“He won’t get mad about you spending time with me?”

“No. There’s a good chance he won’t.”

“But wouldn’t he think you’re cheating and leave you?”

“What does it matter?” The young adult female sighed as she pressed her chin into the palm of her hand, her eyes glazing over the table at the thought of her boyfriend who was probably sitting in her living room, waiting for her to return home from her meet up with her childhood friend who just turned out to be a boy. “He won’t fight for me anyhow.”

A ring echoed down the empty hall as metal doors slid open. A slender mass dragged her legs along the tile floors. It was late, close to midnight, as Eunah walked, hauled, lugged herself to her apartment. It had been a long day: back to back exams in school, annoying customers at the café, not even meeting up with her best friend from when she was five was able to cheer her up. All she had left for her was sleep and sleep was what she planned to do.

She pressed the four-digit code into the punch box next to the door before a green light gave her the okay and a click to access her apartment. Walking in, she yawned loudly as she slipped out of her shoes, closing the door behind her. Her bags were dropped next to the door as she headed straight for her room, which she had to cross the living room to get to. Sitting there, waiting for her with crossed arms, Taekwoon sat on the couch, glaring daggers into her skin as he watched his worn out girlfriend of seven months pass by.

“Where have you been?” Taekwoon demanded, getting up from his seat as he watched her movements come to a stop, her looking at him softly.

“I went to get dinner with my friend, remember?” She yawned, a wave of exhaust washing over her as she slumped a bit in posture, leaning against the single love seat for support. “Why are you still up? Aren’t you tired?”

“I was waiting for you.”

Taekwoon was angry, she could tell. “You didn’t have to.” Eunah smiled at him lightly, scratching her eye with the back of one hand while lifting the other out for him to take. “Let’s go to sleep—”

“Are you cheating on me?”

The air around them froze, silence pouring over them as they both stood there, him hurt to no compare and her at a loss of words. The silence crept on them, the ticking of the kitchen clock quiet enough to not rupture to tense air around them but loud enough to keep them mentally aware.

“Cheating,” Eunah began, swallowing hard as she tried to assess exactly what she did to make him to come to such a conclusion. She looked at her posture, her attire, she pet her hair, there was nothing that made her look like she had just came from a romantic date and even if there was something to hint at it, a romantic date was something she only did with her boyfriend, not her best friend since childhood. “How am I cheating? What gives you the idea that I’m cheating?”

“You’re always going out with your friend.” His brows knitted forward as his arms crossed over his chest. “Your guy friend.” He made sure to emphasize on the word ‘guy’.

They stood there for a quiet minute, Eunah at a loss of words and thoughts of what to say or do. Jealousy, he was jealous, that much she knew and a part of her was ecstatic that he was. A part of her was giddy with childish joy that he cared but at the same time, she was hurt. She was torn at the idea of him believing that she was committing infidel acts against him. She was heartbroken that he thought of her like that. “He’s only a friend Taekwoon.” Eunah shook her head, her sense of reality blaming time, fatigue. “Let’s just go to sleep. You must be tired.”

“If you want to leave me than do it—”

“I won’t stop you.” Eunah repeated his words, painfully knowing them by heart as she sighed softly, her eyes tracing the floorboards as they stood in the silence. “If I leave you, you won’t stop me. I know Taekwoon.” The fatigue of the day, the shock of the current revelation, none of it could have stopped the sense of anguish, despair, dread that filled her soul to the brim and poured out of her through her words. She knew too well that he wouldn’t fight for her. “I know.” She looked up at him, trying her best to tuck away the pain that dug into her heart for the past seven months. “I know. Let’s just go to sleep.”

“Then tell me,” He was really advocating for an answer. “Are you cheating on me?”

She sighed, shaking her head. All she wanted to do now was to take his hand, all she wanted was to wrap up in his arms and hold him forever. All she wanted was for him to fight for her.

“Then why did you come back so late.”

“I just lost track of time.” Eunah sighed as she hunched over the back of the one-person love seat. She was tired. She didn’t want to think or talk about this. She didn’t even want to acknowledge that this existed right now. All she wanted to do was sleep. “I’m not cheating on you Taekwoon. Please, just believe me.”

