The first thing that I heard when I opened my eyes was his voice. He was here, and he was having a lively conversation with Jiyong. I wondered how he did that, to face Jiyong like he did nothing wrong, to make jokes like everything was right. But everything was not right. Everything was wrong.

Seunghyun made me felt sick every day. Because of him, I felt dirty, I felt filthy, and I felt low. I was still unable to leave him, and he had upgraded his drama into something more terrifying, he had tried to hurt himself. What happened this afternoon, what he did to himself, was beyond my thoughts, and I never felt so hopeless before. I was out of energy, and I was terrified of Seunghyun.

I stayed in my room, even when I heard him asking for me. There was no way I was going out to meet him, I wanted to stay away as far as I could from him. I heard him leaving, and when I opened the bedroom door, he had already gone.

I leaned against the door frame, watching Jiyong closed the door after Seunghyun. He turned, and he looked surprised to see me.

“Hey, I didn’t know you are up. How are you feeling, Love?”

Jiyong walked towards me, and I was overwhelmed with guilt again. He cupped my chin, bent down so that we were eyes to eyes, and he kissed the bridge of my nose. I remained unspoken.

“Are you okay? You could sleep a little more, if you want to. You don’t have to worry about dinner, I have it under control. Should I put you to bed again?” I shook my head, and I felt my tears were threatening to get out.

At that moment, all I wanted to do was to be in his embrace. I clung into him, holding him close and I never want to let go. Jiyong was surprised at first with my sudden hug, but then he put his arms around me, pulling me closer, and we stayed like that for a while. He never asked anything.

“I’m going for a business trip in two weeks.” I told him when we were having dinner that night.

“Oh, really? Where?” He was helping me with my dinner, and I felt like a child having him treating me like that.

“I don’t know yet. My boss will tell me the details later.” Seunghyun would tell me the details later. “But I think I’ll be away for a couple of nights.”

I was attending Seunghyun’s cut when he suddenly suggested the trip today. He said we need to spend our time together, just the two of us, away from Jiyong, as if we hadn’t done enough. I was unable to refuse at that time, but now, I was starting to regret accepting his plan.

“Love, you don’t have to make that face,” Jiyong said. I didn’t realise I was frowning to the idea of spending 72 hours alone with Seunghyun.

“It’s okay, just go and do your job, and when it is over, I’ll be right here, waiting for you.” He held his arms opened wide, and I couldn’t help to smile at his gesture.

“There you go, that’s the smile I was waiting for all night. Phew, I thought I’ll be in the darkness forever, because your smile, Hani, brighten my day.”

What he said got the hair on my arms went straight up, and it got me to laugh. “God, I love you so much, Jiyong, even without your cheesiness.”

“I know you love my cheese, Hani.”

“That sounded wrong for so many different reasons, Jiyong.”

“And Hani, I love yours too.”

It felt so great to be with Jiyong, I was my happiest when I was with him. But to my dismay, the day of the trip that Seunghyun planned for us had finally arrived.