Chapter 19

She felt heat rising to her cheeks as she stared at his side profile at such a close distance. She felt like slapping herself for feeling that way when she wasn't supposed to.

Stop it, Yeojin! Stop it! She squeezed her eyes and shook her head a little.

"Now you understand?" Sehun turned to look at her when she just opened her eyes. He sighed and rolled his eyes. "You're sleepy?"

"Huh?" Yeojin blinked looking at him before averting her gaze away. "Yeah. I guess so." She rubbed the nape of her neck.

Sehun suddenly leaned closer to her making her eyes rounded. Yeojin instinctively backed away a bit when she felt his hand on her forehead.

"You okay?" He asked with a tinge of worry. Yeojin only stared at him, not understanding what he meant. He backed away and pointed out, "Your cheeks are red. Are you feeling alright?" 

Yeojin immediately cupped her cheeks to hide the blush. "Nah. I'm okay."

Sehun stood up from his seat. "I'll get you a drink." He exited the library of his house.

Only once he disappeared did she breathed out a sigh of relief.

What is happening to you, Kwon Yeojin? She hit her own head.

She then glanced around at the room she was in. Right after they went out of the teachers' office, Sehun brought her to his house. Despite being part of one of the wealthiest families in Korea herself, entering the Oh's mansion was still awe-striking to her. 

She was already like part of the Wu family even before she was married to Kris, so entering their house never pressured her. But entering the Oh's mansion made her feel somewhat small though she was pretty sure the Wu's mansion was actually bigger. She was just glad that Sehun's parents were out for some business dinner; otherwise, she would die of pressure. 

A sound of chuckle startled her. She whipped her head to the door and found a young man leaning on the door's frame. For a moment there, Yeojin thought the guy to be Sehun, except he had a friendlier look. At least that was what she thought.

"Never thought the day my brother would bring a girl home would be today," the guy chuckled.

Deducing from his statement, her instinct told her to stand up and greet the guy. So she did. "Hello." Yeojin bobbed her head to him as he walked inside the library.

He eyed her uniform before returning his gaze to Yeojin's eyes and gave her a smile. "Schoolmate, huh?" He asked and Yeojin just slowly nodded. "Girlfriend?" He raised a brow, crossing his arms; an amused smirk decorated his face.

"Yes- I mean no! No." She shook her head and frantically waved her hand in denial. What the hell, Yeojin! She scolded herself.

The guy just burst out laughing.

"Hyung?" Sehun entered the library with a glass of water in his hand. "Are you teasing her?" He asked handing Yeojin the glass of water.

"No. I'm just making small talks with her." He said over a chuckle before turning to her. "Right?"

Yeojin nodded. "Y-yeah."

"I'm Luhan by the way." He extended a hand and she took it.

"Yeojin," she simply replied.

Sehun just rolled his eyes before turning to his brother again. "Aren't you supposed to be out with Mom and Dad?" He asked, wanting to shoo him away.

"I fled." The older guy shrugged.

"What? How?"

Luhan chuckled seeing his brother's reaction. "I just told them I'm not feeling well."

Sehun scoffed at that. His brother always had a way to avoid that kind of meetings. 

"Whatever." He sat down and pulled Yeojin's hand to make her sit too. "Now shoo. You're disturbing our study."

"Fine fine." Luhan raised his hands in surrender. "Geez. No need to be so rude." He glanced at Yeojin and winked at her. "Nice to meet you, Yeojin. If my brother does anything funny, just scream. I'll help you." He chuckled while Sehun threatened to throw his pen at him and Yeojin giggled. "Okay, okay. I'll be up in my room."

"You two are very different," Yeojin commented once Luhan closed the door. "He's very friendly unlike you."

Sehun scoffed to the side. "What, you're hitting on my brother now?" The tone of irritation was evident in his question.

"What if I say yes?" Yeojin replied with a mischievous grin.

"Shut up!" He lightly knocked her head with his pen and turned his attention back to the accounting problem she supposed to solve.

She scooted closer to him and cocked her head to the side, trying to make an eye contact with him. "Are you mad at me?" The grin was still plastered on her face. "Are you? Are you?" She teased still trying to make him look at her.

Yet, when he finally turned his head to look at her with an annoyed look, she just realized how close their faces were. She cleared and quickly distanced herself away.

"Stop playing around. You haven't understood this part yet, right?" Sehun pointed to her work and she nodded meekly. He clicked his tongue and scribbled something on his paper before giving it to her. "Just try this one. Practice categorizing which is debit which is credit first like what I explained earlier." He leaned back on his chair, crossed his arms and closed his eyes.

"Okay," Yeojin reluctantly agreed with a pout. 

She glanced at him from time to time while he was still closing his eyes. His eyebrows met in the middle as if he was deep in thought or maybe he was just upset. Why he was upset was something Yeojin didn't understand.

"Ya!" 

Sehun stayed silent though he heard her calling him.

"Ya!"

