This is a request by Director-Smiley.

*****

Yong Hwa was shocked.

"Let's break up," Seohyun told him, flinging the couple ring to his face. "I don't love you anymore."

She left, walking away, leaving him wailing in tears. He boxed the door of his house, for Seohyun just showed up at his pad to break up with him.

"Wae?" he thought, sobbing.

"Hyung!" a voice came from the stairs.

It was his best friend and cousin, Jung Shin. The lean and tall guy hurried off and asked what happened, and when Yong Hwa told him what happened, Jung Shin fumed in anger.

"That's it? After all the years you've been together, and that's just it???" was Jung Shin's irate question. "Why! I was hoping she'd end up with you because if both of you will get married, I will no longer have to adjust to a lot of girls!"

Jung Shin was agitated. For his hyung and the angelic-faced had been best friends in high school, and had been lovers since first year in college. And that had been eight years ago. Suddenly, Seohyun stopped hanging out with him and started hanging out with her new friends at work. At first, Yong Hwa welcomed the change because Seohyun was a loner. She needed friends. And now, she had friends, but she started to distance away from him. When he called, she didn't answer his calls. And it happened for months.

And, for the first time in three months, Seohyun came to him...to break up with him.

"How can I forget someone like her, Jung Shin-ah?" Yong Hwa screamed at  his cousin in tears. "We knew each other for the longest time!"

"Ara..." the younger guy said. "Hyung, why don't we just go over to Jong Hyun-hyung's pad? You know how successful he had been as a lawyer."

"And? What does it have to do with me?" Yong Hwa asked, wiping his eyes.

"Maybe we can hang out in his wet bar. He has lots of wine!"

An alcohol fix was definitely what Yong Hwa needed. With Jong Hyun's wide array of wines, he can drink there without having to care about people who might be staring at him.

****

"Hyung, hyung!" Jung Shin greeted his elder brother.

Jong Hyun slapped his namdongsaeng's back before slapping his cousin's back as well.

"Wae geurae?" the stiff lawyer asked.

Yong Hwa told him what happened, and Jong Hyun fumed.

"I should have known," Jong Hyun told him. "I already told you, Hyung, that she was not worth it. Even before, she had the tendencies to forsake you. Haven't you noticed?"

Yong noticed, but he was a fool for love. No matter what silly things Seohyun did, such as attempting suicide for all the bullying she received in college, Yong Hwa still loved her. And he kept loving her still despite the fact that Seohyun swept him away.

"Aigoo," Jong Hyun sighed as he led his brother and his cousin to his wet bar.

The lawyer acted as bartender, but Yong Hwa decided to mix his own deadly drink. Jung Shin prepared some food so that his depressed cousin could have something in his stomach besides alcohol. And Yong Hwa ranted about his doomed love life, and Jong Hyun could only eat the tasteless tteokbokki that his younger brother cooked. And Jung Shin could only offer the tasteless foods as he listened to the endless rants.

****

"Galke (I'll go)," Yong Hwa drawled.

But he was so drunk that he stumbled along the way, and despite his cousins' attempts to stop him, he insisted. The three of them struggled by the door, and as Yong Hwa flung his hands, he hit someone.

"OMO!!!!" Jung Shin gasped.

Yong Hwa blinked to see a woman touching her head, for he had hit her head with his hand.

"Seohyun-ah, why did you leave me?" Yong Hwa told the woman.

"Huh?"

"Hyung, that is my next-door neighbor," Jong Hyun told him. And to the woman, "Joesonghamnida, Shin Hye-ssi."

"Gwaenchanheuseyo, Lee-byeon," Shin Hye demurely replied with a bow.

And the guys pulled Yong Hwa again inside the pad.

****

The next morning, Yong Hwa was awakened to the sound of an apologetic soft voice.

It was the same woman whom Jong Hyun had called "Shin Hye," and he saw that his cousin let the woman in. Jong Hyun's pad was a bit cozy, and he was sleeping in the couch. He saw Shin Hye bringing in something hot in a bowl.

