“B-Bommie?”

Just the sound of his voice was enough to make her heart flutter, though she could already feel the harsh sting of tears threatening to fall.

“Seunghyun, who is this? She looks like she just rolled out of bed and put on a homeless person’s clothes.”

The words, though insulting, weren’t enough to cause any reaction from Bom. In all actuality, the young woman found that she simply couldn’t move. She was frozen in place due to her closest friend’s stare from across the room. “T-Tabi.”

As she whispered his name, the older man’s expression cracked. The careful façade of perfect son and businessman was shattered as his face finally showed pure devastation, “I…I haven’t seen you in so long, Bommie-ah.”

The young woman seemed to be making no move to go towards him, so instead, the tall brunet began to advance down the staircase himself, eyes full of shock and sadness. Before he could really move though, the woman on his arm turned to him with an overly dramatic pout, “Where are you going, honey? Who is she?”

Seunghyun paused to look at for a moment, and for her, his eyes seemed to be full of nothing but annoyance. “She’s more important to me than you will ever be.” The woman’s eyes widened in a mixture of surprise and rage, and she quickly opened to respond to him. But before she could say any words, he roughly shoved her away from him, walking towards his sweetheart whom he hadn’t been able to see in over a year.

“Bommie-ah.” The name rolled off his tongue in a way that was familiar to him. In a way that just felt right.

Carefully, he raised his shaking hand to caress her cheek. As their skin came into contact, the tears finally trickled out of the younger woman’s eyes. At the sight, the man before her felt his heart clench in pain, and he quickly pulled her into a tight embrace, only increasing the rate of her tears.

“Seunghyun. What the hell are you doing!? I’m your freaking fiancé!”

It was these words that caused Bom to stop sobbing, and caused Seunghyun’s body to become stiff.

Slowly, the brunette pulled away from his embrace to stare at him directly. The tears were still glistening in her eyes, but there was now a great sense of distrust shining in them as well. “Tabi… What is she talking about…?”

Immediately, guilt swarmed his features, “It’s not what it sounds like, Bommie. L-Let me explain…”

The woman on the staircase threw her head back to release a cruel laugh, “Isn’t how all the stories start?” She paused for a moment to look at the younger woman with a great sense of distaste, “Don’t you get it yet? He’s cheating on you.”

Her words made Bom’s body run cold once more, and the tears began to fall once more. Her breathing rate began to increase, as she began to back away from the man before her, slowly shaking her head. “I-I shouldn’t have come here…”

“Well, duh. Does it look like anyone wants you here?”

“God, will you please just shut up!?”

Instead of feigning shock this time, the woman on the staircase merely rolled her eyes, “Whatever. I’m done.” She stopped for a moment to smirk, “It doesn’t matter what you say anyway. I’ll just talk to your dear father and everything will be just the way I want it to be.” With that, she calmly walked down the staircase and towards the door of the building. Before she exited though, she turned to look over her shoulder at the awkward couple, her voice dripping with sarcasm, “Have fun.”

As the door shut, Bom carefully averted her eyes to stare at Seunghyun once more. The older man expected her to say something, but no words seemed to escape her lips. And so, he took it as his cue to speak, carefully wording his words, “None of what she’s saying is right. She’s lying to you.” When her expression didn’t change, he felt his heart twist once more, “I promise that I’m telling the truth.”

At this sentence, her tears cascaded down her face at a greater speed. It was silent for a moment, before she quietly spoke up, “I can’t trust your promises anymore, Seunghyun.”

The words were enough to make tears appear in the young man’s eyes. He stepped towards her, but before he was truly close to her, the woman quietly shook her head, “I don’t think you understand how much I’ve been through this entire year.” She paused for a moment to take a breath before continuing, “And what made it worse was that I had to go through it all by myself.” Unable to look at him any longer, she averted her gaze to the marble floor below her, “You said that you would be there when I needed you most, but you weren’t. You said that you would come back, but you never did. You said that a pinky promise was the most sacred vow that two people could ever make with each other; that they can never be broken… but you lied.”

It was these words that finally caused the man to break down. Gradually, the tears spilled forth from his eyes, “B-Bom. You have to listen to me. Please. I’m begging you.”

The room became still as she silently regarded him, debating whether or not she should even bother. Yet as they say, it may be hard for a person to fall in love, but it’s even harder for them to fall out of it.

“Okay. I’ll listen.”

The two exited the BMW without a sound; the only word spoken was Bom’s murmured thanks to the valet as he opened the car door for her.

As the two entered, they were welcomed with the bright lights from the shining chandelier from above, along with the sweet melody of a grand piano and two singers. The lobby of the hotel was exceedingly large, yet managed to stay warm due to the two fireplaces stationed on either side of the room. Overall, the feeling of the hotel was elegant, yet in a way, it also felt like a place to call home.

Although she wasn’t really showing it, the young woman was astounded by all the sheer beauty of the hotel. If it wasn’t for Seunghyun’s gentle tug on her arm, she probably would’ve stood there for eternity, not moving an inch as she continued to bask in the warmth of the room and be serenaded by the lovely music.

Perhaps that fate would’ve been better than the one she was to receive in this life.

Before the two could reach the front desk, the music came to an abrupt stop as a familiar voice suddenly shouted, “Hey! Hyung, is that you?”

“Man, we haven’t seen you in forever!”

“Wait a second. Ji, isn’t that—“

“—Bom?”

The young woman blinked in surprise as she turned around to see the memorable faces of both Jiyong and Taeyang; the latter sitting at the piano, and the former standing a foot or two away from him. Though a part of her was expecting to see the large, goofy smiles that she had seen only a few hours ago, she was surprised to see the sudden seriousness that the two both shared on their features.

Taeyang’s gaze flickered between Seunghyun and Bom for a few moments, before he turned to face Jiyong with a worried frown on his face. There was an identical expression on his friend’s as he quietly asked, “Hyung. You know Bom-ah?”

Seunghyun’s brows knit together in confusion, before he slowly nodded, “Yes. The two of you know her as well?”

Jiyong, who Bom assumed must be one of the singers she had heard earlier, forced a fake smile, “Yup, we met her not too long ago. We helped her get to the Choi building… But neither of us expected that she would be meeting you.”

The older man’s expression changed to one that Bom couldn’t decipher, “Ah, I see.” He suddenly pulled her closer to him before he continued, “Where’s your father, Jiyong? I’d like to request a room.”

“And what if I told you that we were out of rooms?”

“You’d be lying.”

The younger male rolled his eyes, “Whatever. It doesn’t really matter since he’s not home anyway. He put Bae and I in charge until he comes back.”

Seunghyun raised an eyebrow at this, “Really?”

The two stared at each other for a moment before Jiyong cracked, “Okay, okay, so he didn’t put us in charge. But the manager he left behind put us in charge. So it’s kind of the same thing.”

The businessman rolled his eyes before asking, “And where’s the manager?”

“I don’t know and I don’t really care.”

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