The Venn Diagram | Part 3a - 1934 (2/2)
Part 3: The Reveal
1934
[ read previous (1/2)]
Yunho arrives at her house the next morning, a smile playing on his lips as he thinks of finally seeing her after a week away. Je-chul had sent him off on a impromptu round around the Seoul downtown area with Yoochun, while Jaejoong had stayed the week with BoA as his replacement.
He steps inside the large living area and contemplates calling her name when Jaejoong appears at the top of the stairs, impeccably dressed in his collared shirt and dress pants.
“Yunho? What are you doing here?”
Yunho straightens up, glancing towards the balcony where he hears humming. “I came for BoA.”
Jaejoong steps down until he is eye to eye with Yunho, and he raises an eyebrow. “What for?”
“She-”
“Yunho!” There’s a screaming from upstairs and they both look up to see BoA in the same place Jaejoong had been only minutes for, a bathrobe tied tightly around her waist, and she has the same wide grin she had on her face when he had first seen her. She rushes down the stairs and shoves herself in between the two men, smiling up at Yunho. “You’ve arrived, finally!”
He resists smiling back at her and nods his head instead, hands folded behind his back. “I’m sure you and Jaejoong had fun together.”
BoA glances up at Jaejoong, who rolls his eyes, and she shoves at him playfully. “No, it was dreadful. He’s so awfully boring, I just wanted to kill myself. He never let me go out at all!”
“Lies!” Jaejoong nudges her back with his hip, and his eyes are twinkling with something that Yunho doesn’t recognize. He feels his heart drop to the pit of his stomach and says nothing, keeps his hands folded tightly and his mouth shut. “I offered you out for lunch and dinner so many times.”
“I did not come to Seoul to eat, I came here to explore!”
BoA grabs Yunho’s arm and she looks up at him with affection spilling from her eyes, and it takes all of his effort to peel her hand off of his jacket. “Why don’t you go get changed, I have some errands to run and then we may go out.”
“Perfect!” She smiles at him and then tosses one more playful glare at Jaejoong before darting back up the stairs.
When Yunho tears his gaze away from her, Jaejoong is eyeing him suspiciously, lips set in thin line. “Where are you taking her?”
He feels a rush of possession, then, and his gaze hardens, hands tightening into fists behind his back. “Wherever she would like to go.”
Jaejoong opens his mouth to retort, but before he can say anything, there is a ringing sound from the kitchen area. Jaejoong throws him one last look before rushing to the kitchen, and while he waits for BoA to come downstairs, he hears, “Ah, yes, me and BoA will be attending the event together. Do not worry, Je-chul hyung, the wedding will go just as you planned.”
BoA comes down the stairs, then, her skirt hiked up higher than normal, and her sleeves cut out from her shirt. Yunho tosses his jacket over her shoulders and says nothing.
~*~*~*~
They spend the entire day sitting in the park, doing nothing and everything. Yunho buys her food and BoA sits on a blanket with Yunho’s jacket covering her legs, tells stories on end of nothing that matters because he just wants to hear her voice.
It isn’t until much later that night, when she is laying down under the stars and she can feel Yunho’s gaze on her, and she doesn’t blush, just blinks her eyes lazily. “Take me back home.”
“Why? You don’t like being with me?”
She looks over at him and raises her eyebrows, and doesn’t make a move to pull her blouse back down when it flutters in the wind. “Is Jung Yunho getting clingy? Over me?”
“No, I just - stop laughing!” She feels Yunho frowning at her and BoA giggles even louder, attempting to sit up on the blanket and almost falling back over when a sudden wave of drowsiness hits her. “Come on, you’re tired. I guess I’ll have to take you back.”
“Stay with me,” she mumbles, falling on to his arm.
He tenses and then relaxes again, but BoA knows him well enough after all of this to have noticed. “I can’t.”
“You promised.”
BoA looks over at him, notices the pain in his eyes, and thinks about reminding him of the days ticking down and the way their now isn’t a forever. “You promised,” she repeats, and even in her sleepless form she knows that whatever happens neither of them can win now.
~*~*~*~
“I really shouldn’t stay, BoA,” he whispers, but BoA tugs at his arm anyways, dragging him into her bedroom and forcing him down on to the bed.
“It’s so late,” she says, and turns to the dresser, throwing it open and pulling out a night gown. “I can just tell my father you were extremely tired after having dragged me around all day, and I felt bad so I let you stay the night.”