He mentally groaned. 

"Ya, Mr. President."

This time he clicked his tongue. "Shut up and do your work," he retorted still closing his eyes.

He heard her sigh and she didn't call him again. But a few seconds later, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He shrugged her hand off, refusing to open his eyes. But she kept on tapping his shoulder.

He groaned out of annoyance as his eyes flew open. "Will you stop that-" He blinked at the sight he was seeing. "What are you doing?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

Yeojin's index fingers were hooked on the corner of her lips, stretching open to the sides. Her tongue poked out and her eyes rolled up. She was making funny face.

"I asked what are you doing?" Sehun repeated his question.

"Trying to make you smile," she replied still pulling open.

Sehun just stared at her with his cold eyes.

"Stupid." He hit her head with her text book. 

She flinched and glared at him.

"I'll smile if you finish that." He pushed her cheek with a finger to make her heard turn back to her work.

"Fine!" She gritted her teeth and picked up her pen. "It used to work on Kris though," she mumbled inaudible to Sehun.

When she fully gave attention to her paper, Sehun pursed his lips and lowered his head trying to hide his chuckle at her action earlier. Silly girl!

"Where have you been? With your boyfriend again?" Kris immediately asked when he saw Yeojin entered through door.

Yeojin let out an amused scoff. "What, you're my dad now?" She joked. "My teacher asked him to tutor me. So yeah I was with him." She answered casually walking past him to the kitchen.

She noticed the dishes that were in the sink in the morning were no more there. The kitchen seemed cleaner too compared to that morning. She figured that Kris must've cleaned up again. His words from last night suddenly came flooding her mind.

She was half asleep and half awake last night, but she remembered how he looked disheveled, hugged her, and said something about feeling hurt. She wasn't sure whether it was just a dream, but she thought she even heard him apologize.

She connected the dots, and only now that she realized that Kris' sudden liking to clean and do chores might be his way to forget whatever pain he was feeling. For that, Yeojin felt guilty for not being a good enough friend. Sure he didn't like her being his wife, but she should at least be a good friend to him like she used to be. Patching up her friendship with him was her goal for the past two years anyway.

Yeojin turned around to face Kris as he entered the kitchen. "Have you had dinner?" Kris raised a brow at the sudden question but shook his head. "Wanna eat out?" She asked bitting her lip. 

"What?" He was taken aback.

"My treat!" She announced with a smile. "Want to?"

Kris just stared at her, blinking his eyes several times.



Yeojin grinned as she blew the steam. She heard Kris scoffed beside her, but chose to ignore it.

"This is your idea of treating me to dinner?" Kris mocked.

They were sitting at one of the high tables facing the glass window at the convenience store.

Yeojin glared at him. "Well I'm sorry, but my husband never gave me money so I can only afford this," she retorted with a joke and shrugged.

Her response got Kris gawking at her. Yeojin raised her ramyeon cup and happily slurped the noodle. She glanced at Kris' untouched cup  and then at the guy.

"If you don't want it, I'll just eat it-" she attempted to take his ramyeon cup, but he snatched it before she could.

"I didn't say I don't want it." He started stirring the noodle with the plastic fork.

Yeojin shrugged and went back to enjoying her ramyeon. A comfortable silence fell over them and only the sounds of noodle being slurped could be heard. Yeojin's lips curled into a small smile. It had been long since the last time they comfortably share their time like this.

"I met Suho during lunch," Kris started.

"Oh really?" Yeojin asked with excitement, turning to look at Kris beside her.

"He said he wanted to meet you."

She suddenly clapped her hands excitedly. "Really? Oh yeah!"

Kris snorted a chuckle. "You're that happy?"

"Of course!" She playfully slapped his arm. "Suho oppa is rich!"

"C'yeah." He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "And I'm actually his boss. That means I pay him; and therefore, I'm richer," he smugly replied.

"Talk about arrogance." This time she rolled her eyes. "He always buys me things when we meet while you don't." She poke out her tongue at him.

Kris scoffed at her childish remark and went back to finishing his ramyeon.

Yeojin happily drank the broth when she had finished the noodle. She noticed Kris didn't finish his broth, so she asked for it. Kris just shook his head at the girl's unlady-like behavior. He then looked out the window, watching people walked by and few cars drove by. He turned to look at the girl beside him who was now sighing in contentment. He looked back ahead, weighing in his mind whether to share his distress with Yeojin or not.

He didn't really want to tell her about it, but he knew that he needed to. And yes he might still dislike her as his wife, but deep down he knew she was still his friend. She was still his best friend whom he used to share every problems with.

"How did you do it?" He asked lowering his head.

"Hm?" Yeojin turned to look at him. "Did what?"

"Forget about him," he spoke with hesitancy. There was a pause and silenece followed. He raised his head and turned to face her. "How did you forget about Baekhyun?"

