Ki-joon finally got done serving the last customer and was cleaning up when the bell above the door rang. He sighed and turned around, stopping in his tracks when he saw who stood before him.

“Oppa annyeong.” She said, smiling at him.

“What are you doing here?” He asked, gripping the towel he was holding tightly.

“I figured I would see how you were doing since we broke up.” She said as she walked towards him.

“Stop! Stay right where you are. In fact, just turn around and leave.” He said putting a hand out towards her.

“Oppa, why are you being like this? Didn’t you even miss me a little bit? I missed you every day.” She said, her lower lip quivering and eyes filling up with tears.

Ki-joon noticed she was doing that thing that made him always feel guilty when they were together even when he hadn’t done anything wrong. It was also a preface to him getting hit.

“No, I’m not going to fall for this again. Just leave, I don’t want to do this with you Baek Ma-ri.”

Ah-reum pulled her car into the parking lot, she knew the café would be closed by now but she hoped she would still be able to catch Ki-joon. She got to the front of the café and noticed that all the lights were still on. As she moved to open the door, she noticed the two people standing inside and noticed that Ki-joon looked visibly uncomfortable. She pulled the door open and went in.

“Ki-joonssi.” She called out and both of them turned around to look at her.

“Ah, I knew you had a girl. It didn’t make sense that you would leave me when we were so in love.”

“I think you must be misunderstanding something.” Ah-reum said, moving closer to where Ki-joon was standing.

“Since when were you seeing her? You tried to make it seem like I was crazy all the time we were together. I knew you were cheating on me.”

“Ma-ri, all the time we were together I was nothing but faithful to you. You’re the one who was always suspicious of me but I trusted you even when your phone would ring off the hook from all your church oppas and oppas that you knew. I believed nothing was going on with them because you said so.” Ki-joon felt his body fill up with anger at it all.

“Uhm, maybe I should come back some other time.” Ah-reum said and started to leave, when Ma-ri grabbed her wrist.

“Where do you think you’re going you hussy? I caught you this time. Oppa, you know how much I love you. You knew how much I loved you, so how could you leave me for this old woman?” Ma-ri spat out.

Ah-reum was incensed, she snatched her wrist out of Ma-ri’s hand. “Excuse me, who are you calling old? And even if I’m old, do you not know how to speak with respect? I can’t believe I am standing here and listening to you insult me. Listen up young lady, you claim you love this man yet you talk to him in this manner. Is this how young people love nowadays? You have no respect for the man you love as a human being, I can only imagine how you two were when you were dating. Come to think of it, I remember the night you broke up.” She scoffed and rolled her eyes, “You were making such a fuss in public, calling him names and such. Did you treat him like that when you were together too? How could you treat such a good man like that? You know what I didn’t steal your Oppa, but I wish he would let me love him because I am sure I could do a better job than you.” At this, Ki-joon reached out and put a hand on Ah-reum’s arm to calm her down.

“Oppa, are you just going to let her talk to me like this?” Ma-ri yelled.

“You know, I’ve had quite enough of you. I did love you, I did my best but I was never good enough for you. I’ve had enough of not feeling like I deserve to be loved and be happy, I won’t let you do this to me again. Ma-ri, I want you to leave and never come back. If you see me walking down the street, cross the road to avoid me. My mental health and my heart cannot take any more of this. Get out right now.” He said, trying to keep his voice from shaking and betraying how uneasy he was.

“Oppa,” Ma-ri said shakily.

“Leave!” He repeated forcefully and she shot a death glare at Ah-reum before turning to leave.

After she left, Ki-joon slumped into a chair and put his head in his hands. Ah-reum sat opposite him and wanted to reach out and hold him but she didn’t.

“Are you okay?” She asked.

“Why are you here?” He said, without raising his head.

“I wanted to see you. I’m going away for the weekend and I thought I should let you know.” She said. She looked at his bent head and finally gave into the urge to touch him. She placed a hand on his head and gently. “Ki-joonssi, I’m willing to wait for you. I’m willing to give you time, but please, let me love you.”

Ki-joon raised his head and moved her hand to his cheek. He leaned against it, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. He wished that she had not seen that scenario, he wished that she had not seen him at another moment of weakness in his life. He rubbed his cheek against her palm gently and sighed.

“Why me?” He asked.

“Why not you?” She replied.

He opened his eyes and looked into hers. “When will you be back?”

She smiled slowly, understanding what he meant. “On Sunday.”

“Stop by the café during your lunch break on Monday.”

Author's Note: Hello everybody. I'm sorry this update took so long and the chapter is so short, I've been having a really hard time lately and I can't write as often as I would like to. This is a story that is really dear to my heart but it hurts me that people don't seem to enjoy it. I've been thinking that perhaps I'm the only one who thinks this is a good story to tell. Ii'm really grateful to the few of you who read, comment, and upvote this story. You give me a lot of strength. Thank you.