#RStouchdown300

Yuri POV

*May-30-2017-SKY-Main-Office*

"Good morning, boss." Taeyeon snapped as he entered my office while carrying a stack of documents. "These are for your sign-off, please." He went to my desk and placed the documents in front of me.

"Thanks. Anyway, isn't it Yoong's birthday today?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"What do you mean what about it? Aren't we supposed to celebrate or something?"

"Err-- don't you remember he's in Jeju right now?"

"Oh..."

"..."

"How about tomorrow or after they return here? Don't we have plans for it or something?"

He chuckled, "Now, why you sound so eager on celebrating Yoong's birthday?"

"Nothing. I just... I just thought it's been awhile since the four of us celebrated Yoong's birthday."

"Well, actually... according to Sooyoung... they never really celebrate Yoong's birthday as a gang. I mean, Yoong and Tiff always fly somewhere to spend this day not anywhere near home."

"Ah. I see..."

Suddenly, his phone rang. He pulled it out and stared at its screen. "Hmm. I guess it's change of plans." He redirected to me. "Yoong texted me. He said their flight was rescheduled and he's now back here in Seoul. He wants a reunion of us four boys at our favorite bar place right at very noontime. No one is allowed to be absent."

"Why noon?"

"Hmm. According to his text message. It's supposed to be this time as in right now but he has to go pay a visit somewhere first. Right after that is drinking time."

"I see... But, why noon?"

He chuckled, "Maybe Yoong have a dilemma right now. You know he's always like that whenever he's heartbroken or something."

And with that statement, we exchanged glances. It seemed we have thought of the same thing too. Something might have happened between Yoong and Stephanie.

"So, uhhmmm.... boss?" he uttered.

"Yeah?"

"My day-off credits are now getting low in number so... can I request this as an Out-of-office business trip? It's okay if you don't agree, I'll just pass on this event."

"Idiot. Go make this as OBT. I sure don't want to be the reason for you not going on Yoong's birthday celebration."

He grinned annoyingly, "Thanks, boss."

---

As planned, Taeyeon and I headed for our favorite bar place together. When we arrived, we found Yoong and Sooyoung already there having a round of drink. It seems like Yoong's the only one consuming too much liquor, though.

"Waazzzzzuuuppppp!" Taeyeon snapped as we gotten near their booth.

"Taeyeon-hyung! Yuri-hyung!" Yoong shouted cheerfully. He quickly gave us hugs.

"Happy birthday!" we both said.

He looked a little tipsy now. He smiled as he responded, "Nah uh uh. Not happy. You should say, 'unhappy' birthday, Yoong."

Tae and I looked at each other first in confusion. Then, we corrected our greeting in a very awkward way, though, "Err... Unhappy birthday...!...???"

"Have a seat! Have a seat!" The three of us seated. I sat on Soo's side while Taeyeon by the birthday boy's side.

I nudged on Soo and whispered, "What's going on?"

He whispered back, "I don't know either. All he said as soon as I came, he wants to celebrate his 'freedom' with us."

"Freedom! Yes, yes." Yoong snapped loudly. He must have heard us whispering. "I want to celebrate this 'awesome' freedom of mine with you guys, my three bestest friends in the whole world!" He raised his glass and shouted, "Cheers!"

The three of us raised our empty glasses awkwardly and had a toast with him.

"So, what's with the freedom, Yoong?" Taeng asked.

"Oh. I was just granted freedom by my beloved fiancé. It was awesome. I swear it's ing awesome." he said, sounding sarcastic.

"Freedom on what?" Soo asked.

"Freedom to whoever I want."

"WHAT?!" we three shouted in disbelief.

He ignored us and continued, "Freedom to date whoever I want! Freedom to make out with whoever I want! Freedom to fling! Freedom to flirt!" Then, he quickly drank a glass full of rum. Afterwards, he stared at the empty container sadly. "Freedom to marry whoever I want."

...

...

...

Tears accumulated from his eyes. He poured rum again on his glass and drank it straight. Afterwards, he breathed deeply and continued, "She broke up with me."

"W-what? Why?" Sooyoung asked.

"What do you ing mean why?!" Yoong shouted in rage. "Didn't you all want us to break up in the first place?! You all ganged up on us! It's because of what Sunny-noona said, she broke up with me!"

...

He chuckled bitterly, "But, yeah, it wasn't really Sunny-noona's fault nor anyone of you." He looked at me. "Except you, hyung. You weren't there that time these freaks ganged up on me and Tiff."

I asked, "W-what exactly happened, then? What triggered the breakup?"

He looked away and just stared at the glass. Tears then flowed down from his eyes. "It was my fault."

...

"I ing... cannot move on from Jessica..."

...

"No matter what I ing do... I couldn't get her off my mind..."

...

He laughed bitterly, "Now, tell me how horrible I am."

...

"For ing four years, Jessica's still ing here in my heart. I don't ing even know why! It's so absurd! It's so ing absurd!"

...

He looked at me, "I'm sorry if I'm saying these stuff on your fiancé, hyung. It's just that..." He wandered his gaze around as if trying to find words to continue saying. Then, his tears burst out again, "I just couldn't ing believe myself for being like this." He sobbed harder. Taeyeon rubbed his back to make him calm down. "I love Tiffany, I love her so much. I know that. But, ...  I hurt her. I ing hurt her too."

...

"I don't know why... I don't why the this is happening on me."

...

"I hate myself. I ing hate myself so much!"

