The return trip was somehow faster than when they departed yesterday, even though the distance was just the same. When they arrived at the parking area of ​​the Business faculty, Jongdae was already waiting for them, sitting on the hood of his sedan car that seemed to have just been washed. Because they were starving, they did not talk much with the other, and went straight for a late lunch to eat bibimbab at a dining place not far from campus.
Lisa and Jongdae dominated the conversation more. They chatted about the activities last weekend while Jisoo commented more while finishing her food. The cool thing about this couple was that, even though they were dating, they never treated other people like a third wheel. They still invited you to chat like you were part of them. Usually Jisoo would say something, or joining the talks, but because she was so hungry at the time she prefered to devour all the food in front of her.
"It was fun. Jongin said there will be another visit next time, and he wants me to come again. And when it happens, you have to take time and go with us." Jongdae nodded in agreement, "Jisoo is very happy there, just try asking her. She said she was so happy she didn't want to go home."
Jisoo clicked and looked at her with a 'You Traitor' gaze. She told her what Sehun said that night on the way home. She also made Lisa promise not to say this to anyone, but of course, she shouldn't believe her so much because that was absolutely wrong thinking.
"I can't keep anything secret to your brother. He knows everything." she said defensively.
Jongdae narrowed his eyes, suspicious of Jisoo and Lisa's counterparts. "Is there anything I need to know? What is it about?"
"It's nothing." Jisoo replied immediately. But the way she didn't look at Jongdae when she said it was enough to make him guessing what might be happening, because Jongdae then scoffed and Jisoo knew this was the time when he would start nagging.
"What did that a*s do this time? Did he do something fishy?" the question was directed at Lisa rather than Jisoo, apparently because Lisa was also responsible if something happened to Jisoo since he believed she would keep Jisoo safe (from that a*s, he said).
"He apologized, okay?" Jisoo remarked, preferably so that Jongdae stopped pressing both of them. "He said he wanted a clean slate, that we should not be awkward to each other."
Another scoffed came out almost a second later, it seemed like it's very difficult for him to be able to believe what he had just heard. Because then he replied again,
"And you actually believed that? Jisoo, maybe you don't understand the situation right now, but excuse me, who in this world who wishes to be friends with his ex, especially after a very devastated breakup? You must be kidding me."
Jisoo exhaled with exasperation, she somehow had mixed feelings about this. She knew Jongdae had this censure motion towards Sehun since exactly she married Yeonseok, and she was more or less appreciated what her cousin did to defend her but Jisoo felt Jongdae had too many negative thoughts on Sehun and it wasn't right. It's not fair for Sehun no matter what.
"Can't you just believe it? I don't care if he lied or not, because what will he do then? He knows exactly there's nothing he can do about my marriage, or like he's going to do something about it. And he exactly said that we're letting us go now, and it's worth to try because we have nothing to lose anymore." she said later, "Please, I'm the one who's doing it right now, so of all people, I know the situation the most."
It seemed like forever until Jongdae shrugged and muttered, "Whatever, I've warned you though." under his breath.
"To think about it again," she continued, because this was not the end, "You should apologize to him. He has done his job, now is the time for you to do your job."
"Hmph, for what? Teaching him something right? Not a chance, Sister, if anything, he should thank me."
"You and that arrogant brain of yours." Jisoo clicked and ended this topic right away.
After finishing eating, Jisoo broke away from the lovebirds. She left her trunk in Jongdae's car, said that she would take it tomorrow when she visited his house. She returned to campus to meet Kyungsoo. Jisoo apologized once more for forgetting to tell Kyungsoo about the weekend's activities, although he did not show his resentment clearly. He knew that Kyungsoo was a very scheduled person, she felt very guilty for having made Kyungsoo wait without knowing that neither Jisoo nor Sehun would be coming to their previous meeting. Kyungsoo also didn't talk much, as usual. He just talked a bit when explaining something or commenting on her  design and sketch she made during her free time last weekend.
"Is Sehun going to join us today?" he asked, glancing at his watch when almost an hour had passed since they were sitting in a library booth.
Jisoo just remembered Sehun told her this morning that he might not be coming to their meeting this afternoon because there was something he had to do, so Jisoo pass the message on to him like that.
"But he said he's going to join us regularly from now on." she added. Kyungsoo lifted his gaze from the laptop screen to look at her with both eyebrows raised.
"That's good." he said after a while, "Does that mean you have made up?"
Jisoo nodded, "You don't need to worry."
