Barely weeks after receiving the invitation from Yi Jung, I heard one of the most surprising news of my life.. I really should have expected it since it had already been some time but I had been so preoccupied with my own matters that I had neglected my own best friend..

“What?!” My question was simple but the mix of emotions behind it was nothing like it, I wondered if she caught the underlying tone of surprise, shock and disbelief hidden within the simple question as I had been too surprised to contribute any further word.

“Yes.. I am pregnant” I was silent as I stood still, trying to digest the information.

I was totally caught unaware.. the girl who I had first known as a little girl was pregnant with her own little one! The girl who in my mind, would always still be remembered as the young girl who stood up for me in kindergarten, was going to soon become a mother to another feisty little kid before I could even truly register her marriage and definite path into adulthood, her life had already progressed into another stage. Gone were the days when we were kids … that young girl of yesterday? All grown up now..

That was what hit me – while I was dealing with my pain, my best friend had moved on so fast that it felt as if I had been left behind alone, in our yesterdays.. and all the conflicting emotions mixed in with the joy of hearing about the new life my best friend is carrying and I really didn’t know to react and all I could do was shriek down the phone..

“OMO! OMO! OMO!!”

“Wah! Calm down Ga Eul, this time, my ear drums are about to burst!”

Realizing what I was doing, I clam my mouth shut and hurriedly asked her a whole slew of questions that was starting to clogged up my mind – “How many months now?” “What about medical school?” “Is it a boy or girl?” “Do you want a boy or girl?” “How about Jun Pyo? Does he want a boy or girl?” and extra sentences of my own came tumbling out too.. “I totally can’t believe it! It feels like I only just met a 6 year old Jan Di yesterday and in just a few months, you are probably going to give birth to another young Jan Di! Where did all the time went?”

“GA EUL! Stop! One at a time! Stop learning from me!”

I chuckled at her response, in a funny twist of event, I had suddenly picked up her panicky and excited nature while she was now the one asking me to shut up.

We ended up meeting up to catch up and in the next few months that followed, I busied myself with buying things for Jan Di’s unborn child and fussing over Jan Di with prenatal training exercises, like a overly concerned grandmother...

Time passes no matter if we are enjoying it or not but I realize that the best way to dealt with all the pain I had felt was to keep myself occupied with things that made me happy..  I enjoyed fussing over Jan Di so much that I had almost forgotten about the invitation which was left in the cold in one of the drawers of my dresser.. until the day a new teacher came to our school.

~*~

“Ga Eul!” I turned my head towards the direction of the feminine voice and saw an unfamiliar face standing beside her and I looked back at Ha Neul, waiting for her to introduce him.

“Joong ki just joined our school for this semester, he is still new to teaching so I hope you can bring him around and guide him..” Ha Neul nodded at me as she turned to him and introduced me, before taking her leave.

“Song Joong ki, nice to meet you” and he flashed me a brilliant smile, one that reminded me of a certain someone. I nodded and returned him a close-lipped smile as I proceeded to bring him around but was stopped by his question.

“Aren’t you the girl in the scandal?”

His straightforward question shocked me, how rude could he be! He must have noticed my facial reaction as he continued, “No, no, I don’t mean that in the negative way.. it’s just I wanted to say, you look familiar and I just wanted to confirm that.. don’t worry, I know that none of that was your fault, it’s just the media looking for stories to hook people’s attention..” and he sent another of that smile my way again, as if it could pacify whatever ill-feelings I was harbouring.

I softened my expression but didn’t bother to smile at him and simply started introducing the school to him until lunch time came and that question just had to appear.

“Are you going to So Yi Jung’s exhibition?” He asked, as he digged into his meal.

I looked at his casual attitude and started wondering, how weird it was that such a serious and important decision to me could be so trivial to someone else .. it was as if he was treating my $1000 bill as a 10 cent coin.

“So, are you? I thought you wouldn’t, since it’s probably his own decision anyway.. ” I stopped him by walking away with my plate, before he could continue taking the chance to gossip about Yi Jung.

Stupid! I scolded him in my mind, I was trying so hard to forget about Yi Jung, to the point that I had completely pushed the invitation out of my mind that here he was digging up old and unnecessary wounds.

I still had at least 3 more months to think about it, and I wanted to push it until as late as I could but here he was forcing me to dwell on it, it was like the start of an annoying nightmare at work.

[Yi Jung]

Ever since I gave Ga Eul the invitation, I barely had the time to congratulate Jun Pyo as I had been busy working on the exhibition – I honestly had no idea what kind of potteries I was going to make to signify the friendship I was supposed to demonstrate that I had with Ga Eul.. and to seek that inspiration, I decided to revisit the memories, no matter how painful they might be now.

I spent a month in Jeju island doing the things that we had done together and wandering around, reminiscing the times when we had just met then locked myself up in my pottery studio for another month trying to put down the pretty feelings into my artworks.. and then the next few weeks, I brainstormed about my main masterpiece for the exhibition and decided that Ga Eul will have to be the theme..

Sometimes amidst the works I do, I stopped and wander why I was putting myself through so much pain missing and thinking about her again and again but then I realized that putting memories of her away was so much more painful than indulging in it. I would rather live in the happy memories a little longer than realized that the person herself was no longer actively involved in my life.. and this exhibition might probably be the last chance to capture those memories of her.

I came up with the idea of this exhibition, hoping to bring relief to her from all the media harassment but somehow, I hope that the exhibition could also give me relief from all the pain I was in. 

End of Chapter 15

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A/N: I actually wanted YJ and GE to meet in this chapter but somehow my story seems to be taking its' own flow now..... out of my own planning... I have new ideas springing up for this stories.... (Jan Di was an old idea that I was contemplating whether to insert) and this might make this fanfic take a different direction (but don't worry, I will still be directing the fic towards the 'marriage scene' at the front of the chapter and the misunderstanding between YJ and GE will also be touched on in another chapter -> though I still don't know which one I will put it in) ... I am sorry if this chapter seems a little weird! Hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it~ 

Thank you all for your support, it keeps me going! :)