I put two freshly-brewed cups of coffee on the table and sat down on a chair, facing Taekwoon. It was still too early in the morning, and none of us were in the mood to talk, and I found myself kind of staring at him. I unconsciously smiled as I took in his appearance. His raven black hair was messy, sticking out in every direction. His face and eyes were a bit puffy, and that made him look like a grumpy kitten. Even so, he wasn’t looking at me. He had his head on his stretched out left arm, looking out the window.

I didn’t like coffee. It was dark and bitter, and I preferred to drink something lighter, but Taekwoon was a coffee-addict and he had a strong preference for the almost-black beverage, so I accompanied him in the mornings. In fact, coffee was my excuse to spend more time with him. Taekwoon was a busy person, and I found myself missing him very often during the day. The only times we could spend together were early mornings, late nights and weekends. Even so, we still loved passionately, just like the first days we got together.

A few minutes passed in silent, and the coffee was getting cold. I have finished mine, the bitter taste lingering in my mouth. Taekwoon was sitting motionless, still staring out the window. He wasn’t even blinking. I stretched out my right hand and put it on his hands, which were now locked together in front of him on the table. He brushed my hand aside, and got up without even looking at me once. He slowly walked towards our bedroom. My heart dropped, and I couldn’t do anything except staring at his back and swallowing the lump in my throat.

I traced the smooth edge of the cup with my fingertips while staring at the beige-colored tablecloth. Taekwoon had been behaving strangely these days. He talked even less than before, and he wouldn’t listen wholeheartedly if I talked. He came back home later than usual, and slept even later. It hadn’t been his first day to leave the house without even touching his coffee. I tried to convince myself with overly optimistic assumptions, like his increased workload, or the possibility of him having had a fight with one of his colleagues. Taekwoon sometimes liked to keep such things to himself, so that would be okay.

Like previous days, Taekwoon left the house, without telling me goodbye, and he wasn’t even running late. After staring aimlessly at the empty chair in front of me for a few minutes, I finally got up and poured the now completely cold coffee into the sink…

***

My boring days were spent either watching TV, listening to music, practicing dance and cooking, which I wasn’t very good at. The routine was just broken sometimes when one of my friends decided to pay a visit. Just like that day when Hongbin called and said he's already on his way here. I couldn’t help the happy smile creeping up my lips. I started cleaning and tidying my apartment up. Not that it was needed anyway, but I just wanted to somehow make the time move faster by busying myself. I was placing the last glass in the cabinet when the doorbell rung, and I almost dropped the glass in my haste and excitement to open the door.

I practically ran to the door, and on the other side of the door was my friend with a huge grin on his handsome face, hands full with plastic bags. I squealed shamelessly and launched forward to embrace him without even letting him remove his shoes or come inside.

"wow, Lee Hongbin! You even brought food!"

"Well yeah… is there anyone not knowing about Cha Hakyeon's horrible cooking skills? I just wanted to save my own stomach."

Hearing this, I let go of him and gave him a well-deserved neck chop. Hongbin would never change, with that sharp tongue of his. He just laughed and gently pushed me aside to take off his shoes.

A few minutes later, both of us were sprawled on the sofa, practically wolfing down the chicken, with our legs tangled together. I liked this feeling. It reminded me of the times when we were much younger and free, living with no worries. I started talking abruptly:

-I wish Taekwoon was here as well… he loves grilled chicken.

I chuckled while grabbing another piece of chicken out of the box, and waited for Hongbin's snarky remark, but it never came. When I raised my head to look at him, I found him staring blankly at the food.

-Ya… what's wrong, Kong? Did you and Sanghyuk have a fight or something?"

A sad smile appeared on his lips, one that didn’t reach his eyes, and he refused to look at me.

-We are fine. Everything's fine.

I gave him a skeptical look, but didn’t say anything. Hongbin wasn’t the type of person who would go around and talk about his problems, and I didn’t want to make him uncomfortable and perhaps even more upset by inquiring more. But I could clearly feel that the air had changed between us after I mentioned Taekwoon, and I was now regretting it. None of us dared to break the silence. The food had gone cold and hard somehow, not tasting delicious like before, rather sticking to my throat like I was eating sand.

We finished the chicken anyway, and I quickly stood up to get rid of the boxes. Once I came back, Hongbin was sitting on the sofa, staring distantly at the white wall in from of him. I let out a quiet sigh and went to sit beside him.

