How did this happen to us? Yumi could only wonder, stabbing the lemon-grass chicken on her plate with her fork while she stared up the empty seat across from her. It was Monday night, and like every other night of the week, she ate dinner alone. She also woke up in bed alone, watched TV on her couch alone and even walked their dog alone. It was getting harder to believe that she even lived with someone, let alone that someone being Jinhwan, her husband of five years. But there she was, sitting at the dinner table, on the verge of tears for the quite possibly the third time that day. The feeling of being utterly alone had been slowly eating at her for the last three years and Yumi was finally reaching her breaking point.

“I bet you don’t even remember your Daddy anymore, huh Roman?” Yumi looked down at the floor and asked the longhaired German Shepherd that was curled up beside her feet. “That would make two of us.” She replied as the dog merely cocked his head to the side at her question, but quickly got up to his feet to follow Yumi as she walked into the kitchen. Will he even eat tonight? The answer to that question was always no yet Yumi would still leave a plate of food out for him, knowing full well that it would be there the next morning, cold, untouched, and forgotten; just like her.

The next morning Yumi emerged from her bedroom and just as she expected there it was, her plate of food; cold, untouched, and once again forgotten. Yumi, when asked why she still insisted on keeping up with the ritual of leaving a plate out for him when she knew it would never be touched would always give the same reply – it’s the wifely thing to do. Deep down inside, though, she knew it was her way of trying. Making the effort to try and reconnect with her husband, and even though the attempts always went in vain at least she could attest to her commitment in the marriage despite the circumstances unlike someone.

Marrying Jinhwan should have been one of the best decisions she ever made, but the rate at which she was starting to think otherwise was alarmingly fast. She had been a young woman at the peak of her potential; she had both the looks and the smarts and was definitely going places. But things changed the day she let her friends convince her to go with them to an underground rap battle; the day she first laid eyes on Jinhwan. Through a series of up and downs, akin to every daytime soap opera, the two felt their love was strong enough to endure all and took the plunge to get married; without either one having a stable job or residence for that matter. That’s all in the past, Yumi sighed, her hands touching the cold porcelain plate and placing the saran wrapped dish into the refrigerator. At least I don’t have to make lunch.

Checking the time to ensure she still had well over an hour to shower and get ready before leaving for work, she moseyed over toward the couch, plopping down on the soft cushions and turned the television on. Her fingers combed through Roman’s soft fur coat, as the canine sat next to her on the couch, untangling knots along the way while at the same time taking note that he was getting close to needing a bath at some point. Yumi looked blankly back at the TV, groaning at how it seemed that news broadcasts never really reported news anymore, and relied heavily on telling people about celebrity sightings and who was the next to go into rehab. Reaching over for the remote, Yumi quickly changed channels before deciding if she should just turn it off, but quickly thought against it when she heard a reporter mention her husband’s name, Oh Jinhwan.

No it can’t, she tried to tell herself. Although her husband had been trying for years to get his break in the music industry, surely he would have told her if he did, right?

“-Oh Jinhwan is an up and coming rapper in the music industry. This is apparently the third time that he has been sighted with the pop artist. Sources close to the couple have said that they have been dating for almost a month and are very much in love. Although neither side has officially confirmed the reports they have yet to refute them.”

Yumi slumped back in her chair and read the headline underneath the photos of Jinhwan and the Queen of Pop herself that stated they were dating and was stunned. Of all the different types of publicity Jinhwan garnered this just had to be the type. As if it wasn’t hard already having him run around town making an utter fool of himself just to sell a record, he just had to add this to his list of “things I’ll do just to make your parents hate me even more.” Her parents had already washed their hands of her the moment Yumi announced that she was going to marry Jinhwan no matter what they said, but that still didn’t stop the young woman from wanting their approval. But with Jinhwan’s manager insisting that they keep the fact he was a married man under wraps in fear that it would hinder his musical career, Yumi was certain her parents would permanently hate the man.

Her eyes moved away from the TV and looked at her cell phone on the coffee table. Like always she had turned her phone on silent the night before, preferring not to be bothered in the middle of the night with needless phone calls, and frowned when she saw there were twelve missed calls all from friends and family. Naturally they were calling about the news she had just heard, but what was she going to say to them? What could she say to them? The mere fact that Jinhwan’s management hadn’t made an official statement surely meant something, but what bothered her more was the fact that out of all the twelve calls, not a single one was from him.

