CEBF Ch 6 part 2

PR by neji

JaeOn was the self-proclaimed ‘best driver’. Starting today, Daon decided to rip off that title he was so proud of. Just what was he thinking when he drove today? Because he screeched to a stop multiple times, Daon felt like she was going to be sick. As soon as JaeOn parked in his parking spot, Daon quickly burst out of the car and escaped the passenger seat.

“From now on, you’re not allowed to drive for three months. Leave your car keys with SoYoung-unnie.”

“It’s because of today’s bad weather.”

“Looks like the weather’s out to kill people.”

“And I’m not feeling too good today.”

“Then from now on, you’re only allowed to drive when the weather’s nice and you’re feeling good enough to drive.”

“And I think the food we ate earlier isn’t sitting well with me…”

JaeOn continued to make excuses for his driving today. Daon decided to get her driver’s license as soon as possible.

As soon as they got home, Daon washed up and flopped onto the sofa. She took the remote and began to flip through channels on the TV. Although it was a weekend evening, there wasn’t anything good on. JaeOn finished washing up and followed Daon to the living room. He snatched the remote from her hand.

“I need to watch baseball.”

“Just watch a zombie movie instead.”

“Why would I when there’s a zombie right in front of me?”

As JaeOn pushed himself onto the sofa, Daon used all her might to push him away with her toes. Instead, Daon was pushed back and found herself lying on the floor. Seeing this, JaeOn began to snicker. Daon looked up at him in disbelief.

“…You must be happy.”

“What are you talking about, you zombie.”

“Do you like SoYoung-unnie that much?”

“Why are you bringing SoYoung into this?”

“Just ‘cause. I’m envious.”

Daon took a cushion and hugged it tightly to her chest as she turned her back to him. She wished Yu JaeOn would hurry up and get married so that he would leave the house sooner.

“I was at my happiest when you were away for your military service…”

“Hey, you shouldn’t say things like that.”

Daon dazedly stared at the TV screen. Na WooHyun’s face began to fill her head. What was Na WooHyun like during his military service? What kind of people did he hang out with when he was in the United States? Back then, she’d never see his face, and she’d been perfectly fine. So why was her heart so impatient just because she hadn’t seen him for a few days?

Daon furtively turned her head and glanced back at JaeOn. JaeOn was completely immersed in the baseball game and was getting worked up.

“Oppa.”

“Don’t talk to me.”

“Why hasn’t WooHyun-oppa come over lately?”

JaeOn’s eyes suddenly turned to Daon. He quietly stared at Daon with a strange look on his face as he slowly opened his mouth.

“Why do you want to know?”

Because he’d been so focused on the baseball game, she thought he’d give a simple answer. A chill ran down her spine. She didn’t know why he was sensitive to these nuances now of all times.

“No, I’m just wondering. It’s been a while since I last saw him.”

JaeOn’s brows went up as he asked back.

“Really? Has it been a while?”

“Yeah. I need to see WooHyun-oppa about something. If he doesn’t come over to our place, I won’t be able to see him…”

Her voice faded away. JaeOn tilted his head and turned his eyes back to the baseball game.

“He’s probably on a flight.”

“A flight? Do you know where he went?”

“I’m not his manager. How would I know his complicated schedule?”

“Then when will he be back?”

“Ah, I said I don’t know! Stop talking to me.”

When JaeOn roared out in frustration, Daon unleashed the rage that she had been suppressing, including the boiling frustration that she had felt in the car ride home. Daon’s face twisted into a scowl. She burst up onto her feet and threw the cushion she had been hugging.

“What do you¹ know?”

Receiving a sudden blow from the cushion, JaeOn looked up at Daon with a dumbfounded expression.

“How could you call your older brother ‘you’?! I’ve raised you until now, so how could you?”

“Who raised whom? I raised myself!”

Daon stomped back to her room. She slammed her door shut and flopped onto her bed.

