E p i s o d e 2

Eunhye

“Morning, sis.” Eunji greeted from the dining table, chewing on her plain toasted bread. A glum sunup after a dreadful night. Sleeping was pretty much impossible especially due to the previous event. That just had to sign the paper without any discussion between the two of us. With his signature on that paper, my signature is not even needed anymore for this marriage to come into action. That’s my parents for you, if they want something they get it done the way they want it to be done.

Right in front of my sister, sat my parents, who hadn’t even lifted their eyes from their plates to greet me. “On second thought, I’m not hungry. I’m leaving for class.” I pivoted on the heels of my feet and headed from the front door to meet my driver. “Could you send me to campus today? I don’t feel like driving.” He nodded, leading the way to the black car and opened the door for me to enter. Once he got in the driver’s seat, he started up the car and immediately got on the road.

The car stopped just in front of the campus, as there were people everywhere lounging, studying, socializing. With the driver opening the door for me, I stepped out of the vehicle and instantly heard my name being called out. “Eunhye!”

“Well, look who it is. If it isn’t Son Yejin.” I chuckled, approaching her as my driver departed away silently. “How are you holding up?”

“The question is, how are you holding up?” She hooked her arm around mine and dragged me along with her slightly quicker pace towards the campus building. “You haven’t told Sunwoo, have you?”

“No, he’ll know eventually.” Together, we entered the classroom together, and seated next to each other. While Yejin was busying herself on her phone secretly, I paid attention to the teachings of the lecturer until the end of class. “Want to grab something to eat before your next class?” I only had that morning class and I was free for the day.

“Yes please. Starving like insane.” She clutched her stomach as we both exited the classroom together along with the rest of the students. “So have you talked to him since the whole everything?”

I scoffed bitterly. “No, you think I would want to?”

“I guess you’re just going to have to.” A voice belonging to a male spoke out loud from behind the two of us. We stopped in our tracks, and Yejin instantly turning around to see who it is. When her jaw slightly dropped, I tightened her jaw instinctively, realizing who it is. “We have something to do.”

“I don’t recall making any plans with you.” Whenever he was around, I couldn’t help but be spiteful to him. Yejin’s eyes widen from hearing my words, never have I ever been so unkind to anyone in front of her. I turned around in my spot to face the young man with an uninterested expression on my face. “I’m having lunch with my friend.”

“I can wait. Come back here when you’re done.” I would guess Kyuhyun decided not to push my limits and gave me the space I wanted. He smiled down to Yejin before bowing down to the both of us, before walking back to his car.

I sighed as he finally left my sight. “At least, he’s nice enough to wait for you. And I think that’s pretty damn nice in my opinion.” Yejin commented but she was only ignored. We continued our way towards the café restaurant down the street and quickly ordering our food to end our starvation. “He’s good looking though, you’ve got to give him that.”

“Can we not talk about that guy?” I groaned out, taking a lettuce into my mouth of my caesar salad. We then switched the topic of the conversation as we continued to devour their meals. Once we took our time to finish up our food, we paid for the food before separating into our own ways. I purposely strolled back the campus where Kyuhyun had said he would be waiting for me in his car. It had been a bit over an hour, and if he’s still there, I would actually be impressed.

And impressed, I was once she noticed the familiar black car parked on the other side of the street. The window closest to me was rolled down and there was Kyuhyun, sitting there leisurely and comfortably. He had a look on his face that said ‘Don’t make me go over there’ which only made me grumble to myself, dragging my feet towards him. I opened the passenger seat and entered the vehicle weakly. “Why?”

“Our new house.” He simply said, before starting up the car and driving out. “Can you at least talk to me as if you don’t hate me?” His voice started to sound weak but his face showed no expression, his eyes glued on the road, one hand on the wheel and the other on his forehead with the elbow leaning on the window.

“I can’t help it.” I mumbled honestly, fixing my gaze out of the window. “I don’t hate you...”

“I was starting to think otherwise.” He sarcastically responded, turning the radio to replace the heavy silence between us. Kyuhyun listened to the familiar voices of Changmin and Yunho singing How Can I, humming along while I focused on the lyrics since I knew the song as well. I closed my eyes, tapping my finger against my thigh to the soft beat. “We’re here.” He did what seems to be his routine of turning everything off before crawling out of his car. I opened the door myself and stepped out on my own. My eyes gazed up the modern building in somewhat of an amazement. My anger of not being able to pick my own home faded away as my likeness for the building increased. “Come on.”

