Simon’s phone rang in the middle of night, waking him up. Without looking at the caller I.D. he answered it on the first ring.

            “Hello?”

            “Oppa…”

            There were only two reasons SeonYah ever called him that: when she needed him to do her a favor and knew there was a possibility he would say no, and when she just needed him.

            “Can you come here?” she asked in a quiet voice.

            “What happened?” he asked, already pulling on a hoodie.

            “Can we talk when you get here? It’s not something I want to explain over the phone.” She sniffled and let out a shaky breath. “I just really need you, okay?”

            “I’m on my way.”

            He’d never felt so frustrated in his life at that moment. He’d come over expecting something bad, but never this bad. He sat there on the couch inspecting the bruise underneath her eye and not knowing what to do about it. He hated feeling helpless and that’s exactly how he felt.

            “Is it that bad? You haven’t said anything yet.” SeonYah winced as he placed ice over it.

            “It’s bad.” Simon said in a flat tone.

            “Am I going to die, Doctor Simon?”

            “It’s also not funny.” Simon turned her chin so that she was looking at him. “He hit you.”

            “I know.” She looked down. “I’m sorry.”

            “Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault your boyfriend’s a maniac.”

            “Don’t call him that!” SeonYah snapped, glaring at him. “He deals with anger different than you, that doesn’t make him a—“

            “Don’t defend him. I swear if you do, I’m going to leave.” Simon shook his head and leaned back. “You’re so impossible, SeonYah, you can’t even see how this guy treats you, can you? It’s not the way you think.”

            “Would you relax? It’s not even that bad!” SeonYah sighed and looked away. “I’m fine if you want to leave.”

            Simon looked down, feeling guilty at snapping at her. She was hurt and here he was making it worse. “You know I’m not mad at you. I’m angry that you got hurt.” He hesitated before adding, “I just care, okay?”

SeonYah nodded. “Don’t worry about me. I can handle it.” She looked up and met his eyes. “I handled it all my life, remember?”

            They sat there in silence for a while. Simon watched her play with the bag of ice for a while until she got up and went to put it back in the freezer. He thought about tell her what he had almost said earlier, the he didn’t just care about her. He seriously loved SeonYah to death. He didn’t just hate seeing her get hurt by ChinHo—although it was extremely selfish of him—he hated seeing her with any other guy period.

            She came back into the living room and sat down beside him, scooting closer and looking at him.

            “What are you thinking about? You’re giving me that look.” She said, hugging her knees to her chest.

            “What look?”

            “This.” She scrunched her eyebrows together and frowned, looking off into the distance the same way Simon had been doing.

            “I don’t look like that.”

            “Yeah, you do.”

            Simon sighed and looked away. “I don’t want to tell you.”

            “Well now you have to.” SeonYah replied.

            Knowing she wouldn’t let it go, Simon looked at her and sighed. “I just really love you.”

            Saying she was surprised would be an understatement. Never in her life had she ever heard Simon tell her that he loved her. She’d always heard it from his mom, like “Simon loves you so much” or something along those lines, but Simon never said it himself. Now he sat there, looking so serious, and admitting it.

            What was she supposed to say?

            She looked away, speechless. As if it couldn’t get anymore awkward, Simon’s phone rang. His manager was telling him to meet them in the recording studio to go over their new album.

            “I have to go.” Simon said and stood up. “I’ll see you later.” And he left, just like that.

            Days passed and neither Simon nor SeonYah made any effort to continue that conversation. In fact, SeonYah avoided going to visit Dalmatian, knowing there was a possibility that Simon would be there. Which meant she spent even more time with ChinHo during her day.

            There was one thing she began to notice about ChinHo: he didn’t care about her like Simon did. She tried to not compare the two, as they were so different from each other, but over the times that she was around ChinHo, she began to see the flaws in the excuses she’d made for him. She’d always said that he didn’t know how to express how he felt in a beneficial way, but there were times when they would talk and he’d seem so calm, but then he would change soon after. Almost like he noticed his own guard going down and fought against it. She was rather confused about that, since she didn’t see anything wrong with him having his guard down around her. She decided to bring that up during dinner one night.

            He frowned as she explained her perspective then leaned back in his seat. “Maybe you should mind your own business.” He muttered.

            SeonYah shrugged, looking down at her food. “I mean, you don’t have to explain if you don’t want to, I just thought it was interesting.”

            ChinHo sighed, looking at her. “SeonYah, no offence, but I don’t let my guard down around you because I just don’t love you the way I thought I did.” He shrugged, getting up. “Not like that’s much of a surprise, I guess. I wouldn’t treat someone I love the way I treat you.” And then he walked off, leaving her in the living room by herself.

            She didn’t cry, but she did feel heartbroken. All that time and he didn’t even love her. Every time he had said it had been a complete lie.

            So now what?

            Simon almost didn’t answer the phone when he noticed SeonYah calling. What was he supposed to do? He made a complete fool of himself, making things awkward by admitting he loved her. It was obvious that she loved ChinHo and wanted to be with him, or she wouldn’t be sticking around.

            Finally, Daniel reached out and took his phone, answering for him. “Hey Noona.” He paused, listening to SeonYah talk before looking at Simon. “Yeah, he’s right here.” Then he handed the phone to Simon.

            Having no choice, Simon took the phone and went out to the hallway of the recording studio.

            “Hey.”

            “We need to talk.” Simon was slightly taken back by the stubborn tone in her voice. She’d never sounded that so in control before.

            “I can’t talk right now.” He replied.

            “Then just listen.” She paused for second then went on.  “I don’t know if you meant it when you said you loved me, but I want you to. Because I love you too. It just took me too long to realize it.”

            Simon leaned against the wall, letting that soak in.

            SeonYah continued. “I’m ending it with ChinHo, I just don’t feel comfortable being with him anymore, and he’s made it very clear that he couldn’t care less.”

            “What did he say now?” Simon asked, getting frustrated again with how SeonYah had been treated.

            “He doesn’t love me. It’s whatever, I swear.”

            They stayed silent for a while. There didn’t seem to be much more to say.

            “I’d like to go over and see you guys, if that’s okay?” SeonYah said.

            “Sure.”