Everything that happened after the kiss felt like a dream to her. She vaguely remembered her mother shouting profanities, Luhan getting beaten by her father without fighting back, and her begging her parents on her knees to let Luhan go. She remembered her punishments, though: no club activities and grounded for the rest of her stay in Seoul, cell phone confiscated forever, and not going anywhere in radius 1 kilometer from Luhan.

Jinri had always felt guilty whenever she met Sehun but that Thursday morning she couldn’t bring herself to see him in the eyes at all. She felt ashamed because she realized that she had just cheated on him. She was still his girlfriend but she still let Luhan kissed her. She couldn’t believe how shameless she could be and thus she kept her distance from him. Soojung was aware of her avoidance act and cornered her for some explanation. As much as she wanted to, Jinri couldn’t spill it out to Soojung. Jinri didn’t have the guts to tell Soojung about the kiss since she was too embarrassed about her unfaithfulness. Therefore, Jinri ended up spending her last Thursday in Seoul miserably with Soojung giving her a cold shoulder as well.

As for how her relationship with Luhan, she was completely at lost. She had believed—for the last 6 month—that Luhan was gay and was deeply in love with Sehun. However, Luhan kissed her with all his emotions seeping through it. The kiss itself felt surreal to her; sometimes she wasn’t certain if it wasn’t only her imagination. However, when she noticed her missing cell phone, she was affirmed that they did kiss. However, she didn’t know what she should do about it either. She knew that he had kissed her but that was it. There was no explanation, no confession, nothing at all.

Luhan didn’t help her solve her problem like he had promised her, he made it worse.

In Jinri’s last day in Seoul, Soojung decided to overlook their little fight in the day before and gave Jinri a hand in packing her leftover stuffs. Jinri became even more grateful at Soojung since Soojung didn’t pry any further and acted as if their previous quarrel had never existed. However, when the day came to an end Jinri realized that the night would probably be the last night she could share with Soojung—Jinri was leaving the next day—so she mustered her courage to tell Soojung about her kiss with Luhan.

As Jinri had predicted, Soojung was rendered speechless at the revelation. The wavy haired teen eyes were widened and was slightly agape, showing how much shock the news gave her. However, Soojung quickly got her grip back and—much to Jinri’s surprise—offered Jinri to contact Luhan in Jinri’s behalf. Soojung firmly believed that Luhan owed Jinri a lot of explanation for his puzzling action. However, Jinri refused it.

Regardless of what Luhan might have to say, Jinri would still have to depart from the country on the next day. Therefore, Jinri felt that it would be better for her to not know what Luhan’s actual aim for his kiss was or whether he was actually romantically interested in her or not. If Luhan confessed that he loved Jinri then it would be much harder for her to leave Seoul. In the other hand, if he said otherwise—that the kiss was totally unintentional and he still had no feeling toward her—then she would suffer another heartbreak from the same guy for the nth time. Jinri wanted to cherish her last moments in Seoul to the fullest so it was clear that she would rather not be heartbroken again. Soojung smiled understandingly at Jinri’s explanation before engulfing the taller girl in a suffocating bear hug, letting Jinri knew that Soojung fully supported her for whatever her choice was.

After Soojung left her house nearing midnight, Jinri quickly headed to bed. She was exhausted: both her body and her mind. Jinri was already comfortably tucked in her bed when she heard a soft knock on her window. She was already too sleepy so she paid no heed on it, brushing it off as her imagination. However, the soft knock grew louder by the moments that she finally sat up—annoyed—and the side lamp. There weren’t many people who could reach her window in the second floor and knock on it so she had a clear idea about who was in her balcony. In the dimly lighted room she sluggishly walked to her window and opened her curtain. She was greeted by Sehun who was clad in white t-shirt, a pair of black sweatpants, and black jacket; his face was as expressionless as he usually was.

 “What do you want?” she barked sleepily as soon as she sled the window open. She wished to have a peaceful sleep to calm her mind so having a midnight visit from the boyfriend she had cheated on was definitely the last thing she had expected.

