"True love never dies. It only gets stronger with time."
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17.
I HATE YOU
As soon as I heard the sounds of tires screeching against the road, I stood up from the sidewalk where I had spent the last fifteen minutes crying my eyes out. The only person I could think of at that time was here in a heartbeat, as soon as he heard me sobbing through the phone.
The car stopped in front of me. The door opened and out came Seo Woo. I didn't know why I had called him. I just did probably because he had become a good friend of mine over the past few weeks and he was the only person I could've called after Sana. I needed someone like him to pick me up from this hell.
As soon as his eyes fell upon my crying state, his eyes widened and he hurriedly ran around the car, stopping in front of me.
"Eun Hee. What happened? Are you alright?" His voice was laced with worry and care which only made me cry harder.
I shook my head.
"Shit," he cursed. "What happened? Did that asshole do something to you?"
His eyes were flashing with anger, hands clenched into fists.
I shook my head.
That's the thing. That asshole didn't do anything at all.
The lump in my throat didn't allow me to speak and even if I did speak, it'd only end up in me crying harder than before, as if the overflowing tears weren't enough already.
He grabbed my hands and pulled me into a warm embrace.
"Shh. It's alright. I'm here now," he murmured, patting me on the head lightly.
My head was resting on his chest. I could hear his heartbeat; slow and steady. It calmed me down a bit.
After a few moments, I had stopped sobbing uncontrollably and was now sniffling a little.
"I'm alright now." My voice was hoarse due to crying.
He leaned back a little, breaking his brotherly embrace, his hands still on my shoulder. I was looking down at my feet which seemed to have swollen due to heels and were hurting. When I looked up, I caught the sight of a very disheveled Jimin over Seo Woo's shoulder. He looked like he had been running.
His eyes landed on me and then moved to Seo Woo's hands on my shoulder. His jaw clenched, his eyes unreadable. When he met my gaze, I looked away. I didn't want to see him. I wanted to get out of this place. And never come back here. Ever.
"C-Can we go back?" I hiccuped. "I don't want to stay here any longer."
It hurt to speak.
Seo Woo looked at me for a moment longer, and nodded, opening the passenger door. He didn't notice Jimin standing behind the wrought iron gates. I was thankful that he didn't or else he would have started a fight here. And that was the last thing I needed right now.
I sat on the seat, buckling the seatbelt.
Seo Woo walked around he car and yanked open the door, slipping inside the car. Shutting the door, he put his hands on the steering wheel, and turned his head to look at me.
"Are you alright now?" He asked hesitantly.
I nodded. "I'm fine. Let's just go."
He put the key into ignition and the car roared to life. As he was revving the car out of the street, I let my eyes wander over to where Jimin was, one last time. He was still there. His face betrayed no emotion. Stoic. Emotionless. But I thought I caught the anger and betrayal flashing through his eyes.
Who was he to get angry at me? I hadn't done anything at all. It was all his and his mother's fault. If he hadn't asked me to be his fake girlfriend, nothing would've happened. If he hadn't introduced me as his fiancée, I would've been saved from this humiliation.
I still couldn't believe his mother's words. How could she insinuate that I had given her son sexual favours in order to be his girlfriend? And that I was a worthless gold digger? How could she even think that without even knowing me first?
That is the problem with society. They judge people before they even get to know them.
Seo Woo's voice startled me out of my messy thought.
"Eun Hee. We're here."
I looked up from my lap and realised that the car was parked outside my apartment. I turned towards Seo Woo who gave me a small smile.
"Thank you... for coming to get me," I said.
He nodded.
"It's okay. Now let's go inside. I'll make some tea for you," he said, opening the door and stepping out of the car.
I looked at him with wide eyes.
Wow.
Why would he want to stay with a mess like me any longer? I didn't know the answer to this question. I just knew that Seo Woo was there for me when I needed someone. I knew I couldn't spend a minute in that forsaken mansion. Neither could I spend a second in Jimin or his mother's presence.
They had ruined my weekend. It was the only time I could relax after university and job and now it was completely ruined.
