Chapter 31
Three months later…

Shin Jae slipped into Sun Young’s office and excitedly closed the door after looking around the office, making sure that no one of importance saw him walk in. Sun Young looked up, a bit of an annoyed expression on her face, as she hated it when people just walked into her office without knocking. Shin Jae was holding a folding in his hands, a big grin on his face.

“You look happy,” Sun Young commented, her annoyance disappearing. She stopped whatever she was doing as he sat down on one of the seats in front of her desk.

“It’s done,” Shin Jae simply told her, handing her the folder in his hands.

“What is?” she asked curiously. As she opened the folder, the look of confusion on her face immediately changed into one of surprise. She looked up at him once more. “Are you sure this is final?”

“I’m sure,” he confirmed with a nod. “Signed.”

“And there are no clauses that could possibly…?” she pressed expectantly.

“There are none,” he firmly established. “I double, triple checked. I even had lawyers look into it.”

Sun Young stood up and offered to shake his hand, beaming. Shin Jae chuckled. Ignoring her offered handshake, he stood up and moved around her desk to hug her.

“You don’t know how important this is,” she told him, hugging him back tightly.

“I do,” he responded, sighing with relief.

Pulling away, she looked up at him with a smile. “Thank you,” she sincerely greeted. “Thank you for doing this.”

He smiled, a sad look in his eyes. “It’s the least I can do.”

“Now, there’s only one thing left,” she reminded him. She then sighed, shaking her head. “Which is actually the hardest part out of the whole thing.”

He chuckled. “I would have to agree with that.”

~ * ~

A laugh echoed in the studio as a click of a camera sounded followed by the flash. This was followed by more laughter. Taeyeon, Sooyoung, Tiffany, Hyoyeon and Jessica were all doing silly poses, making each other and even the photographer laugh. They kept on making funny faces and horsing around, even resulting to carrying each other and running around the place.

“Jin, you should join us!” Tiffany happily called, laughing as Hyoyeon did a really crazy dance that got all other girls in fits of laughter.

“Joining you would defeat the purpose of having a photo shoot as there would be no one to take the photos,” Jin Ri responded, laughing along with them.

Taeyeon stepped out of the shoot area and walked over to Jin Ri, who was happily clicking away. She smiled at her friend who seemed to be doing much better than the last time they had talked, which was around a month ago.

“How are the pictures coming along?” Taeyeon asked, wanting to take a look at the photos.

“Really funny,” Jin Ri answered with a chuckle, showing her the photos in the camera. 

Taeyeon started laughing as she saw all the funny captures. She then wrinkled her nose as she saw a picture that wasn’t very flattering. “I don’t think that’s going to be put on a frame,” she commented.

“I would put all of these in an album,” Jin Ri said otherwise, smiling a little.

Sooyoung, Tiffany and Hyoyeon were in the middle of a scuffle-slash-mini wrestling match when the studio door opened and a couple of guys walked in.

“What’s going on here?”

The girls stopped what they were doing, stunned for a moment, then their faces broke out into huge grins. Tiffany pushed Hyoyeon off of her and skipped towards the group of males, right into the arms of one of the taller ones.

“Oppa!” Sooyoung called, waving ecstatically.

“Who do we have here?”

“Jin Ri!” the voices chorused in surprise.

Jin Ri was then engulfed in a tight hug. She smiled and hugged him back. “Hi oppa!”

“When did you get back?” Heechul demanded, giving her another hug, a tighter one. The last time he saw her was in the hospital. He hadn’t tried contacting her after that because, even if he wanted to, he knew it wouldn’t be fair.

“Yesterday,” Jin Ri answered.

“You’ve been back a day and you never even thought of telling us?” Leeteuk looked like he was offended, but there was a teasing glint in his eyes. “I would at least think you would tell us when you came back since you didn’t tell us that you were leaving.”

“I wouldn’t even know she was back if I hadn’t accidentally ran into her during dinner last night,” Taeyeon relayed, making a face at Jin Ri. “And I had to drag her to hang out with us today.”

“You just needed someone to take photos for you,” Jin Ri pointed out, rolling her eyes.

“I had to think of something to get you to come,” Taeyeon shot back, poking her tongue out at her.

“Did you change your mobile number?” Siwon, who was quietly standing beside Heechul, then asked, interrupting the girls’ childishness. He had tried contacting her a couple of times, after finding out the real story, but to no avail.

Jin Ri looked at him, a bit surprised that he spoke to her. They never really had the chance to talk anymore. She smiled and nodded. “I had to,” she simply replied.

