Jongwoon is not stupid – unlike Kyuhyun, he bitterly thinks, as the ground crew checks his passport and boarding pass for the nth time and asks him to check his flight number because there is no such flight that morning, according to the apologetic ground crew he almost believes his father gives a boarding pass that must contain something wrong in it. But he called his father multiple times already that morning, even interrupting his mother’s last checkup, and his father confirmed that there is such flight.

He is close to irritated but is good at maintaining his composure because he tells himself this is nothing compared to everything that happened to him already. Such as a dying sister who is the only person he believed loves him then or a mother who can’t recognize him except when he’s dressed as his dead older sister or a father who’ll beat him up if he’ll not dress as his dead older sister for his mother or a person he’d be so willing to give and give up everything but turned his back on him.

So Jongwoon is good. He is good.

He walks towards the ground crew again who looks at him apologetically like she’s programmed to tell him the exact things he already told him. Almost pitifully, he notes, but there is no logical reason where that’s coming from so he proceeds like usual and gives her his passport and boarding pass.

“I’m sorry, sir,” the ground crew starts, avoiding Jongwoon’s gaze.

“Is someone purposely blocking me from this flight?” Jongwoon finally asks because that is the only logical explanation.

The ground crew looks taken aback and only apologizes. The people behind Jongwoon begin to talk and he has to leave the line, completely irritated now.

It took all of him to decide to leave. All of him to not say anything to Kyuhyun or Heechul or Youngwoon or Sooyoung or Joohyun anymore because he is supposed to be leaving that morning. All of him to wake up, open his eyes, drag himself out of the bed and get ready, knowing that tomorrow he’ll be waking up in another place, another house where none of his friends are. All of him to come here at the airport and maintain himself so he can board the place that will take him far away from here. All of him to decide to drop everything and look at himself again first. So he is really pissed when he sees the person behind this.

“Seriously?” That’s the first thing that comes out of Jongwoon’s mouth because he is close to swearing but he doesn’t want to give Yoona the satisfaction. He stomps towards her and she meets her halfway. This despicable woman. “What, you can stop a flight now?”

Jongwoon doesn’t even hide the not mild irritation in his voice because he is seriously pissed. What does she want from him anyway? She wants Kyuhyun and Jongwoon is leaving now, right?

“I can’t,” Yoona answers truthfully, removing her big sunglasses to reveal her swollen eyes, hidden under a heavy amount of dark eyeshadow, “but my parents can.”

She wakes up that morning with an unsettling feeling on her stomach she doesn’t know where is coming from. If she can remember clearly, she hasn’t eaten anything since breakfast yesterday because she’s so busy shopping souvenirs for her friends in China and last night after she returned home, she doesn’t feel like eating so she sleeps it through. Only, she hasn’t slept so much as a wink because tomorrow – or today – she’s finally leaving.

She eats a buffet the maids cooked for her like a prisoner on her last meal and maybe, that’s really what it is like.

With half a muffin on , she opens her phone and dials her father. He answers after a couple of rings – which is unusual. Usually, he answers between the last three rings or he’ll call his daughter back after a day or two. It is so unexpected that Yoona has to drink the croissant that is choking her from surprise with orange juice.

“What is it?” his father answers sternly. She figures he must be with one of his mistresses, maybe her mother’s younger sister or his father’s secretary. “Are you finally done with this rebelling, finding yourself ?”

Yoona has put her phone on loudspeaker so everyone on the house hears her father’s voice but she’s not embarrassed. She’s not embarrassed anymore.

“Yeah,” she mutters nonchalantly, like this freedom isn’t something she’d fought for a long time ago. She uses bread knife to slice several pieces of steak at once and stuffs a couple of pieces in . “I’m coming home today, Dad.”

Her father’s voice suddenly brightens, like Yoona just told him she has cure for AIDS or solution to world poverty. “Really?” he chirps and Yoona hears a creak of the bed. “That’s great! Many board members are already waiting for you. And investors! And business partners! They all want to see you, Yoona.”

Yoona is not even frightened or disgusted that her own father is selling her for the sake of business, security and money anymore.

“I know,” she says, putting three or four pieces of steak on and letting its juice drip from to her jaw. “Just one thing,” she continues while chewing the delicious steak thoroughly. “I’d like you to block a flight.”

His father laughs but it sounds more like a roar. “Did you get into a catfight again?” he asks, still laughing like this is the funniest thing in the world. “Yoona, you don’t have to prove anything. You can marry the emperor here in China if you wish. You know that.”

“Well, this one’s a , Dad,” Yoona lies but it doesn’t even sound like a lie anymore. She’s so used to lying to her parents that it doesn’t sound like a lie even to her anymore. “I want to show her who’s the real .”

