The Forgotten Shards

Donghae watched as Eunhyuk, Junsu and Changmin all waved to him like silly idiots from the soccer field. Their shirts were not tucked and their socks had traces of mud. Eunhyuk’s blonde-dyed hair was messy and all over the place, Junsu’s and Changmin’s were messy but not as messy as Eunhyuk’s. Donghae didn’t forget to lock the door before running towards his friends.

The sun shone brightly at them, hiding behind the cloud. The fresh memory of his argument with Charlie was still stuck inside his head and it bothered the heck out of him. He tried his best to forget it. He never fought with a girl before because of his gentlemanliness.

Even his friends think he’s too polite to refuse girls.

“Where did you go?” Eunhyuk asked, slapping his back. He motioned towards their other soccer members who had started a friendly game among them at the other side of the field. “We wanted to play but I told Junsu and Changmin to wait for you.”

Donghae shrugged, briefly remembering the argument he had with Charlie earlier. “I had to take care of some stuff.”

Junsu and Eunhyuk exchanged mischievous grins.

“Some stuff?” Junsu repeated knowingly. “Or your wife?”

Donghae raised his eyebrows, utterly speechless. How did they know? “Mwo? Yah, how did you guys know?”

Changmin laughed. “Yah, it’s bad of you to keep it from us. We’re your best friends yet you kept that as a secret,” he stated. “You don’t think we know? Didn’t you ever think how close our parents are? They’re, like, working for a partnership with our companies. Didn’t you ever think for once that we’d know right away even if you weren’t told yet?”

Donghae frowned. “Ani.”

Eunhyuk rolled his eyes. “Yah, Hae. Who is this Charlie Jung you’re marrying, huh?”

“Do you have a picture?” Junsu asked eagerly. “Is she really pretty?”

“Can we meet her soon?” Changmin popped up.

Donghae waved his hands dismissively. “Aish~ you annoying babos. Whatever. I don’t have a picture of her, okay? Why don’t you search it up in the net or something? She’s Jung Shin Woo’s daughter. I think all of you know him, right? He’s the founder of Jung Corporations. Well, the grand-grand-grand… God knows how many generations has it been. He owns it.”

“Yah, Hae,” Eunhyuk called, patting his back. “You seemed to be in a bad mood.”

Donghae forced a smile. “Pft, aniyo. It’s… this is different. It’s my… Dad, you know.”

“Yah! Junsu and Changmin! We need you guys here!”

Junsu and Changmin hesitantly turned around, giving Hyuk a ‘You know where to find us later’ look—something which the guys always do when something is up. Junsu, Changmin, Eunhyuk and Donghae were close friends. They tell each everything. If one is down, the three will always know something is up. Hyuk and Donghae went over to the bleachers. Eunhyuk draped a towel around his neck while Donghae just leaned forward, placing his chin on his hands.

“Well, yeah,” Donghae started. “You guys know about it already. I’m engaged, not married.”

“It’s your appa, isn’t it?” Hyuk speculated. “He made you do this.”

Donghae nodded lightly. “What’s new anyway? I’m doing this for Donghwa. If he was still alive, he would do this. Besides, I’m pretty sure this engagement with Charlie would soon end. She’s… unpredictable. That girl is relentless. She’s as stubborn as mule. You should have seen her or maybe talked to her. She’s the feistiest girl I’ve ever met.”

“Sounds like you’re fond of her,” Eunhyuk teased.

Donghae shook his head. “Ani, as far as we’re both aware of, we run our own lives. She made it very clear that I should mind my own business and she minds her own business. Technically, we both don’t care about what’s going to happen. All she cares about is living the life she wants and the way she wants it to be.”

“And?”

“She’s right,” Donghae continued. “We’re both too different. I think appa made a wrong decision of pairing us up. If he ever thought about arranged marriage, he would’ve chosen someone better, like someone who could appreciate that I’m trying to help her or that I’m trying to work out for the both of us.”

“Maybe she’s going through challenges,” Eunhyuk guessed. “Or maybe she’s just too crazy to refuse you.”

Donghae chuckled. “Babo, I think that girl’s too smart.”

“But annoying?”

Donghae nodded. “So annoying.”

“Oh, yeah,” Eunhyuk says, reaching something from his duffel bag. Leaning over, he extended his hand to get his bag then rummaged to find his phone. When he finally found it, he offered it towards Donghae. “Here you go. This is the number a girl gave me. She said to give it to you and give her a call about your date later. I think her name was Jessica or something. She said you met yesterday and you asked her out to dinner.”

Donghae pursed his lips. “I don’t remember asking any Jessica. I think I’ve had too many.”

“I remember you going out with girls with letter J as their first letters of their names,” Eunhyuk asserted, chuckling at the memories. “I remembered you going out with Jane—the one you asked me to go out with since you can make it because you have another date—and then there’s Jamie, Jae Rin, Jin Young and a few others that I can name but I won’t because it’ll only embarrass you.”

Donghae rolled his eyes. “Very funny, Hyukkie.”

“But, seriously, what are you going to do about this engagement?”

Donghae shrugged. “I don’t know. I’d probably keep up with it as much as I could but I won’t last long. Dad will regret making me marry her.” He reached for his backpack and got his phone. Then he tossed it towards Eunhyuk. “Sorry I lied about not having a picture of her.”

Eunhyuk gasped then he started laughing moments later. “Yah! Lee Donghae! What’s wrong with you? Charlie Jung is really, really pretty! Can I have her if you don’t want her?”

Donghae waved his hand. “As you wish.”

“For the meantime…” Eunhyuk trailed off, pressing few buttons on the phone. “... make her picture your wallpaper.”

Donghae’s eyes widened. “Yah, ige mwoya? I’m not making that as my wallpaper. What if they’ll see it?”

Eunhyuk shrugged. “What if they do? It’s not like you care, right? You told me you don’t care so let’s just put this up just for fun. You know how it is. Anyway, you told me you don’t like her, right? Or you don’t have any intentions on… her? Do you mind if I try asking her out?”

Donghae almost choked on his saliva. He didn’t know what just happened but the thought of his best friend asking his fiancée out almost sounded… well, weird. But Hyuk was right. He had a point. Donghae didn’t care. “Well, yeah. Whatever. I don’t really care.”

“Alright!” Eunhyuk cheered, giving Donghae back his phone. “You said that, okay? No take backs. You told me so yourself that you don’t care.”

Donghae rolled his eyes. “Yeah, because I really don’t care. How many times should you understand that?”

“You should check your phone soon,” Eunhyuk reminded, ignoring the question Donghae fired at him. “Jessica might be calling you in five, four, three, two… one…”

Just then, Donghae’s phone rang.

Hellllo new readers x

I love your comments. Comment more :) xxx