~ Flashback ~

Nam Joon waved hard to the girl sitting in front of him. No response at all even though he had been doing it for the past one minute. He then tried snapping his fingers. Nah, this time he succeeded. The girl flung her head up and looked at him, wide-eyed.

“You’re spacing out, Min Young.”

Rubbing her un-itchy neck, Min Young blushed and mumbled out an apology shyly, “I’m sorry.”

“Is something bothering you?” he asked in concern.

Pressing her lips into a thin line, Min Young shook her head, “Nothing. I was just thinking of the unfinished report with deadlines on my tail, that’s it.” She lied under her breath. She figured out that the time was not right yet for Nam Joon to know about the marriage. I bet a fight will break out between them if he knows that I’m going to get married to Jackson Wang, the one who asked us to get a room the other day.

Ruffling her hair with his million dollar megawatt smile, Nam Joon teased, “Silly girl. Why should you worry about deadlines when you know I’m all but just one call away, huh?”

Straightening her hair with her fingers, Min Young let out a chuckle once he came to understand his goofiness in his sentence. “Thank you but no, I’ll do it myself. You know how I work, don’t you?”

Nodding his head, Nam Joon let out another chuckle, “Yes I do know, Miss Perfectionist Who Loves To Work Alone.”

“Hey!” Min Young hit lightly on his arm before both of them burst out into laughter.

“Bad boy,”

“I know I’m one and I also know that bad boy attracts a girl like you to me.”

Min Young could only roll her eyes at his tease. “Stop thinking so highly of yourself or you may never get to find a girl to be your girlfriend.” She warned.

“And I know if that day does arrive, I still have you.” Nam Joon finished off with a naughty wink at her.

Hearing his cheesy assumption aka confession almost had her choke on her drink. “Nam Joon, it is not funny at all.” She then gathered her belongings and raised her hand for the waiter in getting the bill.

“Don’t you dare to pay Han Min Young or I’m going to have PDA right now, right here by kissing the breath out of you!” Nam Joon shot a deadly glare at her before sounding his warning as he noticed she was getting some cash out for the bill.

Upon hearing the term ‘PDA’ and ‘kiss’ being slipped out from his mouth, Min Young instantly stopped at her act and stared at him in shocked, with her facial expression clearly stating – you must be kidding me. And in return, he showed her – try me, which sent a shiver down her spine.

Though awkwardness was silencing them while they were inside the restaurant once they got into the car, they went back to their chatty self and made the journey home a pleasant one.

“Thank you for the dinner, Nam Joon.” Min Young bowed and thanked him when they arrived at her doorstep. Nam Joon gave out an okay sign and waved a goodbye before he sped down the road and disappeared around the corner.

Walking up the tiny steps to the place she called home, Min Young lost count of how many times she sighed. Her mind had been in a mess since she got to know about the upcoming marriage with Jackson. Yes, they had made it clear of calling an out of such stupid arrangement by their parents, but something had held her back from that decision.

“Hey, be careful, it is sli…”

Before the warning managed to knock some senses to Min Young, she had already stepped on the pool of water and zup, sending herself up to the sky and to land her hard on the ground. Closing her eyes as she couldn’t dare to imagine her fall and was expecting her butts to split into two when she felt a strong arm held on her waist before pulling her to hit on a hard and tough surface.

“Are you alright?” asked someone in his concern voice.

“Ouch!” Min Young winced in pain and used her hand to rub her forehead.

Hey, wait a sec! Why does that sound like someone I knew? Immediately she sprang her head upwards to see Seokjin peering down at her, the expression – worried was all written across his face. And upon seeing her savior, Min Young spontaneously helped herself to her feet and wished for nothing but a hole to hide from further embarrassment in front of Seokjin.

“I’m fine, thank you.” Looking down to avoid any eye contact with him, in hustle Min Young whispered out her gratitude for his help.

Helping her to put her stray hair back in place, Seokjin smiled. “Be careful next time. Don’t hurt yourself or I’ll be sad.” Min Young raised an eyebrow hearing his words. Or I’ll be sad? She blinked at him, clueless as an idiot.

For once Seokjin couldn’t stop himself from bursting into laughter upon seeing the confusion on her face. Shaking his head, he raised both his hands and acted innocent before saying to her cheekily, “Hey, please don’t take that seriously. You’re my friend. Of course, I’ll be worried and sad if something happened to you.”

