Sieun patiently sat at the table for two at the restaurant her boyfriend, Hwitaek, had reserved for the both of them for her birthday several months prior. Still though with each passing minute she grew anxious as Hwitaek was already twenty minutes late. Sieun sent him a few text messages and even had tried calling him on several occasions, but the call went straight to voicemail. She knew her boyfriend was bad at replying back, but she figured that at least calling him would get a faster response. It didn't.

Sieun sighed as she avoided gazing around at the other patrons feeling slightly embarrassed of the thought that she may have gotten stood up. Her anxiousness grew with the thought that Hwitaek may have forgotten about their plans for tonight as the time continued to tick on by. Still, Sieun kept positive while thinking that Hwitaek was just buying her flowers or some other birthday gift that delayed his arrival. Even if it was beginning to become an hour of waiting now. Sieun sighed softly taking another sip of her melted ice water.

Sieun checked her phone for the nth time tonight, but still there was no response from her boyfriend. She slowly breathed in and out to calm her nerves and was just hoping that nothing had happened to him and that he was just running very super late now. Maybe he was buying her a lot of things to make up for it or something along those lines. These were the same words she told herself to reassure her anxious heart and mind. Being late was better than not showing up, right? Sieun trusted Hwitaek and wanted to continue to do so.

"Hello, ma'am."

The same waiter that tended to her since she came in had come to check in on her again for the fifth time tonight.

"Are you sure you wouldn't like to order something while you continue to wait? Like another drink, perhaps?"

Sieun cast her a polite smile already deciding what to do.

"Um, I guess just more water and maybe an order of the snow crab to go, please?"

"Will do. Anything else for you, ma'am?"

"Oh, yes. A slice of carrot cake to go, too, please."

"Will do, ma'am. Your order will be with you shortly."

"Thank you so very much."

Sieun had contacted one of Hwitaek's roommates, Jinho, upon returning to the university's campus. Jinho had informed her that Hwitaek has been at the music department working on a project for the past several hours. Sieun had thanked him and made her way over to see her boyfriend. She knew that Hwitaek was majoring in music and that the current project was a major deal for him to pass this semester. So if he couldn't celebrate her birthday at the restaurant, then Sieun was going to celebrate it with him in one of the music rooms.

Sieun thought that as long as she was spending time together with him, then that's all that really mattered to her in the end. Just like when it was his birthday a few weeks ago they couldn't celebrate it together just the two of them. It was mainly due to another school project he was busy with. Even though they did hang out some time after, but it was cut short due to his friends needing him for something. So when Sieun appeared outside of the music room that Jinho had informed her that Hwitaek would be in, she didn't expect her boyfriend to have company.

She spotted Hwitaek with his ex-girlfriend, Soojin, upon entering the room when she didn't receive a response when she had knocked on it. Sieun didn't mind that the two continued to hang out on campus or contacted one another as she trusted her boyfriend. Still though there was something inside of Sieun that irked her a tad bit when she witnessed how close they still were. Physically and socially although Sieun wasn't sure if this could be called a twinge of jealousy. Soojin and Hwitaek were going over some music sheets and hadn't noticed Sieun's presence yet.

"It's awesome, Hui! Thank you so much!"

Soojin exclaimed with glee as she threw her arms around Hwitaek in gratitude before releasing him.

"No worries, Cherry. You're welcome."

Hwitaek smiled at her while moving a few strands of Soojin's hair from out of her face and behind her ear.

"I'm glad to be of help."

Maybe it was jealousy after all as Sieun suddenly felt a small pang within her chest at the two using nicknames and the actions were displayed before her. Sieun couldn't remember the last time that Hwitaek had done that to her or even the last time that they'd shared simple gestures. As a matter of fact, Sieun couldn't remember if Hwitaek had ever called her name in such an affectionate manner like he had just called Soojin by her nickname. Since she and Hwitaek started dating the couple had always used their given names with one another. The last time she had let slip in calling her boyfriend 'Hwi', Hwitaek had given her a weird look and Sieun never had let that name slip out since.

"Alright, Hui, I think that's it for now. See you tomorrow again and at the same time?"

Soojin suggested to the male while putting her things away and standing up with Hwitaek doing the same.

"Yup. See you tomorrow at the same time, Cherry."

When the duo turned towards the door to leave they froze in their spot upon seeing Sieun standing there a bit awkwardly.

"Uh, hi." Sieun greeted with a small smile and wave. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

"How long have you been standing there?" Hwitaek asked, suddenly feeling guilty for some reason he didn't know why.

"Oh, not that long." Sieun replied nonchalantly.

"Anyways, see you, Hui." Soojin bid Hwitaek a goodbye while walking passed Sieun with a polite smile. "Bye-bye, Sieun."

"Bye-bye, Soojin." Sieun bid the female goodbye with a polite smile as well.

