--A/N: caution: this gets a little dark/violent--

Ji Hyo huffs in frustration as she flips through the dresses in her walk-in closet. None of them are to her moody liking. She wanted something nice and not fussy for her dinner date with Chang Joo. And also to brace herself from the chilly Seoul winter, she couldn’t forget about that. There is a thin layer of sweat along her hairline building as she knows he’s going to be here anytime now, and she’s still in sweats. He lives in the punctual and she, just the opposite.

As if she needed another reminder that she’s running late, her phone rings and the dreaded name flashes on the screen. She answers and blurts out a response without even taking a breath.

“Oppa, I still need a few minutes. I know it’s cold outside, so why don’t you come upstairs? It’s warm up here. It shouldn’t take too long. I’m going to hang up now, but just come up, okay?”

She returns to the closet, rummaging through the same pieces, somehow thinking that if she looked long enough, something suitable would appear. She’s making her fifth round when she hears the door beep and she grabs a random dress and s it, jumping into as fast as she could. It’s takes all but twenty seconds. If only she dressed this quickly every day…

The flustered woman hears her fiancé’s steps padding along the hallways and into a bedroom. She feels his presence there despite not being able to see into the bedroom from where she’s standing.

“Oppa. I’m here in the closet.”

There’s no response, but she knows he’s there.

“Just a few more moments, I’m dressed, but I need to put on some makeup.” She takes a glance down at her dress for the first time since slapping it on. Dammit, it’s the red dress he doesn’t like me in.

She’s about grab the black one beside it when she hears his voice, finally.

“Ji Hyo…”, there’s a strain in it. Ji Hyo doesn’t feel good about this. Her hand leaves the black dress and she grabs a nearby coat, throwing it over her dress.

“Yes, oppa”

“Ji Hyo, come here.”

“No, it’s okay. I can hear you just fine here.”

“Ji Hyo”, he persists. She knows that this is not about being able to hear each other.

She steps towards her closet entrance and she sees him standing there. His left hand is clutched. His eyes flicker down to the red dress that’s peeking out from the coat, but he doesn’t say anything. There’s an eerie silence, but she walks out of the closet and gives him her best smile.

“What is it, oppa?”

“What were you doing last night?”

“I was at Jaesuk’s party. You know that”, her mind is spinning a mile a minute, trying to decipher where this sudden interrogation was heading.

He slowly brings his left hand up and opens his fist. In his palm is a black bowtie.

She looks up at him. There’s red in his eyes. She gulps.

“What’s this then?”, he spits out.

“I-i-it’s Kim J--”

“I knew it!”, he throws it to the ground in disgust, and Ji Hyo flinches. She wraps her coat tighter around herself.

She chooses to ignore his behavior. She was going to beat his irrational temper with a level head and facts. “He dropped me off here last night.”

“If he was dropping you off, why did he take off his bowtie and why is it in your bedroom?”

“I don’t know why he took it off. He just brought me in here”, her voice was steady despite feeling increasingly unsure. You can do this, Ji Hyo.

“Why did he have to bring you to your bedroom?”

“I was really…tired last night.”

“You mean, you were drunk last night”, he accused.

Her previously fierce eyes softened in guilt.

“So you were drunk with a single man last night and he carried you into your bedroom.”

She cringed at how incriminating it sounded.

"You didn't forget that you're engaged to me, right? You know what that means, right?"

"Of course, I do. I love you”, she pleaded. The last three words were bitter off her tongue.

"Ha, don't go around trying to butter me up. I know what you did last night and don't try denying it. I see how you're always hanging around him on set. You even have to guts to do that on national broadcast.” He was fuming. She couldn’t argue with his accusations. She would’ve jumped to the same conclusions if she were him.

Taking her silence as a confession, he continued. “You ed him didn't you? Where is that bastard?"

That sent her heart racing in rage. How could he think so lowly of her? "What? No, I didn't! He just brought me to my room."

"Don't pretend your drunkenness erased your memories. I know what you did, you shameless ". He yelled into her face.

“Get out of my face and calm the down”, she retorted, “are you going to give me a chance to explain, or you’re just going to continue screaming at me without knowing the facts?” She took a step forward and tilted up her head in defiance. She watched his eye roll as he scoffed before suddenly shoving her against the wall, her head hitting with a loud thump. She grimaced at the impact.

"You're mine. You know that? Not anyone else's. MINE", he shouted at her.

Her face contorted as she felt his spit on her cheek. His disrespectful treatment only made her more determined to fight him back. Ji Hyo looked back with her brows furrowing as she prepared to launch her next attack.

