XIV. My World

       “How is she?” Kyungsoo asked.

       “She’s coping,” Joonmyun sighed.

       “Do you think that it helped?” Sooyoung asked.

       “I don’t know,” Joonmyun said, “but I honestly don’t really care about that right now. I just hope that she doesn’t take his passing too hard.”

       Shortly after Sihyeon had made up with her father, he passed. They all stayed for the funeral and met with a few friends they recognized in the pack. Joonmyun knew that she was sad, but he could tell that she was still angry. He couldn’t tell why.

       Joonmyun bid his pack farewell as he headed towards Sihyeon’s home. He wanted to make sure that she was fine or see if her mood had lifted a little, but before Joonmyun could even reach his mate’s home, his phone began to ring.

       “Sihyeon?” he answered when he saw who was calling.

       “Can you come to the hill where we had our first date?” she asked.

       She sounded as dead and indifferent to when she spoke to her dying father.

       “Yeah, of course,” Joonmyun said.

       He made it there in no time, but approached the girl, sitting with her knees pulled to her chest, carefully.

       “Hey,” she said quietly, not looking at Joonmyun. She didn’t have to look to know who it was.

       “Hey,” Joonmyun said, slowly sitting down on the grass next to her. “How have you been doing?” he asked.

       There was a long silence before Sihyeon spoke. Joonmyun wanted to hug her, to comfort her, to tell her that it was going to be okay, but he didn’t want to pass her boundaries.

       “Why,” Sihyeon spoke softly.

       “Huh?” Joonmyun asked, almost not catching what she had said.

       “I cried for him, Joonmyun,” Sihyeon said, looking off into the distance. “I cried for him. I forgave him, but I feel like I didn’t. I feel,” she began to sob silently, “I feel guilty. I’ve hated the man most of my life, but when Mom said all of that, all of the good memories flashed before my eyes, and in the spur of the moment, I forgave him. But after the funeral, after everything, I still hate him. I still feel like I haven’t fully forgiven him,” Sihyeon cried into her arms. “I feel guilty that I haven’t fully forgiven a dead man, but I hate that I feel like I should forgive him.”

       Joonmyun didn’t know what to say. He was an alpha that should have had an answer for everything and anything, but that at moment, he didn’t.

       “I tell myself that he’s still my dad, that’s why I should forgive him, but when I think about all the bad things he did to Mom and me, I hate him even more.”

       Joonmyun moved further away from Sihyeon, wondering if he was making her uncomfortable. He wanted to comfort her, but how when her hatred for alphas seemed to be still so strong?

       But, as though Sihyeon could read his mind, she looked up at him with tears still falling.

       “I’m sorry, Joonmyun,” she said.

       Joonmyun’s eyes widened. He quickly wiped her tears away with his thumb. He felt like he was crossing the line, but he couldn’t bear to see her tears.

       “What are you even sorry for, silly?” he asked, still wiping her tears.

       “It took me a while, but I realized that the hate I harbor for my dad is for the things he did to my mom and me,” Sihyeon reached out for Joonmyun’s face with her palm.

       “What?” Joonmyun was confused and tried to keep his heartbeat steady at the touch of her warm hand.

       “I hated him and what he did. Just him,” Sihyeon said. “Yes, he was an alpha, but not all alphas are terrible. He did what he did because he was evil enough to do so. He didn’t have to, and if he wasn’t an alpha, he probably would have still done those things,” Sihyeon brushed her thumb against his cheek. “I’m sorry that I projected all my hate for him onto you. You didn’t deserve any of it.”

       The big and heavy weight on Joonmyun’s chest lifted. He loved Sihyeon with all his heart, so much so that he was willing to leave her just so she wouldn’t have to worry about being mated to an alpha. He was worried that she would never truly accept him because of his status. He was worried that she would accept him but would see little signs here and there that she was always afraid of him.

       He’d rather die than watch his mate suffer for life.

       “You don’t have to be sorry for anything, love,” Joonmyun said, squeezing her cheek gently.

       Sihyeon began to cry again.

       “After all I put you through, you still want to be with me?” she asked.

       Joonmyun chuckled

       “The chase was fun,” he joked, making Sihyeon crack a smile.

       “I don’t deserve you,” she said, sadly.

       Joonmyun, sensing that she was comfortable with him being close, moved his body closer to hers.

       “No,” he said, softly and slowly leaned his forehead onto hers, “you deserve the world.”

       Sihyeon smiled as she lifted her other hand to encase Joonmyun’s face.

       “You are my world.”

       Joonmyun chuckled and felt his heartbeat race even fast as Sihyeon grew closer and closer, pressing her lips against his.

       Joonmyun knew that it be a long road to recovery for Sihyeon to fully heal from her past, but it was a challenge he was willing to accept no matter how difficult.

A/N:

This is the last chapter. I'm sorry that it ended this way. It's just, as time passed, I felt like what was more important than having fluffy time between the main characters was that Sihyeon was to try to forgive and forget.

I felt like how Sihyeon dealt with it in the end was rather realistic. I would know. I had a similar experience, and I wanted to impliment that into the story. Everything was quite rushed, and I apologize for that. I do wish I added in a few more fluffy scenes. Maybe in the future, I'll add some bonus chapters.

Thank you all for the love and support you gave this story. It really does mean a lot to me. I hope to see you soon again in the future.

- Nubci4