"I hope this can make him better," he heard her said to Jong Hyun.

"Omo, he's awake," Jong Hyun said, throwing a small towel at his cousin.

Yong Hwa gingerly got up, but the woman bowed at them and left. He went to the table, still struggling with his gait. And Jong Hyun was preparing the contents in the bowl.

"What is that?" he asked.

"Some soup for you to cheer up," was the lawyer's dry remark. "Meokja (Let's eat)."

Yong Hwa went to the sink to wash his hands, and he went to the table to eat with his cousin. The smell of the soup was heavenly, so he took the little bowl in front of him and gulped all of the contents.

"That should make your stomach a bit better," Jong Hyun said.

The lawyer was silent the whole time that they were eating, and Yong Hwa could not even ask who the woman was. And since it was a Saturday, he had no work in the engineering office of which he is an architect.

****

By the time he was done bathing, he changed into some of his clothes which he had left in his cousin's pad some months earlier, and he bid JH goodbye. He got down and saw that some prankster had vandalized his red car with yellow spray paint.

"Oh, damn!" Yong Hwa cursed.

He kicked the tire of his car, and he winced in pain. As he was in agony, the same woman came down the stairs, and when she looked at him, she let out a small smile. The two of them greeted each other politely, and he asked where she was going.

"I'm going to the orphanage," she said.

"I'm going home, but I can take you there," he offered.

The two of them introduced each other, and he knew that Shin Hye is an IT consultant who spends her weekend doing charity works in an orphanage and being with kids. She loved kids a lot.

He let her in the car, and he apologized for the graffiti on his car. She let out a sad smile, and nodded.

"Gwaenchanhseumnida," she said.

He suddenly noticed she got so sad, that she was in deep thought. He wanted to reach out to her, but he did not know how. When they reached the orphanage, bald kids came to her and hugged her. Some of the kids were wheeled in, and some had face masks on them. Yong Hwa saw the smile she had for the kids, but nothing could hide the sad eyes he saw in her. If she was happy being with kids, why was she sad?

She saw him and smiled back at him and waved.

"Shin Hye-noona, is that your namjachingu?" one fourth-grade kid asked her despite the face mask he had on.

"Aniya," she winked at the kid.

For the first time after his breakup with Seohyun, Yong Hwa felt himself smiling. He had seen someone who was thoughtful, unlike the one whom he had lost recently.

And after cherishing her smile, he left.

****

He could not get his thoughts off her, so he invited Jung Shin to stay at Jong Hyun's pad again for some tasteless tteokbokki that Jung Shin was infamous for. 

"I like your neighbor next door," Yong Hwa admitted.

"Oh, so fast!" Jong Hyun said. "And I thought you were crying over Seohyun last night!"

"I suddenly saw your point," Yong Hwa said as he fed some tteok to Jung Shin. "Seohyun was selfish. Shin Hye is not."

"Are you sure?" Jung Shin .

And suddenly, he heard the opening of the door next door, and he scampered to see Shin Hye getting in, sadder than what he had seen her that morning. Her door was shut, and he heard sobs.

"Wae geurae?" Jung Shin asked.

The three guys went out to listen, and Jong Hyun sighed. Yong Hwa looked at him, and the three went inside to talk.

"You see, Shin Hye was being forced out of the marriage because her fiance broke up with her a month before the marriage," Jong Hyun related. "That Kang Min Hyuk is a bastard! I did not know why he broke her heart! I mean, Shin Hye had always been gracious and kind!"

"That's so mean!" Yong Hwa said.

"To ease her loneliness, Shin Hye went to the orphanage to mingle with the kids. But there are days when she comes home crying her heart out," Jong Hyun revealed.

That was quite mysterious for Yong Hwa, so he decided to make friends with her so that he will get to know why she was so sad on one occasion, and happy on another.

