"Shouldn't you give up by now?"

       "On what?"

       Victoria narrows her eyes, "Really, you don't understand what I'm talking about right now." Because she swears Ryeowook would get a hit on his head if he's pretending what are they even doing here in her - it's her and Changmin's - apartment.

       And the kitchen is engulfed in silence. She watches the man in front of her calmly reaches for the snack on the table.

       "How was your honeymoon?"

       "Great, Fiji is blissfully beautiful. I would never think that the island is private but then the lack of people on the island makes me think otherwise. I just wish sometimes Changmin wouldn't do such an exaggerating thing next time. Anyway, we had a great time with the white sand beaches and the pristine nature." Reaching for a mug on the table, she faces the male. "And don't change the topic, Ryeowook. Just answer me."

       But still the designer remains silent. And Victoria relents, but not without a new question.

       "You know, I do think that you are coming down to Seoul after eight years have something to do with your feelings. Clearly, it isn't just about you. It involves Kyuhyun, too. Which mean, you are either have prepared for this, or there has to be something else." Eyes still on the male, she sincerely hoping that he would actually listen to her. "Eight years, Ryeowook. It was long enough, if you ask me."

       Taking a break, she softly inquires. "So my question now, did you still have feelings for him? Why wouldn't you giving up on him yet?"

       "I wasn't giving hopes in the first place," Ryeowook laments.

       Sighing rather heavily, Victoria tries her very best not to blurt things out of stupidity. "Listen, I'm trying to help you. It isn't my place to ask you that, I know -"

       "Then why would you?"

       A momentary pause renders her speechless, motionless. Lowering her head, she says. "I don't know either." But then she lifts back her head a moment later. "Guess I care about you."

       Startled, but the male succeed in masking it. Ironically, he is at lost when he totally expects some straight-forward answers from her. "Well, thanks for the gesture."

       Looking elsewhere, Ryeowook fixated his eyes on the one spot of the shade of lemon yellow wall, passing across the said female's shoulder. "I wasn't hanging up on the idea, you know - the idea that we could be together again. We have been through so many things I couldn't really understand my feelings anymore."

       He stops and picks it up a moment later. "At some point, I was hoping that I'm fine, that I would not really need anyone to survive. Yet at another point, life doesn't really sailing smooth that I crave something to keep me afloat. Shouldn't people that had the worst of their life stick together? They would make the perfect fit, wouldn't they?"

       Staring at him, she isn't surprised to find the blank look on the latter eyes; instead how wounded the designer have been frightens her to the core. "Is this how it is now, Ryeowook? In case you have forgotten, both of you have survived the worst. Even the word worst doesn't befitting you anymore, neither to Kyuhyun. Regardless you two are the perfect fit or not, that's not the whole point here. You shouldn't live your life believing in that notion. You're going to end up destroying yourself and the one you love the most."

       "Sure, I'm not the one to speak and though I'd say that I know how much you must have felt, truth is I'm not. There is nothing that I speak of right now would make you change your mind. Therefore, this one sentence, I would want you to keep it in your mind, just this once - react with love."

       Act and think as in employing the grounded-love that resided within you.

       Because as strangely as it might sound, deep down she feels irritated at the fellow designer's attitude. Though some particular actions are subtle but it speaks volume when she reads it; she feels annoyed at how Ryeowook can still living in the happy-ever-after facade when she perfectly knows he doesn't let anyone break his thick wall.

       She feels like she is hypocrite for living in the same way as his since she can totally change Ryeowook for the better yet the designer is still wrapped in his guarded bubble. How she wishes that someday, one day, the bubble is bursting open so he can stop pretending that he'd fine this whole time. But then it is cruel; for a great amount of nudge needed to burst the bubble - she has experienced it before (her bubble is bursting; smooth but it leaves her in pain). It takes four years to patch the pieces of her heart back together as a whole though the stitches are barely visible, and that's when her husband comes into her life.

       Imagine if the whole eight years doesn't do anything to Ryeowook's heart, imagine how the tiny shreds remain fragmented even after the long period of time - she can feel her chest is constricted suddenly. Of course this isn't anyone's fault; not Ryeowook's nor Kyuhyun's. And time isn't the one at fault either.

       Sighing, she wonders why she feels this way. It isn't her business to meddle with, no one asks for her help though, not even Changmin. She doesn't wait still for an explanation from the designer first; instead she directly fires the bullet out from . She claims she'd befriend with the slender male yet she forgets the privacy she has to respect. She forgets she doesn't like the people who'd hover over her hidden past.

