It had been three days since Ash had last met Haneul in the hallway. As one day she was returning from the hospital she bumped into Yuna who was just leaving
"oh! you're the..doctor that.." Yuna vaguely gestured
"yes, Yuna, we've met before, I guess you didn't know, I live in the apartment right next to your brothers..you're going back after meeting him?" Ash asked
"no..he isn't home.." Yuna whispered
"again? I haven't seen him in a while now..", Ash looked at the time, "why don't you come over for tea? If you're not busy.." she suggested and Yuna liked the idea.
so now Yuna was sitting in Ash's lounge waiting for tea.
"I'm so sorry, it's taking too much time..I've never really made peach tea before..this is the first time and I don't think I'm doing a really good.." Ash said, frantically running in the kitchen
"haha..tea isn't really important, we can just talk.." Yuna suggested but Ash didn't really listen
"no no Yuna, sit down, oh wait, there are some cookies in that jar!" Ash pointed at a little cookie jar lying on the table, "please enjoy them.."
"I'm on a diet these days..but thank you for offering.." Yuna smiled
"what?! why are you on diet? you weigh like what? 99lbs?" Ash exclaimed
"no, I'm 110lbs now..and..my aim is 99.." Yuna replied
"no no Yuna, that would just mean you're underweight. You're tall and 110 is perfect for you, that is if you want the minimum weight.." Ash told, forcing her to eat a cookie..
Ash finally made the peach tea, served it and now was intently looking at Yuna
"oh I'm sorry, don't mind me, drink your tea, I'm just gonna quietly admire your beauty.." Ash said when she thought Yuna might be feeling awkward, that made Yuna laugh
"if you want to admire beauty you should just look in the mirror.." Yuna said
"haha..I really love your eyes..and your height and your hair..your legs are goals.." Ash said, that's when she realized she was being weird so she stopped
"anyways, your brother is also pretty tall..but his eyes are average looking, I thought they were actually blue.." Ash tried changing the topic
"oh so you know they're brown? but he looks really cute in those blue contacts right?" Yuna asked, getting all excited talking about her brother
"I guess..hey your tea is getting cold drink it up" Ash said as she carefully chose a cookie. They heard Haneul's door opening
"I think your brother is back!" Ash exclaimed quickly getting up, "I'll call him here.." she said running to the door catching Haneul in time
"HANEUL!" she shouted, which scared him
"what?" he replied weakly
"sorry..Yuna's having tea with me..she wants to meet you, join us!" Ash said, Haneul's tired face lit up when he heard Yuna's name
"oppa!" Yuna hugged him as soon as he came inside
"aww.." Ash said from behind
"do you want coffee or peach tea?" Ash asked
"peach tea..please" Haneul said politely
~
"no we met in the lobby..I was about to go back but she called me over.." Yuna was telling Haneul when Ash served Haneul tea.
"thank you" he smiled
"where have you been for the past three days?" Ash asked sitting down
"work..in and out situation.." Haneul replied
"oppa you look so tired..I'll talk to the director to let you rest!" Yuna said fixing his hair
"haha..I'll have plenty of time to rest after the meeting with the team coming from London.." Haneul grinned tiredly
Ash felt awkward and so she prefered to drink her tea.
"oh oppa! I met Aeri at this jewellry shop where I went to get my necklace fixed.." Haneul froze when he heard Aeri,
"..she was there with her fiance, they were there to buy the set she's going to wear on her..wedding..it's on the 28th and..she also gave this invitation card and told me to give you her message.." Yuna said reluctantly
Haneul cleared his throat, "Ash..I think we should let you rest now..thanks for the tea and sorry to make you feel awkward in your own home.." Haneul gave a dry smile and pulled Yuna after him
"bye Ash! Thank you for the tea! It was really good..let's meet each other soon!" Yuna said quickly
They left before Ash could say anything, "why does he never let the other person say goodbye? And what is up with Aeri..?" Ash thought to herself, "meh whatever." she shrugged as she cleaned the place and went to sleep
~
"why did you bring up Aeri in front of Ash?" Haneul asked Yuna as soon as they reached his lounge
"I..I'm sorry I didn't realize it..she was so quiet. I completely forgot she was sitting there.." Yuna said, disappointed with herself
"..is it that easy to forget that she's there?" Haneul asked shocked by Yuna's reply
"...she's just too quiet. I'm sorry..", Yuna sat down, "but you know..that time in the hospital? When the doctors used to stand together and talk, they'd completely exclude her from the conversation until she'd tell jokes and make everyone laugh..she's the person who's not that good looking and not that vocal and so ends up being the joker of the group..she's really nice though. A little awkward and doesn't know how to keep the conversation going..but she's nice.." Yuna explained
"I'm sorry I didn't hear what you were saying..sorry, I..you said something about Aeri?" Haneul said, he lied, he heard everything Yuna had to say about Ash but he didn't think he wanted to talk about Ash right now
"yes! Aeri said that please forget about the past and come to my wedding..I'm about to start a new chapter in my life and I'd like it if you show up..it would mean that we're fine now..it's been 3 years now and it's about time you move on.." Yuna read from a piece of paper, after which she handed Haneul Aeri's wedding card
Haneul stood there absorbing everything, he took a deep breath before opening the card
"Aeri weds..", Haneul opened his mouth to continue but it was suffocating, "Aeri weds Ian.." Haneul smiled, he was defeated.
"man, I got defeated by an Ian..never expected that to happen.." he tried to joke about it but Yuna knew he needed to let everything sink in.
"I'll go home now..you should go to the wedding, oppa..tell her you've already moved on..for me you're a winner oppa!" Yuna hugged him goodbye and left.
Haneul sat there in his lounge..holding the card..letting everything sink in.."It'll be alright..it'll be alright.." He kept telling his heart.