Right away a heavy sigh of relief was released by Min Young. “Thank you,” for reading what is in my mind, she wanted to say but then decided not to since she had had enough of mess playing in her mind. Just then she realized something,

“Wait a minute, why are you here Seokjin?” She found it strange for someone like him to be stepping his foot in such an old underground apartment in the outskirt of the city.

“Oh,” Seokjin shoved his hands in his pocket and answered coolly, “I just got myself a room here today. My unit is 383.”

383? Heck, mine is right opposite of his! Min Young could only stare at him, bewildered. As far as she remembered, she had never seen anyone occupying in the unit in front of hers. When she first shifted in, neighbors had been filling her up with stories on why that unit was abandoned as well as how haunted and eerie it was at night. Yet she was thankful that till now she hadn’t experienced any spooky or creepy encounter throughout her stay here for three years. Touch wood, full stop.

“Mind coming over for a housewarming drink?”

Min Young blinked as she was snapped back to reality by his out of the blue invitation. “Why not?” Gladly she took up the offer. A drink or two won’t harm as she thought perhaps this might help her to feel better since she was in a mess deep inside. The secret she had it hidden for days had been snowballing to the point she found it hard to breathe.

“I’ll bring over some food or snack then.” With that, she sprinted across the corridor and took the flight of stairs like a sprinter before locking herself in the house to prepare the necessaries for the small and private housewarming party later.

Once again Seokjin couldn’t help but burst out into laughter seeing how Min Young reacted. “How cute.” Casually he walked back to his unit with the wide smile still plastered on his face.

 

 

#                                 #                                 #

 

 

With her fingers playing with the hem of her skirt, Min Young’s mind was searching for every possible shield in preparation for the upcoming disaster. She knew it would sound ridiculous to him but then she felt that the time had come for her to reveal the truth to him.

“Seo Joon,” Min Young called out to him when he entered the house, “Can I have a moment with you?” She tried to force out a smile when deep inside she was trembling with nervousness beside she didn’t want to disturb Mrs. Park’s sleep.

With his megawatt smile, Seo Joon nodded his head, “Yea, sure, what is the matter?” He walked towards her and landed himself next to her.

Looking down at her fingers, she hesitated for a second to how she should string the words into a sensed sentence to him that would not sound absurd. “Seo Joon, can you promise me that you’ll not get mad at me upon hearing what I’ve to say?” She raised her head to meet his eyes with hers.

Ruffling her hair, Seo Joon chuckled at her cute pouty expression.  “Okay, I promise.”

Taking another deep breath, Min Young closed her eyes when she muttered out like a whisper, “I’m going to get married this weekend. Can you walk me down the aisle?”

There was a moment of deafening silent between them before Seo Joon jumped up to his feet and exclaimed, “WHAT?!?”

Instantly Min Young jumped up to hold him down. “Shhh. Please control your volume or Omma will be awakened.”

“HOW CAN I CONTROL MY VOLUME? YOU’RE GETTING MARRIED THIS WEEKEND! HOW ON EARTH CAN I CONTROL?” Seo Joon shouted at her, for the very first time, and that scared the out of Min Young.

“Seo Joon …”

“WHO ARE YOU GETTING MARRIED TO? WHY ONLY NOW YOU INFORM ME ABOUT THIS WHEN THE WEDDING IS THIS ING WEEKEND? WHY? FOR GOD SAKE, TELL ME WHAT YOU HAD BEEN HIDING FROM ME!”

Min Young gulped hard. This was the first time he glared at her, the very first time he raised his tone with her and also the very first time he used those F-bomb at her. He had always had his anger under control, but this time, it seemed that her announcement sped passed his limit of tolerance.

“Seo Joon, I …”

“HAN MIN YOUNG! WHY ARE YOU ONLY TELLING ME NOW? WHY?” Seo Joon looked at the girl sitting in front of him, trembling in fear. He ruffled his hair and hissed in anger. He was not mad at her, to be honest. He just couldn’t take in so much of breaking news at one go and also he found everything too absurd to be real.

Once he had himself under control, he knelt down in front of her. “Hey, I’m sorry for yelling at you.” Just then the tears that had been pooling in her eyes fell down wetting both her already red and puffy cheeks, making him felt even guiltier for his harsh action minutes ago.

