♪ love is

As Hyunil climbed into his car and drove off, Aejin turned around only to freeze on the spot. Her lips pried apart to say something, anything, but she couldn’t. With hesitance lingering in the back of her mind, she slowly approached Suho. To say the moment was awkward would be an understatement. She avoided looking at his face as she forced herself to come to a halt in front of him.

“Joonmyun, what are you doing out here?” To be honest, she wasn’t expecting find him there but then, as she put more thought into it, his presence did make sense to the events which had just occurred. Her eyes were fixated on the ground because she realized he had seen everything. Guilt began to consume her entire being as she clutched onto the straps of her backpack.

The tension between the two of them was constricting as Suho allowed the silence to speak in his place. His heart felt like it was crumbling. Instead of explaining to him why she was returning at such an hour with Hyunil (out of all people), she chose to ask him what he was doing out there?

He didn’t want to admit it but he was a slightly hurt. Shouldn’t she have explained herself to him first? Didn’t she know how worried and anxious he had been the last few hours because of her sudden disappearance? “Joonmyun-ah, are you okay?” Aejin was unaccustomed to his silence and realized something must be really off for him to be reacting in such a manner.

“Why?” Was the only word which escaped his lips.

For a second Aejin was completely dumfounded and taken aback by his question. Then, Suho locked eyes with her and she could see a glimmer of pain behind them. Her heart stopped when she realized what she was doing and she quickly glanced away. “Sorry I didn’t tell anyone where I was going.” She murmured, averting her gaze yet again.

Was that all she seriously had to say to him?

“Omma!” Minwoo shrieked happily, oblivious to the uncomfortable and tensed atmosphere lingering in the air he had just entered. He scurried towards Aejin and wrapped his tiny arms around her legs. “Where were you? I was so scared.” He told her.

Aejin’s lips could only twitch into a small and subtle smile as she patted the child’s head. “I’m sorry for scaring you, Minwoo. But I’m tired; we should go to sleep now.” At her words, he released her and slipped his hand into hers. “See you tomorrow morning.” She said plainly to Suho before walking by him without uttering another syllable.

When she had entered the threshold, she paused and discreetly glanced back. It was probably cold of her to ignore Suho like this but there wasn’t anything she could do.

Because sooner or later, she was going to leave him and Aejin figured this was the best way to lessen the pain and hurt they would both have to experience when that day arrived.

“Noona,” Minwoo whispered in a hushed tone as he crawled over to Aejin who was sitting at the edge of the bed. She was in a dazed state and that rarely happened. So when it did, Minwoo could tell something was bothering her. “Noona,” he repeated as he jolted her arm.

The small nudge did the job of returning Aejin’s senses as she shook her head and turned his way. “What is it?”

“Are you okay?” Minwoo questioned.

His question caused the woman trouble as she hung her head low and exhaled. “I don’t think so…”

Minwoo arched his eyebrows and scooted closer to her. “Why? Did something really bad happen?”

“You should go to sleep, kiddo.” Aejin advised as she stood up.

“But I want to eat with you, noona, and it’s not my bedtime yet.” He wittingly countered.

“Didn’t you eat already?” She questioned, baffled.

“Ani,” he answered. “Samchon didn’t want to start without you. You know, he was really scared when we didn’t know where you were. I think he was more scared then I was.”

His statement led her heart to crack a little more as she moved her hand up to her chest, resting it above the organ. Aejin could feel herself trembling as she swallowed the lump which had formed in . “If you’re hungry, you should go out and eat, Minwoo. I’m not.”

Lies.

It was more like she wasn’t prepared to face Suho again.

“Does that mean you already ate?” He pondered.

Aejin faked a smile and nodded. “Tell samchon and Miyoung I already had dinner and I’m going to bed early, okay?” She strode over to the door