So Min

“So Min..”

My fingers stopped walking across the words on my memo. I had not heard this voice for a while.

“Geun Suk, you have returned.” I turned to face him and tried to speak with utmost enthusiasm that I could muster in my current lackluster condition.

 “What happened? You stopped taking my calls.” He moved forward, placing his hands on my shoulders. It surprised me that I did not shake those hands off for my normally shy character. Instead, the warmth running from his palms through my body seemed to diffuse through over the much-needed comfort of my lost love from Hyun Joong and lost of trust in Hyori.

When the warmth crept into my heart, the wall that I had successfully built around my fragile heart for the past week crumbled. I felt like I had found trust again in a friend whom I had missed for a long time. It was when the last brick fell apart that the tears flowed.

Fishing a packet of tissue from his pockets swiftly, he whispered urgently, “Hold those tears! Our colleagues might think I have been mean to you. Let’s get out of the office first.”

I took the paper from his hands and quickly wiped the tears away as he ushered me out of the room. We made our way to the rooftop where my emotions continued to take control over my body. The bright morning sun should have been a welcoming ray for happiness to peek out from every corner. But here I was, shadowed by grief while he stood by me quietly, as the silent weeping went on. 

Geun Suk

Helplessness overcame as all I could do was be a bystander as I watched her tears streamed down her face continuously. My hands were not even able to cover her trembling body writhing with pain from deep within. My voice was stuck in my throat, struggling to find the right words to console her. Even though details were not fed to me, I would be blind to not comprehend the suffering that was tormenting her. Reflectively, being ignorant of what had reduced her to this was equally tormentuous as I wanted to help, but was powerless against my own will. For the first time in my life, my heart beat and felt for another woman. And now, my heart was splitting apart for her seeing her frail body shook with sorrow.

A good whole hour had passed. I had not moved an inch as I was afraid one wrong move would aggravate her. My back and legs were already hurting from lack of motion and they finally loosen up when no fresh tears dropped from her beautiful eyes anymore.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?”

She looked up with swollen cheeks from all the crying and shook her head slowly.

I sighed, upset that she did not want to share her burden with me. And because I love her, it stabbed me even more that I could not do anything at all to take away her suffering.

What else could I do?

Following the rhythm of my heart, my fingers moved over to her face to brush aside the hair that had anchored themselves on her tear stained face. Cupping her face gently between my palms, I tilted her face to look up at me. She did not resist but her eyes followed the direction of the tilt till I successfully caught her gaze into mine.

“So Min,” I started. “I may not know what have you gone through. I will respect your decision if you do not wish to tell me. But, it hurt me a lot, more than you could imagine, to see you suffering in silence and I do not know how to make you happy. I’m willing to stay here to safeguard you with my life from any harm in the future. I would not allow anything or anyone to hurt you anymore. So, even if you don’t want to tell me anything, please do not push me aside….”

I paused.

The emotions that surged through my words had touched myself and every man’s enemy emerged

TEARS.

I pushed her head to rest on my shoulder as I did not want her to see me crying.

“….for I love you, So Min. Your happiness is the world to me. Please let me bring back the smiles to your face. Please let me… ”

My hold on her tightened because I wanted her to feel that whatever I said was real and I was there for her all the time.

“Please…please let me protect you.”

So Min

This was the second time I had seen a man cry.

And the tears he shed were for his love for me.

My mother had once said, man hardly cries. And when he did out of love, the love he felt for the other would be true love.

He hugged me close. I did not resist for my mind was playing and replaying the words he spoke.

They sounded so comforting; so genuine. Those words had a calming effect on my aching heart.

Had his sincerity touched me? Should I continue to grieve over a love that I was never meant to have, when Geun Suk could shield me from any pain with his pure heart?

My arms went around his waist and reciprocated his embrace on me. Exhaling deeply, I buried my face in the broad shoulders that had always been waiting for me to lean on..

Perhaps love does not need to be so painful...

Perhaps love could be very simple...

It could be more blissful to be loved than to love someone...

Perhaps this is love…

**********************************************************************************************************************************

Hi Arwen, Serene, Adriana: thanks for your comments and votes. I'm really, really thankful that you are still supportive of RONR

And thanks to 4Dzoo2 and Karmablogger who just subscribed to this story!

To all who reads this story,

I know the story has swung another way- to an undesirable state. But I hope you would stay with me till more chapters are published. My updates are slow and every chapter is short - and I apologise for that. I tried to be very detailed in my stories and ended up being long winded. I supposed at this rate, if this story is a drama, it would only be at episode 3. *o*

Pls forgive me for structural or grammatical errors.

We'll 'see' each other again in the next RONR's update!

With love, Bowwow