Jongin took his time in thinking what to do. Hyoyeon spared him a final, pitiful glance before returning inside, joining her parents or maybe Samantha and Sehun. But he didn’t know what to do, or how to act. He somehow trusted Hyoyeon’s words, because after all he knew her for so many years, and even though Hyoyeon sometimes felt the need to be in control of everything, she wasn’t a bad person. She wasn’t somebody that would hurt people just for fun.

Jongin almost felt sorry for shouting at her, blaming her for everything, but at the end of the day, he was the one getting hurt, right? Samantha kissed Sehun. She was even the one who leaned forward, so she did it on purpose.

What did Sehun have, that made him the perfect boyfriend for Samantha?  Money? A better social status than Jongin? What was it? He kept asking himself all these questions that possessed no answer, but he found that they were only torturing him, making him feel useless and powerless.

And he was. He was in the middle of an empty garden, while she was there, probably not even thinking about him at all. She was surely enjoying the party, dancing with Sehun and talking about dates and future plans.

But still, something didn’t seem right.

Hyoyeon said that Samantha didn’t like Sehun yet, so why did she kiss him? It made no sense.

Should he go inside and talk to her? Ask her what the hell was going on? Was it even worth it? He could imagine Samantha as the small, clueless little deer, quietly eating and enjoying lifer as it came, while Hyoyeon was a lion that felt the need not to eat the deer, but to defend her with his life. He felt that, even if he would gather the guts to go inside and find the girl, he would only be met with Hyoyeon’s threatening gaze, and harsh words.

And Sehun? He didn’t even know that jerk, but from the second he met him in high school he knew that boy was no good. He didn’t know what was it about him that made Jongin so angry. Maybe the fact that he seemed a spoiled brat. Yeah, that was definitely it.

Samantha was so delicate. So genuine with everything she did or say. She was the most wonderful person he ever met, simply because she was herself. She didn’t want to appear hot, or smart with her words, or too confident. She didn’t wasn’t to seem anything. She just wanted to live life as it was. And he loved that. It felt so wrong to see her with someone like Sehun, that screamed money, alcohol and . Maybe he was judging the poor boy. Maybe Sehun wasn’t like that, but Jongin didn’t care. He just seemed wrong for Samantha. He felt it inside.

He wanted t go inside and talk to Samantha. He really did. But wouldn’t that do more damage? Would he feel better seeing the two again, and hearing painful words come out from Samantha’s mouth?

I don’t want you Jongin. I don’t need you.

I need Sehun.

You wouldn’t understand.

Was it really worth it?

No. He didn’t want to hear her say those words.  There was that quote, that said “If you love somebody, you need to let them go.” He didn’t know if he loved her, but what he felt was more than just a crush. More than infatuation.

So the best idea was to let her go, just like they say. If Sehun was what she needed, who was Jongin to stay in her way?

Samantha kept calling. She kept coming up with excuses or reasons as to why would Jongin ignore her calls. But she had nothing. And she tried to be okay with that, because Jongin wasn’t her boyfriend. Jongin didn’t tell her he liked her. Jongin didn’t even come to look for her back at Hyoyeon’s party.

Was it her fault? Did Jongin see her and Sehun? No, that was impossible, she made sure nobody she knew saw that.

She thought that maybe, if she spoke with Hyoyeon about it, they would come up with a plan to find what was wrong, but it wasn’t like that. It was, yet again, a surprise for her when she asked her best friend about it.

“Why do you keep thinking about Jongin? Isn’t it obvious he’s avoiding you?” Hyoyeon said, worry in her eyes. She engulfed Samantha in a hug when seeing how her expression fell. “Oh sweety. Don’t be sad, that’s how boys are. They sometimes do that to hurt you, but it’s no good to cry for that. Besides, you two weren’t even in a relationship. It can’t hurt that much, right?” Hyoyeon added, hope in her eyes. She combed her best friend’s hair with her fingers, knowing how much Samantha liked that.

The girl didn’t know what to say. Putting it like that, it was true. She and Jongin weren’t even in a relationship, but did that mean it hurt less? No, it didn’t. Because she felt like screaming.

When did this happen? What happened? Why was everything so blurred?

“Besides, you have Sehun now, right?”

“I don’t like Sehun, Hyoyeon.” Samantha said rather harshly.

“I know, but maybe you will. It’s not impossible, he’s really nice, and he treats you so well.”

Samantha didn’t say anything to that.

“Just give him a chance. Everyone deserves one.”

It was true, Sehun was a true gentleman. The day after the party, he asked Samantha out for coffee to show his gratitude for the girl’s help.  Samantha accepted, wanting to clear things out with him, telling Sehun that he shouldn’t be so grateful, they were friends. Friends did that for each other, right?

