= Shin Aegi =

I was decorating the cake that I just baked a while ago with the layer of melting chocolate and green cream accents. It was a chocolate mint cake. So I thought using chocolate and green decoration would be great for the cake. I applied the 4-line shape diagonally across the cake then the cake had done. I lowered my hands as I smiled in satisfaction.

“That’s great.”

I looked up and saw ByunHyung sunbae, the senior patisserie on the shop. He was leaning across of the table while looking at me. I surprised to see him there. I didn’t notice his presence. Probably I was too concentrated to my cake so I didn’t notice that he was there.

“Aa, sunbaenim.” I said.

ByunHyung sunbae straightened his body and stepped forward to the table. “Can I try?”

I nodded then took the knife to cut the cake into serving pieces. Then I took one to the plate and gave it to ByunHyung sunbae. ByunHyung sunbae took a small fork and tasted the cake. As he took a bite, I waited and bit my lower lip anxiously. But then, ByunHyung sunbae smiled and nodded. He looked back at me.

“You can serve them outside.” He said.

I smiled widely because of it and bowed to him. “Thank you, Sunbaenim.”

ByunHyung sunbae just smiled and walked toward the front side. I put the cake pieces into the decorative paper then brought them outside to place them on to the display case. When I organized them on the display case, I heart the door bell chimed. I raised my gaze as I said, “Welco-“

I stopped as I saw Yoon Omoni came to the café. I straightened my body and smiled at her as she approached the display counter.

“Ah, Omoni. Hello.” I greeted her.

“Ah, so you’re working here.” She said as she looked around. Then she looked back at me. “It was your dad’s shop. Is it fine for you?”

I smiled because of her concern. “Yae. It’s fine, Omoni.”

Omoni smiled then she looked to the display counter. “They are all looked good.” She looked back at me. “What do you suggest me?”

I looked at the cakes on the display. “Hmmm…” I was thinking too. But probably I was selfish. So I pointed out the Choco Mint cake that I just made. “This one is the one that I just made earlier.”

A smile bloomed on Omoni’s face. “Then I’ll take that one, please. And I want green tea for my drink.”

“Okay.”

“But, Aegi-ssi.”

I looked back at her.

“Can I talk with you for a moment?”

Yoon Omoni seemed to be serious. “Alright.” I told her. “Please have a seat first, Omoni. I’ll be right there with your order.”

She smiled again. “Thank you.”

I just nodded and Omoni went to a table. I prepared her order then took off my apron before I brought out the order that Omoni made. I came to her table and placed the plate and the glass in the front of her before taking the seat across of her. She took the fork then took a small bite of the cake.

“Hum… it’s delicious.” She praised. “You really good on making cakes.”

I smiled widely to hear her praise. “Thank you.”

Then she put down her fork and looked at me. “Listen, Aegi.”

“Hmm?”

“Doojoon’s Appa probably will be seeing you soon.” She opened our conversation. “And he will tell you that he wants you and Doojoon to get married soon.”

“Eh?” I was taken back by the words. Crap. Wedding?

“When he talks about it with you, I want you to refuse about his plan.”

Now I confused. “B-but why?”

“I’m a mother, Aegi. I have mother’s intuition.” Omoni smiled. “I know that Doojoon asked you to be his fake girlfriend just to make his father cancelled off his arranged marriage plan.”

“Ah.” I understood. “So, you know.”

Omoni nodded. “But I must to admit that you had convinced us that you’re actually dating.”

I grinned apologetically as I felt guilty toward her. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to lie to you and Aboji.”

She went chuckled. “Don’t feel guilty, Aegi. I’m sure that I would do the same thing if I’m Doojoon.”

“But does Aboji know?” I asked.

Omoni shook her head. “No, he doesn’t know about this.” She paused. “He…”

Suddenly Omoni stopped and grinned in pain as she held her upper abdomen. Somehow it made me worry.

“Omoni, are you alright?”

Omoni nodded then she took her bag and took out a medicine bottle. She wanted to open the cap, but her pain made her unable to open it. So I stood up and went to her side. I took the bottle from her and took off the cap. I took one capsule to my hand and gave it to her. Omoni took the medicine and drank it with the drink to help her swallowing the capsule. She leaned back and took a deep breath.

But then, she seemed wanting to vomit. She pushed me aside gently and went to the toilet. I followed her to the toilet and saw her vomiting on the basin. I came to her and rubbed her back. It was making me worried to see her like that. But when I rubbed her back, I noticed that she seemed to be thinner than she used to be. I guessed she lost weight.

“Thank you, Aegi-ah.” Omoni told me as she felt better.

“Are you sick, Omoni?”

Omoni just gave me a smile. “Don’t tell Doojoon about this, Okay.”

“But what kind of disease?” I asked her. “It seems serious.”

She seemed to be reluctant to tell me. “It’s nothing.”

“Omoni.” I said as I wanted her to tell me.

Omoni released a sigh as she gave up. “It’s a cancer. A pancreatic cancer.”

---

I intertwined my fingers together as if I wanted to pray. I recalled my conversation with Omoni earlier. Omoni told me that she got pancreatic cancer and it already reached the advance stadium. Probably she only had six to ten months to live. She just came back from the hospital for a check up when suddenly she wanted to see me.

“No one on my family knows about this. So I want you to keep this as a secret between us, Aegi-ah.” She patted the back of my palm. “And don’t let this thing bothering your decision about you and Doojoon. I don’t want you to sacrifice anything just because of this.” She paused. “But promise me one thing.”

“What, Omoni?”

“Please stay at his side and take care of him after I gone. I know he care for his sister. But I guess the only one that he would listen to is you.” She chuckled. “I remember that you used to slap and scold him whenever he did something wrong. That was when I knew that you can take a good care of him.” She paused for a while and smiled. “Probably until he got another girl that can take care of him more than you.”

I just chuckled at that moment.

But now I was worried about Doojoon. I was worried on how he would handle the news. I knew Doojoon was a sensitive person despite of his tough look. He would cry over small sad event. And this was about his mother.

I knew precisely how it felt to lose a parent. Probably Omma’s death didn’t give me much effect since I was still a baby when she died. But Appa’s death…

I didn’t want to see Doojoon in despair while I couldn’t do anything for him. I wanted to do something for him, probably taking care of him like what Omoni asked me to do.

But when I thought about Doojoon, suddenly Junhyung came to my mind. I didn’t know why he came to my mind, but he just did. I still remembered on how he made my heart beat just by his voice. Ever since his confession, I was thinking about my feeling toward him.

But somehow I thought that Doojoon would need me more than Junhyung. Junhyung was more mature and independent than Doojoon. But then I wanted to be with Junhyung more than Doojoon. But I also couldn’t leave Doojoon behind as he was suffering with his mother’s problem while I gained happiness with Junhyung.

How can I be happy while my best friend is suffering?

But…

Argh, what should I do?

I was so confused…

---

Update~

So which one that you choose, Aegi? JunHyung? Or Doojoon? But I guess this is the reason that brought our characters to the wedding that was held back on the Chapter 1.

For all the readers, thank you for subscribing and reading this fic~ commenting would be nice~ but to see that my subscribers and view counts increased, it's making me glad too~ To the silent readers, thank you so much to take a look on the fic and read it~ I really do appreciate it, seriously~

Enjoy the story, everyone~ ^^