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Baekhyun let out a gasp upon dropping it, causing the others to look up from whatever they were doing. "Oops, sorry!"

"What were you saying?" Kyungsoo sighed as he closed the book he was reading.

"Oh! Did you hear? Juhyun was so close to cancelling the wedding after something happened between you two."

Immediately his head perked up and eyes widened dramatically as the guys also in the room's eyebrows raised. It was only a couple days after the quite...interesting dinner with his lovely and kind ex, and it wasn't like he told any of the others. Even Junmyeon didn't hear from the lounge. Well hopefully not.

"H--huh?"

Picking up the stick casually as if he hadn't caused a little trouble to Kyungsoo, Baekhyun shrugged. "You guys argued or something. At least that's what Taeyeon said."

"How does Taeyeon know?"

"C'mon, Juhyun tells her everything," he responded as if Kyungsoo was a simple minded man; though at that moment he felt like one. "I'm sure it wasn't that bad, though. Was it?"

When the others looked up eagerly, excited to hear the juicy gossip, he sighed in defeat. "It wasn't even my fault! Juhyun just has a vendetta against Ara for some peculiar reason and I just thought it was unfair. Is that so bad?"

Kim Jongdae, the man with the smile identical to the Cheshire Cat, began grinning deviously. His hand gripping his large phone clenched. "Do I hear a certain Ara in this mix?"

Chanyeol began chuckling from the other side of the snooker table after having his go. His widened eyes blinked in curiosity. "You know what? I think I heard the same."

Discarding his amazing sci–fi book, Kyungsoo grumbled at his immature friends. He'd wondered how someone as childlike as Park Chanyeol could be considered a prodigy, and how idiotic Kim Jongdae managed to finish his degree at the top of his class. On the other hand, mature and sadly miniature Do Kyungsoo was painfully average.

"I don't know about you but I was just being moral! Juhyun was totally out of order, and I would defend any of you guys if she did the same."

Minseok bit his lip from the sidelines. "But if Juhyun was so upset to the point that she almost cancelled her wedding, you must've said some outrageous things."

"I assure you they weren't," he refuted with a huff. Even his friends were being sceptical of his argument — but he knew for sure he was right. "I'm not a douchebag, you guys know that. I wouldn't ever be remotely mean if there wasn't a reason to."

"But not once have you ever won a battle between Im Juhyun," Chanyeol pointed out, speaking about the lady as if she was a superhuman. "Let's be real here: admit to us it's because she shat on your beloved, not because you're trying to fight for our rights or something."

As the others chuckled at Chanyeol's explanation, high–fiving and agreeing with him, Kyungsoo frowned. It was quite concerning to him that he simply didn't have an answer to refute his friend's allegations, rather just sitting there for moments just thinking. After his lack of response, he let out a last, dragged out exhale. The other's eyes all swiftly turned to him, eager to hear what nonsense he'd say next.

"Okay, okay. Maybe I'm not entirely sure on how I feel about Ara. I thought it was platonic, but as time went by, it became clear that it wasn't," he admitted to everyone's bewilderment. Kind of. "I promised myself never to get involved in another situation like this after the divorce, but I, I don't know."

Bounding over to his small friend sympathetically, the quiet Oh Sehun patted his shoulder. "I'm glad you told us. But we'd be lying through our teeth if we said we didn't know."

"Huh?"

"It's truly a miracle to know that you've finally moved on from Juhyun, cause it was slightly unhealthy," he added in coolness. "And I had enough of seeing her smug face everywhere. She's practically in my nightmares."

This sent back memories shooting into Kyungsoo's clouded brain. When he actually began dating Juhyun in his senior year after years of an unrequited crush and many rejections, the others watched in sheer sadness. They knew he could do so much better than a girl who's main concern in life was whether her nails were primly filed and painted. Although Juhyun had been their classmate for years, also being a good friend of theirs, they simply thought she wasn't suited for him.

"Look, my main concern in life is getting Kyungri through her childhood," Kyungsoo deadpanned, picking up his long discarded book. "I'm not looking to seek a relationship at the moment. So let's just leave my confused feelings aside for the meantime."

