Minjeong watched sadly as her family was all dressing up formally for Jimin's wedding...
...that wasn't with her.
Chanyeol glanced at his sister, worried about her behavior since she had woken up. That day, she didn't want to talk to them. She just wished everyone would ignore and leave her in peace, alone. Minjeong had woken up, taken a shower and escaped right away to the kitchen to eat something.
She did not want to be disturbed.
It would only remind her that Jimin was getting married with someone else...
...and she couldn't do anything about that.
Chanyeol approached his younger sister and patted her shoulder.
"...Minjeong..."
Minjeong looked up at him. She looked hurt, very hurt. It was like she didn't know what to do, her view was blurry and lost, her voice just wouldn't come out of her throat.
Then, she looked away and walked away from where her family was at, walking towards her bedroom, as if she was ready to lock herself down.
"...Eomma."
Taeyeon looked at her oldest son, as he looked at his younger sister and just couldn't help himself from taking a different decision.
"I can't go to that wedding."
"But Chanyeol-"
"I'm sorry. I just can't stand seeing my sister like this."
Minjeong looked up at her brother, surprised.
"Oppa, I-"
"Don't say anything. I just can't go to a celebration that was supposed to have you as one of the main stars and you're not even there."
______________________________________________________________________
Jimin walked down the aisle, next to her father, clearly hearing the wedding march as they walked side by side.
That day would set a new beginning in her life.
That day meant that she was leaving everything behind. All those years of constant pain, constant visits to the mental ward of the hospital, pharmacy bills of antidepressants and sessions of shock therapy...They would be over now.
She was finally marrying the man she had almost married seven years before.
Her boyfriend whom she had broken up abruptly after a heated argument in her father's office.
She was now giving him a new opportunity. The opportunity of starting a family with her, and making her his.
And, for Jimin, it was an opportunity to make her father happy.
She looked for a moment at the facial expression of the man that was walking by her side.
He was beyond happy.
It hurt her, it really did.
To think that her father had rejected the love of her life years before in such a cold manner, and now he was offering her so wholeheartedly to another man...
...He wouldn't have been that happy if the other bride in there was Minjeong instead.
Better said, he wouldn't even have attended that wedding.
Before she even realized, she was there. By the altar, staring right into Jeno's eyes with a shy smile on her lips. She knew that it was that. It was the moment that was going to change her life, forever.
"You look beautiful," He whispered, making her blush.
"So, let's begin with this ceremony," The priest announced, gathering everyone's attention back to him and the soon-to-be married couple.
______________________________________________________________________
Chanyeol piled up some boxes in his bedroom, putting them up properly before he leaned up and sighed deeply, staring at her bedroom's door for a moment.
His sister was probably drowning in sorrow in the bedroom just next to his and, for Chanyeol, to just stand in there, made him feel like a horrible older brother who wasn't able to help his younger sibling.
He sighed and exited his bedroom, going straight to the kitchen, knowing that sometimes a person's sorrow after a bad day could be solved easily with a single can of beer. He opened the fridge and took two cans of the alcoholic beverage out, taking one for his sister and the other for himself.
He knew he wouldn't be able to solve all of his sister's problems with a single can of beer but, still, he hoped he could, at least, light up the younger's mood a little a bit, so that she wouldn't think so much about Jimin's marriage to her former boyfriend whom she had been dating before she started dating her, Lee Jeno, a Korean millionaire born to Chinese-Korean parents.
"Yo, Minjeong?"
He knocked on his sister's bedroom door twice, waiting for a reaction or a simple 'come in' from his sister.
However, all he got was deafening silence.
"Minjeong?"
He opened the door and looked around his sister's room.
Empty.
"...Oh fuck."
______________________________________________________________________
Jimin and Jeno just finished exchanging their vows.
But, what no one even noticed, there was one person watching it all from afar, hidden from all the other people, drowning in silence.
Minjeong.
She was next to the door of the church, watching as the woman of her life exchanged vows with a man that surely, she didn't love like she used to love Minjeong. It hurt her a lot.
"If someone opposes this wedding, speak now or stay silent forever."
Minjeong wanted to speak, yell...she wanted to say something to make things stop right at that moment. She wanted things to finish up right at that moment.
But she couldn't.
She couldn't stop her from being happy.
If she tried to stop that wedding, it would be selfish.