"I don't. It's just glad to hear." Then Kyungsoo smiled. Frankly this was the first time Jisoo saw Kyungsoo smiling because he almost never smiled before. He was that always serious at any moment until Jisoo though his smiling muscles were unfunctional. Unlike this time, it seemed like they must have done the right thing to make him smile this wide.
After an hour and a half discussion with Kyungsoo, Jisoo came home by bus. She stopped by the supermarket near the apartment, shopping for food stock to fill the fridge. The sky was getting dark when she exited the supermarket and walked home. Yeonseok came home early as he promised, when Jisoo was washing the cooking utensils she had just used to cook. The man greeted her with pressing a light kiss on the top of her head and joined her on dinner. They exchanged conversations, shared each other weekend activities. Yeonseok also told her what emergency surgery that had left him trapped for eight hours in OR.
They ended the night by watching a movie together. While Yeonseok bought the movie from the net plan, Jisoo made popcorn, and joined him on the couch. Jisoo was happy with his choice, it was 'Thor: Ragnarok' which she hadn't had the chance to watch because they were in a mourning time during its release. She sat on the couch while Yeonseok leaned on the couch's leg in front of her. He wanted help with the massage machine, so while watching Thor dueling the Hulk, Jisoo helped him massage the back of his neck down to his back with the machine.
It was actually fun. She was one of the Avengers' fans and always followed all Marvel movies. But as soon as she finished massaging Yeonseok and leaned on the couch, and after a day of so many activities, she fell asleep in the middle of the movie.
She woke up around three in the morning with gasping breath and sweat soaking her sleep shirt on her bed.
*
The big news broke that morning. Yeonseok dropped her at Jongdae's house on his way to the hospital. Her aunt had left for work, and Jongdae was still lazing on hisnbed while playing games after breakfast.
"Ugh, don't show me that face again." Jongdae commented as soon as he saw her enter the room.
Jisoo was rather surprised to hear an unfriendly greeting once she arrived, and she wasn't even sure Jongdae was joking or serious.
"Good morning, you too." she greeted. Jisoo climbed onto the bed and sat back on the headboard beside him.
"Alright, I admit that I was wrong about yesterday. But I don't really think the news will make you brokenhearted, is it really that bad?" Jongdae commented again while pointing at her face.
Jongdae gesture made her even more confused, what was he actually talking about?
"Why would I be broken?" she asked, being oblivious to the actual matter, because on the other hand she was not in the mood to tell him about her nightmare last night which she also didn't remember what happened. And when Jongdae said about heartbreak, what was on her mind was whether Yeonseok had done something she didn't like. It immediately reminded her of something,
"What news are you talking about?"
"Oh, you didn't see it yet?" his eyes widened when he asked, hardly believing, "It's been on the Gossip Girls for hours."
Jisoo scoffed uninterested, whatever was in Gossip Girls always made her skeptical. "You should stop hanging out on Gossip Girls."
"Well, you never know how they can sometimes be useful too." Jongdae answered in a low voice while busy doing something through his phone. And after it seemed like forever, Jongdae then lowered his hand and looked at her seriously.
"Hold your breath." he said, he was about to give his phone to her when Jisoo raised her hand to stop him.
Jisoo almost never had a good impression and story about Gossip Girls, especially since Sehun declared his war on that illegal news threads that always uploaded photos without the consent of the people concerned. So this time, she was in between the curious, but at the same time she was also not sure if she wanted to know anything on Jongdae's phone screen. But then again, this was Jongdae who broke the news, and he never really cared about gossip if it wasn't important.
So, how important was this news that he insisted for her to check?
"Wait, is it a good news or a bad news?" Jisoo asked rather nervously, in which Jongdae replied with a shrug.
"It depends on how you see it. All I can say is, you have to remember that you have your own life. Don't be affected by it."
From there Jisoo was able to guess what the news might be. One side of her hoped it was wrong, but on the other hand ... Jisoo wasn't sure if there was another side there.
Congratulation Sehun for the new Girlfriend! - was the title of the news.
And the first reaction Jisoo took out was to sigh. In the photo, Sehun was walking along with a girl entering a cafe. His hands leaned behind the girl's shoulder, hugging her petite body protectively. The photo seemed to have been taken yesterday afternoon, because Sehun still wore the same outfit as the morning. And the two seemed unaware that someone had taken their photos candidly.
So ... what she had in mind was ....
She was glad, knowing that he had moved on.
