Unclichéd

Angst. Romance.

Everyday is just the same, I woke up with someone sleeping beside me – a warm body, a quick company, just someone I don’t know about. It was a random night like the usual.

The unusual thing is someone is persistently banging on my door. And that woke me up.

Grumpily, I’ve gotten dressed. I wasn’t even supposed to wake up yet! Not when the stranger is still sleeping soundly, not when the stranger hasn’t left yet. Damn it!

I opened the door to be greeted by an unexpected sight. The person knocking is covered by a thick hooded padded coat - which is understandable since its winter, shades – which look expensive, and a scarf which makes her look fluffy over all.

She cleared , looking unbothered by my distaste. “Are you the landlord of the unit next door?”

“No. It’s my cousin’s. But if you’re renting, I can help you with it. Do you want to see it?” I ask, hoping she’d say yes so I can get away from the stranger on my bed.

“I’d love to.”

I get the keys and get on with it.

Once we went inside, she meticulously checked the bathroom while I just watch her fluffy self in discomfort. I guess she’s really cold. “Do you want me to turn the heater on? You could stay here for a while and decide.”

She smiles, her perfectly pearl white teeth showing. “Oh thanks! I’ll rent this unit.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes.”

I helped her with the heater, as she sighs in relief. “Can I stay here now?”

“Of course.”

She mutters something incoherently, but I heard it’s in English. The girl removes the hood on her head and the scarf around her neck, finally feeling the heater’s warmth; her coat comes off next before she removes her shades. My breath hitched at the sight that greeted me. She has a long blonde hair but what caught me off guard is her eyes. Though tiredness is evident, its lightness took my breath away. If I didn’t notice how gorgeous she is before, I definitely do now.

She gives me a clean smile, suiting her sharp yet soft facial features. “Thank you. I’m Yunjin by the way.”

Her hand reached out to me, and I hold it almost absentmindedly. “You’re Korean.”

“Yeah... don’t I look like one?” She chuckles.

“Kind of. And I’ve heard you speaking in English earlier.”

“Ah. Yeah.” She says awkwardly, running her hand through her hair.

“I’m Chaewon.”

“Nice meeting you, Chaewon.”

 

Time and days flew by so fast. Before I know it, the person who was once a stranger to me became a friend, and there’s not a day that wasn’t spent with Yunjin.

One night, while we’re drinking at a club and we spoke on the rooftop. I asked her what brought her here. She opened up to me but the words she said aren’t what I expected to hear.

“I’m married.” She said, starring at the night sky. The expression on her face is unreadable.

“Okay?” That doesn’t make sense though.

She stares at me with those pretty eyes I’ve gotten used to look at now. “My wife cheated on me.”

Just like that, I feel like I couldn’t swallow the beer I was drinking. Seriously? this is just... insane. I know she looks fine but damn, I would not cheat on a woman like her.

“I... I don’t know what to say.” I mumbled, still in disbelief.

She laughs. “You could say that it .”

“I bet it does.”

She gulps the remaining drink on her bottle. “What’s worst is she did it with our closest friend.”

The betrayed look on her face is all too familiar to me. But the sadness on her face tightens my chest.

I never knew it was all this bad. It wasn’t really obvious that she had that much of an emotional baggage going on. She still gives me those soft, warm and lovely smiles that tends to brighten up my day.

“So, you’re divorced?”

“No... It’s why I’m here right now. How could I still love her? I could not even let go of my vows, to not hold anything against her and always forgive her. How did it go from thinking its forever when it’s going to get wreck halfway?”

“You ran away.” I concluded to myself, realization hitting me hard.

She nods slowly. “It was the only way out.”

 

It didn’t take long before Yunjin’s heartbreak story got more detailed. It was one of our days out on a jog. She talked about how she always keeps in shape, you know, to keep satisfying her wife.

It was cute on her part, but I never really got the sense of it all. So her wife wasn’t satisfied if Yunjin got a bit of belly fats? How come? Yunjin is hot as . She’s tall, lean and even with that beautiful face the of a wife cheated anyway.

“That’s never a good thing, Yunjin.”

“To satisfy the one you love?”

“No. To keep doing things just to make someone stay. It’s not a healthy kind of relationship.”

She gives me that smile yet again, making me feel icky inside my tummy. “Yeah. Got that a little too late.”

 

I shook my head at her nonchalance, and secretly, at my pounding heart. Why am I being like this over a heartbroken still-married woman?

“What about you? Any stories to tell?”

I thought about it, but there’s a coward side of me that wants to hide in the dark.

“None.”

“Is sleeping around better then?” She asks jokingly and ran.

I chase after her, throwing an empty plastic bottle her way. She always makes fun of me because I sleep with different girls, no strings attached. She finds it funny that I’m afraid of commitment.

She ran, looking back at me every once in a while. She got that childlike happiness etched on her face, which made my feet stop its course, like they’re on an automatic break.

