Secrets and Truth

PREVIOUSLY ON LIES AND SECRET

SECRET AND TRUTH

PREVIOUSLY ON LIES AND SECRETS

I stared at the clock intensely, anxiously counting the seconds till Six pm

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

It’s finally six pm and I can go home. I grabbed my keys and phone with a smile on my face “Are you going home now?” my colleague Yong Hwa asked and I hummed my response

I work here in the police station as a junior officer. I’ve been working here for two years, I’m still a rookie in this place but ever since the last month I was no longer the youngest in the precinct. Four years in Police Academy and two years working here. It’s been six years since I first moved to Ulsan. Six years since I found my birth family, Six years since Park Ji Soo has been in prison, and six years since I last saw him, my ex

Six years since I last saw Lee Seung Gi

“The Chief asked you should come to see him before you go” Yong Hwa informed and I hissed under my teeth. I was trying to not see him that was the whole point of leaving this early.

I sighed before heading to the Chief’s office. I knocked on the door and until I heard him reply before I opened the door and went inside his office, he is typing on his computer and looks up at me from the top of his glasses “oh Officer Yoon” he called 

I saluted him “I was told to come to see you”

“Yes” he nodded “I saw you left a request for three days leave”

I did. 

More like I was forced to since So Ra won’t take a no for a reply. Our class has decided to do a reunion this Saturday back in Seoul and although I don’t want to go Min So Ra threatened and talked me into even thinking about it so I wrote a request for a leave knowing full well I am going to regret this decision but I can’t run forever there’s a fifty percent chance I am going to run into Seung Gi there although So Ra said I won’t since he is in Australia. She still keeps in touch with him every once in a while and tells me things even though I didn’t ask. It’s been six years it would be weird if I am still hungover Lee Seung Gi. 

I’m not. I moved on, I mean I am not 19 any longer. I’m not even Choi Hyun Soo anymore, I’m now Kyung Min. Yoon Kyung Min and this new me is a changed person

“Can I ask the reason for the leave?” The chief asked

“My high school classmates are having a reunion in Seoul so I plan to attend”

He nods at my statement then brings out the request letter from under a bunch of files on his table. “Approved,” he said as he signed the letter 

Fuck! I thought he wasn’t going to sign it. I thought I could use this as an excuse to tell So Ra I wasn’t going to make it here he is signing his approval. The Chief signs it and wishes me a good day. I sighed and grabbed my stuff as I walked out of the station saying goodbye to all the sunbaes and co-workers

“Kyung Min Hyung!” I hear a voice call my name immediately I stepped out of the station and I recognized it all too well. It’s Tae Yong. I looked up and see Tae Yong waving at me with a wide smile

I rolled my eyes. Why is he here again? He is just like a cockroach and he never leaves no matter how much you try 

“Hyung” he runs towards me with a cheeky smile

“What are you doing here again?” I asked trying to tell him that he has no reason to be here

Again

“I went to your place but Seo Kyung Noona said you’re still at work so I came to pick you up,” he said as he gestures to a silver car. I raised my brow in question “I bought a new car” his voice is pitched in the excitement

“What why? Didn’t you a new one three months ago?”

“You said you didn’t like to color so I got a new one”

“Yay great” I deadpan. How many times has he does this again? 

“C’mon cheer up baby,” he said as he hugs my hand. I tried to remove my hand from his and but this kid is strong, I guess the workout has been working for someone

Tae Yong is a college kid who is younger than me by three years, I met him two years ago at a local bar and he has been following me around ever since. Although I told him several times I am not interested in him he just doesn’t seem to give up.

I dated people after my ex, Seung Gi

Of course, I dated people after him, It’s been six years, and maybe Seung Gi dated other people too. I hope he did, it would be selfish of me to hope he didn’t

I dated two different guys, one for two months and the other for six months, after that I went on a few blind dates thanks to my sister who wouldn’t let me be single in peace, she tries to set me up with everyone and anyone she thought was my type as she thought it would make me forget about Seung Gi

Why would I want to forget about him?

He is a big part of my life and just because we didn’t work out doesn’t mean he wasn’t the best thing that ever happened to me, so no I don’t want to forget about him

“What are you doing on Saturday?” Tae Yong asked as he drove me home. 

I stared at the city through the window with my hands folded. The city of Ulsan is covered in orange and red sunset and the familiar air hits my face. This city that has slowly become home to me, here I have a family that is annoying as hell but I still love them, I have friends and colleagues and even though I still go to Seoul every once in a while to go see my dad Choi Min Gi and my grandma I can say Ulsan now means more to me than Seoul, I got the chance to start over here

“Hyung. Kyung Min hyung” Tae Yong called and I turned to him. “You’re doing it again” he says

“Doing what?”