“Alright, alright,” his father agrees easily because that’s just like him and that’s just like how he wants his daughter to be, showing weaker people that they are stronger and who they are.

Yoona stares at the phone with disgust as if she is staring at her own father. It’s still unnerving how her father can be so stupid sometimes. Even if she did get into catfights several times already and decided to show who she is with the help of her parents, this is different. She’s different now. She has become different but she honestly doesn’t know if it’s for the good or bad. Because now, she realizes she’s capable of falling in love but also capable of hurting.

“Send me the flight number,” his father says.

She sends Jongwoon’s flight number.

“Are you really coming home tonight?”

“Yes, Dad,” Yoona answers and she can’t help thinking if she’ll find something as great love as she witnessed here even if it’s not for her in China where her face matters more than her manners. Well, she just has to sneeze without napkin and excuse herself and every mother-in-law to be will reject her so she doesn’t have to worry much about marrying someone twenty years older than her.

“It’s blocked,” his father confirms. “Alright, I’ll set a date for you and one of our investors.”

“Fine,” Yoona says and hangs up before her father can set him up in another date for the night and eats five or six pieces of muffins, a couple more steaks and drinks about two liters of apple juice as if it’s alcohol, like it can make her forget how terrible her father is and how she can have everything in life but not the first thing ever she genuinely wishes to have.

“Right…” Jongwoon mutters and is about to turn around to leave the airport, to go home or to book another flight right there and then. Whatever really, he just doesn’t want to be around Yoona any second longer because even if he doesn’t blame Yoona for everything, it’ll take a saint not to blame Yoona for what happened with him and Kyuhyun even if she is not entirely at fault.

To be honest, Jongwoon knows it’s not entirely Yoona’s fault. She even could not be blamed for half of it because what happened between him and Kyuhyun is between him and Kyuhyun. So when Kyuhyun turned him away, it is Kyuhyun who turned him away. It’s not like Yoona is choking his throat or pointing him a gun when he told Jongwoon he can’t.

“Kim Jongwoon-ssi,” Yoona stops Jongwoon – or well, her bodyguards stops Jongwoon by blocking him and when Jongwoon looks back at Yoona again, trying to contain the blood that’s rushing through his every vein so as not to hurt Yoona or anybody in particular, her bodyguards leave them alone again. Or as alone as they can be in a busy airport.

“I realize we never got the chance to talk seriously,” she continues, walking towards a waiting bench and Jongwoon has no choice but to follow her.

He realizes he should have listened to his mother when she told him to bring some of their bodyguards but he refused, saying their driver is bodyguard enough. But even their driver is not there anymore. Well, mothers know best.

She sits on the bench, smoothing her coat as she does, and waits for Jongwoon to sit as well.

He does, on the opposite side of the bench, and satirically answers, “I really wonder whose fault is that.”

“I’m sorry,” Yoona says, looking earnestly at Jongwoon who can’t believe what he’s hearing.

Did she just apologize to him? After all of the terrible things she did to Jongwoon and Kyuhyun? After revealing who he is to Kyuhyun – and not to mention the whole universe but Jongwoon doesn’t really care about that as much as he cares about Kyuhyun – even before he can explain himself? After letting the entire school mock him because he loves Kyuhyun? After spreading false rumors and fabricated truths about him? After everything she’s done to get Kyuhyun to herself and hurt Jongwoon, did she just apologize to Jongwoon?

“I’m sorry,” she repeats, looking as earnest as the first time, and he finally registers what he is hearing but he still isn’t able to process it. Too much is going on inside Jongwoon that he’s not sure if his system has corrupted or is going to corrupt because there is an error or overdrive.

He wants to shout at her, really. He wants to yell at her and spit everything evil she did to him and to Kyuhyun and to their friends. He wants to let her know that it’s not okay to hurt people like that just because you want something you can’t have forcefully. He wants to make her realize that even if she is apologizing now, it won’t fix the mess and the chaos she created and the lives she ruined. He wants to make it clear to her that even if she apologizes, she already broke something that even her apology will not be able to bring back again.

But he only blinks and looks at her as she kneels in front of Jongwoon, taking Jongwoon’s hand. Her bodyguards run towards her to help her stand up but she waves them off and continues to hold Jongwoon’s hand. This is certainly a movie material scene but Jongwoon is not even registering the amount of curious looks from passerbys as Yoona bends down her head and apologizes for the third time, crying at this point, “I’m sorry.”

He doesn’t even know if he has it in him to forgive Yoona, to be honest. He hasn’t even think she’ll come to him, ask his father to block his flight just so she can talk to him and apologize. So he blinks at her as she remains kneeled before Jongwoon, unable to say something, until after several minutes, security personnel comes to them and inquires what’s going on. They are garnering too much, unwanted attention from people.

