Jieun blankly stared at Soeun for a moment as her ice pack fell to the ground. It was one thing to jokingly ask your friend if she was pregnant, however, it was another thing to respond to that and tell her that you’re engaged. Jieun was speechless, literally speechless.

 

Soeun hesitated. She didn’t know that Jieun’s reaction would be this nerve racking. Soeun slowly waved her hand in front of her lost friend’s face, hoping that she would respond.

 

“To who?” Jieun asked blankly as her eyes darted away from Soeun.

 

Soeun cautiously scratched her neck as she gave off a slight laugh. “Funny you, mentioning that.” She said as she cleared .

 

Jieun directly looked at Soeun. “Kim. So. Eun. Who are you engaged to?” Jieun didn’t know what to feel honestly.  Half of her was overjoyed to know that her friend had finally found someone special for the first time in twenty-four years. Yet the other half wanted to shout out her. How come Soeun didn’t tell Jieun about anything? All of a sudden, she was engaged. Honestly, how could one keep a secret as big as this from her close friend?

 

Soeun bit her bottom lip. It wasn’t like she didn’t want to tell Jieun. It was just that, she wasn’t ready to announce to the world that she was engaged. She knew that Jieun, theoretically wasn’t “the world”, but she was so special to Soeun, that she really did feel like the whole world to her.  “Uhhh….” Soeun started. “I’m engaged to...” The words demanded to be said, but Soeun just held it in, afraid of how Jieun would react. “… engaged to…”

 

Jieun stood up suddenly as she faced the wall in front of them. “It’s Junho… isn’t it?” Jieun said as her face turned bitter.

 

Soeun’s eyes widened in surprise.  How did she know? “How…. how did you know?” She found herself thinking aloud.  

 

Jieun sighed and sat back down again. “It doesn’t take a genius to notice Soeun.”

 

Soeun sighed and leaned back on the sofa in follow with Jieun. They didn’t know how long they stayed like that in silence. It was as if, both of them knew that they needed space and silence to fill in the atmosphere.

 

“When did you meet him?” Jieun blurted out.

Soeun faced Jieun, and saw her with her eyes closed. “I’ve... known him for quite a while now.” Soeun said nervously.

 

“Then why did you pretend not to know him at the auction?”

 

The question took her by surprise. She found herself sighing in thought, as she didn’t know how to answer. Genuinely, Soeun was stuck between two paths. It was either lie or tell the truth. Of course, both had its ups and downs, yet truthfully, she couldn’t handle the thought of her friend worrying about her marrying someone she didn’t love. Jieun was always the type of person that wanted everyone around her to be happy. She was the type of person that was born and nourished into love.

 

“Because, I – “

   “Ani.” Jieun cut Soeun. “What am I doing?” Jieun mumbled in her thoughts

 

Honestly, she should have been a better friend and congratulated her or at least had smiled at the news, however despite that, all Jieun had done was despise the fact that Soeun hadn’t told her sooner.  Maybe it was the stress of losing both parents and knowing that you had to take care of a huge company, that Soeun didn’t have time to hang around her friends anymore.

 

 “You don’t have to answer. I guess… you had your reasons.”  Soeun looked at Jieun and saw her expression had turned somewhat lighter than before.

 

Jieun suddenly smiled and reached out for Soeun’s hands. “Anyway, enough of the questions. Congratulations, you loser, on getting married before I did.” Jieun said before she laughed to lighten up the mood. Soeun looked down at the sight of their hands touching.

 

She missed this.

She missed feeling the hands of someone you held close to your heart.

Soeun looked back up at her friend and laughed in follow.

 

      “Loser? Me?” Soeun said as she pretended to be confused. “You’re the loser!”

“Oh really? Then should I give an emotional speech on your wedding day and tell everyone the time you pee –“

 

“Yah! Lee Jieun!”

