A/N: This story is almost finished!! I’m so happy! So please don’t get mad at me for posting too late or chapters that are too long. I think this would go on until Chapter 25 or less. I’m sorry if I posted this chapter late. I had my eyeglasses fixed and I was just too busy watching Sungkyunkwan Scandal—a drama that took me only 4 days to finish.There’s a few changes made to the title of Chapter 17 but it’s no big deal, really. J I want to thank again Jailbird for giving this chapter yet another clean sweep of mistakes I’ve done. Thank you, friend, for giving me help and telling me good stuff. JPlease stay tune in reading the chapters!! I’m doing my best in collating all ideas! JREAD, COMMENT, SUBSCRIBE AND VOTE FOR MY STORY TO BE FEATURED!I want to thank everyone who’s been reading my story constantly and who’s been giving me sweet comments. My readers are my inspiration! J and also my irl friends! J- NOONA-YAH [NARRATOR’S POV]Siwon stared at the shelf of books they have at their dorm. In one side of the shelf were Ji Hyeon’s books—romance books in particular. They were dusty from the months of not being touched. They smelled old and musty. He stared at them, leaning towards the right as if to say, “Where could we lean on? We’re all tired.” He hates romance novels. He hates how the main character would break up with his girlfriend and end up dating another girl. They make it all seem so easy as if in just a blink of an eye, you’d forget who you last loved or last touched. The authors always fail to write the realistic feelings of being left, of having to find someone to lean on. They all use lies and tricks. And in the end, the reader who spent two days in reading the book would think, oh, breakups are easy to get over with. But when the reader would really experience what the book described, she’d think she’d be fooled.He wondered why Ji Hyeon reads this stuff. And now, when they’re in their breakup, did she even think for one second how these books lie? Does she feel the real pain now? Not the novelistic one?“Siwon-ah,” Sungmin said, standing beside Siwon. “You haven’t been out for days...”“I’ve been out.” Siwon said, feeling the sermon that Sungmin would add. He turned his back and walked to the dining area where a plate of macaroni and cheese has been laid. He sat down in front of the plate and picked the fork up, eating robotically.Sungmin sat in front of him, smiling. “And? What did you see?”“Her.”A word, Sungmin thought. That single word sent a couple of meanings and explained everything why Siwon didn’t go out again. “That’s good, did you guys talk?” Actually, it’s not good, he countered in his mind.“Ani. I was with Ae Kyung and she was with Chanyeol. We were pretty occupied.”“Ah,” Sungmin said, smiling as if to understand. He really didn’t understand anything. He doesn’t understand why Siwon has to go on a date with Ae Kyung when he perfectly knows that she annoys everyone. He also doesn’t understand Ji Hyeon dating Chanyeol—of all people, she chose Chanyeol as if to mock Siwon. “I was wondering if you’d go with us tomorrow night to EXO’s celebratory party.”“For what?”“Chanyeol’s birthday. It’s going to be after the fan signing.”“I thought EXO’s at China.”Hmm, he’s keeping tabs, Sungmin thought. Keeping the enemy closer. “They’re coming back in the morning. Anyway, it won’t be long...we just have to show up. We’re the sunbae’s. We have to pay respects.”“I don’t want—““Look,” Sungmin began. “I know that he’s dating your ex-girlfriend...but, you have to keep your cool, Siwon. It’s not like they planned to date each other beforehand...it’s just a party. No one’s forcing you to talk or to dance or whatever. You just have to show up.”“Did Soo Man tell you to convince me to go?” Siwon suspiciously looked up from his food.“Actually, it’s not only him. It’s everyone. We’re concerned about you.”“Who planned this party?”“You don’t really have to know be—““I didn’t have to ask anyway. I know already. I just wanna hear you say her name so that my thoughts would be confirmed just in case I’m in a long bad dream where the person I love left me for someone who is better…”“Siwon…stop this. You’re making yourself suffer even more…”“Am I in a dream, hyung?” Siwon asked with innocent eyes that Sungmin struggled to answer. He looked like a child, waiting for a lie to be happy because truths only hurt.The door of the dorm opened and Leeteuk went inside, his coat slung casually over his shoulder. “Siwon, stand up and go out. This is reality. There’s going to be no fairy to wake you up and soothe you from a nightmare.”Reality, Siwon thought. Of course, this is not a dream.