To his not–so–surprising annoyance, they never let it go for the rest of the night.

—

"We've ordered the wedding cake, bought all of the decorations and have the guest list for the special day!"

Kim Taeyeon was excited for the wedding, more than the bride herself. She stood in glee in the middle of Ara's living room, holding the notes she made for what needed to be done before the day. Approximately five days until the wedding of the century and there was still a lot to be done! Taeyeon had made it her mission to save Ara's butt; booking the pair hair and makeup prep from one of the most skilled beauticians in Seoul. When Ara saw how much it costed, she almost collapsed.

Juhyun told the girl to invite her Mom and sister to the wedding too — when her Mom found out about the invitation, she quickly booked the train to Seoul so they wouldn't miss it. Her family loved a reason to get out of their casual clothes and into dresses and makeup.

"Now we just need to decorate the venue and buy Juhyun's gift!" She finished, clapping her hands. "I'm oddly excited. Although Juhyun's been really quiet."

Ara was confused as to why Juhyun wasn't the most active on the countdown to her own wedding. It was after the dinner...

She remembered Kyungsoo was awfully flustered after leaving the kitchen, Juhyun herself running to her room upstairs and not even bidding a goodbye to the pair. Junmyeon was puzzled at that, instead trying to stay collected as he led the two towards the door. When Ara advanced to question Kyungsoo on his irritated state, he shrugged it off. It didn't seem like a shrugging matter anymore, though.

"This wedding should go smoothly, or should I hope," Taeyeon added with an uneasy tone. The same thing was definitely in her mind too...would the wedding be awkward now? Supposedly it would; Juhyun probably couldn't stand the look of the blunt and straight faced, quite possibly jealous, ex husband, and the latter wouldn't be eager to see her snide face anyways. Hopefully it wouldn't be too bad.

"Has she been talking to you?" Ara asked meekly.

With a tilt of her head, she frowned. "Yeah, I visited her and she was pretty miffed. But I don't really want to go into details. Let's just say she's mad."

"Fair enough, but I hope it doesn't affect her mood when the big day happens."

An hour later of planning and discussing, Kim Taeyeon was on her way — lacking the jump to her steps. It was sad for her friend to see, the girl who could make a whole city light up with just a smile was so down.

When Taeyeon left, Ara sat in the middle of her living room just thinking. She was thinking about many things: her late father, her poor family, this dreaded wedding. She also began contemplating how different her life was two months ago; having only two amazing friends by her side, but now having so many people there for her. It was a blessing and a curse.

Her phone beside her let out a shrill ping, Ara's eyes averting to it.

Are you busy? I'm in a coffee shop with an untouched steaming hot chocolate...your favorite?

Ara couldn't help but beam at his message, eyebrows raising at the unexpectedness. She was already dressed and just put on a jacket on top of her jeans and top. Leaving the house, she made her way to the coffee shop. It wasn't one she'd visited prior — the address that was sent was unknown to her, but Jung Ara was willing to try new things.

Do Kyungsoo sat boredly at the far end of the café with no drink in sight. He was wearing a beanie on the top of his head, something Ara had never seen on him, and looked up to see her. In seconds, his tired eyes lit up and a grin grew on his face. Directing her over to the table, he gave Ara a sheepish smile when her eyes narrowed.

"Where's the hot chocolate I was promised?" She pouted jokily.

"Ah...about that. It was a ploy to get you out of your house. It worked!"

She sat in front him with a tired sigh, rolling her droopy eyes. "What's this rendevous about?"

"I don't know, just wanted some company. Being home alone without a certain little girl gets boring, you know?"

"So you decide to invite the most interesting person you're aquainted with. Am I right?" She responded with a devious smile on her face.

"You're not wrong, that's for sure," Kyungsoo agreed, equally smiley. Even though he felt lost without his small daughter and was at odds with Juhyun, being with Ara made him forget all that. "I can't believe this time next week we'd go back to our normal lives."

