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Irene ran. She held her dress in her hands, trying to find an escape. She ran in and out of corridors, hearing steps that seemed to be gaining on her. She could hear his now hoarse voice calling, begging for her to stop. She heard the desperation in his voice as she ran further away from him, her sobs no longer being contained as she hit a dead end. She cursed to the above as his steps gained. She made attempts to run past him. His hand encircling around her wrist, crashing her body into his own. He looked at her now red face, tears pouring out without a filter. He looked at her, his eyes pleading as she fought against him, punching his chest, trying to make his arms budge in vain. He held her in place, drawing her closer as he hugged her, his own tears now openly slipping as she continued to punch his chest. His eyes closed, tears falling elegantly down his symmetrical face. The girls and boys rounding the corner, retreating slightly as Irene finally managed to push him back. He stumbled a few paces; seeing the fire blaze in her eyes, as she watched him with disgust. She made another attempt to walk past him but was stopped once again by his hand wrapping around her waist. "Get the fuck off me." "Babygirl listen-" "NO!" She yelled shoving him again with a force that shocked them all. "I don't want to hear it." "I'm sorry." He whispered, watching her laugh bitterly as she looked at him. "Your sorry?...hah, wow...the great Jackson Wang is sorry." She clapped her hands sarcastically. "Irene please...Babygirl just listen to me-" "Stop calling me that." She whispered deadly, her eyes shooting up to meet his. "I'm not your fucking Babygirl...not your girlfriend...hell I don't mean shit to you, so stop using these names thinking that my heart will buckle and give into you." He lowered his head, as she stepped forth, closing the distance. "You lied to me." She stated. Her voice firm as she searched him, the unshed tears blurring her vision. "You fucking lied to me about everything. The words, the cute gestures, the feelings...all of it was a lie." "No it was real...everything we had was real. My heart is with you." "And was it with you that night you got off the phone with Youngji...the night two years ago. The night that joined our names together. Did your heart belong to me then or was i just time pass." She watched his eyes widen. "Irene.." "Don't you dare try to deny it." She said, watching him gulp, both of them openly crying in front of each other. "Tell me the truth Jackson, you've already shattered my hope...I want to hear you say it. I want to hear you say it before I walk away for good." He shook his head. "No irene...no, we have waited so long. I told you-" "And that's the misconception...I waited for you. You had her on the side when your nights were lonely, when you needed the sex. She was there. She had been there from the start. I was the one to come in between that." He watched her take a step back, her hair concealing her face as she looked down. "It's not like that." "YES IT IS." She shouted, her clam composure falling completely. "Stop lying to me." She whispered, her voice cracking. "I'm not. Yes okay...I was with Youngji that night and yes I came to you and yes I've had her in my bed but it meant nothing. Everything was to try and erase you. I had no idea if you were coming back to me. I had no idea that we would pick up where we left off. It's in the past Irene...where it should be." "And so what... are you going to conveniently forget about the other night?...she's told me everything, so chose your words wisely." "Irene-" "We are done here." She said, walking past him. "No we aren't. We don't do this irene. We don't leave things unresolved." He watched her laugh, seeing the shattered look in her eyes. "Well everything from two years ago was left unresolved so..." "Irene please." He watched as she whirled around, his eyes widening at the bomb he seemed to have set off. "I don't think you understand. I was fucking going to tell you today that I'm in love with you. I was finally going to tell you that I'm ready, I'm ready for you, for us. No more running, no more hiding. I was going to tell you that I want to be yours and you mine for as long as you would have me. I wasn't aware I was a temporary bus stop. A temporary hobby to keep her seat warm." She said her voice cracking as his eyes softened. The words he was dying to hear finally said, but he lost her before he could even hold onto her properly. She continued, her voice laced with new found venom. "I don't think you understand how much I crave you. It's like I've become addicted to poison. I keep coming back for more when I know that it's going to kill me. I should have stayed away like those two years that I avoided you. I should never have agreed to this because now...now I have no fucking idea what to do with myself. I never knew what it meant to crave something so badly that you feel like your soul is ripping in half to try and hold onto it. I didn't know what it was to want something so desperately, that your heart ached at the mere absence of it, every night for the past two years I slept craving you. Every single fucking day, I was reminded of you through something. I tortured myself for leaving the way I did. For hurting you the way I did. But in reality...I didn't. You used me. You used me to take out your frustration and here I was thinking that you actually felt something for me. So tell me one thing Jackson, why did you tell me to fall if you had no intention to catch me?" Her eyes slipped with new tears as his hand reached out to brush them away. She stepped back, her face turning as if his touch would burn her, his own heart now recoiling in pain. "It didn't start like that Irene. Yes I was with Youngji, but that night meant something to me. I fell for you right there, in that stunning white dress that had me captivated from the start of the night to the very end. The way in which I looked at