chapter 16

the lonely cue ball

note: HELLO I'M BACK! so sorry for leaving this fic not updated for quite some time. caught up in life but probably ending this with another chapter... thank you so much for patiently waiting for me. i love you all. i strongly suggest for everyone to re-read a few chapters back before reading this one. enjoy!

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"Eunha, are we heading to the competition hall right after school?" Umji asked before the class started.

"Yup, Sowon said that she will be meeting there too." Eunha replied.

"SinB, are you coming with us?" Yuju asked.

"Yeah, to support all of you and Yerin." SinB replied shyly, at the same time, not forgetting her mission.

"Good morning class." said their teacher which made everyone turn back to their tables and start paying attention. Even though Eunha was looking at the whiteboard throughout the lesson, nothing just seemed to get to her mind. She was very worried about the competition later but she was even more worried about facing her guardians.

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Although the competition would only begin one hour later, quite a number of competitors already started coming in, doing some practices on their own and also mingling around. Since it's going to be a long day ahead, Sowon and the rest decided to close the lounge for a day.

"Didn't sleep well yesterday?" Yerin asked as she placed her belongings on the bench.

"Eunha was tossing around the whole night, so I didn't catch any sleep." Sowon replied, letting out a yawn.

"Where is the Nayoung by the way?" Namjoo asked, looking around the crowd.

"She has something on, will be here later." Yerin replied, knowing clearly that Nayoung was currently monitoring the situation at the parking area.

"Anyway, why didn't you let me drive my car today?" Sowon asked.

"I don't dare to put my life at risk when the driver did not sleep at all." Yerin replied, yet again knowing that Sowon will then be safe from the car 'accident'.

"Hey guys, look at the man over there, he has been staring at us ever since we stepped in." Namjoo said, raising one eyebrow.

"He looks familiar, I've seen him before..." Sowon said softly.

"Maybe I'm thinking too much, Umji and the rest have just reached. Let's go and check the name list together with them." said Namjoo, dragging Yerin and Sowon with her.

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After meeting with the girls, all of them squeezed in front to take a look at the name list. Being the tall one, Yerin managed to have a good look at the list for the day.

Jung Yerin - Kim Jisoo
Kim Namjoo - Kim Umji
Choi Yuju - Yook Sungjae

Upon knowing who Sowon's opponent is, everyone got a big shock.

Kim Sowon - Jung Eunha

"Me against you?" Sowon looked at Eunha while pointing at herself.

"There can be a lot of Eunha, right?" Eunha replied, still feeling shocked at the list.

"Is this pure coincidence or pre-planned by the association?" Yerin wondered.

"Don't worry, it doesn't matter who wins alright." said Sowon, giving a light pat on Eunha's head.

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"I wonder which car it is going to be..." Nayoung said to herself.

"Managed to find out anything?" Sungjae whispered which gave Nayoung a big shock.

"Are you a ghost or something? I almost got frightened to death." Nayoung replied.

"So sorry, hey look, why is my uncle there?" Sungjae asked when he saw Mr Jung behaving suspiciously at the parking area.

"Wait, why is he puncturing his own car tyres?" Nayoung asked.

"Sungjae, are you listening to me?" Nayoung asked again after getting no response. Just as she turned around to see Sungjae lying unconsciously on the ground, she felt something hard hit on her neck and went unconscious too.

"Sungjae, sorry, we can't let anyone hinder our plans." said Mr Yook, holding onto a baseball bat.

"What do you think he is doing?" Mr Yook asked.

"I don't know but he is not a big threat to us anyway. Have you contacted the repairman?" Mrs Yook asked.

"Yeah, he is on his way here now. You better go back to the competition hall before anyone suspect." said Mr Yook.

Yet they didn't know that Mr Kim is already watching them for the past 15 minutes. 

"Same old tactic? Oh well, time for me to strike." Mr Kim said to himself.

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"All players, please go to your respective area to prepare for your game." said the announcer and the crowd starts to disperse.

"Baby, do you think that man looks familiar?" Sowon whispered into Eunha's ear.

