"Broken"

 

I couldn’t stop fiddling my fingers as the elevator moved to the executive lounge on the 40^th floor. There, I’m going to meet my mother in law. It’s been awhile since the last time I saw her at her house during one of my visit to her place with Kris. And speaking of the man, he’s been busy like hell the past three days. He left house early in the morning and came back home late, last night I heard the sound of his footsteps at two in the morning. In short, I haven’t had a chance to see him.

“Are you okay, Ma’am?”

I looked away from my fingers to Chen who’s standing next to me. As usual, his clean cut appearance greeted me when I arrived at the lobby earlier and escorted me to the lounge. I smiled to him, nodding softly as we exchanged glance.

“You look fine” he said, looking slightly at my bump. “I hope the baby is well” he said again, adding some small smile.

“Yeah, it’s fine and growing well, I guess”

The elevator stopped at the level where the lounge located and Chen helped me to go out and kept walking next to me until we arrived at the executive lounge. When the guard opened the door, the room already prepared for some afternoon tea time reception. There’s only one table for 4 people with cakes and flowers prepared on it and another long table filled with cookies and sweet that quickly attracted my attention. Seemed the baby craved for something sweet, but before that, I have to greet the baby’s granny.

“Jinah” my mother in law called me and smiled once she saw me. It’s the mother-in-law-smile typical, so I just came to her and exchanged hug with her. Well, to be very honest, after our debate session before the wedding, she had been slightly changed. She’s less mean and more careful with her words towards me. I didn’t want to build a war with her though, she’s nice on treating my parents and I thought that’s enough for her to gain my respect, besides, she’s my baby’s grandma also so I didn’t think having myself distanced from her as a good choice.

“How are you, Mother?” I asked her once we’re seated on the table.

“I’m good. Did all of the baby things that I sent earlier arrive at your place? I haven’t heard anything from Kris” she said as the waitress placed the napkin on her lap.

“Oh, yes. I’m sorry, I was about to text you to say thanks but I got caught with my schedule…” I said apologetically.

“It’s fine. I hope it’s enough for the baby room. How’s your pregnancy?” she said as she looked at my bump and to my face. “You’re not gaining weight?”

“I gained eight kilos already…” I said in desperation. Did she even know how eight kilos affected my body?

“You’re still too skinny. Eat more. And I’m going to go with you on your next checkup. I already asked Minseok to prepare your medical record, so we’re good to go with him for the checkup routine” she simply said as she placed two macaroons on my plate. “Eat” she appointed the macaroons.

I was just looking at her blankly. Sometimes how similar my mother in law to Kris always made me shivered. Kris, just like his mother, always made me doing things that he thinks good for me even though I tried my best to refuse it; in the end, I will still be doing the things he told me. I just sighed and muttered a “yes” as I ate my macaroons. Good thing was, the macaroons tasted good. If it tasted bad, maybe I already threw my tantrum over it.

“I heard you’re still being active with your schedule” she said, sipping a tea before she continued. “Was it tiring?”

I shook my head. “No, it’s fine with me. I always enjoyed my job, so I don’t have any problem with my schedule”

“It’s good then. In three weeks, I’m planning to do a charity event at the orphanage that I owned. I want you to lead it and prepare it. I will ask my assistant to help you prepare anything you need”

“A charity event?”

“Yes. It’s one of my usual schedules for the orphanage. In a year, we usually held five to eight charity events in different orphanage and we usually invited other family to participate in this event. Previously I wanted to ask you to join me on the charity event in hospital, but since you’re pregnant, I didn’t want your body condition being affected by the condition of the hospital, so I think the charity at the orphanage would be suitable for you” she explained as she looked at me. “Do you have any question?”

“What kind of event should I be doing? I never really prepared something like this but I attended this kind of event a lot with my mother”

“It’d be just a simple opening and a day at the orphanage. The kids there always wait for our visit, so just make sure that everything would be prepared for them. The orphanage for this event consisted of babies, toddlers, and kids, the oldest one would be around eight years old. They will perform some dance or maybe singing performance to welcome us, and after that all of the invitees will be walked around the orphanage and spend a day playing with them, serving them lunch, and just having fun there”

I nodded and made a mental note on the thing that I should prepare. I think I should call my mom and asked her what things would be suitable for my event. I suddenly felt so ecstatic to prepare this event, maybe I should ask Minkyung to join also. Oh, and maybe Jongin and Kyungsoo also along with Luhan and Tao, they’re still here in Seoul so it’d be easier for me to ask them to join.