He led the way in, opening up the door for me and headed for the elevators. He clicked the up button and waited next to me. We entered the metal box together once it arrived and Kyuhyun pushed the button for the 13th floor. Not long after, the door opened in front of us once again to reveal a wooden door. With Kyuhyun still leading the way, he opened the door of the apartment house for me and we both slipped our shoes off next to the drawers with no words and put on a pair of white house slippers. Scanning the living room, we parted ways and discovered the house on own own until we meet each other again in the living room. “What do you think?”

“My clothes are already here...” I muttered as I plopped down onto the couch.

“They must’ve moved it when you left the house.” He responded, joining me on the couch next to me with some distant. “They moved mine as well.” Wow, they really get rid of us just like this, huh, that easily?

“There’s only one bedroom with one bed...” My words were almost incoherent but due to the silence in the house, Kyuhyun was able to hear me somewhat clearly. There was no way in hell am I sleeping next to this guy. I would much rather take the floor than the bed with him.

He chuckled darkly. “You can take it.” He gave up to me again for the second time today. I wanted to thank him but something in me stopped me from saying it. I could feel him watching me at the side of his peripheral. If only we had met on a different situation, I would definitely see him as a man and definitely be attracted to him. But seeing the circumstance, I can’t really see him that way. He glanced at his wristwatch, sighing out loud. “I’m going to make something to eat.” He announced with a tight smile, but I didn’t say anything.

I then heard my phone go off in my bag, cutting through the thick silence. “Yes, mother.”

“Are you in the house with Kyuhyunie already?” I cringed at her voice and even more at her calling her ‘son-to-be-husband’ Kyuhyunie. “Do you like it? Your sister helped to make the decision. She was certain you would like it. You listen now, you better treat that boy nicely. You understand me? Well, I’ll see you soon, deary. Goodbye now.” She hung up without even me having to say a single thing.

“Your mother, did she want anything?” Kyuhyun shouted from the kitchen.

I sighed inwardly, suddenly feeling exhausted. “Nothing.” Getting up and dragging my feet, one after the other, I finally made my way to the bedroom only to throw myself onto the bed, quickly falling into slumber.

Kyuhyun

I heard her movements and her feet dragging across the carpet throughout the living room. I continued on with my cooking to make my sweet potato pizza. It only took a good twenty-five minutes from flattening the mashed sweet potato on the frying pan with everything in between to topping it off with sprinkles of mozzarella cheese. As I placed the pizza on a plate to let it cool a bit, my phone started to ring and vibrate against my pocket. “Hello?”

“Oppa! Where are you? I thought you’ll be at the company today.” The familiar voice rang through my eardrum. A smile was immediately painted on my face, realizing who the voice belongs to. “I haven’t seen you in so long, oppa.”

“I know Seohyun-ah, I’ve been busy, you know how it is.” I replied, grabbing a fork from the drawer to eat the pizza with.

I hear her gentle sigh and it only made me chuckle. “Well, where are you right now? Maybe we can meet up?”

Just as I was about to agree on it, I remember the girl in the bedroom, the girl who I was soon to marry despite it all being forced. I would have to leave her eventually for my schedule later but to leave her for another girl even though she meant nothing to me, is that right? I sighed inwardly. “I’m with my hyungs right now, I haven’t been spending much time with them as well. Maybe tomorrow? We can go to the same café.”

She sighed once again. “Alright then, tomorrow! Well, I have to go now. Call me tomorrow, okay, oppa?”

“Yeah, for sure.” I said, taking a slice of the pizza I cut out into my mouth after blowing it down. “Take care of yourself, Seohyun-ah.”

“I miss you, Kyuhyun-oppa.” She said sincerely to which I return just as genuinely before hanging up and to eat my meal properly. I haven’t told her about the arranged marriage my parents got me into, and I was planning on telling her soon when I have the time to prepare a proper dinner and tell her earnestly. Of course, Eunhye knows nothing of my relationship with Seohyun or even what group I’m in. I knew she knew that I’m someone big but she doesn’t know what I do entirely.

I finished up my pizza and placed the plate along with the fork in the sink to wash later. With a cup of water, I sipped on it as I made my way towards the bedroom to see the girl laid on top of the white sheets of the bed in a fetal position. I observed her and take in her beauty, the beauty I had always noticed ever since I first laid my eyes on her. Too bad she’s vindictive. Returning to the kitchen to put the empty glass on the dining table, my manager called me to tell me to go the SBS building for filming as soon as possible.

When I noticed the little notepad on the long table in the living room next to the lamp, I wrote down a little note for Eunhye and left it on the dining table under the empty glass before finally leaving for my schedules.

