Author's POV
Two Weeks Later
Hyeyoon was sitting on a bus and prepared to get off to the next bus stop. She just came back from the Embassy to get her student visa. Her departure date was getting nearer, and she finally finished all her documents today. She just had few things left to do before finally leaving the country.
She checked on her airline booking copy on her phone, and the ticket was already issued. It was on November 10th, right on her birthday. She decided to leave earlier since she would need to arrange a few things to prepare for her stay. The Embassy and University would help her there.
It had been two weeks since she had broken up with Seok-woo. Since then, they hadn't contacted each other, and Hyeyoon didn't try to initiate anything first, too. She didn't want to. When it was just a few days after they broke up, Hyeyoon would still wait for him, in case he called her or texted her, but none. After a lot of considerations, Hyeyoon decided to start moving on and focusing more on her study. She thought it must be for the best.
The bus stopped, and Hyeyoon finally got off the bus. Hyeyoon immediately saw a milk tea bubble shop near the bus stop and suddenly craving the Salted Caramel Boba Fresh Milk. Maybe she should buy one now, or else she won't be able to get it later, and she didn't know would Australia have the same milk tea bubble shop as this one.
She entered the shop and directly walked to the cashier. Ready to order. She ordered her favorite and another one for Jeein. The cashier gave her the order number and told her to wait for her order to be processed.
Hyeyoon thanked the guy and turned to find a seat when she stumbled and bumped into someone behind her. She apologized and bowed to the latter and was shocked upon seeing the guy she just bumped onto was Seok-woo. The guy couldn't hide his surprise, too. Hyeyoon's breath ragged, and she then realized that the guy was not alone. He was with a girl that her face was too familiar for her. It was the girl from the pictures she saw a few times already.
"Hyeyoon?" Seok-woo lowly called out her name, making the girl beside him frown and stare at Hyeyoon from head to toe, judging.
Seorina frowned and spoke up. She aggressively linked her arm around his, "Who's that, Seok-woo?" she asked him with a disgusting tone. Hyeyoon tried hard not to puke right in front of them. "You know her?" she asked him again. The tall guy remained silent but still unable to cast his gaze away from Hyeyoon.
Hyeyoon then snapped back from her state and quickly diverted her gaze. She walked to the side and moved away. She hoped her orders would be ready faster so she could leave this place soon.
Avoiding eye contact, Hyeyoon threw her gaze outside the window. But she could feel his gaze sometimes was pierced toward her. She sighed. Jeein was right. They often hung out together, and she had no idea about this for all this time? She was such a fool.
Hyeyoon sigh in relief as she heard the cashier announced her order's number. She quickly grabbed her drinks without looking at the two people sitting on a seat near the window where Hyeyoon was standing. After completing her order, Hyeyoon immediately left the shop and completely ignored his stare following her movement.
Leaving the milk tea shop, Hyeyoon dragged her heavy step home; five minutes walk, she'd be home sooner. Hyeyoon had just realized that the weather turned windy and the sky darkened; it was going to rain. Hyeyoon let out a heavy breath. Even the weather turned gloomy, like her mood.
Hyeyoon quickened her step, but suddenly the rain poured and gradually getting heavier. She stopped from her track then looked above to see the dark cloud.
The pedestrians started to run to find a shelter or just ran, covering their heads using their bags or coat. But Hyeyoon remained unmoved. She kept standing there blankly and let the poured rain drenched her body.
The sound of the pouring rain wrenched her heart. She couldn't hold back her tears anymore; the tears streamed down hard as she cried her lungs out. The heavy rain disguised her tears, and she let it that way. She could finally let her emotion out as it had suffocated her for weeks. Trying hard to be okay was more complex than she thought.
* * *
It was suddenly raining heavily. Seok-woo anxiously moved on his seat; he couldn't hide his uneasiness. He worriedly glances outside the windows a few times, and it bothered Seorina to see him like that. She felt mad at whoever the girl was earlier.
She could feel that Seokwoo now was somewhat different from her old Seok-woo. But she tried to ignore the fact and continued pursuing him. Even when they had met a few times already to discuss their project, Seok-woo was different from him years ago.
