Mark
After talking to JYP, I immediately called Jake to book a flight to Shanghai. We get in a hotel in the center of the city.
"This is one of Jess' dad's hotels," Jake informs me. "I got a call that she's staying in Lei's place. They went to her parents' house for lunch. They're not home yet though."
"Let's wait for them in his house."
So, we sit in the car parked across the house. It's already five PM and we've been here for two hours now. A black sedan slows down in front and I quickly get out. The windows at the back seat are rolled down.
Jess! "Jess!" I shout, running towards the moving car. Her eyes get bigger as she sees me. Beside her is Lei. He glares and says something to the driver. "Lei, let her go," I yell at him.
The expression on her face shows fear. She looks at Lei and says something, pulling him back in the car when he tries to come out. The car drives in the gate. Three men stop me from getting through.
"Jess!" I shout again, holding the railings of the gate and shaking it hard.
They get out the car and she turns to look at me. But, Lei pulls her towards the front door. Literally dragging her.
"Fuck you, Lei. Get your damn hands off her." I scream, frustrated that I can't get near.
Lei throws her in and closes the door behind her. He then strides towards the gate to me.
"Mark!"
"Open this gate, damn it!"
"You can't have her. You're just wasting your time coming here, Mark." He smirks.
"Let her go, Lei."
"We're getting married. It's game over for you, boy!"
If only there are no iron bars between us, I'd be punching this guy. "Let me talk to her, Lei. If you really love her, just let her go."
He just grins and shakes his head. He turns around and ignores my shouts, walking in the house.
"Jess!" The curtain of the window at the second floor opens a bit and she looks out. She touches the glass and, even if there's some distance between us, I can see tears in her eyes.
"Mark!" Jake pulls me back in the car. "We have to go." He looks around at Lei's men who look like they are ready to pull out their guns from their holsters any minute.
That night, Jake and five other guys, plus me, gather in the hotel room.
"What do we do now?" I ask nobody in particular, more like to myself.
Just then, there's a knock on the door and one of the men opens it. There are three burly men standing outside. The one in the middle moves to the right and I see her. Her head is bent, she's wearing the same clothes I saw her wearing earlier.
"Jess," I run to her but a man stops me with his large arms. "Jess." I say again.
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Jess
While in the veranda, drinking all by myself, my mind gets flooded with memories of Mark, Vic, GD and the other friends I left behind in Korea. My eyes are already hurting from crying. I know that in the morning, they're gonna swell like melons. I take a deep breath and sigh aloud, just to make my tears stop. But, they won't.
I hear very soft footsteps behind me and I turn around to find Lei crossing the room towards me. I quickly wipe away the tears and feign a smile.
"Where've you been?" I ask him as he sits at the empty chair beside me, taking the bottle and tipping it in his mouth.
"I just had to take care of some things." he says, leaning his head at the back of the chair, as if tired or troubled.
"Are you ok?"
"Yup!" He turns his head to the side to face me. "Never better."
"You look tired, though. You should go sleep."
"Jess!"
"Hm?"
"I know you don't want to meet my dad just yet, but....he's inviting us for dinner at his house the day after tomorrow." He sounds worried.
I take a deep breath. His family would soon be my family. I would be facing them sooner or later anyway. "Sure." I say.
"Thanks," he smiles and takes my hand.
His hand is rather cold and it's shaking. "Why are your hands shaking?" I ask him, taking the other to see it doing the same thing.
He pulls it away quickly, "Nothing," he says, putting his hands in the pockets of his jacket.
I furrow by brows at him.
"It's nothing. OK?" He insists and I just nod.
Aside from his wicked mind, I sense something else he's hiding. I brush it off as I go to sleep.
In the morning, I wake up especially early to get ready to meet my parents. Lei and I have talked about what we're gonna say to make them not suspect anything. I insisted on telling a lie about how we got back together. So, we told them that Lei came to Korea for me and I fell for him. They seem to buy it.
My mother hugs me goodbye as we leave the house. I don't want to show her my tears so, for the duration of our visit, I tried to paste a smile on my face.
I just want to slowly accept this fate of mine. The world has already given me a taste of everything good. It's high time I give back what I received.
Lei and I get in the backseat of the car and let the driver take us home. Yes. Home! Lei's home that would soon also be mine.
