Chapter 17 – Game Over

 

 

The last agonizing minutes of the day could not be any slower. Each tick of the clock was a needle in Seohyun’s heart. It seemed impossible that a class without a teacher could pass by so slow. Usually people would be anticipating the end of the day but not Seohyun. In just a few minutes she would be walking on death row. The walk to the giant tree in the school’s yard would be one of the hardest things to do for her. It would take all the strength and will power she had to keep herself going. The anxiety and pressure she was feeling were almost strong enough to make her run away. Eventually, the sound that sealed her fate sounded. The bell, the noise every student loved to hear, went off and with it the day ended.

Sparing no time, Seohyun rushed to the designated meeting spot. “Yonghwa has gym right before this, I’m sure he’s going to get there first. I don’t think I’ll make it in time, but I have to try anyways,” she worriedly thought to herself. If she could get there first, she supposed it would be easier on her. If she managed to see him waiting by the tree in the distance, she was sure she would almost break down along the walk. Her hurried footsteps helped her dodge the busy crowd of students, eager to start their weekend. A sea of blue uniformed students blocked her way to her doom. In a way she was glad that the mass of chattering students was stalling her, but she knew it would still do her no good.

“Hey, Seohyun!” Yoona called over the loud pack of students in the tightly packed halls. “Are you going to do it now?”

“Yeah, I’m headed there now. Yoona, I feel like my heart is about to explode. I feel as if I’m going to the police to turn myself in for murder. You don’t know how afraid I am right now,” Seohyun confessed. Yoona approached the girl and gave her a reassuring hug. After the hug and a ‘fighting!’ motion, Yoona went her way, leaving Seohyun to meet with the end.

Another one of her fears had come true: Yonghwa was already at the tree waiting for her. When she exited the building, she hoped he wasn’t already there, but it seemed unlikely for that to happen. The gym was only a minute away from the tree so it was only natural that he arrived first. Seohyun bundled up all the uneasiness and fear inside herand threw it out of her body forcefully. She had to be strong to get through this. After all, Yonghwa was a very reasonable person. If she could think of something up for a good explanation he would be open to hearing her out, or at least that’s what she supposed. Once the fear and anxiety escaped her body, she took firm and strong steps towards the boy she had lied to.

Yonghwa heard steps coming up from behind, but found himself face to face with someone he wasn’t expecting. “Oh, Seohyun what are you doing here? Aren’t you going to go home or with Yoona? If this is about you following me home, you can forget it,” he commented. It had been a while since Seohyun had hung out with him, so he supposed that she was trying to get him to let her follow him again. “Uh, hello… Seohyun are you there?”

“Yeah, I-I-I’m here…” she stuttered. Suddenly, all that fear and anxiety rushed back into her body, stronger than it had been before.

“Are you alright? You don’t look so good right now,” Yonghwa pointed out. “Look, I can’t talk to you today since I have something important to do. Go home and get some rest, I’ll talk to you later.”

“Are you wa-wa-waiting for someone here?” asked the now pale and sweating girl. Seohyun was using every ounce of strength she owned to keep herself from fainting. Every bone in her body was creaking with fear and she felt as if they would give out any second. ran dry and the part in her brain that controlled speech had surely shut off.

“Yeah, and it’s important so go away. I can’t have you ruining this like you always do so-”

“Are you sure you want to hear what I say?” Seohyun cut him off.

Yonghwa, flustered from being cut off unexpectedly, stood there with his mouth open. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re here because you received a text from Uee telling you to meet here right?” Seohyun asked knowingly. She took a deep breath and went in for the kill. It was either now or never. If she could get out the next few words, she would be done with this problem. Although there was no guarantee that she would get out of this alive, at least she confessed. However, unbeknownst to her, fate had something else in store for her.

“Yes, Yonghwa-shi why don’t you ask her what she is talking about?” a sweet voice called from behind the large tree. “I’m sure she’s dying to tell you all about it.” Yonghwa and Seohyun turned their stares towards the large tree Yonghwa tended to sleep in and noticed the Queen Bee of the school, Kim Yu Jin.

“Uee…” Seohyun muttered. The resolve she had a second ago gave out once more. She was so close to meeting her goal. She was so close to getting this all over with. Everything was going by smoothly, but her eternal rival, Uee, had to show her face. Seohyun had no idea what Uee was doing there, but she supposed it would have no effect on what she was about to say.

