Chapter 9>

Joohyun wished to run away like her entire life depended on it, on second thought, it’s not like the man would do anything to her and how Seungwan’s fingers pulled away earlier, as if her touch burned.

The smile never faded as the man in his black bow tie and suit walked up to them, eyes fully on her, making Joohyun cringed in disgust, what was it with men when you had hinted to them so clearly that you weren’t interested in them?

A distance was pulled further apart and Joohyun was fighting the urge not to bawl here but right before she knew it, the man was now standing right in front of her, almost a head taller than them; she could feel the stiffness on her neck.

This was why she met Seungwan, they were meant to be, Joohyun heard a deep sigh beside her “Eric, I thought you would be late.”

He finally pulled his glance away from her and focused on his best pal and did she mentioned his gaze were making her skin crawled?

“Despite of it, I’m not going to defy the orders of the big star today, Hani has been blasting my phone since this morning, prompting me over and over again when would I be arriving and who will be coming along with me?”

A dry chuckle escaped the woman’s lips “Perhaps she was just curious?”

The man threw his glance back at her and if Joohyun had been paying attention to him, she would have noticed the same sparkle he had like Joohyun did to Seungwan.

“Speaking of that…” He trailed off, adjusting his coat before continuing “I might have been too forward with my words, I told Ms. Hani that I have met a woman a few weeks ago and was really hoping that I would invite her along tonight but unfortunately, fate doesn’t seem to stand on my side and that was why we were finally meeting today.”

Joohyun could feel a headache popping up and among everything that he could mention; he has to mention this.

Silence fell upon them and just as Joohyun was about to get drowned in this, Eric had spoken “Though, I’m really surprised, Seungwan, you got to know her first before me.”

Her eyes shot up in a heartbeat, while Seungwan began to play with her own fingers “W-What are you even talking about?  Joohyun and I are just neighbours.”

Joohyun swore she heard a shattering sound in the distance, was it hers?  At least one thing was for sure, Seungwan was now avoiding all contacts with anyone, her face paled and Eric doesn’t seem to notice the tense atmosphere “I’m glad because for a moment, I thought you two were a couple, since the both of you looked so cosy together when I saw you earlier.”

“Seungwan, please don’t…” Joohyun muttered in her heart.

The grin Seungwan gave barely reached her eyes “O-Of course not, Ms. Joohyun and I were just only f-friends.”

Despite Joohyun felt her anger rising but she knew she had to remain rational, no matter what, Eric was Seungwan’s best friend (they literally grew up together!) and as much as Joohyun wished to confess the truth, she couldn’t, Seungwan would hate her.

And not forgetting her parents, if those two knew about it, they would definitely make Seungwan’s life a living hell, even merely thinking about it now, was causing a serious tremble to travel down her spine, not with Seungwan, she could no longer moved on without the woman.

And the worse part about it was Eric’s persistence that was making her skin burned, what was it about not wanting to be with him that he couldn’t understand?  Or did she really have to put up a restraining order for him to finally back off?

Walking alongside with him felt like it was walk to death, her mind would always drift back to the Seungwan, whose eyes sparkled at the brightest during nightfall, or whenever she took those soft hands into her own, Joohyun’s heart would sing in happiness.

Only at their initial stage of this relationship, Joohyun swore she had seen forever right on her doorsteps, often to the point that she wished to stand at the top of the world and shout out how much she was feeling for Seungwan.

That her every footstep was filled with flowers.

“…Okay?” Too absorbed in her thoughts, she had not been listening to a single word the man was saying, until his face closing in that she finally snapped out of it.

“Sorry…?” She deliberately created a distance between them; a frown covering his delicate face before realizing he had overstepped his border.

“Are you feeling alright?” His voice was soft and sweet but it only fuelled on Joohyun’s frustrations “You spaced out for a moment.”

Joohyun sighed wearily, she regretted agreeing to him wanting to have a word with her earlier, or how Seungwan didn’t even bothered to hold her back.

But those frustrations were clearly written in those eyes and how they had burned in her memories, when could they fell in love without the world’s spotlight on them?

Suddenly, she felt tears pricking at the corner of her eyes, at how everything wasn’t going to where she really wanted to be; her heart was like the candle in the wind, any slight movements and her existence might go up in flames.

But she refused to break down, certainly not in front of someone, she doesn’t even love.

Regaining the last of her composure, Joohyun glanced up “Eric…”

There was something about his name that she couldn’t bring herself to mutter “Yeah…?”

Yet she braced herself for the worse “I’m sure you are fully aware of what my parents have been trying to do for the past few weeks but sadly, I’m not like them and haven’t my obvious avoidance stated clearly about how I felt for you?”

There, she had said it; hopefully he wasn’t that dumb to not catch the meaning behind her words.

A lingering pause settled between them; the man barely even blinked as he continued to gaze lovingly back into her eyes; did he really not get it?

Then finally, as he tucked his hands into his pockets “I know, you had put that across since we first met.”

“What…?” She could never understand woman, probably even to the day she passed on.

He looked away for a bit before turning his entire attention back on her, the persistence in his eyes was clearer than the blue skies “But I had never thought of giving you up.”

For the entire ceremony, Joohyun felt as if her soul had left her body.

But despite of that, she did not miss Seungwan’s constant glances on her and how it was making her heart clenched, anger gradually seeping under her skin.

And she was not afraid of letting the woman know once they stepped outside, her face scrunching up in pure disappointment “Guess I was never in your heart, at all.”

That got her entire attention “W-What…?”

Arms flinging, the woman turned around, venom at the tip of her tongue “When he said he wanted to have a word with me earlier, I thought you would come forth and say something but all you ever did was to push me towards him, were you trying to set Eric and me up?”

Seungwan’s eyes suddenly turned dusty, mixture of frustrations and miseries buried beneath them but it was all gone before she could take another glance “I would gladly fight anyone for you but not him, you have no idea who he is to me.”

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