Sehun leaned back in his chair and covered his eyes with his left forearm, letting out a tired sigh. His mind was still playing the two sentences he had said to his secretary to ask her for a cup of coffee – “Ms Bae, could you please bring me a cup of coffee?” and “That would be nice of you.” He found it funny how a tired mind worked, it was either not getting anything at all, or getting one thing and not letting go of it at all. The past 2 months had drained out his mind in all sorts of way and now he could proudly claim himself as a PhD holder on that topic.

His's eyes fell on the photo of him and Yun Hee in the amusement park placed on his desk, both of them looking as happy as ever, not having a care for the world. He keenly observed the glee in Yun Hee's eyes and found himself missing it once again. Sehun couldn’t point out the exact moment when everything started going downhill, but he certainly knew that it had already started and was going at an uncontrollable speed.

In just 3 weeks, his home where he couldn’t hear anything besides the sounds of their genuine laughs, had started echoing even the sounds of their footsteps.

The dining table that used to be filled with light chattering, now hardly contained the two usual occupiers of it at the same time.

The mornings that used to make the two people want to say in the bed for the whole day, now consisted of gazes being avoided and forced smiles being thrown here and there.

The delightful kisses, blissful touches, heart to heart talks, baseless bickering and sassy remarks were replaced with barely a peck in the cheek, brief side hugs and conversations containing barely 2 sentences. Their lunch meetings and carpooling were long forgotten as everyday excuses of excessive workload, sudden schedules and simply slipping out of mind started being made. And the unbelievable fact was that the withdrawals never came from Sehun, they always came from his beloved wife, Yun Hee.

It wasn’t always like that. For almost a week after his last meeting with Jieun, Sehun remembered Yun Hee being her usual self. Sure there was something weird about her behaviour but nothing too much. She would get lost in her thoughts with her eyes set on him or would ask his whereabouts at least 5 times a day, but it was still better than their current state. Their mornings were still very much warm, their days still very much appealing, their meetings still very much worthy of being looked forward to and their conversations still very much unstoppable and heart-warming.

Then one night, Yun Hee came back home looking ghastly pale, as if she had seen a ghost, not to mention how she had refused to show her face the whole day, to the point of cancelling their plan of going to Starbucks after work. Naturally, Sehun found himself behaving like the mama bear he became every time he saw his wife looking that weak.

But as he had suspected, something was not right and that something had nothing to do with her health. She just kept silent the whole time he was lecturing her for not taking care of herself and just went straight to bed after refusing to touch her dinner. She kept avoiding his gaze and even flinched harshly the one time he touched her shoulder to ask her what was wrong.

The night ended just like that as Yun Hee slept at the edge of the bed with her back facing Sehun. He gave her the space she wanted and laid on his side quietly, watching Yun Hee’s shoulders moving up and down because of sharp intakes of breath. He had stayed awake until he was sure that she had calmed down and her breathing had evened out.

Sehun still didn’t know what had happened to Yun Hee that day as she seemed to have decided to be nonchalant about his questions. His wife was trying her best to be her usual self. In fact, she was going out of her way to prove him that nothing was wrong, making Sehun worry even more.

For example, she had become chattier than ever, talking about anything and everything, never giving him a chance to bring up anything about that night. She would get lost in her thoughts anytime, brushing it away as stress from work every time Sehun questioned her.

Fake smiles and chuckles started becoming an everyday thing, love-makings became non-existent, physical interactions had started ceasing to exist. She would turn her face away every time he leaned in for a kiss, would flinch even at the slightest of his touches, small jokes and fake laughs would follow soon in an attempt to erase the awkwardness.

The biggest change, though, came in the form of random remarks, remarks that made no sense at all yet made so many senses. Like one night, they were talking about bullet trains on their way back home and the very next moment, Yun Hee said something like, “Lying is bad. Don’t you think so, Hun?” Then one morning, they were laughing about bagels and when they got over their laughing fit, Yun Hee was like, “See, Hun. You can tell me anything. But the one that had him taken aback was when one day, Sehun randomly told Yun Hee that she was beautiful and she replied by saying, “So that means, you are not cheating on me, right?”

