HOLDING ON Part 13

"So how did it went? Anything good happened?" MinJee's voice echoed in the room. It has been weeks since she last spoke to this best friend of hers. She bet MinJee had a whole lot of things she's curious about. After all, MinJee was the one to convince her to reach out to her heart and strive for what she wants.

"Well..." HyeoYeon blushed a little. "We're kind of okay with each other now."

MinJee squealed. "Gosh, that's good to hear. I'm so happy for you!"

"Thanks," HyeoYeon grinned.

"So, tell me everything. I want to know what happened," MinJee insisted. Her face eagerly inched closer to the camera.

HyeoYeon played with her fingers a little. She began telling her best friend what happened the first day they met again, and about the accident. She even told her that they were planning to resume where they left off. MinJee was ecstatic to say the least.

"You two are really meant for each other," MinJee meaningfully smiled. "I'm so happy to see you're back to your old self again. The others will be so excited once I tell them how great you're doing over there."

HyeoYeon's blush deepened. "Thanks. It means so much to hear that from the very person who had been opposing my relationship with Jae in the past."

"Well," MinJee chuckled, "I had all the right to be cautious on your behalf. Did you remember how bad of a playboy he was, when both of you were just friends? How could I possibly accept the idea of you two together just like that?"

"Yeah, we did have a pretty complicated past, JaeJoong and I," HyeoYeon agreed, recalling too how JaeJoong had worked very hard to get her to date him despite everything else. Now that she thought about it again, perhaps things could have been different if she hadn't been so defensive. Now that she knew he had always been sincere with his feelings for her, perhaps things wouldn't have been as complicated as they were.

"You two own the weirdest love story I have ever witnessed," MinJee claimed. "I am still puzzled of why this best friend of mine would choose such a man as her life partner. But as long as you're happy and back to you original self, I definitely have no complaints. As long as you're happy, Yeonnie. So make sure you are."

HyeoYeon smiled wide. "I can't recall being any happier than I am now."

"Good. So how much longer are you staying over there? Don't tell me you plan to elope and not return at all."

HyeoYeon laughed. "Don't be silly. It's not like his parents oppose of me or anything. In fact, I bet his mother can't wait to marry us off. It's been too long overdue." Then, she bit a little at her lips. "It's just that, JaeJoong won't be able to come back with me, so I'm kind of trying to delay my leave. I want to spend as much time with him as I could before I really had to go back."

"But you do realise that your term starts in two weeks, right?"

"Yeah. Maybe I'll get the Saturday flight."

"Won't you be jet-lagged?"

"Not as much as I will be homesick."

MinJee suddenly burst out in laughter. "You mean lovesick. Oh my God, Yeonnie, should I regret giving you that advise? Seems you've been loosened elsewhere."

"I was just sugarcoating my words so that you wouldn't barf, dear friend."

"Okay, okay," they both laughed. "By the way, speaking of JaeJoong, where's that sweetheart of yours?"

 HyeoYeon pouted a little. "He's still at work. He told me he'd be a little late."

"But isn't it like ten at night already over there? Wait, it's already eleven, right?"

She sighed. "Yeah. He had to look over a lot of things after the year end, and there's also this huge project he needed to close by next week. He's been very busy the last few days..."

"Aww, Yeonnie. You must be bored while he was away. Why didn't you get in touch with me sooner? I'd be more than pleased to entertain you whenever your lover is not around."

"Gosh, that sounded so wrong," HyeoYeon giggled and rubbed at her ears for non-existent buggers. "I've had enough of cheesy words from JaeJoong already."

And so their neverending conversation lasted until very late at night, and yet, JaeJoong was still nowhere to be seen.

HyeoYeon was starting to get worried. She had to tell MinJee that she was getting tired and wanted to sleep, otherwise MinJee would insist in accompanying her