All reasons why she’d left in the first place returned to her at the speed of light. A heavy weight weighed moved down the center of .

She shouldn’t be here…

It was too late. She couldn’t run now. No matter how much she hated this, this was reality.

Firmly pressing her lips together Namjoo listened to Sehun step out of the car, the weight shifting, and her eyes burned into the window. She really hated this. It was unfair. It wasn’t right. She didn’t need to deal with the her sister had left behind. Why was she bothering with this charade?

The door opened and Sehun waited for her to get out. She only had two realistic options at the moment. To stay in his car or to go inside, and in this very second she didn’t want to be swimming in the filth of his presence. Hastily unbuckling her seatbelt she stepped out and stared at the front door haughtily laughing at her without the slightest movement.

Leaning into the car Sehun pulled out the shopping bags and handed them to her. Namjoo silently snatched them from him, both annoyed and irritated with him standing there. Drive off already, she wanted to say.

“You’re not going to thank me?” he asked.

Gritting her teeth together she forced herself up the stairs and toward the front door. Once the door closed behind her Namjoo was more than ever urged to let out the scream she’d been locking in.

“Choonhee!” her deceased twin’s mother called out. She appeared from around the corner, paused to gape at her, as if to make sure it was really her daughter. Hurrying forth she grabbed her arm and proceeded to slide both hands over her, as if touching her limbs would really assure her she was real.

“Where have you been? Do you know how worried we’ve been?” Choonhee’s mother questioned.

“What’s this?” a voice growled from around the corner.

Namjoo sighted Choonhee’s tall father and immediately lowered her head.

“Where have you been?” he interrogated, sounding nowhere as gentle or nice as his wife. “Do you know what you’ve done? Kai and his parents came over yesterday. Do you know how embarrassing it was to find out that you’ve ran off?”

“Dear,” Eungi called and gestured for him to stop with a stark frown and nod of her head. Turning back to her she led her down the hall, "Come. Have you eaten?”

“Can you not see that she’s been playing around?” Lee Kwan muttered, following them. “Where did you go? What are those bags?”

Namjoo wanted to cuss. They were annoying, even if they had been distant with Choonhee. She just wanted to be alone. She didn’t want to deal with them. Why was this so distressing?

“You should answer your father,” Choonhee’s mother gently chided.

“Sehun gave them to me.”

“Sehun?” the man repeated, his voice laced with atrocity and surprise. “Chooonhee-ah, I want you to understand from today onwards that you’ve nothing to do with that man. You’re going to be Kai’s fiancée. What will people say if they know you’re still meeting that man? From now on, cut off all contacts with him. I won’t allow you to embarrass any of us, like you did yesterday.”

Namjoo glanced at him more sternly. “Fiancée? Me?”

“Choonhee,” Eungi called her, a hand on her arm. Namjoo glanced at her prettily painted nails then to the woman. “Congratulations.”

Stunned, Namjoo became speechless. They turned when the doorbell rang.

“That must be Hayoung bringing over some documents. I’ll go get it,” Choonhee’s mother said before walking off.

As she disappeared Namjoo quickly turned to the elder man, “The engagement…”

“I’m busy, lets talk next time.” the man brushed her off and turned to walk away. Namjoo stared after him in disbelief.

“Choonhee.” She turned at the sound of Hayoung’s voice and felt an even greater amount of frustration. “You’re home.”

“Ah…” Eungi smiled, “she just returned. It turns out she was with Sehun. Her father isn’t too happy about it. Why don’t you talk with her to calm things down?” Patting Hayoung’s arm the woman walked away and Namjoo felt a shadow grow over her.

“Yes, ma’am.” Hayoung nodded after her. Once Choonhee’s mother was out of earshot and out of sight, Hayoung turned to look her over, first running her eyes over the shopping bags. “Where’ve you been?”

Pressing her lips together, Namjoo swallowed. Out of the men and all the parents, she felt most intimidated by Hayoung. If she said she’d run away, she feared what Hayoung might do. She was unpredictable and authoritative over her life as Choonhee. Namjoo felt pressed.

She couldn’t answer.

“You,” Hayoung quietly whispered, “don’t do it again.” Then louder, “I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”

\\\\\

Sehun couldn’t breathe. He wanted to rewind the day over. Start his day by listening to Hayoung to discovering Choonhee at the store. It was her image that filled up his head. He wanted to spend the day with her again, have her to himself. Have it be just the two of them.

He laid there, his mind running restlessly. A regretful sigh dropped from his lips, his chest heaved up and down slowly. He could still recall the way she looked anxiously at him, the way she moved when she was angry, and how she called his name. His heart picked up pace.