       Changmin is her exception and she bets her twenty-nine years of life that's what Kyuhyun is to Ryeowook. Though the slender designer says the lanky doctor is deeming as his only savior, nothing more than that; she somehow has the instinct that Kyuhyun is the only anchor the designer ever needs - Ryeowook doesn't realize that just yet. Probably the bubble around his is holding him too tight, safely yet blinded him.
 

       Changmin enters the apartment one hour later and watches how tiny his wife's face seems to be. "What's with the sullen face?" The artist then massages her shoulder gently. "Don't think too much, alright. They can solve this better than us."

       To be exact, that's what Kyuhyun quoted to him; saying that he and Ryeowook would try their best to mend this, therefore do not try to push the unnecessary buttons unto them. Just stay the way they are now and keep believing in them. It may takes ten years down the road or forever even, but please do not give up on them. Kyuhyun becomes sappy all too sudden, the entertainer momentarily loses his ability to talk back. Somewhat, his ex-buddy gamer isn't the same one he met three years ago through the phone. The broken-hearted Kyuhyun has thrive to someone he barely recognizes now as the lanky doctor has a distinctive warm voice whenever he talks. The ice-frozen monotone of him has faded into nothingness.

       The soft humming she's making wakes him up from his reverie. "Thank you, honey." Victoria then rests her hand over Changmin's hand; caressing the one on her right shoulder gently before sliding it over. She stands on her feet, and turn herself around; facing her husband. She pecks him lightly on the lips as Changmin's hand lingers around her slim waist. Then, she backs away slightly - still within the close proximity due to the hand behind her back. "How was your day?"

       "Not bad. Just miss you more on the set," playing with her soft long lock, he continues. "Someone asks about you though."

       "Who?"

       Smiling, he pecks her nose. "I can't remember."

       Her eyes turn into crescent, "Don't be too lazy to remember people's name." Her hands now on his cardigan as she's helping him discarding it, "Is it female?"

       The taller male doesn't answer her at first as he's waiting for his wife to look at him, then he nods. "Never mind, then." She drops her head back.

       "Someone's jealous," he playfully sings. Hands on his chest still fiddles mindlessly with the collar shirt. Gazing down on her, he closes the gap between them. "Hey, what's wrong?" He feels the tilting of her head on the crook of his neck. Running his hand down along her spine, he soothes her. He practically knows that his wife would be like this after the meeting with Ryeowook. "They're going to be fine, believe me. Also, believe in Ryeowook. That's what he wants you to do, right?" 

       As the taller backing away from the hug, he lifts her bride-style and chuckles lightly at her yelp, "I need you to put me to sleep."

       "Yah!" That's all she protests once she's being placed gently on the mattress. "I don't want to sleep," she whines some more, trying to get herself up only that she lays against the soft mattress back as the husband secures his strong arms around the small frame, effectively locking the woman from freeing herself.

      "You just need to put me to sleep." He makes himself comfortable so that his wife wouldn't be too suffocated in his embrace as he adjusting the position of his arms around her waist. She's back-facing him while playing with his hands.

       For a while, silent is the one that's talking. It isn't the awkward silence instead it's the comfortable, understanding still that surrounding the two adults. Each one of them has many things in mind yet only silence can speak for them. The noise in their heads can't compare to the loud vibrating sound of silence in the room.

       The soft humming around her ear, Victoria can feel the fluttering of her eyes as she's resting her hand over her husband. She's lost in her own dreamland in a matter of seconds. As Changmin watches the stillness of his wife, he slowly pulls away his hand from hers and backs away almost too careful in case she's stirring. 

       He needs to email few score sheets that he composes to the company first, before he can actually cuddle with her. Though he isn't as talented as Kim Jonghyun's - another composer in the company - he's just trying his luck. Plus, composing is a mere hobby on his part. And he knows he loves Donghae's lyrics better than his own. Donghae's sentiment is too beautiful, and too powerful to match his own. How he wishes that he gets to sing one of the sensational composition of music.

       Speaking of the said composer, Changmin is surprised that his phone flashing the ID of Donghae, ringing silently within his workspace.

       "Yes?"

       "Are you free on this Saturday night?"

       Thinking, the artists turns towards his calendar of the month on his right side. "I'm free night at nine onwards."

       "Vic?"

       Raising one of his eyebrows, he answers the composer's. His wife's calendar is right beside his. "She's free all day on Saturday." Fiddling with the pen, he inquires. "Why?"

       "Nothing,"

       "You know I can't be fooled that easily."

       "Really, it's nothing."

       "Uh-uh, you'd expect me to believe that,"

       "Siwon doesn't want me to reveal it yet."

       Okay, this Donghae is surely a forever five-year-old kid. "That's fine. I get it know." Changmin chuckles lightly, "Thanks for the information, hyung." 

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A/N: Do enjoy ;D