“Do you know what Seohyun is talking about Yu Jin-shi?” Yonghwa asked naively.

“Oh, I know all too well what she is talking about. I would love to tell you myself, but I’ll let the phone you have do all the talking. Why don’t you try dialing my number right now, Yonghwa-shi? I’m sure it will give you all the answers you want,” Uee continued. Her sugar filled voice was enough to drive Seohyun crazy. That’s not the only thing that was driving her crazy. Uee somehow knew about the phone and she was ruining Seohyun’s plans. Now it was Uee who had absolute control in the situation.

“I don’t see how that would help, but alright…” Yonghwa agreed reluctantly. He had no idea how that would help in that situation, but he decided to give it a shot. The only number he had in his phone, the one of his love, was the first thing in sight on his screen. After a touch or two on the plastic, the contraption was connecting to the Yu Jin he had talked to for almost 3 weeks. Uee took out her phone and held it in front of her. The light blue gadget hadn’t even blinked, much less rang when Yonghwa dialed the phone.

“Yonghwa! Let’s go somewhere else, let me explain everything,” Seohyun begged. From her direction, Yonghwa heard a phone ring, but it was definitely not Uee’s. Uee held her phone in front of her with a cocky smirk, indicating that it wasn’t her he was calling.

“Can someone tell me what the hell is going on here?” Yonghwa ordered in a stern voice. He had no idea what was going on in front of him. Uee had asked him to meet there, or so he thought, but why was Seohyun there as well.

“You know, for the smartest person in our grade, you sure are an idiot,” Uee pointed out in her real voice. No longer did she speak to Yonghwa in a sweet and flirtatious tone, now it was an acid and bitter tone that showed her true colors. “Seohyun lied to you. I didn’t give you that phone; it was a gift from her.”

“What..?” Yonghwa asked in a clueless whisper.

“Yonghwa let me explain everything! Please,” Seohyun begged once more.

“She put that phone in my locker and told me to give it to you. Seohyun was the person behind the texts, not me. What is this… how can both of you be such idiots. I expect stupid things from Seohyun, but Yonghwa, you take first place in this stupidity race,” Uee taunted. Yonghwa looked at both girls in a disbelieving way. His brain was taking its sweet time putting all the pieces together, but it finally came through.

“Seohyun is what she’s saying true? Should I believe what she is saying?”

“Look, I’m sorry I lied, but hear me out. Uee, is twisting this out of proportion. Let me tell you what really happened. Can we go somewhere else so I can get this out of the way?” Seohyun cried. Tears began to form in her eyes.  A memory of Min Jung telling her to be strong flashed through her head. She wanted to be strong, but it she couldn’t at the moment. She was about to lose the person she loved and it was all because Uee had figured them out.

“I’m twisting this? Haha, you guys are a riot! You think I’m lying Seohyun? What have I said that wasn’t true? The only liar here is you,” Uee mocked. Yonghwa continued to stay quiet while he heard the explanation from the two females in front of him. “Seohyun was the one that talked to you all this time, not me. Do you think I’d have that much free time to talk to a piece of trash like you? Did you honestly believe that I had any sort of good feelings for you?”

“Yu Jin-shi…”

“Cut it out with the damn Yu Jin-shi this and Yu Jin-shi that! I hate that name! Let me tell you something Yonghwa-shi” she said tauntingly with emphasis on the –shi at the end of his name. “You’re probably the biggest idiot this planet has seen. I can’t believe I get worse grades than someone as stupid as you. You thought that I liked talking to you? You really believed that I would talk to something as disgusting as you without an ulterior motive? Ha, you’re so stupid…”

Seohyun could not believe her eyes. She believed that Uee wouldn’t be able to ruin her explanation that much, but Uee proved that theory wrong. Uee was crushing Yonghwa’s heart with words and Seohyun could tell. Yonghwa’s distressed face told her that he was on the verge of breaking down. Seohyun was sure that she would see Yonghwa cry for the second time in her life. He hadn’t even cried when he got his body torn apart by three guys at a time. Then again, he was probably feeling more pain right now, than he had in his whole life put together. The girl he had loved for at least ten years was telling him he was nothing more than a piece of trash in her eyes.

