The End
Behind That Bright Smile [Sequel to Behind the Thick-Framed Glasses]
✻ chapter nineteen:
the end yes it is
eun mi's pov
"He's come back to Korea."
A silence fell upon our conversation as I tried to believe what he had said. Mr. Choi repeated the sentence again. "He's back to finish things once and for all."
"What... what do you mean by 'once and for all'?" I asked, unsure of the answer.
"His unfinished business," Mr. Choi explained slowly, "is of course you. He's come back to do something and then leave you alone for good."
"He already said he'd leave me alone." I told him. "There's no reason for him to see me."
Zelo's father sighed and walked over to the window. "Whatever you decide to do, be careful. He could hurt you again."
I eyed him skeptically, taking in the words. "Why are you so concerned for me? Are you doing this as a favor for my mother?"
He didn't reply, causing me to sigh and assume it was a 'yes'. "I know he won't do anything else. He'll feel too guilty."
There was another silence before Mr. Choi finally spoke. "Will you tell him who you are? That you're his daughter?"
I shook my head, surprising the other. "I've thought about it and I think it's best if I don't. He probably had his reasons and didn't mean to leave my mother like that. And even if he did, what can I do? Revenge won't solve anything and I don't want to cause him anymore trouble. I just want to cut all ties from him completely."
Mr. Choi nodded his head approvingly, hands in his pockets and tapping his foot. "You're just like your mother. Always so reasonable and thinking everyone has good intentions."
Talking with adults had never been my strong point and I felt as though my first impression wasn't very good. Not really knowing what to say, I thanked him and bowed. "Thank you for telling me this. I will be going now."
He nodded and turned back to the window as I exited the room, deep in thought.
And here I am, walking back to my apartment, still deep in thought. All this thinking was hurting my poor brain.
I reached my apartment again and saw a black car parked in front of my apartment building. I walked over to it, curious.
As I approached the mysterious vehicle, the front door opened and a tall man stepped out. He straightened his fancy gray business suit and I froze when he looked up, right at me.
"Mr. Seo?" I breathed. If I recalled correctly, he doesn't know that I'm his daughter.
His eyes narrowed when he saw me, but then relaxed. "Eun Mi."
So he really was here. What was he going to say to me? What was he going to do? What was he going to request this time?
Mr. Seo- I mean father reached inside of his suit jacket and pulled out two sleek white envelopes, surprising me. "This is for you."
Letters? This was the reason why he had to come all the way from a different continent? To personally hand-deliver something to me?
I looked up at his outstretched hand and back to his face. I could clearly see the wrinkles on his forehead, most likely caused by stress, and the dark circles under his eyes. For a moment, he didn't seem like the scary businessman that despised me. He looked like someone who was tried, gentle, and well... he looked like a hard-working man.
"That boy... what was his name? Junhyung? Junyoung?" He spoke and fidgeted awkwardly. I've never seen him like this before; he was always so calm and collected and cold.
"Joon Hong." I corrected him softly. "His name is Joon Hong."
I don't know if he heard me, but he continued talking. "These were in those files he took. I guess they belong to you, so..."
I nodded and reached out to take the envelopes from him. I ran my fingers along the edges of one of them, admiring the Park Eun Mi written on the front. I could tell that it was never opened before.
Father cleared his throat, catching my attention again. "I'll be going now." He turned around and I immediately spoke up once his fingers wrapped around the handle of the car door.
"Thank you."
He froze, stopping in his tracks, but didn't look back. He was probably confused on why I was thanking him; he was the one who caused me all this trouble, he was the one who supposedly made me 'suffer'. Not knowing the reason why myself, I just repeated the words again. "Thank you."
I could tell he was choosing to pretend to ignore what I had just said. Father blinked before opening the door, stepping inside, and starting the engine. He drove off without another glance at me and I stared back as he retreated off into the distance, disappearing behind the next corner.
