"Love is just a word until someone comes along and gives it meaning."
— Paulo Coelho

Seo Ara was a closed book, her pages accessible only to those she trusted well enough—yet here she was, comfortably narrating a piece of her life to the person she least expected: her husband of almost three months and the infamous Lothario, Byun Baekhyun.

Maybe it was to show gratitude for what he had done for her in the past few hours—or maybe it was merely an excuse to reminisce about the past—but either one, she was glad to have talked about it.

"And that's our story," Ara concluded, turning to her husband with a faint yet contented smile.

Baekhyun met her gaze, but remained without words. There were so many things he wanted to say, so many questions he wanted to ask…yet he couldn't formulate a single one. The start of his wife's love story was just like any other, but the way it ended—more specifically, the reason it did—robbed him of a proper response.

|| …………… ||

"What is love to you?" Ara began after minutes of comfortable silence. She broke from Baekhyun's gaze, set her own ahead, and inhaled softly. "Is it being selfless and letting them go, hoping they'll find another happiness? Or is it being selfish and keeping them beside you, knowing you'll both be happy even though it'll hurt?" she continued, wondering if her past decisions reflected the love she had for the man who meant the world to her.

"I'm not really the best person to ask," her husband replied as he set his eyes to the same distance. "But I'd say it's…both and neither?" he answered as he turned to face her once more.

Not expecting his response, Ara met his calm lenses with a questioning look visible in hers.

Baekhyun released a quiet breath and rested his back on the bench's panels. "To me, love is just a cornucopia of contradicting emotions stuffed into a single word," he explained, switching his composed gaze dusted with melancholy to the blue sky, "Love gives you happiness and sadness, frustration and bliss, comfort and hardships. It's an impulsive force—one that can easily turn beautiful memories into painful recollections. A paradise into hell."

Catching a glimpse of the pain in his expression, Ara felt a noticeable tug on her heart—a tug that was coated with both warmth and sadness. Curiosity and sympathy. The Baekhyun beside her was a Byun Baekhyun she didn't know existed until this moment—a Byun Baekhyun with a great sorrow entombed deep inside, one that was kept hidden from others. A Byun Baekhyun who had been buried under the materialistic, arrogant, and selfish façade he had worn for so long.

Is this the "something more" Chaeyoung was referring to? She wondered with blooming interest. What's your story Byun Baekhyun?

"In short," he continued, lowering his eyes to the ground and reeling back the emotions he had forgotten about, "love to me is just that. It's a bittersweet feeling."

Realizing this was a rare opportunity to "scrape the surface and dig a little deeper", Ara set her pair of dark brown on the clear sky, and leaned against the same wooden planks. "But which of it is more? Bitter or sweet?" she replied as she looked at him.

Caught off guard, her husband met her eyes for the nth time, "What?"

"How much of love is bitter and how much of it is sweet?" she clarified, curious of the secrets concealed deep within his heart, "Does it give you more sadness or happiness? More frustration or bliss? More hardships or comfort?"

Baekhyun simply stared, lost for words. Her response, her rationale, the way she processed her emotions, were the farthest from his long list of expectations—but then again, it shouldn't have been a surprise. Ara was Ara after all—a woman of so many layers, he couldn't phantom exactly how many of them remained intact. All he knew—all he realized—was that each layer she cast…

Caused one of his own to fall as well.

"It's…" he began cautiously, but she once again caught his tongue.

In her effort to make him realize his own feelings, Ara also found answers to her questions. "Immeasurable. Love is…immeasurable," she continued, flashing a satisfied smile. She didn't think it was possible, but all thanks to him, she was able to fi