 

~ ~ ~

 

 

Junho was at the office. It was late and he was tired. Paper work and reports were filling up the empty spaces on his desk. He sipped his glass of coffee as his hands hurriedly typed up the last few sentences of the final paragraph. He re-read the whole report as he peered at the time on top of the computer screen.

 

11:37 AM

 

Junho exhaled slowly. Tomorrow night was his twenty- fifth birthday; “another year to celebrate life… how thrilling” Junho thought sarcastically for a moment. He couldn’t remember the last time he just had a small party to celebrate his birthday. He leaned back on his chair and stretched his arms. It was finally time to call it a night. He took one last gulp of his coffee and stood up.  

 

“Mr. Lee, excuse me.” His assistant said ever so softly interrupting Junho’s trail of thoughts. Junho looked up, as he saw his assistant peep through the doorway.

 

“What is it?”

    “Your mother would like to speak with you.” She said as she signaled him that she wasn’t in her best mood. Junho rolled his eyes and exhaled before picking up the phone.

 

“Hello?”

    “Lee Junho!” his mother screamed through the phone. Junho moved the phone away from his ear as he scream made the phone shake in fear.

 “Yes, mother?” he said with slight attitude.

        “You were supposed to be at home two hours ago!” She screamed again.

“I lost track of time.”

  Junho heard his mother sigh on the other side of the line.

 “When are you ever going to be more responsible Junho?” Mrs. Lee said.

Junho’s heart dropped. Responsible? The irony of the word when it came out of his mother’s lips angered him. The word responsible… his mother wouldn’t know the meaning of it. She was the one that left him for more than a decade. How would she know what responsible meant? Junho exhaled as he tried to control his anger.  

 

Mrs. Lee sighed again in frustration. “You’re birthday party is tomorrow nigh-“

 

 “I understand I did wrong mother. I’ll be at home as soon as possible.” Junho interrupted his mother and ended the call.

 

He hid his face in his palms as he took a long breath. It wasn’t obvious that he was stressed about everything most of the time. But honestly, when he was alone, all he could do was sigh and rub his head in frustration.

 

“Why the long face?” A voice called out.

Junho looked up only to see Wooyoung, Taceyeon and Junsu standing behind his desk in suits. Their hands were in their pockets, and to be honest… they looked quite dashing.

 

“Ready to go clubbing?” Wooyoung said with delight on his face.  Junho sighed as he stood up and swiftly put on his coat. “Sorry to burst your bubble, but not tonight boys.” Junho said with a slight laugh in his voice. “If you don’t remember, tomorrow night I’m booked, so my mother would probably want me to run some errands before that.”  He said as he rolled his eyes, signaling his sarcas.

 

“Ah, right. Your birthday ball.” Junsu replied.

“Come to think of it, Junho has become more obedient to Mrs. Lee these days.” Wooyoung said with a smirk. “Well I guess he needs practice, so he can please his wife in the future.” Junsu retorted back to Wooyoung, teasing Junho.

 

Junho ignored the remarks his friends made. He knew that they were joking around, yet with the stress of the company and the marriage, he was literally, on the edge of destruction. “Yah, Junsu. You should stop messing around… Junho must be under a lot of pressure. Not to mention the pressure his wife will put him in, in the future.” Taceyeon said as he joined the gang of teasers.

 

Junho laughed sarcastically. “Laugh all you want. Sooner or later, you’ll probably be in the same situation as me.” Wooyoung, Taecyeon and Junsu suddenly sensed that somewhere in the middle of Junho’s sentence, there was a portion of seriousness.

 

Of course from an early age Junho and his friends were honestly all aware what was waiting for them in the future. Having the life of luxuries, and growing up with parents like theirs, it wasn’t surprising to have a marriage based strictly on business. It was more like the payment they had to pay for having all of this.

 

The room went quiet, and Junho, Wooyoung, Junsu and Taceyeon sensed that. “Well, we better be going now. Our drinks might get cold.” Wooyoung said to ease the tension of the atmosphere. “Right. Our drinks.” Junsu said awkwardly. 