“You look excited” she commented as she ate her cake, glancing at me.

“It’s been a while since I’m looking forward to do something, so I just get excited over it” I replied as I took my macaroons. Oh, the taste is so good. I want more.

“I’ll send you over the list of the families that we’re going to invite. The one that usually come is only the lady of the family along with their daughters or their in law, nothing more. And they will participate as well in the event. Don’t forget to prepare some t-shirts to be used by us for the event and also prepare the gift for the kids. They always love goody bag with toys on it” she added. I nodded in understanding.

It’s been a while since I joined my mother to hold an event like this in the orphanage. I already have in mind on what I wanted to do and what kind of toys I wanted to buy for them. I’ll make sure that these kids will enjoy our visit to their place.

“Do you have any schedule after this?” she asked me.

I shook my head. “No, Mother. I think I will just go to my place after this. I’ve just had an interview session and felt so tired, so maybe I’ll just heading home”

“Take care, we don’t want anything happen to the baby and the mom, right?” she glanced at me as she cleaned up her hand with the napkin. “Anyway, I want to have a dinner with all of us, your parents included also. Please inform me anytime that’s possible for us to meet”

“Yes, Mother”

“And your mom is a good cook. She often sending me food made by her, I’ll make sure to send her food also”

“Well, cooking is apparently one of her hobbies” I said.

We started to enjoy more cake and tea as we talked about our usual routine. Without me realizing, my mother in law happened to have a similar taste with my mom regarding clothes and handbag they choose. And for once, I thought I should buy my mother in law a handbag. I think I never give her anything…

“Is Kris around? I haven’t seen him the past few days” she asked, wiping the corner of .

I bit my lower lip; I myself haven’t seen him also. “Well, he’s been busy these days”

“Could you please help me to check on his body condition, Jinah? He has a weak stomach, few times skipping meals and he’ll have to be hospitalized” my mother in law said with a slight of worry face.

“Sure, I will”

“Is he treating you good?” she suddenly asked in a curious tone. She changed her sitting position so she could look directly at me.

“Pardon me?”

“Is he cares about your pregnancy? About the baby?” she asked further.

I quietly nod. “Well, yes. He’s been treating me well, as well as the baby”

“Really?”

“Why? Do you have any concern regarding Kris?” I asked her, feeling a little curious.

She leaned to the back of her chair and sighed, this is the first time I saw her like this. My mother in law, Helen Wu, always appeared strong and confident with herself. It’s rare to see her complaining or being like this, she’s always appears calm and powerful, there’s no way she would look lost or defeated. She looked at me and slowly, shook her head.

“Nothing. Just curious. He’s never the one who show what he felt, he usually just want others to feel fine. So I’m curious how he cope up with the pregnancy, the marriage”

“There’s never been really a marriage between me and him, Mother” I dared to open my mouth and say the thing I always want to say to her. “I know that me and Kris, we’re bonded because of the baby, but never really because of a marriage. He treated me fine, and that’s enough. I don’t think you should be worry over him, I will try my best to keep things as we planned and I believe, he will too”

My mother in law only looked at her fingers and took another deep breath.

“If you’re worrying about Kris…” I suddenly said, making her looking at me. “I mean, I will look over him. I don’t really know him, like his habit, what food he likes, or anything, but if you let me know what bothers you and how do you want me to look for it, tell me. I will help to watch him” I said, ending my words with a mutter.

I didn’t know why, but I just sort of understand the glance given by my mother in law. Kris is her only son, and seeing what my mother had been done to him, taking care of him as she asked him to take care of me, I kind of want to do the same thing for him. He said that his mother was never really care for him but I think it was totally wrong. From what I saw, his mother truly care for him but maybe these two really have a communication problem that they couldn’t simply tell each other what the others feel. So if by helping his mother watched over Kris I could repay him back for what he has done for my mother, then I would.

“Kris, he likes meat. He really likes it he could eat it nonstop, I’ve once have to stop him eating the meat since he refused to eat anything but meat. He dislikes fish. Maybe because when I was pregnant I kept consuming fish, he got sick of it once he’s born. He never favors any fish, maybe that’s why he preferred meat over fish. He likes his steak well done; he didn’t like raw food except for sushi. He couldn’t cook though, but he could make some simple dish just for his own survival…” she said with a chuckle at the end of her words.

