I WISH I HAD A HAPPY ENDING TOO

Chapter 13

"Wow..." was the only word that escaped my lips as the view unfolded before us.

From where we stood, the city was a breathtaking canvas of shimmering lights, sprawling endlessly into the horizon. We were at an overlooking spot. Although there were other people around, they were mostly couples lost in their own worlds.

"You like it?" Sutehan asked, his hands tucked casually into his pockets.

I smiled softly, nodding in response. I was sure my eyes were reflecting the brilliance of the lights, shining with a rare spark of genuine joy. I had always loved this kind of view.

Once the initial awe subsided, Sutehan gestured toward a nearby bench, and I quietly sat down beside him.

"So, what really happened? Why were you crying when you got into the elevator earlier?"

His sudden seriousness made me stop looking at the city lights. I turned to meet his gaze.

"The elevator?"

He nodded slowly, leaning his back against the wooden bench. That explained it. The familiar scent I had caught in the elevator earlier was definitely his.

"You're not good at lying, but you still managed to fool your friend." I let out a deep sigh at what he said. It was him—the man who was with me in the elevator earlier. Why do I never trust my instincts even when my suspicions are right? That's why I end up getting hurt. Well, getting hurt was my choice anyway.

"What were you doing there anyway?" I asked, curious.

"My mansion is far too massive for me, especially since I live all by myself. I prefer staying at my old condo. I only really visit the estate when I'm with my future wife... though I usually only bring her there when she's either drunk or crying."

My lips parted in slight surprise. He was sharing such intimate, personal details with me. On television and in his public interviews, he was notoriously guarded, completely refusing to answer personal questions like these.

"Poor you. So how is your fiancée? It's Ashika, right? Honestly, I thought you two were already married—"

"You know, I answered your question," Sutehan interrupted smoothly, leaning in to lightly flick my forehead.

"So it's your turn to answer mine."

I pouted, rubbing my forehead and glaring at him. Ouch. That actually stung a bit.

"I miss Vin. That's why I was crying earlier when you saw me," I answered quietly, turning my gaze back to the sprawling city lights below us.

He didn't speak. He simply sat in comfortable silence, waiting, silently encouraging me to keep sharing since he had just shared a piece of himself with me.

"We broke up because he cheated on me," I said, letting out a dry, humorless laugh.

Before I knew it, the sting of tears returned. I quickly tilted my head back, desperately trying to keep the tears from spilling down my cheeks.

"I caught him... sleeping with his best friend. In our own apartment. It would have been fine with me if they were just lying next to each other. I could have turned a blind eye, but I just couldn't take being deceived right to my face! Best friends? Sharing a bed? And naked at that? They acted more like real lovers than we ever did." My voice trembled, and the moment the tears escaped despite all my best efforts to keep them from falling, I completely broke down.

I had foolishly believed that telling someone else about it would make the pain less real. I thought moving on would be easy, that I could handle the aftermath because I knew it was the right choice. But pretending to be unaffected was exhausting. It had barely been a month since we parted ways, and every single day still felt like day one. The betrayal felt as fresh as if it had only happened yesterday.

"He doesn't love me anymore..." I sobbed.

Suddenly, Sutehan pulled me into a tight, crushing embrace. He gently and rhythmically patted my back, and his quiet warmth only made me cry harder.

It was a deep, guttural sob—as if all the pain I had bottled up since my accident and the horrific night I was r***d by my uncle was finally being unleashed. His hug was filled with a profound, quiet sincerity that made me feel entirely safe. It was the exact feeling of protection I had desperately begged my father for years ago, only to be met with cold disbelief.

Vin had supported me through my trauma and accepted me, yes, but I had never allowed myself to break down like this in front of him.

This was the cry of someone who was simply too tired to keep fighting. It was the pain of Vin's betrayal crashing against the dark walls of the trauma that relentlessly haunted me whenever I was left alone in the dark.

With my father's birthday fast approaching, I didn't even know if I was ready to face him. He had never believed me, and because of his betrayal, I had forced myself to forget that I even had a father left in this world. If only my mother had survived, maybe she would have fought for me. Maybe I would have found justice.

Even if my name gets dirtied and I get labeled and called a r**e victim, it's fine, as long as justice was served for what happened to me! I just wish I wasn't suffering so much right now! It feels like I just swallowed everything that happened to me because I let it go.

‘I really hate Vin! I was so faithful to him! Everyone always says if you're faithful, your partner will be faithful to you too, but it's a lie! I hate Furanshin! I absolutely hate them both! And I hate my father for turning his back on me when I needed him most! I hate all of them!’

