The silence was killing him.

He felt so tongue-tied. He was too ashamed to speak up. He knew that the silence was the oncoming storm. It frightened him. He did not know how to deal with what it held for the two of them.

The silence was killing him, slowly but surely.

But he was going to have to live through it if he wanted them to get pass this.

The quiet minutes that passed seemed like an eternity inside the car for Kyuhyun. Time stretched on and on between the two of them, lengthening the distance that was already there. He was close enough to touch Hyun Hee, but he felt as if his ability to reach out to her was weak at the moment. He doubted that she would even let him do so. He wished to look at her, but he could not bring himself to do just that. Instead, he watched his knuckles in front of him, focusing on the tight grasp that he had on the steering wheel that was getting even tighter by the minute.

Kyuhyun kept his expression even. He could not see Hyun Hee fully, but he knew that she was doing the same. They were not going to allow the emotions that were brewing inside pass the exterior. Not yet.

He had a lot to explain. He was very unreasonable to her the past few days. She hated him right now, undoubtedly, he thought. But it was okay that she felt that way because he did not do all of that for nothing. He could prove it. He proved it to himself. He just hoped that he could prove it to her.

The direction that the car was taking was very familiar to the both of them. The route was something they both knew well, but the media did not. Their destination was only made clear by the time they had stopped.

Kyuhyun got out first to open the gate and went back to park the car on the driveway. He pulled the key from the ignition, stepped out and opened Hyun Hee’s door for her. They looked up at the three-storey house at the same time.

It was Kyuhyun’s house. It was not just his parents’ house, it was his. It was one of the things he first thought of acquiring after his success with Super Junior.

It was also the same house that Hyun Hee grew up in as a child.

The house that stood in front of them now was their home at different times. Now, those times were about to align.

“Let’s get inside. We’ll freeze if we stay here any longer,”

Hyun Hee nodded, letting Kyuhyun lead her across the snow-covered lawn, through the front door that felt familiar to her in the past, but was different to her now. She briefly glanced at Kyuhyun and wondered if the circumstances were the same. He did not notice this as he closed the door behind them.

“I’ll make us something warm to drink from the kitchen. Please make yourself at home.”

He was coming off as flat and placid with the way he spoke and he was aware of that. For some reason, he could not bring himself to act the way he normally did. The air around them right now was too static for normalcy. The electricity that surrounded them was going to burst one way or another. It was only a matter of who would be the first to tip the scale to disturb the balance they were feigning.

Leaving Hyun Hee in the stillness of the living room, Kyuhyun made his way to the kitchen. He took out an electric kettle from one of the cabinets, filled it with water and turned it on. He laid it on the counter and stared at it for a while. The water inside started boiling. He could not help, but compare it to the situation at hand. The clock was ticking. Soon enough, the bubbles that were rippling towards the surface would be too much. He leaned against the edge of the counter, wondering just when and knowing only that it was near. He closed his eyes, sensing the steady thud of his heart that was both longing and aching for the girl on the other side of the wall. What she thought of him now frightened him to his very core. It was crippling, pulling him down where his feet could not hold him. He felt like he could fall down at any moment with nothing to catch him as he crumbles. He opened his eyes, blinking away the tears that were not there, but still flowed inside of him.

As he regained his footing, the light on the kettle turned red. He pulled the plug off from the device and the water inside was back to being steady. Getting a hold of two coffee mugs from the drawers, he poured the hot water into them. With two teaspoons and two sachets of hot chocolate powder, the mugs were ready to be taken out of the kitchen.

Kyuhyun was not fully confident that he was.

With a mug on each hand, he reluctantly stepped out of the kitchen. He could feel the heat from his palm to the tips of his fingers and he found it almost comforting. He took a deep breath.

Slow, quiet steps brought him to the living room. He peered to check what Hyun Hee was doing, only to find the room completely deserted.

Alarmed, his first assumption was that she left. But that was unlikely, as he would have heard it if the front door, which was sturdy, but was also made with a heavy type of wood, opened and then closed. His instinct then pulled him towards the stairs and on to the second floor of the house. To new guests, the second floor was confusing with its numerous hallways and doors. Hyun Hee was certainly not new, nor could she be considered as simply being a guest. With his instinct still guiding him, he went to the only room that Hyun Hee could have gone to in a time of distress.

Her bedroom.

When they were younger, Hyun Hee was not allowed to bring boys inside her room. Her parents constantly reminded her of this, especially with Kyuhyun in tow. When he had bought the house, Kyuhyun felt a tinge of thrill each time he stepped into the room he was forbidden to go to as a kid. It was childish, but it eased the pain of missing someone, even if that longing had grown dormant with the passage of time.

That was then, when he still had no idea if he was ever going to cross paths with the friend he had lost. Now, the memories were once again prompted. Before, he never really understood why he was not allowed. He even wondered whether Hyun Hee kept a monster inside her bedroom. But the reality of the present was not that far, he realized. Sometimes, there were things that could lead to bad choices and ill decisions. Choice that could even lead to utter ruin and destruction.

He could not really worry about that now. It was time for them to confront what they both needed to confront. Or else, they were going to go around in circles with their painful facades. He had no plan of doing that the whole day.

He was now outside of the door with the drinks still in place. With a of his foot, he pushed open the door that was already ajar.

Furnishing this particular room was a process he spent a lot of time on. Back then, he was not entirely sure why he seemed to be making the room fit for someone specific, but that was the direction it took once it was done. The walls were light pink, a color that he was not opposed to but did not favor either, and yet, he felt the need to paint the room in that certain shade. The few paintings that decorated it were of flowers. He would not boast about it to anyone, but the bed was fit for a princess with its size and its sheets that complimented the rest of the room. The other rooms had their own charms, but this was the one he paid most attention to, besides his own, which was just a door away.

As he caught sight of Hyun Hee by the window, with his back to him, it was clear just how much she belonged there. This was definitely her room. It was then. It still is.

Kyuhyun laid the mugs on the desk. At this sound, Hyun Hee stirred, but did not turn around. He waited for her to do so, but after a while, it did not look like she was going to.

And he could not take it anymore.

“Please say something.”

Hyun Hee seemed to make an exasperated sigh, laying one hand on window frame, almost irritatingly. It looked as if she was gathering herself with the silence that followed. A silence that did not last too long.

“Fine,”

She turned, striding heavily towards him. He was reminded of the different, unkinder part of Hyun Hee that he had encountered before and the tense exchange they had when he auditioned.

“You’re so cruel.” she said just as she was about to walk out of the room.

It only occurred to him now that she must have gone up there to hide away her feelings from him. At that moment, Kyuhyun d