(Thirty-eight chapter)
"We should go home as well."
Sowon stood up wordlessly, following Namjoon out of the café as he paid for his previous drinks and walked out of the café. Her eyes focused on the space outside the door and hoped to see a familiar figure loitering outside.
But when Sowon noticed that the lounge outside was empty, she felt her heart sinking. Haneul was nowhere to be seen and it made her more sure now that she hated Sowon. After all their fierce exchange, that was a given fact.
"Did you come here by taxi?"
Sowon nodded, her eyes still fixed on the space around. She knew it was useless but still, she was expecting Haneul to be somewhere around, waiting for her and maybe talk it out. She could jump out for a surprise hug, try to coerce Sowon but Haneul did not.
"Do you expect everyone to stay forever and pamper you all the time?"
Haneul's words hit her like a brick of realisation and Sowon finally understood what her ex-friend was trying to say. It was her ultimatum that she was sick of Sowon and wanted to move out from her life.
And Haneul did.
What am I supposed to do now, be happy? As much as stupid it sounded, Sowon was not happy. No. Even after talking out with Haneul, she was not happy.
She thought after letting it all out her heart would finally be happy in peace but instead, it was the opposite. Her heart felt like it was ripped from its place and trampled over. The whole of her chest was burning with an invisible fire of emotion and Sowon didn't know what it was.
"I brought my car so let's head to the parking lot behind the café."
Namjoon glanced back in worry because Sowon had not spoken a word yet nor was she crying as he expected. No. She was just nodding and walking like a doll, an emotionless robot.
It was the first time he saw her composed like that after such a big argument and honestly he was terrified if her mind was badly affected to the extent she didn't know how to react. After all, it was like a sudden bomb thrown at her.
They quietly walked towards the parking lot which was somehow far and Namjoon noticed that there were hardly any people in the area. The silence was too hard to carry on and he sighed, stopping in his tracks.
"Sowon."
Sowon heard her name being called but she didn't answer. Instead, she kept on walking with her eyes fixed on the dirty ground. She walked until her head crashed into a hard object which made her stumble back.
Normally she would have cried or complained but she didn't feel the need to do anything to get attention. So she picked her balance and began to walk around the hard object which was Namjoon's chest.
"Hey," He grabbed her wrist but she wrenched out of it, "why did you want to meet me?"
Sowon stopped walking, her finally snapping upwards to look at Namjoon whose eyes were filled with concern.
"Nothing."
She turned to walk away again but Namjoon groaned, "nothing, seriously? You expect me to believe that?"
Sowon didn't answer and waited for him to leave the discussion but he had other plans. He was not going to leave until she spoke like she always did and confesses the truth.
"Just tell me what was the reason."
"It's nothing."
"I think after making Haneul upset like that, you should be honest with me."
Sowon glared at Namjoon, "I didn't realise she meant so much to you."
"She does but as your friend," Namjoon sighed tiredly, "now tell me why you called me to meet."
"I called for a reason but didn't expect that I would be spoiling your meeting with Haneul."
Sowon bitterly spoke to which Namjoon shook his head.
"You didn't spoil our meeting but you sure did spoil your relationship with her."
"Then what about you?" Sowon snapped with narrow eyes, "weren't you here to first meet Haneul?"
"I was, so?"
Sowon scoffed, "so? Yeah right."
"I don't see a problem meeting your friend when I have no bad intentions-"
"Are you two dating?"
Sowon blurted before thinking. For an odd reason, that question was pestering her mind since the beginning and she didn't realise how she had spoken those words neither the amount of coldness in them.
It was when Namjoon looked at her incredulously, she realised her mistake.
"What?"
Sowon wanted to facepalm herself and perhaps even run away. She moved to fulfil her sudden plan of escape but Namjoon was faster and to her bad luck, he moved in a rapid way to press both his hands on each side of Sowon and onto the wall, trapping her inside like a gullible prey.
