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minghao began to realize how comfortable he was with mijin.
it was a friday night after their shift, and they both went back to mijin's apartment. the two of them were relaxing on her couch, mijin's head on minghao's shoulder as she read a book, and minghao watching some random movie that was on tv.
minghao wasn't really paying attention, but he was thinking. then, he realized he felt the happiest he had been in about a year on that couch with mijin. his mind was clear, the only things he'd think about were dancing, his friends and mijin.
minghao sighed. he thought it'd be a good time to finally explain what happened with his ex girlfriend, what she did to hurt him so much.
"mijin, i need to talk to you," minghao said, and mijin immediately closed her book and sat up straight.
she looked him in the eye, "what's up?" mijin could sense minghao was serious, so she took whatever was happening seriously.
"i'm ready to tell you about my ex girlfriend," minghao said, extremely sure about his decision. he was ready to come to terms with everything that went on, he didn't feel sad about the break up anymore. he had finally moved on.
"alright, if you need to stop at anytime, you can," mijin assured him. she turned and say cross legged on the couch, and minghao did the same so he could face her.
minghao nodded, "okay, here we go. i was fourteen when i met her. lihua... she was, at the time, everything i wanted in a girl. a little bit older than me... just by a few months... super long hair, bangs. she was pretty, that's for sure. i used to think she was the most beautiful girl..." minghao sighed, "that's changed now." he looked mijin in the eyes.
she rolled her eyes, "stop being cheesy."
minghao smiled at her, "anyways, yeah. you get it. everyone liked her, she was quite popular in high school. but the thing was, she wasn't like... your typical popular girl. she was captain of the debate team and had a seat in student council, and she was also in the mathletes. that's what drew me to her... the fact that she actually had a brain of her own, unlike the other girls who were popular.
"we got paired up in junior year for an art project. that's how it started, really. we got close after that, but it was more of a friendship. until senior year, she got less involved with the more popular kids that she used to hang out with, and tended to hang out with mine and jun's friend group. we weren't losers, but it wasn't like we were those kids that everyone knew. a lot of us were dancers, and musicians. that's when i found out lihua played the guitar and, surprisingly, the trumpet.
"that year was amazing for us. i ended up asking her to the christmas dance. i don't know if it's obvious or not but she said yes... from then on out we were a couple. she was my first girlfriend and i already thought i had found the one. it's insane to think that i was like that back then, because thinking back on it, the relationship got toxic after about a year," minghao paused, and sighed. mijin grabbed his hand and squeezed it, but she didn't let go.
"here's the thing i found out after about two months of dating," minghao paused, "she had bipolar disorder, anxiety, depression and anger management issues. of course, any sane human who loved somebody wouldn't care. you love the person you're with, disorders and all, and that's what i did. it was easy for the first year, but then everything started going downhill for her.
"lihua's father was revealed to be cheating on her mother, which took a huge toll on her. i was there for her all through it, and it was okay for the first while, and she was seeing a therapist. but, at some point everything that had to do with her disorders started getting worse. i don't know what happened behind closed doors, but she was at school a lot less and always seemed to be in a bad mood. a lot of the time she'd get angry and take it out on me. i took it, because i knew she was in a bad place and a lot of the time she'd apologize for it. but soon enough the apologizing stopped, and it had been a while after what happened with her father.
"i don't know if she was just faking to me the whole time before this or what... i was definitely taken aback by the dramatic change in how she was. all the colleges she was accepted into, she declined everything. i also noticed that whenever we went out for dinner, stuff like that, she'd be subtly flirting with the servers. she also began to be more protective of her phone and her schedule was randomly full and she was never free. i suspected things, but i brushed it off. i couldn't even think of her cheating on me, we loved each other. she was everything to me, and i always there for her, how could she ever betray me like that?
"the yelling and arguing never stopped though... whenever she'd come over she'd rarely want to talk, it was more her just... wanting to make out with me or have sex or something like that. it was okay the first like... three times... but after that i began to say to her that we have to talk about stuff, it can't be just physical or we might as well not even be dating. then she'd start yelling... threaten to break up with me and at some point she'd just storm out... i didn't know where she'd go but now that i think about it she was probably going to see some random man.
"it was about three months of this, but then jun said, 'hey, i'm going to seoul and i think you should come with me', blah, blah. he said he was moving in with some friends and stuff, and it'd be good to go somewhere new. at the time i was living alone in some cheap apartment, so i decided, why not. my family took it well, but lihua didn't. she went on and on about how long distance relationships never work and that i'm probably going to have sex with random girls since i'm gonna be so far away. of course, i assured her i wasn't going to. she proceeded to ignore me for a week and a half, and didn't even bother to come and say goodbye to me at the airport. here i was, blinded, and i continued to say, oh she's just having a hard time.
"moving to seoul was... like a weight getting lifted off my shoulder i guess. not to mention, all the guys i was with... they're like family to me now, so i guess that tells you what it was like to meet them. but i was still in a relationship with lihua, and i was awaiting her call. then, one day she texts me 'you coming over tonight?'. i, being naive as hell, believed she forgot i lived in seoul now... but i know that i knew she was cheating on me, i just couldn't come to terms with it." minghao sighed for about the tenth time.
"i know this is a lot. i'm sorry. i think i'll just get to the point," minghao apologized. mijin only nodded. she felt so bad for minghao, since he got caught in such a terrible situation.
"lihua was cheating on me since our four month anniversary, and she verbally abused me frequently, putting me down constantly, telling me i was lucky to be with her. i honestly still don't know why she changed so drastically. my assumption is that she put on a facade for so long and lied to me until i was head over heels. it obviously worked, i guess. since i was in so deep, it was so hard to recover from. you, and my friends, have honestly helped me so much. in all honesty, i'm over it now. i know she was a shitty person, and that most people aren't like that," minghao said.
mijin hugged minghao, "i'm so happy you're out of all of that, and i'm happy you're past it. i'm so proud," she kissed him on the cheek.
minghao wrapped his arms around mijin and held her, "thank you so much for being there for me," minghao said quietly. "it's late now, should we head to bed?"
"yeah, let's go," and then mijin and minghao pulled apart, and headed to the bedroom to sleep.
