Inhye quickly checked her makeup with a small handheld mirror for any mascara smudges as the subway train headed towards her stop. She was able to get off work early today and was heading over to the elementary school to pick up her son. Over the last year, she had made more and more attempts to be there for Yoonsung. She stepped down from her position as assistant manager so her workload would be less and she’d be able to spend more time with him.

In many ways, she felt bad that she had robbed Yoonsung of a father. All she wanted was Yoongi to be the father she had always wanted for their son, but that might have been too greedy of her. Yoongi had another life to live with a beautiful, young woman that he planned to marry. Who was she to be so selfish and demand him to be a father to the child he never wanted.

Inhye doesn’t think about him often– but when she did, she hoped he was happy. Although she didn’t pay much attention to the music industry aside from a few indie artists here and there, whenever she heard songs of artists from the company he worked at, she wondered if he produced it. Hoseok refrained from talking about him too much whenever they met up too. They’re good friends so she would never ask Hoseok to not talk about him, but Hoseok is a sweet man and understands.

Hoseok has met Yoonsung quite a few times over the year too and established himself as an uncle in the boy’s heart. They would often take super cute pictures together and whether he showed them to Yoongi or not was something she’d never bother to ask. When Inhye wasn’t looking or turned her back just a bit to them, her son would often ask about his father in hushed whispers that were still loud enough for her to hear. ‘Uncle Hoseok, do you think Daddy will like this rock if I gave it to him?’ ‘Mommy says that Daddy and my step mom will give me a half-sister soon and I really want to meet her.’ ‘Does Daddy miss me too?’

The first few months after she asked Yoongi to stop showing up was the hardest for the child. ‘Was Yoonsung a bad boy, Mommy? Is that why Daddy stopped coming to see me?’ The only excuse she could give him was that his father was busy. She lied to him that Yoongi had a lot of work to do so he could no longer come to see him.

‘Does Daddy miss me too?’

‘Baby, of course.’

His innocent, clueless questions poured in even more after Yoongi stopped by for his 8thbirthday party. Although all his friends were there, he spent his entire time with his father mostly crying, laughing over something, or clinging onto Yoongi’s hand. ‘Daddy, I missed you so much.’ he would whisper into Yoongi’s side every now and then. After the birthday party, Yoonsung threw a tantrum about wanting to call his father. Inhye ultimately gave in because she just felt so bad about how she had wronged her son. She let him talk to Yoongi for hours and to the point he even fell asleep to the sound of the man’s voice. For that, Inhye immensely apologized to Yoongi for taking up so much of his time.

Yoonsung’s questions and requests to call Yoongi weren’t as frequent anymore though. At least not after Hoseok started to bond with him. At times, Inhye wondered if Hoseok was the middle man between her ex-husband and her son but she had no proof of it so she couldn’t just accuse him of doing so. It wasn’t that she didn’t want Yoonsung to have a relationship with Yoongi. She truly did, but she wanted her ex-husband to move on because she felt like they were a setback to him. That was really all.

“Yoonsung, look! Your mom is here.” smiled his 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Jung. She was out in the front with her students as they were bidding her good bye for the weekend.

The boy quickly turned around to smile at Inhye. He had recently lost one of his front teeth so there was a cute little gap there. “Mommy!” he yelled. He turned back to his teacher. “Bye, Mrs. Jung! Have a good weekend.” On his way to Inhye, he abruptly stopped to talk to Mr. Kim.

Seeing Seokjin caused Inhye to tense a bit. The rest of last year’s school year became slightly awkward after she made it clear that she wouldn’t date him because she still had feelings for Yoongi. The poor man was devastated, hoping that things would work out between them. Ever since her honest confession to him about how she still have feelings for her ex-husband, things had been a bit tense and awkward between the two. In addition to it all, he ultimately decided to end their friendship since he still have deep feelings for her. When he saw her standing there, he politely bowed in her direction and she did the same. The two didn’t exchange much of a greeting aside from being polite to one another before he turned back to Yoonsung.

After the child’s quick chat with his still favorite teacher, he finally came running to hug Inhye. She hugged him back and then pulled away with a big smile on her face. “Let’s go home.” she suggested, holding his small hand in hers.

“Mommy, can I get some ice cream?” asked Yoonsung, cheekily. The two of them start to walk away from the elementary school and towards their home.

“No, we have some at home.” reminded Inhye.

“But, Mommy.” whined the boy.

“No means no, Baby.” she continued. “Let’s just go home, OK? Mommy needs to go make you dinner and get ready.”

“Ready for what?” asked Yoonsung, curiously. He looked up at his mother with his wide, gummy smile. “Are you going to go see Uncle Hoseok?”

“No, Sweetie. I’m going to go see my friends.” she smiled back.

After stepping down from her assistant manager position, she made friends with a new coworker her age named Soojin. After Inhye got close to her and gained her trust, she told the young woman her life story. Soojin had been suggesting Inhye to go out, date, and have more fun ever since their friendship began. So, Inhye began doing exactly just that but not to the extent that she used to do though. She would go out to bars and lounges at least twice a month or so. In addition to that, she did start to date but most men always freak out when they find out that she has a son.