Then came the current phase, the one Sehun hated to his core. It was the phase where they were behaving more like roommates than a married couple. Their physical interactions were already fading, and now, they had completely disappeared. Conversations were limited to “What is your plan for the day?”, “Did you have your meals?” and “How was your day?”

And even after seeing all these alterations, Sehun couldn’t help taking the backseat and watching them from afar because he knew that they were being created on purpose. His wife was running away from something, running away from him and he didn’t know what to do. Hell, they rarely got more than 2 hours to spend together in a day, most of which got spent in just starting a conversation. Reasons, or rather excuses like “I am going to be late”, “Lunch is on the division, gotta join”, “Got extra shift to work on” started taking over their chatbox. So a confrontation seemed like a far-fetched idea.

He missed his wife so much. She was still there with him, yet it seemed like she wasn’t. It was as if they were back to the first days of their marriage, except they weren’t. Because by then, feelings had gotten involved, emotions had gotten attached, habits had gotten formed and life had gotten mingled. Sehun knew that he was emotionally very dependent on his wife, but he didn’t know to what extent until he found himself getting stranded by her.

Sehun could tell that she fighting against something, probably fighting against her own self, but he couldn’t reach out to her no matter how much he tried. Because like always, she was trying to shut him out while trying to deal with her issues, making Sehun worry to death. Even though they had come a long way, in that matter, she was still the Yun Hee from the earlier days of their marriage, keeping her conflicts to only herself as much as possible, even at the cost of distance between them.

But Sehun couldn’t bring himself to complain about that, because at the end of the day, he was also no different from her, keeping secrets that should be discussed on spot. The past few days made him realize one thing, that even though he and Yun Hee had learnt how to share happiness perfectly with each other, they were still far from learning how to share the not-so-happy things.

Sehun had thought about the situation a lot. His mind was always busy trying to fish out possible reasons for Yun Hee’s change in behaviour. In fact, the possibility of Yun Hee knowing about his meetings with Jieun had also struck his mind once and the thought alone of it gave him cold sweat and made him want to clear things right then and there instead of hiding it. He couldn’t afford to let something so trivial tear them apart.

As a result, he found himself, for quite some times, almost on his way to tell Yun Hee everything. Almost. Because every time he took one step towards her, the fear of losing her made him take two steps backwards. Every time he mustered up the courage to tell her, the memories of the time Jieun’s engagement news had gotten out made him afraid of doing so. The thought that his honesty ould costing him his wife made him want to keep everything to himself until the very end.

Because how could Sehun tell Yun Hee that his ex-girlfriend was the one who had bought the penthouse? How could he tell her that his ex was going out of her way to affect him with their memories, even though she was supposed to be with her fiancé?

And how could he tell Yun Hee that he, her husband, was actually getting affected by that ex of his, when he was supposed to over her by then? How could he tell her about all the questions that were keeping him awake at night for the last few weeks? How could he tell her that her husband was running around in a circle, trying to turn away from some unwanted feelings only to find himself facing them again?

How could Sehun tell Yun Hee that even though her husband had broken all ties with Jieun, he sometimes found himself wishing to be chased after by his ex? No. He couldn’t, not in a million years. Call him selfish, but he wasn't ready to lose his wife, not then, not ever. If that required him to hide something like that, then he would gladly do so.

“May I come in, sir?” Sehun averted his eyes from the paperweight on his table and looked ahead of him to find his secretary standing with a tray in her hand.

“Yes, come in Ms Bae.” He let out a sigh as he watched her coming towards his table, rubbing his tiredly as he realized that he had glaring at the poor paperweight for 20 minutes.

“Here is your coffee, sir”, his secretary said while placing the coffee cup on his table. “If you need anything else, please let me know.”

“No, I am good. Thank you, Ms Bae. You can go back to your work now.”                                          

“Sure, sir. Have a good time, sir.” Then she was out of the room.