****

One day, Yong Hwa found Shin Hye at the bar, drinking with a guy. They were having an altercation, and Shin Hye splashed her drink on the guy's face. Then, she stormed off. Yong Hwa was about to have a good time at the bar, but because she left, he had to catch up with her.

Yong Hwa saw Shin Hye sobbing near the premises of the bar, so he went up to her and greeted her. She turned around, greeted with a smile, and wiped her tears. He invited her over some other bar where she can relax and drown her sadness. When she saw his car, she lit up a smile, for it no longer had those annoying graffiti.

"Having them removed is hard work," he mused.

He invited her to his car, and he drove off to another bar, which was classier than the one she had been. He ordered for the two of them, and he asked her if she was all right.

"We knew each other recently, but I suddenly had the urge to tell you," she said. "That was my ex-fiance and ex-boyfriend."

Yong Hwa remembered his name was Kang Min Hyuk.

"I did not mean to pry, but my cousin Jong Hyun told me about your past...a bit," he said.

She looked at him and did not say a word as their drinks came. He saw her drown on whisky.

"Min Hyuk-ah...broke up with me because I cannot make him happy," Shin Hye whispered as she began to sob.

He was fazed, thinking that she was ually active and could not please her boyfriend. But she saw his expression, so she explained.

"No, not what you are thinking... I am still pure, you see, but because of my reproductive problem, he broke up with me..." she said sadly.

She told him that four months earlier, she suffered from appendicitis, and her appendix was removed. However, the doctor noticed that she had some cysts forming in her right ovary and fallopian tubes, so the parts have to be removed. The doctor also adviced her to get pregnant because her left ovary might just encounter the same problem. And because she had surgery on one important body part, she got depressed that her plan for her wedding had some occasional blunders, leaving Min Hyuk slightly irritated. But then, because Min Hyuk might have been stressed into thinking that he might not have a child with her, he broke up with her, cancelling the wedding altogether. He also said he wanted a woman with complete reproductive system. This left her heartbroken and gravely devastated, until one time, a young niece died of leukemia. It was a wake up call for her to strive to live despite having one ovary and no more appendix, and for her family, just because she missed a body part, it does not mean that she was not whole.

"Sometimes, you have to lose yourself in order to be whole," she told him.

And that was when she started working at the orphanage where most of the kids have leukemia and other immunologic disorders.

"What was with him back there?" Yong Hwa asked, pointing at the scene at the other bar.

"Min Hyuk wanted to get back with me and start over, but his action cut my life," she said. "I cannot get back with him after he killed me."

Yong Hwa nodded in understanding.

"I am happy with my life now, and I am happy with the kids," she told him with a smile. "But there are times when...when I get home crying, most especially if a kid with HIV or leukemia dies. And you know why?"

He shook his head.

"It makes me sad to think that while we take life for granted, some kid is struggling to live but can't make it," she told him. "And the death of a kid makes me sad because that kid could have been a child I might never have."

And she broke down into tears again. The second reason made her cry because it was too personal. He comforted her and invited her in his pad, which he was sharing with Jung Shin. She didn't finish her whisky when she went with him.

"You know, I have some problems with my life too," he said. "Though I don't think it is even worth mentioning."

She looked at him in sadness and asked, and he told her it was all about Seohyun.

"She had been with me for long, since high school, and I cannot forget her," he said, driving carefully as he could. "If you know someone for so long, and she just left you, it will kill you like hell."

She definitely could not understand that because she and Min Hyuk had only been lovers for three years, but she assured him that she will support him whatever decisions he will make when it comes to love.

****

Jung Shin was struggling in making kimchi when the two came, and he invited his hyung and the guest for dinner. Jung Shin saw that Shin Hye was a bit out there, but he did not mind. When he had problem with cooking, all other else do not matter anymore.

