[SJFF] Stuck With You - Chapter 27
Title: Stuck With You
Characters: Zhou Mi, Sungmin, OC
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance, Drama, Comedy
Type: Novel
Summary: What happens when you suddenly get pulled out of a band that you've known for years, just to be placed with a trainee and is expected to help her rise to fame the fast way?
~ * ~
Chapter 27
Watch your back.
She frowned at the newest text message which she had received, and deleted it without any second thoughts before abandoning her phone on the desk. Sauntering towards her bed, she flopped down on the soft covers and buried her face in the sheets, heaving a deep but muffled sigh into it.
I hope you’re sleeping well at night. You’re going to lose such a privilege soon enough.
I can’t believe that you’re actually able to get past every single day in such a carefree manner.
Beware of karma.
Huiying groaned in annoyance when her head inadvertently reminded her about the other messages which she didn’t want to remember. It had been half a month since she had started to receive these highly disturbing messages, similar in nature to the one she had read just moments ago. Each of them warned her about something imminent, of a retribution for a sin she didn’t even know she had committed. They were from the exact same number, but she couldn’t even begin guessing to whom it belonged to.
In the end, although there was a pang of uneasiness in her heart because of the messages, Huiying decided to see them as mere pranks. It was probably some anti-fan of hers who has too much time on their hands to the extent that they had to do this to kill their boredom.
That was the precise reason why she kept the matter to herself. She didn’t see the need to worry anyone else about something that was probably harmless in nature. Nonetheless, she desperately held on to the hopes that the person - whoever he or she was - would stop harassing her on a daily basis. It was mentally draining to receive such seemingly empty threats every single day without any rhyme or reason, and she was running out of patience.
She was in the midst of wondering whether she should bring the matter to the police if the harassment continues, only have her train of thoughts interrupted when a soft knock resonated through the air. The lingering question which was troubling her immediately flew out of the window when the beaming expression of none other than Sungmin came into plain view, and she hopped off the bed at once to pull him into a hug.
“Hey gorgeous, missed me?” he grinned as he returned the hug, happily inhaling the sweet scent of her shampoo. Watermelon, he noted.
“Is that a rhetorical question?” Huiying laughed, pressing a light kiss against his lips before pulling back and taking in his features. “Of course I miss you, Ming. I haven’t seen you in days,” she commented exasperatedly, allowing a pout to surface.
“I’m sorry, but I’ve been busy with… quite a number of things these days,” he smiled wryly, rubbing the back of his neck at that.
Sungmin felt guilty that he couldn’t bring Huiying out on dates as much as he wanted to, considering the fact that he was swamped with the preparations for his debut with Super Junior-M. The hardest part of it all was probably how he was forbidden to tell anyone else about it - not even his girlfriend was allowed to know. He couldn’t understand why, however. It wasn’t as though she would broadcast it to the entire world. She had her principles and she knew the company’s rules after all.
“Yeah, I know. I’m left alone in the dorms to waste my days away instead,” she replied sullenly, and inflated her cheeks in a disappointed manner. She thought that it would be nice if she could at least have some knowledge about what her boyfriend was up to, but respected his decision not to tell her anyway.
Seeing that, Sungmin chuckled lightly and pulled her into a tight embrace. It was something that he had been yearning to do for days now, but due to the circumstances surrounding his schedules, there was absolutely zero opportunity for him to do so. Their dance practices continued late into the night, frequently only getting back to the dorms several hours past midnight. All the glimpses of his girlfriend that he managed to catch was of her peaceful sleeping face, on the few occasions where Zhou Mi was actually awake - and not grumpy - enough to allow him into the dorms.
“Again, I’m sorry, Ying. Since today’s my day off, I’ll save you from being cooped up in the dorms,” he chirruped, giving her cheek a light peck. She brightened up at once.
“Really?” Huiying beamed, before her expressions completely changed into that of scepticism. “Wait, will this privilege only last half a day, or do I get to spend the whole day with you?”
