After the forth ring, someone’s voice finally spoke, picking up the call that she made seconds ago. “Hello?” the almost breathless voice greeted, probably running to answer this phone call. Irene’s lip formed a small smile before opened up to speak then. “What took you so long to answer my call, Im Jinah?” Irene asked, rolling her eyes at the same time as if her best friend was standing right in front of her at that time.

A breathless chuckle escaped from Jinah’s mouth as she heard the question coming from Irene seconds ago. “Sorry for that. I’m in the kitchen just now, cleaning up the table and just finish washing the dishes after dinner earlier. I’m glad that you call, I’m missing my friend, you know. It’s been a while since we have our time out together.”

Irene could not deny agreeing with Jinah’s word though. “Yeah, it’s been a while. Well, both of us busy with each other’s life, I’m not surprise with that. Plus, we’re both have our own family to take care for.” Irene stated the fact, taking a seat on the end of the queen-sized bed in the bedroom then after been pacing around alone for a moment.

“Couldn’t agree more. Anyway, what are you doing? Is Yumi there with you? Can you send my love towards her?” Jinah said with a cheerful, high voice which unknowingly pulled Irene into a deep emotion, trying to hide away the guilt and painful stab inside her body at that time. Even her brain at that time could not process properly – not when knowing her husband, Mino being in the same place with her right now; only that staying different room in the log cabin, the one next to her room.

“Irene? Hello? Are you still there?”

“Yeah, I’m still here, Jinah. Still alive.” She mumbled quietly, letting out a small sigh.

Being friend with the rose gold hair woman for few years already; it wasn’t hard for Jinah to not know the ‘symptoms’ that Irene shows whenever something big or stressful bugging in her life. Or to be exact, filling up her mind till the extend she would feel so frustrated because of keep thinking about that thing.

“What’s wrong? What is it that bugging you, Irene? And please, don’t give me that ‘I’m fine’ sentence because I know you are not. Spill it out. Now.” Jinah demanded which Irene responded with a scoff, rolling her eyes – finding it a bit annoyed that Jinah could read her that easily even though she did not even say a word about the problem that messing with her life at the moment.

What a good friend.

Jinah waited for the golden hair woman to speak, taking her time patiently as she let Irene to have some time before telling her the truth – a usual way that she always does whenever giving a chance Irene to speak about her problems. “I… I-I ran away from home. What I mean is that, I left Mino and Yumi out of sudden, leaving only note and being away for like… few days already.” Irene quietly confessed, not remembering clearly the number of days she has been here since the first place.

“You did what!?” Irene had to distance the phone away from her ear, totally expecting this from Jinah when she told her friend about what she had done. Besides, it’s not the first time Jinah screamed at Irene for something that she done before in her life which although few times, what she did kind of nonsense and typically childish and absurd.

“Are you crazy, Irene?! Oh God, what are you thinking?! Where are you right now? Did you call Mino after you gone? How about Yumi? Seriously, what the hell you’re thinking, woman? You better have a good damn reason for doing this stupid, narrow-minded think!” Jinah muttered through gritted teeth, could only sigh and shake her head in dismay, trying to calm herself at the same time. Her husband, Kris who was standing not far from where she was – playing along with their children turned to look at her with confused and concern expression displayed on his dashing face.

Irene took a deep breath, messaging her temple by putting some pressure with her fingers. “Can you listen to what I’m going to say at least? And if you want to be mad or mock me or whatever you want, you can do that. But first, give me some time to explain why I’m doing this. Why on earth I could think to run away and gone temporarily from my family and left everything behind without looking back.”

The golden hair woman could hear Jinah exhaled a deep breath, did not speak anything then as she probably waited for her cue to explain. “I have my own reason why I’m doing this, you know. Why I take this decision in my life. And yes, I know what you’re thinking. You probably think that I’m such a selfish person, an irresponsible one and also might be someone that just follow her own feeling without even care about others.” Irene quietly muttered, staring down at the floor as she spoke.

