CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

After the funeral, things were slowly going back to way it was back in the Jung mansion, except for the fact that there one was less occupied chair on their dining table. For the meantime, Jaejoong and his family moved back to the mansion, which made Soojung cheer up especially whenever her brother asks her to take care of her little nephew.

 

Their meals together were quite awkward though since they have literally nothing to talk about. The minutes that they spend together in that damn table was very nerve wrecking, with their mother still pretending not to know that her second daughter is pregnant, and Jaejoong hasn’t fought with Jessica, something that doesn’t really happen a lot when they gather.

 

However, Jessica seemed to know a great topic to talk about.

 

“Yoona told me that you kissed Jongin at that school ball of yours.” Soojung hears her sister say out loud and she swears she almost died, literally. If Katherine didn’t hand her a glass of water, she could have choked and died for real.

 

After taking a gulp of the drink, she feels her whole family looking at her, waiting for her to speak up. Fortunately, she hears Jaesung crying and was about to take this as a chance to get away, but Catherine quickly gets up. “But unnie, I’m supposed to take care of him. I can manage-”

 

“It’s okay, darling. I’ve finished my breakfast anyways.” The older girl winks at her before leaving the room to take care of her son. Slowly, Soojung returns to her seat, not facing her family because she could still feel her face burning by her sister’s question.

 

“Well? I’m waiting for you response.” Jessica taps her fingers, not moving her gaze from her.

 

“Oh, unnie were you talking to me?” She laughs awkwardly as she pulls her hair behind her ear.

 

“What? Oh, no. No I wasn’t. Obviously, I was talking to Jaejoong here because you know, they’re engaged- Of course I’m talking to you, Jung Soojung.”

 

“Well, I mean… I’m not saying that it’s true. But if it was, it doesn’t really matter, right?” Soojung laughs very loud in hopes that they'd laugh along, but her family just looked at her judgingly, not contended by her answer. "Okay, we did kiss that night, but we've kissed a lot more times before so it's like- Oh my god. I..." Feeling like her cheeks was getting redder by the minute, Soojung turns to her brother who was sitting across Jessica for help, but he just makes things a lot worse. 

 

“I did catch them almost kissing once.” Jaejoong tells their mother, and for whatever reason it made her feel like as if he was reporting her for doing something bad.

 

“Oppa!”

 

“And I caught them getting very intimate the other night.” Her sister adds.

 

“Unnie!”

 

“And Jongin personally asked me if he could bring her to Paris so…” Their mother coolly shrugs, making it as if it wasn’t a big deal.

 

“He did what?!” The Jung siblings shout in union, surprised by what they’ve just heard. Even if she already knew about the trip since she was the one who got asked, Soojung was equally, if not more, surprised as her siblings. She was planning to tell that to her mother just after their breakfast, but there she was spilling the tea to everyone.

 

Still surprised, both Jaejoong and Jessica look at their younger sister at the same time, while she just displayed a small and awkward smile, “Uhm, surprise?”

 

“You’re really going with him?” Jessica questions, the shock in the tone of her voice was quite evident. “Wow, I really learn a new thing about my own sister every day.”

 

“Are you really that surprised? I mean, she went to Paris alone with him last year.” Jaejoong states. “And that’s your fault because you’re always not around her.”

 

Just like that, her siblings started arguing just like the good old days. The only difference was their mother joining in, telling them to shut up as they were having their breakfast, but of course, as she expected they did not stop. Soojung wasn’t very sure if she was embarrassed by the fact that they were just talking about her relationship with Jongin, or glad that the awkwardness in the atmosphere was gone.

 

“Uhm, does anybody want to bake some cookies with me?” Soojung asks innocently to her family in attempt to make them stop, but the three just looked at her. “No? Okay…”

 

 

Since their flight was in 3PM, Soojung and Jongin had to go to the airport an hour earlier. He told her that he’ll pick her up so at 1:30, he arrives at the Jungs’ mansion together with his driver. Much to his surprise, when they parked the car at their driveway, Soojung and her family was there – her mother, her sister, her brother and his family.

 

Upon seeing the car enter their grounds, Soojung turned to her family from her luggage that she has been sitting at while waiting for him. She really never expected for them to go outside and wait alongside her, but there they were. Even when she pointed at the car, signalling that her ride was there, they still stayed and waited for Jongin to come out.

 

“Good afternoon.” He greets everyone and bows immediately as soon as he got out. He pretended not to notice but Jessica coughs intentionally while Catherine just giggles. Blushing a little as her older sisters , she flashes him a small, shy smile.

