The shivering of her numbed fingers intensified when Yoona released the case of black velvet. Letting one final touch be her farewell to a future she believed to have been within grasp, her skin burned when she placed her whitening fists in her lap. She couldn't raise her gaze from the green carpet underneath the heels in black. Her muscles in the neck had weakened after she let go. 

     "You do understand what this means?"

    After hearing that answer, those words in that sentance, Yoona felt she could be nothing but honest at this point and met the fierce gaze watching her.

     "I apologize," Yoona sobbed. 

    Realizing she was on the verge of tears, she covered her face behind open palms. However, instead, Yoona was closer than ever of breaking down. For the past two weeks, Yoona had kept a confident, strong image of herself intact. She had built walls around the heart and refused to drop the smallest of tears even when she had been alone. 

     Now, when truth faced her, Yoona felt the mounds fall as if made of water. 

     "Oh darling. . ."

     Then, a pair of slender but firm arms rounded her torso in a solid embrace. At first, Yoona felt taken back. Even so, her own limbs snuck round the older woman. 

     "I'm having such a difficult time believing I won't get the daugher in law I've dreamt of," Mrs Ok said. 

     Yoona nodded before letting out another sob, "I'm rea-"

     "Don't begin," the older woman interrupted.

     She let go of Yoona, just to grasp her face with the pair of aging hands, "You have nothing to apologize for, understand?"

    Her gaze was so deep and honest that Yoona felt touched, nodding once again when she comprehended the message. Then, in faint attempts to ease the older woman and her mood, she widened her lips in a heartfelt, trembling smile. Her emotions for Mrs Ok had come to soften and she cared for the older female. Yoona would never meet another woman like her, who carried such gentleness and passion for the ones she loved with much proud. A real shame. 

    "Alright darling," Mrs Ok said with a shaking voice. "You better achieve happiness and success in life, or else I'll be going into a rage."

     Yoona giggled and dried her cheeks while both of them stood up. Then, she faced the second man Yoona would have called father. He squeezed her right hand, giving the limb a firm shake, before the couple sent her off with nothing but smiles and the best of wishes. 

     She closed the door behind herself. A huge breath left her, as if coming from the bottom of her stomach, where a huge lump had quit growing. Yoona started to walk, leading herself against the exit of the hotel on wavering legs. Her shoulders felt much lighter after having let go of such a burden. There was nothing but forward right now.

     But, at the same time, Yoona knew she couldn't lie to herself. 

    Her pounding heart was emptier, more hollow, than ever. Sorrow had jabbed her like a knife and she was now bleeding. A road to bliss seemed nonexistent. The reason was quite simple, although enormous to grasp. Yoona loved TaecYeon. A man she believed she would spend the rest of her life with. 

    Even so, the situation was amusing in the manner that she had ended up with a broken heart and spirit lost. Yoona turned out to be a fool, the loser in a game of love with no rules. Because, she had entered with a mind open to possibilities. Yet, before she had gotten the chance to profess the unexpected changes of the heart, TaecYeon had beaten her with the best of cards. Now, Yoona paid for a turn of events she never could have imagined. She was the one in unbearable pain, the one suffering. 

     "Well?" Yuri asked when she closed th