Stigma ✔

|33|

Irene

"Oh, Come on! Don't look so surprised to see me!" He smirked and pushed his way inside the room and made his way towards my brother.

To be honest, I am more surprised at the fact that he willingly came here rather than being shocked to see him here. Lee Jaehwa or 'Lee Sunbae' as he is now known as, was not someone I had first met at the agency. 

No, I knew him way before that. I knew him since I was a little kid. He was my brother's best friend and someone that my brother really adored. Till that one incident happened. That one incident in their high-school not only broke a beautiful friendship but also made him very sour with me. That one incident after which my brother left us all here and went to America.

 I was quite nervous to see him join SM but was not shocked. He had a wonderful voice and it would be a lie to say I was not one of his first fans. The man he became now is now where close to the wonderful elder brother figure he was once. None of them ever told me what happened between them but that night after their graduation my brother came home with a bloodied lip and bruises and a taboo placed on his former best friend's name.

None of the girls knew about any of this. In fact I don't think anyone at the agency did. It was made very clear that whatever history we had was to be erased and never mentioned again as he din't want to be associated with a 'Betrayer's sister'. However, everything changed when he started showing interest in me and started flirting only in front of the crowd. I know many people had noticed it as everyone assumed he had 'affections' for me. Everything was just a lie.

I nervously stand in front of the door facing him as he peers down at my brother. He places the bouquet of wild flowers at his bedside table and stuffs his hands in his pockets.

"How is he?" He ask tensely, his voice barely audible.

I clear my throat and reply, "He's stable now. He just has to wake up from his coma now."

He nods and fixes his shirt, a nervous tell-tale habit I recognized from our childhood. "Such a bastard. Even when he is on his deathbed, he makes people suffer." He scoffs and anger flares inside me

"He is not on his deathbed, sunbae." I snap, "And why are you worried? I thought you hated him" 

He abruptly turned towards me and in a few steps stood in front of me, "Oh yes. I do hate that asshole. Worried? Of course, I am not worried. Happy, in fact. He stole my everything away from me, now I will take his."

This was not the first time we had such conversations but this is the first time he managed to induce a fear in me. His tone sent shivers down my spine. Being in the same room as him with a sick brother and no way to escape the room was not comforting at all.

"Your brother deserves where he is now, sweetheart. He deserves every bad thing he went through and will go through. I will make sure of it. How dare he come back and pretend everything is fine?" He snarled, his voice taking a deeper edge toward the end. "And do you who will pay the price? You." 

Involuntarily, I take a step back from him. Something close to guilt flashed through his eyes before his face contorted in anger. It was clear now that the scars ran deep between the two former-friends. 

"Oppa...please, you know what you said is not right. What happened between you two? One you atleast needs to say it for us to solve it, right?" I say, my voice faltering at the end.

He scoffed and looked away from me. "Solve? There is nothing to solve JooHyun-ah. What is done will not be either forgiven or brushed aside. You have no idea the hurt I went through because of your brother. It is his chance to suffer now."

For the first time in the past ten years, I saw raw vulnerability reflect in his eyes as he looked out of the window distracted.

He was still there somewhere. The Lee Jaehwa I knew was not completely gone. He was once my best friend and a reliable confidante. After the two friends cut all ties with each other, he showed his worst side to me. In the start, it did hurt but after a while I learned to deal with it.

It was clear that there something big that was left unattended and unresolved between them. They both needed a closure from what happened.

He broke out of his trance when another knock was heard on the door. I looked at the door relieved that someone was finally here and was about to go to the door when Sunbae pulled me towards him and hugged me tight.

My face was burried in his chest when I heard the door click open softly. My eyes shut tight and my heart thundered in my chest when I heard a short gasp. The shock and confusion of the sudden gesture had me unable to push away. When I finally did snap out of it, it was too late as I heard multiple flashes before the door was shut closed with a bang.

Everything happened in a matter of seconds and dazed, I pushed him away and stumbled away from him.

What the hell just happened?

My eyes searched the room and found Sunbae standing in front of me looking all smug, a smirk playing on his face, but he was not looking at me. He was looking at the newest arrival in the room. Someone who I had been actually expecting, someone I was very anxious as well as excited to meet.

Kim SeokJin.

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I wanted to ask all my readers something for a while now;
Since when did you start staning  #Jinrene?