6:00 AM registered on the face his smart watch as Nichkhun glanced at it to check the time.

He was strolling along the serene coast of Hua Hin to clear his head. The gentle waves of the Gulf of Thailand lapping at the shore. It had been about a week since that fateful night he and Victoria had shared and his mother's surprised expression when she opened the door at his grandmother's home and saw her son at the doorstep. He just upped and left, albeit reluctantly, that hotel room that morning. Shortly after noon, he was already at the boarding gate and that was only when he calmed down a bit and called his manager, Min-Jae, that he was leaving China.

"Hyung, sorry, I can't explain right now and you know I would never do this unless I had too." It was an abrupt decision for him and he actually didn't have anything planned; he needed somewhere to steady him again after this confusing and frustrating conundrum he found himself with Victoria yet again. So to his haven, his family, was where he ended up running to.

As he gazed out at the horizon, he couldn't help but dwell on Victoria's suggestion to forget what had happened. What where the words she used again, he thought "Can it be just a mistake?". He found himself kicking a soda can left by thoughtless tourists and then stopped in his tracks. Wasn't he just like that piece of aluminium, tossed away? Rejected?

Inside his mind, he replayed what happened almost a decade ago...

The year was 2011, and 2PM was riding high on their popularity. Nichkhun, the group's Thai-American heartthrob, had garnered a massive fan following not only in South Korea but across Asia. f(x), on the other hand, was rising to fame with their unique sound and captivating performances.

Nichkhun and Victoria had kept in touch after "We Got Married," and their bond remained strong. They were close friends, always there to support each other during their busy schedules and public appearances. But as time passed, their connection became more complicated, with emotions that neither of them fully understood.

The rumors had started circulating online, fueled by fanfics and speculative tabloid articles. Some fans believed that Nichkhun and Victoria were secretly dating, that their on-screen chemistry had spilled into real life. Others thought they were just close friends, while a vocal group insisted that it was all for show, that the "We Got Married" experience was just that – a show, nothing more.

It was during this time that Tiffany, a member of Girls' Generation and a close friend of Nichkhun, entered the picture. She had been there to witness the ups and downs of Nichkhun and Victoria's friendship, and her own relationship with Nichkhun had grown stronger. She was supportive of their bond but also sensed that there was something unspoken between them.

One fateful night, as Nichkhun and Victoria were hanging out in a cozy café, the topic of fanfics and rumors came up. Nichkhun couldn't help but chuckle at some of the more outlandish stories they had read online. "Can you believe some people actually think we're secretly in love?" he said, a playful smile on his face.

Victoria, however, couldn't shake the feeling of unease that had been building within her. She looked down at her coffee cup, her voice serious. "Nichkhun, do you ever wonder if there's a grain of truth in those rumors?"

Nichkhun was taken aback by the question. He had always seen there was something between them. "So it's rumor even to you?" He thought and the Mocha Frappuccino suddenly leaving a bitter aftertaste in his mouth. "Rumors are just, well, rumors. Forget them." 

But the conversation had planted a seed of doubt in him. He saw Victoria only turned her head down and sipped on her cappuccino. Nichkhun began to question his own feelings and the nature of their bond. 

As weeks turned into months, the distance between them grew. Nichkhun's growing closeness with Tiffany, along with his own confusion about his feelings, only served to widen the rift. Victoria, feeling increasingly isolated and uncertain, decided to distance herself from Nichkhun and focus on her own career.

Their falling out had been gradual, a series of misunderstandings and unspoken feelings that had torn them apart. They had drifted into separate worlds, each struggling to come to terms with the emotional turmoil that had once been their friendship.

That was how she first rejected him and she did it again. It felt like Victoria had walls perpetually guarding her heart. He thought it would be different this time as they were both older. Nichkhun wrestled with his emotions, trying to make sense of it all. He knew he needed someone to confide in. Cherreen, his younger sister, always had a way of cutting through his inner turmoil.

As the sun peeped over the ocean's edge, Nichkhun found himself sitting with Cherreen on their family's beachfront veranda. They were watching Jinjer and Cherreen's husband play on the sand. His niece can be quite a handful that she woke up early today and got her dad to play with her on the sand. At times, Nichkhun would zone out, staring at the vastness of the sea, the distant memories of the past week haunting his thoughts again.

Cherreen, noticing her brother's troubled expression, asked gently, "P'Khun, what's been bothering you? You're too quiet."

Nichkhun sighed, his fingers tracing the wooden railing. There was no beating around the bush this time. "It's Victoria. You know we worked together on that drama, right?"

Cherreen leaned closer, "So you spent a lot of time together and the old flame has been sparked, and now..." She smiled at her brother with that knowing look in her eyes, wriggling her eyebrows at her brother. Nichkhun gave her an annoyed look but already his burden was feeling quite lighter already just by opening this up.

"And you feel like she's being such as 'Ice Queen' that Elsa is a complete amateur compared to Vic. And so you feel rejected, your poor little ego crushed?" Cherreen asked. Nichkhun was taken aback at how her sister described exactly what he felt. 

Nichkhun shook his head. "Why can't she just open up herself a bit? Always shutting it down before we could even start?"

Cherreen frowned, her voice understanding. "Nichkhun, have you ever considered seeing things from her perspective? As in truly trying to put yourself in her shoes? Have you really made your feelings clear to her - like you think you have?"

That got his thoughts turned to a different angle as Cherreen left him at the verranda to join her husband and young daughter, building sand castles.

Nichkhun was stewing, he realised, in what he considered the uttermost insult he'd ever heard about what he felt was the most beautiful thing that ever happened in his life - their night together.

"A mistake? A moment of weakness? Is that all it was to you, Victoria?" was all all he could think of from the few hours of flight from Beijing to Bangkok and until now, one week after.

In his memory, he searched Victoria's face for clues. Now he remebered how she was trembling before him, her voice was low, cracking a bit as she said that to him. She was on the brink of falling apart from the sudden turn of events but trying so hard to keep her composure. It was very much a time of vulnerability to her.

"Can it be a mistake?" It was a question from her! What if she was asking for him at that moment for assurance and he totally totally missed the opportunity to man up for her, for them both?

That last image he saw of Victoria, still sitting on the bed, clutching the sheets close to her like it was her lifeline, as he closed the door to that hotel room that morning, flashed at the back of his mind. It made him sigh in frustration, now at his own self.

He wanted to argue with her to the point of even putting up a fight if needed that he really didn't want to pretend nothing happened. Why didn't he?

He could've just reached out and shaken some sense into this brilliant woman but who's a bit too dense emotionally at times. Why didn't he?

He could've just scooped her back into his arms, held her tight to him even if she squirmed, and not let go so that perhaps what couldn't be expressed in words would be conveyed by the warmth of his embrace. Why didn't he?

No wonder he was a "pabo". Not only that, he was a selfish "pabo" who always got ahead of himself with assuming things. He was hurt by his assumption that she rejected him yet again...but so was Victoria, no, Qian...his dear Qian.

He hurt her before too. It was the dawn of understanding for him. But could it be too late for him?

He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket so he took it out to check. On the screen it was flashing an incoming call from "Hyung".