He needed a break, he’d said. “I think we need to take some time for ourselves…” he sighed.

“What?” I whispered.

Sehun closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing tiredly, his other hand propped against his hip.

I look around at the mess that we made—that I had made. I was so mad at him that I didn’t think twice when my mind decided to act on impulse. I had wanted to throw something at him, but I couldn’t hurt him—I would never hurt him. But the anger was so immense that I began to throw things to the wall next to him. And the final blow was when I threw the framed picture of us together—the glass shattering everywhere. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sehun’s neighbor would call the police by now.

I was so blinded by madness that I didn’t see clearly. I didn’t even notice how tired Sehun looked.

“Look at us,” he muttered. “We’re not functioning well…  this isn’t healthy.”

We had been steering off course for the past month. Sehun had been so occupied with his work, and I was so stressed out from doing my thesis because my residency was almost finished, and the deadline was nearing. We both needed each other for comfort, but at the same time, we brought our stresses with us when we saw each other. That was why the past month was filled with arguments and moot debate.

My anger slowly ebbed away, now that Sehun threw the cold water on my face. Was he breaking up with me? What did ‘break’ mean?

I knew I’d messed up. Sehun was leading this major project, building the city’s new bridge that involved lots and lots of stakeholders—including the Mayor himself. He’d been tired, and there I was, being a to him.

I watched as Sehun walked tiredly to the couch, avoiding the glasses on the floor. He sighed again deeply and leaned his head on the headrest of the couch, closing his eyes. Guilt washed down on me as I watched him. Tired as he was, he was still so breathtaking that I was reminded of one of the reasons why I fell in love with him.

“What do you mean, Sehun?  Are you breaking up with me?” I said with a harsher tone than I’d let.

Sehun opened his eyes and glanced at me. “Depends on how you want to take it.”

Vague as usual, Sehun was talking with his diplomatic voice. He didn’t want to be the one to end this, because he didn’t want to hurt me, I knew that. But that angered me more. If he wanted to end things, then he should be the one to say it.

“No, don’t give me that . If you want us to stop, say it,” I say, my voice choking at the last words.

Sehun groaned and closed his eyes with the heels of his palms, “Ugh, I can’t deal with you right now…” he mumbled.

“Excuse me?!” I shrieked. Who did he think I was? I wasn’t his subordinate that he could dismiss so easily. I knew that he was used to being a boss at the office, but I wasn’t his employee, damn it. “You don’t want to deal with me?” I started to rush to grab my purse and jacket from the couch next to him. “You want a break? Fine. I will give you a break.”

I was almost out the door when I felt him pulling on my elbow, turning me to him. “Baby, stop, I didn’t mean—“

“—no. This is the last time I’m having you treat me like this, Sehun. I know you’re tired, I know you’re stressed out, but so am I! I’m not your secretary, Sehun, don’t you use that attitude with me,” I pulled my arm back. “Don’t call me before you stop being an ,” and then I marched out of his apartment.

Two weeks after that night, Sehun still obeyed my words. He never once called or texted me. At first, I didn’t think of anything, but then I started wondering in my mind. Was he thinking about me at all? What has he been doing? Was he doing okay? Was he eating well? How was his project going? He usually called me at night when we couldn’t see each other and kept me updated on how his work was progressing.

**

On the night of Junmyeon’s birthday, I was forced to go to his stupid party. It was stupid because he invited all of his friends, including my ex-boyfriend. And it was stupid because Junmyeon had insisted me to come. I had confessed that I was feeling ill, but he’d called me on my lie.

He’d invited all of his closest friends from college and some of his family. The party was held at a hotel ballroom. Junmyeon was rich as hell, but he wasn’t one to show it to the world and certainly wasn’t one to spend it over trivial thing such as his birthday. That crazy rich son of a was definitely going overboard this time.

I showed up wearing a simple red dress with my old pair of heels. I didn’t even bother to look pretty because I wasn’t feeling like I wanted to impress anyone. Not even Sehun. Once inside the ballroom, I searched for Junmyeon immediately.

Instead, I was greeted with Jongin instead, who came alone for the night. “Hey, lovely,” he whispered before kissing my cheek with a soft peck.

“Hi, Jongin,” I smiled at him.

Jongin gave me a dazzling smile, “How are you doing? It’s been, what, almost a month isn’t it?”

I chuckled at him. “Yeah, sorry… it’s just that I’m kinda busy at the hospital and thesis, you know.” I smiled bashfully.

“Ah, our future surgeon,” he smiled again, making me giggle. Jongin was a handsome man whose smile would drop girls at their knees. And it seemed that I wasn’t immune to it. He wasn’t a playboy, but he was Seoul’s one of eligible bachelor at the age of 29. I’ve always wondered why he was single when he could practically just point at one of the girls lining behind him.

“Oh no, not yet, let’s just hope I passed the tests first.”

“I’m sure you’ll do fine,” he replied. He then looked at the present I was holding. “Um, they’re piling up the gifts right there,” he pointed to a huge round table at the far side of the ball room piled with various gifts.

“Ah, right,” I awkwardly waved my present.

