It hurts. 

They were just talking at the time. How each of their days went. Has something interesting happened today? What would they like to eat? Alongside their little banter that ends up with one of them stealing a chaste kiss from the other, chasing each other, or just appreciating each other's presence. 

Nonetheless, Eunbi feels it. Sometimes it's faint, sometimes it's too painful to ignore. It throbs. Sometimes it felt like it was burning. But Eunbi smiles through it like nothing's happening. She shakes off the feeling when her love asks her about it. It's okay, she would say. As she massages the spot between her love's eyebrows when it creases out of worry for her. 

It's okay. I'm fine. She would say. 

###

It hurts. But it doesn't happen all the time. 

It would happen out of nowhere. There's no pattern. Because Eunbi already tested it, recorded each single throb that occurs to her. But there's nothing, it would happen when she's just deeply thinking about work, sometimes it's a jolt, that would wake her up in the middle of the night. Making her scramble to her feet because of the pain. Sometimes she would burst into tears on how it hurts, like she was scorched by a hot metal, making the same spot ache so damn much as she was comforted with hugs and quiet hushes. And she realizes that perhaps, perhaps, it serves as a reminder that there's someone she was bound to meet. In this lifetime, no matter what her circumstances are. 

But why would she worry about that? She has love, her cherry blossom right with her. Smiling and adoring her, even if it hurts.

###

It hurts. But it doesn't happen all the time, and even if it does,

It's okay, they would say. They already talked about it. Or how she talks about it and her love listens, listens, listens, and understands. How they would reassure each other with kisses, hugs, and caresses that they're fine and it's okay. That the pain that she feels, that they feel, is a useless reminder and a thought that both of them shouldn't matter.

But there were times that it's not okay, how her love's insecurity about the issue suddenly exploded that leads to one their supposedly quiet nights would turn into a clash of words that slashes through their hearts, words like:

"You're searching for the easier way now?"