One day, when I was heading out to work, Sun Hwa came out of her room. When she saw me she quickly headed back inside. I ran over to her and stopped the door before she could close and lock it.

“Sun Hwa, listen to what I have to say,” I said.

“I don't want to listen to you. Get out!”

“I listened to you when you said you wanted to tell me something. Now I want you to listen to me. I never intended to offend you, but if I did I'm sorry. I really don't know what I was thinking. It just happened.”

“How can you let something like that just happen?”

“Things like that happen naturally when you like someone right?”

“Then do you like me?”

“I,”

“What about Young Ji? She's the one you want to marry.”

“That's what I thought at first.”

“So what are you thinking right now?”

I didn't say anything.

“If this is how you're going to be, let her go. Don't hurt her like you hurt me.”

She walked over to me and pushed me out of her room. She slammed the door shut and locked it.

Sun Hwa’s right. I needed to end everything with Young Ji. She's someone I think I want to be with, but my heart was telling me something else. My heart was telling me Sun Hwa.

When lunchtime rolled around, Young Ji came into work to bring me lunch.

“What? Your wife didn't make you anything today,” she asked me.

“Young Ji, we have to talk.”

“We are talking.”

She sat down.

“What I mean is I have to tell you something.”

“Okay. Tell me.”

“Young Ji, I know we haven't dated for long and you probably just got over Junsu.” I paused. “But I don't think this is working out.”

“What do you mean?”

“I'm in love with Sun Hwa.”

Her face fell and I felt bad for doing this, but I couldn't continue lying to myself and her.

“Okay.” she forced a smile. “Cool. Thanks for letting me know. Thanks for not leading me on like Junsu.”

“Thank you for understanding me.”

“I hope you two have a happy life together.”

“Thank you. Friends?”

“Friends.”

She stood up.

“I should go then,” she said.

“Okay.”

“Enjoy your lunch.”

“Thanks for bringing me lunch.”

She smiled and walked out.

After that, I couldn't focus on work. I wanted to go home. I wanted to tell Sun Hwa that I loved her. By the time that I got home she'd probably be sleeping.

I left work early. Seven to be precise. When I got home, Sun Hwa was wiping down the coffee table. She looked at me and then looked back down. She was obviously still avoiding me.

“Sun Hwa, I need to talk to you.”

“If you're going to talk about it again then I rather not. Let's leave it in the past.”

“I don't want to talk about that. I want to talk about us.”

She stood up.

“What is there to talk about?”

“I know you're still mad at me for what I did, but just hear me out. Today, I broke up with Young Ji.” Her eyes widen. “After some thought, I've realized that she wasn't the one I love. My head told me that I loved her, but my heart was telling me that I loved you. Sun Hwa, I've been a jerk. I've been an idiot. Please forgive me. I promise you that from now on, I will stay true to myself. I will stay true to you. If you want,” I started walking over to her. “you can hit me. You can slap me. Do whatever you want to do. I won't restrict.”

I stood in front of her and waited for a slap, but that slap never came.

“You're hopeless,” she chuckled.

“I know.”

“Do you think I'm going to say I love you back even if you broke up with Young Ji?”

“I wasn't expecting anything. I didn't want to lie to myself anymore. I wanted you to know how I felt about you.”

“What if I say I don't feel the same way?”

“That doesn't matter. I just wanted you to know. I've always been the second male lead. I usually don't get the woman that I want. The same thing happened to Young Ji. She was dating someone else before I could confess my feelings to her.”

She doesn't say anything.

“So you can reject me if you want. The cycle is going to repeat itself anyway.” I paused. “Well. I said what I wanted to say. Goodnight.”

For the next few days, I busied myself with work. I didn't want to do anything but work. I didn't want to think about anything but work. Sun Hwa hasn't given me her answer. I'm sure she's going to reject me anyway. I've been a jerk to her.

Today was a rainy day. The sky was dark and the sound of rain hitting the window could be heard. I was reading more documents when my secretary came in.

“Sir, there's been news that the power has went out near your house. Would you like to call if everything is okay?”

“There's nothing that I should worry about.”

“How about your wife?”

“She should be fine. Thank you for worrying.”

She headed back out and I continued to read the documents.

Wait. The power went out. Sun Hwa doesn't like being in the dark. I quickly let go of the document and took out my phone from my desk drawer. I've had two missed calls from her. I tried calling her again but it went straight to voicemail. Her phone probably died. I quickly took my keys and wallet and ran out of my office.

“Cancel everything for today,” I told my secretary.

She asked me why, but I didn't reply back. I had no time. Sun Hwa was probably scared out of her mind right now. I need to get to her. I need to give her light.

I weaved through traffic and crossed every yellow light that I could, to get home. All that was on my mind was Sun Hwa. I hoped she was okay.

I busted the door open and called for her. The house was dark and quiet. Where could she be? Is she upstairs? Is she in the guest room or my room? I searched and searched and finally found her in the corner of my room. I ran over to her and immediately took her in my arms.

“Sun Hwa.” she looked up at me. “It's okay now. Everything is okay now.”

