Sehun was having a peaceful, dreamless sleep when he was cruelly woken up because of being shaken violently by a very eager Yun Hee. He groaned in a half asleep state and opened his eyes slightly to glare at the reason of his annoyance when he saw a fully dressed Yun Hee who was smiling from ear to ear while shaking him.

"Wake up, you sleepyhead. How long are you going to sleep? Wake up", Yun Hee said, in her overly cheerful voice.

"What do you want?", Sehun muttered helplessly in a tired tone.

"Woah! You are really serious about being civil with me from now on, huh? I mean if it had been like before, then you would already be showering me with colorful curses. Now get up from the bed since you are clearly awake", Yun Hee said before getting up and walking towards the closet. Sehun followed her with his eyes as he saw her going into the closet and coming out of it with a set of formal clothes for him. He chuckled inwardly seeing her actions which seemed to contradict her own resolve of wanting to be a friend instead of a wife.

As if Yun Hee could read his mind, she started speaking, "If you are thinking that I am behaving like a typical wife by any chance, then let me tell you, I am just doing this so that you would not waste your time doing useless stuff like this and make me late."

Sehun furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and said, "How can I possibly make you late? Am I supposed to do something that I might have missed? Why did you even wake me up so early? I am not supposed to leave for the office for another hour. So why did you wake me up?"

"Because I want you to accompany me to the breakfast since since I don't like to eat alone. Being my friend, it is your duty to accompany me whenever I feel lonely. This is why I have waken you up. Now get yourself freshen up and come downstairs, Don't bother to fret over your outfit or change your sweatshirt and come for breakfast directly", Yun Hee said in a tone full of authority before making her way downstairs leaving him alone in the room.

Sehun looked at her retreating figure and sighed. "She is so bossy", he exclaimed hopelessly before going to the bathroom to get freshen up.

After he was done washing himself, he went downstairs and saw Yun Hee sitting on the dining table with a frown. When her eyes fell on him, the frown deepened, showing her irritation.

"I told you to wash up fast, but you took so long. Are you doing this on purpose just to make me late for my work? Do you want me to get fired? Because let me remind you that I am not the boss of my workplace but a humble trainee."

"I thought that you would start without me if I get late, you could have done so. So I didn't rush. Besides I am still half asleep because a very selfish person decided to ruin my sleep after having hers properly", Sehun grumbled, as he held the butter knife and a toast.

"I am not a selfish person. Let me tell you that I also didn't get my 8 hours long sleep. As far as I remember, we went to bed together and you fell asleep right after that without a care for the world, while dozed off long after that. So technically, I slept even less than you, but do you see me complaining? Besides if wanted to eat alone then I wouldn't have woken you up. You should have considered that, you idiot", Yun Hee said before taking a mouthful of bacon.

"Why did you want to eat with me when you have doing this alone for the past days?"

"Because my mom says that eating the meals of a day together strengthens the bond. Currently we don't have any bond, so I thought of creating one by taking breakfast and dinner together from now on since lunch will not be possible for most of the days. What do you think of my idea?", Yun Hee asked, her eyes twinkling because of anticipation  making Sehun wonder how can a person be so bright early in the morning.

"Cool. Let's do this from now on. Breakfast and dinner together. And I forgot to tell you something. My brother is leaving tomorrow. Their flight is on 8PM. Do you think you can manage to see them off. Aiden would want you to be there. After all, he is really fond of you."

Yun Hee looked up from her food and hummed, then started speaking after swallowing the food in .

"Yes, I know about that. Unnie called me yesterday afternoon to let me know. I have already informed the chief resident of our team and he informed me that there is not supposed to be any schedule at that time, so I think I can manage. Obviously I wouldn't let unnie and Aiden leave without a goodbye."

"You are really close to the women of my family, huh? First mom, then sis-in-law. You two have become like best friends, huh?"

"Now it's not my fault that I have such a charming personality, right? You are so jealous."

"Why shouldn't I be? Before you came, Aiden used take me as his best buddy, now he has given you that place. Mom used dot over me only, claiming that I am her baby. But now, she doesn't even spare me a glance before asking about you whenever I visit her. And if you are with me, then she doesn't even ask about me. Am I not her baby anymore?", Sehun said, gasping slightly.

"Please, stop it. Being dramatic doesn't suit you. I am having a difficult time accepting this side of yours, so please slow down. I wanted to tell you something regarding this. Could you please stop sending flower bouquets and notes to me? For a few days? They become really burdensome to me since I am not used to see you acting sweet. Just give me some time. I am still having problems in adjusting with it since you never talked to me properly even until two days ago. I need some time to believe that all these things that you are doing, you actually mean them."

"Take as long as you want. Let me just tell you that I am truly serious about all these." And Sehun knew that he meant it.

Sehun was going through the files Jongin had sent to him through his secretary when he heard a knock echoing in the door.

"Come in"

He heard the door opening and felt the visitor sitting down on a chair placed opposite to him without looking up. He frowned mentally and turned his head upwards to see the person who sat down without asking for his person. But his anger vanished as soon as he saw the person sitting in front of him.

"Hyung! What brings you here? If you wanted something then you could have just called for me", Sehun said, seeing his elder brother who was smiling softly.

"Since when have you become so formal with me, you brat?", his brother said before hugging him. "I am not here to disturb you by the way. Dad asked me to come here to make me see the office his younger son is running now. He sounded so proud when he spoke about how you can look after his hard work if he passes down his position to you one day."

