They were high school sweethearts.

His name was Luhan. Hers was Kana. They started out as nothing more than acquaintances - perhaps even more insignificant than that term. The pair was from the same town, but they never once spoke a word to each other. They lived on the same street, with two blocks of proportional Mediterranean-Style houses separating theirs, yet they never once saw each other outside school.

Even in school they were of two separate worlds. Kana was the typical wallflower with no intention of fitting in or gaining attention; all she wanted were perfect grades and a perfect future - nothing more and, most definitely, nothing less. She had no friends - literally zero, partly because she never found the need for any, and partly because her mother raised her to never trust anyone except herself and her family members. And that was exactly how she grew up to be - distrusting and skeptical. So she survived on her own. But Luhan was the exact opposite. He was the captain of the soccer team, main singer of the school choir and the co-leader of the school dance crew. Every student in their school - from the sixth graders to the eighth graders - knew of him and wanted to befriend him, but of course there was the exception of Kana.

Luhan and Kana were the exact opposite of two peas in a pod, but then came high school. Both aiming solely for success, they applied and were accepted into the best high school in the county. The high school ranked first in both athletics and academics, so it was a perfect fit for both of them, and they were the only two selected from their town.

They took the bus together in the morning, and she took it alone in the afternoon when he had soccer practice. Just like middle school, they never talked still. But it all changed when they had to complete group projects. For the sake of convenience, their science teacher paired together students who were from the same town - typical. Kana hated group projects - absolutely dreaded them, actually. To her, they were literally the spawn of the devil because, one, she hated working with people, and two, she despised working with people. She knew something was bound to go wrong with this project maybe because of the other party and cause them both to fail. Thus, she was not looking forward to this at all.

However, Luhan, on the other hand, was looking forward to every minute of this. He loved working with others, because he was sociable and perhaps not the most hardworking student. He took every opportunity to lessen his work and get to know others. And this one girl who refused to ever speak to him and declined his every advance to befriend her sparked his interest. He wanted to befriend her, or at least get to know her. Over the years, Luhan actually developed a sense of interest for her due to his continuous efforts to get her to talk. At first, it was a dare of his friends to try to get the wallflower to speak, but he thought otherwise. He called off the bet, because, well, it was immoral to him. What he didn’t know at that point was that he was actually trying to protect this girl already. And that little sense of interest  had soon translated into a teenage crush.

So he took advantage of this opportunity to be with her. They scheduled to meet at his house after his soccer practice, so Kana walked the two blocks down her street to his house, just as he told her to do. She had long ago forgotten where he lived, so how he took notice of her living in such close proximity to her, she had no idea. She was especially bewildered because, well, why on earth the most popular student in school take note of anything so miniscule about a wallflower like her? Nonetheless, she followed his instructions.And so she arrived at the front steps of his house and rang the doorbell, but no one answered. Way to make me come here when you’re not even home, she cursed silently. Kana already expected the worse from this dreadful project.

Kana leaned against the railing of the stairs while listening to songs play on her iPod and waited for Luhan to come home. When she heard rumbling laughter and the sound of a bouncing soccer ball approach her, Kana raised her head to meet eyes with the male that she was waiting for. With him were two other males whose names she remembered to be Oh Sehun and Kim Minseok. Why invite people over when you have a project to do?!She rolled her eyes at his irresponsible behavior before pulling her headphones out her ear and wrapping the cord around her iPod.

“See you guys tomorrow!” she heard Luhan holler at his friends. Oh. She almost felt sorry about rushing to judge him, but she stopped herself before she allowed her walls to tumble down. “You’re here already!” Luhan beamed as he approached her and began unlocking the door.

“No really I’m here already…” she muttered under her breath sarcastically.

“Sorry I took so long. We were taking showers after practice and accidentally missed the bus,” Luhan shrugged apologetically as he finally opened the door and motioned for Kana to enter. Her frozen heart was slowly melting at the touch of his burning fire of cheerfulness and sincerity. She thought, maybe, just maybe, she could make at least one friend. But that was not easy. She couldn’t just suddenly emerge from behind her protective fortress and declare to him that she was not actually a cold girl refusing to make friends with anyone. No, she couldn’t possible do that.