She felt like she’d returned to her adolescence. A crack had formed in their great sibling relationship in an instant. Although they’d probably return to normal tomorrow as if they’d never fought at all, she felt like this crack wouldn’t be stuck back together as easily as it usually did.

Sometimes, JaeOn treated her like a kid. She was making a living for herself well enough, but he still treated her like an underage child who needed protection. Whenever he was like this, she felt like she couldn’t breathe and wanted to put more distance between them.

“Hurry up and get married so that you can get out of here…”

This was happening because they were all stuck under one roof. She was coming to realize why it was important to live away from home once you became an adult.

Either way, he’d leave soon enough. Right now, she needed to focus on how she felt.

“Huh?”

Daon’s eyes sparkled. She just thought of a clever scheme. The solution had been right in front of her all along.

“Won’t it work out after we send Yu JaeOn away?”

Once he got married, the three of them wouldn’t meet up for late-night meals anymore. Even if she dated WooHyun and broke up, they wouldn’t have to see each other afterwards.

By then, JaeOn would be too busy to worry about her. He wouldn’t be around to argue with her about her love life.

Daon sat up. In order for this to happen, there mustn’t be a broken engagement. She wanted to hit her own mouth for even suggesting that to JaeOn. They said that words were seeds that would take root. She shouldn’t have said such a thing because it might manifest into reality.

She grabbed her phone and hastily sent a text to SoYoung, thanking her for the delicious meal. Ever since she first saw SoYoung, she knew she was a good person. She was none other than her personal savior.

She opened her messaging app to read SoYoung’s reply. Suddenly, a chat dated back to several days ago caught her eye. It was her last conversation with WooHyun.

They usually called each other, so there weren’t many messages. It was mostly full of pictures WooHyun took whenever he was abroad.

One was from Europe, another was from the United States. There was one from Hong Kong or China. The angles weren’t very flattering, but because it was so Na WooHyun, they made her laugh. She felt like she was exploring the world from the comfort of her room.

Daon pursed her lips and slowly typed something, character by character. Then, feeling like it wasn’t right, she quickly deleted it. She typed it again before deleting it. This continued on for a while.

What would Na WooHyun want to hear the most?

‘Did you miss me?’

‘Tell me you missed me.’

Those were the words he said to her whenever he returned to Korea. There were times when she felt like the words were supposed to be said between couples, so her heart would flutter. She felt that if she told WooHyun she missed him, he’d understand what was truly in her heart.

[Na WooHyun, I miss you.]

She closed her eyes and pressed the ‘Send’ button.

* * *

Even as she slept, she would check her messages once every two hours. She still didn’t see the notification that her wretched message had been delivered. She chewed on her lips.

“I shouldn’t have sent it… I shouldn’t have sent it!”

She punched her innocent pillow and kicked her blanket.

What was Na WooHyun doing? Did he even mean what he said? Was he just hinting to me that he didn’t want to be sex partners anymore, and I just misunderstood? She ran several scenarios through her head. Was he actually dating one of the flight attendants instead?

As her thoughts raced without end, her pillow grew damp with tears. The image of WooHyun happily sightseeing with a flight attendant popped into her head.

Due to the bad feeling in her chest, she wanted to delete the message she sent him, but it was too late. Too much time had passed, and it was too late.

* * *

Early the next morning, Daon barely managed to open her swollen eyes. The first thing she did was grab her cellphone.

There was a ‘Read’ notification next to the message, ‘Na WooHyun, I miss you.’

“Gah.”

She rubbed her eyes several times, but the notification was still there.

“But why…”

If he read it, why didn’t he reply?

Her heart sank. Because she tossed and turned all night, she felt like she was in a dream.

Daon dazedly got down from the bed and got dressed. She couldn’t keep still. She needed to see Na WooHyun’s face and confirm everything.

‘Really think about it. Whether you’ll date me or whether you won’t see me ever again.’

He’s the one who made her so restless after saying something like that, but now he was pretending he didn’t say it at all?

“This isn’t it. This isn’t right.”

