Jieun’s POV

Yongguk and I headed down to the kitchen after our little episode in the office. I honestly didn’t expect him to hug me, but after he did I was glad. It relieved my suspicions that anything had changed over the time I was gone. I’d never felt so welcomed and safe in anyone’s arms before. I didn’t even notice I was hungry until I heard Yongguk’s stomach grumble when my ears rested against his chest. 

When we reached the kitchen, Junior sprang up from his place where he was chopping up vegetables to greet Yongguk. It almost felt as if it had been a long time since Yongguk visited him, and I had a feeling that it was partly my fault. 

“Welcome back, Jieun-sshi,” Junior smiled brightly at the two of us, and I thanked him. He then glanced over in Yongguk’s direction and raised his eyebrows suspiciously, and I couldn’t deduce why. My eyes darted over to Yongguk as well, and only after seeing his flushed red face did I realize we had held hands the entire way here. Feeling flustered, I retracted my hand quickly back to my side and nervously looked away from the two of them. My cheeks were warming up, and suddenly I wished I had a large cap or sunglasses to hide my embarrassment. I heard them chuckle under their breaths, and I refused to look back until Junior asked a question,

“What do you want for dinner?” He was directing it to the two of us, and simultaneously to my surprise we both replied with ‘pasta’. Junior knew how to cook it just the way we liked it, and ushered us to a table in the dining lounge to wait. 

“How was Australia?” Yongguk waited this long to finally ask. Everything just fell naturally back in place the moment I came back that I had almost forgotten I was ever gone. I never really thought about whether I enjoyed going to Australia or not, it was just a short escape, and something that had to be done. Yongguk caught my mind going off in a daze and decided to rephrase,

“Did you have fun?” 

“Fun probably isn’t the best way to put it...” My voice trailed as I remembered the many meetings I had to attend during rush hours and the stress from constantly being juxtaposed next to my more favoured relatives. My hotel chain is largely a family-run company, though many of the casual workers don’t look into it. The tyrant that is my father sits at the very top of it all, overseeing us as if he lurked within our shadows. I had to admit that I was disillusioned with the possibility of having fun while I was there, but there was still my other motive--running away from Daehyun. 

“Business meetings all day long is probably one of the furthest definitions of fun.” I joked, receiving a low chuckle of amusement from Yongguk. I still hadn’t asked him what he thought of the airplane accident. 

“What did you think...” I stopped, looking for the right words to use, but to no avail, “About that day?” We both knew which day I meant. His expression grew darker and he paused, probably to recollect his thoughts. 

“I thought you had died...” His shoulders stiffened as the words slipped off his tongue, and his hands which once rested gently on the table clenched into a tight fist. I had assumed so, but the crushing feeling of hearing it for myself was something I couldn’t brace myself for. 

“Some days I knew there was no way you were gone, and some days I just couldn’t fight against the possibility. Most days though, I tried to bury the thought away--”

“With work?” I was trying to piece things together in my mind. He nodded. It explained why he had become such a diligent worker now. I fell silent in thought again and he continued,

“When you came back today, I was shocked. I always hoped one day it would happen like that, that you would just walk into the office and everything would be normal again, but it all seemed like nothing more than wishful thinking. When I saw you standing there, the exact same as when I last saw you, I didn’t know if it was real.” As he spoke each sentence, his shoulders subtly quivered and his voice trembled. We couldn’t make eye contact; he couldn’t bear to look at me, so instead he stared hard into the dark, wooden surface of the table. 

I disliked seeing Yongguk in such a weak state, feeling like I was helpless to make things better for him. At times like this he reminded me of a young kid who had thought his mom had died. His tough guy persona just couldn’t hold up. I found my hands reaching up over the table towards his trembling fists, brushing his hands together as his head hung low below his shoulders. I the back of his hands until the balls of his fists loosened, and then I flattened out his hands so that his palms touched. In a way, it looked as if he was praying. 

“I’m sorry I caused you to worry like this.” It was an apology I felt I had held off for too long, long enough that I was scared the impact of it wouldn’t suffice to coax him. His quivering shoulders stopped, but his face stayed hidden from my view. If there wasn’t a table obstructing us I probably would’ve wrapped him in a hug without a second thought. 

“We’re together now. It won’t happen again.” I felt like I owed this promise to him. Though his head was still arched down, he nodded and sighed. Though he couldn’t see it, I tried to give him my most reassuring smile. I didn’t think I deserved the grief he suffered for me. I didn’t think I was worth so much of his worry. I never want to take his kindness for granted. 

