“Today is my last day, Haeyoung.” Jungwoo said grimly. “Any last words?”

            “Goodbye and never come back.” Haeyoung spoke monotonously. He wasn’t going to admit it, but he hated the idea of his only friend leaving.

            Jungwoo gave a small smile. “Don’t be like that, I got something to give you.” He handed the small boy a slip of paper. “This is my number if you ever want to call me. I know that you might not be able to, but just in case.”

            Haeyoung accepted it and looked at it.

            “Don’t tell Minji about this. I’m not to let her know where I’m going.” Jungwoo reminded him.

            Haeyoung nodded. “I don’t get why he told you not to tell her.”

            “I think he’s going to surprise her later.” Jungwoo stated.

            Haeyoung still hesitated at the thought.

            “Hey Haeyoung.” Jungwoo exclaimed but he was on to something serious. “I think you should tell Minji and her father the truth.”

            The little boy grew frustrated. His fists clenched tightly together. “And why should I do that? They are my enemies.”

            “But from the way I look at it, they really care about you.” Jungwoo explained. “Minji keeps pestering me with questions about you when I meet her and Dr. Song is constantly telling me to watch over you for him.”

            “How caring.” Haeyoung sneered sarcastically. “It’s all an act.”

            Jungwoo frowned. “It’s not his fault, Haeyoung. And Minji did nothing wrong at all.”

            “If you’re going to side with your girlfriend, Jungwoo, then just leave now.” Haeyoung bellowed. “I don’t need to hear you talk about how perfect she is!”

            “Well maybe that’s because deep down, you already know how perfect she is.” Jungwoo gave him a glare.

            “GET OUT!!!” Haeyoung screamed. “Don’t you ever let me see your face again. I’ll kill you if I do!”

            Jungwoo expression saddened, feeling sorry for his friend. “Goodbye, Haeyoung.” And he walked out.

            Haeyoung’s chest tightened and his breaths grew heavy. He pulled his covers away and exited his bed. When he reached the balcony sliding door, he held out his fists and unclenched it. The crumpled piece of paper lay there in his hand.

            “Haeyoung!” He heard the girl’s voice crying and quickly clenched his fists again. He looked out the window pretending to ignore the girl. “Jungwoo left us. I feel so sad. What if he doesn’t come back to marry me?”

            Haeyoung focused on the far away skyline. It was official. Jungwoo was gone. He couldn’t let go of the sadness consuming him. He had lost his best friend.

            “Haeyoung.” Minji’s whines declined. There was only worry in her tone of voice. “Why are you crying?”

            “Am not!” He protested. He his cheek with his available hand and noticed that Minji was right. He was crying.

            “Haeyoung?”

            “What?” He could feel himself blushing. But he turned to glare at the little girl.

            Minji stood there with a pure smile. “It’s okay. We’ll wait for Jungwoo to come back, together.”

                        It was the Friday morning. I was still having trouble sleeping so I decided to leave for school early in the morning again. On the way, I decided that I wanted a change in scenery and walked around the school area. It was then that I discovered a familiar park. This was where Jaejoong had brought me after he had helped me from the potential car accident.

            I walked up to the swings and sat down. Somehow, Jaejoong seemed to always be in the back of my head this past week. It’s only been a week since he left. Yet he hasn’t called or sent a single message. I took my phone out of my pocket and opened my messages. Maybe I should check up on him.

            ‘Hi Jaejoong. I hope that you are doing well.’ I decided to type. I should at least check whether he reached the city safely or not.

            “What are you doing here on a chilly morning?” I turned to see a familiar middle aged man with a newspaper under his armpit. My mouth gaped when I recognised him as the man who had hauled me into his car with a knife last time. He paid attention to me and examined his watch. “Don’t you have school in an hour or so? Why didn’t you get more sleep?”

            “Sir.” I stood up from the swing. I didn’t know what to say to him.

            “Would you like to grab a coffee with me?” He offered.

            I shook my head. “No thank you.”

            “Please, I insist.” He pressured on. “I know I told you to be cautious but you can trust me. I swear on my son’s life that I won’t hurt you.”

            I smiled a little. “He must be very precious to you.”

            “Yeah, he is. It took me a while to realise it though.”

            “I’m sorry but I don’t know how to address you sir.” I interrupted his thoughts.

            He laughed it off casually. “Call me Seungheon.”

            I nodded. “Mr. Seungheon, can I pick the place for coffee?”

            Mr. Seunghoon was baffled. “Seungheon is my first name. You don’t need to be so polite.”

            “I was taught to respect my elders.” I explained. “I can’t address you impolitely, Mr. Seungheon.”

            “Okay, I admire your morals, girl.” He beamed at me. “Pick your place.”

