Messy chapter, but here we go ;A;

[Current timeline: 111105 – 3rd floor of SM Office, 9.30 p.m.]

Based on a pile of travelling books I read when I first came to Seoul, the autumn season in Korea usually ended around November. It should have been still pleasantly cool by now, but the winter seemed to come early this year. Meaning, the current weather was somehow bone-chilling. Without no one really preparing for it, the cold was bothersome, and indeed, this cute, sleeveless cocktail dress I was wearing was exactly not part of the dress codes suitable for such chilly weather. “Minho-ya... Stop. It’s cold,” I mindlessly uttered, voice as low as possible.

“It’s cold?” The man who was dragging me abruptly stopped, obeying my request. His tone clearly indicated how worried he was. “Poor baby...” He untangled his warm fingers from mine, and I felt instant loneliness.

“Don’t leave.”

“I’m not.” As the friendly voice spoke again, a piece of clothe was hung over my shoulders. I looked up only to find Minho smiling wearily and without his silk suit jacket on. “It’s not as thick as cashmere, but I hope it can warm you even just a bit.” He carelessly pulled me into his big hug. Caressing my hair with care and affection, he continued, “I knew he’d do stupid things like that. I should’ve protected you a little more.”

“Don’t... Don’t talk about it.”

Denial. That was what I was doing right now. Denying. But I did not want to face the reality whatsoever. I did not want to remember what I saw just now.

Still hugging me, Minho rubbed my arms, trying to warm me more. “Hmm... Just remember, I am here. And I will never hurt you.”

Minho is here and he will never hurt me. I tried so hard to register that in my mind, but failed miserably as a certain someone had used those words quite too often, and yet still broke that goddamn promise, treating it as though it was a trash, or just random bull a douchebag usually bragged about.

At this moment I realized; the comforting words Minho told me, the toned arms of his that were tightly hugging me, the warmth he was trying to transfer to me, his jacket that was enfolding me... it was all useless. The treason I witnessed with my own eyes, even though I had attempted so hard to erase the view from my mind, it would just keep haunting me. The coldness came from the scene I saw— the sight of my boyfriend hugging someone else that was not me. This heart of mine froze the moment I looked at what happened behind the door.

“Haha,” a cold, rather hostile laugh broke and knowing it was not coming from me neither Minho, the latter released me from the hug to check if any possibility of threat and danger had occured. I drifted my stare to the source of the sound and met a pair of pretty, big eyes, shining a somehow intimidating aura. “A girl like you is not good enough to be with Jung Soo oppa.”

“Noona, stop,”  Minho growled terrifyingly. His eyes sparked and his jaw hardened. He managed to hold my hand again, a motion to tell me that ‘He’s here, and he will never hurt me’. “Don’t make me lose all my respect toward you.”

The short girl, dressing in such stylish attire, stepped forward, approaching us. “Minho... You pretty boy, stay clear of this matter.”

Minho reflexively pulled me behind his figure, protecting me from the girl, who apparently seemed more daunting than she actually was. “I beg you, Taeyeon noona. Refrain from doing anything that might hurt her. You don’t want to see a fuming me.”

Taeyeon stopped a few meters away from us. She placed both hands in her hip, scowling in fake fear. She closed her eyes, and nodded her head several times. A cocky smile spread over her beautiful face. “It feels a lot like a plot of a movie, doesn’t it? I am the villain, ______ is the weak human, Minho is the hero. But if that’s so, I wonder what’s Jung Soo oppa’s role here.”

Stop mentioning his name! Stop mentioning the betrayer’s name! And don’t call him so casually!

“Whatever his role is, I bet it’s not better than yours,” Minho coldly replied. He pressed the elevator button on the wall, signaling that we were going to leave this sickening place in a short moment.

