Right now, we are reaching the end of the semester, in a slightly painful cold February.

The final exams were all done, much to the students relief and all that was left were the extra curriculum activities that were still left behind, which also included the musical.

As for Yongguk and Jieun, there wasn’t any change.

Despite the hatred she felt towards him, she couldn’t push away the worried feeling about his grades and if he did well on his finals. After all, she was his tutor and now that he had lost his football scholarship, she still didn’t know about his post-graduation plans and it did leave her worried. She wasn’t heartless, she still cared for him but it wasn’t erasing the pain that was still thumping in her heart.

For Yongguk, it’s not like he had much of a choice anyways, right? He needed the good grades and as much as he hated this, he gave up – for the time being – chasing after Jieun so he could put all of his focus on his studies. He deeply missed those ‘study sessions’ he had with her, which was one of the factors that kept him distracted from the work he needed to do.

The boy remembered the drunken call he had left and hoped that at least it would stir something for Jieun but as he could see over the last month, she kept on ignoring him. He wasn’t going to give up though; he was still willing to fight to win her back no matter what he would do.

As for Jieun, she put all the ‘drama’ behind her so she could solely focus on her studies and the play. Though she was able to do so during the last few weeks, she did have some slip ups from time to time, earning herself to hold in her tears the best she could and just push away any painful thoughts and imagery that would remind her of her ex-boyfriend and her step-sister.

Luckily, she had the support of her friends and the end of the semester to keep her busy but it didn’t erase the nagging voice in the back of her head telling her that the break up was a mistake, that she could still win if she had just fought back.

But again, she would just ignore it because she was convinced that this was the best thing, when in reality she was just afraid to get hurt again.

The hard work they’ve been putting for the play over the last semester was finally going to get paid off with tonight’s performance.

Slowly, the auditorium was starting to get filled up with the public taking their seats around the area, leaving the drama club to hastily get prepared backstage.

From one end to the other, the people behind the curtains were running around, making sure that things were in place before the start of the first act, making the stress level pretty damn high.

Hana was by the sound system for the music, Hyosung was fixing the details of the costumes to perfection, Sunhwa was making sure nothing was missing and Jieun was warming up her vocal chords while getting dressed, as the same went for the rest of the cast and the crew doing their jobs.

“We’re up in 5 minutes!”

“Sunhwa! I need to talk to you!” Turning around, the girl in question spotted Hana running towards her as she was clutching tightly onto her phone. “What’s wrong? Is the sound system off? Are we missing a song?”

“No, it’s about Jieun… and Yongguk.”

“Huh?”

“Just, whatever happens, keep the curtains up, okay? Don’t stop the play.”

“I’m scared now, what aren’t you telling me?”

“I’ll let you know when it happens. Jieun can’t know about this, though or she’ll freak.”

“O-okay… Just tell me one thing… Is it going to ruin the play?”

The show had started about an hour ago and so far, everything was going well.

Well, until now – well later, towards the end. You’ll see why.

Act through act, there wasn’t any hitch as things were going smoothly, much to Sunhwa’s delight. But just when she was sighing in relief, her phone buzzed inside her pocket, picking up her curiosity. Taking it out, she spotted Hana’s ID across the screen and cursed at herself before answering. “It’s happening when?”

“The moment the Prince is going to confess. Right before the abrupt kiss towards the ending.”

“Does he really need to ruin the play for this?”

“Yah~ Sunhwa, he’s doing this to win Jieun back-”

“I know, I know. As long as he does it properly and make the audience think its part of the musical.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll let him know.”

“Where is he right now?”

“On the other side of the door. I’ll send him a signal when he’ll need to enter.”

“I’ll be waiting then.”

Hanging up from her end of the line, Hana carefully watched from her booth at the back of the auditorium where the stage was in front of her while Sunhwa was going through the script, scanning over the moment the interruption would’ve been made.

‘5,4,3,2,1’

Right then and there, the door to the theater opened so roughly, it had knocked against the wall as it was pulled away from its frame.

“Wait!”

Back on stage, Jieun suddenly froze in her spot at the sound of his familiar voice, shivers running across her skin. Pulling herself away from the embrace of the male lead, she turned her head to see a panting Yongguk running down the aisle towards the stage, leaving the audience to whisper loudly between them, some of them in confusion while others were anticipating the sudden ‘twist’.

“Y-Yongguk?” She quietly spoken out his name, her heart beat stuck in as she watched him approach her. “What are you doing here?”

“I had to talk to you.”

“I already told you to leave me alone! You’ve done enough!”

“Why won’t you let me explain myself?!” Stopping in his tracks, he let out the slight frustration against her, catching her off guard as well as himself, but simply brushed it off, continuing towards her. “Babe, please, just let me talk. I’m begging you-”

“Go away.”

“Not until you let me talk.”

