They don't have a wedding.  It's the one thing Minseok regrets after five years of marriage.  There are no photos to burn, no gifts to break or destroy.  The only things to destroy are the house and their rings.  But it's been a while since Sehun's gotten rid of his ring and it feels unfair for Minseok to do anything with his at this point.

When Sehun had first told Minseok that there was no need to spend Minseok's savings for a house, he'd been immensely proud and grateful at the younger man.  When Sehun had finally saved up enough for their newly wed house, he'd been blissfully charmed by the fact that Sehun had built them their white picket fence.  Minseok hadn't realized that he'd be the one locked up inside.

"I'm making enough for the both of us now" Sehun had told Minseok.  "You can quit your job and focus on us."

The words had seemed so sweet just a few years ago, but little had Minseok known - it was just another restraint, making Minseok more and more dependent.  Perhaps that was why Minseok had felt the blow so acutely.  Back when Minseok had found the late night text exchanges.  Back when Minseok had smelled the feminine perfume.  Back when Minseok had been the one to wash out the lipstick stains from Sehun's shirt collars.  Maybe the reason was because Minseok had loved Sehun more than Sehun had loved him.  But it seems like a moot point now, so Minseok tries to forget all of it ever existed - the good, the bad, the ugly.  All of it.

There's the clack of a luggage case being closed shut.  The wheels make a sound on the granite floor as Sehun drags his suitcase from the bedroom to the front door.  There's a pause but Minseok doesn't turn around from his position in front of the kitchen sink.  He hears Sehun sigh, deep and drawn out.  The sound says more than Sehun ever will.  It says things like: 'You're so frigid, even until the end.'

But Minseok doesn't want to turn around, doesn't want to show Sehun his weakness even now.  The tears drip down Minseok's cheeks unbidden and fearing the sound of his tears on the kitchen counter, Minseok hurriedly turns on the faucet full blast.  This is why Minseok doesn't hear the front door open, and doesn't hear the wheels of Sehun's suitcase skipping as they roll across the threshold.  The only sound that rings above the sound of the water is the final slam of the door.  Minseok thinks he hears Sehun's voice, but the sound of the sink is too loud.

*

Sehun knows it's a ty thing to do, but he does it anyway.  Going to a club right after leaving Minseok  alone in their home seems like he's just proving Minseok right, but Sehun can't bear to think about the divorce papers tonight.  How rapidly their honeymoon phase had descalated into something foreign and distanced.  Sehun closes his eyes as the scantily clad woman in front of him on his neck.  He imagines Minseok's bright pink lips moving over his skin and moans loudly, throwing his head back on the cheap pleather couch.

"Sehun-ssi" the girl pants.  "Does that feel good?"

Sehun sighs before sitting up on the sofa.  The club is too loud and he's glad he's spent money on a VIP room.  The girl's straddling him now, on her knees with her heels still strapped on.  Her thighs are ghostly pale and just slightly plump - a stark contrast to her tight black sequined mini skirt.  Sehun reminded of Minseok's strong sinewy legs - how they had glistened with perspiration from the effort of hanging onto Sehun's waist when they made love standing.

"Sehun-ssi" her voice comes again.  She's husky with arousal but Sehun sighs for the umpteenth time since letting the girl into his room.

The only reason Sehun kisses her is to shut her up.

When he gets back to his hotel room, it seems even the luggage case is mocking him.  There's a legal sized envelope of divorce papers that he makes a point to ignore.  He sheds his jacket, throwing it on the floor.  Minseok hates that.  No, he used to hate that.  The LED clock blinks 3:26 AM and Sehun hates that it brings the memory of his husband to the forefront of his mind.

'No' Sehun thinks.  'Ex-husband now.'

He takes another tiny bottle of vodka from the mini bar and downs it in one gulp.  He reaches for another just because he can still visualize Minseok in his mind's eye.  He keeps downing one after another to erase his ex-husband from his memory, but the alcohol only makes Minseok's face clearer and clearer.

Sehun eventually collapses onto the bed, disheveled.  He hasn't even taken a shower, much less brushed his teeth.  Minseok would crinkle his nose up at kissing Sehun right now.

'Ah.'  Sehun keeps forgetting.  'Minseok's not here.'

In Sehun's inebriated haze, the red LED lights on the clock change into hangul characters.  

'He's never coming back' it reads.

Sehun knows he's drunk, but that doesn't stop the tears.  Before he passes out, he remembers his last words to Minseok, drowned out by the sound of the water faucet.

"I would stay if you asked me."

But Minseok hadn't said a word.