“He’s a good kid, even though I fought several times with him. You know, he’s never really like any other rebellious kids on his age when he’s still in the middle school, but still, I’m having a hard time facing him, especially after his father passed away. Our family is not like any other family, Jinah. I’m telling you, for Kris to stay here untouched, I have spent many years trying my best to fight for his right, until he’s ready to take over the company, to take care of what his father has been built many years ago” she sighed again. Her beautiful face looked so tired seeing from my direction. I never noticed that my mother in law indeed looked so flawless, maybe Kris inherited her graceful look, at some point Kris could be seen so flawless that I felt weird even just to stay next to him.

“And later on, your baby, if it’s a boy…”

“What if it’s a boy?”

“He’ll face the same thing as Kris been facing, for sure” she said softly as she looked at me. I didn’t know why, but I felt like rubbing my bump that’s covered by my black loose dress.

“It’s getting bigger…” she commented.

“Yeah, I started to feel that it’s growing fast…” I said, still rubbing my bump.

“Take care of yourself well, Jinah. Remember, you’re not living for you only now, there’s a baby inside you that you need to keep…”

I nodded. “But Mother…” I called her, making her looking at me. “What if the baby…what if the baby is not a boy?”

I waited patiently for my mother in law to answer it. She blinked several times before she coughed, clearing . She hummed and then she looked at me again before she shook her head.

“Let’s not talk about this now” she said shortly after spending seconds thinking to answer me.

“Why?”

“I will tell you, but not now. You have my words” she softly said. “I have another appointment I have to attend in the other place. Let’s call it a day” she added.

I was still sitting on my seat when my mother in law getting ready to leave the place. I have a bad feeling about this. I felt like there’s something planned for me, that if this baby is not a boy, something bad will happen. I’ll be surely asking Kris if he knew something, anything, regarding this. Chen came right when my mother in law done with her preparation. He politely nodded to my mother in law as well to me.   

We left the room and was about to head straight to the elevator right when my mother in law stopped her steps as she’s being greeted. I stopped my steps as well and when I looked straight, I found the least person I ever wanted to meet. Mrs. Kim, Woobin oppa’s mother, was stood across us, accompanied by her future daughter in law, Hwang Su Ah. Mrs. Kim, as always, ignored me and politely greeted my mother in law while me and Su Ah, we exchanged glance.

“It’s such a coincidence to see you here, Mrs. Wu” as usual, Mrs. Kim said exaggeratedly.

“Well, if you recall, this is my family’s hotel, Mrs. Kim. How could you say it’s a coincidence to see me here?” my mother in law replied, adding a small smile.

“Oh, sure. It’s just that, I saw your son often compared to you. I hope you’re fine” she said, smiling widely as she still ignoring my presence.

“I’m fine. Is this Miss Hwang?” my mother in law looked at Su Ah and the woman nodded politely.

“Yes, Mrs. Wu. I’m Hwang Su Ah” she said as she bowed gracefully towards my mother in law. Indeed, Su Ah is the girl next door everyone dreamed to be their daughter in law. She looked beautiful on her dark blue dress and pump shoes with similar color. Her hair was made into natural wavy style, showing her effortless beauty.

“Have you set the date, Mrs. Kim? Heard that you’re going to hold a wedding soon?”

If I didn’t misinterpret it, I slightly saw a smirk at Mrs. Kim’s face upon my in law’s question. She must have been enjoying this kind of situation. Mrs. Kim slowly wrapped her hand around Su Ah, pulled her closer to her arm.

“We’re preparing for it, the wedding should be held soon. The bride and groom to be couldn’t wait for the wedding day though” she answered, exchanging look between my mother in law and Su Ah. I saw Su Ah smiled to herself, seemed she’s happy to have her wedding day prepared. I just added a small smile upon it.

“And how’s your daughter in law?” Mrs. Kim said coldly, but I bet my mother in law wouldn’t even notice it.

“Oh, she’s fine. Her pregnancy went well, we couldn’t wait the presence of the baby in the middle of our family” she replied. Yeah, of course, this family needs an heir and my baby destined to be one. The baby really made people wait for its presence.

“I see… You seemed to be active in the magazine also, Mrs. Jinah Wu” Mrs. Kim said.