And he also looked happy, seeing his wide smile, whatever the girl said must have made him very happy. The girl was somehow looked familiar too. She tried to remember where she had seen her before only to remind her of a girl who gave Sehun chocolate on Valentine's Day last February. She recalled her clearly because Jisoo had been teasing him after a very brave girl came to Sehun and gave him the said handmade chocolate. Although many people considered her rude for ignoring Jisoo's presence but she was actually so cool about that. She even admitted her courage especially from what she heard, the girl didn't even go to their faculty. It must take her a skyrocketing level of confidence to be able to pull through such a scene---it was just a shame that Sehun refused to accept the gift though, he didn't even let her to have it instead and threw it away when the girl's gone. And now he dated her? 
Wow. Just wow.
There was something that really bothered Jisoo when she looked at the photos on the thread. She felt this very strange feeling, it's so alien because she had never felt this kind of thing before. In the past, Sehun was hers. He smiled and laughed because of her. Sehun never took any glance at another girl besides herself, and always said that she was the most beautiful girl in the world. But now ... why did it feel like this?
Her chest was tight seeing Sehun holding the hand of another girl, there was a feeling of despise to see him laughing because of someone else. It felt like there was a rush in her to run there and broke their hands away. But no, when Jongdae held her hand Jisoo snapped out of it. She just realized that she was holding Jongdae's phone too tightly, until when she let it go and returned it to him, her hand hurt.
"You okay?" Jongdae asked, now in a full of concern tone.
Jisoo shook her head. Was she okay? She herself didn't even know either.
"Oh, it must be that bad."
"It's just ..." Jisoo swallowed hard, "Unexpected. When Sehun said he wanted a clean slate, I thought this was for our sake. I never thought that ..."
She shook her head again and leaned her head on the headboard, trying hard not to cry.
"I'm glad he's moving on. I'm glad he's happy. But it hurts too, I know I shouldn't feel like this, I just can't help it."
And when Jisoo thought she would hear Jongdae's scolding again, she turned out to be wrong. Jongdae just paused while holding her hand. He also straightened his seat and leaned back in the headbord like Jisoo did, then followed his eyes to the ceiling of the room.
"I have known you like forever in my life, seen you fall in love for the past three years, and saw you broke down and cried for three months. And all those times I stood by you because you're worth my effort of comforting you. But not this time Jisoo, today you're being insensible." Jongdae paused a second, like he was trying to search for the right words to say before moving on, "Nobody wants to hear this, but you know people say, sometimes you have to accept the fact that the person you want the most is the person you're best without. And just because you miss him, it doesn't mean that you need him back to your life, sometimes it's just part of moving on."
Jongdae was right about that. She indeed still got a place for him in her heart, just not in her life. But why was she afraid of losing him so bad when he wasn't even hers anymore?
Then Jisoo laughed, for some reason Jongdae's words were very entertaining she didn't know why. "Jongdae, you should be a relationship consultant, not an engineer." And it only took a few seconds for Jisoo to make Jongdae laugh with her. They laughed like it was endless, Jongdae rolled while holding his stomach, and Jisoo laughed even more when he fell from the bed for too much rolling.
And after it seemed like a million years, they stopped laughing, then Jisoo cried.
"You know what, as much as I hate it to say, let's skip today's classes. Let's go to the beach and play for the day." Jongdae suggested as he crossed his arms on the bed and rested his chin on them.
Jisoo thought she must have been crazy this time, because in the midst of her cry she laughed again at Jongdae's invitation. "To the beach? On winter?" in a do-you-even-hear-yourself tone.
"Right, we need to work on that. But it can be anywhere, let's just go. I'll ring Lisa to let her know I'm not coming to pick her up."
"She's not coming?"
"She has an early exam today, I don't think it's something you can ditch."
Jisoo was still lying on Jongdae's bed, staring at the ceiling while listening to Jongdae talking on the phone with his girlfriend. She threw him a pillow when Jongdae muttering something about 'babysit of the broken lady', she then got up and dried her face with both hands. She once promised herself that she would not cry for Sehun anymore, so she would try to not to be swept away by emotions.
Jongdae decided to take them out of Seoul far to Gyeonggi, about an hour's drive until finally they got to Everland. It was somehow brought her back to memory because it was actually where Sehun took her for the first date---just because Jisoo told him that she had never been to Everland her whole life before. When she told him this, it turned out that the destination was actually intended.
"From today on, make a list of where Sehun has brought you to. We will go there, and you must leave your past behind in all those places. So when you go to those places again in the future, there will only be you and your memories in right then. Okay? "
Without even hearing her reply, Jongdae pulled her in. 
