Say the words you want to say tomorrow
Tell me that you’re sorry tomorrow

(Yeoboseyo - Nu'est)

Checking in with the front desk clerk, he was assured many times that Byul, his wife - as they assumed her to be - has not left the premises at all and that they weren't able to come check on the room status because of the DND sign hanging on the door. Realizing he'd just made another mistake, he prayed and begged that Byul hadn't gone to extreme dramas and stormed out as he did exposing herself.

You better pray to all the Divinities that she is still there otherwise, this is on your head. 

He thoughts just got more messed up as the possibilities kept rolling and he just prayed and begged that Byul hadn't gone haywire and did what Kyujong feared the most. And as he made his way to the suite, as the meters grew shorter, his heart started palpitating and his body getting bathed with sweat. His sweaty palms were of no help as the key card stuck itself to his hand.

When he did get to open the door finally, he took a deep breath and got in quietly only to notice the room lit the way it was as he left it. Close to eleven, the room is covered with darkness with the exception of a small space in the living area with the lamp . Turning the light on, he quickly made his way to the bed room panicking that Byul might have done exactly what played in his head. When he saw her there curled up, he felt a sense of relief but not fully as the guilt of what he'd done hours ago still haunted him.

Sitting on the edge of the bed with his head bowed down and fingers fidgetting, he thought about what had happened earlier which also reminded him of what led to him engraving those gruesome images inside her head. It was over twenty years ago but the memories still stayed fresh inside his head but before he got lost in the memories, he felt the bed move and turn to see Byul sitting up, her back on the head rest and the pillow between her legs and body.

Their eyes met and there was just silence.

"Marry me."

Kyujong straightened his posture clearly taken aback by the unorthodox proposal.

Though this may be the 21st century and since it isn't unusual for a woman to propose to a man - heck, women nowadays do unusual things - he still did not expect this to come from her. No. Not from this girl who, until just now, stuttered when she is flustered or faint to fever under a huge amount of stress.

Crap! That's it! He thought. Alarmed that her fever resurfaced, he quickly reached his hand out to feel her forehead.

And while he does that, Byul on the other hand, lost her serious composure as his face crinkled.

"What are you doing?" She asked giggling a little taking his hands of her.

Flustered by her laugh, he slapped himself in the face making Byul gasp and grasped his hands to prevent him from hurting himself. "Stop! Are you crazy? What are you doing?"

"I... Uhm... Sorry, I-" He sighed and there was a long pause before he said anything. Pulling his hands and then holding hers, he looked at her eye to eye and said, "I'm sorry. Those things I said earlier, I'm-"

"You don't need to." She said giving him a weary smile. "To be fair, I'm  sorry too. If I hadn't pushed you, you wouldn't have said those things. But you were - are right. If I had gone back, they would've just easily found me and could've done possibly all-"

"Stop." Kyujong sighed giving her hands a gentle squeeze. "Can we... I mean, if it's okay with you, can we put this aside or just forget all about it?"

Byul pursed her lips then sighed. "We need to trust each other, right?"

His eyes shifted. "What... What do you want to know?"

"Earlier, you said 'another life'. Who was it?" 

Kyujong smiled but his eyes showed the sadness and pain. "Kim Minjung. My friend. My sister. My first love. And most importantly, she was the very first person who treated me as a human being."

Byul almost regreted having asked him that question but as they are about to be engaged in a massive change of relationship, she needed to hear more of his storie as they tell not only what had happened to him but who he really is. From her own view point, the best way to get to know a person is to not only listen to the person's story, but also to watch their expression and body languages as they are a part which tells you if what they say is the flat out truth or nothing but worthless deceitful lies.

"Minjung noona and I met at the orphanage I was left in when I was six. She wasn't a staff there. She was just a volunteer who joined her churches program . But the truth is, of all of those people who worked their and volunteered, she was by far the only one with the most honest heart." She didn't need a sign to be told that this person was very important to him. "You see, even before I lost my parents, I was classified as a loner kid and when I was sent to the orphanage... nothing changed. That is until Minjung noona started scolding me to go play with the kids and she did that for a couple of times and when she finally got tired of nagging me, she just went off trying to find ways to make me play with her and mind you, I was a very stubborn kid back then."

Byul let out a chuckle.

"Anyway, once she finally got me to playing, I never wanted to stop and that didn't matter to her at all. Not before long, she started coming regularly to visit and play with me and this went on until I was ten when she suddenly disappeared." 

Byul frowned. How can a person suddenly disappear? "What happened to her?"

"At first, I didn't know what happened to her. Then a week after her disappearance, an ahjussi came to adopt me but I didn't want to go." Kyujong chuckled.

"Because you were still waiting for your Minjung noona." Byul thought aloud.

"Yeah. I didn't want to go anywhere because I wanted to keep seeing noona." He nodded. "I still got adopted anyway. Little did I know, the ahjussi that adopted me, was Minjung noona's father. I was excited to find out about that then. But when I asked where noona was, dad teared up and said that she had already gone into a better place. And even at that age I already knew what he meant, so I cried along with him."

"Did you... When did you find out what happened to her?" Byul asked despite the hesitation.

