“Jun Ho...” I breathed. “You...you’re here.”

I reached up my hand to touch his face, his warm smiling face which I had missed so much. He was here; Jun Ho was standing here in front of me. He looked perfectly fine, just like how he had been 3 years ago when I first met him.

“You’re not going to leave me again, are you?” my voice cracked as I felt the tears started to swell in my eyes. What I wouldn’t give to see him standing here with my two eyes; it seemed so real, so vividly real.

“Hyo Min-ah,” he said softly. “Is something troubling you?”

I shook my head, refusing to open up my troubles to him. In fact, everything seems so far away now that he is here with me.

“I told you that you have to be happy. You know right, that I hate seeing you cry?” he asked gently as he brushed a tear away from my face.

“Anyo,” I lied. “I’m crying because I’m happy that I get to see you again.”

“Is Joon hyung making you upset?”

I tore my eyes away from him as I sniffed back my tears. Marrying Joon was his idea; I couldn’t let him know anything.

But Jun Ho knows, he knows even without me saying a word. He could tell everything from the change of look in my eyes when he mentioned his brother’s name.

“Hyo Min-ah, I’m sorry if you feel burdened by my wish. But I know hyung. I know that he will take good care of you because he loves you too.”

His last statement earned my attention as I turned to look up at him again.

“It’s true,” he continued, that precious smile never leaving his face. “I asked him once. He didn’t answer me of course, but there wasn’t a need to. I’ve seen the way he looks at you whenever you came over. He completely adores you Hyo Min.”

I shook my head in disbelief as my eyes fell back down on my black heels.

“He isn’t you.”

“Hyo Min, listen to me,” he begin as he bent down to meet my eyes. “There’s no sweetness if there are no bitterness. This is only the beginning. Just like us last time, remember?”

I smiled at the memory he was talking about; thinking about my first ever argument with him.

“I remember,” I answered faintly.

“You’re a very strong girl. You can get through this. Give hyung a chance. Okay?”

I nodded solemnly, not having any intention of disappointing Jun Ho. He will never lie to me. If he said Joon’s the best choice, then he is.

He ruffled my hair happily as his eye smile came back on his peaceful face.

“Don’t be sad anymore Hyo Min. I love you!”

Before I had any chance to protest, Jun Ho had disappeared in a blink of eye.

He had left me, for the second time.

Just then, I saw the bright light of a car headlight’s flashing at me.

“Hyo Min,” I heard Joon’s deep voice calling out to me. “There you are. I’ve been worried about you when you didn’t come home.”

“Mianhe,” I said quietly. “I was lost in my thoughts and lost track of time.”

“Who were you talking to?” he asked when he neared me and took off his coat before wrapping it around my shivering figure.

“Nay? Nobody,” I shook my head. “Nobody at all.”

“Really? Okay then. Let’s go home now,” he said as he pulled me along towards the car.

I looked down at our entwined hands and recalled back what Jun Ho had told me earlier.

“Jun Ho was here,” I said inaudibly, not wanting Joon to hear me but I had to say it out aloud to believe in it. To believe I had really seen Jun Ho.

I felt a new surge of hope in my heart.

Perhaps, this marriage could work out after all.

Lee Joon’s POV

I blinked my eyes a couple of times in the dimly lit room as I leaned back against my bed and thought about my meeting with Sori.

It was weird, to see her again after all these time. When we went our separate ways, I vowed to myself I won’t go looking for her again.

I loved her once, but that love hurt me instead when she left me for someone else. She even went to the States to follow him back. When I questioned her about his whereabouts, she just kept silent before moving on to another topic.

She was still stunningly gorgeous even after these past 2 years; that I couldn’t deny. And that alluring look in her eyes was enough to make any guy weak in the knees.

But now, everything was different.

I glanced down to my left side where Hyo Min was sleeping soundly. She looked surprisingly at ease, as though she’s found something she’s been looking for all these while.

I propped up myself on one hand as I gazed at her beautiful serene face; all thoughts of Sori temporarily gone.

As I traced my finger along her sharp cheekbones, I felt a whole new love for my wife; and I knew Hyo Min was the one who had managed to open up my heart again after Sori left.

I’ve always admired her from a distance, knowing she was Jun Ho’s happiness. She just has this vibrant aura about her, greeting everyone with a bright smile not caring if they were strangers and always being positive about everything.

But that all changed when Jun Ho left her, left all of us. It was like her soul had been taken away from her body and she was left as a walking dead.

When I made that promise to Jun Ho that I will never ever make her cry, I meant every word that I said. I wanted to make her smile; I wanted to hear her angelic laughter once again.

I pushed away a strand of her hair and bent down my head to place a soft kiss on her forehead.

“Jagiya,” I whispered. “You and I, we’ll make this work together.”