Sutehan held me for a long time, never once trying to pull away. He kept whispering for me to let it all out, telling me to scream and cry while he simply listened. But as the minutes ticked by, all I could do was sob against his chest, murmuring my father's name, crying out for my mother, and letting the absolute weight of my grief take over.

Throughout the entire drive back, Sutehan held my hand, gently squeezing it every few minutes to remind me that I wasn't alone. When we finally arrived at our condominium building, we walked side-by-side to our respective doors.

By some strange twist of fate, his unit was directly next to mine. Perhaps it was a quiet sign from above that I didn't have to face the dark alone anymore—that if the night grew too loud, Sutehan's door was just a few steps away. We were friends, after all. There was nothing wrong with relying on him.

"Thank you so much for listening to me tonight," I said, standing in the hallway between our doors.

He offered a warm, reassuring smile and nodded. "It's my pleasure, darling. I'm right here in the next room if you ever need someone to talk to." He pointed to his door, and I gave him a grateful nod.

"Goodnight," I murmured, quickly slipping inside my apartment before he could reply.

After taking a warm bath and completing my skincare routine, I lay down in bed, staring blankly up at the ceiling. My mind was a whirlwind of everything that had transpired tonight.

It felt surreal—how the mysterious buyer of my apartment turned out to be Sutehan, how our business meeting had effortlessly shifted into a date, and how I had ended up sobbing my heart out to him, laying bare the ruins of my first love and the shadows of my past. We had been so caught up in the emotion of it all that we hadn't even discussed the actual payment or contract for the apartment.

"I guess we'll just have to settle that tomorrow," I whispered to myself, turning onto my side.

I had always hated restaurant dates, but tonight, Sutehan had somehow made me feel like they were worth loving again.

Suddenly, my phone lit up on the nightstand. I reached out and picked it up, my heart fluttering slightly when I saw his name on the screen. It was Sutehan.

I sat up, leaning my back against the wooden headboard, and answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Hi, darling. Were you about to sleep? I'm sorry if I disturbed you," his deep voice echoed through the receiver, making me bite my lower lip to keep from smiling.

It felt so much like the old days. Back in college, he would always call me the moment he sensed I wasn't doing well, or whenever I went quiet on our chat.

"It's okay. I couldn't sleep anyway. Why did you call?" I asked, pulling a pillow tightly against my chest.

"Just wanted to check if you're okay. How are you feeling? Do you feel a little better? You can always vent to me if you're still feeling heavy," he said, his voice thick with genuine concern.

A soft yawn escaped me, and I slowly let my head sink back onto my pillow. Just hearing the steady, calming cadence of his voice was already making my eyelids heavy.

"Hmm... thank you," I murmured sleepily. There was no point in pretending I was perfectly fine, but his presence was enough.

"Can you sing for me?" I mumbled, the exhaustion finally catching up to me.

The line went entirely silent. For a second, I thought the call had dropped, but when I pulled the phone back to look at the screen, the timer was still ticking.

"Hello...?"

"Okay. I'll sing for you. Just for you," he whispered back.

I closed my eyes, a soft smile tugging at my lips. I had missed this therapy so much. If he hadn't called, I probably would have ended up crying myself to sleep, paralyzed by the phantom fears of the trauma that always seemed to creep up on me in the dark.

Vin had always known how to calm the storm inside my mind whenever the panic attacks hit me late at night. But long before Vin, it was actually Sutehan who knew how to silence the monsters. He could always quiet my mind over the phone, singing softly to me until I drifted off.

He began to sing, his voice carrying the soft, acoustic melody of Neocolours's Maybe.

“Maybe it's wrong to say please love me too. ' Cause I know you'll never do. Somebody else is waiting there inside you...”🎶

His voice was incredibly beautiful. It was no wonder so many girls had been infatuated with him during our college years. He was brilliant, incredibly handsome, and possessed a voice that could melt anyone. But because Sutehan had never cared to join any of the music clubs, Vin had always been the one in the spotlight.

“Maybe it's wrong to love you more each day. ' Cause I know he's here to stay but my love is strong…” 🎶

He loves singing, and the song loves him back because everything suits his voice, but why is there always such yearning in his song? Does the person he loves not love him back? Does he want to be loved in return through every song he sings, even if it's impossible? Is this what they mean when they say God is still fair? That even if you're handsome or beautiful and get everything you want, there is still that one deepest desire which, no matter what we do, is so hard to get and reach?

“ I don't know if this is wrong but I know to whom you should belong…" 🎶

Before Sutehan could even finish the verse, the heavy pull of sleep finally won. The world faded to a gentle, quiet black, his voice carrying me safely into sleep.