I felt empty, somewhat unsatisfied. What had I been expecting? It wasn't like he was going to come out and apologize, saying that he was sorry for all that he had done and promise he won't bother me anymore.
Finishing his unfinished business, eh? Maybe this is way of saying goodbye, his way of telling me he wouldn't come into my life again.
If it's like that, I guess I can live with that.
Sighing deeply, I stared at the envelopes in my hand. One was for me and the other one had Choi Jun Hong on it. Wondering who would write letters to us, I opened the one adressed to me and set Zelo's down.
The letter contained very familiar handwriting; small, neat, words slightly slanting to the right that were accented with hearts. My throat grew tighter as my eyes scanned the paper, reading its contents.
Dear Eun Mi,
If you're reading this, then that probably means you've gone through a lot lately. I hope you're okay. You always act as though everything is fine, but it's obviously not. Can't you try and think of yourself for once?
I'm writing this just in case I'm selfish enough to not tell you the truth. You know you mean a lot to me and that I love you like a sister, which makes sense since you are my sister.
Yes, I knew from the very beginning but I just couldn't bring myself to tell you. What if father found out? Think of what could've happened if you knew.
It made me really sad and hopeless when I realized I couldn't really do anything to help you. I'm sorry about your mother, but for my sake, as your blood-related sister, could you please forgive father?
I know I'm in no position to request something so ridiculous from you, but he's a good man, really. The only reason he married into my family was because he needed money to nurse his sick mother. My grandparents owned a big company and it was probably the easiest way. He was being reckless at that time, but only because he cared for his mother so much.
I wonder how much time will pass before you read this letter. What year is it? Are we in college as of right now? Are we young adults now? Are we married? Do we have kids? Or are we still in high school? I hope not, because then you're reading this too soon. Such a bad child you are, Eun Mi. Tsk tsk tsk.
Have you met anyone by the name of Jun Hong? He's a nice young boy that I haven't told you about. I think you'll be great friends with him... just keep all your cherry tomatoes hidden carefully and you'll be fine.
Are you studying hard? Of course you are; you'll probably never ever get rid of your nerdy habits. Such a goody-two-shoes, you are. Then again, who am I to say that? I am too.
Has anyone fallen for you yet? I'm sure you'll get a boyfriend soon. You just have to get rid of those humongous glasses you always wear. I hope you've done that already... but now that I think about it, you look pretty cute and innocent in them. It's the first thing someone would think of when they hear your name.
I'm trying my best not to make this letter awkward, as you can see. I really hope you're doing okay, whatever it is that you're doing right now. I'm still by your side, supporting you, right? I did promise you, so I'll kill myself if I'm not... I can be an idiot sometimes, you know that. I beg you to forgive my future self!
I love you a lot, Eun Mi. Never forget that.
Your Sister,
Seohyun
I clamped a hand over my mouth as a wet spot appeared on the thin piece of paper, smudging the Your Sister at the bottom. I blinked rapidly and another tear fell down my cheek.
"You idiot," I smiled to myself, sniffling. To answer your questions, no. We're not married and we don't have kids yet. I'm still in high school and I'm still studying like the nerd I am. I did get a boyfriend, his name is L.Joe. Yes, I have met Jun Hong, and yes we're great friends. Yes, you did break your promise, but of course I forgive you. And I'll forgive father too, if it's for you.
And yes, I love you too, unnie.
Carefully folding the precious letter and tucking it back into its envelope, my watery eyes landed on the other envelope father had given to me. Of course I wasn't going to read her letter to Zelo; what's between them stays between them. I wasn't going to invade their privacy.
The smile on my face grew bigger as I dried my eyes. Picking up both envelopes, I began to run in the direction of the owner of the other letter.
-- ♥ --
"Zelo!" I cried as soon as I stepped foot into the cafeteria. Thank heavens, lunchtime had just started and my eyes darted around to look for the young boy. Once I spotted him with the Teen Top and B.A.P. members at our usual table I ran over, clutching the letter in my left hand. "Zelo!"