“Please don’t cry. I’m sorry.” Gently he pulled her into his embrace and tried to fix the mess he had caused.

Burying her head in his chest where she could hear his heartbeats resonating in her ears, she said in between sobs, “You promised me you’ll not get mad at me just now. I know it is my fault for keeping this from you. I’m really sorry because I really didn’t mean to hide it from you. I just …just don’t know how to tell you. I …I …” Min Young couldn’t even finish her line but to pour out like the broken pipe as the harder she tried to explain her situation, the more she felt miserable to have landed herself in hot soup.

“Shh.” Pulling her closer to him, Seokjin caressed her back gently and murmured, “It is okay. I know you’d tried your best, I know. I’m sorry for shouting at you. I’m sorry,” gently he placed a kiss on her forehead, “Please forgive me, you know how much I love and treasure you. And that’s why I went out of control just now. I’m so sorry for scaring you.”

Shaking her head in his embrace, Min Young choked out, “It is not your fault. It is my fault. But I seriously didn’t want this to happen but I really have no choice. I really tried my best to call it off, I really do!”

Seeing how Min Young cried her heart out showed how hard she had been holding on to act normal meanwhile deep inside she was suffering alone, and that hurt Seo Joon very badly. “Cry it out all you want. I’m here. I won’t leave you or that I’ll get mad at you again. I swear and I promise.” With that given permission, Min Young let all her emotions lose, crying and mumbling incoherent words that Seo Joon couldn’t understand while soaking his shirt with her tears.

After fifteen minutes of breakdown, Min Young finally managed to calm down. Resting her throbbing head on his laps, Seo Joon brushed her hair lovingly while the other hand drawing circles at the back of her cold and trembling little hand. “Feeling better?”

“A bit.”

“Are you ready to talk about it?”

“Hmm.” she uttered lowly without looking at him as she didn’t want him to see the mess in her.

“This time I will ask a question at a time. If you feel uncomfortable to tell me now, then just skip it. I won’t force you.” Seo Joon reassured her.

“Okay.”

Taking a deep breath, he whispered out the first big Q, “Who is the groom.”

“Jackson Wang.”

The second the name slipped out of , he stopped all his actions at once. But a split second later, he continued to her head and drew circles on the back of her hand.

“How did you guys started?”

“It is just an arranged marriage by both our parents.”

He nodded his head in acknowledging the fact.

“Does he loves you and most of all, do you love him?”

Min Young hesitated a bit. She could sense the atmosphere surrounding them started to dense and unconsciously she bit her lower lips and wetting her dry lips with her tongue before nodding slightly and said, “I think I like him, that’s all.”

Nodding his head again upon hearing the answer, he asked again,

“Does anyone know about this?”

“Other than both our families, it is you and Seokjin.”

“Seokjin?” Seo Joon asked with a raised eyebrow. “The new photographer Jackson took in the other day?”

“A’ah.”

“Why is that he is in the picture?”Seo Joon asked with a sense of dissatisfaction. He wasn’t sure whether because he was the last to know the news or simply the fact jealous of another man creeping into her heart and took his spot to be her first listener of her problem.

Noticing the difference in his tone and the crease on his forehead, Min Young raised her free hand and used her forefinger to touch on the crease. “Please don’t get stress over this. He didn’t know it is me. I just mentioned it as a friend of mine.”

Right immediately Seo Joon released the breath he was holding. “Clever girl.” he then leaned down to place another light kiss on her forehead.

“Seo Joon, he is a good guy. He didn’t judge and was a good listener.”

Now, that sent a pang to his face, really hard!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A/N:

Hola to all my precious subbies! How are you guys doing? Here I am to wishing you a belated Happy New Year! Do pray and hope all of you will be blessed and have a great year ahead!

Okay back to the story. Did you guys notice it is getting messier than ever? Please don't freak out as slowly I'll reveal the answer for each suspended scene.

Honestly, I should be studying but here I am, getting all hype up to write and update this. Once again, I wish to say I'm sorry for being such an irresponsible writer that seldom update her story. I'm sorry. I'll try to do better next time Thank you to all of you who stayed subscribe to this and also to you, my new subby, I love you guys very much, from the bottom of my heart.

Feel free to leave me a line as I really love to hear from you. Upvote it if you feel I deserve it!

Till my next update, have a great day!

~ Love, 9394DOKAI ~