She quickly turned her attention onto her boyfriend and softly made her way towards Hwitaek while placing the bag onto one of the tables when she neared him.

"Since you couldn't make it I thought we could have dinner here instead."

"Make it where?" Hwitaek asked with a confused face. "Was there something planned for today?"

Sieun paused in opening the large container filled with the snow crab inside and slowly cast her boyfriend a hurt look.

"Yeah, Hwitaek. You were the one that had planned it months ago. I tried calling and texting you, but you didn't reply back."

"Oh, about that. The battery died and I didn't have a charger on me to charge my phone. Sorry, Sieun." Hwitaek apologized in an indifferent tone while shrugging as he looked at her blankly. "I don't really remember what I planned tonight. Was it something important?"

Looking down at the food blankly, something within Sieun finally cracked as this conversation was similar to what they had prior to Hwitaek's birthday. It was like he stopped being a boyfriend and he seemed more distracted and acted like the two of them weren't even in a relationship. Or better yet, it seemed like Sieun realized that Hwitaek had stopped doing all the little things that she had appreciated in their relationship even before his birthday.

Sieun never cared for the expensive jewellery he would buy her saying that they were a girl's real best friend. Nor did she care for the fancy restaurant dates he took her out to just to impress her still. Sieun also didn't mind the constant large hang outs with his friends when it was just supposed to be the two of them on their date. Still though she honestly missed the other little things that Hwitaek used to do for her. Those special times that the two of them shared with just each other and away from everyone and everything else.

Like when he randomly buys her flowers to surprise her and tell her the meaning behind them that he learned from the florist. Or how he would call her beautiful every once in a while. Or when he would just casually hold her hand out of the blue or do things to simply put a smile on her face. Sieun missed the times when Hwitaek would call her in the early hours of morning or in the middle of the night to just hear her voice and talk about anything and everything. Thinking back on it all, Sieun wondered if she was someone that Hwitaek still needed in his life.

"When did you stop?" Sieun suddenly asked Hwitaek while continuing to stare at the food before her.

"Stop what?"

Hwitaek was still not aware of the situation that was happening between them. His attention apparently wasn't even on Sieun as it was instead on the music stand. Sieun sadly gazed up at him and elaborated her question.

"When did you stop doing all the little things in our relationship?"

Hwitaek swiftly glanced at Sieun and upon seeing his girlfriend's expression, he unconsciously swallowed down the lump that had somehow appeared within his throat.

"To be honest, Sieun, I really don't remember."

He admitted with a half-shrug and nonchalant manner not really thinking about his next words properly.

"I only did those things in the beginning because of the bet."

"Bet?"

Sieun cast Hwitaek a confused look before furrowing her eyebrows in thought and narrowing her eyes at her.

"What bet, Hwitaek?"

Hwitaek immediately froze upon revealing the truth and why he initially pursued Sieun in the first place. He avoided looking at her now and didn't continue on the topic.

"This is what your roommates and other friends discreetly meant, isn't it?"

Sieun scoffed a moment later after Hwitaek stayed quiet. Now everything made sense to her after hers and Hwitaek's two years of being in a relationship.

"All the times we hung out at those parties of your roommates and all of your friends wanted me to get drunk just so I could spill anything that was going on between us. All the times they would cast me weird looks whenever they ask personal questions about how far we've gone, what our relationship status was, and if there's been anything weird or unusual between us."

Sieun let out another scoff feeling heated at all this realization.

"All of their quiet giggles and laughter. All of their judging and sneak looks. All of it because they knew that our relationship was built on a foundation of lies, Hwitaek. Lies worth two years on your part, Hwitaek."

"C'mon, Sieun, that was just the beginning of our relationship. It's different now." Hwitaek reasoned while gazing up at her although he knew that it didn't sound all that convincing.

"The only difference now is that I now know the real reason you dated me, Hwitaek. A bet. A ing bet for two ing years of our relationship between me and you were filled with your dishonesty from the get-go. Why bother when you stopped being interested since you can't recall why you stopped doing the little things in the first place?"

"I don't know."

Hwitaek lamely answered, but had avoided all eye-contact with Sieun.

"Right, you don't know."

Sieun scoffed.

"Did you get a kick out of knowing that I honestly liked you, yet you couldn't even bother giving me just a small bit of it yourself?"

Sieun shot him a disgusted look.

"Was I just some play thing for you to mess around with after breaking up with Soojin? Or did you guys even break up in the first place? Was I just some side piece for you to have fun with out of boredom? A complete joke for yours and friends' entertainment? Is that why you've been forgetting all of our plans? Our anniversary? Your birthday? Even my birthday? Is she still the one you need instead, Hwitaek?"

"Stop, Sieun. Just stop. Don't be ridiculous." Hwitaek tried to reason as he rolled his eyes. "It's not even like that, okay?"

"I'm not being ridiculous, Hwitaek."

Sieun spat back with a huff b