A/N: This chapter is quite short because I think the new details to this story might be a bit overwhelming to read and absorb. Keke. By the way, sorry for the late update but I’m on holidays (yippee) and I’ll make sure the next update will be fast. Keke. Happy reading! Oh, this is the sound effect to the ending of this chapter: *DUN DUN DUN*

Credits: ~pixie~ @ soompi

16| Sad Love Story

Once, I had really loved that person.

It was a love that was so deep that I was even willing to let go of my wealth and run away with her if that was only what it takes for us to be together. Like the corny words of a love song, I was willing to swim in the ocean of fire or climb the highest mountain to be with her because just the thought of being without her would kill me inside. I would risk everything, anything, to be with her. However, my true intentions were not enough.

She left me without a word; without even saying goodbye.

We were fourteen when we first met. She was the new girl in school and I was already known as the loner rich boy—a nickname that I had neither hated nor loved. Back then, I simply didn’t really care about anything; I was already used to being alone.

“Hi, I’m Lee EunJae.”

That was the first words that she had spoken to me when she was assigned to the seat next to mine; the only vacant seat in class. I briefly glanced her way and saw that she was smiling so happily. I remember thinking, ‘What the hell is she so happy about?’. I gave her a mere nod, ignoring her extended hand which was waiting for a friendly handshake from me.

Even after realizing that her request for a handshake had been rejected, the friendly smile still didn’t leave her face. Instead, she leaned in closer to whisper to my ear, “You do actually know that you’re wearing a hideous bright green tie that doesn’t match with the school uniform, don’t you?”

That caught my attention and I glanced down at the bright green tie that was hanging around my neck. It was my father’s lucky tie, one that I had been wearing to school almost every day. No one had ever said anything about it to me.

I looked at her in annoyance and the smile finally left her face. It looked like she was feeling guilty, like she knew that she was crossing an invisible line.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I shouldn’t have.”

For the rest of the day, she didn’t say anything else. However, for some weird reason, I listened to her words. The next day, I didn’t wear the bright green tie and opted for a simple black tie instead. When EunJae saw me, she smiled widely. “You do listen,” she said.

Every time during lunch break, I would spend it on the roof top; just me watching the hustle bustle of the students down below; students eating and laughing together.

Friends. I wonder how it feels like to have one.

“Wow, what a nice view you’ve got here.”

That bubbly annoying voice irritated the hell out of me so I gave her a look.

“Do you know that it takes more muscles to frown than to smile?” she said, still smiling happily, “So don’t waste your energy.”

I ignored her and continued gazing down at the scenery.

“You don’t really like to talk, do you?”she said.

I turned to look at her, wondering when she was going to leave me alone; if she was ever going to leave me alone.

“Correction. I don’t like to talk useless things,” I said grumpily, hoping that she’d take the hint that I wanted for her to leave me alone.

EunJae didn’t really take the hint. “Oh,” she said, “Shall we talk about the world economics, then?”

I found hilarity in the absurd thing that she had just uttered and without even thinking, I laughed. She laughed with me, oblivious to the fact that I was actually laughing about her absurdity.

“You look great when you laugh,” she said, “You should laugh often. Don’t worry, from now on, I’ll make you laugh a lot.”

It may sound like a trivial promise of a little teenage girl but EunJae kept true to her words; she made me laugh a lot more. She had never let me alone after that day.

Lee EunJae changed me.

Because of her, I learned how to smile, how to appreciate all the little things in the world like she did. I started to see things in a new perspective.

Most important of all, I learned how to love.

Girls used to confess to me all the time and before EunJae came into my life, I never bothered about them. I just ignored them and pretended that they didn’t even exist whenever they approached me. However, I started to realize how much they annoyed her so I started to avoid these ‘fangirls’ at all cost.

“MinWoo-ah,” she said one evening when we were alone at the park near school, “If I confess to you, will you reject me like how you reject them?”

I laughed. Just the thought of EunJae confessing to me made me all giddy. If she ever confessed to me, I didn’t even need time to think to say yes. “I don’t think you’ll ever confess to me,” I said.

EunJae looked thoughtful for a moment. “You didn’t actually answer the question,” she pointed out.

I shrugged, trying to act nonchalant about the topic. “I don’t know,” I said, “The thought haven’t really crossed my mind.”

I was lying. Of course the thought had crossed my mind so many times but I was being a coward by not confronting my feelings. All those emotions were new to me and I didn’t really know how to handle it. So we remained best friends all throughout high school; it was the only relationship I was comfortable in being at the time being.

However, when we were in college, a guy tried to hit on EunJae and it made my blood boils. I was in a rotten mood all day long; I even made her cry without a reason. Aunt Mina pointed out that I was being jealous when I told her about EunJae. So that day, I confessed to EunJae about my love for her. For the second time that day, I made her cry but that second time I knew that they were tears of joy.