"Hmm... I was around eighteen then. You see, I graduated from highschool a year ahead and instead of telling me to go to college, dad allowed me to get a year's rest to think about what I really wanted to do in life so I did just that." Kyujong started picking his fingers. "I didn't have much to do then so I went right out and got a job while figuring things out. I didn't know back then that the owner of the place I worked for was one of noona's bestfriend and when I found out, we started talking and reminiscing about her. When I asked her how noona died, he froze and looked at me like I was some idiot."

"Can't blame him. I was undoubtly a walking idiot then. And it seems I tend to act like one once in a while." He said mocking himself sharing a laugh with Byul. "So, when he finally got over his state of shock, he told me the details sparing the few gory details which I found out eventually with the help of the internet. What boss told me, I can't blame him for putting it that way. Not after I read what happened."

At this point, Byul was afraid to ask.

"Remember what I told you earlier? About what they could've done to you?" She nodded. "T-that's exactly what they did to her. They kidnapped her, violated her body, and butchered her like a pig in the slaughter house. T-they... They took away the light in her."

Kyujong didn't even know he was crying until she wiped the tears from his cheeks and pulled him in her arms. There was nothing else to be said and for now, they let silence take over.

"Thanks." Kyujong said ruffling Byul's hair who looked away with the blush on her face making him chuckle. "You know, it's only fair that you tell me why your mom did this to you."

Fair... She thought biting her lips.

After basically forcing him to tell his story - a story worth of a lifetime's nightmare - she couldn't possibly be unfair and not tell him another part of hers. Truthfully, if compared to his, her life story isn't even as traumatizing or dark as his was. So with that said, she really didn't have anything to contradict his fair claim since she started this and it is for the good reason of getting to know each other.

"My mom? Well..." Kyujong noticed that faraway look in her eyes as she started telling the story. "I guess you could say it all started way before I was even born. My mom never did want a marriage life or a family of her own and if she did, it would've been to a rich man who could give her all the luxuries in life. But when I happened, she was forced to marry dad after he went to her family telling them she was pregnant with his child. And if dad hadn't done that, mom would've gotten rid of me and went on with her life. At least that's what halmoni told me."

"Your mom didn't want you? T-that's... That's crazy." Kyujong couldn't even fathom the idea of abortion.

"Not really. She even told me herself when they finalized their divorce and dad gained custody of me." Byul said. "The only reason they got married was because dad didn't want to have me growing up being called an iilegitimate child. A bastard as one might say. And when I was old enough to understand everything, dad gave mom the divorce she's been asking him since I was born and they split up. I haven't heard from her for six years and it's not that I hadn't tried contacting her, I did. She just didn't want to hear from us at all. She didn't want anything to do with us anymore."

"Okay?.. But how come she..." Kyujong trailed off letting her finish her story.

"I was fifteen when they divorced then dad died not soon after I turned twenty. Even at my dad's wake, mom never showed up but that didn't matter to me. I just thought she was busy or that she's somewhere faraway hindering her to come and attend that's why I never bothered resenting her for it. Then two years later,  a month before I move to my out of the apartment, she appeared crying and telling me she had nowhere to go. By this time, I wasn't that hopeful dream wishing girl anymore. But I wasn't as cold as she was when I was growing up." She sighed leaning her head back to the headboard watching the starlike design on the ceiling. "So instead of ending my lease, I made a deal with the landlady and so she ended up with the apartment that I've been paying for her to live in."

"You mean you didn't live with her?" Kyujong asked.

"I would from time to time to keep appearances, that is." She answered. "The reason why I only had a month left on the lease was because I already bought the house dad and I have been saving for since we moved out of mom's. I didn't know why dad told me to kept quiet about it and to not tell mom anything and only when I was at age did I understand what dad was trying to tell me. So even when dad died, after I got the insurance money, I never told mom and asked my unnie's help investing in business and so that's where I got the rest of the money to buy the house. Although, I wouldn't be surprised anymore if she found out about the house. Fast forward to that; mom tricked me about a workshop-seminar; I ran away from two erts; you saved me from the erts; we argue; you tell me your story; I tell you mine; and here we are."

Kyujong chuckled. "Yeah. Yeah. Here we are."

A moment passed by letting them think back about each other's life before Byul got reminded of how they ended up to this situation anyway.

"So you never answered." She said breaking the silence.

"Hmm? What?" Kyujong saw her awkward smile and the flush on her cheeks. "Oh. You mean that. Then no."

"What?" Byul blurted out looking confused. "B-but... Y-you... You said...."

"I like your boldness but, would prefer it if you answer that question yourself." He said got off the bed and knelt on one knee taking a ring out of his necklace and said. "So, will you marry me, Moon Byulyi?"

Caught off guard, Byul blushed hiding her face on her knees as she said the answer.

Awe~. That's just too cute. "I can't really hear you."  He teased. And when she didn't say anything in the next minute, he acted. "Eoh? My knee's hurting."

"Yes! I will." Byul shot up pulling his hand to help him get up. She wasn't the type to let people suffer - unless it's her friends - so she just shot right up and said yes.

Kyujong chuckled and sat back down on the bed. "Good." He then took her left hand and gently placed the ring on her. To their surprise, it fit her perfectly.

"Wow. Don't tell me you bought this while..." 

"Uhm, no." Kyujong stuttered amazed at how it fit her perfectly. Not even her exes who tried it to put it on fit the size as she did. "It... It was Minjung noona's."

*N: Yeah!!!

      So I got this feeling that I should write up a particular note but I just can't put my head on it. 

      Anyway.... Thanks and hope you enjoyed...