you, you didn't see; but if you did, if you looked, you would have seen the look in my eyes, it's the same look I have whenever I'm around you. That night was not a lie, I'm never going to deny it and say that it didn't happen because it kept me alive for the past two years. And yes I had her a few times, but it meant nothing, she was never the one for me. She was pointless and baseless sex, a habit I was willing to break. She was the time pass not you. Your saying that you've fallen for me, and that you have been in love with me for the past two years, and I have been dying to hear those words. Those words I have waited four years for. Because whilst you fell for me after that night I've been in love with you ever since I laid my eyes on you when you debuted, I tried hard. I tried so hard to get to you, through Amber, through work interactions, award functions. I've crossed a thousand miles to get to you and if you think I'm going to let this end just like this then your wrong." She looked up at him her own eyes widening. Four years. Things now starting to make sense, the way Amber would invite her over when he was there, the way she caught him looking at her, the way he tried to start conversations with her and the group. It made sense. But the question was, was her mind willing to believe it? She looked up at him. "I don't believe you." She whispered, her voice failing her as she looked away. He could tell she was hiding, the way she was retreating, the work he had put into bring out that side in her now falling onto the floor in front of him. "You know what Jackson, I have always felt like a gas station....people stop when they need something, sex, laughter, someone to talk, friendship, fame, money, and for you i was time pass, someone to suffocate the loneliness out off, and the last thing I see is people driving away after they have gotten what they wanted. I honestly thought you were going to be different. No I hoped you would be. Looking at you right now hurts, watching you kiss her will forever stay imprinted in my mind. You can't erase that. No one can. There's no trust left. I don't trust you."  He grabbed onto her hands, holding them in his own. "She kissed me. I didn't initiate it. Irene, it's you. It's always been you, and it will always be you." She looked at him, a pained look gracing her features, as she removed her hands from his as he desperately tried his best to hold on. "We can't." She whispered, the same excuse coming back as his hands dropped to his sides. He looked at her, his eyes falling apart as he wiped away his tears, he walked backwards still facing her as her eyes closed. His paces picking up as he finally turned away from her, not turning back as she fell to the floor, refusing to look back as her cries got louder, his own tears cascading down uncontrollably. He walked away, his feet carrying him further away, the thousand mile distance he was sure he crossed for her now being reformed as he left the scene. Wendy ran forth, the other girls in quick succession running to their leader as the boys parted to go after Jackson. Suelgi and Wendy knelt down to her now lifeless form, her heart being taken as Jackson walked away. They wrapped their arms around her, watching their leader fall apart in a way they had never witnessed and prayed would never have to witness again. Irene's heart was not catching a break. The first bullet striking in the form of watching the one you love, love another, the second following before she could even protest, watching the one you love leave like you were never a option to stay. It wasn't true of course her heart wailed out, he loved her, that much was clear in his eyes but the fear she thought he had chased away had returned, her heart bleeding as it walked out alongside  Jackson. She drew her legs up, the girls whispering words of condolences as they fell deaf to her ears. Her heart only concentrating on him, on his words from before this night, that now seemed to haunt her very being. The promises, the underlying love, all of it. She whimpered slightly as the girls huddled her in a hug, shielding her from those now coming of the stage, EXO members coming out of concern, seeing a side that worried them. They stood as a barrier, shielding the girls who formed a cocoon around Irene, flashing back now and then to see if she had calmed down. Suho crouched down in front of her, as she lifted her head, her body shaking as she crashed into him. He was the brother she had always wanted in this industry, always acting like a protector. He looked over her like a guardian angel. His chin resting atop her head, as she calmed down. "Jackson..." she breathed, her laboured breathing turning back into sobs as the boys of EXO and girls of RedVelvet looked at each other in concern. When she had finally calmed down, they watched her stand lifeless, the tears drying on her face as she walked away as though the source that kept her alive hadn't just left. Her face devoid of her usual cheerfulness and life. The cold look unsettling them all as Wendy messaged Mark quickly looking at Irene who disappeared from their view seconds later. Irene sat in her car, starting the engine and driving off, her mind flashing back and forth with the memories they had created together...however short term they lasted. She pulled over, her hands resting in the ten and two position as the waterfall began again, her mind repeating the way he walked away, the way his eyes dropped fed up of the situation. Fed up of them. Her.  She said 'We can't.' And he was proving it.

TBC

Authors note:
Hey. I hope your all safe. I just want to take the time out to say that, we can and will overcome this. We will... but we need to stay united and support each other best that we can. I hope you find some joy in these works and chapters I'm releasing and I look forward to hearing your thoughts in the comments section below. Lots of love and best wishes to you all. Stay safe xx

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