25 | I Loved You
Taehee walks into the airport, her luggage trailing behind her and waits for her plane to be called.
"You ready to have a new life, Taehee?", Seungcheol asks her, sitting down next to her. She nods slowly, sighing heavily and hits her heart lightly.
It's for the best, Taehee. It's time to move on.
"You're second-guessing, aren't you?", he sighs. Taehee looks at him, trying her best to smile even though her heart is in pain. "You still love him, I can see it in your eyes"
She nods again, looking down at her hand at her ring. "I'm sorry that I'm not strong enough, Seungcheol. But I'll move on...I promise I will", she says quietly, praying that it'll be the truth. After an hour of waiting, the call on the speakers has been made.
'Plane to Los Angeles, departing in 25 minutes'
"Let's go, we should get there early", he pats her leg, standing up and begins to walk away from his previous life.
"I'll catch up with you, I just need a minute", Taehee tells him, standing up. Seungcheol nods, continuing to walk towards the plane.
Taehee looks around the airport, remembering that 4 months ago she left this very same airport to meet her fiancé.
Well, former fiancé.
"A new beginning, a new beginning", she says to herself, turning around and starts to walk away.
"Taehee! Taehee!"
She stops in her tracks, her eyes growing wide as the man she loves runs up to her, hugging her tightly.
"Don't...Don't go", Wonwoo whispers, clearly on the verge of tears. Taehee gulps, pushing Wonwoo away and doesn't look at him.
"Go away", she mutters. He shakes his head, gripping onto her shoulders which causes her to look up.
"I need you in my life...I need you so please don't go", he whispers, looking into her eyes. "I need your love"
Taehee grits her teeth, clenching onto her fists and tries to stop her tears from rolling down her face.
"Go to Minyoung, leave me in the past", she says through her gritted teeth, her eyes stinging.
"But I don't want Minyoung, Taehee. I want you, I need you. I love you"
She looks at him confused, her mouth slightly open. "You can't love me...", she says in disbelief. Wonwoo sighs heavily, a tear slipping his eye. "You hate me! You hate every little thing—"
Something soft presses against her lips, her mind going blank as she realizes what's going on.
Wonwoo kisses her passionately, as if his life depended on it. He holds onto her tightly, tears falling down from his face one by one.
What should I do? This is so wrong...
But no matter how hard Taehee wants to push him away, she slowly falls into his kiss, closing her eyes as she feels his tears stain her face. He pulls away, leaning his forehead against hers, tears streaming down his face.
"I love you. I love every little thing about you— every perfection and every flaw. I don't care that you're Seongyoo's kid, I was completely wrong about you. I was wrong for hurting you, for believing my mom...Please stay...", Wonwoo looks up at her, his eyes filled with tears. "I'll give you everything"
Taehee feels a lump in her throat, looking down.
I want to be with you. I want you.
"We should move on from each other", she says forcefully, pushing him away. She can tell that he's hurt by the was his eyes look, her heart breaking at the sight of him. "Goodbye, Wonwoo", she grabs onto the handle of her suitcase and starts to walk away from him, tears building in her eyes.
"Everything we did together...did it just vanish once you found out that Haejin was my mom?", Wonwoo spins her around, looking at her with great pain. Taehee tries to hold in her tears, gritting her teeth.
Say no, tell him that nothing vanished at all.
Tell him you love him.
"Yes. Everything that I've felt vanished. It felt like nothing happened. I hate you so much", she says through her gritted teeth. The grip on her shoulders drops, Wonwoo's face written with hurt all over with his fists clenched tight.
"I'm such an idiot for loving you. You only hate me for something that I couldn't stop?! After everything I did, all the time we spent together means nothing to you?!", he screams, tears falling faster on his face.
"Now you know how I felt!! You hated me for something I couldn't stop!!", Taehee fires back, yelling with pain in her voice. "Now you understand the pain I've felt, the guilt and stress that weighed on my shoulders. But I hope it hurts you so much more"
"...Do I really mean nothing to you? Why...why am I so pathetic? I hate you!! I hate you so much and I wished you never walked into my life!! I wished I never loved you!", Wonwoo yells, storming out of the airport.
Run after him. Hug him. Tell him that you didn't mean it.
But Taehee doesn't listen to her heart, turning around and starts to walk away from him.
"Let him move on...let him hate you. It's for the best", she tries to give herself a pep-talk. She feels her heart become more weak, a tear rolling down her face. And then another one. And then another one.
Next thing Taehee knows is that she breaks down, hitting her heart repeatidly and starts to bawl, her breath quickening as more and more tears fall down in a faster rate. In her blurry vision, she sees Seungcheol run up to her, picking her up and walks her to the plane, placing her in her seat as she cries. The plane takes off, her heart breaking as Korea becomes a small piece of land.
~One Year Later~
Wonwoo walks out of the reception, looking at the sunset as he takes a sip of his champagne. He looks down at his ring, wiggling his finger around and sighs.
"Congrats man, you got married to the girl of your dreams", Mingyu walks up next to Wonwoo, leaning against the balcony. The older nods, not looking at him. "Too bad she didn't come though", Mingyu pats his friend's shoulder.
"It's for the best that she didn't come", Wonwoo says shortly, watching the sun sink down into the ocean. Silence falls between the two of them, none of them knowing what to say. Mingyu coughs, clearing his through before fishing something out of his pocket.
"But she did give you one thing as your wedding gift. I wasn't so sure if I should give it to you but I think you should have it", he hands him a small white box with a light blue bow tied on top. Wonwoo looks at him skeptically, taking the box from him and unties the bow slowly.
To: Jeon Wonwoo
"Are you sure about this?", Wonwoo asks, looking back up at the younger. Mingyu nods.
"Read it because you deserve to see it."
He unfolds the small note, neatly written words presented in front.
Dear Wonwoo,
Congratulations on getting married! I hope you'll be happy with her, I truly do.
And since you moved on from me, I think that I should move on from you completely. I thought that after a year I would be able to get over you but no, not even one bit. Every day I wish I could change what I did.
But you've moved on, and I'm really proud of you. The amount of times I wanted to go back to Korea and tell you completely how I feel. But Look at me now, spilling out my heart onto this sheet of paper.
Wonwoo, I love you so much.
The way you acted, the way you spoke, they way you made my heart skip a beat. I love you, I love every little thing about about you. If only I didn't get my revenge to shield my eyes from the future I could've had with you...If only I saw you as Jeon Wonwoo, not the son of the woman who I despised but as a man that I could love and cherish.
Under this note is the ring you gave me as my birthday present. I never had the heart to give it back because it was the only thing I had left from you.
I love you, Wonwoo. I want to scream it to the world and tell everyone that I love you.
I'm sorry that I cried on this paper. Congrats on getting married to Minyoung.
~Kim Taehee
Tears roll down Wonwoo's cheeks as he drops the note, looking at the little ring sitting nicely in the box, shining in the sun's light. He unbuttons his white dress shirt, finding the matching ring that is on a chain around his neck,
On the same necklace Taehee gave to him a year ago.
His engagement ring to Taehee was so important to him even after he started dating Minyoung. He knew he should've gotten rid of it, but like the girl he still loves he couldn't—
It was the last thing he had left of her.
"Taehee...", Wonwoo mumbles, tears falling faster. "Why...please don't move on..."
Mingyu stays silent, going up to his friend and hugs him.
"Taehee...I...I love you...I never moved on", he cries, clutching onto the ring on his necklace, lowering his head.
And letting by her go was the biggest regret he had.