Tears were building up in her eyes. She took a deep breath and buried her face into my chest.

She's safe. She's fine.

We sat there and I continued to hold her until she calmed herself down.

“Sun Hwa, let's go find some candles.”

She nodded her head. The both of us stood up and headed downstairs. Sun Hwa held onto my hand and never let it go. Even when we were in the kitchen looking through drawers.

“Right here,” I said.

I left the drawer opened and looked for any matches that I had.

“I swear they were in this drawer,” I said.

“It’s right here,” Sun Hwa said.

She reached in front of me and pulled out the matches.

I took out the candles and slowly we lit one candle at a time. Before we knew it, the house was lit with light. Sun Hwa finally let's go of my hand and when she did an empty feeling started to form inside of me.

“Thank you for coming back. I got in your way of work,” Sun Hwa said.  I could hear the hint of sadness in her voice.

“No. You didn't do anything. I came back because I wanted to. Don't blame yourself.”

We went to the living room and sat down at the couch.

“I have a question for you,” I said.

“Go ahead.”

“Is there a reason why you're afraid of the dark? Of course, you don't have to answer me if you don't want to.”

“When I was a little baby, apparently I was left alone in the dark. I cried and cried and no one noticed me until my parents, foster parents, saw me. They took me in and treated me as their own daughter.”

“So you're a foster child?”

“Yeah. Surprised?”

“A little. So what happened to your parents?”

“I don't know. I don't even know their names.”

“They just left you?”

She nodded her head.

“I think it's amazing that I'm still alive. If it weren't for my foster parents, I wouldn't even be here.”

I wanted to comfort her, but I was afraid to make a wrong move. My hand slowly went to hers and I took her hand into mine.

“I'm glad you're safe. I'm grateful that your foster parents took you in. If they didn't, I wouldn't have met you. You wouldn't even be here.” I smiled. “I know I'm not in the position to say this to you, but I want to take care of you. Your parents may have abandoned you, but I will never do such thing.”

“Thank you. But it's been so long that I've already forgotten about them. I already forgave my parents.”

“That's good to hear.”

She took her hand out of mine.

“It's hot in here don't you think? The candles are doing a pretty good job of keeping this place warm,” she said fanning herself.

“Should we open the window? It's cool outside because of the rain.”

“Sure.”

I got up and went to open a window. A gust of wind blew in and one of the candles went out.

“Oh no. You still want to open them,” I asked.

“Yeah. We'll just place the candle away from the window.”

She walked over to me and took the candles away.

“It's getting pretty late, do you want to go take a shower,” she asked me.

“I'll go later. How about you?”

“I'll go when the electricity comes back on.”

“Are you sure? If you're scared I'll stay with you.”

Her eyes widen.

“I mean, I can put on a blindfold. Or I can wait outside the door for you.”

“I'll just wait.”

“But you said you were hot. Go take a cold shower and cool down. Look,” I took off my tie and tied it across my eyes. “See? I promise you I won't look.”

I heard her laughing.

“Let me go get my towel then,” she said.

I was standing outside the door with my tie still tied around my eyes. I saw darkness and heard the water running. That was about it. I sat down and stood up and sat down and stood up. I did that until Sun Hwa was done.

“Jin Young,” she said and I immediately stood up.

“Yeah?”

“You can look now.”

I took off my tie and saw Sun Hwa standing in front of me. Her wet hair was swept to her right shoulder and she was wearing a shirt that had cupcake patterns on it. Her shorts were matching. Everything about her was perfect. She had perfect hair, perfect skin, perfect attitude, perfect body. I could go on.

“It's your turn.”

I nodded my head. I went to my room and got my pajamas and towel before I went to take a shower. Sun Hwa was waiting outside the door like I did for her, but she wasn't wearing the blindfold like me. When I came out, she was sitting on the ground. Her eyes were closed probably because she was sleeping. I smiled and bend down to her level. She looked so peaceful. I tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and just looked at her. If this was a job, I would love it. I could stare at Sun Hwa for days and I wouldn't get tired. I put my right arm under her knees and left arm behind her neck and carried.

“Jin Young?”

“Go back to sleep. I'm just taking you to bed.”

She lifted her head and rubbed her eyes.

“You can let me down. I'll walk myself.”

“We're almost there.”

I stopped in front of her room.

“Can you sleep alone tonight? Should I come sleep with you?”

She shook her head. “I'll be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

She shook her head.

“So which is it,” I asked.

“I'll sleep in your room.”

I chuckled and turned around to go to my room. I walked in and set her on the bed.

“I'll go get your teddy bear,” I said.

She nodded and snuggled into the blanket.

I walked into to the guest room and took her teddy bear and her luggage to my room. I set the luggage next to my closet and gave her the teddy bear. Before I knew it, she was asleep. I left to go downstairs and blew out all of the candles. I left one still lit and took it upstairs. I lied a blanket on the ground threw a pillow and another blanket on the ground and lied down. I was on my back looking at the ceiling then I turned my body to face Sun Hwa. I only saw her hand. But even that made me happy that she was sleeping soundly, by my side.