005

“Babe?”

Sooyeon was caught off-guard when she heard that very familiar voice. The dreaded moment has come and here it is, right in front of her. He saw her. He saw her with Donghae. And Donghae seemed so casual about it. Sooyeon was hesitating whether to look at Minho or just keep on looking at Donghae. She apparently doesn’t know what to do. Donghae told her that he’s going to be responsible for it when it happens and now that it’s happening, why does he seem like he doesn’t care?

She basically has no choice but to handle the situation. She ended up facing his liar boyfriend and smiled fakely, acting like nothing’s going on.

“Hey, sweetie! What are you doing─” she was cut off when she saw Jisook behind him. “Oh, you’re with Jisook? Hi!”

Sooyeon’s smile faded and her expression turned into a frown. “Why are you two together?” she asked while furrowing her brows.

The both of them turned pale and had gone speechless for a second but then Minho’s attention turned to the guy whom Sooyeon is with.

“Who’s this guy?” he asked.

Jisook was very sure that he’s the guy that Sooyeon is with when she went to her apartment to get her stuffs. He was the one who hugged her. And it’s so fancy to see them together again. Thoughts started running around and questions flooded her mind. Is there something going on between the two of them behind Minho’s back? Was Sooyeon cheating on Minho just like what Minho is doing to her?

Donghae stood up and offered Minho his hand for a handshake. “Lee Donghae, man. Nice meeting you.”

Minho glared at him and somehow, Sooyeon and Jisook felt a tension between the two guys they are with.

“What the hell are you doing with my girlfriend?” Minho asked and emphasized every word, still glaring at Donghae.

But Donghae seemed not to mind. He actually finds it funny. Why the hell was her ex-boyfriend being so possessive over Sooyeon? The guy’s totally good at lying, isn’t he? Donghae chuckled.

“Dude, keep your cool. I’m a family friend. This dinner’s about business, okay? Nothing to be jealous of.” Donghae reasoned out and that’s when Minho looked at Sooyeon, giving her a questioning look.

Sooyeon nodded. “Yeah, he’s an architect and Dad wanted me to meet him since I’m here.”

Sooyeon didn’t know where did she get the reason but that sounded so perfect with Donghae’s alibi. That’s when she realized that maybe the both of them could make a great tandem. How could the both of them make someone like a fool?

However, Jisook doesn’t seem to be buying their reason. If everything between them is all about business, why does it involve hugging? She was so sure that it was the two of them she saw back in the parking lot of the building to where her apartment is.

Sooyeon mentally sighed in relief because Minho seemed to buy their alibi. Then that’s when her attention went back to the girl behind Minho. She smirked.

“Why are you guys together?” Sooyeon casually asked with a smile on her face.

The two of them had gone speechless once again.

“Ah.., I-It’s just that Jisook told me you moved out and I’ve been calling you for a thousand times since earlier but your phone was off. I got frustrated and felt worried so I tried searching for you. Jisook was with me while finding where you are but we failed so we ended up eating here.” He answered and Sooyeon could see the nervousness in his eyes and could sense it in his voice. She knows him too much and all she could do was to nod.

She didn’t understand anything to be honest. All that she was hearing was lies, lies, lies, lies and nothing but a bunch of lies. Jisook was nodding all along while Minho was speaking.

“Where did you move out, by the way?” Jisook answered, smirking.

Sooyeon could sense something about the way Jisook said it. It seems like she knows something about her and her plan. Jisook honestly got her there but then Sooyeon somehow made a way to get out of that trap.

“Somewhere in Cheondam-dong,” Sooyeon answered. “I talked to my Dad the last time and told me about it. That’s why I decided to move out.”

Jisook nodded and made a sad expression on her face. “It feels lonely living without you, you know?”

Sooyeon faked a smile and gave it to her. “You’ll manage.”

“By the way, I’ll go first! See you around, Sooyeonie!” Jisook informed and went to give her bestfriend a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

Let’s talk about plasticity, Sooyeon thought to herself as she hugged Jisook back. And when she walked away, she gave Minho a questioning look.

“Are you going to wait for me?” Sooyeon asked him.

Minho nodded.

Sooyeon shook her head. “Sorry, honey. After this, we still have to meet Dad’s secretary who flew all the way from Boston about the plan. This might take long and I don’t want to keep you waiting. Don’t worry, I’ll manage.”

Minho felt a bit embarrassed and he doesn’t know why. Was she pushing him away? Since when Sooyeon cared about their family business? But then he shrugged those thoughts off and just nodded. He kissed her goodbye and walked off.

On the other hand, Sooyeon watched him as he walked away. She turned to face Donghae and took a deep sigh. She settled down and tried finishing her food again.