“Don’t act so innocent here. You two might see me hugging Jung Soo oppa back there, but do you not realize, eh? The sight of Minho intimately having his arm draped over ______’s shoulders was also not what Jung Soo oppa expected to see. Be considerate,” Taeyeon harshly criticized. She kept herself cool, but her tone was truly rough and I could tell from her facial expression, she was trying to contain her anger. “You brats do not even know what he’s going through right now. I wish he’d never fallen in love with such thoughtless, childish girl like you in the first place.” And with that, she turned around and rudely left us.

Taeyeon’s words left my body numb. It stung the part where it hurt the most. Minho immediately turned around and cupped my face in his hands, gently my cheeks. He was about to open his mouth, when a group of people walked past us. Minho let his hands fall to the sides of his body.

These people greeted Minho and smiled to me. Despite being in such a bad mood, my best friend managed to smile and gave them a small nod. “Haven’t gone home yet?”

“Not yet, hyung. See you around,” one of them answered, and left us again after that.

‘Ding’. The elevator was here, Minho pulled me in it. And when the door closed, he hugged me again. “Taeyeon noona is not a bad person, I don’t know what’s gotten in her. Don’t think about what she said, okay?”

“I...”

“Eung...?” Minho slowly caressed my hair. “What do you wanna say?”

I escaped from his embrace and looked at his eyes. “Minho...”

‘Ding’. The sound interrupted me from talking. We were already in the basement again. Minho walked out of the elevator, but I stood still inside. “______-ah, come on.”

I slowly said, “What Taeyeon said keeps popping inside my mind. Minho-ya, I need to confirm something.”

Minho creased his eyebrows together. Looking at me in such a weird way, he tried to grab my hand and pull me out, but he was not quick enough. “Why are you so stupid? Why are you allowing them to hurt you even more?” I faintly heard his grunt as the door closed for one more time. Pressing “3” on the button panel was what I did next.

I did not even know why I was doing this. My heart was broken enough, but something told me that I needed to go back and talk. Maybe it was for Taeyeon’s lecture to us. Her words were surely harsh. The moment she said it, a part of me seemed to crumble. Nobody had ever told me something so negative about my relationship with Jung Soo like what she did, except Kyuhyun, of course. If Minho was not holding me, I would surely have ended up on the floor. But the same sentences kept playing over and over again inside my head; “Be considerate. You brats do not even know what he’s going through right now.” What did she mean by that? What was Jung Soo going through right now?

Taeyeon knew something that I clearly did not. It hurt as hell to admit that she knew him better than I did. But it was also not the right time to keep my pride and ignore the hint she already gave out.

I stepped out the elevator slightly trembling. The fear of getting hurt and experiencing the same pain again was haunting me. Gulping down, I walked toward the place where I saw the frustrating view. “Come on, you’re almost there,” I said to myself.

The door was slightly open, and I could hear a woman talking. “Jeez oppa! How did you fall for her in the first place?!” Taeyeon. I immediately hid behind the wall, unseen from them. “I’ve warned you already, right? It would go this way; one of you or both of you would eventually get hurt. I can’t figure out why you still insist on fighting for this relationship.”

“I cannot if she’s not with me,” Jung Soo spoke up. My heart immediately ached again, but this time, the pain folded ten times more than before. It hurt, a lot, to hear his wounded voice.

“Ugh, you’re a man, you shouldn’t be so weak. Taeyeon heaved a long, tired sigh. “Why can’t you see, oppa? She doesn’t even have the courage to clear the matter up. Ha, there was not even any matter... She is too childish. Too preoccupied by the thoughts of you cheating behind her back, she eventually failed to know better. Stupid.”

“Totally,” another voice joined. It belonged to a girl, but sadly I could not recognize this voice. “She did not even see me here. And what did Minho do?! OMG, both were... stupid. Okay, maybe Minho only wanted to protect her; aren’t they like best friends? But she... Oppa, let me find a better girl for you. She was too cowardly. Instead of clearing the misunderstanding, she fled.”

“You two,” Jung Soo tiredly hissed. “Stop talking bad about her. You don’t even know her.”

