Yoon Jin Ah thought herself to be a strong woman. Sure, her tears were almost always at the surface but her nerves and her heart had a steely resolve she was proud of. However, her weakness has always been: Hye-won's tears.
Hye-won was a fighter. She fought through her heart operations, her recovery and against the coddling her parents tended to give her so crying wasn't something she often allowed herself to do. But hearing what their mothers did, setting up dates for them when she and Jin Ah were in relationships, hurt Hye-won so badly that she cried.
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"How can my mother agree to this? How can she dislike Gookie after years of knowing him?!" Hye-won cried into her pillow. "They are already hurting him and this would just add to that! I keep saying they love us and only want the best for us but it's getting more and more difficult to rationalise their actions!"
Jin Ah lay down beside Hye-won and continued to stroke her back to calm her down. "I'm so sorry, Hye-won-ah. I'm so sorry."
"It's not your fault," Hye-won returned. Facing Jin Ah now, she continued, "Kang Gook and I know where we stand about each other and I know I can talk to him and we will see this through... I just... I need him to hear me out."
Pausing before she shared her additional concern, Hye-won reached for Jin Ah's hand. "How about you, Unnie? You and Jin Woo Oppa are still in the initial stages of being together and... he might break things off if he hears of this."
Yoon Jin Ah knew this and was the primary cause of her worry. Just a few moments after they heard of their "dates", Jin Ah saw Joon-hee tag her in his account with the caption, Can't wait to see you again. #GreatestLove
Jin Ah cringed. She hated the overt public display of affection and she was bothered that Yoo Jin Woo might come across this post. Jin Woo did not have a social media account, except for the profile in the dating app which he set up only to message Pretty Noona, but Jin Ah knew that he sometimes searched her tags or his name to check the reputation of his image, company and its products.
Of course, she already sent a message to Seo Joon-hee. "Please take that post down," Jin Ah asked. "I'm with somebody. Please take it down."
The post remained up, though with an edited caption taking out the hashtag. In response to her message, Joon-hee said, "If he were secure about your relationship, this won't bother him. He would know that it's just me loving you. Still. Your mother loves me now, Jin Ah. You can have the best of both worlds if you be with me this time."
Jin Ah knew what he meant. If she got back together with Joon-hee, she would have her mother's approval and she would be in a relationship with a man she used to love.
Used to.
Those were the most important parts of that sentence. She used to love Joon-hee and, although she and Jin Woo were still trying to figure things out, what Jin Ah was certain of is that she no longer felt that for Joon-hee.
