A/N: Hi everyone. Kim SooJin and Kwon MinWoo are back to meet you guys. Keke. I’m sorry for the delay but I’m making it up with 2 long chapters. It might be too much for you guys so I suggest that you read a chapter at a time because it’s long. Keke. Anyways, thank you for still reading. I have some good news to share in the A/N after chapter 21 

   "Do you want to end this now?"

-Kwon MinWoo

20 | Divine Intervention

 WORDS FROM PEOPLE ON THE STREET

 What do you think about the Cinderella Couple, Kim SooJin and Kwon MinWoo?

Ahjumma #1: He is so handsome. He can definitely make many handsome babies. However, she doesn’t look like she has the good child bearing proportion.

School girl #1: Kya! They are so romantic. I hope they get married soon.

Young lady #1: It’s all staged. They don’t really like each other. This is just publicity stunt, isn’t it?

School girl #2: [Sobbing] He’s just too handsome. She is so lucky!!

Ahjumma #2: She must have saved a country in her previous life. What a lucky girl!

Young lady #2: Ooh.. Does he have a brother or a twin? No? How about a cousin? No? Uncle? He has a grandfather? Um.. how old is he?

Young guy #1: Why are you asking me this? WHO THE HELL ARE THESE TWO?!!

Ahjusshi #1: Ooh.. Does she have a sister? She’s got three? Can I have their phone numbers?

Young lady #3: She’s the Seoul Superwoman isn’t she? She’s my hero. I’m rooting for her.

Haraboji #1: [Yelling] WHAT?! I CAN’T HEAR YOU! SPEAK LOUDER!! [reporter yelling the question] DON’T YELL! I’M NOT DEAF!!

 **************************

Ever since I was little, I had been taught by my father to never run away from problems. “Just face it bravely, SooJin-ah,” he had said in one of those life lessons moments when I wanted to run away from embarrassment after Umma’s proposal to JiWoon had been turned down in public. I thought that I could not face anyone after that, that I would just die from embarrassment. However, Appa’s words of encouragement had managed to give me the confidence that I needed to face the sneers from my ex-schoolmates. I went on as if nothing happened and kept a straight face with pride as I strolled down the streets in my village. Soon enough, the sneers disappeared and everyone seemed to have forgotten that it ever happened.

However, it was me who was unable to forget.

No one knew that my solo venture to Seoul to study was a way of me to run away from my problems. No one knew how I had been counting the days to leave my village and start anew in the unknown city of Seoul. I had thought that at last, the agony of reminiscing my heartbreaking moments with JiWoon would end once I set foot in Seoul. I did not even imagine that maybe life in Seoul would be bringing me a new kind of agony, something deeper than what I had been through with JiWoon.

No one had warned me about a certain Kwon MinWoo who would enter my life and turn it into a big mess.

Now, I will have to wreck my brain to find a way to attempt my escape from being found out about my non-existent pregnancy. Seeing that I was already in the hospital, the escape plan this time would have to involve the highest skill of deception and I knew that I had to call her to help me think of a plan.

“So Haraboji wants you to have a check up for the, uh, the baby?” MinWoo’s voice startled me and I jumped a little. “So that was the urgent matter you were referring to?”

He sounded relieved –or maybe angry— I couldn’t really tell. All I know is that, there was nothing to be relieved about. I knew the lie was going to bust anytime soon but I really did not want it to end like this. At least, I wanted to have my way out with dignity. My pride; it was the least that I could ask for after voluntarily entangling myself in all this madness.

“Wait a minute,” I said as I took out my cellphone. MinWoo nodded, looking at me in confusion as I dialled the number. I waited for a bit before she picked up—the great master of deception. “Umma, I need help!” I yelled frantically as soon as I heard her cheerful voice on the line.

“Mwoh? Wae? What kind of help?” her voice was rich with suspicion, “If it’s about money, then you better call your Appa or that ‘old man’. I don’t have any money.”

I rolled my eyes. “Umma!” I yelled, “It’s not about money! Gosh, why are you only thinking about money?!” I sneaked a glance at MinWoo and he raised his eyebrows. I shook my head and forced a smile.

I heard Umma’s sigh of relief on the phone. What a stingy woman! “If it’s not about money, then I will help you,” she said, sounding cheerful again, “What is it?”

I told her all about the planned check up for my non-existent baby and Umma let out a horrified shriek. “What are you waiting for then?” she said, “RUN! Run away fast!”

I coughed. “That’s it?!” I shrieked, “That’s the best plan that you can come up with?!”

