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Life had been going mostly smooth for Baekhyun, ever since he was born. From being born in a well-off and loving family as a single child, he had been living the life of a legit prince. Childhood was passed in flooded adoration from parents and relatives. Education life went smoothly since by grace of Almighty, he had gotten the brains from his parents along with the other useful genes, also being a person with jovial personality- he had managed to be loved by people wherever he went. Though by the time he had finished his mandatory service and had went to abroad for the rest of his educational journey, he had matured enough to be deemed as responsible as well. 

Life in abroad also went mostly trouble-free, he had been living and enjoying life by conquering great GPA and also scoring good on bed with random girls from nightclubs or even from his university. But a certain girl had made him want to quit every unnecessary enjoyment from his life, because he had finally realized that the real meaning of life was in loving only one special person intently, instead of fooling around with many.

 That girl was his campus junior, Myunghee. He met her, he liked her, he courted her, he got to know her closely and he was head over heels for her. And then his love life also went smoothly. When Myunghee's graduation was over, he wasted no time in proposing her for marriage, then they returned to their homeland, got their parents' approval without any difficulties, finally got married. Soon after, they were blessed with two beautiful angels in their lives, and he could never say enough how happy his whole life had been. He sometimes felt whether everything was only a beautiful dream or not, since he had always been swarmed with happiness. He had gotten whatever he wanted if he would just work a little hard for it, so he considered himself immensely lucky in every sphere of life. He never actually got to know the actual meaning of struggles, specifically the struggles of heart. 

Maybe because he had become too confident about his good going luck, that had rendered him poorly shattered when the very first blow of unrecoverable sorrow and loss had struck him with full force. An accident which had turned his beliefs towards life and his fate upside down, leaving him vulnerable to every kind of negativity and, internally tormented till the roots. The bright lights around his world had been dimmed and taken over by the spiraling claws of ultimate darkness. He was stripped off of every happiness, positivity, willingness to live a normal life again. 

So later, when another girl unpredictably started making his inky world filled with small but twinkling lights of genuine happiness, comfort, strength, hope- in short, she had managed to open the locked doors of his heart and guided him to the brave path of seeking for love and happiness again; he had gotten tremendously nervous and scared. He didn't have the courage to make even a single eye-contact with the said happiness, afraid that he would again have to pay for having a smooth life all along, afraid that his cursed life might snatch away the other girl as well. And this unavoidable dread wasn't the only thing that had coaxed him to choose the hurtful path of cowardice. It was as if, every single thing in his surrounding was indicating him that he didn't have any coupon of happiness left. 

                                                ______

Love, in Baekhyun's eyes, was a commitment to be fulfilled till the rest of his life. Love was supposed to mean only a single name in his life, which he had guessed was going to be 'Myunghee' years ago. And as much as it left him with remorseful thoughts of not being able to continue in keeping his heart committed to his first love, he was also surprised that his heart had slipped from his rigid grasp due to someone like Munhee. ​​​​​​​

Wasn't it a common sense to have an ideal type in case of potential lovers? How could his heart betray him when Munhee wasn't even close to Myunghee in any way? He could've at least had a valid justification for his betraying heart, if it was someone who resembled his first love in too many ways. But despite being half siblings, these two girls were like South and North.

If Myunghee was a beautiful serene night, then Munhee was the fresh air of a new morning. If Myunghee was the untainted brightness of the sunlight, then Munhee was the sanguine moonbeam that brightened the dark night sky. If Myunghee was the calmness of a river, then Munhee was the soulful pitter patter of rain in a scorching day. If Myunghee was the blooming flower in a cherished garden, then Munhee was the sublime rainbows after a belligerent storm. If Myunghee was the gorgeous and heart-flattering smile, then Munhee was the innocent and heartwarming laughter. 

