“Ah ra…” My ears caught noise of Jinyoung coming in from the front door. I came out of my room drowsily since it was 3am and I was just waiting for him to return home before I slept.

“Yes...?” His face looked so tired and distraught.

“Ah ra.” He walked over after closing the door.

“Yes, wh—” He pretty much fell into my arms, holding me around the waist. “Is something wrong?” I asked, tightening my arms around him.

“It’s nothing… Did you eat?”

“It’s 3 in the morning Jinyoung…I think most people have eaten dinner by now.”

“Then I meant breakfast, not dinner.” Is he really this tired right now…? He’s not even making sense.

“No, I haven’t eaten breakfast yet.” He pulled away from me.

“We should eat together then.” He took my hand and dragged me to our small kitchen. “What should we eat…?” He muttered to himself. Is he serious about eating right now…? “Ah. Do we still have those strawberry cookies from before?” Strawberry cookies…Ah!

“We finished them two weeks ago.” He frowned, rubbing his temples. Is that a very stressful thing…not having them?

“Ah ra.” He looked straight into my eyes. “Ah ra…”

“Y-Yes?” Something seems really off today. I know Jinyoung’s been out of it lately, but this is just very weird.

“I love you.” He was biting his lips after he spoke and his eyes looked a bit deflated.

“…I love you too.” I went in front of him, taking his face in my hands. “Please tell me if something is wrong Jinyoung… It’s really obvious that something is.” He took my hands off, turning his head with a small shake.

“Nope. Nothing’s wrong at all.”

“You’re such a liar.” I spoke before I thought and he looked at me with such angry eyes, his mouth bunching up.

“Why? Just because I don’t want to talk as much recently? Wow. You don’t even try to understand how stressful my life has been lately!” He suddenly exploded.

“Jinyoung, I—”

“Just stop. Don’t say you’re sorry because I know you wouldn’t mean it.” Why is he so upset all of a sudden?!

“Jinyoung, really, I—”

 “You’re not being a good wife to me at all.” He went on icily with crossed arms. I tried not to let my jaw physically drop. He wouldn’t even look at me.

“Goodnight.” I quickly left and just went to bed.

I’m not a bad wife…or at least I didn’t have any doubts until he spoke up. I’ll just take it today. I won’t cry because Jinyoung doesn’t like tears. I won’t cry, I thought as I bit my bottom lip that was starting to quiver.

My eyes fluttered open, feeling a pressure on my torso. I stared down at Jinyoung, my eyes softening when I caught eye of him resting his head on my chest. He had his arms wrapped tight around my waist and was still asleep. I smiled softly, knowing why he was in this position. This is how Jinyoung silently apologizes when he knows he did something bad.

I stayed still, lightly putting my arms around him too. He shuffled a little in his sleep, making a small noise. It made me smile. I just hope he won’t be as stressed soon; it makes me frown when I can’t even do anything to help him.

I opened my eyes again later, frowning since Jinyoung was gone this time around. My phone was ringing… It made me notice that it was already 2pm…the middle of the afternoon… “Hello?” I answered, trying not to yawn.

“Noona!” Baro yelled in a whisper.

“How many times do I have to say it? You can just call me Ah ra; we’re only a year apart.”

“What? Oh, that’s not important right now!” He continued talking in whispers. “Noona, the past few weeks, Hyung has been—”

“Baro! He’s coming back!” I could hear Sandeul yelling in the background.

“Ah! Already?! Sorry Noona! I’ll call you back later!” He hung up. These calls make me so suspicious of Jinyoung… He said something about the past few weeks…which is when Jinyoung started getting stressed and acting funny.

I remember when I told that person online.

I completely trust my husband because he’s an honorable and faithful man to me.

Is it wrong of me to see a small dot on that line now?

A black dot that shouldn’t be there.

A black dot of ugly, despicable doubt.

Baro POV

“What are you guys doing in here?” Jinyoung interrogated us.

“Nothing. Just waiting for you.” He pursed his lips irritably and huffed through his nose loudly.

“I told everyone to come to the studio.” He kept his voice in a low growl.

“A-Ah, sorry. We thought you were going to come back first.” Sandeul tried to make an excuse.

“Tch. Think a little first.” He mumbled, leaving the room. Sandeul and I both let out a huge breath.

“I thought I was going to die…” I exhaled out.

“Yah, we should tell Ah ra, right?” Sandeul whispered to me.

“Not if Jinyoung comes in every time we call her.” I whispered back.

“But he—”

“We’ll tell her, alright? Later though.” Sandeul nodded before he went down to the recording studio. I can’t even tell what Jinyoung is thinking anymore. I thought he was a great leader. I thought he was a respetable man.

Ah ra POV

“Hey.” I greeted Jinyoung, lowering my head when he walked straight past me without even a hello or glance. “Jinyoung…” I followed him, going from room to room behind him until he turned with a frustrated sigh.

“Stop. I’m sorry for yelling at you yesterday; just leave me alone for a while.” He turned sharply, going off into our room and shutting the door.

I sat in my studio, working until my mind wouldn’t let me focus anymore. My thoughts keep flowing to Jinyoung... I was finally brought back to reality from my thoughts when I accidentally cut my finger with my sculpting knife. I sighed, wiping it quickly. I couldn’t find a bandage and just left it unwrapped.

I kept attempting to work on my project until I realized that the majority of my fingers had cuts and scrapes on them now… I some of the wounds clean and left others to dry.

I don’t want to do anything right now.

Seeing that it was already 3am and that Jinyoung had probably fallen asleep by now, I thought of just going to our room and sleeping next to him, but then I understood that I didn’t want to see his face.

I cleaned my desk, resting my head down on it.

As I drifted into sleep, I felt hands on my shoulders and back, but I’m sure I just hallucinated the warm touch.

“Mmm…” I lifted my head up, noticing that I was in my bed.

Did Jinyoung come and put me here…? I felt a tiny bit better about the situation at hand; he at least didn’t let me sleep in my cold studio.

I ate breakfast, noting my fingers. He... They were covered in little band-aids. I smiled, knowing that Jinyoung had placed them all there. And then the phone rang. I took a deep breathe answering. “Hello?”

“Ah ra.” It was Sandeul today. “I need to tell you something.” He said quietly.

“Okay.” I answered back, clutching the phone hard in my hands, feeling like he would tell me what’s going on with Jinyoung.

“Well, the truth is that Jinyoung ha—” He stopped with a silence. I kept quiet when I heard a bunch of rustling on the other line with quite a few voices yelling. Then I heard it.

“Stop! Don’t even talk to her!” The line got cut, but I would have hung up immediately after anyway.

Jinyoung doesn’t want to talk with me.

He wants to keep me in the dark and…I tried so hard not to doubt.

It’s too hard now.