He faintly slid the door open, he wanted to be as soundless as possible. Though in reality his force was anything but silent. He took a peek at the bed. He furrowed his thick brows in confusion. The bed was empty. JiAh wasn't in bed. He walked in looking around. Where did she go, he questioned as his eyes scanned the room.
 
Unknowingly his heart beat started beating faster, his mind began to indict with doubt and anxiousness. He felt his heart calm down when he saw the strands of chocolate brown moving in the wind through the glass door.
 
He felt the tension he hadn't even realize was there disappear when he saw her. Her dark wavy locks were what first caught his eyes.
 
It was a little before five, the sun hadn't even rose yet, but she had. The skies still remained that dark ebony shade of navy as the fresh wind remained icy cold. But there she was, sitting by the edge of the balcony, the balcony light was more than enough light for her apparently.
 
She had a notebook in her lap, a pen in her hand as she wrote. He was astonished, it was freezing cold at this hour, yet there she sat, in nothing but a pair of shorts and a tank top. The woman was crazy.
 
She slowly made his way to the door, the thin piece of glass was the only thing separating the two. She didn't notice him. Good, he didn't want her to notice. He stared at her with blank eyes, he studied her being, how still she remained as she wrote, how her head hung low into her notebook as her hair flew like fire in the wind.
 
Then slowly she brought her head up, and there and then, he felt his heart pound against his rib cage before falling flat onto a plate of spikes. He felt every nerve in his body shake with a pitch of pain. JiAh looked up into the sky. Her eyes spilling with steaks of salty wet liquid.
 
She was crying, her eyes were puffy and red, her nose was bright red. Her eyes were two fortress of glassy water, they were the windows into her soul. A soul that was long forgotten and was tired of fighting for nothing. He felt his whole world crash on that really spot.
 
The girl that laid a glass wall away from him was JiAh, she was a mess. A heartrending, lonely mess.
--
 
When she had stepped into the living area he was gone. She looked around curiously, where did he go? She returned back to the bedroom and found his clothes from the night before scattered in the laundry basket, she went to the bathroom and found his towel wet. He had woken up and was gone by now.
 
She sighed, of course he would be. It wasn't like he needed her permission to leave. She leaned against the bathroom wall, turning towards the mirror she stared at her reflection.
 
She saw stitches mending wounds so deep no one could heal, bruises of black and blue. Eyes wide as the oceans and as dark, as mysterious, as terrified as the oceans. Skin pale like ghosts, haunting and trapped. Lips decoying behind a lifetime amount of storage slowly building and growing into its peek. She saw a monster in front of her. A creature of ugliness, of filth, a creature not worth keeping around, one easily discarded into the darkest slums of the universe where no one bothered looking.
 
Her legs grew weak as she felt her body fall onto the marble floors, her arms hugging her knees tightly as her chin felt against her knees. No one wanted a monster.
 
--
 
Hoya needed release, he needed to clear his mind, to clear his thoughts, his guilt, his anger. And he choose just about the most cowardly way to doing that; .
 
She was a dumb blonde bimbo Woohyun had called for him. He didn't even ask for a name. But he didn't care, names didn't matter. Every move, every moan, every bite all reminded him of one thing. It all brought his mind back to one person. JiAh.
 
The bimbo was a usage for release, but no matter how many times he released he still had one dazzling face in his mind, one beautiful face filled with tears, one enchanting heartbroken, grief-driven face. He was a coward, he was such a coward and he was purposely hurting her for his own personal games. He didn't know what he was doing, he didn't even know what he was thinking, he was being a coward.
--
 
JiAh tried blocking out the moans and groans coming from the bedroom. She covered her ears as laid on the couch, a thin blanket over her body. She was being suffocated alive.
 
Hoya had returned by sunset with a girl in his arms. The girl had bright blonde curls, tacky caked make-up and a dress what was better considered as underwear.
 
JiAh could already understand what was to happen next, so she did nothing. She stood in no one's way, she said nothing. She watched like a statue as her husband cheated on her with some stranger.
 
JiAh flipped back and forth trying to shut the screams of ecstasy only to find herself failing each time. Her eyes finally landed on the red wall in front of her. The color of blood. She suddenly felt her stomach sicken as she rolled up. She exhaled abysmally feeling like she was in a need for oxygen.
 
She wrapped the blanket tightly around her shoulders and grabbed her notebook laying on the counter. She was glad she had grabbed it before Hoya returned. She held onto it tightly and walked over to the glass window.
 
She walked to the corner of the room and slid the glass door open which lead to a small balcony area. JiAh loved that about the place.
 
