Yoona’s POV

There were no words spoken during the car ride. Like always, he didn’t want to talk about it, so he remained taciturn about what just happened. I also didn’t want to speak about the woman who introduced herself as his first love. I didn’t want to discuss why he left me there while he spoke to her as everyone in the restaurant stared at me with pity and misfortune. In their eyes, I was a desperate wife who could not keep a faithful husband.

It was pretty late when we reached the house. A servant opened the door for the both of us, and they soon scattered after sensing the tension between the both of us. I just wanted to take a quick shower and go to sleep. I also secretly wished that Seunghyun would head straight to the office to do last minute revisions for projects like some nights before bed. As soon as we entered the house, I felt desolation. The maids went to their quarters, and the guards knew that we had conflict, so they remained outside. We were alone together, and my plan was to head upstairs right away.

“Yoona, wait.”
His voice cut through soundlessness in the air. He was actually the first to speak? I was in utter shock. It was usually me who tried to talk to him. I put my hand on the railing to the stairs and then turned around to look at him.

“We need to talk about what the hell just happened,” he finally expressed.

I stared fiercely at him with both equal outrage and annoyance. He actually wanted to talk about what happened! For the first time in four years, my husband wanted to talk about what the hell was wrong with our marriage. I was greatly amused as I crossed my arms across my chest.

I scoffed, “You are Choi Seunghyun. You don’t talk about your personal problems. You just ignore them.”
“I know what you saw looked bad,” he made known, “Bom is like that. She has no filter, and she does that to Jiyong, too. Taeyeon hates her, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you hated her, too.”

“That does not account for your actions! You left me alone so you could talk to her. I looked so stupid,” I argued, “I already look stupid enough in everyone’s eyes, and you had to make it worse.”

His brows furrowed as he looked at me. He his lips before he sighed deeply as if he was extremely irritated with every word that came out of my mouth. I could not believe this. We were actually having our first argument, and he had not walked away yet and used a lame excuse like he needed to do work.

“Is that why you had to run off with Taecyeon? Did he already sweep you off your feet?” Seunghyun mocked.

My jaw dropped at his insult as I turned around and marched up the stairs. I guess it was me who was going to leave before this argument got even deeper. To my complete surprise, Seunghyun followed me closely, but he didn’t touch me.

“I know you may think he’s dreamy, Yoona, but he’s not a good man. He always has a new girlfriend, and he plays with their emotions,” Seunghyun listed.

The frustration was growing inside of me, and I just wanted to scream. Four years of forcing every emotion I had inside was starting to build up, and I felt like I was going to explode with absolute terror that I would say something that I was going to regret.

“And you think you don’t play with my emotions? I agreed to marry you because I was forced, but I tried so hard to get to know you—and it feels like I’m still trying! I know you’re a good man, but you’re like a stranger to me!” I exclaimed, “You always push me away, and all you do to me is take and take more pieces of me. I try to take from you, but you don’t let me! I don’t know you, Choi Seunghyun. To this day, I still wonder why you wanted to marry me. You gained nothing from marrying me. Why me? Don’t you regret it? You could have had anyone you wanted—any model, actress, or singer—you could have swept any woman off her feet and—”

“Enough!” he cut in, “I do not regret my decision to marry you. If this is your way of bringing up the possibility of a divorce, I will reject it right away. We are not going to get a divorce.”

But we weren’t working out. It was a constant battle with him, and I was the only one who made an effort in this marriage.

“I won’t ask for half of your money or anything,” I pointed out, “I just think it’s better for the both of us. You seem happier on your own without me.”

“I don’t care about the money. As my wife, you can have a lot of things in this world, but a divorce is not one of them,” he stated nonchalantly.

I screamed, “You are unbelievable, Choi Seunghyun!”

“You’re getting closer to getting to know the real me,” he ridiculed as he walked to the home office.

______________________________________

Seunghyun’s POV

I wasn’t a rich man. I lived in a small house with my mother and brother, but I was trying to make it big. I had the chance to pitch ideas to two businessmen, and I had failed the first one. The first businessman laughed at my face because he said I was underprepared and lacked confidence. The truth was that I did lack that confidence. I was afraid of the unknown, and I didn’t want to be like the other businessmen who failed because of their lack of passion.

And then there was Bom. She had just gotten married to a monster. I tried to warn her earlier about him, but she cried and screamed at me. She made me leave, and she went off to Canada to marry a rich man who wasn’t a good person. Life just wasn’t going well for me. I was depressed, and my family didn’t even notice. They thought I was just being the same old Seunghyun. They thought the silence and isolation was a part of me—they thought I was a robot.

I covered my whole body up well. The winter cold air was piercing, and I also didn’t want anyone to recognize me. I wore a facemask, a hat, and I even put my hood on. I stood over the bridge, and beneath the bridge were deep icy waters that would surely take a life. Was I really going to do this? Was this my only option?

“Do you want half my sandwich?” I heard a woman say.

I turned to see a woman with dark brown hair. She was wearing a thick winter coat, a pair of boots, and she had a 12-inch sandwich in her hands. She looked like a rich girl, and I had no idea why she was talking to me. She was like a ghost for goodness sake. She came out of nowhere.

I didn’t say anything, and she laughed to herself.

“Ah, playing hard to get, I see,” she hummed, “You may think I’m a little weird, but I promise you I’m a good person. It’s just that my favorite sandwich shop had a special today. They said that if I paid 150 won more, they would make my 6-inch sandwich a 12-inch. I thought it was a great idea, but when I sat down here to eat, I realized that it’s way too much food for me.”
She was babbling on a lot. Was she always like this? She spoke to strangers and offered them food. How could she say that she was not weird? She was very odd. The woman handed me the other half of her sandwich and grinned happily at me.

“Mister…I don’t know you, but I know what you’re thinking,” her tone changed, “I know what you’re thinking because I think about it all the time. You see my father wants me to get married soon. My father owns a small company, and he wants to make it big. He thinks that if I marry someone influential, he’ll finally succeed.”

I sensed the sadness in her eyes. She was so beautiful, and that misery did not suit well on her face. Tears formed in her eyes as she quickly wiped them away with her fingertips.

“My brothers told me that the two top candidates are in their 40s,” she revealed, “I’m getting sold off like a prized animal. Mister…everyone has their problems, but I really want you to consider what you are planning to do.”

“Then why did you come here to this place?” I finally asked.

This bridge was known for suicides. Broken souls gathered here to end their lives and hope that there wasn’t an afterlife. This was a place of last resorts, and if this woman was not planning on taking her own life, why was she here?

“This is my way of tricking myself that I do have a choice with my life,” she told me, “I know I won’t do it, but this is my way of telling myself I chose not to do it. It was entirely up to me—not my father or brothers. I chose to live.”

She then laughed as her whole demeanor changed. She was a wretched woman who was pretending to be happy.

“My name is Im Yoona. I will make the best of my life no matter what happens, and I hope that you do the same, mister.”

Im Yoona. I was going to remember that name