 

“Hello, darling.” Mrs. Jung approaches him to hug him. She then glances at her youngest daughter who was showering kisses to her nephew to say goodbye before whispering to him, “Thank you for doing this to Soojung.”

 

“I’d do anything for your daughter. I know… she’ll be happy after this.” He tells her, looking at the same direction where the older woman was looking at. Soojung, finally finished kissing Jaesung (more like, Jaejoong was telling her to stop and she had to), turns around and was a little shocked to see that both her mother and her fiancé were looking at her. “I’ll take care of her in Paris. I promise.”

 

“Are you talking about me?” She points to herself, a little suspicious about what they just talked about. But her mother just shook her head and tells them to go ahead.

 

Before entering the car, the two hears Jaejoong shout, “Take care of my baby sister, okay?” His loud voice startles his son whom he has been carrying, making him cry.

 

“Oppa! Just go inside! Jaesung wants to sleep!” Soojung frowns, and even their own mother agrees to what she just said.

 

Laughing a bit, Jongin made sure to bow in front of her family again before he entered the car after her, showing how thankful he was for letting him bring her to Paris.

 

 

Throughout the car ride to the airport, Soojung had been really quiet, which doesn’t surprise him that much. He’d occasionally comment about small things such as the music on the radio, the weather and their plane ride, and she would just reply in short answers. Knowing how bad she might have been feeling these days, he didn’t talk much to not bug her. He didn’t want to force her to talk to him anyways.

 

Most people at the airport looked very tired and sleepy, including Soojung, which he thought was quite funny as they haven’t even travelled yet. But still, he didn’t say any word and just slowly placed her head to his shoulders so she could at least take a nap while waiting for their flight.

 

“What did my mother tell you?”

 

“Hmm… Nothing much.” He answers as he starred at their reflection at the airport’s glass window. He had his arm around her shoulder just to make sure that she doesn’t fall, and he knows deep in his heart, he’ll never forget that scene. “Just the usual stuff mother says when their daughter’s about to go on a trip with someone.”

 

“You know, for the past three days… She acted quite strange and I don’t think it’s because my father passed away.” She mumbles. “She was so chill about this trip and looked much more excited than I was, honestly.”

 

“Of course your mother’s going to be okay with this. She adores me as if I was her own son. But then, who doesn’t adore me?”

 

Chuckling, she finally opens her eyes but does lift her head from his shoulder. “No matter how much it annoys me, my parents do adore you. My father even mentioned you in his letter for me.”

 

A little surprised, she watched as his eyes widen from their reflection. “Really? What did he say about me?”

 

“That he already asked you before to make me happy and he hopes that you really do that…” Soojung presses her lips together as she looked up to him, thinking if she should also tell him that her father wrote that by the way he looks and speak of her, he knows that he truly does cherish her.

 

“I will surely do that, Soojung.” He tells her with a soft smile, ruffling her hair. He knows that she was looking at him, but he just couldn’t seem to bring himself to look at her back.

 

 

At past 10PM, the two arrive at Paris very tired and feeling a little jetlagged. Since it was already too dark and too late to go out, they had no choice to call the night out and start their trip on the next day. Soojung didn’t seem to mind that they won’t go out that night. She didn’t look like she wanted to roam around the city at the moment so Jongin just accompanies her to her room before he went to his.

 

The first thing Jongin does as soon as he arrives at his own hotel room was change to his sleeping wear. Apart from the long plane ride, he has been very busy for the past three days and it had made him more exhausted, but he didn’t say that to Soojung in fear that she might change her mind about the trip. He didn’t want to sound selfish, but he just wanted to spend the upcoming days with her.

 

While laying in his bed, the memories of their last trip in Paris comes back to him. It was when all of it started - when they first kissed (if you didn’t count their kiss when they were younger, that is). He knew that something was wrong with him, having liked the kiss, but shook the feelings off anyways. A small smile creeps on his lips as he remembers tasting the taste of her lips for the first time and that conflicting feeling that he felt after that.

 

However, his smile immediately fades away after remembering what happened before that. Soojung was fresh off from a break up and even though she was good on hiding her emotions, she wasn’t that good on controlling it. When the night came, she ordered a bottle of alcohol for herself to ease her sadness…

 

“.” Jongin immediately jumped out of his bed. Sure she hasn’t broken up with anyone this time, but there’s no denying that she isn’t on her happiest state. Hopefully she has learned her lesson to not drink in a hotel alone, because he really doesn’t know how he will handle a drunk, broken-hearted and lonely Soojung again. Not minding that he was already in his pyjamas, he was about to head to her room until he opens his door, revealing Soojung who was about to knock on his door.

 

“J-Jongin.” She stutters, surprised.