The two carried on with their project, which was building a model of an animal cell and writing a paper describing its structures and the functions of those structures, which was then accompanied by a presentation to the class. While Kana was determined to get all of that finished within this one day, Luhan was not so much. He knew they would not be able to finish all three parts in the three hours that they had, and he didn’t want to. From this one encounter, his interest in this mysterious, laconic girl had heightened, and he wanted to foster it. So he invited her over the next day and the day after that - with “perfecting” the project as his excuse, and with the other party being a girl who wanted nothing less than a solid A as her grade, his excuse worked wonders.

And so the two spent three consecutive days together. Luhan voluntarily told Kana random facts about himself, which she couldn’t help but process and memorize. He continuously interrogated her about her life, since she was unwilling to begin any conversation and reveal facts about herself. She didn’t trust him completely yet, and did not intent on completely trusting him ever.

But, oh, was she wrong.

On the last night the two spent together on their project, Luhan was scrambling to put the finishing touches on their model while she was struggling to memorize her part of the presentation script. Occasionally, she tore her focus away from her script and to scrutinize his features of strict concentration. Kana found herself becoming attracted to this cheerful male, but she couldn’t admit that yet - not to herself, and definitely not to him. However, what she didn’t know that her feelings were not unreciprocated; Luhan sometimes looked over to her to admire her hazel colored hair outlining her defined features and smiled sweetly. Other times, Luhan caught her coffee eyes on him and smirked contently.

When Luhan finished with the night’s work, he stood up and stretched, only to find Kana asleep against the side of his bed. He grinned at her dreamy face and inched closer to her stilled figure. “You’re beautiful,” he murmured to her as he traced her pink cheeks with the tips of his fingers.

Not willing to wake her, he decided to personally take her home. Luhan secured her on his back. Kana stirred in her sleep, muttering a few slurred words, and Luhan halted all his actions. But soon her low, deep breathing resumed, so Luhan proceeded to carry her out his house and up the two blocks to her own. He rang the doorbell, and Kana’s mom opened the door to find her daughter on the back of some young male. Her mother was completely infuriated as she pried her precious daughter off this stranger. “Thank you for bringing her home. You may leave now,” she blandly stated and shut the door in his face.

Eventually, the two became friends, much to Kana’s mother’s distaste. Kana didn’t allow him through her walls completely. Perhaps he was still waiting outside the dark brick walls for her either to open the door or simply meet him on the steps, but at least she opened a window for him to peek into her enclosed heart. He wanted to know why she was so closed off from the world. He wanted to know why she was so distrusting. He wanted her to trust him. He wanted her to rely on him. He wanted her.

But she was not going to allow that to happen - not yet.

They remained as “simply friends” for a bit more than a year. But they became closer. She even began hanging out with Sehun and Minseok when Luhan invited her along on their movie and game nights. But sometimes it was just she and Luhan, and, oddly enough, she did not mind at all. Luhan definitely saw her as more than just a friend, and Kana acknowledged that fact. Perhaps she saw him as more than just a friend, also, but she never admitted it. She was not ready for a relationship with him - or any anyone for that matter.

It was enough that she allowed him to take up the title of her best friend.

Then, that one day, she finally opened all the windows to her heart without letting him in. It was the day that he finally learned why she was so reluctant to accept him.

That day, he finally confessed to her. It was simple, and it tugged the right strings in her heart - it definitely did. She almost emerged from her fortress to meet him halfway - almost.

After a movie night with Minseok and Sehun, Luhan asked Kana to go somewhere with him, and it turned out to be a Cherry Blossom park illuminated with white Christmas lights.

“Luhan, this is beautiful,” Kana said to Luhan and revealed a rare, warm, sincere smile. Luhan heartbeat increased at the gorgeous sight before his deep brown orbs, and that only boosted his confidence.

“Kana…” Luhan whispered lovingly as he took her hands into his. Kana immediately stiffened and looked sideways toward the patches of green grass.

