Jang Wooyoung is a man of little words. Though this trait of his is usually overlooked when someone came in a close contact with him. The way his gentle eyes seems to delve into your soul makes words seems unnecessary. The way he seems to understand all your needs makes communication seems overrated. The comfort of his warm arms surrounding you makes even the chilliest winter seems like a breeze to go through.

And the presence of that individual called Jang Wooyoung seems to make everything alright.

That’s what she thought too.

The first few years of being together with Jang Wooyoung feels like a dream. However, the dreamlike state slowly fades as she realizes that that trait of his she so often overlooked soon became a dark cloud plaguing their relationship.

Jang Wooyoung has always been a man of little words. On top of that, he is a very passive boyfriend who lets her do anything she pleases. He never questioned her if she left the house for one full day, or several days at once. However, she can always be sure that he would be waiting for her in their living room, and greet her with a smile and a warm hug when she comes home. While his presence is definitely something nice to come back to, the fact that he doesn’t try to find out where she is makes her think of negative thoughts.

After all this time, she’s beginning to doubt if the flame is still burning in their relationship. She began searching for a little flame that might still exist as a leftover of the fire, and ended up failing to see even a spark of hope. The fire that was burning so strongly was now extinguished, and all she could found is ashes, black as soot. How long has it been since it last ablaze?

Soon enough she found herself obsessing over trying to salvage the last sparks of hope within the relationship. Soon she starts to realize that they began to talk lesser and lesser. While the occasional touch is still there, the kiss they share before work and before they fall asleep is still there everyday, the meaning is slowly fading away and soon enough she feels that all that is just an obligatory action for a couple.

So she developed a habit of staying in the office longer than she usually does, just to see if he calls. He did call for the first few days, but then he lets her be. This then developed into days staying over at her girl friend’s place, which meet with the same fate. The last resort was to threaten to leave the house. She knew that it is very childish of her to be doing this, and she knows that this is branching off from her insecurities, but all she wanted is some recognition that he still cares for her, even a little bit, and she would be content.

All this while, all she wanted is for him to stop her from leaving, or to call her when she is out of the house, just to let her know that he still cares about her whereabouts. She would definitely come back home as long as he told her to, for this is the last thing she could do to prove that he still cares for her, it’s the last straw she can use to convince that he still loves her.

However, his calls never came. She waited and waited, but his calls never came. The anxiety of waiting for his calls is slowly replaced with worries about him not taking care of himself. This will make her miss his presence, regretting her childishness and come running back home every time, knocking in front of that polished mahogany door. Some days she couldn’t bring herself to see him and just hide in the nearby bushes. He would never fail to open the door at the slightest knock, and she would be content watching him step out of that door looking healthy. Some days she would knock and he would open the door, and she would came straight into his tired face, and she knew then she couldn’t stay away from him anymore.

Now, she is sitting at her best friend’s house, starring silently at the scenery outside of her living room, pondering what her dear boyfriend is doing at home. Has he been well? Has he been taking care of himself? Has he been eating right? Did his gastric pain act up again? And a million other question that always come into mind whenever they are apart. But the most important question remains. Did he miss her enough to call?

But this time, she doesn’t think she could stand this anymore. For every time she left, she leaves a part of her with him, just so she has a reason to come back. Why does it have to be her that puts an effort into this relationship? Why does she have to run when it hurts her even more?

This time, she thinks she’s too tired to run anymore.

Too tired of staying silent and holding back the frustations inside,

Too tired of feeling the searing look burning to her back as she packed her bags,

Too tired of taking her time packing up just so he has enough time to stop her from leaving,

Too tired to walk away from their house in disappointment that he didn’t even try to hold her back,

She’s finally too tired of walking away from him.

This time, she thinks that she is too tired of trying to prove that he still cares for her.

Too tired of calling her girlfriends asking to stay in their house for a few days,

Too tired of trying to live without seeing his angelic sleeping face the first thing each morning,

Too tired of letting the sound of his voice, the fragments of their memories, and the images of his smile haunt her everywhere she goes.

Too tired of crying on someone else’s shoulder and sleeping on someone else’s bed, all the while thinking of that one guy who stole her heart away.

She’s finally too tired of running away from someone she obviously want to spend her days with.

But the next day, she found herself in the front step of the familiar door, a soft knock resounding softly on that polished surface. The door jerked open and she came in contact with his gentle eyes. He seemed to have lost quite a few kilos, and dark circles are starting to emerge beneath his eyes. Without realizing, she found her cheeks wet with tears.

“Oppa…”

She started, words choking up in , and all that came out of her lips is a weak whimper. She was trying to gather herself together when his arms came over her shoulders gently and pull herself into his warm embrace. The tears kept coming, and he would stoke her hair and whispers calming words in her ears, assuring her that everything is going to be alright.

It’s a vicious neverending circle, and Go Hara knows that she would never be able to escape it, not even when Jang Wooyoung no longer cares for her. All she know is that every moment spent with him is a hundred times better than the moments without him, and she would gladly stay by his side even when he no longer cares for her enough to call.

And she knew, she would do the same if it were to happen again. Again, and again, and again, and again.

But somehow, deep down she feels that this time would be different.

Somehow.

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A/N: This prequel was a bit harder to write compared to the other one shot. Maybe because there’s this finality that I would have to make everything clear by now, heeh… whereas I still feel like I didn’t do it justice =S

The decision to use Hara in this is kind of last minute, I have her image all the while when writing the girl character, but I wasn’t planning to actually writing her name down. For the first part I was more concerned about people seeing her in a bad light because of my characterisation. Hehe.

Hope you enjoyed that ^^