“Forget midnight,” were the first words she’d spoken to him Thursday morning. Soo Yun had wakened up extra early to wash away any traces of tears from her face and made sure her puffy eyes went unnoticed. She had unconsciously cried again last night in her dreams, if she could even call them dreams anymore, they were more like her own personal nightmares minus the zombie chase.

                It took Jaejoong a minute to understand what she was saying. He was in the middle of tying his tie, getting ready for work until she had spoken and looked up at her in confusion. She was talking about his curfew.

                “Forget…it?” It was like these days Jaejoong had to question his wife everything she said. He no longer knew what she planned inside her head, not that he knew everything before, but at least he had a clue. It wasn’t until she came up with this open marriage, that he felt like he had to be more careful of their conversations and the unexpected things she’ll sprout out.

                “Yeah, forget it.” She took a shaky breath but held her eyes steady. “You don’t have a curfew anymore. I would actually like it if you came back Friday morning, as if you left on a business trip or something and just came back.”

                He continued to stare at her. He lost all logic on what’s going on in her mind. She almost felt like a stranger. Where was the Soo Yun he knew?

                “Why?” Jaejoong didn’t know why he was whispering, but he did.

                She shrugged. “Because, I think it’s tiring for you, and traffic is the worst at night.” What a lie.

                It’s been a month since this started and Soo Yun couldn’t bear it any longer. She was tired of hearing him come in the room and sleep on their bed when she knew what he had just done. She was tired of silently holding in her tears as he fell fast asleep. She was tired of having to clean up all the mess she made the night he was gone, just so he wouldn’t noticed that she had gone berserk every time. She was just so exhausted. It would be better, much better, too see him in the morning as if he’d just come back from out of town. It’d be better to not be able to smell the heavy perfume scent he had on every Thursday night. At least then, he would be able to take a shower before coming home. Was this a good idea? Soo Yun didn’t know, and at the moment, she didn’t care. She wanted to stop the pain as much as possible.

                “Okay,” he agreed quietly and she smiled, leaving the room, having to escape all of this. Escape her home. Escape the world she created for them to live in.

_______

“It’s time.”

                “What?” Soo Yun looked up from her piping hot coffee to see Bom