“He’s driving me crazy. I swear, I’m so done,” Jinli crossed her arms as she plopped down on the couch.

            Lili slung her baby on her hip and sighed. “Why do I feel like I’ve heard this so many times before?”

            “Because I’m stupid.”

            “I’ll take that. But that’s still no excuse. Baby, you need to make up your mind. Just a few days ago you were telling me you wanted to try again. What happened?”

            Jinli looked up at the ceiling. “I don’t understand why he can’t make up his mind. He tells me wants to be friends but his definition of friends seems to be mixed with so much baggage.” Almost childishly, she declared, “I hate his guts.”

            Her best friend gave her a look before setting the baby down and crossing the room to sit next to Jinli. “Maybe you should give up on that whole contract thing. It’s not working and all it’s doing is tearing you apart.”

            Jinli was still staring up at the ceiling until a thought hit her. She turned to Lili. “What do you think will get him to want me?”

            The older woman looked incredulous as she snapped her fingers in front of Jinli’s face. “What are you even trying to imply?”

            “I’m not giving up.”

            Lili shot her an exasperated look. “Do you want me to remind you that literally five minutes ago, you came into this house and dramatically plopped on my couch and announced to me that you are ‘so done.’”

            “I can’t be done. We still have more than a year left on the contract, and I don’t want to lose to Hyosung. I don’t care if in the end, hearts get broken, but I’m not letting him go that easily. I can’t. I want to make him suffer too.”

            “Baby.” Lili put both hands on Jinli’s arms and looked at her almost pityingly. “This man is driving you insane. He’s making you give up who you are and he’s making you feel all sorts of things you would kill me for if I felt that way. Let it go.”

            “You don’t understand. I want him to hurt too. I want him to know how bad he’s made it for me the last six months.”

            “You won’t be able to. You will never be able to hurt him more than he has hurt you because, if you want me to be honest, he does not care about you. He doesn’t give a about you, and if you didn’t feel anything for him, you would see it too.” If Lili had been annoyed in the beginning, she was now completely angry. “When will you be able to see your self-worth and learn to let people go? Especially someone like Daehyun who doesn’t even deserve your first chance to begin with.”

            “This has nothing to do with having feelings for him. This is because I want him to suffer.”

            “This is an obsession.”

            At the word, Jinli finally sat down and stared at her hands. The sun shining in hit the ring and sent sparkles across the room. “Maybe,” she replied quietly. “Maybe it is.”

***

            Boys’ night had been strained ever since Daehyun’s marriage and he pulled at his tie uncomfortably. What used to be a gathering of his best friends now has turned into a council of his harshest judges.

            “Okay, how do you guys even have updates on my love life?” It has been less than a day since he had rejected Jinli again and it seemed as if they all knew.

            “Hyosung is quite an open book,” Himchan raised his eyebrows. “It’s so obvious to tell when she’s happy and when she’s not. And lately, let me tell you, she’s been over the moon. It’s quite nauseating working with her. Especially when I know at what expense comes her happiness.”

            Daehyun kept quiet. It was true. When he had gone into work, Hyosung had been in his office, uncaring that many were wondering why she was so far from her own department. Already, he was hearing rumors. People who had witnessed his mother storming out and who had seen Hyosung walk out earlier looking miserable were starting to put pieces together. Just today, he had seen more than one significant look as he came out of his office, fixing his tie.

            “Man, I don’t think it’s worth coming down from Seoul just to see my best friend descend into the road to being a total dickhead.”

            “Youngjae,” Yongguk chastised. Of all people, Daehyun was glad that Yongguk chose not to outright disapprove. But the quieter disappointment made the guilt feel worse when he was already crowded in.

            “Look, it’s not like I’m not trying. We’re good friends. I just need to remind her that we can’t be anything more than that.”

            “Shocking. A wife cannot be anything more than just friends with her husband.” Youngjae had had one drink too many, and the already sassy mouth was now running off at an easier rate.

            “I don’t love her.” Surely this they could understand. This wasn’t invalid, and it wasn’t unreasonable. It was the truth. “I can’t force myself to have feelings.”

            “You can’t, but you can be a decent human being.” This was the first time Yongguk really passed judgment. “Why do you have to keep hurting her? You play this back and forth game and that is not fair. You say you’re only friends so why do you need to keep pushing her away? I think she’s sensible enough to know that you don’t feel for her in that way. There’s a difference between keeping a boundary and just being antagonistic.”

