A/N: Happy Sunday everyone! I apologise for delayed updates. My family was hit with COVID recently and then I am still battling the flu. Because of this, I will be finishing this prompt first before I get back to Reader's Choice. I hope you understand but it's difficult for me to keep the consistency and continuity if I jump back and forth on these stories with multiple storylines.
I may have another update tonight so please stay tuned and wish me luck haha!
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"Seri?"
Ri Jeong Hyeok stood as soon as he realized who the person ordering him to leave was. He had gazed at that face for years and had recently seen it again up close. Still, he was constantly amazed at how perfect she looked no matter what.
"I, uh, I mean... Good evening, Ms. Yoon," he clarified.
"Hyeoky," she said in a quieter tone this time. "Why... why are you at our bench?"
"I don't recall us owning this," Ri Jeong Hyeok replied.
Yoon Seri's eyes widened. "Yes, we do! Have you forgotten that we marked this?!"
Jeong Hyeok's eyes mirrored hers. Holding his index finger up to his lips, "Shhhhh! That was against the law remember?!"
"Why are you so scared? Lots of kids did it! We didn't kill anyone!" Seri returned, lowering his voice to the volume he was comfortable with.
Their crime: vandalisation.
Of course, as college kids who were vying for the highest honors in school and people who wanted to keep their records clean, even a "minor" crime like that was not welcome. However, when the said bench started to hold a lot of their most special memories, one night they decided to kiss under rain and somehow managed to carve on the bench "RI", which was part of both their names.
"Still! Against. the. law," Jeong Hyeok reiterated. When they caught each other's eyes, Jeong Hyeok found Seri trying to stop herself from giggling, but the crinkles by her eyes were starting to show.
He put up a valiant fight but soon gave in to the laughs bubbling up inside of him. When he laughed, she joined in without reservations.
"Look at us. Adults and still worried about our... 'crime'," Seri said, teasingly. Sitting down on opposite ends, they continued to chuckled while stealing glances at each other. "How have --"
"How are --"
Their sentences were started at the same time, which they both cut short when they noticed that the other one was also speaking.
Motioning for her to go ahead, Jeong Hyeok stayed quiet, waiting for her to continue. While she cleared her throat and fiddled with her coat, Seri tentatively asked, "How have you been, Ri Jeong Hyeok?"
"Good," Jeong Hyeok replied. "I finally got my PhD, and as you know, I'm now a professor."
"Like you always dreamed," Seri said, wistfully thinking back to the times when they would stare at the stars and he shared to her why he wanted to become a great teacher.
"And you? I read about the amazing success of your company," he said. "You built your company without your family's investment, just like you wanted."
Seri smiled, but there was a sadness behind it.
"Your dreams came true," Jeong Hyeok said.
"This wasn't exactly how I dreamt it would happen," Seri said.
"Yoon Seri..." Jeong Hyeok said in a warning tone.
Seri stopped, wondering if she should continue to say what she wanted to. However, she spent the past ten years dealing with her What Ifs with regard to Jeong Hyeok. If she told him now, what would happen? He'd get mad and leave her? They weren't together anyway so, she took a deep breath and said, "We always dreamt of being here, fulfilling our professional dreams while still loving each other."
Jeong Hyeok crossed his arms, immediately being defensive. "In case you forgot, I was begging you years ago so that we can reach for our dreams together."
"I know and I left you," she said, quietly. When there was silence between them, Jeong Hyeok stood and bid her a good night. "Wait. Jeong Hyeok, wait. Please?"
Facing her again, Jeong Hyeok stated, "I'm not in the mood to relive the break up, Seri."
"I don't either," Seri said. "I just... I wanted to say I'm sorry. I chose you every day, my heart has loved only you all these years."
"Funny how that worked out with me standing alone in the rain," Jeong Hyeok pointedly shot back. Those words hurt her, he could tell from the way she flinched and he almost took it back. "Seri, I --"
"You're right. If I were only thinking of myself, I would have eloped with you that night like we planned," she confessed. "But... I couldn't leave my sister."
"What?"
Seri still remembered that night vividly.
*
"Oh geez, why did it have to rain so hard tonight?" Seri lamented.
She stayed over at her parents' home for one night to spend some time with Jisoo. It was quite obvious from her parents' reaction that they would never accept Jeong Hyeok for her, but Seri did not care. He was the only one she loved and she would fight for it.
With the offer he received to study in the US, they decided together that they would take the opportunity and build a life there.
"But, Jagi, your name is not that known in the US, it will be a challenge to start your business in a different country," Jeong Hyeok warned.