No one deserves to be cheated on. Not somebody as bright as her. Not anyone.

“I can’t believe five months have passed since I’ve met you.” I heard her say from the couch.

We just got back from a house party hosted by one of my colleagues. Yunjin has gotten so drunk that I had to bring her back home.

Her wife called, she said, reminding her that, indeed, five months have passed since she was gone. Her wife is home in the US, still waiting for her forgiveness. While Yunjin is still a mess because of what happened.

“You don’t plan on coming back yet?” I ask, handing her a glass of orange juice.

“I want to come back and welcome her with an open heart. But now is not the time yet. Chaewon... do you think she really loves me? I mean she cheated! If she loves me, she wouldn’t have, right?” She stammers drunkenly.

“Do you think she’s really sorry?”

“She said so.”

Yunjin told me about it – how she tried to get back to what they were. But she said every time she sees her wife, it all comes back to her. Every time her wife says “I love you”, she can’t bring herself to believe.

That’s the hardest truth about cheating, it breaks trust. And it can never come back. Ever.

That’s why personally; I don’t think Yunjin needed to get away this long. She probably realized it now but too afraid to face the reality. She loved too much.

“Chae?”

“Hmm?”

“You think I’m stupid, don’t you?”

“W-What?”

“I’m pathetic, aren’t I?”

I can’t believe what I’m hearing from her. “I think you’re brave. If there’s anyone stupid here, it’s your wife for having the audacity to cheat on someone like you.”

It’s true. It comes from the bottom of my heart.

“How is being brave a good thing though? I’m still pathetic.”

“Then stop being one.”

My heart beats faster when she stares at me. It’s nothing out of the ordinary; she always looks at me as nothing more than a friend. It .

“I... I shouldn’t ask you things like this. I’m sorry.” She said, looking away from me.

Deep down, I know she’s aware of my little feelings for her. I fell for her in that short amount of time. I’m the one pathetic here.

I have my reasons though. Yunjin treated me better than most people I know and been with. She treats me like girl. I never knew I have a thing for those kinds of . Not to mention she’s so attractive it hurts.

One night, like a miracle taking place, we hang out without actually intending to get drunk. It’s pretty much refreshing, not like a good refreshing because I feel my nerves of having so close to her without the influence of the alcohol. I feel sane, and I can’t ignore the loud pounding on my chest.

She’s thinking too much, as is. Always lost in thought that she never even realized how much I’ve already memorized every slight wrinkle and mole on her face.

Then suddenly she dropped another bomb on me.

“I’m leaving soon.”

I never saw it coming. She hasn’t drastically changed, like even emotionally, she’s still the same idiot who loves a cheater. I find it hard to breathe but I hold myself together; I always do it when I’m with her.

“When?” I ask as nonchalant as I possibly can.

“A month from now. I already booked a flight. Sorry I didn’t inform you sooner.”

I internally breathe a sigh of relief. A month is good enough. I was afraid she’ll leave tomorrow, or a week from now. I would have hated it.

I tried to laugh it off, praying to God she didn’t hear the shake in my pretentious laugh. “Don’t be sorry, Yunjin-ah. A month is still a long time.”

 

A month is definitely not a long time. There will never be a time long enough when I’m with her.

She pouts. “I guess you won’t miss me then.”

“Of course not. What did you expect!?” I stuck my tongue at her, giggling.

“Come to think of it... I still don’t know much about you. I like to know you more in my remaining days here.”

I feel lonely all of a sudden. I was used in being alone most of the time, but ever since she came here, I’ve never had a lonely hour. But a month from now... Sigh.

“I’d tell you one thing about me every day.”

“Promise?”

“You’re forgetting I’m not the cliché type who makes promises.”

“Right. You’re such a badass; you have girls on your bed every night. So cool.” She mocked.

“Yah!”

I don’t know what we were doing and how we ended up here but I find myself by the lake, watching the water as the bright night sky reflects on it. Yunjin has the ability to make me do things I never thought I wanted to in the first place.

She was lost in thought and I took the opportunity to ogle her. She’s wearing a tight black shirt and gray sweatpants, deliciously showing the contour of what she’s packing underneath. God, she’s so y.

“Chaewon, will you tell me something about you that isn’t like, ‘I like flowers’ or ‘I don’t like sugar in my coffee’ or any of those things that I actually already noticed.” Yunjin asks, interrupting my wild thoughts.

“I don’t like telling things about myself to people.” I blurted out.

All I hear is the sound of the birds chirping and the soft running water in front of me.

“That’s okay.” She mutters quietly. “I am not forcing you.”

Damn. Did she get offended by that?

“I’m going to tell you a deal breaker.”

“What does that even mean? Huh, miss badass?” She said mockingly.

“Yah! I’m serious!”

“Aw look at her... I’m not afraid of those stares. It’s actually cute, you look like a softy.

I tried hitting her but she dodged precisely and the thing we’re sitting on shakes with our movement and we stumbled down with me on to