The Age Of Love

Twenty One - Seri's Choice

He felt Se Ri fidget uncomfortably. He cleared his throat, swallowing down the dryness. The rolex on his wrist ticked audibly.

"There's a lot of space between you," Seo Yeon broke the silence.

"Pardon?" Jeong Hyeok glanced up, giving her a quizzical look.

"On the couch," she noted, tapping something on her tablet. "There's a lot of space between you. The last few sessions you've sat closer."

"Oh... Umm..." Jeong Hyeok looked towards Se Ri, noting that they were indeed on opposite ends of the couch.

"Is everything alright?"

"Actually..." Jeong Hyeok met Se Ri's eyes, silently looking for reassurance to start this conversation. Instead, he noted that she possibly looked more nervous than he was.

Somehow, that made him both more anxious and more determined to have this conversation. It was just that things were going so well between them. Not perfect, but good, and they were happy.

Three months ago he thought he'd never feel anything but angry again, and here he was feeling happy. Maybe happier than he had in his entire life. And he wanted to hold on to that as long as possible. It would be easy just to forget what they had promised to discuss yesterday-- to let them keep being good. But deep down he knew that pretending their problem didn't exist was what had gotten them into this mess. That kind of compartmentalisation was what Vegas was all about. And it had destroyed them.

"It's just..."

Se Ri shifted to face him. "It's fine," she interrupted, her face in panic. "We don't have to talk abou this. We're fine. I trust you. I was just being ridiculous."

"Being ridiculous about what?" Seo Yeon asked, her head tilting ever so slightly.

Se Ri turned her head to look at Seo Yeon, her body still facing Jeong Hyeok. "Nothing," she told the therapist. "It's stupid." She looked back at Jeong Hyeok. "Let's forget about it."

"Believe me," he assured her, rubbing her arm encouragingly. "I don't want to talk about this either. Spending the next 47 minutes rehashing my indiscretions is not my idea of a rollicking good time."

"Indiscretions?" Seo Yeon repeated. "So, we are talking about you cheating on Hye Jin? Or..."

"Hye Jin," Jeong Hyeok quickly cut her off. reaching out to grab Se Ri's hand. "Just Hye Jin."

"Just Hye Jin?" Seo Yeon asked for clarification, eyebrows raised pointedly, "or 'not Se Ri'?"

"Sorry?"

"Were you ever unfaithful to any of your other partners?" she reiterated.

Jeong Hyeok shrugged. "Honestly," he started, "there was never really anyone else to be unfaithful to. I mean, Charlotte, maybe..."

"Charlotte?" Se Ri asked. He cringed at the distressed squeak in her voice. He'd never really mentioned Charlotte before, or any other woman he'd dated. Not that there was really anything to mention. There'd never been anyone of significance other than Se Ri and Hye Jin. Charlotte was as close as he;d come but that had ended before it could really go anywhere.

He stayed facing Seo Yeon but grasped Se Ri's hand to let her know he was talking to her. "Umm, we dated, back in California. I was seeing her for about six months. We'd never discussed being exclusive but at some point, it just kind of became implied. But then my father convinced me to come back to the company. It meant moving back to London and so things with Charlotte just kind of ended.

"So you wouldn't consider your relationship with Charlotte to have been serious?"

Jeong Hyeok inhaled, holding his breath for a moment as he contemplated the long past relationship. It had been ages since he'd even thought of her. "I guess I would say it was at that turning point where it either needed to become serious or end, and well, the fact that I was able to make the decision to move halfway across the world without consulting her on it..." he shrugged.