 

“Oh, Soojung. You’re here. I was about to head to your room.” He tells her. He noticed that she was wearing her pyjamas as well and looked liked she was going to sleep soon. “Is there something wrong?”

 

She looked like she was about to say something, but changes her mind midway, “N-Nothing! I just… wanted to say good night, that’s all-”

 

Before she could even walk away from him, he quickly grabs her wrist. “Soojung, tell me. What do you really want to tell me? If you wanted to say good night, you could have sent me a message.”

 

“It’s just… I’m feeling quite scared…” She turns to him again, looking a little nervous. “Can I sleep with you tonight?”

 

“…Oh.”

 

“I-I don’t mean like... or anything like that, I swear! I mean, like, sleep with you… right next to you?” She freaks out, seeing how surprised her fiancée looked. “Okay, m-maybe I should just go back to my room-”

 

“No, no! You can sleep here with me.” Jongin tells her before she could walk away again. He’d never let her alone, knowing that she was feeling unhappy. “It’s okay. It’s not like we haven’t slept in the same room anyways.” He knows that when they did slept together, his younger cousins were sleeping in the same bed between them, but he didn’t mind sleeping in the same bed with her again this time. He will never do anything that will make her uncomfortable anyways. “Please, enter.”

 

“I’m very sorry. It’s just… I don’t think I want to be alone.” She confesses after she entered the room. “I’ll just… sleep on the couch or something-”

 

“Soojung, the couch isn’t the best place to sleep at. Trust me, I’ve done that. You’ll wake up with your neck aching. You can sleep with me in the bed. It’s okay.” He assures, gesturing to her to go to the bed.

 

Unsure, she slowly walks over where the bed was. Before she tucks herself in the sheets, she looks over at him, and he just nods to reassure her. When she finally lays on the left side the bed, Jongin turns off the lights and went to the bed to lay right next to her. Their shoulders were facing each other, and neither of them dared to turn.

 

“Jongin?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“No problem.”

 

Silence filled the room with the only sound thst they were hearing was of the clock tickling, indicating each second that passes as they tried their best to sleep. Jongin wasn’t really certain if he’s going to be able to sleep again that night. Sure, they kind of slept together in the plane, cuddling and close together, but now he can’t even bear to turn his body and look at her knowing that she was still awake. It was different.

 

Minutes have passed, and he doesn’t hear her move or anything that can indicate that she was still awake. Maybe it was okay for him to turn now, he thought. Not wanting to make a noise nor wake her up, he carefully turns his body to his left side and even if it’s just her back he sees, he couldn’t help but to admire her. He wanted to hug her, tell her that it’s going to be alright, but he was sure she was sleeping already and didn’t want to wake her up.

 

That was until, he hears her speak softly.

 

“Huh?”

 

“...I never got the chance to tell my dad that I love him.”

 

He realizes that she was silently crying all along, and it surprises him as he thought she was already sleeping. Before he could say a word or ask her what she meant, Soojung also turns around to face him, burying her face in his chest.

 

“I’ll never see him again. I’ll never get to talk to him, nor listen to his stories. I’ll never get to do the things I wished I’ve done with him. I’ll never be able to hug him. My father’s gone, and I never get to tell him that I love him.” She cried, tugging to his shirt. “I should have told him that before, even if we weren’t close, even if he wasn’t around that much. All this time he thought that he was a horrible father for not spending time with me, but that doesn’t even matter because I love him.”

 

He had been wondering why or how she was able to not to cry these past days and now he finally knows the reason. All this time, she has been keeping her emotions and sadness in her heart and pretending to be strong in front her family and her friends when in fact she had wanted to cry her eyes out, scream her frustration out. She kept everything to herself as usual, not wanting anyone to worry for her.

 

Seeing her mournful and miserable expression was making him feel devastated. Oh how he wished he could tell her that it was alright and that everything was going to be okay, but he just couldn’t say that as has never experience neither of his parents passing away. Only Soojung herself could know that pain, and he could only wish that she could give that all to him as he couldn’t bear seeing her that way. The only thing he could do was wrap his arms around her body and hug her.

 

“Everything hurts. My heart hurts, Jongin.” Her voice cracks as she whispered those words, and it breaks his heart. It was hurting him too.

 

“I’m sorry.” He mumbles before kissing the top of her head.

 

 

When Soojung opened her eyes the next morning, she sees Jongin starring at her as he fixed her hair, but because the room was so bright and everything else but his face but blurry, she thought she was dreaming of her future days with him. To make the most of it, she plants a peck on his cheeks, just inches away from his lips, but was startled when it felt so real.

