“Seolhyun.”

Her voice is cold, missing the usual enthusiasm when she calls for her attention.

“Hyejeong.” The younger girl exclaims with a soft smile, dimples showing on her cheeks when she turns around to face her girlfriend.

The brunette in front of her gives her a tight-lipped smile, eyes remaining unexpressive.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to come home tonight.”

The smile on Seolhyun’s face falters at the news. She tries to hide the disappointment showing on her face, looking down and counting to three in her head, before she looks up again, a visibly forced smile playing her lips.

“It’s okay. You have a lot of work lately, just be careful and take care of yourself.”

The blank expression on Hyejeong’s face wavers for the fraction of a second, showing something similar to guilt, before the brunette retakes control of her facial expression.

“Sorry.” She mutters, when she passes the younger girl and leaves the house without looking back.

Seolhyun stays rooted on her spot, eyes glued to the door, where Hyejeong had walked out just seconds ago. Walked out without kissing her goodbye, walked out without telling her goodbye.

For the past two weeks it had been like this. Hyejeong would barely be home, spending most of her time at her workplace, while Seolhyun was left alone in their apartment. Alone, nearly every night.

A sigh escapes her pink lips and she finally turns around and walks to the living room, where she plops down on the couch. She doesn’t know what she’s supposed to do. They were supposed to head to JeJu today. They were supposed to go on a vacation together, when Hyejeong had suddenly told her that they had to cancel their vacation.

There was an emergency at work and they had cancelled her vacation, she had said.

And Seolhyun had believed Hyejeong.

She had always believed her.

She always will.

She is about to doze off, eyes already closed and her head on the armrest, when she hears a familiar music starting to play. She has heard it a lot in the past, nearly, two years.

Hyejeong’s ringtone.

A little irritated she stands up and follows the sound. She finds the source in the kitchen. Hyejeong’s Iphone lying on the table, playing a bouncy song.

The password has changed, she realizes, when she tries to unlock it, in order to shut it off. It worries her. Hyejeong isn’t the type to hide anything from her, but lately, lately she has been hiding a lot of things.

Like the bruise on her back.

And it’s unsettling.

She puts the phone back on the table, then turns around and leaves for her room. It’s not like she has anything planned for today.

Hyejeong doesn’t come home that night, nor the following night.

It takes three days for the brunette to finally step a foot back into their shared apartment - although it barely feels shared anymore. It feels cold and lonely, especially their bed and especially in the night.

When Seolhyun sees the brunette at the entrance of the living room, she greets her with a bright smile.  Trying not to get too worried at how tired the older girl looks, but the eye bags are very prominent. She looks like she barely slept those past three days.

Hyejeong doesn’t return the smile, her face remains blank, shows no emotion, just like her gaze, which seems a little unfocused. It scares Seolhyun.

Yet she still gets up, walks up to the other girl and presses a soft kiss against Hyejeong’s cheek. A forced smile on her lips, in order not to show her fear and disappointment at the lack of happiness when Hyejeong has seen her.

The brunette flinches, her look is panic-stricken when their eyes meet and Seolhyun wonders what she has done wrong.

But before she can ask, Hyejeong mutters a quiet ‘sorry’, then leaves the living room and goes into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

Seolhyun flinches, she’s confused, scared, even sad. Mostly confused. She doesn’t understand why Hyejeong acts this way around her, she doesn’t know. And she doesn’t want to.

The next morning, everything is back to normal. Hyejeong smiles at her when their eyes meet in the morning. She looks genuinely happy. She hasn’t in two weeks.

Seolhyun returns the genuine smile, a wave of relief surging through her, knowing that everything is back to normal. Knowing that they’re back to normal.

Hyejeong pulls her in a soft and loving kiss, arms resting around Seolhyun’s waist, pulling her close, while Seolhyun’s arms are draped around Hyejeong’s neck and she allows herself to melt into the hug in complete trust.

She smiles into the kiss, her eyes closed as she enjoys the feeling of Hyejeong’s lips against her own. It’s been so long, it nearly feels foreign.

Hyejeong even makes her breakfast this morning. Fried bacon with eggs and a coffee and Seolhyun thinks her cheeks will hurt tomorrow, for she smiles so much.

They spend the morning talking animatedly, joking around and doing silly dances while cleaning their stuff. After they get dressed, Hyejeong drives her to work, kisses her cheek before she leaves.

