- Chapter 15 -

The return trip was somehow faster than when they departed yesterday, even though the distance was just the same. When they arrived at the parking area of ​​the Business faculty, Jongdae was already waiting for them, sitting on the hood of his sedan car that seemed to have just been washed. Because they were starving, they did not talk much with the other, and went straight for a late lunch to eat bibimbab at a dining place not far from campus.

Lisa and Jongdae dominated the conversation more. They chatted about the activities last weekend while Jisoo commented more while finishing her food. The cool thing about this couple was that, even though they were dating, they never treated other people like a third wheel. They still invited you to chat like you were part of them. Usually Jisoo would say something, or joining the talks, but because she was so hungry at the time she prefered to devour all the food in front of her.

"It was fun. Jongin said there will be another visit next time, and he wants me to come again. And when it happens, you have to take time and go with us." Jongdae nodded in agreement, "Jisoo is very happy there, just try asking her. She said she was so happy she didn't want to go home."

Jisoo clicked and looked at her with a 'You Traitor' gaze. She told her what Sehun said that night on the way home. She also made Lisa promise not to say this to anyone, but of course, she shouldn't believe her so much because that was absolutely wrong thinking.

"I can't keep anything secret to your brother. He knows everything." she said defensively.

Jongdae narrowed his eyes, suspicious of Jisoo and Lisa's counterparts. "Is there anything I need to know? What is it about?"

"It's nothing." Jisoo replied immediately. But the way she didn't look at Jongdae when she said it was enough to make him guessing what might be happening, because Jongdae then scoffed and Jisoo knew this was the time when he would start nagging.

"What did that a*s do this time? Did he do something fishy?" the question was directed at Lisa rather than Jisoo, apparently because Lisa was also responsible if something happened to Jisoo since he believed she would keep Jisoo safe (from that a*s, he said).

"He apologized, okay?" Jisoo remarked, preferably so that Jongdae stopped pressing both of them. "He said he wanted a clean slate, that we should not be awkward to each other."

Another scoffed came out almost a second later, it seemed like it's very difficult for him to be able to believe what he had just heard. Because then he replied again,
"And you actually believed that? Jisoo, maybe you don't understand the situation right now, but excuse me, who in this world who wishes to be friends with his ex, especially after a very devastated breakup? You must be kidding me."

Jisoo exhaled with exasperation, she somehow had mixed feelings about this. She knew Jongdae had this censure motion towards Sehun since exactly she married Yeonseok, and she was more or less appreciated what her cousin did to defend her but Jisoo felt Jongdae had too many negative thoughts on Sehun and it wasn't right. It's not fair for Sehun no matter what.

"Can't you just believe it? I don't care if he lied or not, because what will he do then? He knows exactly there's nothing he can do about my marriage, or like he's going to do something about it. And he exactly said that we're letting us go now, and it's worth to try because we have nothing to lose anymore." she said later, "Please, I'm the one who's doing it right now, so of all people, I know the situation the most."

It seemed like forever until Jongdae shrugged and muttered, "Whatever, I've warned you though." under his breath.

"To think about it again," she continued, because this was not the end, "You should apologize to him. He has done his job, now is the time for you to do your job."

"Hmph, for what? Teaching him something right? Not a chance, Sister, if anything, he should thank me."

"You and that arrogant brain of yours." Jisoo clicked and ended this topic right away.

After finishing eating, Jisoo broke away from the lovebirds. She left her trunk in Jongdae's car, said that she would take it tomorrow when she visited his house. She returned to campus to meet Kyungsoo. Jisoo apologized once more for forgetting to tell Kyungsoo about the weekend's activities, although he did not show his resentment clearly. He knew that Kyungsoo was a very scheduled person, she felt very guilty for having made Kyungsoo wait without knowing that neither Jisoo nor Sehun would be coming to their previous meeting. Kyungsoo also didn't talk much, as usual. He just talked a bit when explaining something or commenting on her  design and sketch she made during her free time last weekend.

"Is Sehun going to join us today?" he asked, glancing at his watch when almost an hour had passed since they were sitting in a library booth.
Jisoo just remembered Sehun told her this morning that he might not be coming to their meeting this afternoon because there was something he had to do, so Jisoo pass the message on to him like that.

"But he said he's going to join us regularly from now on." she added. Kyungsoo lifted his gaze from the laptop screen to look at her with both eyebrows raised.

"That's good." he said after a while, "Does that mean you have made up?"

Jisoo nodded, "You don't need to worry."

