Sehun flashed Jongsuk a glare and stormed out of the event.

            “Sehun!” yelled out Minah. 

            She was about to follow him when a hand was placed on her shoulder, stopping her.  She turned around to see Mr. Oh, with pursed lips.  “Let him be.” he said. 

            Minah opened to say something, but stopped herself.  Whatever was going on was something that the Oh family did not want to talk about.  It seemed to be like a touchy topic since they had never said anything about Lee Jongsuk or how Sangchul left.

            Mr. Oh quickly turned to Jongsuk and gestured to him.  “This is Jongsuk, Secretary Lee’s son.  He had spent last year in America, at Harvard as an international student for a semester.  He is currently studying Business at Yonsei University.”

            Minah smiled.  “Hello.” she bowed.  Jongsuk politely bowed, in return.  “I’m Kim Minah.  I-”

            “The arranged fiancée.” nodded Jongsuk, with a grin.

            Minah didn’t know how to react.  “It’s really nice to meet you.” she said.

            “It’s nice to meet you too.” said Jongsuk, softly.  Everyone sat down at the table and the parents started to talk to each other, in a hush.

            Minah watched them, still worried about Sehun.  He could go back up to the ceiling.  Or, he could go anywhere.

            “It’s OK.” said Jongsuk, softly.  “Everything will be fine.”  Minah turns to look at him.  He quickly flashed another kind smile.  “Kim Minah.”  Unsure of what to do, she just nodded her head.  “I couldn’t find you on Kakao Talk…”

            “I shouldn’t be talking to you.” she replied.

            “Why?” asked Jongsuk, as he sipped a glass of apple juice.

            “Because I don’t want Sehun to be mad.” she replied.

            “He doesn’t need to know.” smirked Jongsuk.

            “I don’t think it’s right for me to do something like that, especially when he specifically told me not to talk to you.” she continued.

            “Do you think he feels the same for you?” whispers Jongsuk.

            “What?” asked Minah.

            Jongsuk blinked, slowly.  “I mean…  Do you think he cares for you as much as you care for him?” he rephrased.  “Is he as loyal as you hope he is?”

            Minah looked away from him.  “Does it matter?” she asked, in a whisper.  “All I am doing is repaying the Oh family back for all that they have done…  They had provided much comfort to the Kim family and-”

            “This is your way of paying back?” asked Jongsuk.  Minah didn’t respond.  Instead, she turned to look at him again.  He shook his head.  “This shouldn’t be your only way.”

            Minah stared, straight at the wall.  “It is.” she said.  She turned back to him.  “I’m sorry, but I must go.”

            “What?” asked Jongsuk, unsure of what was going on.

            She quickly stood up and turned towards Mr. and Mrs. Oh.  “Father and Mother, I’m going to go to Sehun.  He headed home, he just texted me.” she lied. 

            She knew that it was the only way to get them to let her go.  They smiled, softly, and agreed to let her go.   They would never let her go unless if they knew for sure that Sehun went home.  As soon as she stepped out of the party hall, she tried to call him.  No answer.  She, then, sent him a text and hopes that he will answer soon.

         Sehun stared at the 10 missed calls and 20 texts that he got from Minah.  He lets out a sigh, unsure of what to do.  Had Krystal ever tried calling him more than once he got mad like this?  Had she even bothered?  He doesn’t really remember at all… 

            Kim Minah is a good girl, thought Sehun, as he looked at the phone.

            Swallowing hard, Sehun picked up his phone and searched for a number.  He listened as it ringed on the other end.  After the first ring, the other person quickly picked up.

            “Sehun, where are you?” asked Minah.

            “Is that necessary?” he breathed.

            There was silence on the other end.  Sehun was about to say something when she finally replied.  “Why are you pushing me away?”

            “You don’t even know what happened….  What if I’m the one at fault instead?  And, is acting like a complete stubborn that isn’t willing to take responsibility for what I had done?”

            “Well, no one is perfect…  It’s just a matter of time before we learn to take responsibility for our actions.” replied Minah.

            Sehun let out a long breath.  “Do you really want to know?” he asked.  “It will be another side of Sangchul that you’d never known before…  I know that he must had pretended to be some-”

            “I don’t care anymore.” interrupted Minah.  “I don’t really care about him anymore because he’s someone that never really cared about me anyways.  He’s just being a good son…  Like you are.”