“You’ll have the entire day with me. I promise,” he said, holding out his pinkie finger. Her glances alternated between his outstretched finger and Sungmin’s smiling face, a broad grin unmistakable on her own features. He rarely ever went against his promises, and Huiying felt compelled to believe him wholeheartedly.
“What plans do you have in store for us, then?” she then asked, feeling excited at the prospect of being able to spend more time with him - alone. However, she began to fret slightly when his expressions turned rather mellow, even though the smile was still lingering on his lips. His emotions were unreadable, and it unsettled her.
“I know I haven’t said anything much about my past before this, but today, I’m going to show you everything” were his exact words. Words which threw her mind into total confusion.
* * * * *
She warily glanced around her surroundings when she stepped out of the car, wondering where they were. Ever since he had informed her that he was going to show her about parts of his past that she hadn’t known of yet, there was little to no words exchanged between them. The entire trip from their apartment complex to their current location was more or less filled with silence, save for the soft music that flowed out from the speakers.
Although there were so many questions lingering in Huiying’s mind - What? Why? Where? - none of them made it past her sealed lips. She had a hunch that Sungmin wasn’t really planning on saying anything about what he was going to do. There must be a reason behind him bringing her to another location instead of sitting down on the sofa at the dorms and explaining everything to her after all.
“This is the cemetery. I don’t think you would be familiar with this place,” his voice filled her senses in a low whisper, causing her to gasp softly, surprised. She did not notice that he had walked up to her. She didn’t even hear him locking his car.
“The cemetery?” she repeated, frowning slightly. “Why are we here? Are we by any chance going to visit the grave of one of your deceased family members?”
Sungmin laughed softly as he took her hand in his. “You’re partially right, but I think you’ll understand better if you saw it with your own eyes,” he said, leading her down the straight path ahead of them.
Again they were submerged in a blanket of silence, with only the slight rustling of the trees and the crunching of dead leaves beneath their feet audible in the quiet vicinity. It didn’t seem as though there were anyone else paying their respects at the cemetery on that particular day.
They came to a complete stop several minutes later in front of a beautifully crafted tombstone in the shape of a cross. Following in her boyfriend’s footsteps, Huiying bowed respectfully at the tombstone, neatly matching his pace. Only when they had straightened themselves that she gained the opportunity to take a look at the name and words engraved upon the granite. It belonged to a person called Jung Haerin, and judging by the dates etched on it, the woman had died young.
“Is… is she your cousin?” Huiying found herself asking when Sungmin was done wiping the tombstone down, and moved to place the bouquet of flowers in her hands on the ground in front of it.
“I would be happy if that were the case. She probably would still be running around with her bright smile,” he answered wryly, wrapping an arm around Huiying and pulled her close to him as he said that. She looked up at him questioningly.
“I don’t get what you’re trying to say, Ming.”
Sungmin sighed at the query. “Let me put this in a sequence. It would be easier to picture,” he said quietly. “She was shot dead two years ago because of a love story gone awry. It was all over the newspapers, but you probably have no knowledge of it because you weren’t in Korea yet.”
“Was it… done by another woman?” Huiying questioned again. Something in his story didn’t quite make sense to her.
“No, a man. I was the other person inflicted in this situation, but I managed to escape with only several bruises and a graze from a bullet,” Sungmin answered. His head was hung low as he unravelled his past to his girlfriend, slowly recalling everything that he had sealed at the back of his mind years ago. Nevertheless, Sungmin decided that it was only fair that Huiying found out about it. She was, after all, the most important person to him now.
“What happened to the other man, then?”
“He was also killed, but by the police force who managed to save me. I was supposed to be the one buried six feet under, had they not barged into the sealed room in time.”
Huiying bit her lip at the revelation, realising that she might not have been able to meet Sungmin, had the killer succeeded in putting a bullet through the flesh of the man standing next to her. She subconsciously squeezed his hand, feeling grateful that he managed to survive the ordeal. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how much trauma he had been through back then.
But there was one lingering question that surpassed everything else at that particular moment. “Who… exactly was she to you?” she mustered her courage and finally let the query escape her lips, although she had a feeling that she might not like the answer.
