Chapter 15: Areum

MAL placed a small, gentle kiss on her lover's forehead before staring at his unconscious face with hearty eyes. His exhausted, pained face along with his pale skin, his weak body, and his pink, plump lips.

To her, he was perfect.

Every inch of him was perfect.

Her chocolate brown eyes were clouded with tears at the image of him in pain. Needless to say, she couldn't handle the ache in her heart every time she imagined him not doing well. The only thing she could do at that moment was pray.

"I love you so much, sweetheart." She whispered, inches away from his ear. "I love you so, so much."

No response.

Mal knew that he was nowhere near waking up, because of how exhausted and ill he was. But she needed him to. His so-called friends were waiting downstairs.

"Baby, you need to wake up," she muttered, her fingers tapping his cheek gently. "Your group members are here."

He unconsciously tilted his head to the side. Mal continued to stare at him, ignoring her heart shattering in the distance. She continued to tap his cheek to grab his attention.

And after a few tries, his eyes weakly fluttered open to meet her gaze. His vision was blurry and his eyes burned from the light inside the room.

"N-N... N-Noona." He groaned, attempting to close his eyes once again to avoid the light.

Her heart broke once again at his weak, almost inaudible voice.

"Sweetheart, your group members are here. I need to get you downstairs." She spoke, her face inches away from his. She fought the urge to place a soft kiss on his forehead and glanced into his dazed eyes. "Now, sweetheart. Please."

He barely shook his head and attempted to move his legs and upper body to get out of their king-sized bed. Mal watched his struggle to do so, her eyes filling up with tears at the sight of him unable to move.

"N-Noona..." He whispered, his voice weak with pain and dizziness. "I-I can't... I can't f-feel my legs."

She allowed one tear to stream down her face. A tear of heartbreak, guilt, and despair. Heartbreak because she didn't like seeing him like that-no, hated! Guilt because her insides told her that she was slowly watching him lose his life and there was nothing she could do. She was constantly reminded of how useless she was. And despair because she needed him to get better as soon as possible. For her sake, at least. She couldn't afford to lose him. He meant everything to her.

"I'll help you, sweetheart." She whispered, inching herself closer to place a long, soft kiss on his forehead. "I'm right here beside you. Don't worry."

And despite her attempts to distract herself by whispering sweet nothings into his ear, her own mind was clouded with thoughts.

Terrible thoughts.

Because it had been a while since he was sick.

The doctor told her that he would be okay in less than a week.

And she was doing everything she could to help him get better.

So why wasn't he?

Why was he getting sicker and worse by the minute?

She placed one arm under his thighs, and one just below his waist, then carried him away from the bed. He allowed a low groan to escape his mouth, his eyes rolling back to his head.

"It's okay, baby," she assured as she pulled his body closer to her, then took slow, steady steps out of the room.

. . .

Once Mal had reached the bottom of the staircase, she took her turn to look at Junwon, only to see him struggling to keep his eyes open. She steadied her quivering lips and managed to blink tears away from her eyes before whispering, "I need to put you down, sweetheart. Do you think you can walk? With my help, of course."

He barely nodded his head, images of his members laughing at him crossing his dazed mind.

The last thing he needed at that moment was to have one of his members laughing at him or making a snarky comment at him during his darkest moment.

She carefully set his feet on the porcelain floor, then wrapped a strong, protective arm around his waist to pull him upright. He wrapped his weak arm around her torso to keep himself closer to her, then took slow, careful steps toward the living room.

Junwon struggled to open his eyes as he met the sight of his group members, their gazes following him while his lover helped him sit on the couch. The younger members had frowning, upset expressions once they saw his state. The older members, however, had dark, neutral expressions.

As soon as Mal made sure he was seated on his side of the couch, she stood behind him and glanced at the other members, hoping that one of them would break the awkward silence by saying something-anything.

"Hey, Junwon." Soul began, his voice small and broken. "We missed you."

Mal sighed at that, then took a step back, her eyes still crossed with the members she couldn't recognize. "I'll make you guys something to drink. How about that?"

Junwon nodded, his slender fingers rubbing his temple in distress. "T-Thanks, noona..."

Her hand reached out to tap his shoulder as a way of saying 'you're welcome' before hurrying to the kitchen, almost sighing in relief as soon as she took her steps inside the familiar, gigantic interior.

She knew that leaving Junwon there with the group members who hated him the most was a mistake.

But she couldn't stand to hear all the awkward, unhealthy drama at that moment.

Hurrying towards the storage room to grab a bottle of juice, she picked a pink, glass bottle with strawberry milk written on its front before shutting the door and hurrying to the kitchen island.

After setting up the tray of glass cups filled with high-quality strawberry milk, she carefully held up the tray between her fingers and took slow, careful steps out of the kitchen, and towards the living room once again.

She let out a huff she didn't know she was holding, bracing herself to enter and face the group members once again. All she could hope for at that moment was for them to drink their glasses and leave so that she could cuddle Junwon close to her chest and whisper sweet nothings to his ear to make him feel better.

She flinched and snapped out of her train of thoughts as soon as her ears perked up, catching the voices of them talking to her boyfriend.

