The Black Rose

Chapter Twenty

The quartet walked home as soon as Dae Sung finished his last plate of tteokbokki. He was a little tipsy, as well as Seung Yoon and Jenny. Minzy, on the other hand, was too focused on formulating questions for Seung Hyun that she didn't notice how the other three managed to finish two and a half bottles more of soju. She didn't even get to nag at Jenny for drinking more than she could handle. 

After Mr. Chung dropped her off, Minzy ran straight to the convenience store to buy desserts that she promised the others she would buy for them. Though the others questioned her a bit on why she took longer than she was supposed to, they easily dismissed the topic and moved on to more interesting ones, or so they thought.

As soon as they arrived home, Jenny and Seung Yoon did not bother to take a shower and instead, went straight to their rooms. On the other hand, Minzy went back outside and stayed by the gate, with her phone in hand. She then dialled Seung Hyun's number.

Jenny woke up with a slight headache. She looked at the clock and found that it was already ten minutes past nine in the morning. She sat up slowly in bed, holding her head as she did. She looked at her side and found that Minzy was no longer there. She then decided to take a shower first before having late breakfast. 

At first, Jenny didn't notice Seung Yoon who was already seated at the table. Like her, he was also having late breakfast. "Good morning couz," he said, a bit low on energy. "Good morning to you too couz," greeted back Jenny. Seung Yoon, not having seen Minzy around the house when he came down for breakfast nor seeing her now with Jenny, thought that she was still sleeping. "I guess Minzy drank just as much as us last night seeing that she didn't came down with you for breakfast. My memory's a bit hazy, actually," said Seung Yoon, slicing a piece from his toast. It was just then that Jenny realized that her bestfriend was not sitting with them.

"She's not in the room when I woke up," informed Jenny.

"Well, she's not anywhere inside the house either... haven't bumped into her since I woke up," said Seung Yoon. 

"Really?! Where could she have gone then?" thought out Jenny loudly.

Seung Yoon gave her a shrug signalling the end of their discussion. 

The black car stopped in front of a restaurant and Mr. Chung went out to open the rear door. Minzy came out and scanned her surroundings. "Where are we Mr. Chung?" she asked him curiously. "We're here at the Choi's family restaurant. He's waiting for you inside," said Mr. Chung as he closed the door. "Would you please follow me miss," he instructed. 

Inside the restaurant, beautiful paintings hung on the walls. On one corner, where Seung Hyun was sitting, were various paintings of a family... Seung Hyun's family. The first frame contained a young Seung Hyun with his parents, which she guessed was around the time when the accident happened; the second frame had a Seung Hyun in his teens with a slightly older-looking Mr. and Mrs. Choi; and the last frame pictured the young adult Seung Hyun with middle-aged looking parents. Minzy's heart hurt a bit seeing how Seung Hyun had managed to visualize his parents grow old along with him. He must have missed them so much. 

"Have a seat Minzy. Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes," he said as he stood up to pull the chair for her. Minzy sat down quietly, observing him as he walked back to his seat. Meanwhile, Mr. Chung went inside the kitchen, leaving the two of them alone.

"I'm sorry I bothered you this early," apologized Minzy.

"No worries," he smiled.

"I didn't get to sleep well last night, you know. Too many questions in my head...," she trailed off.

"I'm sorry... I'm really sorry," he said, bowing his head a little.

"First things first... why did you leave Jenny on the day of your wedding?" she asked calmly.

Seung Hyun had pondered about this inevitable question last night. He didn't expect that he would be in this kind of situation, answering questions he thought he never would. He looked at her and chose to remain quiet. Minzy, though starting to get a bit irritated with Seung Hyun, did not let her emotions take over because she promised herself that she would have all the answers she needed and what better way to have them than to stay calm and ask nicely. "I don't know why it's so hard for you to answer my question, but I respect your decision to stay quiet... for now. You clearly know that I won't let you go just like that, right?" she said, threatening him a bit. Just then, Mr. Chung came out of the kitchen holding a tray containing two bowls of kimchi soup and steamed rice. He placed the dishes in front of them carefully and went back inside to fetch some tea. The two ate quietly, enjoying their meal as best they could.

Minzy finished her breakfast ahead of Seung Hyun. Though she tried to resist the urge of asking him more questions, she failed. This time, she started by talking about the family paintings set on the wall beside them. "Your parents must be proud of you wherever they are. You painted them very well," she praised him. Seung Hyun glanced at her, then at the paintings on his left, as he sipped more of his soup. "But I'm sure that whatever your reason was for leaving my bestfriend on her very special day, your parents won't approve of what you did," she added. Seung Hyun finished the last of his rice and soup, and finally spoke, "Do you have all day? Because I think we're going to need it."