Chapter 12:

Chilhyun sat on his messy bedroom floor and stared at a picture. It wasn’t particularly well taken picture, but he was proud of it. People always asked what it was supposed to be. Well, it was simple. It was two hands badly forming a heart against sunlight. Other hand was Hyesung’s and other hand was Chilhyun’s. Chilhyun had taken it with his first ever couple phone. Whenever Hyesung called that picture appeared to the screen.

That was before they had gotten married. Before they had faced all the problems and grown up from their childish relationship.

Chilhyun scoffed, and threw the photo to the pile that he would throw away after he was done. That picture had once meant more to him than money. Chilhyun had cherished it more than his dogs, and now it was in a trash pile and the glass had cracked. He reached to the drawer and pulled it open, finding other stuff he had collected throughout the year.

Chilhyun turned the box over and all the memories scattered around him. He swiped his hand through it, making sure that none of the dogs ate anything, and found a thing he had been searching for. Chilhyun grabbed a pink keychain and examined it for a while. “Huh…” he mouthed. “…I didn’t remember it was this ugly.” The pink bird keychain swayed between the fingers and caused Chilhyun to memorise the day.

“Chilhyun ah!” Pilkyo ran to his best friend, pushing people out of the way in the hallway. “Chilhyun ah, wait!” The said boy turned around, bidding farewell to his classmates and smiled at the slightly younger boy. “Chilhyun ah…” Pilkyo was panting, hands on his knees when he finally caught his best friend. “Wait…”

“I am waiting,” Chilhyun chuckled. “What is it, Pilkyo ya?”

Pilkyo drew a long breath, straightened his back and cleared his throat. Chilhyun noticed the red on the cheeks. Pilkyo had never looked as adorable as that. He was like a little kid coming to warmth after playing in the snow for hours. “I like you!” Pilkyo yelled, head bowed down, as he pushed his arm out and hung something between his fingers. “Chilhyun ah, I like you!”

For a second Chilhyun thought that was all a joke; that it was all just a really bad joke to mess with him. But when he looked at Pilkyo and his soft and bashful expression, he realized that Pilkyo was telling the truth. Chilhyun’s heart was thudding, as he extended his right arm and reached for the keychain. It was the most cutest thing he had ever seen – Pilkyo felt the yanking and raised his head to see Chilhyun adoring the pink bird keychain.

“Chilhyun ah…” Pilkyo sounded begging.

“Mmm?”

“I said I like you…” The slightly younger boy murmured.

Chilhyun held the keychain on the top of his chest, under the right palm and smiled, cheeks flushed to adorable shade of pink. “I like you too…Pilkyo ya…” he whispered, and dug out a blue version of the same bird.

                             “Chilhyun!” The said guy startled from his memories.

“Y-yeah?” He stuttered.

“Do you want to take the bottle opener with you?” Jihoon yelled from the kitchen.

“Y-y-yeah!” Chilhyun responded.

He turned his head back to the keychain and studied it. It really was ugly. He didn’t know what he had seen in it. Pilkyo’s love maybe? Or a start of something perfect maybe? Who knew? Chilhyun had a decision to make. Did Hyesung still have his version of the bird? Or had he thrown it away already?

“Chilhyun ah,” Jihoon’s voice came from near.

“Yeah?” Chilhyun shifted his head at the door.

“Are you done?”

He dropped the keychain to the trash, smiled at his boyfriend and grabbed the bag. “Yeah, let’s go.”

                             ***

Eric drove Hyesung home that night and wished him goodnight. They went separate ways after the passionate and moist kiss in front of the apartment, and texted until Hyesung was inside his apartment. The dogs weren’t greeting him when he entered; loud barking was nowhere to be heard, and the sounds of the television didn’t annoy the out of him.

Hyesung kicked his shoes off and strode to Chilhyun’s bedroom. It was empty; the wardrobe was empty, the nightstand was empty and everything Chilhyun owned was gone. Hyesung snorted and went to the kitchen; the dog food, their plates and everything was gone as well.

Chilhyun had left.

Hyesung entered the foyer, and noticed a paper hanging on the door. He pulled it off, some of the paper ripping due to the tape, and read it.

                             I loved you. I really loved you. But I don’t know what happened to you; what happened to me. Where did we go wrong? When did we go wrong? Was it you? Was it me? If we had noticed where we were going would we have been able to stop it? I do not know. I loved you. I loved you for so long when you were already over me. You have no idea how much I hurt when I learned that you were no longer in love with me. I had wasted all this time trying to deny it, but if Jihoon hadn’t come to my life, I would have continued denying it. I would have pretended not to know about you and Eric, or you with anyone on that matter. I would have been a good husband till the end. Even if you hadn’t loved me.

Pilkyo ya, you taught me how to love.

You taught me how to hate.

And you taught me how to let go.

That I am thankful for.

You don’t have to worry about me, as I am not worrying about you. I am happy now, and I will be happy till the day I die. I wish you get happiness eventually.

I loved you,

Goodbye,

Ahn Chilhyun.

P.S. I signed them already, so you don’t have to search me over.

                             Hyesung sniffed, forbidding himself from crying, and crumbled the letter to a small ugly ball. He noticed the papers on the small table next to the door and witnessed that Chilhyun had indeed signed them. Hyesung grabbed a pencil and scribbled his name to the divorce papers.

It was over. 

It is not over yet. 

I still have couple of chapters to write lol.

So...

did i make you cry?