“I don’t need to hear more lies-” He jumped on the stage and quickly took hold of her hand, pulling her against him as he cupped her cheeks and shut her up with a sudden kiss, leaving their audience to gasp quietly in surprise. Jieun tried to push herself away from his grasp but the overwhelming feeling that she felt whenever he would kiss her was coming back, washing away all her senses; she was slowly giving up her fight as she started to kiss him back, giving him back the same intensity he had.

It left both of them breathless until they (were slowly) slowed down. She was breaking away from the kiss with Yongguk still holding onto her, placing soft pecks on her lips, wanting to make it last a little longer from the longing he felt of wishing to be close to her again.

“S-stop. Please, j-just stop…” Breathing out her plea, he stared at her straight to her eyes, seeing them shimmer with unshed tears. She gently pushed him away as she took a couple of step backwards to give some space between the both of them. She was regulating her breath, turning her back on him and ran her fingers through her hair, her eyes tightly shut close to hold in her emotions.

Heavily breathing, he silently watched her as he tried to form his next words.

The audience was quiet – to the point that it could’ve been just Yongguk and Jieun present at the moment.

“I love you.” He couldn’t keep quiet anymore; he was slowly bursting out.

Opening her eyes wide, her breathing stopped as the air got stuck in . Her heart skipped a beat at his words, tears fell from her eyes.

“I love you Jieun. I’m in love with you.”

Placing her hands over to muffle her sobs, she didn’t hear him walk to her until she felt his hands on her shoulders, her back gently pressed against his chest. He leaned his face closer, his mouth right over her ear and lovingly whispered ‘I love you’ once more before placing a kiss right on her temple.

Warmth spread through her body, her heart squeezing at the confession, conflicted on what to do.

She wanted to say it back. She wanted to tell him that she loved him too but the words wouldn’t come out, because she couldn’t. She was still in pain and his presence was making things worse.

“L-leave.”

“J-Jieun-”

“Just go away… And don’t look back. It’s o-over Yongguk.”

She pushed him away, which made him stumble lightly backwards, and walked out of the stage, leaving only Yongguk – and the male lead standing before he walked away, on the other side.

The audience was still quiet, letting the soft cries of the quaterback to echo across the four walls.

The lights turned off and the curtains were lowering, hiding him from the rest of the crowd. The gesture left the audience to believe that this was all part of the act, leaving them to applaud in content at the end of the play.

Ignoring the noise, Yongguk walked out from the stage to the backstage where eyes were all settled on him, mixed emotions swaying through from pity to anger for, well, ruining the play. He ignored the stares and was ready to make his way out of the auditorium when he stopped in his tracks at the sound of Bong Cha’s voice coming from behind him. “Why do you keep humiliating yourself when you know that she won’t ever take you back Guk, hmm? She’s not worth it.”

“She is. More than you’ll ever be.”

“Aish. Seriously?!” She let out an irritated huff and walked closer to the boy, her arms sliding up on his back until her palms were right on his chest, tiptoed with her words whispering through his ear. “I’m all that you have left babe~ Stop worrying about her, hmm? I’m here-”

“You heard me Bong Cha.” He roughly pushed her away from him and turned around to face her, frustration clearly taking over him. “I love her. Not you. As a matter of fact, I’ve never loved you, so back off. I’m done dealing with your .”

Anger and spite, she slapped him across the face, earning some quiet gasps from the small crowd that were surrounding them. “You ungrateful a**hole. After everything I did, you still want to be with someone like her?!” Her words were getting more people backstage to listen to their conversation, curious to know what she meant by ‘everything’, including Yongguk obviously – this was a queue moment for Jieun’s friends and you’ll soon figure out why.

“You’re so pathetic Yongguk. You know why she’ll never trust you again? Or take you back? Because you’re easily played, that’s why. That little shower scene alone proved that. And then, there’s the backseat of your car, that little ‘misunderstanding’ with those pictures – you did stand by my side because you hesitated~”

“Nothing happened in that car. Stop making yourself think that we’ll get back together. It’s not going to happen.”

“Ugh! Why don’t you just give up already?! She hates you! Get over it! God damn it! I even had to dirty myself with some slime just to make her see that she had no chance of being with you and screwed the rest of her life just so she could back off from you!”

“And you succeeded! Okay?! Are you happy?!”

“HELL NO! You weren’t suppose to fall in love with her!”

“Get over yourself Bong Cha. With the way you are, nobody’s ever going to love you.”

“Especially not the people in the audience~” The third voice, interrupting the conversation, made the two exes turn their back to see Sunhwa, Hana and Hyosung standing next to each other, looking quite satisfied with themselves. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Hana started to walk towards the two while speaking up about being ‘forgetful’. “Well, silly me, instead of turning off the sound system, I pressed the wrong button and switched it on so we could hear backstage and at the front. Now everybody knows how much of a scum you are.” She breathed out and suddenly punched Bong Cha right over her eye, making the girl cry out from the abrupt impact. “And that was for Jieun.”