“Sorry, am I interrupting a moment here?” Junior’s voice gave Yongguk the push he needed to regain his composure. 

“The food was done a few minutes ago but I thought I should have waited...” He held the two plates in his hands and confessed. 

“It’s no problem, thank you Junior.” I smiled and he placed the plates down in front of us like a professional waiter would. He then bowed and returned to the kitchen in a rushed scurry. The pasta had already taken the time to cool down and it was the perfect temperature to eat now. It was a fairly late dinner, but I was more than happy to be sharing this time with Yongguk. We had a lot to make up for the time I was gone.

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I stayed in my office later than usual to catch up on the reports Yongguk had neatly written for me during his time as manager. He even recorded the little details most people would usually overlook, and though it took me longer to finish reading, I felt like it was more of a storybook to fill me in on things I missed than a duty. It turned out that the flickering light in the lobby corner was fixed with money straight from Yongguk’s pocket. He hadn’t told me specifically, but there was no deduction in the budget for any maintenance work and the head of reception had told me that Yongguk was completely overseeing the project. I would repay him anonymously in his next pay cheque. 

Yongguk fell asleep in a chair with his head resting on my desk. From my perspective it looked like quite an uncomfortable position, so I borrowed a couch cushion from the lobby and slid it slowly under his head. He didn’t snore, but his breathing was heavy and paced, and his mouth hung slightly open. He really did remind me of a young boy, who was forced to grow up too quickly. It never occurred to me how little we spoke about him and his past, but I didn’t want to seem nosy. Perhaps it was that simple, and he just never told me about it because I never asked. The way he was when his guard was down resonated a young soul who had been hurt many times growing up. I wished that I could make it so he wouldn’t hurt again. After positioning the pillow, I left again to grab a clean blanket from the laundry room and draped it over his shoulders. He shifted slightly when I did, but when he found a comfortable spot, his lips curved into a kiddy smile. 

I went back to my chair and wheeled it to the window. I wanted a break from reading, just to think about how much my life had taken a turn for the better since Yongguk walked in. Did he know just how bright of a light he was in my life? I placed the reports over a pile of paper clips on my desk and lost myself in a trance next to the window. I could only see the branches of trees wave back and forth, yet I imagined a gentle breeze blowing past my face. It was refreshing. Then, the sound of my cell phone vibrating under the papers startled me. Scared that the sound would wake Yongguk, I quickly shoved the papers aside and grabbed my phone, taking the call outside the office without bothering to look at the caller ID. 

“Yeoboseyo?” I answered, remembering that I didn’t know who was on the other line. There was a brief silence, amplified by the emptiness and darkness of the lobby. My back leaned against the closed office door as I waited for a response.

“Jieun,” His voice was frank, and within the two syllables he breathed, I regretted picking up. It was too late to hang up or find an excuse, so I waited.

“I’ll assume you resettled in Vancouver by now?” He inquired, though it was hard for me to tell whether it was rhetorical. I chose not to answer, knowing that he didn’t care for whatever my response was anyway. The only sound that passed through the speakers were my breathing. 

“The wedding is scheduled for next mon--”

“There will be no wedding.” I interrupted, trying to keep my voice as rational and calm as I could. I knew that the moment I broke down or lost it, I would have lost in the conversation completely. I was already expecting a call about this, though I never came up with a plan to evade it.

“The decision’s been made.” 

“This isn’t the Joseon Dynasty. This arranged marriage won’t end the way you want. If you insist on going through with it, I will make sure that it is the most painful and most regretted decision you’ll ever make.” I delivered my threat as convincing as possible but I still questioned whether I’d actually fooled my father.  The more he pushed forward with it, the more distant I wanted to be from my childhood best friend, and the unfairness of it fell more heavily on Daehyun’s shoulders than mine. 

“Next month.” He repeated, as if he hadn’t heard a word I’d just said. Out of anger and impulse I announced,

“I’m in love with someone else. I’m going to marry him instead. If you can’t accept that then you’re going to be absent at my wedding.” With that, I hung up. Our conversation had heated up more than I would have liked, and I prayed that my raised voice didn’t wake up Yongguk.

A/N: Sorry if the formatting of this chapter looks a little weird. I wrote it on my macbook instead of my vaio so it wasn't on a word doc. For those of you who miss reading about Daehyun, I assure you he'll be back very very soon ^^ Leave some comments below?