A/N: I had to wait until the laptop is free then i can upload this. neways, hope you guys enjoy this. Something sweet is brewing (some of you might like it) and our three leads are hurting :-(. Hope it's not too boring. Enjoy :-)
 

Chapter 29: You’re Drunk Enough

“Boys Before Flowers,” HeeChul snickered.

I winced. No wonder that scene felt familiar. It was from a f.cking teenage drama.

I looked at the crowd and my gaze was met with angry stares from the girls, most of them were from SeungHyun’s school. The magician on stage was confused by the whole revelation and he was scratching his head, just looking at the three of us. Among them, I saw the b.tches’ crew staring at us. HyeYeon had a mortified look on her face as gaped open. I ignored her but I knew she would create some trouble for me later due to this.

I scanned among the crowds to search for DaeSung and I saw his back walking away, disappearing among the booths and rides. Out of nowhere, I saw ChaeKyoung held his arm, trying to stop him, but he gave her a careless wave and hastily walked away. ChaeKyoung gaped after him but didn’t follow after him. Since when did they become friends I wonder?

Just about then, I saw the beastly figure of Mrs. Choi heading our way.
“CHOI SEUNGHYUN!!” she barked as she marched over like a soldier, her face in a combination of red and purple. I think she was about to strangle her own son.

“Umma?” I heard SeungHyun said timidly, blinking his eyes at his own mother. “F.ck, I forgot that she’s gonna here!” he muttered under his breath.
“You’re dead, man,” HeeChul said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

I couldn’t take it anymore. I needed to find DaeSung and explained all this craziness to him. The way that he was looking at me kept haunting me, like he was accusing me of something. This was definitely not my fault; it wasn’t me who inserted thoughts into SeungHyun’s thick head.

“Wow, how romantic. We have a new couple in the school,” the magician on stage said into the microphone, “Sorry ladies, our kingka is taken.” I gave the magician a death glare and the magician blinked. “Or not,” he added.

“I’m not his girlfriend!!” I shouted, “He’s crazy!” I punched SeungHyun in the stomach and ran away through the crowds.

“Yah, Lee ChaeRin!” I heard SeungHyun calling after me but I didn’t care. I kept on running. I brushed against Mrs. Choi along the way but I didn’t care to stop; I kept on running.
I needed to find DaeSung.

The crowds were muttering among themselves, probably confused about all the commotion going on.
 

“So are they, or are they not a couple?”
“I think the girl is crazy.”
“How dare she say that Oppa is crazy? What a b.tch!”
“Oppa is so romantic. I’m in love.”

I saw ChaeKyoung standing by a booth and ran towards her. “Where is he? Where is DaeSung?” I asked frantically.

“I don’t know. He said he needed time to think,” ChaeKyoung answered and when I had started my run again she called, “ChaeRin!” I turned to look. “He went that way!” she shouted and pointed towards the direction of the scary house.

“Thanks!” I called back and began to sprint at the fullest speed, my mind filled with thoughts regarding what I wanted to say to DaeSung. I was being jeered by the people that I had bumped into along the way but I kept on going.

Before DaeSung had any weird ideas going on inside his head, I had to find him and clear things up.

I will tell him that I didn’t have anything to do with that.
I will tell him that I missed him.
I will tell him that I might love him.
I will tell him….

I stopped dead on my tracks when I saw them together; DaeSung and GwiSoon. They were hugging each other tightly, with GwiSoon rubbing his back in a circular motion.

I didn’t expect to see this scene.
Do you know the sound of a heart breaking? Well, I think I had heard mine broke into a million pieces, like shattered glasses. I felt the pain and heaviness inside my chest as I witnessed them. I didn’t even realize that tears had already started to flow heavily from my eyes.

I ran away.
I needed to get away.
My vision was blurred by hot tears but I kept on running. 
I think I heard someone calling after me but I still kept on running.

I didn’t about care the curious looks that people casted on me as I ran, the whispering, and the pointing.
I ran without a direction.
All I knew was that I needed to get out of the school.

My mind kept replaying the image of them hugging each other and the tears flowed even heavier.
I was wrong; DaeSung didn’t even care about me being with SeungHyun. He already had GwiSoon in his life. I was just a friend to him.

And it hurts, so freaking bad.

***

I kept on running that I didn’t even realize that I had already arrived in front of the gate to my house. I wiped the tears from my eyes before I went in so that Umma wouldn’t find out that I was crying my eyes out.

“I’m home,” I shouted shakily as I walked through the living room towards the staircase. Umma and Appa were sitting on the couch, watching a Friday night drama on the television. I stopped to observe them. Appa had landed his head on Umma’s shoulder and he was twirling her hair with his index finger while Umma had on her typical straight face as she took a potato chip from the bowl on her lap and shoved it to Appa’s mouth.

Come to think of it, I think my parents were actually lovey-dovey in their own way. They fought all the time with Appa usually losing but they were actually happy together.

