“Basically, that’s the requests put forth by them,” Jimin leaned his back on the chair before looking up to his boss. “A positive note, President Lee hinted to me that based on his meeting with Chairman Choi’s, these requests are not rigid.”

Holding on his chin with serious thoughts running through his head, Taehyung looked up to the man seated before him, “arrange a meeting with Chairman Choi for next week, we’ll need to close this deal by this month.”

“You do know he is based in London right,” Jimin rested his elbows on the table and leaned in looking serious. “Your wedding is this Saturday, my friend.”

Clicking on his mouse, he turned away from the computer screen to Jimin, “what’s the matter? My schedule looks fine next week, I can travel.”

“This may be an arranged marriage but still you need to put on a show,” Jimin stated. “It won’t look nice for you to leave your wife alone right after the wedding.”

“We need to seal this deal before uncle in,” Taehyung continued signing on the remaining documents. “Just do it, okay?”

Jimin sighed while making notes on his ipad.

“Yes, Park Jimin,” Taehyung knew his friend was staring at him. He turned his attention to him and asked “spill it out, what do you want to ask?”

Pointing his index finger at his friend, Jimin’s finger was turning in circle at Taehyung’s tie and shirt. “I find you looked different this past week. The colour combination of your tie and shirt, it’s not as loud as you were before…I mean it gives out a maturity vibe.”

“She’d been preparing my suit for me ever since she moved in.”

“What happened to you at Hoseok hyung’s place last night? It’s unlike you to be so reckless got knocked out before getting home,” Jimin frowned at the thought of last night incident.

Closing the file before him, Taehyung shrugged his shoulders, “there are times where I wanted to be unconscious and just leave everything behind.” He heaved a heavy sigh, “last night was one of those moments which I wanted to not feel anything, not think anything and above all, to be normal for once.”

“Something happened between you and Joohyun?” Jimin asked in fear, “you lose control? You brought her into that room, did you?” his voice laced with panic.

Taehyung shook his head, he did not even try to hide anything and was honest to his confidant. “No on the room but yes on losing control, you knew that room was meant for the random, right.” He leaned on his chair, brow furrowed, “She’s still affecting me so much, just like before.” His eyes gradually closed, remembering the moments they shared this morning.

Taehyung wasn’t sure how did he got home last night and ended up on his bed after drinking the new hard liquor made by Hoseok. The glaring sunlight has woken him up from his inebriated sleep. As he moved, he realized Joohyun was holding on his hand and her head laid on his chest. Brushing her hair to the back, he gently his fingers on her face, admiring her serene, soundly asleep face. Watching her sleeping had always been something he likes doing in the past, his gaze on her would instinctively turned tranquil. Getting up lightly, he held firmly on her but making sure he doesn’t wake her. The moment he carried her in his hands, Joohyun eyes opened. They stared into each other eyes for some time and their closeness made her blushed heavily.

He knew what she was thinking and of course he didn’t miss the chance of teasing her, “Don’t worry, I won’t take you now. I have a meeting in the morning so, lucky you.” Placing her on the bed and made sure her head rested on his pillow, he smirked “guess I’d behaved last night since your clothes are still intact. Get some sleep, I bet you would have body ache looking at the way you slept last night.” He ruffled her hair before stepping into the bathroom.

Joohyun was grasping on her pajamas shirt, feeling how fast her heart was palpitating. She was sure her face is red as tomato now, judging from how warm it is. After his shower, he made his way to the kitchen knowing she would be there; she was washing dishes at the basin.

“Why are you always busy in the morning?”

Passing a glass of ginger tea to him, she shrugged her shoulders casually “guess I’m used to it.”

Joohyun reached out her hand to his hair when she noticed it was a little messy. While Taehyung was drinking the glass of tea, he watched each and every of her movement. She noticed his stare and immediately withdrew her hand after fixing his hair. When she attempted to move away from him, he held on her hips and pinned her towards the kitchen counter. Closing in their small gap, he rested his lips on her soft ones. She frowned and gently pushing him away when he tilted his head to deepen the kiss.

“You smell like ginger,” she pouted. Getting hold of the peppermint sweet from the drawer beside them, she put into his hand.

“Don’t have to wait for me at night, I won’t be home this whole week,” he stepped back and walked to the living room to get his blazer.

“You’ll be busied by the wedding preps?”