Eunhye

I woke up to an empty house and complete silence. “I guess he left.” I mumbled to myself, rubbing the sleepiness out of my eyes. Snatching my phone on the bedside table, I checked the time and for any texts or missed calls. “9:36 and 4 missed calls from Yejin.” Pushing myself off the bed, my feet took me to the kitchen where I found a note trapped under an empty glass. I picked it up to read aloud. “I’m off to my schedules. I’ll be home late.” I crumbled it up in my hands and threw it to the trash bin, getting it in at the first try.

Suddenly feeling the solitariness from the utter stillness, I dialed up Yejin’s number and held it against my ear. “Hey, you called?”

“Yes, where are you? Let’s go out tonight! Everyone’s at Sunwoo’s already.” She cheered loudly, slightly deafening my ear. I could tell she was already getting ready by all the rustling going on in the background. “I’ll see you at Sunwoo’s okay? Bye!” She hung up, leaving me with no choice but to attend the night out.

After a quick shower, I searched through the closet filled with my clothes for something decent to wear for the night. I threw on an outfit, and draped a black blazer around my shoulders. With my clutch in hand, I headed towards the shoe drawers by the front door to slip on some high heels before finally halting up a taxi to go to Sunwoo’s house, expecting a good night tonight.

Kyuhyun

I parked my car in the basement of the apartment building and set out towards the elevator for the 13th floor. After unlocking the door, I noticed the darkness of all the rooms. “Did she sleep again already?” It was a bit past 1:30 in the morning so I wasn’t surprised if she was done for the day. Only when I realized the bedroom empty and dark did I realize something was off. “Eunhye-ssi?” I shouted out for her and only got silence as a response. “Where the hell did she go?” I thought to myself, turning on the lights of the living room and the kitchen to lighten up the apartment.

I setup my laptop on the long table of the living room, under the table lamp to play some Starcraft. Before I knew it, two hours have passed and I was still fully concentrated on the game I was playing until my phone vibrated on the table beside my laptop.

Yesung-hyung: Stop playing games and sleep with your wife.

Chuckling sarcastically, I realized the time and Eunhye was still wasn’t back. I stretched my back and suddenly I heard the front door opening. I knew it was her but I couldn’t see her due to the angle I was in and the wall blocking my way. Eventually she revealed herself, her bare long legs exposed, the blazer covering her shoulders and arms. With the makeup she had on, she look much more gorgeous as her brown, wavy hair frames her small face perfectly. “What?”

Her bitter tone brought me out of my trance, her face as expressionless as always when she’s around me. It was something I want to change but a part of me convinced me not to care enough to do anything about it. “Where did you go?” I asked her, careful to not sound as though I care. Two can play the game, you know what I mean?

“What does it matter to you?” She muttered, making her way to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. Anyone could tell that she had been drinking, but not to the point where she was drunk. I approached her as she chugs down the cold water. I watched her attentively, her every move, her every action. “Don’t you have a girlfriend to be with?”

She knows. She knows? I scrunched my eyebrows slightly and tilted my head to the side in confusion. “How did you-”

“I have my ways.” She took out the bottle of red wine out of the fridge along with two wine glasses, one slid over to me. She poured halfway for hers and the same for me as we both sat on the stools in front of each other. “Does she know?”

“No.” I mumbled, taking a sip of the wine. She sipped on hers as well, fixing her eyes on the liquid and avoiding my eyes.

“Poor her.” She murmured, almost to herself. She took off the blazer and threw it on the table beside her, divulging her smooth soft skin of her shoulders and arms. This whole, I had my eyes on her and I couldn’t seem to look away. “Divorce me.” Her voice was clearer after another gulp of red wine.

“Divorce you?” I repeated. Alcohol really does something for her but even so she poured herself another glass, just halfway.

She chuckled at my reaction, intaking her alcohol again with a big gulp. “When we get married by law, divorce me. They can’t do anything about it if we pretend to love each other now and fight later on. It’s not like we have any feelings for each other anyway. You have your girlfriend, I have my-” She stopped herself from blabbing on, glaring at the liquid in her glass. Does she have a boyfriend as well? Oh , looks like something she didn’t want me to know slipped out. I chortled in my head. Silly girl.

“You have a boy-”

“I’m going to bed.” She interrupted my sentence and chugged down the rest of the wine she had in her glass before leaving for the bedroom, ditching her bag and blazer on the table. I felt her move swiftly pass me as I took another sip of red wine. Boyfriend, huh?