CHAPTER 27. Ironies

Do you think how it would have been sometimes

Do you pray that I'd never left your side

What if I had never let you go

Would you be the man I used to know

~ what if (kate winslet)

It was him, her eyes were not deceiving her.

She almost cried as she put her hands on . It was really him!

Seo Hyun has forgotten why she needed to be in the airport. The world took a break from spinning. The crowd seemed to disperse in sight. She held on to her heart.

Jung Yong Hwa after eight years.

“Yo~ng Oppa!” she finally spoke but the honking of the cars and the assortment of sounds around swallowed her voice. Her heart pounded when she noticed that he slightly turned and was about to raise her arm but he looked away again and went on walking. She knew it was impossible for him to have heard her but she believed in casting that spell for him to look her way. Too bad, her spell was not strong enough. If only she could shove those people off her way or grow herself a pair of wings to get to him, she would.

“Oh, no...” she mumbled in defeat when he stopped by a cab and the driver started depositing his belongings in the compartment. She took quicker steps ignoring those people she bumped into but before she could call his name again he got in the vehicle. She inhaled and decided to run for it while the car was just moving a little slow but she was too late.

With a slower pace, she watched the taxi drove away until it disappeared from her sight. She almost had that moment in her hand. She really should have shouted his name loud enough to reach him.

~~~

Yong Hwa had enough of waiting so he decided that he would just take a taxi to Seoul. Focused on getting to Seoul soon, he somehow marveled at the improvements in the airport. Was he gone that long?

“Omo!”

A woman walking towards his direction mumbled in surprise as she and her company looked over his shoulder and deliberately cut his train of thoughts. The sudden commotion behind made him look back a bit and noticed that woman and a grandmother gathering scattered things on the floor. He did not give much thought to it despite the fact that the woman's dark chocolate brown hair that was covering her face reminded him of how Seo Hyun would wear them loose for him. He shook his head with a smirk as he pushed his cart along. He must stop that or else he would be forcing himself to board the earliest flight back to the US.

The positive thing that he waited for nearly an hour on the lounge was that there were less people to line with to get a cab. It went smoothly like he did not wait at all, only that getting his stuff inside the compartment made him take a bit of time making sure everything was there. The busy place has never had that moment of complete silence from noise-- impossible, of course. But his mind has been playing a dirty trick on him that he thought he heard a familiar voice calling him using that familiar name christened to him long time ago on that distant and dreamy fantasy.

As soon as the last bag got in, he opened the door and locked himself up until the driver took his place and drive him away from lunacy.

~~~

She fidgeted inside her unnie's office while the latter was still on the phone explaining to the CEO's assistant why she wasn't able to pick up the Director from the airport.

“Will you sit down? You’re making me dizzy…” Hyo said as soon as she put down the phone, “The Director knew about the accident. It was inevitable and no one's at fault so you can relax…”

Biting the tip of her thumb, she looked at her superior. How could she explain that it was not the director making her all fidgety there? She was not too worried about the picking up incident since the traffic still even on their way back to Seoul so she was sure that he had the same experience.

Where could he be now? Would he be in his old apartment?

“Seo Hyun, I said, everything is okay. You can relax now…” Hyo said again as the younger girl was all focused at her but her mind seemed to be wandering somewhere so she snapped her fingers on her face to get her attention, “Ya! Are you still with me?”

“Oh, yeah! I’m sorry, Unnie…” she finally chirped in. On the corner of her mind, she was also curious of her new boss and hoped he would be nice to her, “So, has he arrived?”

“Yes, he is and he is in a meeting with the CEO now,” Hyo nodded with a smile, “You will do fine, right?”

“Yes, I will.” She smiled, “Maybe, I should be going to. I need to redeem myself.”

“Yeah! Hwaiting, Seo Hyun!”

“Hwaiting!”

As soon as she went out of the elevator to her new floor, the Department’s secretary met her with a serious expression. The older woman was just a few years younger than her mother but the way she carried herself was kind of scary for Seo Hyun.

“Ms. Seo, the Director has been looking for you.”

That made her nervous alright, so she nodded sheepishly, “Ahhh? Really? I have to get these documents from Ms. Kim, aigoo…” she muttered and thankfully, the Mrs. Park smiled.

“It’s okay, he just got in.”

They walked heading towards his office when another employee excused herself and consulted some documents to the older woman. Seo Hyun was about to go her way when the door opened.

Her jaw almost dropped.

Was it just an illusion? For he stood there as everything else moved in a slow motion and the rising and falling in her chest was the only thing she could feel.

She gasped in surprise.

Yong Hwa emerged from the Director’s room talking to someone on the phone. The normal buzzing around suddenly died down and most of the employees just watched him strode across the room. She stood dumbfounded on the side as Mrs. Park bowed when he passed their side. She was not breathing at all as his eyes traveled on both sides of his path as if acknowledging the bowed heads for him and, for a second, it landed on her. But, as quick as lightning strikes, he looked ahead without breaking his sentence to whoever he was talking with.

He walked out of the room when Hyun Joong called instructing him to meet another director who would be giving him some information about the problem. The employees who were there when he first walked in acknowledged his presence again by stopping what they were doing and giving him a slight bow. He tipped his head himself and somewhat looked on that corner where the Department's secretary stood. Only then he realized that familiar girl awestricken by his presence beside the older woman. He could not help himself but to hold her gaze as Hyun Joong's voice seemed to fade away. He cleared his throat slightly then asked some random question he managed to compose in his mind and looked away from her.

