Chapter Three: lies, lies, and more lies

A week after Luhan proposes, Joohyun meets up with Taeyeon.

Though she has always been closer to Jongin, the older girl is still someone she looks up to. After all, Taeyeon is like the sister she's never had and sometimes, she just needs a female friend to talk to.

"So, how are wedding preparations coming along?" Taeyeon asks eagerly, taking a sip of her drink.

Joohyun smiles, a pretty blush adorning her cheeks. "They're going well. We've already picked out a wedding dress and the photoshoot will be in a few days. Baekhyun also says he found a nice wedding hall."

Taeyeon sighs dramatically. "I can't believe you're getting married before me, Joohyun. I feel so old!"

Joohyun shoots her a look. "Unnie, you have plenty of men that would be willing to marry you. I think you're just the one that doesn't want to get married."

"That's true," She laughs. "In any case, you have a lot to look forward to. Not just the wedding, but also the little kid in your stomach."

Joohyun turns a bright red color, but she can't stop herself from smiling.

Living together in the same apartment, obviously, they have made love before, and well, one thing lead to another, and it resulted in Joohyun's pregnancy.

The baby is only around a month along, but Luhan is already excited to be a father. He pats her stomach, sings songs to their baby, and thinks of various names -- "Bora if it's a girl, and Gunwoo if it's a guy?"

"Aigoo, look at that grin on your face!" Taeyeon teases.

Joohyun shakes her head, and tries to change the topic. "Do you know if Jongin is coming to the wedding? Baekhyun said he was, but if he's in London, I don't know if he'll have time to make it..."

At this, Taeyeon's smile fades and there's a sad look in her eyes, which confuses Joohyun.

"You really want Jongin to be at the wedding, huh?" She asks carefully.

Joohyun wonders why everyone gets so serious when Jongin's name is mentioned. Both Taeyeon and Baekhyun seem to act this way.

"I do," She admits honestly. "He's a very precious person to me."

Taeyeon sends her a reassuring grin. "He's coming, don't worry. Baekhyun told me that he was."

"That's a relief," Joohyun says, and she means it. She didn't want Jongin, of all people, to miss the happiest day of her life.

Before Taeyeon can say anything more, a tall, short-haired girl hops in front of them.

"Unnies! I'm here!" The girl announces her presence loudly, a wide grin on her face. 

"Jinri," Taeyeon acknowledges the younger female with a laugh. Joohyun also can't help but feel that the atmosphere gets brighter as the girl arrives.

Jinri is one of Joohyun's former students. Though she mostly tutored middle schoolers, Jinri is one of the few older ones that she taught and remains to be a close dongsaeng to her today. She may get a little too loud and crazy sometimes, but the girl has an unbelievable amount of positive energy that brightens up the people around her.

"Unnie, I'm hungry. Buy me something!" Jinri whines, pouting her lips cutely. 

Taeyeon pretends to barf. "Ugh. This is why I can't stand being around younger girls."

Joohyun giggles at their interaction and a warm, fluttery happiness rises in her chest. Maybe, pregnancy is doing this to her, but she feels emotional all of a sudden. She is truly a blessed person. God has given her the greatest friends and the greatest family she could ever ask for. 

She thinks that nothing can ruin her happiness.

Until a week later, when she gets into a car accident.

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Luhan runs as quickly as he can to the ER.

Everything's a blur. He doesn't notice the people that he pushes through or the nurses calling after him, saying that he wasn't allowed to enter.

His mind is solely filled of her and their baby.

He remembers that Baekhyun had called him -- "Get to the hospital now. Joohyun's been in a severe car accident. There was a drunk driver..."

He is scared. In his 24 years of being alive, he has never been this scared before. He pants as he arrives to the ER, where he notices Baekhyun, Taeyeon, and Jinri.

Jinri is weeping, for a reason that he doesn't want to know why, and both Baekhyun and Taeyeon wear somber expressions.

Something is wrong.

"Where is she?" He can't even try and make his voice sound steady, because everything comes out hoarse and fear-filled.

Baekhyun lets out a deep breath.

"Joohyun...is fine. But the baby is not."

His heart drops. 

"Actually, I'll take that back," Baekhyun sighs. "Joohyun isn't fine either. She...she..."

Taeyeon finishes the sentence for him, her voice soft. "Joohyun had a miscarriage."

Luhan's mind goes blank. All his dreams of raising their baby are shattered in a split second. 

He doesn't blame Joohyun. He can't blame Joohyun. It's not her fault and she's suffering the same way that he is. It isn't his baby or hers that she lost, but it's theirs. And the last thing he wants is for Joohyun to feel guilty about the miscarriage.

He blames God. He curses him and resents him. Because how can he be so cruel? How can he cause such a misfortune a few weeks before their wedding?

He takes trembling steps into the hospital room and he swallows at the sight of Joohyun, curled up in a ball, her sobs slicing through the air.

He immediately wraps her in his arms.

"It's okay," He whispers lovingly, as he holds her in his arms. "Everything's okay."

But everything is not okay.

Because even as he tries to stay strong for her, he can't deny the despair that overcomes him.

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Before Joohyun knows it, it's the day of the wedding.

After her miscarriage, she is miserable and unresponsive. She hardly leaves the house and though she knows that Luhan is trying hard to cheer her up, she realizes that he is just as damaged as herself. And that only makes her feel more guilty. If she hadn't left the house that day, none of this would have happened. If she had reacted faster, the baby might still be alive.

