BOOK 1: The Heir Series; Choi Seungcheol

28: UNDERNEATH

Taerin roams her eyes around the breathtaking scenery to keep that off her mind.

Honestly, she's not in the mood to go on tour - not after that talk she and Seungcheol had last night. Yet Seungcheol's cousins were on a different scale when it comes to persuasion. That's why she can't say no when Yuri pulled her through the lake.

She doesn't know what's with the lake but she ended up coming along, instead of locking herself alone in the mansion. Of course, she'll go crazy just by thinking about it alone. She finds it right to go out with them to relieve some stress.

But in just a few minutes, like a crappy videotape, what Seungcheol said that night came to her all over again.

"I've missed you today. I've missed you for the last four years."

She didn't have the guts to talk back – not when the emotions inside her were on traffic. There was anger, loneliness, pain, confusion, and that familiar itch on that side of her chest.

She looked away to hide the hurt in her eyes. "That's not funny." She hardly said after a while.

"It's not a joke, Taerin." Seungcheol said softly.

She stood up. She can't handle the emotions that were surrounding the both of them especially her heart, beating really fast. Good thing that Seungcheol didn't follow her because if he did, she doesn't know what would happen to her.

"Taerin." Seungcheol also stood up yet he didn't cross the distance between them. "Even if we didn't talk about it, I know the past is still between us. It will always be in between us and it won't disappear unless we talk about it."

She turned to face him. "And you want to talk about it now?"

"I want everything between us to be okay. I just want to make us work." His voice was filled with emotion that almost made her believe in him. But when she think of those four years that had passed, her doubt comes back all again.

"After four years of silence from you? Seungcheol, you wasted four long years of being silent. And now you want to talk about the things I never turned back again?" She can't help but tell them those words.

Seungcheol took a step to stand beside her and he reach for her hands. "But it's not too late yet, Taerin. Give me a chance to make this right this time." He said looking into her eyes.

Taerin caught the glimmer of hope in his and that made her turn into a coward. What if she says yes? Would she avoid being hurt just like before?

This second chance he's asking doesn't mean you have to love him again, Taerin.

Does he deserve that second chance?

What if she said no? What would happen to them? Would their marriage stay as a show forever?

"If you don't want to talk about the past, it's okay." Seungcheol suddenly pulled his words back in the middle of her thinking. "It's fine. We don't have to talk about it."

She looked at him, confused. Did he really mean it? It's okay for him not to talk about the past?

It's not that she doesn't want to fix the past. She's just not ready to talk about it when confusion runs through her system. She doesn't know what explanation she would hear from Seungcheol. She doesn't know if it's still important or if something would change between them when she hears him out.

For the past few days that she's together with him, she knew something changed. Not just between the two of them but also something inside her. Slowly, she was changing-her feelings, her mind, and her heart. It's like those parts of her were all teaming up against her. She's losing her own battle.