Everland was thrilled. They went to the American Adventure area first, because it's the closest to the Main Gate. The fun park was not as busy as weekend, and because it was Monday, so visitors were more like foreign tourists. But still this didn't make the extreme attractions were devoid of interest, being an adrenaline junkie he was, Jongdae chose Hurricane as their first attraction. He flanked Jisoo's arm and pulled her there, ignoring the fact that she was so scared to death.
Jisoo is actually not an extreme rides fan, all her life she only once rode a rollercoaster at Lotte World a few years ago, and she claimed it to be the worst two minutes of her life. So when the Huriccane round plate started to spin fast and weaved them into the sky and turned around, Jisoo couldn't take her tight grip off of Jongdae's hand.
"Scream! Let out you voice! Scream out loud!" Jongdae shouted enthusiastically and laughed hard while Jisoo almost cried out with fear.
Jisoo didn't know why she did all this. Because before, she never ventured to test how much her heart could take by riding this such, which if she had done before, she was sure she would have died when the ride stopped. They were really crazy. But there that one thing Jongdae always told her, that she had to try to to get out of her comfort zone. That she would really enjoy the real life when she was willing to feel uncomfortable as she tried something new. So even though these rides almost blew up her head and threw up, Jisoo felt the rush of adrenaline flowing inside her. The more attractions they rode, the lessened the fear controled her. And by the end of the day, when they queued to board the T-express (they saved the best for last) Jisoo no longer cared if she would have to stay in the ER for adrenaline overdose (assuming the diagnosis exists).
They returned to Seoul when the sky got dark, she could barely walk that Jongdae gave her a piggybag so they could run back to the parking area quickly.
"Bye Sehun. We'll leave you and your memories here. Do not follow her anymore." Jongdae waved his hand playfully towards the main gate when they were outside, and that made Jisoo laugh. Even though she was that weak, she also raised her hand and waved goodbye.
They stopped by McD drive-though to order dinner, Jisoo finished Golden Egg and Triple Onion Burger in a session, she was very hungry that she thought she could eat a unicorn. And once the meal was finished she fell asleep. Jongdae just woke her up when they arrived at the apartment lobby. Refusing any more help, Jisoo insisted on going up to her suit by herself because she thought sleeping an hour was enough to restore her strength. She gave Jongdae a close hug and "Thank you million times, JD. You're a lifesaver." and did something she never did before to his cousin.
She gave him a kiss on the cheek with a broad smile, in which Jongdae answered by showing an expression of disgust.
"Eww, Jee, that's gross!" He cried as he wiped his cheek where Jisoo kissed him earlier.
"I love you too, Bro!"
Then she went down, and Jongdae immediately drove away with wave at a glance. A security officer approached her as she walked into the hall, there was a box---which seemed to be clothes---deposited in their post. The officer offered to help her bring it up, but Jisoo refused and took it herself. Once at home, she put the black box on the edge of the bed and then threw herself on the mattress. The softness brought comfort to her fatigue, and she almost fell asleep again when she remembered there were some things she must do. So she got up and crawled to the edge of the bed to see what she had just received. She untied the cloth belt that wrapped the box to keep it closed, then unlid the cover. A black dress was hidden behind the folds of thin fabric that wrapped it.
Jisoo then turned on her cellphone---which was intendedly turned off while she was at Everland---and found several missed calls from her aunt, Yeonseok and Sehun (why did Sehun call her anyway?). Some unread messages in instant messages appeared a second later, but Jisoo ignored them and pressed the dial button to call Yeonseok.
"Hello, finally a word from you. I think you're dying somewhere, I can't reach you and Jongdae all day. I almost called the police to find you two." Yeonseok answered her call in the second ring.
For some reason that made her chuckled. Yeonseok was very attentive, but this was one of the times when she wanted to grab her hairs because that attention was so cringeworthy.
"Sorry, I ..." she cleared her throat, "I forgot to charge the battery."
"Are you okay? Your voice sounds hoarse."
Jisoo wondered if she needed to tell Yeonseok that she had skipped classes today and went to Everland with Jongdae instead. But she then decided to save it for another day because she was too lazy to explain at length, and only answered shortly.
"I'm fine, it's just a hectic day. Anyway, what's with the dress?"
"Oh, did you try on it?"
"No, not yet. Are we having a party?" Jisoo asked rather worried, because if so, then she was in trouble.