 

“Why, good morning wifey.” Jongin just smiles and chuckles. He was surprised by what she has done as well, but it’s not like he didn’t like it. “What was that for?”

 

“I thought… this was a dream?” Confused, she looks around the room and remembers that she has slept right next to him. “Oh, God… I’m sorry. I slept here, didn’t I?”

 

Jongin shakes his head, bopping her nose. “No need to be sorry.”

 

“What time is it?” She asks, getting up a bit.

 

“It’s too early to do anything else.” He replies as he sat up as well. “Stay here right next to me, please.”

 

“Aren’t you hungry though?” She asks, fixing his fringe. Now that she thinks about it, it was her first time seeing him like that. He, for somewhat reason, looked very charming when he just woke up. She thought that he looked the cutest when he had his messy bed hair just like that, and she couldn’t just help but to giggle.

 

“Why are you laughing?”

 

“It’s nothing.”

 

“It’s because of my hair, isn’t it?”

 

“I think it’s cute.” She admits, and he could just raise an eyebrow, not believing what she just said. “You haven’t answered my question. Aren’t you hungry?”

 

Jongin shakes his head, though he swore his stomach just made some weird noises before she even woke up. He didn’t want to get up still when she was there, looking like an angel that she was. If she was always there when he wakes up, he’ll never his bed ever again. “Are you feeling better now?”

 

“Much better after all that crying, that’s for sure.” She smiles, turning to him. It was nice to finally let her thoughts and feelings out, though she regrets not doing that earlier. She had been feeling bad about it for the past days.

 

“I’m glad to hear that.” He ruffles her hair, grinning widely at her.

 

He thought that when she turned to him that she was going to punch her for doing that, but turns out that she just wanted to hug him. He couldn’t help to contain his smile after that. “Thank you for listening to my stupid feelings last night.” 

 

“And thank you for opening up to me.” He tells her as he wrapped his hand around her waist, and eventually pulling her back to the bed again with him. “Let’s stay here a little longer, yeah?”

 

 

An hour later, the two decided to meet up at the hotel’s busy lobby. Soojung, now wearing a light blue long sleeve shirt, white shorts and her favorite Chanel quilted loafers, sat at one of the couches just across of an excited looking Jongin who was holding a piece of paper.

 

“Voila! Jongin’s list of what he wants to do in Paris today!” The boy states as he waved the sheet of paper in front of her. When she tried to grab it though, he quickly hits her hand away. “You can’t look at it though.”

 

“How come we’re doing the things that you want?” She pouts, crossing her arms.

 

“Well… what do you want to do?” He asks.

 

Pausing to think, she realizes that she doesn’t really have any plans on what to do, “Anything is fine as long as I’m with you.”

 

“Very cheesy, Jung Soojung. But that won’t stop us from doing what I want to do.” Jongin chuckles, but turns a little shade of red anyways. After standing up, he helps get up up by offering her hand in which she gladly accepted. “We’re going to have a long day, so don’t complain a lot, okay?”

 

“Hey, when did I ever complain to you?!”

 

“Oh yeah, I forgot that you’re always enjoying yourself when you’re with me.” Jongin jokes. He expected her to punch him, but surprisingly she doesn’t make any statement and just tightens her grip on his arms when she pulls him outside the hotel.

 

 

The bottom part of the Eiffel tower was as fascinating just like its front view as you could exactly see how it was on the inside. And even though they’ve been there before, Jongin had to nudge Soojung for her to get her sense back as she was too amazed by the tower and had dangling open. He chuckles, and she immediately closes it.

 

“You know, Jongin… I’ve been noticing something.” She turns to him. “The places that you brought me to this morning are the same places we went to last year.”

 

From Arc de Triomphe to Jardin du Luxembourg, she was pretty sure they went there during their first trip in the city. Apparently, those were the places that he had listed on that list of his. The only difference was when they went to Louvre, instead of Jongin looking very uninterested, both he and Soojung were goofing around and actually talked about the paintings and the artists. He didn’t even glanced elsewhere and just looked at her, something she was glad about. They even took a lot of selfies together and sent it to Sehun knowing that their friend would be jealous if he knew that they went there.

 

“I thought you’re fine to go anywhere as long as you’re with me?” He pouts cutely at her in which she responded by pouting as well.

 

“I am.” She chuckles. “But I don’t know. I expected you to surprise me or something…”

 

“Me? Surprising you? Why would I do that?” The boy laughs nervously as he fixed his collar.

 

Fortunately for him, a group of people gasping made Soojung stop complaining. Both of them looks at a small crowd and sees a man in the middle, kneeling and opening a box in front of a girl, who looked genuinely surprised by what’s happening. The people around them squeal in glee as the girl kept on saying ‘oui’ repeatedly. The couple hugs and everyone cheers for them.