“There you go again,” Donghae spoke. “You seemed lifeless again.”

Sooyeon shrugged. “I just don’t understand why they can’t just tell me the truth. Every word they say to me was a lie and it hurts so much more. I-I don’t know what did I do before to deserve this. W-Why do they have to treat me like this?” she found herself crying as she spoke.

Her voice was cracking as her tears fell one by one from her eyes. He could see how hurt she was. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to let her stay in the same place as them but either way, she’ll still end up crying. He knows what she’s going through. He has been there and he had done that only the other way around since her boyfriend somehow loved her back before and as for him, Jaekyung never loved him back. Or at least for him she never did.

“It’s never easy to move on, you know? It’s way too impossible when I’m still in love with him. It hurts me damn much every time our memories comes flashing back at me like a flooded. I-I j-just don’t u-understand how c-could he throw away t-those beautiful memories just like that.”

Sooyeon was crying now and he doesn’t know how to make her stop. They already caught some attentions from a few and some mistook Donghae as the one who made her cry. Some girls were glaring at him for making Sooyeon cry.

He shook his head to them trying to say it’s not what they think. He turned to Sooyeon and asked her to stop crying but she won’t. He handed her some tissue paper and she accepted it to unclog her nose. Donghae was thinking of a way to make her stop crying but she won’t. The girl can be weird sometimes.

The only thing that came to his mind was to get out of that place before all the people inside the restaurant blame him for making her cry even if he’s not doing anything.

They ended up leaving the place.

He took to her somewhere where she could find peace. One thing that he had learned from her was that when she’s feeling sad, she wanted to go somewhere peaceful and that’s why he drove her near a cliff where you could see the cityscape.

Right before her eyes was the beautiful view of the city. The city lights looked so damn beautiful and relaxing.

This is Sooyeon’s version of unwinding.

She settled down on the grass and just admired the beauty of the view of the city. If she was a painter, she could’ve painted the scene in front of her. How could she not know this place? How could Donghae know this place? Just then, she noticed him settle down beside her.

He handed him a can of beer.

She confusedly looked at it and looked at him with questioning eyes.

“Drink.” He simply answered.

She nodded and took the can of beer from his hand. She opened it and started drinking. Alcohol was never her escape but now, it somehow changed. Looking in front of the breathtaking view while having a can of beer in her hand sound and felt nice.

Thoughts filled both of their minds. She was thinking of Minho while he was thinking of Jaekyung. He saw how happy she looked with his brother and saw the love in her eyes as she stared at Dongwoo. He couldn’t help himself but to shake his head in disbelief how lucky could his brother get. He’s indeed the exact opposite of his brother.

But then, as he looked at the view of the city right before his eyes, he realized one thing: out there, there’s a girl who’s going to love him back.

And when that time comes, he’ll never let her go ─ not ever.

“Was that the girl you’re in love with back in your house? The one beside your brother?” she spoke.

He took a deep sigh and nodded.

“You were right,” Sooyeon told him as she nodded her head. “She looked so in love with your brother.”

He chuckled sarcastically as he lowered his hand. He was hurt by the fact that Jaekyung is indeed in love with his brother. He was hurt when she chose his brother over him. He was hurt when they got together and he was hurt when they married each other. But there’s nothing he could do about it. They say that if you really love the person, you have to let them go and let them do want they want.

Jaekyung never wanted him but he loves her so much that it kills him to let her go just like that. But one-sided love will always be unrequited. You can’t beg someone to love you back. He’s not that desperate, he’s just in love.

“I know, don’t mention it. I know since ages ago.” He tried to smile.

Sooyeon was intently looking at him. “You once told me not to smile if you don’t want to. Don’t smile if you really don’t want to, Donghae-ssi.”

“Crying isn’t my thing,” he replied. “But I did, twice. That’s when I couldn’t handle the pain anymore.”

Sooyeon pressed her lips and looked at him with such pity. He looked so hurt and the pain was still visible in his eyes. She realized that there’s so much more to know about him. He may seem okay outside but there’s so much more to know. Behind him was pain and sadness he had kept to himself.

She guessed that they’re really the perfect team.

Lonely Hearts Club Team or rather Team Heartbroken, whichever of the two.

“Then cry again. There’s nothing wrong with crying. It’s somehow a good thing, you know? That’s the only way to release the pain inside of you,” she told him.

He shook his head and took another drink. “I’ve been there. I’m done with that. It hurts, of course it is but no matter how hard it is to let go, I basically have no options.”

Sooyeon could sense the hint of sadness in his voice. She saw him took his third can of beer and opened it but before he could drink it, she snatched it away from him. He gave her a weird yet confused look. Sooyeon didn’t mind and took a drink.

