NOW

APRIL 2017

IT was a situation Naeun never thought she would be apart of so quickly, not after the cold tension she had with Jongin this early morning, and to see him again, holding that ever so icy gaze against hers almost made her question why was she dumb enough to pick a fight with him, to slap him even.

Almost.

Naeun pretended like she saw nothing, and proceeded to enter the available elevator before it closed on her. Jongin diverted his gaze, awkward, and slipped past Naeun like a ghost. He walked on forward and made a left turn, but before Naeun could see where he was headed, the doors slid in from each ends and met, sealing every open space.

She laid back against the wall, heart racing wildly behind her cage.

“Naeun?” Jihoo’s voice echoed through the phone’s microphone and the effort alone pulled Naeun back into reality. She was then remembered of her dad mentioning something about Jongin.

“Dad,” Naeun called, managing her tone calmly. “I’m sorry. What were you saying?”

“Just come home, Naeun. Now.”

“Can I at least know why you wanna talk about my employee?”

“Can I at least see your face when we do talk about your employee?”

Naeun sighed, hating to agree to her dad’s argument. “Fair enough. I’ll be there in a minute. Or ten. Depends on the traffic.”

“Naeun-,” Jihoo called again, unpleased, but Naeun was already hanging up on him.

JONGIN could see Sehun slowly drove towards his way from his initial position. His pace grew small until Sehun has driven close enough for him to get inside.

“Ayo waddup?” Sehun cheered brightly at gloomy-looking Jongin as soon as Jongin sat down. He drove on after his friend has settled in.

“Hey,” Jongin said slightly.

“What happens to your car by the way? And why you wanna go to the home shelter? Do you wanna meet Sister Kim?”

Jongin nodded weakly, casually propping up his head, his elbow up against the window. He turned to have a glance at Sehun before looking forward again. A habit meant to show Sehun that he was not into talking. Kind of.

“Are you okay, dude? You sounded weak on the phone just now. Are you sick? Do you need to go to a doctor or something?”

Jongin shook his head no and continued to loot at the view outside; the blue sky, and busy people who were driving behind wheels and places they wanted to go. All the dates and meeting, and him – Jongin – he was also part of the everyday people with plans.

And he didn’t know why, but when the car came to a halt at a red traffic light, he saw Naeun, holding hands with a guy he remembered as her fiancé, blending in amongst the pedestrians as they crossed the road. He blinked twice, taken back by the view in front of his eyes, and just like that, in the shortest fraction of time, they both disappeared from his sight.

He was going cuckoo, so it seemed.

LUNCH break was almost over by the time Naeun arrived at her parent’s house. She unlocked the door with her keys and stepped inside without any warning. She walked past the living room but was surprised by her mother hitting her shoulder from behind.

“Are you some kind of thief? Gettting in and out of my house as you please? Have you no manners, Son Naeun? I remember raising you to always, always knock and wait for people to open up the door for you-”

“Hi mom,” Naeun smiled shortly, rubbing at the spot where Sofia hit her. “Where’s dad?”

“How dare you cut me off. I’m not even finished talking yet.”

“I’m sorry, mom,” she urged. “But can you tell me where’s dad?”

Sofia made a face, slightly surprised but she still showed Naeun where her husband was. “In his office, as usual. Why? Did he ask you to come here?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Beats me,” Naeun shrugged, and left to find her dad in his office.

When Naeun has arrived in front of his dad’s office door, she paused for awhile to catch some quick gasp of air. She then drew her hand out and knocked on the door.

“Come in,” her dad said in a stern voice, and Naeun’s heartbeat rose instantly.

“Hi,” Naeun stifled a short smile, shutting the door behind her. “It’s me.”

Jihoo held up his chin, and for a moment he took some time to scan her daughter’s composure. The silence that lingered was uncomfortable for Naeun to bear but she mustered some courage to walk forward to his dad.

“Have a seat, Naeun,” Jihoo slightly gestured his hand, and began putting aside the stack of papers to his right. He sighed, a deep one, and pulled out something from his drawer as Naeun looked up to observe his dad’s strange behavior.

