Chapter 27: The Mother

 

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Youngmi met up with Hyunjung during lunch time whereas afterwards they both went to the dress shop to get Hyunjung fitted. The whole of the drive was awkward and neither spoke.

There was nothing to talk about anyway and whats more, ever since Hyunjung expressed her objections on the wedding, Youngmi's had the urge to stay away from her and talk less because she really didn't need to hear anymore.

Youngmi quietly sat reading a magazine, she had checked on her wedding gown earlier and Hyunjung was on the process of getting fitted. She took out her phone from her pocket after feeling it vibrate and saw a text from Heechul.

Packing right now ~ take care of yourself, araso? Be back soon.

<3 Heechul

she raised a brow at the text since Heechul has never updated her on what he's doing but never the less she typed a reply of “take care and have fun <3” then sent it to him. The curtain opened and Youngmi set the magazine aside, Hyunjung appeared.

“Done?”

Youngmi asked, grabbing her bag and getting up. The designer emerged afterwards and Youngmi smiled, shaking her hand and thanking her. Hyunjung thanked the lady too and afterwards they both left.

“I'm going back to the hospital”

Youngmi said in a blunt tone as she opened the door to her car, Hyunjung frowned

“Yah!”

Youngmi stopped and turned to her

“Why are you acting so cold towards me? What did I ever do to you?”

Youngmi pursed her lips together and slammed her car's door shut.

“I don't want my wedding ruined nor stopped okay? Heechul and I are the only ones who get to call it off”

“Tch, if you get hurt I swear... I'm gonna be saying I told you so in your face”

Hyunjung said before walking away and hailing a cab.

-

“Hey”

Heechul said as he entered the leader's room where ha was called for. Leeteuk smiled at him as he turned away from the piano and put all his attention on his donsaeng who seemed stressed out; Heechul sat down on the edge of Leeteuk's bed, the white sheets sinking under his weight.

“So, what am I doing here?”

he asked Leeteuk who sat comfortably in his chair

“I read your tweet but never really questioned it and someone told me about your phone call with manager-hyung”

Heechul scoffed to the side;

“You know you can tell me anything Heechul, I'm your hyung and I'm with you so long as you are in the right place”

he remained quiet as Leeteuk continued to talk

“Super Junior will always be by your side Chullie but we can't help if you don't tell”

Leeteuk leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees and his hands clasped together

“So please tell hyung what happened”

Heechul continued to remain quiet and Leeteuk let out a sigh

“Chul, did you hear -”

Heechu shot up to his feet and turned to Leeteuk, brows narrowed, eyes glistening

“Yeah, I hear you. I hear you very clearly hyung”

Leeteuk contained himself; fighting fire with fire won't solve anything, he presumed.

“Then tell me what happened”

“SM is making me choose between Youngmi and you guys!”

Silence.

Leeteuk's world seemed to have shook and with the follow up sentence that Heechul spoke, his heart seemed to have broke.

“If I push through with the wedding, they are gonna terminate Super Junior's contract”

Leeteuk opened his eyes to the sound of footsteps, he checked his clock and saw that it was 5 in the morning of the next day and only then did it strike his mind that Heechul was going to leave for his trip. He got out of his bed and ran a hand through his hair, slipping on a shirt and walked out to the living room where he saw his donsaeng and their manager hyung.

“Leaving already?”

Leeteuk asked in a sleepy tone, their manager took his luggage outside. Heechul turned to Leeteuk.

“I'm taking the first flight hyung, I'll be back soon don't worry”

He gave his hyung a hug followed by a chuckle. Leeteuk smiled, he sensed the way Heechul hid his pained expression but didn't say anything about it.

“Well, whatever you choose...”

Leeteuk began as he pulled Heecul away to arm's length.

“I'll be on your side Chullie”

Heechul looked away and ran a hand through his hair

“Aish! You speak non sense, have you talked to them about it yet?”

Leeteuk shook his head sideways

“Maybe later; have a safe trip okay?”

Heechul gave the leader one last smile before heading out the door.

Everything will be okay Heechul

Leeteuk quietly thought watching his donsaeng disappear through the door

It's gonna be okay.