After washing her face, Daon murmured to herself with a toothbrush in her mouth. She looked up at her reflection in the mirror and glared as if she were looking at Na WooHyun’s face instead of hers.

Her swollen eyes made her look even more pitiful, so she splashed more cold water on her face. Suddenly…

“Yu Daon! Hurry up and come out! Does the bathroom only belong to you?”

JaeOn banged on the door as he shouted.

“U-Use the master bathroom!”

Daon slightly opened the door and put some toothpaste on his toothbrush and handed it to him. She quickly moved to close the door when it burst open.

“Why do your eyes look like that?”

“What’s wrong with my eyes…”

“Why do they look like they’re going to burst?”

Daon quickly covered her eyes and tried to push him away, but he was way bigger than her, so her strength wasn’t enough. So she gave him a pathetic excuse.

“It’s because I fell asleep after watching a sad movie.”

“Yeah, right.”

“……”

“I don’t know who he is, but tell that bastard. If he ever appears in front of me, I’ll kill him.”

JaeOn bit his toothbrush and glared. Daon was surprised to see him grind his teeth like that, but she hurriedly managed to close the door.

“As if you know who that bastard is…”

This was why she was hesitant to date WooHyun. They were bound to fight during their relationship, and she would probably cry throughout the night because of it. If she felt like they weren’t a good match, they could break up as well. Every time something like this happened, JaeOn would probably find WooHyun and start a fight.

She was even more determined to make sure that JaeOn never found out about her and WooHyun.

Daon got out of the bathroom and ran to her room, wondering if WooHyun had sent a reply while she was gone. However, nothing had changed.

“……”

She finally felt like she understood why KyuHyung had bothered her all day regarding how she never sent him a reply. They said that life was like a boomerang. She never dreamed that she’d be on the receiving end of what she had done. Daon’s shoulders sank.

But she still wanted to go to WooHyun’s house to see if he was home.

She walked through the living room towards the front door when she saw that JaeOn’s bedroom door was wide open. As if he hadn’t been glaring just a moment ago, he was now humming as he styled his hair in the mirror.

“What’s going on? Aren’t you going to work today?”

“I took the day off.”

“Where are you going?”

“SoYoung and I are going to tour some wedding venues.”

As JaeOn crouched down to put on his shoes, he suddenly turned around and looked at her with a sharp gleam in his eyes. JaeOn lightly stroked his hair and glared suspiciously at Daon.

“What? Do you have something to say to me?”

“Where are you going so early in the morning? Aren’t you usually sleeping like the dead at this time?”

Daon put on her sneakers and tried to think of an excuse.

“…A morning walk?”

JaeOn scoffed and clicked his tongue.

“Men are all dogs.”

“……”

“If you chase them, they’ll run away. If you run away, they’ll chase you. So don’t even think about clinging onto him and just let him go.”

“Then did you chase after SoYoung-unnie like that because she was running away from you, Oppa?”

“SoYoung and I are different.”

“What’s so different?”

“When it comes to us, you know? We’ve been seeing each other for a long time, and we have a history that no one knows about. Okay?… Anyways, it’s just different.”

Every relationship progressed differently. Daon believed that everyone was unique. Not just JaeOn, but everyone around her as well. She believed she was the same when she was seeing KyungChan. However, in the end, when the relationship broke apart, it all went to waste. All that was left were the side dishes.

But when she saw JaeOn acting like a main character in a sweet love story, she couldn’t help but feel envious. Enjoying a long relationship with one’s match was the blessing of all blessings.

“Enjoy your wedding venue tours.”

After saying this, Daon exited the front door. She leaned on a wall after pressing the elevator button and let out a sigh.

Just thinking about Na WooHyun holding hands with someone as they enjoyed the New York scenery made her head feel like it was going to explode. She recalled the way JaeOn and SoYoung had acted like a couple of lovebirds and replaced their faces with WooHyun and a variety of unfamiliar women. 