“The thing is that, I’m tired, Jinah. I’m exhausted with all the problem that come to me all at once. I don’t even know why I’m always should go through this kind of thing. I know that you will say what marriage won’t be a problem, right? I agree with that but what will you feel if your husband treats you like nothing in his life? As if, you just his wife merely for the eyes of the public, the status on the contract and vows that both of you once shared before. That you are his wife but only for the out layer of your marriage. How that’s sound? Painful, isn’t it?” Irene pressed her lip together, pausing for few seconds before continued. “I figured that Mino probably think and feel the same way like I do, just like how I truly trust him in my life but, I don’t think he thinks the same way as I thought he would be. In fact, I feel like our ten years of marriage doesn’t mean anything to him at all.”

Jinah could not help but to feel confused and surprised after hearing the words coming from Irene. A part of her thought that it would be like impossible for Irene to say such a thing like this but based on what she heard before, her friend seemed to be meant about the words came out from . “What do you mean, Irene? Why would you say something like that? Is it that bad the problem between both of you?” she carefully asked Irene, not wanting her to feel more hurt that she already did.

Irene shrugged, taking a deep and long breath then. She bit her lip slowly, taking some time again to gather her strength before finally opened to speak again. “Mino told me that he decided to quit from being an ice hockey player – meaning that, he’s not going to play for his team or any other teams anymore.”

“Oh, so it is true then?”

This time, Irene was the one who frowned, confusion displayed all over her beauty face. “What do you mean?” she asked curiously, not understanding why would Jinah responded to her like that. “Well, first thing first, please don’t misunderstand or anything. Actually, I did hear about this news from Kai. He told me that Mino said about his decision to quit and retire from the ice hockey thing. I thought that younger man was just joking around and maybe, Mino also joked with him about this matter. But, since you just told me earlier about this, I guess it is true then. I was very shocked when Kai told me about this because I know how Mino really passionate in this field. Plus, this is his long-life dream, why would he just throw it away like that? After being so hard and gone through everything, it was impossible for me to put in the picture of him deciding on something like this.”

“Let me guess, he didn’t tell you about this? Is that why both of you argue right now?” Irene only replied with a silent hum, not knowing what to say next. “Does he know where you are right now? Have you call him or Yumi to update about your condition towards them?”

Irene let out a small sigh then, combing her golden hair roughly with her fingers as she pulled back behind, trying to calm herself with Jinah’s too many questions. “Nobody knows where I am except for Elaine, my secretary. But now, the truth is out and here he is with me at my family’s log cabin. Yumi is not here anyway, she’s staying with Mino’s parent temporary since Mino came all the way here to find me back.” Irene explained, shaking her head as she clearly remembered how stubborn and determine Mino looked like when he found her here at this place.

“I see. So, what happen? Have both of you settle the problem?”

“Well, that’s the reason why I’m calling you right now because I honestly don’t know what to do.” Irene talked back, huffing a breath as she frowned slightly, feeling frustrated with the current condition between Mino and her. “What do you mean you don’t know? What – do you expect this problem will solve by its own?” Jinah said in sarcastic tone, snorting at Irene afterwards. “I’m not saying it that way, Jinah. It just that the problem is too complicated. What I’m trying to say here is that, it won’t be easy this time for me to forgive and let go the problem that occur between the two of us.”

Jinah pursed her lip, thinking about Irene’s words just now. “Why not?” she simply asked, not understanding the reason why Irene would say such a thing.

A deep sigh escaped from Irene’s mouth as she stood up again, this time walking towards the small window in her room, throwing her sight at the outside view. “Because I don’t know if it’s worth it for me to do that. Don’t get me wrong, Jinah. I can forgive him and trust him again but then, what? What if this kind of problem comes again? As if rewind in my life and I don’t have the choice but to keep repeating and going for the same thing all over again. That’s why I’m tired. So damn tired, you know.” Irene mumbled quietly under her breath, her pair of eyes became teary as another wave of emotion hit her.