“Staring into nothingness, like you weigh the world on your shoulder”

I chuckled at his description “I’m just admiring the city” I said ruffling his hair

“Ah~” he complains which makes me laugh 

“What were you asking me again?”

“What are you doing on Saturday? I have a free ticket to the observatory. I know you love stars”

I do

I did

Like I loved Seung Gi

I shook my head as I tried not to think of him. It worked for a long time although I didn’t want to forget about him I equally didn’t want to think about him and the heart-aching pain that seemed so unbearable became bearable after a long while. Time does heal everything even a broken heart

“I can’t make it Tae Yong, I’m going to Seoul” Ever Since So Ra told me about the school Reunion I have been thinking of Seung Gi more than usual

What if he shows up there?

What if he shows up at the reunion? So Ra said it’s impossible, that she asked him and he said he wasn’t coming to South Korea anytime soon but what if he is lying?

God what if he is lying?

“Why are you going to Seoul?” Tae Yong asked, “Do you want to go see your other dad?”

I huffed, this boy knows too much of my history. I don’t know why he is so interested in me anyways “How do you know about my other dad?”

“Your twin brother Kyung Soo told me”

“That i***t” I cursed

Tae Yong laughed “He knows I’m interested in you, Seo Kyung noona too so they are trying to help me get you”

I turned to him “Tae Yong…”

“I know I know. You don’t feel the same way about me and see me like a younger brother but I’m not your brother, we don’t even have the same last name” he groans “You know if you could just give me a chance I’ll be good to you I promise” this twenty-two year old said

‘I’ll be good to you I promise’ Seung Gi had said these exact same words to me when he asked me to be his boyfriend 6 years ago. He had said these exact same words

“I’ll stick by your side like glue until you realize you feel the same way about me,” Tae Yong said and I laughed

“That’s not how it works”

 He shrugs and packs his new car in front of my family house; I could see Seo Kyung noona and dad sitting outside from the small opening of the gate. Kyung Min is not home, he lives in Seoul now because of his work and I miss having him around lately “Thanks for the ride” I said and got off the car, I hear Tae Yong opened his side of the door and walks to meet me before I could open the gate

“This” he hands me a small box and I opened it to see a necklace

“What is this?”

“You’ve been wearing this necklace for a long time I thought maybe I should get you a new one,” he said gesturing at the necklace around my neck

I touch it as it brought back memories, this is the only thing I never want to let go of so I handed the small box back to Tae Yong “Thank you but I’m fine with this one”

It might be old but its value has never for one day decreased

*****

I don’t want to be here

“Choi Hyun Soo. Hi over here” Gong Dae Hee calls me with a wine glass tucked in between her fingers. She has a blue dinner dress on that hugged her body perfectly, she has grown a lot curvier since the last time I saw her and her hair is so long it rolls down her back “Or should I call you Kyung Min now”

I don’t want to be here

“Dae Hee oh my god you look stunning,” Min So Ra said from my side before leaning in to whisper in my ear “Try to look alive Kyung Min” the one person who struggled the most when it came to calling me Yoon Kyung Min instead of Choi Hyun Soo was So Ra, we grew up together so it must have been more difficult on her but she tried her best to adjust to my new life and a new name. Even when she traveled to France to study fashion designing since that’s what she wanted although she had to fight a war with her parent before she was able to do that she still called me on the phone almost every time. While I was reading and studying for Police Academy, she was making clothes for top models and now she is one of the most sorts after fashion designer who has her own clothing brand and works for one of the big three Korean entertainment companies which also happens to be company my twin Kyung Soo worked for

Kyung Soo is a Kpop idol, he debuted four years ago in a five-man group and his group has been soaring since then, I thought it was weird to see a similar face to mine every time I woke up but it was worse now that he and his group and literally everywhere. It’s been six years and I’m still not used to us having the same face

I mean I lived for 19 years without knowing I had siblings and all of sudden, I didn’t just have a sister I had a brother who was my identical twin

“Oh my god is that Choi Hyun Soo, you look stunning” Cha Jae Hoon, another high school classmate said as I walked to the table with Dae Hee, Yu Na, and Sora

“Thanks, Hi” I smiled as I softly touched my hair that took two hours to style, and let’s not talk about the about of the excess hair spray and wax I wasted just to look this good

