Quite the blubbering mess, I was ashamed to admit, I went to wash my face and cover up traces of my crying. Satisfied, I went out to our cafe to meet Chanyeol.

As usual, he'd snagged the table at the very back. Chanyeol automatically smiled and raised a hand as I approached, but seemed to think better of it and greeted me with only a "Hey."

I sat down with a sigh. "Thanks for coming on such short notice."

Chanyeol studied me, brows furrowed. "What's wrong?"

I sighed yet again. "Do you happen to know where your fiance is right now?"

"Yoojin?" Chanyeol asked, puzzled. "What does she have to do with anything? And no, I don't. Unlike you and Jongin, we don't actually talk much."

"Well, she just happened to call Jongin this morning, and he just vanished. So..." I hated to sound so upset, especially when there was probably nothing I had to worry about; there was probably just some urgent business. But I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something more, especially since Yoojin and Jongin had a history...

"Really?" Chanyeol asked, sitting back and giving me a smirk. "I'm sure there's nothing to worry about."

I became inexplicably irritated with the attitude Chanyeol was giving me. "I know that. I just don't like it, that's all."

At that, Chanyeol's face softened and he managed to give a sympathetic smile, though his sad eyes revealed his true feelings: resignation. "Look, maybe it's for the best anyway. I don't expect things to work out well between Yoojin and me, unlike you and Jongin. You just happened to be one of the more fortunate forced marriages." As he continued to stare at me, I understood the underlying message: despite everything, he still had an unreasonable hope that things might somehow work out between us. And he knew that it was stupid, that it would never happen, because I was already married.

My heart broke, and I began to regret coming to Chanyeol about this. It was unfair for him to have to deal with losing me to Jongin, but his fiance too...

"Look, Chanyeol, I'm sorry for bothering you about this. I'm sure you have other things to be doing--" I said as I stood up, preparing to go.

"Don't go," Chanyeol pleaded suddenly, standing up and holding onto my arm, eyes boring into mine. "Please, So Eun."

I was unsure of how to respond. "Let's go to the park," Chanyeol spoke up, still pleading. "It's been a long time since we've talked."

"Alright, then. Let's go."

He smiled then, and seemed to relax. "Let's go," he echoed, still not letting go of my arm. Instead, he moved it so that we were holding hands.

I let him lead me to the park, where it was relatively empty. We sat down on a bench, and Chanyeol gazed down at our intertwined hands. I wanted to pull my hand back, because it felt somehow wrong to be holding hands when I was already married to Jongin. But I didn't have the heart to do that to Chanyeol, and if I was honest to myself, I didn't want to let go, either. Chanyeol broke the silence. "You don't know how many times I've wanted to do this, what I had planned for us," he said, his voice hoarse. "It was foolish, I knew, and I was aware of the fact that we had no future together. All the same..."

Not liking where this conversation was bound to go, I finally removed my hand from his. "Oppa..."

"I know, I know. I know that you're married to Jongin. Heck, you shouldn't even be with me right now. But I want to get this out so that I never have to regret not saying this to you, So Eun." Chanyeol looked directly into my eyes. "I loved you, and I have never stopped. You getting married didn't stop that. Marrying Yoojin won't change that. God knows I want to stop, it would make everything so much easier for both of us. And yet, every time you speak, every time you smile...my resolve disappears, and I just hate myself. Hate myself for not being good enough for you, for not having at least tried...

"And then I see you with Jongin, and I see the way you look at him, and the way he looks at you. He can give you everything I can't, and to top things off, I can feel at ease because he loves you too. I know that by this point, it's too late for me to do anything, and I should just let you go. I should." Chanyeol finally looked in the opposite direction, voice shaking. "I just think it might be better if we don't interact, So Eun."

At that, my heart turned to stone. So that was it. Chanyeol just wanted to cut off our friendship. I guessed I understood where he was coming from, but it still was like a stab to my heart. "Alright then, Chanyeol. I understand," I said in a soft voice, standing up without looking at him. "I won't bother you anymore. If I can help it, I won't contact you, and I'll try to avoid you if we're at a public event." I paused. "Have a good life, oppa. I hope you find happiness. I really do."

As I left for home without looking back, tears streamed down my face. I'd finally lost my best friend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jongin drove like a madman to the river, where Yoojin already sat in her car, waiting. He hated to leave So Eun like that, especially when they'd just gotten over the issue with Yoojin. "What is this about?" he demanded, crossing his arms.

Yoojin just laughed. Jongin wanted to throttle her; he honestly didn't know what he'd seen in her way back when. "I see you actually do love her, don't you, Jongin?" she purred.

"I came because you said Yifan had his sights on her. If you're here to mock me..."

She laughed again. "Oh no, I'm not here to just mock you. Three years ago, when you broke up with me, I swore to you that you would pay for it. And yet, I couldn't help but try to give you a warning. That Wu Yifan, you know him. You know the kind of business he does. And you also know that he'll do anything to get whatever he puts his mind to. I thought you deserved a heads-up."

Jongin sighed, rubbing his temples. "Why So Eun?"

Yoojin shrugged. "She's young. She's pretty. Rich, fairly important. And most of all, she's married to you," she said pointedly.

"I don't know why he even bothers. You'd think we'd be done with this petty rivalry after high school," he grumbled.

Yoojin laughed yet again. "You're as innocent and naive as ever, Jongin," she stated, slipping on her sunglasses and getting back into her car. "For whatever it's worth, though," she said, looking at him, "she's a cute one. Seems kind. From what I can tell, she loves you, too. I don't know, you probably want to hang on to her, Jongin. Good luck."

Jongin stared after her car as she sped away.

"You didn't have to tell me that," he said softly. "I was already going to do whatever it took to keep her safe. And with me."