Sehun let out a mirthless chuckle at the innocent wish of his secretary. “Good time, huh?”

Stretching his sore limbs, Sehun got up from his chair and made his way towards the couch placed on his left, with the coffee cup in his hand. He took a sip from the cup he was holding in his right hand and lit up his phone with the left one, browsing through the news of that day and hoping that the short break would give him the drive to get back to his work.

If Yun Hee was to be asked how long it takes for a person to change, then she would have answered in one breath – “3 weeks”.

Yun Hee had always known herself to be a confident person. By confident, she meant someone who had an idea of where his or her life was going. It’s true that after her marriage, she was failing to keep tabs on everything happening in her life and it was pretty normal according to her. Because for someone who never had any first-hand experience in love, she was bound to stumble upon new things every day.

She never felt insecure about her own self though. She always knew what she was feeling, what she was doing, what she wanted and what she was supposed to do. It was only possible because she could blindly trust everyone around herself, especially her husband, Oh Sehun.

Yun Hee had thought that her days of sufferings were over, that life was ready to embrace her with happiness only, but now she wasn’t so sure anymore. She wasn’t sure about anything. And all these chaos started with a simple phone call.

Yun Hee always pitied those people who wanted to remain oblivious to their spouses doing things behind their backs, but snickered at them for being weak after that because she simply couldn’t get them. How could someone want to stay oblivious to betrayals even after knowing them? Just to save everything from getting ruined? Just to be spared from pain? They should bravely face those flaws in their relationships, not run away from them. Because there cannot be anything more foolish than wanting to save something that gets infiltrated with lies.

What she never expected was to find herself on the same page as those people as she couldn’t help wishing to go back in time and stop herself from making that phone call to Sehun.

Yun Hee smiled as she saw her parents-in-law having fun with the kids, sending a flying kiss to Areum when she turned to wave at her. She knew that she had made the right decision after seeing the broad smiles on their faces. They had been wanting to visit the orphanage for a while and so, Yun Hee took them with her that weekend, intending to kill two birds with one stone. She would get to visit the orphanage as well as spend some time with the elderly couple.

They were having such a nice time together that Yun Hee couldn’t help missing the presence of her husband. Both of them had been so busy in their work for the last few days that they hardly got to spend some quality time together. Now that she was enjoying her day off, she felt the need of having her husband beside her.

Yun Hee knew that Sehun couldn’t take the day off since it was a weekday, but she still missed him. So she decided to do the one thing she could do at that time, call her husband and just talk for a while. Hoping that he would be free, she dialled for Sehun and waited for him to pick up, which he did after the 3rd ring.

"Hun, guess where I am." Yun Hee felt like a child for talking so animatedly, but she couldn't help it. She was hardly able to able to contain her excitement.

But her excitement probably wasn't returned with equal passion as she felt a few seconds of hesitated silence from the other side, before hearing a hasty reply.

"Hee, can I talk to you later? I am slightly occupied with dad right now."

Yun Hee looked at her father-in-law who was now tickling the breathless Jun while laughing loudly and felt her own windpipe getting twisted. Words got stuck in as she hardly managed to utter the two words. 

"With dad?" Her voice came out in a whisper.

Yun Hee was at a loss of speech but thankfully, Sehun didn't prob her further, probably busy with whatever he was hiding from her. She was still holding her breath and looking at her father-in-law without blinking when she heard a hum and a rushed goodbye coming from the other side.

"I am hanging up now, okay? Bye, Hee." And then a beep.

Yun Hee felt the phone in her hand shaking violently as she took a deep breath to plaster a smile on her face, the small action seemed to be consuming all her energy. She joined her palms tightly to stop them from shaking as she approached her mother-in-law who was calling her.

That day, Yun Hee realized one thing. It takes thousands of truths to build trust but only one lie to cause great damage to it.

Yun Hee was not blind. She could see the changes in her husband that he always brushed away, calling them stress from work. She noticed every time her husband called her randomly, sounding tired. She noticed every time he tried to seek comfort from her out of nowhere. She noticed every time his mind would get lost in thoughts, thoughts that always made him jumpy. But she ignored them because she believed in Sehun, she believed that he would confide in her if things were to go wrong.