"It's not weird to see him here, since he was the deliveryman who sent us food that time." Eunha replied.

"The guy who delivered food and he was also smirking like some ert at the previous competition." Sowon recalled.

"Aren't you supposed to be worrying about the match later?" Eunha asked, looking even more nervous than before.

"Well, I am just happy being a snooker lounge boss, having my best friends around and of course, with my lovely girlfriend." Sowon said.

"Then being your lovely girlfriend, mind collecting the refreshments for me?" Eunha asked, with her puppy eyes.

"Can I take back my compliment just now?" Sowon joked and walked to the refreshment counter.

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"Two bottles of mineral water please." Sowon said.

"Here you go. Oh by the way, do you remember me?" Mr Kim asked.

"Yeah, you are the one who delivered food to my place last time." Sowon answered and was prepared to walk off, not wanting to entertain Mr Kim.

"Have you forgotten about your guardian?" Mr Kim asked again.

"You..." Sowon couldn't believe what she has just heard.

An evil smile appeared on Mr Kim's face.

----- 

"Baby, you okay?" Eunha asked when she saw Sowon walking back to the bench looking lost.

"Yeah... I am." Sowon replied with a forced smile.

"Is he...?" Sowon asked herself again after reading the note that Mr Kim gave her together with the drinks.

"Fake accident? Revenging?" Sowon remembered that her guardians died in a made up accident but she starts to wonder, is there such a coincidence?

"Players, the game will commence soon." said the announcer and the judge at Sowon's table signaled her and Eunha to get ready.

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On the other hand, SinB has been calling Nayoung non-stop but no one picks up so she started calling Sungjae, no response either. "Why are they not picking up my call?" SinB start to panick.

"Why are you looking so worried?" Yuju asked as she sat down beside SinB, after the judge announced that Sungjae has dropped out of the game.

"Yuju, do me a favor. Go down to Yerin's table and tell her, 'SOS'." SinB replied knowing that Yuju is the only one who can access the competition area since the rule has changed ever since Jisoo's incident.

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Just because thoughts are running through Sowon's mind, she just can't concentrate on the game. The spectators and board of directors started to discuss among themselves about Sowon's lacking in performance.

"What's wrong with her?" Eunha said to herself as she sent in another snooker ball successfully, calling the game to 1-0.

"The next game will begin in another 15 minutes." the judge announced.

"Baby, are you okay?" Eunha asked.

"Of course, I'm just trying to give way to you." Sowon said with a mischievous tone, not wanting Eunha to suspect anything.

"Sowon, make this a quick game. Something is going to happen." Sowon said to herself and get ready for the next game.

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When Yuju managed to let Yerin know about SinB's message, Yerin immediately requested to drop out of the game and proceed to the car park to look for Sungjae and Nayoung.

"I am so sure that Sowon is not being targetted." Yerin said softly.

"Then who?" SinB asked.

"I am just hoping that nothing will happen in the end." said Yerin.

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"Ladies and Gentlemen, the second game will commer..." Before the announcer can finish his sentence, Mr Kim grabbed over the microphone which made everyone in the hall look at him.

"I announced the cancellation of this competition." said Mr Kim. When Mrs Jung saw Mr Kim, she started to tremble in fear. 

"Are you crazy? Who are you?" Mrs Yook shouted.

"I hold the 40% shares of this association, I have the right to call this off." Mr Kim replied, throwing the letter to Mrs Yook.

"At the same time, I also want to announce that Eunha is my daughter." Mr Kim continued and made Eunha dropped her cue stick, not believing what she heard.

"Everyone is free to leave now. All the participants will also receive an invitation to join the association." said Mr Kim.

"Baby...is this real...?" Eunha asked.
"I didn't believe... but it seems that...he is really your dad." said Sowon.

Not wanting Mr Kim to reveal everything, Mrs Jung immediately got up, wanting to leave the hall. Just as she walked past Sowon and Eunha's table, Mr Jung ran up to her.

"Are you leaving?" Mr Jung asked.

"If not? Game over. Everything is over." Mrs Jung replied.

Mr Kim who is up on the stage saw everything. "Game over? The game will end together with your life."

