Lessons From Romance

Small Man, Big Woman

"Oh..." Chae Yoon started with an awkward laugh. "I should be going. I just finished dinner with a friend."

Namjoo peered over Chae Yoon's shoulder to see a man waiting for her by the front doors.

"See you later?" Chae Yoon asked before slightly glancing over at Luhan, but Namjoo didn't catch the movement of her eyes.

"Sure," Namjoo smiled.

"====="

The gloss in her eyes was still the same. That face had remained unchanged. Those perky lips and that pretty nose were as when she'd left.

Chae Yoon... that had been his Chae Yoon.

Luhan felt her perfume breeze past when she brushed by and his heart sunk as well as raced. He'd last expected to run into her like this...why had it been like this?

The longer he sat there stupefied the more he didn't know what was rushing through his mind.

"What's wrong?" Namjoo asked oblivious to it all. "You still want the steak?"

He was too lost in thought to really care about what they were doing at the restaurant anymore. The only thing replaying in his head was those eyes meeting his. The spark in her eyes told it all. Chae Yoon was as surprised as he was to see him that as he was her.

Did she hurt? Was she jealous?

"Are you on a date?"

"Are you on a date?"

"Are you on a date?"

"Are you on a date?"

Was she jealous? Luhan really hoped that Chae Yoon was damned jealous. A part of her better hurt that he was here sitting with another woman other than her. He wanted her to hurt so bad that it felt like daggers were striking into her chest at every moment, every second. He wanted her to be so angry that it felt like her blood was boiling and racing to her head uncontrollably.

As Luhan stared down at the plate of steak minutes later he wondered why he wasn't feeling heartsick over seeing Chae Yoon. It felt like that slab of meat he was staring at was his own heart foreign to him. It was unfamiliar and dysfunctional. The feelings swarming through him weren't what he'd been expecting.

Luhan thought that the second he saw Chae Yoon again he'd get on his knees and beg her to take him back. He'd grab hold of her and not let go. He'd show his tears hoping for her pity. He'd show her the cut on his wrist to let her know how miserable he'd been.

Despite it all, he didn't feel anything.

He was merely upset.

Was it the man with her that he assumed was the one she'd left him for? Was it the cheeriness in her voice when she spoke with Namjoo? Was it because she looked happy even without him beside her?

What was it?

"Did you not like the steak?" Namjoo asked on their way out. "Or did it not sit well in your stomach? You not feeling well?"

"I'm leaving," he muttered not in the mood for her interrogation.

"Alright then," Namjoo gave in. "I'm not going to have time for you this weekend, so you're on your own."

As Namjoo started toward the lot Luhan turned, "That friend of yours..."

"Who?" Namjoo stopped to look at him. "Ah...Chae Yoon? What about her?"

"That man with her," Luhan began, "is she seeing him?"

"Why?" Namjoo asked instead of answering. "Are you interested in her?"