Both of them were the most amazing women he could ever think of, and it had sometimes rendered him in awe as to how he had managed to have them in his life without even trying that hard. Had he saved a country in his past life to be blessed with these undeniably lovable women's presence in his life, be it for a short span of years?  And he sometimes asked himself on rare occasions of raw honesty with himself, was it possible to have his heart and soul dedicated for two women at the same time? He never got any accurate answer, since there wasn't any germane scale to measure the depth of love. So his questions remained unanswered, and he had subtly accepted the fact that there wasn't any comparison possible for his feelings towards these two women. Both of them were significant to him.

If Myunghee was the reason he got to know the word 'Love', then Munhee was the reason he learned the thorough-paced meaning of 'Love'. If Myunghee was his heart, then Munhee was his heartbeats. If Myunghee was the comely dream of him that had come true, then Munhee was the unapproachable dream of him that he dreaded to even touch- but cherished it more than his any other dreams. If Myunghee was his heartfelt wish, then Munhee was his heart wrenching prayer. If Myunghee was the passion of his soul, then Munhee was the tranquility of his soul. If Myunghee had given him the most joyous moments of his life, then Munhee had rendered him the inspiration for the revival of his despaired life. 

Both of them held so much meaning to him, his life would lose half of it's existence if he was to erase any one of their signification from it. But at the end of the day, the status quo of their lives had been constricting him to accept the materiality of the fact that- Myunghee was now just his unforgettable blissful past, and Munhee was his unattainable present, also the propitious future that he might be wanting earnestly- but too afraid to ratify.

                                                _____

Baekhyun sat in the dim lit room almost in a nervous state. Today was the day he was going to have his fourth consultancy session with Minseok. It was more important than the previous three, since those three didn't consist any in depth discussion. But today's one, Minseok had already notified him that it will be the longest and deepest one, where he would be asked intense questions and he would have to be fully honest with the answers if he was willing to get rid of whatever issue he had. His psychologist friend was yet to declare what kind of illness had enveloped his mind, or whether it was any illness in the first place or not.  

Baekhyun had been sneaking time from his busy life schedule, and taking the advantage of being Minseok's good friend to have his sessions at Minseok's personal free time. He was glad that Munhee didn't get suspicious about his lateness in case of returning home in some days. 

"So, you're ready?" Minseok walked in with two steaming mug of coffee in his hands- that guy was a coffee addict. He had brought an extra mug for Baekhyun despite the previous protests from the male. 

Baekhyun reluctantly accepted the mug of bitter liquid, and cleared his throat, "You know one can never be too ready in such situation." He murmured. He was left alone for a few minutes, so that his flaring nerves could be calmed down before they started their session. But he didn't know whether it had helped his case or not.

"You aren't wrong." Minseok shrugged. He was wearing his professional face, indicating that he was completely ready himself. Taking a huge sip of his coffee, he started, "So let's start. Since we know the basic information about you, your first marriage and first wife, and her accident..." His voice turned a lot softer while talking about this sensitive topic, "...so we will now move forward towards your second marriage, your second wife, Munhee; and your thoughts about some things related to her." 

Baekhyun wiped his clammy hands on his thighs, giving a small but affirmative nod at Minseok. "But... before we officially start, I want to confess something." He waited for Minseok's approving nod, then continued, "I... I have made a mistake a-again. I couldn't control it again, and I yelled at her, accused her with vile words, made her do something... that has undoubtedly hurt her."  He sighed heavily just at the reminder of Munhee's tear strained face and the oozing hurt in her eyes when he had snapped at her for her false assumption of being pregnant.  "I.. don't k-know what goes into me! I don't want to hurt h-her! But I end up doing so. I want to get better, Minseok. I really do!" He was certain his voice had been broken at this point. 

"Hey, calm down. It's okay. As I have already said, we are going step by step to the root of your problems. And now that we're seemingly at the most important part, I am certain you will get through it. So, let's not ponder around and restart from the start. Okay?" Minseok gently pacified him, perhaps his calm nature was what had helped Baekhyun to heave a few sighs while calming down again. "So, when did you get married with Munhee?" He then asked.