“What else do you expect me to say?! I’m a mother, not a miracle worker!” she yelled, “Yah! If you had listened to me to take the chance to make babies when I locked you two up, everything would have been fine. This is what you get for not listening to your own mother. What will hap—”

Before she could even finish, I had already hung up. As always, my mother had failed me. If I had listened to any more of her nonsensical speech, I’d be having a major breakdown.

Run away? If only things were that simple.

MinWoo put his hands on my shoulders and I looked up at him. He looked thoughtful, like there was something deeply troubling his mind when he looked at me. For a while, neither of us had spoken a word.

“I can see how things are getting difficult for you,” he said quietly, “How about we end all of this now? We’ll talk with Haraboji after his check up and I’ll own up to the lies that I have invented. I will take the full blame. None of this was your fault, SooJin. None of it.”

Shock overcame me and for a full minute, I found it hard to even breathe. MinWoo was suggesting that we end everything right then and there. At first, there was a small part of me that was eager to agree on this but a huge part of me was reluctant to do so; they were holding me back.

The big question remained: Do I really want to end this now?

“I’m sorry for all the troubles that I have caused you by inventing all this. Because of my selfish personal reason of rebelling to Haraboji, I have caused you your own love life. If this all end now, you can explain to him,” MinWoo let go of my shoulders and looked elsewhere, a faraway look in his eyes. “I’m sure he will understand,” his voice sounded distant.

Him?

It took me a second to figure it out. He’s not talking about JiWoon now, is he?

“Everything would go back to the way it was. This way, no one will get hurt.”

Back to the way it was.

I don’t know, maybe it was in the way that he had said it that had tugged on my heart strings. He said that no one will get hurt. No one. Well then, what about me?

No one will get hurt?!

No one. Am I not even a ‘one’ in his life? Am I a two? Or three?

Do I look like a freaking THREE?!

“SooJin,” he said, interrupting my thoughts, “what do you think? Do you want to—” he paused to gulp, “—end this now?”

I blinked. He wanted me to answer him right then and there.

He actually wants this answered now?

Is he out of his freaking mind?!!!

This is not the kind of thing that you can just casually flip your hair, shrug your shoulders and say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to. This kind of decision needs precise thinking and time—much more time—to figure out. Didn’t he know that I might need to ponder about this way up in the mountain for a week—or a month even—just to figure out what my decision’s going to be? I might need to wait for a premonition just to make sure that I was making the best decision for my life. You know, the kind of dream where this super old bald man—with saggy skin and white beard that reaches his knees, wearing a white robe that will give off the vibe of it being ancient but  he will still appear to be wise and poised—will come to me and say wise things like, “My dear SooJin, life is nothing but a glass of water. You’re finished if someone drinks you. However, fret not because in McDonald’s, they will refill your drinks for free” and I will get the meaning behind the metaphorical wise message that he had given—like I need to be like the drinks at McDonald’s which basically means I can never be replaced even when I am losing— and can finally make the right decision.

Okay, so waiting for premonition might be a little extreme considering that there was no guarantee that the super old bald man would appear in my dreams—he might have a tight schedule considering the fact that he has to appear in other people’s dreams—and I might have to wait for days, months or years for him to appear.

Anyways, I was still pissed at MinWoo for not giving me time to think. I mean, did he really think that just because I might come off as a genius that I would not be in need of some time to figure things out?!! I know that I am smart but mind you, I am not that smart.

One of these days, I was going to have to give Mr. Almighty y Creature some lessons in life, or a flying kick to the head, or both.

I looked up at him with fury in my eyes. I don’t know why I was so damn irritated by the look of anticipation in his eyes. “YOU’D LIKE THAT, DON’T YOU?!” I yelled in anger, tears stinging my eyes. I knew then that I was not really angry at him; it was not anger that I felt but hurt. I was hurt thinking that he had the audacity to end it all so casually like I did not matter. “Now that we’re in this sh1t, you just want to end it all and leave me in a mess. Have you, for once, think of what I want MinWoo?” I gulped hard, feeling the lump in my throat. “Have you for once considered about my feelings? About me?”

MinWoo looked shocked by my outburst and it looked like he was about to fire me back with some hurtful words but once he saw my teary eyes, he softened for a bit. “It’s because I’m thinking about you that I’m asking you this, SooJin,” he replied quietly, “I don’t want to drag you in this mess any longer. Keeping up with this lie will end up hurting you and your family,” he looked away, “I want to end it before it gets worse. I want you to live your life happily.”

