Yunho walked to the living room and sat on the sofa. He leaned back and closed his eyes, thinking over the past events. His rage was cooling down quickly as he thought over and over again about the relationship between him and his little lover. He could view everything in a more tactful way now.

Jiyeon was obviously only playing around with him. She was still young, anyway. Yunho couldn’t blame her much on that. She was curious. Maybe, at first, she thought it was fun, enjoyed the challenge to date an older man. Maybe she already realized now, that dating an old, busy man like him wasn’t fun after all. A complete waste. Maybe she thought that. It was all his fault to think that he could claim her as his, without bringing up any serious issues.

Yunho laid his arm over his eyes, trying hard not to shed a tear. He regretted meeting her. If he knew everything would ended up like this, it would have been better if he only knew her as a chat friend. Now, what was he going to do as he has become so loving towards her? As he has tasted the comforting presence of her in his lonely life? It always made his day seeing her. He didn’t want to let her go.

“Yunho?”

Yunho turned his head to see his beloved already dressed in a decent dress. She still looked lovely after everything that she has done to him. He loved her that much.

“What are you doing there?”, she asked, tilting her head to the side curiously.

Yunho forced a small smile at her. “Nothing. Come on, we’re going to be late for the movie.”

Yunho kept quite on the ride to the theatre. He had made up his mind: today was the last day he would seeing her. After the movie, after he dropped her off, he would tell her that they should stop seeing each other. He was sad at the thought of breaking up with her. But he couldn’t be selfish, right? He couldn’t bear seeing her feeling anxious and uneasy whenever Yunho was around, like right now. It made him sad.

Yunho looked at her. He could tell that she was feeling anxious. It was written all over her face. And by her hands. Jiyeon had once told him when they chatting that she had some kind of habit. She said whenever she was feeling anxious and uneasy, she clenched her hands tightly on her dress and began playing with the fabric. Like what she was doing now. It made Yunho’s heart sink even more. Lucky for that guy who was in the picture on the desk. He must not experience the pain Yunho was feeling now.

“Jiyeon,” Yunho called. He didn’t know why, but he felt the urge to ask this. “Can I ask you? How long have you two dated?”.

“Huh?”, Jiyeon looked at him. “Who?”.

“Err—with.. with the guy on the picture that’s sitting on your desk?”.

“Oh.” Brief silence. “Seven months.”

Yunho felt ill, he was extremely jealous now. She dated him that long?

“Wow, that’s... long,” he commented, trying hard not to sound too bitter. “Why did you two break up, anyway? If you two dated that long...”.

Jiyeon still stared outside the window car.

“Couldn’t I know?”, he asked again while smiling bitterly without looking at her.

“Why do you care?”, her answer barely audible. But Yunho didn’t miss the sheer coldness in her tone. “It was all in the past.”

“Yeah, true,” Yunho let out a chuckle. But this time, he couldn’t hide the bitterness in his voice.

“Yunho, are you okay?”, Jiyeon turned her head to look at him.

“Yea, yea. Of course!”, Yunho chuckled again. He should keep smiling and laughing to prevent his eyes from shimmering with tears. He was hurting so much. The sadness and jealousy only making harder to breath.

“Yunho, if there is anything, you could always tell me.”

Now, why do you care? He felt like snapping at her. But he didn’t. If today was going to be their last time together, he wanted to let the day he broke up with her come as nicely as possible. If they were going to part ways, Yunho didn’t want their last time together tainted with wasteful argument.

Oh, how he wished this evening could ended quickly. All he wanted to do now was hide inside his room crying over his foolishness upon loving her.

The car finally came into a halt. Yunho parked his car in the very last corner of the parking lot underground the theatre. He opened his door and locked the car once Jiyeon got out. He put both of his hands inside his pockets and walked off first. He made sure this last time together wouldn’t go to waste if this evening truly would be the last time he saw her. He was now determined to enjoy every last bit with her.