"Around one week after... Myunghee's accident." Baekhyun replied with as much tranquility as he could muster. 

"Why did you agree on marrying her?" Was the next question.

Baekhyun remembered vividly, how he was busy in silently wailing for his wife in a corner of their bed, when his mother had approached him, it was a few days after Myunghee's burial. His mother had done all the talks, and convinced him as to why he should get remarried and why the bride should be Munhee. "Kids needed a mother figure. I knew I alone wouldn't be enough for them. My mom kind of convinced me into it. I was way too occupied with my own sorrows to think clearly, so I just agreed to it." He let the awaiting male know.

"Okay." Minseok nodded at the information. "So, you weren't apparently happy with the arrangement." He stated instead of asking, and Baekhyun still nodded to confirm it. "Why? Think about it from the depths, and tell me." 

Baekhyun sighed again, recalling the most darkest days of his life, having the love of his life being gone from the face of world, it had been such painful phase of life for him, that he was getting an headache just thinking about it. Then he forced himself to think his reasons for not liking the idea of getting married again. "I didn't think I'd ever be ready to marry someone again. I couldn't tolerate the idea of someone, someone who is one of the main reasons of Myunghee being gone, taking Myunghee's place in my life. I used to feel immense anger, whenever I even saw Munhee's face, maybe I still do sometimes, I guess. I... I have always wanted only one woman to remain in my life ever since I've known Myunghee, so having Munhee in the place of my wife wasn't pleasant to me in any way." 

Minseok nodded understandingly, noting something in his small notepad that he always kept with him during their sessions. "Have you noticed something? You are referring to your displeasures in past tense. Does it mean you aren't upset with the idea of Munhee taking your first wife's place anymore?" He carefully asked.

Baekhyun went silent for a long minute. This happened unconsciously, he didn't intend to talk in past tense, which would indicate he had made amendments with his present. But he knew it in his core that this wasn't as simple as it sounded. "No, not quite. I... It's complicated." He relied honestly.

"And I'm here to solve all the complications. So go on." Minseok gently insisted.

"To be frank, I don't even know from where to start, and what to say..." Baekhyun sighed in exasperation.

"It's okay. Just start from the beginning. I mean, the beginning of your married life with Munhee? You can trust me, and tell me everything from day one. Don't worry of it getting too long. You have all the time you need, so take a deep breath and go back to the day of your wedding day with her. And tell me what you felt for her from then till now." Minseok gave Baekhyun a reassuring smile and sat down more comfortably on his seat, ready for a long story. 

Baekhyun gulped due to unknown nerves, but also leaned back in his seat, his fingers interlaced together to have something to grip onto. He even closed his eyes to go back to day one - like Minseok had asked him to.

First of all, their wedding didn't even feel like a wedding since they directly had went to the court for the simplest wedding he had ever witnessed in his whole life. He didn't even remember what he had worn, maybe a plain white button down shirt with mundane black slacks? And what about Munhee? He didn't look at his supposed bride even for once to witness how bride-ish she looked, or whether she was nervous like other brides at all or not. All that ran in his mind was the agony of having to bring someone else into his life, giving her that sacred place which he thought no one else deserved other than Myunghee, his love.

 All he could remember was feeling unlimited anger at the universe for forcing him to take such decision, and at Munhee because of whom everything had happened. And marrying the very girl who was the reason of his immense loss and agitation, proved as rubbing salt into his raw wounds.

The first time he actually looked at Munhee at that day, was when everyone was gone and he had gone downstairs to look for his children- only to find them snuggled together in the said girl's embrace, peacefully sleeping. In the past few days, he was too engrossed in his own suffocating world to even look after his daughters, but the countable few times he had came out of his cave- his bedroom to look for them, he had always found them with Munhee. Perhaps that was one of the rarest assurances that had worked behind him agreeing for this marriage. 

