“I’m…engaged now.”

               Joohyun must have stared at him for a good five seconds, mind wires short circuiting upon trying to find the right thing to say to the man sitting right across from her. In that moment, it truly felt like the world had stood still, and all she could see was that shining band of promise and matrimony. stretched across his finger like a collar. Nothing but that gentle smile on his face amidst a sea of black and white.

               To think she’d been so consumed with her own personal vendetta that she hadn’t considered the reality that Junmyeon might have moved on without her. Was she really wrong in assuming the worst from him?

               “…hyun? Are you alright?”

               She blinked and her lips parted, stuttering as she did when she returned her attention back to the real world.

               “No, I…that’s very nice.” She swallowed and looked down briefly at the empty bowl in front of her. “I’m happy for you. Congratulations.” But if only the world knew how much of an you really are; I hope she’s happy because I certainly wouldn’t if I was in her shoes. With every ounce of willpower she had left in her body, Joohyun stretched her face into a smile so tight that he might have seen the gums peeking out from under her gums.

               “Thank you,” Junmyeon replied, slipping his hand back under the table and idly readjusting the ring on his finger. “Sooyoung is…she’s quite wonderful. Beautiful, intelligent, and even if she’s busy all the time, she and I usually find time to talk.”

               Joohyun couldn’t believe what she was hearing, yet at the same time, it was all entering one ear and exiting out the other. “…Well, it’s been quite a long day,” she replied dryly, throat suddenly parched and pursed so thinly she might as well have not been wearing lipstick that evening. “I have to say, thank you…for the birthday dinner. This was unexpected.” She lowered her eyes down to the bowl in front of her.

               “Ah, right, you need to get home to your – “

               “Daughter. My daughter.” Joohyun briefly grimaced at him before getting up and out of her chair. “We should get going.”

               Junmyeon sighed and smacked his lips, before nodding in agreement. “After you.”

               They arrived back at her apartment not too long after, and once again his car halted in the parking lot right in front of the complex. Joohyun’s resentment-turned-anger faded into…confusion, loss, and a sense of regret upon the realization that Junmyeon was moving on in life.

               As if she could let him easily get away with something like that.

               Instead of staring blankly ahead and letting the rage consume her like it did that previous night, she lent her eyes to the views of the city outside her window. Joohyun was completely oblivious to Junmyeon, who kept his distance and let the silence fester between them, yet he couldn’t keep his eyes away as well.

               “…Here we are,” he spoke quietly, parking the car in the empty lot and staring blankly at the steering wheel before turning back to her. “Good night.”

               Joohyun simply glanced up at him and nodded, face equally as unreadable as she exited the vehicle quietly. “Good night to you too, Junmyeon.” Contrary to the last time he dropped her off in his car, he was already backing out of the parking lot and the sound of her heels hitting the concrete was accompanied by the crunch of his tires on the gravel. Joohyun sighed as the key in her hand turned with a soft click. Her heart was at a crossroads; spite and confusion, or concern and consolation.

               I’m not wrong, am I?

               Mornings were no longer kind to Junmyeon. Dragging oneself out of the dredges of pill-induced sleep never got any better as time passed and every time he drowned himself in sleep with his sleeping pills, it seemed like he was sinking deeper and deeper every time. He hadn’t realized just how absorbed he was with taking his ex-girlfriend out to dinner that he completely forgot he had an important meeting in the morning. Combine that with the sleeping pills, and here Junmyeon was, an hour and a half past his alarm clock and scrambling across his house to get his together and his out the door.

               His perfectly coiffed hair was usually impeccable, but now hung loose by the strands as Junmyeon failed to properly groom it into place. He looked at his watched and inwardly cursed to himself. “I’m late, I’m late, oh I’m late…!” Junmyeon inhaled sharply and grasped the wheel of his car, finally pulling out of the driveway and making progress towards heading to work.

               It wasn’t long after Junmyeon drove out of his neighborhood that the worst was truly about to begin. He picked the least opportune time to make the drive to work; straying just the tiniest bit from his normally airtight schedule left him meeting the beginnings of the work rush. Now he found himself sandwiched in the farthest right of a three-way lane between a Honda and a Toyota.