“I really hope you have a good explanation about these pictures, Naeun, or I will have to do something you won’t like.”

Naeun was shaken deep to her core as his dad spread the pictures of her and Jongin riding into the same car, one night ago on the ball night, looking believably happy. She looked at another photo and they were all the same shots, expect from different angles.

She then looked up at her dad, speechless.

“Did you - spy - on me, dad?” Naeun asked, dumbstruck, with lines forming up on her forehead. “I can’t believe you would do that.”

“I did not spy on you, Naeun. Someone sent them in to my office this morning and I have my assistant to send it over to me. Now, answer me –what do all these mean, Naeun? Because it seemed like you guys were not going away to attend to some business matters.

“He’s just a friend, dad.”

“What kind of friend?”

Naeun frowned deeper; annoyed at the evidently small amount of trust Jihoo has in her. “What is that supposed to mean? Are you doubting me, dad? Are you scared I might back out from my wedding just because you think I have something going on with him?”

“Yeah, well I don’t know if you guys actually have something going on, so I don’t know what to think when I see these pictures.”

“This is beyond ridiculous, dad. There’s nothing going on between me and my assistant.”

“Then why did you guys ditch the ball together, Naeun? Don’t lie to my face. Have some pride and tell me the truth!”

“That is the truth!” Naeun’s voice was shaking, offended by the harsh critics her dad spat out to her. “You don’t trust me, do you? You want to believe so badly that there is actually something going on between me and him. It’s just that obvious right now, dad.”

“Don’t twist my words like that, Naeun. I need you to just explain to me what went on in these pictures and you can’t even give me a straight answer!”

“How do you expect me to give you a straight answer when you didn’t even believe your own daughter in the first place?! I already agree to marry Minhyuk for your sake and you still have doubts against me? How could you, dad?!”

“Don’t talk to me like that!” Jihoo slammed his forearm against the table and rose to his feet. Jihoo looked down on her scowling daughter and pointed a finger at her. “This is my first and last warning to you, Naeun. I don’t know what you guys were up to but whatever you have in mind, you should leave it there. I don’t want this guy to ruin your future, Naeun. You’re going to be someone’s bride in just a few days, so I expect you to act like one. Do not test my patience.”

Jihoo walked around his table, grunting with disappointment and fuming anger as he walked out of his office and left Naeun alone.

Naeun threw a deadly look at the scattered pictures of Jongin and her and their big smiles, and she grabbed them all.

SEHUN’S car slid into the empty space of the home shelter’s driveway and made a stop near the porch. The visiting boys however did not have all the free time to themselves when they saw kids from inside the house came running out and started to swarm around them like angry bees.

“Hyung! Hyung! You’re back!” A fat kid, looking around the age of 10 or 11, was already panting when he first ran up to Jongin for a quick hug.

“Are you still eating midnight snacks, you fathead?” Jongin chuckled, fairly amused at how the chubby Junki’s cheeks have gotten.

“I’m not fathead! Do not call me that!” Junki’s expression darkened and he balled up a fist and hit Jongin on his flat tummy. Jongin pretended to bend over, grunting in pain as he let Junki to feel the satisfaction.

“Stop eating more snacks then, Junki-ah,” Jongin continued when Junki ran away back into the house in annoyance. He now regretted running towards Jongin in the first place.

“Stop calling him that, Jongin,” Sehun said calmly, taking a little girl in his arm and gave her a light peck. “Now how is Sunyoung doing? Have you finished your drawing today?”

“No,” Sunyoung shook her head slowly, embarrassed. “I drew one today but Kkakkung stepped on my drawing. So I stopped because the paper creased.”

Sehun smiled and her hair. It seemed like Sunyoung hasn’t learned to embrace imperfection things this world has to offer.

“You’re good with the ladies,” Jongin teased, pinching Sunyoung lightly. “Amirite, Sunny-ah?”

Sunyoung pushed Jongin’s hands and turned her head around and wrapped her hands around Sehun’s shoulder. She was quiet every time she saw Jongin.

“What’s her deal?” Jongin gritted as he watched Sehun walked on first with a chuckle.

