The next days at work felt very awkward. Both of you were trying to avoid each other as much as possible and it was obvious because JiYong noticed.

“What’s going on with you two?” He asked giving you a suspicious look through the mirror as you were spraying on his hair. You didn’t answer because you didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of having been right. “Are you two trying to have an affair behind my back?” He asked turning around to look you in the eyes but you placed your hands on each side of his face and stopped him. “Look at me when I’m talking to you.” He demanded, looking at you through the mirror again.

JiYong’s POV:

            I was trying to look her in the eyes but she wouldn’t let me and kept hiding her face behind her short, blonde fringe.

“I’M TALKING TO YOU!” I snapped since I wasn’t used to people ignoring me and turned around aggressively, startling her. I looked at her face and saw her cheeks wet from the tears that seemed to have been falling for quite some time now. She sobbed and wiped her cheeks quickly, turning around.

“YOU WERE RIGHT! OKAY?! YOU ARE RIGHT! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?! IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED TO HEAR?!” She yelled turning around and giving me a hateful look, but her eyes filled with tears looked rather pitiful than threatening.

“Don’t blame me for your naivety.” I said trying to look as stern as possible, even though, her crying face made the inside of my chest a little. “You’re at fault for getting your hopes up. You should know that happiness built on other people’s misery doesn’t last.” I continued trying to give her a life lesson and prevent her from hurting in the future.

“I... now I really hate you…” She whimpered, her voice cracking right at the end of the sentence. Looking at her, broken like that, she reminded me of myself. I knew she would go home and cry for days, break down and then rebuild a completely different her, but she had been wrong and now had to bare the consequences.

“Hate me… if it makes you feel better.”

“How can you be so heartless?” She asked in between sobs, the sadness in her eyes making my heart throb for the first time in a long time.

“Because a while ago, I was in the shoes that you are wearing right now.” I said turning back around and looking in the mirror. “Are you done with my hair?”

Your POV:

            He sat back in his armchair and looked at you in the mirror.

“Are you done with my hair?” You looked into his eyes and nodded before running out of the room, unable to take any more of his cruelty.

            That night, you cried yourself to sleep and woke up with your eyes incredibly swollen so you called in sick and spent the rest of the day crying some more and watching dramas with Boss. The next day, you woke up in the morning and went to work trying to act as natural as possible. You greeted all your neighbors with a smile on your face and did the same with your co-workers. As you were walking towards the staff room, you heard someone yelling, louder and louder as you got closer to your destination.

“WHERE IS SHE?!” You heard the moment you walked around the corner and seeing Tiffany stopped you dead in the tracks. “YOU !” She yelled and ran to you, slapping you so hard that your face hurt five minutes more after the actual hit. “What are you doing here? Are you here to steal my husband?” She yelled with tears streaming down her face, making everyone stare at you with disgusted looks on their faces.

“I’m not…”

“Why are you here?! WHY?!” She cut you off, yelling again; the desperate look on her face making you remember that she had never answered your question on her wedding day.

“Do you love him, Tiffany?” You asked looking at her blankly with no emotions in your eyes.

“Of course I do…” She whimpered giving you a pleading look.

“Then be happy... make him happy. I've given up already.” You said giving her a reassuring look and walked into the staff room.

            All you had ever wanted was for YoungBae to be happy so how did such an innocent wish turn you into the bad guy? Seeing Tiffany try so hard to make her marriage with YoungBae work had gotten you thinking. You couldn’t remember a time in high school when she had actually tried to get anything. Everything she ever wanted was always granted without her putting in any kind of effort. But there she was, fighting with all her might trying to save her marriage from drowning. Funny thing was, you really were not the thing pulling it into the water.

            You sat on the couch and placed your cold hand over your red cheek.

“This is definitely going to swell and bruise.” You said looking in the mirror in front of you, sighing. The door opened slowly making a silent shriek. You looked up and saw JiYong entering the room with a bag of ice.

“Put this on.” He said handing it to you. You wanted to tell him off, it had become some kind of reflex, but instead you took it and placed it over your burning cheek.

“Thank you.” You said trying to smile but your face hurt too much.

“It’s good to know that you aren’t holding a grudge on me.”  He said laughing at your failed attempt of a smile.

“I’m not that kind of person.” You said making strange grimaces in attempt to relieve the pain.

“I have to admit, you’re kind of strong.” He said laying back on the backrest.

“The actual hit didn’t hurt that much.” You said frowning thoughtfully.

“That’s not what I was referring to.” He said removing the ice bag and looking at your still red cheek. “Aish~ we can’t let that swell…” He said sighing and frowning.

“It doesn’t matter.” You said shrugging.

“It does for the band’s image.” He said looking you in the eye. “What if someone supposes we beat you?” He continued placing your hand holding the ice bag back on your cheek. “I’m going to bring another bag; this one has almost melted.”

"Aigooo~! Who did this to my beautiful dongsaeng?!" Seungri barged in, hugging you and looking at your burning cheek. "I will kill them! Was it JiYong?!" He yelled in disbelief as your eyes followed him out of the room.

"No! It's fine, sunbae," you laughed "I deserved it."