❝chapter10;
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                                   "To infinity and beyond, remember?"

 

"Where's Ji- I mean, Ms Park Ji Ae?" Kai spoke to the front desk lady the moment he enterred the Zhang’s company.

 

 

“Ms Park is in her office right now. She’s currently seeing Mr Zhang, so you might like to take a seat and wait-“

 

 

“Thanks for the info.” And Kai immediately turned and walked towards Ji Ae’s office, ignoring the front desk lady shouting after him.

 

 

Kai had surely gotten quite well known in the Zhang’s company too, considering the fact that he turns up almost everyday. 5 weeks have pased since the contract has been signed, and this is a first for everyone seeing a client visit so frequently. Strange, they all thought. He would either be seen enterring Ms Park Ji Ae’s office’s with packed lunch at times, or even dinner in the late evening. But well, of course all the lady workers in the office absolutely loved having see Kai walk in, and they absolutely envied Ji Ae for being able to work with him.

 

 

“Morning,” Kai would greet the workers along the way cheerily with a handsome smile across his face, and with all of the female workers starring back at him dreamily.

 

 

As Kai stepped closer to her office, he stopped just before opening the door. Lay was inside, pacing up and down the room, seeming to be telling Ji Ae a joke, as he saw her laughed along heartily. Kai frowned seeing the duo laugh together happily, his fist clenching tighter on the door knob.

 

 

“Gosh, you’re so hilarious, Zhang Yixing!” He heard Ji Ae’s laugh coming from the inside, and saw Lay did some sort of weird penguin dance to make her laugh once again.

 

 

Kai snorted and rolled his eyes, still eyeing the two from the small window on the door, “Hilarious my foot, he looks ridiculous.”

 

 

"Is she flirting with him right now?" Kai groaned silently, and then his eyes clicked with Ji Ae’s through the window. His felt his jaw drop when he saw her ignored his stern glare and continued enjoying Lay's company, "That girl. So she's teasing me now huh?”

 

 

"Mr Kim Jongin, what are you doing here?" Lay spoke the moment he heard the door barged open, seeing Kai walk in with an unpleased expression on his face, “Isn’t this the 3^rd time you’ve been here this week?”

 

 

Kai mustered a fake smile at Lay, before taking a seat on the chair, making himself comfotable, "Sorry to burst your tiny bubble, but I'm here to see Ms Park Ji Ae. If you don't mind," he looked towards the door and back at Lay with a smirk, "We have things to speak about, privately."

 

 

“Do you know about him coming?” Lay turned to the lady in a soft whisper.

 

 

Sighing, Ji Ae replied him in a soft voice, “I told you he never fails to surprise anyone.”

 

 

“Hey, stop whispering sweet nothings to each other, it’s gross.” Kai snapped at the two. He swore they had more than a boss and secretary relationship, and it was starting to get on his nerve. Park Ji Ae was his ex-girlfriend, afterall! It’s not as though Kai liked seeing Ji Ae enjoy another guy’s company more than him.

 

 

Lay shot Kai a stern glare. Seriously, this guy was getting on his nerves! Fancy appearing in his company so many times a week. And how he kept acting so chilidishly made Lay want to tear the piece of contract in pieces. What was he even thinkig in the first place? Turning to her, he said, "If he ever tries to do anything to you, scream. I'll just be next door."

 

 

"Give me a break." Kai rolled his eyes upon hearing what the other man said. He wouldn’t even try doing anything! He watched as Lay left the room and the door shut with a click. Finally.

 

 

"So what brings you here? I thought we finished discussing the details about the project?" Ji Ae combed her hair with her fingers, tying it into a low ponytail as she walked back to her desk. Kai only stared at her doing so; he always found her so attractive doing that.

 

 

Gosh, stop being such a et, Kim Jongin, he chided himself.

 

 

"I-I wanted to.. erm.. I.." Kai stuttered.

 

 

"I what?"

 

 

Kai kicked the floor and walked over to her desk, leaning close to her, and Ji Ae could see that he was mad.

 

 

"Jesus christ, Park Ji Ae, you're driving me crazy, and you know that." He said in a low voice.

 

 

"What?" She replied innocently, clearly not understanding what Kai was driving at.

 

 

"Flirting with Lay infront of me, laughing at his jokes?" He spoke in an irritated tone, “And why don’t you pick up your phone whenever I call you?”

 

 

“Why are you here again?" She asked once more, typing away on her keyboard.

 

 

“Why don’t you answer my question?” Kai argued back stubbornly, “And why are you always ignoring my calls and text?”

 

 

“Kim Jongin!” Ji Ae hissed, looking up at him. The past few weeks, Kai had been texting her frequently almost every hour. He was either asking her what she’s doing, or whether she has eaten. But she has never replied any of them. Anyway, she has never engaged in such personal conversations with clients, and was definitely not intending too.

 

 

“Could you stop making things difficult for both of us?” She looked at him seriously.

 

 

“I’m not. I’m just mending our broken relationship.” Kai replied as a matter of factly, “And I’m sure I’ll be able to win you back one day. Just please answer my messages.”

 

 

“You-“

 

 

“Enough talking,” Kai smiled all of a sudden as though he remembered something, “I need you to follow me somewhere.”

---

 

“Are you still texting Lay?”

 

 

“Of course I have to aplogise to my boss for being dragggd out of my own office by someone.” Ji Ae huffed at Kai, “I have to work, you know!”