“She was my fiancée.”
One sentence, though short and simple, was more than enough to leave Huiying stunned in her position. Out of everything else, hearing Sungmin confess that he had a fiancée - much less one who was forcefully pried away from him - was at the bottom of the list of things she had been expecting. She didn’t know what to think, didn’t know what to feel. Her mind was completely wiped clean by the information, leaving her speechless.
“I’m… I’m sorry to hear that, Sungmin… I didn’t know-” she began, but was silenced when Sungmin cut her off with a kiss. One that held a barrage of contrasting emotions she couldn’t even begin to decipher.
The most prominent one was probably that of remorse.
“It’s not your fault that you didn’t know, Ying. Close to none of the Korean public knows about this; my name was never mentioned in the articles because my engagement itself would be more than adequate to create a huge uproar,” he explained, still holding her close to him. Sungmin began to wonder whether his decision to tell her this soon was a mistake on his part. She seemed to be completely disorientated by the information.
“Then why did none of the boys tell me, warn me about this? Why are you telling me this now?” she pressed on, still trembling in his arms. To say that she was confused was a gross understatement.
“This isn’t a topic that the other members could freely talk about, and it isn’t something that I would divulge unless I had special reasons. I want you to know about this, Huiying. I told you - you’re important to me, and I don’t want to withhold such knowledge from you. It wouldn’t be fair,” Sungmin tried to reason with her again, hoping that she could understand.
However, the moment she pushed herself away from him, he couldn’t even suppress the raging disappointment that bubbled up within him.
She seemed to have noticed it, as an apology immediately escaped her lips. “I’m sorry, Sungmin. I just… it’s difficult for me to accept all of this information in such a short period of time,” she exclaimed exasperatedly, trying to string her words in the best possible way. “Please understand.”
“I know, Huiying. I’m sorry for dumping all of this on you on such short notice… You can take all the time you need to digest this,” Sungmin prompted with a smile as he reached for her, but another pang of disappointment shot through him when she moved backwards ever so slightly.
“I… I guess I’ll take you home right now?” he finally sighed. Huiying nodded without any hesitation and made a beeline for the car, leaving Sungmin to lag behind her. He shot another glance at the tombstone of his deceased fiancée, smiling slightly to himself before taking off as well.
It would be a huge task for him to convince his girlfriend that his heart belonged solely to her now, despite knowing that part of hers was with his friend.
* * * * *
Huiying looked up from her sheets when she heard footsteps coming to a stop at her bedroom door which was left open, frowning slightly on the surface when she realised that it was her duet partner staring knowingly at her. “Mi, if there’s nothing important, I’d appreciate it if you left me alone,” she muttered miserably, grimacing when she noticed how hoarse her voice was as a result of the lack of lubrication.
She hadn’t really had anything to eat or drink ever since she had returned from the cemetery with Sungmin. All she could think about was how he had a fiancée, and also the circumstances surrounding the woman’s untimely death.
“You look like you really need someone to talk to, though,” he commented quietly, flashing a soft smile at her.
“Am I being that obvious with my feelings?” Huiying frowned, sighing exasperatedly when he nodded in confirmation at her question.
“Would you mind sharing what’s on your mind? I mean, there must be a reason why you’re sulking here alone instead of telling it to Sungmin, isn’t there?”
“Must I always be connected to Sungmin in a way or another? We’re not joined by the hip, you know,” she deadpanned.
Much to her surprise, Zhou Mi wagged a finger at her. “Contrary to your own belief, you are,” he pointed out bluntly, before making his way into the confined space of her room. “So why exactly are you being all doom and gloom in here? It’s so unlike you.”
“Are you sure you’re talking to the right person?” Huiying said, making a last ditch attempt in chasing her duet partner away. She really wasn’t in much of a mood to talk.
“Yes I am. Stop changing the subject,” he snapped, a deep frown creasing his forehead. That was when he came to a sudden realisation to explain her less-than-normal behaviour. “Did he… by any chance, told you what had happened in the past?”