As we reach the gate, I see an all too familiar boy running towards the car, calling my name. MARK! What's he doing here? I can't move. My eyes are glued to him as he nears. Only when Lei moves beside me that my muscles react. I pull him back in the car when I see him open the door.
"Let's just go." I whisper. I don't want any trouble. Mark and his men are clearly outnumbered.
Lei's expression is full of rage as he puffs and leans back on the seat. When we get to the front of the house, I turn around and see Mark at the gate, holding the bars and calling me.
My heart tells me to run to him but my mind stops my body from doing so. Lei's hand quickly grabs my wrist and pulls me towards the door. He drags me behind him hard that I almost tripped on the stoop. I know he's really mad. "Lei," I say, "you're hurting me." I try to pry my arm away from his grip but he opens the door and throws me inside. I stumble on the floor as the door closes behind me.
A maid helps me to my feet and dusts my dress. "Are you okay, miss?"
"Lei," I shout. I try to turn the knob to open the door but one of his men stops me.
"No, Miss. It would be better if you just stay here."
"What is he gonna do to Mark?" I ask nervously, but he doesn't answer. I quickly run up the stairs to my room. I am supposed to go out the veranda but the man stops me again. He shakes his head while gripping the now-blue wrist of mine. "Let go of me," I yell.
"I'm sorry. I'm just following orders." He says.
I heave a loud sigh. With my free hand, I slightly move the curtain so I could see what's happening. Mark's still at the gate and Lei's heading towards the house. I feel relieved to see Mark unhurt. His eyes look up and I feel him looking straight at me.
I love you, Mark! Goodbye!
Before I could even smile, the man pulls me in. We hear Lei's angry strides coming up the steps and we both freeze.
"Out!" Lei commands the man and he scurries out the room.
"Lei," I walk slowly towards him. His face scares me as he narrows his eyes, piercing straight at mine. I hold out my hand to him but he flings it away. He then pushes me hard and I land butt first on the floor, almost hitting the table with my head. "Lei!" I yell. "What the fuck!"
"You!" He points at me. I notice his hand shaking as he try to keep them straight. "Why is he here?" He yells. "Did you tell him to come?"
"What?" I stand up and step back away from him. "Why would I do that?"
"Then why would he come here?" He shouts. He steps closer to me, grabbing my shoulders and shaking them.
The way he looks now reminds me of the devil. "How should I know?" I yell back. His face is all red now and so are his eyes.
"Aaahhh!" He screams and flings me to the side so strong that I hit my arm on the edge of the chair.
"Ugh!" My arm feels like it got pounded on by a hammer. The throbbing of pain brings tears to my eyes as I clutch it. I slide to the floor and sob. When did Lei resort to such kind of violence?
"Shit! Jess!" He quickly comes to my side. His outraged expression changes to a softer one immediately when he sees my state. "I'm sorry!" He holds the sides of my face with both hands and leans his forehead on mine. "I'm sorry," he says again. "I don't know what came to me."
"Lei," I pull away and look up at his face. I wipe away the tears on my cheeks. "Let me talk to him."
His eyes get bigger and he stands up, running his hand on his hair. "NO!" His voice is low but stern.
"Please." I get up and stand in front of him, taking his hand. "I'll tell him to leave us alone. He won't stop. You know that."
"NO," he says again, shaking his head, looking directly at my eyes. "What if he takes you away?"
"Trust me, Lei. I'll bring your men with me. Just....let me talk to him."
He closes his eyes and leans forward to rest his head on mine. "Please, come back." He hugs me.
"Thank you," I whisper at his ear, hugging him back.
As promised, he orders some of his men to accompany me. I grab a jacket to hide the bruise on my arm that is now blue.
My heart starts pumping fast as the elevator of the hotel takes us to the floor where Mark is. My palms start sweating and I feel drops of sweat forming at my nape.
It's just two days since I last saw him but it feels like forever. I have mixed emotions for I'd be seeing him again but it would be the last. I tilt my head upwards to stop the tears from coming out.
As I stand in front of his door, I run through the things I need to tell him.
When the door opens and I look up to see his shocked face, it seems like the world has stopped turning.
"Jess!"
"Mark!" I want to jump into his arms, but I stop myself. I tell the men to wait outside as I enter the hotel room. Mark's men go out, too, and we are left alone, just staring at each other.