“Don’t call her Sunny. She hates it.”

“I called her Sunyoung last time but she still looked away. I think it’s me that she hates.”

“Just come inside, you moron.”

SISTER Kim came from the kitchen, carrying a tray of hot coffee and some butter cakes. Jongin got up first to help her carry the tray.

“It’s okay, Jongin. I can manage. Just help me grab the lemon in the kitchen. Too bad the small tray cannot fit in everything.”

Jongin smiled. “You still remember that?”

“Of course,” Sister Kim smiled back, crow feet around her eyes have spread since Jongin last saw her, but she still looked timelessly beautiful. And the warmth she exuded never ceased. Jongin nodded and turned back to the kitchen to get the lemon.

“IT would still be nice to have you to come visit us when you guys don’t need my signature on official forms or anything. Just come over and play with the kids. They like it then visitors drop by, though I don’t consider you guys one. You belong here - both of you. Always.”

Jongin smiled shortly, looking down to the white steam coming from his hot coffee.  He was embarrassed having to be reprimanded like that by Sister Kim.

“I’m sorry, Sister. I promise to come over during my free time.”

“And you too, Sehun.”

“Of course,” Sehun urged, startled.

“Just because you were the first to leave doesn’t mean you’re not welcome here anymore.”

“I know that,” Sehun smiled. “I’m just very honored you still think of me as one of your own.”

Sister Kim smiled again, only this time she rested her gaze longer on Sehun and studied the well-built physique of the young man. Sister Kim reached over and Sehun’s hand.

“It has been a long time since I last looked at you. Have you been well since you moved out, Sehun? I was always curious of how they treated you, but your family has moved out of state that it was difficult for me to keep a proper track of you. But I don’t think I should be worried. You never looked this great when I took care of you.”

“They treated me like I was one of their own. They never treated me less than a family, and they loved me just like you did. They cared for me at my lowest point, and scolded me when I made mistakes, and were always ready to forgive me whenever I apologized. And I know I didn’t stay here for a long period of time but in that short time, you and everyone here have showed immense support and love and that’s just something I can never repay.”

Jongin has been a passive bystander but seeing the affection Sister Kim showed to someone who was not a permanent resident of the house made Jongin felt extremely grateful. He himself did not have quite the lucky life like Sehun’s but Sister Kim had given him and every other kids here more than they needed and, to be quite honest, that was the only thing they could’ve asked for.

“This is too mushy, people,” Jongin interrupted, though he could hear himself choking. “See? This is why I don’t come visit often. Sister, you need to stop dwelling in the past and be all nostalgic. It’s- ” Jongin paused before grinning cheekily like a little lost child who finally has discovered a lit up path. “Very touching.”

Sister Kim smiled, and almost hit Jongin in the shoulder for being a tease. She looked down, wiping the falling tears. She looked up again at the two boys, and wondered how did Jongin move on from Taemin’s death.

But then again, maybe how he moved on didn’t matter. He was there, in front of her, healthy and happy, and she wouldn’t ask for anything else.

You’ve always had this strength Jongin. And no one can take that away from you.

TYPICAL Mondays were back, and Naeun greeted them with a usual grudging grunt. She was in her car, driving to the office when Miss Seo called her up.

“Good morning,” Naeun came in with a rush. “What’s up?”

Miss Seo was shocked by Naeun’s informalities but decided to proceed with her reason of calling her.

“Good morning, Miss Son. I just want to remind you that the meeting this morning is postponed to tomorrow because we have received the update from our hotel branch in Jeju and they haven’t been able to complete the proposal about the internship program this weekend, but I have managed to discuss with them about their definite answer and they promised us the proposal first thing tomorrow morning. I have run this matter through you father and he agreed to have the meeting tomorrow. But he also asked me convey something rather important to you, Miss.”

“I will not lie to you,” Naeun said, squinting her eyes in guilt. “I have like, absolutamente zero idea about what kind of – stuff - you just told me about, y’know, because it’s still morning, and I haven’t gotten my morning caffeine so my brain is still hazy from excessive sleep. So-” Naeun paused with a gasp. “What are you trying to tell me?”