“He did,” she confirmed with a sigh.
“You don’t seem to be too happy with what you’ve heard, though.”
“How can I be happy with the knowledge that he very nearly died, or that he was close to marrying another person?” Huiying asked, flashing a wry smile at her duet partner. He was tempted to give her a hug, but reminded himself to keep a distance away from her. He had promised.
“You’re upset that you’re sharing his heart with someone else, aren’t you?” Zhou Mi took a wild shot at her, but knew that he was right when she paled. “I’m sorry if I’m being too blunt, but your heart isn’t exactly completely with him right now either.”
Huiying very obviously flinched at his words. She threw a glare at him. “Ouch, thanks for that. Who do you think should shoulder half the blame here?” she shot back.
“I know, I know,” Zhou Mi raised his arms in acknowledgement, knowing full well that she had deliberately aimed that at him. “But still, I don’t think you should worry too much about this. Sungmin wouldn’t bring this matter up if he didn’t trust you enough, or didn’t love you enough to believe that you’ll understand him. It means a great deal to him, and now he has allowed you to be a part of it. Shouldn’t you be happy instead?”
“I… I screwed up again didn’t I?” she finally sighed, eyes downcast. Now that she thought about it with a calmer state of mind, Sungmin did indeed tell her that she was one of the very few people who knew about the situation. It made her ten times guiltier than she rejected him in such a manner.
“Yes you did, Ying, but it’s not too late to fix things,” he smiled encouragingly, though he was temporarily distracted when her phone, which was left unattended on her desk, suddenly rang. They both turned their heads towards the device, and she bowed slightly in apology as she scrambled to answer the call.
Huiying literally froze in her position and dropped her phone onto the bed within seconds after picking it up, horrified by something she had heard.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Author's notes:
I... really don't know how this idea got slotted in. Somehow it just did, and yeah.
If you're wondering, this plotline originates from one of my earlier fics (written more than a year ago, you probably might not remember/might not have read about it) called Forever or Never + Holding Back the Tears. :)
Characters: Zhou Mi, Sungmin, OC
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance, Drama, Comedy
Type: Novel
Summary: What happens when you suddenly get pulled out of a band that you've known for years, just to be placed with a trainee and is expected to help her rise to fame the fast way?
~ * ~
Chapter 27
Watch your back.
She frowned at the newest text message which she had received, and deleted it without any second thoughts before abandoning her phone on the desk. Sauntering towards her bed, she flopped down on the soft covers and buried her face in the sheets, heaving a deep but muffled sigh into it.
I hope you’re sleeping well at night. You’re going to lose such a privilege soon enough.
I can’t believe that you’re actually able to get past every single day in such a carefree manner.
Beware of karma.
Huiying groaned in annoyance when her head inadvertently reminded her about the other messages which she didn’t want to remember. It had been half a month since she had started to receive these highly disturbing messages, similar in nature to the one she had read just moments ago. Each of them warned her about something imminent, of a retribution for a sin she didn’t even know she had committed. They were from the exact same number, but she couldn’t even begin guessing to whom it belonged to.
In the end, although there was a pang of uneasiness in her heart because of the messages, Huiying decided to see them as mere pranks. It was probably some anti-fan of hers who has too much time on their hands to the extent that they had to do this to kill their boredom.
That was the precise reason why she kept the matter to herself. She didn’t see the need to worry anyone else about something that was probably harmless in nature. Nonetheless, she desperately held on to the hopes that the person - whoever he or she was - would stop harassing her on a daily basis. It was mentally draining to receive such seemingly empty threats every single day without any rhyme or reason, and she was running out of patience.
She was in the midst of wondering whether she should bring the matter to the police if the harassment continues, only have her train of thoughts interrupted when a soft knock resonated through the air. The lingering question which was troubling her immediately flew out of the window when the beaming expression of none other than Sungmin came into plain view, and she hopped off the bed at once to pull him into a hug.