One day, EunJae decided to call me Oppa.

“Why you want to be romantic all of a sudden?” I teased, pinching her nose playfully. She pouted in protest, rubbing the bridge of her nose. She had always hated it when I do that to her.

“It’s not about being romantic!” she claimed, “You were born in January and I was born in December. You’re older.”

I chuckled at the ridiculous thing that she had just pointed out. “Fine, if you insist,” I said.

Actually, I knew the real reason why she wanted to call me Oppa. Calling me Oppa would mark the transition of us from being best friends to being lovers. How I knew all this? Aunt Mina was how. She was like my Oprah, always with the explanation on things.

I wanted to make EunJae feel special so after nearly 6 years of knowing her and 2 years after being a couple, I finally decided to let her meet with Haraboji. EunJae knew that it was a big deal and was fidgety all day long. I had never introduced anyone to Haraboji so that was my way of making her know how special she was in my life.

“I’m nervous, Oppa,” she whined, her fingers trembling, “What if he doesn’t like me? What if he hates me?”

We were already in the car on our way for the dinner with Haraboji and Aunt Mina. When I told Haraboji about EunJae joining us, he didn’t show any emotions, just like how he usually acted.

I shook my head. “He won’t hate you,” I said, “I’m sure he’ll love you.”

I was right. Haraboji seemed to be opening up to EunJae’s bubbly personality. Everything seemed to be going perfect until Haraboji got a weird phone call and then, everything changed.

“Lee EunJae, is your father Lee SaeHyun?” he asked, his voice booming loud like thunder. His face was red, the way he always look whenever he was furious about something.

From beside him, Aunt Mina gasped when she heard of that name.

“Why are you asking all this, Haraboji?” I asked, “Do you want to meet him? EunJae’s parents are not even in Korea right now, right EunJae?” I turned to look at EunJae and saw that her face had gone pale, her lips slightly parted as she stared at Haraboji. “EunJae?” I asked again.

EunJae had rarely talked about her parents. All I knew was that they were in America due to her father’s work and she lived with her uncle and his family in Seoul.

“I WASN’T ASKING YOU!” Haraboji bellowed, “Lee EunJae, I’m asking you, is your father Lee SaeHyun?!” His fiery gaze was still on EunJae; he didn’t even blink.

Aunt Mina took a sip of her coffee, her fingers trembling like she was trying to calm herself. I didn’t know why the two of them were acting weird all of a sudden. I turned to look at EunJae and saw that the smile that used to always occupy her face was no longer there. For the first time, I saw EunJae was not smiling and I knew that there was more to this.

“Yes, Lee SaeHyun is my father,” she admitted and I thought that she sounded a bit afraid for that revelation.

“You and I need to talk,” Haraboji declared with his voice as cold as ice, bringing chills down my spine. He stood up and glowered down at EunJae.

“Okay,” EunJae agreed quietly and began to stand up.

Aunt Mina’s gaze was pacing back and forth between the two of them but just like me, she did not know what to say.

“EunJae, sit down,” I said, “Haraboji why do you want to talk to her alone? We can all talk together. What’s this about?”

“STAY OUT OF THIS, MINWOO!” Haraboji bellowed in anger, his voice piercing through the once lively dining room. “You, follow me!” he said to EunJae and left for the study room, the sound of his walking stick echoing in the quiet house.

“What the hell is going on, EunJae? Talk to me,” I pleaded when I saw the tears rolling down her eyes. I understood what she felt at the time; I was frightened of Haraboji all my life when I was younger.

“Oppa, I-I-I’m sorry,” she stuttered, her lips trembling like she was holding back tears, “I’m sorry,” she said and rushed inside the study room.

I stood up and was about to follow her but was stopped by Aunt Mina. “You should let them talk, MinWoo-ah,” she said.

I turned to look at her, the other person that I could trust “Aunt Mina, what is going on? Who is Lee SaeHyun? Why are you guys acting weird?”

Aunt Mina gulped hard. “I’m afraid I’m not in the position to tell you, MinWoo. You shall hear it from your grandfather.” She began to stand up and then walked away, leaving me alone in the dining room.

I was about to barge in the closed door of the study room when my steps were halted by the sight of EunJae running out of the study room, her face wet with tears. “EunJae!” I called but she didn’t look back. Instead, she ran out of the house. I rushed to the study room and saw Haraboji sitting there with a pile of cash spreading on the table. Behind him, the safety box was opened.

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what had just happened. “Haraboji, you-you tried to pay her? For what? For leaving me?!”

“MinWoo—” he started.

“I know that you hate me, Haraboji but I didn’t know that you will be this low as to pay her to leave me. Don’t you ever want to see me happy? Does it kill you to see me happy?!” I said, my face blurred by the tears.

“MinWoo—” Haraboji tried to say but I didn’t want t