Warning: This has not been beta'd nor edited.

A day has passed since Changmin honestly confessed what happened to him after his night out at the club. Song Qian or Victoria, as most had known her, doesn’t appear to have been effected much by his outrageous story.

He wishes there was a way he could make up for his mistake, but no matter what he does, it feels too obvious. Shim Changmin feels transparent, as though anyone could read right through him, and he doesn’t want to be feeling this way.

“Let me help you with the dishes.”

Victoria swats his hands away and slants him a look. “Go sit down and drink some water; you look horrible right now.”

I feel horrible right now is what Changmin wants to say, but he swallows his words and does as he is told.

What feels like a treacherous eternity later Victoria joins him in the living room with a cup of warm honey green tea. “Why don’t you sleep for a while more? You look exhausted,” she says, handing him the drink.

“I’m fine,” he smiles, scooting a little closer to her and taking a sip. Victoria snuggles herself into his chest when he slips an arm around her neck, nestling her head against his shoulder.

Maybe he’s the only one feeling disturbed by the whole thing?

“Let’s go watch a movie today?” Changmin offers.

She shakes her head. “I’m going home in a bit. You can go with some friends if you want.”

“Home?” He repeats, furrowing his eyebrows. “For how long?”

“A few days,” Victoria answers.

Changmin pulls away and searches into her eyes. “That long?”

“I told you about this before,” she chuckles helplessly. “My cousin is getting married and I’m helping her with invites and decorations.”

He relaxes. “Oh, right, I do remember that.”

An awkward silence dawns on them and neither really know how to break through it. Eventually Victoria forces a smile and disappears into the hallway leading to their bedroom.

“Why don’t we go together?” Changmin suddenly offers. “I’ll help.”

Her voice echoes from the distance. “It’s going to be a whole bunch of middle aged women gathered together to gossip and put things together, I don’t think you’d fit in very well.”

There is no indication of anger or irritation in her voice but Changmin feels his heart sinking in his chest anyways. For whatever reason, he doesn’t want to spend a single moment away from her. What if she doesn’t come back?

“I’ll give you a ride then,” he inserts.

Victoria’s soft laugher follows soon after. “That’s just a waste of fuel. I’ll be fine on my own, really, so don’t worry.”

When she emerges from her room again, a luggage in tow behind her, Changmin takes a deep breath and meets her halfway to the door. He wraps his arms around her and pulls her close, burying his face in the crook of her neck, fingers fumbling through the long, black strands of her hair, and something in his chest feels so tight that it might combust.

“What’s wrong?” Victoria asks, patting him on the back.

Changmin breathes in her scent and absorbs her warmth. “I’ll miss you.”

And it seems like an eternity before she finally chuckles and says, I’ll miss you too, but then she’s already heading out the door and her warmth is the only evidence left of her lingering on the tips of his fingers.

It may just be Changmin, but even though his mind tells him to run after her, his feet are grounded to the floor.

How many rights will it take to make up for one wrong?

They’ve been dating for nearly three years now and it all started from a little misunderstanding.

Back in college, Changmin would often visit a book shop in the downtown area near his college. Victoria, at that time, worked as a clerk in the bookstore.

One day, not unusually, Changmin asks about an order request he had made with the shop. Honestly, he’s had his eyes on Victoria for a while by then so he tries to make every open opportunity to speak with her a considerably decent one.

She’s explaining the situation to him when he suddenly widens his eyes and chokes on his own breath.

“…Are you okay?”

“I’m sorry,” he apologizes, running his fingers through his hair roughly as a means of trying to hide his blushing cheeks. “I thought you were asking me ou—I mean, I thought you said something else.”

Victoria blinks at him and tries to remember what she could have possibly said to make him misunderstand. “Oh, you thought—haha, you thought I said ‘let’s go out tomorrow’?”

“Yes,” he nods sheepishly, “but obviously that’s not what you said.”

“The books will ship out tomorrow,” she agrees with him, and then there’s silence.

Changmin his dry lips. “Yeah, yeah, that’s great.”

She then watches as he stumbles over his feet as he’s walking away. “Have a great day, sir!”

His footsteps come to another halt and he turns around, rubbing the back of his neck. “Thank you! Oh, and I wouldn’t have said no, just in case you were wondering!”

She stares at him for a moment in shock.

Why did I say that? He scowls at himself.

Victoria then laughs, crossing her arms over her chest. “Are you indicating that I should ask you out?”

“Are you suggesting that you may want to?” Changmin asks in turn.

Yet, instead of replying, she grins at him for a few seconds longer before shaking her head and returning to her work. Changmin kind of swoons at the way her lips curled into a smile and her eyes seem to shine brighter than daylight when she grinned at him.

At least she didn’t say no, Changmin tells himself.

“How come Changminnie’s not with you this time?” Victoria’s mother asks.

Not even blinking her eyes, Victoria answers, “he’s busy.”

“Changminnie’s always busy but he always finds time to at least drive you here,” her mother argues, nudging Victoria with her elbow. “Did the two of you fight?”

“No, mom,” she says, “Changmin’s been tired lately so I told him not to worry about bringing me.”

Yet, what mother doesn’t understand her daughter? With just one look, Victoria’s mom can tell that something is bothering her. “You seem upset,” her mom comments.

“I’m okay mom,” Victoria replies, “I’m just kind of stressed over work and helping Tiff with her preparations.”

Helpless, her mother shrugs and turns away, continuing with cutting out designs on decorative paper. If Victoria didn’t want to speak about it, then there was probably nothing she could do to convince her otherwise.

You can’t leave a girl to think on her own for too long. That’s what Yunho tells Changmin.

“Because once a girl is alone long enough, she starts thinking crazy things and getting weird ideas,” Yunho continues, “and the next thing you know, bam, game over.”

His tone is animated and Changmin can literally hear the amusement in his voice, but his mind is absent and wondering just what kind of thoughts Victoria could be having about him right now—now that she’s away from him.

“How long is she going to be gone for?” The older man wants to know.

Changmin takes a deep breath, “A few days.”

“Too long,” Yunho deadpans. “If I were you, I’d fly to her and make sure she doesn’t have time to think.”

“What if she gets mad?” Changmin asks.

Yunho all but laughs. “Well, would you prefer for her to be mad at you for a little while or for her to leave you for good?”

“Good point,” Changmin agrees.

“I know,” Yunho scoffs, buttoning up the last of his dress shirt, “now, you best get going before it gets too late.”

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A/N: Of course the "spoon incident" gets mentioned, again, on Radio Star. They are never gonna give that up, are they? lol. Victorrrrrrrrrrrrrrria~