But this wasn't enough of leverage for the girl to get back on his good side, there was no way he would ever think of seeing her under the light of something good. And it had worsen when he went back to his bedroom and found her walking out of the washroom- cladded in one of Myunghee's nightwears. It was as if someone had poured a jar of water in the boiling oil of his wounded heart, everything that he had been bearing with sealed lips- had snapped at her audacity to touch his wife's things so casually. And he had snapped at her as well. Determined to remind her her place. All he knew was that she should remember her only purpose and expansion was the kids. 

Seeing the tears rolling down from her bagged eyes didn't affect him at all, if anything, it had actually sort of satisfied him to see her suffering enough to shed tears. He went to sleep while still fuming from anger upon the said girl, but sleep hadn't been his best friend ever since he had lost his wife, so he had woken up in the middle of night being soaked in sweat and tears. But it had made his head cleared enough to reconsider Munhee's words and reasoning behind having to use Myunghee's clothes, and that actually made sense then. So he utilized his sleeplessness to randomly order every category of outfits and accessories for the girl so she wouldn't be left with any more excuses in future. 

Next morning, he forced himself to get ready even though his sleepless and exhausted body protested against it - he still got ready to restart his worklife, dearly hoping that work would help him stay distracted from the unrelenting waves of pain he felt in his heart every single moment. When he went to check up on the kids before leaving, he then witnessed the cramped figure of Munhee sleeping on the small couch in the kids' room, he didn't miss the dried tears in her face which indicated that she had cried herself to sleep, her sleeping form also appeared as tired as him. He didn't know why, but he did feel a tad bit bad at that moment. So he made some simple breakfast for the kids, and wrote a note for her since he didn't have it in him to wake her up. He also didn't forget to place all the ordered items at the guest room and left another intentionally rude note for her. 

Work at office had reached till his neck, so he was rather glad of it and indulged himself in working till late. It was also a good opportunity for him to just avoid running into Munhee when he'd be back home. He seriously wasn't in the mood to see that face of her after a long tiring day. But fate had been joking with him with all it's might, and that's why he was faced with Munhee the moment he had entered his house. Just seeing her face made him curling his fist in anger, and when she acted like a... wife, telling him that she was waiting for him so that they could have their dinner together, it was enough to snap that similar flakes of anger in him. The need to give her a reminder of her status in his life was significant, and so he did, and felt slightly good seeing her disappointed face as well.    

The rest of the week went in sort of peace for him, since it seemed like Munhee did understand her limits and maintained her own business without interrupting in his. It appeared as if both of them lived in a different world despite being stuck under a same roof. Not that he minded it in anyway. So on that noteworthy Tuesday morning, when he had witnessed Munhee sitting on his bed out of nowhere, it surely left him shocked for a good few seconds. And what surprised him more was the different aura she radiated that day. 

In his eyes, she radiated off a certain soft or adorable aura of domination, when she did everything to make him listen to her request, or more like her command, that had stirred a tiny bit of something unwanted in his heart, and he did everything to just get away from her at that, he was frankly scared of the sudden paced rate of his heart. He was also embarrassed when she had handled him in a way that played with his manly ego, internally flustered that she managed to do so without any failure. And later, as much as annoyed he was at himself and Munhee for her unpredictable actions, he did feel slight thankful to her since she had opened his eyes about the fact that he indeed was avoiding his kids in the process of avoiding her. After the long string of lifeless days, he felt a little lighter by spending time with his daughters. Thanks to her, that he realized how much he had been missing the warmth of being with his children, how much he missed their hearty giggles. 

Amongst everything that had happened that morning, one thing remained stuck in his head for a long time. It was the way she had said, "I'm here as the mother of your children." If it was any other day, he would've scoffed at her for claiming Myunghee's spot, but something about the way she had uttered those words with genuineness in her tone, that had actually caught him off guard. He never thought there would be any woman in the world who would accept someone else's children as Munhee did, be it their own sibling's children. But everytime, he shrugged off these thoughts by telling himself that she must be doing it to lessen her guilt towards Myunghee.

