Chapter Six

Miseul dragged Sehun out of the restaurant after dinner was finished and Kris had graciously volunteered to stay back and pay for all the food. The sun was setting along the horizon with the moon barely in the sky. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and checked for any messages or missed calls.

She was hoping the small get-together for Sehun’s welcome back would distract her from the blaring lack of Sunggyu beside her. She hadn’t seen him since yesterday and while it frustrated her more than she could show, it also worried her. Sunggyu was always with her and if he wasn’t, he’d text her message after message with pointless nagging.

Sighing, Miseul decided to give him another call and looked at Sehun standing off to the side. It only took a few seconds before Miseul heard the voicemail greet her instead. By now, her frustration was rising higher than her worrying.

Sehun chuckled besides her and looked at her pointedly. “Can’t get in contact with your boyfriend, Miseul?”

She shooed Sehun away and glared at him. Even though he wasn’t exactly the source of her frustration, he was kind of annoying her. “He’s not my boyfriend. Go walk home without me, I’m going to stop by somewhere first.”

“Are you sure? It’s getting late and I’m not going to tell uncle you got kidnapped.” Sehun clicked his tongue at her and shook his head.

“I’ll be okay. Just go!” Miseul her heels and ran in the direction of Sunggyu’s house before Sehun could stop her. Without Sunggyu, she wasn’t as familiar with the neighborhood like she thought she was. He always pointed out the small details she never really paid any attention to. But she did remember what his house looked like. It wasn’t as big as hers but it was much more comfy and felt like an actual home. There were always lights on and soft music playing from it.

That was how she remembered it. But the house in front of her was dark and abandoned with a ‘for sale’ sign in the front yard. It didn’t remind her at all like how Sunggyu’s house was and she backtracked to make sure she had the right house. She frowned and panic bubbled up inside her but she remained calm and composed. It wasn’t the right time or the right place to break down.

Did Sunggyu really move and not tell her a single thing? She aimed a kick at the ‘for sale’ sign. This wasn’t how her Friday night was supposed to end and she could only find herself blaming Sunggyu for it. She dragged her feet to the bus stop and sighed as she boarded the bus and slumped down in a seat. She leaned her cheek against the cool glass and stared as the scenery blurred by.

It was really quiet without Sunggyu beside her, without him nagging at her to do her homework or to not daze off. She needed to take her anger out on something or rant to someone. Something instead of letting it sit inside her like this. She pulled her phone out again and was about to send a text to Haneul before remembering Haneul had a date with Jinyoung that night. Groaning, she pushed her phone in her pocket and declared she’d enjoy the rest of the night and not think about that guy again.

-

The next day, Miseul checked her phone the first thing in the morning, finding a few texts from Haneul but none from Sunggyu. Nothing from Sunggyu as usual and Miseul huffed, deciding it’d be best to just stay in her pajamas and keep her feet tucked in her fuzzy slippers. She sulked around the house and Sehun made a few snarky comments on her appearance, laughing when she threatened to beat him up with her slippers.

He left the house soon after and promised to bring her back some food so she won’t starve to death.

With nothing to do and a rising frustration in her chest, she simply laid down on the plush couch in the living room, her phone never leaving her hand. She flipped through the channels, a scowl obvious on her face before cursing out loudly and just turning off the tv.

“Why is this so frustrating!” She screamed out loudly as she threw her phone elsewhere, causing a vase to break; the vase probably costed thousands, which was why the servants were panicking, but Miseul could hardly care. Saturday was a day that she always spent with Sunggyu and that damn guy was nowhere insight. “I’m going to kill him,” she stood up, stiffening up when she heard the front door opening and the familiar footsteps.

“Wrecking the house again, I see,” Sunggyu stepped into the house, smiling politely towards the housekeeper that seemed ever so glad to see him, his face turning into a stone cold expression though when he turned to face Miseul.

She turned around to face him. It was almost as if all her frustrations and worries and question had reached its peak and she had no idea what to do but to grab the nearest thing she could and throw it at him.

He let the remote control hit his chest and simply walked towards her, placing the plastic bag in his hand down on the coffee table. “I’ve got something to tell you.”

His tone were cold, sending shivers down her spine as she furrowed her eyebrows, not sure how to react. “About how you’ve moved, huh?” She snorted softly, folding her arms across her chest as she willed herself to be calm.