            “It’s Lee Minni.” I introduced myself. “Let’s go.”

            I chose a café closest to my school. Mr. Seungheon ordered a strong cappuccino and I ordered a hot chocolate. I was glad that inside was cosy and warm.

            “So what brings you here today?” I asked. “It can’t be plain coincidence that I met you twice already.”

            “Nothing much.” Seungheon stated. “I found it relaxing being with you so I decided to see you again. How are you? How is school?”

            “School is fine.” I began. “I am working hard.”

            “Are you one of those popular kids?”

            I laughed. “I don’t think our school has that kind of hierarchy. But I do have a bunch of wonderful friends.”

            “You’re quite pretty too. Do you have a boyfriend?”

            “I-“ I faltered. To my school peers, yes I did have one but I couldn’t lie to an elder. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”

            “That’s a shame. I wanted to hear you talk about that kind of stuff.” Seungheon took a sip of his coffee.

            I felt heavy inside and hence sipped my coffee as well.

            “Tell me about your friends.” He demanded.

            “I have a friend called Kimmi. She is my best friend. Her neighbour, Yoochun is my friend as well. Yoochun’s best friend is Yunho who is the class leader. Other than that, I have Changmin and Jaejoong.”

            “Do you fancy any of them?” He asked.

            “No.” I protested. “But I’ll let you on a secret Mr. Seungheon. I pretended to be Jaejoong’s girlfriend.”

            The man was bewildered. “Why would you enter a fake relationship?”

            “Because Jaejoong helped me. He saved me when I could have had a bad car accident and he helped me when his fan girls were harassing me.”

            “Fan girls?”

            “Jaejoong is a very handsome student at my school. Most of the girls swoon over him.” I explained. “Because he helped me, I helped him in return. If I posed as his girlfriend, his fan girls would lay low for a while. I was hesitant at the beginning because Jaejoong was really a very scary person. But over time, I found out that he was trying to be the bad guy on purpose. He acts as if he is a erted jerk but honestly, he knows how to care about others. He knows right from wrong. And he really is a gentleman.” I smiled as I spoke about my fake boyfriend. It felt refreshing to talk about him when I was thinking about him for so long. I blushed. “I’m sorry for filling you up with so much detail. How about you? Tell me about your son.”

            “My son is intelligent and hard working. He is honest and is true to his words. He has never tried to disappoint me.” Seungheon spoke. “But I am disappointed in myself.”

            “Why is that?”

            “I never made time for my son. He had to work so hard all by himself.” He explained and I saw his grim expression. “I was always busy. I am a failure as a father.”

            “You’re not, Mr. Seungheon.” I said strongly. He looked at me intrigued but didn’t say anything at all. And so I continued. “If this is how you truly feel then you’re not a disappointing father. If you know that you’ve made a mistake towards your son, then you know that you should fix it. It’s not too late to mend your mistakes.”

            “How am I supposed to do that?”

            “Be the father that he wants you to be. You love him right?” I beamed at him. “If you love him, then you’re already more than halfway there.”

            Mr. Seungheon could only smile at me. “I’m so happy that I am aquainted with a kind young lady like you, Minni.” He said. “Do you want to me to show you how wonderful my son is?” He offered and pulled out his newspaper.

            I realised the time and stood up. “I’m sorry Mr. Seungheon but I have to go to school now.”

            He stopped me for a moment and handed me the newspaper. “Find the article with my name and you’ll see my son.” I accepted it and ran off.

                        “Jaejoong!” Narin called from the kitchen. “You haven’t eaten breakfast yet.”

            “Sorry Narin, I have to dash. I’m going to be late for class.”

            Narin’s lip pursed. “I made a toasted sandwich just in case you were rushing.” She handed him a brown paper bag.

            Jaejoong smiled. “Thanks.”

            He took a set of keys. “Let’s see how well you run?” He ignored the chauffeur waiting for him at the front door and dashed to his father’s motorcycle. He remembered learning to ride it around his huge front yard when he first discovered it in the shed.

            He wore his helmet and zoomed on the streets and headed towards his university. After parking his motorcycle, he clasped his helmet. Minni wants me to be nice. He told himself. I have to be nice no matter what. At least it would take a while before he is discovered because he had travelled by motorcycle instead of car today. He took a deep breath and removed his helmet. With a thick scarf covering his face, he headed towards his class.

            “Hey, it’s Jaejoong.” Gongchan greeted him. “You’re just 5 minutes late.”

            Jaejoong forced a smile and sat next to him in the lecture hall. “Morning.”

            “Joongie!” Saemi squealed, sat down next to him and latched onto him.

            Feeling uncomfortable, Jaejoong tried to remove her hand whilst speaking calmly. “Good morning Saemi. Do you mind letting go? I need to write down what the professor’s saying.”

