I woke up the next day with a terrible hangover. My head was pounding, my eyes were sore and my body ached.

I had been sleeping practically all day, only waking up around 5pm.

Every time my mind tried to recall what had happened last night, I instantly tried to shut out any memory of the event. I was embarrassed and ashamed to have acted so ridiculously in front of Jaebum, and what made it worse were those stupid rings.

After he had left, all I remember doing was throwing those rings in the trash and falling into bed immediately. Everything that shouldn’t happen was happening to me and I had no power in changing it.

He hated me.
And I felt like I was falling for him.

I rolled to the side of my bed and grabbed my phone from my night stand. It was blinking a blue light which meant someone had texted me.

“!” I jumped out of bed instantly the second I realized I had received 11 missed calls from Nari.

My mind and body were still out of it but I knew I had to call her back. She hadn’t spoken to me since the fitting and I was worried something may have happened.

“hello? Nari? Are you alright? Why haven’t you been answering my calls?!” I freaked out the second I heard her pick up the phone.

“y/n…. can you help me move my things back to my apartment?” she sounded as if she was about to cry.

“…..sure? But why? You and Juwon are going to move in soon, why would you want to move things back?” I felt like I knew the answer but I was praying I was wrong.

“it’s over…. The weddings off” she began to cry.

“Nari…. What? Why?? What’s going on?” I bolted out of bed now, pacing around my room, trying to make sense of what she was saying.

“it’s hard for me to explain over the phone…. Can you please just come help me? You know the address of the house right?” she said through her sobs.

“yea I do… I’ll be there as soon as I can” I let her know before ending the call.

The second I put my phone down, I quickly changed into some fresh clothes and tied my hair up in a bun. I had forgotten about my hangover immediately once I heard Nari on the phone. She sounded so hurt and it pained me to know the wedding was off. She’d been looking forward to this her whole life and somehow everything just seemed to be shattering into a million pieces.

Once I was ready to go, I grabbed my keys and my phone. I began to think about Juwon and how hard this must be for him too. I mean, Nari had me to lean on but I wasn’t sure if Juwon had anyone to approach about all of this. Guys always tend to hold things in and I felt like right now that wouldn’t be the best thing for him to do.
After a few seconds of contemplating, I scrolled through my contacts list and found Jaebum’s number and sent him a text:
[ Hey. I know we’re not talking, but I just want you to know Juwon and Nari called the wedding off. I’m going over to their… well what was supposed to be their new home, to help Nari pack her things. Maybe you should check up on Juwon to see if he’s alright. You don’t need to reply to this message… I know we’re not talking & this doesn’t change anything. ]

The second I pressed send, I turned my phone off completely and shoved it in my pocket.
I needed to put my full attention on Nari now…. No distractions were allowed.

______________

The drive to their home was much longer than anticipated. The roads were hard to follow, the area was somewhat isolated and construction work was occurring everywhere since the area was ‘new’ and most houses here were still only frames.

Once I had arrived, I parked my car outside the house and got out instantly when I noticed Nari’s figure through the large windows.

“nari!” I called for her as I walked towards the door.

But she was gone.

I called her name once more but didn’t get a reply, so instead, I decided to go inside and look around in hopes of maybe spotting her. There were ‘move-in’ boxes scattered around the floor in every room. Everything was still wrapped and only a few pieces of furniture were set out. I made my way through the empty living room, then the kitchen and then found myself in a dark, narrow hall.

“nari?” I called for her again, taking baby steps as I walked through the hall and peaked through each door to see if she was in the room.

But every room I looked into was completely empty, except the master bedroom. It had caught my eye because the bed was already made and the nightstand had a few pictures of Nari and I from our university days.

“nari? You in here?”
Still no answer.

I pushed the door open further and walked inside. The room was huge, nothing was set and there were boxes scattered everywhere. As I looked around I began to hear a faint sound coming from what seemed to be the walk-in closet.
It was definitely the sound of someone crying. The closer I got, the louder it was. Fear and anxiety began to take over as I put my hand on the doorknob.

“nari?” I whispered, hoping if it wasn’t her I could bolt out and make a run for it.

I turned the knob slowly and revealed someone sitting on the ground, face covered and shaking from sadness.

“oh my God Nari, what are you doing??” I panicked the second I realized it was her.

She propped her head up the moment she heard my voice. Her eyes, red and puffy and her face, a pale mess. I instantly sat down beside her and pulled her in for a hug. The contact between us was enough to make her cry again. She wrapped her hands around me and buried her face into my neck and began to weep.
I didn’t know what to do or say since none of this was making any sense to me, so instead, I just let her cry.

After a few minutes, Nari finally calmed down and parted from our hug.

“I look like a mess, don’t i?” she tried to laugh through her tears, “you’re probably wondering what happened uh? Juwon and I were in love…. It wasn’t supposed to end like this” she said as her face turned red and her eyes filled with new tears.

“what’s going on Nari…. Why did you guys end it? The wedding isn’t even that far… how… how could this happen?” I asked, my heart broke the more I watched