Pursuit of Happiness (Sequel to Pursuit of Fate)

Chapter Seventeen

The break up came totally out of the blue. Seong Im thought they were doing fine. She thought everything was going well. She couldn't think of the reason for the sudden break up.

Kwang Soo was the only one who knew about this. She told him as he was the only one, other than Hee Gun, that she trust and could confide in.
She thought about what Kwang Soo told her this morning at work, "if it's meant to happen, you can't stop it."

She took out a black scrapbook from the drawer and lay it on the study table. She flipped it opened and picked up the brown leaf that was wedged between the pages.

On an empty page, she drew a small square box with a silver marker pen and pasted the leaf in the box. Tears escaped from her eyes and fall onto the black paper as she scribbled some words beside it.

She closed the book with her trembling hands and wiped away the tears on her face but they wouldn't stop flowing. In just a few months, he had left such deep memories in her. She couldn't accept the fact that they had broken up. How much more does it have to hurt for her to realize that they have broken up. She folded her arms on the table and buried her head in her hands.

***

Kwang Soo couldn't help but to look for Hee Gun at his workplace. He wanted to know the reason why Hee Gun treated her like this.

The shutters were down by the time Kwang Soo reached the garage. He paced around the corridor of the garage, and tried to peek inside  through the tiny hole in the shutter.

"Who are you looking for?"

He turned towards the voice and saw Hee Gun standing with a backpack looped over his right shoulder. "I'm looking for you," Kwang Soo said.

Hee Gun's eyes followed him as Kwang Soo walked nearer. His tall figure almost towering over him. "How do you know I work here?" He asked.

"Why did you break up with Seong Im noona? Kwang Soo asked, ignoring his question.

"I don't need to tell you the reason." He said and walked off.

Kwang Soo firmly grabbed hold of his shoulder to stop him from leaving. "She couldn't concentrate at work because of you. She got scolded by the boss countless times today. I've never seen her like this before. Even when her dad passed, she didn't act like this."

Hee Gun felt his heart aching just by hearing what Kwang Soo said. Even though he felt the urge to ask him about her, he didn't do it. He chose to act nonchalant and replied, "why are you telling me this?"

"What? Why am I telling you this?" Kwang Soo scoffed in disbelief. He turned him around and gazed down at him. "How can you act so calmly like nothing happened? Were you playing with her feelings all along?" He shouted angrily.

"Mind your words," Hee Gun glared at him.

"Then what was it? Even though she doesn't says it, I know that she's hurting inside!"

Hee Gun shook his head madly and shouted, "She will die if I don't leave her!"

Kwang Soo took a step back, eyes widened and mouth parted slightly. He felt that he just heard something that he shouldn't have. "Why will she die..?" He questioned in disbelief.

Hee Gun had no choice but to tell him everything - the reason she lost her memory, the wounds inflicted on her body and lastly, the reason for breaking up with her. At first, Kwang Soo was confused with what he was talking about. He blinked at him a few times in a second and at that moment when he finally understood it all, rage took over him.

He struck a punch in Hee Gun's face causing him to drop his bag onto the ground. "Did you get close to her because you have a motive? Are you trying to harm her?"

"Are you crazy? Why would I choose to be concern about her life and choose to leave her if I really wanted to harm her?" Hee Gun yelled and rubbed the side of his face with the heel of his hand.

Kwang Soo looked away and kicked the metal shutter in frustration. The sound of the shutter rattling filled the silence between both men.

"Take care of Seong Im. You'll probably disagree but you're the only person that I can trust to leave her with." Hee Gun said.

Kwang Soo was flabbergasted. "What are you saying? You should be taking care of her yourself. I'm not her guardian or-"

"You like her," Hee Gun interrupted and looked at him in the eyes.

"Wh-"

"I knew it from the way you look at her. The way you reacted when you found out someone confessed to her and when you realised that I was the one she was dating."

"She only treats me as her brother. The person that she likes, is you." Kwang Soo said.

"Whatever it is, I'm leaving her to you and it will be good if you don't tell her the things that I told you today." Hee Gun picked up his bag and slung the strap over his shoulder.

"Thank you, Kwang Soo ssi." He said before leaving.

"Hold on!" Kwang Soo shouted but Hee Gun was already walking far ahead. He bit his lips and let out a huff of air. For some reason, he felt his anger towards Hee Gun had subsided. He even felt that it was absurd that Hee Gun knew that he likes her but all this while, he didn't even mention a word about it to him; as though he didn't see him as a rival.

He drove his fingers through his hair and let out a shout of frustration. And now, he has to bear the responsibility of ensuring that Seong Im doesn't find out about the things that had happened to her leading up to her memory loss.