Chapter 29: The Break-Up (1/1)

Fast forward a couple of weeks, and everything seemed to be back to normal. Joonmyeon was teaching me again, and all the boys were back to school. I heard from detective Kim that my father had died in the car crash and my mother was to be executed as soon as possible. Even though I was relieved about my parents no longer being a threat to me or anybody else, I felt the weirdest sense of sadness for losing them for good. One night I was out with Jongin, just lying on the ground, watching the stars. I don’t know why, but I hadn’t felt the same attraction towards him I felt when we first met. I still really liked Jongin, but I was starting to doubt whether we really should be a couple or just friends. “Darling” I heard Jongin call me. I was too lazy to answer properly, so I just mumbled in response. “Mmm?” “I think we should talk about something.” He caught my attention and I turned to my right side to face him. “What about?” I asked, already knowing that he might reprimand me for my lack of interest for our relationship lately. “About us.”

Knew it.“What’s up?” Jongin took a deep breath, as if he was contemplating on how to start. “Well, I don’t know if you feel the same, but lately I feel like we’ve been…” he stopped to think for a moment. I started to wonder if he actually thought that our relationship was going the opposite way from what I thought. Please don’t propose to me. I’m not even eighteen, I can’t get married yet! “Drifting apart, maybe?” he finally asked, ending my suspense. “You’ve noticed it too?” I was surprised to hear that he felt the same, as he hadn’t shown it at all. We both sat up. “Yeah” he replied sadly. Leaned his arms on his knees and continued quietly:“Maybe you and I are better off as just friends.” I sighed in relief and laughed a little. “I think you’re right” I said, and with that, our romantic relationship came to an end.  Later, when I returned home, I heard Baekhyun shouting from the kitchen: “How did it go with lover boy?”, followed by an array of exaggerated kissing noises. I laughed at him as I threw my purse onto the table in the foyer. I kicked my shoes off and walked to the door of kitchen. Leaning casually to the door frame, I told Baekhyun that we broke up. After that I left to the living room to watch some TV. Baekhyun sprinted behind me in an apron covered with flour and a tray of cookies in his hands. His mouth hung wide open as he followed to the living room, where I threw myself onto the couch right next Chanyeol. “WH-WH-WHAT-WHAT-DO-YOU-MEAN?” Baekhyun shrieked, earning attention from all the boys. “It was a mutual decision, and we’re better off this way” I explained, grabbing a cookie from Baekhyun’s tray. Chanyeol reached for a cookie as well. “You and Jongin broke up?” “Yup.” I said, and took the whole cookie in my mouth at once. “You okay?” he attempted to be the big brother. I nodded. Chanyeol nodded as well and went back to watching TV. Baekhyun still stared at us with his mouth open. “Watch out Baek, a bird might fly in there” I joked at him as I grabbed another cookie. “IS THIS REALLY HOW THIS FAMILY HANDLES THINGS? SHE’S JUST ENDED HER FIRST RELATIONSHIP AND THIS IS HOW YOU HANDLE IT?” Now Kris had appeared to the living room. He listened to Baekhyun’s wailing with a confused look. “What’s happened?” he asked. “I mean, can you believe it? Annie broke up with Jongin” Baekhyun told him, expecting him to freak out like he just had. However, Kris only nodded and gave me a pat on the shoulder. “You were too good for him anyways” he said reassuringly and grabbed a cookie from Baekhyun. Baekhyun stomped his feet, frustrated. “Ugh, you guys are unbelievable!” he yelled and stomped back to the kitchen.