 

“They look very much in love, don’t you think?”

 

“They surely do.”

 

Jongin feels Soojung’s grip on his hand tightening.

 

“Why do you think wedding have to be conducted by a pastor or a priest? And why do they always have a lot of visitors?” She asked blankly, though she wasn’t expecting him to reply.

 

“Are you low-key suggesting that we shoutd get married now?” He chuckles, looking back at her

 

Joking, she gestures to a direction and says, “The Notre-Dame is over there.”

 

“I don’t have to say my vows in front of no one for you to become my wife.” He raises their hands together and kisses the back of her hand. “For me, you’re already my wife.”

 

Soojung was a little taken back by what he just said, but smiles shyly anyways. She wasn’t able to response as she was already blushing really hard, so she could only punch him lightly, with Jongin laughing at how shy she got.

 

“Not today, but someday.” He thought to himself as he wrapped his hands around her shoulder as they walked away together.

 

 

Just to make things a little different than before, Jongin takes Soojung in a cruise of the Seine river. He literally rented a boat for the two of them even though it wasn’t even for rent, making the captain very much confused. Apart from that, neither he nor the captain was fluent in English so they weren’t able to communicate well but in the end, he managed to rent the boat just like he initially wanted.

 

“Surprise, surprise!” Soojung suddenly sees a bouquet of various flowers decorated in a nice way in front of her when she was standing alone at the back of the boat. She turns around and sees a stupid grin from Jongin. “Come on, I know I look cute and all, but stop staring at me and just get the damn flowers.”

 

“Jongin.” She does what he says, and punches him on his shoulder. “What is this for?”

 

“What? You wanted a surprise. I bet you didn’t see that coming.” He winks at her playfully. “Well, I hope you didn’t. I had to ask one of the workers of the boat to secretly buy you some flowers and I hope you didn’t see him bring it in.”

 

“Seriously, you’re the cheesiest.” Soojung hides her face from him by pretending to smell the flowers.

 

“Yeah, but you like being cheesy so…” The boy just shrugs and walks right next to the railings next to her.

 

The sun was finally setting on the city of Paris, and the view looked absolutely magnificent. It was so electrifying that the two forgets to speak and just let its beauty speak for themselves. Jongin took this a chance to glance at Soojung who looked equally beautiful as the sun setting down.

 

“I don’t want this day to end, Jongin.” She mumbles, hugging the bouquet of flowers that he gave her. “I wish I had the power to freeze time and stay here with you.”

 

“Me too, Soojung. Me too…” Jongin replies, looking back at the view. “Can I ask you something Soojung?”

 

“Of course. You can ask me anything.” This time, it was her who looks at her with much curiosity. He usually doesn’t sound very serious, but he just sounded like that.

 

“If our parents never arranged our marriage, and if I still proposed to you, would you accept it?” He glances at her quickly to watch her expression, and seeing how confused she looked, he quickly looks away and takes it back by awkwardly laughing, “I’m sorry for asking such an absurd question. I was just-”

 

“I would.” She cuts her off, causing him to look back at her. “My younger self would probably not, but just like what you told me before, I can’t imagine marrying anyone else but you now. So yes, I’d accept it. I’d say yes, and I’d never get tired of saying it-”

 

Since she was unable to look at him as she was getting shy by what she was saying, Soojung didn’t notice Jongin leaning closer to her and only realized it when their noses were just inches away.

 

“You just don’t know how much you made me happy, Soojung.” He flashes her a quick smile before leaning much closer to the point that their noses were touching. However, just when she closes her eyes, expecting to feel in lips touching hers, Jongin backs off quickly as he prevented himself on kissing her. “, I’m sorry. I just- I didn’t know what’s gotten into me- What the -”

 

After hearing him speak up, Soojung slowly opens an eye, and then both of it after seeing that has backed off. Disappointed and embarrassed, she just laughs loudly. "I was not expecting anything so it's okay." It was lie. She was expecting a kiss from him. "You sure do ask the most bizzarre questions though. What was that for?"

 

"I think the 'me' from a parallel universe would do that, and I hope the 'you' from a parallel universe would say yes as well." Puzzled, she stops hiding her face with the flowers and looks at him, only to see him with a wide grin. "I'm gonna go chill with the captain at the front. Go there too, okay?"

 

Soojung could only watch him walk away, a confused expression still plastered on her face. "How can he chill with the captain when he doesn't even speak French?"