 However, the girl again sort of amused him when she easily handled the kids the moment they asked for their Mummy, he personally was unable to do it like her. And when kids wanted to take Munhee to the amusement park along with them, he didn't know why, but he actually thought of her, and concluded that she had been stuck with the kids for all this time and she might want to spend some time to herself- that resulted him to not let her tag along with them. Though, he said to himself that he was doing it because he didn't want to see her face when they would be going out for a good time. 

Baekhyun was again caught off guard by the very girl later that night, when she had stilled him by a surprise hug- just for a mere plushy that came as a bonus with the pair of bunny plushies? He never planned on voluntarily getting anything for her, but when the kids looked confused about the extra plushy, Munhee's name came into his mind immediately. He had known her from afar for years, but he still knew that she liked plushies as much as his daughters liked them. And she had her own bedroom filled with a fair amount of these toys- back in her parent's place, but here she had nothing of hers, so something in him pushed him to just do heck with it and give her it as a gift or whatever. And the way her eyes had shone after seeing the toy, it was worth it.

Next day, Baekhyun had to reluctantly accept the invitation from his friend Junmyeon for a friendly dinner, knowing pretty well that it wouldn't go that well because Junmyeon and Jisoo would be keeping their keen eyes on him and Munhee - he just knew because they'd been his friends for years and he knew the expansion of their stupidity. Later, the actual dinner went smoothly, almost,  with Munhee being mostly silent and him doing all the bullting to make Junmyeon and Jisoo believe that they were doing just fine. 

He had never really seen her in her drunk state, so he didn't say anything when she started drinking after the dinner. But when she drank more than what would keep any kind of people sober, that had worried him, he feared the possibility of her blabbering something in front of his friends that would break his façade of being happy with Munhee. He almost concluded that she was a somewhat cute drunk, but when she slurrily pointed out that she didn't want to be alone, he knew it meant that she felt alone in his house. But he again washed away the slight feeling of despondency he had suddenly gotten for her, telling himself that she was suffering this due to her own fault, so he couldn't and shouldn't do anything about it.

 And he knew that Munhee and alcohol should never sit on the same table again, when he had witnessed her stripping while sitting on his bed. He was actually pissed at himself since one, he had to break his promise of not letting any other woman sleep on his bed, and two, he took notice of things he knew he shouldn't- such as the material of the camisole she had worn. And he was also pissed at Munhee, because his mind told him that somewhere it was her fault as well. 

Next morning, he followed through a YouTube video to prepare hangover soup for the still sleeping girl. "I am not doing it for her. I am not worried she'd get a bad hangover or something, not at all. I am doing this so that she wouldn't slack off while taking care of my kids." He repeatedly told himself during the whole process of preparing the soup and setting it on the bedside tabletop. Though one part of him still scolded him for doing things for her, since he was supposed to hate her, but his actions were close to doing otherwise. And he hated that fact, it pissed him off badly. And his inner voice told himself that it was again Munhee's fault. So he ended up saying unpleasant words to her when she had inquired about her presence at his bedroom along with the reasons behind his fake care in the previous night's dinner. 

And frankly, for him, every single day went in the almost same routine. Missing Myunghee constantly, going to visit Myunghee in between any kind of free time, trying to make as much time as he could for his kids while trying to not get involved in any matter that concerned Munhee, working, eating minimal food to stay alive, and having lonely sleepless nights that were too scary for even a man in his thirties like him. 

Weekends were a little different than his regular tight routine, he had all day to himself and his kids. But that Sunday turned out somehow more different, since he had to bring Munhee and the kids out for their grocery shopping. He didn't know what happened to him the moment Munhee had mentioned about driving, but he had felt a sudden rush of something akin to panic at the mention of Munhee and car in a same sentence. His head went almost blank at that, all he knew that he shouldn't and he wouldn't in any way permit her to drive a car alone. And that had led into some... interesting incidents in their first time going somewhere public as a married couple. 

