Tʜᴇ Asᴄᴇɴᴅᴀɴᴛ Offsᴘʀɪɴɢs

“Nana,” the nicely dressed man called this time, a sound that forced her to take a few steps closer to him as he did the same. Nana was tall, in fact so tall that normally she’d be able to meet any average man face to face. But Jooyeon’s brother was taller than the average man, in fact he was a whole head taller than Nana. As the two approached one another, Nana wrapped her hands around her backpack’s straps as the lad hid his hands into his slacks. The man’s dark and long brown bangs were styled as a comma and on his fancy face was a grand smile. “When did you get out? You should have contacted me, I would have gave you a ride,” the male said as they stopped just feet apart.

Nana exhaled heavily before looking up to meet the man’s eyes, “Max,” Nana began earning a hum from the man, “I’m asking you again, please don’t show up at my place. Don’t do anything that you know will hurt you. This is my last advice,” for a brief moment Nana was ready to walk away from whatever next they have to say, but Jooyeon’s brother stop her.

“Nana,” the man’s voice was loud but calm, “I know you like me too. You’re just being stubborn because you feel bad for your sister. Your sister needs to also meet a good man and quit relying on you too much for support—”

“Are you implying that you’re a good man?” Nana cut off the lad with a dangerous tone. When the man was about to counter her offensive question she interrupted him, “Also who are you to speak? You really have the wrong idea if you think I would be interested in someone who has no respect for me or my sister,”

“No respect?” the man, Max try to address.

Nana sighed, “Please leave before my sister come home,” as the lass set a foot pass Max, the man grabbed her by the arm and evidently forced them to lock eyes.

“Then what about you and your sister? Do either of you have any respect for me? After what I’ve done to help you two get out of poverty and out of debt? Neither of you have paid me back an equal amount of what you two have received!”  

Nana could feel Max’s hold on her tighten whenever she tried to get loose with a flex of her muscles, finally she scoffed a little, “I know you’re materialistic so if it’s not money-oriented then you won’t accept anything else as equal payment. But let me tell you something, just like you helped me financially, didn’t I in return give you everything else that you didn’t have? A different perspective, emotionally, mentally, and physical support, comfort, confidence? A friend you said you never had?”

The look in the man’s eyes went from soft to hard, “So? Are you saying you and your sister pretended to give me special treatment in return for money? Is that your way of paying me back?”

“It was and is sincere, it’s our way of expressing our gratitude towards you,”

The man, Max scoffed, “I don’t care if it was out of sincerity or gratitude, you were one always good with words, that’s how you stole my heart from your sister. I will leave for today because I know you are one who say one thing but means another. Me leaving doesn’t mean I’ve given up on you. I won’t give up on you, not until either you or I’m dead,”

Before Nana heard the turning of the man’s heels, she first heard her sister’s voice. Taeyeon’s soft yet strong voice calling out to her. But her vision was soon blocked as Max leaned in unexpectedly and planted a kiss on her forehead. Though the peck didn’t last longer than a second, it felt like an eternity to Nana. An annoyed and torturous eternity. Without another word but with a slight smirk, the sisters watched as the man departed. When he got too close to Taeyeon, she shuffled to the side to make space for him.

The sight anger Nana. Not because she knew that her sister still possessed strong feelings toward the man but because the man uses her sister’s feelings to hurt them both. Nana can never understand Taeyeon’s undefined love for Max, but she has accepted that her sister’s feelings were not hers. Feelings cannot be bought and changed immediately. Nana knew that very well.

Nana threw her bag onto the couch before spinning around on her feet, in front of her Taeyeon appeared nervous and slightly down. Though Nana was ready to release some heat, her sister’s helpless image drained all of the anger out of her, “Go get some rest, I’ll make dinner tonight,” as Nana was about to leave, her sister’s call stop her.

“If it’s because of me that you’re trying to push Max away t