February 1st, 2014

When Seul-ki woke up again near midnight, she first saw Sunggyu sleeping on the chair while sitting up and crossing his hands across his chest and on her right, there was Halmeoni sleeping on the empty bed, looking weary. Seul-ki casted a long apologetic look at Halmeoni before turning to Sunggyu again, who remained unmoving. She studied the way he was sort of furrowing even in his sleep, and his pinkish lips curved down as if he was in displeasure and she thought that it had been a while since she had looked at him in such proximity. Then she choked on her thoughts, and began sobbing, waking him up.

"Seul-ki," Sunggyu said, squeezing his eyes a bit too hardly because his vision was still blurred and he blindly grabbed the sides of her arms and bent down to her face. He mindlessly parted his lips to kiss her but she pushed him away and turned her red face to the sides, panting a little.

"Can Sunggyu-sshi please..." She said, softly with her weak voice, and sobbed harder. "Leave?"

"I don't want to leave."

"I can't look at Sunggyu-sshi's face."

"Seul-ki..."

Sunggyu released her slowly and was then just standing next to her bed, and his face was in grief. "Won't you please listen to what I have to say first?"

"Why would I need to?" She asked, and her lips were trembling.

"Because I need you to."

"I don't want to listen to it." She said, and she shut her eyes and put her hands against her ears to muffle out the sound of his voice as he begs her. And when Sunggyu tried to peel off her hands, her sobs became louder and Halmeoni woke up startled. She jumped from her bed and shook her head to Sunggyu who looked at her miserably.

Devastated, he began to inch away from her bed and Halmeoni sent him to the door and sighed. "Just give her some time. I'll try to talk to her. Go home for now." He only nodded and for more than minutes, he was only watching her sobbing while still holding her ears and left limply.

Halmeoni sat on Seul-ki's bed and shut her eyes before she held her face and caressed it softly. Feeling her coarse hands against her skin, Seul-ki opened her eyes and stopped sobbing but she was still hiccupping.

"Seul-ki-ah, I heard everything from Sunggyu about what had happened." She said, kindly. "And I completely understand that it might be hard for you to accept it but would you please listen to what he has to say?" She only shook her head and tried to look at the ceiling to avoid Halmeoni's gaze. "Seul-ki, you're not a child anymore. You have to be more rational in this matter. People make mistakes. I make mistakes, you make mistakes. And then it's our job to forgive if we want to be forgiven. There's no marriage without flaws and fights and this is just a small hurdle that you need to face, Seul-ki."

Seul-ki was still saying nothing, making Halmeoni sighed. "Can't you see how much he loves you, Seul-ki? Do you know how much he was crying because of you?"

"Serves him right." She muttered, but her eyes were wavering and unfocussed.

"Lee Seul-ki!"

"I don't want to talk about this, Halmeoni. Please."

"Lee Seul-ki, stop acting like a child." She said, sternly but Seul-ki rolled to her side and faced the other way. She let out big sigh. "You're upset that he did you wrong. That just proves that he matters a lot to you, Seul-ki."

"I hate Sunggyu-sshi."

"Because you love him."

"I hate Sunggyu-sshi..." She repeated, and then she started crying silently. "I hate... Sunggyu-sshi." Halmeoni lied behind her back and wrapped her from behind, and her hair and patted her torso affectionately, and it only made her cried harder. After a moment, she felt that Halmeoni had gone to sleep behind her, and she was on the other hand wide awake and her mind was filled with Sunggyu and his swollen red eyes and his lips with his warm kisses and it only made her felt sadder.

Sunggyu didn't go back home that night and instead he dropped by Dongwoo's house. Both men were still up when he arrived, and they looked a little uneasy when they saw him. Sunggyu however was too engrossed in thinking about Seul-ki so he didn't notice their judging look and Dongwoo's anguish face as he sat uninvited on the dining chair.

"You look terrible." Woohyun commented. "How's Seul-ki?"

"She woke up again." Sunggyu said, smiling sadly.

"And she's angry with you." Dongwoo said, sounding angrier than he intended to be. Sunggyu raised his face to look at him for a glance but quickly look down again.

"I still don't understand what had happened." Woohyun said, taking a seat opposite of Sunggyu while Dongwoo remained static as he leaned against the kitchen counter.

"I failed her." Sunggyu said, dreamily and sadly. "I'm an . She doesn't even want to see me."

