, going around to one side of the house where a window on the first floor was present. And how lucky, the curtains were pulled up, allowing her to have a glimpse of what’s inside. Her irises first landed on the heart-shaped object on the rectangular table. The cake she saw him buy in a 24-hour bakeshop near the area.

Believer her, it was not in her intentions to see him in the said shop. It’s just that she heard from his parents that he now lived in this village. She didn’t have any idea about the exact location of the house; just the village. And what a turn of fortunate events to spot him in the bakery. But seriously? In a bakery? At this time of the day?

Yu Jin unconsciously lowered her eyes to her silver wrist watch which said it was almost dawn. What could Hyun Joong be doing at a time like this? Glancing over back to the house, the sight that greeted her almost made her choke by the lump that immediately formed in . Her instincts had not failed her when it told her to follow him. Follow him from the bakeshop until he reached his home. The home where his wife awaited him. The wife he’s hugging right now, right before her very eyes.

Hyun Joong released the woman in his arms to give her a warm, encouraging smile that told Yu Jin she has lost. Lost without even having a fight. Lost to a woman Hyun Joong hadn’t known until a few months ago. How could this be? How was she going to compete with someone who seemed to have captured his affection without even knowing it?

“So Min? Hey, wake up!” Hyun Joong’s voice rang out the area, worry evident in his tone. It made Yu Jin look at them again, only to witness there, the object of her own affections, carrying his wife in his arms. “Geez. You’re burning.”

Minutes went by since the couple had gone out of her sight. Had gone to their bedroom, perhaps, so that he could take care of his sick wife. Yu Jin’s eyes instantly watered, especially when she recalled the emotion mirrored in his eyes when he looked at her. It was more complex in comparison to just a simple concern—it was that mixed with tenderness. And those, in themselves, were menacing combinations of feelings of a man towards a woman. It wasn’t what a man should normally feel towards his bandmate.

Bandmate. Bandmate. Band—

‘No Way!’ her mind screamed upon the registration of such thought. The lady’s face when Hyun Joong released her from their embrace; the name he called her when she apparently fainted. There’s no way she could be—

‘Jung So Min?!’ Her tears began silently falling as the toughness of reality strike her rough. ‘But I thought she’s Il Woo’s girlfriend?’ recalling the closeness of the two when they’ve met in the parking lot. ‘It couldn’t be. It just couldn’t be.’ She shook her head violently.

The query was right—how was she going to compete with someone who seemed to have captured his affection without even knowing it? And she must make a plan on stopping him before the dreaded realization comes.

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

Hyun Joong assisted her in lying down just after taking her medicine, several questions rummaging his brain. He made sure she was comfortable first, “So Min.” He breathed after some seconds. “Why?”

“Huh?”

“Why are you doing this to yourself? You wordlessly follow whatever it is I tell you. Where was the So Min who quarreled with me during our first meeting?”

She thought for a minute before bravely glancing back. “You shouldn’t be involved in this situation, Hyun Joong,” she rationalized. “My parents let their greed eat them and you—you were a victim of that greed. You opposed this marriage with all your heart yet you still did it in the end and I—” her voice shook at once. “I don’t have the guts to be angry when I know you have the least advantage from this. I—the least thing I could do is follow whatever you say. That way—” she inhaled a mouthful of oxygen to prevent herself from sobbing. “That way, I’ll be very glad to know I could somewhat help in lessening the weight you’re feeling.”

Hyun Joong could only stare at her in reverence. So her reason for doing everything he says was because she’s thinking he wouldn’t get anything from this marriage. He stared at her, his upper limbs weakening upon hearing her reason. Would she still say the same once she knew what she was thinking was wrong?

‘I do have a benefit from this! A lot of benefits!’ his mind contradicted but his mouth didn’t have the courage to say it out loud. He heaved a breath and removed his hands on her shoulders. “What about your parents? You have every right to be mad at them,” he tried to convince her.

She shook her head at that. “For 22 years, they’ve given me everything I needed to survive in this world. Yes, I was mad at first. But if that money was the only way to satisfy them, I’m glad I was able to help.” She paused as she tilted her head upwards to prevent her tears. “I’m just thinking it was my payment for all the good things they’ve done to me.” What happened to swearing she wouldn’t cry over this matter anymore? “And since you agreed and tried to put up with me, I’ll forever be grateful,” she meekly smiled at him; whereas he remained sitting, looking at the blank spot on the headboard.

“The least thing I could do is follow whatever you say.”

“I’m just thinking it was my payment for all the good things they’ve done to me.”

‘For your tender loving care that WAS hot like the sun,

I’ll consider it as my payment rather than none’

Why does this woman know all the right words to say to upsurge his guilt feelings? Guilt? Yes, guilt. That was all he was supposed to feel, right? But why was there something else screaming inside him that wanted so bad to hit him in the head.

‘When will you be honest to her? To yourself? And… to me?’ his heart continuously asked; and before he could add anything more, she was fast asleep, probably straying in her own wonderland. He chuckled and fixed the blanket around her. Glancing at her phone, he made a mental reminder to himself to take good care of her from now on; and he’d start by contacting two of the closest people to her.

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

Shin Hye grasped Seung Ah’s hand on the table as the chimes hanging above the door sounded in an indication of someone entering from downstairs. It wasn’t a very nerve-wrecking situation, but her overly-reactive self was getting the best of her.

Seung Ah was feeling no better than her friend, except that she managed to execute a calm disposition. This wasn’t a laughing stock—not if it involved the inner conflicts of a valued friendship.

“Is that them?” Shin Hye asked, her anxiety growing a little pitch higher.

“I think so. I hear his v