Chairwoman Lee sat at her desk in her grand office. The window curtains were open revealing the beautiful sight of the downtown area. The sun beams shined in illuminating the room.

She lifted her head up when she heard the door open. She half expected her secretary, but no. She was wrong. Standing by the doorway was her precious daughter-in-law.

"JiAh, what are you doing here dear?" She questioned. JiAh's golden eyes were locked on the ground, as if to afraid to look up and face the world. The world was a scary place for someone like JiAh. JiAh saw only the beauty in life, yet she was the poster child for angst characters. JiAh had the patience of a saint, but the heart of fragile glass.

Something in the young woman's eyes flickered with fire and sorrow. Something in her eyes was so broken, so lost, it no longer cared. JiAh had the power to burn the world into ashes, or maybe it was the other way around. Maybe the world was burning her to ashes. The world was the one punishing her to hell, condemning her to a lifetime where she would have to lose everyone she loved. Her life was one never ending funeral.

You take a woman who had lost everything she cared for and loved, a woman who has heaven in her eyes, a woman who has a broken smile, and you throw her into the world to be ripped apart by beasts. And the outcome is unpredictable. The outcome is a beautiful tragedy.

The Chairwoman now saw the vanilla envelop in JiAh's hands. She was clutching onto the material so tightly it looked like it could rip.

JiAh forced her eyes up, making eye contract with the Chairwoman. She took a step forward, and another. Each step was homed to a beautiful soul. Each step was made up of a thousand bricks crushing against JiAh.

Finally in front of the desk JiAh placed the folder gently on the desk. Chairwoman Lee took point of the dark bags under JiAh's eyes, of how hollow JiAh's eyes were. Of the pain radiating from her.

Chairwoman Lee now knew that she had to lace her heart in steel as hard and strong as the woman standing before her.

"What's this dear?" She asked softly.

"Divorce papers." The replied was met with silence. Neither women knew what to say next. So they remained quiet. Chairwoman Lee knew that JiAh never wanted to marry her son. Her son didn't want to marry JiAh. It was her, she played god and forced the two together.

"Why?" The question came out in a whisper. But both women knew the answer. Marriage was meant for two people who loved each other and wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. This situation where JiAh and Hoya were in, it wasn't a marriage. It was a contract.

Who would had thought that silence could be a force so loud the ringing of it could damage ear drums.

"I'm sorry." Were the first words out of JiAh's lips breaking the dense silence. Chairwoman Lee was astonished. Why was JiAh apologizing? She didnt even do anything.

The Chairwoman met with JiAh's eyes. A thousand emotions were spilling out and running in a thousand directions. Pain. Conflict. Agony. Confusion. Anger. Frustration. Sorrow.

JiAh tried to force a smile onto her face but it came out as a weak lift of her lips. Slowly her eyes were filled with salty liquid.

JiAh walked to the other side of the desk, facing the Chairwoman. She leaned in and wrapped the Chairwoman into a hug.

"You know, if I had a mother, I would want her to be just like you." She whispered and those short words broke the dam inside the Chairwoman. Her words were so honest, filled with the deepest of emotions. They belong to a motherless child. JiAh pulled away and threw another one of her failed smiles before turning her heels and walking away, leaving this chapter of her life behind.

She turned the doorknob and opened the door, before leaving thought, she turned her shoulder and mumbled two words. "Thank you." They were short and quick, but meant the world to hear.

Once she was gone, once the world was silent, the Chairwoman let the tears spill.

--

"Mother, yes I'm returning home right now." Hoya replied to his mother. He was tired after a long day of work. He didn't know if he was happy to be returning home or not.

"Just stay on the line with me sweetheart. Don't hang up, no matter what." His mother replied. Hoya knew something was wrong. Maybe it was his mother's cautious tone.

"Mother, are you sure you're okay?" He asked while unlocking the door and pushing open the door.

"I should be asking you that."

Hoya didn't understand his mother's question. But then will understand in the next few minutes.

The house was dark, no lights, no movement. He walked over to the bedroom, assuming that was where JiAh was. Or in the balcony, losing herself in the cold.

He saw something laying on the dining table. He switched his directions and turned back to the table. An vanilla envelop laid before him.

"Sweetheart. Umma wants to apologize. I'm sorry sweetheart. I'm so sorry." His mother's voice rang over the phone. His mother was crying. He set his phone aside and picked up the envelop. Slowly opening it, he already knew that only bad news awaited him. He already knew that by opening the envelop he was writing the destruction of his life. But he opened it anyways.

Divorce Papers.

He stared at the piece of paper. It felt like an eternity was passing by. He felt every bone in his body fall apart. He didn't cry. He didn't move. His heart however, broke into a million pieces. His world fell apart at that moment, and he did nothing to stop it. He was a coward. And this was what cowards deserved.

Then he remembered JiAh's words. How many times can a heart break before it finally dies? Her heart had broke one to many times.

Realization hit him. He never wanted to lose her. He never wanted to say good-bye to her. He had always wanted to hold on to her. He always wanted to apologize. Now he didn't even have the chance to say good-bye. She was already gone.

He ran towards the bedroom, he searched around like a mad man realizing that everything she had was gone. All her belongings, everything she owned was gone. All but one. Her notebook. The one she spent hours writing in, pouring all her inner thoughts and feelings in. The same book she stood in the cold to write in.

"I don't think I can do this anymore." Her words rang in his ears drowning him in a sea of red. He had trapped in his world of grey. He had trapped her in his own version of hell. But he never realized it until now. He didn't realize it until he lost her. She was always his paradise in hell.