The boy never agreed to that, but he never denied it either. He just smiled as if a plan was following it’s natural course. Which was weird, but Samantha, being the naïve girl she was, never thought about it. She just tried taking her mind off of things, talking to the only person who seemed to actually listen to her. Sehun.

Three days after the party, Jongin still didn’t answer Samantha’s calls. Or texts. How could he?

He tried to keep his mind off of it by going to the studio to dance, by running or simply by spending time with Haru. Ok, maybe spending time with his kitten was a bad idea, having in mind he fact that Haru was the way he met Samantha, but it was somehow therapeutic. Like he was still in touch with the girl by spending time with the thing that brought the two of them together.

It was on the fourth day that he came home from a jog, when he found Hyoyeon and Baekhyun on their couch, kissing. He didn’t know if he should feel grossed out, or if he shouldn’t be surprised, because he somehow expected it.

“Um, hi. Sorry to interrupt.” He mumbled after kicking his shoes off, not in the mood for jokes.

The two separated immediately, wiping their lips awkwardly, Baekhyun grinning at his fried while the blonde girl simply avoided his gaze.

“Jongin, you’re home.” he stated the obvious.

“Well it seems I shouldn’t have been.”

“No, no. It’s good you’re here, I actually came to talk to you. But Baekhyun and I..”  Hyoyeon excused herself, looking at Baekhyun shyly, still avoiding Jongin’s eyes.

“You did?” both Baekhyun and Jongin asked in unison.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know if I want to talk though. You two seem to have things to do anyway, right?”

“Oh, come on Jongin.” Baekhyun mumbled, looking at Jongin with concern, then at Hyoyeon. “He’s been grumpy the last few days,  but he wouldn’t tell me why.” The boy said, his brows raised in confusion.

“Could you.. um, leave us a minute?” Hyoyeon looked at Baekhyun sweetly, her cheeks still flushed, though she seemed like trying to gain back some of her dignity.

“Sure, but don’t take too long, yeah?” he smirked, pecking her lips once more before leaving Jongin and Hyoyeon to talk.

After he left, the girl inhaled and exhaled loudly, almost as if making a mental list of what was it to say.

“So, you and Baekhyun.” Jongin stated bluntly, his expression blank. “At least some of us get to be happy with the one they like.” He sighed.

Hyoyeon contemplated what to say, looking at him with an apologetic expression. She seemed to have rethought her monologue after seeing the state the boy was in. Sure, she thought he would be sad, judging by the fact that he actually avoided Samantha the past few days, but not like this. His face seemed  blank, no trace of feelings whatsoever.

“How are you feeling?” she asked, motioning with her head for Jongin to take a seat next to her.

“What do you want, Hyoyeon? And don’t tell me you’ve come all they way here to ask me if I’m okay, because I won’t believe you.  It’s obvious you don’t really care about the way I feel.” He said, though his voice wasn’t angry. Just blank.

“Do you think this is easy for me? Sneaking behind my best friend’s back, playing tricks on her, without her even knowing? Do you think I do it just because it’s fun? Hyoyeon said frustrated. This is what she was most afraid of, Jongin thinking that she was the bad one here, when in fact she was the one that tried to do things right.

He stayed silent.

“Well I’ll tell you, it’s not easy doing all these things, and seeing her so clueless and confused. I never knew it was going to be this way, but I knew from the start there were going to be consequences along with her returning to Korea.”

“What do you mean?”Jongin asked, his blank expression gone, now confusion taking it’s place. “What consequences?”

“Well, Samantha returned here on her own will. Her parents never wanted her to, that being the reason why they never approved of our strong relationship. Ever since she left, we kept in touch. Talking on the phone, on the internet, basically everywhere. Her parents didn’t like it, because when they left Korea, they wanted to break any kind of connection they had with their former life, and Samantha holding onto something from here wasn’t what they wanted.”

“I though they left because her father got a job there.” Jongin mumbled, now his attention on the blonde girl.

“Well, yeah. But it wasn’t just the fact he liked the US  that he wanted to live there. Her father had a quite big company, I’m not sure what was he actually doing, but they were pretty rich back then. But her father wasn’t exactly a saint, he did some pretty bad stuff to get to the top, including blackmailing and other things which I’m not really sure of.”

Jongin’s eyes went wide.

“Other stuff? Like what?”

“Look, that’s not the point. The main idea is that he did some bad stuff and got on the bad side of a lot of rich, powerful people. He was charged, but paid a really big amount of money for a good lawyer to help him get rid of the charges. He isn’t some kind of weird criminal or anything, so don’t get the wrong idea. He just wanted money, and we all know people are sometimes able to do anything to get money. He wanted to leave the country, and start over again. And what better way to start over than on the other side of the planet, right? It was the perfect plan, but Samantha wasn’t so cooperative.”