 

 

For their dinner, Jongin brings Soojung at Ciel de Paris at Tour Montparnasse to eat. He wanted their dinner to be very intimate and fortunately for him, there weren’t much people on the restaurant. The terrace on the top floor of the building had the perfect view of Paris and he promised that they’ll go there after they eat.

 

But even on the inside, you could see the beautiful view of Paris while the sun was setting by the glass windows so as he expected, she was delighted and started to take pictures of the city. Meanwhile she does her own thing, posing and taking selfies of herself, Jongin orders for them. While they waited for their food to arrive, he doesn’t do anything else but stare at her with a big smile. She expected him to look away when she stares back at him, but he doesn’t.

 

“What?” She asks him. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

 

“Am I not allowed to look you?”

 

“With that cheeky smile of yours, no.”

 

“Sorry, I just like looking at beautiful things.”

 

Bitting her lower lip, she couldn’t help but to blush by the cheesiness of what he said. “Then you better look at the mirror then.”

 

Soon after their cheesiness with each other, their order arrives, making Soojung finally stop using her phone to take pictures since they got there. However, while they were eating, she notices that her fiancée was glancing at his phone a lot. Whenever she clears , her own way of telling him to talk to her while eating, Jongin would look up to her and just smile. He’d leave his phone for a while to ask her opinion on the food, but he’d look back to his phone.

 

It was low-key making her frustrated, but she didn’t want to blow off the perfect day that they were having so she just kept quiet. Thankfully, when their dessert arrives, she forgets about it and it seems like he did as well. Jongin looked very pleased while eating his chocolate soufflé that she just had to take a quick snap of him. It catches him off guard when he sees the flash go off, but poses for another pictures anyways.

 

At last, the moment that she’s been excited for finally arrives when they leave the restaurant to go to the building’s top floor to have the best view of Paris. They were hand in hand, fingers interlocking, as they walked at the empty terrace with a big, heavenly smile on Soojung’s face. Jongin breaks off their hands, letting her run off to the edge as he stayed a few inches behind her.

 

His opinion of her being the most beautiful when she’s happy still stays the same. He never got the hype on why a lot of people adored the city of love but watching her eyes shine as bright as the Parisian lights, he couldn’t help but to be elated as well. It’s amazing how by just watching her, his heart felt like it would burst any moment.

 

Jongin knew that he loved Soojung so much, he’s willing to do anything for her.

 

“Jongin, isn’t this amazing?” The girl squeals in amazement, her eyes not leaving the scenery in front of her. “Look at the view!”

 

“Indeed, it is.” She hears him mumble. “Hey, Soojung.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“I’m letting you go.”

 

This catches her off-guard, causing her to finally to look at him again. He just stood there, looking at her eyes directly, his smile gone. She didn’t know what he meant by that, because she had no intentions of going anywhere now that she had a perfect view of Paris. But seeing him like that and hearing him speaking so seriously was making her heart beat but in a bad way. She was nervous, and she didn’t like that. Before she could ask what he meant, he cuts her off by answering the question in her mind.

 

“I'm breaking off the engagement. I'm cancelling the wedding.”

 

"W-what?" Not expecting what he said, Soojung wasn’t sure if she’s mad or just simply surprised. But by the tone of her voice, it was clear that she was upset. “Kim Jongin, don’t ruin this day for me, please. Stop joking around!”

 

While she said those words, she spots at the corner of her eyes a group of men in their suits, some Asians, some foreigners. At first, she thought that they were visitors just like them, but one of the men approaches them, calling Jongin ‘sir’ and handing him a small envelope that he later passes to Soojung. She didn’t want to accept it at first, but he insisted. Eventually, she accepts it and sees that there was a letter inside. She didn’t know what it was so she reads the first lines of it, only to find out that it was an acceptance letter from Harvard with her name in it.

 

“I know that you want to enter that university without them knowing your family background, but I wouldn’t be able to do that if I didn’t say it.”

 

“O-Oh my god.” She stops read the letter to look at him, her eyes were getting watery and not knowing exactly what to do after finding out that she was going to go to university that she has been wanting to go to. “You did this?” He just nods, and she immediately hugs him. He has done many things to her the past months, sweet and lovely things, but this was the best one. 

 

Jongin felt like he was going to cry as well, something that he has never done for a girl before. But knowing that it will be the last time he will ever get to hug, he hugs her a little tighter than he usual does.

 

“But, w-we can still get married. I can go to Harvard, while still married to you!” She tells him, breaking off their hug.

 

“I don’t think I could bear the thought of my wife not being around me. I think I’ll miss you too much.”

 

“Then… we can live in Boston!”

 

“It’s not my desire to leave Seoul. Maybe I’ll visit you, but I just don’t think I could live on another place.” He admits. “Don’t worry. Your mother’s going to live with you.”