“Can we have a walk?” Sehun asked with hint of seriousness in his tone. Jinri couldn’t believe her ears. He wanted a walk in this kind of time?

“Sehun, I’m tired, it’s already really late, and I’m actually grounded.” She lazily leaned to the windowsill and purposely yawned to emphasize her point.

“But I need to talk to you privately.” His poker face was still on but the intensity of his gaze on her heightened. Jinri turned her face away from Sehun as guilt seeped back into her. She closed her eyes to avoid those pleading stares he gave her. “What’s wrong with talking right here right now, then? No one else is awake here except for us,” Jinri reasoned.

“I feel more at ease talking to you while walking. Come on, don’t be so difficult.” There was urgency in his voice, triggering Jinri to groan out of irritation. Sehun and his persistence were really something.

“What part of ‘I’m grounded’ that you don’t understand, Oh Sehun? I can’t go out; my parents will kill me. Besides, it’s almost midnight; it’s freezing.”

And I don’t want to be alone with you, not after I kissed Luhan behind your back.

“Oh you can come out, of course, Choi Jinri. We’ve done this a lot in the past, haven’t we?” A smirk decorated his face as he pointed the tree behind him with his thumb. Jinri had this urge to smack his face as she heard his clever retort. He was bringing up the past: Jinri had been grounded quite often for various reasons—her parents were really strict about her grades and her extracurricular activities—but that never really stopped her from hanging out with Sehun. Jinri’s room was on the second floor and a really huge tree was conveniently planted next to it; its branches luckily reached her balcony. When they were still in elementary school, Sehun would have climbed up the tree to pick her up but after they reached middle school Jinri would have always gone down on her own. Jinri felt her heart was slightly constricted when Sehun reminded her of their past. He was taking her back to the days when none of the drama had happened between them and they had simply been best friends. Oh, how much she missed those days. However, she kept quiet.

 “Come on, Jinri,” he finally pleaded, “I have something really important to tell you before you leave for Beijing tomorrow and I need to tell you now.”

“Then tell me right here right now, Sehun,” she deadpanned.

Sehun was silenced for a while—she knew that he was taking her suggestion into consideration—before he shook his head. “No, can’t do, sorry. Please, Jinri, take a walk with me. Just this one last time, okay?”

She sighed in defeat. She had lost count on how many times she had given in to Sehun’s pleadings—her dating him being one of it—but she still could never refuse him despite all the horrendous result. However, this was probably indeed be the last time because she would leave for Beijing on the next day.

“Fine. Wait a second, I’ll change first.”

Seoul at night was beautiful. That night, a full moon was hanging on the dark blue sky but no one really paid attention since the city was polluted with all the pretty lights that come out from houses, skyscrapers, and cars. Jinri and Sehun strided side by side silently on the quiet street near their house, lighted properly by the road lamps. Jinri had changed out of her pajama into a pair of jeans, yellow sweater, and a brown oversized jacket to overcome the coldness of the night. She glanced at Sehun a couple times but the said guy didn’t say anything, a contrast to his previous request he asked when he called her out. He seemed to be in deep thought, though. After a few moments, he finally broke the silence.

“Your Mom went to my house yesterday and I overheard that Luhan-hyung was fired and your parents planned to take him to court,” Sehun opened the conversation. She could felt the weight of Sehun’s strong stare on her but she ignored it and kept on looking forward. Seeing the lack of response from her, Sehun continued, “I heard your Mom said that he harassed you but I really doubt that he has it in him to do something like that. To you, of all people. What actually happened?”

Jinri didn’t have any chance to escape anymore; she had to tell Sehun about it. So she did, without looking back at him because she was too ashamed. “He—no—we kissed.”

Sehun was quiet for a while before he responded.

“I see.”

Jinri stole a quick peek at him and was surprised with what she saw. Instead of being angry—it was his girlfriend whom Luhan kissed—Sehun seemed to lukewarmly accept it, as if it was something as natural as breathing.