She had to move on, and let her move on as well. Even if it meant hurt for her, Minjeong knew it was the right thing to do right in that moment.
But then...she remembered how, just days before, the chocolates she had ordered from Switzerland to offer had arrived at her home and, now, she couldn't give them to her.
She just...wanted to be with her.
Her throat just didn't colabore.
She went mute.
"Well, with the power God has given me, I now pronounce you husband and wife."
No...
"You may kiss the bride."
No...
When she saw Jeno and Jimin kissing...
...She felt numb.
Her world just crumbled down into pieces...
...and she couldn't do a single thing to avoid it.
Jimin and Jeno walked down the aisle, together, both smiling broadly. They looked like one of those happy couples from those romantic movies. It all seemed so fairy-tale-like, that Minjeong felt like she shouldn't interfere; almost as if she didn't even belong there.
Jimin could have spilled how much she missed her and their son just weeks before...but of course, that didn't mean she still loved as she loved her back then, when they were together.
Minjeong tried her best to avoid her tears from falling, but she just couldn't. They freely fell down her cheeks.
Jimin looked around the church, looking at the clapping guests that threw rose petals over them, before she glanced for a moment at the church's door.
A chill went through her spine. Her eyes widened and she stopped walking.
She saw a tall, black haired woman with pale skin, deep eyes, crying silently and staring at her.
Minjeong.
Jimin could hear her heart pounding in her ears, her breath going in and out in heavy puffs. She couldn't see well. She was being delusional. Something like this couldn't be happening, she was going crazy.
She couldn't see Minjeong standing there, in front of her.
But she saw her.
The young woman noticed her stare and shook her head slowly, showing her disappointment. She turned on her steps and went away. Jimin suddenly loosened her grab on Jeno's arm and caught her dress in her hands, running away from the church.
She saw the black haired girl walking towards a motorcycle, sprinting a bit and wearing her helmet in a rush. However, she stopped on her tracks when she heard the woman she once shared her life with yelling for her name.
"Minjeong?!"
She stood there, frozen. She heard her steps coming closer and closer but she didn't dare to move an inch.
Jimin was afraid, so afraid that it was only a mirage. People were already gathering outside the church, curious about the bride's doings. Jeno was controlling himself from punching the person. On the other side, Minjeong's family was panicking on their insides. However, they were apparently calm.
Jimin touched her hand and cringed at the familiar sensation. It was the same touch Minjeong had. There wasn't any difference at all.
"...Is it you...?"
The woman shoved her hand away and began walking towards her motorcycle.
She couldn't do this anymore.
Jimin was married.
There was absolutely no way that she could come back to her.
Jimin only saw as she started the engine of her motorcycle and drove off from there. Giselle came running to her along with Jeno. They wanted to know the reason for her sudden escape from the church.
"Are you crazy? Were you out of your mind?!" Giselle scolded, yelling.
Jimin looked at her.
"I saw Minjeong...It was her-"
"-Shut up and collect your shit together Yu Jimin, for God's sake!"
______________________________________________________________________
Chanyeol really wanted to ask his younger sister where in the hell she had been the past hour, but he couldn't bring himself to ask that question as he saw the pitiful state his sister walked in as she entered the house.
He immediately reached the conclusion that she had been at Jimin's wedding.
He stood next to his sister's bedroom door, watching quietly as the younger female angrily opened up her suitcase on the floor and took clothes off of her wardrobe, packing them inside of her suitcase.
"Where are you going?" Chanyeol asked her, but got absolutely no answer.
Minjeong just kept packing, and packing silently.
That was it.
Chanyeol suddenly grabbed his younger sister and, despite the younger's resistances, he was able to hold her in place.
"Kim Minjeong! What are you doing?"
The older could see the hatred and pain in the younger's eyes as she looked at him briefly. Minjeong took in a deep breath and shook her head, putting her hand on his brother's forearms.
"Let me go, Chanyeol. I've already set my mind," Minjeong whispered, leaving her brother with no option but to let her go.
Chanyeol took a deep breath.
"Don't be a coward, Minjeong."
Minjeong closed the luggage and searched for something on her bedside table.
"I know you're trying to run away from Jimin but she'll eventually find out you're alive...In case she hasn't, already."
Minjeong put the envelope she had taken out from the bedside table and put it in her jeans' pocket.