"If you don't mind, can you drive me to somewhere?" Mr Jung asked.

"You have your own car, isn't it?" Mrs Jung replied, feeling frustrated.

"I think I parked the car onto some nails, my tyres are punctured now." Mr Jung said.

"Fine, Sowon, are you following us? Eunha's dad is already back. You don't have to stay with her anymore." Mrs Jung said, still trying to reconcile with Sowon.

"I said before, I don't belong to the Jung family." Sowon said calmly, holding tightly to Eunha's hand.

Mrs Jung stared hard at Eunha before leaving the hall with Mr Jung.

"Eunha." Mr Kim called out as he walked towards Eunha and Sowon.

"I..." Eunha do not know what to say at that time.

"Everything is over now. Let's leave this country together, shall we?" Mr Kim asked.

When Sowon heard 'everything is over now', she suddenly remembered something. 

"Eunha, something is not right, wait for me here!" said Sowon as she ran off to the carpark. Namjoo who is at another table ran over when she saw Sowon running off. Eunha managed to grab Namjoo back and asked what is wrong. "Yerin just called me. Something is going to happen to your guardians!"

Without hesitating much, Eunha ran to the carpark together with Namjoo. Mr Kim laughed out loudly when he saw the situation right now. "The Jung Family is over..."

Over at another corner, Mr Yook and Mrs Yook are very pleased that they are going to get the leftover shares to pay off their debt. The only difference is they can't laugh out loudly like Mr Kim. One reason is because, they are guilty and secondly they don't want Mr Kim to reveal anything about the incident back then. Just as they were about to quietly leave the place, Mr Kim walked to them and said, "Your repairman already agreed to be my witness for the 'make up accident', you can pay him, I can pay him too. Just wait for the police to look for both of you."

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Over at the carpark, before Mrs Jung can get into the car, Mr Jung stepped up on the accelerator which left Mrs Jung in shock. 

"Sowon!" Yerin and the rest shouted out when they saw Sowon came out from nowhere and jumped into the car right after Mr Jung drove off. Just then Eunha and

Namjoo also reached the car park, not knowing what is happening.

"The car, the car... is not in a working condition. I think Mr Jung knows about it already and Sowon jumped into the car as well." Yerin tried to speak clearly.

"Sowon..." Eunha knows that something bad is going to happen.

"What are you all waiting for? Hop on!" said Sungjae who just recovered from the hit. The rest, including Mrs Jung got into Sungjae's 7-seater.

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"Sowon, do you know what you are doing?!" Mr Jung shouted.

"I know, then you? Do you know what you are doing?!" Sowon shouted back.

"I am willing to die for my wife. You still need to take care of Eunha. This road is going to end at the sea, get out of the car before it's too late! The door at your side is the only one that can be unlocked!"

"Dad! I can't leave you alone here!" said Sowon, who is trying to switch places with Mr Jung.

"Sowon!"

Sungjae's car stopped at the road when they heard an loud explosion coming from the sea. Eunha and the rest immediately got out of the car and ran towards the smoke. They saw a figure crawling out of the smoke, but couldn't figured out who it was.

"Sowon, you better be the one who is lying there." Eunha said to herself, rubbing her ring hard. 

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“Please give way! There is an emergency here!” One of the nurses shouted as they are pushing the stretcher into the operation theatre.

“Girls, I’m afraid that all of you can’t go in. Things will be fine, don’t worry okay?” Dr Yoo stopped the girls and went into the operation theatre.

When the word “Operation” lights up, Eunha slowly goes into a squatting position, burying her head in her arms. Everyone just quietly stood outside the operation theatre until the police arrived.

“Can we speak to Miss Jung Eunha?” One of the policemen called out.

Eunha slowly lifted up her head, “Yes I’m.”

“Let me accompany her.” SinB said softly. 

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“We sent our divers to look for another victim, but we can’t find anyone.”

“Even if... even if... Sowon is dead... there is no reason that her body is missing...”

"We’ve came up with two possible reasons, if Miss Kim Sowon didn’t get out of the car in time, she probably lost her life during the explosion. If she managed to get out, we are afraid that the sea waves might have swept her away.”