I sighed heartily. I wished I had that kind of love in my life.

“You’re home?” Appa turned to look at me, smiling widely.
“How was the charity event?” Umma asked, not even looking at me.

“It was fun,” I faked my most enthusiastic voice. “I-I’m going up,” I said and hastily went up the stairs. I couldn’t keep the tears any longer and if I had stayed to answer to their queries, I think I might cry in front of them. I don’t think I was able to fake a smile anymore.

“ChaeRin?” I heard Umma called after me but I kept on going until I reached my bed and plopped myself on it. I hugged my teddy bear and bawled my eyes out, trying to cry as quietly as possible. I didn’t want my parents to find out.

But I think Umma noticed something was amiss because she came knocking on my door a few minutes later.

“ChaeRin? Open the door. Are you okay?” she asked. I might be imagining things but I think she sounded concerned.

“I’m fine, Umma,” I called back, trying to contain the sobs. I hope she didn’t hear me.

But, just like they say, mothers know best. I think my Umma, even though she’s one scary lady and Hitler-like, still had a mother’s heart. She came in anyway and sat at the edge of my bed, putting a hand on my back. 

I was still sobbing like crazy, with my face stuffed into the teddy bear.

“ChaeRin, what’s wrong? What happened at the charity event?” Umma said softly, rubbing my back in a circular motion.

Her soft voice was like tugging at my heart strings and I found myself sobbing even harder.

Umma pat my hair gently, trying to console me. “Are you hurt?” she asked, her voice oozing with concern.

I sniffled. “Umma, it hurts. My heart hurts,” I said, hugging the teddy bear close to my face. Umma kept quiet as if waiting for me to continue. “I like this boy and he was so good to me.”

“But?” Umma asked.

“He doesn’t like me. He’s with another girl and she’s so pretty, Umma. Am I really that ugly? Is it why he doesn’t like me? But he’s no Mr. Universe either,” I said between sniffles.

“Love is a complicated thing,” Umma said and sighed. “ChaeRin, sometimes, when you love somebody, you have to let him go so that he can be happy.”

“Even though it hurts this much?” I asked.

“Yes,” Umma said. “You have to let him go if he’ happy with that girl. If you really care for him, you’ll care enough to do anything so that he can be happy, even though it’s killing you in the process. It’s what love is all about.”

Yes, I might love DaeSung.
Yes, I really care for DaeSung.
Yes, he looks really happy being with GwiSoon.
Do I have to let him go?
Do I have to let my feelings die?

“I guess you’re right,” I sobbed, “I have to let him go.” The tears started to fall again when I thought about my broken heart and I hugged my teddy bear even tighter. “But Umma, it really hurts.”

“I know, ChaeRin,” Umma said quietly. “Just let it all out.”

She was basically turning on the faucet to my tears when she said that. I was crying so hard, I think I might not have any tears left after that.

Umma my hair gently. It was then that I heard her voice saying softly, as if to herself. “My ChaeRin has already grown up.”

I think I cried myself to sleep that night. I didn’t know for how long Umma had stayed with me. But that was the night that I realized that even though my Umma wasn’t the typical sweet and loving Korean mothers that we always see on TV, she was still my mother nonetheless and she did love me although her actions sometimes may speak otherwise. Maybe she only treated me bad through all these times because she could never let go of the fact that I once made a boy, SeungHyun, changed school.

****

I learned that time is the best healer for a broken heart. I needed time for myself to think and to mend my heartache so I spent the weekends with Umma, just lazing at home and helping her with housework.

Umma didn’t say anything weird and she kept asking me to do all sort of things. I think she was just trying to make me busy to keep my mind off things. JiMin came on Sunday with his mother because according to her, he wanted to show off his latest Doraemon toys to me. He kept on asking about his “DaeSung hyung” that at one point, I almost strangle him to death. 
Almost.

Yes, I hated kids, especially the annoying ones like JiMin who doesn’t even know when to shut his mouth.

For two days, I didn’t care to answer the phone. Whenever YeJin called, I would fake being busy. I knew YeJin knew that something was wrong with me but since she is my best friend, she knew when to back off and let me confide to her on my own.

On Sunday night, I had finally felt that I was ready to chat with YeJin when she called. I found out that she still hated Lee MinHo after the event. Apparently, he was sure that she loved him already. 

“What about EunHyuk?” I had asked her, “I thought you guys are dating?”
“Dating?” YeJin scoffed, mortified, “I just went out with him once to give him a chance and to ask him for something. Nothing more. And besides, he has already moved on. Apparently, he doesn’t like me anymore.”
“What? So fast? What happened to you being his matter of life or death? He begged me to woo you,” I said. This EunHyuk is totally confusing. How can he like one girl after another in such a short amount of time? I thought he really liked YeJin.

Thus, her story about that night begins.

“You shouldn’t have left so early that night. If not, you’d have witness the whole thing. Apparently, Mrs. Choi went