“Hey, don’t cry. It makes you ugly, like seriously.” Jinah tried to joke around, knowing that her best friend was fighting with her inner self, trying to act strong enough to not cry at the moment.

“Who says that I’m crying? I’m not!” Irene said, defending herself although the golden hair woman knew it just a lie that she did to cover up herself. To be honest, Irene did not know how many times already that she cried at the log cabin despite that she promised herself to not cry and think about the problems that stressing her out. The main reason why she decided to come here is to keep herself away from thinking the problem and try to use some time alone to calm herself. But looking at how many times she could not help herself to think and even cry about the problem that she faced, it just a failure for the golden hair woman though. Maybe running away from the problem is not really a good way to solve but well, she just could not help it. She’s not a robot that doesn’t have any feeling. She also a human being; who had a limitation when it comes to be patience in life.

“Look, Irene. I know that whatever happen between both of you right now is depressing. Yeah, I know because I’ve also had been there before with my husband. And yes, it was painful, stressing and even worn you out till the level you’re feeling to give up and throw all this far away. But, listen to me. I’m not going to blame you for behaving like this because if I’m in your shoes, I would probably feel and do the same thing too. I mean – if Kris does that to me, he probably need to work hard to gain my trust back towards him. It’s not like you don’t trust your own husband but to give in and be able to believe him back after what he done; that’s the main issue here.”

“Am I right if I say that you already forgive him but you don’t know if you want to give him another chance, isn’t it? And also, because you want to see his efforts to gain everything that he lost before from you. Tell me if I’m wrong, Irene.” Jinah prompted, smiling to herself when Irene suddenly being silenced – meaning that what she told the golden hair woman just now was true.

“I’m not saying what you do right now is wrong because you have rights to do that. But, remember one thing. Don’t take it too hard because then, this problem will never be solved, trust me. If both of you keep being egoistic with each other, in the end, what will be the result, right? Take your time if you want but not too long. No matter what, Mino is still your husband. He done something wrong; everyone does because there is no human in this world doesn’t make a mistake but it’s not our job to punish and judge. What we can do is learn from the mistake. Like I told you, marriage takes a lot of hard works. You can't expect everything going to be like the romantic novel – happy, sweet ending all the time. This is real life, there’s a bitterness in a sweetness. Deal with it, not run away from it.” Jinah gave a full advice, hoping that it would make Irene to open her mind and somehow solve the problem that Mino and she have.

Irene lightly scoffed, raising her eyebrows as the amaze feeling filled inside her. This is probably one of the reasons why Jinah is her best friend. Not because of their friendship but also because, the woman understands her especially with few problems that she faced before. And even though Jinah is the same age with her, still, that friend of hers act and think more mature than she is. Not that Irene is the childish one but when it comes to talk about life and give advices, Jinah is the one that much better in doing that.

The two of them continued to talk for another ten minutes before Jinah excused herself, telling Irene that she already took some time from being away with her family. Looking at Jinah’s family life, Irene could not help but to feel envy with what her friend has. Don’t get her wrong. Of course, she’s happy for Jinah and her family but seeing them in that kind of way compared to what she’s facing right now, she felt like losing everything behind.

Well, maybe because everyone has their own problems. And it’s not about fair or not, win or lose but the main point is that how you cope with that problems of yours and the ways you try to solve it. That’s what matter though.

By the time, Irene came out from her room, it was quarter past nine and the fact that she’s feeling hungry and her stomach was growling to be filled at the same time forced her to go out rather than keeping herself locked inside the room ever since the evening.

It was quiet but the golden hair woman still could catch the sound of television coming from the living room area, indicating that Mino was probably there, watching the television. Taking a deep breath, Irene then walked herself towards the kitchen first, searching for something that she could eat. Little did she forgot was that, there’s nothing much to be eaten since the food stock that her secretary bought for her before along her staying at this cabin already finished.

To be honest, Irene’s intention for today was going to the nearby shop or market around the area to go and buy something for her since she would be staying at the cabin for few days more. What she did not expect was to find Mino suddenly being here with her, surprising her in every aspect that she could never think about.