She kissed him on the cheek and whispered;

“I have to go..”

As she motioned to leave him in the misery of a room she seemed to have stolen the warmth off because of her goodbye, Jiyong grabbed her hand to prevent her from doing so.

“No. You can’t..you..can’t just leave things between us like this.” 

“What do you mean? Like what?” Chaerin answered calmly however with a curt tone undetectable to the untrained ear.

There was a silence between them; Jiyong’s tongue seemed to have been caught as he could not say another word to make her stay. He knew it was his fault; he knew he shouldn’t have had that drink. He knew he had one drink too many, and having been drunk wasn’t his crime at all.
It was, and he thought, would always be, having slept with another girl.

A girl he couldn’t even remember the name of.

“Like what? Like breaking your heart? Well, I’ve got news for you; you broke mine first. The minute you stepped into that room with her.. You broke my heart.” Chaerin said unblinkingly staring at Jiyong and ultimately pulling his hand away to make him let her go.

“I SAID I WAS SORRY! DOESN’T THAT COUNT FOR ANYTHING?!” Jiyong shouted standing up and throwing a pillow across the room that was nearest to his reach which almost knocked down a trophy. He wasn’t mad at her, more so mad at himself. 

Catching himself Jiyong reasoned out with his voice now lowered. 

“She was; a nobody. I don’t even..remember her name.. I was drunk. I couldn’t even get home because I was so wasted. I told you what happened as soon as I found out. It was a mistake, a mistake I wouldn’t have bothered to tell you if it meant anything; and it didn't.” 

Chaerin heard this apology already, she thought. But her feet just wouldn’t let her leave, leave without telling Jiyong where they really stood with each other.

“Chaerin-ah..please believe me. Whoever she is, she means absolutely nothing to me. You’re the only person I want next to me when I wake up. I’ll do whatever it takes to make it up to you.

“Please I beg you..don’t do this.” Jiyong was now begging Chaerin to take him back, clasping her in his arms like he was holding on to her for dear life.

“No. You did this..Not me. You ruined things for us. Nothing..and I mean nothing, can ever fix it.” Chaerin said softly in the middle of the stillness where you could hear a pin drop.

They were both breathing in unison with each other and yet both were at different paths; she was leaving him & he wasn’t at all prepared to let her.

Chaerin felt the back of her shoulder dampen; Jiyong’s tears couldn’t be helped anymore. He didn’t want to let her go; he felt so helpless, so stupid to have let the innocence of a glass of alcohol fool him into muddling up what he had with her.

“I can't just let you go. I love you too much.”

Chaerin gently caressed Jiyong’s hand as she heard soft sobs on her back trying to contain her own and answered; 
“You have to let me go. Because I love you too much, and I don’t know if I could ever forgive you.”

It was all weird. She felt weird. She wasn’t at all angry; they were way past that already. She wasn’t furious at him; in fact she still loves him. But she wouldn’t bring herself to forgive him. Even though she knew from the beginning what she was getting herself into when she caved in to their relationship. 

He had always been the hard partier not her, he had always been the center of attention in any group, the one surrounded by girls during events and hooking up with them after.

She sort expected him to screw up one way or another anytime soon.
But to her surprise with her; he changed. 

Completely changed.

They both weren’t expecting to fall in love but by the time they decided to call each other “theirs” he had always been the first one to be comfortable enough in showing his affections for her in public. 

Always been the one declaring his unending love for her to the world when they went public with their relationship. So how could this one mistake make her let go when he had changed so much, for her, become better for her. 

“Don’t be cruel. Don’t make me let go..If I let you go I won’t survive it. 

“I don’t deserve you; I’ve known that from the get go. You took all my faults and accepted them. So I just can’t..I can’t let you go. You bring out the best in me. You’re ingrained in my head, in my breath..in me.

“You’re the only person that has ever done that.. 

“..and ever will..” Jiyong’s words where coming out as close to whispers as he said them.

Then.

Silence. Chaerin said nothing. 

She was dazed from all that had happened then and there. She could feel Jiyong’s hard shallow breaths on her shoulder she felt his heartache so much so that her own chest started to tighten. She was so emotionally drained that she no longer had any thoughts going through her mind.

She slowly slid Jiyong’s grip from her and listlessly walked towards the door and headed out of his apartment, to her own apartment down one floor of Jiyong’s.

As Jiyong watched Chaerin slip away from him he felt the urge to grasp her again but all he was grasping was the wispy waft of her perfume behind her. She left and he immediately felt..

Empty.