Eunhee looked down to her phone screen. She had been staring at it for god knows how long. Myungsoo’s words repeated in her head.

“Argh,” she groaned and slammed her head against the headrest. How was she going to start the conversation? What if he still hated her after all?

Eunhee raked her hair. She had come up with dozens of sentences to send them to Byunghun but none of them were good enough. There was always a flaw that she would somehow find in the text.

Eunhee shook her head. No, Eunhee, you are going to do this once and for all. You are going to type a single sentence and send it to him and your miserable life is going to be over. Eunhee nodded, determination flaring in her eyes. Her hands grazed across the screen, typing in the message. Then, she quickly pressed ‘send’ before she had any second thoughts.

“Let’s meet up. I think we have to clear up all the misunderstandings.”

Eunhee reread the message and immediately regretted sending it. Blood rushed into her face and she dove into her bed. She rolled around, hugging her pillow.

“Why did I do that?” She shouted into the mattress. She huffed, straightened her posture and took a deep breath. Her phone vibrated, causing her to freak out for a second and then she calmly unlocked her phone screen. He agreed to meet her. He agreed to meet her and he didn’t even question anything. She didn’t know whether she should exclaim with joy or panic because she hadn’t rehearsed what she was going to say.

She paced back and forth in her room, imaging scenes in her head. The meeting could end well and they could be together again. But, the meeting could totally backfire and they could end up not talking to each other at all. She ruffled her hair in frustration and frowned. How long had she spent her time thinking about that anyway? Her phone vibrated again.

“Um, just so you know, I’m outside your house right now.” Eunhee gasped. Then quick as a wink, she raced downstairs and opened the door. Byunghun stood there, surprised at her state. Her hair was in a mess and her shirt was tucked in her pants making her look slobber than ever. She could see Byunghun was trying his hardest not to laugh.

“I’ll see you outside. Can you wait for a minute?” He nodded. Then she banged the door and fixed her hair and outfit. She slapped her forehead when she looked at the mirror.

“I really do look horrible. How embarrassing. And Byunghun saw me in this state. Eunhee, you fool!” Byunghun was fiddling with his collar, finding ways to entertain himself while waiting for Eunhee to dress up. The door opened again, and this time, Eunhee looked presentable. Byunghun held his hand out. Eunhee debated in her head whether she should insert her hand in his when he dragged her wrist.

“Yah…” Eunhee said hesitantly. “What are you doing?”

Byunghun just walked on without saying anything. His strides were long and Eunhee struggled to keep up with him.

“Where are you taking me…?” Eunhee asked. He was leading her to a more secluded place.

“Somewhere,” Byunghun said. Eunhee gulped. The hair on the nape of her neck stood.

Only when they reached a dimly lit alley, Byunghun let go of her hand. Eunhee looked around the place, uneasiness creeping into her. Shadows draped the alley and a horrible stench emanated from it.

“Byunghun… why are we here?” She looked at the man, fear apparent on her face.

“We cannot be seen together, remember? That’ll just create a scandal. Don’t worry. I won’t do anything to you.” Just as he spoke those words, heat surged into her face. She was glad that the place was too dark for him to notice that she was blushing.

“So… umm… yeah, anyway…” Eunhee tripped on her own words.

“Oh, yeah, what did you have to say?” Byunghun asked.

Eunhee jumped. She did not expect Byunghun to be this close to her. It was that moment that Eunhee realized their proximity. She could sense his heat around her and smell that familiar vanilla scent that always floated about him. There were the only the two of them here. It had been a while since she felt like this.

“Why have you been avoiding me? Is it because you’re already popular?” Eunhee’s voice dropped as the question tumbled out of freely. Eunhee sensed Byunghun shifting beside her.

“You were the one who left.” Byunghun said, and Eunhee winced at the pain the voice held.

“Yeah, but I had no choice. My parents told me, out of the blue, that I have to go to Singapore to continue my studies there.” Byunghun scoffed.