“Wait, hold on a second.” Jongin raised his hand in the air, his head spinning form so much information. ”So her father got rid of the charges, and then wanted to find another job somewhere else. But if he got rid of the charges, why was it so important to break every connection his family had with Korea?”

“I don’t know.” Hyoyeon replied, the same question in her head aswell. “Maybe it was because his bad reputation couldn’t be bought with money, like the lawyer he paid.”

“Does Samantha know all these stuff?”

“No, she doesn’t. I wasn’t aware of all these things either, until a few days ago when her father called me, and told me everything.”

“I still don’t get it though. In what way does her father’s past affect her now?”

“This is where Sehun comes into the picture actually.” Hyoyeon said cautiously, feeling like Jongin would explode at the simple mention of the latter’s name.

But Jongin didn’t flinch. He didn’t blink, he didn’t scoff. He just listened.

“Samantha’s parents want to come back to Korea too, but her father told me there would be some consequences, as I told you, when they come back. He’ll need his trusted lawyer again, just in case some issues weren’t solved, or if anything popped up out of nowhere.”

“So..”

“ The lawyer he had 12 years ago is..Sehun’s mother.”

Jongin’s eyes closed after hearing Hyoyeon’s last words.  Sehun’s family was what made him the perfect boyfriend for Samantha. The part that made Jongin want to punch someone was, however, that Samantha didn’t even know that. She wasn’t aware of anything that was going on.

“So her father is using her own daughter to save his .”

“Well, yeah.” Hyoyeon whispered, feeling awkward and horrible herself. “ Sehun knows all this,  and actually likes this whole bull. He likes Samantha, so for him everything works just fine.”

Neither her, or Jongin ever thought they would find themselves in such a situation. Things were so delicate, it seemed impossible for them to handle everything without somebody getting hurt.

“So you say that, Samantha’s dad asked you to make Samantha fall in love with Sehun? So that, he’ll use this as an advantage for when he comes back?”

“ If you put it like this, yes. But look, things aren’t as bad as they might look right now.”

Jongin remained silent. What could he say? He felt like , because there was no place for him in all this. It all seemed like a well thought drama plot, where he was nothing but collateral damage.

“Samantha’s dad told me he’ll talk with his daughter in a few days. He wants Sehun and Samantha to be as close as possible, because Sehun’s mother is a busy woman, and without some kind of backup plan he isn’t sure Sehun’s mother is going to accept him again.”

“He’s using her.” Jongin emphasized, his tone harsh without him realizing.

“I’m so sorry Jongin. For you, and for Samantha aswell. I know how much you two like each other, and if I would’ve known all this before, I wouldn’t have let things go so far between you two.” The blonde girl added, her tone trembling. Jongin felt a wave of compassion wash over him as he saw how Hyoyeon’s eyes were teary, the girl fumbling with her hands in a nervous gesture.

He put his hand over hers, smiling lightly.

“I know. It’s okay..” he said, not finding the strength in him to really mean it.

Truth is, it wasn’t anybody’s fault, except for Samantha’s dad. And now his daughter was about to suffer for her father’s mistakes.

But would she? What if she actually falls in love with that rich kid? Jongin thought.

 “I came here to tell you everything, because I doubt you gave up on her.” Hyoyeon added, the girl now squeezing Jongin’s large hand in hers. “I don’t know the reason you avoided her the past few days, but she needs you. You just have to be careful. We have to be careful.”

“I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to stand in her way.” He admitted weakly. 

“We’ll think of something, okay? And you don’t stay in her way, it’s just..things are complicated now. You have to be pacient, that’s all. Maybe try and tone down your feelings a bit. I’ll try and convince her to do that aswell. Just for a while, until things settle down, okay?”

“Do you really think it’ll work like that? What if she falls in love with Sehun?” the boy couldn’t help but ask, his stomach doing weird flips just at the thought of it.

“I doubt that. I think she really, really likes you. Please, don’t let go of like this. You two deserve to be together, and I mean it.”

“But what if-“

“ Stop it just.. just trust me, okay? We’ll get through this. I promise that to both of you.”

Jongin was speechless. He closed his eyes,  inhaling deeply.

Samantha’s smile popped in his head immediately, then her laugh, then her eyes and everything about her suddenly made him heart pound so hard and his stomach flip.

Wasn’t it too risky? What if he ended up falling even more for her, while she falls in love with Sehun? What if things don’t work, and she must go back to the US? So many “what if”s made him want to give up, but he couldn’t. It was Samantha he was talking about.

Was it risky?  Yes.

Would he give up? No.  

A/N

I really think I'm obsessed with writing this story.

Sooo

things got cleared up a bit, but this is just the beginning hihi.

I hope you liked it.

I really appreciate every single comment, you guys make me so happy ^-^

Tell me what do you think in the comments.

Until the next chapter, take care and have a great day! ♥