“Hey I was at work, why did you call me suddenly?” Hyekyeong was still catching her breath the moment she entered Hwejin’s office. “You sounded like it’s something urgent. What happened?” She asked.

“I hate him! Ugh!” Hwejin immediately face palmed and slammed her table afterwards. Her friend got a shock but was able to recover quickly. “His popularity all went up to his head! He is such a… ugh!!” She slammed the table again.

“Hey, hey, hey, calm down.” Hyekyeong said. “Can you tell me what happened? Please? And lastly, can you talk without shouting or anything? My gosh, ever since you became a director, you really practiced shouting very well.” Her friend expressed.

“That ~”

“Please. Breathe. Breath, Son Hwe Jin, breathe ~” She said and did the inhale-exhale action, hoping for Hwejin to follow what she was doing. “Relax, girl~ Relax.” She lured her.

“He just told me I should be grateful of him when he decided to leave me.” She said after calming herself down. “That was the most absurd statement I ever heard. He’s so full of himself now. I can’t believe I was talking to Lee Jinki just a while ago.” Hwejin uttered.

“It must be Onew from SHINee then.” She said and shrugged her head. Hwejin looked at her and she leaned forward. “You know, my dear friend, Lee Jinki, your ex boyfriend, is different from Onew, SHINee’s leader. Plus, it’s been 5 years since you last saw each other. Of course there are ch-“ She stopped when she suddenly noticed something. “Omo, Hwejin-ah… are you crying?” She held her friend’s hand.

Hwejin then immediately wiped the tears on her face. She bitted her lower lip.

“He has no idea how hard it was for me right after he left me.” She started and allowed tears to flow. No matter how hard she tried to wipe them, they just kept on falling and she couldn’t do anything about it.

Her friend just looked at her, waiting for her to say all that she wanted to express.

“Was he there after the break up? Was he able to witness how I thought my world was scattering upon when he left me? If he thought the break up made our life easier then he’s definitely wrong…” She started sobbing. “I-I chose to leave and go somewhere really far just to get him out of my sight. He didn’t know how hard it was for me to get over him, and now he’s saying I should be thankful. He’s talking as if what he did before was the most intelligent thing he did in his life.” She said bitterly.

“But you allowed it. You allowed him to leave you, right? He told you it might not be easy for the both of you and you quickly agreed on ending your relationship. If you know you can’t do it then you should’ve said no and fight for it in the first place.” She said as she looked really sorry towards her friend.

“He was so into making me believe he was doing that just for me.” Her tears fall again. “And I thought I can’t get over him quickly. I was young back then. I thought it was just a simple heartbreak.”

Hyekyeong held her friend’s hand and pressed it tightly, “Tell me honestly… do you still have any feelings for oppa?” She asked.

She shook her head and wiped another tear that fell. “I don’t know… I don’t know about my feelings anymore… I thought it would be alright to see him, but now… now that I’ve had the chance to talk to him personally… I realized the pain really never got away… and 5 years seem like just a minute later. The wound is still fresh, bleeding, and all swollen.”

Hyekyeong felt sad as she saw her friend in her most gloomy and sad expression. Her eyes were reddish and the trace of her tears can be seen on her cheeks as it sparkles, and those few droplets of painful tears that reached her lips that were bitterly smiling.

“You don’t have to do this anymore if you know you can’t.” She suggested. “Why not just go back to America and do your work there?”

“Aniya.” She disagreed. “I need to stay here, not just for the contract, but also for me. If he succeeded on showing me he could live without me, then I could also show him how happy I’ve got right when he left me. He has been thinking that what he did made both of us live our lives better. I should satisfy his belief, right? He should see I really live my life well now that he’s not with me anymore.”

“What if you realize you still love him? You can’t get easily walk away with emotions, Hwejin.”

“Growing up maturely, this girl over here already learned how to control her emotions.” She said with a little proud tone on her voice.

“Araso~” Hyekyeong nodded and smiled as she felt a little bit relieved that she’s slowly calming herself more, but on the back of her mind, she knows staying here will be one of the most difficult and dangerous decision Hwejin made.

Just from the looks of her, she knows her friend isn’t fully recovered over the heartbreak yet. It’s been 5 years but what can she do? She witnessed how both of them ever loved each other before. She saw how happy the two were when they were still together. She knew how their smiles can only be seen when they’re together, and these two can’t smile like that towards other people.

And it’s difficult… to see the person you once had and you know you still love him. Hyekyeong knew this situation won’t only be difficult for Hwejin. She knows the same goes for Onew, probably even more difficult. Onew needs to prove Hwejin he made the right choice of leaving her. He needs to make her see how he’s not regretful of doing that.

//Wanna know how perfect their relationship WAS before?? Next chappie will be that. :)) Let me give you that after such while.