“Hey gorgeous, missed me?” he grinned as he returned the hug, happily inhaling the sweet scent of her shampoo. Watermelon, he noted.
“Is that a rhetorical question?” Huiying laughed, pressing a light kiss against his lips before pulling back and taking in his features. “Of course I miss you, Ming. I haven’t seen you in days,” she commented exasperatedly, allowing a pout to surface.
“I’m sorry, but I’ve been busy with… quite a number of things these days,” he smiled wryly, rubbing the back of his neck at that.
Sungmin felt guilty that he couldn’t bring Huiying out on dates as much as he wanted to, considering the fact that he was swamped with the preparations for his debut with Super Junior-M. The hardest part of it all was probably how he was forbidden to tell anyone else about it - not even his girlfriend was allowed to know. He couldn’t understand why, however. It wasn’t as though she would broadcast it to the entire world. She had her principles and she knew the company’s rules after all.
“Yeah, I know. I’m left alone in the dorms to waste my days away instead,” she replied sullenly, and inflated her cheeks in a disappointed manner. She thought that it would be nice if she could at least have some knowledge about what her boyfriend was up to, but respected his decision not to tell her anyway.
Seeing that, Sungmin chuckled lightly and pulled her into a tight embrace. It was something that he had been yearning to do for days now, but due to the circumstances surrounding his schedules, there was absolutely zero opportunity for him to do so. Their dance practices continued late into the night, frequently only getting back to the dorms several hours past midnight. All the glimpses of his girlfriend that he managed to catch was of her peaceful sleeping face, on the few occasions where Zhou Mi was actually awake - and not grumpy - enough to allow him into the dorms.
“Again, I’m sorry, Ying. Since today’s my day off, I’ll save you from being cooped up in the dorms,” he chirruped, giving her cheek a light peck. She brightened up at once.
“Really?” Huiying beamed, before her expressions completely changed into that of scepticism. “Wait, will this privilege only last half a day, or do I get to spend the whole day with you?”
“You’ll have the entire day with me. I promise,” he said, holding out his pinkie finger. Her glances alternated between his outstretched finger and Sungmin’s smiling face, a broad grin unmistakable on her own features. He rarely ever went against his promises, and Huiying felt compelled to believe him wholeheartedly.
“What plans do you have in store for us, then?” she then asked, feeling excited at the prospect of being able to spend more time with him - alone. However, she began to fret slightly when his expressions turned rather mellow, even though the smile was still lingering on his lips. His emotions were unreadable, and it unsettled her.
“I know I haven’t said anything much about my past before this, but today, I’m going to show you everything” were his exact words. Words which threw her mind into total confusion.
* * * * *
She warily glanced around her surroundings when she stepped out of the car, wondering where they were. Ever since he had informed her that he was going to show her about parts of his past that she hadn’t known of yet, there was little to no words exchanged between them. The entire trip from their apartment complex to their current location was more or less filled with silence, save for the soft music that flowed out from the speakers.
Although there were so many questions lingering in Huiying’s mind - What? Why? Where? - none of them made it past her sealed lips. She had a hunch that Sungmin wasn’t really planning on saying anything about what he was going to do. There must be a reason behind him bringing her to another location instead of sitting down on the sofa at the dorms and explaining everything to her after all.
“This is the cemetery. I don’t think you would be familiar with this place,” his voice filled her senses in a low whisper, causing her to gasp softly, surprised. She did not notice that he had walked up to her. She didn’t even hear him locking his car.
“The cemetery?” she repeated, frowning slightly. “Why are we here? Are we by any chance going to visit the grave of one of your deceased family members?”
Sungmin laughed softly as he took her hand in his. “You’re partially right, but I think you’ll understand better if you saw it with your own eyes,” he said, leading her down the straight path ahead of them.
Again they were submerged in a blanket of silence, with only the slight rustling of the trees and the crunching of dead leaves beneath their feet audible in the quiet vicinity. It didn’t seem as though there were anyone else paying their respects at the cemetery on that particular day.
