This is the fourth story in the Undone series.
This is Jung Hoseok's time to shine.
He is taking control of a new project at Stellar Design, and he has decided it's time to take control of his love life as well. He is weary of being alone, and he...
She hurriedly took a shower and changed, calling a cab to the airport. She knew it was a long shot, but she had to try to find him.
She was seated in the cab and well on her way before she realized she had Bear still cradled in her arms. She gave him a fierce hug. She needed all the luck and love she could get today
She arrived at the airport 3 hours before Olivia said Hobi was to depart. She stopped several times before she located the gates for international departures. She stood and waited, praying Hobi had not already gone through the restricted area.
As the day dawned outside, the concourse became busier.
Several times she moved toward the crowd as she saw the back of a dark head, only to know almost immediately it was not him.
Then it was. She knew from the tilt of his head and the bounce in his walk that it was Hoseok.
“ Hobi,” she called and hurried toward him.
“Izzy?” He called, unsure if she was really there. He had so badly wanted to see her, had so much to say to her that he was not sure he had not just conjured her.
But she was there, staring at him with those round eyes, tears already threatening.
“Izzy,” he repeated, giving her a quick hug and drawing back to look at her.
“How did you know? How did you find me”” he stumbled over the questions, asking all those except the one he wanted most to ask.
“Hobi,” she said, her voice shaking, “ you’re leaving?”
He could not stand the break in her voice. He nodded at her, trying to decide what to say.
“ Please….” She stopped herself. She had almost asked him not to go. Her stomach lurched. She had no right to do that. She reminded herself why she was there.
“I want….I need to tell you,” she started.
Then she looked at him. All she could see was the warmth and goodness, the kindness of a man she had loved for years.
He was leaving for a new life. What right did she have to complicate that?
She cursed herself for a coward. The truth was that she could not confess to him the reason why he was getting on that plane or the reason she was standing there.
She was too afraid he would blame her or hate her or both and she would not risk it.
So she swallowed the words and felt the tears fall.
“Izzy, sweetie……I have to go,” he whispered, blinking back tears of his own.
He was shaking. One word from her and he would stay. He would throw it all away on just the hope of her.
He watched her face closely. He could see her mind spinning. Her face was so expressive.
He always knew when she was being inspired or wrestling with an idea. He also knew when she was about to lie. Right now it looked like she was fighting all three.
In the end, the lie won. He sighed. Their time was over and she was letting him go.
“I just…” She blinked back the tears, her head bowed, eyes not meeting his. “ I just don’t want you to be lonely, “ she said, shoving the worn bear into his hands. “ Or to forget about me.“
Her voice was so low he could have pretended not to hear, but he didn’t.
“ Never,” he promised, wiping the tears from her face The crowd was going and he knew he was pushing his luck but he waited, willing her to say what she had come to say
But she would not or could not.
Giving in, he bent and kissed her on the temple. “ Sweet Sweet Izzy. I will take good care of him. Thank you.”
He turned and walked away, his heart shredded more over those last few minutes than it had been by all that went before. He did not trust himself to look back.
Izzy watched as Hobi tucked the bear tenderly beneath his arm and disappeared into the crowd. She watched until she could no longer see him.
She had no idea how long she stood there after he left or what she did in the hours that followed.
She did know that part of her heart left on that plane and it was a year before she could think about him without crying.
A splash of tears hitting her hand brought her back to the present and the reality of last night. She had taken this one chance to love him and it had been more than she dreamed.
But now all her hopes and thoughts that this might be the beginning were crushed by reality.
She was no closer to a real relationship with him than she had been back then. Her chance died on that airport concourse and that fact had not changed.
Her heart felt crushed as she heard him once again in the shower.
She looked at her clothes thrown on his bed, noticed a mark from his mouth on her breast and one from his hands on her thighs.
Those would fade, but the memories would not.
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Agghhgggh!! I could not find a place to stop today! So, double update!!!!
