❝chapter06;
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                                   "Some things once broken, can't be fixed."

“So you like someone like him?” Kai cleared the silence in the air, breaking Ji Ae’s train of thoughts.

Kai wanted to talk, and so Ji Ae had asked for Lay to take care of Eun Jae back at the restaurant. She could tell that Lay was uneasy about it, but she reassured him that it would be okay. It’s Kim Jongin we’re talking about here. Lay had finally gotten to see the latter today, and he definitely did not seem to like this guy that suddenly popped back in Ji Ae’s life.

“Stop talking nonsense.” She rolled her eyes.

“I’ve thought about forgetting you, but I just can't. Believe me,” He pushed his dark brown hair out of his eyes, just as she remembered him doing all those years ago, “You were gone for 4 years, Ji Ae. You left without even saying anything to me. What about the kid back there? Is he Lay’s too?”

Eun Jae’s yours, you idiot, Ji Ae wanted to shout. A part of her wanted to tell him that was his son he just saw.

In a few seconds, Ji Ae immediately felt a pair of strong arms wrapped around her body. She gasped at the sudden closeness between their bodies, as Kai enclosed her in a tight back hug. “You can’t just leave me hanging like that, Park Ji Ae. 4 years ago, you left without allowing me to make it up to you.”

“Let go, Jongin.”

His grip remained strong around her, refusing to let go, “I’m not letting you go until you answer me! At least I deserve to know what happened in your life the past 4 years we were apart!”

“T-There’s people watching, let go of me!”

Kai looked so desperate at the moment, but Ji Ae fought the urge to give in.

“Do you know how much I’ve tried looking for you? You turned down all my calls, and I thought I’d never see you again. I just want to know how you’re doing this whole while. The 4 years without you was hell for me, I ing missed you. Did you know that?” Kai’s voice was turning wobbly and Ji Ae looked into his eyes to see only pain and sadness. Those eyes no longer light up, not like what she used to remember.

“Jongin, please..”

“Let me hold you like this for awhile, please?”

Ji Ae found herself stopping to struggle in his grasp, and instead turned weaker as each second passed listening to his voice. Her plan to stay cool and calm didn’t seem to be going very well. Kai buried his face in the crook of her neck, surely reminding her of the old times. How she hated to let go, but of course she had to.

But this time he forced her to look at him, “I regret my mistake in the past, Ji Ae. Please, give me a chance to make it up to you.”

“Jongin,” Ji Ae pulled herself away from his grip slowly,  mustering her courage to look at him straight in the eyes, “Some things once broken, can’t be fixed. And they just can’t go back to the way they used to be.”

“Jae’s asleep?”

“Yeah,” Ji Ae replied before closing Eun Jae’s bedroom door quietly after tucking her little boy into bed.

She carefully walked towards the couch where Lay sat. She noticed that he was still looking out of sorts since they left the restaurant. Ji Ae sighed inwardly; she knew this would happen sooner or later. She just didn’t know it would be this soon. Silence filled the room as Lay remained quiet. After all, it was his first time meeting kai.

“Yixing?”

“Have you met him earlier?”

“Last week,” She admitted as she twirled her drink in her hands, “I saw him at the club when I was going to meet Hana there.”

Lay shut his eyes and placed his fingers to his temples. This sister of his, really! If Ji Ae didn't need to go to the club, she wouldn't even have to meet this Kim Jongin again, Lay groaned in silence.

Ji Ae watched as he nodded, “No wonder you looked out of sorts this whole week. You should have told me. You okay?”

Biting on the insides of her cheek, she smiled ever so slightly, “I honestly don’t know. It feels too surreal. I haven’t seen him for 4 years.” Here Kim Jongin is, walking into her life once more, and to be honest, Ji Ae doesn’t know how to feel. She’s telling herself that he belonged to the past, and now that she has Eun Jae, her priority was just to provide him a comfortable and ideal life for him. But with Kai appearing in front of her this week, she hasn’t been able to think straight at all.

“I understand, it must be too much for you to take.” Lay placed his drink down on the coffee table, “Does Kai know Jae’s his?”

Shaking her head, Ji Ae muttered, “No, and I’m not sure if I should let him know. It’s not like anything would change even if he knows, Yixing.”

“That’s true. But I think he deserves to know, Ji Ae.” Lay turned to face her with a soft gaze, “after all, he’s Eun Jae’s father. And are you intending to tell Jae now that he’ve seen him? He asked me who Kai was just now. I said that you’ll explain it to him some time sooner.”

Sighing softly, Ji Ae leaned forward, massaging her temples with her knuckles, “He definitely has to know. I’m just not sure how I’ll tell him.”

Lay looked at the lady infront of him with a concerned gaze and gently placed his hands on her shoulders comfortingly. He hated to see her worry. When he saw Kai, whom Ji Ae had spoken about in the past just now, he couldn’t help but feel mad towards the latter. Kai had done her wrong, and instinctively Lay had a strong dislike towards that man too.

All Lay hoped for was that the encounter they had at the restaurant would be the last time Kai appears infront of Ji Ae. He definitely did not want to see her go through any sorts of heartbreaks or heartaches anymore.

“She got married.. and there’s even a kid! He looked 3? 4? God, Park Ji Ae..” Kai mumbled to himself before leaning back into his armchair, throwing a small baseball onto the wall opposite of him.

The door swung open and in walked Kai’s secretary, Mirae. Upon seeing her, he instinctively groaned inwardly. Mirae walked in with a smirk before flipping her long hair past her shoulders. “Kai oppa, there’s some documents for you to sign.”

“How many times have I told you to knock, Mirae?”

“It’s just me anyways,” she whined before moving closer next to him, purposely bending low to put the documents infront on his desk, “here.”

Rolling his eyes, Kai adverted his gaze away from the lady. She had worn a low cut dress to expose her cleavage, as usual. Since the day he had entered his father’s company and took over, almost all the women here in this building had tried making moves on him. Especially this secretary of his. But of course, he couldn't care less. Not when there’s always been one certain woman running across his mind, anyways.

“Oppa, are you free tonight?” She leaned slightly closer to his armchair and twirled her hair.

Kai kept his eyes fixed on the documents, not bothering to respond to her flirtatious actions. Jeez, of everyone in this company, couldn’t he have been appointed a better secretary? At least, a more decent and proper one?

Seeing that he was ignoring her, she added with determination, “What about the day after tomorrow? Oppa!”

“It’s Mr Kim, and no.” Kai’s voice was stern enough to make her pout and bow her head low.

“Fine,” she sulked bitterly before continuing, “Anyways, there’s something I need to speak to you about. There’s a company out there, which we have been keen on working with lately. Like a partnership. It would greatly benefit both parties and the deal is great.”

Honestly, Kai didn’t want to deal with any of this right now. When all he has been thinking about is ways to contact his girlfriend, well ex-girlfriend, he sure has no mood to bother about office related stuff.

“The CEO of the company is Mr Zhang Yixing, we have worked with them on-”

“Zhang Yixing?” Kai interrupted the lady suddenly. This name sure sounded familiar, and it definitely did ring a bell somewhere in his head.

“Yeah. He owns the company. As I was saying, if we sign this deal with them-”

“Book an appointment with them and give me the address, I’ll head over there tomorrow.”

Mirae frowned, not sure if she heard her boss correctly. As far as she remembered, Kai had never liked to participate in office related stuff. He would usually turn down meetings unless it was absolute necessary for him to attend. Since when was he ever so enthusiastic about a deal? “What? But we can just send someone over there to sign and-"

“It's fine. I’ll head over there, personally.”