“It’s her career, it’s normal to see her in the magazine” my mother in law replied. “Oh, anyway, she’ll be the lead for the upcoming charity event” she added. I noticed that Mrs. Kim showed an annoyed face.

“The upcoming charity? Your daughter in law is the lead of it?” she repeated.

“Jinah apparently is a Wu now and aside from me, I think it’s time for her to take a part in Wu family annual event. I hope you can support her, Mrs. Kim”

Mrs. Kim stole a glance over me and gave a nasty look. “Oh. Sure”

“Jinah you can learn from Mrs. Kim, she’s a good charity event team leader” my mother in law said to me. I only nodded politely towards her.

“Don’t mention it, it’s just something naturally taught in my family…” Mrs. Kim replied, faking a smile towards my mother in law. There’s been a second of silence before the secretary whispered to Kris’ mother.

“Mrs. Kim, it’s nice to see you, but apparently I have another appointment to attend to, so I must say goodbye to you and Miss Hwang” my mother in law said, nodding to them both. “Jinah, I’ll see you soon, ok?” she said to me and after greeting everyone, she left with her staff, leaving me along with Mrs. Kim and Hwang Su Ah.

“Are you happy now?” Mrs. Kim asked me with her cold tone. I could sense that Su Ah really dislike seeing me here, plus she has to witness how her future in law treated me. 

“If there’s nothing to be discussed, Mrs. Kim, I’m going to take my leave” I said politely to her. I knew she hates me, a lot. I knew we never have a good relationship from the very start. I knew she despised me so much, but still, she’s the mother of the guy I’ve once love and being taught to be polite with the elder by my parents, I’m going to hold on my ego and just let her do whatever she thinks could amuse her, including insulting me. I’m not going to lose my cool over a small thing like this.

“Do you think your social status will be changed once you’re married to the Wu? Do you now belittle me and my family just because you’re now a billionaire wife and furthermore, carrying the heir of the family?” she asked me again with more venomous words. I fisted my fingers, trying my best to hold on my anger.

“Never forget your past, I’m telling you” she added.

“Aunt…” Hwang Su Ah held on Mrs. Kim hand, trying to hold on Mrs. Kim.

“I have no problem with you, Mrs. Kim. Please don’t treat me like I’m your enemy” I said with gritted teeth.

“You’re not even on my league to be called as my enemy. You’re just a little baby trying to trip me off. I’m telling you, just because your mother in law happened to be one of the richest families here in the city, don’t mean you can act the way you want it. Don’t you dare crossing the line” she hissed as she looked at me.

“What line did I cross?” I asked her back. I took a deep breath, waiting for her respond.

Mrs. Kim raised her eyebrows and looked at me straight in the eye. I didn’t know why I felt like I just want to get angry and the more she talked, the more I want to annoy her. I really couldn’t control my anger at this rate.

“You’re once dreamed to be part of my family but fail, now that you’re stepping into the Wu, don’t you think you’re a little aggressive, Ma’am? Is this how your parents taught you to live? To look for the richest future husband so their life could be at ease?”

I closed my eyes and quickly opened it again. It’s enough, she crossed my limit.

“Not a word about my parents, Mrs. Kim. Not a word” I said to her coldly.

“But that’s the truth. If you’re not after my family’s fortune, why would you be married to another billionaire in this country? You must have been looking for another chance to get on top. But I won’t let it happen. Just rich will get you nowhere. If you’re not naturally born as chaebol, you will never inherit the gracefulness that passed from generation to generation. It’s so scary to see that your parents even sell your body to the Wu just so they can be a part of the family and-“

“Enough, Mrs. Kim!” I said half screaming.

She stopped talking and just plainly looked at me. Hwang Su Ah held her hand, softly rubbing it as she tried to calm Mrs. Kim. I’m so angry right now, seeing her easily talking low about my parents. It’s so annoying that all I wanted was just screaming at her. That night two years ago, I still couldn’t forgive her.

“Can’t you please just let me out of your hook? I have nothing to do with your family anymore; can’t you just leave me alone?” I said half pleading, half weak since I just screamed and I suddenly felt so weak. Tears started to appear at the corner of my eyes but Mrs. Kim didn’t seem to be care about it.

“It would be better if I never have to see your face again” she muttered.