I stepped out of the car, taking the keys out of my purse and unlocked the apartment. I entered, Seo Woo following me. As I shut the door, he removed his shoes and headed straight to the kitchen.
"I'll freshen up, okay?" I shouted after him.
"Okay," he said from the kitchen.
I had decided to freshen up and remove the remnants of disasterous "date". I went inside my bedroom. I threw the clutch purse on my bed and slipped out of the stilettos. My feet were swollen and aching. I blamed this on Jimin too because of him I had to wear these monsters.
I grabbed a soft tee shirt and trousers from the cupboard, and entered the bathroom. As I looked into the mirror, a disbelieved girl with swollen eyes, red nose and cheeks looked back at me.
I look horrible.
All the crying had made me look like a swollen tomato. My eyes travelled down to the white dress Jimin had bought for me.
His words rang in my ears and a blush threatened to coat my cheeks.
"It makes me want to do sinful things to you."
How could he say such thing to me? I shook my head to get rid of the thoughts about Jimin and his words that strangely aroused me. I didn't want to think about him or anything related to him anymore. Slipping out of the dress, I sat in the bath tub, the warm water instantly relaxing the aching knots my muscles had formed.
Changing into clothes and untangling my hair with a comb, I stepped out of my room. As I walked into the living room, I found Seo Woo lying in the couch, television's remote control in his hand, flipping through different channels.
"Can't find a good channel?" I asked.
Upon hearing my voice, he fell down from the couch and onto the floor with a thud. I startled him, it seemed. A hearty laugh escaped my mouth, until I was leaning over my knees, clutching my belly.
Seo Woo hurriedly stood up and glared at me. "I didn't see you walking in," he said, his ears turning pink.
Aww.
"Clearly. How was the floor? Was it comfortable?" I asked, walking towards the couch and sitting on it, covering my legs with a blanket.
Seo Woo glared at me. And then his face lit up with a mischievous smile.
"Yes. It was very comfortable," he said, taking a step forward.
I caught the look on his face that screamed mischief.
Oh no.
"Do you wanna see for yourself?" He asked, taking another step forward.
Before I could jump off the couch and run, he grabbed my foot that was covered in blanket and pulled it.
"Ahh..." I let out of scream as soon as my butt touched the floor.
This hurts like a bitch.
I looked up to see Seo Woo bending a little, his shoulder bobbing up and down. The stupid jerk was laughing at me.
Oh how the table have turned.
"I hate you," I said, trying to untangle myself from the blanket that wrapped itself around me in a weird way.
"I love you too," he said.
My eyes widened at his words. When I looked at him, his was stiff, in shock, his eyes as wide as saucers.
As I finally managed to stand up, my knee hit the table and the tray fell down, the mugs hitting the floor with a loud noise. The tea spilled on the floor. My eyes widened and I looked up at Seo Woo apologetically.
We both then turned to look at the mess.
After a minute of silence, he said, "So are you up for ice-cream?"
I was lying at my bed, thinking about how my day went from being disasterous to fairly happy. After that tea incident, both of us immediately cleaned up the mess, and then Seo Woo took me to ice-cream parlour.
As we ate our favourite ice-creams, he told me about how he became friends with Sana and what did his family do. I came to know that his father was Jimin's business partner. The mention of Jimin brought a sour look on my face causing Seo Woo to change the topic immediately.
We told each other about ourselves, our hobbies, our likes and dislikes. Seo Woo was fun to be with. He made funny jokes and told funny story. If it wasn't for him, I would have spent my day crying and feeling depressed. His presence reminded me of my brother and it felt like somehow my brother was her with me after all these years.
As I was almost close to sleeping, my phone beeped, signalling a text message. It was two in the morning.
Who must be awake at this time?
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NOTE: Here's an update. A bit of Seo Woo x Eun Hee moment. I hope you liked it. Please don't be a ghost reader. Leave a vote and comment your feedback. It encourages me to write more and more. Please anticipate next chapter cuz shit's about to go down.
Hope you all have an amazing day/night. Stay safe.
Love, Rose.