Munhee being adamant of not letting him spend much money on her when he told her that he'd get a car for her, was really pinching his patience. He knew for a fact that, money was all he could offer her in this arrangement of marriage. He had never taken any favor in free of cost, and he would rather tell himself that he was fulfilling her wishes by giving her every material thing she needed- as a compensation for taking care of his children, after all, she was kind of good at her job as well. So he really wanted her to stop complaining, and demand whatever she wanted, so he could fulfill it. He kind of liked it when his hard-earned money came to any use. But she ended up playing badly with his patience when she blabbered with her unfiltered mouth, and ended up calling him her 'Sugar daddy'. The horrific look on her face and the abruptness in her action in taking kids out of the car had actually made him think otherwise though, and he was genuinely pissed at himself for finding her cute instead of fuming at her- like he expected himself to. 

Baekhyun had always found Munhee adorable - from the time when they had first met till before he had lost Myunghee. And it was okay to adore his wife's little sister, because she was meant to be like a younger sister to him as well. But, at present, he found the moments- where he thought she was adorable- to be scandalous, since their relationship had been changed no matter how much he tried to deny it. Everytime his heart would think something otherwise than he was supposed to, he would get mad at himself and of course at Munhee. So be it the time when her cheeks turned a shade brighter when her stomach had growled loudly before him, or the time he had laughed at her for looking adorably funny with the makeup done by his daughters, and he ended up thinking at the back of his mind that she was kind of cute; he would inwardly reprimand himself harshly for having such kind of thought, even though they were mostly innocent in nature. 

The next morning, he was again a little stunned seeing the girl already working in the kitchen, which he undoubtedly guessed she was cooking for their incoming guests. His feet unconsciously took him towards the kitchen, and he found himself silently staring at her focused form while she did something with the chicken diligently. When his reverie broke and he realized what he was doing, out of inward panic of getting caught while creepily standing there, he tried leaving some comments. Which were undoubtedly and forcefully filled with sarcasm, since his conscience didn't allow him to hold any civil conversation with the girl who had suddenly become his wife, whereas it was supposed to be Myunghee doing all the preparations in her place. However, a small smile cracked his pressed lips' stature when he heard her yell back at him, a hint of challenge surely present in her tone. He kind of felt satisfied after teasing her, as if she was the Cinderella and he was like one of those evil step sisters. 

Munhee never failed to amuse him by her unpredictable antics, even though he would always try to ignore involvement with her. He discovered that she had an ability to decipher in advance whenever he was about to make any second-class comment on her, and would sometimes counter attack even before he could deliver whatever his mind had conjured. Later that day, when he had returned home early, and saw her in a wrecked state, the most stubborn part of his mind, which had been dominating the controls over his attitude these days, told him to insult her for looking like ragged, but instead, she got hold of his mind and told him why she was still in that state. She had a certain sassiness in her that she sometimes let out in front of him, and a tiny part of him sometimes wanted to test the limit of her sassiness for some unknown thrill. 

Baekhyun didn't know he was in the state of worrying for his supposed wife, the girl whom his mind kept blaming for the loss of his first wife, but he found out that he actually did worry for her, much to his displeasure. If it was possible, he wanted to not give a damn about her and stay miles away from her, because she was always too overwhelming for his untamed mind. He told himself he shouldn't care whatever happened to her, but he failed to do so just at a simple burn from oil on her finger when she was giving final touches to the dinner. Why did it matter to him? Like usual, it pissed him off.   'It's her fault.'  His mind chanted from inside. Unable to control the sheer whispers from his mind, he had snapped at her, "Why do you always make everything hard for me?" He meant it word by word. She was always making it hard for him to not care, she made it hard for him to keep hating even the sight for her- like he was supposed to. Wasn't everything her fault then? 