Turning to the petite lady, Taehyung nodded his head half-heartedly without looking at her in an obvious way.  He wasn’t sure if she was bothered by it as the expression on her face was indecipherable. It didn’t look like she was sad nor she is airy about it.

“If you are not comfortable in performing at the wedding reception, you can…”

“I’m fine with the performance,” Joohyun cut him off, instantly.

Walking back to the place she stood still motionlessly, he wrapped his arm around her waist and placed a peck on her forehead before leaving. He did not know why he would do that but at that very minute, he just wanted her to feel him, to feel that he care.

The moment he got into the car, his chauffeur greeted him and passed him a bento. “What’s this?”

“Young master, this is the breakfast prepared by Ms. Bae,” the man answered. “She mentioned that you may not like to carry a bento so she would send down to me every morning and she even reminded me to make sure you have it during the drive to the office.”

Taehyung nodded and signaled for him to leave. A pure and innocent smile formed on his face without his conscious as he reminisced the time he shared with Joohyun during high school. She would prepare breakfast for him every morning without fail. The man at the driver seat who had served Taehyung ever since his high school days noticed the smile which was long gone.

“That’s the reason why you decided to move back to the office for now?” Jimin’s voice pulled him back from his thoughts. “You’re afraid to lose control again? What did you do?”

Brushing his hands on his face, he stated “Hyung had been working very closely with her and I don’t like that.”

Jimin smirked, “we all know how bold Jin hyung can be in front of Joohyun, maybe it’s not a bad idea to stay away for a while.”

“That’s what I’m doing besides, there are quite a lot of things to do for the wedding.”

“Joohyun suspected you have place a spy to monitor her, you should stop going to YHO so often if you can’t control yourself from exposing what you see in your private room,” Jimin was sarcastic.

Taehyung rolled his eyes.

-

“Daebak,” Seungwan gave her buddy two thumbs-up, “your skills on the handcraft coffee has improved so much. I might as well make you my successor.”

“Stop the crap…” Joohyun frowned while cleaning up the cup with a clean cloth.

“I’m serious”

“I’m serious too, Son Seungwan.”

“Then are you serious in attending Kim Taehyung and Kim Jennie’s wedding?”

“I’ll be performing at the wedding reception.”

Seungwan’s eyes widened, “You better be serious…”

“Do I look like I’m joking?” Joohyun rolled her eyes while cleaning the coffee machine. “Jin oppa even suggested for us to perform together.”

Seungwan shook her head, brows furrowed “Kim Taehyung would not be happy with that. We all know this is an arranged marriage and I bet his feelings for you is not dead yet.”

“Nonsense”

Grabbing hold on the violinist slender hand, Seungwan checked on her wrists “So, who is this guy you are seeing? He must be a great man for you guys to move to that stage. You’re practically swooned by him, didn’t you?”

“When the time comes,” Joohyun held on the barista’s chin “you’ll know.”

“Secretive is definitely no good news from you,” Seungwan frowned.

“What about you?” Joohyun took a seat on the couch before sipping on the glass of water. She looked at her friend, intently. “He still loves you and you know it. You know very well it wasn’t his fault, he was in dilemma; he was in so much pain too.”

“The accident wouldn’t even happen if that wasn’t his choice then,” Seungwan snapped.

-Winter 2016-

“Unnie, how’s Seungwan?” Joohyun held on Taeyeon’s hand, it was trembling.

“We have stabilized her, both Seungwan and the baby are safe, for now.” She removed her gloved before putting her hands into her white scrubs, “She has a severe head injury and we need to do the surgery asap. We have only two options for now if we want Seungwan to be safe. Either we carry out the surgery immediately but we’ll need to terminate her pregnancy. Or, we let the baby grow for a few more weeks for it to be stronger then we proceed for the surgery but we are risking Seungwan, she may die during the waiting process.”

“Why can’t she go for the surgery with the baby?” Joohyun choked through her sobs.

“The baby wouldn’t make it through,” Taeyeon answered painfully. “The complications with the baby could kill Seungwan.”

“Basically, we are only left with one option?” Seulgi said through gritted teeth, her eyes were reddened by the cruel news.

Closing her eyes not wanting to admit the fact, Taeyeon nodded “that’s the only choice in order to safe her.”

“How’s Hoseok oppa?” Joohyun asked.

“Her parents have left the decision to him.”

-

The room was enveloped with dejected silence and only filled with the sound of the machine that is tracking Seungwan’s weak heartbeats. Hoseok held her fingers between his hands, watching her slow breathing that pained his heart.

