Chapter Twenty-One.

Love isn’t something that happens in an instant. It wasn’t something that happened overnight. It takes a while, to grow, to nurture and finally bloom. At least that’s what Nayoung knew about love. It was what she had always been told. Falling in love was a gradual process as far as she knew. And that was the exact reason why she was re-considering her feelings for the man she had apparently fallen in love with a few years ago.

Was she actually in love with him? If she was, then shouldn’t it have taken longer before she declared her feelings as love? Within weeks of knowing him she had come to the conclusion that she was in love with him. But how she to call it love, when she had never known of it before? It would be the first time she felt something like that for a person other than her own family. Her little crush on Jongin was nothing compared to what she felt for the other man.

It was now that she finally knew that she was indeed in love with Yixing. It wouldn’t hurt so much otherwise. If she wasn’t in love with him, she would have moved on. She would have healed, for three years was a long time. If she doubted her feelings earlier, it was quite clear now. And there was nothing she could do about it. She would have live with her broken heart, forever. Just like her father. Perhaps her aunt was right, perhaps she wasn’t meant to be loved.

Nayoung wiped the tears streaming down her cheeks coarsely, not bothering to care about the looks she earned from the rest of the people and Sehun. Sehun was worriedly glancing at the girl wondering how to comfort her. But any efforts he made were in vain, she would completely ignore him.

Nayoung quickly turned towards the window, the sign boards this time directed towards the town they lived in. They still had to traverse through a few hundred miles before they reached home and she couldn’t wait to get away. Never had she wanted to go back home so bad. She wished to be strong, she wanted to act like it didn’t affect her but it did. Seeing Yixing gazing fondly at another woman made her heart shatter. But what right did she have to object? She had lost her chance years ago.

Sehun nudged the older girl gently.

“Noona.”

He uttered noiselessly as if he was afraid he would break her.

It wasn’t the first time she had broken down in front of him. He clearly remembered how he had once walked into the small study room attached to the art gallery only to find Nayoung crouched onto the floor, sobbing violently. There were splashes of paint everywhere especially on the piece of canvas that lay on the ground. It was something she had been working on for a long time and she had finally finished it. It would have definitely been her masterpiece for her art exhibition if it wasn’t for the blotches of black paint that was spilled carelessly over it.

Although the paint blotches covered most of it, the painting on the canvas was still etched in his brain; it was a portrayal of a girl who was reaching out to a guy, who seemed to be walking away from the girl. And the huge shadow which the tree behind her cast seemed to engulf the girl in its darkness. The more he thought of it, the more the girl seemed to resemble Nayoung. And that made him wonder if it were indeed the girl. If so, then who was that guy?

After that day Sehun had realized that any attempts to comfort Nayoung while she cried would always be futile.

But he couldn’t help but try.

“Leave me alone.” She cried again, prying his hand off of her harshly.

She knew Sehun meant well and was only trying to console her, but she didn’t want to be consoled. She wanted to be left alone.

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“Yixing!”

Fei screeched and ran towards the male who slid to the floor lifelessly. Shards of glass were littered everywhere, one of them deeply embedded in the male’s palm from which drops of blood were dripping down.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” She continued to shout but she knew it was of no use. Yixing wasn’t in his senses, the guy was completely smashed. She didn’t know what to do. She felt helpless. She just wanted him to stop drinking and not hurt himself.

In the past few hours, he had managed to tear down every bit of his apartment, screaming violently. This side of him was new to her and she would be lying if she said she wasn’t afraid. She was beyond scared, thankfully he hadn’t hurt her.

“I hate her.”

His teeth were clenched and his jaws tensed, his eyes possibly searching for the next object he could destroy. His eyes caught a frame that hung on the wall. Chuckling to himself like a mad man, he staggered towards the frame, retrieving it to smash it into a billions pieces. Fei ducked down, shutting her ears. She wanted this to stop.

“I hate her!” He yelled this time, stepping on the painting which now bore a broken glass covering. Fei walked towards him again, wishing he would stop hurting himself.

“Yixing, please stop this.”

“No.” He screamed.

“Why does she get to be happy? I’ve been miserable for the past three years thinking that maybe, maybe she was going through the same.

But No!

No…

She has ing moved on!”

“How is that fair?

Answer me Fei.”

His hands were trying to grab the bottle containing the clear liquid. Fei’s eyes widened immediately, she stood in front of him shielding the bottle.

“No, you’ve had too much Yixing. Stop it, please.” She pleaded while tears were threatening to fall down her eyes.

He stared at the girl with disgust before pushing her away roughly.

“Leave me alone!”

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Sumin could barely contain her excitement, she would married in a few hours to the man she loved. And now that she knew Jongin loved her too, her heart felt more at ease. She glanced at her best-friend who had been staring into blank spa