            “How do you know how I treat her?”

            “We’ve all seen it before, Daehyun. And I’ll be damned if you start changing now. I don’t have that faith in you.”

            “Please, Youngjae. Shut up,” Himchan placed his glass on the table. “Daehyun, what’s keeping the two of you together? I’m pretty sure Jinli must have said something about a divorce.”

            Ever since the contract was signed, Daehyun had thought it would be best if he didn’t tell his friends. They would only be more enraged, and think he was an idiot for even suggesting it. But at this point, he was out of excuses. “We signed an agreement. We were to be married for two years and after those two years, we would entreat my parents to please let us move on.”

            There was a choking noise as Youngjae sat up, looking completely sobered. Jongup and Junhong had looks of disgust and disbelief on their faces while the two older men only shook their heads. “Was it your idea?”

            “Of course it was. Do you think Jinli would come up with an idiotic idea like this? And if you listen to him carefully, they would have to talk to his parents. Clearly, this is Daehyun wanting to be a selfish because oh look at him. He can another woman and still be a filial son.”

            Youngjae’s words sounded precariously close to Jinli’s when she had first heard the idea.

            “Why would Noona sign something like that? How did you even force her?” Jongup asked.

            At this, Daehyun was fed up. He slammed his bottle on the table and stood up. “I’m sick and tired of you always taking Jinli’s side. You barely know her! And all you do is judge me for what I’ve done. Clearly, she agreed to this. Then as stupid an idea as it was, she also went with it. But I don’t hear any criticism for her. All I hear is pity for her. Yes, I should be nicer but maybe you all shouldn’t be blindly supporting her either.”

            “Is it me or do I hear baby Daehyun whining?”

            “And you, you’re the worst. If I can’t even go to my best friend with my problems, who else can I go to?” Of all of them, Youngjae’s harsh criticism hurt the most.

            “You forget, Daehyun, who was the one who stayed up all night for three damn weeks in a row because you woke up having nightmares and delusional fantasies that Hyosung was back. If you think that I’m going to let those days go to waste, you’re out of your mind. You’ve already gotten over her. It’s time for you to move on and stay that way. And Jinli is a damn nice girl. You’re lucky her father was adamant about her marrying you or you will never be able to land such an amazing catch.” All signs of any alcohol impairment was gone and Youngjae stood up as well. “So yes, I have been a poor best friend lately. But I am tired of your bull, Jung Daehyun. Be a man.”

            Yongguk sighed. His fingers twirled his glass around as he thought. “Maybe you should talk to Jinli. Set up some boundaries. Add provisions to your contract. And if you still can’t find it in yourself to be nice to her, maybe it’ll be better if you canceled this so-called contract.””

            “Thanks Hyung.” Daehyun looked around at his five friends and gave a small smile. “I guess I’ll go home and try to make things better then.”

***

            It was a surprise for Daehyun to see Jinli sitting in the room, completely at peace. After last night, she had slept in the guest room again, and gone before he had even woken up this morning. “Welcome back,” she said, without looking up from the piles of paperwork she was sifting through.

            “Hi,” he began awkwardly. “We should talk.”

            She put her pen down and swung around in her seat. “About what?”

            “I wasn’t very nice to you last night.”

            “Forget it. We’re going to go about our lives like we’re two actors put into a role, okay? You don’t need to go out of your way to be nice to me. Just don’t be mean. Be neutral. And I will try to stay out of your way. We’ll be civil. That’s the word. Civil. You can do that right?”

            “I wouldn’t mind being friends.”

            Jinli gave a sardonic smile. “I think if I had a dollar for every time you have said that line, I would be richer than you are. You don’t need to. Friendship will come. Good night.”

            Daehyun stared at her, absolutely mystified. But he didn’t question it. She was honestly as crazy as he was. “Good night.”

            Jinli waited until Daehyun walked into the bathroom before she allowed herself to release the breath she had been holding. Daehyun’s sense of guilt and his friends always worked like a charm. And now she was going to see if she could kill him with her own type of kindness. 

I'm so sorry for having been away for so long but lately I've been wanting to write and so here it is.

I'm trying to find a way to take the story back on the course I had planned before so please bear with me. Hopefully this should be the last "filler" chapter and next I can get some more plot action going.