Luhan has made offers to move the wedding to a later date so that she could recover, but she didn't want that.

Thankfully, Taeyeon, Baekhyun, and Jinri took turns visiting her everyday. She couldn't exactly call herself happy by now but she isn't depressed anymore.

Taeyeon makes sure to bring food everytime she comes, while Baekhyun and Jinri tell her some of their cheesiest jokes, so that she can't help but let out a laugh.

She is truly grateful for them, and it's probably because of them that she is sitting here now, in her beautiful, wedding gown. 

Her hair is pinned up elegantly and her make-up is simple, but pretty. Taeyeon tells her that she has a special kind of beauty, where she doesn't need fancy make-up or accessories to glam herself up. Of course, Joohyun denies this because she can't see the beauty that the older women is talking about, but today is her wedding day and she thinks that on her wedding day, she should be allowed to sound a little arrogant.

She wonders if Jongin will be here today for real. The thought of seeing her best friend again cheers her up. He would probably be taller now. Maybe he'd look different. Maybe he'd have a girlfriend of his own.

Maybe...maybe...

She's shaken from her thoughts when Taeyeon runs in the room, her breath shallow and her expression alarmed. She looks uncharacteristically flustered and Joohyun wonders what's going on. After all, in most cases, Taeyeon is always the one who is calm and composed.

"There's...trouble," She says slowly, clearly unsure of how to relay whatever news she had.

"Unnie, what is it?" She asks urgently, growing uneasier by the second. "Is there a problem?"

Finally, Taeyeon looks her straight in the eye, her tone grave.

"Luhan isn't here."

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Jongin groans as he receives another call from Baekhyun.

He picks it up in annoyance. "I'm coming, okay? How many times do I have to tell you--"

"You don't have to come anymore."

Jongin's eyes widen in surprise, not only from the news, but from how serious Baekhyun sounds.

"Why? Is something wrong?"

"...There's nothing--"

"Byun Baekhyun, tell me what's wrong right now," Jongin says sharply. "If it's news related to Joohyun, then I, of all people, should have a right to know about it. You were begging for me to come to the wedding just a few days ago. There's no way that you'd just randomly tell me not to come, unless there was a problem. What's going on?"

"The wedding was just moved to a later date. One month is too little time to prepare for a wedding," He hears Baekhyun explain from the other end. "I'll contact you later when the final date has been set, okay?"

Jongin isn't convinced. "You're lying."

A sigh. "I'm not. Can't you trust me for once?"

"This isn't about trust or not," Jongin retorts. "It's just so obvious that you're hiding something right now."

Another sigh. "Nothing's being hidden, Jongin. I know you get paranoid when it comes to Joohyun, but they're really just setting a later wedding date. If something really was wrong, I would've told you. I, for one, know how much you care about Joohyun."

Jongin reluctantly gives in. "Fine...Contact me when the date is set, okay?"

"Yeah, I will."

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Byun Baekhyun is a dirty liar.

Two years pass, and Jongin hears no news about Joohyun's wedding. In fact, he hears no news from Baekhyun at all because he loses contact with him.

The boy's calls stop altogether and when Jongin tries to give him a call of his own, he finds out that the number is out of service.

When he tries to ask Taeyeon about him, she simply says that he 'disappeared.' And when he asks about Joohyun, she's even more secretive and avoids the topic every time.

By now, he has simply accepted the fact that Baekhyun and Joohyun had moved on with their lives. Joohyun is probably married to that Luhan guy, while Baekhyun has most likely found a job of his own, somewhere away from them. 

He has more important things to focus on now. At 26, Jongin's a full-fledged businessman, working for his father's company as a board member. The company work takes up so much of his time, that he has no time to think about Baekhyun or Joohyun, even if he wants to.

Sitting in his office, he glances up as he hears a knock at the door.

"Come in."

The door opens, revealing his secretary.

She bowed curtly. "Sir, it is your lunch break now."

"Already?" He glances at the clock, and indeed, it's already 12:30. "I'll be going out for a bit then. You may also take your break, Secretary Park."

He walks to the coffee shop in front of the company. It's a small, cozy place that's usually uncrowded, so that's convenient for him. He personally thinks that they make the best coffee he's ever tasted and all the employees recognize him enough to call him by his name.

"Jongin, hey, man!" Chanyeol, one of the tall, big-eared baristas, greets him cheerfully. "Are you having your usual again? The caramel latte with a French onion bagel?"

With a grin, he nods. "Yup."

He's paying for his food when he notices the figure beside him.

"A small hot chocolate please." It's a female voice, soft and soothing. 

He turns to look at her simply out of curiousity, but is met with a sight that he never thought he would see again.

His breath hitches in his throat.

It's her. Her hair is a little longer and she definitely seems thinner, but it's still her. Her large, rounded eyes, the aegyo sal beneath them, and her full, pink lips. It's scary that he can still recognize her after all this time and before he can stop himself, he says her name breathlessly.

"Joohyun."

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A/N: Sorry for a somewhat short chapter. This chapter may have been a bit boring (?), but now that Seohyun and Kai have met after two years, the next chapter will be much better! :) And I promise more BaekYeon! (as well as sulli's main role in the storyline, her storyline will not be related to seokai, but moreso baekhyun/taeyeon!) 

Thank you for reading and all comments are appreciated. Thanks to all of the new suscribers as well. You guys are awesome! :D