After work, Miyeon went straight home. She had to change her clothes for the business dinner. Although she suggested that she could take a cab to the restaurant, Joonmyun insisted to be the one who would drive her and she gave in. She had two hours to prepare and it was more than enough. 

A little bit of makeup and a dress and she was ready to go. Glancing at her phone and seeing that she had more than half an hour to Joonmyun's arrival, she sat down on the couch and closed her eyes. The events that occured at the vacation and later were coming back to her. A lot had happened during those days. Even though she had almost drowned, it was a good vacation. She spent more time with her friends and made new friends. One of them being Joonmyun. She smiled at the thought of them being friends. Maybe it was better for them to be just friends. After finding about his past, she realised that it would have been really hard for him to move on after Hyeri. He probably still loved her and she could do nothing about it. At the end, that woman was the one who changed him, she was with him when he was going through the toughest moments of his life. I could never compete with her.

Her phone beeped. It was a text from Joonmyun, saying that he was waiting for her in front of the building.

Blind. That's what you were, Joonmyun, blind. All this time you were so damn blind! He was mad at himself. The moment he saw her coming out of the building he turned angry. How could he ignore such a beautiful, smart and kind woman for three years? A perfect woman. The woman he didn't deserve, but wanted. There he was, sitting in his car, waiting for the traffic light to turn green and staring at her. She was texting someone, her thumb tapping the screen quickly and he was curious. Who was she sending the messages to? What did she do when he wasn't around? Was she happy or sad? He wanted to know everything about her. 

The light turned green and he started the car. He didn't like the silence in the car.

"Miyeon, how is your brother?"

She looked up from her phone and smiled. "I was just texting him. He went home, to Daegu. Our parents really missed him."

"I'm sure they miss you, too."

"Yes, and I miss them a lot. Actually, I wanted to go during the vacation, but they told me not to. I'll visit them for a weekend once I have time." Joonmyun nodded. Suddenly, he thought about his parents. His father wasn't with him anymore and that was a painful memory. As for his mother, he wasn't really close with her.

"Hey, Baekhyun, what's up?"

Baekhyun? Baekhyun! Joonmyun immediately snapped out of his thoughts. He gripped the steering wheel, listening to her talking on the phone with Baekhyun. It can't be! It can be that she's in touch with that idiot! he thought. Miyeon soon hung up. He coughed a bit.

"Was that a friend of yours?" he asked, trying to sound calm, even though he was really close to losing it.

"Yes, that's Baekhyun. We actually met on a blind date", she said with a chuckle. "It turned out that he and Kyungsoo knew each other for a long time. That's how we became friends."

He took a deep breath and forced a smile. "That's nice. Why did he call?" 

She was taken aback by his question and especially with the tone of his voice. It was as if he was angry about something. "He called me to hang out with him and Kyungsoo. He went to the restaurant to see him."

Joonmyun smirked. He felt happy for somehow ruining Baekhyun's evening. Miyeon was with him, and not with that man.
Miyeon glanced at her boss and wondered what was going on with him.
_____________________________________________________________________________

"Mr. Kim, your secretary is truly a  gem. Such a nice lady, smart and beautiful."

Joonmyun groaned. He was furious. The man who was seated in front of him didn't stop complimenting Miyeon throughout the entire evening. He saw that Miyeon was now uncomfortable by the man's obvious flirting. The business was discussed long ago, and instead of leaving when it ended, Joonmyun let his business partners to talk him into staying for a couple of more drinks. He regretted it with all his might.

He downed a glass of soju and looked to Miyeon. She was indeed a gem. His eyes followed her lips as she talked and he only wanted to kiss them. He poured himself another glass of soju and drank it in one go. Kang Miyeon, why do I want you so much? He looked to the man across the table, and he also stared at Miyeon. And why do so many men want you? Who is the man you want? 

Half an hour later, Miyeon and Joonmyun were in his car in front of her building. 

"Thank you for dropping me off home", she said and smiled. He didn't want her to go.

"Miyeon, can we talk? Please." She nodded.

"Of course."

They were walking around the park, in silence. Miyeon was waiting for him to start talking, but he didn't.

"What do you want to talk about? Is it something important?" she said.

"I'm lonely, Miyeon", he muttered and she could feel the sadness in his words. "I have no one to talk to." She panicked, not knowing what to say.
He stopped walking and turned to her. "I'm sorry. I'm probably bothering you with my problems. Forgive me", he smiled wealky. "I'm leaving."

"No, you're not bothering me! Tell me, I'll listen." She could see it in his eyes that he needed someone to listen to him. They found a bench and took a seat. He put his coat around her shoulders, because it was getting cold.

"Most of the time I can control it, the sadness. But sometimes it just overpowers me and I can do nothing about it. But that is not the worst thing. The worst thing is that I'm alone. Always alone."Miyeon looked at him with tears in her eyes. It hurt seeing him like that.

"I'm sure you would say that I'm not alone, that I have my brothers and friends, and that is true, because they help me a lot. But I can't expect them to be with me all the time. All of them have their own lives, they have places they have to be and I can't hold them back."

"Loneliness is temporary. In every man's life there is a period of life when he has to be alone, but it will go away", she said, giving him a small smile. He nodded.

"You're right. Loneliness will go away. There is something else I'm afraid of. In the past, I was a bad person. I did really bad things. I've made  lot of mistakes in my life, Miyeon."

"We all make mistakes", she said.

"But mine were huge and many", he said, holding back his tears. "Even though they are part of my past now and I paid a big price for them, I'm afraid."

She understood his words well. He was referring to his past, where he wasn't exaclty the best.

"I paid for them, but what if there's more? What if I haven't paid enough, what if I have to suffer more?" He burried his head in his hands and sobbed. "I'm afraid, I'm so afraid", he repeated through sobs and Miyeon could no longer hold back. She let her tears fall down. He raised his head to look at her. His eyes were swollen from crying. He got up and turned to her. "I'm so sorry, Miyeon", he whispered.

She couldn't wait anymore. She quickly rose herself from the bench and hugged him tightly. He returned the hug, pulling her closer to himself. The hug felt warm, or maybe it was the soju he drank at the dinner, but he didn't want it to stop. It had been so long since he felt so warm and comfortable. He felt safe and loved. Yes, loved.