“May be am not seeing things clearly, am over thinking things. She convinced. “May be he just wants to catch up on work. Yes, that’s it. I am sure that’s it, it has to be.” But she knew that all those were excuses. He wasn’t interested anymore. Period.

Meanwhile in his office, he was feeling frustrated. He didn’t think seeing her again after all that time, after everything that happened, that he would still be this affected. An image of her beautiful smile when she set eyes on him couldn’t leave his mind. At that instant, he wanted to hug her to him tightly until their bodies merged together. He wanted to forget everything and run to her but he couldn’t. It’s a good thing Joong Ki was there, because he became his escape route and when he had finally excused himself leaving them alone, he just knew he had to escape. He had missed her so much he thought he couldn’t take it anymore.

“How did my life turn to this?” Minho pondered. His hands roughly moved through his hair. He never intended to hurt Shinhye, never in his life did he think a day would come when he would have to hurt her so much. But  he  had no choice.

“May I come in?” Joong Ki asked as he peeped into Shinhye’s office.

“Yes, please do?” Shinhye replied as she rubbed away her tears away replacing them will a smile.

“I have to update him on the work we have done in his absence, want to join us?” He invited.

“No! Shinhye quickly answered. Besides I still have to prepare everything he is going to need after. She argued. She wanted to stay away from him. If he didn’t want to acknowledge her presence, well then, FINE, so be it. He was going to get all the space he needed. She has been doing ok with him gone for the past 3 months. All she needs to do is pretend he wasn’t around. “Yes, that’s what I have to do.” She reassured herself. “It won’t be easy but I have to do it. Aja! Aja!” She cheered on silently.

“Ok, I will just go in then.” Joong Ki said as he walked into Minho’s office.

Inside Joong Ki brought Minho to speed with all the new developments during his absence. They were at it for an hour now but Minho seemed destructed and Joong Ki finally inquired. “Am I boring you? You seem pre-occupied.”

“No. Please continue. I need to catch up on everything today so I can immediately get to work.” Minho insisted. He couldn’t allow personal issues to destruct him from his work, he wouldn’t allow that to happen.

They were in there until lunch hour. Shinhye decided to leave for lunch since she wasn’t sure when their meeting would end. She wanted to go in and inquire but she decided not to. She arranged her desk and walked out to have her lunch down in the company cafeteria. She usually had her lunch with Joong Ki and before it was with Minho. “I guess I will have to enjoy lunch by myself today.” She sighed as she got her food from the counter.

She did not call Geun Young only because she was not sure what to tell her. She decided she would deal with everything on her own. She didn’t want to burden her with her problems anyway. She thought about everything, but she still didn’t get why he was acting like that. She was sure she hadn’t done anything to upset him, so why was he acting like she did something. Just why was he doing this? Was he joking that day? She wondered. The more she thought about it, the more her desire to storm into his office and get the answers direct from the horse’s mouth grew. She made up her mind to go up and get answers. I have to get those answers TODAY if my life depends on it.

Their meeting finally came to an end and Joong Ki walked out looking forward to having lunch with Shinhye. He had grown accustomed to having lunch with her, it had become a habit. He looked at her desk but she wasn’t there, “did she already leave?” he wondered. He increased his steps and rushed to the cafeteria so he could join her.

He found her half way her meal and joined her at the table. “Were you that hungry? You didn’t even wait for me.” He complained.

“Sorry Joong Ki oppa, I wasn’t sure when your meeting would end and I didn’t want to interrupt.” She defended. But am glad you joined me, I was getting lonely eating alone. They had agreed to be formal away from office and during lunch.

They continued chatting until she noticed Minho walking out the building. “I guess he is having his lunch elsewhere.” She thought. Joong Ki noticed she was destructed by something and looked to see.

“OH, yeah, he will not have lunch with you today. He has to  meet some investors this afternoon and he really can’t be late for it. I understand you guys used to have lunch together. He added. I hope I won’t be abandoned now that he is back.”

“Abandoned? Now why would I do that?” she asked. We shall continue having lunch together as usual. Ok?”

“So he is having a meeting outside, chances are he will not be coming back to the office today.” There goes her plan of confronting  him. “I guess it will have to wait for tomorrow then,” she decided.

