It was well into the early hours of the morning when Jeongri woke up again. Groaning a little, she shuffled about in Luhan’s bed, opening her tired and swollen eyes. Faintly, she could hear a door closing from somewhere downstairs, but she didn’t think anything of it. A mound of crumpled tissues piled at Jeongri’s side, and she reached over for a fresh tissue, blowing her nose loudly. Her eyes felt so sore; she hadn’t stopped crying ever since she ran away from Kyungsoo, but every time she tried to sleep it off, she would wake up shortly after, thinking of him.

   Blinking a few times, Jeongri watched the rain drizzle down the windowpane, blurring the moonlight above.

   Luhan told her that Kyungsoo was going to move out of the guest bedroom so that she could have it to herself, but Jeongri didn’t want to go back in there. Everything was a reminder of him. From the small plant on the windowsill that he took care of, to the clothes that were still strewn haphazardly across the floor. Everything was like a frozen snapshot of their time together. There were too many painful memories lingering in that room that threatened to break her fragile heart again.

   In the end, Luhan said Jeongri could stay in his room until things had passed. He also offered to stay with her tonight, to make sure she was okay, but Jeongri declined, wanting to be left alone. With a silent thank you, Jeongri locked herself in this small room all night, half crying and half trying to rest, but attempting neither successfully.

   For the past two weeks, Kyungsoo had always been there next to her when she woke up. Looking mournfully at the empty space beside her, Jeongri felt the tears welling up again.

   It was really over.

   Somewhere in her naïve mind, Jeongri never thought about the possibility of Kyungsoo breaking up with her. There were no warning signs, nothing that she could have used to prepare herself against the stinging words that came from his mouth. The shock had been so sudden that she didn’t even have time to fight back. Her instincts took over, telling her to run away, to block the agony from of her memory.

   With another sniffle, Jeongri added another crumpled tissue to the ever-growing mountain next to her and curled up into a ball, wrapping Luhan’s duvet closer protectively around her.

   Kyungsoo’s last painful words repeated in her mind again.

   “Look, I was just playing with you! But now I’m tired of you. I’m done protecting you, and I don’t want to be around you anymore. So just leave me alone, Jeongri. It’s over.”

   Jeongri grimaced at the memory, and without warning, the tears began to fall again.

   “I never had feelings for you. I told you, I’m a bad person.”

   Every word was like a stab in the gut, wounding her further. Jeongri sat up suddenly, wiping her tears away angrily. It wasn’t worth crying over him anymore. It was clear how he felt about her, and she couldn’t spend her time crying over something that couldn’t be.

   Feeling dehydrated, Jeongri reached over for her glass only to find it empty. Resigning herself to get up, she pulled on one of Luhan’s jumpers and made her way to the bathroom.

   The house was silent now, with everyone asleep in their respective rooms. Jeongri slipped out onto the cold and dark landing and tiptoed towards the bathroom. Even though she told herself that she wouldn’t, she couldn’t help but glance over at the guest bedroom, thoughts of Kyungsoo entering her mind again.

   Just this morning, they were in their together…

   Another wave of sadness threatened to topple her steady composure, and she was going to walk away when she noticed that the door was wide open, the lights off within.

   Curiosity ate away at Jeongri as she found herself inching closer towards the guest bedroom. Kyungsoo always slept with the door shut, so why was it open? Silently, Jeongri cursed herself for bothering to think of him again, but her curiosity burned harder. But the closer she got, the more she realised that there was no one within.

   Hand on the doorframe, Jeongri stared into the empty bedroom. Memories ran through her mind that she would rather forget; all those times Kyungsoo held her, all those times he kissed her, and all those times he made her feel safe.

   As her eyes scanned across the room, Jeongri noticed a folded piece of paper on the bed, held down with a pebble that glowed dimly. Before she knew it, Jeongri had walked over, her fingers wrapping around the small rock. A warmth blossomed into her body just from her touch, but she didn’t know what it was; she’d never seen anything like it before, but the feeling was familiar.

   Placing the pebble back down, Jeongri picked up the piece of paper and opened it. Kyungsoo’s handwriting greeted her like an old friend, but her hands began to tremble as she read the first couple of words.

   “To Everyone.”

   Jeongri’s hands started to shake harder. She didn’t want to read on; she’d seen scenes like this in movies, and nothing good ever came out of letters left behind after an argument, but her eyes moved on their own accord. She couldn’t stop reading and letting her heart get broken once again.

   “To Everyone.

   I’m sorry to inform you all through a letter, but by the time you read this, I will be gone. I hope that we can meet again in the future, if time allows me. The stone is imbued with protection spells for your travels to the capital. So please, use it in my absence. I wish you all the best, and please take care of ### each other.

   All the best,

   Do Kyungsoo.”

   There was a scribbled-out word just before the words ‘each other’ at the end of his message. Jeongri ran to turn the lights on, staring hard at the word under the scribbles. It was like a punch in the gut when she realised the word that Kyungsoo had scribbled out was ‘her’.

   Without another thought, Jeongri ran down the stairs, frantically searching the coat rack for Kyungsoo’s belongings, but it was all gone.

   “Where did you go?” Jeongri stammered, stumbling back and crashing into the table.

   That noise from earlier, was that him leaving? Upstairs, someone was moving around, woken from the commotion.

   Grabbing her shoes, Jeongri wrenched open the front door and ran outside. It was still raining, but she didn’t care. She ran down the front steps and into the quiet road outside the house, every fibre of her being screaming out one name.

   “Kyungsoo!” Jeongri cried out, looking desperately from left to right, “Kyungsoo!”