I couldn’t stop the tears any longer. There was something final in his words, like he had already made up his mind that being with me would ensue more chaos in his life. Maybe he thought that I would dampen his chance of rekindling his failed romance with the love of his life.

“This is about EunJae, isn’t it?!!” I said bitterly, “You’re only saying all these things because you want to get back with her.”

“No, this is not about her! Don’t bring her into this,” MinWoo said, sounding firm, “I just think that this is for the best.”

“Well, what if I don’t agree with you?!”

“SooJin, please..”

There was something in his eyes when he said that, like he was begging me to understand why he was doing what he was doing. Although my vision was blurried by tears, I could still see his pleading brown eyes and I knew that he meant what he said, that he genuinely cared about me.

“This is for your happiness, SooJin,” he said, something in his voice, “It’s not worth it to give up on your happiness for me. I’m not worth it.”

The tone of his voice pained my heart. There was something sorrowful laden in his words, like he really had believed in his words that he was not worth it—that he was not worth of anyone in his life. He was a man who had lost those who were dearest to him twice and maybe that was the reason why he had little faith in this thing we call love.

So what do you do to someone who has completely given up on his life? You fight back, that’s what you do and I, Kim SooJin, am going to do just that. I wiped away the tears from my face and looked up at him with determination.

“Don’t say that you’re not worth it, damn it!” I yelled, “Stop feeling sorry for your life. Don’t be such a sissy!”

“A sissy?” he scoffed, “You’re calling me a sissy?!” he had a look of utter disbelief on his handsome face.

“You know, a sissy as in guys who are acting girlish, feminine, not masculine et cetera,” I waved my hand dismissively. I found it hard to believe that someone with such high educational level such as him did not know the meaning of the word, “When I say not masculine, I’m not saying that you have s or periods comin—”

“I know what sissy means!” he snapped, “I just can’t believe that you’re actually calling me one.”

“Well...” I hesitated, “You did think that if we end this now, everything will be alright and to me that sounds so sissy-ish. Like a coward.”

“A coward?”

“Yes!” I said, “My father always says that those who run away from problems are cowards.” I gave him a meaningful look, as if to tell him that I was actually referring to him. He shook his head. “If we end this now, it’ll be like running away from the problems. The best thing to do will be to solve it.”

“But won’t ending this now and admitting to our lies be solving the mess that we have created?” he pointed out.

In a way, he was right. It would be too embarrassing to retract my words and told him the truth that the real reason why I didn’t want to end it now was because I had fallen in love with him. Maybe I was the sissy all along, for being so cowardice regarding my feelings.

Besides, how can I have the heart to end it when I had just found out that Haraboji was dying?

“We can’t end this now,” I said firmly, “We just can’t.”

“SooJin..” he started.

“What about Aunt Mina? Haraboji? They were so happy about us and if we admit the truth to them now, it’ll crush them!”

“Then what about you? Your happiness?”

“I said no!”

“Just think about it.”

“Stop talking, your breath smells.”

“GOD, WHY ARE YOU SO STUBBORN?!!”

“I’M NOT STUBBORN. YOU ARE!”

Kwon MinWoo, the y creature, was losing it. He looked like he was having a mental breakdown. He slapped his head repeatedly and let out a grunt. “This is for your own good, SooJin,” he said.

Before I could even retort something clever to him, we were interrupted by Haraboji’s loud bellow, “What is going on here?!”

MinWoo and I jumped a little, startled by his sudden appearance. Haraboji tapped his walking cane impatiently. I ran to approach him and MinWoo followed suit.

“Haraboji!” I said, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Nothing to worry about,” he waved his hand dismissively. He lied. He didn’t know that I had found out about his condition. “But why are you two quarrelling?” he looked at MinWoo disapprovingly, “What have you done to her?”

“Why is it always my fault?!” MinWoo retorted angrily, “Has it ever occur to you for once that maybe it isn’t my fault for anything that goes wrong? Am I that unreliable?”

I blinked. MinWoo was obviously directing his anger towards Haraboji when in fact he was actually angry at me.

“You ran away yesterday without a word. You did not pick up your phone when we called you numerous times,” Haraboji glanced at me, “SooJin was worried sick about you. That was a very cowardice act that you’ve done so of course I’m going to think that it’s your fault.”

MinWoo blinked. I guess being called a sissy and a coward in a day was already a huge blow to his ego.

“Chairman,” Mr. Shim called out, waving a cellphone in his hand, “Miss Kwon asks you to call her back. She said that it’s urgent.”

It took me a moment to figure out that he was referring to Aunt Mina. Jeez, can’t he call her Mina like a norm