Seohyun sat down on one of those benches in front of the convenience store near the high school building. She drank a bottle of mineral water in one go and wiped the sweat formed on her forehead. She felt so tired after running around to find him.

Yes, she was looking for Yonghwa.

Since Seohyun heard the story from Choa, she frantically began her mission to find him. She had searched almost everywhere; his apartment, his office, the beach, then back to Choa‘s restaurant, and lastly, their high school. She also had tried to contact his phone several times, but to no avail. He never picked up her call.

‘Where are you, Oppa?’ she run her fingers through hair in desperation.

Right then, a bouquet of mini-sunflowers was placed in front of her and she heard someone greeted her in a familiar sentence.

“Beautiful flower for beautiful girl.”

***
June 6th, 2015

“Good morning, everyone~!” Yonghwa shouted happily as he entered a small restaurant near his favorite beach in Busan.

“There he is. My handsome oppa finally arrive. Where have you been, Oppa? I’ve been waiting for you,” Choa welcomed him with her tight embrace.

He hugged her back and said, “Sorry, I overslept as usual. Please don’t angry with me, okay?”

“You look tired, did you work till late again last night? I won’t angry with you, but please take care of your health, Oppa.”

“I have you to take care of me, don’t I?” he .

But suddenly someone pulled them apart and yelled at them, “Yah yah yah! What are both of you doing in front of me?”

“Good morning to you, too, Eric-ssi!” Yonghwa greeted and passed him to the kitchen, then hugged Choa’s mother lovingly, “Good morning, Ahjummoni~!”

“Good morning, my dear son.”

“Your handsome oppa, huh?” Eric shifted his angry glare to Choa.

So, Choa grabbed his left arm and shook it playfully, “Aigoo~ What am I supposed to do with this jealousy of yours, Oppa? To remind you again and again, you will always be my prince charming forever.”

Yonghwa smiled delightly as he looked at those two loving-birds shared their make-up kiss in the middle of the empty restaurant.

***

It was four years ago, after the break-up incident, when Yonghwa first entered this small restaurant, only to avoid his favorite restaurant with Seohyun.

He met Choa and her mother, the owner of this restaurant at that time. The place was managed in homey ambience, completed with their warm smile. That made him felt so comfortable on his first visit and continued to visit it regularly.

Time went by and they gradually become close to each other. Like one happy family.

Choa also introduced him to her boyfriend, Eric Nam. He has a friendly personality who was very talkative at several times. He became one additional best friend for Yonghwa.

Surrounded by positive energy around him, Yonghwa felt so much better. The pain slowly subsided, if not healed completely. His life had a new beginning, even sometimes he still missed her.

However, life chose to roll in an unexpected way.

In the middle of August 2015, Choa’s mother and Eric got into an accident while driving her to a relative at the other city, and passed away.

Choa fainted.

She didn’t stop crying for several weeks in a row, couldn’t believe what had really happened to the two people whom she loved so dearly. Choa and Eric even had their wedding planned in the following year.

Her health kept deteriorating as she refused to eat properly, until she needed to be hospitalized. It has been a very tough year for her.

Yonghwa could not stop to worry about her. He stayed beside her as much as he could to show his support for her. As if saying that she was not alone and he would not leave her no matter what. She was her little sister for him, afterall.

Thankfully, Choa gradually stood up with her life. Even with her sad smile and constant tears on her face, she tried her best to recover. It was for Eric and her mother, she said.

Yonghwa picked her up and drove her home when she was discharged from the hospital. He prayed hard for her to be a strong woman in the future.

But then, another problem came up when someone called her.

“Yoboseyo?” she answered.

“Ah, de.. de.. Okay, I will come tomorrow and discuss it with you. Thank you,” she ended the call politely.

“Who is it?” he asked her as he gave her a cup of tea.

“Wedding organizer,” she replied solemnly and started to sob painfully.

He hugged her tightly and patted her back to soothe her until she calmed down in his embrace.

Thereafter, Yonghwa carefully release his hug and hold both of her cheeks. He looked straight into her eyes and falteringly told her the decision he had considered for quite long.

“Choa-yah, I know it too sudden, but would you like to marry me?”

“Oppa..”

“I fully understand that it may not the best option, whereas we still don’t love each other. But we can try, I will try. I want to stayed beside you and protect you,” he gently hold her hands to convince her.

“But Eric.. Eric..,” her eyes was getting teary again.