The younger man prepared dinner, and soon, the three of them ate. Because Jung Shin had a corny sense of humor, Shin Hye began to laugh and laugh, and Yong Hwa began to smile. Three weeks ago, he had been crying over Seohyun, but now, he was smiling over a being as strong and beautiful as Shin Hye. After dinner, he got her back to her pad even before Jong Hyun could come home from the law office.

"Thanks for taking me home," she whispered, smiling coyly at him.

"We can be friends, right?" he asked, and she nodded. "If that is the case, we can hang out together."

"Ah, ye," she said.

The two of them bid each other good night, and he left her.

****

Soon, the Lee brothers noticed that Yong Hwa and Shin Hye were hanging out to the point that it looked like they were dating. But the two would deny that they were not. After work at the construction firm, Yong Hwa would go to the IT center to fetch her, and they would go to have fun together. During weekends, the two would go to the orphanage, and he would help her entertain the kids. The kids liked the two, and wished for them to get married.

One Valentine's Day, Shin Hye gave him chocolates, and he lit up a smile.

"Can I not give chocolates to a friend?" she .

"You can," he said. "But how about my cousins?"

"I sent a pack to Jung Shin's floral shop, and I know Jong Hyun hates chocolates," she said.

He also gave her a single stalk of red rose in full bloom, and she took it wholeheartedly. But as she smelled the good flower, she looked at him sadly.

"Wae?"

"I hope, you are not doing this because you pity me," she said.

"Pity you?" he asked. "Just because you have one ovary left?"

Shin Hye started to shed tears again.

"I don't want guys to look at me in pity just because of my reproductive problem," she said.

"Shin Hye-ya, I will never look at you like that," he assured her. "I will look at you as a friend. That is what you are to me. You are more complete than some who left me for nothing."

He shed his tears for the first time, in front of her, and she gave him a hug and a pat.

"Yong Hwa, just promise me one thing," she said.

He listened, and he nodded when she told him not to fall in love with her.

"We can only be friends, but as it is, we might be confused with our own feelings for each other, having been defeated in love," she told him after the hug.

"So... shall I ask for space, then?" he asked.

It was more common for lovers to ask for space, but weird and rare for friends. Nevertheless, they told each other that they will give in to space, and they deleted each other's number.

The two could not admit that they had feelings for each other, but they decided to "break up" and have space, for fear that they think their friendship might turn to love, and that they might be confused and only get hurt in the end.

Yong Hwa gave her freedom because he did not want to be hurt again and be left alone. And Shin Hye gave him space because she did not want him to befriend her out of pity. It was simply a choice which they had to make..

*****

Jong Hyun was confused because Shin Hye was still down and out despite being away from Yong Hwa, so he gave her an advice to call him. Shin Hye denied, but deep inside, she wanted to see him so bad.

So, she went to the construction firm, and as she was about to enter, she saw Yong Hwa happily holding hands with some girl.

"Oh, annyeonghaseyo?" they greeted each other.

"Shin Hye-ya, this is my girlfriend, Seohyun," Yong Hwa said. "We got back a month ago. And Seohyun, this is my friend Shin Hye."

"Annyeonghaseyo?" the two ladies greeted each other.

"Yeogiseo waeyo (Why are you here)?" he asked.

Shin Hye had to devise a lie. She told him that she got attracted to the large TV screen on the lobby, and she said she was just passing by anyway.

"Have coffee with us," Seohyun invited her, though with a tone of jealousy.

Shin Hye declined, stating that she had to get back to her pad to cook dinner. As the two lovers went away, she went to her pad, crying her heart out.

She realized that she had fallen in love with Yong Hwa.

"Shin Hye?" Jong Hyun asked as he peeked from her window.

Shin Hye opened the door and let him in, and she cried in front of him.

"I knew it," the lawyer said. "You are in love with him. Why are you denying it?"

"Can you accompany me to a noraebang?" she asked sadly.

Jong Hyun told her noraebangs were not his thing. He invited her to Miss A's concert because Jung Shin had four tickets.