The lie though, worked as an eye-opener. It made Yun Hee realize that their relationship wasn't as strong and mature as she had known it to be because the moment Yun Hee realized that Sehun was lying, she put on a facade instead of confronting him, a happy facade.

For a week, Yun Hee managed to pull off the facade perfectly. She did start questioning Sehun more about his whereabouts, but they were still doing fine. The phone call was never mentioned as Yun Hee decided to let that matter go. Because deep inside her, she knew that Sehun wouldn't do any wrong to her. He loved her. Even though he didn't know about that yet, but he loved her. Yun Hee believed that.

But her belief started wavering when the next week, her worst nightmare stood right in front of her, confirming to her that her suspicions were right. That was also the start of unimaginable changes in herself.

Yun Hee smiled softly as she saw the last text on her phone, a text from her husband.

"Can't wait for our Starbucks date. :)"

She remembered how he was sulking even just a few minutes ago while whining at her for cancelling their lunch meeting and now he was sending her smilies. Even though she was telling him her reasons for doing so, he was not ready to listen and kept complaining. He was right though as they hardly got to spend time together because of their crazy schedules.

It took Yun Hee suggesting a date at the Starbucks after work to stop the endless complaints from her childish husband. Hell, the idea even got him squealing like a teenager and damaging Yun Hee's ear. If Yun Hee knew that something as simple as that could make her husband this happy then she would have said that a lot earlier.

She went to the counter and was about to collect her food when she heard a female voice behind her, calling out her name.

"Lee Yun Hee?"

Yun Hee felt the world spinning around her as she saw the woman removing the mask from her face. She knew that face. She had seen it in billboards, TV shows, magazines and the internet. She had seen that face in person for a couple of times. And most importantly she had seen that face in photos stored somewhere in their study, a face that could be seen there smiling with her husband. She was wearing the same smile even then, but Yun Hee couldn't help cringing.

"Kang Jieun." It sounded more like a question as she still could not believe her eyes. There was her worst nightmare standing in front of her like it was the most natural thing.

"I am glad that you remember me," Jieun said while approaching Yun Hee. "After all, we never got to meet properly in the past. Those brief hi-hellos cannot be counted." The smile in her face widened, making Yun Hee stiffen in her position.

"What are you doing here?" Her voice sounded cautious, not liking sickeningly sweet smile on Jieun's face.

"I just came to say my hello. I mean it has been a while since I bought our old penthouse to live in and..."

"Our old penthouse?", Yun Hee cut her off with her question, her mind spinning wildly. 

"Sehun didn't tell you?" The shorter woman sounded confident, making Yun Hee feel small in her presence. "It has been more than a month since that." This time her smile turned into a smirk.

Yun Hee didn't know what to do with the newfound information, but something about Sehun selling the penthouse to Jieun didn't settle in her quite well. 

Yun Hee was still standing like a statue when she heard Jieun speaking again. "Anyways, I had come here to consult a dermatologist and decided to say my greeting when I saw you in the cafeteria. We are close acquaintances, after all. Since I have met Sehun a couple of times, it was only fair if I paid his wife at least one visit."

If the first information shook Yun Hee to her core, then the second one felt like a harsh splash of ice water, hitting like a metal and then numbing everything inside. She stood there in shock, the fact that Sehun had met Jieun behind her back for a couple of times already started sinking in her. She looked at the woman standing in front of her, her smile looking more like a victorious one. 

She summoned all her energy to give Jieun a slight nod of acknowledgement before turning on her heels and leaving the cafeteria at once. No goodbyes were exchanged, no lunch was taken and no date was attended afterwards as she felt a weird numbness filling her for the rest of the day. The only things that had escaped from getting frozen were a few droplets of tear that had managed to get out of her eyes before the frost could reach them. 