 

Upon hearing her mother, she looks at him with her eyes enlarging, “My mother? She knows about this?”

 

“Actually, I’ve talked to her before we even left for Paris about this matter.” The first day of her father’s funeral, he hears her crying secretly and at the same night, he informs her mother about his intention of cancelling their wedding in exchange of letting her go to Harvard. At first, she was sceptical of his request, but Jongin insisted that this was the only thing that Soojung has ever dreamed of and will be surely happy if it happens.

 

“She’s on her way to Massachusetts right now, and she’s most likely to arrive earlier than you to the newly bought condominium she bought for you two.”

 

After hearing his explanation, Soojung was speechless. First, she gets accepted to Harvard, the school of her dreams, and then now she finds out that she’ll be living with her mother alone, something that has been hoping to happen so they could grow closer to her. It would be perfect if Jongin comes, but he doesn’t have any interest at all and it was honestly breaking her heart, no matter how happy she was happy at the moment.

 

“Young master, I would just like to inform you that the plane is leaving in 30 minutes.” The same man who gave him the same envelop says, and Jongin turns to him to reply.

 

Soojung didn’t hear or at least tried to understand what he said. She was too busy looking up to the sky so that the tears in her eyes wouldn’t drop. She didn’t want him to think that she was lonely, knowing that he worked hard to do this for her. She was kind of was, but she was also very thankful about what he did. She just sees the man bowing in front of Jongin and leaves the rooftop, together with the men that came with him, leaving them the privacy and isolation that Jongin originally wanted.

 

He then turns around to face her again, only to see her looking upwards and pouting, but still not crying.

 

“Now, that I gave you my last gift. Can you do me a favour?” He tells her, and she quickly wipes the tears that was about to flow down her cheeks when she looked at him.

 

“Sure. I’ll do it.”

 

“I’m going to tell you something, but please, don’t say anything. Just… smile at me as if you’re telling me that everything’s going to be alright.” He asks. She thought that it was such a weird request for her to do, but she didn’t care. At this point, she’d do anything for him. To response she nods at him, smiling weakly.

 

Before saying anything else, Jongin takes a deep breath as he looks around their surroundings. He then stares directly to her eyes, something that was always difficult for him to do, and when she looks at him back, he flashes her a big smile before saying the words that he has been dying to say.

 

“I love you, Soojung.”

 

Soojung swears her heart almost stopped beating. For a moment, it seemed like the time around them stopped. Her expression of being nervous was no more. Instead, she looks at him with much shock, slightly open.

 

“I love you a lot.” He repeats once again, but this time with much more confidence. “I didn’t intend for me to fall for you, but I don’t regret it happening because frankly, falling in love with you is the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

 

The way he said it wasn’t that loud, nor was it too low. It was perfect for her hearing. She heard him, and he knew it. It was quite obvious to her reaction. She didn’t even know that she was crying again, but it wasn’t that kind of sad crying. Her tears were just falling down her cheeks in shock, in happiness.

 

Realizing that she was crying, and remembering what he asked her to do, Soojung quickly dries her tears again before smiling at him. Jongin knows that he will never forget that smile on her face. He thought that it was the only thing that he won’t forget that night, until she mutters the words he never expected to hear.

 

“I love you more, Jongin.” 

 

This time, it was his turn to get surprised and have the same expression she had before. He never told her to do that, but how come it sounded so real? Her words repeated at the back of his head, those four words plus his name. It was like a broken record, but he didn’t want it to stop either. Who knew he’d hear her say them?

 

She continues, "I know it's hard to believe, and I had a hard time admitting it to myself, but I really do. You're more important in my life than you think."

 

Her hypnotizing eyes kept him from looking from anywhere else but her and he knew that he wouldn’t get any moment like that anymore. Even though technically they weren’t engaged anymore as he broke off their engagement already, it was the last he would ever see her in a long time so instead of wasting no time, he cups her face with his hands.

 

He plants his lips to hers, slowly digging his finger into her hair, but she didn’t mind as she kissed him back. He will never forget the taste of her soft lips and how it seemed sweeter by the minute. Kissing her had never been so painful to him. He wishes that he could this to her more after that, but his heart knows for now he wouldn’t be able to.

 

Not now, but someday, he hopes.

 

Slowly they break off their kiss, but not entirely off each other. He puts his arms around her waist, embracing her and pulling her closer to him. She does the same, but she does it around his neck and even lets her fingers run through his hair. Oh how she will miss doing that. She find it quite ironic how she never liked the idea of getting married to the boy, but now, he was letting her go and it seemed liked it was harder for her.