"Four?" Shin Hye asked.

"The three of us can enjoy, can we?" he asked. "Come on. Miss A's man-hating ways just might perk you up."

And he did a corny version of Miss A's dance of "I Don't Need A Man." He at dancing. She nodded, and she got in her room to change. After a while, Jung Shin came in, and when Shin Hye was done changing, the three of them went to Miss A's concert.

****

The venue was jam-packed, but the three were able to have a good view of the stage. Later, the concert began, and the three enjoyed the show offered by Min (Lee Min Young), Suzy (Bae Suji), Jia (Meng Jia), and Fei (Wang Fei Fei). Many songs were sang, including the badass hits "Bad Girl, Good Girl," "Goodbye, Baby," "If I Were A Boy," and "I Don't Need A Man." A little later, a cool r&b tune came up, and the girls sang to their song, "Madness." 

 

All the phone calls that are left unanswered

Love you love you

This is not it

When I’m walking and can only see people that resemble you

Love you love you stop it

 

My memories always go back to you, I keep on having to erase them

Why am I like this, why am I behaving like this

I’m making a fool of myself

Looks like this will take a long time

It’s like you are still here

 

There’s so many traces of you still here

Now I’m becoming like you

I’m asking you to comfort me

I’m becoming kind of strange

 

The memories that are twisted

My image that is wrenched

If I erase you

Feels like I will be erased too

 

When 2PM's Taecyeon came on stage, the fan girls came howling in delight. Taecyeon sang to the rap part of the song.

 

Can’t get U out of my head

Feels like I can’t

move ahead

Can’t get U out of my mind

Feels like I can’t move ahead

Intoxicating U there

Paralyzing me with U here

The way U talk and laugh

Our relationship is through

 

And while the rap was on, the part after the chorus came.

 

(Day and night all I think about is u

Being with me by my side through the night

Day and night all I dream about is u

Staying with me

By my side holding me never letting go)

 

Your reflection that is reflected in the mirror

Then who am I? Who am I?

Suddenly I’m feeling scared

Who is it that keeps on lingering and ringing in my ear?

Stop it

 

You keep on appearing beside me

Why am I like this, why am I behaving like this

I’m making a fool of myself

I’m going towards destruction

 

I don’t think I can do it yet

I don’t have any answer to lose you

I’m crying and then laughing alone

I’m asking you to comfort me

 

I’m really becoming strange

 

The memories that are twisted

My image that is wrenched

If I erase you

Feels like I will be erased too (x2)

 

Someone is leading me towards destruction

Fine, you stay here

So that there will be proof for what I’m feeling

Your eyes that are looking at the changing me

No matter where you go, you will feel it

 

I need your love,

I’m going crazy, my love

And I feel the madness in me,

I’m a mess, I need love

 

The memories that are twisted

My image that is wrenched

If I erase you

Feels like I will be erased too

 

While the fans were chanting and cheering on Miss A and Taecyeon, Shin Hye's tears suddenly fell down. Eversince she fell for Yong Hwa, all she thought was him. She denied her feelings for him, but she was mad enough to go crazy. And she suddenly felt her heart about to burst when he told her that he got back with Seohyun.

 

After the concert, the three of them went home, but Shin Hye was still distracted. After hearing the song, she was so delusional, that she even saw Yong Hwa in Jong Hyun's rear view mirror, thinking he was there. And when she the television to distract herself, she thought she saw Yong Hwa in Lee Shin (for it was "Heartstrings" on TV).

 

"Neo ttaemune michyeo... (Because of you, I am getting crazy)," she sobbed.

 

Crazy though she was, and though she denied it, she memorized his number, so she dialed his number to call him, never mind if Seohyun was beside him. She had to talk to him. She just had to.

 

"Yeoboseyo?" he greeted over the line.

 

"Yong...Hwa?" she called him.

 

"Shin Hye?" was his shocked voice.

