Sunggyu had his back resting on the headboard of their bed with his wife hugging his torso as they watched the movie she had picked out after Haru was put to sleep. She had chosen to watch Miracle in Cell No. 7.

“Are you okay?” Sunggyu asked her as he ran his fingers through her soft hair.

“Of course I am,” she answered him, eyes still stuck on the screen. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“That’s not what I’m asking,” he said, still running his fingers through her hair. “You know what I’m asking.”

Junghwa let go of Sunggyu, making him stop with his movements as she sat up on the bed and turned to look at him. She stopped breathing for a quick second as she saw the pained look in his eyes and immediately knew what he was talking about. Swallowing the lump that had formed in , she took hold of his hand and interlaced her fingers with his.

“I’m fine,” she said quietly. “That was all in the past. That was when I was Lee Junghwa. Now, I’m Kim Junghwa; wife of Kim Sunggyu, mother of Kim

Haru.” Junghwa looked at Sunggyu and saw his hesitated look on his face as he listened to her words. She gave him a small smile, trying to make his mood brighter.

“You know I never meant to take you away from him,” he whispered. All of the guilt had come rushing back to him, a reminder as to why and how the two got married. “Your parents--”

“It’s okay,” she stopped him from continuing. “You’ve apologized many times already, just stop.” On the verge of tears, she let go of his hand and when she felt her own begin to tremble. She grabbed the blanket and laid down on the bed, pulling the fabric so it covered her face as she silently let her tears flow down her cheek. “I’m your wife now, Gyu,” Junghwa said brokenly.

Sunggyu let out a quiet, inaudible sigh as he grabbed the t.v. remote and turned it off. “I’m going to get a drink before I go to bed,” he informed her as he got out of the bed and headed out to their kitchen downstairs.

Junghwa removed the fabric from over her head and got out of the bed, making her way towards their shared, walk in closet. She flicked the light on and made her way towards her side of the closet. She sat in the corner of the room and took out the box that had been hidden with her other shoe boxes. She knew Sunggyu wouldn’t bother her right now. This wasn’t the first time she’s cried because of him. He knew that things wouldn’t be as they seemed, but she played her role perfectly; being the wife of a successful business tycoon and a mother to their beautiful daughter. But no matter how hard she tried to forget him, her heart wouldn’t let her.

She opened the box and was greeted by his smiling face in a picture they had taken together a few years back. Her polished pointer finger traced the outline of his face as she remembered where they went out that day. He had his usual smile as he wore Minnie Mouse headband at Lotte World during her hiatus from her family. She let out a small laugh as she continued to cry as she looked at his face.

Even after getting married to Sunggyu, she named her daughter the name that was reserved for Woohyun and her. But she couldn’t. Because when she married Sunggyu, all of the flood gates opened as her parents revealed why she had to settle down. She could recall the shock on his face as they told him that she was a better match than that “insignificant boy” as they called Woohyun. She remembered him apologizing countless times as if he was the one at fault. Junghwa kept repeating herself, telling him that she agreed to the marriage and she lost Woohyun because of what she had agreed to. Never in her life had she thought that this would be.

A dry laugh escaped her lips as she remembered how her parents looked at her because of who she chose to love as if they were going to be affected by it. She let her frustration out as she began crying harder. Her right hand clutched onto her oversized tee-shirt as felt her heart constrict in the most painful way possible.

All of her life she lived up to their expectations and all of their prying gazes as they tried to figure out what goes on inside their home. A bitter laugh escaped her lips as she felt her sanity slowly crumble after so many years of going through such torture to everyone. She closed the box and shoved it back in its place as she let a loud, angry cry run through her lips. Her mind wasn’t functioning correctly at the moment. Kim Junghwa had broken. She finally snapped as she let her tears fall and her cries echo through the closet.

“Junghwa,” Sunggyu called her name as she laid on the ground, her back facing him as she looked at the wall with her clothes hung up. Her tears still fell from her eyes as her body trembled. “You’re not okay,” he softly said, kneeling on the ground and lightly grasping her shoulders.

“When have I ever been okay?” She asked, her voice coming out hoarse.