The Venn Diagram | Part 3b
part 3a - 1934 (1/2)
part 3b - 1934 (2/2)
part 3a - 2014
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“I’m not surprised to see you two together.” Jaejoong tells them, his teeth gleaming as the handsome smirk on his face turns into a sneer. He watches them through his narrowed eyes, leaning on his shoulder against the door frame. His gaze is deadly as it focuses on BoA’s fingers on Yunho’s shirt, frozen now in shock of the sudden turn of events. The expression on his face is hard and unreadable, dangerous even as he continues in a light but sardonic tone. The displeasure of his words dripping thick from his tongue: “After all both of you have been acting quite… different these past few weeks. Thought I must say I’m disappointed. I would have preferred to catch you both in flagrante instead of this-” He waved a disgusted hand between them, “-nauseating display. That would have been much more exciting, don’t you think? Dramatic, even?”
Brushing an imaginary fluff off of his pressed suit jacket, Jaejoong’s smirk comes back on his face. He moves with catlike grace as he pushes away from the frame, his hands fitting into his pants’ pockets-the gun in his holster glinting menacingly into view. Yunho moves to stand erect, sliding BoA behind him before subtly moving forward into a protective stance. Jaejoong catches this immediately and laughs meanly.
“Jung Yunho-the fucking white knight. I really am not surprised.”
Jaejoong is standing straighter now to cast a long hard look between the two of them, mocking them with a dangerous toothy grin. At that moment BoA does not recognize the easy-going man she’d known in her early years, the smiling man she’d spent some time with when Yunho had been away on business.
The man who was chosen to be her fiancé has left, leaving a raging shell of a man in his wake. She shivers then when Jaejoong’s gaze turns away from Yunho and latches on to her and for a moment she feels an apology clutch at her throat at the sight she sees there.
He is hurt, BoA thinks in surprise. Jaejoong is… hurt.
But as quickly as the emotion appears in his eyes, it is replaced the very next second by a fierce gleam of rage. The suddenness of it all winds her very strength.
“I’ll give you both a heads’ start.” He says, looking back at Yunho. The rage is brimming now, coating the air heavy with tension.
“Jaejo-”
“Don’t,” He snaps at the both of them. Jaejoong turns and starts walking away, his voice echoing down the hall and striking fear into their hearts.
“Figure out what to do in the next fifteen minutes. I won’t regret what I’ll do when I catch you after then.”
~*~*~*~
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It is around noontime when Soojung and Jongin finally arrive back at the Kim residence, greeted by Chorong who informs them that Jongin’s parents are out on the campaign trail yet again and won’t be back until the next day.
“So, spill the goods,” Chorong says excitedly once they are back in Soojung’s room.
“First, you tell me, you must have had a lot of fun without me and Jongin around,” Soojung winks. “I mean, it’s not like Woohyun could possibly resist you and your breathtaking gorgeousness.”
Chorong blushes madly. “Okay, okay, fine - so we kind of...talked,” she sputters. “It was nice. But I’m more concerned about you and Jongin, please?”
One devious side-glance from Soojung is enough to set Chorong on a squealing rampage. “Oh my goodness, I knew it! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!” Soojung raises her eyebrow because she’s never seen the other girl so hyper before.
Jinri calls then all the way from Europe where she’s having summer vacation, and all she talks about is how she knew this would happen all along and Soojung wonders if she was the only one who didn’t. Sehun barges into the house that afternoon, whining about his never-ending boredom and then teasing Jongin and Soojung about the immense awkwardness between the two. “You guys are no fun today,” he sticks his tongue out at them. “I’ll just go bother Chanyeol.” And he’s out the door as quickly as he came in, eyebrows wiggling playfully and winking at Soojung, for which Jongin may or may not have slapped him (ooh, someone’s jealous, are his last words before hightailing away).
Jongin groans, turning to her. “They give me a headache.”
“Agreed,” she laughs.
They both figure it’s not quite time to let real life take over yet, especially since his parents are not home yet. “Can I come in?” she asks that night, slowly creaking his bedroom door open.
He thinks about it for two seconds before nodding, opening his arms. She settles in next to him, her head upon his shoulder. “Tell me about yourself,” Jongin says out of the blue. “Something interesting.”
