Gulping heedfully, Jin can't help the shivering of his fingers as they tightly held onto the material between his pale hands. He stifles a low and concerned gasp and drops the letter at the table, afraid that he might wrinkle and ruin its splendid perfection.
"E-Eomma, about the invited guests . . . is the guest list already finalized?" He can't help but pop the question at her and his starry violet eyes appear to be looking lost in dreadful portent as they meet hers.
His mother responded to him with a meek and mellow smile. Her eyes were softly beaming as they warmly look further into his.
Well, isn't he curious now?
With her head tilted to the other side, she opens her mouth. Or perhaps it was her heart that was grinning presumptuously at the thought of him displaying a hint of interest in her civilized wedding.
Jin pursed his lips. Why is his mother looking at him like that? His firm brows shot up ferociously at her, staring at her serious-mindedly. It was as if he said something that entertained her when the matter at hand is clearly unsettling.
"The guest list, you say?" Asami paused. Her fingers touch the tip of her chin, suddenly in deep thoughts.
Now that the matter is brought up, she remembered the settlement she proposed as they were still ailing to reconsider rejecting their heeding requests and it was not an easy task, "I'm afraid, not. There are still quite a few more important figures who wanted to attend."
Jin blinks, his slightly quivering lips parted, "J-Jinjjayo?" (R-Really?)
What does she mean by that?
His eyes then gloomily drop to the outstretched invitation card on the table, and the mental stimulation he had received today seems to tire him out endlessly. His head starts to achingly spin.
It already says here that there are a thousand guests drafted, was it not?
The disheartened young fellow weakly folds the invitation card close and puts it back inside its rightful envelope, where it shouldn't have been opened in the first place.
A small, sad smile softly touches his lips as he buries the dissatisfaction inside his guarded eyes.
"Are you alright, sweetheart?"
His mother's hand went up to caress his arm, but her warmth was nowhere to be sensed at the moment. His body had grown stiffer and colder as he rapidly pales, feeling not in his usual self.
The bitter taste on his tongue and the discomforting heaviness clouding his chest . . . should he confess his discomforts to her? Would it even change a thing?
Jin forces out a smile.
Seeing how happy she is, how could he ever dare to?
He could never bring himself to do it.
The best he could do was to just hold it further in as he doesn't want her to feel burdened by him more. She had already suffered enough.
When Asami compassed from shedding tears towards the letter she briefly resumed reading, she safely placed it back inside the envelope and excused herself from her children to hide the letter somewhere safe inside her room. She held the envelope close to her chest with obvious care as she leaves whilst Jin absentmindedly and wordlessly went back to his seat, feeling forsakenly defeated.
How should he face that crazy amount of people?
When his mother officially left the kitchen, a heavy silence falls between him and Jihyuk and it was another pain in the head for him to even think of.
They were aware of the hostility actively boiling and charging between them, yet they both kept their lips sealed, choosing to remain in the uncomfortable silence as their bewailing gazes studied each other.
The corner of Jin's eyes twitches in irritant. He, too, is angry at his imprudent actions towards Hiro. He was rude and impolite. His behavior was completely unacceptable.
Oh, stare all you want Kang Jihyuk.
His audacious glare would never shake nor make him back down from his place from now onwards and he shall hit his head on the wall if this oath of his fails.
If someone were to apologize, it should be Jihyuk and not him. He clears his throat. Well, maybe if hyuk would apologize first . . . he shall do the same after him.
His subconscious rolled his eyes at him for being hard yet too soft in the next second. He's no good in arguments. He always hasn't been.
As the clock continues to tick with not a single word uttered towards one another, the towering walls they surround themselves stretch far wide, where it can already kiss the dark skies in the night.
It was both pride and prejudice that resides in them both. The strong animosity around them remained unchangeable until his mother had reappeared back in the kitchen to tidy up the table before serving them refreshments from the fridge.
When Asami turns to them, she naturally sips from her iced orange juice, currently daydreaming with her heart and head full and bouncing in the air, and it appears that she was too flattered to sense the flaw in the room.
She sat where she was originally seated a while ago and briefly checked the contents of the wedding invitations again, which reminded her of the important information she almost forgot to mention.
"Ah, yes I almost forgot. The wedding will be taking place in Cheon."
Jin has never been thankful that he didn't touch his juice yet because he would have spit it across the table right here, right now at this very moment. His eyes couldn't bulge more in disbelief.
Asami bites her lips and Jin's heart couldn't stop itself from hammering when her smile suddenly drops and her expression turns wary and serious.
And it felt like déjà vu.
It was the same vibe he felt when he confessed her engagement to him. Jin gulps, not mentally prepared.
No . . .
"The wedding will be held in three weeks and I'm thinking of moving to Cheon after the wedding." Asami softly spoke and studies her child's reaction, who froze and pale from her statement before her eyes turns to Jihyuk, who had juice spilled from his wide and parted lips. Her hands turn cold.
Jin backs away, his heart aching. She's leaving? "E-Eomma . . . what about your work here?" For that man?
No, she can't move there. What about him? They had their lives fine here.
Or was he forced to believe that they were fine?
They were happy . . . weren't they? So why?
"I'll be transferred to a different branch with the same position." The company she works for is under the same owner anyways, and that owner happens to be her future husband.
"Then what about me?" His voice was weak almost like a sob. She can't leave him. He still has a semester to finish.
His mother looks at him as if he had lost his mind and she leans over to capture his hands on the table, her fingers caressing his cold skin, "Of course, you're coming with me." Why wouldn't he?
It's good that she reconsidered this offer from Harashi. It's best to move out when this place wouldn't guarantee their safety anymore.
The information couldn't seem to process well inside his head, "W-What about my classes?"
Him moving to c-cheon?
"I haven't enrolled you yet for the second semester." She held his hand and lovingly stroked his knuckles.
The truth was she and Harashi are still in deep discussion about it. Needlessly to say, such matter can always be settled upon their arrival.
Jin's heart sank, and slowly it cues to his senses the hidden signals waving in front of him, large and alarming red flashing signals.
Not enrolling him for the second semester only means she's having thoughts of transferring him to another university . . .
He looks over at Jihyuk and came to meet his gaze, their hostility momentarily forgotten as Jihyuk's eyes lost their colors mournfully. He was even paler than him.
S-Sulma . . . (N-No way . . . )