***The past few days for Ji Hyeon weren’t like Siwon’s. She’s having a good time around Chanyeol, the sun setting before her eyes was marvelous, the feel of the hot sun on her skin made her feel comfortable and much more, the skinship Chanyeol was doing to her made her skin tingle. The beach, the Myungdong shopping with onlookers, the late night escapes from practice and work to the Sushi Bar near SMENT and the quick cuddles in between show preparations and practices were all too perfect.They never fought, though. Chanyeol never got jealous and sometimes Ji Hyeon would think if he really doesn’t care if she stood too close with Changmin oppa or Kai or even Kangta. Chanyeol never ran out of time—they had lots of it, enough to keep the world running for a billion years. They never found a hard time in looking for places to visit—even to the point of visiting the zoo. But eventually, they would run out of words to say where the air becomes damp with awkwardness and uncertainty.She wanted to find a loophole in the relationship. Weird, isn’t it? Even lying in the dark made her feel that this relationship is no longer a relationship but is only a routine. She would sometimes long for fights, for source of jealousies, and for stories that they could talk about for hours. But they never came—Chanyeol, or rather this relationship, is too perfect. She’d instantly think of Siwon even if Chanyeol’s hand is intertwined with hers. Her heart aches with ancient longing. She shook her head, wishing that these thoughts would fall in the dark and would never be found. You chose Chanyeol. You chose someone perfect that Siwon isn’t. You should know that this will happen eventually.Her thoughts drifted to Siwon, his name still as strong as stone in her mind. Was he feeling the same longing like her? Or is he happy with the girl who resembled her so much in attitude and appearance, as other people would say? The vows they said during their second anniversary, the little dates they spend together in hiding, and the simple moments they shared—doesn’t he miss them all?Her phone rang, pulling her out of her reverie. She fumbled for it on her night table.Chanyeol. “Yoboseyo?” she said, sitting up and switching on her bedside lamp.“Noona~” Chanyeol said, longing evident in his voice. “Bogosipeo…”This was the first time that she wasn’t picked to accompany Chanyeol or EXO in their overseas event. She stayed silent, unwilling to return the words that she doesn’t really feel like saying. “Have you eaten your dinner?”“Ne. of course, I won’t allow myself to be hungry. This is China!” He said and she instantly laughed, somehow, Chanyeol still made her smile like a good drug. “You? Did my noona eat her dinner?”“Ne, we arranged things needed for DBSK’s Europe Tour over dinner.” She said.Chanyeol sighed. “It’s good that you’re working but it’s not good that you’re tiring yourself too much.”“Mr. Park Chanyeol, you should be saying that to yourself…” She said, laughing because of the ironic part in the advice he gave her. “I’m really bored, you know. It’s just work who keeps me entertained…”“I wish I was there to keep you occupied—“ He said but he was cut off by Ji Hyeon’s urgent voice.“Chanyeol, someone’s buzzing at my door…I have to go see who it is first…” She immediately hung up, cutting the phone call short.There was really no one neither buzzing at her door nor calling for immediate attention. She just felt like she should do it because she really didn’t want to talk to him right now, not when Siwon’s floating around her mind and the uncertainty of the relationship screaming in her heart. She just had to end the call, she thought. There really shouldn’t be many reasons to do that, right?And before she closed her eyes, she felt disappointed in herself for not greeting Chanyeol a ‘Happy Birthday’. She stared at her phone, thinking about sending him a message or calling him again. But after a few minutes, she laid on her bed, unmoving, coming to a decision to do nothing about it.***[YOU ‘S POV]I entered the small café. It was lunch time and I had received a call from Eun Bi asking me if we could eat together. It was odd, receiving a call from her after months and months of annoying events. The café seemed peaceful, western pop songs playing in the background, waitresses strolling around to deliver lunch orders and quite a few people murmuring and typing on their laptops. In one of the tables in the middle of the café sat Eun Bi.She was dressed like a normal person—a plain green shirt with a striped white and black cardigan, tight jeans and a small backpack on her lap. Her hair was tied in a loose knot in the middle of her head and she was smiling brightly at me as if I didn’t humiliate or detest her a few months ago at the SM Town in Japan Tour. If someone even saw her with me, no one would think she’s an actress because she even had no make-up.“Annyeonghaseyo,” She said, standing up and bowing her head in respect. “Ji Hyeon unnie~”Unni? I choked on my own spit. She must need something from me. Sugar-coating, this is. “Annyeong,” I said, as we sat down on our chairs across from each other. “Eun Bi, how are you?” I really didn’t want to know. Just gotten it from something called respect.“I’m fine, busy, really.” She said, smiling. “Siwon and I are already done filming the Chinese drama.”“I know,” I simply said. “Do you want to order something?”