"I don't. It's just glad to hear." Then Kyungsoo smiled. Frankly this was the first time Jisoo saw Kyungsoo smiling because he almost never smiled before. He was that always serious at any moment until Jisoo though his smiling muscles were unfunctional. Unlike this time, it seemed like they must have done the right thing to make him smile this wide.

After an hour and a half discussion with Kyungsoo, Jisoo came home by bus. She stopped by the supermarket near the apartment, shopping for food stock to fill the fridge. The sky was getting dark when she exited the supermarket and walked home. Yeonseok came home early as he promised, when Jisoo was washing the cooking utensils she had just used to cook. The man greeted her with pressing a light kiss on the top of her head and joined her on dinner. They exchanged conversations, shared each other weekend activities. Yeonseok also told her what emergency surgery that had left him trapped for eight hours in OR.

They ended the night by watching a movie together. While Yeonseok bought the movie from the net plan, Jisoo made popcorn, and joined him on the couch. Jisoo was happy with his choice, it was 'Thor: Ragnarok' which she hadn't had the chance to watch because they were in a mourning time during its release. She sat on the couch while Yeonseok leaned on the couch's leg in front of her. He wanted help with the massage machine, so while watching Thor dueling the Hulk, Jisoo helped him massage the back of his neck down to his back with the machine.

It was actually fun. She was one of the Avengers' fans and always followed all Marvel movies. But as soon as she finished massaging Yeonseok and leaned on the couch, and after a day of so many activities, she fell asleep in the middle of the movie.

She woke up around three in the morning with gasping breath and sweat soaking her sleep shirt on her bed.

* * *

The big news broke that morning. Yeonseok dropped her at Jongdae's house on his way to the hospital. Her aunt had left for work, and Jongdae was still lazing on hisnbed while playing games after breakfast.

"Ugh, don't show me that face again." Jongdae commented as soon as he saw her enter the room.

Jisoo was rather surprised to hear an unfriendly greeting once she arrived, and she wasn't even sure Jongdae was joking or serious.

"Good morning, you too." she greeted. Jisoo climbed onto the bed and sat back on the headboard beside him.

"Alright, I admit that I was wrong about yesterday. But I don't really think the news will make you brokenhearted, is it really that bad?" Jongdae commented again while pointing at her face.

Jongdae gesture made her even more confused, what was he actually talking about?

"Why would I be broken?" she asked, being oblivious to the actual matter, because on the other hand she was not in the mood to tell him about her nightmare last night which she also didn't remember what happened. And when Jongdae said about heartbreak, what was on her mind was whether Yeonseok had done something she didn't like. It immediately reminded her of something,

"What news are you talking about?"

"Oh, you didn't see it yet?" his eyes widened when he asked, hardly believing, "It's been on the Gossip Girls for hours."

Jisoo scoffed uninterested, whatever was in Gossip Girls always made her skeptical. "You should stop hanging out on Gossip Girls."

"Well, you never know how they can sometimes be useful too." Jongdae answered in a low voice while busy doing something through his phone. And after it seemed like forever, Jongdae then lowered his hand and looked at her seriously.

"Hold your breath." he said, he was about to give his phone to her when Jisoo raised her hand to stop him.

Jisoo almost never had a good impression and story about Gossip Girls, especially since Sehun declared his war on that illegal news threads that always uploaded photos without the consent of the people concerned. So this time, she was in between the curious, but at the same time she was also not sure if she wanted to know anything on Jongdae's phone screen. But then again, this was Jongdae who broke the news, and he never really cared about gossip if it wasn't important.

So, how important was this news that he insisted for her to check?

"Wait, is it a good news or a bad news?" Jisoo asked rather nervously, in which Jongdae replied with a shrug.

"It depends on how you see it. All I can say is, you have to remember that you have your own life. Don't be affected by it."

From there Jisoo was able to guess what the news might be. One side of her hoped it was wrong, but on the other hand ... Jisoo wasn't sure if there was another side there.

Congratulation Sehun for the new Girlfriend! - was the title of the news.

And the first reaction Jisoo took out was to sigh. In the photo, Sehun was walking along with a girl entering a cafe. His hands leaned behind the girl's shoulder, hugging her petite body protectively. The photo seemed to have been taken yesterday afternoon, because Sehun still wore the same outfit as the morning. And the two seemed unaware that someone had taken their photos candidly.

So ... what she had in mind was ....

She was glad, knowing that he had moved on.

And he also looked happy, seeing his wide smile, whatever the girl said must have made him very happy. The girl was somehow