Unexpectedly Falling For You

ten

Daeun turned off the car engine and looked up at the sky. The clouds started gathering and changed the sky into a gloomy grey colour. She took a deep breath and suddenly remembered the accident she wanted to forget.

"What do you mean by he's not coming?" She said as she had her phone on speaker. She tightened her free hand around the steering wheel and tried to suppress her tears.

"Doyun decided not to come to your birthday celebration, Daeun," her maid said on the other side of the call.

Daeun ended the call and hit her steering wheel aggressively out of frustration. She dialled Doyun's number while still keeping an eye on the road. Thunder started making its sounds as the clouds started letting the rain pour down.

"Ha Doyun, why are you not coming–just why?"

"There's something I want to tell you, Daeun," his serious voice made her quiet. She gulped down her saliva nervously as she waited for him to continue.

"I'm in love with someone else. We're breaking up," with that, he ended the call. She scoffed and averted her attention to the road. The rain started pouring down, causing the road to look foggy and blurry.

Her parents were working overseas so she only had him at that time. She really needed someone to be with at that time. Her parents wouldn't understand her problems.

"No, no, I'm not letting him ruin my birthday. I will not cry," she sighed and forced a smile.

Suddenly, a random car's headlights came straight to her. She couldn't turn her car to the side and closed her eyes as she waited for it to hit her.

The car crashed into hers. Her body flew out of the car and fell on the road. She could even hear her bones cracking and felt a tear fall from her right eye. The road was empty since people rarely use it. She could see familiar legs hopping out of the car that just crashed into her.

"Just die, Ahn Daeun."

There it was when it clicked her. Doyun was the one who hit her. She felt her heart being stabbed continuously. She saw him getting into the car again before driving away.

She prayed to God that a person would drive by and bring her to the hospital. But no one was around. She had to wait for an hour until a car stopped by. A family of five looked at her with horrified eyes before jumping out of their vehicle.

"Miss! Miss! Are you alright?! Honey, call the ambulance!" The father kneeled next to Daeun.

The mother's hand trembled as she searched for her phone.

"Yes. I would like to report an accident! A young girl is laying on the road, bleeding! I believe she just got hit by a vehicle."

Daeun brushed the thoughts away. Her eyes widened when she saw raindrops falling against the window. She held the door handle and tightened her hand around it. She closed her eyes and mumbled, "It'll go away, it'll go away, it'll go away."

Suddenly, she could hear someone knocking against the window. She opened her eyes and saw Sunghoon standing while holding an umbrella. He looked at her out of confusion before flashing her an assuring smile.

Her heart started beating at a calming pace after racing faster than usual. She opened the door and chuckled, "You're here early, Sunghoon."

He smiled to himself when she called him just by his name. "I saw you arrived before me and I was confused as to why you were staying in your car."

"I hate the rain," she muttered and forced a smile out of her. He leaned the umbrella closer to her, "Shall we walk together?"

•

"That's all for today, class. Make sure to study hard before your exams," Heeseung said and watched as the students thanked him before leaving the room. He saw Daeun walking down the steps and stopped her, "Ahn Daeun."

She smiled at him, "Yes, Professor Heeseung?"

He grinned and took out a wedding invitation card from his bag, "I'm getting married this weekend. I would love for your family to come. Actually, my dad is more excited for your dad to come."

"I will tell them about this. You're finally marrying Detective Jung, huh? Congratulations," she said and saw Bina waiting for her at the doorway, giving her a death stare.

She excused herself from the professor before following Bina. The cousin led her to an empty hallway before stopping in her tracks. Bina clenched both of her fists and scoffed.

"Do you want to see me?" Daeun asked.

"You're kidding me, right?" Bina turned around to look at her, "I thought I told you to stay away from Sunghoon. Didn't you say you wouldn't take him away from me?"

Daeun let out a heavy exhale, "Bina, it's not what it looks like. Sunghoon and I–"

"Sunghoon? Since when do you refer to him just by his name?"

"If you would just listen to me–"

"You just have to beat me, huh? I get it, you're smarter, prettier and wealthier. But you don't have to take everything from me. I liked Professor Sunghoon first. And I told you to not take him away from me. But you did it anyway."

"Don't you know how pathetic you are, Ahn Daeun? How did you make him fall for you? Did you dump all your traumas on him?"

Daeun felt her jaw clenched, "Do not talk about my traumas, Ahn Bina."

"Or what? Do you wanna know something? You act so powerfully just because you're the daughter of the president. But do you wanna know something? How do you think your father got the position?"

Daeun walked backwards slowly as Bina started approaching her. "Your father gave bribes to the other politicians to step down. Including my father. Of course, my stupid father would accept it. He would do anything for money."

"My father didn't do that..." Daeun's voice trembled out of disbelief.

"So don't act like you're so powerful and great. You're not. Or do you want me to remind you again by making you experience your trauma all over again?" Bina spat before walking away.

Daeun stood there in the empty hallway alone. Thunder started making sounds and rain started pouring down heavily. The hallway became dark and eerie as it made her heart race more quickly than usual.