            “Stop being so clingy. You know he already has a girlfriend right?”

            “Yes I do.” Saemi puckered his lips but let go. “But who wouldn’t want to grab a hold of the Jaejoong.”

            Jaejoong smiled. “Don’t worry Saemi. You’re one of my closest friends here. You don’t need to hold on too tightly.” Saemi was one of the touchy people because she had come from America but Jaejoong knew that she wouldn’t go too overboard. She had one thing that many of his fan girls didn’t. And that was respect.

            Midway through the lecture, the trio overheard a bunch of girls mumbling loud enough for them to hear. “Is that the Jaejoong?” One said.

            “Yes. He is just gorgeous.” The other one said. “I hate that girl though, she is always sitting next to him like she owns him.”

            “Could it be that they’re dating?” The third one said.

            “No way!” The second one said. “Didn’t you see Jaejoong telling her to let go? At most she is just a girl in the friendzone.”

            “We’ll talk to him after the lecture.” The first one suggested.

            “Great idea.” The second one spoke again.

            “Hey you!” Saemi shot up. “You do know that everyone can hear you right?”

            The second girl was quite frightened but tried to stay strong. “We are only speaking the truth.”

            Saemi gave a fake smile. “I know. I heard clearly that you were saying that I am Jaejoong’s friend and you weren’t.”

            “Ouch!” Gongchan muttered beside him. “That’s got to hurt.”

            “Hwang Saemi, are you always this disruptive in class?” The professor shouted from the front of the class.

            I noticed that everyone was looking at us.

            Saemi just shrugged it off. “Unfortunately I am sir, but I couldn’t sit and listen to a bunch of girls talk about my friend as if he was a piece of meat.” She said and bowed low. “I’m sorry. Please continue with the lesson.”

            The bunch of girls no longer spoke and the lecturer continued. Jaejoong scribbled down his notes but felt Saemi leaning in. “Honestly, I feel sorry for you sometimes. What are you to them, the latest Chanel handbag in the market?”

            Jaejoong chuckled. “If I remember correctly, you said you owned the latest Chanel handbag a couple of days ago.”

            “Correct. I can see how you got into medical school at such a young age, Joongie.”

                        “Mum, dad?” I walked up the stairs to put my bag away. The marble steps of our house were cool underneath my feet. Before I decided to knock on my parents’ bedroom door, I changed into set of comfortable clothes; a knee length skirt with a baggy T-shirt tucked into it. I looked into the mirror and saw my adolescent self.

            Then I strolled out of the room and knocked a few times on my parent’s bedroom door. After no answer, I turned the knob and let myself in. “Mum, dad, I’m home now.” The bed was neatly made. It seemed like no one was home.

            “Well, hello there, Minji.” A voice came from behind me.

            I turned to see a tall lanky man emerge from the door to the en-suite. It was the man at the cliff. “How have you been? Me? I’ve been dying to see you.”

            “Stay away from me.” I started walking back as he crept closer to me.

            “But Minji, I just wanted to tell you something.” His greasy deep voice sounded very intimidating.

            I hit the cushioned seat attached to the window and fell on it. I backed against the large window trying to keep as a far a distance from the man. “You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?” My voice quivered. I was afraid.

            He leaned forward. “No.” One of his hands grabbed my throat. “I’m going to make your life a living hell.” My hands latched onto his hand to peel it away, afraid that he would strangle me. That was never his intention. He twisted my face, forcing me to look out the window.

            That’s when I spied the environment my house was in. Outside was a cliff. It was as if my house had randomly decided to plant itself on the top of a cliff side. But that wasn’t what caught my attention.

            “Jaejoong!” I screamed. His back was to me but there was no mistaking. It was him. He turned around to face me. I was bewildered that he could hear me from my parents’ room. His face was drowned in tears but he wore a forced smile that I presumed was trying to hide the sorrow in his eyes. “Jaejoong what are you doing?” I cried. He turned his back to me again and walked towards the edge of the cliff.

            “Jaejoong!” I banged on the glass window nervously with my full strength. The glass wasn’t shattering and that was making me lose self control. “Jaejoong, don’t walk that way, it’s dangerous. Come back!”

            He took a step onto air and I wailed at the top of my lungs. “Jaejoong! NO!”

                        My body ached when I woke up. And I was really crying. Jaejoong was an inch from death. That was more frightening than being contained by the mysterious man itself. I slowly hoisted myself up and tried to suppress my tears. It was dark in my room but I could tell that I had fallen off the bed onto the floor.

         The rough wood was vibrating as I heard hurried footsteps come my way. The door bursted open and Junsu appeared before me in terror. “Minni, are you alright?” He scrutinised the room. “Did you have another bad dream again?”

