if you || laiguanlin

04

mark's pov

Sejoeng and I talked quite a lot during our cafe um... date(?) Honestly it felt nice talking to her and it's been long I feel that relaxed talking with someone. But it wasn't hard to notice the uneasy look she has on her face not long after we arrived at the cafe, she seemed to be eyeing the surrounding quite often. Is something bothering her?

"Sejeong ah are you okay? You seem quite off track..." I asked out of concern.

"Um yeah... I guess I'm fine." Sejeong replied while heaving a sigh.

Well... something is definitely bothering her. I think it would be better to send her home and let her have a nice rest.

"I guess we should head back now? It's getting late anyways. Let me take you home." I offered.

"You don't have to. I'm fine with going home myself. Besides, my house is just two streets away." Sejeong replied with a small smile.

"NO noNo. There's no way I'm gonna let a girl go home by herself!! Especially this late!! You never know what will happen when you go home alone. You know how dangerous it may be? LIke some random strangers may just appear and hurt you, and..."

"Omg Mark you sound like my mum!" Sejeong chuckled. I'm glad I made her smile somehow;) "Ok! I accept your offer... so can we leave now?"

sejeong's pov

I guess I must have been a really REALLY nice person in my previous life to deserve this... IT'S FREAKING MARK ACCOMPANYING ME HOME. Though we didn't talk much on our way home, it certainly did not feel awkward at all. Sometimes when we accidentally hit each others' arms, I would literally blush like hell. Luckily I let my hair down so it could cover my already pink and burning cheeks.

Everything was so perfect. The soothing night breeze, the deserted street, the silece that people always yearn for, and the person beside me... everything was so perfect... until someone suddenly appeared in my eyesight.

Or to be more accurate, I didn't notice that person at first. I didn't acknowledge the existence of the person until I heard a familiar, yet unknown voice calling me.

Crap.

It's him.

I reluctantly turned my head to the direction which the voice is from.

"Hi guanlin. It's been long." I said with an emotionless face.

The next second I knew, I was pulled into a warm embrace. It felt so familiar, so right, yet so wrong. Tonnes of emotions overwhelmed me in one second, I wanted to continue this embrace and cry my heart out, but my mind told me I shouldn't do this. I'm the one who is betrayed, I'm the one who is hurt, the one who is living in this dark, loveless world. I immediately pushed guanlin away.

"Are you crazy what do you think you're doing?" I shouted with authority.

I swear I tried so hard to stay calm while in fact I was breaking down inside.

"Sejeong, listen to me. I really can explain. I'm really sorry." Guanlin pleaded.

"Do you think a simple sorry can help? It's already been two years and I'm sure that's more than enough time to apologize, yet you didn't even have the courage to do so? Or maybe you don't even care?" I continued ranting.

That's enough, I can't continue anymore. I can't turn weak in front of him.

"Mark, let's leave." I pulled him by his hand.

Though I wasn't really paying attention, I think Mark blushed a little by my sudden action. Sigh... why did this perfect night turned out like this?

narrative

The two figures continued their way home side by side, none letting their hands separate. Mark was certainly curious about what happened to sejeong, but he chose not to ask, he wanted sejeong to calm down. At the meantime, sejeong was more than glad that mark didn't ask about the incident just now, for she just wanted to forget everything and live peacefully. She knew mark was worried about her from his expression, and this actually made her feel better, to know that someone actually cared for her, unlike someone who just left her alone, two years ago.

Meanwhile, another figure was left dumbfounded in the middle of the street, not knowing how to react. Millions of questions popped up in his head. Is sejeong dating already? Will she forgive me? What should I do? Did I really lose her? Do I still deserve a chance?

In this ruthless, cruel world, we witness love stories turning into tragedies almost everyday. But why is this the case? Yes, sometimes it really is the fault of one side, but most of the times, it's all about misunderstandings, lack of communication, overthinking, the lack of trust, and so much more we can actually avoid. Surely so many lovebirds will be able to continue their journey if they would have listened to each other earlier, or allow each other to explain. But there honestly are too little people who could do this. They say facing the reality requires strong courage, and not listening to the reality seems like a clever way to make yourself feel better, by escaping from the reality, or just making assumptions about what has happened. But these assumptions often turned out to be worse, even worse than the reality, yet we still choose to follow our assumptions. 

"A mistake is to commit a misunderstanding." -Bob Dylan