CHAPTER 11
JUNG HOSEOK

"Well, congratulations, you have proved that you broke someone's heart."

Those words hit like a bullet to my heart. I knew this day would come but I never thought that it would be soon. I had wanted to call it off before she ever find it out. And made it like all the bet never happened. It was the morning where I had to go to Flinders on the usual weekly update. As soon as I reached the office, I saw Jin who was seated calmly like as if nothing happened.

This was all his. He lied. He lied about the petty reason that he has.

I swooped him up by the collar and slammed his back against the wall, making Namjoon and the others trying to stop me. "What the hell are you doing, Jin?"

He smirked as he had no regrets on what he had done. "You've fallen for her, huh?"

"Shut up, just what is your game!"

"Calm down, Hoseok-"

"How am I supposed to when he, himself got into the bet on his own?" I glared at Jin, "You don't know Noeul like you used to. You were never that close to her, weren't you? It was all a lie?"

"My, my, what has Song Noeul done to you?" Jin slapped my hands away and adjusted his collar. "Did she instantly put on a spell on you or have you actually slept with-" I tightened my hand into a fist, ready to give a blow to his face but Namjoon stopped.

"It's not worth it, Hoseok. Jin, enough with the bet. Stop it. We've been friends for long, let's just not make it worse as it is?" Yoongi held me back.

"The reason why the bet happened was because of you," Jin began to reveal the truth. "Do you know who actually run your business while you're busy being so heartbroken? You had missed your part on being a partner in this business. FaceNotes was successful because I maintained it and because I have my shares with it." I looked at him in disbelief. "Apart from that joke I had mentioned earlier, Noeul was a target for you because, yes she broke my heart, years back. Yes, it was petty, but it made a lot worse when she actually gave into you of your persistence. Letting her know, seeing her face, surprised like that, it made my heart felt better because she deserved it."

"Jin, think about what you're saying," Jimin said. "This is not a game anymore. This is already personal. You willing to sacrifice friendship over this?"

Jin's chest was huffing in and out. He was hurt and indeed, he felt lonely. "I don't need your shares," I chose to say as the rest of the room looked at me. "If this is how you work, and how you feel about it, you don't have to partner with me."

"Can you believe it guys?" Jin laughed despite the tension had grown grim. "He willingly chose love over friendship."

"You chose revenge instead of helping," I said to him. "Think about it. Yes, I admit that it was a bet at first. It was to show that I don't really need love at first. But courting Noeul and every day pursuing her, I've learned different sides of her. And yeah, even my family agrees with her. I don't need anything else to say when my family accepted her. I fell for her. For good. And I don't regret it. Take it as my defeat to the bet," I said as I left the room.

*

I approached the meeting room where Noeul always was with her team, but there was no one inside. I turned around to leave only to be pushed by someone into the room. I fell to the floor, feeling the pain on my bum. I looked to see five women standing in front of me.

"How could you," It sounded more like a statement than a question.

"W-what?" I stood up and brushed my clothes, when Jisoo pushed me by the shoulders, forcing me to sit on the chair. "Yah..."

"Don't you dare appear in front of Unnie after what you have done!" Jisoo folded her arms.

"I can't believe it," Daeun glared as she folded her arms. "You hurt Unnie so bad."

"Ladies..-" My words cut short when both of my arms are bounded by Eri and Sooji. "Yah- " My mouth was shut by a cloth stuffed into it. The girls had lost it. The commotion we had in the office might have been loud that one of them probably had overheard.

"How could you blindly accepting the bet when it was so clearly a bad one?" Eri said. "You bribed us with COFFEE? I am willing to return every single cent you spent on us. I can't believe I fell for the coffee," She sobbed.

I tried to argue but I couldn't speak out.

"Do you think breaking hearts like that is being a bad guy?" Eri nagged. "Toying with feelings like that for your ego is just so coward!"

It was then the door opened and Noeul entered. Her facial expression was in complete shock when she witnessed what she was seeing, "W..what are you doing to him?" she asked.

"Eri overheard about what's going on with the bet," Daeun updated her. "And we couldn't believe that he did that to you. So in return, we wanted to teach him a lesson."

Noeul looked at me, expressionless this time. Dead on the inside. No. I didn't really like it. I tried to spit out the cloth from my mouth and breathe. "Noeul, please. Let me explain."

"What is there to explain? You've won, right?" She said coldly but her voice sounded weak. "You have broken someone's heart so easily," I frowned upon hearing her words. When that night she was scared that I was losing my life, I couldn't hide the happiness that she was concerned. And now, her words began to tell me the real reason for it. Her feelings. She had feelings for me.

"Song Noeul, I love you," I said out loud as her team looked at me with their eyes widened in surprise. Their faces blushed and Noeul was taken aback by it. "It WAS a bet when I first met you and how it was planned and all but after meeting you, it's different. My feelings.. are honest right now. I love you," I remained my gaze on her, piercing through her eyes.

"He.. confessed.. out loud.." I heard Eri muttered. "That is just so sweet."

"Eri, we can't be melting just because he confessed. Hello, reality check, he actually lied to Unnie?" Sooji reminded her.

Kiran sighed and approached me. "This is stupid and we all are being stupid," she said as she tried to take out the tape from my arm. "But that doesn't mean we all forgive you for what you did. You made a mistake and it's only right if you make it right."

"Kiran Unnie!" Daeun stopped her. "What are you-"

"He obviously likes her," she said. "Who are we to stop him? And," Kiran looked at the person who stood nearest to the door. "We all know how much Eul Unnie denies everything so easily - but that isn't her true feelings."

"Stop putting words into my mouth, Kiran," she made a small smirk. By then, I was completely unbounded and approached her.

"I'm sorry," I bowed and apologized to her.

But the second my eyes saw the ground, Noeul had collapsed.

She was burning with fever.