            I nodded slowly. “I’m okay. It’s just a nightmare.”

            The light switched on and I saw Hana at the door in her elegant nightgown. She wasn’t the type to rush here when I had a bad dream. “You’re not okay.” She said it bluntly. “Junsu, go make a pot of camomile tea.”

            Junsu squeezed my shoulder. “I’ll be right back.”

            Hana took his place. She grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around me. Then she lifted me up and sat me on my bed. “Why don’t you admit it to yourself already.”

            “Sorry?” I was still shocked at my dream.

            “You like Jaejoong.”

            I snapped out of my deep thoughts for a second and eyed my sister. I don’t believe her. “Don’t be silly Hana. Why would I like Jaejoong?” I smiled half-heartedly at her. My eyes still stung a little from crying. “You like him.”

            “Stop lying to yourself!” Hana said harshly. She eased a little when she saw my astounded expression. “And plus, I don’t like Jaejoong anymore.” She hesitated but decided to trust me. “Jaejoong is just really important to me because he helped me. When I was in middle school, I was bullied. The girls started isolating me because I stood out. It wasn’t like I wanted to, I even started dressing more appropriately. You know, calf length skirts and shirts done to the first button.” Hana gave me an uneasy look.

            “That didn’t keep the guys away. In high school, whilst everyone starting wearing make up, I did not. I still stood out. One day as I was walking home alone late, a strange man approached me and cornered me.” Hana’s eyes showed that she was terrified. “I don’t know what would have happened to me if Jaejoong wasn’t there. He came and posed as my boyfriend. Strangely, he said it was fun and played along with the act for a while. I learnt that during that time, he was latently comforting me.”

            “He would embrace me when we overheard others talking bad about me.” Hana smiled warmly at the thought. “Of course, he would act erted just so I wouldn’t take him seriously. But that was how I saw through him. He was trying to hide his good side and until this day I still don’t know why.” Hana continued. “He made me change. I was a nice and quiet girl just like you Minni. But slowly, I started to grow. My attitude grew cold. I wore whatever I wanted to look good. I felt like it wasn’t my fault that I was born this way and the others had no right to decide how I should present myself to the world. I started to do the things that I wanted.”

            “All because of Jaejoong.” Hana sighed. “Straight after that, I regretted it. I wanted to become a better person to show Jaejoong that I was worthy to be his girlfriend. But I had grown up. I didn’t need his protection anymore and he dropped the act. Then I became the clingy girl, obsessed with him. I was angry. I loved him but he was just trying to protect me. Nothing else.”

            “He was interested in you when he had hit you across the face. I knew that he felt guilty. He had intended to hit me to prove to me that he did not share the same feelings I did. I knew it but I still clung onto him. And then I saw how he pulled you off the road when you were about to be hit by a car. He carried you off into the distance but I still remember the look in his eyes. They were sad yet mesmerised.”

            “You two got together but I saw through it straight away. He knew that his fan girls were messing around with you. At first he intended to leave you alone in case they would back off but they did not. So he decided to keep you nearby him just to be safe. I was devastated when he found someone else to look after. I confronted him and he told me that he was just repeating what he had done for me. That opened my eyes and I knew for sure that he had never loved me. I cried that day. You must have seen it when you rushed to us that day with Yunho. I wasn’t worried about you though because I knew that you had a strong heart. You wouldn’t fall for him as easily. I was sad because deep down, I really wanted him to love me.”

            Hana held my hand. “But the more I watched the two of you, the more that I saw a side of him I have never seen before. A glance that showed me you meant the world to him. The tensed expressions he wore when he was very worried about you. You remembered the day that mum hurt you when Jaejoong was home. He pretended to leave the house just to make sure that mum wouldn’t do anything to you. When he watched you sleep, I could sense his concern. His eyes were locked on you and wouldn’t turn away.”

            “And I saw why he fell for you.” Hana said. “No matter what anyone did to you, you never hurt them. You showed mercy and carried on with your life. And while I only impinged on Jaejoong’s good nature, you cherished it and reciprocated it. The truth is I saw how you stopped Yunho from hitting him and I saw your tears from the other night after he left. You love Jaejoong from the very bottom of your heart.”

            I felt myself flushing but I had an urge to say it. “I love Jaejoong.” I let the words roll on my tongue. “I love Jaejoong.” My heart fluttered but I felt a sense of relief. It was like I had just found the missing piece to my puzzle. Fresh tears started to stream out of my eyes at my epiphiny. “I really really love Kim Jaejoong.” I wailed to my heart’s content. But he was already gone. 

AN:

Finally Minni accepts her feelings. Yay!

Stay tuned guys. I'm going to unleash something big in the next chapter!

Enjoy!

whitedreamm