“You’re engaged, BoA, you can’t make up silly excuses like that and expect to get away with it!”
BoA turns towards him, eyes hardened, and she scowls, throwing a t-shirt at him. “Do not mention my engagement, Yunho. I’ve asked you that before, please don’t make me ask you again.”
“I - okay. I’m sorry.”
Her face softens just as quickly as she had been angered, and she walks forward, pressing a chaste kiss on his lips and smiling when he attempts to chase after her lips when she has already pulled away. “Just… just let me be happy with you, okay? With no mentions of anyone else. Only the two of us. Okay?”
Yunho sighs. “Okay.”
BoA smiles again and then heads into the bathroom, turning to him once more. “You may change your shirt in here while I wash up for bed. You can pick which side of the bed you want to sleep on.”
“BoA, I can’t sleep in your room-”
“The door will be locked, and my father does not spend the nights in the house anyways. He has mistresses homes’ he prefers. He will not be here until breakfast, so until then, just relax. Okay?” Her eyes are shaking, a silent please, and it’s like she had planned this whole thing down to every little detail. Yunho sighs again, but concedes anyways.
“Okay.”
Then the bathroom door is slamming in his face, and that is the last he sees of her for the night.
~*~*~*~
When he wakes up the next morning, the t-shirt BoA had given him is still clutched tightly in his hands, his dress shirt wrinkled on his body but otherwise okay.
He hears mumbling near the door and Yunho stands up, walking towards the entrance of her room only to hear BoA and her father conversing.
“Yunho-sshi stayed the night, father, he had been dragging me around all day yesterday and I felt bad, having him drive all the way to the other side of town to his apartment after disposing of me, that I offered him to stay the night. Was that alright of me to do?”
Je-chul laughs, and Yunho sighs when he hears BoA giggle along with him. “Of course, my dear. Just don’t make him suffer through late nights like that again.”
“Oh, of course not.”
There is more mumbling, and then the door is being shoved open unceremoniously, almost knocking Yunho off of his feet as BoA bursts into the room. “BoA!”
“I am sure you heard that whole encounter, so you should already know that my father is not angry with either of us. He would also like for you to stay for breakfast, so be downstairs quickly.”
She smiles at him, and then reaches up to kiss the corner of his lips, before shoving him once more into the girly stench of her bathroom.
By the time he arrives downstairs, BoA and Je-chul are both seated at the dining table, as well as Jaejoong, who looks as if he has just arrived. He doesn’t even pay Yunho a glance, too busy immersed in conversation with Je-chul as if this is a daily occurrence, breakfast with the son-in-law. Both of them are talking animatedly, and on the opposite side of the table, BoA sits there completely opposite of her behavior this morning, with her head bent to the floor, stirring her soup aimlessly.
Yunho takes a seat next to Jaejoong and bows slightly at Je-chul, whose smile fades a little. “Yunho, we were just talking about the marriage arrangements going on.”
“Marriage… arrangements?”
Yunho glances over at BoA, who still has not lifted her head up, but Je-chul is still talking. “Between BoA and Jaejoong, remember? They are engaged, after all.”
Jaejoong turns toward him, eyebrow raised, and for a second Yunho sees the Jaejoong he had grown up with, the reckless teenager who was always dying his hair and breaking things, the brother he had always dreamed of. It disappears instantly, when Jaejoong nudges him again, but it makes his heart twinge anyways, his eccentric red hair turned black and the soft lines of his smile turned bitter. “Yes, of course. I had forgotten, my apologies.”
“No need to be sorry.” Je-chul waves him off with chopsticks in hand, smile at full power once again. The wrinkles of his face are barely prominent and he looks like the cruelly successful millionaires in the newspapers. “It’s been such a long time overseas for BoA, it’s time she had settled down. Right, my dear?”
They all turn to look at BoA, still stirring her soup, and there is a lost look in her eyes that Yunho doesn’t recognize. He is about to say something when Je-chul snaps at her, lips curling downwards in a scowl. “BoA! Stop playing with your food and answer me!”
She looks up immediately, eyes widening, and she glances at Yunho for all of two seconds before turning to her father. “My apologies, Papa! What was that you said?”
“It has been a long time overseas for you, hasn’t it, dear?”
BoA lets her gaze fall from her father back on to her plate, to the cleanly decorated fish in front of her and the soup that has long gone cold. “It has,” she whispers. “It has been a long time.”
