My Favorite Unnie [MICHAENG]

Chapter 16

It was still quiet between us as I gesture for her to come inside. I sat on my bed while she opted to sit on the couch near the edge of my bed. Uneasy looks were exchanged, gauging if the atmosphere is already right. Still, silence enveloped us. The ticking of the wall clock hanging on my wall becomes deafening, until she decided to break the ice.

“I’m sorry unnie… for… uuhhh… everything that happened last night.”

She looks straight into my eyes to prove that she really meant what she said. It took me quite a while to be able to respond.

“It’s okay Chaeng. I understand.” The last part of my statement was a lie since I still don’t know what’s happening, or what she’s thinking. Still, I offered her a small smile to reassure her that everything’s gonna be fine. That’s what I really hope to happen.

She slowly looks down as she finds the courage to ask me the next question. I can tell she’s scared to ask me but she does it otherwise.

“Uuhhh… were you angry… at me?”

I turned to look anywhere but her. ‘Should I be honest? Or should I just swallow this pride of mine to save whatever it is that we have?’ But I know it would kill me if I just keep my emotions and hide it from her.

“To be honest, I am Chaeng.” My voice quivers, I am scared myself. “You know I care for you, and I’ll do anything to make it okay for you…” I almost broke down right there and then remembering what she did last night. “...but don’t you think using me, and playing with my feelings is a bit too much?”
I turned to look at her and wait for her to look back up to me. And as she did, I saw the same pain in her eyes when I left her last night.

“Is that really what you think I did?”

It frustrates me again. “Last time I checked, you’re straight Chaeng.” I was now shouting, something I have never done before. But the pent up emotions I have inside just want to come out of me. “And you have a boyfriend. Or had a boyfriend…”

“…Then you tell me out of the blue that you’re in love with someone else. What other explanation can you give me?!”

She stands up and places her hands on her waist. I can tell from her face that she’s also frustrated. She kept on running her hand on her hair as she looks up so she can’t see me.

“This is stupid.” She says under her breath and she scoffs.

I heard everything and it made me more frustrated than I already am. It feels like she’s insulting me.

“What did you just say?!” I also stand up to level with her and try to meet her eyes. But she slowly looked down on her feet. And that’s the first time I’ve seen her look so defeated. Much more defeated than when I came rushing to her the other day. She looked so down that I almost wanted to rush towards her and embrace her. But I didn’t. The next words she said just caught me off guard.

“I left him… for you… just in case that wasn’t clear enough.”

Her voice is quiet, just enough for me to hear. And I just stood there. Frozen. I almost didn’t want to believe what I just heard. Then she slowly look upward meeting my eyes. Her eyes were staring right into mine. It was already watery due to the tears she’s trying so hard to keep from falling. But I still saw her eyes, and it already tells me what she wants to say even before she says it.

“I’m in love with you, Mina.”

She confesses, as she let the tears she’s holding back flow. The world becomes silent. And all I can hear is my own heart beating for her, and all I can see is her standing right in front of me. Everything becomes a blur, everything seems to fade into view and becomes background. But as soon as the word ‘love’ registers into my mind, I immediately heard her heart breaking.