In the excitement, she was able to slip away unnoticed.

As she headed toward the elevator, she bumped into one of Taeyeon’s cousins and asked her if she’d make Bom’s excuses to the new mother. She walked into the elevator, turning to stare at the jubilation at the opposite end of the corridor. Tears pricked her eyelids as she punched the button for the first floor.

Just as the doors started to slide closed, Jiyong looked up and their gazes connected.

His brow furrowed and he started forward, but the gap closed and the elevator began its descent.

Realizing that Jiyong would likely come down after her, she headed out and crossed the street, deciding to walk a few blocks before hailing a cab.

The night air was chilly despite the earlier sunshine and warmth. And what a perfect day it had been for Taeyeon’s baby girl to be born. Spring. The beginning of new life. A fresh start. Life after a long winter. Okay, so she was being a little dramatic, but sadness had a firm grip on and it wasn’t letting go.

She loved Jiyong. Despite his many flaws.

But she wanted him to smile at her and their child the way he’d looked down and smiled at Ryeo-wook and Taeyeon’s daughter. She wanted to see him light up and look…happy.

Had he ever seemed so carefree when he was with her?

It had been like looking at an entirely different person.

Was this the way he was around people he cared about? Taeyeon had said he was always gentle and even tender with her.

So it wasn’t that he didn’t care about people or that he was incapable of love. It was just as he’d said. He didn’t want to love her. Or their son.

A sob escaped as she raised her hand to hail an oncoming cab. It never slowed and she dropped her hand, staring down the street in search of the next one.

Tears streaked down her cheeks, but she made no effort to wipe them away. What was the point?

She leaned out when she saw another cab approach and slow down. She climbed in, barely managing to tell the driver her cross street. He gave her an odd look in his rear view mirror as he pulled into traffic.

Her cell phone rang but she didn’t bother to dig it out of her purse. It was Jiyong. She’d known he’d call. After a moment, the phone went silent and then a ping sounded, signaling a text message.

She was nearing her apartment, when her phone rang again. It was Taeyeon’s ring tone.

Bom dug into her purse, fumbling for the phone.

“Taeyeon?” she said as she put the phone to her ear.

“No, it’s Ryeo-wook.”

Bom went silent for a moment. “Is everything okay with Taeyeon and the baby?”

“I’m more concerned with whether you’re all right,” Ryeo-wook said in a low voice.

“I’m f-fine,” she said in a shaky voice. “Really. I hope I didn’t hurt Taeyeon’s feelings by not hanging around. I just figured she’d be exhausted and with all her family there I’d just be in the way.”

“You’re never in the way, Bom,” Ryeo-wook said gently. It was as if he knew precisely how upset Bom was. As if he was standing in front of her, watching her cry. “I just wanted to make sure everything was okay with you. I know…I know it had to be hard for you to see that. Jiyong, I mean.”

It was then Bom realized that Ryeo-wook had indeed picked up on the very thing she had.

She closed her eyes, a fresh resurgence of tears sliding hotly down her cheeks.

“I appreciate your concern. Truly. But I’m okay. You should be focusing on Taeyeon and that beautiful baby girl. Tell Taeyeon that I'll come see her tomorrow when things are a little less crazy, I promise. But you’re right. I couldn’t stay there tonight. I…I just had to go.”

“I understand,” Ryeo-wook said. “Chin up, Bom. If killing him would help, I’d give serious consideration to it. Only the knowledge that I was once the same sort of bastard and that I eventually saw the light is saving me from tossing him off a bridge.”

Bom smiled as her cab pulled to a stop.

“Thanks, Ryeowook. I’m home now so I'll let you get back to your family. Give Taeyeon my love and I'll see her tomorrow.”

“Take care, Bom,” Ryeo-wook said. “If you need us, you know we’re here.”

“I do know,” she said softly.

She money at the driver and then ducked out and hurried down the sidewalk toward her apartment. She glanced down at her phone to see she had several text messages. All from Jiyong.

The last?

Damn it, Bom. Pick up the phone.

What happened? Are you all right?

She slid the phone back into her purse and grabbed her keys as she mounted the steps to her door.

No, she wasn’t all right. She’d never been so not all right in her life.

* * *

The next day was a test of her endurance.

She woke early after having not slept well at all and went in