"You must be enjoying your vacation so much, right, Junwon?" A voice began, dark with mischief.

Before Junwon could answer the question, to which he could barely shake his head, another voice answered.

"I bet he is. The only thing he must be not enjoying though, is him not whoring around with that other girl."

Other girl?

"W-What are you t-talking about?" Junwon muttered, his voice weak and surprised.

"Aw, don't go all innocent on us now." A member spoke in faux sympathy, staring into Junwon's dazed eyes. "What's her name again... Areum? Our fellow trainee, right?"

Junwon weakly shook his head, his eyes widening in shock.

A fellow trainee?

Mal's heart dropped to her stomach, her hands trembling. The glasses shook and brushed against each other, creating a soft ding noise with each brush.

Areum?

What were they talking about?

A small tear found its way down her terror-stricken face.

Was what they were saying actually true?

Was her dear Junwon cheating on her?

"Oh, yes! That new trainee! Personally, I think she's pretty as hell."

"You think so? He was going all the way kissing and hugging her too. At least you won something, didn't you, Junwonie?"

Junwon shook his head, his eyes wide with distress and heartbreak. He opened his mouth to say something-anything to defend himself.

But nothing came out.

"Personally though, I think Mal is way better. At least she owns a house like this." Another familiar voice began, gesturing to the enormous, luxurious living room they were sitting in. "I heard Areum comes from a middle-class background."

"But at least she's Korean, right? From what I heard, Mal is from... Italian descent?" Another voice questioned, causing some members to nod their heads.

Mal shook her head slowly and grimaced at the image of Junwon-her dear, precious Junwon-with another girl.

The image of her boyfriend of five years kissing someone other than her caused a pit of pure anger, jealousy and betrayal forming in her stomach.

She clenched the tray tightly until her knuckles turned white before her feet took weak steps toward the living room. She couldn't tolerate hearing about that topic anymore.

She couldn't think about how he might've betrayed her.

The sentences they spat out of their mouths burned her heart with pain, and broke it to several pieces until it was useless.

As soon as she found herself standing by the couch, close to the members, and most importantly, close to Junwon, she moved forward to set the tray on the medium-sized gold-painted coffee table in the middle of the room.

"So," she began, her voice sharp yet shaky and filled with betrayal, "who's Areum?"

Junwon took a long, terrified glance at his lover. The love of his life, whom he admired and was ready to die for. The terrifying idea of her getting upset with him already tortured his heart with pain.

But the idea of her thinking that he cheated on her?

He would've wished to die at that very moment, to not go through such conversation with his lover.

Because the mere idea of her believing such nonsense terrified him to death.

"N-Noona, no, wait-"

"Um, actually," Soul began, standing up from his seat and clapping his hands together to grab the members' attention, "we need to leave you alone to talk."

"Yes, we need to get going." Another member continued, gesturing for the other members to get up from their seats. "We hope to see you soon, Junwon."

Junwon shook his head, this time more desperately. His hands tightened into fists as his eyes looked up at his members. The same members who hated him with their whole heart.

The same members who were willing to do anything to ruin his life. And in that case, ruin his relationship.

"D-Don't..." His voice came out terrified, broken. He couldn't believe they would attempt to ruin his life like that and then leave as if nothing happened.

And his train of racing thoughts was interrupted by the brief yet audible noise of the front door clicking shut.

He tilted his head to the side, to glance at the love of his life to see her reaction. Her eyes were facing the floor, her arms hugged her chest in an attempt to cover herself from the embarrassment, and her eyes were glistening with heartbroken tears. Tears that broke his own heart, and if it wasn't for his semi-paralyzed body, he would've stood up and tackled her in a tight, apologetic hug.

But he couldn't.

"You didn't answer my question." Mal's firm voice interrupted his thoughts once again, causing to look up at her with quivering lips. "Who's Areum?"

He shook his head as his hands barely moved to face each other in a begging motion. "Noona, p-please-"

"Answer the question, Junwon Yu."

He gulped at her firm, sharp tone, tears prickling in the corner of his eyes.

"A-A trainee," he replied, "she's j-just a trainee, noona, y-you have to believe me!"

"Oh, so you know her?" Mal snapped, turning her attention to him, her eyebrows furrowed with anger while her arms crossed to her chest and her palms clutching her arms tighter. The shock, the betrayal and the heartbreak inside her were all too much. For the first time ever, standing in front of Junwon was something she didn't want at the moment. She needed some time to cool off.

"S-She said hello to me once, I swear-Mal!" He called out, his eyes wide with terror as his lover took steps away from him, from the living room. Then, to the front door. "N-Noona, please!"

"I'm going to go for a walk." She muttered, her voice barely audible but he could hear it nonetheless. Along with it, was the sound of his heart breaking in a distance.

"Noona!"

The front door clicked for the second time, and silence followed. Heavy, uncomfortable silence. For a moment, he half-expected her to come back and kiss him on the cheek, telling him that she was joking.

For a few long moments, he expected her to do so.

But the house remained quiet, much to his heartbreak and desperation.

And just like that, she was gone.

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