I Love You But Is It Too Late?

16. Revelation

Kang Chin-hae POV:

"What are you doing?" I asked but Han-jae didn't reply but rather pushed the door and entered my room. "I am tired, so you should go," I insisted.

"It is killing me," he said softly as he sat on the bed, his elbows resting on his knees and his head buried in his palms.

As expected, I panicked, I pulled a chair in front of him and sat down before asking "what's wrong?"

He heaved a sigh and although his head was lowered, from the movement of his shoulders I realized he was crying soundlessly.

I leaned forward and raised his head, repeating my question.

Suddenly he grabbed my hand and squeezed in between his own, "why don't you trust me? I know I made a mistake but during those two and a half years, have I ever betrayed your trust?" he asked with an apparent resent in his tone. The tears were trickling down, bothering my conscience.

Although I didn't want to admit, he had a point.

As I kept my silence, he continued, "at least tell me the reason why you don't want to tell me."

The desperation in his voice devastated me. He was right, he deserved that much.

"I fear that once you learn you will pity me and I will always be confused about your feelings," I told him honestly.

"Why would I do that?" he shook his head in negative, "you should have known me better."

I squeezed my eyes shut, "you don't understand," I mumbled and he let go of my hand.

"I know about your family's situation."

I opened my eyes immediately, hoping I misheard him. "What did you say?" I asked with fear.

He heaved another sigh, "I accidentally read your mother's message, thinking it was my phone," he explained it while looking straight into my eyes.

I didn't know what to say. My insecurities acted up immediately. Was it the reason why he took me on a journey? Because he pitied me after reading the message?

"I don't care a bit about your parent's actions, you are not defined by their doings," he broke my trance, "I know who you are and love you as you are. It is not pity, it is pure love."

"Really? Are you... sure?" the words spilled from my mouth unwittingly.

He grabbed my arms and pulled me into his arms, "I love you for almost three years, looong before I learnt about your family," he reassured me, caressing my back, "it is you who should pity me as you are so clueless about love."

All of a sudden, I felt all my fears evaporate and the heavy burden on my heart lifted. Could it be real? Could it be that simple?

I clenched onto his hoodie and started to cry while mumbling "I am sorry," again and again. I was grateful for his love as I was the most stupid person in the entire planet.

Lee Han-jae POV:

Suddenly Chin-hae clenched onto my hoodie and started to cry while mumbling "I am sorry," again and again.

I was caught off my guard as I expected him to yell at me for reading his message. Still, I came around rather quickly and swallowed his frail body with my arms.

He cried for a long while until he became silent eventually. I shifted him a bit and saw he was already sleeping. I gently put him under the blanket and cleaned the traces of tears from his small face.

Although it made me extremely sad, seeing him crying, I was happy that he chose not to throw me out, but instead seeked comfort in my arms.

I still stood a chance...

Bip!

[Students, please don't forget to submit your lab reports tomorrow.]

As we had a hectic weekend, I completely forgot about it! Moreover, as I was too busy with Chin-hae, I didn't see the thirty missing calls from Ki-tae.

I hastily checked Chin-hae's backpack, but he also didn't have the report. Cursing, I went out of the room and called Ki-tae.

After two rounds of apologizing, he said he started to do it, but as he didn't know how to write it properly, he gave up soon. I asked him to forward it to me and then sat on the desk which used to be mine to finish the report.

After three cups of coffee and four hours, I managed to finish the report. If Chin-hae did it, it would probably finish in one hour. However, as I didn't want to wake him up for the stupid report, I invested four hours for it.

Being so tired, I dragged my body to the empty bed.