Soo knew it was only a matter of time before her husband left her for good.

After that one fight, she felt the shadow in their relationship grow longer and longer with every word left unspoken, with every minute they spent apart.

He always used to kiss her after every fight. He didn't that one time. She supposed it was too big a fight, even though it hadn't been her fault. It couldn't have been. She couldn't remember ever doing anything to warrant her husband cheating on her.

"He needs someone he can rely on, who can protect and understand him. Sadly, my dear... you are not that person."

Soo heard his keys on the front door and immediately rushed to the bathroom to dry her tears.

She listened in silence, seeing him in her mind's eye. She knew his routine by heart.

After dropping his briefcase onto the couch, he would pour himself a glass of water from the kitchen. He would take the glass with him to their bedroom, where he would change and wash up.

Fifteen minutes were all she had. Fifteen minutes were all it took.

It was her turn to cook today. She finished preparing dinner as loudly as she could to make him know she was there. After weeks of silence, any word spoken sounded alien, so she avoided conversations as much as she could.

After placing an array of side dishes on the table, she picked up the book she had just bought and walked over to her usual spot in the living room to read. Once he started eating, she would then retreat into their bedroom and continue reading there. She developed this method when she realized he had carried her into their bed every time she fell asleep on the couch.

Though she wished she had been awake to feel his arms around her in those times, these days she dreaded having him physically near her.

"Soo-yah."

She looked up in surprise to see him standing there, still in his work clothes.

She had quite forgotten how dashing he looked in formal attire. His messy hair only served to make her want to run her fingers through it, to comb it neatly away from his face the way she used to in the days before their big fight.

"Let's go somewhere, far away."

Before she could react, he walked over to her and knelt before her. His hands held their usual warmth, holding hers with usual tenderness.

"Soo-yah... drop everything. Come with me."

She swallowed hard and looked away. There was no escaping it now. "Where would we go?"

"Anywhere. Wherever you want."

She wanted to revisit the place they had spent their very first night together. If it was all going to end soon, they might as well end it there. It seemed only fitting.

"Jeju," she said, pulling her hands away and getting up. "I want to go to Jeju."

The weather in Jeju couldn't have been more beautiful and Soo tried her best to enjoy it. There was no point in moping before her whole life fell apart.

He rarely spoke except to suggest places to go, things to eat. She didn't mind. It was better than having to force a conversation. And, she reasoned as she the stone window of the island's lone lighthouse, anything more private could wait until they were alone again in the resort room they were staying in.

"Oh, he's very handsome," the kind halmeoni she had been helping whispered with a cluck. "My Hyuk Jae used to be quite the looker in his youth, too."

Soo watched her husband talking with the old man. He was smiling, very faintly.

"Yes," she whispered back her agreement and smiled, "he is."

"Any children?"

The question surprised Soo, more so because it had been spoken out loud. She turned around and saw that he had, indeed, heard it.

She tried to laugh off the sudden awkwardness. "Ah, no. We're thinking about it, though," she said at once, hoping the old woman would stop looking sooner rather than later.

She thanked the heavens for whoever thought loose shirts could be fashionable.

Not that she had much to hide... at least not yet.