Secret

XIII

Maybe a tissue should be prepared... Or your shirt will do.
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"Are you coming?" Chaeyoung's sulking voice echoed in her dull, cold room as soon as she answered the call and put it on speaker. She was obviously not happy with the probability that she was going to be absent from one of the most important events in her life. "Tell me you're coming."

"Chae, I'm sorry. What time is it again?" Dahyun sat up from her bed and fixed herself in a hurry. She frowned when her bone cracked and got stretched for the first time after finally getting up after a whole while. "It slipped my mind. I'm so sorry. I will come, I promise."

"You still have thirty minutes, bro. You have to be here. You're one of the reasons why I pushed this to happen. You can't be absent," Chaeyoung said once again as if she knew what Dahyun was thinking earlier. After all, this had been her fifth call. The first four were declined. She was about to fetch Dahyun herself if she wouldn't answer the last call, but she did. Thankfully. 

Dahyun stood up and ransacked her closet for clothes. "I will be there, Chaeng. It's just…" Dahyun sighed heavily.

Everything had just been so hard for her these days. She felt like she was betrayed, and every time she thought about what happened one week ago, her heart ached, and tears would start racing down her cheeks. A lot of scenarios were getting into her mind, scenarios that she knew she wasn't included in all of those. She was just at the side, merely watching everything unfold while breaking her heart. 

She was tired. She knew it in her. But the thought of not being with Jihyo, not fighting for her, and not doing everything in her power to be with her… was more tiring. She felt like she would be stripped off of something that was keeping her going. The desire she had for Jihyo, the love she shared with her, the energy she had when they were together, the warmth she spread in her chest… She wanted it to last. She wanted it only for her.

But she didn't know how. She felt like she already had done everything and all of those were futile. She had asked her cousins to talk to Jihyo's father, which they already did, but until now, Mr. Park nor any of Jihyo’s family weren't doing anything yet to stop the engagement while it was still early. 

She had talked to that dispatch who secretly followed the dates of her girlfriend and Daniel for publicity to stop spreading the news that would put Jihyo in a bad mood. Their few moments together would be tampered with bad mood by the news, and they would go to thinking of their unfortunate situation again. She suggested introducing herself as her girlfriend, but she always declined. She talked about threats that Dahyun didn't care about because she had massive security around her, ready to pounce on whoever touched her. 

She believed everything would fall back to its place once the primary people involved would finally act out on it. It wasn't even that hard. She knew who those people were.

But for a person whose company was his life, Jihyo's father was indeed having a hard time deciding what was best for them. The merging of their company would make them stable for years. Dahyun wondered if she should encourage the Kim Family to take over the top place so they wouldn't be this obsessed. But she feared it would cause a rift between her family and the Park. 

"I know, Dub. You can stay with Tzuyu. She doesn't like attention, and while you don't need to interact with anyone right now, you are my Dub, my best friend. You are not the Super Star Kim Dahyun everyone knows. I just want you to be here,” Chaeyoung replied, pulling her out of her train thoughts.

"I'm wondering if Tzuyu ever gets jealous of how clingy you are to me," Dahyun joked, a small smile forming on her lips as the sweet words came out of Chaeyoung's lips registered in her head. Her best friend was always cool and nonchalant with saying sweet words, unaware of the effect she brought to the receiving end, and really, that was one of her best traits.