               8:17AM. Junmyeon normally had the patience of an angel, but his fingers twitched with anxiety as he resisted the urge to slam the palm of his hand on his horn. He lifted himself slightly off his seat to get a look at what was causing his car to move forward an inch every other minute; nothing could be seen ahead of him but the scattered mess of cars all stuck in traffic. A deep sigh slipped out of his mouth and Junmyeon slumped back in the seat of his car.

               …Forty-five minutes. He was stuck in traffic for forty-five minutes before the freeway finally loosened up and he could get some progress on his way to work.

               Junmyeon never saw it coming. One moment he was stopped at the red light just a mere fifteen minutes away from the company parking garage. Then his car lurched forward and his body shot forward, head meeting his steering wheel.

               “Son of a – “

               “What do you mean, Mr. Kim isn’t here yet?” Joohyun stared at Seulgi like Seulgi had just been given authority to fire the CEO’s personal assistant. She’d been pacing back and forth all morning after noticing that the CEO’s office was still locked up since she walked in at eight in the morning. Joohyun even thought about dropping a few messages in the morning (which she did), and came away with nothing from Junmyeon’s end. Eventually she paged Seulgi up from her floor to see if she’d heard anything regarding the missing CEO.

               “I should be asking you that. No one’s heard from him, it’s already 9:38 and he’s not here yet… Has he not messaged you or called you at all?”

               “No…no, he hasn’t…” Joohyun swallowed thickly. Kim Junmyeon was a prompt man, usually found in his office by 7:30 in the morning, already chipping away at his paperwork. Of all the days that Junmyeon would be late, it just had to be the day of one of their biggest meetings to date. Regardless of what happened last night at dinner, this was still something they had been preparing for weeks in advance. So why now?

               “I – I’ll call him right now, actually,” Joohyun started, taking out her phone, but the screen immediately lit up as she did so, showing the familiar lettering of the name Kim Junmyeon. Her eyes shot wide open, and she immediately pressed the green button on the screen before bringing it to her ear. Seulgi watched her cautiously, only hoping for the best before Joohyun spoke. “…Hello?”

               “…Um, hi, Joohyun. Sorry for the late notice.” Junmyeon sighed deeply over the line and Joohyun’s ears perked up.

               “Junmyeon…sir, did something happen? You’re late, we’ve been worried, I – “

               “I know. I’m sorry. I…I got into a car accident after pulling out of traffic.” The secretary nearly choked on her breath and quickly opened to speak, but Junmyeon cut her off. “It’s nothing too bad, ah…I’m in the hospital right now getting checked up. It’s nothing serious, I assure you, just a minor fender bender.”

               Joohyun inhaled deeply and closed her eyes for a brief moment.

               Hospital.

               Junmyeon.

               Accident?

               “…Are you going to be alright, Junmyeon? And the meeting today?”

               There was a moment of hesitation on the line for a good few seconds. Joohyun simply looked at Seulgi, and the two of them exchanged looks of exasperation.

               “…I’m not sure I’m going to be able to make it in time without looking like , but this is a very important meeting and I can’t lose this. Joohyun, I need you to do the meeting without me.”

                “But…,” Joohyun’s voice faltered for the slightest moment. “Are you sure? I don’t know if I can do it all by myself – “

               “Listen. I didn’t pick you to be my personal assistant if I didn’t think you were capable enough. I trust you, Joohyun. So trust in me. I’ll send you the documents I’ve been looking over as soon as I get ahold of my tablet. Talk to you later.” She briefly heard the sound of machinery and the distant chatter of various peoples in the background before the line went silent. Joohyun slipped her phone back into her pocket and inhaled deeply. She wasn’t sure why her chest started pounding and her pulse started rising.

               Seulgi lowered his head at her. “…What did he say? Where is he?”

               “He’s…in the hospital right now. It’s nothing serious. But I’m going ahead with the 11 o’clock meeting without him, and…” Joohyun sighed deeply again and closed her eyes as she exhaled. “…I’m going to be okay.”

               At least, Joohyun hoped she would be.

