The Present (Ahn Hyoseop x Kim Sejeong)

Twenty-One

Hyoseop woke up the next morning feeling refreshed. Despite all the drama that happened the night prior, he finally felt like he was in control of his own life. Call him delusional, but hope was brewing in his heart, and he felt that a new beginning was just around the corner. As he finished freshening up, he swiped the notebook his mother had given him off the nightstand and exited the room. He paused in his tracks at the sight of Sejeong's brother in the kitchen but decided to take a leap and approach him.

"Good morning, hyung,"

Youngmin put his coffee mug down and turned around, "Ah, you're up. Slept well?"

Hyoseop bowed in response, "Yes I did, I can't thank you enough for your family's generosity,"

"Don't thank me," he shrugged, "it was my parents more than anything,"

"Still, I know it's a lot for me to ask,"

Youngmin thought about what his father said last night, "To be fair, Sejeong asked, so..." he gestured to the stool next to him, "Care to join me?"

Sitting down next to him, Hyoseop smiled politely as Youngmin poured him a cup of coffee, "It's been a while since I sat with you like this. When I was a kid, I thought you were the coolest person alive. You and your friends got up to so many things,"

Youngmin snorted, "Which also meant I got into so much trouble,"

"Little boys, right?"

"Yeah," he nodded, "I mean, I would've been happy for you to tag along, but from what I saw you seemed perfectly content following Sejeong around,"

The comment made him blush, "You know what they say, you never get over your first love. I think even as a child, I knew how special she was,"

Youngmin agreed, "Sejeong was always the favourite in the family, and it never bothered me, she is my favourite as well," he smiled, reminiscing on memories, "it never ceases to amaze me just how beautiful her mind and that heart of hers is," he paused before saying his next sentence, "which is why I hope you understand why I've been so hesitant in welcoming you with open arms,"

"Of course, I'd be surprised if you had no doubts at all, frankly," he replied, "you probably have a lot of questions, and I'm happy to tell you everything,"

Youngmin pondered on where to start, "When you left her seven years ago, why didn't you try harder?"

"I tried as best as I could," he admitted defeatedly, "the night I found out I was leaving, I called my best friend, as I needed to get a message to Sejeong. He said what I was going through seemed like mission impossible shit, but it's true. I didn't even have time to say goodbye to her in person,"

"But what about after you got to Canada?"

"I was put under constant surveillance, and even if you don't believe me, I tried everything I could to reach out to her, for the first year at least," he drew around the rim of his mug, "That's where my mistake was, giving up," he paused, "I don't have an excuse for myself, I guess I just got tired of fighting and getting nowhere, I lost hope,"

As much as he hated it, Youngmin felt empathy for the guy, "I have to say, I can only imagine how hard it was on your end, but what made you agree to the marriage?"

"I know it's hard to believe but I only said yes because it meant I could finally return to Seoul. My father made that explicitly clear,"

"And you wanted to return to Seoul to win Sejeong back?"

He shrugged, "Ultimately, that's what I wanted. But I'm also well aware that I haven't given her much reason to trust me, after what happened. Which is why I didn't pursue her straight away. All I wanted to do was apologise, and tell her my side of the story. If she had told me that she never wanted to speak to me again, I would have respected that decision,"