âthatâs a funny story actually,â she starts with no reservations whatsoever, even though itâs notâa barefaced lie is all that it really is, but shame disguises itself beneath an unflinching grin. âit was like a meeting straight out of a movie. wasnât it, hajoon?â sujeong croons, all picture perfect sugary sweet as she reaches over the table to hold hajoonâs hand in her own, grip just a little too taut. no matter the apparent discomfiture in her date as he shifts in his seat and only responds with a wordless nod, sujeong brazenly pushes forward. âwe bumped into each other at a noodle place. like, literally. i spilled soup all over hajoon, it was a disaster. and the rest is history, as people say.â a laugh floats them by, right before she pulls together an affect of surprise. âohâwhat a coincidence, i just remembered itâs the one we always went to, matthew! say, have you ever brought jiwon there?â
no one can ever come close to how frustrating ahn sujeong gets â and thatâs his fault. heâs allowed her to become one of his weaknesses. big mistake.
this constant push and pull could wear even the strongest person. the smart decision is to walk away because if this were a competition, itâs rigged to be unwinnable. what are they to gain from this chase? do they really not want the other to be happy that bad? why is he so damn selfish that he wants to drag her to hell with him?
he can hear his motherâs lecture already.
âwhy wonât you let the poor girl go?â
âsheâs playing the same game, momâŚâ
âdoesnât mean you have to play. why canât you walk away?â
he wouldnât be matthew choi if he walks away from a challenge that easily. and his mother doesnât know sujeong as well as he does. sheâs not as innocent as she makes her out to be; sujeong just wears this facade too well. no one would believe that sheâs tossing in gasoline into the flame as much as heâs fanning it.
he used to think that they made the good pair (and maybe heâs holding out hope that they could still be a pair). but itâs getting increasingly clearer that, back then, they were nothing more than children acting like adults. a relationship based on bottled up feelings and repressed emotions will lead to nothing but catastrophe. guess how their relationship ended? if it wasnât for their friendship, they wouldnât last as long. both of them were too afraid of breaking things off out of loyalty... or maybe theyâre just addicted to each other.
he prides himself on his self-control, but if thereâs anything or anyone who can unravel him, thatâd be ahn sujeong.
âare you keeping track of the girls iâm with? iâm flattered, really.â itâs good to know that sheâs not the only one with control over him. heâs aware of his charms, knows it too well to know how to wield it to his advantage. but itâs good to be reminded once in a while.
jiwon can only dart her eyes back and forth between the two before mumbling a soft âokayâ and returning to the menu. matthew, however, seizes a moment to attack. âyour warning seems to come from experience, no?â he nonchalantly flips through the menu. âjesus, sujeong, youâre making it sound like iâm some animal.â
he scoffs at her story (did they really happen? hah! unlikely) and fights the urge to roll his eyes. yet, he doesnât even realise that he has been gripping the menu a little too hard until he notices the dent. âthatâs cute,â he croons as he loosens his hold. âyouâre always a sucker for those things, arenât you? everything needs to be as perfect as the movies.â
but his frown is quickly replaced with a smirk that he directs at sujeong, âi never thought about that, actually. thanks for the date idea.â turning to jiwon, matthew provides her with a smile, a genuinely sweet one. âletâs go there tomorrow.â jiwon purses her lips in confusion, the question of âi thought this was a one-time thingâ possibly on the tip of her tongue, but matthew brushes it off with a wave of the hand before shifting the topics.
âbefore i forget, i just want to draw attention to jiwon and her amazing work at the office today. she just closed a deal to design that new hotel in construction over at gangnam.â he glowers at hajoon. âsorry, uh, what do you do?â