I closed my eyes, trying to hold on my tears. No, I’m not going to shed tears in front of her again. That time was enough, there’s no way I would want my life being ruined by her.

“Is everything okay?”

I opened my eyes when I heard a familiar voice. When I looked to source of the voice, I saw Woobin oppa stood next to Hwang Su Ah. He looked at his mother and Su Ah and then….me.

“Jinah” I turned to my side and saw Kris walked towards me. His pale face seemed to give a concerned look once he saw me.  “What happened?” he asked when he stopped his steps as he stood next to me. “You okay?” he asked.

I couldn’t let him see my tears, so I quickly nodded and looked to the ground.

“Mom, is there anything happened?” Woobin oppa asked his mom but Mrs. Kim didn’t say anything.

“Let’s just leave” she said as she turned around and started walking. I noticed that Su Ah didn’t say anything and just followed her while Woobin oppa looked confused to me and to his mother.

“Jinah, are you okay?” Kris’ voice made me looked at him and to avoid him questioning me, I just simply nodded and muttered a yes.

“Mr. Wu” I heard Woobin oppa calling Kris. “It’s nice to have a discussion with you earlier. I’ll see you next week” he said as he politely bowed to Kris and me.

Kris didn’t say anything but nodded when Woobin oppa bowed to Kris and after that, it’s silent. I couldn’t say anything because I knew my voice would be still shaky since I held my tears but I knew, Kris’ intense gaze wouldn’t stop until I explained anything so I just waited there until he took my hand and started leading me to walk to the elevator.

“Where are we going?” I asked softly, still trying to cover up my voice.

“My suite” he answered shortly.

And I just knew that it’s time to reveal everything.

 

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“Jinah…” I called her name for the tenth times but still, no answer from the bathroom. “Jinah, answer me, please!” I knocked on the large wooden door again.

Twenty minutes had passed since we arrived at my suite and Jinah went directly to the toilet. I thought it must have been related with her pregnancy, the doctor said that the bigger the baby grew the more the mother wanted to have a pee once in a while. And since she’s been taking a lot of time in the bathroom at home, I didn’t feel weird to see her go to the bathroom. But now, it’s different. I started to think that there must have been something happened.

I’ve just finished my meeting with The Kim Construction regarding the development of our new tower in the city when I found her near my meeting room. The meeting room was empty already, thank God, since I saw her half screaming at the alley. Before I could walk to her, Kim Woobin, who was just having a meeting with me, went directly to the alley half running. I noticed he’s about to walk to Jinah, but then changed his direction to the people that were standing across Jinah.

I saw Jinah’s face turned to red and her fist was tight as she clutched it, showing her white knuckle. I didn’t know what happened but seemed Jinah dislike the presence of Mrs. Kim as well as Miss Hwang from Hwang Telecommunication. I knew that there was history between Jinah and Mr. Kim, but I didn’t know about his mother. Mrs. Kim didn’t look fine, looking from her angry eyes. I didn’t know why I couldn’t say anything instead of asking whether Jinah was okay or not. But it felt better once the Kim left us, so I could take her to my suite and get her a proper rest.

But now, Jinah locked herself inside the bathroom.

“Jinah, open the door or I will break it” I said loudly to her, hoping she could hear me in between the shower voice. Was it possible that she’s taking a bath?

“Jinah!” I screamed out loud, but still, she didn’t say anything. I started to feel panic and worry over her so I called the room service and asked them to bring me the key. If there’s something happened to her… I didn’t dare to imagine anything. I noticed that she’s kind of pale earlier, I regretted myself didn’t notice it faster. I think I should call Minseok so he could be prepared in case there’s something happened to her.

Once the room service brought me the key, I ran to open the door. I ignored the fact or possibility that she’s taking a bath, I believed she didn’t do that. So when I heard a click once I unlocked the door, I quickly opened it and found Jinah on the floor, clothes half wet since she ignored the water that’s overflew the bathtub to the floor.

I kneeled in front of her, ignoring my pants being wetted by the water. I cupped her face and she just closed her eyes, her cheeks blushed in red and when she opened her eyes, I just knew that she’s been crying. We didn’t say anything, but I knew she just didn’t want to talk. I rubbed her cheeks softly before I took the bathrobe and placed it around her as I brought her to the bed, there’s no way she could be in cold.

“What’s wrong with you?” I asked her once she’s placed on the bed. I sat next to her when she just weakly shook her head.