I heard the girls apologizing. “Ugh, I didn’t mean it,” Taeyeon muttered under her breath. “When I put her in the test, I thought she was okay. I uttered a lot of bad stuff, yet she defended you and seemed to believe in you. But after what happened just now... UGH! OPPA! You were crying for God’s sake, of course I had to at least console you!”

“Taeyeon unnie, calm down...,” the other girl said. “Jung Soo oppa, she’s only eighteen. What do you expect from her, seriously?”

“I know, okay. I know it, Yoona. You don’t have to rub it in. This seems almost impossible, but why can’t I dream of marrying her? Don’t make it even harder for me, please. What my mother said was upsetting enough.” Marrying...? Did I hear it correctly? Did Jung Soo say that word? My heart immediately beat faster, and the blood running through my veins rushed more rapidly. “Tonight I was supposed to take her to see my mother, but I screwed up. Something happened just now and I’m obviously at my lowest. Now if you still see me as your good friend and oppa, please, I’m begging you two; don’t add more weight onto my shoulder, it’s killing me already.”

It’s killing him already...

I felt instant realization and slowly, guilt took over the place pain was occupying. I felt so remorseful. I did wrong. I walked out of my hiding place. With my shaking hand, I knocked on the door. Three pairs of eyes instantly looked at me; two were surprised, one was unsure, hurt but content at the same time. “H-Hi...” I did not even have any clue how I still had the nerve to face them.

“What are you doing here?! Did you eavesdrop?!” Taeyeon barked at me in anger.

The beautiful girl sitting beside her held her body coolly. “Unnie, stay calm, will you?” She gave me a sympathetic smile. “Hello, did you by any chance speak Korean? Taeyeon unnie was in a bad mood, I am deeply sorry. What are you doing here?”

“Yoona-ya, it’s her!” Taeyeon glared at the girl named Yoona. Ah, she’s also a member of Girls’ Generation... I finally recognized.

Yoona’s jaw fell and she confusedly looked at me. Her calm stare turned into a furious one. “You’re oppa’s girlfriend?!”

How did these two women talk about it as though Jung Soo and I were not here?

I nervously nodded, and drifting my eyes to Jung Soo, who looked tired and somehow wounded, I mumbled unclearly, “May I talk to you?”

Taeyeon and Yoona looked fiercely at me. Both glanced at Jung Soo, and when the guy gave them silent nod, they left the room silently, and angrily.

After those pretty idols went out the room, leaving me and Jung Soo alone, the atmosphere became a bit lighter than before. I took a seat facing Jung Soo. He refused to look at me; his fingers were busy playing with the tip of his leather jacket. “You heard us?” He asked.

“I’m sorry,” I ashamedly said, not answering his question. “I’m sorry. I’m such an ignorant person. Taeyeon was right; I was childish. I avoided you before.”

Jung Soo suddenly looked at me. Wearing a sad smile, he said, “But you’re here.” He was kind of amused. “Why did you come back?”

“Something wasn’t right, I felt it. That’s why I’m here, again,” I answered. “I heard you, oppa. What’s with you and your mother? Did something happen during your vacation? You... have changed ever since you came back from Saipan.”

“You aren’t mad anymore because I hugged Taeyeon?”

“Is that still important?”

“Trust me a little more,” he pleaded. I observed his face and found mark of dry tears on his cheeks. “Don’t only trust Minho. Trust me―your man.” My heart ached and I wanted to jump into the ocean, disappearing from the world. I was feeling utter guilt and shame. I should have known Jung Soo better and believed in him more.

“I will, I will.” A smile mentally formed in my face. It was rather shocking, how Jung Soo and I managed to solve one of our problems this quickly. It usually took us some moment to think over and worked things out. Mostly because we declined to talk to each other and just let the problems continue to break us apart. But this time I realized, if we actually teamed up and understood each other a bit more, it would not be so hard for us. I continued, “Now tell me, what is the matter? Don’t tell me there’s none, because I know it exists.”