"Yeah, well, it's not actually a party. But the hospital is having a function this weekend to celebrate the appointment of chief directors for several offices. Some of these people were not able to attend our wedding and they're kind of willing to meet you."
Jisoo felt sick instantly. She had never been comfortable being in the crowd, especially when she was around people she unfamiliar with. Besides, she also despise this idea of ​​being an art in an exhibition. Crowded with the people when the news of her engagement with Yeonseok was spread out was enough to make her traumatized. Jisoo didn't want to come, but how did she say it to Yeonseok?
"Do I really need to go?" She asked after a while trying to arrange words. "I don't think I like this idea. You know, I'm not really good at crowds, or new people in that case."
She heard a sigh from the other side, as he was smiling to hear her. But she was really serious this time, hoping Yeonseok wouldn't make her come because she really didn't want to go. Period.
"Well, Honey..." Did he just called her honey? "I think you should try the dress. Look how pretty you are in it, maybe you will change your mind." he said in a soft tone.
"If I try it, and I still don't like the idea, can I not go?" Jisoo was still trying to compromise. She was a little afraid that this attitude would offend him, because to be honest, that was the last thing she wanted to do. Yeonseok had been too much considering all this time, so much that there was a big guilt because he sacrificed more for her comfort.
After a few more seconds, he heard him speak again. "Well, if that's what makes you comfortable. We'll talk about it later."
No, I don't want to talk about it later or again, Jisoo thought, but it seemed like this answer was enough to calm her for now so she decided to let it pass. They were conversing few more words when she yawned, and Yeonseok kind of heard it, so he told her to take a break and take flu medicine just in case before going to bed.
Jisoo couldn't help to think how she couldn't just fall in love with someone who was this considerate, because if she could, this would make everything so much easier for them. Yeonseok was actually very easy to like, but what kind of veil was this that covered her heart when this kinds of charm failed to work on hers? She was still trying to figure out.
"I'll have surgery in an hour, so I'll be home very late. Don't wait for me, take a rest."
"Don't worry, sir, I won't." she answered with another yawn, while Yeonseok chuckled at the other side.
"Alright. Sleep tight, Princess. Love you." And that was the last sentence before the call ended. Jisoo literally frowned as she look at the phone screen, hoping that her ears just toyed her. But did she just hear him say 'love you'? Because if he did, it was unexpected. Something was kind of fishy with Yeonseok attitude these days. Last weekend he was suddenly being too intimate, and today he called her Honey out of the blue, and what's with the love you thingy that made her feel a bit uneasy?
Trying to put it aside, she put her phone on the bedside table, and looked back at the dress that was still folded neatly in the box. She decided that she hated the dress, so she closed the box and put it in the closet, unwilling to try on it like Yeonseok suggested her to do.
Jisoo couldn't sleep that night despite the awful fatigue. There were so many things happened inside her head. Now that she was alone, the news that Jongdae showed this morning was back on her mind and Jisoo thought how she should behave when she faced Sehun. Because apparently, Sehun called her today to tell her that they would have a study group with Kyungsoo tomorrow. And after it's like forever, Jisoo was so stucked that her head felt like it was going to blow up only to think about it, the time was seemed running very fast because a few hours later she stood in front of her campus.
That's where the resolution hit her. All night thinking made Jisoo decide that she must be able to accept what happened. And being a bigger heart she was, she decided to show her support for Sehun's new chapter of life. It was probably the best, and Sehun was crawling to build his new happiness, she didn't want to ruin it.
Blowing a deep sigh, Jisoo clenched her fist to encourage herself and walked into the library. Kyungsoo was somehow able to always book the same room---which was said to be the student's most favorite study room---every time they studied together, she found the two boys were already in the booth when she knocked on the door and invited herself in. She pulled a chair and sat next to Sehun.
"Hi, Guys, sorry for being late. Did I miss something?" Jisoo greeted them while pulling out her laptop and drawing equipment on the table, her smile wide open.
"There's nothing important. Where were you yesterday anyway? Your phone was off, and apparently Jongdae was also skipping classes."
With the smile lingered on her face, Jisoo turned to him and replied, "Yeah, we went to Everland."
Sehun raised his his eyebrows, "Everland? What ..."
"Anyway, I heard the news. Congratulation for the new girlfriend." She said playfully and stretched her hand to him to shake. Jisoo was so genuine that she was sure she never smiled this wide.
 
"Right, congratulation. What was her name again?" Even Kyungsoo congratulated him.
"Irene." Sehun answered shortly.
Jisoo nodded her head.
Right. Irene.
See? That's easy.
*