She ran away again…

I sit on the edge of the bed and sigh.  My head hangs low.

“Ugh…” I groan.  I feel like splitting my head into two and then mincing the content inside into thousand pieces.  “I sure messed up bad…”

I smile bitterly at the doorway.  What has possessed my mind to say and do those things.  It looks like I’ve really scared her away this time.

Song Gayeon, Song Gayeon, Song Gayeon…

Stupid Song Gayeon.

“Hey, why are you trying to pinch the pillow to death?  What did it do to you?”

Great, the chatterbox.  What a great timing for a man who wants to be left alone.

“Hey, don’t sigh at me!” Wendy kicks my leg quite mercilessly.

I wince and roll my eyes in annoyance at her before shifting closer to the left of the bedside so that she has more space to sit.

She grins.  “Just like the good old days, huh?  So, what’s with the beaten up expression on your face?”

“Nothing.” I say flatly, hoping that she would get the hint and leave me alone to sulk.

“Oh yeah, that sure sounds like a whole lot of nothing”.  She responses sarcastically.

“Haha…” I sneer.

She narrows her eyes at me.

I give up and sigh.  “So, what’s up?”

“Well, I was going to ask for your opinion with regards to marriage, but seeing that—”

Marriage?

I raise an eyebrow at her.  “Woah, hold on there…Marriage?!  You?!”

No offense, but despite her ‘homeliness’, she is definitely not the marriage type.

“Ow…” I wince at the pain on my arm.  Fast reflexes tend to come with her defensiveness.

Then, as if nothing has happened, she pulls out an envelope from her handbag.  “Here’s your invitation.  Oh yea, just a warning – don’t hit on any of my bridesmaids or maid of honour, please!”

“So, who’s the lucky guy?” I try to keep my pity for the fellow at bay.

“He’s a small business owner, nothing that involves our industry so I don’t think you'd know him.” Her smile brightens.  “He’s such a sweet pie and always the perfect gentleman too.”

“Oh, that’s cool.” I try to not sound bored, but unfortunately, it is a bit of a difficult task considering that ‘girl talk’ is not one of my favourite pastimes.  I secretly shoot her death glares as continues to talk nonstop.  This woman is still as insensitive as ever.

“But you know…” She sighs.

What’s with her depressing tone all of a sudden?  Wendy Son sighing and sounding all depressed – ha, is this world really coming to an end soon? 

“That’s the problem…” Her eyebrows knit close.  “You know we broke up because we were too similar…”

Oh excuse me, but I’m not a chatterbox like you.  I simply resist the urge to roll my eyes at her.

“So I started to date guys who were different from me.  However, nothing ever seemed to work out…” Her face softens.  “Until he came along.”

I smile.  Just like her, in a way, no women have been able to make a fool out of me until Song Gayeon.

“He is everything I am not.”  She chuckles.  “He is a brilliant type of person.  He is like the perfect Prince Charming.  And yet, strangely enough, there are still moments when he seems so helpless.  Like fixing the kitchen sink, for example, it seems that I’m more efficient than him.  Anyways, we just seem to go so well together.  It’s perfect…and precisely why I’m scared.”

She looks anxious, which is another new side of her that I’m seeing today.  Wendy Son is the easy-going type that takes challenges head-on.  She is never the one who’s anxious or depressed about anything.

Worry graces her usual sunshine face.  “What if nothing works out in the end?”

Erm…so, is this what people would call the ‘marriage blues’?

“So, you’re thinking of calling off the wedding?” I ask carefully.

She shakes her head. “I don’t know.” She looks at me with desperation.  “What would you do if you were in my shoes?”

Seeing her face, somehow I know that telling her something along the line, “relax, it’s just the marriage blues—you’ll get over it,” won’t help much.  So, I take on her hypothetical challenge.

Walking down the memory lane is always bittersweet. 

Gayeon’s every smile and blush, since our first encounter, flashes through my mind.

Her tears, unfortunately, also have not escaped from me. 

Everything in memory always seems to move like a slow-motion, silent film.  Though, not exactly everything…just everything that’s about her.

God, I wish I could turn back the time and change it…change it so that she would have never left from my side in the first place.  “I would never let her go.”

“Huh?” Wendy gives me a confused look.

I clear my throat, “If I were lucky like you and found my better half, I would never let her go.  I mean, if I let go now, then I might not get a second chance to see her again.  Or what if she has already forgotten about me by then and moved on?  Now that I think about it, I don’t think I can live with that outcome.”

A heavy load suddenly seems to lift off me.  Yep…I realize my true resolution just now – I have to give my all to fight for her this time, because she is the one I want to share the rest of my life with.  I don’t even want to consider any other possibilities.

Song Gayeon, just what are you doing to me?

“Wow, when did you become so mature?  Have you consumed poison?!”

I roll my eyes in annoyance.  I can imagine the dumbfound look on her face even without turning around to see her.  “You mock me even though you’re the one asking for advice in the first place.” I state.

“Well, I didn’t expect you would act like an old man all of a sudden.” She retorts.

“Well,” I mimicked her.  “I didn’t expect—”

“Thanks.”

Woah, okay…That’s unexpected of her.  That gratitude almost sounds sincere without her usual jesting attitude.

“Geez, I mean it!” She says, reading my mind.  “You are right.  Meeting him is already a miracle…So what does that make ‘second chances’?  When I really think about it, I don’t think I can ever meet another man like him.  So, I definitely don’t want to risk on the concept of a ‘second chance’.” Her shoulders relax. “Okay, so it might take a little adjustment, but I think I’ll be fine as long as he is by my side.”

I smile and give her a thumb up.  Wendy is back to her usual self again.

“Oh by the way, what’s with those wrinkles under your eyes?” She asks out of the blue.

“Excuse me?” Her ignorantly blunt attitude is, no doubt, offensive at times.  Whoever her fiancé is, I have to praise him for being able to put up with her all the time.

“Here, try this.” She grabs a funny looking spray and—

I shout in pain as my eyes shut way to prevent any more contact of the foreign substance from her spray.

“Oh god!  I’m so sorry!” She panics.

“God damn it, Wendy!” My eyes are burning.

“Okay, okay…calm down.” She is telling herself more than to me.  “Oh god, what should I do, Chanyeol?  Oh, I know!”  Suddenly, I feel her hands on my face, holding my head in place, and scrub my face roughly with her sleeve.

God damn it! Is she trying to save me or kill me?!  Starting to have difficulty breathing, I try to stop her, but unfortunately I seem to grasp nothing but thin air without my eye sight.

“S-sorry,” Huh? Is that Gayeon’s voice?  “I didn’t mean to interrupt…I just need to grab something and I’ll be on my way.”

My heart drops in horror.  I shout, “Gayeon, this is not what it—”

“Err…She’s already left.” Wendy then apologizes awkwardly.  “Haha…Sorry, I seem to have done something unnecessary here…Didn’t I?”

Right on, you did, Sherlock!

God damn it, just when I was starting to believe that luck was finally on my side for once.

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After what seems forever, I'm back again!  Sorry for the long delay, but I have been all over the places these days.  =/  Apologies for the especially crap writing as I'm trying to adjust myself back into the writing mode.  I can't guarantee anything, but I promise that this story is my top priority on my list of stories to finish and that I will definitely finish this story.  Hopefully, not too much of a spoiler, but just a few more chapters to go (and one of the reasons why it took me so long to update -- "Story Ending Anxiety").