“Whoa.”

 

“I’m sorry.” Chaerin mumbled, she bumped into a man in the midst of running away from Jiyong.

 

“Hey Chaerin, are you okay? What happened?” the man asked and Chaerin looked up, Mino.

 

“Mino? What are you doing here?” Chaerin asked, surprised.

 

“Why are you crying?” Mino asked and wiped the tears on her face.

 

“No, I’m not.” Chaerin looked down and wiped the tears herself and started to walk away but Mino still followed her.

 

“Hey, hey. What happened?” he asked, concerned.

 

“Nothing. What’re you doing here?” she asked again.

 

“I came to be your knight in shining armor, which I apparently failed at already since you’re crying.” Mino said and rubbed the back of his head.

 

Chaerin smiled sadly and wiped her tears, still looking down.

 

Mino sighed, looking at the woman in front of him. “Come on, let’s go.” He pulled her hand and led her to his car.

 

As they pulled out of the parking lot, Mino saw a male figure, from where they came from, looking directly at their direction. He instantly recognized him. Her ex.

 

“Are you okay now?” Mino asked and pulled a stand of hair away from her face.

 

Chaerin smiled lightly and nodded her head while sipping on her coffee. They were in a café in the city.

 

“Wanna talk about what happened?”

 

“… not really.” Chaerin said looking down.

 

“Wanna talk? At all?” when she didn’t respond, Mino just nodded his head and gave her the peace and quiet she needed.

 

“I never thought it would happen, you know?” Chaerin started while blankly looking at her cup.

 

Mino didn’t say anything but just focused all his attention on her.

 

“One day we were great…. Happy. Then the next, we were broken.” She chuckled humorlessly. “He… he is my soulmate, you know… was. Was my soulmate.”

 

 

“Oh my God, my Baby-Rin…” Bom said, a hand on her chest and tears in her eyes. Seunghyun has just told her about what happened earlier the day and she felt worried and guilty.

 

She was so guilty that she pushed for Chaerin to do it when she wasn’t ready yet and so worried about her right now, but Chaerin wasn’t answering her calls.

 

“Yeah… it was the first time I saw her cry.” Seunghyun shook his head, removing the memory. “But Jiyong… he-he bawled his eyes out, he broke anything, everything he had his hands on. He screamed at the top of his lungs. He was a mess.”

 

They heard the door open and Bom almost ran to it, sure that it was Chaerin.

 

As soon as she saw her, she encased her in a bear hug, barely letting her breathe.

 

“Unnieee…”

 

“I’m so sorry, Chaerin-ah.” The older said and hugged her tighter if it was even possible. Chaerin felt comfort in her hug and she can’t be more grateful that she has her.

 

“I’m really sorry about earlier, Chaerin-ah.” TOP said.

 

Chaerin let go of Bom and gave Seunghyun a somewhat embarrassed smile.  “No oppa, I’m really sorry you had to see it.”

 

Seunghyun just gave her a comforting smile. Then turned his attention to the other person in the room. Bom, noticed it and was a bit surprised to see Mino there. She didn’t even notice him at first.

 

“Oh Mino-yah, you’re here.” Bom said.

 

“Anyeong noona.” Mino smiled shyly.

 

Seunghyun gave Bom a questioning look.

 

“TOP oppa this is Mino, he’s my… friend.” Chaerin introduced the two.

 

Mino held out his hand. “Hi, I’m Chaerin’s friend…” he said amused.

 

TOP took his hand and firmly shook it. “New friend?” he asked, curious.

 

“Not really.” Mino muttered.

 

“Oh please, their exes.” Bom said with a roll of the eyes.

 

“Oh…” What would Jiyong feel about this? That was the only thing in TOP’s mind.

 

 

“Yah, I told you to pick me up!” Dara stomped inside Jiyong’s office.

 

Jiyong sighed. “I can’t deal with you right now.” He said.

 

“Let’s go to dinner, there’s this new Italian resto that’s just a few minutes—“

 

“I don’t want to.”

 

“Well, you have to.”

 

Jiyong scoffed. “You can’t tell me what to do.” He seethed.

 

“But I can.” Dara smirked.

 

“Get out.” He couldn’t contain his anger.

 

“What?” She asked, surprised.

 

“I said get the out.”

 

Her pride was hurt but of course, she just scoffed, fixed her dress and stomped out making sure to slam the door.

 

Jiyong slumped his head on the table as soon as he heard the door bang close.

 

 

He opened his eyes and was surprised to see it was already dark. He had fallen asleep in that position. He raised his head and immediately felt the ache in his neck and back.

 

He stretched his arms and stood up feeling a bit dizzy with the sudden movement. He stretched some more. It was dark in his office because the light was off but he preferred it that way. He saw his cell blinking on the chair so he opened it.

 

‘Eating alone isn’t so bad after all’

 

It was from Dara and a picture of his book burning was attached to it.

 

He didn’t spare a second and ran.

 

 

“What have you done?” Jiyong breathed heavily.

 

“Nice seeing you here, Jiyong.” Dara smirked while drinking wine.

 

They were in her apartment in the middle of the city.

 

“What the have you done?!” his anger was starting to blow off the roof. He managed to control his temper while driving to her place but right now he really wants to break anything. Everything.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

Her nonchalance isn’t helping Jiyong at all. Before she could connect the glass to he snatched the bottle from her hand and threw it on the floor, breaking it into a thousand tiny pieces.

 

“Where is it?!” he screamed.

 

“Stop yelling at me!” Dara screamed back. She stood up and only then did Jiyong notice she was wearing a silk robe that covered half her thighs.

 

“Where is it?” he asked more calmly, his hands in fists.

 

“It’s in the trash.” She nodded towards the small trash bin beside the fireplace.

 

Jiyong dashed to it, seeing the burnt cover and the ashy papers inside. He couldn’t care less about it. He reached for it and spread it open seemingly looking for something in between the binders. He managed to rip it in pieces but still didn’t find what he was looking for.

 

“Looking for this?” Dara said behind him. He looked back and saw Dara with a raised hand wearing the ring he kept for Chaerin.