They finished their lunch and headed back to their offices and as she had predicted, he didn’t show up at work that afternoon. She went back home arranging and rearranging her thoughts about her planned talk with him tomorrow. She wasn’t sure when exactly but it had to be tomorrow.

The next morning Shinhye waited for Minho to arrive and instead received a message informing her that he wouldn’t be in until the afternoon. She had to wait until later to talk to him. She got on with her work trying to do most of it now since she wasn’t certain about the outcome of her discussion with him.

She had lunch with Joong Ki but her nerves were acting up. She was getting scared as the time got closer. She feared what his answer would be. She kept sighing all throughout lunch but Joong Ki didn’t seem to notice which was great because she didn’t want him asking questions.

Back in her office, she waited. “He will be here any minute now. I have to do this. God am shaking, please give me strength.” She prayed.

She heard the door open and she immediately got up from her chair. “Good afternoon sir.”

He simply nodded his head and walked into his office shutting the door behind him. If she thought it would be hard before, well she was sure now. It was definitely going to be difficult. She walked to his door and softly knocked on it. “May I come in?” she asked.

He allowed her request and she entered and found him reading some documents. He seemed busy and she worried about her timing but she had to do this now. She cleared and….. “Mr. Lee, I would like a moment of your time to discuss something if you don’t mind?”

He looked at her with sharp eyes and Shinhye feared he was going to deny her request. “Please sir, this will not take long.” She pleaded.

He suspected he knew what she wanted to say, he had avoided this talk for three months and here she was ready to get the answers to all her questions. He wanted to deny her request at first but decided to deal with it now.

He closed the documents he was reading and gave full attention to her.

“Yes, Ms. Park, what is it you want to speak to me about?” he asked looking directly at her.

“What happened? Why didn’t you answer any of my calls? Why did you ask me out and then turn around and act like it never happened? Was I a joke? Did you enjoy ignoring my calls? Just why are you doing this to me?” She asked with tears flowing down her cheeks.

He could see all the pain she was in, he was hurting too but he realized she hurt even more. She hadn’t done anything to deserve that from him. It was him who did everything.

“Just why?” she pleaded.

He walked to where she stood and held her tight in an embrace as she continued crying.

“Am sorry, Shinhye-ah, am so sorry, please forgive me Shinhye-ah,” he pleaded over and over but her tears couldn’t stop. His heart hurt seeing her in so much pain, he wanted to ease her pain somehow, anyhow. He hugged her closer as he patted her back. “Please just stop crying, am so sorry, please don’t cry.” He pleaded.

“Why? Why did you do this?” She asked. “Did you even mean it when you asked me out?”

“I did. I do.” He reassured. “I meant it, believe me.” He pleaded. “I didn’t lie when I said I wanted to go out with you, please believe that.”

“Then why didn’t you talk to me all this time?” she asked.

“A lot has happened. Am going to tell you everything but please stop crying.” He said as he looked down at her.

She looked at his eyes and noticed he seemed sincere and had this determined look that scared her about what he was about to say. She nodded her head indicating she would stop crying. They walked over to one of the sofas and sat down facing each other.

“It all started on that day I asked you out. After talking to you on the phone that night, I received a call from my mum saying my dad had suffered an attack and I immediately left to meet them the next morning. He was unconscious for a whole day, we were all very worried especially my mum. She was devastated. I couldn’t reply calls but I was going to call when everything cooled down. Then he finally gained consciousness but he came back with demands. Demands I couldn’t deny him” He posed before he could continue.

“Demands? What kind of demands?” she asked.

“He asked me to marry someone.” He stated as he looked to see her reaction. She was in shock, it was evident on her face.

“Who?” Shinhye asked as she tried to stop tears from pouring out.

“She is a childhood friend of mine.” He knew this was hurting her feelings but he had to finish what he had started.

“And did you marry her?” Her voice was breaking as she asked. She looked at him with pleading eyes. He could see that she was scared to hear the answer to her question. She was frightened. And then he said what Shinhye feared the most.

“Yes, I did. I had no choice, I ……..” he was trying to explain but Shinhye just freed herself from his hands and ran out. All she could hear was, “yes, I did.” He is married. He was now married to someone else. It’s over. Shinhye kept crying as ran out the office building.