Yumi didn’t know what to do and could only think of one thing – to cry. She sat on the couch the rest of the day, not bothering to pick up her phone and call work to tell them she couldn’t come in and instead she waited. Yumi waited for Jinhwan to possibly come home armed with some fantastic story with ornate details pertaining to how it was all a misunderstanding or at least a phone call; but she got nothing. Instead she remained on the couch, staring at the blank television screen, that she at some point subconsciously turned off, or maybe the dog did it. She didn’t know and didn’t care. It had turned nightfall, but she still just sat there in the dark, not bothering to turn on the lights. Yumi remembered at some point her stomach growled but she simply pushed that thought aside, food was not of importance any more. She merely sat in silence, absorbed in the various sounds that surrounded her, from the loud city traffic outside to the internal sound of her heart breaking for the last and final time.  

For the young woman it didn’t matter if the reports were falsified or if they were even true. What mattered was that out of the hundreds of calls she received the whole day, not one was from him. And that was when she reached her breaking point. Regardless of the validity of the reports and rumors, Jinhwan should have tried to contact her, or to see her, if he truly cared.

“Thanks for covering for me Joe!” Yumi flashed the male barista her best smile, as she threw her apron at the man and grabbed her purse, making a run for it out of the café. Jinhwan would be on in less than thirty minutes and she didn’t want to miss it. He had been working so hard for this battle. The prize was not only bragging rights but also five thousand dollars; two things that the man was in desperate need of.

Jinhwan looked down at his watch, 7:55pm where is she? Leaning against the far wall of the club next to where his best friend Teddy was spinning at the DJ’s table, Jinhwan’s eyes searched the crowd. Yumi had told him she would try to make it to his battle, and although he told her not to come because she was already busy with work and school, deep down he wanted her to show up. He loved to look out into the sea of people and see her beautiful eyes look back at him in wonderment. Some men had money others had fame, but for Jinhwan, Yumi was his pride and joy and the love of his life.

Jinhwan groaned in frustration when he saw a girl slither up to him wearing a next-to-nothing outfit that left very little to the imagination and way too much makeup for his taste. She smiled at him, sticking her chest out being sure to let the side of her rub against his arm. Jinhwan just looked away, slightly moving his body away from hers and looked over at Teddy work his magic on the turntables, nodding his head to the beat. The woman couldn’t be any more clueless, thinking the rapper was simply trying to get into the zone before his battle and tried again to get his attention. She turned him to face her and began grinding her hips against his, letting her finger trail over his chest while she bit down on her lower lip seductively.

“ off,” Jinhwan growled, pushing the woman off him hard enough for her to stumble backwards a few feet. The rejected woman scoffed loudly yelling some nonsense about how he wasn’t packing enough for her anyways and stalked off. The rapper could only chuckle at her reaction turning away from her unfazed by her insult and found himself staring straight at Yumi, who stood only a few feet away from him. Jinhwan smiled at her but inside he was worried about what was going on in her mind, hoping that she didn’t misunderstand what just happened. “You came.” He shouted over the music, taking a few steps toward her.

In a tight-lipped smile, Yumi walked up to meet him halfway. “I told you I was.”

Jinhwan leaned toward her, but Yumi turned her head to the side before his lips could reach their target and he settled on kissing her cheek instead. So, she did think the wrong way. Yumi tried to step away from him, but Jinhwan only wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her flush against his chest and purred into her ear. “It will always be only you.”

The rapper pulled away in time to hear the MC call his name up to the stage. Giving his stunned girlfriend a small peck on the lips, Jinhwan ran up stage and smirked at his opponent who looked like a lost kid in an amusement park. His eyes darted past the scared male, down to Yumi who was now beaming like a schoolgirl and winked, knowing as long as he had her by his side nothing else mattered.

The front door to the two-bedroom apartment opened and Jinhwan slowly walked in. He was tired and exhausted, and like always, he didn’t bother to turn on the hallway light but instead made his way to the second bedroom where he slept. He didn’t get as far as he wanted when his back collided harshly against the wall after their German Shepherd leapt at him in the dark.

“Roman?” Jinhwan asked worriedly. “What are you doing outside?”  Immediate fear encompassed the rapper. The canine stuck to Yumi’s side like glue since the first day he brought him home as a gift for her, and would normally have been in the bedroom with her unless something happened. Jinhwan looked up to see the silhouette of someone sitting on the couch, staring straight ahead as if not even aware he was in the room. “Yu-Yumi?”

“I want a divorce.”

word count: 2057

thanks for reading :)