AN: Sorry for being MIA for the past few… months? Oh geesh, I'm really such a bad person. Sorry; things have been hectic. Enjoy the update!
Last chapter…
Ga Eul stood up, panting. She could not believe she just did that. She looked down at Ji Hoo to find him smiling a bit stupidly up at her. "Sorry," she said meekly.
"Don't worry about it," he told her, sounding slightly disoriented. You can do that as much as you want." This announcement made her cheeks burn up again.
"And the eternal flower made by our beloved boy potter goes to the anonymous caller on the phone! Thank you everyone for bidding!" The girl onstage practically sang the words out as she gave the couple a very non-conspiracy wink.
Second Love, Chapter 10
The Man was madder than mad. What a disgusting public display of affection. How inconsiderate could that little ingrate be? Yi Jeong had just poured his heart out in front of everyone, and in response that little slut just grinded down the pieces of his broken heart! That slimy piece of shit really didn't deserve to live!
Luckily this would all be over soon. If all went according to plan, Chu Ga Eul wouldn't be able to cause heartbreak for much longer.
~!#$%^&*()_+_)(*&^%$#!~!#$%^&*())(*&^%$#!~!#$%^&*())(*&^%$#~!#$%^&*()(*&^%$#!
Yi Jeong drank. A lot. It was true that they had already announced their relationship, but really? Kissing him in front of everyone? Wasn't that just pouring salt over an open wound?
What a day, he though bitterly. I thought it was just because Ga Eul didn't know I had any wounds in the first place, because I hadn't told her. Now it's pretty clear she doesn't care enough anymore. And it's all because I waited too long. Man, I'm such a fuck-up.
The door to the studio opened gently, and Yi Jeong looked up. Ji Hoo stood in the doorway.
The potter sighed. He really wasn't in the mood… for apologies or pep talks. "Hey dude. Wassup?" he slurred. "Here for some beer or some company? 'Cause I'm not offering either today, sorry. Store's closed, haha…" he doubled over laughing, then had to sit back up when his vision started to get disoriented. Man, how many bottles had he drank? Five? Ten? Yeah, he thought it was about ten… or double that…
"That's okay, 'cause I'm not looking for the beer… or the company." Yi Jeong looked up from his bottle in surprise. "I just came to return something." From his inside pocket, Ji Hoo drew a small package. Yi Jeong's eyes widened.
"Is that – But you didn't get it…"
Ji Hoo's lips twitched. "Jun Pyo's not the only one who can bid by telephone." He tugged the string and Yi Jeong's eyes took in the lily he had created.
Ji Hoo took a step forward, as if offering the flower back to its original owner. Yi Jeong's trembling hand reached toward it, then stopped. "Why are you giving it back to me? I meant what I said."
"And I mean this." Ji Hoo stepped forward, still holding the flower out. "You need to stop hurting Ga Eul." With a force Yi Jeong didn't know he had, Ji Hoo threw the vase on the ground and it hit with a deafening crack.
Yi Jeong just stared in shocked silence. When he finally regained the ability of speech, he tried to understand what was going on. "I don't understand—"
"Listen here," Ji Hoo interrupted. "We've been friends for a long time and I've never asked anything of you. Now I am, and I hope you'll listen to me.
"I need you to stop bothering Ga Eul. Isn't it enough that you steppe don her feelings for so long already? She finally tried to sort out that tangle of hurt you've left her in, and you want to step in again and mess with her some more? Don't think I'm just going to stand around and let you guilt trip her like that. Today's performance better not repeat itself. Ga Eul deserves better than a playboy, so you can keep your cold clay flowers to yourself."
Once again, Yi Jeong found himself stunned. He'd never seen these types of heated words come out of Ji Hoo's mouth before, and truth be told, it was slightly frightening to see him transform into a seemingly different person. "Look, I—"
"You look! Look nice and hard into my eyes, Yi Jeong. That was your warning. You'd better leave Ga Eul alone, or next time I'm not going to hold back." He turned to leave, then stopped at the threshold of the studio. "Give up, Yi Jeong," he said tiredly, all the anger seeming to dissipate off his body. "She'll never come back to you. "Just accept it and move on."
Yi Jeong stood there for a long time after Ji Hoo left, numb to the bone. Eventually he dropped to his knees, head in his hands, before finally collapsing on the floor, reaching blindly around for a source of comfort, preferable another beer bottle.
