40 Days Left | Joohyun

I hadn’t seen Seulgi around as much as I would have liked. She was rushing some work at her office and was working late. Plus, she needed to make up for the time she had missed at work taking care of me.

Nonetheless, our days fell into a rather normal routine. I would always wake up first to prepare breakfast while Seulgi would take her morning shower. Breakfast would be a mundane affair before Seulgi would grab her stuff and rush out of the house, not forgetting to let me press a goodbye kiss on her cheek before leaving. I would handle the groceries, do the housework and prepare dinner while waiting for her to return. When she came back, it was dinner followed by her tending to the injury on my palm and then sleep. Thanks to her diligent efforts though, the wound had almost healed and all that was left was a scar.

“How long is this project gonna last?” I asked one day as I massaged the knots out of her shoulder.

“I don’t know, maybe another couple of days…” Seulgi stifled a yawn, obviously drained from everything. “It’s a big project though, so we can’t afford to mess up. Boss said he would let us take a couple of days off once this is over though. Do you want to go anywhere?”

“I don’t know this place as well as you. How ‘bout you decide where we should go?” I asked, slipping into the seat next to Seulgi. Her arm automatically went around my shoulder and she pulled me closer to her side.

“Alright. I’ll see what I can think of,” she yawned again. “But I think my brain can’t function at the moment without some sleep. Let’s hit the sack.”

I nodded, and the two of us headed up to the bedroom.

35 Days Left | Seulgi

“Okay and we’re done!”

“YES!” The office erupted in applause and cheers as the client had emailed Kyle back telling him that our work was done. I sank into my chair. It had been tough on me these couple of weeks.

It probably had been tough on Joohyun as well.

I was apologetic yet thankful towards her. I had barely been able to spend any time with her and she had gone about taking care of stuff around the house while I was out. But with the completion of this project, we would have a good week off.

Which was why, I was going to bring Joohyun on a getaway.

I couldn’t wait but first, I seriously needed to get home to catchup on all the sleep I hadn’t been getting.

34 Days Left | Joohyun

I had no idea what Seulgi had in store.

She just told me to pack something warm and that we were headed up north. Next thing I knew we’ve been driving for the past eight hours, only stopping at rest stops on the way. The sky was getting dark, so I hoped we were reaching our destination soon.

The drive had been a fun one as we sang along to old tunes from our school days, with Seulgi and I taking turns to introduce to each other new songs. To be honest, we could just drive around in the car for the week and I would be content, just spending time with her.

Seulgi took a right turn and we headed deep into the woods, following a well laid out gravel path that extended for a couple of hundred metres before stopping in front of a quaint little house. An elderly couple was waiting for us at the doorstep and they smiled and waved at us the moment Seulgi’s car pulled up in the driveway.

“That’s Max and Jasmine. They own the place. Wendy and I used to come here quite often for weekend getaways,” Seulgi informed me before she jumped out of the car and rushed over to give the couple a bone-crushing hug. I quickly removed my seatbelt and got out of the car to join the trio at the front of the house.

“This is my friend, Joohyun. I thought it might be nice to bring her here while she’s in Edmonton,” Seulgi introduced me.

“Nice to meet you,” Max held out his hand. “I’m surprised Seulgi didn’t get lost driving here.”

“Maxxxx,” Seulgi whined while Jasmine gave a small chuckle.

“It’s true! Did Seulgi not tell you how she and Wendy discovered our place?” I shook my head. “They got lost and we brought them back here because it was 1am in the morning. Turns out Seulgi was reading the GPS upside down.”

Seulgi’s face became flushed in embarrassment as her secret was outed while Max, Jasmine and I laughed.

“Come, let’s bring our stuff in and we’ll show you around Joohyun.”

+

The house was small to say the least, but really cozy for four. Max and Jasmine were like Seulgi’s parents, the way they took care of her, ruffled her hair, made sure she was comfortable…it was endearing. For the first time in a while, I saw Seulgi really let go and smile.

But it also reminded me of the parents that Seulgi never had.

