Goodbyes had never been something he was good at.

Actually, he dreaded them. He remembered the time he decided to go live on his own, packed suitcases in his hands, his tiny mother hugging him tightly with tears running down her face. She had grown old over the years, and frail, working as hard as she had to support their family. Although his father had worked as long as Jaerim could remember, his mother had also done her equal share. 

His financial upbringing had never been easy. Just being able to feed the four mouths of his family members, was a blessing. Growing up, he didn't know what luxuries were but he hoped someday, his future kids would. With that mind set, he worked hard, from part-time jobs to working during his military service, and then the day came when he decided to move out. He was young back then, and while his friends were still living with their families and attending University, he was walking the runway as a model. Over-worked, underfed, underpaid, life had become even harder for him. While other 20 year olds in Seoul were dating and partying, he was living with constant qualms about whether he'd be able to pay rent or have one decent meal a day. 

Even when he did find women who matched him, he just couldn't find the time to love them right. With work or the lack of work stressing him out constantly, his romantic relationships didn't last long and always left him on the guilty end. If he couldn't be there for his girl, then he didn't understand why he was dating her. So after his last relationship, he hadn't dated for 5 years and just threw himself into work. 

Song Jaerim didn't have time to think about love. 

The resolve paid off eventually and now he was at a place where his name "Song Jae Rim" was recognized by almost all of his country. The surge of popularity he had gotten in the past 9 months, was something he had earnestly worked hard for and desperately wanted. It was a gift that had been brought to him by Soeun, or Soeunnie as he liked to call her.

She had been in the industry much longer than him, although she was his junior in age by 5 years. She was well-liked by the public, although she usually kept under the radar. He had learnt that she was a private person, and had been able to live her personal life without ever getting into trouble by the media. However, after meeting him, after gaining more popularity than she ever had, she became the target of the media and risked saying goodbye to her scandal-free decade long career.

And now she who had walked a road of thorns for him, was now about to say goodbye to him. 

Soeun was sitting beside him, her back against the white wall and her face lighted by her phone's screen. 

"Oppa, this person is asking what Solim means to me?"

Jaerim leaned back, to get a better view of her Instagram profile on which fans were flooding her with comments about Solim, after she had asked fans to ask any questions that may concern them.

"What does Solim mean to you, jagi?"

Soeun paused for a moment and looked up at him.

"Are you still going to call me that even after our virtual divorce?"

The question concerned Jaerim, because calling Soeun "jagi" was so natural for him, he didn't even think about what he would call her after their virtual marriage, more like he didn't want to think about it.

"I'll just call you Eun-ah from now on."

Soeun shook her head, and realized she liked jagi better than Eun-ah. "You can still call me jagi if you want, as long as it's between us and no one's around."

Her conditions made Jaerim laugh and he put his arm around her, watching her type away on her I-Phone. 

"His precious woman and her man," he read it out loud and then paused. "That's what Solim means to you?"

Soeun faced him, nodding and smiling whilst holding up a peace sign in front of Jaerim. "Yup. You're my man and I'm your woman, a very precious and rare woman that you won't ever meet again."

Her words touched him. Soeun rarely spoke about her feelings, but when she did, it was very meaningful. He had noticed she was changing a couple of weeks ago, opening up, discussing her family, her mom's well-being, her sister's University life, her dad's thoughts on Solim's scenes. She contacted him in the morning sometimes, and told him to stay healthy and work hard with a smile emoticon. At night, she would text him to ask if he was asleep and if he wasn't, she would ask him about his day. Soeun's hidden feelings were starting to become more apparent, and Jaerim was happy watching her bloom and felt that it was that much more unfair that their virtual marriage was ending. 

Ever since the leaving rumours came out which both of them had no heads up about, he had come up with a heartbreaking conclusion. He had to let go of Soeun if he wanted to focus on his career. Meeting Soeun had shaken up his resolve about dating while working. It was no question that he had developed feelings for her. He wouldn't go as far as to say that he loved her and couldn't live without her, but there was defenitely a longing for her, one that tortured him. 

His heart told him to take a step forward, but his brain told him to take ten steps backwards and focus on his career. 

But now that he was watching her take another sip from her beer, hair messy and falling in front of her, he wondered how it would be to not be able to see her bi-weekly. He wondered how it would be to not be able to kiss her forehead again and feel the flutters in his stomach when he did so. He wondered how it would be to not be able to slide his fingers through her wavy hair, see her big brown eyes sparkle at him, and see those baby smiles of her's that made him want to make her happy all the time.

God, he would miss every little thing about her.

An hour later with selfies taken and uploaded on their respective Instagram profiles as an official goodbye to their fans, Jaerim's heart became heavier and heavier as Soeun began putting her coat on. 

She gave him her hand and pulled him up and they began walking out of the small restaurant where they had their private wrap-up party. Soeun's house was near the restaurant so Jaerim decided to walk her home. He put his hands in his jacket's pockets, but Soeun pulled one out and held it firmly in her's. Surprised, Jaerim looked over at her but didnt' say anything. They walked in silence until they reached her home. 

There was a constricting heavy feeling in his chest again. He wasn't ready for this. He never would be.

"I followed you on Instagram," she declared.

He was about start speaking when she stopped him, "Yeah, I know, I know. You don't follow people on your account so you won't follow me back. It's okay."

Jaerim felt relieved. Soeun really did know him 95% of the time. 

They were still holding hands. 

"Oppa...I don't want this to be goodbye." Jaerim noticed the blush on Soeun's cheeks and realized she was suddenly really shy. 

"I don't know what the future will hold, but I don't want to let this," she motioned to their hands held together, "go."

He felt the same. They didn't even have to talk because they were so connected with each other's thoughts and emotions.

"Let's keep in touch, Eun-ah," he said as he pulled her in for a hug. His arms around her tiny waist, her chest against his, he held her tightly so he would always remember how she felt against him. He breathed into her hair and inhaled deeply into her favorite Jo Malone perfume, so he would never forget her scent.

"You're a really good person oppa," Soeun said as she returned his hug. "You make me really happy."

He pulled back slightly and watched her smiling genuinely with the blush of hers spreading like a wildfire across her cheeks.

The wind blew Soeun's black locks in an elegant frenzy and along with the moon's lighting perfectly capturing her features, Jaerim was in total awe. That's when Soeun encircled his neck with her arms, leaned up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. 

When she retreated, he was at a loss for words. After spending 9 months with the person in front of him, knowing that this person didn't show affection easily, he knew that this was anything but a goodbye kiss for Soeun.

He was internally struggling to make his next move, watching her beam at him. She was defenitely satisfied with her dauntless advance and was earnestly waiting for his response.

His heart was saying to take the step forward and was pushing him to lean down and kiss her back. 

"Date me oppa."

But instead, he took ten steps back. 

⊱✿ ✿⊰

A/N: So here's chapter 1. Don't be sad guys with the last sentence. There's going to be a time skip in the next chapter and then we will continue their love story from there.

Also, there's a really eloquent Solim author who wrote amazing oneshots and fics about them but she's on Livejournal, not AFF. I really recommend you read her fics if you want to have more Solim feels.

Here's the link: http://omgirly.livejournal.com/

I will try to update chapter 2 in the next week.

Thank you for all the support and loving Solim.