Jongin then ushered me inside towards the table. “So, where’s Sehun?”

I flinched inwardly at his question. “I, uh, actually came alone,” I smiled awkwardly.

“Oh? Did he come straight from the office?” Jongin asked, completely clueless.

We arrived at the table and I put my present on top of another present. “Actually, I don’t know…” I trailed. Jongin still looked confused with his silent stare at me, so I decided to put the guy out of his misery. “We broke  up, Jongin,” I gave him a small but sad smile.

“Oh…” Jongin trailed, taken quite aback. “I’m so sorry,” he stepped closer and touched my elbow, giving it a light squeeze. My eyes instinctively flew to his hand. “Pardon me for asking, but, what happened? I mean, you guys were inseparable, and even when you fought, you guys always became lovey dovey again in the next day…”

I sighed, pulling my arm away, masking it by tucking my hair behind my ear. “Well, I guess we aren’t as inseparable as you’d thought…” I smiled.

Jongin had always been nice to me. Too nice, in fact, that sometimes I felt a bit overwhelmed by him. It wasn’t that I didn’t like him, but somehow I felt like he was into me. And Sehun realized that too. He never liked it when I was being close to Jongin.

But then I remembered that Sehun and I were no longer together, so I didn’t have any more reason to distance myself from Jongin. Actually, it felt nice to have a company for the night. “Jongin, would you…” I trailed, unsure if what I was about to do was going to be the right thing. I didn’t want to lead him on, but I wanted to be cordial to him. “I’m going to look for Junmyeon, will you come with me?”

Jongin suppressed a smile, but it came out as a chuckle. And I thought it was cute. “Sure,” he mumbled before putting his hand on the small of my back, ushering me towards where Junmyeon was, greeting people as they wished him happy birthday.

 Junmyeon was standing at the far side of the small ballroom, linked with his long-time girlfriend, Joohyun. Once Joohyun spotted me and Jongin walking towards them, she tapped Junmyeon on the shoulder and gestured towards us. Junmeyon beamed upon seeing me, and immediately hugged me when I was in front of him.

“Happy birthday you old man, what’s with all the festivities?” I couldn’t help but ask as I pull back.

Junmyeon laughed, “It’s actually more than just my birthday celebration…”

I frowned at him, not getting what he meant. But then Joohyun lifted her hand and showed me the biggest diamond ever put on someone’s finger. I gasped and squealed, grabbing Joohyun’s fingers, my smile wide as ever. “Oh my god! Unnie, congratulations! So this is an engagement party too?!”

“Yeah, we decided to announce tonight. That’s why our parents are here…” Joohyun gestured to where her parents were. The Baes lived in Japan, but Joohyun stayed in Korea in order to run her fashion retail. And the fact that her parents were present meant that this was indeed serious.

I couldn’t help but squeal again and threw myself at Junmyeon. “I’m so happy for you, oppa,” I beamed at him.

We chatted some more for a few minutes before Joohyun suddenly chirped. “Oh! Jongin-ah, I’d like to introduce you to someone,” she then turned to me, “Can I steal him for a second? I’d like him to meet one of my designers.”

“Oh,” I shook my head. “No, of course, go ahead.”

Joohyun smiled sweetly at me, and then she grabbed Jongin’s arm. Jongin quickly leaned down and gave me a peck, “I’ll be right back.”

I stood there, frozen at the feel of his lips against my cheek. It was light, but it still left me quite an impact. I watched with a smile as Jongin sauntered away, talking with Joohyun. But then my eyes caught sight with something—or rather someone. The narrow eyes that had always captivated me. And even thought we hadn’t seen each other for more than two weeks, they still managed to make me breathless.

Before I could stare any longer at Sehun’s eyes, I looked away and faced Junmyeon back. But when I looked up at him, he was frowning towards Sehun. And then his reprimanding eyes went back to me. “What are you doing coming here with Jongin?”

I scoffed at his sudden change. “Jongin is a friend. Can’t I go anywhere with my friend?”

“Yes, you can, but not with Jongin. And not when Sehun is here,” he said curtly. “You know Jongin has had his eyes on you since day 1, and you know how Sehun feels around him.”

I was quite taken aback by his demeanor—silently telling me that he was siding Sehun. Why did he side with him? It wasn’t like I was the one who broke everything off. Sehun practically threw the bait saying that he needed a break, and I was merely giving him what he wanted.

“Why not? I don’t think he would care anyway, since he was the one who broke up with me.”

Junmyeon’s expression changed. “Did he?”

“You don’t know? Did he tell you otherwise?”

He shook his head. “He only said that he made a mistake and that you were angry. I didn’t know you two broke up…”

“He said he needed a break. And I told him not to call me before he pulls his head out of his … and then I just left…” I said in a small voice.

Junmyeon sighed, “No wonder he’s been a wreck this past few weeks—hey, Hunnie…”

“Hyung, happy birthday.”

I gasped internally at his voice, suddenly behind me. Sehun gave Junmyeon a brotherly hug. “Thanks,” Junmyeon replied.

Sehun then turned to me, his eyes soft and slightly tired. I bet he was still working until late nights on that project. “Hey,” he softly greeted me.