They came to a complete stop several minutes later in front of a beautifully crafted tombstone in the shape of a cross. Following in her boyfriend’s footsteps, Huiying bowed respectfully at the tombstone, neatly matching his pace. Only when they had straightened themselves that she gained the opportunity to take a look at the name and words engraved upon the granite. It belonged to a person called Jung Haerin, and judging by the dates etched on it, the woman had died young.
“Is… is she your cousin?” Huiying found herself asking when Sungmin was done wiping the tombstone down, and moved to place the bouquet of flowers in her hands on the ground in front of it.
“I would be happy if that were the case. She probably would still be running around with her bright smile,” he answered wryly, wrapping an arm around Huiying and pulled her close to him as he said that. She looked up at him questioningly.
“I don’t get what you’re trying to say, Ming.”
Sungmin sighed at the query. “Let me put this in a sequence. It would be easier to picture,” he said quietly. “She was shot dead two years ago because of a love story gone awry. It was all over the newspapers, but you probably have no knowledge of it because you weren’t in Korea yet.”
“Was it… done by another woman?” Huiying questioned again. Something in his story didn’t quite make sense to her.
“No, a man. I was the other person inflicted in this situation, but I managed to escape with only several bruises and a graze from a bullet,” Sungmin answered. His head was hung low as he unravelled his past to his girlfriend, slowly recalling everything that he had sealed at the back of his mind years ago. Nevertheless, Sungmin decided that it was only fair that Huiying found out about it. She was, after all, the most important person to him now.
“What happened to the other man, then?”
“He was also killed, but by the police force who managed to save me. I was supposed to be the one buried six feet under, had they not barged into the sealed room in time.”
Huiying bit her lip at the revelation, realising that she might not have been able to meet Sungmin, had the killer succeeded in putting a bullet through the flesh of the man standing next to her. She subconsciously squeezed his hand, feeling grateful that he managed to survive the ordeal. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how much trauma he had been through back then.
But there was one lingering question that surpassed everything else at that particular moment. “Who… exactly was she to you?” she mustered her courage and finally let the query escape her lips, although she had a feeling that she might not like the answer.
“She was my fiancée.”
One sentence, though short and simple, was more than enough to leave Huiying stunned in her position. Out of everything else, hearing Sungmin confess that he had a fiancée - much less one who was forcefully pried away from him - was at the bottom of the list of things she had been expecting. She didn’t know what to think, didn’t know what to feel. Her mind was completely wiped clean by the information, leaving her speechless.
“I’m… I’m sorry to hear that, Sungmin… I didn’t know-” she began, but was silenced when Sungmin cut her off with a kiss. One that held a barrage of contrasting emotions she couldn’t even begin to decipher.
The most prominent one was probably that of remorse.
“It’s not your fault that you didn’t know, Ying. Close to none of the Korean public knows about this; my name was never mentioned in the articles because my engagement itself would be more than adequate to create a huge uproar,” he explained, still holding her close to him. Sungmin began to wonder whether his decision to tell her this soon was a mistake on his part. She seemed to be completely disorientated by the information.
“Then why did none of the boys tell me, warn me about this? Why are you telling me this now?” she pressed on, still trembling in his arms. To say that she was confused was a gross understatement.
“This isn’t a topic that the other members could freely talk about, and it isn’t something that I would divulge unless I had special reasons. I want you to know about this, Huiying. I told you - you’re important to me, and I don’t want to withhold such knowledge from you. It wouldn’t be fair,” Sungmin tried to reason with her again, hoping that she could understand.
However, the moment she pushed herself away from him, he couldn’t even suppress the raging disappointment that bubbled up within him.
She seemed to have noticed it, as an apology immediately escaped her lips. “I’m sorry, Sungmin. I just… it’s difficult for me to accept all of this information in such a short period of time,” she exclaimed exasperatedly, trying to string her words in the best possible way. “Please understand.”
“I know, Huiying. I’m sorry for dumping all of this on you on such short notice… You can take all the time you need to digest this,” Sungmin prompted with a smile as he reached for her, but another pang of disappointment shot through him when she moved backwards ever so slightly.