            Sehun stayed quiet, unsure of what to say.  It is true.  He was just being a good son by heeding to his parents’ wishes.  He had never decided on his own that he wanted Minah as his wife.  If anything, he’d much rather they be good friends…  Sure, they’ve had some heated kisses before…  Those kisses were simply loaded with lust and nothing more.  If his parents had let things go naturally then they would be great friends instead of arranged fiancé/fiancée and it will always remain like that.

            “Krystal, my ex-girlfriend, cheated on me with my brother, Sangchul.” explained Sehun, simply.  “No one knew until they ran away together months ago…  My parents and I can’t figure out where they are and the Jung family is up on our butts on a lawsuit if Krystal doesn’t return soon.  But, they’ve been quiet lately so that means that she must had contacted them…  They’re not opening their mouths about where those two are.  The only person that we suspect that knows is that Lee Jongsuk.  Sangchul and he are best friends and I’m sure he knows…  He just doesn’t want to tell us because he’s an like that.  He claimed that Sangchul hasn’t contacted him ever since he left with Krystal…  I think that that’s just bull.  He knows…  He’s got to.  The reason why I’m so mad is because he’s not opening his mouth.  I just want everything to go back to normal.  I just want Sangchul and Krystal to come back…”

            After a long silence, Minah finally said something.  “Will you tell me where you are right now?” she asked.

            He had stormed off into a part of Myeondong and was sitting on a bench.  Whether Minah will ever find him will be something because he wasn’t really sure where he was himself.  She did, to his amazement.  And, she brought some warm barley tea with her too. 

            “I’m sorry.” she said, after taking a sip of the tea.

            “For?” asked Sehun, as he looked over at her.

            “For being such a burden to you.” she replied, avoiding his gaze.  She quickly downed the drink and Sehun just stared before his brain could fully register it.  The tea was quite hot and he didn’t want her to burn her tongue and throat.

            “Yah!  What are you doing?!” he asked, alarmed. 

            He tried to pull the cup away from but she was already done.  She crushed the paper cup into a small ball and made a dunk into the trash can across from them.  No one was walking around anymore.  It was late and most of the shops were closed except for the 24 hour internet cafés around the area.

            “I’m sorry.” repeated Minah.   “For ruining you and your brother’s life…”  She paused for a moment.  “I wish I could disappear off the surface of this earth.”

            “Don’t say that!” said Sehun, almost regretting that he told her what had happened.

            She did need to know the truth…, he thought.  She couldn’t possibly be kept in the dark forever.

            There was a long silence and Sehun watched the girl sitting next to him.  He wondered what was going on in her head as she stared ahead of her.  Then, all the sudden, she turned to look at him.  Feeling embarrassed, he looked away and not wanting their eyes to make contact.

            “Why don’t we go home?” asked Minah.  “I lied that you were home and that I wanted to be with you.”

            Sehun nodded his head.  “Why did you come, Minah?” he asked.

            “You needed someone to lean on.” she stated.  “You can lean on me if you need to.”

            Sehun flashed a weak smile.  His parents and friends knew that he was greatly affected by what had happened, but no one had actually said that to him.  He knew that they were all open to let him let out his anger and sadness, but had never told him to lean on them.  For a second, he wanted to cry but composed himself.  He had never felt so touched before and a strange and warm feeling was in the pit of his stomach.

            Sehun woke up in a jolt, thinking that it was a school day.  Realizing that they were on winter break, Sehun went back to sleep.  He turned toward Minah and threw his arm lightly onto the curve of her body when it fell onto nothing. 

            “Minah?!” he asked, aloud.

            There was no answer.

            “Minah?”  No answer again. 

            His eyes immediately shot open and sat up in bed, alarmed.  On Minah’s side of the bed, it was nicely folded up as if no one was sleeping there before.  Sehun could’ve sworn she went to bed with him last night.

            He quickly stood up and walked over to the sofa.  Minah wasn’t there either.  He immediately checked the bathroom.  Nope.  Sehun’s heart started to beat so loud that that was all he heard.  He went to the walk-in closet and the light.  He tried to keep himself calm as he went through the things that Minah had brought with her.  They were nowhere to be found.  He searched for the suitcase that she brought in and it was nowhere.

            Minah was gone.  She left, for good.

AUTHOR’S NOTE:

            I wasn’t expecting on taking things this way…  It just happened.  Sorry about that.  There are a lot of things that this couple needs to sort out, but they’re still young.  They don’t know how to yet.

            Hope you enjoyed it!  ^^

LOVE,

loveFORyunho