Woohyun tilted his head to make sense of what Sunggyu was talking about but neither Dongwoo nor Sunggyu was offering any explanation. "Hyung, what did you do to make Seul-ki so upset with you?"

"He practically cheated on her." Dongwoo said, bitterly. Sunggyu's face dropped even lower, making Woohyun more confused.

"Cheated? How?"

"Ask him yourself." Dongwoo said, and then he stormed out of the kitchen and went to bed, leaving Woohyun hanging while he stared at his hyung.

"Dongwoo wouldn't tell me anything at all." He said, pouting. "I looked for Seul-ki too, you know. And I was hoping someone could at least tell me that she was found because I was basically running around the neighbourhood until like 4 in the morning."

"I'm sorry..." Sunggyu said, looking like he was drained out of energy and then his head dropped onto the surface of the table and he was fast asleep, much to Woohyun's amusement. The younger man sighed before getting up to get a blanket and put it over his hyung's shoulders and he wondered what the hell was happening.

And so he made an early visit the next day, and Seul-ki was only keeping her head low while he sat on the chair next to her bed. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm doing better..."

"Will you be discharged soon?"

"Probably tomorrow evening..."

Woohyun nodded his head and then he was peering at her face, making her uncomfortable. "Sunggyu-hyung was also making this kind of face when he got home last night." Seul-ki felt the hair behind her neck pricking but she offered no reply. "It was reckless of you to be drinking like that, Seul-ki. But I guess it was partially our fault that we introduced you to that boxed soju."

"It's not Woohyun-sshi's fault..." She shook her head.

"Still... Why are you so mad at Gyu-hyung? I heard that he cheated on you?" Seul-ki looked up instantly to look at his face and he threw back a strange look. "You guys are seriously serious, aren't you?"

"It's not like that."

"Then what is it? It's so puzzling to see you guys like this. I can hardly sleep thinking about this matter last night and for you to be really upset like this, I know that there must be something wrong somewhere and I know it's none of my business but you see, when you're upset, Gyu-hyung is even more upset and believe it or not, I actually care a lot for him and I don't like to see him like he was last night."

Woohyun let out a breath through his mouth, fixing gaze with Seul-ki who looked flustered upon hearing his explanation. "Are you pregnant?"

"Huh? No!" She said, shaking her head violently. "Why would I be pregnant...?"

"I thought that would best explain the situation... You getting pregnant and then Gyu-hyung is probably scared of what is going to happen now, and so he goes out to fool around and then you know about it and then you said you will abort the baby and then the alcohol poisoning happens and Gyu-hyung panics and realises that he is being an and he comes to his senses that you're carrying his child but you're upset because he cheated and he's upset because you don't want to see him."

And Seul-ki laughed, her voice was still raspy and wet but it was still delightful to be heard. "It's not like that..." She shook her head and smiled to herself.

"It's not? I guess I read too much romance." He shrugged and smiled. "So, you will have to tell me the truth now or else I'm going to think of another cliche love story plot."

"I... I don't know how to explain it..." She said, and began fiddling with her blanket and looking uncomfortable but few minutes passed with only silence surrounding them.

"Is it that hard to explain?" She nodded and he sighed. "Seul-ki, maybe it's the perfect time for you to dump Gyu-hyung. I mean, I know that you guys love each other and I'm only getting at it again but all you do is getting hurt." He said, as kindly as he could.

Seul-ki smiled sadly. "I wish it was that easy to dump Sunggyu-sshi..."

"What makes it so hard, really?"

Seul-ki pressed her lips together and looked into Woohyun's anticipating eyes while gulping. She had wanted to tell Woohyun before, but the accident happened and then more terrible things happened and at that moment, she was no longer sure if it was worth the effort to even tell anyone that she was married to Sunggyu. And when she had that thought, she was overcame with the fear that she wouldn't be able to tell anymore ever, and it was grieving her heart down to think that they may have to go separate ways if she is unable to forgive him. But she couldn't even think properly and her heart was still burning and the images of Sunggyu and Youngeun at the park made her eyes watered again.

"Because Sunggyu-sshi is my..."

And Sunggyu appeared at that time, looming behind Woohyun, and his eyes were fixed on her and he opened his mouth to say something but nothing actually managed to come out because a metal water tumbler just flown past him with inhumane speed and dropped violently onto the floor after hitting the wall behind him, which was 3 feet away. Seul-ki's hand was still in the air after throwing the tumbler, and Woohyun's eyes were wide as he just saw the thing flew next to his face and Sunggyu was too stoned to even move. Everyone was