“Apparently, you really don’t have any other option. Just let go,” Sooyeon commented and drank again. She began to wonder where his beers came from but she dismissed the thought immediately.

“You seemed to have no other options, as well, beautiful stranger. You should also know the art of letting go,” he fired back.

He got Sooyeon there. Sooyeon was stopped for a moment but then she shook her head and chuckled.

“It ain’t easy, Donghae-ssi,” she replied. “It ain’t easy.”

“Nothing comes easy. No matter how hard it is, the only way out of this miserable life is to do so. You have to free yourself from the nightmare you’re going through.” He stated and that’s when it really hit her.

“BUT HOW?! I don’t even know where to start! I don’t even know how to move on!”

The next thing Donghae knew was she’s yelling and she’s crying all over again. But this time, he let her. That’s why he brought her here ─ to release the pain that she’s feeling that makes it harder and harder for her to breathe. He wanted her to break down so that it could somehow ease the pain.

“Start with letting all your thoughts and feelings out. Shout it out because in this place, no one will judge you, no one will think of you as a weird person. Because I’m the only one in here and there’s no way I’ll stop you,” he answered while looking intently at her teary eyes. “No one’s gonna stop you.”

That’s when she realized it was her cue.

Sooyeon stood up and that’s when she broke down and let all her tears fall.

“WHY THE HELL DID YOU CHOSE TO CHEAT ON ME WITH MY VERY OWN BESTFRIEND. THERE’S TONS OF OTHER GIRLS IN THIS WORLD, WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE MY BESTFRIEND?! HOW DARE YOU HURT ME LIKE THIS, YOU ! WHO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT TO CAUSE ME SO MUCH PAIN?! I’M SO DONE WITH ALL OF YOUR LIES, YOU SON OF A LIAR! I HATE YOU TO DEATH! CURSE YOU WITH ALL OF THE CURSES THAT EXISTS! I’VE BEEN FAITHFUL AND LOYAL TO YOU AND THIS IS WHAT I GET?! YOU MADE ME LOOK LIKE STUPID AND MADE ME BELIEVE WITH ALL YOUR LIES, YOU TRAITOR! I SO WANNA KILL YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS! I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU! YOU’LL PAY FOR THIS MINHO! I HATE YOU FOR BREAKING MY HEART, FOR BREAKING ME, FOR CHEATING ON ME, FOR LYING TO ME, FOR EVERYTHING YOU’VE CAUSED ME! I HATE YO─”

Donghae stood up held her into his arms. She was almost out of breath and still crying her heart out. She fell into her knees and cried like a mourning lady. She felt so angry at Minho and Jisook. She was cursing the both of them with all the curses she knew and felt like strangling the both of them with her bare hands. And that’s when Donghae hugged her. He was hushing her and rubbing her back. She let him hug her because she badly needed one and there’s apparently no one out there for her but Donghae and she was thankful for that. She cried into his arms for who knows how long until she felt tired.

“C-Can w-we… stay h-here… f-f-for a li-little… while?” she asked him while stuttering and hiccupping. She was hiccupping like a little girl.

He nodded and let her head rest on his shoulder. The both of them had pulled away from the hug and both sitting next to each other with Sooyeon’s head resting on his shoulder while hugging her knees.

“T-Tha *hiccup* Thank y-you,” she thanked him. Her eyes had gone swollen because of crying for who knows how long. He nodded.

“Are you feeling better than before now?” he asked her.

“Hmm.” Sooyeon responded with a nod as she closed her puffy eyes.

Donghae looked up to the sky to see thousands of stars shining from up above. He just kept on staring at it but then a shooting star suddenly went across, He didn’t think twice and wished upon the shooting star.

That was the first time he had wished upon a star.

Just one wish: for Sooyeon to find her happiness.

Three weeks had passed and Sooyeon was still staying at Donghae’s place. She was honestly trying hard to find a new apartment to move into but she hasn’t found one yet. Donghae told her that she could stay whenever she wants but sometimes she feels it’s not okay even if it’s really okay. Donghae doesn’t mind having her around. In fact, he likes having her around. In three weeks of being always together, they had shared some stories to each other and got to know about each other.

For the past weeks, he’s going with Sooyeon’s trip. They would always follow Minho around and spy at him. They basically have to know his whereabouts and sometimes he would just ask her what the hell is she up to. He would sometimes feel impatient when they kept on waiting. He would sometimes feel annoyed and irritated but he’s just letting her do what she wants to do. One reason he’s doing it was to keep his mind away from Jaekyung because he found himself thinking of her so much lately and to keep her out of his mind, he just went with Sooyeon’s plan.