“I… I guess I’ll take you home right now?” he finally sighed. Huiying nodded without any hesitation and made a beeline for the car, leaving Sungmin to lag behind her. He shot another glance at the tombstone of his deceased fiancée, smiling slightly to himself before taking off as well.
It would be a huge task for him to convince his girlfriend that his heart belonged solely to her now, despite knowing that part of hers was with his friend.
* * * * *
Huiying looked up from her sheets when she heard footsteps coming to a stop at her bedroom door which was left open, frowning slightly on the surface when she realised that it was her duet partner staring knowingly at her. “Mi, if there’s nothing important, I’d appreciate it if you left me alone,” she muttered miserably, grimacing when she noticed how hoarse her voice was as a result of the lack of lubrication.
She hadn’t really had anything to eat or drink ever since she had returned from the cemetery with Sungmin. All she could think about was how he had a fiancée, and also the circumstances surrounding the woman’s untimely death.
“You look like you really need someone to talk to, though,” he commented quietly, flashing a soft smile at her.
“Am I being that obvious with my feelings?” Huiying frowned, sighing exasperatedly when he nodded in confirmation at her question.
“Would you mind sharing what’s on your mind? I mean, there must be a reason why you’re sulking here alone instead of telling it to Sungmin, isn’t there?”
“Must I always be connected to Sungmin in a way or another? We’re not joined by the hip, you know,” she deadpanned.
Much to her surprise, Zhou Mi wagged a finger at her. “Contrary to your own belief, you are,” he pointed out bluntly, before making his way into the confined space of her room. “So why exactly are you being all doom and gloom in here? It’s so unlike you.”
“Are you sure you’re talking to the right person?” Huiying said, making a last ditch attempt in chasing her duet partner away. She really wasn’t in much of a mood to talk.
“Yes I am. Stop changing the subject,” he snapped, a deep frown creasing his forehead. That was when he came to a sudden realisation to explain her less-than-normal behaviour. “Did he… by any chance, told you what had happened in the past?”
“He did,” she confirmed with a sigh.
“You don’t seem to be too happy with what you’ve heard, though.”
“How can I be happy with the knowledge that he very nearly died, or that he was close to marrying another person?” Huiying asked, flashing a wry smile at her duet partner. He was tempted to give her a hug, but reminded himself to keep a distance away from her. He had promised.
“You’re upset that you’re sharing his heart with someone else, aren’t you?” Zhou Mi took a wild shot at her, but knew that he was right when she paled. “I’m sorry if I’m being too blunt, but your heart isn’t exactly completely with him right now either.”
Huiying very obviously flinched at his words. She threw a glare at him. “Ouch, thanks for that. Who do you think should shoulder half the blame here?” she shot back.
“I know, I know,” Zhou Mi raised his arms in acknowledgement, knowing full well that she had deliberately aimed that at him. “But still, I don’t think you should worry too much about this. Sungmin wouldn’t bring this matter up if he didn’t trust you enough, or didn’t love you enough to believe that you’ll understand him. It means a great deal to him, and now he has allowed you to be a part of it. Shouldn’t you be happy instead?”
“I… I screwed up again didn’t I?” she finally sighed, eyes downcast. Now that she thought about it with a calmer state of mind, Sungmin did indeed tell her that she was one of the very few people who knew about the situation. It made her ten times guiltier than she rejected him in such a manner.
“Yes you did, Ying, but it’s not too late to fix things,” he smiled encouragingly, though he was temporarily distracted when her phone, which was left unattended on her desk, suddenly rang. They both turned their heads towards the device, and she bowed slightly in apology as she scrambled to answer the call.
Huiying literally froze in her position and dropped her phone onto the bed within seconds after picking it up, horrified by something she had heard.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Author's notes:
I... really don't know how this idea got slotted in. Somehow it just did, and yeah.
If you're wondering, this plotline originates from one of my earlier fics (written more than a year ago, you probably might not remember/might not have read about it) called Forever or Never + Holding Back the Tears. :)