AS TIME GOES BY (CHAENNIE)

Conspiracy Theory

[CHAE'S POV]

Chae keeps on tapping her pen on her table, while she kept on glancing at her wristwatch. She does not want to admit it, but she is a little anxious about her meeting with Chanyeol later. Her guilt keeps on flooding her emotions because she promised Jennie that she will never talk to Chanyeol again. But to just dismissed him a while ago, and for him to leave them alone, she finally granted his request.

"It's not like I will listen to everything he will say, I will just let him finished his monologue and leave him, and Jennie and I will finally be in peace." she justified her decision to herself.

The bell finally surrendered to Chae's will and rang. She let her classmates go first, and after like a minute or two, she stood up and dragged her feet outside. The hallway is now as quiet as the library, creating a great atmosphere for their "talk".

She was welcomed by Chanyeol's great aura, he is still a good looking man, every girl's dreamed man if she may be allowed to mention, but her heart now belongs to the only one, Jennie Kim, she smiled heartily at the thought of Jennie's name, Chanyeol mistakingly thought that she smiled at him, so he smiled back at her.

"Chae, I'm glad that you gave me a chance," said Chanyeol.

"I would like to reiterate with you that I'm just only here because you keep on insisting for a talk like this, but I do not have a responsibility to believe in you, or with everything you are about to say." she clearly put a boundary between them.

"Please do not say anything with finality, and hear me out clearly, please, Chae?" he said and hold Chae's hands. Chae cringes at the contact so she immediately pulls her hands.

She was adamant but still managed to nod, signaling to Chanyeol to begin his explanations, "10 minutes" she added.

"First of all, I wanna say that I'm really, really, really sorry for what I've done to you. No amount of explanation can ever justify it, but here you are, giving me the best time of my life. I want you to know that I regret every single day living away from you." Chanyeol started.

"I also want you to know that being your boyfriend was the best thing that has had ever happened to me. You had given me the will and strength to live despite not being in the same economy class as you are." Chanyeol smiled bitterly.

"I will never ever regret loving you, Chae. My only regret was, I chose to listen to people who doesn't even know how I loved you from the start. People who put so much value in social class. People who do not even know that I am capable of loving you so dearly." he gritted his teeth.

Despite not being in the same class as her, Chanyeol worked hard to be in that school, for the scholarship, and he defied every odd just to have the quality education that he wanted to have. For him, education is the only key to success, the only key to achieve power and class.

"And so my parents convinced me to go to Syracuse. It was a one-time opportunity and experience for me. And with my parents being that supportive? Who would not say yes? And so I did. I chose my dream to become a singer/songwriter. For me, it was a dream to sleep on. And though I find the timing very off, I know I won't be able to have another opportunity, so I held on tight to that opportunity. And on the day we were supposed to meet, do you remember that? Jennie came to me." Hearing Jennie's name made her heart skip a beat. What does Jennie have to do with Chanyeol's decision? She thought.

"What does Jennie have to do with this?" she uttered what her mind cannot conceive.

"She came up to me and gave me an envelope. Inside the envelope were my Visa and my tickets, indicating my flight details for that same day, for that very night. She told me that Mr. Park asked her to hand the envelope to me. I told her that I'm on my way to see you and to tell you personally that I will go to Syracuse to fulfill my dream, I wanna share it with you because you too are a part of my biggest dream, you were a dream come true to me, Chae." he tried to hold Chae's hand but she was vigilant and escape Chanyeol's hand, sending daggers to Chanyeol's heart.

"But Jennie said that I don't have the luxury of time to do that since my flight was on that same night. I insisted, but she told me that it was taken care of, that you already knew about my flight, and that you decided to wait for me at the airport. I was hesitant for a while, but her being your best friend, I was convinced. And so I went home, gathered every luggage my parents had packed for me. I was surprised that they already knew about my flight but later realized that they were working for your parents, so I thought about them knowing the details first, and since the whole opportunity was sponsored by the Parks, I also thought that you had full knowledge about the offer. So my parents took me to the airport, full of hope that I will meet you there before leaving, but even the slightest shadow of you was nowhere to be found. I asked my parents to call you, but they told me that you were having a family dinner with Lisa, Jisoo, and Jennie. So they told me that I should not wait for you anymore. My heart was felt so heavy, I didn't have a choice but to go, and so I did. I tried calling you, but could not reach you. Chae, I did not forget you, not even a single minute or second. Chae, you need to believe me, I was not given the fair chance to say goodbye to you because of Jennie. She was against our relationship from the beginning. And she told me to stay away from you because she was in love with you. I tried not to go against her because she was too powerful and influential." Chanyeol ended his statement with a bang.

Chae cannot process everything, she was overwhelmed with details. Jennie was a part of this? And her parents? Did her parents plan everything? Was there a conspiracy between them? Shocked was an understatement, she was clueless. She keeps on shaking her head NO, refusing to believe everything that she has heard.

"H-how would I know that you were telling the truth?" she asked with a shaky voice.

"You can ask Jennie if you want to confirm everything." Chanyeol suggested, "I have nothing to hide." he added.

"I will definitely do that, and if I caught you telling all these lies, I fucking swear Chanyeol, you will regret knowing me." she was furious, Jennie will never do that, there was never a hint of her disliking her relationship with Chanyeol. But there was a little spread of doubt into her mind about it, because Jennie has been in love with her for almost a lifetime now, since childhood, she was told by Alice herself.

"I will always be here waiting for you, Chae." Chanyeol confidently said.

Chae walked away from Chanyeol, her heart was heavily laden. She was tired all of a sudden. She found Jennie waiting for her at the parking lot. When Jennie saw Chae walking towards her, she released her infamous gummy smile, causing Chae to smile at the sight of her girl. Jennie is indeed the most beautiful woman in the world, she thought.

"You're late Park Chaeyoung!" Jennie said with crossed arms.

"Hey, sorry to keep you waiting Jennie," she replied softly and hugged Jennie.

Jennie felt that something was off, so she hugged Chae tightly and whispered softly, "Is there something wrong? You looked restless."

"Nothing, I'm just a little tired. Can we go home now?" she asked.

"Sure, I'll drive you home." Jennie offered, receiving a thank you reply from Chae.

Chae proceeded to the passenger seat, silently tucked herself, and immediately closed her eyes.

Jennie on the other hand was oblivious, part of her wanted to ask Chae about what was wrong, but she did otherwise.

I'll just ask her when we reached home, she thought and drove them off.