Je-chul, seemingly satisfied with the answer, turns back to Jaejoong, but all Yunho sees is the broken girl at the end of the table, a figure equally as broken as his heart.
# # # #
( the device flickers once, twice, and boa watches as the one pink line becomes two, blinking slowly in front of her. harsh. daunting. pregnant.
boa drops on to the toilet seat, a fist over her mouth, the other hand clutching the test tightly in her hand. yunho is waiting outside the convenience, ready to drop her back home, to jaejoong, her fiancee. it had been on a whim, a gut feeling that maybe - maybe she should do something, just to see.
but it had to be.
she stares at the two pink lines once more before trashing the little device. washing her face in the sink, boa pulls up to stare at herself in the mirror, and her gaze drops to her stomach.
pregnant.
she rubs her eyes once, for fear of red and tears, and then pushes the bathroom door open, nodding her head the cashier before rushing out through the entrance. yunho is sitting in the driver’s seat, gaze straight ahead, and she makes her way over to the passenger’s side, throwing herself inside.
“boa?” yunho is staring at her, eyes wandering to her empty hands clutched in tight fists at her side. “are you okay? did you find what you needed?”
“they - they didn’t have it.” she forces a smile, taking in his concerned expression, worry and doubt clouding in his eyes. as if every little detail matters.
he nods, then, tearing his gaze away from her to look at the front, starting the engine of his car again. “alright. let’s get you back home.” yunho is about to pull out of the parking lot when boa finds herself leaning over the control shift to his side, closer and closer until her lips are brushing his ear.
“yunho?” she whispers, and she can see his hands tighten around the steering wheel. he hums noncommittally, still staring ahead. boa takes a deep breath, inhaling quietly, and then breathes: “take me on an adventure.”
“where do you want to go?” yunho is whispering, too, soft words that she wouldn’t have heard otherwise.
boa pauses, and then, sitting back in her seat, gazes out the window, the empty streets and a lone stranger walking down the street. “away. far away.”
yunho is silent, and then the car is starting again. a sigh, and he is pulling out of the parking lot and in the direction of her house. boa lets her eyes shut, and when she opens them again the car is stopped in front of her house and yunho is at the door, jaejoong on the other hand. they both glance towards the car and boa’s hand makes its way over her stomach, cold against the warmth of her skin.
she wonders how long this was supposed to last. )
# # # #
Weeks past and the arrangements only quicken, Je-chul intent on the grandest wedding for his daughter and the mob leader, and Yunho only appears in short glimpses, occasionally taking her out when her father requests it.
She is locked up in her bedroom most hours of the day, and by the third week she decides she can’t take the pain anymore.
“I would like to go out,” she demands, stepping down the stairs where Je-chul is lounging, a glass of wine in his hand.
“Ah, my daughter! Where you would like to go, dearest?”
She purses her lips and stares at the door, foot tapping against the tiled floor, when the door opens and Yunho is standing at the entrance with a bag in hand. Her mouth falls open and she stares at him - it feels like it’s been months since she’s gotten to look at him, fall in love all over again like that very first time.
Yunho breaks their eye contact and turns toward Je-chul, stepping inside. “I brought what you requested,” he says, holding the bag out.
Je-chul stands up suddenly, the wine in his glass sloshing back and forth, and rushes to take the bag from Yunho’s hand. He peers inside and smiles, before turning back to look at BoA. “Your bodyguard is here, you are free to go where you would like.” Then, he is gone, retreating into his dirty business in their basement.
“Yunho,” she breathes, and he meets her eyes for all of one second before folding his hands in front of him.
“Where would you like to go?”
She steps forward, glancing once behind her before reaching towards the lapels of his jacket, clutching the fabric tightly in between her fingers. “Can we go to your apartment?” she whispers.
“BoA…”
“I haven’t seen you in ages, Yunho, please?” She looks up at him, pushing herself closer. “I missed you.”
He sighs, pulling her hand off of his jacket, and then he grabs it with his own tightly, leading her out the door and towards his car. Once they are seated inside, Yunho starts the car and then they are speeding down the street. He still hasn’t answered her question. “Yunho?”
“Wait.”
Only when they are a safe distance from her house does he finally stop, pulling into a deserted parking lot, hidden amongst trees and a looming building in front of them. Yunho pulls the key out of the ignition and drops it into the cup holder, letting his head fall back against the head rest as he closes his eyes. “Yunho?”
