Chapter Twenty.

Sehun eyed the older girl intently. She was lost in her own world, he was certain she wasn’t listening to her best-friend who was chatting animatedly about what menu they had picked for the wedding. Sumin obviously was way too excited to even notice that she had lost Nayoung’s attention a long time back. Sehun had been given the option of tagging along with Baekhyun and the other groomsmen to go around town, having a sweet time. But the guy had opted against it. He felt the need to stay by Nayoung’s side. Something told him she wasn’t ready for this. She wasn’t ready to face people at Sumin’s wedding or was it just one person rather?

He couldn’t really grasp what Jongin had been saying at the night of his bachelor’s party. He had been completely sloshed, his speech slurring by the minute. What Sehun could catch was something along the lines of ‘take care of Nayoung’, ‘she’s still broken inside’ and how remorseful he felt of not being the one to heal her. Baekhyun had shushed the guy before he blurted out more.

“Don’t talk nonsense, Jongin. You’re getting married in a week.”

Baekhyun had taunted him slightly, even though he knew Jongin was not in the right senses to even comprehend whatever he was saying.

Although Sehun had pretended not to hear a thing, he was still curious. He didn’t know a whole lot about Nayoung, the girl rarely opened up. Now that he thought of it, it was always him blabbering about his own life while Nayoung would be the one to listen keenly and give him advice whenever required.

He cared for her. He wanted her to be happy. And he knew that attending this wedding wasn’t something she was happy about. Guilt started to creep in suddenly; he had annoyed the girl until she had agreed. But more importantly he wanted to know why she was broken? And why she couldn’t accept Jongin instead. He did seem like a decent guy for what it was worth. He decided not to meddle in it. Besides, Sumin and he seemed quite good together.

He nudged Nayoung gently to break her from her reverie. She was slightly startled but thankfully her actions weren’t overt enough for Sumin to notice.

“It’s going to be the best wedding ever!”

Sumin exclaimed elatedly. Nayoung nodded furiously and broke into a grin, which Sehun could tell wasn’t quite genuine. He sighed impatiently; he had to ask her what was going on.

Sumin could finally sense that something was wrong with her best-friend. It had been a long time since she last saw her, but she still knew her well enough to know something was wrong. Her limp posture and dull face was indicative of that.

“Nayoung?” She called out to her best friend.

“What’s wrong?”

Nayoung bit her lip gently, she could sense how Sehun’s eyes were trained on her as well. She wouldn’t ruin Sumin’s wedding just because she didn’t feel alright. She forced yet another fake smile on her face before turning to Sumin.

“Nothing. Why?”

Sumin refused to buy that.

“You’re thinking about him, aren’t you?”

Nayoung shook her head briskly, as if she was convincing herself that it wasn’t the truth.

“N-no.

W-what were you saying about the caterers?”

She asked hoping Sumin would let her be.

“Why are being like this, Nayoung?” Sumin went on.

“You brought this upon yourself, didn’t you? Why are you still moping about it?

Besides, you’ve lost your chance, he’s moved on.”

“W-what?”

Nayoung didn’t know why it hurt her so much when she heard those words. What was she expecting anyway? It had been so long, she couldn’t expect him to keep waiting for her. Isn’t this what she had wanted? His happiness? That was the sole reason why she had let him go years ago.

Sumin was right, she had brought this upon herself and she had no right to be upset about it.

“Look, Nayoung. I care for you okay, so please stop being like this.

I don’t like seeing you this way.

How long would you continue to be like this?

Go out, meet people and find someone.”

“C’mon I’ve got the perfect dress for you. And it’s special coz you’re my maid of honor.”

Sumin was back to being her bubbly self again. She dragged Nayoung with her hoping to cheer the girl up.

Sehun, on the other hand, was stunned. He knew he had to do something about it.

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Sumin winced when Jongin pulled her aside from the crowd vehemently. They were at their rehearsal dinner but he just couldn’t concentrate. Sehun’s words kept ringing in his ears. He knew the younger one meant well, he intended to make his Noona happy. But there were these little things which Sumin did that made him doubt if the girl was genuinely her best-friend or an enemy in disguise.

He remembered their squabble that had happened years ago when Nayoung had blurted out the truth. He had been extremely angry at Sumin for acting so irrationally and immaturely. He had hated the girl for causing pain to his friend. But he had also been hopelessly in love with Nayoung at that time. Little did he expect that he would be marrying the girl he hated years later.

She wasn’t that bad, he had realized later on. He had been forced to spend time with her because he had promised Nayoung to take care of her. Although initially he failed to understand why a grown-up girl like Sumin needed to be taken care of. He later on realized that she was awfully lonely. She sought for a companion just like he di