“You could’ve told me. But instead, you just left me without saying anything. Do you know I went to the airport to search for you and all I got was a stupid short letter?” he raised an eyebrow. Eunhee cleared and fanned herself. She was starting to feel angry but she didn’t want to vent at him.

“Do you think you’re the only one who was suffering? Three years in Singapore, Byunghun. For three whole years, the guilt for only leaving you like that made me not eat peacefully for weeks and I had countless restless nights.” She cringed when she remembered what she had gone through.

“Eunhee, stop being so selfish, will you? I told you, I waited for your texts, calls, emails, anything. Guess what I received? I’m sure you have the answer to that. I had to go through so much physical and emotional pain while you were gone, for God’s sake. I was slapped by my manager a lot of times and do you know how painful the slaps were? I felt like I got hit by a truck.” He didn’t exaggerate. The slaps did sting and he had swollen cheeks almost every week.

“Well I’m sorry I didn’t contact you.”

“You’re sorry? Now? That’s a little too late, Eunhee.” She felt like she was going to cry. She didn’t plan for that to happen. Even Byunghun felt horrible. He hated the entire three years before. Scratch that, he despised them. Every single day during that span of time was hell for him.

“But, Byunghun, I never stopped thinking about you. You hadn’t left my mind ever since,” Eunhee admitted, her voice cracking and she didn’t even bother wiping the tears trickling down her flawless cheeks.

“Does it look like I’d forgotten you too, Eunhee?” he growled. He threw his hands up in despair and he bit his lip until it bled. He was furious, and at the same time, he wanted to wrap her in a hug and stop herself from crying.

“Then why did you act like you didn’t know me at the fan meeting? I wept and I wasn’t myself for days!” The tears had already formed a large, wet circle on her jeans and she felt the water seep through. “Was it because you were embarrassed of me?” He shook his head.

“No. I wanted to teach you a lesson.”

“I don’t need a damned lesson, Byunghun. I had enough for three years.”

Byunghun looked away. “Tell me Eunhee. Why did you come back?”

“For you,” Eunhee said boldly. The tears were uncontrollable now.

Byunghun gazed at her longing eyes. He wanted to believe Eunhee so badly. But his fuming anger dominated. He sneered.

“Really? Wasn’t it for something else?”

“God damn it, Byunghun. Why won’t you just believe me?” Her voice rose above the silence.

Byunghun shook his head. Eunhee looked into his eyes and she could see hurt flickering beneath his anger. “You broke the promise Eunhee. I believed you once. Not anymore.” Byunghun turned and all hopes she had of their reconciliation snuffed away.

“Byunghun, wait,” Eunhee said, her voice strained. Byunghun froze.

“I didn’t break the promise. I mean, okay, I did leave you. But I still want to be with you and I still love you.” Byunghun didn’t move.

“Just, please, come back.” Her hands were reaching out for him and she was on her knees. She didn’t care how desperate she had sounded. She really, really, wanted him back. She brushed away her tears with her thumb, wishing it was Byunghun who had done that instead.

“No.”

“Byunghun, please!” she sniffed. Her voice had turned raspy because of all that sobbing.

“No. Did you not hear what I’d said less than five seconds ago?” he said harshly. She rushed up to him and gripped his thigh, clinging onto it like a baby.

“You’re making things hard for me. Let me go,” Byunghun added. Her grasp tightened.

“I can’t walk, Eunhee! Let. Me. Go.” She didn’t budge. Her determination to get him back amazed him. Did she think she was going to get him that easily? After all the he had experienced and now that she finally mustered up her courage to meet him and confess, he was supposed to just forgive her? What she was doing was nothing compared to the past three years of pure torment.

Sure, it made her look hopeless and cheap for begging him to come back, but there wasn’t anyone to see her at that condition. When he was slapped, s got to see him being scolded, and that was just very humiliating.

“Eunhee,” he sighed. “Just let me go.”

“No, Byunghun.”

“Eun. Hee.”

“Never.” Then, he roughly unlinked her hand from his thigh and walked away, leaving her wailing his name.