“I’ll believe you after you answer my questions—”

“What is there to even answer?” Her voice was rising and she didn’t even mean for it to happen. “I told you what I was going to be doing, where I would be and with whom. All I did was lose track of time. Just,” She really didn’t want to say it. She really didn’t want to say it but she needed to say it. She wanted to get it off of her chest. “Just go home Taekwoon. I’m not in the mood to argue about this right now.”

“I’m not going anywhere and you don’t have any other choice.” Taekwoon walked up to her, grabbing a hold of her wrist as he pulled her in front of him, his eyes boring into her own. He was mad, frustrated, annoyed, completely and utterly pissed off. But most importantly, he was insecure. “Why did you come back so late? Why didn’t you call?”

She stood there for a moment, trying to process her words correctly but her brain refused to filter any of her thoughts. She didn’t want to continue holding onto this pain. “Why does it even matter?” She spat back as she snapped her wrist out of his grasp, taking a step back and glaring back up at him with dreading eyes that were equal, if not more so, hollow than his. “You won’t fight for me to begin with so why should me being with other guys bother you at all.”

He stood there shocked, surprised, hurt by her words. Taekwoon stood there for a moment at a loss, uncertain about the events that were beginning to unfold. He wanted to process this situation more thoroughly, salvage whatever he could between them but his moment of logic was short lived and a wave of anger took over. “So you think just because I won’t fight for you, it’s okay to see other men behind my back? Is that your logic behind all of this?”

“I don’t know, maybe. If you’re not willing to fight for me than obviously you don’t care enough for me.” She crossed her arms, her eyes beginning to glisten in the artificial light as she looked away and out the patio glass door. “God, why are you even here. If you don’t care about me, stop wasting my time and leave already.”

“You think I don’t care? You honestly think I don’t care?” He scoffed, a pathetic excuse of a grin pulling at his lips as he glanced upwards toward the ceiling before looking back at her, the girl he had been falling in love with for the last half year and a month. “I say that because I do care. I care a lot! If another man makes you happy, I’ll let you leave. I won’t stop you from running off to another man that makes you happy.”

“You really think another man can make me happy?” He meant for that to make her happy, to show his caring side but it only made things worse. “If you cared, if you cared a lot about me, you wouldn’t let another man make me happy. You would make sure that you’re the only one that makes me happy. If you care about me, you won’t let me look at other men, you would be fighting for me you idiot!” Tears streamed down her cheeks as she stared at him, the bottled up emotions spilling over and onto the floor. “There’s a reason why I’m going out with you idiot. You’re the only one that can make me happy but how am I possibly supposed to believe you? How! If you love me, you’d fight for me. If you cared for me, you wouldn’t let me go. If I meant anything to you, you wouldn’t dare to say those words to me! You would say that you would stop me from running to another man, you would tell me that you’d make me the happiest person alive, you’d be the one fighting off all the bad guys that look at me. If you loved me, you wouldn’t even dare to tell me that you wouldn’t stop me from leaving!”

The air around them was chilled as her soft cries crept in the air and into his ears. Taekwoon watched, guilty, as the person he loved stood there in tears. He watched, filled with remorse, as she held herself, shaking the tears out of her eyes. He approached her, feeling every tear that feel from her eyes drip into his heart.

“Eunah—”

“Just get out! Leave!” She screamed, trying to get past him. “I don’t need someone that doesn’t care for me—”

His lips pressed roughly against her own as she struggled to get away from him. His strong arms wrapped around her, holding her against him, locked in his chest as she did everything she could to get out but to no avail. He lifted her off her feet, brought her legs to his waist before slamming her into the wall. She groaned, the impact strong against her back, her parted lips enticing him forward as his tongue pressed against her own, his searching every nook and crevice of . His hands pressed against her hips, massaging her lightly. Her arms wrapped around his neck, her legs crossed around his waist. She felt herself become lost in him as he overpowered her, embraced her, loved her.

Pulling away, Taekwoon took a quick breath, looking at her stained face as his thumb ran over the damp stains of the old tears.

“What do you think you’re doing?” She meant for it to come out as a warning, some kind of threat that if he did anything stupid, she was out of his life forever but instead, it came out as something completely different. Her voice was soft, submissive and she hated herself for it.

“I’m fighting for you.”