Ice: Thaw the Frozen Heart [EDITING]

Chapter 21

"Yifan," Areum muttered under her breath inaudible to the pair.

Yeojin suddenly felt warmth engulfing her hand. She looked down and found Kris' hand holding hers. She felt like her brain went dead for a moment, unsure of how to explain to Areum as the older girl approached them. She looked back and forth between Kris and Areum, trying to form an explanation.

"He's... This is... He's my broth-"

"It's okay." Kris tighten his grip on her hand to stop her. "She knows."

"What?" Yeojin's jaw dropped. "What do you mean she knows?"

Areum's lips curved into a small smile. "So you're the unfortunate girl who had to marry this weird guy, huh?" Areum joked.

Yeojin just blinked, not understanding what she meant.

Areum gave Kris the side glance and poked out her tongue at him before she looked back at the girl. "I know he's married," she started explaining. "I just never thought that the girl would be you."

"You knew each other?" Yeojin looked up at the tall guy. "How?"

Kris sighed. He never imagined that the two girls would actually meet. "We're...," he briefly glanced at Areum, "college friends."

Areum gave out a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Ain't this world so small?" She chuckled. "I should've known. He's the guy you told me ordered jajjangmyeon for you right?"

Yeojin just nodded.

"You've been to her place?" Kris asked Yeojin with widened eyes.

"Uh. Yeah. Sehun brought me there." She bit down her lip.

"Ah! By the way." Areum reached inside her purse and fished out Yeojin's phone. "I came here to give you this. I was going to keep it for your next visit, but then I thought you might need it ASAP. So I asked Sehun for your address."

Yeojin gasped and took the phone with her free hand. "Oh my gosh! I didn't even realized I've left it!"

Kris flicked her forehead. "You and your habit of losing things!"

"Ouch! Ya!" Yeojin rubbed her forehead with a deep frown.

Seeing how they interacted, Areum tried to hide her giggle by pursing her lips.

"Do you want my number, Yeojin?" Areum offered. "You know, to contact me if this weird guy assault you. Domestic violence is pretty common these days," she joked again.

"Ya!" This time Kris reacted and pretended to wanting to hit her.

Yeojin laughed and shook her head. "Actually I may need your number. So yes please." She handed her phone to Areum.

Areum tapped in her number and gave it a miss call. She then gave it back to Yeojin with a smile. "Well, I better go now. I'll see you again, Yeojin." She then turned to Kris. "You too, Yifan." She bobbed her head and sauntered to her car.

"Thank you for returning the phone, Eonni!" Yeojin waved.

The car drove away and Yeojin just realized then that Areum called Kris as Yifan. She felt Kris' grip on her hand tightened and it finally dawned on her that Areum couldn't be just a 'friend'.

She looked at the direction the car had disappeared to and glanced at Kris who was also looking at that direction. "Is she...," Yeojin dragged unsure whether to ask or not and decided the former, "your ex?"

Kris didn't answer. He zoned out as he still stared the same way though the car was not there anymore. He only tightened his hold on her hand.

"Ah!" Yeojin winced. "Kris! You're hurting my hand!"