“Uee! Stop it! Get the hell out of her now!” Seohyun roared. Even if Seohyun had hurt Yonghwa, she didn’t mean to. It wasn’t an accident, but she hadn’t done anything with the purpose of hurting him. Uee seemed intent on crushing any good feelings Yonghwa had for her.

“No… Seohyun let her talk,” Yonghwa weakly ordered. His confused face had been traded for one that could only be described in one way: pure heartbreak. “I think she should finish what she has to say.

“Hmph, you honestly believed that I, one of the richest people of all Korea, would talk to a street rat like you? You’re hopeless! I can’t believe how easy it was to get you on my side. When you sat with Seohyun, people left me, so I used you to get them back. I never once thought of you as a friend, much less even a person,” Uee sneered. Seohyun wanted to take Uee by the hair and throw her a few meters in the air. Uee was standing there, calling Yonghwa a ‘thing’ not even a person.

“Uee…” Seohyun growled. “You’re taking this too far! Stop saying all of that stuff. What the hell do you think you’re doing?!

“Seohyun I said let her finish!” Yonghwa bellowed. Seohyun’s mouth immediately closed upon hearing him yell. Yonghwa had never once raised his voice in front of her. He yelled once when they were trapped in the alley, but that was in a dire situation. Yonghwa never really showed his emotions, and the fact that he was doing so now indicated the level of pain he was experiencing. “Go on, I’m listening to what you have to say.”

“Playing the macho act here huh? Well I think that’s all that had to be said. Now, I suggest you stop liking someone of my status. Everyone has wild dreams, but yours are so wild, that even the most imaginative person in the world can’t believe. I feel dirty just thinking that someone as poor as you can like someone as rich as me. If it’s a fairy tale ending you wanted, well sorry but you’re not getting it.”

“Heh, you have that right…” Yonghwa mumbled.

“You must be the most gullible person on this planet. Not only did you believe me, but you also believed Seohyun’s little lies. Don’t worry, I won’t let this get out to the school. I can’t have anyone believing that I had anything to do with someone like you,” Uee scoffed. “Now then, I’ll let you two figure out your problems on your own. I just had to clarify a few things to explain to Yonghwa since I have no use for him anymore. Have a nice day,” she said in her fake voice.

Yonghwa held his head low, his eyes intently focused on the ground below him. Words like those from a person you trusted and held dear are some of the most painful things anyone could hear. It was almost as bad as hearing your own mother say she hated you. Seohyun couldn’t comprehend the feelings Yonghwa must have been feeling right now.

“Uee…” the dejected man called out. It was no longer Yu Jin-shi, the name said with so much respect just moments ago. “Stop there for a second.” Uee’s footsteps came to a halt upon hearing him call the name he had never once called her.

“What is it now? Are you going to be angry that I don’t like you? Are you going to get angry that I said all of those things to you? Well, no I won’t listen to you if that’s-”

“I’m sorry,” Yonghwa cut her off. The two words that came out of his mouth surprised both Seohyun and Uee. He had just been told off in the cruelest of ways, and he was apologizing? He was surely crazy. “I’m sorry that someone like me had the nerve to even think about you in that way. I’m sorry that for so long, I’ve liked you even though I’ve had no right.” Seohyun now understood the level of pain Yonghwa was experiencing. Yonghwa was throwing away every shred of pride he had in front of Uee. Yonghwa always held his head high, regardless of the wealth of the person in front of him. For him social classes were nothing. However, he was apologizing for being poor and not knowing his place. The Yonghwa she knew would never do that even if he had a gun to his head.

“You’re sorry?” Uee asked confusedly.

“Yeah, I’m glad you came out here and told me this stuff. Thanks for letting me know where I belong. Thanks for taking my wings away. Those wings of mine were making me fly higher than I should have. What you just did right now brought me back to earth,” Yonghwa gently explained. Even Uee was surprised at his reaction. She was sure Yonghwa would be angry, but he was humiliating himself even more in front of her.

“Yonghwa…” Seohyun mumbled. She wanted to stop him from further hurting himself, but if she spoke, she would surely be reprimanded even more.

“Wow, you really are hopeless aren’t you? What happened to your arrogant attitude? Where did all that pride you held go? This is even more of a reason for me to be getting rid of you. I didn’t know you were this worthless, but I think I figured you all out,” Uee continued to mock.