“H-huh?” She was well aware of her own frantic heartbeat that confirmed her feelings for Luhan. But she was scared. She was a coward. She didn’t believe in love, at least not everlasting love. Love only brought misery - perhaps more, but nothing less. After this year and a half, she admired Luhan and treasured him as her closest friend. She didn’t want to lose him, and she didn’t want to give him an opportunity to hurt her. Moreover, she didn’t want to risk hurting him.

“I have something for you,” he smiled as he took out a shiny object from his front jean pocket. “These,” he held up two - one smaller than the other - simple, thin white gold ring band with diamond embellishments.

“Luhan…” Kana’s frown deepened as she bit her lip in fear of what might unfold.

“I like you, Kana. I really do,” he beamed as he said the words that shattered her windows.

She continued to bite her lip and squirm under his touch. “I…I like you, too, Luhan,” she awkwardly chuckled and feigned obliviousness. “We’re friends, right? Of course we have to like each other.” Luhan’s bright smile faltered for a second and Kana took the opportunity to escape his grasp on her wrist. She began walking along the path carved out between the trees. Luhan followed right along.

“I…” Luhan hesitated before being able to form the correct words. He took ahold of her wrist that seemed to fit perfectly in his thin fingers. “I like you-I-yes, as a friend, and-and...and more than just a friend.” She froze and looked in the opposite direction. No, this is not supposed to happen. “Kana, will you be my girlfriend?”

She closed her eyes to prevent her tears from escaping. “L-Luhan…Can-can’t we just be friends? I…”

“Do you not like me? I know you like me. More than a friend, too. I know, so don’t lie to me. Please don’t,” he pleaded as he tightened his grip on her wrist. She didn’t want to do this either, but she didn’t want to risk it.

“No, Luhan. I do like you. Just not in that way. So I want to stay friends,” she blatantly lied, suppressing her cracking voice and tears that were threatening to escape her eyes.

“What?” he croaked out with hurt obvious in his voice. “No, that’s not true. I can tell it’s not true. I know it’s not true.”

She debated whether or not she should tell him her fear, but his next statement left her with no other option. “Why are you doing this? Do you not trust me? I promise this will work out.” He knew. He knew that she was reluctant to trust anyone, so he wanted to become the one person that she gave her trust to. But he also wanted to know the reason behind all her ambivalence. So he prodded further. “Can you tell me?”

“Luhan…” she trailed off. Luhan rubbed the back of her hands with his thumb lovingly, as if she was a fragile piece of glass threatening to break into shards any moment. She decided that she trusted Luhan enough to at least tell him the reason. “I’m scared, okay? I’m scared that we’ll both end up hurt. You like me, sure. Okay, fine. And I like you, too. But what’s so great about that? It won’t last.”

Her words pierced right into Luhan’s heart. She was his first crush, his first love. People always said first loves never have happy endings, but his was already a heartwrenching nightmare before it even started. “Kana, can we-”

“I don’t have a father, Luhan.” There, she finally revealed to him her most shameful fact.

“Kana…I-”

“He left, Luhan. He left when I was eight.” She wrung her hands away from Luhan to wipe her face in frustration. Hurt and betrayal were painted onto her face and stray tears had already escaped the confinements of her eyes. Luhan stood rooted in his spot, stunned by her sudden declaration and not knowing what to do to comfort the female. “I hate him,” she spat and looked him in the eye, as if hinting at their future. “My mom tells me stories about him. She despises him, Luhan. Yet, she still loves him. She always looks so distraught, so heartbroken, so betrayed. She tells me that she loves him. But he stopped loving her back. My mom loved him so much, yet he leaves her with me and just go and finds another life. I-I don’t even know where he is or what he looks like now. So what’s so great about love? Sure, people can love each other, but it never lasts. It never lasts, Luhan!” she exclaimed with a shaking frame. She no longer was able to contain her boiling emotions. At this moment, she was weak and vulnerable, but she couldn’t care anymore.

Luhan reached out to touch her trembling figure that was now crouched on the floor and placed a hand on her shoulder to soothe her. “Kana, it’s okay,” he comforted.