In an attempt to help Inhye find a man that was at least willing to go out on more than one date with her, Soojin had set the both of them up on a double blind date. She has a close male friend that was interested in Inhye after he heard her talk about Inhye. According to Soojin, that guy was nice, laid back, and very open minded. She felt like he’d be a great catch for the mother. Soojin’s friend was also apparently bringing a friend of his too to the double blind date.

Yoonsung let out a laugh as he dragged Inhye along the road they live on, pulling her out of her thoughts. Just as she was about to tell him to slow down, she caught Yoongi’s familiar figure at the corner of her eyes by one of the neighbor’s home. She quickly turned to look, but saw no one there. This wasn’t the first time it had happened. She had seen this figure a few times throughout the year already and she wondered if he actually watched them from afar or if it was just a fragmentation of her own imagination. She tried not to think too much about it as she and her son head home.

Traffic was,of course, undeniably backed up as she took the bus heading back towards Gangnam. She was hoping that the bus would get her there faster since she knew that the subway would be jam packed as always. Unfortunately, she arrived at least 15 minutes later than expected. At this point Soojin, her friend, and hisfriend were seated and getting ready to order. But, because they were so polite, they were actually waiting for her to arrive first so they could all order together. Inhye felt horrible as guilt sunk into her guts as she took the elevator all the way up to the fancy restaurant on top of the hotel. Apparently these guys made good money, was willing to go all out for the first date, and made her felt even worst about arriving late.

“Where are you guys?” Inhye asked into her phone after the host let her in.

“Oh! I see you! We’re over here!” answered Soojin. A quick wave of her arm let Inhye knew where they were.

Upon arriving at the table, the smile she wore on her face immediately faltered. Yoongi blinked from Soojin’s side, probably just as confused as she was. He was adorned in all black, with a black button up and he just looked so good. “What are you doing here?” the both of them immediately asked one another, in unison.

“You two know each other?” asked Soojin, surprised

“I-” Inhye started, as she glanced at the man sitting by the open seat. He looked like he could be one of Yoongi’s music producing buddies, but she wasn’t entirely sure. “Well, sort of… I’m so sorry for being late. The traffic was just really bad.” She quickly took the seat next to the good looking man. “Hi, I’m Inhye by the way.”

“Mingyu. A pleasure to meet you.” he smiled. The both of them politely bowed to one another. “So, you know Yoongi then?”

Inhye quickly turned to glance at the man sitting diagonal from her. “U-Uh-”

“Yeah. Kind of. But, we’re not close with one another though.” Yoongi replied for her.

Mingyu turned to glance at him. “Oh, c’mon. You two seem awfully surprised to see each other for two people that aren’t close to one another.” chuckled Soojin, as she sipped on the glass of red wine she was swirling. “There’s got to be more to the story.”

“We were married.” blurted out Inhye. If they wanted the truth, then there she went because she wanted to take this chance and just dash for the exit. There was no way she was going to stay for this awkward date after this mess.

“What?” replied Soojin, with wide eyes. Aside from Hoseok, she was the only other person that knew Inhye still had feelings for Yoongi. “Y-Your ex-husband is-” She turned to glance at him.

“Inhye’s my ex-wife.” he nodded in her direction.

“W-Well, if that’s the case then I think Soojin and I should let you two catch upb-because you two-” started Mingyu.

“Definitely!” agreed Soojin. She immediately downed her half drunken wine and grabbed her purse hanging on her chair.

“W-Wait. You two don’t need to leave. Yoongi and I can leave. In fact, it’s probably better if-” said Inhye.

“I think we should be the ones that should leave. Not you two.” mentioned Yoongi, quickly standing up.

“No, it’s totally OK.” refuted Mingyu, as he stood up as well. He turned to look at Soojin. “Come on. Let’s go.” Then, he turned to Inhye with the sweetest smile. “It was such a pleasure to meet you and I’m so sorry that I’m leaving our would-be date like this. I would love to go out with you and get to know you, but you’re Yoongi’s ex-wife and we’re friends so that’d be a little awkward.”

“It’s fine.” said Inhye. It really would be awkward to date her ex-husband’s friend and she wasn’t ready to put herself in that situation. “I totally understand.”

“Dinner’s on me by the way. And, I’ll pay for my own drink on the way out.” Soojin quickly pulled out two 50,000 won bills and put it on the table. “I’m so sorry about tonight. I didn’t know that– I’m sorry.”

“If you’re sorry, then don’t leave.” stated Inhye, reaching across and grabbing her coworker’s hand.

“She’s right. If you two really do feel bad about this, then don’t leave.” chimed in Yoongi, looking at the two people that were ready to bail out on them.

“As someone who knows everything that happened between the two of you,” responded Soojin, as she glanced at Inhye and then back at Yoongi. She pulled her hand out of Inhye’s. “I think you two should really take this chance and catch up.”