 

 

“Spending time with me is part of your work, Ms Park.” He replied with a grin, “I’m your client, afterall.”

 

 

Kai had brought Ji Ae to the Namsan tower without even telling her where they were going during the whole drive. The whole journey here, she was telling him she would have reported him for “kidnapping” her. Of course, he couldn’t care less, he only wanted to spend some alone time with her anyway.

 

 

"Kim Jongin, there's no such agreement on the contract which says I have to bring my client out too! Who said you can do it however you like?"

 

 

"Then who said we can't?"

 

 

Ji Ae rolled her eyes, his personality never changed. Kai always manages to shut her off and leave her speechless. "You’ll be the death of me." She hissed.

 

 

“And of all places, why are we here at Namsan tower?”

 

 

He smiled, "You’ll see."

 

 

As the duo walked around the place, they saw many couples holding hands, acting all lovey dovey with each other. Kai was instantly reminded of the past where he used to bring Ji Ae here a lot, and they would always get the ice cream from the ice cream truck not too far away. He noticed Ji Ae looking at all the couples too, and he wondered if she was thinking about whatever he was thinking. Truth be told, he had brought her here just to relieve their old memories. Kai was hoping that Ji Ae would slowly accept him, but it surely isn’t going well. Ji Ae was surely a tough nut to crack, but that was also how he initially chased her before they started dating.

 

 

 “Where exactly are we going?”

 

 

“It’s a surprise.”

 

 

“You know your surprises are very extreme, Kim Jongin.” Ji Ae stopped in her tracks and looked at him with a flat expression, “It’s not going to scare me right?”

 

 

“Nope. I’m sure you’ll love it.” Kai smiled back at her before taking her to the place where the locks of love were.

 

 

After a few more minutes of walking around the locks, Kai had finally stopped at a specific spot under the tree. He turned to look at Ji Ae, “Do you remember this specific spot?”

 

 

“N-No.” Ji Ae lied. Of course she remembered this spot. How can she ever forget? This very spot of Namsan tower was where Kai and her had came to years back during their 3^rd anniversary when they were dating. They had came together to lock their locks on the fence just like how many other couples did too. And she could still clearly remember Kai saying that their red locks was to symbolize their everlasting love. Kai looked slightly disspointed from her one word reply, and Ji Ae felt as though she had killed all the hope in him.

 

 

“You’re lying.” He spoke softly before picking up her hands in his, “This was where we wrote our messages remember? Look, here it is.”

 

 

Ji Ae’s eyes flickered to two familiar red heart locks on the fence among the many others. Kai’s lock had written, “I love you, Park Ji Ae. To infinity and beyond, let’s continue to live happily~”

 

 

Kai’s lips smiled slightly upon seeing Ji Ae’s lock, “Thank you for sticking with me and loving me all this while. I love you, Jongin ah~”

 

 

Ji Ae felt her heart sink as the memories started to flood in. It’s still here, she thought sadly. And he still remembers this spot. She recalled Kai insisting for their locks to be at this specific spot, where he claimed looked the best. She remembered him saying before, “There, our locks are locked now, meaning that our relationship can never be broken. And that our love will stay strong. Cheesy huh? But I love you.”

 

 

“I’m sorry I let that one mistake screw us up.” Kai said suddenly, looking at her.  

 

 

“S-Stop saying sorry, Jongin.” Ji Ae replied slowly, her voice shaking. She hated to let him see this weak side of her, she was so tempted to give in to him.

 

 

“To infinity and beyond, remember? I promise. I promise I’ll treat you better now. All I’m asking is for us to start over again.” He pleaded.

 

 

Pulling her hands away from his, Ji Ae snapped out of her gaze. This was wrong, all of it was. From him appearing in her life once again, Ji Ae knew that she shouldn’t be letting her heart waver because of him again. The man that oncce broke her heart. She quickly said before turning to leave him, “I really should be at work now.”

 

 

“Why do you keep running away from all of this?” Kai shouted, making her stop in her tracks. His face looked hurt and disspointed. Please don’t do this now, Jongin.

 

 

“Why do you keep running away from us? You need to face it, Ji Ae.” He added quickly before she could walk away again, “You’re avoiding all of this, Ji Ae.”

 

 

“I’m avoiding all of this?” She turned to look at him. Unbelivable. Why does everything sound like her fault right now? Everything which she had been bottling up for all those years were all threateneing to burst out already. “Is this all my fault then? How do you expect me to forgive you after all these years, Jongin?”

 

 

Kai watched as the lady had tears b at the corner of her eyes, and he swore this wasn’t what he had originally planned. , , .

 

 

“You suddenly reappear in my life again, and here you are asking for me to take you back? Am I suppose to just forget about everything 4 years ago and act like nothing happened? Take you back with open arms?” She raised her voice at him, “4 years ago, the moment you decided to give up on everything.. on us.. I knew we were over.”

 

 

“Ji Ae..”

 

 

“I told myself I had to forget you, and that I hate you for doing that to me. I told myself not to think about you anymore. And to start afresh, start a new life, and to move on!” She sobbed, “And now, it’s my fault that I’m running away from all of this?”

 

 

“I-“

 

 

“You just have no idea, do you? Just forget it, Jongin.” Ji Ae looked away from him, before turning to walk away.

 

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