 

From the other line, he could not believe she called. But deep inside, his heart was beating fast, and he was feeling giddy. They agreed to see each other the next day because it was already night in there.

 

The two of them could not wait for the day to end, and the two of them met at her pad, for Jong Hyun usually came home late in his pad. As the two saw each other, Yong Hwa could no longer hold himself. He hugged her tight, and she did too.

 

"But, how about Seohyun?" she asked.

 

"We watched Miss A's concert too because Jung Shin gave me lots of tickets, but after the concert, she broke up with me again," he gently said. "I guess the two of us never were meant to be."

 

"Saranghae..." she confessed first.

 

"Saranghae..." he also told her.

 

After the hug, the two of them got inside her pad, and they continued to talk.

 

"I was afraid that you'd only look at me for my body parts," she said.

 

"Ani... You are a person to me, the whole is more than the sum of its parts," he told her. "And I will never pity you just because you lack some organs. You are more than just your reproductive system, Shin Hye, remember that. And if a guy only love you if your system is complete, then, he is not worth it."

 

Shin Hye nodded. The next thing she knew, he pulled her closer for a soft kiss.

 

That was their first kiss, and she never knew his kiss could be sweeter than Min Hyuk's. After the kiss, he asked if she could be his girlfriend, and she agreed.

 

****

 

The Lee brothers were delighted that the two got to be lovers, and Jung Shin thought Shin Hye was a million times better than Seohyun, and Jong Hyun could attest that she had better qualities than Seohyun because Shin Hye was caring and loving.

 

Their relationship lasted for four years, and one day, the two of them had a date at a ritzy restaurant. Yong Hwa got up his chair, went to her, and bent a knee for her. She was shocked and excited, knowing what it was for.

 

And he showed her a diamond ring in a box. And a puppy-dog look.

 

"Will you marry me?" he asked.

 

"Yes.... yes..." she cried.

 

As he wore the ring to her left ring finger, the old couples near them sighed in happiness. The violinist who was part of the ensemble on stage got down to play some romantic tunes for them.

 

After their date, they went back to her pad, because if they will be in his pad, Jung Shin would be there, and the younger man would spy and make some scene.

 

"Now, I know that I love you enough for me to marry you," he told her. "I will marry you not because the doctor told you to get pregnant. I can give you kids, a hundred if you want. You are more than just a baby-maker. If a woman thinks that her essence is just to make babies, then she is wrong. She is there to be loved, not just for ."

 

Shin Hye cried at his words.

 

"If I will marry you, I will marry all of yourself, your family, your past... not just your capability to give me a child," he told her. "I don't care if you only can give me a child. It may be sad, but if after giving a child, your last ovary will be removed, I know it is devastating, but I will still love you. I will give you a child so you will no longer have to cry over a child you might never have."

 

Shin Hye cried and hugged him intimately.

 

****

And came the big day.

 

The two got married, and Jung Shin was glad to have the pad for himself for quite a while. The lovers were off to Spain for honeymoon, enjoying each other's company, and finally spending their first night as a married couple.

 

****

 

After a month, Shin Hye suddenly realized she had morning sickness, and the two went to her OB-gyne. After some checkup, the doctor confirmed that Shin Hye was pregnant. And good news was, there were no cysts forming in her remaining ovary. Yong Hwa shed tears of joy to learn that his wife had gotten pregnant, and that he would be a father soon.

 

"You see, Shin Hye-ya, I am so happy," he told her. "I worked hard to please you that night, you know."

 

"Ara..." she said with a pinch.

 

Indeed, Yong Hwa showed Shin Hye that she could be loved for everything that she is, and the two of them willingly gave each other to each other without reserve. And Shin Hye taught him that he is precious, not just someone who should be swept off anytime one wants.

 

Love is more than just . It is accepting each other's everything, including strengths and limitations.

 

And that the whole is more than just the sum of its parts.

 

 

~~~~END~~~~

 

(up next, request by Sakura07 )

 

 

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