It’s funny how six words can cause your entire world to crumble down, causing you to claw at the ground and grasp the useless remnants of once golden memories that slip through your fingers.

“I think we should get a divorce.”

“What?”

Perhaps you had heard him wrong.

Or perhaps this is all a dream.

Two years of putting up with a dreadful and ungrateful husband, and this is what you received- divorce.

“I said, I think we should get a divorce.”

With your feet planted on the familiar polished wooden floors of your house and hands trembling, you shook your head.

This couldn’t be happening.

“Why?” you choke.

“Why not?” Chen asks. “In truth, the two of us haven’t actually been happy with each other for the past two years.”

Each word hits you like a bullet- pierces your heart. Tears begin to form in your eyes.

Not two weeks ago, Chen had reunited with Sua, his first love, becoming closer to her within a day than the relationship the two of you had built up over two years.

“Why don’t you want a divorce with me?” Chen asks, almost begging. “You and I both know that we only married because of our families.”

“You’re wrong,” you say, face now streaked with tears of pain. “Maybe you married me because of our families, but I didn’t.”

You want him to experience the pain that you are feeling right now, the agony that tears your heart into shreds of vacant memories. You want him to understand the hardships that you had to face for the past two years.

You want him to know what it is like… to be you.

“What do you mean?” he asks.

The tears burn, like acid, in your eyes. “You would know what I mean if you just put yourself in my shoes, for once.”

He lets out a frustrated sigh, before running his fingers through his tousled locks and repeating, “This is useless. Let’s just get a divorce. There’s nothing much we do for each other anyway.”

“Nothing much?”

Chen nods, and you wonder how much more dense he can be.

“_____, I don’t know what the big deal is,” Chen sighs, obviously frustrated. “If we divorce, you can live the way you want, and I can meet Sua again.”

“I don’t want a divorce.”

“Why?”

You bite your tongue and ball your fists, afraid that the three forbidden words will escape from between your lips.

“Why?” he says, impatient for an answer.

“I love you.”

There’s a sudden pang in both your hearts, the silence too loud for it to be noticed. It’s a twinge of realization and the harsh truth of reality seeping into your minds before registering there.

You sob, “The past two years we’ve been together, you’ve never noticed it. Though you may have married because of our families, I married you because I actually love you!”

Chen his lips nervously and avoids your gaze.

Your love with him is like the waves- tumultuous. Each time you think that your love will keep growing and growing, it comes crashing down, eroding the shoreline of memories and happiness.

“If you want a divorce, then fine,” you spit, wiping the tears from your face.

If you love something, then you have to let it go.

“_____, wait, we can talk about this-“

You shake your head. With unnerving fingers, you pull the wedding ring off your finger. The ring weighs heavily in your hands. You let the ring fall to the ground, the thud of the ring hitting the ground echoing throughout the entire house.

“Where are you going to go?” Chen asks, as if he’s only now feeling guilty.

“I have my parents, and I have friends, like Chanyeol,” you respond. “So you don’t ever have to worry about me. I hope your relationship with Sua goes well.”

Chen opens his mouth to say, perhaps, a farewell, but you’ve already turned your back to him. You brush past him, shuddering when your arm grazes his. As you lumber to the front door, you want him to run after you.

You want him to beg for forgiveness and say, “Don’t go; I need you.”

But he doesn’t.

As you walk through the door, the night air seems colder than ever, a blanket of frigidness surrounding your weak body. With tears streaming down your cheeks, you pull your phone out of your pocket and unsteadily dial a number- any number that comes to mind.

“Can you pick me up?” you ask, voice muffled by sobs.

Chen stands alone in the kitchen, his gaze fixed on the wedding ring deposited on the ground, the shine and luster abraded to a dim, faint gleam.

Did you truly love him?

As he recollects the memories he had pushed to the back of his mind, he realizes how inconsiderate he had been- never bothering to mutter even an indifferent “thank you” or flash you a smile when you went out of your way to visit him at work. He’s tempted, filled with a sudden urge to run out the door and fall to his knees, pleading you to forgive him and his stubbornness.

But it’s too late.