“No, no it’s not!” she stood up once again. Perhaps she was overreacting, but it was all part of her natural defense mechanism. “It’s not okay, Luhan! I don’t want us to become like that. I don’t want us to be together and then hate each other the next day. It . It really .” At this point, Luhan had taken her into his arms, and she sobbed loudly against his warm chest.

“It’s okay. I promise you, that won’t happen to us. So can you just give me a chance?” Luhan pulled away and curled a damp strand of stray hair behind her pink ears.

“He promised, too. Promises are just said agreements that can be broken anytime. How great are they? They’re worthless,” Kana croaked with a distraught, disbelieving smile.

Despite her protests and negativity, he didn’t give up. “We have a week break. Can you just take that week to think it over? At least give me a chance and benefit of the doubt?” he pleaded in a soft voice that soothed her uneasy emotions. She nodded, giving a chance to him as well as herself. “If your answer is yes, then wear this ring.” Luhan handed her the smaller ring and placed the larger one on his own ring finger.

Without another word, Luhan walked her back to her house, and he retreated to his own. And so the week passed. Kana laid in her bed most of the days and Luhan played soccer with his friends. He wore his ring whereas she held hers above her head while laying down to examine it.

“Kana?” her mom questioned in a tone filled with worry while knocking carefully on her door. She noticed her daughter’s depressed behavior and somewhat already knew the cause behind it. Kana hummed in response as her mother came into her room. “Sweetie, is something wrong?”

“No, nothing’s wrong, mom,” Kana lied and sat up to face her mother. She showed her mom a weak, somewhat convincing smile, but of course her mom was not fooled. Kana was her daughter, after all. Her mom sat down on the bed and began brushing out the tangles in Kana’s sun-kissed brown locks.

“I know something’s bothering you honey. Is this about Luhan?”

And with that Kana could no longer contain the tears forming behind her eyes. She clutched onto her mother’s blouse as she sobbed into her chest. She didn’t know what she was crying over - perhaps she was crying over her fear. Or perhaps she was crying over her excitement of him finally confessing to her. Or perhaps she was crying over possibly betraying her one and only mother. “Mom…” she cried. Her mother waited until she calmed down to prod further into the matter.

“What’s the matter?”

“Mom, Luhan…He confessed to me,” Kana managed to force out in a cracked voice.

Her sudden statement shocked her mother, but not as much as Kana had intended. Her mother knew that they shared mutual feelings that stronger and more evident than those between simple friends. She witnessed her daughter open up to this strange male, and she watched them become friends, although she never approved of it. She saw her daughter’s reluctance in becoming his best friend and entrusting him with her social life. She ultimately began to question whether or not she made the correct choice in teaching her daughter to be wary of everyone and that friends were simply unnecessary. Maybe she should not had her detrimental experience with Kana’s father affect Kana’s social life and future. “Honey…I’m sorry.”

“For what, mom?”

“Ruining this for you,” she smiled bitterly.

“Mom-” Kana furrowed her eyebrows at her mother.

“I’m sorry, Kana. Things never worked out between your father and me. I never wanted you to encounter the same fate as me - to suffer as much as me. But now I know I was wrong. Restricting you from becoming friends with anyone and from associating yourself with anyone-I-that was wrong of me. It really was. Do whatever your heart tells you to. I shouldn’t have told you those things. Honey, you two like each other; I can see it. Maybe it won’t be a perfect happily-ever-after, but it might not turn out like how your father and I did. You never know really, huh? I’m not exactly comfortable with you two being together, but if it hurts you more to mope over this and reject him, then why not try it out and see how it goes?”

“Mom, but I thought-”

“You thought wrong, and I taught you wrong. You never know how it’s going to turn out. Luhan’s not your father, and you’re not me. Your relationship is in your hands, do what you believe is right.” With that her mother left Kana alone to ponder her options. She finalized her decision and finally decided to catch a wink of sleep before school tomorrow. I have to do this, for us.

Kana and Luhan hadn’t spoke a word on the bus at all. For the last year, they actually sat next to each other on the bus and talked. But today, neither of those happened. Luhan finally confronted her at lunch when he took her to the garden.

“You didn’t wear it,” he stated insipidly with his face twitching in disappointment after scanning her bare fingers. He lowered his head and his own fingers went to twirl the identical ring on his ring finger.

