A few hours later, we were already on the train heading to Shenzhen. The executive class was almost half occupied. I took my seat next to the window and blankly stared outside the window to the darkness. I glanced at my watch and it showed 6.35 PM. We were scheduled to arrive in Shenzhen at 9.33 PM.
They slightly dimmed the lighting in the cabin, I looked around, a few people were already napping. I stole a glance to see Rowoon was shutting his eyes. He must be tired as he didn't get enough sleep last night.
Seeing him in this proximity had invited the image of myself surrendered and kissed him back earlier to appear in my head and I suddenly felt embarrassed.
Why did I do that?
I hit my head a few times. You're so stupid, Kim Hyeyoon.
I turned to look at Rowoon once again and told myself to stay away from him from now on. Don't let my guard down when he was around. He's too dangerous.
Ding!
One message was received.
I slid open my phone and saw it was Kiyong. I let out a heavy breath and started to feel guilty. Because of the sampling and the previous event, I completely forgot about him. I saw a few unread messages from him a few hours ago.
Suddenly I missed him so much, I wanted the trip would end soon. But it still had 8 more days. I slowly typed a reply to Kiyong and sent him a self-picture of me.
Kiyong Oppa
6.45 PM
I missed you, honey. Come back home fast. *kiss emoticon*
I smiled at his text and replied to him with a sticker. I put my phone back in my purse and leaned back to the seat. I ran my hand to my chest. I still could feel my heart beating fast. I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have kissed him back. I shouldn't have surrendered to him.
I didn't know how to face him tomorrow, how to face Kiyong when I came back to Seoul. I ruined everything. I ruined my dignity. I had lost my sanity.
All the thought I had suddenly interrupted by the sound of a soft snore from the man beside me. He was sleeping. I opened my eyes and turned to see him.
The view of him sleeping soundly had always fascinated me. I had to be honest with myself. He has outstanding features and his face line was just perfect. The maturity that formed after years was shown in his face, and it made him looked more attractive.
He slightly changed his hairstyle, but it didn't look bad on him at all. He looked so fine with that, to be honest.
I was too busy watching him sleep as I didn't realize he was up. Just when he opened his eyes and stared at my stunned face while looking at him, I snapped and blinked a few times.
"Was it your hobby watching me asleep?" he asked me while adjusting his seat position.
I turned my face away from him and looked at the windows. "You look tired, that's all," I replied to him anyway.
"I did," he stretched his muscle and fixing his suit. "Especially when you were angry earlier, Hyeyoon. I used all my power to calm you down," he added while chuckling.
His bold statement caught me off guard and I could feel my face got hotter. I was blushing as I turned my face, even more, to avoid him seeing my face turned red.
"I was not angry," I denied.
The latter just frowned upon my denial and he smirked, "Then, what was that? Jealousy?" he knew how to make me speechless and I failed to retort him miserably.
"None of those!" I raised my voice slightly and tuned down when I realized a few people started to looked at both of us.
Rowoon just smiled wryly and stared at me with a gentle look.
"It was an accident," he stated. I glanced at him in confusion. Didn't get to where he was trying to direct the conversation. He caught my confused look and went on, "she was stumbled upon something on the floor and fell onto me, that's it," he said then.
I was dumbfounded. He was trying to clear the misunderstanding. I frowned at him and was not believing his words.
"Oh," I replied to him shortly and just nodded nonchalantly.
I didn't care what happened though. It was none of my business, as I said earlier. I didn't get why he was trying to explain this to me.
"It was just a very wrong time at the wrong place, nothing is going on between us. She's my senior at Beijing Headquarter before she was transferred to Xiamen and I was transferred to Seoul Branch," he told me the story and I was still quietly listening to him while staring at the windows. There was nothing I could see outside since it was dark.
Hearing his explanation made me recalling the image of him holding that woman to his body, and my chest oddly felt heavy and pained.
