She was in silence from the moment I picked her up at the bus stand near her apartment. Her eyes were looking at the distance, but she looked relax and almost serene. Her left hand was in my right, we were holding hands throughout the ride, and I couldn’t help but to occasionally kiss the back of her hand. As I looked at our intertwined hands, I couldn’t believe how far we had gone with our affair.

I had known Hani for two years now, and we had secretly met each other for a good six months. I first saw her at a cafe Jiyong and I used to hang out often, two years ago. It was a small cafe with minimum menu written on a blackboard using colourful chalks, in our neighbourhood, where everybody knew each other.

We were fresh graduates back then, Jiyong and I were to celebrate our first job acceptance that evening. Instead of having beers at the bar, Jiyong decided to celebrate with some iced coffee, for reasons still unknown to me. And then she came in the cafe with her friends, smiling wide. She surely was not from the area, it was the first time I saw her, and she looked like an angel. At that exact second, I knew she was meant to be mine.

“Look at the road, Seunghyun, or you want us to spend the weekend in ward?” Her voice was lovely and calm. That was one of the reasons why I fell further for her, despite the fact that she already had a boyfriend.  “We wouldn’t want that, do we? You have paid for our expensive room, I don’t want it to be a waste.” She smiled at me, there were sparks in her eyes. Ah, her eyes. I could drown in her eyes at any moment.

“We are going to spend the night at the hotel, Hani. You don’t have to worry about it. You know I’m a good driver, better than Jiyong.” At the mention of his name, a felt a shudder from her hand. Her eyes changed, she looked apologetic, and anxious. I instantly regretted saying his name in front of her.

Jiyong was my best friend. We grew up together, and through the years of our strong friendship, I never thought that I would stab him from his back like this. This was his girl beside me. The girl he claimed someday would be the mother of his children.

But I couldn’t stop myself anymore. When Jiyong approached her at the cafe two years ago asking for her number, I kept silent, hoping that she would refuse his request, but she didn’t. I didn’t have the guts to come up to her even though my heart was screaming at me to do so. I decided to give way to Jiyong, he was known as the neighbourhood player, so if one day he let Hani go after he had his fun, I would seize her in my arms, be her knight in shining armour, heal her heart, and I would make her mine.

That day never came. Even after two years, Jiyong’s affection for Hani was as strong as ever. I never knew Jiyong could love somebody like that, and it killed me every time I hang out with them, seeing the girl I fell in love with my best friend. But then, everything was changed on one fateful night. After that night, Hani was finally mine.

“Seunghyun, what exactly are we? Who am I, to you?” She asked. We were nearing the place we were staying tonight, and I could tell she was bothered about Jiyong. She told me a couple of weeks ago that she wanted to end our affair, that she loved Jiyong with all her heart, she couldn’t bear to betray him anymore. I said to her, if she did that, I would end my life. I went as far as threatening her with a knife on my neck, and that got her to come back to me. Couldn’t she see that I was the one that loved her with all my heart?

“We are in love, Hani. That is what we are. Forget him. You are with me, this is our time.” I wanted her for myself so she shouldn’t think about any other guy but me. She especially shouldn’t think about Jiyong. I parked the car, we had arrived at our hotel.

I unbuckled both our seatbelts, and rushed to her side to help her exited the car. I wasn’t always a gentleman, but when I was with her, I wanted to treat her like a queen.

“Let’s check in. I asked for the room overlooking the ocean. You like that, don’t you, Hani?”

“Of course, sure I do, Seunghyun.” I took her hands, they were cold. It was spring, her favourite season, so I thought the weather would be warmer. I guessed I was wrong. But it would be okay, she had me to keep her warm.

I put her hand into mine, I wanted to walk hand in hand with her, I wanted her always be by my side. We were about to step up to the foyer, when somebody snatched her away from me.

“How could you do this to me, Hani! How could you do this to me, Seunghyun!”

“Jiyong?!”