“Eric will remain in your heart. You don’t have to forget him right away when you marry me, or you can say ever. You can always keep your memories with him. Just let me take care of you.”

“You know that you don’t have to do this, Oppa.”

”But I want to. Let’s face this unpleasant situation together and support each other. Take your time to think about it first, I will wait for your decision. Please?”

He hugged her again when she nodded her head weakly, “It’s okay, Choa-yah. Everything will be okay next time.”

A week later, she finally agreed to marry him. They would move along with the initial wedding plan with small changes on the groom side. Like Yonghwa said, it was better to passed this difficult time together than alone by herself.

***

February 14th, 2016

It had been two days since Choa came back from her business trip in Hong Kong and a week since Yonghwa farewell trip in Seoul. She had given him a box of chocolates earlier that day, because it was valentine.

“How was your trip?” he started the conversation right after they sat inside his living room.

“Oh, it was so tiring but somehow it was really worthed. We succeed to close the deal with our prospective client there,” she replied him while munching a cookies from his jar.

Choa had done great at work and smiled more often lately, and it really made him relieved.

“That sounds great. Congratulation.”

“Thank you.”

“Did you sleep well there? Or did you skip your meals because of your tight schedule?” he asked in concern, but always in brotherly way.

“De, Oppa, I had good night sleeps and never skipped my meals. But let’s stop talking about me. How was your mini adventure with Seohyun? I heard that you accompanied her to Seoul for days.”

“O-oh. It’s true that I went to Seoul with her for a couple of days.”

She saw the uneasiness in his respond as she had predicted before.

They might indeed have decided to get married and support each other in the future. However love wasn’t there. It was just his conscience to become her guardian.

She was okay with their decision because beside her needed of someone to protect her, he also needed someone to help him healed his pain. But it was a different story, with Seohyun presence back in his life.

“Oppa,” she broke the silence between them.

“Hmm.”

“Let’s cancel our wedding.”

“What? Why? I was not falling in love with her again,” he explained hurriedly.

“That’s exactly the reason.”

“Believe me, nothing happened between us at that time.”

“Try to be honest to yourself, Oppa. You still love her, and I can see it clearly,” she raised her hand to stop his protest, “Oppa, we don’t have to do this. I’m not angry with you or something, but it was not right to continue our plan. Not when you find the love of your life again and I still love my Eric very much. Let’s cancel our wedding, please?”

“Please don’t do this to me, Choa-yah. You know I can’t stand when people leave me behind. Please don’t leave me,” he shook his head repeatedly as the bad memory slowly crept into his mind.

She gently hold his hands and told him in assurance, “I will not leave you, Oppa. I won’t. I promise you. But I will remain only as a dear friend for you or maybe as your lovely sister. That’s what we are meant to each other.”

After a very long talk, a lot of convincing, and bottles of Soju, they decided to call off their wedding.

***

February 11th, 2017

“Beautiful flower for beautiful girl.”

Seohyun lifted her sight from the bouquet of flowers to the man, who was standing awkwardly behind it.

“Annyeong.”

“Annyeong.”

“Am I disturbing you?” he observed her expression carefully.

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Am I late?”

“Never. Thank you for coming, Yong Oppa,” as she smiled beautifully to him.

***

“Please come in. Sorry if kind of messy in here, I didn’t expect to have a guest today,” Yonghwa cleaned up his living room in a hurry.

“Sorry if I interrupt your leisure time today,” said Seohyun as she sat straightly on the sofa.

“Don’t be. But I agree that you suprised me.”

“Is it in a good way or bad way?”

He gave her small smile then walked to the kitchen, “It always good to see you. Do you want coffee or tea?”

“I think I need a cup of coffee. Thank you, Oppa.”

She looked around his apartment while waiting for her drink. He still lived in the same apartment since years ago. Even though he changed the placement of the furnitures, they surely had tons of memories in this place.

A few hours ago, Seohyun coincidentally met Choa in a restaurant near the beach. It was started with a really awkward atmosfer between them, but then they easily chatted about their lives. And later on, she found out that Yonghwa and Choa canceled their wedding.

Choa said that it because they didn’t love each other. She still loved her late fiance and Yonghwa still longed for Seohyun. She also told Seohyun that he refused to move from this apartment in case Seohyun came looking for him. And Seohyun did come back last year.