“Hmm,” she purses her lips in thought. “I had a grandma who I never met before but every year for my birthday she would always send me gifts. She would sign the cards with ‘From Nana BoA.’ I always wondered who she was,” she pauses. “But then, after my 12th birthday, the packages…just stopped coming.”
The mood is pensive. “I see,” he murmurs, understanding what she means. Her life has really had its fair share of ups and downs, he realizes. It makes him squeeze her tighter in his arms.
“Your turn.”
He inhales. “I like to dance. Like, actual dancing - hip hop, jazz, ballet - anything.”
She looks at him, surprised. “You must be really good then, compared to me,” she giggles.
“You’re not that bad,” he says, thinking back to the last time they were on the dance floor - er, rooftop - and his ears turn red at the memory. She scrunches her nose, laying her ear on his chest and listening to his heartbeat. She closes her eyes, cherishing the moment - just one more night, one more night before his parents come back and she doesn’t know what they would do then - how they would react -
“Jongin?” a voice echoes down the hallway. Soojung’s eyes snap open. His bedroom door swings wide. A moment of silence. “Jongin.” The voice this time is more stern, more disappointed, more angry.
“D-dad?” he shoots up, not daring to meet his father’s gaze. Crap, weren’t they coming back tomorrow?
Mr. Kim stands in the doorway, still dressed in a formidable suit, suddenly looking like he’d aged ten years in a span of 30 seconds. She watches the man take it all in, how his son and the “teenage delinquent” are in the same bed in their pajamas, their arms touching. She scoots to the far end of the bed, dying inside.
“Jongin, we will talk in the morning,” Mr. Kim says sternly, sending them warning glances. He is fuming, they can both see it.
Their eyes widen as they turn to each other in horror, panic running through their veins as they both struggled to gather their wits. Shit, she thought. For a split second there, all she could hear is the sound of her heart thumping in her chest and this time it’s not due to the idyllic sweetness of fluttering butterflies in her stomach. Their eyes meet just as he heaves a gigantic breath out of his chest, running his fingers through his hair in frustration.
“What do we do?” she whispers, unsure.
He studies her for a moment before his lips settles on curling into a slight smirk. “Hey… wanna run away together?” And though his voice sounds playful, she can see the urgent look in his eyes. Now that they’ve been found out, it was only a matter of time before everything around them spun out of control. Neither of them wanted to be around for that. No matter how brave they were when they started this together.
The moment she feels his arms encircling around, keeping her tight in his strong embrace, she knows this is the only possible solution. His lips press into her hair and she inhales with him, closing her eyes as his strength seeped into her bones. “It’s you and me. We’ll make it out here, I promise,” he says, squeezing her hand and all she can do is nod and settle deeper into his chest.
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It’s already 11 in the morning but Soojung has absolutely no intention of getting out of her bed any time soon. No, not when the parents are probably downstairs discussing her right now. She’s probably ruined everything - their trust in her, in Jongin, their previously amicable terms. To say she feels like throwing herself off a cliff would not be a very far cry from how she’s feeling now.
But alas, her stomach needs sustenance so she drags herself out of bed, partly angry at herself for not being able to follow through with her hunger strike. After cleaning herself up, she creeps slowly down the stairs, aware of the voices echoing from the living room.
“Son, I’m disappointed in you,” she can hear Mr. Kim saying. “To be friends with her is alright, but anything more than that - that is bad territory.”
Jongin doesn’t say anything.
“I don’t need to remind you about what happened previously,” his father continues, and Soojung grits her teeth, knowing he’s talking about Ahreum. “But romance is dangerous, especially at your age. You have your whole life ahead of you, a company to run, a reputation to take care of -”
“I got it, father,” Jongin interrupts, and she can imagine his eyes darkening. “I know.”
“Then tell me, son, what is your relationship with her?”
“It’s nothing special,” Jongin says in defense. Soojung holds her breath. “We’re just good friends.”
And her heart shatters, the way he brushes off everything that happened, as if it was nothing at all. She knows - she knows it’s the only logical answer, how it only makes sense to stop this fantasy they had started, but she’s hurt all the same, holding in her tears.
Avoiding the living room, she silently goes into the kitchen and eats her breakfast standing up, thanking Woohyun for his words of sympathy. She wishes life were simpler but she knows that her life has so far been anything but simple - yet she’s been able to carry through with her head up all this time.
So why does she feel especially broken now? Why does it feel so bad?
END OF PART 3