“I ate my lunch already. We could just order some coffee instead.” She waved at one of the waitresses and placed our orders of cappuccino and latte. After a few minutes of waiting, our orders arrived, giving me reason to distract myself from looking at her and from answering immediately. “How’s things going at SMENT? I haven’t seen you for long…”“Still the same.” I said. “Nothing really changed except for the fact that I’m also handling TVXQ.”“I heard.” She sipped her coffee in a very ladylike manner which made me extra self-conscious. “I also heard you broke up with Siwon.”“He broke up with me. I didn’t end the relationship.”“Hmm, bitterness. Is that what I hear from your voice, unni?”“Bitchy,” I said. “Slimy as you ever are. You haven’t changed since the last time I saw you. Now, what do you want?”“Get him back.” She said, looking me straight in the eye, sending daggers through my composure. She looked at the window, stared at the throng of passerby’s and smiled. “You see how those normal people are? Among them, one person is hurting. One just suffered from a bitter breakup that he brought to himself. And now, he doesn’t have a choice but stick to it even to the point of poisoning himself by dating a person who looks exactly like his ex…”I sighed, shaking my head. “Your point?”“My point is someone in that crowd is exactly like Siwon!” She said, exasperation boiling in her voice, acidic in her angelic appearance. “He’s suffering too much, unnie! Even Lee Soo Man noticed it! Siwon rarely goes to practices and when they have a stage, he performs like he lost his bones! We all know the reason why. He made a mistake! It’s a mistake.”“Lucky you, you know his mistake. He doesn’t know it’s a mistake.” I said, placing down my mug of coffee with a large thump. “I’m not going to beg him to come back when he’s the one who left me.”“Is that because you’re dating Chanyeol?”“Wow, Eun Bi-ah!” I said, feigning amazement. “Is that bitterness I heard in your voice?”She laughed. “Of course, it is. We all know Chanyeol likes me. He’s only dating you because you look like me.”“Watch your words, Eun Bi. I’m still older.”“I don’t care.” She spat. “It’s my relationship on the line and even yours! You’re only dating Chanyeol because you were swayed by his presence since the start! You’ve got weak bearings. And you’re only dating him because you think he’s the only source of energy and happiness around you when in fact, you just lost some power—a black out.”I didn’t speak. I lost the words I’ve prepared to use on her in case she treated me this way. This young lady, Eun Bi, turns out to be very menacing, mature and right—and no match for me.“Look, unnie. I’m not jealous because you’ve got Chanyeol wrapped around your finger. It’s okay, who cares. He’ll just realize it later that you’re both too broken to even come back to the people you truly loved that’s why you come running to each other for happiness. That’s the real reason why you’re together.” she said, sighing and shaking her head as if it’s her who’s getting tired in listening to her voice and not me. “I just want you both to see that. Siwon and I are both aching to have our relationship back.”“Did he put you up to this?” I was in suspicion. If Siwon’s way of getting me back is like this, then he should know that I’m not wavering.“Siwon doesn’t even have the strength to walk out of their dorm. You think he’d even have the energy to see me and ask for a favor?”“You like him. Who knows? He must be desperate to even see you.”“Stop that nonsense.” She said, rolling her eyes. “This is why Siwon left you. You’re one immature girl who can’t stand strong, who keeps asking questions and doesn’t look for answers, who gets easily swayed. If you didn’t mind Chanyeol, if you have loyalty in your heart, he wouldn’t have left you. But no, instead of only looking at him, you looked at Chanyeol in a way Siwon didn’t see before. You lost your old strong self.”“How do you even know this stuff?” She is a credible stalker. No doubt Siwon distanced himself from her.“You know this stuff when people get drunk and release all their heartaches inside you.” She said. “Oh. Ani, ani. Don’t look at me like that. I was with the whole Super Junior, Kangta and BoA during their party and Siwon got drunk and I just wanted him to feel okay so I asked him to take it all out on me.”“It’s good you didn’t end up in bed.” I said, glaring at her.“I love Chanyeol. I like Siwon—but not enough to make me waver or feel weak in my love for Chanyeol.” She said, grinning. “I’m different from you.”I closed my eyes. “I don’t know…I just don’t know…I don’t know if I should come back to him. He’s waiting there, in the wings…”“That’s what’s hurting him. Waiting in the wings, unnie, is not an easy job. It’s not lying down, staring at the ceiling and waiting for a simple call. It’s walking around, staring at your loved one and waiting for her to come back…For Siwon who loves you so much, it just gets tiring…”We fell silent for minutes. My mind took everything she said in, every letter entering my heart causing me to double over from the mental pain. Suddenly, the taps on the keyboard were too loud and Eun Bi’s staring eyes magnified, stripping me naked of my secrets.