“You father asked me to tell you that you are excluded from the internship program this weekend because he wants you to focus on your wedding preparation. And that you don’t have to go to tomorrow’ meeting.”

Naeun mused, processing the meaning behind his dad’s message. “So,” Naeun drawled. “I have less work to do now?”

Miss Seo was flustered at the end of the line by Naeun’s frank question, but she went along with it anyway.

“I believe so.”

“Cool,” Naeun commented, lighthearted. “See you at the office. Oh and what is this internship program you’re talking about?”

Miss Seo fell silent for a short while, and she wanted to so badly hang up the phone, but she was still rational about it, so she took a deep breathe in, and began telling Naeun all she knew about the annual program they always do for the interns in the hotel office.

JONGIN was on his computer, making a progress report about his internship program so far and when he looked down at his watch to check out the time because it was close to 9.00 AM but he still hasn’t seen Naeun around, he was graced by her presence, walking hastily into the office, toting an oversized Nylon bag.

Speak of the devil.

Jongin played it cool, fixating his gaze back to the computer screen and pretended like he didn’t see her coming in as he continued typing.

Naeun was walking past him naturally and locked herself inside her office. Jongin froze, wondering what went through his mind before.

“THAT douchebag,” Naeun grumbled under her breath, throwing brand new Adidas tote bag into her chair and it slumped flat against the back cushion. “He didn’t greet me – heck, he didn’t even care to glance at me, like I was some sort of a bug, a squish-able bug.”

Naeun circled around her office, infuriated by the cold treatment she received from Jongin which she found unjustly.

Okay. So she slapped him. Big deal. Jerks got slapped by women all the time. Why did he have to take that personally?

“I’m still your goddamn boss, dammit. He and his rotten attitude-”

Naeun’s session of self-complaining was temporarily interrupted by the sound of door knocking. Naeun rushed to her desk, fixing her hair and cleared to recompose herself.

“Come in,” Naeun said calmly.

Jongin peeked his head before pushing himself in. He was carrying a steaming hot coffee for her boos.

“They’re out of ice this morning, so I asked for a regular coffee instead.”

Naeun looked up momentarily and diverted her gaze back to the papers on her desk. “M’kay.”

“Excuse me then,” Jongin bowed respectfully and headed out right away aftrr stepping inside tu put the cup on her desk.

It was only after the door has clicked shut that Naeun laid back, slouching into her chair.

“Omo did he hear me? Omo omo omo! I must be crazy! People don’t mock other people when there’s a high chance they could catch you. Dammit Naeun! It’s the simplest rule in the world!”

Naeun dropped her head in her hand and wept.

“God, why does this bother me so much? And why did he look so fine? Has he forgotten this very hand has slapped him?” Naeun wailed, raising up her arm, face twisted in disgut. “Oh God, I remember what he looked like when he got slapped. Broken. That was what he looked like. Curse you, hand! I shall not allow you to hurt Jongin anymore- wait -  why am I saying all this?” Naeun’s frowned, confused.

“I must be crazy! Omo!” Naeun dropped her head again and wailed incoherently. Little did she realize she was never in touch within his crazy self since she was a kid.

*******

Okay.

I know.

I know I have been super duper late with my usual update, and words can’t even begin to describe this regretful feelings I have inside and I just don’t know why it took me forever to post this new chapter.

I’m sorry for the promise broken, dear wonderful readers. Believe me, I was as desperate as you guys to post up a new chapter, but I just didn’t have the time to do so. I have been really busy, and will be even more in the future, so I’m asking for your endless support to not give up on me and my story and patiently wait for new chapter to come up.

Don’t worry, I’m not going hiatus in case you guys were wondering. Geez, that word should be banned. But I’ll have you know what I won’t be updating as frequent as possible because the end of the semester is here, and it just means more and more deadlines to meet.

So, I guess, have fun reading this one and I hope to see you soon in maybe, 3 weeks or 4. I don’t want to do this, but I really have no other choice but to focus on my study. (miannnn T^T)

p/s : this chapter is written less entertaining because I don’t want to tease you guys with all the uncertain period of waiting for a new update c: