Chapter 6

Changmin saw the devastated look on Yuri’s face. He immediately tried to make light of the matter & divert her attention, “Hey, that’s Jaejoong with his secretary. They are probably taking a break for lunch.”

‘So, that’s Hyoyeon.’ Yuri never questioned or thought about how the secretary looked like. Deep inside her heart, feelings of hurt, insecurity & anger started to emerge. Was that why Jaejoong was busy all the time? Could it be that he was actually busy with some other things rather than just working?

“Yuri, your thoughts are leading you down a dangerous path.” Changmin warned, as he observed the different fleeting expression on her face, “Don’t give this more meaning than there is, it’s just a simple lunch. You want to go over & say hi to them?”

“No, I don’t want to disturb them. I’m done here. Are you still hungry?” She felt like the whole room was closing in on her & just wanted to leave the restaurant.

Changmin hurriedly signaled for the waiter to give them the bill. All thoughts of paying for lunch flew out of Yuri’s mind as she surreptitiously looked over to where Jaejoong & Hyoyeon were sitting.

“I’m sorry for calling you again, today. I thought that the purchasing department couldn’t handle the shipping foul up.” Hyoyeon said sweetly.

“It’s okay, I’m just glad that it’s been taken care of. Maybe I could leave early for a change.” Jaejoong was irritated but couldn’t really blame his secretary for calling him. She was under strict instructions to inform him whenever something went wrong but he really wished that she would have more common senses & quit calling him for every single little thing. He wondered what Yuri was doing right now. It seemed like his efforts to further their relationship were constantly being thwarted.

“Would you like to order the usual for lunch?” Hyoyeon had been trying to engrain herself in Jaejoong’s life for the last few months by making herself indispensable to her boss. She could still vividly remember her feeling of outrageousness when she found out that Jaejoong had gotten married, all her hopes & plans of them ending up together were dashed away but then, everything seemed to work out for her since he didn’t seem to care that much about his wife but lately, it seemed like he was starting to spend more & more time with Yuri.

Hyoyeon noticed that a couple sitting a few tables away, kept staring at them. For some unknown reason, she suddenly wanted to pretend & show the world that there was something more to her relationship with the boss.

“Ouch.”

“What is it, Hyoyeon?”

“I think there’s something in my eye, could you check it for me please?”

“Sure, hang on a second.” Jaejoong leaned forward & peered into her supposedly injured brown, big, almond-shaped eye.

From where Yuri & Changmin were sitting, it looked as if Jaejoong was leaning in for a kiss. Yuri couldn’t stand it anymore; she angrily stood up & grabbed her brown michael kors selma medium zip satchel purse which accidentally knocked some of the dishes from the table, causing a loud commotion. She murmured some kind of apology & started to run out of the restaurant.

“Yuri, wait!” Changmin called out, while he hastily pulled some money out of his black perry ellis soft leather bifold gift-boxed wallet to settle the bill.

Jaejoong looked up just in time to see an upset Yuri heading towards the door & Changmin starting to rush after her. What was going on? He stood up & charged towards them.

“Jaejoong Oppa, what are you doing?!” Hyoyeon called out in alarm.

“What’s going on?! What are you doing with my wife?!” Jaejoong demanded, as soon as he reached Changmin, “You are the most ignorant, stupid jerk on the face of this earth! I don’t have time for you right now, I got to make sure that Yuri is alright.”

“Wait a minute here, what gave you the right to insult me & I repeat, what were you doing with my wife?” Jaejoong wasn’t going to let his prey go. Enough was enough, “You know darn well that she’s married so stop seeing her!”

If looks could kill, Jaejoong would be six feet underground already, “For your information, I’m doing what you are supposed to be doing for her. Being there for her, supporting her when she’s down, lending a willing ear for her to vent her woes & sharing her excitement about having a baby.” Changmin was trying to get away; he was very worried when he saw Yuri running towards his purple audi in the parking lot.

“What are you talking about?” Jaejoong wanted to stop this nonsense of Changmin seeing his wife all the time & he wanted to do it now.

“She is the most wonderful & beautiful person & does not deserve a bastard like you for a husband! Let me go, don’t you even see that your wife is upset? She could hurt herself running out like that or don’t you even care?” “& who’s fault is that? You were the one having lunch with her.” Jaejoong said defensively.

Changmin wanted nothing more than to use his bare hands to choke the life out of the person standing in front of him but this wasn’t the right time, he had to take care of Yuri, “Its your fault. I can’t believe you had leave your wife all alone at the clinic then indulge in a blatant affair with your secretary.”

“What are you?” The rest of Jaejoong’s words were cut off as the sound of screeching tires & a loud thump caught their attention.

“Yuri!”

Both men immediately dropped their argument & started running towards Yuri with one thought in their mind, ‘Please don’t let her get hurt?’ From a distance, the guys saw shattered bits of glasses scattered all over the parking lot. They started to run faster as they spotted a sobbing Yuri leaning against a car, clutching her stomach protectively.

“Yuri, are you alright?” Jaejoong got to her first.

Relief washed over Yuri when she heard her husband’s familiar voice & immediately flung herself into his open arms & held on tightly, “Did you see what happened? That little girl almost got hit.” Pointing to a crying child that was being comforted by her parents, “Good thing the driver was able to swerve & avoid her.”

Jaejoong held her tighter as more shudders racked through her body, “Shhh, it’s alright now. Nobody got hurt.” His own heart was beating frantically just a second ago was starting to calm down, “It’s alright.” He kept on repeating, reassuring both, his wife & himself. He couldn’t even bear the thought of Yuri getting hurt.

Changmin held back. He was glad that Yuri was safe but seeing the two of them wrapped in each other’s arms was making his heart bleed. He forced himself to focus his attention somewhere else by surveying the scene of the accident & only then did he notice that it was his parked car that got hit, ‘Good thing Yuri didn’t reach the car yet.’ He thought. He then stepped forward & inspected the damage; it looked worse than it actually was. He talked to the other driver who was apologizing profusely over hitting his car. They ended up exchanging insurance information & agreeing that this was a small price to pay in exchange for keeping a little girl safe.

Yuri grew calmer in her husband’s soothing embrace. All of a sudden, she tensed up & pushed Jaejoong away when she started to recall the events that led to her mad dash in the parking lot.

“Yuri? What’s wrong? Are you hurt anywhere?” Jaejoong asked anxiously.

“Leave me alone.” Yuri answered coldly.

“What?” One minute, she was in his arms & the next, she was treating him like he was a criminal.

“What are you doing here? You should go back to your dear Hyoyeon or she might get upset.”

“Yuri, what are you talking about? Are you implying that there is something going on between me & my secretary?”

“First line of defense is to attack your opponent, right?” Yuri laughed bitterly, “Good tactic, Oppa. For your information, I’m not implying anything. I’m stating a fact. I saw you with my own two eyes.”

“Just what did you see? I was just having lunch with my secretary, nothing else.” Frustration was building up rapidly. First, Changmin accused him of having an affair with his secretary but he could careless about that. Now, his wife was accusing him of doing god knows what when he couldn’t even think of anything he did wrong.

“You & your conscience know what you did, I don’t have to paint the picture for you.” Yuri’s eyes lit up when she finally caught a glimpse of Changmin standing at a discreet distance from them. With a parting glare at her husband, she marched towards Changmin, “Let’s go!” She ordered impatiently, waiting for him to unlock the passenger door.

Jaejoong still couldn’t understand what was going on, “Wait a minute Yuri, we need to talk this over.” He grabbed her arm, preventing her from entering the car.

“Let me go! There is nothing to talk about!” Yuri angrily pulled her arm away. She averted her face as tears started falling again.

Jaejoong bewilderment gave way to anger when he finally realized that his wife was leaving with another man, “You are accusing me of doing something I didn’t do & look at you, spending time with another man! Dammit, Yuri! Look at me when I’m talking to you!”

Yuri continued to ignore him & entered the car. She started to pull the door close but Jaejoong held onto it, “You are not going anywhere with him.”

Changmin started to speak up but Yuri interrupted him, “Yes, you are right. I have been spending a lot of time with Changmin.” She raised her tear-stained face towards Jaejoong & softly said, “& you want to know why? Because he is always around when I need him.”

“Jaejoong, your wife is too upset to reason with right now. Why don’t both of you cool down a little bit & you can discuss this later?” Changmin’s voice was like a splash of cold water for the couple.

Jaejoong glared at Changmin & was going to argue some more but the look of pain on Yuri’s face stopped him. Wordlessly, he closed the car door for his wife & reluctantly, stepped back.

His eyes remained fixed on the car until it disappeared from his sight. He didn’t move from his spot as Yuri’s parting words of ‘Because he is always around when I need him’ kept on echoing in his mind.