“I see you’ve found out.” A smirk found its way across Sunggyu face as he looked at her. “Yes, I’ve moved.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” She asked, wanting to sound calm and all authoritative but it came out more whiny than she liked.

“Why should I?” He answered simply, surprising her.

She lifted her eyes and looked directly in his, and for a moment, she wondered what happened. Why is Sunggyu so different recently. And, if anything, it seemed almost as if there was something missing in him.

Almost as if he sensed her questions, he chuckled. “Ah there’s another thing I want to tell you.”

“What?”

There was a moment of silence as he reached into his pocket, grabbing something and she could almost swore she saw hesitation in his eyes before he pulled his hand out of his pocket. Reaching it out to her and opening his hand, on his palm laid a single earring. One of the pair. The one with Miseul’s Family Emblem on it, the one that her honey should wear and only she can take it off.

Her breath hitched at the back of and she could feel tears threatening to well up in her eyes, and in that moment, breathing felt almost too difficult.

“Why…” She wanted to sound strong, yet it came out nothing more than a whisper, but she was sure he could hear her.

He shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m tired of dealing with your little girl like whinings and all your stupid commands,” he scoffed, yet another smirk and if she weren’t so upset she’d say the smirk looked good on him. “And,” he tapped gently on the earring now on his ear with his own Family Emblem, “I’m an Elite now.”

She stayed silent, not sure how to process all this information. She grabbed her earring from Sunggyu, still looking in his eyes, hoping to find anything at all that might show he’s joking. “How…did you...”

He chuckled, the sound of it almost demeaning. “Don’t you think you’re dumb for asking that question? I can go in your room so easily all the time and the machine to remove it was just there-” Before he could finish his sentence, a loud slap echoed through the room.

Despite her hand stinging from pain, and tears welling up in her eyes no matter how she tried to hold back, she spat at him. Suddenly the living room that was pretty spacious felt too small and held too little oxygen, and her heart were hurting more than it should. She glared as much as she could at Sunggyu who was holding one side of his cheek. “Get out.”

He kept his face expressionless and simply stood up, straightening himself. “Don’t worry, I’ll help myself out.” He turned around and was ready to walk off when he sighed softly—just fleetingly. And Miseul was confused why he would sigh or maybe she heard wrongly since it was so fleeting. “I’m thankful I don’t have to deal with you anymore from now on, such a brat,” he spat out the words with a scoff before heading out of the house.

Miseul stood there, tears streaking down her cheeks, finding it hard to breathe and clutch at her chest, wondering why does it hurt so much there. She turned her head to look at the plastic bag Sunggyu placed down and she laughed. It was her favourite saturday breakfast, the pancakes from that particular cafe.

“ this,” she turned around and headed up to her room. The servants and housekeepers had no idea what to do at all and could only simply watch her go.

-

Slamming the door behind her, she broke down and slid down to the floor, hugging her knees to her chest. All sorts of coherent thoughts left her mind as she sobbed into her arms. It felt almost too surreal. The guy that had been there with her since forever, just leaving her like this.

Looking up onto her bed, she saw the sweater that once belonged to Sunggyu on it and she remembered how she had hugged it to sleep last night because she missed him. Memories of how she came into possession of that sweater flooded her mind that she didn’t even felt the door opening and a pair of arms wrapping around her protectively.

She remembered everything, how the rain was pouring on and on and she felt trapped as she sat on the bus stop. The rain seemed almost fitting that day as it was the first time she experienced a breakup and she had no idea to cry or not when suddenly, Sunggyu appeared beside her. She remembered how she smiled when he nagged at her as how he’d always did and when he wrapped the sweater around her before pulling her into a hug, letting her hide her face in his chest. She remembered the warmth she felt that caused her tears to flow and his words.

“I’ll be here, don’t worry, just cry. I’ll protect you.”

Those words. Her body stiffened up as she hugged herself tighter. “ing liar,” she cursed, only then realizing that her brother Sungjong had been hugging her all along.

“Mimi,” Sungjong whispered softly, wiping the tears off her sister’s cheeks with his thumb. He hardly saw her cry.

“Just today, Jongie,” she wrapped her arms around him and hid her face as his shoulder. “Let me cry, for just today. I’ll show him how I’m not the little girl anymore from tomorrow onwards.” She mumbled softly, biting her lip in the end and cursing mentally at how she couldn’t stop her tears.