“So you mean... till now, we won’t be able to know if Sowon is alive or not?”

“Yes, you can say so.”

Upon hearing this piece of news, Eunha’s legs go weak and fainted on the spot.

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“Yerin, right now the Yooks and Mrs Jung are being held by the police, their shares are out in the market.” said Nayoung as they are waiting for the doctor to check on Eunha while the rest are still outside the operation theatre.

“So Eunha’s dad is holding onto 40%, Eunha has 10% and 10% is with us. So we just need to buy back the rest of the 40% to own the association right?” Yerin asked.

“Yes, but we don’t have that much... of money.” Namjoo said.

“Take this card. The pin number is 5377422.” Jeongyeon popped out from nowhere with a bank card.

“Jeongyeon, the money is from...?” Yerin asked.

“Sowon told me to take it out when there is an emergency. I don’t know if this is considered as an emergency, but I hope I am right. Anyway, I am leaving for Japan later to assist my dad’s friend. So just keep the card with you.” Jeongyeon replied and left.

“Yerin... do you think Jeongyeon...” Nayoung voiced out her worries.

“Don’t think too much, if the police can’t even find Sowon, let alone Jeongyeon. Use this money to buy back the shares now.” said Yerin as she frowns.

"Yerin, Mr Jung is out!" Yuju came running towards Yerin.

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"Where is... Sowon?" was the first sentence Mr Jung said when he woke up.

Everyone just simply looked down without replying.

"Where is Eunha then?" Mr Jung asked again.

"Doctor said that she suffered from a big blow and is resting at the next door." Sungjae replied.

"Then... where is Sowon? Tell me!" Mr Jung asked.

"Sowon... is missing." Sungjae finally let the news out.

"Missing?! This is impossible!" Mr Jung shouted.

"Then Mr Jung, what exactly happened?" Yerin asked.

"Sowon was trying to switch places with me, but before the explosion happened, she hit herself hard against the door and I remembered both of us escaped from the car in time!" Mr Jung recalled.

"We still have some hope then." Yerin said softly.

"But where is she now? Will she be still alive?" Sungjae asked.

"It's all my fault! It is..." Mr Jung cried out loud.

"Yes, it is all your fault! It is! It is!" Eunha dashed into the room shouting at Mr Jung.

"I tried to hold her back but she..." said SinB.

"Forgive dad.. will you?" Mr Jung asked softly.

"Forgive or not forgive... it's too late, isn't it? Sowon is not going to come back anymore, right?" Eunha's tears flow down again.

"Sowon will be fine, she will be!" SinB said to Eunha.

Just then, Yerin's mobile phone rang. After speaking for awhile, she hung up the call.

"We managed to get 90% shares. Mr Kim sold all his shares and... committed suicide." said Yerin.

"I am born to be a jinx to everyone. First Sowon, now my father... I don't deserve any love. The more love I asked for, my loved ones will leave one by one." said Eunha and laughed with more tears flowing out.

"The police is on the way here to pass you the letter he wrote before dying." Yerin said, patting Eunha's shoulders. 

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"Would you like to have anything?" An air stewardess spoke. 

"Give me two bottles of mineral water." said Jeongyeon and the stewardess left. 

"When will I be having the operation?"

"At least another 6 months for your body to be in a right condition. You will need to be under observation for another 1 year. And your face..."

"Do you find it scary?"

"No, just don't worry, the doctors will be able to do something to it."

"I need to go to the washroom."

"Do you want me to accompany you?"

"It's okay, I will be fine."

Looking into the mirror, Sowon touched the right side of her face. Slowly taking out the bandage, the wounds which are still fresh and stings every now and then. The best word to describe her face right now is simply, monster. 