“I'm sorry,” Yoona says for the fourth time and she doesn’t even know if her own flight has already flew or not but she’s not going to leave Jongwoon at least until he talks to her. She doesn’t expect her apology to be accepted. Much more, to be forgiven. She can laugh at that because that’s like asking for a universe after all she has done.

They’re already at the airport café and it’s not as open as the bench they were before.

“Why? What is this, Yoona? What is this again? What do you want more?” Jongwoon finally speaks because he doesn’t understand. What is the point? There are people already hurt and there are things that can never be the same again. So what is the point because Jongwoon doesn’t understand? “In case you missed it, I’m already leaving for good.”

“I’m sorry for everything I did,” Yoona tells him. “For Sooyeon and Miyoung. For you and Kyuhyun. I did terrible things. I played with something I realized is not a game. I’m so sorry… but Kyuhyun is just afraid.”

Like I’m not, Jongwoon can’t stop himself from thinking.

He finally realizes what this is about. Why is Yoona in front of her, why she asked her father to block his flight, why she is apologizing for everything wrong she did to Jongwoon and to his friends. Kyuhyun.

And Joohyun must have rubbed something in him but as much as he wants to hate Yoona, to despise her and even curse her before she hurt him and she didn’t just hurt him, she took something away from him, something so important, something that can never be replaced, something that Jongwoon can never find again, and he still hates Yoona, he despises her and he curses her but he can’t deny the fact that he knows what it’s like to be in Yoona’s shoes.

To be so ready to give your everything for the person you love and not expect anything in return.

“Yes, he is,” Jongwoon answers. He knows more than anyone else how afraid Kyuhyun is, how much of a coward he is. “But that’s beyond what you did, Yoona. That’s beyond what happened between Sooyeon and Miyoung, also because of what you did. They are all connected, yes. But Kyuhyun’s decision is beyond you now.”

He looks at Yoona and sees himself in her.

“He chose this,” he says decisively, “and I accepted this.”

“You accepted this? You accepted his decision?” Yoona asks, looking disbelievingly at Jongwoon.

“I will learn to,” Jongwoon finally answers after a moment. He thinks he already accepted that this is fate, that this is his and Kyuhyun’s destiny – to not be together. But when faced with the question, he realizes he hasn’t fully accepted it. That he’s still hurting and it still hurts terribly to be ignored and set aside and be regarded as empty feelings of longing and nostalgia because he is leaving a familiar place for something new and alien.

It’s unfair, really. Fate is. “Just as he will learn to forget me eventually.”

Yoona looks at him, as broken as he is, as the gravity of her stupidity and the result of her stupidity hits her like debris falling from a collapsing world. If she can only take everything she did back, if she can only change the course of things, if she can only shake Kyuhyun into realization. She thought before that everything is okay as long as there’s money. Money can buy anything but she realizes now, even if she pays Kyuhyun a billion dollars to love her, Kyuhyun will not take it – much more, love her, and even if she pays Jongwoon a billion dollars to go back to Kyuhyun, Jongwoon will not take it because of what Jongwoon said next.

“He’s having a hard time because of me around,” Jongwoon says, like an afterthought, “and even though I think he’s a real jerk for not fighting and a real coward for running away from his feelings, I must really love him so much because I can’t stand seeing him suffer because of me.”

“I guess my decision is right,” she smiles to herself, wiping off the tears left on her doe eyes.

Jongwoon doesn’t hear what she said and finally looks back at her. He still doesn’t forgive her. He still thinks she is a terrible, miserable person blindly looking for love that she fails to realize that love isn’t supposed to be forced, pressured or threatened. But he looks at her and he sees a person who loves Kyuhyun so much she is willing to give up her own feelings for him.

Too much bad blood, they say. But honestly, Jongwoon just wishes for peace this time.

“Now can you bring back my flight? I have to be at…” Jongwoon finally asks, hoping that Yoona’s father delayed his flight but didn’t stop it.

“I’m sorry, oppa,” Yoona interrupts Jongwoon.

He doesn’t know if he raises his brow at yet another apology he isn’t accepting that day or because apparently, the person who is the reason why he and his friends suffered prototype hell on earth just called him oppa.

“I’m really sorry, oppa,” she repeats it again.

“Did you just call me…” Jongwoon begins, like he’s not hearing anything but the word oppa from the person he least wants acquaintanceship or any –ship, for this matter.

“But you can’t go yet,” Yoona tells him, completely ignoring what Jongwoon is saying.

A/N: Merriest Christmas to you guys! The update was supposed to be yesterday - sort of like a Christmas present. Haha. But beer and relatives and cheesecake got in the way. Anyway, I hope your holidays are better (and longer) than mine because mine mostly is just about all the sleep I can get and all the food I can eat while I can do it. Lmao.

Cheers! - Elle