Until today, she witnessed herself the girl that Seokwoo once mentioned as his girlfriend, which had her gone crazier. She couldn't bear to see him with another girl. Moreover, when he forbade her to come to his father's funeral as the girl was there.
When she found out that they had broken up, she tried to pursue him again. After so many times she got rejected to ask him out, he finally said yes today, and she won't let anyone ruined their date this time.
Seorina moved her body closer to him and touched his arm lightly. Seok-woo was startled a bit at her behavior and stared at her emotionlessly.
The girl then sounded, "Why do you keep looking outside? I'm here," she clung to his body. Seok-woo felt uncomfortable by her gesture. He let go of her slowly, but the girl tightened her grip on him, and he finally lost patience. He harshly released himself and got up, grabbing his car key and coat.
"Where are you going?" Seorina held him by his hand, which he pulled off quickly.
He put on his coat. "You can go home by yourself, right? I have to do something," Seok-woo then left her alone, ignoring the girl who kept calling him.
Seok-woo sped up his car and scanning the track to Hyeyoon's house. There weren't many people outside as it was still raining heavily. So it shouldn't be hard for Seokwoo to identify the passerby. He slowed down and scanned the pedestrians; tried to find the girl. When he spotted her, Seok-woo stopped the car and immediately grabbed the umbrella, and stormed out of the vehicle. He saw Hyeyoon walked slowly under the rain, uncovered.
He approached her and put the umbrella right above her head. The girl abruptly stopped and looked up to see someone covered her with a large black umbrella. Seok-woo grabbed her shoulder and turned her around until she faced him.
Hyeyoon was quite surprised upon seeing Seok-woo stood right in front of her. She stepped back a little and gasped.
"What are you thinking? You're drenching!" there was concern in his tone, but Hyeyoon was unresponsive for a few seconds. Her tears stopped right away, and she was stunned by the scene. "At least you can take shelter or something," he still scolded her.
Snapped back to reality, Hyeyoon released herself from his grip and stepped backward into the rain. Seok-woo covered her again.
She was still feeling offended by him. Hyeyoon hated him for appearing suddenly. She glared and retorted him sharply, "What are you doing here?" she snarled. Seok-woo didn't expect to see her fierce; he looked a bit nervous and awkward.
Seeing him remained quiet, Hyeyoon bravely asked him again. There was nothing that could scare her anymore about him. She just had to make sure something.
"What are you doing here? Are you trying to after me? Were you leaving your ex alone? Did you two going back together?" her question caught him off guard, and he was taken aback.
"You... how did you know about her?" Seok-woo stuttered a little bit.
Hyeyoon scoffed as he returned her question with another one, as typical him.
"Never mind, forget it," Hyeyoon brushed off the topic and had enough. She wanted to go home right now when suddenly Seokwoo confessed.
"I'm with her because we're not together," he sounded weakly.
Hyeyoon frowned at him confusedly. "What do you mean?" Hyeyoon stared at him, judging. Seok-woo found it was hard to choose his words. Hyeyoon blurted out, "Did you use her as a distraction?"
She then laughed bitterly before continued, "or, I was the distraction. Both of you have been together for a while, right? And I was the new person that got involved between the two of you. Thus, I was the distraction," Hyeyoon emotionally poured out her thoughts, and she was not done yet. At the end of her speech, she concluded, "Your confession just now was irrelevant, Seok-woo. You're talking nonsense!"
Seok-woo stared straight at her and replied, "No, I'm telling you the truth,"
Hyeyoon paused for a second, processing his confession, which she still found weird and not relevant.
"I don't get you, Kim Seok-woo," Hyeyoon shook her head in disbelief. "I want to ask you something," it wasn't an ask for permission yet a statement. But Seokwoo let her proceed with the question.
Hyeyoon eyes were sharply pierced to the taller man, right in his eyes. "When we're still together, do you still love her?"
Seok-woo stunned for a second, then he confessed, "To be honest, no, even now, I have no feeling toward her,"
Hyeyoon couldn't believe what she was hearing. She was confused.