“And you didn’t even bother to tell us,” Leeteuk commented, shaking his head, sighing exaggeratedly.

“You can have it now,” Jin Ri said, smiling and taking out a BlackBerry from her pocket.

Jin Ri exchanged numbers with the boys. Heechul kept his arm around her the entire time. He realized that he really missed this dongsaeng of his. Her hair had grown much longer, now reaching below her shoulders. She looked fresh, happy, like she’d been relieved of a heavy burden. He sighed as he squeezed her arm, making her look up at him and smile. There were only a number of dongsaengs he truly doted on: Donghae, Taeyeon, and Sulli. He decided that he was going to add Jin Ri to that list.

“You better not disappear on us like that again,” Heechul warned her, waving his finger in front of her face.

“Where did you go anyway?” Leeteuk wanted to know.

“Japan.” She said it in a casual and nonchalant way, but her hand reached out to play with her necklace’s pendant. It was something she had been doing every now and then ever since the boys arrived.

Suddenly, Sooyoung let out a happy cry. Everyone turned to her, shocked, wondering what was going on.

“It’s Kyuhyun oppa!” Sooyoung shared, waving her phone in the air. Kyuhyun was apparently in China promoting with Super Junior M. Siwon wasn't with them because he had a filming schedule for one of his shows. She was just about to answer the call when she felt how quiet the room had become. Her eyes widened and immediately flew to Jin Ri. “Jin, I…”

Jin Ri laughed, something that no one expected her to do. “It’s okay, Sooyoung,” she assured the long-legged girl. She then held her left hand up. “I’m engaged, remember?” All eyes turned to the ring on the fourth finger.

Sooyoung stood still for a moment before quietly excusing herself to answer the call outside. As soon as the door closed, everyone gathered around her to look at her engagement ring. It was simple, silver with a sapphire stone. (http://jewelryd.com/images/spotlight-ring-round-blue-sapphire-engagement_296221.jpg)

“I don’t mean to sound offensive, but isn’t Shin Jae-ssi really rich?” Jessica asked, studying the ring. “Isn’t there supposed to be a big rock on your finger?”

Jin Ri chuckled, nodded. “But I told him I wouldn’t wear anything excessive. I like this ring,” she told them contentedly as she held her hand in front of her. “It’s simple and lovely. It reminds me of happy things.”

“It seems he knows you well enough to know what you would like,” Leeteuk commented, exchanging a glance with Siwon. He watched as she responded.

“I would like to think that the man I’m marrying knows me well,” Jin Ri stated jokingly.

“But what about Kyuhyun op—?” Tiffany began, but Taeyeon grabbed her arm to stop her from talking. “Sorry,” she immediately apologized.

Jin Ri thought back to Sooyoung receiving a call from Kyuhyun. In her time in Japan, she somehow managed to follow Kpop news. There were reports of the two idols dating, or at least that they were always seen to hang out together. Smiling and meeting Leeteuk’s eyes, she affirmed, “It’s better this way.”

~ * ~

The Super Junior members made sure they made their presence known in Jin Ri’s life once more. After meeting some of them for the first time after three months of no contact, her phone was continuously bombarded with messages and calls. It seemed that Leeteuk and Heechul had spread her number to the other members. She was beginning to wonder whether it was a good idea to have given them her number. Eunhyuk, who was so put out by the fact that he was at a schedule when the other members saw her, kept on sending messages and had kept on calling to ask whether they could meet up and talk. So, finally, after a week of daily message-bombardment, she finally agreed.

The moment Eunhyuk stepped into the café and saw Jin Ri, he made a beeline for her in a corner of the shop and wrapped her in a tight hug even before she even realized that he had already arrived. He then pulled away and got a good look at her.

“Oppa,” she laughed.

“Mimi told me to make sure you were doing fine,” he relayed.

“I’m fine,” she assured him as they sat down across from each other. “You can give him my number so he can bombard me just like you guys do.” She chuckled as he looked sheepish.

“You can’t really blame us,” he pointed out. “You disappeared so suddenly. And for three months at that.” He leaned back on his seat and watched as she smiled a smile that didn’t really reach her eyes.

“I just thought that after what I did, after breaking up with Kyuhyun for a second time, you guys wouldn’t want to have anything to do with me,” she explained, slowly meeting his eyes.

He didn’t say anything because there was much truth in her statement. He couldn’t speak for all of the members, but he was very hurt and angry at how she broke up with Kyuhyun with them present, at how she lied right to theirs and Kyuhyun’s face. Despite that, they didn’t expect that she would change her number and just leave like that.