               “And that finishes this segment of the meeting. We will be continuing discussion regarding strengthening pylons and additional improvements to the infrastructure. In the meantime, please enjoy some refreshments and lunches provided by our catering services.” Joohyun smoothed out the fabric of her skirt and nodded curtly, a tight-lipped smile pressed across her face. The entire conference table returned her gesture with scattered nods of agreement, before returning to speaking amongst themselves. While the sharply dressed businessmen began to busy themselves around the conference room and gather around the food carts being pushed into the glass chamber, Joohyun took the opportunity to slip out and gather the breath she very well needed.

                The meeting room was conveniently placed just a few floors from under her regular workspace, so it didn’t take too long for Joohyun to duck into the nearest elevator and make her way to the break room on her floor. Her heels clacked with each brisk step to the break room, attracting the attention of Seulgi and Seungwan, already perched over their cubicles with cups of coffee in hand. The two women exchanged looks before following the personal assistant into the break room.

               Joohyun clutched the edge of the counter in front of her, staring straight into the pristine, white marble with wide eyes as she tried to calm her nerves. The meeting couldn’t have been any more hectic, just her standing by herself in front of twenty men and women in business suits. Their watchful, unrelenting gazes were burned into the back of her skull, and it had been difficult maintaining her composure under such intense scrutiny. It was not unlike the looks she’d received that first day back from the hospital, an entire classroom going silent because it was her that entered the room.

               Junmyeon, Junmyeon, what is going on…? How could you leave me in a situation like this? It’s happening again, breathe Joohyun, breathe –

               “Joohyun?”

               The assistant flinched at the sound of her name and swiftly turned around, meeting eyes with her fellow coworkers. Seungwan stood there alongside Seulgi, hands clasped over another. “You rushed out of the elevator so fast that we were wondering what happened.”

               “Yeah, are you alright? Nothing happened in the meeting, right?”

               Joohyun pursed her lips and smiled chastely at the two women, before nodding and tucking a lock of her hair behind an ear. “It’s fine. Everything’s fine. I just needed to breathe a little. Too much people in that room. It’s fine. I’m okay.” She swallowed hard again, and breathed out just a little harsher than she would have liked. “…Can I just…can I be left alone for a moment? I just need my space.”

               Again, Seungwan and Seulgi looked at each other but ultimately answered in agreement. “Okay. You take care of yourself, Joohyun.” The shorter of the two women gave Joohyun a gentle smile and clapped her on the shoulder.

               “Don’t work yourself too hard,” Seulgi reminded her with an upturn of the brow, shortly before the two coworkers slipped out of the break room after each other.

               Joohyun didn’t hesitate to smother her face with the palms of her hands after Seulgi and Seungwan left; quietly, she reminded herself to keep it together, whispering silently into the minuscule spaces between her fingers. Her eyes ached but there were no tears, only the ghosts of her sorrows remained on her face. A soft buzzing from her pocket managed to knock her out of her reverie, however. She peeled her fingers away from her eyes and plucked her phone out of her pocket. It was Junmyeon.

               “…H-Hello?”

               “Joohyun? Oh good. I asked Sehun to pick me up from the hospital and we just arrived in the parking garage. Can you meet me in my office?”

               The assistant’s eyebrows furrowed together in suspicion. “W-Wait, but weren’t you just in an accident? Wouldn’t it have been better for you to stay at the hospital?”

               She heard Junmyeon sigh over the line. “I’m…mostly fine. Really.”

               “Junmyeon – “

               “Ah, ah, you can say whatever you want to me when I meet you in person.”

               Joohyun rolled her eyes. Junmyeon, you’ve always been like this – wait. She scrunched her face in disgust. No. Don’t think of him like that. “…Whatever. Make it quick, the meeting’s about to resume soon.”

               “So the meeting’s still going on? That’s wonderful; just catch me up and I’ll take the wheel from there.” Junmyeon paused. “…Well, I can’t quite ‘take a wheel’ for a little while, but you know what I mean. Talk to you later.”

               And before Joohyun could get another word in, the dial tone already came up over the other end. She sighed and pocketed her phone, before blowing air past her lips and leaning back on the counter. Perhaps the thing that bothered her most was that, because none of these bad things were caused by her, she instead felt pity and concern, instead of the satisfaction and vengeance she’d been seeking.

               Still, she found herself hiking over to the elevator, and then again in that isolated metal box, alone with her thoughts and simply awaiting the moment those steel doors slide open. But he beat her to the office, the broadness