When he doesn’t say anything, BoA sighs, pulling herself out of her seat and maneuvering herself over on to his. He doesn’t notice what she is doing until BoA drops herself on to his lap, hands placed on either side of his head. His eyes pop open and he stares at her, swallowing when their noses brush against each other. “What are you doing?”
“I want to spend time with you, but you refuse to speak, so I’ll just have to make it up some other way.”
“And what way is th-”
She cuts him off, then, pressing her lips against his, soft and quick before pulling back. Her heart is racing like maybe she shouldn’t have done that, and Yunho is looking at her with a darkness in her eyes that she hasn’t ever seen before. Her hands tighten on his sleeves and she exhales quietly.
“That way,” she whispers.
Yunho’s hands find their way to her hips, holding her steady in his lap, and then it is his turn, leaning up to capture her lips as he holds her tightly in his grip. BoA releases his sleeves and tangles her hands into his hair, pushing him back against the seat as she moves closer, and it is no longer short and sweet. He licks at her bottom lip and she parts her mouth open, tongue against tongue, and then Yunho's lips are traveling further down, chaste kisses against her jawline before moving to her neck.
She sighs quietly, melting into his hold, arms now looped around his neck. His name rolls off of her tongue in soft moans, whimpering as his fingers toy with the edge of her blouse, his hot fingers pressed against her cool skin. “I want - you,” she hiccups, rolling her hips, and his hands travel to the front of her pants, right at the button-
There is a loud honking in the distance and they break apart, suddenly. BoA looks down at Yunho to see his chest rising and falling rapidly, tan skin reddening, and she can feel her own heart beating quickly, skin flushed in a warm heat.
Yunho’s eyes close again, head falling back when he realizes what he’s done, and BoA sighs. It’s like a never-ending regret, their relationship.
Fingers toying at the end of his hair, she leans forward until their foreheads are pressed together, sweaty and sticky and too warm to be comfortable. Her whisper is loud enough for the both of them.
I wish we weren’t like this.
~*~*~*~
They end up at his apartment anyways, BoA shoving through the door first and making her way into his bedroom. “Jaejoong?” she calls, and Yunho trudges in after her, coat in hand.
“He isn’t here,” Yunho calls back. When he goes into his bedroom he finds her huddled under the covers, face buried in his pillow. “What are you doing?”
“Come sleep with me,” she murmurs. “I miss you.”
“You always miss me,” but Yunho relents anyways, crawling under the comforter behind her. His arms wrap around her waist and she turns around so she can nuzzle her head into his chest, inhaling deeply. “BoA?”
She hums.
Yunho sighs, takes a deep breath, and then:
“I - I love you.”
Her head snaps up and BoA looks at him with a unreadable expression, a pout on her lips and a glittering in her eyes. “What was that?”
“I love you.”
She stares at him for a couple of seconds, and then suddenly BoA is on top of him once again, leaning down to brush his bangs out of his eyes and press a loving kiss to his lips. “Do you really?” she whispers when they break apart, and Yunho smiles, smoothing a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Of course.”
BoA smiles, then, fingering with the buttons of his shirt, and she traces patterns on to the thin fabric, thinking to herself. “I love you too,” finally. She looks down into his eyes, and it’s like there is not a worry in the world when she looks at him like that, like he is all she needs to be happy and whole. “We were meant to love each other.”
Yunho tenses. “BoA, you know-”
“Ssh.” She presses a finger to his lips and covers his eyes with her other hand, huffing. “Don’t speak to be in that patronizing tone of yours. I’m an adult, Jung Yunho.”
“I know you’re an adult,” he begins, voice muffled from his closed lips, but BoA cuts him off again.
“Then treat me like one!” She laughs, suddenly, and then removes both of her hands, bending forward to kiss him again. “Look at us, bickering like a married couple already. You see what I mean?”
Yunho smiles, taking a hold of her hand and twining their fingers together. He kisses her fingertips, feels her tremble in his arms, and when her free hand reaches down to her stomach Yunho thinks he knows.
“Maybe we could,” he starts, and BoA can’t stop looking at him. Her eyebrows raise, pushing him to continue. “Maybe… we could…”
The door opens, then, and they both turn on reaction to see a hand on the door knob, leading up to pale skin and small eyes and the end of it all.
“Jaejoong.”
part 3b