 

“In four years, you’ll be the Valedictorian of your class in Harvard, while I’ll be helping my father with the company.” He mumbles, smiling at her when they finally faced each other again.

 

Soojung just chuckles. “I doubt about the Valedictorian part, but I bet you’ll be a great companion to your father.”

 

Feeling like he was going to cry anytime soon, he looks down to his shoes. He puts up his right hand and gestures his workers to come back again. “Please Miss Jung to the airport.”

 

A woman in a formal wear who seemed like in her late 20s approaches her and leads her to the way out of the rooftop even though she wasn’t ready to do so. As she do so, she also explains everything to her: apparently her luggage were already set, the plane that she was going to take is leaving in less than 30 minutes so they have to rush to the airport and her mother was already 3 hours away from arriving in Boston. She was talking too fast that she almost didn’t catch anything that she said. She did mention that she had to leave already as they were running out of time, but she had to turn to Jongin’s direction for one last time.

 

“Take care of yourself, Jongin.” She tells him, even though he wasn’t facing her and could only see his back. “Goodbye.”

 

“Farewell, Soojung. Until we meet again.” She hears him say. He didn’t even bother to turn around.

 

Unknowingly to her, Jongin was already crying. He was too ashamed to face her and see him like that he couldn’t bear to actually say goodbye to her. Still, he couldn’t help but to smile. She had thought him many things that she doesn’t even know and he was very thankful for that.

 

“Sir, Miss Jung has left. Would you like to go back to the hotel now?”

 

“I’d rather stay here still. Send me a car in 30 minutes. You all can go now.”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

 

It hasn’t even been an hour since he last saw her, but he was already missing her. He was still there, at the top floor of Tour Montparnasse, alone at the same spot where she was just a while ago looking out at the captivating beauty of Paris.

 

“If you really love somebody, you will let that person go, no matter how much it hurts.” Her words rang on his head, remembering how she talked about her ex-boyfriend, as he repeats them to himself. She was indeed right. He’ll do anything for her, no matter how much it hurts.

 

Glancing at his wristwatch, he wondered if she still hasn’t boarded the plane. He honestly doesn’t have an idea, but he quickly takes out his phone from his pocket to send her a short message anyways.

 

I just wanted you to know that when I told you that I loved you, I really meant it.

 

He stares at his phone screen, contemplating if it need more words, but before he could even send it, his phone buzzes.

 

Thanky ou for evrryting uve done to m

 

Smiling at her message and her typos, he was sure that she was already in the plane as secretly typed those words. She’s probably getting scolded at by the stewardess by now for using her phone when she shouldn’t be and the thought of her fighting back makes him chuckle. He puts his phone back to his pocket while walking to the terrace’ exit, as a plane passes by above him.

 

Maybe not all stories have a happy ending…

 

 

…but their story has not ended yet.

 

 

author's note: 

i started this story in 2015, and end it after almost two years with 53 chapters and a thousand of words. a lot of things happened during the time of this story that gave me the inspiration to write, such as the iconic taekaistal photoshoot from w korea, to the suprising confirmation of kaistal's relationship and now, krystal's undecided solo. and of course, your lovely comments that i wish i could have replied to. the fact that i know that people are enjoying what i love doing the most brings me so much happiness, and i could hope that it will continue with other stories.

with a heavy heart, i finally end the first part of this story. honestly, i still don't want to finish this yet- i mean, yeah i guess it's tecnically not finished when there's a sequel, but i will really miss writing the early stages of soojung's and jongin's relationship. from their endless brickering to their confession, writing those in my head were my favorite things about doing this. there so many things that i wish i could have written or done better, but it would have made the story much longer, and i think i've mentioned that i'm not really keen to long stories so i had to make it shorter. donghae appeared for like 3 chapters only, i had planned to mention that sehun's mother has passed away when he was younger hence why his father is dating another woman, chanyeol and sulli didn't have any date in the story, and a lack of childhood flashbacks (i wanted to write more of baby soojung and baby jongin back when they were kids bc imagine how cute would that be???) - those are just some of the things that i regret not writing. even i'm a little worried about this chapter that i had to rewrite for like, three times or more. still, i hope that you liked the ending, and if not, let's meet in the sequel.

so my darlings, i present to you 'MOONSTRUCK', the second part of jongin's and soojung's lovestory. i have also made a short trailer for it. it's a bit ugly, but a must watch because there's kind of a hint on what's going to happen on the sequel. thank you so much for reading, and i hope i could see you on the next story! ❤ 

(PS: does anybody know a good poster shop? the one that i want to request from isn't active anymore so... T_T)