The ex-wife and husband didn’t stop their friends from leaving after that statement. Inhye shifted in her seat a bit, as she pulled her phone out of her bag to check the time. She had only been in the restaurant for a total of 10 minutes. Cheers to another date going straight down the drain. At this point, she wasn’t surprised anymore. It wasn’t like she was looking for a serious relationship either. She was lonely and just wanted some form of company every now and then. Was that so hard to ask for? Apparently, it was.

“I’m just going to head home now.” she announced, as she grabbed the money Soojin left and stuffed it in her purse. “I’ll just give this back to Soojin when I see her next week.”

“W-Wait, you can’t just leave.” said Yoongi.

“Yes, I can.” stated Inhye, as she stood up.

“At least eat something first before you go home.” pleaded Yoongi, standing up as well. “I’ll pay.”

“It’s OK. I’m not hungry anyways.” replied Inhye, as she started walking away.

Yoongi followed her soon after he let a server know that they wouldn’t be having any dinner there. The man caught up to her while she was waiting for the elevators and she let out an irritated sigh. “Soojin and Mingyu are right though. We should take this chance and catch up.” From the corner of Inhye’s eyes, she could see him nod his head.

“I think we should just go home, to be honest.” stated Inhye.

“I know that you hate me and all, but at least let me buy you dinner. It’s been an entire year since you’ve told me to stop being in Yoonsung’s life and we barely even talked at his birthday party… You don’t need to act like we’re strangers because we’re not.” muttered Yoongi.

Inhye quickly turned to glance at him. “Sure, we’re not complete strangers. But, you don’t even know me.” she pointed out.

That seemed to have struck a chord with Yoongi because he suddenly looked at her with these sad eyes. “I don’t.” he agreed. “But, I do know that you like listening to the piano when it rains. A-And, you like the color pink and flowers.”

Inhye glared at him. “That’s only because Yoonsung told you. Do you really think he wouldn’t tell me about how you had asked him about the things I like?”

He couldn’t respond to her statement as they continued to wait there. But, he did speak up upon entering the elevator though. Miraculously, they were alone and this provided a chance for privacy. “Aren’t you a bit curious as to why I was even here today? Or, what has happened within the last year?” he asked her, pressing the button for the lobby. For whatever reason, she was just so shaken up by seeing him there that that haven’t even crossed her mind. “Miyoung and I met up on the day you saw her after our trip to Daegu… She didn’t want to get back together so, no, she’s not in my life anymore… On top of all that, I’ve also started to contact my family less and less over the course of the year because they didn’t respect what I wanted and– And, what my mom did to you is still not fine. I’m still angry over that.”

Inhye felt her jaw dropped, shocked. “Y-Yoongi, I’m so sorry.” she immediately apologized. “If I had known that things were going to-”

“It’s not your fault,” he quickly interrupted her. “I think it’s about time that you stop apologizing for things that you’ve never did wrong. With Miyoung, it wasn’t Yoonsung you. I should’ve been more honest with her about things and introduced the both of you to her sooner. With my family, I should’ve never let them treat you and Yoonsung the way they did when we were married and even now after the divorce. This is actually all of my fault and I should be the one saying sorry instead.”

Inhye looked at him in disbelief. After all these years, it looked like Min Yoongi had finally grown up surprisingly enough. When he first came to her doorsteps last year, she knew that he wasn’t the adult that he claimed to be. He was still just as brash and selfish as he once was when they were married. The only difference was that he actually wanted to get close to their son. The Min Yoongi standing in front of her now seemed battened by the twists and turns of life, but that didn’t seem to leave him bitter. Instead, it made him very gentle with his actions and words. He had never cared whether or not if she had eaten before let alone offering to pay for a meal. He has definitely changed and Inhye couldn’t say that she liked this or not.

She opened to say something when her stomach replied to his apology for her instead. He flashed her his gummy smile as he glanced down at her stomach. “Looks like you arehungry after all.” he chuckled. “Let’s go grab something to eat. I promise an hour with me won’t be that horrible.”

Inhye stared at him, as the elevator dinged open on the lobby floor. “Yoongi, it’s really OK. I can eat at home.” She quickly stepped out and walked immediately towards the exit, but her new heels were unfortunately slowing her down. “I was barely in that restaurant for 10 minutes and was already rejected. The only thing I want to do now is to go home.”

“Let me pay for your cab ride home at least. I’d offer you a ride, but I didn’t bring my car so–” started Yoongi, following her closely at her side.

“No, it’s OK.” replied Inhye, getting annoyed at the fact that he just couldn’t seem to take a hint.

“No, it’s not. Just let me pay for your ride home.” Yoongi pushed on, as Inhye started to walk faster away from him.

“I’m taking the bus so you can keep your money.” she retorted as she walked out of the hotel and down to street.

“The bus?” asked Yoongi, confused. He was right at her side even as she sped up. “Just take a cab. It’ll be faster that way.”

Inhye didn’t bother r