-Kong-ah, you're mad at Taekwoon, right? Has something happened between you two?

Upon hearing me, Hongbin jumped from his seat like he was bitten by something, and turned his body fully towards me.

-Mad??! Hyung, I loathe that bastard! And I'll sure as hell kill him someday if given the opportunity!!

I stared at his face in awe. His eyes were filled with hatred and rage, b with hot, angry tears. I haven’t ever seen him like this up to that day since we became friends, which would be over 10 years. Those icy cold eyes…. That emotionless voice and poisonous tone… they were impossible for me to take in.

-B-but… what-

-Hyung! Yes, he hasn’t done anything to me, but he has done this to you! Take a look at yourself! At the life you've made for yourself!

His loud voice and harsh words brought tears to my eyes, but I didn’t want to cry.

-Ya… Lee Hongbin… What's wrong with my life? Taek… Taekwoon has turned a bit cold towards me. That’s it!

I had unconsciously raised my voice as well, although it was shaking terribly. Hongbin stared at me for a few seconds, and then to my utter surprise, started crying. He covered his face with both of his hands, his sobs filling the room… I really didn’t know what to do or say. I tried really hard to remember what had Taekwoon done to make Hongbin upset to this point, but to no avail. My head was starting to ache when Hongbin's sobs subsided a little. When he finally raised his head, his whole face was red and puffy.

-Hyung… you really don’t remember?

-Remember what? I tried… I really tried! But I don’t remember anything. Hongbin… please tell me what happened?

I didn’t want to sound pleading, but I was, and there was no use trying to hide it.

-Hakyeon-hyung… Taekwoon… that jerk… left you a few months ago and is now having the time of his life with his new lover! But you haven’t let go of him yet… hyung… I'm really worried for you. I…. I…!

But he couldn’t continue because of the sobs that shook his whole body. But I couldn’t hear well, because suddenly there was a sharp pain in my head, and a few seconds some blurred images starting appearing before my eyes. But they weren’t the things I wanted to remember… not in a million years.

Taekwoon's cold voice when he said he was tired of me… his face which looked like that of a statue, stone-hard and emotionless… and eyes filled with disgust… those eyes that someday looked at me with nothing but love in them. I fell to my knees. I, the almighty, ever-proud, ever-confident Cha Hakyeon fell to my knees and begged him not to go with tears streaming down my face, soaking the carpet on the floor. I told him I would change myself to whatever he liked, I'd be anything he wanted me to… but he didn’t even turn around to spare a glance. The last words I heard from him were downright cruel, shattering each piece of my heart that was already torn to thousand millions of shreds: "You were never what I wanted. I just got together with you because I was lonely, I had no other options. But now that I've found the right guy, I see no reason to stay with you even for another minute." After that, I was left with a deafening silence and a too-empty house, but that emptiness couldn’t even compare with the one in my heart.

I don’t know for how long I'd been sitting there on the sofa, hugging my legs and resting my head on my knees. When I became aware of my surroundings once again, the night had already fallen and it was completely dark outside. I slowly straightened out my legs, which had gone numb, and stood up with difficulty. I was hungry, but not in the mood to eat. So, my next option would be the bedroom. I stretched out my whole body and started walking to the bedroom. My heart shook with what I saw, and I smiled unconsciously.

Taekwoon was lying on the bed, and he looked like an angel with his white pajamas and peaceful face. I tiptoed towards the bed and slowly lied down beside him, trying my best not to make a sound. Just as I got comfortable under the blankets, Taekwoon opened his eyes and looked at me, with that warm, adoring gaze. I chuckled and reached for his hand under the blanket, then I whispered: "You love me, right?"

The corners of his lips curled up slightly, and he squeezed my hand, but didn’t say anything. I didn’t need to hear his reply. He was my Taekwoon, and there was no way I'd lose him. It didn’t matter that Hongbin or anyone else said he's left me… I believed in eternal love.

I pushed myself forward on the mattress and got closer to his face, until our foreheads touched. I lifted my hand and caressed his ever-soft bangs, and looked at his face. He'd fallen asleep again, and I wanted to sleep as well, and dream. A dream in which we could be together. A dream I'll never want to wake from.

A/N: I'm sorry if this broke your heart... I cried while writing it as well :/ though I find it odd to get emotional by your own work :") but I cried twice, first time while writing this in my mother tongue, and once when I was writing it in English ;-; Anyways, enough of my ranting! please leave comments and let me know what you thought of this =)