Irony of Revenge

Chapter 9

In the living-room of Hyebin's house, Jieun and Hyebin sat, close to each other, and with their hands holding one another. There were still traces of tears on Jieun's face although she had stopped sobbing, having exhausted herself.

Hyebin's jaw was set firm and her eyes were bright with the flame of fury. She had shed no tears; she was not a crying type. But she had been as shocked and heartbroken as Jieun. After overcoming all those emotions, however, anger was the only thing left in her mind.

"They dare do that to us," she said, "And worse, not with girls, but with each other. I kind of sensed that Mark's being distant from me these days. The worst of all is they're hiding it from us."

"Is there no way to stop them? I can't imagine my life without Jinyoung. I hope what they have is just a one-time thing. He'd been always faithful to me before. If he comes back to me, I can forgive him for once."

Jieun said but was not sure if her friend felt the same. After all, Hyebin's relationship with Mark had not been that long. And she was not someone who would swallow down her pride and beg someone else to come back to her. Thus, Hyebin's next words surprised Jieun.

"They must surely return to us. Who knows, they could just be wondering and exploring. In the end, it's us they will choose."

"But what do we do with this current situation? Should we tell them that we know everything?"

"No," Hyebin said, sounding determined as if she had already sorted this out in her mind, "It'll be the end if we tell them. There's something I've thought of. A way to make them return to us or should I say, to provoke their anger at each other?"

"How?"

"By making them jealous," Hyebin said, with a twisted smile, "I'll favour Jinyoung and you do Mark. If they love us, they won't be able to stand it and will be even furious with each other. It'll destroy whatever it is between them and cause them to run back to us."

Jinyoung put on a navy-blue printed shirt and tucked only the front of the shirt into the pants. He was a little nervous and dreading this whole situation. He was going to meet Mark but not in a private, cozy place. They were both going to be present at the farewell party of one of Jieun's and Hyebin's college friends.

They were going to be surrounded by a lot of people and most importantly, clinged to by their girlfriends. It could not be helped anyway. He only hoped he and Mark, they would not be too obivious, which would give themselves away.

When he got downstairs, Jieun came into his arm and gave him a swift kiss on the cheek. She had been unusually sweet to him these days, and although it made him uncomfortable, he could not show that to her.

They left his place immediately and afterwards, were inside the car together. As usual, Jieun was the one who was in charge of their conversation and Jinyoung gave her the expected responses.

When they arrived at the designated bar, which had been hired for the night, the party was already starting, with the loud music going on. They spotted Mark and Hyebin talking with the host, Minhee, and went straight to them.

"Oh, Jieun's here!" Minhee shouted, above the blaring music, "Hi, Jinyoung."

"Hi."

Jinyoung took a quick glance at Mark, who met his eyes, before turning away. They missed their girlfriends' judging eyes on them.

"Let's go have some drinks," Minhee said and led them to the bar counter. There, as it was quite away from the dance floor and music, they could talk, without much shouting.

"Ready for the new job? Excited?" Jieun asked to Minhee.

"I guess so. But it still feels strange when I think about leaving all I love here. America is so far away from here. I don't think I'll be able to come back here very often."

While the three friends continued talking, Jinyoung sipped the liquor leisurely and shifted his eyes to Mark, more than he should. Whenever they held each other's gaze, Mark had that amused yet longing smile on his lips.

They had the three girls between them, and the impossibility of being able to talk with, touch and be with each other, was slowly changing their yearning for each other to frustration with this whole situation.

"Let's dance," Jieun said, calling Jinyoung's attention, "Mark and Hyebin are also dancing."

Jinyoung saw Mark and Hyebin moving away from the bar counter and to the dance floor. He then followed Jieun there.

He did not like seeing Mark and Hyebin together and with their hands around each other. But he could not complain anyway when he was doing the same with Jieun. And Mark's gaze was fixed on him and Jieun, showing that he did not like what he was seeing, either.

After a few songs, Jinyoung saw Hyebin and Mark coming to them and also noticed that Mark looked confused. Hyebin tapped Jieun on the shoulder and said something to her. The booming music prevented him from making out what it was.

Jieun then turned back to him and said, "Can I dance with Mark?"

"What?" Jinyoung looked at Mark, who just shrugged, upon meeting his eyes.

"Can I? You can dance with Hyebin."

Jinyoung did not understand what the motive was and wondered if it was because of alcohol. But whether he danced with Jieun or Hyebin, would not make any difference to him.

"Sure."

Disappointment ran across Jieun's face, as if she had not expected this response.

A few moments later, Hyebin had her hands around him and Jieun around Mark. Dancing with someone unfamiliar to him was a discomfort to him, but seeing Mark with someone else - even though he knew Mark had no feelings for Jieun - was far worse.

"Hey, don't you like it?" Hyebin asked, sensing his foul mood, "Of course, you'd prefer Jieun."

"Huh? Ah, yes. But I enjoy dancing with you."

Hyebin giggled, shaking her shoulders for effect. It somehow made him feel like being flirted with or she was acting like they were.

He looked away from her and then darted a glance at Mark, who was absently moving his body along with Jieun's and whose penetrating gaze was both on Jinyoung and Hyebin. Jinyoung wished he and Mark, they had been holding each other instead.