The balconies were a beautiful escape. There were two balconies here, and she could spend hours outside on them just writing, just staring into space, scrutinizing the world. She strolled onto the balcony closing the door behind her. At least here there was peace and quiet. She sighed sitting down on the bitter wooden floors. It was two in the morning, she sighed, that was enough time, enough time to write.
--
 
The blonde walked out, her hair a weave yard of a mess with random strands sticking out in every direction, her dark liner was smear and her bright pink lipstick colored her face. Her dress fell like shreds as it had been ripped in places, Hoya was aggressive.
 
"Miss." Someone called to her. She turned a shoulder, her body drained of energy. Her eyes landed on a beautiful woman staring back at her. A beautiful woman who looked like she hadn't had proper sleep in days, but still beautiful.
 
"Here." She said holding up a small purse the blonde had arrived with last night but lost it early in the night as it was thrown on the ground. The woman stepped towards the blonde and handed her a old trench coat to help cover up the already invisible clothing . She gave a small smile.
 
"You know you're really beautiful. But you would look prettier without all the make-up" She commented, she was entirely sincere, she meant all her words and the blonde realized that the woman had actually complimented her. An actual praise that didn't involve anything to do with , or her skimpy clothes or her fake face. It was an sincere compliment. And it was coming from a stranger who understood more than half the people in the city combined.
 
"Thank you." She replied, her voice was thankful and soft as she took the coat and put it on. The blonde stared at the woman upon realizing who it must be.
 
"You're husband’s a real idiot, he doesn't realize what a amazing wife he has." She commented before turning and exiting the apartment complex.
 
"No, no he's not." JiAh called to the blond. The blonde stopped in her tracks and turned but her shoulder,
 
"Yeah, maybe he's only half of an idiot." She assumed before leaving. JiAh stood there staring at the closed door.
 
"No, he's not taking his amazing wife for granted, he doesn't have one. He only has a monster of a wife." JiAh said to the air.
--
 
Hoya watched from the corner of the hallway, the whole scene unfolding before him. And there and then he saw one of the oddest things.
 
A wife complimenting the .
 
JiAh was absurd, she was stupid, too naïve, too foolish. He cheated on her, though he had done it before, and yet she stood there and took it. Not only that but she helped the he had slept with. He also heard her words. Monster of a wife? No, she wasn't a monster, she was amazing. And he was being the idiot for taking her for granted.
 
“Oh, you’re up.” JiAh acknowledged when she turned to find Hoya glaring at her with eyes that were laced with knifes. His facial expression remained rather calm and collected as he examined her. 
 
“What the hell is wrong with you?” He ordered, his tone coming off harsher than intended. He had never met anyone in his life quite like her. She was so strange, so odd, so miserable,
 
“What?” She asked confused by his sudden temper. She had to start getting used to how bipolar the man was. But time worked slowly with her, it was draining all her strength and energy away.
 
“I asked, what the hell is wrong with you?” He repeated as he took treacherous steps towards her direction. He could already see the fear emerge in her eyes as she watched him warily.
 
“That’s a good question. What is wrong with me?” She questioned, it was a question more intended towards herself than it was for him. And knowing this he only got angrier. Angrier at the woman standing in front of him.
 
Suddenly he was right in front of her. Her eyes looked up to him, her eyes looked like they could burst out in tears at any moment, yet they looked so far away, so lost in the space of time. He grabbed her shoulder and shoved her against the nearest wall.
 
JiAh felt a weight hit against her body sending her towards the wall. The red wall. She felt her body crush against the wall and Hoya’s body, she felt like she was hit my a truck, her heart plunged into her chest and her brain rattled in the after effect.
 
“I asked you a question! What is wrong with you and that ed up mind of yours?” Hoya shouted into her face. Then he did something he knew his mother could never forgive him for. Something his mother had taught him never to do, something his mother would be shameful of. He brought his hand up, and with a vicious force he swung his arm at her, hitting her.
 
He felt her entire body go limp as she collapsed onto the ground, her shoulder bumping against a glass vase, causing the glass to fall and break into a million pieces beside her. The glass scattered around the area, each tiny crystal portion was a piece of JiAh’s heart falling and crashing onto concrete soil.   
 
Hoya was filled with shock. Had he just hit her? His mind had no control of any of his actions anymore. He hadn’t even comprehended on what happened until he heard her wince in pain. His heart felt like he had just killed a infant, he felt like the person responsible for the deaths of the innocents.
 
He had been told never to raised a hand to a woman, never to hit a woman.
 
In a moment like this he did the first thing that came into his mind. The first thought that read clear in his mind. Run. And so he did. He didn’t even throw a second glance at her as he stomped to the door and exited this hellhole.
 
JiAh winced in pain as she felt glass prink into her skin slicing it open, her cheek felt like it was set on fire and she could feel the bruise mark it would leave behind. She looked down to her arm and saw a sight that brought her tears out, bursting into shallow mists of pain, she cried.
 
She didn’t see the color of blood, she saw blood, her blood.