I remembered how Sooyoung had once told me not to bring up parental matters in front of Seulgi because she had ‘daddy and mommy issues’.

I wondered if I asked Seulgi now she would answer me honestly.

“Sorry for the long drive. You feeling alright?” Seulgi asked noting my quiet demeanour.

“Yea, I’m fine,” I turned to her as she continued towelling her hair down. “Is it okay if I ask you a personal question?”

“Depends on how personal it is. What’s up?”

“What happened between you and your parents back in Seoul?”

Seulgi fell into a silence and her lips immediately drew into a thin line. She was upset and wasn’t afraid to show it. I immediately panicked, knowing I had crossed the line.

“I’m sorry, forget-“

“No, I’m just thinking of how I should say this…” Seulgi threw her towel over her head and sighed into it. It was a few seconds of silence before she made her way over to the bed and settled down next to me. I could tell it was going to be hard for her to open up, so I pressed quick kiss to her temple in encouragement and interlaced our fingers.

“Take your time.”

“My parents…were never really around when I was a kid. All they were interested in were business meetings and setting up lunch appointments with their international business associates, so I was left alone at home most of the time,” Seulgi let out a shaky breath. I tightened my hold on her hand. “They only time they were back was during Chuseok or New Years and the only conversation we had was about my grades. The next day when I woke up, they would be away again. The only trace they left behind was an additional sum of money in my bank account.

“I never really knew who my parents were, which was why I spent a lot of time with Sooyoung. She showed me things in life my parents should have but didn’t. Her parents treated me really well too, asking me to join them for dinners nearly every other day. For the first time, I felt like I belonged in a family.

“And then I met you and I guess, I just got scared by how quickly I fell for you. I remembered how my parents hurt me when they left, how they didn’t truly care about me. Hell, when I made the choice to move here, they didn’t even care and told me to just ‘do what I like’. And I felt that the entire scene was being repeated with you. I knew that if I fell for you too deeply and you were to walk out of my life, that I would probably endure some more hurt my heart wouldn’t be able to take. That was why…I wanted to distance myself from you first. I wanted to protect myself, but I didn’t realise how selfish that was. I’m sorry, Hyun.”  

I shook my head. I had no idea she had to go through all these things growing up. Seulgi’s head was bowed and I knew she was struggling to hold back her tears. I cradled her head between my palms and kissed her on her forehead before replying, “I can feel your happiness when you’re here with Max and Jas. They really treat you like their own daughter, don’t they?”

Seulgi nodded, burying her head in my shoulder. I rubbed her back and combed through her wet locks.

“Thank you for telling me.”

She shook her head. “Thank you for listening.”

“I will always be here for you Seul. Always.”

29 Days Left | Seulgi

Living with Max and Jasmine was usually one of the most peaceful times Wendy and I would have throughout the year. No work would bother us, and we would just help around the farm with some of the animals they had. The two of them had taken a liking to Joohyun as well, much to my pleasure.

The past couple of days had been full of excitement and laughter as Max and Jasmine showed Joohyun the ropes. Knowing that Joohyun didn’t really like animals, we decided it was best that we left her with Jasmine, where they would tend to the vegetables and fruits while Max and I headed out back to feed the cows and horses. That didn’t stop a particularly curious chicken from finding its way to Joohyun who immediately let out a dolphin-like shriek, inducing us into fits of laughter. Fortunately for her, the house dogs seemed rather nonchalant about her presence, so she managed to sidestep them with ease.

Once the work was done, Joohyun and I would insist on preparing dinner while the elderly couple rested. It was the first time we were working in the kitchen together and let’s just say ingredients were being thrown around we spent a longer time cleaning up than cooking. But at the end of the day, seeing Joohyun’s smile and hearing her laughter made up for any back-breaking cleaning we had to do.

Except today was different.

“Seulgi, you’ve been here for five days and I haven’t baked your favourite Shepard’s pie. Do you want that for dinner?” Jasmine asked, already standing up and making her way to the kitchen.

“Yes, absolutely. Let me help!” I quickly got up but was held back