“Will Luhan-hyung really be taken to court?”

Jinri was really surprised with his question that she needed a couple seconds before she answered. “No. Apparently, the court need a lot of time and we need to be available for trials during that time. We will be out of the tomorrow so my parents chose to withdraw the case—it is too much of a hassle for them. I’m still prohibited from meeting him, though.”

Sehun nodded but she wasn’t sure if he was relieved or disappointed.

“You like him, right?”

He didn’t question her; he was confirming. Jinri eyed him incredulously. She knew that Sehun had always understood her too well but she didn’t want to believe that he probably had feigned his oblivion all this time. Knowing that he had purposely acted innocent and pulled her to him despite his knowledge of her actual feeling made her felt betrayed. She chose to answer truthfully since doing otherwise wouldn’t benefit anyone anymore.

“Yes. But he likes you, do you know that?”

Sehun let out an indignant chuckle.

“Of course. He did like me; I sort of heard him confessed his feeling about me to his friend last year. The craziest day of my life,” he shivered as he recalled the memory. He looked up to face the sky as a nostalgic smile formed on corner his thin lips. His unhesitant answer caught her by surprise. How come Sehun had never told her about that? All Jinri had ever heard about Luhan from Sehun was that Luhan was perfect, cool, good looking, and everything else Sehun wanted to be. Sehun had never mentioned about a possible deviation in Luhan’s ual orientation.

“You couldn’t imagine how I feel that day. I’ve always looked up to him as the perfect hyung I long for but he just had to admit that he had romantic interest in me. I avoided him for weeks—almost months,” he laughed acrimoniously but the smile never left his lips. It was ironic: how the bitterness was dripping boldly from his voice but fondness was subtly shone from his eyes. Jinri looked at him with clear concern painted on her pale face. It must have been really tough for Sehun to accept that side of Luhan.

“But Luhan-hyung is just too damn nice and I was already admiring him too deeply—I’m not in love with him, of course—so I couldn’t keep on refusing his apology. I accepted him again and we act as if nothing had happened,” Sehun spoke nostalgically and brought down his eyes to the road in front of him again.

“However, that is bull. It was never the same between us. I knew that he still somewhat like me and there was where everything started to go downhill.” Sehun paused for a while and cleared his throat. He his lower lip before he continued.

“I didn’t mean it at first but Luhan-hyung ended up complying with everything I ever asked him for, from simple things like center spot in performance and cleaning up my dirt at the dance school to expensive gifts. Do you remember that original watch I said to be a present from my parents? It wasn’t. Luhan-hyung gave me that. And many other things you wouldn’t have suspected.” Sehun smirked haughtily after he said it but his eyes were full of remorse. The awfully obvious contrast on his handsome face clenched her heart.

“I didn’t remember how it started but Tiffany-noona begun to warn me to stop using Luhan-hyung like that. In my defense, he did it voluntarily and I never directly asked him for anything. I told her that Luhan-hyung had too many money and time to waste but she warned me of karma. Which, I think I ended up getting now.” Sehun stopped walking and looked at her deeply, engraving her every detail in his memory. Jinri stared back at him and her heart ached at the sight of his sad longing smile. His hand slowly reached out to her arm but he retracted it before it landed on its destination. He crossed his arm in front of his chest and wrapped his coat tighter around him before he continued his stride.

“When I overheard your mom asking my mom’s opinion about private Mandarin teacher, I immediately thought of him. My other dance teacher, Zhoumi-hyung, told me that Luhan-hyung is good in Mandarin and has passion for teaching. Luhan-hyung didn’t agree right away when I asked him—he told me that programming was pretty tiring—but after a cup of tea he no longer refused. He is a natural sweetheart so I know that your parents would immediately trust him. That, however, is probably the biggest mistake I’ve ever made in my life. I have never thought that within your last six months in Seoul both Luhan-hyung and I would fall for you. I didn’t know that he could be interested in girls as well.”

