Chapter 26

Fumbling in the sand, I finally got myself to stand up. I must have looked like an idiot from afar. I didn’t even care that there was sand all over me and my hair was being blown everywhere from the wind. I was too focused on the figure that was only ten yards away from me now. Se Hun had stopped in his tracks and looked back and forth at us before looking back at the other person. My heart was beating rapidly now and I didn’t know if it was because I was nervous, I had done something I shouldn’t have, or because I was on my last nerve with this person.

Before I took a step, Se Hun started to walk away again and the other figure started to walk towards me. It was all in slow motion, making me feel sick to my stomach. Why was this happening to me out of all people? Why were they together in the first place like that and why were they walking opposite ways like they both knew what was going to happen? Did Se Hun really set me up? This was unlike him and it was totally unfair to me because he followed me everywhere today and made me feel sane only to make me feel insane in the end?

“What are you doing here, Jin Hyuk?” I asked as soon as he was standing before me, but I couldn’t help but look at Se Hun, who was slowly disappearing.

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” He retorted as he arched an brow. “You said you were going on vacation, but you never said you were coming here.”

“And you never texted or called back the past couple of days, but you’re standing here right before me.” I rolled my eyes. “Don’t you find that kind of absurd? Then you come here and try to accuse me?”

“I’m not accusing you of anything, Ahn Soo Jin.” Jin Hyuk sighed. “I just needed time to myself, but that obviously didn’t go too well.”

“You went to Japan for a business trip, Jin Hyuk. I knew you were going to be busy there. The least you could have done was text me back letting me know that you arrived safely. Goodness.” I shook my head as I tried to calm myself down. “I didn’t know it’d be that big of a deal to let their fiancé know they’re alive and safe.”

 “I know and I’m sorry but –”

“I don’t even want to hear your excuse, Jin Hyuk. I didn’t ever want to worry about you and your job because I know how important it is for you. I understand, but this is such an important part of our life and you’ve been doing nothing about it. I’ve been alone throughout this whole process and maybe some times Jung Ah is there, but she can’t be with me through every single step.” I groaned, looking away from him because I was too afraid to look into his eyes. “You know how stressed out I’ve been? I haven’t even met up with Kang Hee for the past two scheduled days and I feel so bad, but I just feel like it’s right that you’d go with me to figure out this wedding together because if I’m right, we are getting married to each other, but it’s not going to do itself.”

I don’t even know if I took a breath because Jin Hyuk was staring at me like I was some madwoman, but I was so frustrated with the whole situation. I never wanted to be, but I couldn’t help myself.

“And ever since we’ve gotten back, all you do is work. I barely get time with you and when I do, I find myself just wanting time for myself. I know it sounds selfish, but I need you sometimes and it would be great if I could in the times of need. I don’t want to have to ask for your time.” I started crying, but I wasn’t sad at all. I was just frustrated. “I’m tired of feeling like I have cold feet when I don’t. It’s just that we’re lacking communication and we’re not giving each other our time because we’re too busy trying to do other things. It’s getting out of hand.”

“I know and I’m really sorry, Soo Jin.” Jin Hyuk embraced me, but it didn’t feel right. “I didn’t even go to Japan. I was walking around with Kang Hee, figuring everything else out for our wedding. I picked out the wine, the food, the decorations to your liking and who would put it up, and even how we’ll be paying for everything.”

I pulled back almost immediately and looked at him like he was crazy now. “What?”

“I even found my tux that I’m going to wear and made sure the venue that you were deciding on was going to be the one you like no matter how much it would cost.” Jin Hyuk brushed my hair from my wet face and smiled. “

“Wait… What?” I was appalled. “Are you kidding me right now, Jin Hyuk?”

He nodded his head. “I told my boss that I would have to skip out on that trip to Japan and he agreed to it after I told him I had a lot of wedding things to get prepped and have been leaving it to you. I wanted to make sure you were okay, but when I got back to your parents’ place, they told me you left to Busan.”

“Oh…” I didn’t know how to feel because I was just babbling off at him and this whole time, it was because he was too busy getting our wedding together.

