Warning: Has not been beta'd nor edited for mistakes.

Between couples, sweetness comes in the smallest forms.

Sometimes, it’s a simple question. What are you doing? Do you miss me? You didn’t forget to eat breakfast, did you?

Other times, it’s a small gesture; like when he brushes her hair out of her face or guides her into the sidewalk so that he’s walking near the roadway; like when she buries herself beside him to seek comfort or when she makes him coffee every morning.

Often times, it’s when she’s staring him in the eyes and he tells her how beautiful she is, or when he’s staring out a window and she reminds him that she loves him more than anything in the world.

Yet, such small acts of affection are also very fragile—shattered by even smaller acts of dissatisfaction or impatience.

It’s when neither exist, though, that a relationship falls apart.

“It’s raining pretty hard out there. Are you sure you shouldn’t head home before it gets worse?”

Just like the battle warring inside of her, the weather outside seems to be just as intense and violent. On days like these, she’s usually smothered in layers of blankets, curled up inside of her living room sofa with a cup of hot chocolate to keep her hands warm.

Today though, Victoria is sitting inside of her best friend’s café, staring outside the smoky windows.

“I don’t really want to go home,” she sighs, slumping forward on the table.

Amber smiles a small and gentle smile, pulling out a chair and switching out Victoria’s cooled drink for a warm one. “Changmin will worry.”

“You think?” Victoria asks, but her eyes are calm, as though no emotion could flurry her tranquility.

It’s a habit of hers, Amber knows; Victoria has always hidden her emotions rather well. “If you don’t go home, where will you go?”

“I can’t stay here?” Victoria pouts.

Amber chuckles. “We’ll close eventually.”

“I'll watch the store for you overnight,” the other girl then says.

“Why don’t you just come home with me? That way I won’t have to worry about you, too.”

And just like Amber, Victoria understands what is going through her best friend’s mind. If it were not for the fact that she’s acting so ordinary—in such an unordinary way—perhaps Amber would have just shooed her back home into Changmin’s arms.

However, Amber is very much aware of how at stake her relationship with Changmin currently is, so, she’d rather keep Victoria close by to keep any chance of damage caused at a minimal.

Very softly, a ringtone invades their brief moment of silence. After taking a look at the caller’s name, Victoria tucks the phone into her purse and runs her fingers through her hair.

“You can’t avoid him for forever,” Amber reminds her.

“I don’t feel like we can go back to the way it used to be,” Victoria answers instead. “Sometimes there are moments when I really do forget and it’s like nothing is wrong, but then suddenly I remember and nothing he does seems right anymore.”

Amber listens quietly, biting down on her bottom lip.

“These random emotional changes hurt so much, Amber,” Victoria admits, her eyes tearing up all over again, “it makes me feel so tired and I’m sure he feels the same way.”

“So you’re just not going to tell him?” Amber asks.

Victoria subconsciously clenches her fist, shifting her eyes out of the window again. A familiar car is pulling up from the distance and Victoria jumps to her feet, reaching for her bag. “Amber—”

“I know, it’s okay,” Amber smiles while motioning for Victoria to enter through the employee backroom door. “I’ll take care of it.”

By the time Changmin enters the café, his clothes soaked in rain, Amber is cleaning up the bar counter.

“What winds brings you in today, Changminnie?” Amber grins at him, clapping her hands together after setting the towel aside.

Changmin glances around before smiling back at her politely. “Has Qian been here today?”

“She has,” Amber nods, then proceeding to point at a table in the corner of the shop with two cups sitting atop the surface. “She left not too long ago though. You just missed her.”

“Was she with someone?” Changmin asks, seemingly a little worried.

Amber couldn’t hide her scoff when she replies. but she nods in reply none the less. “Me.”

“Do you know where she went?”

“Not too sure,” Amber shrugs, “I would assume she went home? There aren’t too many places to go when it’s storming like this outside.”

Changmin takes a deep breath. “I hope so.”

