Bitterly, Sweetly

Epilogue: Sweet Now

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Sehun had flown out to look at a house the day Namjoo went to see Chanyeol. When he returned, she had cried in his arms.

Did she know she was never truly the worst one? It was Sehun who took the trophy for that.

He was the true bad guy. Going after his brother's woman. Knowing full well it was wrong. They were in a fully happy relationship. They were responsible partners. Two people's lives that hung on the same successful par, but he'd shattered that; taken it right from them, because he was greedy and selfish.

Sehun didn't want Chanyeol happy, to have it all. He wanted Namjoo for himself, even if she belonged to another.

So, he didn't want her to waste her tears.

None of it mattered anymore. To dwell on things past was utterly foolish. People had to keep moving forward, not backwards.

What was done, was done.

Decisions had already been made; they could only go forward from here.

When he woke that morning, Namjoo was gone from his bedside. The two-tier window on his left told him it was early morning. Birds were chirping. A flycatcher had just landed on one of the branches of the cherry blossom in the backyard then fluttered away.

Getting up Sehun passed the bedside table. On it a wedding picture of him and Namjoo in a delicate sliver frame. They'd married in one of Jeju's Christian church. A small celebration that included his mother and her parents and some aunts and uncles on her side.

Five months now and counting that Namjoo had been wearing his ring and he hers. The black ring glinted as he brushed his teeth in the wide bathroom. No jacuzzi tub, but it had a full shower and bathtub, toilet, and cabinet for toiletries. The pale yellow walls had been redone into a happy baby blue, and he had to agree that Namjoo had chosen a good color. His days always started vibrantly.

Back into the room he opened the walk-in closet where his and Namjoo's clothes were crammed together. There were hanging units and drawers stuffed with their undergarments and socks. Quickly changing Sehun stepped out and folded the bamboo doors shut revealing on his left, Namjoo's white vanity. He spotted at once a picture of them cheekily kissing behind their three-tier wedding cake. On the opposite side, another single shot of Namjoo. Recently taken. A careful shot of her belly up. Sehun grinned and walked out to find his wife.

Down the corridor he passed an open living space that consisted of plush furniture and a television set. It was Namjoo's; flown over here by air from her apartment. The furniture was new. Namjoo had bought them on the island. There was a wool blanket draped across the back of a triple seated couch, because Namjoo often napped in front of the television. He'd find her there after work with a bowl of fruit or popcorn on the tiny coffee table donated by her parents.

She was loveable these days. He always wanted to spoil her. Cheerily continuing his search, he poked his head into the kitchen smelling breakfast and fish steaming on the stove. Across from that a square table, four chairs tucked in. The room yellow cheery and organized due to Namjoo's diligence.

He spotted a binder and papers sprawled across the countertop. Namjoo's mess. Probably been going through her work while prepping breakfast. She was part of the youth foundation at the junior high; something for better lives for children association. And she wrote theatre plays for the youth at church, so she hadn't lost her touch here.

Namjoo had found her place right beside him. Right here on Jeju Island in their sectional home purchased with the help of his mother's money. They lived on a gated private property fenced off with wooden stakes to keep wild animals and intruders out. A 15-minite hike and they could sit on a small cliff watching the ocean crash into the dark gray rocks five hundred feet below.

This was their simplistic life and he loved it. Not a hint of extravagance here, but things that matched him and Namjoo, and their life together.

The marketplace was a ten-mile drive from here, so life was always convenient. Namjoo's vehicle had been transported here and was parked right out front beside his blue Sedan.

Yes, he had a car now. He was manager at the hotel, a popular destination for tourists and VIPs visiting from abroad for business meetings. It had taken a while to land the job, but he was employed and making fair money. He needed it to support his family.

A double sliding door led into the wraparound porch in the large yard. One glass door was left open to ventilate the smell of cooking food, and also in order for Namjoo to easily slip inside when needed. Past the door he heard dogs barking. Their Pomeranian and Toy Poodle.

Nearing he recognized a hunched white form. Namjoo petting the dogs as they ran wildly in their yard and came to her before running away. A smile perked on his face as he leaned against the threshold.

"You were here?" he asked.

Jolting Namjoo twisted around instantly shooting him a jovial look. "You scared me."

Pushing her weight against the porch she got to her feet.

Stepping outside to join her, he cautioned, "Careful."

"I'm fine." She swat him away.

One of the dogs barked chiding him before running up to him. It was their black poodle wagging its tail excitedly.

"Yes, good morning." Sehun patted its head before it shook him off, ran away to sniff around, and then raised a leg to pee. "It's Saturday, you couldn't relax?"

"There's always things to do. I don't sit around like you." Namjoo snidely remarked.

"Ouch." He murmured. "That hurts."

He breathed a laugh into her hair as he hugged her from behind. Namjoo ignored him. It was the way he'd come to know her. They were comfortable now. They were moving on. They were living their life together thinking of not yesterday, but tomorrow and now.

"Is it moving yet?" he wondered cupping the tiny-tiny bulge of her stomach.

"I don't feel anything yet." she replied leaning into him.

Namjoo was seventeen weeks pregnant. Right from their wedding date they had started trying for one. And now they were really having a baby.

He was going to be a dad.

She was going to be a mom.

Events might have spun off bitterly, but life couldn't be sweeter.

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***and THE END!

***that as all for this story! Namjoo and Sehun were both at fault. Chanyeol is the true victim here, they hurt him so bad. I go with once a cheater always a cheater, but ofc I know there are many things that happen in life, but still no excuse for cheating, so I have no idea why I wrote this - yet I've come to think that a writer should approach certain unagreeable topics, too, in the areas of writing - it opens eyes, it opens the thought process of the many forks in the roads events/people could have taken. I may not have fulfilled that criteria here. I know I cut out Chanyeol's POVs, but I wasn't that much interested in his part of the story, and this story wasn't meant for him. I didn't intend for it to flow this way, but I guess the story had its own mind. So here we are.

***Thank you for coming by and reading!