Niel was the first to see me as I approached them. "Eun Mi! How many times have you skipped school this week?" He joked.
I shrugged in response and squished in between the two youngest rappers of both groups. L.Joe immediately asked me questions regarding where I was and I smiled. "Where were you? Did something happen again?"
"Yes, something did happen, but I'm alright." I reassured him. "Everything's fine." Turning over to Zelo, I tapped his arm and held out the envelope with his name on it. "Zelo, this is for you."
"Me?" He eyed the piece of paper curiously. "Who is it from?"
"It's from her." I replied softly, slipping it into his palm. "Read it later, okay?"
His eyes widened at my words but he nodded, staring at the envelope. Youngjae nudged his arm, asking what it was, but he just shook his had and put it away, ignoring his hyung's questions.
The words I had told L.Joe earlier echoed in my mind as I stared at everyone talking and eating in front of me.
"Everything's fine."
Yes, everything is fine. No more bad guys to deal with, no more secrets to learn, and no more breaking into large company buildings and getting away with it. I'm pretty sure Mr. Choi won't do anything and Mr. Seo- ahem, father will leave all of us alone. Our lives could now return back to normal no not really. It was all over. All of it.
Stupid life, I hate you for throwing a bunch of crap at me to endure. I also thank you because if you hadn't, I probably would still be that shy, introverted, clueless nerd I was a long time ago. I wouldn't have been able to meet so many great people. So, thank you for that, life. I guess you aren't all that bad.
"Why are you thinking so hard?" L.Joe asked me, popping me out of the conversation I was having with myself. "Are you thinking about me?"
"Pfft, yeah right." I retorted, sticking my tongue out. "You wish."
"Yes, I do wish." He ruffled my hair, causing me to whine. "It would only be right, since I think about you all the time."
"Ugh, you're so cheesy." I pretended to wrinkle my nose in disgust. "It's like I've been slapped over the head with a slab of cheese."
"You know you like it." He teased.
I was going to say something back but Zelo cut me off. "Umma, they're being all mushy-mushy lovey-dovey again!" He wailed, hitting Himchan's arm. "Can't you make them stop?"
"I am not your umma!" Himchan said crossly, clearly annoyed.
"If you're the mom," Chunji asked jokingly, "then who's the dad?"
Himchan sent him a glare to shut him up (you know, those glares every mom gives you when you don't listen to them) but Zelo pointed at Yongguk anyways. We all laughed at his reaction and the maknae prepared to run for his life.
-- ♥ --
Two days later, Zelo moved back in with me ("I was planning to move back in once all the business commotion died down anyways," he had said). He was allowed to buy the bunnies from the pet shop so now there was a bunny cage right next to the new bed we also decided to get.
The boys were still friendly rivals and continued practicing, rehearsing, and performing. They competed with each other in everything and bickered about the most smallest things, but that was what made the two groups click.
People slowly began to accept the fact I was dating L.Joe and close friends with Zelo. Of course, some fans still protested, not wanting to believe it, but there were very few. It was nice to finally be able to do things regular couples do without being chased or whatever.
Most importantly, Mr. Seo never came back to drag us into more problems again and Seohyun continued to watch over me... or us, I guess.
Yep. Everything was just perfect.
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✻ author's note the dorky me
Yes, this is the last chapter. Yes, it has not been edited. Yes, I ran out of ideas. Yes, I know it really . Yes, there will be a bonus chapter. Yes, I shall run away and hide before you murder me. Yes, I know this sequel is too short compared to the world the prequel but whatever. Yes, yes, yes, and ye- no .______. derp
This is the last chapter in celebration of the birthday of my first ever friend here on aff; Jessica, or better known as kpopforeverr! Happy Birthday! I hope you're satisfied with this update, OTL everyone go spam her wall now!!
~Ljjang창조♪
05.16.13 - Did anyone not notice the paradox I just made? What a big fail I am...
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