Jinri halted her steps in shock.

Did Sehun just say that Luhan fell for her?

Sehun stopped when he realized that his companion was no longer walking by his side. He turned to her with knitted brows. Sehun was never expressive but the bafflement he had was pretty clear. ”You didn’t know? He likes you. It’s obvious, at least for me it is. Even if Luhan-hyung is an angel, it doesn't mean that he will care about anyone. Don't you ever feel that he... cares too much?” he asked her disbelievingly. Jinri was muted but her puzzled stare answered his question. He chuckled hollowly before he walked again, leaving her behind.

“We often talk about you, you know? It was natural; after he started teaching you, you became a common friend of us. But then, he started to get all excited whenever I mentioned you. He likes to ask more about you and he especially loves your cooking,” he laughed hollowly at the memory before continuing, “I brushed it off at first but my instinct knew that I’ve gotten myself a rival. However, I felt that although he became interested in you, he still liked me to some extent. Therefore, I knew that he would definitely back off for my sake if I made it clear to him that I like you. Which I did. He understood and tried to play matchmaker after it instead, which—albeit annoying—actually benefited me.” He slowed his steps when he heard Jinri’s footsteps were catching up to him, letting Jinri to be next to him again.

“Unfortunately, you like him. I have been with you for what, 17 years? And you just have to love someone else when I grow to like you. Very convenient,” Sehun muttered sarcastically. Feeling the acidity in his tone, Jinri bit her lip in worry.

“Sehun…”

Sehun raised his hand, harshly cutting her off. “I’m not finished yet.”

Jinri quieted down and waited for him to continue.

“I still tried, though. We have been together for so long, so why wouldn’t I be able to charm you? So I asked you out and made you agree to that. I was confident that I could win you from Luhan-hyung in the short amount of time, given our long friendship. However, you kept on rejecting me. And yesterday… I have never expected that Luhan-hyung will still steal you from me after I claimed you as mine. I don’t know that he has it in him to do that. That was when I realized that I have overestimated his feelings for me. I guess he has finally moved on from me.”

He stopped walking and faced Jinri with melancholy on his eyes. Jinri stared back at him blankly. She wasn’t really sure about what to do, what to think, or what to feel—Sehun’s revelation had confused her and shaken her to the core. She was angry at Sehun for taking advantage of Luhan and her but she was still sorry for him because she had also repeatedly broke Sehun’s heart. She was angry at Luhan for keeping her in the dark and acted confusingly around her—raising and breaking her hope at the same time. And foremost, she was angry at herself for being oblivious to the details that Sehun had just told her when she had claimed herself to be observant.

However, Sehun eyes suddenly crinkled in a forced eye smile—he probably learnt it from Luhan—before he hastily grabbed her cold hand into his warmer one.

“And that is why I take you here. Come on.”

He dragged her through a gate into a garden which Jinri remembered as the place where Sehun had confessed to her. The park was already really dark but he paid no heed and strode hurriedly. He pulled her to follow his quick pace as he headed to an occupied bench. A lone guy was seated on the said bench. Since they were coming from behind him, she could only see his thin back covered in grey thick jacket and his dirty blonde hair. However, Jinri knew who it was without seeing his face. Despite of her utmost effort to hold it, tears had begun to brim in her eyes. Her heart knew him.

TBC                                                 

AN:

So, what do you think about this chapter? Are you surprised?
Please do tell me about your opinion :)
Thank you so much for the comments. I think last chapter has the most comments out of all the chapters I have uploaded. T_T

Thank you to all the subscriber as well. I'm happy that we reached 55 subbies. I hope it'll grow more. >_<
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Dear you, thank you for reading the story and I hope you'll enjoy it.

With many-many thankful love,

himalayancat

Oh, btw, I have new stories:

The wrong love story (Seohyun, Chanyeol, Hyoyeon, Kai), check it out if you're interested :)