But when he felt Jiyeon didn’t come with him, he halted his steps and turned around. Five steps from her he stood; Jiyeon stood beside his car, motionlessly. She stared at him piercingly with a look which surprised him. She looked anxious, but there was something else written on her face. Something that he was unsure about.

Yunho reached his hand out to her, asking her silently to come with him. “Come on,” he softly said, forcing a genuine smile. But to his disappointment, his smile came out as an awkward smile.

Jiyeon took a step forward. Her steps were slow, eyes never leaving Yunho’s chocolate orbs. She took Yunho’s hand in hers and then walked up close to him until she was only inches away from him. What happened after that went fast. She planted her lips on Yunho’s cheek and retreated back quickly. Although the kiss was brief, it sent an electric spark down Yunho’s spine. Her lips felt warm upon his skin.

“Feeling better?”, Jiyeon asked, smiling timidly. The pink shade on both of her cheeks made her looked even more beautiful.

“Wh-why?”, Yunho managed to ask after recovering from shock.

“Huh?”, Jiyeon frowned and tilted her head to the side, subconsciously playing with their intertwined fingers.

“Di-did you just kiss me?”, Yunho asked her again in his disbelief. “Wh-why?”.

Jiyeon pouted. And Yunho was extremely happy finally he could witness her cute pout again.

“I wanted to comfort you. You looked.. uneasy and—you were acting strange. It’s okay if you didn’t want to talk about your problems with me, but I want to help you.. It’s just—you looked somehow... sad? It made me sad, too.. Besides,” she smiled shyly. “can’t I kiss my own boyfriend?”.

Yunho really felt like crying now. But it wasn’t because he was feeling sad. It might be silly; but it was because he was happy upon hearing her calling him her boyfriend.

“But.. but why do you always act cold toward me?”, Yunho finally had the courage to ask.

Yunho didn’t know he was imagining it right now or not, but the pink shade on her cheeks deepened.

Jiyeon let her hold on Yunho’s hand fall and began to grip tightly onto her dress; she was uneasy. She set her eyes on the ground while speaking,

“I.. I didn’t mean to. I was only trying to act more mature. I didn’t want anyone to mistake you as my older brother ever again; like my friends did. I didn’t really know how to match you. But, well, I began trying to act mature by shutting my fussy mouth up and tried to stop my constant whining. Besides, I also didn’t want you to treat me like a kid. I wanted you to see me as a girl who can always lend her ear to hear her boyfriend’s problems. Every time you are with me, you always stay quiet. We never really talk. Even when we first met, I was the one who started talking, remember?

“I have been trying to achieve that.. So I tried to be quieter. Shutting my mouth really did help prevent my constant whine. But, uh, I ended up being a little cold to you?”, she looked up, her expression apologetic, before her gaze fell on the ground again. “I thought you liked the cold me better. You never complained. So I always acted cold in front of you. Besides, my friends have always told me I looked more.. adult that way.. But you never open up, either.. I was—”.

Yunho could hear her gasp when he suddenly grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into a tight embrace.

“Yu-Yunho..”, he could hear her voice just near his ears. He rested his head on the crook of her neck. So near to her, she smelled wonderful. It made him more contented than ever. He felt really close to her while hugging her like that.

He was relieved that Jiyeon didn’t dislike him. She was also struggling to overcome the age gap between them. He could cry in happiness now.

“Yunho, I can’t breathe..”.

“Uh, sorry..”, he loosened his hold. “But let me hold you for a while, hm?”.

Jiyeon replied with a caressing touch flowing up and down his back soothingly. Yunho could feel the love radiating from her touch. It was bliss. He felt so light; he felt like flying. Everything that was bothering his mind and burdening his shoulder suddenly lifted.

Yunho broke his hold and held both of her hands gently. He gazed into his little girl’s eyes, and then brought one of his hands up to tuck a few strands of her hair behind her ear; his eyes never leaving hers.

Looking into those clear eyes, he felt guilt suddenly wash over him. He felt terrible he had accused her of being a girl of lies earlier that evening. How could he accuse his innocent girl for lying when she had already promised she wouldn’t tell anyone lies anymore?

