The next day, Hyukjae oppa sent Donghae and me to the train station so that we could go back. Although I have had the chance to spend time with Hyukjae oppa, I was rather reluctant about leaving. Maybe this is just human nature. When you don’t get something, you feel nothing. Once you have a little bit of it, you want everything. I have had a taste of having a date in the city with him after so many months and I wanted more. I wanted to stay there forever. The night before leaving, I had actually gone to the toilet adjoined to the bedroom to cry my heart out silently. I didn’t want to leave the city. I know I would miss my Hyukjae oppa even more than before. But there is no other way out of it. Hyukjae oppa wouldn’t hear of it. He would want me to go back with Donghae.

Trying to ease the pain a little, I thought of the scene this morning. After crying a whole lot in the toilet, I snuggled up to Hyukjae oppa and slept in his embrace. He had woken me up with his soft loving voice and a smile, showing off his gum.

“I’ll miss you,”I had mumbled as I leaned against his chest, asking for a cuddle that he gladly gave.

“I’ll miss you too,”he mumbled into my ear before blowing wind into it, causing me to giggle.

“Stop that,”I laughed.

“Why? It’s ticklish?”he asked cheekily.

“You,”I reached out to pinch his abs and he let out a yelp before flexing his abs, making it impossible for me to pinch.

“That’s so unfair,”I glared playfully.

“Maybe you should go to the gym with me after giving birth. Then, we’ll both have abs,”he suggested as he my tummy that had our baby inside.

“Then, we’ll get our baby to gym when he or she grow olders. We’ll be an abs family!”I laughed a little.

“Uh huh,”he nodded before giving me a quick kiss.

I sighed recalling the scene. These are the things that I will miss and yearn for once I’m back in Donghae’s town. As much I hate it, I parted ways with Hyukjae oppa once again and throughout the whole train ride back, I was silent and emotional. Without me knowing, tears welled up and rolled down my cheeks which I hurriedly wiped away while sniffing. Upon hearing me sniff, Donghae whipped his head around and caught me tearing.

“Haemin, are you okay? Are you hurting anywhere?”he asked.

“No…, I just miss him…,”I mumbled with tears staining my lips.

“Don’t be. He said he’ll visit, right?”he smiled.

“That’s what he said. You know how often he visits,”I sighed.

“You can always call him to talk to him when you miss him. Just remember that he is doing this for your marriage later on,”he my hair, calming me down.

“I’m sorry for being so emotional. I can’t help it,”I sniffed.

“It’s okay. The doctor did warn me about it. She said that pregnant ladies are more emotional so I have got to bear with your mood swings. Don’t keep everything inside and just rant on me, understand? Or it won’t be good for the baby,”Donghae tilted his head.

“Thank you, Donghae. What am I going to do without you?”I asked.

He just smiled before I turned to look out the window once again. When the train pulled up at the train station, we got off to find Sungmin waiting for us. When he saw us, his eyes lit up and he came running towards us.

“You really came back!”Sungmin grinned, looking at me.

“Of course! Didn’t I tell you, I’ll be back?”I laughed a little.

“I thought you wouldn’t since your life is back there. I mean, your family and everybody you love are all there,”Sungmin explained as we got into his car.

“Well, yeah. But it wouldn’t hurt to leave the city for awhile,”I tried to smile.

“Awhile? That means you’ll go back one day? FOR GOOD?!”Sungmin exclaimed.

“Seriously, Sungmin…you’re acting like a child. Obviously she has to go back one day. As you have said, her life is there,”Donghae scoffed.

“But…I thought she would want to stay here…for me,”Sungmin was in a state of a shock.

“For you?! Why would she stay for you?! Even if she did stay for anyone, she would be staying for ME. Now, drive,”Donghae shook his head.

“Wait till Taeyeon hear about this. She’ll never let you off,”Sungmin shook his head in disbelief.

“Taeyeon is much more understanding than you. Drive!”Donghae smacked him.

I laughed a little at their argument and Sungmin sent a death glare to Donghae before starting the engine. All the way back, Sungmin wouldn’t stop bombarding me with questions.

“Why did you decide to go back for awhile? I’m just curious,”Sungmin asked.

“I…er…went back to celebrate my birthday,”I smiled.

“YOUR BIRTHDAY?! YESTERDAY WAS YOUR BIRTHDAY?! WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?! OH MY GOD, WE MUST CELEBRTE TOMORROW AFTER WORK. DONGHAE, LET’S HAVE A PARTY AT MY HOUSE,”Sungmin was all hyped up.