In rare turns of events, he felt bad for trying testing her limit of composure. And blatantly pointing her lacking in case of cooking in front of his parents, which resulted to the extent of seeing tears b in her eyes, was undeniably one of those times. Unaware of the reason to the tug in his heart, he sat there in silence contemplating whether he had gone too far or not when Munhee abruptly left the dining room muttering a small excuse. The dominant part of his mind was praising him, trying to coax him to feel better, but for once the feeling of guilt over powered his unruly mind. He kind of wanted to check up on her, but if it wasn't for his mother commanding him to follow behind Munhee, he mightn't have the courage to do so. 

Seeing her sob while sitting in a ball on the bed, should've been a pleasant scene to his eyes, but he again felt that familiar tug of guilt and small pangs of dejection inside him. It took him gather lot of internal courage to approach her, let alone comforting her. That was the moment when he pushed away all the rude thoughts, and genuinely tried to make her sobs stop. One core reason might be, because she had a sickeningly adoring pout that he never witnessed before, it made him want to close his eyes so that he wouldn't have to witness the sight of the pout deepening with every words left . And when she spoke about her efforts in between her hiccups, he felt certifiably bad for making sort of fun of her failed hard work. Not knowing what he should do to stop her, he offered her his handkerchief, apologized and awkwardly hugged her. He would never accept in a million years, but when he had told her "You cry like a five years old.", he actually said it out of frustration, since she reminded him of his daughters, she appeared as innocent and cute as them. This was just his way of frustratingly calling her 'Cute' while being secretive about it. And lastly, did he feel immense embarrassment of being seen by his mother while giving her a comforting hug. Being with Munhee, he never stayed vacant for too long, there would always be something overwhelming happening around them, that would break tiny piece of his determination of keep hating her. 

Another instance of this would be, when later at the dessert time, Miseo had again asked about Myunghee, causing Baekhyun to be stilled from heart-wrenching stings, and everyone else to become silent since no one knew how to handle such situation. Only Munhee was the one who managed to come up with some sort of reply to the kids sudden queries about their Mummy. And when they had taken the kids to tuck them in bed, he didn't know why, but he felt a little calm and inwardly warm by watching the interaction between Munhee and his daughter. By every passing day, his that determination seemed to be getting weaker.

But also, things would happen which would again blind him by sheer madness and cruelty, and exhort him to do and say things to her- that he wouldn't even say or do to his worst enemy. And that exactly happened the next morning, when his mother uninvitedly came to his bedroom and tried giving him lectures on how to have a 'happy married life' as if he had never been married all these years. The prickling queries about the progress in his and Munhee's relationship, to the extent of asking about the progress in their nonexistent ual life, and the blood boiling suggestion of thinking about having a baby with her- that Munhee must be wanting to have her own kids at a certain point of time, everything- every single thing had worked as a ignition of burning blazes of rage inside him. "It's Munhee's fault." The very dominant part of his mind continuously whispered until it felt like a fatal alarm tone ringing into his ears, making him lose it then and there.

It was a miracle, the way he managed to grasp on the last few strings of his composure until his parents had left. The words from his mother's lectures and the nonstop whispers from his feral mind, all these made his veins to swell in uncontrollable anger, everything else went almost blank other than the seeping rage for the girl standing before him. He had no sense of his beastly actions, he had no clue when he had yelled some nasty words at her, or when he had practically dragged her till his room, and tried to do something- that would leave remorseful shiver in his spine whenever he would think about it even now.

If not for Munhee's defensive scream, he wouldn't have managed to break out from the claws of wildly rage that had almost left him breathless. Realization dawned upon him that he had done something so inhumane- that he could no longer recognize himself at that point. Guilt, hurt, self-loathing, disbelief and sheer awareness made him stumble back while his vision blurred in agony. His heart clenched so painfully, seeing the tears of shock and hurt in her eyes, he could never forget the look on her face. And when even after everything he did, she still talked to his daughters with all the sweetness she could gather despite her still moist eyes, seeing her commendable patience of strength to even utter few words from her still slightly trembling lips- he was only left in awe and chagrin. Another thought struck his mind for the first time ever, but it stayed up until now in a permanent ro