He didn’t want tomorrow to come. He didn’t want to go to work or see her be with Kai. He wanted her with him.

This time he sighed heavily and drew the back of his hand over his closed eyes. He wanted to sleep, but he was wide awake. And all he could think about was Choonhee, how pretty she was, and how she made his blood rush without even lifting a finger. He felt bewitched. After all this time she was choosing to do this to him in the most unfortunate of time.

She wasn’t being fair.

“You,” she breathed, “do you like me?”

And his heart ran faster. If he had said yes, what would she had done? What would her reaction have been like? What if…what if she had said she was the same?

His inner voice laughed at him, and he knew he was being the biggest fool right now. Why would she still like him when she left him in the first place?

It was frustrating being apart from her, not having her in his sight. He missed her. His heart ached. Why was he being so pathetic?

Groaning he to his side, burying his face into the pillow.

\\\\\

Namjoo was now more unsettled than she ever was. Why hadn’t Hayoung slapped her? Given her a good scolding? Just what did she have in mind? It made her anxious, nervous.

Almost a half hour had passed since she’d been in the tub filled with bubble soap, foam around her. The water was still severely warm and relaxing. She didn’t want to leave what made her feel secure since she didn’t know what might happen tomorrow.

Sehun’s image flashed into her mind and she replayed the moment she turned to find him staring at her with stars in his eyes, like she was a diamond in his sky. Her heart fluttered at the rerun and bit onto her lower lip hard to punish herself. She had barely felt sorry for him when she discovered Choonhee had dumped him until he became a jerk toward her, forcing her into a kiss…not just once either.

“Jerk!” Namjoo shouted and slapped the water.

And it bothered her more than she liked after telling her he hated her, loathed her existence. Her heart undeniably heated up.

Kissing, she always thought, happened between two lovebirds or it happened when someone loved another person.

“You…” he intensely held her eyes, “do you think I kissed you because I want to? I hate you. I despise you, so don’t plan on the engagement. Whatever you do, I’m going to be there and I’ll step on your happiness.”

Why bother touching her if he despised her so? Why was he doing this to her?!

“Stop thinking about it!” she scolded herself and slipped under the water.

\\\\\

It was another usual day of Choonhee’s life she had stepped into. Waking up at the light of dawn, dressing, and heading downstairs to have breakfast with the family she was borrowing. Namjoo actually felt drained, wondering how Choonhee did it as she sat at the table yawning.

“Don’t do that. It looks bad, especially for a woman,” Choonhee’s mother lightly scolded her.

Immediately closing she swallowed the sigh and sat there quietly, waiting for Auntie Shin to set the table. And she wondered why no one else seemed to give her a hand. Seeing the old woman work alone in the kitchen made Namjoo feel kind of sorry for her.

What a boring life, was all she could think about. Why had Choonhee given up her lovely life of music to go into business, where one did practically the same thing every day? It wasn’t even the second day for her anymore and Namjoo could no longer stand the thought of sitting behind a computer, looking files over and making adjustments as others deemed fit. It was stressing, gave her a headache nonetheless boredom. How did everyone do it? Why was the business even important at all?

She should have run away when she could yesterday. There had been so many openings when Sehun seemed lost in space. She should have run away!

“Hayoung, you’re here? Come sit down,” her mother greeted with an elated smile and bright eyes. Namjoo turned, surprised by the entrance of the so-called friend and wondered if she was always around Choonhee’s family.

“I’ll be taking Choonhee to work with me.” Hayoung explained as she joined them.

“Is that so?” Eungi questioned. “Choonhee must not be having an easy time adjusting to the work. I thought she would go by herself today.”

“Of course not,” Hayoung said, sounding even kinder than usual. “Choonhee’s been doing very well, as I’ve heard from Kai.”

Namjoo watched them converse, as if she weren’t there at all. How befuddling it was that she felt excluded, even from the woman who was supposed to be her mother. Had they taken to talking about Choonhee in this manner when she was around?

\\\\\

“You’ve missed a day of work, don’t do it again. Others will think you’re using your relationship to Kai and his family to your advantage. They won’t look at you well.” Hayoung explained, driving around the bend. “Choonhee doesn’t embarrass her family or herself. Keep that in mind.”

Namjoo kept her lips tightly pursed.

“I have a feeling that Kai looks after you pretty well in his department, so I have no doubt that the others see it obvious you two are in a relationship.”

“We aren’t.” Namjoo stated with voice slightly raised and swallowed when Hayoung glanced at her. Quietly she repeated, “We aren’t. It’s not like that. You know it too.”

Her eyes rolled away without comment, then she persisted, “Everyone knows you two will get married.”