Everything that happened and everything that didn’t happen during those two weeks is forgotten and Seolhyun couldn’t be any happier about it. They spend their evenings together again, sitting on the couch and watching TV.

It feels like heaven.

“I have to work late tonight.” Seolhyun says, when they’re eating breakfast. Together.

It’s a lie, but she can’t tell Hyejeong the truth. But for an occasion like this, she thinks it’s okay to lie.

Hyejeong looks up, confusion in her gaze and a barely visible glint in her eyes. A glint that is very similar to hope.

Maybe she has something planned as well.

“How late?”

Seolhyun shrugs. “I don’t know. Around eleven, probably.”

And their conversation ends with the brunette nodding, but Seolhyun doesn’t mind. They have to leave soon after all.

 Hyejeong doesn’t kiss her when sending her off today.

She returns earlier than planned. Two hours earlier, thanks to Chanmi who helped her a great deal. And she’s relieved, because she got what she wanted, because going home at night is scary and because she missed her girlfriend.

She enters the house quietly, not wanting to wake the brunette, who is could already sleeping. It’s sad that they couldn’t spend the day together, but seeing Hyejeong’s surprised face tomorrow will be just as good.

In the kitchen, she finds a note stating that there are leftovers in the fridge and her lover’s thoughtfulness makes her heart swell in happiness.

Discarding her coat on the couch, she walks to her room, ready to join Hyejeong in their bed and sleep in late, because tomorrow is their free day.

Squeaks can be heard, when she’s outside the bedroom. Hyejeong must be having nightmares or something of the sort, she seems to be quite agitated. She’s usually a peaceful sleeper.

She opens the door slowly, not wanting to cause any ruckus.

The sight in front of her makes her heart stop. Makes her feel like she’s choking and her eyes fill with tears.

“Hyejeong.” She croaks out, not bothering to try to hide the mixture of disbelief and pain inside her voice. She feels like someone just stabbed her in the back, stabbed her when she was the most trusting.

The two persons on the bed whip their head at the call, fear written all over their barely illuminated faces. She doesn’t know the girl on top of Hyejeong.

She doesn’t know her, but she’s pretty. She has straight black hair and doe-eyes and she looks really beautiful. Her waist seems to be slim, she’s shorter than both of them, a distinct look of innocence on her face.

“Seolhyun.” Hyejeong calls her name, attempting to get off the bed. “I thought you were only supposed to come back around eleven.”

Seolhyun gives her a pained smile, but she doesn’t answer, instead she stares back and forth between the stranger and Hyejeong. Noting how the stranger is straddling Hyejeong, hands resting on her waist.

“It’s not what you think it is.”

Seolhyun shakes her head, tears now flowing down her cheeks, as she cups with one hand. She doesn’t want to hear Hyejeong’s excuses. She doesn’t want to hear any excuse.

She feels betrayed and hurt. Angry, maybe even jealous, but mostly hurt. She turns on her heels and walks to the door, grabbing her coat to leave the apartment. She can’t stay in here.

“Wait!”

A hand grabs her wrist, turns her around and she’s face to face with Hyejeong. She starts shaking, tries to pull her wrist out of Hyejeong’s hold.

When she realizes that there’s no way Hyejeong will let go of her wrist, she finally looks up.

Hyejeong’s gaze is scared, uncertain and it causes anger to rise up inside her.

“I hope she was good.” The younger one hisses.

“What?” Hyejeong seems confused, maybe even a little angered, but Seolhyun doesn’t care anymore. She had trusted her, she had believed her.

“Since when.”

The brunette breaks the eye contact, her gaze wandering to her feet and the hold on Seolhyun’s wrist loosening.

“About a little more than two weeks ago.”

Seolhyun nods, tears still streaming down her face, as she runs one hand through her hair in nervousness, uneasiness. She has to get out of this place. Now.

“You know, I trusted you.” A sad smile forms on her lips and she turns around, grabs the doorknob and leaves the apartment, looking at Hyejeong one last time.

She takes a blue velvet box out of the pocket of her coat and throws it to Hyejeong, who catches it in confusion and opens it right after, revealing a silver necklace with an anchor pendant.

The brunette looks up, her gaze confused when she makes eye-contact with Seolhyun, who gives her one last sad smile, before she turns around and walks away. Away from the painful reality.

“Today was our anniversary.”