Chained | Bang Chan

s i x t y - o n e

~flashback~
Chan's POV

After our wedding, I thought me and Mina would get a little bit of peace to ourselves. We could just forget about everything outside of us and Kunwoo, but the world always had plans of its own.

Jang-mi, my ex-girlfriend, had been spamming me with texts, telling me how we had to meet urgently. I wasn't interested.

This was classic her. She didn't want me until someone else had me. Anytime my picture appeared in a magazine with another woman, suddenly I would receive a message from her. It was always the same, a simple 'I miss you' or 'I still think about you.'

This time, however, one of her messages had caught my attention.

'You need to meet me ASAP. It's important. Unless you don't care about your new wife's reputation?'

I wasn't sure if this was just a game she was playing. Was she just getting frustrated because I wasn't replying to her, or was this real?

Jang-mi didn't like when people's attention wasn't on her, I wouldn't put it passed her to pull a little stunt like this to get my attention back on here.

I didn't want to risk that she was telling the truth, and whatever this was did hurt Mina's reputation. I couldn't live with myself if I had just sat back and let something bad happen to Mina.

So, I agreed. I asked for it to be in a public place, so she couldn't try anything, but she had replied that it needed to be where no one could overhear. It was sensitive information, apparently. So, begrudgingly, I agreed to go over to her apartment and talk with her there.

When I came in, she sat down on the couch, very casual and calm, while I stayed standing. She smiled at me and patted the seat beside her, clearly wanting me to sit next to her. I didn't want to sit next to her, I stood firmly where I was, across the room from her.

"It's so nice to see you again, Chan. I've been thinking a lot about us. I miss you, you know? Do you -"

"I didn't come here to talk about us," I sharply cut in. I knew it sounded cruel, but I didn't really care. "You said something about Mina in your text. That's why I'm here. Was that real, or was it a little ploy just to get me to meet you?"

Jang-mi sighed in frustration, as if I was being unreasonable by suggesting that.

"Do you really think that little of me?"

"Your actions over these past years have given me no choice but to think so little of you."

She rolled her eyes. "You're so dramatic. You act like I'm the bad guy, but you weren't perfect either, you know."

"I wasn't always perfect, but I never cheated on you," I said, feeling some anger boiling inside of me.

I didn't care about her anymore, but I couldn't help admit that it did hurt that she still couldn't just admit she was in the wrong. She always had to shift the blame onto me and make everything my fault.

"Cheating isn't the worst thing you can do to a person."

"Isn't it?"

"No, it isn't. Not loving someone enough, not giving them enough attention and driving them to cheat, that's worse."

She's insane, I thought to myself. In that moment, as I looked at her cold, expressionless face, I wondered how I could have ever loved someone like her.

Us being together felt a lifetime ago, and the me that was with her, and the me that's here now, seemed like two entirely different people.

Mina made me realise what I had been missing when I dated Jang-mi. Trust. I knew I could trust Mina with absolutely anything. I felt like I could tell her everything single thing about me, and she wouldn't judge me or ever use it against me.

I never felt that way with Jang-mi. I always felt like I was never good enough, that It was my fault that she kept cheating on me. I was in constant fear that she was cheating again.

Every text message I heard her receive, I'd think,'Is that another man?' Every time she'd cancel her plans with me, I wondered if it was so she could see someone else. I felt like a paranoid wreck.

It got worse when I found out that she had also been sleeping with some of my best friends. Best friends that I confided in about her, about how scared I was of her cheating again. The entire time, they knew she was cheating, knew that they were who she was cheating with, yet they still comforted me and assured me that she'd changed.

My rose tinted glasses had been removed, and I could now see Jang-mi clearly, and I didn't like what I saw. I just wanted to get this meeting over so I could go back home to Mina.

I just conceded. "Okay, you can have me be the bad guy in your mind. I really don't care. I just -"

"I know you care," she said, sounding almost desperate. I think she was surprised that she wasn't getting a rise out of me, that I genuinely didn't care what she thought of me anymore. "I know you, Chan. I'm the only one who really does or ever will."

"I don't think you ever knew me. Not even when we were dating."

"And this Mina does?" She questioned, phrasing it as if it was ridiculous.

Mina does know me, I thought firmly, and I knew it was true. But I didn't want to talk about me and Mina's relationship to Jang-mi. I knew she was just jealous. Nothing good would come from telling her about Mina.

"As I already said, I only came here to talk about the text that you sent me. I'm not interested in reminiscing or arguing with you."

She looked as if she was thinking, probably wanting to continue arguing about us some more. She seemed to realise I wasn't kidding, that I wasn't going to play her game anymore.

And, with a cruel smile, she told me, "I had a very interesting person contact me, Chan. A man named Byung-chul. He had some really damaging information about your sweetheart, Mina."

♡

Hello, I am SO sorry about the big gap in uploads but my phone (which I use to write my stories) completely broke so I couldn't write anything/even access my account until I got my new phone!

I have it now, though. So uploads should be frequent again.

I also hope that since this chapter is a big reveal, it makes up for it? How do you guys feel about the big reveal?👀