The reception turned out to be Bambam’s restobar. It was redecorated to fit the occasion. The whole place was decorated according to the theme, Unicorn. Multicolored balloons filled the place. Even the centerpiece for each table was uniquely styled with different kinds of unicorn atop the flower arrangement.
After they’ve eaten, Lisa excused herself to go to the restroom. She was about to turn towards the direction of the restroom when Bambam pulled her to the opposite direction.
“Bambam! Wait, where are you taking me?”
Without saying anything, Bambam gently pushed Lisa inside his office.
“Is this your office?” She asked, looking all over the place. She slowly walked to the desk at the middle of the room. She noticed a familiar picture frame and picked it up. In her surprise, the picture frame slipped from her hand. Bambam caught it right before it was about to hit the floor.
“Lisa! Be careful. You almost broke it.” He exclaimed.
Her lips trembled as she asked, “Why do you still have it?”
“Is that even a question?”
“I threw mine ages ago.”
Bambam hissed, “Just what is the problem Lisa?”
“We broke up so I threw it out. I don’t think throwing out our old picture is something unusual after we’ve clearly broken up.”
Putting his hands on his hips, Bambam asked, “Now, about that . . . Could you refresh my memory how exactly we broke up?”
“Well, I don’t know. I mean . . . I’ve forgotten. Sorry.” Lisa said before she tried to leave.
Bambam grabbed Lisa’s wrist, “No! I don’t think so. You’re not the kind who easily forgets things like that.” His eyes were starting to redden as anguish tears start to flow. “Or do you need me to remind you of this so-called breakup?”
Lisa was tongue-tied. She was puzzled by Bambam’s reaction. It was her first time to see him this way. He had always been sweet and gentle with her. It was difficult for him to get mad with her and even if he was, it wouldn’t take more than a few hours before his anger died down.
When Lisa seemed to have nothing to say, Bambam spoke for her, “You cheated on me Lisa. You even had the nerve to block me from everything. The thing is you didn’t stop with me. You included our common friends and my family. How could you?!”
Lisa felt her ears redden in fury with what she heard from Bambam, “Wait! What?! Who cheated on whom again?” Bambam was about to answer when she shushed him. “In which parallel universe did I ever cheat on you, you bastard? Are you perhaps stoned or something? Let me help you remember how you freaking cheated on me.”
She sobbed out her wrath before continuing.
“I finished my OJT in New York earlier than scheduled because I’ve been dying to see you. Two months of being away from you was too much for me to handle. I didn’t tell you about it because I wanted to surprise you. So when I got off the plane from New York, I hurried to your place despite my heavy jet lag. I was so excited to see you.
And imagine my surprise when a woman opened the door to your place. She was wearing none other than your favorite T-shirt that barely covered her. I was able to glimpse her laced underwear. And her nipples were poking underneath the shirt, revealing that she wasn’t wearing a bra. I was close to dragging her by the hair and pushing her off the stairs when thankfully, I came to my senses. Then I walked out before I did anything rash.”
“What are you talking about? When did all this happen? And where was I during that time?”
“I. Obviously. Don’t. Know. Maybe you were still sore all over your body . . . Argh! Now you’re making me think of racy things. I hate you! I hate you!”
He chuckled at her delightful reaction. Then he pressed his lips against hers and felt relieve ran down his system. He let go and beamed at her.
She was taken aback by the unexpected kiss. She covered her mouth and slapped him on the face.
“What did you do that for?” She yelled.
He was surprised at her slap but he realized that he probably deserved that one.
So he calmly answered, “Before I answer that, I swear I never cheated on you my cupcake. Wait! I’m trying to piece everything together here. When exactly did you come back from New York?”
“22nd of May, 2013. I wanted to surprise you for our sixth monthsary the day after that. I was . . .”
“May 22, 2013” He mumbled while scanning over the calendar on his phone. “Here.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s obviously my phone. Now take a look at the calendar. Come on! It won’t bite. But I will.” He said and winked at her direction.
She rolled her eyes and grabbed the phone from him.
