He seemed to have a detection device on his body so he always found a spot wherever I was hiding.
Feeling caught off guard, I hurriedly closed the curtains. My heart was beating loudly like screaming for help. I could even hear each time it beat and feel it as if it was about to explode from a terrible tribulation.
In that instant, the sound of the door slamming sounded so loudly, took me by surprise. I immediately turned my gaze to the bedroom door which was closed anxiously. Feelings of fear, worry, confusion, began to creep everywhere, flowing through my blood that was flowing profusely.
In the silence, the sound of footsteps chasing each other, as my heartbeat accelerated. I didn't know if the commotion came from the sound of both of them outside or whether the beat of my heart was pounding. My head couldn't distinguish the two things with certainty.
"Chunghee! Let's go home!" Donghwa shouted, saying the same thing over and over again.
However, I stayed silent inside the room, biting my lip so as not to retaliate. I didn't want to be the obedient person for him like I used to be and didn't even want to come back to him anymore. I used to indulge my feelings, the result was excruciating pain out of the betrayer.
His presence wasn't something I expected at this point either.
Suddenly with a "bang!", a sudden silence enveloped the whole house. The noise of them wasn't heard behind the door again as if I was living alone in this rotten world. I winced in confusion, wondering about what was going on out there. Then, curiosity made me step slowly towards the door.
Once I stood right in front of the door, I didn't open it immediately and fused into the silence while waiting for someone to say a word behind the door. However, it's almost a minute had passed, but none of them had yet made a voice. Now, this silence made me feel more and more anxious.
While waiting for a while, there was the sound of knocking on the door along with a deep, familiar voice. "Chunghee, open the door, I beg of you ...." There was a plea in his hoarse voice. "I want you to come back — come home with me. I knew that I was wrong. I'm really sorry. Please, forgive me. I beg you."
I was suddenly taken aback, frowning. That voice was Donghwa's voice.
'Then, where is Daehyun?'
He couldn't possibly let Donghwa go up here or even touch the door, could he? This question popped up in my head first than having to respond to nonsense from someone who was trying so hard to persuade me. I didn't want to care about him anymore.
"Chunghee, I beg you, open the door, please. I want to see you — let me see you — I miss you so much — we also have to talk about this matter. I beg you," Donghwa asked the same thing repeatedly behind the door. His voice sounded very gentle, as he used to ask me gently if he wanted something.
I'm sick of all that.
"Chunghee, say something, I beg you, let me hear your voice ...."
In a simple context, talking to Donghwa was something that I wanted to avoid the most. However, the anxiety was completely beyond my expectations. I never thought that this feeling would make me break a rule of myself. Then, with difficulty, I asked, "Where's Daehyun?"
For a few seconds, Donghwa was silent behind the door before he spoke with tears of emotion, "Chunghee, Chunghee ... your voice ... finally I can hear your voice too, I'm happy ... very happy."
Without caring, I took a silent breath and then asked him again, "Where is he?"
He fell silent again, then suddenly sneered, "Why are you looking for him? He's been trying to separate us all this time. Don't look for that bastard."
Paused, I thought about Donghwa's words about "he's trying to separate us". If that's true, then it's not quite right. Daehyun just needed to do what he's supposed to do. All this time I always raved about my relationship with Donghwa and said that I didn't want to return to him anymore. When I compared to the word "separate", it would be more appropriate if Daehyun just "prevented".
Outside the door, Donghwa spoke incessantly as if he really felt the pain of losing me, "I'm here ... I've wanted to see you ... don't you miss me? Open the door, I beg you. Chunghee, I beg you."
Not getting an answer, I raised my voice slightly to emphasize the question once again, "Where's Daehyun?"
However, instead of giving me an answer, Donghwa, who had always been an individualist person, would never care about things that went against what he wanted to.
I almost forgot the injustice.
He emphasized, "Chunghee, if you don't open the door, I'll break this door." There was a threat to his words.
Donghwa's words sounded convincing. His voice was flat yet cold, mixed with a commanding firmness.
However, I seemed immovable and became a rebel. I used to always be obedient and now there was no more "obedient Chunghee".
Because Donghwa was an impulsive and impatient person, he started banging on the door from outside, trying to open it pushy.
At first, I could still ignore it but gradually, he became more and more brutal as if he was about to destroy the door. So, immediately I opened the door.
I did that not because Donghwa's words seemed threatening or scared me, but I didn't want him to destroy any property in this house apart from worrying about Daehyun.
As soon as the door opened, something suddenly came into my heart. I felt like I was on the line between loving and hating, all of which made me feel like shedding tears.
In front of me, a stout figure was standing where I couldn't tell whether he had come bearing wounds or affection from the past. He looked surprised, then immediately smiled broadly with teary eyes.
A few seconds later, his browny eyes that looked cold radiated an early summer cheer. He smiled gently like a man in the past that I love the most, revealing how much he loved me. Looking at me, made his stern face emitted a familiar warmth, which I missed every moment when I still chose to stick with him.
Then, suddenly, Donghwa tugged at my waist. In that instant, I was already in the arms of his broad chest and was getting narrower as his tight and deep embrace seemed to make me entangled in the memories of the past that was both bitter and sweet.
It was different in our previous situation. When I was in his arms this time, I could consciously feel his clear perfume and a faint smell of tobacco on his dark coat. There was a feeling of nostalgia that seemed to slap my face and tell me that I missed this scent for a long time.
I froze in this sensation.
However, the other side of me suddenly awakened me from this nostalgic feeling, made me almost scream, "Let me go, then get out of here. I don't want to see you anymore."
After hearing my words, I could feel him startle silently as if his heart had stopped beating for a short time. He said deeply, "I don't want to. I'm afraid you will leave me again."
"I said let me go!" This time I shouted.
Donghwa froze instantly. He took a deep breath before finally, he freed my body from his strong arms.
After all, being merciful would only get me caught up in the pain of the same betrayal.
I didn't want that to happen one more time. I had felt it enough for the umpteenth time to make a deep trauma in my heart.
My stupidity had made me fall into the same heartache.
I was trying to be tough when I said my sentence, "Leave now! I don't want to see you!"
Looking into his eyes, I was thinking of something silently. His gaze was completely different since we last parted as if he was the one who had suffered the most so far and purposely shown me to be the one who caused him to suffer all this time.
I had not shown any reaction yet, trying to look as calm as I could. Until, when I saw Daehyun walking up the stairs while holding his bleeding nose, I reflexively pushed Donghwa's body aside and rushed over to Daehyun. With great shock, I exclaimed, "Daehyun, what happened? Why is your nose bleeding?"
Smiling, Daehyun wiped the blood seeping out of his nose. Then, slowly sweeping his gaze towards Donghwa who looked displeased behind me, then spoke, "Why don't you just ask him? He's the one who did this to me."
Hearing Daehyun's words, I was immediately shocked. I didn't expect that Donghwa would be so violent that he didn't use his brain to think that what he just did was criminalized.
I was silenced with disbelief even though I clearly knew that Donghwa was indeed a person who could not use his common sense when he was angry or wanted something.