Wheein woke up to the sound of a honking vehicle. Her hand automatically reaching at the space beside her. It was empty, the warm feeling it held last night had faded. Its source was gone. She sat up, with eyes half closed she surveyed the room. It was lit by the dreary light filtering through the wide window to her right. She judged it was almost afternoon. She knows she had woken up late. Just like any other day.

“Yong” was the first word she said, just like any other day. Her voice was dull, hollow. 

Her wife did not answer. 

Her breath hitch on , rubbed her red stinging eyes. The bathroom was the nearest. 

“Yong” her voice eachoed in the empty space. No answer. 

Her steps took her out into the hallway, making small thuds against the wooden floor, she passed by the curtains fluttering from the blow of the wind of an open window.

“Yong” she half yelled this time, frustrated at the lack of response. She leaned over the wooden railings of the stairs peering into the living room. 

Her wife was not there. She swallowed her worry and went down the stairs of their two story villa. 

Carefully, slowly, Wheein descended, her feet landing on the tiled floor of the living room. She approached the sofa, her hand touching the velvet fabric that covered it, noticing the bright white color it had once was now subdued. Her hand caressed the soft fabric as she swept her gaze of the four cornered room. 

Wheein turned around, snatching her hand away from the sofa as if it burned her. Her steps, now hastily taking her down the hall to her wife’s office. Yongsun has to be there. Yongsun works hard afterall. 

“She’s so workaholic” Wheein said, in a thin, frail voice. Her bare feet piter patering againts the white tiles, it’s coldness making her shiver. 

Rows upon rows of books lined the walls of the vast study, the bean bag next to the floor to ceiling window retained it’s fluffyness, no dents which could have meant her wife was sitting there reading a script. 

“Where are you Yong?” Wheein asked the empty room. 

No answer. 

Wheein turned around and softly closed the office door. She could feel the coldness biting her feet in every step she made. She wished her wife was there to warm her up. 

Her eye caught something towards her right. In the top drawer of their refrigirator was a yellow sticky note. Swiftly, as if scared that the note would vanished before she could read it, Wheein snatched it up.

It read: 

Sorry, I didn’t wake you. 

I had to go early. 

I’ll come home late, 

so don’t wait for me. 

-Yong

P.S. Breakfast is in the oven, my angel.

A sigh of relief flooded her whole being, this woke her up, a smile formed on her face and with it the room seemed brighter.