Ji Hoo was right. When he had gotten on that stage, giving Ga Eul away to another man had been the last thing on his mind. No matter how noble he pretended to be (and sometimes even wanted to be), the truth was that So Yi Jeong never played fair and in the game of love it was no different. Even while he had been trying to come to terms with the fact that Ga Eul belonged to someone else now, his other side had already been formulating a plain, secretly trying to get Ga Eul to feel guilty with his final speech. He thought that if Ga Eul heard him speak his true feelings aloud, she would feel guilty for abandoning him and come running back into his arms.
And for a while there, it had looked like it was working. He hadn't dared look at Ga Eul but he did hear ji Hoo's voice clearly bidding some pretty competitive prices, even managing to surpass those of Jun Pyo. Was it too far-fetched to guess that Ga Eul was egging him on, wanting Yi Jeong's flower for herself?
Yes it was. Ga Eul was many things, but a beggar she was not. His heart had split in half once he hard her protesting with Ji Hoo, but it had crumbled to pieces when he finally risked a peek at the couple when Ji Hoo's voice was suddenly cut off. Bad risk to take.
Yi Jeong shut his eyes in pain. He didn't want to remember what he saw then.
Ga Eul and Ji Hoo making out on the ground, with Ga Eul holding on as if her life depended on it.
What does he have that I don't? he screamed silently. The answer came to him almost instantaneously.
Trust. Faithfulness. A heart.
"I do have a heart," he whispered into the darkness. "I just didn't know until it was already broken."
His groping hand felt something cool and smooth, and he grabbed at it, eager to drown his sorrows with the best friend he could remember for a long long time. But when he pressed his lips against it, he realized it wasn't a bottle of beer. It was the lily he had made for Ga Eul.
The flower had rolled under the table, but instead of smashing like Ji Hoo had intended, the clay piece was unblemished. Yi Jeong slowly took it into his trembling hands as the memory overtook him.
He had just drove from his father's pottery studio, and spied Ga Eul staggering down the sidewalk. He watched, completely mystified as she finally dropped down on the steps, face lowered. Still in a bad mood from seeing his father's fourth girlfriend that year, he really didn't want to stop to see another problem, but felt almost obliged to.
He scratched his head tiredly. "Stop the car," he ordered, and stepped out to meet her. Sniffling repeatedly, she didn't even notice he was there until he began talking.
"Aren't you past the age of crying in the middle of the street?"
She looked at him almost curiously. He smirked.
"Women, you know, sometimes think they look pretty when they cry. But it's really not true." He expected the quirky comment to start a torrent of words that would explain why she was crying. Instead, she simply started sobbing.
He smiled at her childishness. "Miss Ga Eul." She only sobbed harder.
Not knowing what to do now, he nervously looked around. "Miss Ga Eul." She practically wailed in response.
The passerby looked at him in disgust, and he frantically shook his hands and gave a little sheepish smile. "It's not me," he tried to explain. "It's not me." No one stopped to listen.
A little worried about his image now, he once again tried to coax her to a stop. "Miss Ga Eul!" She didn't listen. "Miss Ga Eul!" He put his hands together and resorted to begging. "Please! Miss Ga Eul!"
Eventually they had made it back to the workshop. He brought out a clay bowl. "It looks really weak, doesn't it?" She just looked at him, not understanding.
Giving a smile, he poured the tea out into both their cups, then dropped it. She gasped, making him smile again. "But it's stronger than it looks."
"How long do you think it took to become like this?
"Turned upside down, stepped on, cut over and over again, and it needs to withstand 1300 degrees of heat.
"That's not the end.
"And when you go through all that and it still can't be yours, you need to completely give it up. Like this.
He got up and picked the bowl up, wrapping it in a cloth. He then took a hammer and smashed on it. She covered her eyes. When he took the cloth back up, the bowl was smashed to pieces. Her wide eyes took in the smashed pieces. He turned back to her.
"What I'm saying is that in order to become strong, and to find what truly belongs to you, there will be a process you must overcome. Just like what you've gone through today."
A beginning of what might have been a smile started to form on her face. "I think I understand what you're saying… Thank you."
"Then shall we slowly get going?"
AN: The ending could be better… but I'm kind of going through a writer's block right now. Will hopefully update soon. Thanks for all the support, guys!