Ara briskly nodded. "Yeah...but I'm liking this wedding preparation season. It's getting my mind of the fact that I have a ten–thousand word dissertation due next month."

Afterwards, a homemade cheesecake garnished with candied orange curds, a mocha and Ara's promised hot chocolate were ordered. When they had arrived, she couldn't help but gasp at how good they looked; another photo to be taken for her Instagram. Complimented with two silver teaspoons, the two dug in.

"Why didn't you tell me about this place sooner?" She joked as her eyes lit up from the light texture of the cake. To her inattentiveness, Kyungsoo's phone peaked out from the edge of the table to take a snap of her refreshed expression.

"It was my little secret," he said after slipping his phone back in, consuming the cheesecake across from her. When Ara rolled her eyes, he exhaled. "Maybe Jongdae knows about it too? But be grateful, you're the first girl I've taken here apart from Kyungri."

"Even Juhyun?" When he nodded, she grinned at his reply before sipping the equally delicious hot chocolate. "That's great to know. Honestly, I want to marry the owner of this place."

"Well, she'd love to hear that."

Jung Ara's toothy smile was a stunning one. That was definitely for sure. It always managed to cave its way into melting the seemingly impenetrable walls of Kyungsoo's aching heart, reciprocating one of his own. However, he didn't want to sit there longing to see her smile for the rest of his shortening life.

So with a tug of her wooly arm, of course after paying the bill, Kyungsoo pulled her out of the café into the fresh air. October was surely a month full of celebrating; with the upcoming week filled with fun and parties, and of course Ara's favorite day. Halloween. She didn't know whether it was the abundance of free candy given to her or maybe the fact that she had a reason to sit cozy in her living room watching haunted movies that did it for her. A mixture of both was the best way to end the chilly month.

With a swift interlink of their arms just as they did in Busan, the pair strolled through the expanse of greenland near the café as yellowed, tinted with a hint of brown, leaves scattered onto the concrete pathway leading towards even more grassland. A picture perfect scenery, Ara mused to herself.

"I don't know how you do it," Kyungsoo murmured just loud enough for the girl beside him to turn in confusion.

"Do what?"

He shrugged. "Just be so positive even when there's nothing to be positive for."

Ara laughed, thinking he certainly did not know her. She was the most pessimistic person in the planet. But instead of refuting his claim, she bit her lip. "It's just so much better to smile than to frown."

—

The time was eight in the late evening, and Ara still had some filing of her work to do in light of a full day at university tomorrow. She would take Friday, the wedding, off. Her sweet, elderly professor was a very optimistic man who took joy in the happiness of others and encouraged Ara to go, promising to send her the work she'd miss by email. She'd for sure miss him when she left.

After digging through a week's worth of assignments she'd finished over the short weekend and filing them into her bulky folder, Ara brushed her teeth and got ready for a full eight hours of 'beauty' sleep. It wouldn't really be a beauty sleep as she woke up even uglier than the previous night: with a messy mane of hair and sometimes dried drool on the side of her cheeks when the sleep was exceptionally good that night.

She sleepily scrolled through the endless feed on her Instagram, one new post catching her eye. It was a photo of her. Ara's eyes furrowed as she studied the photo. The outfit was what she wore today, a cheesecake and hot chocolate in front of her and a big grin on her refreshingly happy face.

The caption was: she looks cuter when she's not aware of what's going on.

She couldn't stop but gasp at it, reading the comments and responses from none other but the other guys, fangirling about the caption. She didn't even know what to reply with. So she left a like and a simple reply.

what an ugly photo >.<

From across the hall, Kyungsoo was also ready to enjoy an early night in. He had an exhausting day today from work to hanging out with his friends to meeting up with Ara. Tomorrow would be when Kyungri finally came back to his care and he would be lying if he wasn't ecstatic. She wasn't with him for two weeks due to the tragedy, staying with her Mom's for the duration.