“Sure, if you organize everything,”Donghae chuckled.

“Leave it to me. It’ll just be the four of us. But why would you travel all the way back to celebrate your birthday? Ohhh! There’s a special someone, right?”Sungmin asked creepily.

“Yeah…,”I chuckled.

“So, you do have a boyfriend?!”Sungmin asked.

“Yes. We’ve been together for about eight years now,”I smiled.

“EIGHT YEARS?! That’s very long, right, Donghae?”Sungmin turned to asked him.

“Yeah,”Donghae replied.

“Why aren’t you surprised? It’s eight years and not months!”Sungmin asked.

“That’s because I know them! Seriously, Sungmin. You need to chill,”Donghae scrunched his face up.

“Oh, right, right. Oh my, Haemin, your life is really…amazing. You should tell us more about it. Like why you ended up here! And staying with Donghae!”Sungmin smiled.

I looked down at my stomach, knowing the real reason why I am here.

“I’ll tell you tomorrow when Taeyeon is around,”I said.

Donghae looked up immediately and turned around to look at me, with a face full of concern. I just smiled to reassure him that it was the right thing to do. The people here will know one day and I wanted Sungmin and Taeyeon to be the first to know amongst them.

“OH YES! I can’t wait to know all about it! Rest well, you two! Remember our party tomorrow!”Sungmin waved as we got out of the car.

“Thank you so much for the ride!”I bowed.

“No need to be so formal! See you!”with that, he drove off.

Upon reaching my bedroom, I had straight away laid on it to rest. Travelling was tiring enough and being pregnant had made it worse. There was a knock on the door and I sat up as the door slowly opened. Donghae popped in with a smile plastered on his face and mug in his hand.

“Here, drink something or you’ll be dehydrated. And take a nap. I’ll wake you up for dinner,”he smiled as I drank from the mug.

“Thank you so much, Donghae. I really appreciate it,”I smiled.

“You’re welcome. Oh yeah, remember to let Hyukjae know we’re back! He’ll be worried,”he said before closing the door.

I took my phone and began composing a message. After sending it, I went off to shower before climbing back into bed. I closed my eyes to rest and had fallen asleep.

“Haemin…,”

My eyes fluttered open and I found Donghae’s face near mine. I opened it fully and he looked at me.

“Time for dinner?”I asked.

“Uh huh. You have to eat something even if you’re tired,”he said.

“I’ll just wash up first,”I yawned.

“I’ll go lay the table,”he smiled.

I flung the blanket off me and sat up on the bed. Remembering about the message I sent earlier, I grabbed my phone but found that there was nothing. No messages from the one person I care about the most.  Two days had passed and I haven’t received a single word from him. My emotions were becoming hard to control and I was mentally tired. This emotional distress began taking a toll on me and I stayed up one night to mull over it. Donghae, who wanted to get a glass of water, saw me sitting at the dining table, came over to ask what was wrong. I shook my head, trying to dismiss it but he wouldn’t budge.

“Tell me, Haemin. Is it about Hyukjae again?”he asked, settling down next to me.

I sighed, willing my tears not to fall.

“Maybe you should talk to him. This isn’t working well and he’s becoming worse. His visits are lessening,”he frowned, clearly unhappy with his friend.

“I can’t bring myself to,”I mumbled.

“I can tell. You’re always so nice to him when he appears,”he shook his head, not believing how stupid I can get.

“I’m pathetic, right?”I laughed a little.

“No, you aren’t. Hyukjae is the pathetic one. He’s too engrossed in his work and can’t see the good in you,”Donghae patted my shoulder to reassure me of my worth.

“Eight years ago, I thought we would naturally get married and all that. But we’re doing it all wrong. When we were young, we talked about marriage so openly but as we got older, he avoids the marriage topic whenever I bring it up. Do you think he’s losing interest in me?”I asked, voice wavering a little.

“No! Hell, no! Hyukjae isn’t like that. Trust me! I could bet my life that he loves you. A whole lot. It’s just…work that’s getting to him,”he hurriedly replied.

“It all boils down to work again, huh?”I sighed.

“It’ll be all over. Maybe you’re just being oversensitive because of the hormone changes,”he grinned, trying to lighten the mood.

“You think so?”I looked at him.

“Positive. Now, go to bed. Pregnant ladies can’t skip their sleep. It’ll affect the baby,”he stood up.

“Thanks, Donghae. You’ve been a wonderful friend,”I smiled at him.

“What’s there to thank?”he blushed a little, getting embarrassed.

End of Chapter

DarkAngel