They were colleagues before and seemed very close to each other, too. I could see there was something special between them. Just looked at their gesture and I wasn't blind to see there might be something more between them.
"I see," I sighed, gave up on the thoughts as I responded to him weakly. I had to keep reminding myself that it was none of my business.
He heard I was sighing and stretching his hand to touch my shoulder.
"Hyeyoon?" he called out.
I jerked to his sudden touch and swerved to the side. He stunned at my reaction and slowly pulled his hand away from my shoulder.
I shut my eyes to calm myself down and spoke to him slowly, "Rowoon," I breathed out heavily as I had a lot in mind right now, and his effort to mess with myself since earlier had complicated things.
The man watched as I was trying to say something and waited. I let out a heavy sigh and continued, "I'm sorry that I have to say this but, I'm more than aware that we're now merely partners in work," I halted to find the right word so he would take my concern seriously.
"Please, don't try to cross the line, as you already know that I'm no longer your girlfriend," I find myself so desperate to quickly solve the misconception here. This man seemed trying to tempt me multiple times already and he knew how to play with my emotion.
"If I have to be honest with you, I shall inform you that now I'm feeling extremely guilty to Kiyong for what we've done earlier. I'm so embarrassed to myself and I don't know how to face him later when I'm back in Seoul," I tried to hold the emotion that about to explode. He needed to hear me out carefully, and crying in front of him would make me look pathetic.
I stared at him right in the eyes as Rowoon was still stunned at my candor.
"I don't care about you having tons of women in your life but don't include me into the list, I'm not in," I shook my head to confirm the statement.
Both of us were silent and he looked at me with a complicated expression. I failed to catch on to what his expression means.
"I'm sorry," he then muttered lowly, but I ignored him by keeping my mouth shut. He was seen trying to say something again but he couldn't. Rowoon then gazed at me for some time before got up from his seat and leaving me alone.
I stared at him walking to the back of the cabin and slid open the door. He didn't look back as he walked out of the cabin and closed the sliding door.
The sudden loss of his presence was leaving an empty spot in my chest as I was now finding it hard to breathe. My mind was in a mess, and leaving me alone might be the best decision he made.
Yes, I need to be alone. I need time to think and rearrange everything once again. I need my time to remedy.
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A/N :
Everyone must be sleeping at this hour and I'm updating the next chapter. 😄😄
I made a brief update to connect the dots of the next chapters. And yes, I'm playing with your emotion right now... Hehe hehe... Just like riding a rollercoaster, huh? Ups and down and ups again. 😄
Be prepared for another round of surprises. There's still a long way to find their way back together. If you wished me to prolong the ending then you may get your wish come true since I think there's still a lot of things going on before I conclude the story.
For those who dislike that I made them look like cheaters, I have to say that this is hard to explain. If you understand their position and look at the bigger picture then you should know the reason why I put things that way. It's for the sake of the conflict.
As an author, I already have the conclusion of the story in my head. But to reach that conclusion, I need to create conflicts. So that the story grows and develops to conclude.
If you understand the struggle of an author every time they need to use their brain to create a conflict for the story. It's not easy at all.
And I know that I can't meet everyone's wish. I appreciate all the input and feedback but I can't accept the prejudices of the story without knowing the reason why I put on the story that way.
Sorry for the ranting.
I just had to make things clear. I hope everyone could let me have my time to finish the story according to the plot that already formed in my head.
I don't mind you share your thoughts on the story progress. Readers are free to express their thoughts. I had always thankful for all the comments and your feedback.
But I have to say sorry if I found another offending or discouraging comments, I would just delete it and mute your account.
It affects my mood to continue writing and the feeling was not pleasurable at all.
Please excuse this brief update + short notice, everyone.
I will continue to write for the next chapters and hope to finish it soon.
Good night, all.
Thanks for reading and staying with me till now. Thank you for all your kind words and I love every one of you.
You all are wonderful readers 🙂