There’s a dead silent between us. I took towels and turned off the water so there’s no sound in between the silence. I helped her dried her hair but then she took the towel and just placed it next to her. I sighed and secretly glanced at her. Sometimes I thought I knew her, but in another time, I have no idea what’s inside her head.

“I’m sorry” she said softly as she looked down to where her fingers stayed on her lap.

“For being silent and just locked yourself inside the bathroom?”

She looked at me and shook her head slowly.

“That too, but…” she hung her words. She couldn’t seem to say it, which is fine for me since I believe that there’s no need for her to explain anything to me. I just need her to be safe.

“It’s okay. Just take a rest now and later we wi-“

“Kim Woobin is my ex-boyfriend” she suddenly said, cutting my words. I looked at her and she looked back at me. “Mr. Kim from Kim Construction was my boyfriend several years ago” she added, wiping another tears from the corner of her eyes.

“I met him four years ago in London. I was working, he was working also, and we happened to stay at the same hotel. And that’s how it started… We dated for quite a long time, secretly under the media watch. He met my family and I met his, and when we finally really sure about each other’s feeling, he proposed me” she continued her story. Earlier I was about to leave her here, but I thought that she’s purposely doing this, she wanted to explain things to me.

“I said yes, I loved him and he matched well with my parents, my friends; he’s a man I’ve been dreaming of. But apparently, not everyone was happy with the news” she stopped talking, taking a breath. She would just rub her stomach as she took a breath, I continued watching her.

“It’s the night he took me and my family to meet his parents. He said that his mother already booked a place for family dinner, so I and my parents went along with him. But there’s no family dinner there” she stopped again, this time, wiping her tears.

“Right before I stepped in to the restaurant that’s booked by his mother, I saw her. Hwang Su Ah, and her parents, they’re heading to the same direction with us and when we arrived there, Su Ah and her parents went in while Woobin oppa along with me and my parents stopped at the gate. His mother appeared there”

Jinah bit her lower lips, fiddling with her fingers.

“Mrs. Kim apparently never likes me at all and the idea of her son marrying me, the girl who has nothing compared to her naturally wealthy family, scared her. I never knew that there’s such a hate like that driven by her towards me, she just plainly dished out my parents by telling me and my parents that that night was supposed to be the night their family talked about wedding with the Hwang. My father was shock, my mother as well. There’s no word regarding marriage that night, instead with anger and shame, the three of us went back home. I could tell how much my parents felt bad for me, but I thought that their burden was bigger than mine, so I felt so guilty. That day, I couldn’t stop crying…”

“I’m fine if it’s me, I’m fine if Mrs. Kim hates me, but never my parents” she shook her head, biting her lower lip harder. I could tell she really tried her best not to cry, even though tears couldn’t stop appear on her eyes.

“Mr. Kim… What did he do back then?” I asked her, kind of curious with Mr. Kim. He’s one of the main actors here, why his name didn’t appear in that part of the story?

Jinah shook her head. “He couldn’t do anything. He’s just…following his parents” she let out a sniff. “If it were you, you wouldn’t do anything too, right? Your future is on the line… I don’t think anyone will just leave their place as an heir and refuse the inheritance just for the sake of love”

Her words were bitter and she just there, sat helplessly as she wiped her tears that seemed didn’t want to stop.

“And what happened earlier?” I asked her. I was kind of curious with what she did. She was screaming at Mrs. Kim, I wonder what was happened.

“She insulted my parents. Again” she shrugged her shoulder and just took a heavy sigh. “After all these years, the hates she gave me, I’m fine with it. But today, she talked low about my parents, I couldn’t hold it anymore. I’m sorry” she said before she started to cry again.

“My parents, they raised me well. They always taught me good things and how to be polite to other, how to interact with people. I don’t care if people want to bad mouthing me, I’m okay, but never my parents” she quickly shook her head. “And today was… I couldn’t stand her words about my parents”

I watched her secretly. Her eyes were red due to the tears, her nose, her cheeks, all went red also. I noticed her hands were a bit shaky, maybe because the room was cold and she’s soaking wet from the bathroom earlier. At a moment like this, I could see how vulnerable Jinah was. She’s like a glass, fragile. This was the first time I saw her like this, the entire laugh and her witty words….there’s nothing left in the Jinah in front of me. I just plainly saw a woman that was hurt.

