the one that got away | cloy

Chapter 01: Stuck On You.

Important pointers:
—every chapter will alternate between two perspectives of the two couples living together, I may later use only one chapter for one couple but for now they are combined.

—this is an alternate universe; which means:
~Gu Seung Jun is not dead.
~Ri Jeong Hyeok is not in the NK military service.
~Yoon Se-ri is not a rich heiress.
~Seo Dan has not lost the love of her life, also, does not live in NK.

—there have been some changes to the preview so I urge you all to read that again.

—————

Zurich, Switzerland.

Seo Dan has never felt her heart being this heavy ever before in her life. The seemingly rude woman on the outside who, albeit, possessed a heart as soft as a flower petal, could not bring herself to move from her bed on this particular Monday morning. As she dared to sneak in an extra five minutes of sleep before her alarm went off again, her mind went back to her dream.

A dream where she's twenty eight again. A dream where she is smiling. A dream where she's on a bench in Pyongyang with a sandwich in her hand, trying takeout with a man she has grown to adore. A man whose smile is as charming as his apparel. A man who is constantly brushing back his thick brown hair so it doesn't fall in his gleaming eyes. A man who has forced her to try this mediocre way of eating on a bench while she fidgets around under the uncomfortable wood of the seat she's sat on.

She wants to tell this man that this is not how she was raised, that this is not how they do it back where she comes from. She wants to tell him to get a grip and smile less for her own sake. She wants to get up and leave on the spot but she's still there, rooted to her feet.

Because she is in love with this man.

Eight years later, and she realises she is still in love with Gu Seung Jun, the man who is married to another woman probably back in South Korea.

A tear slips from her eye. She makes no effort to wipe it away for she likes the pain his memories bring to her, it's therapeutic.

Because this is the only way she can remember him.

Ri Jeong Hyeok doesn't know when sunset went by. It is only when his eyes land on the clock in the living room that he realises it is past 6 in the evening. He hasn't seen Dan the entire day, it is okay, he tells himself. They had been having problems.

Again.

She needed space and so did he.

But this time, something was different. They had gone weeks without even speaking a word to each other, not even the usual good mornings, for the matter. While it did bother him, it still didn't bother him enough to seek her out.

He starts preparing for dinner, maybe she will come downstairs on her own. If not, she will heat up the container he will put in the refrigerator for her to eat later— a mantra the couple had followed for some years now, only this year, it was proving to be repeated more and more. Careful not to get his white button down dirty, Ri Jeong Hyeok ties an apron around his waist; the one that covers his thighs from waist down. Then, he starting washing the bright bellpeppers before chopping them, careful to fold his sleeves upto his elbows beforehand.