"She is my ex, that's true. But I don't have any feeling left toward her for years. When we met again for the project, she was acting weird toward me, as if she was planning to get us back together," Seok-woo reasoned.
Hyeyoon listened to him but didn't utter any reply. She didn't understand why he had to explain to her all of this right now. Why didn't he do it before?
"It doesn't matter, though," Hyeyoon finally spoke. She shrugged off his useless explanation.
"What's doesn't matter?" he asked.
"What's the point of telling me those, right now, Seok-woo? We're done already. You ended it," Hyeyoon emphasized the last words, silenced the man in front of her. Seok-woo couldn't say anything. She was right, and Seok-woo had to bear the bitter taste of the truth.
Hyeyoon couldn't care more. She just blurted it out and faced it.
After a moment of pause, Hyeyoon broke the silence. "Is that it? That's what you wanted to tell me right now? You came all the way here, leaving the girl, come to me only to ask and confess?"
Seok-woo didn't know what to respond.
"I have one more question," Hyeyoon was suddenly curious about something.
Seok-woo couldn't stay away forever. He stared at her, "Ask everything," he said lowly.
Hyeyoon inhaled and continued, "Was you ever being genuine to me, Seok-woo? Have you ever loved me? Even for a short time?" there was hope in her question. But Seokwoo immediately realized where those questions were leading. And he was afraid that he might hurt her again if he gave her false hope.
He was debating in his inner self whether or not to let her know his true feeling or just let her assume everything as it was, for now?
Hyeyoon raised an eyebrow, still waiting for his answer. As to oversee his reaction, Hyeyoon asked him again. "Do you still love me?"
Seok-woo was lowering his gaze, deep in his thought. He then raised his sight and looked at Hyeyoon right in the eyes. Things were already in a mess in his life. He thought the decision to let her go was the best decision for both of them and her especially. She shouldn't be stuck forever in his messy life right now as he was just lost his father.
He still needs time to recover, rebuild everything, and take the burden of their family. His family needed him more than everything. Seok-woo had to put them first before himself, at least for now. He wasn't sure how long it would take for them to regain their stability. And Seokwoo didn't want Hyeyoon to waste her time for him.
The truth that he had been hiding for himself was torturing him a lot. But he had to face it no matter what. He had no other choice.
After a long, painful pause, Seok-woo then answered, "I, I can't answer that question, I'm sorry," he stuttered. "But I hope we can still be friends, at least,"
Hyeyoon scoffed. Seok-woo could see the disgusts in her eyes, and the look in her face had pierced his heart painfully. But the man had to accept it. Maybe it was better for her to hate him like this so that she could move on faster.
"No," the hurt in her eyes was visible when she stated, "I don't know we can still be friends or not. I don't think I can,"
Seok-woo couldn't utter any reply. He just stared at Hyeyoon as if he was imprinting the image of her sadness into his memory.
Hyeyoon continued, "I thought it was because of your situation, but it's not." she tiredly breathed out. "It's enough, Seok-woo. Go back to that girl. As you decided to break up, I take that you were choosing her over me. I hope you chose the right thing for your own good. I don't want you regretting whatever you've decided,"
Hyeyoon pushed him by his chest away from her and stepped back. She was letting the rain pouring hard on her body and drenching her wet once again.
"Goodbye, Seok-woo," just then, Hyeyoon turned around and left. She fastened her steps to her home without looking back again.
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A/N :
Hello everyone...
I posted another update...
There is still one more chapter for the flashback after this one
and we will move forward to the present time
At the office...
:D
I hope everyone is still enjoying the story so far.
I know it's hard to read a sad storyline or plot, but uhh...
That's the conflict. Hehe...
There will be a lot more ups and down about their journey (Seokwoo/Rowoon and Hyeyoon)
It will be revealed soon at present.
I'm currently working on the last chapter of their flashback and will publish it soon.
Kindly wait for a bit, and I hope you enjoy reading every chapter of this story.
Thank you so much for staying, supporting, giving comments and feedback. I read all your thoughts and am very grateful because of that.
Till we meet again very soon in the next update
Love you so much~