It's pretty amazing how a single person can affect your life, for better or for worse.

Eunhye had experienced both – a single person had turned her life into a living hell for years, even when he was long gone. Because of him, she mistrusted people, she couldn't bring herself to get close to anyone.

After a day of work, she literally ran back home. Patients were ok, she could talk to them for some reason, but other people she tried to avoid. Even doctors – she never spoke to them more than was needed about the condition of a patient or a second opinion for a blurry diagnosis.

The children were ok to talk with, too – they were innocent beings, untouched by the traits that came later in life. They never tried to manipulate you and put you down even when you were already at rock-bottom. And when she played the piano for them, she was really happy, just like they were. Pity, simple pleasures don't last forever...

Come to think of it, that piano was what brought Yoon Jihoo to her. A new resident, he had followed the sound of the music and watched her nimble fingers fly across the keys joyfully. Her eyes had sparkled and he wondered what had happened to her – wasn't she the doctor who ran away as soon as her shift ended?

When she finished, he slipped away without being seen.

This went on for a week. Every day, when Eunhye played the piano for the children, Jihoo watched quietly. Every day, he noticed more about her.

He noticed how she never really looked people in the eye when she spoke to them, how she walked in such a way that made him think she was trying not to get noticed. And he noticed that the only time he saw her smile was when she played for the children.

He was lucky he was a paediatrician – he was always in the children's ward, where he felt best. True, treating children was pretty tough, but there was a different feeling to it – Jihoo felt more comfortable around them than adults. Children, even though they could be cruel sometimes, could never be as cruel as adults. They never gave hope only to abandon later on.

When Eunhye was back at her own department, gynaecology, he played the piano for the children. One day, he played a rather fast and joyful tune and the children were singing and some were dancing. It was so fun, he didn't notice Eunhye standing beside him until it was over.

Maybe it was the music, or because he had slept well, or because a very sick child had begun to get better, but Jihoo gave Eunhye a big, wide smile.

Why did he do that? They had never even spoken much. Why was he smiling like she was someone he was glad to see?
"Come on!" he said, and made room for her on the bench. "Let's play a duet."
She hesitated just for a moment, before nodding and sitting beside him on the bench.

Why had she agreed? They had never really spoken before, so why was she playing the piano wiith him feeling as though they were great friends?

And when they finished, they wordlessly parted ways but played again the next day. And the next. And almost every day, in fact. And they gradually began to talk – Jihoo also found solace in her easy silence. When they did talk, it was always about light things – the weather, shopping, and so on. Most of the time they spent in silence.

Jihoo was a person who found solace in easy silence – and the silences with Eunhye was comfortable. There was no need to talk non-stop with her, she liked silence just as much as he did.

But one day he found himself telling her about Jandi and Junpyo his parents, his grandfather. It was a relief to talk about it actually, theere was no one he could say it to. Though Eunhye didn't give him any advice, he felt much better afterward.

And then one day Eunhye told him about her past.

* * * *

The glass shattered and scattered on the floor, glittering. A few had little drops of red on them – her blood. His figure loomed above her, threatening. "Well?" he demanded. "I'll ask you one lasttime: where were you last night?"
"I told you already," she sobbed. "I went to the department store to buy-"
"LIES!" He struck her and she instinctly wrapped her arms around her belly to protect the fragile life inside her.

"Don't!" she screamed. "Think of our baby!"
He struck her again. "You bloody , you! How dare you try to make me responsible for another man's child?"
Tears burned her eyes, but did not fall – they were tired of falling.

It's not another man's, she said silently. It's yours – you are the only man I have ever been with, the man I loved....

As he struck her over and over again, she did not shield her face – though there was the sickening crunch of breaking cartilege and blinding pain, there was something more valuable she had to protect. She tried to get up, to run for safety but he grabbed her and threw her back down roughly, only to attack her with more savagery.

"Stop, please, the child..." she kept peading, but it all fell on deaf ears.

Where was the man who had claimed to love her more than life itself? Where was the man who gave her sweet kisses and gentle caresses?

And then it came – a searing pain in her belly, followed by a warm trickle of blood.

That was what made him stop.

But she was not relieved one bit – she wished she could just die right then.

He had killed their child.

Eunhye woke up sobbing, feeling the frantic racing of her heart and the raw terror coursing through her veins. The nightmare had come back – it came back every night.

She touched her belly, which had once carried life.

I'm sorry I couldn't protect you...

Her phone rang, but she didn't answer it. She couldn't speak, had shrunk and she had to struggle to breathe.

Legs the weght of lead, she stumbled to the bathroom and with trembling hands tried to open the bottle of pills – they were the only way she could sleep. It was only 11:00 PM, she had a long shift tomorrow and needed to sleep not for her own sake but for the patients'.

The bottle fell to the floor, and with shaking hands she tried to pick it up but dropped it again.

Someone picked it up for her.

"Jihoo..." she muttered, not looking at him.

"I told you to call me if it came back," he whispered.

She didn't reply. He always seemed to be the one running to her... why couldn't she be strong?

"How did you..."
"You didn't pick up," he said. "I was worried so I got here as fast as I could. And I was right." He took the bottle from her gently. "Don't take this, Eunhye."
"I have to!" she cried. "If I don't... h-he will come back! He will come back and-and do it again!"

Her voice broke with fresh sobs and Jihoo took her trembling body in his arms.

"He will never come back," he said softly against her ear. "I promise you he will never come back."
Jihoo's warmth, his smell... they were both familiar and comforting to her. The way he held her