“I won’t bother you again. You name will not even leave my mouth unless it absolutely has to. Thanks for giving me hope, even if it was for a short time. You know… I’ve liked you for so long,” Yonghwa began. “I truly believed you were different from everyone else, but I’m glad you showed me the truth today. Really, I thank you for that. I am in your debt for that reason.”

“Tch, I don’t even know what to say to you. You know I’m glad you were stupid enough to believe Seohyun’s lies. I didn’t know how to get rid of you, but I’m glad you did that on your own. Gomawo Seohyun, you did me a huge favor. Since I don’t have time for your games, I’ll be leaving now.” Yonghwa and Seohyun watched as Uee disappeared in the distance, not saying a word for almost ten minutes.

“Yonghwa I-”

“Don’t even talk Seohyun, I see everything clearly now,” Yonghwa cut in. “Even though you talked so much about how Uee was a bad person, I see that you’re just as bad as her. What made you think that it was okay to lie about something like that? Seohyun, you knew how much I liked Uee, but you still lied to me like that. Why did you do that?”

Yonghwa’s eyes scared Seohyun when they made contact with hers. Seohyun thought he would be completely furious with her, but he wasn’t. His eyes had absolutely no emotion in them. The only word she could use to describe them was the word ‘empty.’ Even his voice was devoid of any sort of feeling that she could point out. He didn’t raise his voice, or give her a poisonous glare… He just stared at her with those emotionless orbs of his.

“Yonghwa I… you know… look… ugh! I can’t tell you that, I just did it!” Seohyun explained. She knew very well why she had done what she did, but she couldn’t tell him yet. Yonghwa was on the verge of dying of heartbreak, there was no way a confession of love would work right now. Seohyun wanted nothing more than to confess how much she loved him and give him an eternal hug, but it wouldn’t work. Any chance she believed she had with him was now gone. As Yonghwa’s heart was crushed by Uee, hers too was being crushed.

“Remember that time when I told you I believed you were different back in Japan? Well I really meant it. I really did believe you were different. All these rich kids thought I was an object, not a person. However, you tried to treat me like a person as much as you could. You tried to make me feel like I belonged at this school,” Yonghwa weakly explained. Each word he spoke was a dagger in Seohyun’s heart. He was spilling his heart out to her once more, only this time she wasn’t pretending to be someone else.

“Yonghwa, please stop talking,” she begged with tears in her eyes. Seohyun couldn’t bear to hear his words any more.

“Let me finish. You know… I actually believed that I could trust you. I had no idea why, but my brain wouldn’t listen to me when I told it to push you away. At first it did, but as time went by I got used to having you around,” he explained sadly. Seohyun wanted to die from the things he was explaining. Seohyun knew Yonghwa had warmed up to her, but she had absolutely no idea Yonghwa felt that way about her. “Soon enough you were like my shadow, always following me around. Sometimes I would walk home alone and I would almost wish that you were following me.”

“Yonghwa, I’ll beg you on my knees if I have to! Please just stop!” she cried. The tears in her eyes broke out and began to violently flow. Her voice cracked with every word she spoke and she wanted to do nothing else but to run away.

“I hadn’t ever trusted anyone but my mother before coming here. I thought everyone did things only for their own benefit. When I met you, I believed you were only getting close to me so you could get another player in your childish games against Uee. As the days went by, I threw those thoughts away. I truly believed that you wanted to be my friend,” Yonghwa said in a shaky voice. Seohyun couldn’t bear it anymore. His shaky voice indicated he was close to crying. Jung Yonghwa, the cold hearted person with no feelings, was about to break down in front of her. If anyone deserved to die in the world at that moment, it was Seohyun.

“I’m so sorry,” Seohyun sobbed. “Yonghwa, I didn’t mean for this to happen. I don’t know why it turned out like this, but I didn’t want this!”

“You know what the worst part is? In my mind, I almost considered you a friend. If anyone had asked me: ‘Are you friends with Seohyun?’ I probably would have said yes. I’m glad that this happened. It’s a good thing you showed me your true colors before I made that stupid mistake. You my friend? Ha, that’s probably the biggest joke I’ve heard in my life,” he said with a fake laugh. The tears in his eyes were unmistakable. It was only a matter of time before they began to run down his face uncontrollably.