After what seemed like a minute, he closes the gap between us and wraps his arms around me. He starts sobbing and I can't stop myself from doing the same.
"Jess. I miss you!" He whispers.
"Mark!" I pull away gently, wiping the tears before he could see them. "Please. Just leave." The words come out so soft that I'm not sure if he hears them. "Leave me alone." I say, a little louder this time.
"What do you mean?" He furrows his brows.
"This is my fate, Mark. I can't run away from this. If you really love me, just leave." I don't know where I found the courage to say all that. I didn't mean it, though. I want him to stay or take me away. But, our story is over. We've reached the end of our journey together. Now, this is my new path. A path I have to follow without him. I take a deep breath to block the emotions that are starting to build up again inside me.
"No, Jess. You said you love me. How can you just expect me to leave you alone?"
"Mark. It's over. You and me....we're over."
"Jess, I know you're just doing this to stop him from hurting me. I swear, he won't..."
"It's not that, Mark," I cut him off. "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it for myself," I lie. "I just got side-tracked by you."
He backs away a few steps, confusion on his face.
I know I'm hurting him again, but it's the best thing I can think of to let him let go of me. "Mark. This has been my goal since the beginning. I just want to take the company back. This is the easiest way."
"You're lying." He says, shaking his head.
"No, Mark. This is the real me. The cold-hearted me. I thought I was going to change, but I was wrong. This is who I am and will be. I really thought I could work my way up. But, it seems harder than what I expected." I take a deep breath. "I don't need you anymore, Mark!" I clear my throat to cover the cracking of my voice. "I'm sorry." I turn around quickly and head to the door.
"Jess," he grabs my arm and I feel the pain as he squeezes it gently.
I bend my head downwards to hide the ache I'm feeling both from the arm and from the words I just told him.
"Let me go," I say, with my head still bent.
"Jess, please."
"Mark," I swallow hard and face him again with an expressionless face, "I loved you." I emphasize on the past tense, "I DID! But, it's the end for us. I'm moving on and so should you. It's been nice knowing you." I gently remove his hand from my arm. "Goodbye, Mark. I hope this is the last I would be seeing of you."
He just stands there watching me leave. Inside me, I want him to stop me. I walk out the door and as soon as I enter the elevator with the men behind me, the tears come out. I slump on the floor and start bawling. One of the men has to carry me out the elevator and into the car.
It's all over. This is the end of Mark and me.
I'm sorry, Mark. I love you. But, I have to let you go. It's not right for me to be dragging you into my problems. I know you'll find a better and more deserving girl. You're a good guy. Please take care of yourself. Do not worry about me. I can survive this.
"Where's Lei?" I ask the maid who meets us at the door. I actually expected him to be waiting for me at the front steps.
"Miss, he's in his room." She answers, a bit nervous.
I slowly walk up the stairs and stop in front of his room which is ajar. I take a peek quietly. He's in front of his vanity with something on his hand. His other arm is splayed on his lap.
SHIT!
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Jin
It's been three days and Ah-Cy hasn't called yet. She should've called me yesterday already. Did something happen?
One source said they're living in Lei's house and she hasn't been out since they got home from her parents' house. Is Lei locking her up there?
I told her it was a bad idea. Staying with Lei in his condition is suicide. I just agreed to her because she said she'll hand me my share of my father's company once she gets a hold of it.
What if she's changed her mind and take all of it by herself? I gotta talk to her. But, how? She left all means of contact back in Korea. She doesn't answer emails and messages on Skype.
We wait outside Lei's house until we see his car come out the gate. "Wait for me here," I tell the men in the car. I pull my cap down and head to the gate where three men in black suits meet me.
"What do you need?"
"I'm a friend of Lei. I brought a gift to congratulate him." I put up the bag I'm holding.
"You can leave it here." One of them takes the bag from me.
"Can I talk to him?"
"He's not here."
"Ah-Cy? His fiance?"
"Wait here." He takes out his phone and makes a call. Then returns after a minute. "Sorry, but we can't let you in."
"Can you call her then and tell her to talk to me outside?"
"That's not allowed either."
Damn it! "Make sure she gets the gift then." I point at the bag he's holding.
I run back to the car, frustrated. I just hope she opens the gift as soon as she receives it. I wrote my name in bold letters on top so she knows it's urgent. I need to know what's happening.
I go back to the hotel and wait.
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