"I'll lend you my shoulder when things get tough."

Jiyong took a step closer to Aeri and slowly tilted his head to kiss her, their face so close to each other, she could feel his breath on her cheeks but suddenly Aeri pushed him back.

The words kept ringing in her ears - 'I'll lend you my shoulders when things get tough' making her remember the painful memory of her so called first love. All the memories which she had buried deep down and tried to erase were all at once flooding back in.

"Stay away!" - she yelled.

"Don't you dare come close to me!"

"But Aeri--"

"I don't love you. The thing that I hate the most in this world is love so don't tell me that you love me because if you do, the only thing you will receive from me is hate." - with those words said Aeri disappeared.

Everything happened so quickly that Jiyong couldn't even run after Aeri. Even if he wanted to run after her, he couldn't. His legs didn't find the strength in them to move even an inch.

His barely mended heart was broken, again.

All the courage he mustered up to confess his feelings was crushed. Aeri had not only hurt his feelings but had also taken the last bit of hope from him. Hope that he could be happy if he loved again.

By the time Jiyong walked back in, the party was over. Everyone went their own ways except his gang.

"There you are! Where did you disappeared huh?" - Taeyang questioned his best friend.

"No where, I was just taking a puff outside." - Jiyong lied.

"Come on, everyone is waiting for you." - Taeyang pulled Jiyong with him inside to where everyone was.

Eul was busy twirling the empty glass of wine while Hani was asleep on her shoulder. Daesung and Seunghyun were almost in a state of getting passed out. 

"Where is Aeri ?" - Jiyong questioned. He was sure that he saw her enter the cafe.

"She was here sometime back but then took off saying she wasn't feeling well." - Tae Oh replied.

"Ahhh."

"You too don't look that great. Something happened between the two of you ? I saw you both leave the cafe sometime back." - Taeyang asked.

Before Jiyong could answer, Tae Oh interrupted them - " Don't tell me you that you confessed your feelings for her  "

"No...." - Jiyong quickly answered making everyone look at him suspiciously. Everyone in the room knew he had feelings for her, it used to be written all over his face.

"..........maybe yes...."

""- Eul cursed while Tae Oh just sighed.

"Why?" - Seungri shot back at the unexpected reaction.

"She freaks out at the mere thought of been in a relationship." - Tae Oh replied.

"She shuts that person out completely and acts as if the person never existed in this world." - Eul added.

Jiyong sank in his chair. He was blank. The thought of Aeri hating him, the thought of him being invisible for her was as if he was living his worst nightmare.

"But why?" - Jiyong whispered.

"Why can't I love her? Why can't she let people love her? Why hate a person who loves you ? Why !? Why ?! Why! " - Jiyong yelled out in frustration, he thought he perfectly knew the girl in front of him but looks like he knew nothing about her. Why would you ever hate someone who loves you ?

"Why am I the one to suffer again ?" - he asked in a steady whispers that was barely audible.

Everyone went mum, Aeri was a broken person but so was Jiyong and now people saw just how broken he  was. The strong aura of a world renowned star was gone. All that was left was a lonely, broken man who yearned for happiness, who yearned for love.

He, who was a billionaire wasn't happy. He, who was surrounded by hundreds, no thousands of people everyday was lonely. He, who was loved and worshiped by millions of people didn't receive love from the one person he wanted it from. 

Life can really be cruel at times.

"Because she is just like you." - said a sleepy voice. Hani who was awake the whole time, answered.

"It's time he knows..." - Hani paused - " it's time everyone here knows it."

Eul nodded her headed. This was the first time anyone ever saw Hani so serious. You could see the hurt in both Eul's and Hani's eyes. It was as if they were about tell a painful tale.

"You might already know that from a tender age of 10, Aeri kept shifting from place to place. No one was ever by her side when she needed them. Tae Oh, Mr and Mrs Park were too busy in their own life's, trying to build their companies that no one paid Aeri much attention, assuming everything was alright. But it wasn't. I met Aeri when she was 16 and trust me she was that kid who pushed anyone and everyone who tried to come close to her away. I was the kind of person who never liked to bother or be bothered by people around me so I just silently observed her." - Eul paused, she was trying to look into her past which was long forgotten.

"Do you know why she pushed everyone away ? It was because she was scared. Scared thinking -' What if, What if the person she is close to leaves her again? She was so scared to be left alone again, but the truth was that she was already alone... in a foreign land." - Hani explained