“What is this? Why do you seem so busy that day? Actually your whole week is packed. From what I understand according to your to-do-list here, this was when you were starting to install the bar. But I still don’t understand the significance of all this.” She said as she looked at Bambam with her furrowed brows.
“I was expecting you to be back the week after that. So I made sure to clear my schedule for at least a week when you’re back. I decided to hasten the remaining works at the bar, or at least the major ones, so that by the time you’re back I can be as free as can be.
I was so busy I hardly ever went home. I was staying at my office to save me travel time from going home every day and back to the bar the next morning. That week, I’m a hundred percent sure that I wasn’t at home the whole week. And you know that some of my friends crash at my place sometimes, right? I’m guessing the woman that you saw was possibly the girlfriend of my friend who was sleeping at my place that time.”
“It still doesn’t explain anything.”
“Lisa! You know I’ve always been loyal to you. If only we talked about this sooner. We wouldn’t have suffered six long years apart.”
“Who said I was suffering?” Lisa said while trying to control her trembling voice.
“You . . . you weren’t? So is it true then? You have someone else now? Is that the same man from six years ago?”
“What . . . what do you mean? I told you, I never cheated on you.”
“Like I said, I was busy then and I knew you were too. So that week when you weren’t responding to any of my messages, I just assumed that you were just busy and you didn’t want me to disturb you. Then the day before I expected you to arrive from New York, I came to the grocery store. I was planning on asking you to dinner and cook for you.
I was on the vegetable section when I saw you from afar. You were with a man. He was pinching your cheeks so lovingly before he hugged you tight. You were beaming at him. And I was heartbroken right then and there. I wanted to go to you and confront you but I was scared. I never expected you to do anything like that. You didn’t seem the kind. So I just ran out of the grocery in tears.”
“Grocery? I . . . uh, I never cheated on you. That’s for sure.”
“Then who was that man you’re with?”
“Can you describe him to me?”
“Really? You want me to describe the man whom you . . .”
“Just do it!” Lisa barked.
Bambam rolled his eyes at her.
“We were about the same height, I guess. Black hair, good built, fair complexion . . . He was wearing brown loafers at that time.”
“Perhaps . . .” She rummaged her bag and took out her phone. Then she scanned the gallery and showed him a picture. “Could this be him?”
“Yeah! It is. That’s him. Definitely. See? You even have his picture.”
“That’s my cousin, you idiot!”
“Cousin?! Really? Let me see.” Then he scanned through her gallery and found what he was looking for. “Why do you still have this?” He asked, repeating her question from earlier.
She reached out to get her phone back but to no avail. “Give it to me!”
“Cupcake, why do you still have the separate album for all of our pictures together? I thought you threw them all ages ago.”
“That’s my phone. Of course, I’m not throwing it out.”
“Clever!”
He answered, pinching her nose while using his other hand to pull her across the waist. When he pulled her abruptly, she was off-balanced and was forced to put all her weight on him. He was taken aback himself and they began to fall. The armchair behind Bambam caught them and they landed on it with Lisa sitting on Bambam’s lap. She was about to get up when he pulled her back and wrapped his arms tightly on her waist.
“What are you doing?”
“I’ve missed you, so, so much my cupcake.”
On the other hand, Chaeyoung was getting impatient waiting for Lisa. She was about to dial Lisa’s number when someone took Lisa’s seat beside her.
“Chaeyoung.”
“Jungkook?”
“It’s really you.” Jungkook exclaimed with a wide smile plastered on his face.
Chaeyoung asked, “What are you doing here?”
“My friend owns the bar. How about you? I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“I’m with my best friend, Lisa. She’s one of the godparents.”
“Oh. It’s unfortunate that I wasn’t able to attend the ceremony earlier. I had another appointment.”
“I see. So uh . . . how have you been? Have you fully recovered?”
“Yes, I have. And I’ve been doing well. You?”
“I’m good.”
Jungkook openly stared at Chaeyoung. He was amused to see the blush that was creeping on her cheeks. And it made him feel happy to know that he was somehow affecting her.
“It’s been a while, huh?” He said without taking his eyes off her face. “What have you been up to?”