“Yonghwa I can still be your friend. I’m really sorry that this had to happen, but I do want to be your friend. I can’t explain why I did that, but I really do want to be your friend. Please, forgive me!”

“I see that you are just like Uee. No, you’re worse than Uee. She at least had the courage to come out and tell me what she felt about me. You on the other hand lied and continue to hide the reasons why you do it. This is what I get for talking to rich people. Uee is right, I should have known my place. I regret ever coming to this school. I hope you and Uee have fun fighting with each other, because I’m not going to be used as your tool anymore,” the crying boy stated. Yonghwa turned away from Seohyun and ran his sleeve over his face. He thought so little of Seohyun, that he didn’t even think she deserved to see him crying.

“I didn’t use you Yonghwa!” Seohyun defended herself. “Uee may have used you, but I didn’t. I didn’t get close to you so I could use you against her. I got close to you because I really wanted to be your friend. Why can’t you see that I do care for you? Hara, Yoona, Taecyeon, and everyone else in our group consider you a friend. We all want to be your friend, we didn’t use you. Please don’t be mad!”

“Oh I’m not mad. Well, actually I am. You want to know what I’m mad about?” Yonghwa asked, still not facing Seohyun. Seohyun nodded weakly even though there was no way for him to see it. “I’m not mad that you lied to me. That was a favor you did for me. It let me know what kind of person you truly were. What I am mad at is myself for ever trusting you. Uee is right, I’m the biggest idiot in the universe for ever thinking you guys were different from the rest. This world is full of evil and nothing will ever change it. If people that claim to be good like you are this evil, then I fear for what will become of this world.”

“Yonghwa, please!” Seohyun cried out once more. Seohyun had no solid arguments to present to Yonghwa anymore. All she could do was beg him for forgiveness, but he didn’t seem to be listening. Every time Seohyun begged, Yonghwa would continue explaining how much pain Seohyun was giving him. Didn’t he know she had a heart as well? Whenever he hurt, so did she.

“Like I said, I’m not mad that you lied to me. I’m glad you lied since it helped me see that Uee hated me. I feel stupid for liking someone like that for ten years and I should have known better. Seo Joohyun… do you know what the biggest regret I have is? It’s not liking Uee or coming to this school or for believing the lies. My biggest regret, the biggest one of my life, is having ever met you. Seohyun, if there’s one thing that came out of this, it’s that you’re dead to me. Goodbye Seohyun, I hope I won’t have to deal with you anymore after this. After all, we are from two different worlds that can’t coexist peacefully.”

His final words crushed Seohyun completely. She now knew the extent of pain her lies brought him. In one day he lost the person he loved for ten years and he also lost the only person he had ever considered a friend. Yonghwa’s dejected footsteps kicked up loose dirt as they dragged across the floor, but Seohyun couldn’t stop him. Everything he told her left her stunned and unable to move or speak. The person she loved, the person she would give her life for, had just told her she didn’t exist to him anymore. Yonghwa hadn’t even got mad at her. He hadn’t cursed once at her. He hadn’t even raised his voice at her in anger.

Seohyun would rather have had him go completely berserk. She would rather see him go completely insane with anger, but he didn’t. Instead he cried in front of her. If he had gotten so angry that he hit her, it would have been better. Even if her eardrums exploded from the loudness of his yelling, she would rather have taken that. Having him angry was a million times better than having him sad. All she could do was watch his back as he walked away from her, possibly for the last time of his life. Seohyun felt that she had no right to run up to him and stop him from going. She had absolutely no right to even direct a single word to him ever again. After what she had just caused, she was lucky enough to stand within fifty meters of him.

“Yonghwa,” she squeaked. “Do you know why I did that? I did that because I love you… Then again, now I can’t say that. What kind of love do I have for you if I hurt you like that? I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry that I would give up everything I have and more to keep those tears out of your eyes. I would experience hell thousands of times over for millions of eternities just to see you happy.”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hara and Yoona eagerly waited for news from the leader of their trio. They wished for all the good situations possible, but deep down in their hearts they knew it would be hard to get Yonghwa to forgive Seohyun. While they lay on the couches lazily, the doorbell made their heads shoot up in anticipation. Their slippers slid swiftly across the living room floor as they ran to the door in hopes that it was Seohyun.

