The Black Rose

Chapter Thirty One

"Are you ready Miss?" asked Mr. Chung, opening the car's rear door. Minzy took a deep breath and nodded. As soon as she was seated inside, she tried once more to call her bestfriend. At first, she didn't pick up; after a few more rings, she finally did. There was silence between them, both still at a loss for words. "Jenny...," she half whispered. Still, there was silence on the other end. "Jenny... could we... meet up?" she asked nervously. "I'm at Mr. Kim's cafe," answered Jenny. "Okay then. Wait fo-," she broke off as she realized that the line had been cut off. "Where are we to, Miss?" asked Mr. Chung, looking at Minzy from the rear view mirror. "To Hongdae Mr. Chung... at Mr. Kim's cafe," she answered as she looked out the window as the rain started to pour. 

Background Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mnhr7wn0noE

"Who was it Jenny?" asked Dae Sung.

"Minzy," she simply answered.

"Minzy's here too?!" Ji Yong blurted out in surprise.

"Tell me you're just joking Ji Yong," Jenny insisted, staring straight ahead, holding on to her cup of tea. 

Ji Yong looked at her once then at Dae Sung, and finally rested his gaze at Seung Yoon. There was a look of regret on his face, clearly he wasn't just fooling around. Jenny knew in her heart that what he said was real yet, she can't seem to grasp the idea of Seung Hyun being sick. She needed to talk to Minzy face-to-face, in front of everyone, in order to prove Ji Yong wrong. She wanted to believe more what she saw last night, to lose him to her bestfriend rather than to lose him forever. 

A quarter of an hour had already passed and still, there was silence among the group. Mr. Kim looked out to them from the bar sadly, knowing that something went terribly wrong. He scanned the room and found that he wouldn't be able to close the cafe earlier than usual. After a few more minutes, he decided to approach the group and invited them inside the staff quarters. At first, Jenny turned down the offer, but after realizing that there were a lot of customers that day, she gave in. She informed Mr. Kim that Minzy was coming and he assured her that he would direct her to the room once she arrives. 

Minzy walked with Mr. Chung towards the cafe, both of them anxious. Minzy paused before the entrance, hesitating. "She needs to know the truth," she thought to herself. She then opened the door, scanned the room, and found, to her surprise, that Jenny was nowhere in sight.  Mr. Kim rushed to her as soon as he saw her enter, and ushered her and Mr. Chung towards a closed room. 

Minzy's eyes widened as she realized that Jenny was not alone. What was more surprising was the presence of Ji Yong in the room. "Ji Yong...," called out Mr. Chung who was just as surprised as Minzy. "Mr. Chung...," called out Ji Yong in return, with a hint of confusion in his voice. "Why are you with Minzy? As far as I could remember, you did not come with us nor followed us to Paris for Seung Hyun's wedding. So...," he trailed off. Jenny suddenly stood up and walked towards where Minzy and Mr. Chung were. "She is the reason why Seung Hyun left me," announced Jenny, turning around to face Ji Yong, and then continued, "Seung Hyun showed it to us last night. Clearly, he... fell in love with my bestfriend." Ji Yong stared at Jenny, disbelief washing over him. Seung Yoon looked down at the floor, shaking his head in dismay. 

Jenny balled her hands into fists seeing that her cousin and Dae Sung didn't seem to want to back her up. "Minzy... why don't you tell him... about your relationship with his bestfriend-my ex-fiancé?!" she insisted, not looking at her. Minzy glanced at her bestfriend's back, and then looked on at the three people seated tensely before her. 

"Bom... Seung Hyun is my bestfriend. You know very well that he confides in me like a brother. Don't you think I should have known about this long before you guys did, especially if this was the main reason why he left you in the first place?! Do you think I would even dare return your greeting earlier knowing all along that my bestfriend left you for another woman?! I would have just run away," Ji Yong explained calmly, finally understanding what Jenny was trying to get at. "Bom... I know it's hard for you-"

"Minzy! Tell him! Why are you being like this now?!" Jenny almost shouted, finally turning around to face her.

"Jenny... I...," she trailed off, overwhelmed by confusion and worry.

"Are you ashamed of what you did?! You should have thought about that before meeting him secretly in order to continue your dirty deeds-," Jenny broke off as her head spun to the side, feeling a sudden pain across her cheek. 

Dae Sung rushed to Jenny's side and coaxed her to sit down, while Minzy looked on in surprise-she had slapped her bestfriend. This was the first time and, she promised herself, would also be the last time she would ever do this to Jenny. She almost lost her balance, but Mr. Chung held on to her, holding both her arms for support. Seung Yoon stood up as soon as he saw what happened and was about to run to Minzy's side, when he remembered how she had already hurt his cousin-not physically but emotionally. He sat back and watched as Minzy destroy not only herself, but her bestfriend as well.

Jenny stood frozen, not lifting her head to look at either Minzy or Dae Sung. The slap had stirred awake something that was sleeping inside of her-the familiar pain that she had come to know as a friend. But no matter how familiar the pain was, it became more unbearable, and it hurt her enough to finally force the tears to run down her eyes.

Dae Sung hugged her as soon as he felt her tremble. He looked at Minzy without hate, but rather, with gratitude. Jenny had finally accepted the truth.