“I’m not your slave, and I’m not your child. I don’t need your permission to do anything. Now will you just listen to me?”. She shoved him back. She needed some breathing space.

Her eyes narrowed at him in disgust and she watched him expectantly, egging him on for his next move. “I can’t believe you, you know? You’re so disgusting. How could you say this to me?”

There was an eerie silence, like the final drawn-out seconds of a countdown, before his right hand lunged at her neck. His left grabbed a fistful of her hair, pulling up so she had to look up at him.

“You think I’m disgusting? Look at you, ing around and trying to deny it. Don’t change the subject, Ji Hyo.”

He pulled harder at her hair.

“I didn’t do anything wrong”, she spat back, making sure to splatter him back with her saliva.

“Say it again”, he answered, bringing his head down to level with her eyes. She could feel the temper pumping through his veins from his menacing grip on her neck. The scary, seemingly unquenchable anger brewing behind his eyes. The heavy, short breaths hitting her skin in hot puffs, like that of a beast readying to charge at a moment’s notice. A demon on the brink of breaking free.

“I didn’t do i—”, she choked. His grip had tightened around her neck and her hands flew up to pry away his fingers.

“You filthy . You’re still denying it”, he smirked, “you think I won’t do it? I’ll find that bastard and skin him alive. Say one more thing and I’ll do it.”

Her only response was desperate gasps for air.

“Hmm? I can’t hear you”, Chang Joo prodded.

She kept silent. She didn’t want to die. She didn’t want Jong Kook to die either.

Feeling her surrender, Chang Joo’s gripped loosened in victory, but he still held her head in place. She choked for breaths.

"Look at me, you ." His pupils were pulsing. "You know what the problem is? YOU. You're the problem, Ji Hyo”, he jabbed a hard finger at her chest.

She didn’t respond. She was just tired of it all. Her head was pounding and she wanted to be put out of her misery.

He took her silence as a chance to continue.

“Just because I don’t force you to spend every waking minute with me, you think you have free rein to do anything.”

Finally having given up, her body finally released everything pent up. She closed her eyes and two trickles spilled down her red cheeks. A small sob escaped before she could contain it with a cupped hand.

Feeling the woman’s full forfeit, there was no more fuel to add to his argument, and the room grew to a painful silence. He glared at her bowed head. How could she cheat on him and now beg for mercy with tears?

Suddenly his phone rang, and his hands left her to dig up the phone from his pants pocket. He turned around, ran a hand through his hair and coughed to clear his throat. “Hello?” It was the restaurant calling about their missed reservation time. He turned back to look at Ji Hyo, the woman he had turned into a sobbing mess now walking towards the closet. “Yes, sorry about not calling earlier. We won’t be able make it. Please cancel it.” He heard the closet door click close.

After hanging up, he stared back the closet door. Trying not to hear the muffled wails behind the barrier. He dropped onto her bed, sitting with his head in his hands, his heart twisting at the thought that this was all at his doing. Like a sudden tornado coming to rip apart everything they had, while he stood powerless and watched the destruction unfold.

He needed a break from the suffocating atmosphere and stood up to leave, but not before kicking her closet door in frustration and muttering “you stupid coward”. He heard a scream and a rattle inside before exiting her room. After slipping on his shoes and leaving her apartment, he took the elevator to the rooftop patio and pulled out a cigarette. The guilt-ridden man took whiffs and stared out over the skyline.

The building lights dotted his vision like a hazy, colorful dream. Each frosty breath floated away from him in clouds of smoke. The world felt still. It was just him and his guilt here on the tiled floor, thirty floors into the sky.

He never wanted to admit it to her, but he knew she was too good for him. He only has the money part of the trinity, and maybe some brains, but not a remarkable amount of each. And he definitely didn’t have the looks. She had all three. He’s always been so afraid she was going to leave him for someone else. Especially seeing all the actor and television friends she has, there’s no shortage for her to pick from should she ever choose to, especially that Kim Jong Kook fellow. He had the makings of everything she was seeking.

He grips the railings, and his knuckles turn white in anguish. He was completely floored when she agreed to his proposal. Years ago, it would have made business sense for her to use him as a platform to launch her career, but now, she’s already quite well-known and she’d still most definitely make it without him. He has no idea why she’s decided to stick with him. Was she possibly in love with him?

In any other situation, this realization would have sent sparks through his body, but this time, a deep frown mars his tired face. This is how he treated her out of impulsive jealousy. He still reasoned that his conclusion was justifiable. It had all the pieces of a forbidden tryst—a decision made from loose tongues and foggy minds, a convenient article of clothing left behind from the other party, and absolute denial afterwards.