Jung Soo struggled to move to my side and hug me, not caring the fact that we were in his office and someone from the company could barge in the room and see us. His embrace was warm, but at the same time, it made me really sad. His thin arms wrapped my body, giving me a sense of comfort, yet it somehow disclosed how broken he was. Jung Soo was indeed a complicated person, but I knew he loved me truly. He did not even need to proclaim it; I could actually feel that he wanted to always protect me. “I’m not a good actor... Correct?”

“Correct.”

“I don’t want to burden you...”

“Do you want to know what I thought about just now?” I whispered in his ears. He gently nodded. “We are a couple, aren’t we? We are a team. We should work together in order to last long, and if it’s possible, forever. So tell me what bugs the worn out mind of you. I will help you, oppa.”

Jung Soo a strain of hair behind my ear. “My mother said she wanted to see you.” Deg. My heart skipped a beat.

“She knew about us?!” Without realizing, I raised my voice. “Ahem, I’m sorry. I meant, your mother knew about me? You told her?”

He softly shook his head. “No. How could I? I knew you were not ready.”

“But oppa, I heard you, okay? You talked about marriage stuff,” I said in low tone, feeling nervous. “Be honest, oppa. Are you thinking of marrying me?”

Jung Soo untangled his embrace and shyly looked at me in the eyes. He bit his lower lip. How could he look so cute in such serious condition like this? But before I could poke his dimple, the sadness in his eyes appeared. “You’re so young... You should have had some fun instead of being trapped with this old guy. But to answer your question, yes, yes I am thinking of getting married to you. I cannot imagine marrying someone else. I am sorry. I shouldn’t be so selfish like this, should I? Marriage is different from dating and to be honest, I myself am not ready for it yet. But my love for you has become too deep I cannot dream of marrying another woman.”

I gulped down my saliva. Sure I loved Jung Soo and he was just so, so sweet. But like what he said, marriage was a big issue. The person we married was the one we would spend the rest of our lives with. I personally had never imagined myself getting married. Not with Jung Soo, not with anyone else. I was still so young. I did not want to be a housewife and a mother yet. I had dreams and goals. I could not give it up now.

“Oh God, I shouldn’t have said it. I’m only burdening you...”

“No, no...,” I denied. “I’m just... thinking about it. It’s not like I do not want to get married to you, but marriage... isn’t it too quick to talk about that now?”

Jung Soo smiled, but I knew he was disappointed. “Silly. If we were to get married, we won’t get married today. Or the day after tomorrow. We still have long way to go to reach that stage.”

Something snapped inside my mind... Even though Jung Soo was old, he still was a K-Pop star! He could not get married just like that. There were rules and contract, there were the fans. Oh foolish me, getting nervous so thoughtlessly. “Oppa, I might not be ready for it yet. But we’ll work this out. The future is not for us to know, but we’ll last long―longer than you can think of, longer than forever. How does that sound?”

“I am happy enough for you are here,” he sweetly said. “Oh! I remembered! My mother...” What’s with his mother again? “She really wants to see you. She’ll kill me if I don’t let her meet you.”

“So...?”

“So, will you accompany me meeting her?” He stuck his tongue out playfully.

JUNG SOO I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU I AM NOT READY FOR IT YET DSFJDSJFAKSJDFKJSDKFJSDKFJJDSG!!! 

Coralie_x_SHINee: ;)))

peacelovehugs: HAHAHAHA YES!

NatalieMarie: the story made you depressed? :c I'm sorry I didn't mean to :c /bows ninety degree/

superhyukkie: to know that, I think i need to write a chapter with jung soo pov again? XD it wasn't revealed in this chapter tho. and yes it's taeyeon... but the ending of this chapter isn't so bad right? taeyeon is a friend of jung soo!!! like yoona!!! ;A;

SujuWriter: ;AAA; Minho is indeed a good friend, but you should love jung soo not minho in this story KKK JK ;P

sugenluv: don't beat baby jung soo, he was sad, that's why taeyeon and yoona consoled him :c

Aigooo: I am sorry I can't update so soon... these days i stay at my mom's place and i just... cannot focus when i'm there :c