She traced her finger on the hand written note, and lingered on the place where her wife wrote her name, Yong. All was right in the world. She reheated her breakfast and ate in silence. 

~~~~

After the late breakfast came chores, while she went on doing them she hummed to herself. It was a melancholic melody. It made her sad but she felt like it matched the days weather, damp and cloudy. She went around the house, picking up dirty clothes, coming across the one Yong discarded on the floor of their bedroom, it was a black jacket. New, not familiar, but its scent was, she inhaled the sweet perfume her wife wore mix in with the jackets strange smell. She piled it on top of the basket, telling herself to wash it with utmost care. 

She dusted off Yong’s equipment in her private gym, paying special attention to the threadmill she had purchased for her wife that was pushed in the corner gathering dust. Wheein smiled at the memory when they first tried it out. She mentally noted to tell Yong they should exercise together again. 

Maybe a significant amount of time had passed after the last time she did chores cause she felt so heavy by the time she was pulling clothes out of the drier. Her hand was trembling as she piled the last one, the jacket, on top of the pile. She sighed and took a deep breath. She must shake it off. Her wife is working hard, so she has to do the same. She ironed and folded her clothes, then Yongs and lastly the jacket her wife brought home. The unfamiliar scent was gone. She hanged it up on the closet door knowing Yong would look for it when she gets back. 

The dark descended outside as Wheein finally finished her work. It was time for dinner, she search for things she could make for two but remembered Yong was gonna come home late. So she opt for junk food. She found the last cup of ramen at the back of the dusty cupboard. She sighed as she boiled water for her dinner. She kept putting off grocery shopping since Yong was too busy, she wanted to do it together with her wife cause otherwise Yong would complain how it was all Wheeins stuff again. 

She switched on the tv to kill time, waiting for the water to boil, she flipped channels until it landed on cartoon network, we bare bears was on. Her eyes was on the tv, but her mind was somewhere else. She misses Yong’s warmth, she misses how they would cuddle in front of the television, watching whatevers on it on a gloomy. Her wife would snuggle her face on Wheein’s neck and pepper it with kisses, whispering sweet nothings in between, the program on the screen forgotten. 

However, since she started working on movies a year ago, Wheein bit her lip, she must not think about that. When she stood up, the remote clattered on the tiled floor, the tv switched to another channel, she didn't mind it and went to the kitchen. 

The water was boiling. She poured it on her cup of noodles and carefully press the cover back down. She was humming the melancholic melody when she heard her name on the TV. 

“-award winning actress, and the wife of solo singer Jung Wheein, began circulating the internet last night.” Wheein stood rooted on her spot. “In this series of images taken beside the Han River near where they are filming a movie, we can see the infamous Director Moon wrapping a black jacket around Kim, followed then by the two holding hands while they walk beside the river, and ended with the image that went viral in which they were caught engaged in an intimate embrace. The actress and the director had worked together on a number of films, dodging scandalous accusations left and right since their first project. 

A brief statement coming from the actress herself was issued today after fans were threatening to boycott the movie. In it Kim said that she was not doing anything that her wife does not know, that she has a clear conscience and asked the public to leave their private lives alone. We have yet to get a statement from the directors side.”

Wheein didn’t notice she had squeezed the cup until scalding water was pouring out of it. The pain on her hand matched that of her entire body. Her eye stung as hot tears formed and falled down her cheeks.

“Did we get a responce from Kim’s wife?” 

“Jung’s agency made no comment but some sources have proof that Kim still goes home every night in the couples two story residence in Seoul. Although, this didn't stop fans from speculating that this scandal was the reason for the singers indifinite hiatus.”

With long heavy strides Wheein went back to the living room. 

“What an unfortunate turn of events” It was said by the ignorant reporter after that fake ignorant report. 

“What do you know?” Wheein whispered looking at the smirking reporter with her fake lips and fake face. 

“WHAT DO YOU KNOW!”

She grabbed the remote of the floor and tried to turn off the damned device, her hands and fingers were shaking so much that it dropped again, this time she picked it up and threw it towards the 48” wide screen television. It created a spiderweb of cracks starting from the centre that spread out to the now half functioning screen. It wasn’t enough.

“Could this lead to a divorce? Stayed tuned folks.” The TV’s audio blared.

“SHUT UP!!!” Wheein, red faced with anger, snatched the power chord off the wall. 

“Shut up shut up!” She screamed again and again, until her voice was hoarse, kneeling in the ground, face wet with sweat and tears.

They don’t know !

Everyone of them knows nothing!

Everyone of them are trying to ruin their relationship!

