Serendipity - A Chance Encounter Chapter 382 - The Wedding Week (10)

Late in the afternoon on the same day.

Samantha and Daniel were playing with Ashton in the kiddie pool. Wearing swimming outfits, the three of them swam and splashed water, entertaining their little potato who loved the water so much.

"He said a new word today," said Samantha.

"What did he say?"

"Joon." Samantha chuckled. "He must have heard me a lot calling my brother that. Now every time he sees Joon he-"

"Joon!" Ashton pointed at someone behind his parents which made them turn to see Samantha's brother Seo Joon walking closer.

"Oh, speak of the devil," Daniel said.

"Hey, Dopey… Can I talk to you for a minute?" He asked in a rather toneless voice.

Sensing her brother's unusual expression, Samantha thought that it might be something important. Turning to Daniel, she pa.s.sed Ashton to him saying, "Honey, can you watch him for a while? I'll be right back."

"Sure," Daniel placed Ashton in a floater and brought him to a deeper part of the pool. "Come on buddy, let's work those quads and glutes [1] , eh?"

Samantha rolled her eyes as she got off the pool when she heard Daniel trying to make Ashton work on his muscles. Seo Joon handed her a towel and robe and the two of them headed towards the sunbed to talk.

"What's up?" Samantha asked as soon as she sat.

"Did Hannah say something to you?" he asked with a questioning gaze.

"Like what?"

"I don't know… anything?"

Samantha looked at her brother with a perplexed expression, unsure of what he really meant.

"You're her best friend, Dopey."

"And you're her boyfriend." Samantha started to have an inkling of what this was about but she did not dare slip.

"Come on. Just tell me something, okay? I've been trying to rack my brains all week but I still don't know what's up with her."

"Okay, Joon… I don't know what to tell you. What's going on?"

Seo Joon ran a hand on his face and sighed. "I feel like she's hiding something from me."

"Why do you say that?" Samantha turned away as if she was trying to dry her hair. Her brother can be very observant sometimes and she was afraid that he might see something on her facial expression.

"She's been acting weird and secretive." He rested his head on his hand and continued, "I keep seeing her talking on the phone or emailing someone but when I go near her, she... " Another heavy sigh came out from him. "She's not cheating on me, is she?"

Samantha's head snapped towards him. "Oh my G.o.d, Joon! How could you think of her like that? Do you really think Hannah would do something like that to you?"

"I know… I'm sorry. It's bad… but what am I supposed to think? Every time I try to ask, she would say something weird and dodge the question. There were times that I caught her lying too."

"She lied?" Samantha asked, curious how stupid her best friend could be when she lies.

Seo Joon breathed deeply and told her, "Okay, it was last week… after Ashton's birthday. I saw her on the phone and I asked her who she was talking to… she told me she was talking to you."

Samantha raised her brow, "And you doubted her?"

"At first, I did. But then when I came home and talked to you that night, you said…"

"My phone was dead for the whole day…" Samantha finished her brother's sentence. "I only found it the next day."

She remembered that day because she had been looking for her phone everywhere and thought she misplaced it somewhere. But it turned out that Ashton hid it under the bed — along with other strange stuff that she found there - like her hairbrush, snack puffs, his teether and some other stuff that shouldn't even be in their bedroom.

Now that she thought about it, Hannah's in a bind. Nodding her head, Samantha placed her hand on her brother's, "Do you want me to talk to her?"

She perfectly understood her brother's concern so, after their pool session, Samantha went to talk to Hannah. 

"Oh lord, he thinks I'm cheating on him?" Hannah's eyes went wide. She couldn't believe that Seo Joon would come up to that conclusion. She felt really terrible.

"Why don't you talk to him and tell him what's up?"

"It's supposed to be a surprise." Hannah slumped on the chair, biting her bottom lip and feeling guilty.

"Well… he's really bothered by it. It will still be a surprise, Han. It's just… he'll know about it sooner instead."

After talking to Samantha, Hannah went to Seo Joon right away. She found him at the bar by himself and after telling him that she needed to talk to him, they went back to their room.

He sat on the bed waiting for her to say something while she clutched her hands together. She felt extremely nervous like she was caught red-handed and was having a hard time how to come up clean.

Seeing her getting all nervous, Seo Joon started feeling bad. "Are you-"

"I'm going away with you." Hannah blurted.

However, Seo Joon didn't understand what she meant so he had to ask, "What?"

Breathing deeply, Hannah looked at him in the eye and enunciated. "I'm going with you overseas."

She saw the change in his expression upon hearing her words like he couldn't believe it.

"I'm going to live there with you, Joon." 

Seo Joon still has not spoken and just continued to look at her like he had discovered something bizarre yet astonis.h.i.+ng. 

"Did you hear me?" Hannah began to feel nervous. "I said I'm going-"

Her words trailed off when Seo Joon stroked his lips to hers shutting her up. He pulled her towards him and tightened his embrace as if he wanted to consume all of her. He kissed her deeply and pa.s.sionately that Hannah could only grip his s.h.i.+rt firmly.

Pulling away slightly, he rested her forehead to hers and asked, "Is this what you were hiding from me?"

Hannah was breathless when she nodded. "It was supposed to be a surprise but… now it's ruined."

Seo Joon held her face with both of his hands and looked her in the eyes as he said, "It's perfect."

A smile spread on her face and she pounced on his embrace. She sighed when she felt the tension fade away from her shoulders. "I love you, Joon. I can't wait."

"Me too. We're going to have a great start and a great life ahead of us, Han." He kissed the top of her head. "I promise to make you happy." 

Kissing his lips, she whispered, "I believe you." 

[1] : Two of the lower-body muscles that you'll use when swimming.