Chapter Text
Sometimes, Kang Hui Ju wondered why did she love Han Tae Oh when all he did was broke her heart.
He was cold and untouchable all the time, always drawing the line between them like it was a law, never once letting her close.
He was brutal in his fact and never once treated her like a delicate porcelain that exists only to be displayed like some trophy, the woman that Eomma desperately want her to be, the same image of misery as her.
Maybe, that's why she started to like him in the first place.
She knew she should stop, should just move on, but somehow his blunt words and sharp tongue just made her want him more.
It frustrates and thrills her at the same time.
Something must have been wrong with her... If not, why would she keep chasing after this man?
Some would call whatever she feels, a phase, an infatuation that won't last. Some would even call this an obsession.
Truth is... she only know she likes him. Simple as that.
Years passed, and her feelings grew, crush turned into like and like turned into love, he became less of a thing she wanted and more of someone she would cherish. While he stayed the same, the aloof man that she somehow still liked.
Today is no different. Ignoring her must be his specialty.
Hui Ju should have expected this, yet her stupid heart still constricted painfully in the face of his indifference.
Fine, let's see if he could still ignore her after this, she thought, as she banged her shoe into his car.
One time, two times, three times, four times, five-
With a firm grip on her wrist, he stopped her and, without a word, he plucked the shoe from her hand and gently put it back on her feet.
He had never once do this before, and she would be lying if she said her heart didn't flutter because of it. Her stupid heart should have known better. It didn't listen to her, of course, caught in the fantasy that maybe he would reciprocate her feelings, that maybe he wasn't that unaffected.
But, this is real life and fantasy has no place in it.
"This isn't a fairy tale and there's no happily ever after," he admonished, voice rising. "You should've stopped the princess act by now!"
"Don't you think I know that?" she scoffed, her eyes pricked with tears. "Do you think I'm that naive?"
"If you know that, you should throw your silly dreams away. Don't waste your time. I won't change,"
His words slice through her battered heart, breaking it anew. "Is it a crime to love you my whole live? Can't I at least dream to live happily ever after with you?" she lashed out, desperation pouring out from her every word.
Please, just one time, be gentle with my heart.
"It's a crime if it's forced," he replied, his face a perfect mask of aloofness and her heart breaking even more.
She felt like crying, but she didn't. She was stronger than that. She wasn't that girl anymore.
Without a word, she walked closer to him, closing the distance between them, in one last attempt before she let it all go, before she buried her feelings for him forever. Her red-rimmed eyes looked straight into his icy one as she raised on her tiptoes. "Then tell me - she whispers, a breath passed between them - does this feel forced?" with that she pulled his lapel and crashed her lips into his, pouring all of her feelings, frustration, love, and despair over her unrequited love, into the kiss.
His lips remained unmoving, and she thought, this is it... It's time to move on, Hui Ju-yah...
Disappointed, she began to pull away, when a pair of arms suddenly wrapped around her waist and yanked her back to him, finally returning the kiss. He swallowed her gasp and her eyes widened for a moment before they closed once more as she draped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss. For someone so cold, his kisses were heated, searing her lips with an imprint of him. She wanted to stay like this, locked in a fantasy where he could love her too.
But, she knew it was impossible.
She pulled back for air and her heart skipped a beat when her eyes caught the sight of him.
Hooded eyes and swollen kissed lips. She decided she likes this look on his face.
His eyes followed her as she raised her hand to his face, fingers lightly brushing her lipstick off from his lips.
"So, what your answer? Did this feel forced to you?" she asked softly, her fingers tracing over his cheek.
No answer came out of his mouth as expected and, for a moment, she thought he looked confused.
She sigh, as she pulled her hand down, "Come find me when you find out the answer,"
Having said that, she spun on her heels, leaving him standing there.
Days passed and turned into weeks, yet he never came to find her.
And, loathe she was to admit it, she knew why.
Na Hye Won.
The woman that somehow by some witchcraft manages to bewitch both Tae Oh and In Ha.
She didn't know what they saw in her.
She hated her.
She hated how Tae Oh's eyes always following that woman, watching her like she was the only woman he ever seen. While Hui Ju watching it all with heart in pieces.
She hated how he made her feel, pining away for a man who would never look her way.
She should have hated him. Didn't they say there is a thin line between hate and love? How could she love him still?
She hate him... But, she love him more.
She love him in spite of everything, even when she was set to marry another man...
Hui Ju closed her eyes and felt the wind playing with the veil on her hair. She must be a sight to see, with her pure white midi gown and a diamond encrusted crown on her hair, like a princess from the fairy tale she loved to read when she was a child.
