𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐈𝐈 : 𝙵𝚒𝚡 𝚄𝚜 [ 𝔹𝕋𝕊 𝔽𝔸ℕ𝔽𝕀ℂ𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ ]

chapter 82

Chapter 82

Song Areum

Lee Seung Jae somehow wound up in the Villa where Areum's friends spent their relaxing weekend. The information must have came from either Professor Kim or Da Reum. Nonetheless, he just called and told her to come out and meet him for a minute—that was all he asked. A minute.

Areum advised the guards to let him in as she waited for him to drive by the Entrance. He parked his car abruptly and went out of it eagerly, shoving the door forcefully closed as he approached her. His eyes were dark, his mouth pursed thinly whilst his nose was slightly flared in frustration. He walked up to her with veins sticking out his once pale skin. He was angry—Professor Kim must have already told him he was staying and Areum was the one transferring.

He glared at her briefly when the gap between them was close enough for him to grabbed ahold of her phone from her grasp and swiped onto Professor Kim's phone number. He then handed it back to her forcefully.

"Call him and take it back," he demanded. "Do it now. Take it back. You're not leaving the Hospital. You've made a name and reputation in Hwangyeon—that's your safe place. I'm not letting you step down after everything you did for the Hospital."

Seung Jae did more for that Hospital than she ever did but she watched him break under her nose, he was not only angry, he was lost and confused but more so, he was hurt and unable to accept reality as it was. Areum locked her phone and slid it inside the back pocket of her jeans.

"Stop." she stated firmly. "I've made up my mind. I'll push through the transfer. You stay with Professor Kim, he needs you more than me."

"No." he instantly responded, eyes wide and pleading. "I need you. I need to know you're doing well, that you're happy and you're living your dream. You're not leaving me, alright—I'm leaving you. I was ready to let you go, I wanted to transfer because I wanted away from you. I don't care which place was better and bigger but you belong in Hwangyeon. Let me leave so you could stay. Don't turn away from your success."

But success isn't necessarily found in one place, she thought.

His words stung but there was nothing more worse than seeing the pain eating his whole being whenever she rejected him. It had been going on for too long and she was tired of hurting him over and over again.

"What difference does it make?" she asked him calmly. "Either way, we'll be working in different places, you can still move on. You have to let me go. My success was never in Hwangyeon alone—I know that now because I had different beliefs from everyone back there. I belong somewhere I feel safe and I don't feel safe in Hwangyeon anymore. I didn't volunteer to transfer so you could keep your position in the Hospital and secure your future. I did it because I realized I could never be you. I couldn't handle the tasks you've been handling so well because I'm not like you. . . You see, I don't only want success. I wanted to have a family of my own too. . . with Jungkook."