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The next day, Eunha took out the letter from the envelope the police gave to her. Lying on her bed, she started reading the letter,

              My precious daughter, when you are reading this letter, I'm probably together with your mother now. Forgive me for abandoning you here alone. I remembered asking if you want to leave the country with me together and you said no. Looks like dad iis not as important as Sowon, right? Dad really wants you to be happy and I know my actions have caused you to be unhappy. The reason I chose to leave this world is because I am tired of how cruel this place is and by right, I am supposed to be with your mother. Forgive me for being selfish. Promise me to live on for your sake and ours. Sowon is a good person, she will take care of you. Dad is handing you to her now. Please live on happily. 

Eunha wiped away her tears and put the letter back into the envelope. Just then, Tzuyu came in.

"Feeling better?"

"A little. Why are you here?"

"To visit you... and remember the study trip I told you about? Professor wants you to confirm your decision."

"One year... in United States?"

"I know you are still feeling upset over this. But isn't it better for you to face reality and grab this chance?"

"Eunha, go ahead. Don't let Sowon be the one who is holding you back. Even nothing has happened, she will want you to go for this trip too." said Yerin as she came into the room.

"But I..."

"Complete your studies, we will be waiting for you to take over the association."

"How do you know I want to ..."

"Both you and Sowon starts off with snooker, and I know you are hoping for an ending with snooker too, right?"

"Yes, I just have a strong feeling that Sowon will come back to look for me."

"Then give all of us one year, we will make the association to be truly a place for people to play snooker. " said SinB who joined in the conversation as well.

"Tzuyu, please inform professor that I will be going for the trip."

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"AHHHH!" 

"What happened Sowon?" Jeongyeon rushed into the room and saw Sowon perspiring in fear.

Jeongyeon, do I look scary now? Do I?!" Sowon shouted as she shook Jeongyeon's shoulders.

"Sowon, calm down... remember you have to get your condition right for the heart transplant before you deal with your face, right?" Jeongyeon hugged Sowon tightly.

"I miss Eunha... I miss her. But my face..."

"Just don't think about it first...relax..." Jeongyeon gave Sowon an injection, and the latter went back to sleep again.

Jeongyeon looked at Sowon, tears start to flow down as she recalled what happened a day before.

"Jeong...yeon... I'm Sowon, can you come and look for me? Don't let anyone know about it."

Jeongyeon rushed to the address Sowon gave after hanging up the call. Upon reaching a deserted place, Jeongyeon saw Sowon lying on the shore unconsciously. She ran towards Sowon and got shocked by Sowon's injury. She carried Sowon to her rented apartment and clean Sowon's wounds. After a few hours, Sowon woke up and went to the washroom. The next thing Jeongyeon heard while she was sleeping, is Sowon's scream.

"Jeongyeon... my face... my face..."

"Sowon... calm down... calm down..."

Half of Sowon's face is badly burned. 

After Sowon told her what exactly happened, Jeongyeon is thankful that the explosion did not kill her. But Sowon is upset over the burns, she knows that she can't go back to who she is anymore.

"If no one can heal your wounds, accept me, will you?" Jeongyeon whispered as she held onto Sowon's hand. 

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Comments

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LilChouette #1
Chapter 18: Thank you for giving us a really good end for the story. Even though we had to get through some dramas. But, still I personally enjoyed it a lot. Thank you for making such a beautiful story like this.
aprilflyhigh
#2
Chapter 18: This story is amazing. I love how you portray Sowon's character.
X-ZERB_areia
#3
Chapter 6: The effect of cake'ssweetness
X-ZERB_areia
#4
Chapter 3: Uwu bichis
X-ZERB_areia
#5
Chapter 1: Tzuyu be bossy. How i wish jihyo is there
Star_River_Magic
#6
Chapter 18: Fantastic story, I love it
The setting got me
Love wonha as always
Carameruu
#7
Chapter 18: Finished the whole story in one day :))) <3 how is this story not in the featured section of AFF? I was surprised at every part I thought I could predict but didnt :) I laughed at the chalk rings lol Ure amazing author nim
Carameruu
#8
Chapter 3: I really like this story :) You're very creative and knowledgeable about snooker :) very poetic too
Poeticaffeine
#9
Chapter 18: Lol about the rings...what yumji did in the bathroom tho??? Haha
Rhythflow
#10
Chapter 18: Thank you for this great story..