Lips parting, Namjoo swiftly turned back to look at her. “No. I already told you. I’m not going through with it.”

“You are.” She stated, as if the decision had already been decided by everyone, even God himself.

A moment of silence followed, the air tight with growing tension. It wasn’t a joke. Nothing was ever a joke in Choonhee’s world.

The engagement was a very real topic, a very real decision made. And Namjoo was scared because it was real and would be bestowed on her if she didn’t stop it firsthand.

“Stop the car.” She said.

No reply.

She repeated louder, “Stop the car!”

“No,” Hayoung replied, further accelerating the vehicle, “I think you forgot something. You don’t order me around. Don’t think of yourself so highly, Kim Namjoo.”

Shooting her a glare, Hayoung sped down the road, forcing her to clutch onto her seatbelt.

\\\\\

Minutes later Namjoo found herself chasing after Hayoung, her heels loudly echoing off the concrete on the way toward the company.

“Hayoung!” Namjoo shouted. “We need to talk. Hayoung!”

The woman plainly ignored her, as if her existence was nothing more than a cloud rolling by. Namjoo picked up her pace, her feet hurting like hell again. It felt as if she was walking on spikes, each step forward shot delirious pain up her ankles straight up her legs. Yet, she persisted because if she didn’t Hayoung would get away with her deed.

“Hayoung!” Namjoo shouted once more, trying to start at a run but instead found herself clattering forward against the concrete. Pain shot up her knee, but Hayoung finally stopped at last.

Perfect, now was the time. Namjoo began pulling herself up but heard someone shout, “Choonhee!” And in a split moment’s time she was gently pulled up by no other than Kai.

The voice in her head groaned at the interruption. Pulling on a smile Hayoung stepped toward them.

“I’m sorry. Are you ok?” Hayoung asked her with a smile, which Namjoo found was nothing more than a sneer.

“Why were you running?” Kai wondered. “Are you ok? Look, your knee’s bleeding.”

“Oh no,” Hayoung gasped, “you better take her in before it gets worst. Do you need to go to the hospital, Choonhee?”

Namjoo stared at the so-called friend and turned to find Kai intently watching her. Awkwardly forcing a smile on she shook her head, “Of course not. It’s nothing major.”

“Is there a group gathering I don’t know about?” a familiar voice jumped in. The three turned to find Sehun watching them.

“What’s with your face?” Hayoung asked, noticing the slight bruise on his face where Namjoo had punched him yesterday.

Pressing her lips together Namjoo averted her eyes, annoyed with herself for being bothered by him and annoyed with him for showing up.

“Nothing,” he replied shooting a discreet glance her way. “I’m going in first.”

Namjoo listened to him walk away and caught Hayoung shooting her a stare before turning to Kai. “Take care of her.” Then she left as well.

Something about them annoyed her so much.

\\\\\

Hayoung picked up her steps and made it to the elevator just as the doors were closing. She had a feeling Sehun wasn’t going to wait for her. Jutting her arm out to stop them from closing she watched him glance at her before she smiled and stepped in.

“You’re in quite a hurry today,” she commented, coming to his side and shifted to watch the doors close. “Considering how you skipped yesterday. You missed quite a few meetings, but luckily I negotiated and rescheduled for you.”

He remained absolute quiet, as if she weren’t there. She wasn’t very surprised.

“I heard you were with Choonhee yesterday.” Hayoung commented, allowing her bitterness to show through.

Still, he remained silent. It was starting to irk her. When the doors opened on their floor and just before he could step out she reached forward to close the doors.

“Lets ride down to the lobby and back up, shall we?” Hayoung suggested.

“What’s with you?” he finally spoke, his voice held impatience. 

“Why?” Hayoung asked. “I want to know what’s with you.”

He only glanced at her through the corner of his eye then stared at the numbers clocking down. A string of irritation tightened inside her chest.

“You…are you actually following the plan, or is there something else you’re doing?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking,” she shifted to face him, wanting to watch his reaction for it would be the most honest answer, “about you getting Choonhee back.”

His eyes slightly softened then hardened. “I’m just following your plan. It’s what you wanted.”

“No,” she said. “I don’t think it’s your plan anymore.”

Sehun’s eyes slightly wavered to and fro and Hayoung’s throat constricted upon seeing it.

“You,” she said, “like Choonhee.” She paused, waiting for the tension in him to heighten up as he fought to deny her answer with his most confident act. “Don’t you?”

Kim Namjoo, Hayoung gritted her teeth and stared intently while waiting for his show, I’ll get you married off. 

***And as we see it, Choonhee's fate is slowly being bestowed upon Namjoo