“It’s Kyung Min now” Yu Na corrected then said hi to me. I haven’t also seen her in forever and she looks like she didn’t change a bit asides from the new hairstyle, nothing more has changed

“Oh right. It’s Kyung Min” he said passing me a cup of wine “How have you been? You’re famous now, or should I say your twin is. I went to his concert last time with my girlfriend and wow it was totally awesome”

“Yeah Kyung Soo’s group pretty is awesome” I smiled knowing that my brother will appreciate this compliment before raising the wine glass to my lips

“Could you put in a good word for my company, please? We are trying to sponsor his group but his management has us waiting in line”

“I don’t work for them” 

“I know. What do you do again?” he asked taking a sip of his wine

“I’m a police officer,” I said proudly

“For real?” he looked shocked then turns to the equally shocked girls

“Yeah”

“I thought you were going to inherit CH Tech and JK Holdings, I mean I knew it was going to be a little hard since stock plummeted after your mom turned out to be a psycho and a murderer,” he said

“Hey!” So Ra snarls

“Sorry, your fake mom” he corrected himself like it was supposed to make me feel any better “But you choose to be a police officer?”

The old me would get angry at what he just said and ask him to stop being so rude and disrespectful but I wasn’t fazed by his words. The stock got better over the years and my grandma and dad still want me to run the company but that’s what they want not what I want.

 What I want is to help people, solve crimes, resolve conflict, my dream is to be a homicide detective and solve cases like my birth mom’s and maybe even be able to stop something like that from happening to someone else

I’m not going to measure my happiness by someone else’s standard. That’s not who Yoon Kyung Min is so instead I just smiled at them and sipped the red wine

“Whose idea was it to rent this hall anyways? It’s so expensive” So Ra changes the topic, I sighed as my eyes wanders to the bodies of people I spent three years with in school but could barely remember, it’s fascinating that most of them either already took over their parent’s company or started their own. My eyes danced around the hall and no sign of Lee Seung Gi.

I’m safe but I still don’t want to be here maybe I should have taken Tae Yong’s invitation instead I thought as the boredom starts to kick in

“Have you heard?” Yu Na’s voice kicks me out of my thoughts and my attention falls on her 

“What?” The other’s echoed

“Rosaline is pregnant,” she said

“What?” Jae Hoon asked “So soon”

“Yeah she is getting married soon too and the father is someone we all know” she adds

My curiosity is peaked and I wonder who was crazy enough to knock her up? That girl is a raging fire, who fell for her? Yu Na said it’s someone we know but I have no idea who that would be, not a single clue. She didn’t have friends when we were in school and would follow Seung Gi ….

No way

There’s no way

I mean, Seung Gi and Rosaline? No 

I shook my head “Who is she getting married to?” my voice is louder than I intended it to be 

“Look look she’s here,” Dae Hee said as our attention is transferred to the entrance of the hall. Rosaline walked in here with brown long hair that she had up in a ponytail, her hand is on her very heavy stomach and she is smiling brightly

I forgot how much her smile creeped me out till now so I looked away

“Rosaline you forgot your purse”

That voice is familiar

Too familiar that it makes my head spin back to the entrance so fast and there he was Lee Seung Gi, my ex. I looked at So Ra who is shocked to see him. The burning sensation I had long forgotten is once again raised in the middle of my chest

So Ra said he wasn’t going to be here

I knew it was a lie

I knew he will come

I don’t want to be here

“Thanks, babe” Rosaline winks at Seung Gi and he rolls his eyes

“Babe?” Cha Jae Hoon spoke my mind

There must be some sort of misunderstanding, I must have sipped on too much wine and wasn’t hearing right or maybe it’s because I didn’t get enough sleep last night because of my anxiety that I wasn’t hearing this right

This can’t be true

“Seung Gi is the father?” Dae Hee asked and I wanted to disappear

I want to evaporate or even better, having the ground opens to swallows me, it doesn’t seem like too bad an option this time. I just want to be anywhere else but here

There is no way this is true

I mean 

There is no way

Lee Seung Gi looks up from Rosaline and his eyes meet mine.

Our eyes meet, he is shocked and I wondered why he was shocked, did he think I won’t be here so he can come and show off his wife to be? I should have known something was up when So Ra told me Seung Gi was studying in Australia but I didn’t put two plus two

Now this

I shouldn’t be mad, it’s been six years. This shouldn’t affect me, he might not even be the father and this might just be one big misunderstanding

This might just be…

Rosaline hugs his hand then waves at us

Fuck! This is not a misunderstanding

Lee Seung Gi might be the father

Scratch that Lee Seung Gi is the father