Sitting comfortably on the sofa watching a boring TV show about otters, he lifelessly scrolled through his phone after watching his Instagram blow up from posting a photo. Once his doorbell rung, Kyungsoo hoped to expect his neighbor but was unpleasantly surprised to see Im Juhyun leaning on the doorframe. She was makeup free, raven locks down to brush past her shoulders. Unlike her posh and expensive outfits she usually adorned, she wore a black t–shirt and ripped jeans alongside some slippers. This was very unlike her. Yet it best explained the dried tears on her cheeks and her puffy eyelids. With a suppressed gasp, Kyungsoo was quick to pull her into his abode.

For the first time in a very long time she burst out sobbing in the middle of Do Kyungsoo's empty living room. Her tears weren't as extravagant and flamboyant as her brash personality, instead reflecting the oddly demure side of her. Hands covering her face and shoulders shaking, Juhyun situated herself onto his sofa.

If the old Kyungsoo got his way, he would've already embraced his ex–wife into a secure hug, but he kept his distance. If this was Ara...

Stop thinking about Ara!

Shaking his head filled with a wandering mind, he sat beside Juhyun warily. "I—is everything okay?"

"Not really," she rasped out, suddenly clutching onto his arm as if it was her savior. "I had an argument with Junmyeon. Real bad..."

Although Kyungsoo was extremely baffled as to why she made the trek to inform him of this personal issue rather than her friends, the tears streaming down her face in lightning speed seemed to be more important than his own convictions.

"What made you cry?"

Juhyun swallowed before choking down an upcoming sob. "We've never argued like this. He's stormed off to God know's where! He hasn't been home for the past hour or so—"

A light switched on in Kyungsoo's mind. "—wait...if he's not home, is Kyungri at home by herself?"

"No! No, no," she assured him upon realizing what she'd just said. "She's at my neighbor's house for now. She's okay."

Letting out a breath he didn't even know he was holding, Kyungsoo nodded. "So what made you come here?"

"Because out of everyone, you know me best. You understand me, which isn't something many people do."

"That's because we kind of were with each other for a pretty long time."

Releasing a shrill sigh, she leaned back onto the sofa whilst wiping the remaining tears off her face. "The fact that you stayed with me for so long just proves so! Whenever I'm sad, upset, hopeless, you make me feel better! You're the reason why there's still that small glimmer of hope inside of me."

"Look, Juhyun, I know you're down right now but I don't think this — you and I — is really the best idea right now."

"Why?"

"Because!" Kyungsoo burst out to Juhyun's surprise. "You're going to be somebody else's wife in five days!"

"You don't understand how much I regret it," she gritted her teeth, voice dangerously wobbling. "I've never regretted being with you, but somehow, the whole thought of Junmyeon being my husband disgusts me."

With a raised eyebrow and a voice deep inside saying not to ask why, he frowned. "And why's that?"

"Because I'm still in love with you!"

That was a shock. A 'shock' actually was a huge understatement. It took practically minutes for Kyungsoo to get over those seven impactful words. He sat in front of his ex–wife attempting to say something to her hopeful face, but he probably looked like a fish with how his mouth opened and closed repeatedly.

Quickly, Juhyun composed her shaking self as she watched her ex–husband say nothing. "I'm just h—hoping you'd tell me that there's nothing between you and Ara...Kyungsoo. The things you told me on that night was from pure anger, not truth. Tell me that, please."

It may have been the most stupid thing Do Kyungsoo has ever done in his twenty–six years of respiring. Well, apart from the time when he once decided to eat a live spider after Chanyeol dared him to in senior year. He ate it, threw up and ended up missing the whole week of school after getting a stomach bug.

"I can't."

"Why not?" Her bottom lip quivered, eyes close to tearing up, the hands still gripping onto his shirt loosening and falling to her knees.

With a gulp, he continued, "because then I'd be lying."

—»

Ah, a cliffhanger to end the eighteenth and one of the last chapters. Not really a plot twist because I think throughout the book I made it pretty obvious that Juhyun was still smitten over her ex, but I still hope there was a level of shock? Nah? Anyways, merry Christmas! And I guess you could say this is my Christmas gift from me to you guys! Thank you so much for always voting and reading, so this is the least I could do! Have a great day!