It was late and Melanie couldn't sleep. So she spent most of her time scrolling through her phone when she stumbled upon an old music video. She hadn't heard the song in a long while and casually clicked on it. Upon hearing the familiar beat and the singer's vocals, Melanie realized that the lyrics hit close to her current situation. She could've clicked out of it, but something within her allowed the song to continue on.

"Hello?"

"Mark, hi!"

Melanie greeted her boyfriend over the phone before asking him where he was.

"You didn't respond back, but I'm outside your apartment complex. Where are you?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm not home. I'm out with the boys right now."

Mark answered before getting distracted on his end by one of his friends.

"I'll call you back, later, okay?"

Mark abruptly hung up on her as Melanie stared blankly at her mobile device with a sad sigh. She placed her phone onto the already occupied passenger seat of a gift bag and large Pikachu plush doll.

"I guess you did forget about it in the end, huh, Mark?"

Melanie muttered to herself while petting the yellow stuffed toy before starting the car.

"I guess playing with your friends is more important than celebrating our anniversary."

Quietly listening to the song of the past that fitted with her present, Melanie realized that it was true. Girls didn't like being alone. They didn't like being neglected or being left alone to think of unhappy thoughts. Girls didn't like the thought of being forgotten or to suffer. They didn't like it when their partners didn't give them that sense of safety, security, and protection. That they don't like it when you don't give them a call or a message just to let them know that you're simply thinking about or missing them. Melanie's heart grew heavy with her last thought. The thought that she really didn't like it when her boyfriend didn't care or know a thing about her either

"Guess who?"

Melanie playfully whispered into Mark's ear while covering his eyes with her hands upon coming up from behind him at the cafe where they were having a date today in a long while.

"Um, Fei?"

Mark guessed with a nervous laugh as Melanie chuckled quietly while brushing it off.

"Nope. Guess again."

"Oh, Min?"

"No."

"Jia?"

"Not even close. C'mon, it's easy. You should really know, Mark."

"Hmm?"

Mark pondered as Melanie rolled her eyes playfully before frowning when he couldn't guess that it was her a fourth time.

"Oh, I know. Suzy!"

There was a long pause. Melanie was really hoping that her boyfriend was just messing with her.

"We were just talking earlier before meeting up right now."

She tried giving him a hint, but wasn't sure if that was even gonna be enough with how he's been answering earlier.

"Oh, did we? Who could you be then?"

Mark hummed as he pondered on the answer. Melanie quietly sighed as she was about to end the game when she heard Mark speak.

"Oh! I know for sure. It's, Ayeon, right?"

Mark exclaimed happily as he grabbed onto Melanie's hands to remove them and looked over his shoulder at the person.

"Oh, Melanie. It's just you."

Melanie's frown deepened upon his reaction and the words that left his mouth. Mark didn't notice as he turned his attention away and motioned for his girlfriend to take a seat. Melanie reluctantly took a seat while giving Mark a look.

"We really spoke not that long ago, Mark. Also we've known one another for a long while before we even dated."

Mark casually shrugged with a lopsided grin.

"I guess I'm not good at recognizing voices then."

Before Melanie could counter the waiter appeared with their drinks as Mark had ordered ahead of time.

"Well, if it makes you feel better, Melanie, I already ordered you your favorite drink."

Mark placed Melanie's favorite drink in front of her while taking his own.

"Anyways, I've already paid so don't worry about it, but I gotta get going though." Mark suddenly announced while standing up.

"Brian and I have this project due soon and our boss just moved our deadline forward than it was before."

"But what about our date?" Melanie asked him, a bit confused and a slightly annoyed.

"We'll have another one later this week. I promise. Seeya."

Mark gave Melanie a quick kiss to the cheek before leaving the cafe as Melanie's eyebrows furrowed and her expression soured more.

"You were the one that planned this date and even have postponed it twice already within the past three weeks." Melanie muttered to herself annoyed. "So when are we going to have a proper date, Mark?"

She sighed as she glared at her so-called favorite drink that her boyfriend had ordered for her.

"It would be my favorite drink, Mark, if you had ordered the right one."

She sighed again as she reached out to twirl the straw.

"I like guava. Not honeydew."

She took a sip of the milk tea drink. Even if she didn't like the whole flavor a lot, she disliked wasting things the most. The other thing she disliked a lot was people making promises that they couldn’t keep.

So when the song came to an end, Melanie wasn't sure how or what to feel now. There was such a mixture of things to feel and it left her mind to do what it wanted to do on its own. Due to the lyrics of the songs it didn't stop the thoughts from floating about in her head. Girls really just didn't like being lonely, ever. If a girl really had to choose to be heartbroken or being alone, then in the end she would rather choose to be heartbroken. Because it's easier to deal with a broken heart than facing the loneliness of being alone. Eventually though over time it wears the person down. Melanie sighed as the realization of those thoughts hit her again and she wondered out loud with a far off gaze.

"So how much longer could I endure the heartaches before turning to loneliness in the end?"

"Melanie, hey! This is Sunmi. She's a colleague. Sunmi this is my..."

Mark introduced his co-worker to his girlfriend yet he seemed like he blanked out on when to introduce Sunmi to Melanie.

"Hi, Sunmi. I'm Mark's girlfriend, Melanie. It's nice to meet you."

Melanie introduced herself instead while shaking hands with Sunmi. Melanie had showed up to Mark's work to give him a surprise lunch since it's been a while since she's been there.

"Wow, you're so pretty. Mark didn't mention that he had a girlfriend though."

Sunmi complimented Melanie, but also didn't mean anything by her next set of words that stung Melanie a bit although she didn't show it.

"I see. Well, we've been dating for more than a year, but have known another one like five."

"Wow, that's pretty cool. I'm totally surprised I haven't met you since I've been working here longer than Mark."

"Well, the opportunity never showed up until now." Mark responded while rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Right, I see."

Melanie shot Mark a small smile while holding up a homemade lunch towards him.

"Well, I just came to give you lunch since I made a little too much earlier."

"Oh, I already ate."

Mark casually said as he didn't take the offer meal.

"I see. Sunmi?"

Melanie turned her attention to Sunmi with a small smile.

"She already ate, too." Mark answered for his colleague.

Melanie nodded in understanding and was about to take back the meal when Sunmi reached out and took it from her hands.

"But I don't mind. I had a light lunch and I haven't had a home-cooked meal in a long while. Thank you."

"You're welcome. I hope you enjoy it."

Melanie shot her a kind smile before casting her eyes onto her boyfriend.

"Anyways, I'll get going. See you later."

"Okay, bye."

"Bye, Melanie. It was nice to meet you."

"Yeah, me too."

Melanie shot them a smile before turning around to leave while mumbling for only herself to hear.

"How long can I keep this up until I can't anymore?"

Several days later the couple attended their friend, Jackson's, birthday dinner at a restaurant that Melanie has been wanting to go to. There were some people that Melanie knew and others she didn't. Everyone was enjoying themselves with eating, laughing, and telling jokes and stories throughout the night. Some time later the conversation shifted and the atmosphere between them all suddenly grew awkward due to an innocent question by one of Mark and Jackson's friends.

"Hey, Mark. Where's your girlfriend?"

Melanie stared at the male, Chris, who had asked the question although she's been sitting beside Mark all night.

"Did Sunmi have something else to do tonight?"

Although she hadn't known Chris for that long, she was sure that Mark had introduced the two of them before. Right? All of