Everyone of them meant nothing!

Yongsun comes home to her. Yongsun sleeps beside her each night. Yongsun still belongs to her.

“SHE’S MY WIFE!” she yelled at the broken device.

The cracked screen of the television displayed her reflection a thousand times, the face of someone she barely recognised stared back at her. She balled her fist, knuckles turning white. She stared longer letting her tears flowing freely down her cheeks. There was a time when Yongsun would wipe them away, pull Wheein into a tight embrace and tell her everything will be ok. She would go to sleep in her wife’s arms being sang a soft lullaby when days were tough and unbearable. 

Now the only sound she hears are her pitiful sobs echoing on the living rooms empty walls.

“Yong” she whispered, her heart as broken as the thousand shards of glass that sorrounded her. “Yong, come back home” 

The pain inside her chest was too much to bear, she pounded on it until it ache on the outside, until she could not stand it anymore. She plopped down on the floor and curled into a ball.

“Yong, please. Come home to me.” Wheein begged.

Her sobs were interrupted by a ringing. She turned towards the couch and found her phone lying face down on an angle on the sofa. It’s her wife! 

Yongsun is calling to tell her that everything is fine. That everything will be alright. That she’s not there to hold Wheein right now but as soon as she is home she’s going to wrap her arms around Wheein and tell her all the things she could not over a phone. 

Wheein quickly made her way to her phone wiping away tears with her oversized shirt. She should not let Yong know she’s been crying otherwise her wife would worry. She steadied her breathing and answered. 

“Yong” she smiled, saying her wife’s name made her happy. 

“It’s Hyejin”

“Hyejinie” she said in a cheerful tone, barely containing her disappointment. 

“You’re crazy”

“Hyejinie. . .”

“You’re crazy” her bestfriend told her again. Her tone turning into anger. “I told you so many times to leave her”

“She loves me.” Wheein whispered. 

“Wheein you know she’s cheating! Where’s the love in that?! Now she’s not even hiding it.”

“YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT” Wheein yelled. The other side went silent. “She still loves me.”

“Does she? Look into her eyes and ask.”

“I do. Everynight.”

The line went silent for a while. 

“I’m your bestfriend-” 

“So act like it! Bestfriends support each other” 

“NOT IF THEY ARE BEING STUPID. LEAVE HER WHILE YOU HAVE THE POWER OR SHE WILL TAKE EVERYTHING AND LEA-”

The next thing she knew her phone was flying through the air with the ignorant words her bestfriend were saying. It smacked into the white pathetic wall, and fell to the ground, broken.

“Shut up.” Wheein said with finality.

She lost her appetite. Hyejin is wrong. Her wife won’t leave her. She can’t. 

Wheein slowly made her way back to their bedroom. In the hallway she saw a blank, yellow sticky note. She scribbled some words on it, ripped it and placed it in the bedroom door, she the hallway light just to make sure her wife sees it. She entered the room and curled up under the covers. She watched her fingers tap rhytmically until her eyes closed. Her mind full of Yong. 

An hour, two hours, three. . . until 5 hours went by, and she heard the sound of a car stopping in front of their house, the gate opening, the front door slamming shut. Wheein unravelled as she heard the thud of steps coming up the stairs, her head hurt, her heart even more. The footsteps stopped at the other side of the bedroom door. It lingered there for a few minutes and then the door opened. 

Wheein heard the sound of heels clacking against wood at first, then the heels were removed and came the almost inaudible sound of feet coming towards her. The other side of the bed sank under the weight of the person, Wheein’s nose scrunched up. 

“Welcome home” she whispered, her back against the person with an unfamiliar smell. 

“I told you not to wait for me” Yong sighed. 

“How’s your day?”

“Just like any other day” her wife replied. She pulled on the covers making Wheein adjust. 

“Won’t you cuddle with me?” Wheein requested.

“Of course” 

She felt her wife’s touch, stiff and cold. She took the hand wrapping around her on her fingers. She warmed it up with her breath. 

“That’s nice” Yong whispered next to her ear. Once they warmed up Wheein turned around, resting her head on Yong’s arm while the other caressed her back, she snuggled on her wife’s neck. Her eyes and nose stung, this wasn’t her wife’s scent. Something else was masking it. Hot tears formed and eventually fell from her eyes. She began to sob. 

“Shhhh” her wife whispered, softly smoothing her hair in place. “Hush now, my angel, go to sleep.”

“Unnie,” Wheein cried. “you’ll stay with me?”

“I will. You’re my wife.”

“I am.” Wheein sniffed.

“You are.”

“Don’t ever leave me.”

“I won’t. I’m here. Always.”

“You love me?”

Yong breath in long and hard. “I do. I love you.”

“I love you too” Wheein said, gripping Yong’s collar. 

Always.

I love you.

Those words were enough, for tomorrow and the day after that, her wife will always be there for her, loving her. With that thought, she snuggled in closer to Yong and she was slowly lulled into sleep, mentally thanking herself for writing that note she stuck at the bedroom door. 

It’s a lot to ask, unnie, 

but if I asked you if you still love me, 

Won’t you lie to me?

END.

sorry if there are mistakes, will edit them later.