“What are you doing here anyway?” Jin Hyuk looked around the beach as if he’s never seen such a thing before. “I mean, Busan…”

“Oh, well…” I didn’t know what to say, honestly. There was no good reason as to why I came here, but I feel like there was no reason needed. “I just wanted some time alone… from everything and everyone…”

“It’s pretty quiet here.” He pointed out obviously. “Why was Se Hun here?”

“His grandpa is buried here and Jin Guk wanted to come here.” I replied nonchalantly without even realizing it.

“Jin Guk?” He asked questionably.

“Yeah, his son.” I lied quickly because I didn’t feel like there was a reason to tell Jin Hyuk the truth. “Jin Guk wanted to come here and we happened to run into each other. He accompanied me.”

“Accompanied you?” Jin Hyuk didn’t look too happy. “I didn’t know you needed someone to keep you company while I was away.”

“It wasn’t intentionally, Jin Hyuk. It was just like coincidentally and we decided to catch up while we walked around Busan.” I shrugged, trying to not make it a big deal. “And besides, his grandpa loved me and I wanted us to go visit him together. I thought it would only be reasonable for us to go since we were already together.”

Jin Hyuk didn’t say a word. He just stared at me.

“Okay…” I said awkwardly. “I honestly thought he set me up or something.”

“Set you up?” Jin Hyuk asked.

“It just seemed so sudden that he talked to me about something so personal and then the minute he got up and left, it was as if on queue, you showed up. It was kind of weird.” I started to walk away from the water and Jin Hyuk followed. “It seemed like a set up. Like you were waiting for him to finish talking to me so you could come over here…”

“Why would Se Hun and I set you up? I have exchanged two words with the guy. I mean, he barely talks, if that’s not obvious.” Jin Hyuk said as he reached for my hand and squeezed it. “I have a feeling the guy doesn’t really like me.”

“Se Hun always looks like he doesn’t like anyone, but he honestly probably just doesn’t care about you. I mean…” I shook my head. “I didn’t mean for it to be said like that. I’m sorry. Se Hun just minds his own business if you aren’t really friends with him.”

“I get it.” He laughed, calming me down a little. “Were you crying earlier?”

“What?” I asked confused before shaking my head. “Why would you ask that?”

“I saw him hug you.” Jin Hyuk suddenly said, making me stop in my tracks.

“Oh…” I bit my bottom lip. “I’m sorry. It wasn’t what you’re thinking, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“What am I thinking?” He turned to face me.

“I don’t know…” I looked away. “He was just… comforting me…”

Jin Hyuk slowly nodded his head as he his dry lips. “That’s what I was thinking.”

“Oh…” I didn’t want to say anything anymore.

“So… How about we go back to your parents place and start getting everything settled with Kang Hee? We  could have a dinner rehearsal soon with your friends and family and…”

His voice started to fade as I was thinking about all the things that were going to happen soon. I was getting married to Jin Hyuk, Se Hun was going to stop speaking to me, and I was never going to come back to this place again, right?

**

When we arrived back to my parents’ place, Jin Hyuk and I stayed a bit quiet and rested on our own beds. We weren’t officially married yet, so we still weren’t allowed to sleep in the same bed especially under my parent’s place. As I fiddled with my phone, I saw Jae Hyun’s face pop up. It was quite random that I was getting a phone call from him at this time of night.

“Hello? What do you want –”

“Soo Jin, where are you? I need you right now. It’s an emergency!!!” Jae Hyun screamed through the phone, causing my ear to twitch.

“Goodness, Jae Hyun, you’re going to make me deaf!” I rubbed my ear. “What’s wrong?”

“Jung Ah has been puking the last few hours and I don’t know what to do.” He said almost too quickly, he made it seem like he didn’t want me to understand. “I’ve been trying to make her drink juice, eat fruits, eat something, but she won’t and she’s throwing a freaking tantrum!!!”

“Why would she –”

“JUST COME RIGHT NOW! SHE’S AT MY PLACE!!!” Jae Hyun said before hanging up the phone.

“Well then…” I muttered to myself as I got up from my bed and grabbed my coat.

On my way out the door, I noticed my parents had just stopped watching TV and had gone to their room to sleep. I was going to sneak out, but the door to Jin Hyuk’s room suddenly opened.

“Where are you going?” Jin Hyuk asked. He had just showered and had a towel around his neck. “You look like you’re sneaking off.”

