I love you.

The words echoed inside her head. Hyoyeon knew she should say something, the right thing. Luhan was still gazing directly into her eyes. He was unmoving, though his face flushed red, he wasn’t taking this confession lightly. It was different from Kris’ confession. Kris confessed to her in the burst of anger and he didn’t stay long enough to hear her answer. But, Luhan was definitely persistent, waiting patiently for her to give her response.

Luhan was such a nice person. He was nice. He cheered her up today too. Then are you going to keep on living like this? She had to admit it, she felt something when he told her that. From now on until forever, are you going to live your life avoiding places where there are memories you want to forget there? How will you live if every little thing from your memories always hurts you easily? His words struck her hard. She knew she had been stuck in the past with the memories of her parents. But now, she felt like Luhan was pulling her forward, breaking the chains that were binding her feet to the past and freeing her from the scarred heart. And she knew, because of him, she could face the memories bravely now.

But Kris? What about Kris? She realized with a jolt of surprise. There was Kris. She was still his wife. No matter how much her heart was wavering because of the sincere confession, she knew she couldn’t accept Luhan because it would be unfair to Kris. And how could she answer Luhan’s confession when she wasn’t even sure of her own feeling?

“I… I… I’m…” she randomly spoke just to stall time, wishing she had a few more words to say to make it take even longer. “That… Um…”

She knew she should say that she couldn’t accept his feeling but as she looked at his hopeful eyes, she lost all the words that she wanted to say. While she hovered with her words, one of the staffs working at the place came and interrupted them.

“I’m sorry. This place is about to close in a few more minutes, so you should prepare to leave soon.”

Hyoyeon broke their eyes’ contact with a sense of relief. Saved by the staff – how cliché. They were both saved. He, saved from hearing a hurtful answer. She, saved from being the cruel woman she loathed.

“Oh, we’re leaving now!” She replied to the staff.

No wonder there were no people around, she thought as she looked around her. Attracting people’s attention was the last thing she wanted in this situation. The staff left, leaving the both of them alone. They were filled with silence, and Hyoyeon decided to let her eyes fall on her feet.

Luhan ruffled his hair slightly. “Your answer…” he said, breaking the silence, “you don’t have to give it immediately.”

“O… okay…” She whispered, all she could manage from her dry throat.

And that was the end of the conversation.

Hyoyeon didn’t remember much about their ride home. She just remembered that it was filled with more silence. As Luhan dropped her off at the apartment and left, she didn’t immediately go inside. She had a feeling Kris still wasn’t back. And to return to a dark and empty place sounded lonely. One place came to her mind and she hailed a cab. A taxi stopped. She slammed the door shut behind her and the taxi took off into the night.

“Cucumber?”

“I’m allergy.”

“I’ll try to remember that. Apple?”

“Ummm…”

“What? Childhood Snow White’s trauma?”

“Very funny, Kim Heechul.”

Heechul laughed while Jessica was pouting. Then, he bent to kiss her, cupping her face with his free hand. Their lips touched, lightly at first, and then with a stronger pressure. It was at precisely at that moment that Hyoyeon threw opened the door and stepped in the room.

She blinked. “Wow… just wow!” she said, so loudly that Jessica leaped away from Heechul as if his touch burned her.

“Oh, hi, Hyo! I don’t expect you visiting me at this hour.” Jessica was flustered with the sudden appearance.

“Well, I don’t expect it too. No less than I expect to walk in while my brother and my best friend in intimate situation.” Hyoyeon took a deep breath and exhaled. Well, that was unexpected and on normal occasion, she would have said some more sarcastic remarks but it was the last thing she felt like doing now. “Never mind. Sorry for interrupting you two.”

She turned around, giving up the idea of having a talk with Jessica. Someone grabbed her wrist and she stopped on her track. It was Jessica.

“Hey, Hyo. What’s wrong?”

“Yeah, what’s wrong? You look uglier than normal,” Heechul commented. His voice sounded normal but Hyoyeon knew immediately that he was angry at her for interrupting their moment.

Hyoyeon squinted at him. “Is that an insult? Seems like an odd time to start an insult contest, but if you insist, I could probably think up something good.”

Heechul raised an eyebrow. “Can’t you feel the concern in my question?”

“In fact, I don’t feel anything other than insult.” She glared, her brown eyes flashing.

Just then, Jessica moved so that she was standing in between Hyoyeon and Heechul. “Okay, that’s enough, both of you,” she said, before they could start fighting in earnest. “Honestly, I don’t understand why both of you like to fight every time you meet.” Jessica shook her head.

“Don’t worry. We only fight when there is something to be fought,” Hyoyeon said.

“Yeah. Usually we are good-natured. Try us on any day that doesn’t end in ‘y’,” Heechul added.

Jessica sighed. “Heechul, why don’t you go back first?”

Heechul sprang up from the chair he was sitting on. Hi