Sooyeon, on the other hand, was careering being a spy by spying her liar of a boyfriend.  She had seen him seeing Jisook a lot and even though he’s contacting her from time to time, she hasn’t got back to those yet. Although she would reply to some of his messages, all of them were just telling him that she’s busy with something and blah blah blah.

Seeing him with Jisook kind of hurts and she could still feel the pain in her chest but when she feels like she can’t handle it anymore, she would ask Donghae to take her to the place he had brought her before. There, she would cry all over again.

It was Saturday and Donghae just got home from somewhere when he found Sooyeon curled up into her knees, crying her heart out again. As time goes by, he finds it normal for someone like Jung Sooyeon but he can’t help but to feel worried sometimes. For the past three weeks, all that she does was to spy and cry, spy and cry, spy and cry and vice versa. While him, all that he does was to unwind, unwind, unwind, and get wasted.

He knew to himself that he’s almost there. He’s slowly by slowly accepting the fact that Jaekyung belongs to Dongwoo now. He just kept on convincing himself that there’s tons of fish in the water and there’ll be a day where he’ll finally meet the perfect one for him.

Donghae saw her sitting on the edge of the couch crying and hugging her knees. He didn’t bother asking the reason, because all this time, he always knew that Minho was the reason why she’s crying. He stood up in front of her and just looked how she cries.

“What is it this time?” he finally asked her.

For the next three minutes, the dead silence filled the atmosphere. All that he could her was her cries and sniffs. The silence broke when she finally spoke to answer.

“Am I not enough?” she asked while looking up to him.

His eyebrows creased. “How am I supposed to know?” he asked back.

She pouted and cried even more. “Where I had gone wrong to deserve all of this?!” Sooyeon asked nobody as she continued crying in her knees.

“You don’t deserve any of these, Sooyeon,” he told her in a more serious tone. “You deserve so much more.”

She looked up to him again as he said those words to her. Sooyeon saw how serious he looked and how sincere his eyes were.

“Someone as beautiful as you shouldn’t have to be treated as a second option.” He added.

Her brows furrowed when she heard the second option thingy. “I am not a second option! I’m the first one!”

“Either the two of you are second option, Sooyeon. You’re not his only one and she’s not his only one. He basically has the two of you. That simply means both of you are his options.” He explained to make it clear to her. He tried to sound polite to avoid offending her.

“And in your case, you deserve to be treated as a princess,” he told her while looking deeply into her eyes. “No, let me correct that. You deserve to be treated as a queen.”

She could feel her heart pounding. She could hear her heart like it was the only sound she could hear at that moment. There is something with the look in his eyes that made her feel something weird deep inside her. The way he told her she’s beautiful made her feel like special and it has been awhile since she felt like one.

What was she feeling?

Donghae was right. She deserves so much more than any of these things she’s going through. She wasn’t born to be someone’s second option. She was born to be someone’s princess, someone’s one and only. And with Minho, the one and only doesn’t exists.

“Spying on him is a waste of time, still getting along with him is a waste of time, crying because of him is a waste of time. He doesn’t deserve your tears, Sooyeon,” he was shaking his head as he talked to her. “Everything about his is a waste of time. He doesn’t deserve those tears coming out from your eyes, he doesn’t deserve all the efforts you’re giving on following him around. To summarize it all, he doesn’t deserve you at all.”

Then he asked himself. Why was he being like that? Why does he felt like that? There are times where he just wanted to beat Minho up for being the reason why Sooyeon’s been crying all the damn time. There is basically an enough reason for him to be mad at him. But then again maybe he really just wanted her to be finally happy. He was the one who could understand her and he knows what she’s going through. In just a short span of time, he had known a lot of things about her. He just felt like none of what Sooyeon’s going through deserves her. He knew she deserves something special. He should be treated as precious as a diamond.

That’s one thing he had learned from his grandfather: always treat women like they’re the most precious gem in the world. And from what he could see to Sooyeon, she’s fragile that when the moment you see her, you’ll have the urge to help and take care of her.

Sooyeon suddenly stood up and went to hug him.

“Thank you, Donghae,” she told him as she hugged him. “Thank you so much. I would never know what to do without you.”

That day, he couldn’t exactly count how many times she said thank you to him. All that he knew was she’s thankful that he’s right there with her.

I would really like to see your comments so please leave it down below! =))) It's Sunny's birthday today! Happy Birthday Sunny Bunny!! <3 Classes will start soon and I swear, college scares me to death. And also, my birthday is coming soon~! Okay, thanks for reading and stay updated for the next update :-) Thank you to those who love my fanfic! You know who you are guys :* so much love!