"What if she wants you back?"
"What we had is in the past," Minjeong replied, closing the drawer.
"And will you be able to hold those feelings back if you hold her in your arms again?"
Minjeong stopped on her tracks and stared at Chanyeol.
That possibility wasn't something she had thought of before, but now, as she thought about it, it left some unanswered questions on her mind.
What if they ever met again?
"That is something that will never happen-"
"-What makes you so sure about it?"
"I need to make her happy-"
"-How can you say that-"
"-Because loving someone is not chasing that person, but knowing when you need to let go and let that person be happy," Minjeong whispered, looking teary-eyed at her brother. She took in a deep breath and looked around her bedroom.
Minjeong stood frozen on her spot for a second.
Her eyes diverted to the framed picture of the newborn baby, taken 5 years before.
It was her son; flesh of her flesh, blood of her blood.
Chanyeol could see his sister's eyes soften as they looked at her son's picture. He knew his sister felt more than guilty for not being able to even meet her son. Chanyeol knew the accident his sister had suffered was unavoidable; but he was also aware that the younger female felt responsible for its consequences.
One of them being leaving a 1 month and a half pregnant 20 year-old Jimin behind.
That pregnancy was the result of a mindless slip; but it ended up being the couple's joy and Minjeong's pride, for not saying Jimin's only will to live after Minjeong's accident.
"Sometimes...Sometimes you just hurt people even more by staying and-"
Minjeong didn't even dare to finish her sentence as she took a deep breath and looked away.
"I need to go."
Chanyeol didn't even mind stopping his sister's actions.
He knew she was leaving, for good.
And nothing would make her stay.
______________________________________________________________________
Jimin was in the hotel room while Jeno was taking a shower in the suite's bathroom. He had insisted she engage in sex with him, but she was so tired from all the wedding that intercourse was something she wasn't seeing herself being able to handle; so she had told him in the most honest way she could that she was too tired for it. He understood her, and decided to take a shower instead.
She was looking at the presents that the guests of the wedding had given them, and some of the people managed to squeeze a little smile from her face.
However, a mysterious present caught her attention.
It was a carefully wrapped gray box, with a pink ribbon and bow on its outside. She opened it slowly and it revealed a small package of swiss chocolates on the inside.
Her eyes widened.
It was the same package of chocolates she used to buy when she was there with Minjeong.
Her heartbeat accelerated when she saw a small paper letter falling on the floor. She frowned, and took it to her hands, reading it.
That handwriting.
That choice of words.
That name at the end...
These chocolates were your favorites, remember? We used to go buy some at the shop and then we would always stop by the park and eat them while laughing at my silly jokes.
This is my goodbye present for you. I hope he makes you happy like I never had the chance to. I wish I would be in his place; but that's selfish. You moved on and had the right to be happy again. I'm sorry if I made you suffer all these years. It wasn't my intention.
My parents only wanted to protect me, you, and our baby...they did what they thought was better.
But it wasn't, right?
I wish time could stop and that we could return back to those days when we were only freshmen in Zurich, when we spent all the day together by ourselves. The love we shared, the promises we made...
All those broken promises and that undying love that I still feel.
I know, deep in your heart, that you'll never forgive me. I know all those silent tears you shed over the years because of me and Jeongwoo. All the pain you endured. I should have been by your side, but I didn't have the chance.
The day I got hit by the car...I faintly remember you screaming my name and rushing to my side. I should have done something. I should have ran so that the stupid car wouldn't touch or hit me.
But I did nothing.
And here we are.
Don't search for me anymore. You deserve someone that can accomplish your father's expectations and someone useful for you. Someone rich, not poor like me. Someone that can love you more than what I did. Someone you can start a whole new family with.
It was good when you touched my hand after the wedding.
But I can't take those hurtful pictures out of my mind. It broke my heart.
Please search for our son. I know he's alive and somewhere. I'll try to make things up for him, even if I can't be physically with him.
Look...I just want to say that I'll keep loving you no matter what for the rest of my life. Don't change, Karina. You're already perfect the way you are.
I love you.
-Minjeong.
Her eyes widened even more after she saw a droplet of a tear on the paper. She carefully paused her trembling fingers in her left eye. More tears were about to pour down.
Now, that couldn't be a hallucination.
That could only be real.