-

Youngmi closed her laptop, getting herself ready for the meeting she was going to attend to later on in the afternoon. Heechul had flown off to his trip though it was kind of strange to her that he had not once mentioned where he was going... specifically.

But, she trusted him and that's all that mattered. Everything was okay, it was all going well until one phone call seemed to have changed her view for the whole day. She was walking down the hall, getting ready to do her second round of checkups when she felt her phone vibrating in her lab coat's pocket.

Anxious that maybe it was Heechul, she picked up without taking a glimpse at the caller ID.

“Yeoboseyo?”

cheerfully she said, a hint of excitement in her voice

“You're wedding is not gonna go through, I'll see to it that it doesn't”

A chill ran down her spine. She seemed to have frozen in her place, hands shaking and her eyes widened in shock. Her brows eventually narrowed and her grip on her phone tightened.

“Who... who is this?”

“Heechul is mine Nam Youngmi. Mine only”

“Yah! Who do you think you are?!”

“Don't you know? Heechul left you, he's flying over to see me”

her heart seemed to have shattered to a million pieces after hearing that.

“N-no... no he's not!”

some nurses were beginning to look towards her direction but she could care less.

“Heechul and I are the ones to be married; you sly , you thought you could actually make him want to marry you? Dream on”

Youngmi felt her knees go weak.

“Who are you?'

she almost sounded like she was pleading. The person on the other line chuckled bitterly and spoke

“I'm your worst nightmare Youngmi”

-

Heechul heaved a sigh as he had finally arrived. Home. His mother came out of their house as soon as the van stopped, he got out and received the lady's warm embrace.

“It's good to see you too umma”

he smiled weakly; the lady could almost feel her heart break. A sad smile was what she saw in her son's eyes; she warmly smiled at Heechul and he didn't know nor was he sure how to interpret it as; comfort? Grief? Understanding? He didn't know but one thing he was sure of was that not matter what she meant by that smile, it was enough to make him actually... cry on his mother's shoulder.

“It's alright son... you just cry your heart out now, let the pain disappear with those tears”

it wasn't a joyous occasion, for the first time in a long time, he came home to cry.

“I don't wanna lose anyone umma”

the lady felt tears gather on the peaks of her eyes but she stopped them, never once letting go of her son that hugged her like a little boy once again. Mr. Kim watched from a distance at his wife and son, Heechul was the same boy he used to spend so much time with. No matter who he was now, he was still the mischievous son he watched grow up.

Even after all these years, he came home crying and Mr. Kim only remembered then how heartbreaking it was for a parent to see their child cry.

“...Dear?”

he finally spoke, the lady turned towards her husband who stood by the entrance of their home, Heechul wiped off his tears, sniffling and catching his breath.

“Let's get inside before our son catches a cold”

he smiled weakly.

-

Youngmi fiddled with her phone, she left various of messages and voicemails and with every single one unanswered or unreplied to, she felt like crying. She couldn't concentrate well on the meeting but she did her best.

“Dr. Nam?”

she turned her head to the person speaking in front and saw the rest of the doctors having their eyes on her.

“Sorry?”

she apologized for not being able to catch up with the last word that was said

“Are you willing to fly to Belgium next week?”

Youngmi looked down on her phone, continuously tapping a message then switched to see her calendar to see if she had any appointments. No wedding appointments. No patients. Her following week was clear of everything.

She sighed.

“I'll check on it and get back to you”

afterwards, she excuse herself, grabbed her things and left the meeting room.

-

Heechul sat by the window of his room, staring out into the open. He hasn't gotten the chance to see his phone.

“Heechul-ah, aren't you hungry?”

his mother came in, a bowl and spoon in hand. Her child let out a sigh and turned to her as she set the food down on the table inside his room, about the same time that his phone rang but he still didn't check on it. The lady sat down across him, he poked the soup but never took a single spoon in his mouth.

“I don't remember the last time I saw you cry...”

the lady smiled at him, he looked back down on the food and finally set the spoon back, his hands falling limply down from the table.

“I don't know what to do umma...”

he mumbled, his phone rang again but he continued to ignore it. The lady sighed and gave it a quick glance before turning back to her son

“I can't call off the wedding... it will break her heart and letting go of Super Junior would break mine”

his mother sighed, the moment Heechul sniffled she ran over to his side, putting an arm around him and the other rubbing his arm in a comforting manner.