They smile at each other one last time before Changmin dismisses himself and runs back to his car. When Amber is certain he’s gone—his car driving off into the distance—she shakes her head and walks to the employee backroom, knocking on the door.

“He looks really worried,” Amber says, "and fatigued."

The door slowly opens and reveals Victoria leaning against the door frame. “You see what I mean?”

“Well, what are you going to do?” Amber questions while crossing her arms over her chest. “I can’t see the two of you really breaking up; you’re both so in love with each other you’d probably die.”

“But I feel like I’m dying right now, even though he’s by my side,” Victoria replies. “This can’t be good for any of us.”

Amber frowns slightly. Actually, she understands; she understands better than anyone else, to be honest. “Then breaking up might not be such a bad idea, but he has a right to know about the baby.”

“I’ll find an opportunity,” Victoria nods. “Thank you Amber.”

And then, after staring into Victoria’s drained eyes for what feels like an eternity, Amber finally sighs and throws her arms around Victoria, pulling her into a hug. They’ve known each other for so long—they’ve seen and done so much together, like sisters, like pillars of support, that Amber feels the very same pain that Victoria feels within herself.

Quietly, Amber says, “Just don’t hurt yourself.”

“I won’t,” Victoria promises.

It’s a promise Victoria can keep because she’s no longer just one person anymore. There’s a life thriving in hers and she will do everything to protect it because this baby also belongs to Changmin.

This baby means the world to her, just like Changmin.

Two days pass after Victoria sends Changmin a text message, telling him that she’ll be taking a few days off of work to go on a short trip with a friend up to the mountains where there will be no reception.

Courtesy of Amber Liu, who excitably offered to teach her how to enjoy the beauties of nature. It will be good for the baby, she said.

On the third day, Changmin comes home from work in the early evening defeated, his head aching and his heart feeling so burdened that not a single muscle in his body wants to move. He’s barely eaten, barely had anything to drink, and all he can think about is what Victoria might be thinking about—what she might be trying to say to him through her actions.

He doesn’t want to lose her—Victoria is the one woman he would rather die for than to lose.

So, when a series of knock ascends on the door, he jumps to his feet and rushes to answer it without a second thought.

If he thought about it, he would have realized that Victoria wouldn’t need to knock; she has her own set of keys, after all.

The woman standing on the other side of the door greets him with a small smile. Make up is smothered over her already pale skin, eye liner thick and lips reflecting sheen layers of red gloss over them. It’s a face he wouldn’t forget—the face that has made him become a criminal in this love of his.

“How did you—” Changmin is about to ask her how she knew where he lived but she interrupts him, her small smile immediately falling into a frown. She holds out a manila envelope to him and in that split second, when he sees the stamps printed of the front, Changmin feels his heart sink to the bottom of his chest.

“You know I’ve liked you for a long time,” she brings up the courage to say. “I just wanted to know if you were willing, or even wanting, for me to keep it.”

Changmin’s too afraid to reach for the envelope, droplets of sweat perspiring in his palms. “You’re joking, right? This can’t be true.”

“Why would I lie?” She asks, narrowing her eyes.

“But I—” he pauses, swallowing hard on his breath. It would be wrong of him to continue questioning her if it was in fact the truth, but Changmin doesn’t know what else he can say. In the end, he only forces a couple of words past his teeth. “I’m sorry…”

“What do you mean you’re sorry?” She presses, her expression becoming angrier by the second.

Changmin takes a deep breath when she shoves the envelope into his arms. “I have to talk it over with someone,” he says, but immediately after he speaks comes a voice that shakes his entire body and freezes it over.

“We can talk about it now.”

They both turn to look in the direction of the voice, finding a small figure standing not too far off in the distance. She has both of her hands stuffed into the large pockets of her trench coat, clenched so hard together that she feels her own nails digging into the flesh of her palms like needles in her skin.

“Qian…”

Recognizing the name, the young girl slowly starts to smile. “So you’re the girlfriend?”

“Ex,” Victoria corrects her. “I’m the ex-girlfriend now.”

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A/N: Update! Yay! I really miss Victoria ;____;