Ace of Hearts

Failure

The foreboding rang through her chillingly.

"Mother," she started...to what? Lie again? Come up with some excuse to save her ass? Prolong her time here?

Wasn't that what she was sick of?

The futile emotions shut down when Madam Oh touched her arm. A soft grip. Saying, "Let's sit down."

It was that moment Namjoo knew she made the gravest mistake of her life.

She should have never taken the keys from Moonbi. Never driven Sehun past the house gates. Let him fool her into his act. Continue lying alongside him.

Fought harder when he confessed.

Why did she let him sway her?

How could she think this was ok?

A grand-scale life was far out of her bounds.

Dropping onto her knees before reaching the couch, Namjoo lowered her head. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!"

The thousand feelings of heavy guilt poured through her. Tears of shame and regret poured down her face. She did not have the courage to look into Madam Oh's face, see for herself the anger and disappointment she hadn't given her the courtesy to hammer her with.

Because Namjoo was a coward.

She had no courage to bear the consequences long overdue.

What else did she have to say? Other than being a pathetic liar who'd come from nowhere.

ꞜꞜꞜꞜꞜ

"Black coffee, please." Sehun ordered and began digging through his wallet for his credit card.

"One iced coffee, too." A voice interjected.

It was Suh Jin.

Sehun rolled his eyes away at the sight of her. He'd forgotten she was still hanging around. This café was nearest his workplace. A convenient drop-in whenever he needed a caffeine fix. Least expecting to run into an ex-girlfriend frequenting the area.

God, he hoped his workplace hadn't hired her.

"It's on me." He received a flirtatious smile that made him nauseous. After getting their orders, Jin asked, "Why not sit for a few minutes?"

"I'm not actually on a break." Sehun tried to ween his way out.

"A few minutes." She bartered stoically.

Compressing his lips, he followed her to a round table in the corner. Even through the glass he could feel the warm air radiating onto him. What he would do to be walking back to work instead of sitting here with a woman way past.

"I didn't make the hire." Jin began.

"Well..." Sehun wasn't sure he sympathized. Thankfully, she did not press for it.

"Sehun," the real question now, "don't you miss me at all?"

He was too prepared to answer. "I don't."

"I miss you all time."

"Honestly?" he contradicted. "I had a lot of time to think, Jin. After all that happened to you, me, I could say, us. Though that hardly matters now. I sent you away; packaged my trust in a box with a bow believing you would come back to me. But you never took the box, Jin. You didn't even open it. Actually, I don't know."

Sehun shook his head. Doing his best to reminisce every swinging detail that had previously occurred. He had long buried them. Accepted it as is and stepped into a new dimension.