Loves Me Not

The Long Way Home

The train rocked Sujin and Seojun in their seats. Sujin had a permanent frown on her face as she typed away on her computer. Minute after minute, she received calls from various people whom she yelled at for being incompetent at their job. Many of these people were editors of magazines that had planned to run the story on Seojun's misinterpreted past. All of these had since abandoned this idea once they had gotten a taste of Kang Sujin.

Seojun had stopped eavesdropping on Sujin's calls once he had heard the phrases, "—will reach so far up your ass you will—" and "—even your mother will be sorry you were ever born—" Seojun couldn't take Sujin's angry ranting and he wasn't even the one receiving it. He thanked the heavens that Sujin had booked a private car for them otherwise they would have been kicked out.

Seojun couldn't focus much on Sujin's voice either way. He had other worries occupying his mind. Something Seojun had discovered recently was the draining effect that revealing secrets had on him. He had never had problems talking about himself when he was a teenager. But having kept his quiet for so long, to have to lift his silence on Seyeon's death now had proven to be more strenuous than he had thought possible.

More so, it made him paranoid. Of what, he didn't know. But he felt vulnerable and exposed and he worried if there was some way Sujin would exploit this new information on him. After all, he had only recently discovered what she was capable of.

He thought back to the conversation they had last night. The conversation where he had finally spoken, after so many years, about what had happened to Seyeon.

Sujin had been in the kitchen, on the phone with her team. She came to the table, sighing.

"So we've gotten most of the articles down." She had said, pulling a chair. "But the online posts won't be possible to stop. We'll need some serious damage control. But before that, I need to know what I'm defending you against exactly."

It touched Seojun that she hadn't doubted his innocence in the matter. But Seojun still felt confused about his feelings towards her and couldn't help but feel a bit standoff-ish. Sujin put her fingers around her coffee that had now gone cold. "I want to know everything. Every. Thing." She emphasized.

Seojun cleared his throat again. He expected the words to die on his lips like always. But to his surprise, they spilled out as if they had been looking for an escape.

"Jung Seyeon is—was my best friend. We had known each other since we were kids. But there was another guy, Changmin, who we were close with. Changmin, Seyeon and I were the badass trio of our school. No one dared to mess with us. Changmin's father basically owned the city. I was the terrifying bad boy. We were kings back then, ruling over everyone and destroying all who opposed us... I suppose looking back at things now... we were kind of bullies.

"Seyeon however... he was the best of us. He was the one girls flocked to when they wanted our numbers. He was the one who would settle things when Changmin or I got too angry. He was the one keeping the group together.

"Back then, I had admired Changmin. He was cool, and tough. No one could have bested him in anything. Smart and brilliant. But also, a great fighter. And I hate to admit it but he always had the best stuff. We were kids, so we were easily impressed. But... people tended to use him for his wealth and status, so Changmin tended to be mean and cold. He kept everyone at a distance.

"Seyeon saw right through that. He was the one who pointed out that Changmin's cold exterior was just loneliness. Seyeon was perceptive like that, kind of like you. And despite his attitude, Changmin was the most loyal guy I had known. Once you proved yourself to him, he would give his heart and soul to you. In the beginning, he even paid for my mother's hospital bills. My mother was sick—I guess I never told you that. Don't worry. She's all healed now. I stopped taking money from Changmin though. There was only so much my pride could allow.