"I know. I can work in the bigger fashion houses, first," Seri assured him. "Then, once I know enough, I'll branch out. Have faith in me."
"I do," Jeong Hyeok said. "I just worry you might be sacrificing more with this set up."
"I want to go with you," she repeated. "I'll meet you by the bench at 8pm, okay?"
Seri knew it would be years before she could come home since their budget might not allow for regular trips back to Seoul, so Seri decided to spend one last night with Jisoo. However, what she did not expect was for Jisoo to be unusually clingy that night, as if she knew something was up.
"Promise we'll play at the park next weekend, okay?" Jisoo said, sleepily, as Seri tucked her in bed.
"Oh, baby, I'm not sure. You know that I'm very busy," Seri replied, trying to wiggle her way out of a promise she won't be able to keep.
"Seriiiiii," the little girl whined. "You know that Eomma doesn't like going to the park with me. Please? Please? Please?"
Their mother had changed significantly from the time that Seri was a little girl to the time she had Jisoo. However, while Eomma was much kinder and loving to Jisoo, her relationship with both girls was far from warm.
This was what worried Seri. Not having a relationship with her mother was difficult for Seri and she worried that this would affect Jisoo adversely. Which is why, Seri stood in as the mother figure for her little sister as often as she could.
How would things change once Seri left?
As she made her way out of the house, Seri found her mother waiting at the living room, sipping her tea. "We know that you have a one-way ticket to the States with that man."
"My fiancé, Ri Jeong Hyeok," Seri clarified.
Han Eun-jin snorted. "Fiancé, tch, sure." Placing her cup on the saucer, Han Eun-jin continued, "If you leave with him, don't bother coming back. You will not be welcome to step into this house nor will your calls be received."
Seri gasped. "Mother!"
"Count this as the last time you see or speak to your sister."
Seri knew that their parents could not separate them forever. Jisoo will eventually grow up and technology would offer other modes of communication, surely. However, how many years will that take? How would Jisoo take the message that Seri left her alone? Even if she came back years later to correct those lies, the damage could have already been done.
There was only one thing to do.
She drove to meet Jeong Hyeok by the bench.
*
"I couldn't leave her. You know how difficult my childhood was and I didn't want Jisoo to grow up wondering if someone in the family loved her," Seri explained sadly.
Jeong Hyeok looked exasperated. "Why are you telling this to me now and not years ago?"
"I did not tell you then because you might have stayed! I did not want you to pass up the opportunity to study in that prestigious university abroad!" Seri added. "And I'm telling you now because I've lived with that guilt for all these years and I've prayed desperately for this moment."
"What moment?"
"The moment to be able to ask you for forgiveness," she said. "I loved you and I loved my sister. If there was a choice where I could not hurt anyone, I would have taken it but at that time, I didn't see any so I chose to break your heart instead of the heart of my 8 year old sister."
Jeong Hyeok sighed and sat back, still keeping the distance between them. "Now I look like a jerk for being mad at you all these years when you've sacrificed your happiness for someone else."
Yoon Seri similarly sighed. "Don't pity me. You were hurt, too."
"I can't believe you," Jeong Hyeok said.
"What? Why?"
"Do you remember how we would be so annoyed with movies with complicated plots and we always said if only the leads talked to begin with, the story would have ended after half an hour?"
Seri found herself giggling.
"And yet you made us fall into that trope," Jeong Hyeok pointed out, narrowing his eyes at her. Facing her fully, he asked, "What do we do now, Yoon Seri? It's been ten years."
"Can you ever forgive me, Jeong Hyeok?"
He took a deep breath before letting it go as if freeing himself of the pain and bitterness he carried for over a decade. "It will take some getting used to, but I can't keep the anger when I know now it was because of your love for your sister. I always knew how much you loved her. I just wish you could have told me earlier."
"I'm sorry," Seri repeated.
"But even that decision, to keep your reasons from me, are something I understand. I would have stayed," he affirmed. "And, if I did, I would have missed out on all the things I learned while I was away. I'm sorry I can't regret that."
Seri smiled. "I don't want you to. I'm glad it happened."
"What now, Yoon Seri?"
Seri's hand became clammy again and her heart beat rapidly. Slowly, she said the words expressing her heart's deepest desire, "Is it... Is it too late, Jeong Hyeok?"
"Too late for what?" he asked, unclear of her question.
"I wonder," she asked slowly. "Is it still possible to..."
Jeong Hyeok waited with bated breath.
"... begin again?"