“I’m calling Chen. He’ll bring you clothes, but for now, just rest first” I said as I stood up from the bed and walked to the pantry to make something warm for her. I myself not feeling really well, I’ve been staying late the past three days with only coffee to stuff my stomach. I knew it’s too much, but the project that I’m working on was kind of having some problems that I need everything to be changed in such a short time.

I ignored a little punch I felt inside my stomach when I walked back to her with a cup of warm tea. It’s been several days since I got myself feeling it, the punch. Sometimes it’s punching my inside pretty hard, sometimes it’s just a slight punch, but I ignored it. It must have been the intestine movement that I felt.

“I’m sorry” she muttered as she looked at me once she’s done with her tea.

“For?”

“For making you embarrassed earlier. I’m sorry I couldn’t hold my anger and just screamed to Mrs. Kim…”

“I’m sorry too” I said to her.

“Why?”

“You’ll have to see her a little often for my company is working with Kim Construction on our new project” I explained.

Jinah just sat there mindlessly. She bit her lower lip and looked at me, like she had just done such a big mistake towards me.

“About me and Mr. Kim…” she said, waiting for my reaction.

“Yeah?”

“It’s over. There’s nothing left but a good memory between us. I mean, we’ve talked and agreed to just live our life without mentioning our past…”

I just nodded.

“Will this affect your work with him?”

“What?”

“What I’ve been saying. The fact that I was-“

I quickly shook my head. “It’s in the past, right?”

Jinah nodded in sure.

“Then it’s fine. Whatever happened in the past will be stayed in the past”

She looked down and rubbed her stomach. It seemed like both me and her forgot the fact that during her emotional action earlier, she’s still carrying the baby. I touched her knee, making her looked at me once again.

“You okay? The baby is okay?” I asked her.  She nodded.

“We’re fine. I felt bad to the baby… I just got so angry, I wonder if the baby could feel it” she rubbed her stomach again. “I’m sorry, little baby” she said as she kept rubbing her stomach.

“We’ll ask Minseok to check you up” I said calmly. This time, Jinah didn’t say anything to oppose it. She used to refuse the idea of changing the doctor for her pregnancy, but since my mom asked Minseok to take care of her personally, I didn’t think Jinah could say no. My mom never accepts no as an answer though.

“And you. Where have you been?” she asked.

“Hmm. Work” I replied, touching the back of my neck. Suddenly today felt so tiring for me. It seemed that I finally realized that I’m totally exhausted and need a rest.

“Your mother, she’s worry about you. How come you didn’t see her in the office?”

“My mom had just back from China, maybe that’s why we haven’t seen each other” I replied. I suddenly felt the punch again I have to bit my lower lip as I pressed the side part of my stomach.

“Kris, anything wrong?” she sounded panic as she moved closer to me. “Is there anywhere hurt?”

“Let me lie down” I said as I tried to lie down on the bed. God, it’s so hard to do it though. I couldn’t move my body without feeling the punch getting stronger on my stomach. I tried my best to suppress the grunt that I really want to let out.

Once I was lying down, it didn’t feel better though. I started to curl myself on the bed, facing Jinah that looked worry at me.

“Kris…What happened?” she asked.

“Call Minseok” I said as I tried to take out my phone and looked for Minseok’s name before giving it to her. I bit my lips as I felt the punch getting harder, it’s so hurt and I suddenly couldn’t see things clearly.

The last thing I remember was hearing her calling my name. I wanted to answer her, but I couldn’t open my mouth to answer her. And the more I try to answer her, the heavier it felt on my stomach. I ended up closing my eyes, just to reduce the pain I felt, but I have no idea whether I could open my eyes anymore or not. I couldn’t hear her voice.

It’s silent.

 

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Aloha.

Chapter 18, finally. Haha I teased you guys and the response was somehow…amazing. Please don’t kill me just because I couldn’t update asap hehe.. I did a huge change on this chapter, the previous flow was not like this but then again, I need to keep up with my storyline, so I changed anything needed. Su Ah will appear more. Someone said they love drama in this story, so more drama to come, then ;)

Thanks for supporting this story. And can I have your thought on the update?

Have a nice Friday!!! It’s Friday, people ;)

xoxo,

yuriyaa

 

ps: anyway these two made instagram account. omg I couldn't contain my feeling! go Nana, go Kris!