“Aigo ~ we all go through tough decisions sometimes Heechul-ah...”

he wiped the tears away and continued looking down

“But...”

his umma began to add

“The choice you make doesn't have to be between Youngmi or Super Junior... you will always find another option and umma knows you can find that option”

His phone rang again and this time he picked it up. The lady got up and left the room giving him one last smile. He cleared his throat before speaking.

“Yeoboseyo?”

“Heechul...”

came Youngmi's voice; she sounded like someone died, he got up and walked over to where his bed was and slumped down.

“Is something wrong?”

“I called and left messages”

“Sorry... I was tried from the trip and rested the whole day”

He bit his lip to punish himself for the lie; he's never lied to her before... okay maybe a few times but he hasn't felt guilty like this.

“Where are you... exactly?”

she sounded like she was doubting him and for some reason this ticked off Heechul. His brows stitched together and he sat up.

“Why do you sound like you're suspecting me”

“I'm just asking where you are Heechul... why are you being so pissed about a question?”

“Well you sound like you're assuming that I'm doing something wrong”

“Well are you?”

“I'm not!”

Silence. The other line was very silent and the next thing he heard was a hitch of breath from Youngmi, he breathed out and hung his head low, running a hand through his hair.

“Get some rest... goodnight”

she said, it stabbed his heart.

“Wait Youngmi -”

“Enjoy wherever you are Heechul... come back soon”

That was all she said before she put the phone down on him and for the next 5 minutes he didn't move from his position but just listened to the beep that was continuous. Heechul finally sighed and got up, walking around in circles in his room trying to figure out what to do and slowly, as he went, frustration was building up on him.

-

Youngmi bit her lower lip, suppressing the sobs that were threatening to come out from her lips. Unnoticeable, her mom entered the room and called out gently to her.

“Youngmi-ah... are you okay?”

Youngmi didn't answer, her mother walked over to her and once the lady sat down beside her, she threw her arms around her mother and cried. Hyunjung quietly watched from out Youngmi's room and bit her lower lip; with a sigh, she took out her phone from her pocket and entered room.

Hyunjung pressed the phone onto her ear and the other line picked up

“Ah, Hyunjung-ssi, have you seen the news?”

“I don't know what you did but I don't think I want to help you anymore”

“Mwo? But the fun part hasn't even started yet”

“I don't even want anything to do with the wedding”

“There won't be a wedding Hyunjung-ssi”

“How are you so sure?”

she closed the door to her room and for a much more secure place, she entered the bathroom.

“Chairman Lee will handle it... I pointed out to him the rule in Heechul's contract about dating”

“Mwo?”

“Stick with me Hyunjung, before you know it... they're split. I have to go now, annyeong”

Hyunjung didn't even get to say a word after that; she sighed and exited the bathroom. Youngmi should never find out about this; Hyunjung didn't know where she was standing. She was supposed to be with Youngmi right? Support her sister because she was the elder one but standing with Hye Rin seemed reasonable too.

'I'm just protecting you Youngmi... just protecting you'

she thought quietly to herself.

-

Heechul woke up the following day with puffy and tired eyes; he grabbed his phone to check if Youngmi had new messages but nothing, no calls, nothing.

As he was about to toss is phone away, it vibrated and rang, sitting up he put it close to his ear.

“Heechul-ah”

It was only Leeteuk.

“Hey hyung”

he said bluntly, getting out of bed and his feet stepping onto the cold floor.

“How are you doing?”

“How's Youngmi? Did she call you? Did she sleep over?”

he had ignored Leeteuk's question; the leader swallowed the sigh that almost escaped his mouth

“No... why?”

“Oh... can you watch over her for me hyung? I can't go back there yet”

“You'll find something out Heechul... you always do”

he put the phone down and did the usual morning routine of his. After taking a cold shower and changing his clothes, he decided to take a stroll around the old neighborhood to give himself a peace of mind.

-

Youngmi woke up. Sunlight flooding her room and the first thing on her mind was...

'I won't let you ruin my wedding... Hye Rin'