"Dad is more proud of you, hyung. He always brags about you, how you are a self-established person who has created his own IT firm which is doing really well."

"Okay, enough of talking about me. How are doing with your married life?"

"Yeah, good", Sehun said a bit hesitant.

As if sensing his hesitation, he asked back, "Are you sure? Be honest with me, Sehun. I know that it's not easy for you since you are not with the girl you had been loving almost all your life."

Sehun looked up after hearing what he said and could not help the hostile tone that came out not long after that. "How would you understand my pain, hyung? After all, you are happily married to your high-school sweetheart and have a family with her. Mom and dad are happy with your life. You wouldn't get the pain of being left behind by the love your life without much explanation, being tied to a person who meant nothing to you until the wedding and dealing with confusion, frustration and anger on a daily basis. You wouldn't know." As soon as Sehun said that, he felt guilt creeping up in him, since his brother was not the one at fault.

But his brother didn't feel bad at all since he just sighed and patted his back before asking, "Does Yun Hee know?"

"She knows everything yet she didn't stop this, How could she do this to herself, to me?", Sehun snapped.

"And that's why you are venting out your anger on her, am I right?" Sehun didn't reply because he was right. "Oh my god! Sehun, she did this for mom, our mom. When you should be grateful to her with all your life, you are doing otherwise."

Sehun was about say something, but his brother stopped him. "No, let me speak. I know what happened to you was simply unjust, but that doesn't give you the right to be bad to her. She could have just said no and let mom suffer from another attack, but she didn't. She sacrificed her chance of finding love just for our mom, the thing you should be doing now. But no, you are just being the bratty self of yours." Sehun just gulped as his brother kept pointing out his faults and making him guilty then ever. "I know that it would be hard for you to fall in love with her since you are already in love with someone else, but that doesn't mean you cannot be thankful. At least try to get to know her. Maybe you would grow to care for her, maybe along the time you would learn to love her." 

Then Sehun heard his brother's voice getting softer. "Love doesn't have to be all too consuming, it can be something peaceful. It isn't necessary for you to see the stars whenever your partner is near you, feeling peaceful at that moment would be enough. You don't have to feel fireworks whenever you kiss her, just feeling the need to hold her gently would be enough. You don't have to feel adventurous because of constant surprises, just looking at her sleeping face at night and knowing that you had a good day would be enough. This is the kind of love people don't know that they need the most in their life. And this is also the type of love people grow to feel. So don't chain yourself to something that is already gone. Embrace the new constant of your life. You would be okay with her, after all, mom cannot be wrong."

Sehun felt a bile forming in his throat as he looked up at his brother. He never knew guilt could consume a person more than anything else until then, because he, himself was feeling so. He felt worse when he saw his brother smiling reassuringly as if he was encourage him when he couldn't bring himself to do so, knowing how wrong he was. He was drowning in his guilt when he heard his brother's voice again.

"It's not too late, bro. You guys have just started your life. Give your future a true chance, not a half-hearted one, not a pretentious one. When you two visited us the last time, we all could see through the mask both of you were putting up that night. We want the happiness to be real the next time. Hmm?"

Then he turned to leave the room just to stop in the doorway, holding the door open, to inform him that they were leaving for Australia the day after the next day and that Aiden wanted to meet Yun Hee one last time before that. Then he closed the door behind him, leaving Sehun alone with his thoughts and regrets. Sehun took out the photo frame hidden in the bookshelf that was placed in his room and looked at the photo. It was a photo of him kissing Jieun's right cheek while she was laughing brightly. "We were supposed to be each other's happiness, right? Then how did we come to this situation where our happiness is solely depending on letting go of you and accepting the fact that we are not meant for each for other? Don't worry, I will not be dragging you down anymore and keep you away from your happiness. I will let you go to your happiness and try my best to appreciate what I have in my life now, so that I can also be happy. Then maybe someday in the future, we would meet as good friends with our respective partners and talk about how happy we are with them. Goodbye, my love. I still love you. This is for you and for Yun Hee to whom I will forever remain indebted to."

Thus, he ended up taking out the picture from the frame and replaced it with the wedding photo of him and Yun Hee, placed it at the centre of his table and picked up his phone to place an order for a flower bouquet before writing a sorry note for Yun Hee and requesting Jongin to take it to Yun Hee.

Yun Hee could not help looking at him cautiously from time to time as they were having their dinner together just like they agreed in the morning. Though she was dealing with the situation pretty casually, she still could not bring herself to believe him. Hell, she could not even believe herself. Because if it had been someone else treating her the way Sehun did, then she surely would have given him a hard time already, as far as she knew herself. But here she was, putting up with his rude self for days, looking after him when he never gave a damn about her, agreeing to be his friend when he asked for her help. She knew herself to be a rational person, then why was she expecting him to be really into giving a chance to their marriage when her brain was constantly telling her that he was not being true? She always followed her gut feeling, then what was going wrong this time?

Yun Hee snapped out of her thoughts when she saw Sehun clicking his fingers in front of his eyes.

"Where were you lost for so long? You have been staring into nothing for more than 5 minutes."

"You are exaggerating. I was just thinking about a patient, that's it. Don't worry about it and carry on with your food", Yun Hee said, trying to wave him and his attention away.

"If you say so", Sehun said while shrugging his shoulders before going back to eating.

Yun Hee observed his relaxed features attentively, something she never dreamt of seeing even a month ago. Her mind was filled with one doubt.

"Will we really be okay?"