“I’ve been busy with work lately. I had a lot of things going on these days.” She answered, trying not to stutter. She felt a bit uneasy when Jungkook kept on staring at her.
“Same here. I had quite a few pending tasks when I got hospitalized. So I’ve been trying to catch up with everything.”
“Ahh. Don’t strain yourself though. I mean, just take good care of yourself.” She smiled.
AND she cares for me. Does that mean she likes me too? Oh I’m delusional!
“Thanks. You do the same.” He managed to answer after coming back to his senses.
“Yeah.”
“Jungkook!” Someone called.
Chaeyoung and Jungkook were interrupted when the woman who called Jungkook approached them. She was carrying a baby girl who was about a year old.
“Jungkook, would you be such a dear and watch Sophie for me?” Then she passed her baby to Jungkook and faced Chaeyoung. “Hi! I’m Sooyoung, Bambam’s cousin. I didn’t know Jungkook has a girlfriend already.” She reached out her hand to Chaeyoung.
They shook hands as Chaeyoung answered, “I’m Chaeyoung, but actually . . .”
“I’m so sorry. I really need to go to the restroom. I can’t hold it anymore. Please watch Sophie for me, alright? I’ll be back.”
“Sorry about that. Don’t worry I’ll correct her when she gets back.”
Then he mentally added, Though it sounded just right when she called you my girlfriend, I honestly don’t mind at all.
Woah! Why do I feel like I didn’t mind her mistake at all? Chaeyoung thought to herself as she responded with a short nod.
Then Chaeyoung faced Sophie, “Hi Sophie! I’m . . . How should she call me?” She briefly turned to Jungkook when she asked.
“Sophie, this is Aunt Chaeyoung. She’s pretty, right?”
“Hi Sophie. Your Uncle Jungkook is quiet handsome himself, don’t you think?”
Then Chaeyoung and Jungkook giggled at each other.
Chaeyoung sang Twinkle, Twinkle to Sophie. She was making cute and exaggerated hand gestures which Sophie found amusing. Sophie was looking earnestly at Chaeyoung as she tried to follow her actions. Jungkook was also pleased with Chaeyoung. He was smiling widely at her, getting fond of another of Chaeyoung’s charm.
Lisa was panting as she left Bambam’s office. She was completely perplexed at the moment. All she was certain at that point was her eagerness to leave the restaurant as soon as she could. She hurried towards their seat, looking for Chaeyoung. Then she found her with a man who was carrying a baby girl. They were playing with the baby with wide smiles glued on their faces.
Lisa stopped in her track to observe them for a while. As Chaeyoung was playing peek-a-boo with the baby, she grabbed a few strands of Chaeyoung’s hair. It looked painful when she saw Chaeyoung winced. Then the man held the baby in one hand and helped untangle Chaeyoung’s hair from the baby’s hand. Eventually, they were able to untangle her hair from the baby’s grasp. Then the two locked gaze as Chaeyoung thanked him for his help. The man was looking tenderly at Chaeyoung and to her surprise the same kind of expression was reflected on Chaeyoung’s eyes. Then Lisa slowly walked towards them.
“Chaeyoung,” Lisa called. “We have to go.”
Chaeyoung looked surprised when she looked up to Lisa. Then she nodded her head and grabbed her things immediately.
She faced the man in front of her saying, “Jungkook, I gotta go. Bye!”
Arm in arm, Lisa and Chaeyoung hurriedly went out of the place. When they got inside the taxi, Bambam called out to Lisa. Ignoring him, Lisa closed the door quickly and asked the driver to drive off.
“What was that?” Chaeyoung asked.
“I’ll tell you later when we get home.”
“It seems that you have a lot of explaining to do missy.”
“Don’t try to sound like you don’t need to do one yourself.” Lisa retorted.
Chaeyoung gulped a lump in her throat. She looked like someone who was caught in the act of doing something mischievous.
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So I'm publishing this now because I'm really grateful. This story already reached 2k reads. Plus . . .
I owe this to all of you. Thank you for supporting this story. I hope that you'll continue to enjoy reading this story 'till the end.