“Seohyun! Are you okay?! You look like you just got hit by a train,” Yoona pointed out. Hara ran to the bathroom and pulled out a box of tissues to clean Seohyun up. Tears continued to run down her face across the streaks the dried tears had formed. Even a little bit of snot poked out from her right nostril, but the girls had no heart to make fun of her for it.

“What happened?” Hara asked worriedly. Seohyun tended to be an emotional person, but they had never once seen her look like such a mess.

“Uee…” Seohyun mumbled through sobs. “Uee found out all about it and she showed up. She told Yonghwa everything and completely crushed his heart."

“Uee found out?! How!?” Yoona asked the crying girl loudly.

“I don’t know how she did, but she managed to somehow. She told Yonghwa that she would never like a piece of trash like him and a whole lot of other mean things. Uee practically tore Yonghwa’s heart out, cut it into little pieces, and fed it to a pack of rabid, starving dogs,” Seohyun described. Hara and Yoona each gave Seohyun an energizing hug and continued to do so until Seohyun finished her story.

“Did he get mad at her?” a curious Yoona inquired.

“No, he apologized to her,” Seohyun stated sadly.

“Is he insane? Why the hell would he apologize to her?” Hara asked loudly.

“He told her he was sorry that someone like him ever put his eyes on someone like her. If you guys were there to see and hear him say that… I’ll never be able to erase that moment from my memories ever. Yonghwa looked like his heart had been completely shattered and it was all my fault,” Seohyun blamed herself. “He dropped every bit of pride he had to apologize to her.”

“Seohyun it isn’t your fault he did that. Uee is the one to blame here. If she hadn’t shown up, things wouldn’t have gotten so bad,” Yoona cut in.

“No, it was my fault for putting him in that situation to begin with. If I hadn’t lied, Uee wouldn’t have had any reason to tell him off to begin with. Yonghwa cried… that iron hearted person cried right in front of me,” Seohyun explained. Hara, being someone experienced in the field of emotions, knew right away the severity of the situation.

“Seohyun… are you serious? Did he really cry?” Hara asked to make sure. “If he really did cry, he must have been completely devastated. Someone like him will only cry when they feel the world has completely and utterly deserted them. Seohyun, look I know I’m on your side, but you have to stop crying about this. You said it yourself, this is your fault.”

“Hara! Stop making her feel worse alright? It’s bad enough you did that all these past weeks. Can’t you at least pretend to be helpful right now?” Yoona asked angrily

“Yoona, it’s worse to lie to her. Do you want me to tell her that Yonghwa’s life is going to be full of rainbows and bunnies after this? No, the reality hurts, but she has to learn from this. Being optimistic in this situation is like lying,” Hara explained.

“Hara, I know you’re right. He was definitely on the verge of dying of sadness. He even thanked me for lying to him. He said it was good that I showed him how evil the world really was. Yonghwa said his biggest regret was having met me,” Seohyun said, finally stopping her tears. Min Jung and Hara’s advice was right. She had to be strong, strong enough for her to help Yonghwa get through this.

“So are you okay with that? Are you okay with him not seeing you anymore?” Yoona asked.

“No, I’m not happy with that. Even if he points a gun at my head and tells me to leave, I’d rather take death. I’ll help him realize that I wasn’t lying and that I did want to be his friend,” Seohyun affirmed confidently. Yoona and Hara gave Seohyun a smile and yet another hug. It was good to see their friend fight for what she loved, but at the same time they worried that Seohyun would get even more hurt.

 

 

Author’s Note: Oh snap! Drama galore in this chapter. Is it weird that I actually got watery eyes when writing down when Yonghwa was talking to Seohyun? I was originally going to have him flip out at both Uee and Seohyun, but I think it is much better for him to be sad and sorry towards them. I think that is a million times more painful than someone yelling at me. Well, hopefully you guys don’t get too distressed about this. I’ll make it better in a few chapters, but don’t get too bent out of shape. YongSeo = love so it has to get better eventually right? Anyways, sorry I left a cliffie last time I updated, but the weekends get really hectic around here. With 2 brothers and a sister around being total idiots, it’s hard to update. Enjoy everyone!  (well as much as you can enjoy sadness) I don’t know when I’ll update if tomorrow or the day after, so I won’t make any promises.