Well done Sowon, you are an expert in embarrassing yourself.
"Did you just assume that I and Haneul are dating?"
"Well, the two of you looked incredibly close and comfortable with each other."
"Sowon we are just friends. I am about to be engaged with you so how am I supposed to date someone else and that too, your best friend?"
"Uh forget I just said that. Sorry."
Sowon wanted to avoid this topic forever and forget it ever existed. But Namjoon was too worked up to let it slide without confronting it because he felt like she was questioning his loyalty.
"No, wait. Do I look that cheap and desperate to escape this marriage?"
"Namjoon I said it was a mistake. Just let it go."
He scoffed, "Sowon. I really don't discern you. No, in fact, I don't understand the whole species of women."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean to say that why do women love to complicate even the smallest things that have no meaning? Why do you always suspect me to be disloyal or some kind of perverted creep?"
"Maybe it's because you were secretly meeting her without telling me." Sowon snarled.
"So do I have to inform you about whomever I am meeting? What are we now, a couple?"
"I don't know, but you could have told me about it."
"If I did," Namjoon pinched his nose bridge, "would you let me go without an argument?"
When Sowon kept quiet, Namjoon knew he was on the right track to discovering why she was so angry at him for meeting her friend without telling her.
"See? You surely wouldn't. Plus the two of you were on bad terms so what was I supposed to do?"
"You still didn't have to meet her at her workplace like this."
Namjoon was now getting tired of trying to explain himself to Sowon who was acting unlike herself like she didn't appreciate the idea of him meeting Haneul. He couldn't understand it because he only wanted to talk and clear their misunderstandings but ironically it was becoming bigger than before.
"Geez, Sowon she was busy. How else am I supposed to meet her?"
"Huh, no wonder Haneul was defending you so much."
Sowon bitterly muttered, the scene still clearly flashing in her mind how Haneul acted protective of Namjoon like he meant something to her and it was weird because her ex-friend never did that, never.
Then it hit her. Sowon almost lost her footing and fell when another thought hit her head but thankfully, the wall was there for her support.
Wait, was Haneul trying to set me up to see if I was jealous of her?
Maybe that was her plan. To make Sowon jealous and admit that she didn't like the two meeting without her knowledge and was trying to expose her hidden feelings. But why? They were on bad terms so why was she doing that? Probably to degrade Sowon's reputation or something like that she concluded. Sowon was still thinking hard with confusion.
"It could confuse other people especially me since it looked like a date."
Sowon didn't realise that she had spoken her thoughts aloud. It wasn't meant for Namjoon to hear, no, it was meant to assure herself. But he heard it and surprised, he took a step back.
"Wait, are you actually jealous?"
Sowon's cheeks reddened, "w-what? Me? Pfft, stop daydreaming."
Namjoon raised his eyebrows in amusement, watching how Sowon was quite flustered at the moment which was a rare sight. It was the first time in such a long time that Sowon was showing some feminine reaction. He wish he could click a picture and keep it forever to tease her but decided to let go of that thought.
He nudged Sowon as she groaned loudly.
"Why? Can't I assume that? I was curious because you hardly meet other girls."
"If I did, you'd be stalking me."
Namjoon muttered under his breath. He didn't know she felt about him or vice versa but seeing her reaction right now, it was sure that Sowon would be making a terrible fuss if Namjoon met anyone else. Thankfully, Sowon didn't hear properly and she narrowed her eyes at him.
"What did you say?"
"I said," Namjoon poked her cheeks, "you can stop lying Sowon."
"You wish."
Sowon shook her head and pushed Namjoon off from her, walking away towards anywhere far from him because she was way too embarrassed to meet his face. But his words repeated in her mind, meaning that he knew she was lying.
And she knew she was lying as well.
A/N: Sheesh, the tension between them is deliberate people. You gotta hate something to love it more. Don't forget to drop your thoughts ;)