She should be happy, this is the ‘happiest’ day in her life after all. This day should be her ‘happy endings’, but unfortunately for her, she was in the wrong fairy tale, as the man she would marry is no prince charming and the man she loves is not a knight in shinning armor that want to whisk her away.
Kang Hui-ju is getting married, but this wedding feels more like a funeral than anything else. She should have worn black, she did say she would die if Eomma ever forced her to this marriage after all. They should begin to prepare for her funeral instead.
“Kang Hui Ju,” a voice startled her out of her dark thoughts.
This voice…
She opened her eyes and saw him, Han Tae-oh, in his pressed black suit, paper bag on hand, not a speck of dust on him nor a hair out of place, shiny Kangoh’s pin pinned proudly on his lapel, still as stoic as the day she first met him in that silent courtyard, him in his sky blue varsity jacket and her in her pastel pink uniform.
“Did my father tell you to find me?" she asked, her lips tightened into a thin line. “I’m not going back, secretary Han,” she added, she would never willingly marry Ko Hui-chan, they got better chance dragging her dead body to the altar. “Pretend you didn’t see me. Not that it was hard, right?"
"It was not your father that asked me to find you," he answered, his eyes betraying no emotion at all.
"Then who? My mother?"
"You,"
"What?" she exclaims, confused for a moment before realization dawned on her. He couldn't mean that, right?
"That's right," he said, face still blank. "I will give you the answer now,"
She scoffed in disbelief, "Yah -
"It didn't feel forced,"
"I know you didn't like me, but could you- she paused - what did you just say?" she must have heard it wrong, right?
"It didn't feel forced," he repeats.
Months ago these words would send joy through her heart, but now it just pissed her off.
"Do you think it's funny?" she snapped. "Am I a joke to you?"
"I am just telling you my answer," he said calmly in the face of her anger. "Nothing is funny about this. If it was funny, I would laugh,"
"Like you could," she snarks, before letting out a sigh. "You know what, I can't deal with right now. Just go," she waved for him to go.
"Then - he took a box out of the paper back in his hands and pulling a pair of running shoes from there - Let's go, we don't have much time," he proceeded to kneel in front of her and took off her heels.
"Hey - her protest went to deaf ear as he went on to put the shoes on her feet.
"Alright," he said, as he raised to his feet and brushed off the dust from his trousers, before he reached for her hand to pull her along. "Let's go,"
"Wait," she said, wrenching her hand free from his grip. "What the hell is going on? You better explain it now,"
He sighed, eyes looking straight into hers as he said. "I know I don't have any right to say this to you, but I'm sorry Hui Ju-yah, for being a jerk to you, for hurting you, for realizing too late that I care for you, that I like you too. You - a hint of a smile ghosted over his lips - who love sunflowers because it was yellow, and yellow is the colour of happiness. You, whose dream is to be a sketch artist because you like to draw people. You, whose favourite meal is a dessert, any of it will do as long it is sweet. You, whose the second best thing you could do is running," his eyes, which are usually hard to read, filled with emotion. "I'm sorry for taking so long to give you an answer. Let's run, Hui Ju-yah,"
She was too stunned to speak. Is this real? It sounds too good to be true.
"Why now?" she breathed out softly, half hoping and half afraid of his answer, wondering if his words would break her heart again.
"The idea of losing you is what pushed me to do this," he said earnestly. "I'm sorry I have been a coward, but I can't lose you, Hui Ju-yah,"
Her eyes widened, hope filled her heart. But, she soon realized the thing they had overlooked.
"What about my father?" it didn't need to be said that Appa wouldn't let them go easily.
He smiled, and her heart skipped a beat. She had never been at the end of this smile before, all free and sweet, something she had never associated him with.
"Daejong group is under heavy scrutinization. Corruption, misconduct, drug use. Their reputation is in tarnish," he explained, as an incessant ping came from his phone. He fished the phone from his pocket and showed it to her.
Article upon article about Daejong flooded his phone.
"Your father will have no choice but to cancel the wedding. In fact, he already did,"
"Yah Oppa!" she yelled, an indignant huff left her lips. "You should have start with that! But - she paused, feeling suspicious all of a sudden - How did you know all of that before the article was released? Did you have anything to do with this?"
"Maybe," he had the audacity to chuckle before he turned serious once more. "The media will be here soon. Let's go," he said and offered his hand to her.
Hui Ju, still with a little hate in her heart and a larger part that love him, took his hand, grasping it tightly. She would never let go of this hand. Han Tae Oh better be ready, he was stuck with her now.
She smiled.
And they run.