 

Wooyoung smiled his infamous smile and held up his hands to make a peace sign. “Have fun man.” He said to Junho. “Don’t let her boss you around too much.” Junsu said before turning around and following Wooyoung out the door. Junho sneered at their sarcasm as his eyes darted towards Taceyeon who was still in the room.

 

Taceyeon smiled as he walked up to Junho’s desk. “Yah…” he started. “Congratulations on your engagement.” Taceyeon lightly pat Junho’s back. “Don’t stress to much.”

 

Junho watched him walk out the door and felt a sudden pain in his heart. He didn’t know whether it was reality that finally struck him, or looking back at all those years and realizing he would never be able to fulfill one promise he made years ago.

 

“Mr. Lee.” His assistant once again interrupted. “You’re mother sent a message to me and said she would like to see you as soon as possible.”

 

Junho snapped back to reality and nodded, gesturing to his assistant that he got the message. He bit his bottom lip and sighed. Why was he all of a sudden thinking about the past? It wasn’t important to him. The past was the past. That was it. Nothing more. He smiled at the thought of himself dwelling once again on the events of his childhood.

 

Junho grabbed his bag and walked out his office. “The past is the past Junho. It’s nothing to you now.” He mumbled over and over again before getting in his car and driving off into the night.

 

~ ~ ~

“Lee Junho!” his mother barged into his room as he was about to put his keys on the table. Junho turned around and saw his mother with a bitter expression on her face. “You had two hours! You just had to spare two hours of work for tomorrow night’s party! I had to do everything on my own! Not to mention planning the wedding!” his mother shouted.

 

Junho gritted his teeth. If he were still a teenager, he would’ve shouted back with all the power his voice had. But once you were at this stage in life, he understood that it would just make matters worse. “I’m sorry mother.” He lied.

 

Junho wasn’t sorry for what he did. He was never sorry for anything he did. “The one thing women always want is an apology” he remembered his grandfather saying. “Once you give them their apology, something inside of them will just click, and you’ll have one less thing to worry about.” Junho stood by that rule ever since his grandfather said that.

 

“I will try harder next time.” Junho replied. His mother sighed in frustration as she rubbed her temples. “Okay.” She said back to her son. “I’ll let you go this one time.” Mrs. Lee said as she exhaled aloud. Junho turned back around and took of his coat.

 

“Junho if you had spared those two hours, she might have still been awake.” His mother started all of a sudden. Junho was puzzled at his mother’s statement but didn’t turn around, in hope that his mother sensed that he wanted to be alone at the moment.

 

“… I want to give you something.” His mother whispered as he walked over to him. She reached out for his hand, and slipped a small piece of paper into it. “Get to know her better, after all, in a month she’ll be your wife.” Mrs. Lee said as she winked at her son and left the room.

 

Junho confused, looked down at the item his mother handed to him, he flipped the piece of paper around and noticed a phone number written on it. Below the digits, there was a small note.

 

Surprise her by sending at least a message.

 

Junho in astonishment at what his mother was suggesting, loosened his tie and let out a breath. Was his mother this desperate? I mean, looking at it from his perspective, it wasn’t so bad. Annoying the crap out of Soeun was turning into a hobby.  On the other hand, he didn’t want to seem to ecstatic about the marriage and go ahead and text her. Yet despite the worry, for once, he was going following what his mother suggested.

 

I mean, it wouldn’t hurt anyone… would it? He searched his pockets for his phone and smirked.

 

“Let’s see if you’re still awake… Kim Soeun.”

 

A/N: AND I'VE UPDATED! 

Mygod. I haven't updated in over 2 months! I am so sorry and I am so thankful for all your patience! I don't even know what to say, honestly though... THANK YOU SO MUCH. 

Good news! I'll now be able to update much frequently, maybe once a week? Does that seem good? Anyway, I'd just like to wish you all a great holiday and look forward to the upcoming year! May the year to come bless us all ~

THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN FOR ALL YOUR PATIENCE!