“Hey, I’m sorry..”, Yunho breathed out after a long moment of staring at each other’s eyes.

“About what?”.

“You know, when you said earlier about—well,” he squeezed her hands in his nervousness. “you should know, actually I really never had the intention to talk about anything regarding my job or problems or anything personal with you.”

“What? What does that mean?”, Jiyeon frowned. “Does that mean you didn’t trust me?”.

“N-no! Of course not,” Yunho felt terribly nervous now. He let go of her hands and scratched the back of his neck. How could he explain it to her? “It wasn’t like I didn’t trust you. It’s.. it’s complicated.

“Normally, people on date always talk about their personal things to know more about each other. I know that. But I think...”, he halted. “I think I was just confused as to how I should treat you. I didn’t want you to feel bored with me. So, I always let you guide the talk; I only listened. I think it was because I was freaked out, dating a much younger girl.

“Do you.. do you understand?”, Yunho smiled sheepishly, unsure if his explanation was good enough.

Jiyeon broke into a wide grin. “Of course, I understand that.” Yunho heaved a sigh of relief. “That’s what I have been doing to you. Doing irrational things.. by acting cold to you. It’s.. silly, isn’t it?”.

Yunho smiled. “I guess it was all only a mere misunderstanding?”.

Jiyeon only replied with a smile.

“I thought you didn’t even like me.”

“And what made you think so?’.

“You keep that Jaejoong guy picture.”

Jiyeon’s smile faded hearing that. She lowered her head, setting her eyes upon the concrete ground again. “It’s not like I wanted to be secretive to you..” She paused. Yunho kept silent in order to let her know that she could go on with her story.

She looked up throwing a small, sad smile. “It’s just.. talking about him brings up sad memories.”

“Then don’t talk about it,” Yunho brought his hand up to caress her cheek. “I’m okay with only knowing you like me, too.”

She smiled upon knowing her boyfriend’s understanding, and then held Yunho’s hand that was on her cheek. “But I’m already determined to tell you. It’s only fair that way.”

She paused once more, looking down and then up, to gaze into Yunho’s eyes. She breathed out, smiling, “Jaejoong died because of leukemia.”

Yunho looked at her face in sympathy. He didn’t know why he couldn’t voice out his sympathy. Probably because he was afraid his voice would come out somewhat insincere.

“But it was already a long time ago,” Jiyeon said, a little cheerfully and grinned to loosen the tense atmosphere. “The reason why I still keep his picture is because I don’t want to forget about him. People only truly die when the people who were once close to them forget about them, right? So, I keep his picture in hope I wouldn’t forget about him and therefore, he could always live.” Jiyeon smiled brightly. “Are you okay with that?”.

Yunho smiled. “Why wouldn’t I be?”.

“Reeeaaaally?”, Jiyeon looked at him in playful suspicion.

“Of course,” Yunho pinched her cheek.

“Owh—it hurts!”, Jiyeon pretend to be in pain and hit his arm lightly. “Aaanndd you are also okay with the childish me? Aren’t you going to be ashamed having a girlfriend who is sometimes a child at heart like me?”.

“Why would I be? And when you’re so beautiful.”

Yunho’s comment had successfully made the girl before him blush and lowered her head again, shyly.

Yunho lifted her chin up and caressed her cheek with his thumb. “I’m okay with all of that. Because... that’s you.”

...and I love you for who you are.


End.


So, as the fic has finished, did you already find out by what I meant with "limited third pov"? It means, everything happened here that you read was all Yunho’s assumptions, thoughts, and things he knew. The sentences written was all that Yunho heard, saw and felt. So, yeah, technically it was the Yunho’s pov but not quite.. Urgh, am I making sense here? I hope yes^^;;

Anyway, I don’t know why this fic features Yunho/Jiyeon; since I have always been fangirling over Jaejoong/Jiyeon. But I guess, it’s just because I couldn’t picture Jaejoong as an old man with pretty young Jiyeon by his side XD.