Her heart raced like it was going to burst, and she felt a fever rush up to the top of her head. No matter how she looked at it, she didn’t think she could happily give them her blessing. Daon grit her teeth and looked up at the electronic sign above the elevator.

Suddenly, she heard someone’s booming footsteps echoing from the emergency staircase. Someone’s quite lively so early in the morning. The thought passed through her head as she glanced at the door, wondering who it could be.

“……!”

The sound of the footsteps stopped as a man got to the final step. Standing in front of the emergency staircase, Na WooHyun was gripping his knees as he panted for breath. Daon was at a loss for words as she stared blankly at him. Then she rubbed her eyes.

‘Am I dreaming right now? Am I still half-asleep?’

She tilted her head as she tried to figure out what was going on when WooHyun straightened up. With his jacket hanging from one arm, he loosened his necktie with his other hand. When their eyes met, he grinned.

“You said you missed me.”

“……”

“So I ran over here.”

Daon felt like her heart was going to burst out of her throat. He must have been having a difficult time as well, because his face looked a lot more gaunt than she remembered. His already-chiseled jaw was a lot sharper, and his facial features seemed a lot more prominent. WooHyun spread his arms out.

 “Hurry up and hug me.”

All the scenarios that had played through her head were wiped away in an instant. Daon raced over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She buried her face against his chest and drew in a deep breath. She still felt like she was dreaming, but when she took in WooHyun’s scent, she finally found relief.

“Why were you so late?!”

She could hear WooHyun’s laughter coming from above her head.

“You said you needed time to think.”

WooHyun stroked Daon’s back. As she felt his comforting touch, Daon buried herself even deeper into his embrace. It was all good. As long as it was Na WooHyun, it was all good.

“But as soon as I got off the plane, I ran over here. So cut me some slack.”

He pressed his lips against her ear and whispered. Daon felt her body melt. She couldn’t tell when her heart had begun feeling this way. Was it when they shared their first kiss at his place? Or when they first shared each other’s bodies?

Daon raised her head to get a better look at WooHyun’s face. Suddenly, WooHyun’s eyes widened.

“Yu Daon, your eyes…!”

Ah, crap. She recalled her swollen eyes that she had seen in her mirror. She quickly looked away by turning her head, but WooHyun grabbed her chin and brought it back.

“Why are your eyes like this?”

Because of you, you jerk. She swallowed the words back down her throat. She didn’t want to ruin the happiness of their reunion.

“I watched a sad movie before falling asleep, so…”

“Tell me the truth. Did Yu JaeOn bother you?”

There was no way he’d fall for a lie that even JaeOn hadn’t fallen for. No matter how she looked at it, there was some animosity brewing between WooHyun and JaeOn. How should she say this so that she didn’t look pathetic and WooHyun and JaeOn were back on good terms? She tried to think of something to say.

“It’s not that. It’s… so, that is…”

“If it isn’t that, then what is it?”

She couldn’t bear to tell him with her own mouth that she saw that WooHyun had read her message but did not send a message, so she had cried and cried all night. 

Daon fidgeted as she tried to think of an excuse when, suddenly, she heard the door open behind her. WooHyun’s grasp on Daon’s chin loosened.

Daon’s hands were still wrapped around his back, and she felt his muscles harden underneath her fingertips. She followed his gaze and turned her head.

“What… are you two doing?”

Their eyes landed on Yu JaeOn’s stiff face. JaeOn swept his hand through his carefully styled hair.

“I asked you two a question. What are you doing?”

Because she’d only seen his goofy side, Daon never knew that JaeOn could be this scary. His voice was so low that she could barely believe that it had left his mouth.

WooHyun frowned and wrapped his arm around Daon’s shoulders.

“What should we do? It looks like we’re caught.”

Even more terrifying than Yu JaeOn in this moment was WooHyun’s calm smile and his laughing voice. WooHyun spoke in a whisper that only Daon could hear.

“Now you can’t take back your answer.”

“……”

“I’m talking about how you said you missed me.”

It almost seemed as if Na WooHyun had been waiting for this very moment.