“Jae Hyun just called me. He said that –”

“Jae Hyun?” He interrupted.

“Uh, yeah, the guy who owns the restaurant?” I said.

“Why did he call you?” As if I wasn’t going to just tell him why.

“I’m going because he has an emergency.” I replied a little annoyed that he seemed to be giving me a weird attitude again. “He said that –”

“If Jae Hyun has an emergency, why doesn’t he call anyone else? Why does he have to call you out of all people he’s friends with?” Jin Hyuk’s tone was very harsh and it took me by surprised.

“So what if he has other friends, Jin Hyuk? I’m still his friend and if he trusts me enough to help him, shouldn’t I do that at least?” I couldn’t believe the way he was speaking to me.

“You’re just going to go?” He asked.

“Yes, because he needs me and so does Jung Ah.” I said before I left the house.

I was shaking by the time I was outside of the house. I couldn’t believe the way he was talking and what kind of tone he was using against me. Jin Hyuk has never raised his voice or was he ever harsh, but ever since we’ve gotten here, he’s become someone I feel like I don’t know. It was irritating me and leaving didn’t make me feel any better about the situation

**

“OMG! Hurry the hell up, Soo Jin!” Jae Hyun grabbed my arm, pulled me into his loft, and shut the door behind me.

“No hello?” I asked jokingly, but he gave me the death stare.

“Does it look like I have time to say hello to you?” He asked, grinding his teeth.

“Why are you acting like this, Jae Hyun?” I laughed as he took my coat off after placing a bag of goodies onto the counter. “Where is she?”

“In there.” He pointed to a room. “I’m sure I have emptied ten garbage bags within these past two hours and I cannot do it any longer!”

“It cannot be that bad!” I said as I walked into the room only to see Jung Ah, who had her hair bunched into a really messy bun, hunched over the bed puking into a plastic bag. “Wow. What a wonderful sight…”

“Shut. Up.” She muttered as she sat back up and wiped with the back of her hand.

“That’s disgusting.” I said as I grabbed a new pack of wet wipes and handed it to her. “What is wrong with you? Why is Jae Hyun acting like it’s the end of the world?”

“That’s all you’re going to ask?” She asked as she wiped her hands and mouth.

“What did you want me to ask?” I questioned before I tied up the bag in front of me. “Oh wait, I think I know.”

“I hate you.” She groaned as she started crying.

“I get it. I know. You’re here at Jae Hyun’s. Why am I not questioning it? I mean, that’s the most obvious answer, right?” I laughed, but she was definitely not having it cos’ she cried even louder. I started shaking up a bottle of medicine I bought from the convenience store. “When you’re ready to tell me, you can tell me. I’m not going to force anything out of you…”

“Was that supposed to be a joke because that was not funny…” She said, laughing a little.

“No, I didn’t even mean to say that. It honestly just came out that way.” I opened up the bottle and poured the liquid into the cup that came with it. “Here,” I gave her the cup. “Drink this twice a day and in between, take two pills so your head and stomach can relax during the day.”

Jung Ah took the cup of medicine quickly and then handed it back to me before she started crying again. I didn’t say anything. Instead, I went to the bathroom, turn the shower on and made sure it was warm enough before heading back towards her.

“Go cry in the shower, you madwoman. You are going to make Jae Hyun ten times more crazy if you make his room smell even worse than it already is.” I tried to make her laugh, but she just kept crying. “I promise you, a shower is what you need right now.”

Jung Ah slowly got up from the bed and I helped her to the bathroom. I let her know that there was a sponge in there that I snuck in and that I’ll be waiting for her in a clean bedroom once she comes out. Luckily for Jae Hyun, I was nice enough to buy new bed sheets. His blankets were going to have to wait.

“Soo Jin…” Jung Ah’s voice was fragile and child-like.

“What?” I asked turning around.

“Do you know?” She asked, seeming afraid.

“Do I know?” I tilted my head.

She nodded.

“I think everyone knows and if not, they’re idiots.” I said before I shut the bathroom door behind me.

**Author's Note: Hello everyone! Thank you for all the positive and kind words <3 Can't thank you all enough for the continuous support! Hope you all enjoy this next chapter :)