"Calm down, Yoong." Taeyeon uttered. "It's all okay. You didn't really intend to hurt her."

...

...

...

After the long silence, Sooyoung snapped a question, "So... she broke up with you because she found out you're still in love with Jessica?"

He breathed deeply, "She always knew that..."

...

"We both accepted our strange situation. We agreed and continued our relationship for four years. Yet, in the end, she made it look like I never loved her at all. She threw it to my face, she broke up with me because, all along, she thought my love for her was just for pity."

...

"It was not for ing pity, man. I love her. I love her so much! Why can't she see that?"

...

"I know I love Jessica. But, I love her too!" Then, he suddenly mocked a chuckle on his statement. "Damn that sounded ridiculous." He had his hands on the sides of his heads and grasped his hair. "Damn. This is so ed up."

"But, you already realized who do you love more, right?" I asked.

"Yeah..."

...

"I love Jessica more... But... I want to be with Fany instead."

...

He chuckled bitterly again, "Damn this ing of a crazy mind." He groaned loudly. "I am ing going crazy!"

"Well..." I sighed deeply. "Maybe to stir up this conversation a little, I'm gonna bring a news to you."

...

"Jessica and I broke up last week."

The three of them looked at me in shock and disbelief, most particularly Yoong.

I drank a glass of rum and continued, "Yes, you all heard it right. I broke up with her. Though, it's kind of a complicated breakup since until now we're still living together in our condo unit."

"Y-you broke up with her?" Yoong repeated in question.

"Yup."

"W-why?"

"Well... our relationship didn't work out. That's it..."

Another silence engulfed. After a few minutes, Sooyoung broke the ice again, "So, that just means the two weddings are already canceled?"

"Yeah, obviously." I answered back.

"So..." He looked at Yoong. "That's it. You and Jessica can be together now."

He lowered his head and just smiled faintly in return.

And our drinking continued in silence and it lasted until late afternoon. All we did was simple exchanging of glances and faint smiles among us. There's not even a single casual conversation. I guess we all think of the same thing. There's no more use to pry into this mess any further. Everything's already wrecked up with me, Yoong and the two girls, anyway...

---

"That sure was a messed-up birthday party celebration, isn't it?" Taeyeon snapped. Apparently, I'm giving him a ride home.

"Yeah, it sure is." I answered back.

"Who would have thought Tiff will be the one who's gonna end their relationship?"

"Why not?"

"Well... it's obvious enough she's in love with Yoong too-- I mean, in love with Yoong."

I sighed, "Yeah, yeah. She already told me that. You don't have to feel awkward."

"Oh." He chuckled. "That's good, then. So, are you now okay to discuss things like this? I mean, with Yoong and Fany's relationship... with yours and Sica's relationship...?"

"Of course. It's all in the past now, anyways."

"Oh. Alright..."

...

"So, why you two broke up, then? Why did you break up with her?"

"Guilt, Taeng."

...

"She's still madly in love with Yoong. I can't just take away her opportunity to be truly happy. I know she always says she's ready to end up forever alone but, I doubt she wants that. Deep inside her heart, we both know what Jessica wants. It's hard to comprehend how Jessica's mind works, though."

He sighed loudly, "Yeah... No one can really read her mind..."

"So... how about you? Are you gonna uhhmmm--- you know...? Try your luck on Jess?"

"Luck? Really?" He chuckled.

"Yeah, luck. We both know getting Jessica's 'yes' only mattered on luck. You can never really be sure."

"So, you weren't sure back then if she was gonna say yes to your proposal?"

"Yes. Jessica is that damn unpredictable. If she said no, I'll just contact Uncle Vincent to force her to." I chuckled. "But, yeah, good thing that didn't happen and she did say yes to me."

"Yeah, that'll be a very desperate attempt, Kwon."

"I know..."

...

"So... are you gonna try out or not?"

He sighed deeply again, "I am not the one she wanted." He glanced at me through the rearview mirror. "There's no more point in trying out my luck since she's no longer in love with me."

"I see..."

...

"I'm sorry, by the way."

"For what?"

"For ruining your chance back then."

...

"I know August last year, you wanted to try and court her again, Taeng."

He breathed deeply, "Yeah, you're damn much of a ing , man."

"I'm sorry..."

"Why did you even steal her away, anyway? It really looked to me that you still love Tiff more ever since."

"I don't wanna end up lonely. I could also sense that Jessica didn't wanna end up lonely too. So, that it..."

"Without even thinking you'll get to hurt me too?"

I sighed, "Taeng... Don't you remember I asked you beforehand? If you're gonna be okay with mine and Sica's relationship?"

...

"You always said yes. You always nodded to me. If you didn’t nod, I probably stopped my relationship with Jessica right away. Trust me, I really would have done that."

"Alright.  Alright. I get it. Let's just stop this conversation. It's all in the past now, anyway."

...

...

I then uttered, "So, it's okay with you?"

"Okay about what?"

"If ever Yoong and Jessica will get back together?"

"Well... If that's what she wants, I'll always support her no matter what. It's all for her happiness, Yul."

"Wow. That's uhhmmm... So mature of you."

"Shut up. It's been years, okay."

...

"We all have grown up. There's no more room for immaturities for all of us..."

"Right..."

---

I arrived back home. I found Jessica sitting on the floor of the living room as she bores herself from flipping channels on the Television.

"I'm home." I uttered.

"Welcome home." she said faintly with her voice a bit cracking up.

I went to place my coat on the rac