“What did you do in Japan?” he then asked, changing the subject.

“I breathed,” she shared, a wide smile forming on her face. He raised an eyebrow at her, although he had a vague idea about what she meant. “Japan is so beautiful, oppa. I don’t know why I’d never been there before. Kyu was right.”

It was obvious that she hadn’t realized that she mentioned Kyuhyun and that she called him by his nickname. He sighed inwardly, wondering why on earth those two were still apart.

“So what else did you do?” he wanted to know.

“Just took photos,” she said. When he gave her a curious look, she continued, “I stopped taking photos when Kyuhyun and I—.” This time she noticed that she slipped his name out and mentally scolded herself. “It wasn’t the same so when I came to Japan, I decided that I was going to start over with photography. I took a couple of classes then took some jobs.” She grinned. “It was fun.”

“I’m surprised you were allowed to take a leave of three months from work,” he wondered conversationally.

She smiled. “Well they can’t very well stop someone who doesn’t work there anymore.” She took a sip of her iced chocolate drink as he coughed in surprise.

“You quit your job?” he clarified, leaning forward.

“I did,” she proudly told him.

“Your uncle let you?” he pressed. “He didn’t get mad?”

“Oh he got mad,” she assured him.


“Just put it on the desk,” Mong Koo stated, not looking up from the papers he was signing. “We can discuss it during the meeting later this afternoon.”

Jin Ri placed the report on the desk, but didn’t leave. Her uncle looked up when he realized that she was still standing in front of his desk. She handed him another item, a white envelope. He gave her a questioning look.

“That’s the last report I’m doing for this company,” Jin Ri summarized.

He put his pen down and opened the envelope to find her resignation letter. His gaze snapped up to her, his eyes sharp and unmoved.

“No,” he simply decided. He flung the paper on his desk and went back to what he was signing.

“I’ve done my duty to you and this company,” she stated firmly, holding her ground.

“You’re not done yet,” he crisply responded, glaring at her. “Your duty will only be done when I say you’re done. This is a family business. The whole family is required to take part in it.”

“Didn’t you hire me just so I would spend less time with Kyuhyun? Just so I would spend more time with Shin Jae and eventually marry him for some stupid merger?” she reminded him piercingly. “Well, that’s all done. I think that’s big enough of a part for me.”

Mong Koo put his pen down once more and clasped his hands together on top of the desk. “You’ve gone back on your word,” he shot back. “If I remember correctly, our deal was that you would never see that idol boyfriend of yours ever again.”

She fought the urge to roll her eyes, not wanting to be any more disrespectful than she already was. “We’re not seeing each other,” she reiterated. “We’re broken up. You’ve made sure that I would marry Shin Jae no matter what and that’s what’s happening. Besides, you promised you wouldn’t play with his schedule anymore and yet you still did. I think that evens things up.”

“Jin Ri,” he began sternly.

“Appa,” she responded, her tone softening. “I love you, I do, but I can’t take this anymore. I’ve given you everything you wanted from me. I’m getting married in a couple of months to the man you want for me. This is all I’m asking from you.”


Eunhyuk’s mouth hung open, very much surprised at this piece of information. He didn’t think anyone knew that she had resigned. Jin Ri giggled at his reaction and fed him a cookie so he would close his mouth.

“Photography has always been what I’ve wanted to do,” she went on. “That’s what I’m sticking with. It reminds me of all the good things in life.”

“But doesn’t it remind you of some… unpleasant stuff as well?” he asked. He knew that one of the reasons that she and Kyuhyun became closer was because of photography.

She smiled and shrugged. “Without the bad stuff, we won’t have the good so I’m just grateful for everything,” she answered.

He studied her for a while, wondering what it would take for her to see that she clearly wasn’t over the past. He was about to say something when she reminded him that he hadn’t given her a copy of their repackaged album like he had promised in the past. He then reminded her that he would have but she had left them.

“But I didn’t forget my promise,” he proudly told her, bringing out a copy of the mentioned repackaged album and handing it to her.

She smiled as she excitedly flipped the album open. Right on the first page was Sungmin’s photo complete with a dedication from him. She looked up at Eunhyuk, who was smiling at her. Turning her attention back to the album and reading the messages, tears stung her eyes in appreciation. They all said the same thing, that they missed her and that they were sorry they weren’t able to be there for her in a time when she also needed them. She looked at him once more, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. He looked shocked and panicked.

“Why are you crying?” he asked, grabbing a tissue and giving it to her. “There’s nothing to cry about.”