‘But why he never look for me after he called off the wedding? Was he disappointed with me when I lied to him last year? What if he didn’t love me anymore? Aish, why did I feel so sure he still love me and went to find him frantically? Stupid, Seohyun.’

She messed up her hair in regret and let out a deep sigh.

“Why do you mess your hair like that?” Yonghwa look at her in question.

“Sorry. It just a little bit itchy, because I sweated too much when running around to find.. ah , it’s nothing. Please forget it,” she almost told him the embarassing truth.

He just shook his head lightly and gave her a cup of coffee, “And you drink coffee now? I thought you despised it.”

‘It reminds me of you,’ she said inwardly before replied him, “That’s because I’m a bit sleepy now.”

“Really? Then you can take a rest in my room if you want.”

“Oh, it’s okay. I’m drinking coffee now, right? I felt refreshed like new,” she blinked her eyes repeatedly to assure him.

But it only ignited his laughter, so she only shrugged her shoulders.

“So, how have you been, Oppa?”

“Fine, I guess. How about you?”

“I’m fine too.”

“Have you performed musical again in Seoul?”

“Yes, I have performed several musicals now. Of course, only as supporting role, but it was fun. Especially, when you performed it with your friends.”

“Glad to hear that you have many friends in Seoul,” a relief smile plastered on his face.

“De.”

Then, they chatted happily about their lives and many random things for hours, when suddenly she asked him.

“Oppa, how come you could meet me in front of the convenience store, moreover you brought this bouquet with you?” she tilted her head a little, sign her confusion.

“Ah, it was only coincidence.”

“Was it? And you usually bring a bouquet of flowers when strolled at night?”

“De. Just in case I met a beautiful lady on my way, and luckily I did met her today,” he replied mischievously.

Little did she know that Yonghwa saw her rushing out from the restaurant and halted a taxi. Later on, Choa told him about her meeting with Seohyun and what had she told her about him that made her running to meet him.

But he was unsure if he should chased her or not. Therefore, he took his time to think about everything between them and bought a bouquet of her favorite flower when he decided to meet her.

“I heard that you canceled your wedding.”

It was not a question, but he answered it anyway, “Yes, we canceled it.”

They fell in silence before she asked him again, “Then why didn’t you come to find me?”

“Because I was afraid, Hyun. I was afraid whether you would leave me behind once again or not. I was afraid whether I would hurt you again in the future or not. I have hurted you so many times and it scared me.”

Right then, he heard her cried faintly beside him.

“Hey, why are you crying?”

He kneeled in front of her and wiped her tears on her cheeks.

“It has been a long time since you called me that.”

“Oh, Hyun, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for hurting you all this time.”

“Aniyo, it was me who was hurting you. I’m really sorry, Oppa.”

“Stop blaming yourself. We were hurting each other, okay?”

She nodded her head weakly.

“Then how about we start learning to love each other in a better way from now on?”

She stared at him in surpised but froze in her spot.

“What do you think about it, Hyun?”

“Can I kiss you?”

Her question left him dumbfounded before his lips slowly smiled wider and wider. He remembered that scene perfectly and decided to play along with her reenactment of their first kiss.

“Tch, now you try to tease me with that joke.”

“I’m not.”

“Then do it.”

Thereafter, she moved forward and kissed his lips gently. It lingered a little bit longer than it supposed to be, but who cares.

When they finally ended their kiss, he rested his forehead against hers and said, “You are always the brave one between us. Saranghae, Hyu~n.”

“Saranghae, Yong Oppa~”

Then he pulled her nape and gave a full kiss on her lips.

---

Author's note:

One more happy ending, maybe?

Sorry if it isn’t grande to close the story. But I’m afraid if I reconsider it again, it will be delayed for a very long time. I hope you’ll forgive me about that only with this happy ending for them.

No way will I make a sad ending for my beloved Yongseo couple.

Half of this chapter is dedicated mostly for Yonghwa and Choa, because I need to explain the reason of the canceled wedding. And for the usage of Eric Nam, I’m sorry if I potrayed him in a wrong way. To be honest, I don’t know him very well. It is just I saw them in one of Jonghyun wgm episodes and they looked good together.

For all dedicated comments, subscribers, upvoters, readers, all of you, thank you so much for your supports until the end of this story. I hope you enjoy this story and leave your final comment on this chapter.

See you later, everyone, and take care. (*deep bow*)

- minikittybdg –