Then the whole scene played in his mind as he walked passed her with those eyes holding hers for those agonizing seconds then suddenly, with one blink he looked away as if she was nothing but an unreal ornament mounted on that corner for someone else's pleasure. The feeling was like a punch on her stomach.

She stood there motionless as everybody else went back to their business like they really should. His free hand was on his pants pocket now while he continued talking and waited for the elevator. His white dress shirt failed to hide his broad torso and lean posture. She could not help but swallow hard. What was he doing there? Range of thoughts came roaming around her limited understanding of the situation. He couldn’t possibly be the—

“Ya! Stop ogling at your new boss.”

It was Mrs. Park who playfully whispered on her side so she shook her head and started to deny what she said but she ended up stuttering, much to the woman’s entertainment. She smiled with apologies, “But is he really? I thought it was the CEO’s son.”

“Well, he just got married so he sent someone as OIC for six months and it happened to be Director Jung.”

Yong Hwa walked on, almost sprinting, just to get to the elevator. Thankfully, it opened right away and he went in like he was too excited to get away from that floor. There was that complex feeling of pleasure and pain all at the same time. Those pools he hasn't seen for a long while still hold their mystery and vibrancy. The elevator door shut in a very slow manner mocking him completely as he noticed how she was still looking his way. That distance was good enough to forge the idea that he was not looking at her back.

Seo Hyun continued to look at where he was standing moments ago as he then disappeared when the elevator door closed and she could not tell if he was looking at her or not. Its either her mind was busily painting this fairytale in her head that he was looking at her while those doors were closing, or he was really was. She could not believe it. Just then she realized how stupid she was running after him at the airport when in truth, he was the same person she went there for.

“He’s a very handsome fellow. He’s your type, yes?”

Mrs. Park nudged her with that ajumma-esque character so she smiled and shook her head, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She turned and decided to deal with him later as the older woman chuckled to herself. She needed some fresh air and some wise counseling.

Yong Hwa finally breathed a sigh of relief when he reached the upper floor. He thought he was prepared for it, but he was not. Was he even successful on that pretense of not seeing her?

It was still surreal.

~~~

“It was really him I saw at the airport…”

Yoona balanced the phone on her ear and shoulder as she opened the display case to get the last piece of carrot cake. She got an early call that morning from her bestfriend declaring that she saw her ex-boyfriend at the airport and she for sleepwalking again and that Seo Hyun was just seeing things. “So what did you do?”

“Nothing...”

That lifeless voice of Seo Hyun made her smile to herself and nodded to Ji Hwan, the teenager she just hired a few days ago in her coffee shop. The boy was motioning for her approval to keep those newly delivered paper cups. “Yeah, anyway, what can you do? He was talking on the phone and if I were you, that's exactly what I will do too-- nothing.” She rolled her eyes and rested her behind by the counter. It was indeed a surprise that Yong Hwa was now back in Korea with a bigger surprise of being Seo Hyun's boss.

“And what do you know? He’s my boss now… and he passed me by. I swear he saw me! It was impossible not to… but he just passed me by!”

“Ya... ya... ya...” Yoona chuckled to herself when she started her litanies. Seo Hyun has that amazing ability of talking non-stop-- she could be a perfect defense lawyer. “What were you expecting? For him to kiss you and hug you? To kneel in front of you and beg you to go back to his life?

“It’s not like that…”

Seo Hyun defended herself much to Yoona’s amusement when her voice faded and she was about to answer that when she went on with a very lonely tone.

“Oh, well… maybe he did not really see me…”

“Who are you convincing?” Yoona laughed again imagining her slumped on a toilet seat inside the rest room. Poor Seo Hyun, she was on her perfect mode to . “And yeah, what is it to you if he did not stop and acknowledge your royal presence? You’re his past—past tense… nothing but a love story gone wrong so stop complaining. Besides, it was you who turned away before, right?”

“Do you really have to say those?”

She walked to the kitchen fearing her customers would find her odd, then continued, “And who do you want to hear it from? It would be more painful if you hear it from him, don’t you think?”

Yoona doesn't really want to sound so harsh to her friend but it's better that way. At least, she has something to reflect upon. Seo Hyun may still be naïve at some point but she knows that she has learned from her past mistakes to be able to handle this well. She was even curious as to what will happen to them in the future. Yong Hwa has every right to feel mad and all with Seo Hyun but by weighing the past, Yoona knew that Seo Hyun has been so special for him to just forget that easily. Angry or not, she was all too ready for the coming chapters.

~~~

“Annyeong haseyo… I am Seo Ju Hyun and I will be your personal assistant on your duration of stay here in the company.” She said her memorized speech. They say that if you are uncomfortable in looking at a person’s eyes it would be okay if you look him on the lips or forehead. She chose the second since it would be more uncomfortable looking at his lips.

“Nice meeting you, Ms. Seo,” he said nonchalantly trying to keep his cool. She is just another employee, Yong Hwa reminded himself as she stood there in front of him with nothing that separated them but a big oak table. She was modestly dressed in that too conservative business attire with her hair swept on both sides of her face and flowing down for his pleasure. It seemed like nothing changed on her physical appearance only that she has become shapelier especially on all those right places. He cleared his throat as if reminding himself to focus on what she was saying and not by how she looked after eight years.

“I prepared the documents by their importance and urgency for your perusal,” she motioned on the stock of folders to his left. He was really making the whole introduction difficult for her as he was lazying on his seat, fingers on his chin, swayi