That day, Yun Hee had felt a kind of fear like never before. She was afraid, afraid of discovering that she had been living in a lie the whole time. Her mind started playing with her again. One side of it was telling her to trust Sehun and consult everything with him, while the other side wanted her to remain oblivious to everything, because it feared the truth. A truth that could destroy everything she had been fighting for all along.

So Yun Hee found herself doing the most irrational thing ever - burying the whole matter. And unlike her expectation, the task was proving to be much harder. She had to laugh a little louder, talk a little more and joke often. Those were still bearable until the hardest one came up - stopping herself from breaking down every time Sehun touched her, stopping herself from crying every time he hugged her, every time he kissed her. And so, she started distancing herself from him, hoping to escape the agony of not being able to touch him despite of having him so close.

But even though she had decided to bury the matter, she was still hoping for Sehun to come to her and clear everything. She was still hoping for him to assure her that nothing was wrong, hoping for him to say that they were just casual meetings, hoping for him to say that those meetings had meant nothing. So she kept giving him clues, hoping that he would get one and feel free to talk to her. But he never got one, more like he didn't want to get one. And that's what bothered her the most.

So after a few days, she had dropped all her acts and started avoiding him openly. Putting up with the facade was getting tiring and Yun Hee felt drained, both physically and mentally. She could see Sehun trying to approach her, but she wasn't ready for anything else except the truth, something Sehun wasn't ready to offer. 

Yun Hee jumped in her spot when she heard the locker door beside hers being shut and a loud gasp coming from the person standing beside her. She turned to her left and found her best friend, who was clutching tightly with one hand while holding her phone with the other one. She was blinking continuously while furiously scrolling through the phone, looking at Yun Hee with shock from time to time. It quite late and they were supposed to be on their way home already, but here was her friend, busy being dramatic.

"What is the thing that has you gaping like a fish?" Yun Hee said, her voice oozing with mischief as she snatched the phone out of Min Ah's hold to see what was there. She stuck out her tongue when her friend tried to stop her before focusing on the phone screen, wanting to see the cause of her friend's distress.

Min Ah observed her closely as she saw the colours in Yun Hee's face fading before she gave the phone back to her silently. Then she slowly made her way to her own locker before taking out her phone. Her hands were shaking as she was struggling to get a firm grip on the device before dialling for someone. She kept dialling repeatedly before letting out a frustrated scream when she got no answer. Her pupils were shaking as she clutched her hair tightly and called someone again, probably someone else this time.

"Joohyun-ssi, Is Sehun there in the office?"

Min Ah didn't know what the other person had said, but judging from Yun Hee's expression, she knew that it wasn't something good. She tried to approach her friend but was stopped when Yun Hee held up her hands. So Min Ah stood there, watching Yun Hee crazily typing something right after that and pressing the phone against her ear. Her breathing had become abnormally fast as she tried to speak to the phone.

"Jongin-ah, please tell me Sehun is with you. Please, please, please..." Her chanting went on for a while before it stopped abruptly and tears gushed out from her eyes.

The next thing Min Ah knew, Yun Hee was already on the floor, clutching her chest tightly while sobbing frantically. When Min Ah knelt in front of her, she desperately grasped her hands to seek some comfort before leaning against her chest and finally giving in to her pain. Her cries were getting louder with time and her whole body started shaking with that.

Min Ah took the phone from Yun Hee's hand and locked it, her eyes scanning the news one last time.

Actress Kang Jieun and her fiance Lee Jong Woon reported to have broken up. 

According to the representatives of Kang Jieun, they have been separated for a while.
The actress has moved out of their shared home and has been living alone since then.

The reporters have...

Min Ah hugged her best friend tightly as Yun Hee kept crying while holding her as if her life depended on it. Somewhere between those desperate cries and violent hiccups, she heard Yun Hee saying something that weighed a lot more than it seemed to.

"It took her just two months to win against my one year."

What do you think will happen in the next chapter? I suggest you guys brace yourself for it.

Sorry for the long wait. Something is wrong with me since I couldn't write anything despite having a clear picture of the chapter in my mind. Even after posting the chapter, I am having second thoughts. I am sorry if you find the chapter disappointing.