“I should be the one apologizing,” she told him, gesturing to the album.

“You’re crying because of that?” he asked, chuckling a little. “You’re such a silly girl.” He reached out and ruffled her hair. “We should have been there for you. We should never have taken sides. Friends don’t take sides.”

She shook her head vehemently. “Kyuhyun’s most important. He’s family,” she told him. “It’s just right that you stayed by his side. I wouldn’t have it any other way. It wouldn’t be fair.”

Jin Ri flipped through the album. In seeing Ryeowook’s photo, she smiled. He had called her the day after she saw Leeteuk, Heechul and Siwon. He was in China for his Super Junior M promotions, but decided that he couldn’t wait to talk to her. They talked for a long time on the phone, like he was making up for what had happened in the past.

“Have you heard his new solo?” Eunhyuk asked, watching her closely. It was weird at how they suddenly seemed close when Ryeowook was the one who was most upset with her in the beginning. She smiled at him and shook her head. He brought out another CD and handed it to her. “You should check the lyrics out.”

She got the CD and put it under the repackaged album that she was still looking through. She turned the page. It was Kyuhyun’s page. Her heart unwillingly clenched. She habitually reached for her necklace pendant with her right hand. With an evident sigh, she traced Kyuhyun’s photo with her other hand, the sapphire stone of her ring glinting under the light. It would be a lie if she said that she didn’t miss him. She missed him everyday. And she didn’t think she would ever stop missing him.

“He called you for a month,” he interrupted her thoughts, looking interestedly at her engagement ring.

“What?” she asked, blinking.

“He called you everyday for a month even when he couldn’t connect to your phone since you changed numbers,” he repeated. “He kept on trying just in case.”

She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion at this. Wasn’t Kyuhyun supposed to be mad at her? Furious, even. She made sure that she said things that would hurt him so that he would be angry and would stay away.

“Teukie hyung is right,” he concluded, shaking his head.

“About what?” she wanted to know, still feeling confused.

“You take Kyuhyun’s love for you lightly,” he elaborated.

“Oppa, what are you—?” she began to ask.

“I’ve known Kyuhyun for a long time,” he explained. “I’ve seen him fall in and out of love with different people and things. He’s had a couple of girlfriends, some serious and some… not so serious ones. You’ve met Na Young.” She nodded. “He loved her.”

Jin Ri nodded. She knew well that Kyuhyun cared a lot about her. Even after the wedding, they remained good friends. Na Young and her husband even suggested that Kyuhyun be a godfather to one of their kids when the time comes.

“He got over her rather quickly,” he shared. “He moped for a while. But when she broke up with him, he never did anything to get her back. That was it.” He pierced her with his gaze, knowing fully well that he was pushing his luck and her patience. “The way he loved her was so different from the way he loved you. I’ve never seen Kyu so afraid to lose anything like the way he did with you. He’s just different with you. It was so evident even from the very first time he met you—no from the moment he saw you. He kept on asking us who you were. I guess he couldn’t help himself that he actually talked to you that same day.”

She smiled and shook her head. “No, actually I talked to him first.”

He was about to continue his monologue when what she said sunk in. “Really? Why?” That magnae of theirs was such a dork and so evil sometimes that it really baffled him how he’s able to get girls to notice him.

She laughed at this. “He was so focused on his game. I thought it was funny and interesting.”

“He loves gaming,” he confirmed what she said. “That’s something that’s been with him since and yet he hasn’t done much gaming when he was with you, except when you bought him that Star Craft II.”

“You should go into sales after your idol days, oppa,” she told him, amused at his passion for getting her to go back to Kyuhyun. “You’ll do well.”

“I haven’t even gotten to the good part yet,” he shot back, smiling back at her. “What I’m trying to say is, he loves you, Jin, in a different and much bigger way than he’s loved before. Why can’t you see that? None of the things he has mean anything because he doesn’t have you by his side.”

“Oppa, I’m getting married in a couple of weeks,” she quietly said. After three months and with a wedding on the way, she would have thought that this would be long over by now. She would have thought that everyone would have gotten tired and moved on. “Why are you doing this?”

“Maybe I should be asking you the same question,” he threw back. “Why are you doing this?”

“I know you know why,” she responded. She was almost sure that all of the members knew her reasons. She wondered if Kyuhyun knew. “It’s not that simple.”

“Do you love him?” Eunhyuk plainly asked.

“Love is not enough,” Jin Ri replied. “I’ve learned the hard way. And I’m tired of fighting for it to be enough.”