Dumping the last file that had been done on his study desk, Jaejoong stretched his body after working for close to five hours. He stood up and walked out of his study room towards the kitchen to grab a beer.

With a can in his hand, he made his way out into the balcony. The scenery from his balcony was a breathtaking one. That was why he would always stay there whenever he needed to clear his head.

He placed the opened can of beer on the glass table to realize that some thing had been changed.

It was his ashtray.

The ashtray that used to be there had chipped edges with brown stains while the new one is in black and clean so he would not have mistaken. Picking up the new and clean ashtray, he observed the drawings on it.

Hyomin had always loved art. Everything she bought for their apartment will always be in plain colours so that she could design them herself. Whether was it just a mug or their toothbrush, she wanted whatever they have to be unique and one of a kind.

The previous ashtray had dog paw prints painted all around while the new one just had random alphabets.

Maybe, it was not just random.

He brought it closer and immediately he could get the idea of this new design she had. She gotten the alphabets from his name and randomly drawn on it.

A small smile crept up on his face. He had always loved the brain cracking puzzles that she gave him unintentionally after a long day of work.

-

Hyomin sat up from her bed, ruffling her hair sleepily. She turned over to take a peek of Jaejoong but to find him nowhere in sight.  She got off her bed and went around the apartment to find him.

‘He never works on Sundays so he shouldn’t be up until noon.’

She thought quietly with a frown. A figure outside the balcony caught her eyes. She walked out and saw Jaejoong sleeping on the sofa, soundly.

With a small smile on her face, she went back into the bedroom and brought out an extra blanket that she would keep in the wardrobe. Covering the blanket on him gently, she stared at him with a smile.

How long has she last taken such a good look at him?

A very long time, maybe…

The closest they stayed was when they were sleeping in their bed. But still, they did not have any eye contact. All they did was to do the last bit of their stuffs and turned off their lights on their bedside desk and went off to bed.

Even if she could not get to sleep, she would still have her back-faced Jaejoong.

She lifted her hand and pushed the strand of fringe off Jaejoong’s beautiful face. A tear fell from the corner of her eye as she quickly wiped them off.

The feeling of someone tying a knot in her heart was so strong when she saw his face. The face of the man she loved so deeply.

“Where did we go wrong, Jaejoong ah?”

She whispered so softly and carefully so she would not wake him up. He had always been a light sleeper.

With another tear slipping off the corner of her eye, she stood up and left the balcony with a heavy heart. She was afraid that she would burst into tears if she stayed for a little bit longer.

-

Yoochun stared at the figure in front of him with a wide smile plastered across his face. The figure stared down at the rows of heels with a grin on her face before she turned around and waved for him to go over.

“Yoochun ah, come and help me pick one.”

Ever since that day, they had been dining frequently together. It was not like they were dating. They went out as friends. With no skin contact, no helping of carrying their shopping bags. It was a rule made by her. She did not want any misunderstanding.

Months after getting along with her, Hyomin has finally opened her heart and let him in.

‘Maybe just a little…’

He thought quietly when he remembered that pinch of sadness in her smiling eyes. He knew that she would not confess to him about Jaejoong upsetting her. Instead, she would use shopping and dining out as an excuse to forget them.

He could just read her like a book without her knowing. Because he had always been watching her…

“We are going for a family dinner tomorrow.”

She spoke quietly which caught him off guard. He turned over to and stared at her in surprise. She knew the reason behind his surprised stare and laughed lightly with a shrug.

“My parents-in-law asked us back home for dinner. It’s his niece’s second birthday.”

Her explanation did catch him off guard again. He had never expected her to tell him things like that so casually. He briefly nodded with a small smile on his face.

“I guess we can’t have dinner tomorrow then.”

Even though he was disappointed, he tried his best to not show it. He had booked them a place at this popular fine dining restaurant that she mentioned the other day. He wanted to surprise her but she surprised him instead.

He wanted so much to ask if she was going to be okay for the dinner tomorrow night. But he could not. He did not have the rights to do so. Her husband would be there so what could possibly go wrong?

Her parents-in-law loves her too much to do anything to make her feel uncomfortable.

He knew that.

He did attend their wedding too. Both side of the parents loved them too much to have wanted them to separate. They probably would have thought that their six years of marriage still went strong.

“If anything happens, let me know. My phone is on twenty-four hours just for you.”

He said quietly. She looked up at him in surprised before grinning and slapped him lightly on his arm taking everything as a light joke, which never meant to be one. Yoochun played along by laughing just so it would not upset her and adding on to her problems.

The night went past really fast for him even though he wished for it to never come. Before he knew it, he had already sent her to her apartment’s lobby. He watched her walked in with a quick wave.

Even though she was no longer in sight, he still stayed there in his car. He had no intention to leave that soon. Not after he knew about the birthday party. He had a hutch that things would have gone worse than usual. The whole idea of them acting all lovely dopey would make her even upset.

But there was nothing he could do.

She picked this path and suffered. It was not like he could steal her away from him and let her skip the party.

“There is nothing you can do, Yoochun ah.”