Yeojin immediately avoided his eyes at the mention of the name. She looked down, and a sad smile appeared on her face. "I didn't - I haven't." She gathered her courage to look back at Kris with a wider smile. "I wouldn't have that ugly panic attack every rainy season if I had forgotten about him, would I?"

Kris instantly felt guilty for asking her the question. She was smiling, but he saw in her eyes that there was sadness. He looked away from her and bit the inside of his cheeks. 

"Did it hurt a lot?"

"Nothing that I can't handle," she answered nonchallantly, but she could feel her heart being squeezed.

Hearing her answer, he sometimes wanted to smack her head so hard and tell her to stop pretending to be strong. Other times he felt like he should just hug her and tell her that it was okay to cry.

"Why are you asking me this?" Yeojin asked him, realizing that he couldn't be asking this just to talk about her past.

Kris silently gulped and lowered his head again. "Because I'm in so much pain right now." He paused before squeezing his eyes. "So much that I'm now going crazy."

"So crazy until you start doing chores?" She teased.

Kris narrowed his eyes at her. Here he was being serious, but she was, instead, making fun of it. "No. So crazy that I'm actually sharing my story with you."

Yeojin chuckled and opened the water bottle she bought earlier along with the ramyeon cups. "Sorry. I didn't mean to laugh over yout heartache. So what is it?" She struggled to open the cap.

Frustrated of seeing her struggle, Kris took her bottle and easily opened it for her. "I honestly regret even starting a conversation with you right now." He handed her the bottle.

She said a quick thanks before getting back to the topic. "I didn't mean to make fun of it, so do tell me." She drank the water.

Kris sighed closing his eyes. "She's engaged."

"Huh? Who? Owh." She lowered her bottle away from her lips and suddenly felt guilty when she realized whom he was talking about. It must be his ex-girlfriend.

Her guilt was doubled when she remembered how angry he was that he even yelled hurtful words at her back in Jeju. And what did she do? She gave him the silent treatment instead of trying to find out what bothered him.

Kris saw how she was staying silent and how she bit down her lip. He groaned, "I'm not telling you this to make you feel guilty all over again. So stop feeling that way."

Yeojin raised her head a little and nodded. Somehow his words touched her.

"I'm telling you this because I don't think I can bear the pain alone anymore. I... I just need to let it out, and you happened to be the only person around right now." Yeojin smiled at that. "And well... I trust you enough." He cleared his throat. "I guess," he shortly added.

Yeojin just kept smiling after that. 
Kris had to actually look away as he was feeling uncomfortable and suddenly self-concious under her gaze.

"Well I'm glad you share it with me. Though I'm sorry I don't think I can give you some kind of tips or tricks to make the pain disapper. Because as you can see, I at that. "

Kris snorted at her reply.

Yeojin then looked ahead and saw a couple hand-in-hand walking by. "But I think I know why I survive through the pain." Her gaze lingered on the couple.

"Why is that?"

She smiled at a memory before answering, "Because I remember."

"Huh?"

"Forgetting won't help ease the pain. The more you try to forget it, the more it occupies your mind and hurts you even more. Instead of forgeting, I treasure the happy memories. It didn't make the sad ones disappear. They're still there, but they're like pushed to the back because the happy ones take over." She turned to look at him and gave him a smile. "I treasured the happy memories I shared with him." She suddenly chuckled at herself. "But honestly I wouldn't really recommend you do that. I think the best thing to do is to make new happy memories. Not with her but with other people. Like maybe your family?"

Kris stared at her for a moment. This girl is actually making sense. He gave an amused scoff. "And you said you don't have any tips and tricks huh?"

"That was just random rambling." She waved her hand dismissively.

Kris chuckled and gave out a sigh. "Pretty sure it's going to be hard to do that though." He looked down playing with his ramyeon cup which she had emptied.

Yeojin swore she felt her heart broke a little of seeing him being sad. He lost his love, and he lost it because of her. But no matter how much and how many times she felt guilty, nothing and no one can turn back time. Right now, all she could do was be a good companion for him.

"Kris," she called.

"What?" He turned to look at her. He almost burst out laughing, but he held it.

Yeojin was again making funny faces the way she did to Sehun.

"What are you doing?"

"Cheering you up like old times," she answered before going back to pulling or squishing her own face.

"Stop it. You're embarassing!" He looked away, but she kept on leaning closer to show him her funny faces. "Ya! Stop it alteady!" He demanded but a smile broke out on his face.

"Ooh~ You're smiling!" She stopped doing what she did and clapped her hands instead. "Can't believe it still works on you. Mission accomplished!" 

"I'm not!" Kris denied pursing his lips. 

"You were! Should I do it again then?" She dared to poke his cheek. "Should I? Should I?" So she did again.

"Stop it, idiot!" Kris pushed her face away with his palm, but she did it again. "Stop it already!" He ordered over a chuckle.

Kris ended up laughing though he kept on trying to make her stop. At least for tonight, he didn't have to dwell in his pain alone. At least tonight, he learned how to make new memory.