He didn’t work in the entertainment industry for nothing. Ninety percent of the cases from celebrities involved alcohol.

That’s not to say he didn't trust her. He did, but seeing as it was that one Kim Jong Kook, it sent his alpha-male tearing out. To be frank, he can’t say he would be too shocked if she wanted to break up with him one day because of that man. Just like the beast that emerged when he had seen her with him that day in her revealing red dress the day he picked her up from the set. He was worried things were developing.

He never sees the side of Ji Hyo that she portrays on TV. The health freak and her colleagues must bring out something in her that he won’t ever be able to. He wished she’d laugh more genuinely in front of him as well.

With one last blow, he throws the cigarette on the ground and stomps on it. Probably a bit harsher than necessary.

- - -

It was as if the heavens had decided to toy with the couple, testing their boundaries before needing a last minute rescue. Ji Hyo thanked the gods when she hears it was a call from the restaurant, letting out the breath that had been trapped within her this entire time. She closes her eyes, only now realizing how sore they had become from trying to stand her ground during the spat. Tears still over in this brief moment of relaxation. Letting loose her emotions was a mistake however as once she lets herself cry, she couldn’t stop.

Her blurry eyes narrow as they boor into her fiancé’s back while he turned to answer the call. How could he accuse her of such things? She wants to gift him with a few punches to the face, but knowing his much more powerful retaliation, it wouldn’t be worth it. And the more she dwells on the pent-up injustice, the more her frustration flows out through tears, until she stands, trying to muffle the sound with her hand. She doesn’t want to draw any attention back to herself, now that he’d finally released her.

No matter how hard she bites her lip to slow her sobs, the momentum builds up to an uncontainable amount. Spotting the closet nearby, she hurries towards it, taking a dangerous glance back at her fiancé for clearance when she catches his eyes. A chill travels down her spine.

She sprints into the closet, slamming the door behind her and securing the handle with a nearby broomstick. She settles onto the ground, burying her head between knees and her arms wrap tightly around her folded legs. Ji Hyo braces herself for impact—an angry shout, a furious rattling of the doorknob—while crying out loud in the dark closet from fear, from relief, from all the emotions bottled up inside herself. She can't forget his beady eyes starting back at her. She's never seen them so wild before. Like he was capable of anything.

When she finally calms down, she sits staring into the blackness ahead of herself, suddenly remembering that she hasn’t received a sign of recognition from him. Did he see her go into the closet? Was he even here in her room anymore? She peeks below the door, but only catches sight of her carpet’s speckled pattern. Trying another method, the woman places a light ear against the door. She can’t hear anything though.

Suddenly, she hears a soft muttering. She gasps and shrinks away from the door. A loud thud against the closet door sends her screaming and flying away. Her hands shoot up to tightly secure the broomstick in place. It’s her only defense against him.

And as quick as it came, it’s gone again. Ji Hyo sits tense, in silence, for the next five minutes, waiting for his next attack. Unable to quell her curiosity after fifteen minutes, she loosens the broomstick and closely turns the door handle, taking a careful look out. She holds her breath as she scans around. It’s still and he’s not here anymore.

She decides to count to ten before stepping to grab her phone across her room. The frazzled women is up to seven when she hears a slow creak. Upon reflex, she retreats back into her closet again. Her heart feels clogged into . Her ears strain to hear any other movements, but there are none. She knows this time, it’s her imagination, but she can’t ignore the fear. It pulses through her veins and sends her mind into overdrive.

Ji Hyo is left alone in the darkness once again, and she comes to a realization that freezes her blood. What if Chang Joo is out to get Jong Kook? In the state that she left him in, he’s most certainly capable of it. There are no limits when his temper flares up. She chews nervously on her lip, wanting to call and check on him.

But what if Chang Joo is with Jong Kook when she calls him? Then they’d get into even more trouble. And what if Chang Joo didn’t do anything, and now she’s just scaring Jong Kook for nothing?

She tosses and turns in indecision, too afraid of the repercussions to commit to any action. Eventually, the battles slowly wears her out and brings her closer to slumber. She convinces herself that Jong Kook would be able to fend off Chang Joo were it to come to that. And for her, she’ll be safe enough inside her closet castle. With her mind at ease, she closes her eyes, eager to put the day behind her.

Ji Hyo feels light against her closed lids, but is too deep in slumber to open her eyes. She feels weightlessness and then a landing into softness against her body. A smile inches across her lips as she stretches out her arms and legs. She’s been cooped up for so long. A smooth fabric is gently laid on top of her and she hums in content as her hands reach out to grab and wrap it tightly around herself.