“Yeobo…” he whispered while caressing on her bruised pale face, “is this how you punish me for saying no? I told you we will work something out…”

Leaning his face on the back of her cold hand, he uttered “Seungwan-ah…your parents left me with a horrible decision to make. I wish you could tell me what I should do, like you always will.” Placing his free hand on her stomach, a tear escaped his eye “I love you very much, you do know right.” He sighed agonizingly, “Please forgive me for doing this…I don’t want to lose you, I can’t risk your life…so, don’t hate me…”

He gently pecked on her forehead before placing both their hands on her stomach to feel their baby, the frail bond they shared for the first and last time.

-

Seungwan was sent to the ICU ward after a long ten hours of surgery. Joohyun could see Hoseok seated lifelessly at the corner waiting for his love to be awake in torment. She knew he was in excruciating pain.

“Mrs. Jung is awake,” one of the nurses informed. “Mr. Jung, you can enter the room.”

“Yeobo…” Hoseok held on Seungwan’s hand. “How are you feeling?”

“The baby…how’s the baby?” Seungwan’s voice was frail, she held tightly on Hoseok’s wrist. “Tell me, how’s the baby?”

Hoseok lowered his head, his lips were quivering “we are still young…we can try again…”

Seungwan turned to Joohyun, “Joohyun-ah…what is he saying, how’s my baby?”

“Seungwan, you need to calm down,” Joohyun sobbed upon seeing her horrible agonized friend. “You can’t move so much…”

“You killed our baby, didn’t you?” Seungwan cried looking at Hoseok with her bloodshot eyes. “Why did you do that?”

“I can’t lose you…”

She pushed him away, her emotion was unstable “go away…I don’t want to see you ever again, you are a heartless murderer. GET LOST!”

“Hoseok oppa, please leave first, she’s not stable…” Joohyun weeped.

-Autumn 2018-

“That’s the cruelest punishment,” Joohyun said. “He has done nothing wrong, that was the best option we had at that time. Can’t you give him a chance?”

Seungwan choked down the cup of coffee, “divorce was my only best option too. He needs to be responsibility for the decision he made then.”

“That’s a vicious punishment,” Joohyun pointed out, she hoped she could knock some senses into her best friend’s head. “If he didn’t make that decision, you could have die.”

“I wish I was dead there and then,” Seungwan sniffled, her heart was in great pain every time she recalled that horrible nightmare. “But this is life, there’s no reset button neither do we have an undo button that can erase all the unpleasant events that happened in our life.”

“What about you?” Seungwan queried. “Weren’t you cruel to Taehyung for getting out from his life all of a sudden and shut everyone out from your life. Everyone could see he loves you very much. None of us know what went wrong, what he did so wrong that he doesn’t even deserve a valid reason?”

“Fine, let’s not cross our base line,” Joohyun warned.

-

Jennie was having her final fitting for her wedding gown after checking on her wedding bands at the jewelry shop. Mrs. Kim had forced Taehyung to accompany her visiting Jennie.

“Taehyung-ah, you should try your suit too,” Mrs. Kim suggested.

“I’d tried it during the photoshoot.” He was busy replying emails on his phone.

“Eomma, I’m trying it again because the gown need adjustment,” Jennie said. Turning to Taehyung, she tried to start a conversation, “I’ll be heading to the wedding hall to have a final check, do you…want to go?”

Just then Jimin came in and interrupted their conversation as he whispered to Taehyung, “She just arrived with Jin hyung for the performance rehearsal.” Taehyung nodded to his friend before turning to Jennie, “Are you done already, can we leave now?”

Jennie smiled, “I’ll get changed and go with you.”

Mrs. Kim has insisted for Taehyung and Jennie to be in a car while Jimin to follow her car to the hotel. When they arrived, Jimin was already discussing with the event organizer making sure things are in control. Averting his attention to the stage, Taehyung noticed Jin was holding on Joohyun’s hand correcting her posture yet again. He was definitely not pleased with their closeness. Leaving his future wife alone, he sauntered towards the stage with Jimin following behind after receiving his signal.

“Hyung…” Taehyung called out to Jin.

“Yah…Kim Taehyung…” Jin released Joohyun’s hand when he saw Taehyung and Jimin joining them on the stage. “How does it feel to finally remove the bachelor tag?”

“Hyung…tone down, everyone could hear you,” Taehyung