Shaking away the ache of her fist, Hana walked back to her friends, along with the others that were starting to scatter away leaving Bong Cha to stomp her way out while Yongguk stood frozen, a light bulb over his head.

He looked around to see if he could find Jieun. Hearing the door open, he turned back and saw her walk out from the theater. He quickly left and ran after her, fast enough to catch her by her arm, making them both stop. “J-Jieun… Did you hear-”

“Yes. Everything.” Pulling her arm away from his grasp, she was about to walk away from him when he stopped her once again by going and blocking her way. “Then why do you still look angry?”

“Because she’s right Yongguk! You were so easily played! I trusted you! I believed you when you said that you wanted to be with me! Was it all a lie?”

“No, of course not.”

“Then why do I feel like this? Why do I feel like you’re just playing with my feelings? Why the f* did you want me of all people?! You had the cheerleader and the rest of the freaking squad at your feet and possibly the rest of the girls from this school, all ready for you! Why me? Why did you have to hurt me?”

“I’m sorry Jieun. I really am. I hate myself for hurting you but please, I’m begging you, don’t leave me. I love you, I can’t have you walk away from me, please stay. I’ll fix this, I’ll do everything and anything I can to fix this, j-just don’t leave, please.”

Word through word, he had closed in the distance that was separating them until he was able to gently hold her, his hands softly cupping her cheeks with his fingers lightly the skin. He was looking straight at her and she could see that he was about to breakdown. Fixating her gaze, she couldn’t pull her self away and simply gazed back at him with the same broken expression. She saw him lean closer and simply let him kiss her lightly, a soft innocent kiss on her lips, before breaking away a mere inch, as he whispered a gentle ‘please’ and took her breath away by pressing his lips harder against hers, kissing her just like he did earlier on stage, his pent up emotions all poured out.

She pressed her hands against his chest to hold herself up as she felt her knees weakened. She missed having him this close to her and kissing her like this but despite the warmth that was lingering in the pit of her stomach, she was still in doubt about forgiving him so easily and quickly.

She broke away from the kiss with a choppy breath escaping her lungs. Eyes still closed, she pulled away as she gingerly took hold of his hands before dropping them by the side of his body.

The hurt in his eyes was still there and she could sense her heart squeeze with what she was about to do.

“I’m still hurt… And… I don’t want to see you. Not now anyways… I need time.”

“I’ll wait. As long as you want me back-”

“I didn’t say that. I said that I needed time. I need time to think Yongguk.”

She turned around and walked away, leaving him standing, just like always as he watched her disappear from his sight; once she wasn’t there, he started to quietly cry, tears slowly streaming down his face. He got distracted from the pain when he heard his phone ring. Picking it up from his pocket, he saw the ID and started walking out of campus as he answered Natasha’s eager phone call.

For Jieun, she quickly went into hiding in the ladies’ room, trying to stop herself from breaking down.

“I thought I’d find you here moping.”

Through the mirror, she let out an irritated sigh at the sight of Bong Cha standing behind her. “What do you want?! Haven’t you done enough already?! I’m miserable! You win, now leave me alone.”

“I may have won but I certainly don’t feel like I did.” Walking closer, she pulled out of her back pocket Jieun’s phone and gently threw it on the counter, making it land in front of its owner. “What the hell were you doing with my phone?”

“Trying to ruin your life, what else?”

“Why are you giving it back to me?”

“Well mom said that you were moving out soon since school is over and now that you’re 18, going 19 soon, you don’t need to stay at the house, which means that I won’t get to see you anymore.” At that, Bong Cha was about to walk away as Jieun stopped her, a scoff escaping . “You’re unbelievable, you know that? From the beginning, since we met, you’ve been patronizing me and all for what, huh?! And you actually think that you won? Sweetie, you don’t have the boy. I do. And I’m glad I don’t get to see your face anymore.

She could see the cheerleader’s anger creeping back up but it did nothing to her; Bong Cha ended up walking away without giving a second glance. Left alone in her thoughts, Jieun picked up her phone and noticed the missed calls and unanswered messages all coming from Yongguk himself until her eyes landed on a familiar number.

“That little ! They actually called me?”

She soon got distracted by the number when she spotted that Yongguk had left a voicemail. With much reluctance, she finally decided to give it a listen. “Jieun-ah… I’m s-sorry. I love you. I’m sorry for h-urting you – for betraying you-” She immediately broke down into sobs, her back sliding against the wall of the restroom while still listening to his message.

Hanging up, that nagging voice that told her she did wrong came back, pushing her and telling her to fix things before it was too late.

As much as she wanted to take him back, she couldn’t allow herself to do this. Not yet.

Not when she still wanted to figure things out.

Not when, on the other side of that door, the opportunity of a lifetime was waiting for her.

A/N: 

Just letting you guys know that the story will come to an end with the next chapter being its last one :3

Lots of love, xo