“Luhan,” Kana called out softly.

“I-I understan-”

“Luhan,” she stated more firmly this time.

“It-it’s okay, Kana-” he stuttered.

“Luhan. Look. Up.”

He looked up with doe eyes and bit his bottom lip between his teeth. His eyebrows twitched in confusion upon seeing Kana’s warm smile.

“I did,” she replied with a sincere smile, one that Luhan hadn’t seen in a long time.

“What do you mean-” he cut himself off mid-sentence when she revealed the ring on a silver chain around her neck.

“It didn’t fit. If you’re going to confess, then maybe you should go all the way and buy me a ring that fits, you idiot,” she wittingly stuck her tongue out at him and smiled contently. His face immediately bursted into a beaming grin as he pulled her in for a crushing embrace.

“Thank you,” he whispered against her ear. And so, in the beginning of Junior year of high school, they began dating. They were the envied couple around school. Kana opened up to others with Luhan’s help and gained some friends of her own.

After another year and a half, the two graduated and went on to the same college. He took on a major in business management and minor in sociology, to everyone’s surprise, while she majored in architecture and minored in interior design. They became closer than ever and moved into a small apartment together, much against the will of their parents. They relied on each other.

In college, Kana became more sociable than she ever was before and Luhan was his usual cheerful self. He continued playing soccer on the varsity team, and she experimentally joined a dance crew, where she met her second best friend - perhaps her missing other half of the apple - Jen. Yet, with all the extra work and added events in their schedules, Luhan and Kana still remained close. Their love only blossomed with all the added stress and anxiety that came with college life. Of course, they had their conflicts and arguments, but Luhan was easy going and Kana hated arguments, so those episodes usually ended with a sincere apology and long, warm hug.

He always protected her, and she began letting him into the brick house surrounding her heart slowly but surely. She appreciated all his efforts in their relationship, and sometimes she felt guilty for not being able to put in as much. And so Kana began commiting more and more effort into their relationship. And when they graduated from college four years later, she granted him entrance into fortress and handed him the key to unlock her frozen heart.

When he proposed to her, she said yes without another thought of hesitation.

“Will you marry me?” he asked while kneeling on one knee. He held a bouquet of roses in one hand and a diamond engagement ring in the other. Her eyes brimmed with tears and with one simple nod, she agreed to marry him.

So the two got married. And they moved into a larger penthouse, made possible by the two’s large paychecks. He soon was promoted and became the CFO of the company. She too was promoted and became the senior architect of the firm at which she worked at. Sehun turned out to also had studied architecture in college and he worked alongside her. Their friendship blossomed and he accompanied her whenever Luhan was too busy managing the large conglomerate. But Kana and Luhan’s relationship remained unwavering.

That was until he was sent overseas for two years. That was the framework for their many arguments to come.

“Babe, come with me,” Luhan pleaded with his signature puppy eyes.

“Luhan, you know I can’t. I have to work, too,” she tried to reason. Luhan had sacrificed so much for her, and she had to do something for him, but work was not an option. She loved her job, and becoming an architect was her ultimate dream. Searching for an actual job after college was hell, and she was not about to give up that golden opportunity.

“Babe, but it’s two years. I won’t be able to even visit,” he whined.

“I know, but we can do this. It’s just two years.” It was just two years, nothing would change, right?

Oh, she was wrong.

In the beginning, they shared constant phone calls and Skype conversations. Kana even flew overseas to visit him at times when finances allowed it. But those ultimately decreased by the month. They missed each other, without a doubt. But could they really endure a separation of a thousand miles for two years? They thought they could. And they did eventually make it through, but things changed. They knew their relationship was bound to change, but never so dramatically. Kana began questioning her decision to date Luhan twelve years ago. They had gone through ten happy years together before Luhan was sent overseas, and everyone expected them to spend the rest of their lives together.

All the while, Kana ate almost all her three meals with Sehun, and he assured her that all will be fine. She knew that he was the best friend she could ask for at the moment, and she appreciated all his efforts to cheer her up.

But what she did not know of was what Luhan was doing in anothe