“Eun Bi,” I said, looking at my mug. “You know what? You should go to Chanyeol’s birthday party tonight. I prepared one for him.”“I know.” She said smugly as if the heavy air didn’t affect her, as if she didn’t feel any pain inside. “I’m just waiting for you to invite me, unnie.”“I hate how you treat me,” I said, furious for her banmal.“Hate all the way as if I didn’t give you a good sermon to think about yourself.” She said. “Unnie, I hate how you can’t even treat me as a friend.”We both laughed, finally setting real happiness in our faces.***[NARRATOR’S POV]Siwon tried standing up. He stepped forward and immediately fell back in his seat. Leeteuk and Donghae rushed to him, supporting him from the upper arms.“Ya!” Leeteuk said, pulling the bottle of whisky away from Siwon’s hand as he tried drinking again. “Enough!”“YA, NUGUYA!” Siwon shouted, roaring in front of Leeteuk’s face with the smell of alcohol reeking from his mouth. “GET AWAY FROM ME!”“Oppa~” The prostitute said, holding him in the arm, too. “Enough~”“Don’t hold him.” Donghae said sternly, sending the prostitute to move farther in the couch, a little too far away from Siwon’s reach. Donghae brought out his wallet and placed down a big amount of bills in front of the girl. “We no longer need you. Go away.” The prostitute got the money and scampered away, tripping in her shoes as she goes.“Let’s get you home,” Donghae said to Siwon, hauling him off from the seat.“LET GO OF ME!” Siwon said, flailing his arms. He closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them, his pupils looked straight, recovering instant strength. He pushed off Leeteuk and Siwon and immediately took off in a run.He went out of the bar, not caring about the people looking at him. His hair was disheveled, a hickey on his neck and a kiss mark on his left cheek. His shirt was wet from the alcohol that he’s been drinking since the morning. Reeking, he thought, not even knowing that it was him who smelled awful.The broad daylight blinded him, sending him off to trip in the street. He looked up and he thought he saw a pedestrian light. I’m coming back to get you, he thought, palming his phone in his pocket.He stepped forward, seeing blindly the marks of the pedestrian lane in front of him. The moment he looked up and thought he saw a green light lit up, he ran forward, eager to see Ji Hyeon.He just didn’t know that there is a car coming towards him.***“Ani, ani.” I said, giving them letter cardboards each which when raised would spell out ‘CHANYEOLLIE, SAENGIL CHUK HA!’ in Hangeul. I placed Kyungsoo beside Kai who held the syllable CHAN. “You’d stay beside him no matter what so that when you’re nearing the crash down area of the roller coaster, he’d see you clearly.”Kyungsoo nodded. “Noona, don’t you have a special message for him? or are you going to ride with us and raise your own?”“She’s just going to watch him from the ride, I guess.” Kris said, placing a playful arm around my shoulder. “She’d hold the heart cardboard.”“This is the first time Chanyeol would be surprised.” Suho said, smiling. “Noona, gomawo.”“It’s—“ I was cut off by the urgent vibration and ringing of my phone in my pocket. I brought it out, the picture of my unnie flashing violently on the screen. “Unnie?” I said.The background was very noisy, her voice barely heard over the noise. “Ji Hyeon-ah, you have to rush here. I’m at…” She said the address of a hospital and my heartbeat quickened. My hands became very slick with perspiration and shaking from nervousness. “Go straight to the emergency room.”“Unnie,” I whispered, my voice surprisingly audible. “What happened? Are you okay?”My knees weakened, shaking slightly and trying it’s best to hold me upright. All the members gathered around me, even some of the Super Junior, stepped closer. Suho placed his comforting hand on my shoulder, squeezing it softly. What happened, he mouthed.“I ran over someone…I really didn’t see him coming...I…I’m really…oh my God….I…” She said, her voice breaking in violent sobs that was enough to push me down on the ground and to snatch every inch of strength I have left.
PREVIEW“I’m sorry. We did everything we can to make him wake up.” The doctor said, looking at every one of us crowded in a very big private hospital room. “We just have to wait. He’s comatose; we can’t do anything more for him.” The doctor left silently.I stared at his helpless figure on the bed. Dextrose was attached to his left wrist, the heart monitor beeped constantly to signify that he’s still alive, the hospital gown looked very loose for his big figure and his peaceful face as if he’s clearly unaware of everything that happened.“Please, please wake up….” My unnie murmured beside me, clutching my hand. Slowly, she turned to me, her eyes reddened from the tears. “I’m sorry, I really didn’t know…I’m sorry…”The door opened and another unexpected figure came in, someone whom I didn’t expect to spend his day in here.