Maeri watched the ball carefully as it slowly rolled right by her foot. She groaned and bent down to pick the soccer ball up, feeling the claminess of the goalie gloves stick to her hands as she cradled the ball. But she held it only for a second before throwing it like a rocket directly at Woohyun's stomach, who recoiled at the sudden hit but still caught the ball. "You're not even trying!" Maeri yelled in frustration. "How am I supposed to get better if you don't challenge me?" She watched Woohyun as he shrugged and dropped the ball near his feet. She gnashed her teeth at the sight, feeling even more aggravated at his carelessness. But for Maeri, this was a big deal. She had never played goalie before, and theirs had injured her wrist and need to sit out for just one game. And so Maeri stepped up to fill the empty spot on the field (anything was better than sitting on the bench and waiting anxiously in anticipation to get called back into the game. And this way she can stay on the field for the entire game).

"I don't know why you're taking this so seriously," Woohyun remarked with his eyes fixed on the ball. He began dribbling it in between his feet. Okay, so yes he did know why. She was Yoo Maeri, and she wouldn't be Yoo Maeri if she didn't throw herself 100% into everything. But she needs to chill out, Woohyun thought. "Look, I know that your goalie is injured and can't play, but you're playing the worst team in the league tomorrow. Your defenders will be lucky if they see any action." He raised his gaze only to see Maeri already in position, in a squat on her toes with hand beckoning at him.

"Just bring it, okay?" she dismissed him, her eyes were trained on the ball.

Woohyun cocked an eyebrow. "You really want me to? I'm the best striker on the team," he asked. Maeri nodded, still concentrating on the ball. Woohyun chuckled a bit to himself as he took a few steps back, readying his approach. "Alright, you asked for it," he said and then ran up to the ball, smacking his laces perfectly against it. Then he watched as the ball sailed quickly through the air.

And smacked Maeri perfectly in the face.

"Oh !" Woohyun cursed as he ran up to her, carefully removing the hands that were covering her face. "You okay?"

Maeri gently dabbed underneath her nose. Good. There's no blood, she sighed to herself in relief at the sight of a clean glove. Save for the throbbing and uncontrollable urge to sneeze, Maeri judged that she was fine. That the feeling would pass soon enough. So after sneezing a few times, she pushed Woohyun away. "Again," she commanded, her voice now nasal.

Woohyun looked at her with wide eyes for a second. "You want me to hit you again?!"

"No," Maeri responded with a slight laugh, wiping her nose again. "Shoot the ball again and don't hold back, okay? I'm fine. So don't worry. Just shoot."

Woohyun cocked his head as he placed the ball down on the ground again. Yoo Maeri was infalliable.

Or at least she was then, but today, over a decade later Maeri felt as if she had gotten hit in the head by a dozen of soccer balls, or at least she would have perferred it. Today was open appraisal day at the auction house, which meant hoardes of people coming in with junk that they swear to be family hierlooms and are disappointed and argumentive when the appraisers say otherwise. Right now, a middle-aged woman was angrily arguing and practically spitting in Maeri's face. "This painting was done by my great-grandfather. He's a very well respected artist," she shouted.

Yes, he was probably the best artist in his village, but that's not worth much, Maeri bit the words back on her tongue and refrained from wiping the spittle from her face lest she offend the old woman. "I'm sorry, m'am. I've never heard of this artist before, nor do we have a demand for this kind of painting," she explained, pushing the artwork back across the counter. We have 5 more in ink drawings the back, better done and by actual artists, and even those are collecting dust, she refrained again. And she kept her smile, made it wider until it physically hurt. She took in a deep breath. I won't let this get to me today.

The old lady eyed her up and down. "I want to speak to the expert," she declared.

Maeri bit the insides of her cheek and smiled again. "I am one," she spoke calmly. "I have a degree in decorative arts and a certificate for appraisals, if you would like to see it." She, unfortunately, had to show her certificate before to doubting costumers.

"But not a degree in paintings," the woman pointed out.

Maeri sighed. "Technically no," she admitted. Her degree was more encompassing than one in just paintings. But Maeri knew that telling the customer that would do little to soothe her growing rage. "But I assure you that I have a lot of experience..."

"I would like to talk with the expert in paintings," she cut Maeri off.

Maeri's eyes darted over towards Sora who was swamped in a sea of people herself. Maeri had meant to help her out, but instead she'd be sending an aggravated costumer to her friend. Guilt began to wash over her. Some help I am. Her finger's flew to her forehead, wanting to rub away the headache that was quickly forming, but then she felt the eyes of the old lady scruntizing her. She dropped her hand and turned towards the customer. "She's just over there," she gestured over to Sora. The woman, without another word, picked up the ink drawing and went across the room. Maeri wanted to feel relieved but she wasn't off the hook yet. A man with a goofy smile and a broken antique toy was next in line, and she'll have to deliever the sad news that his once valuable possession in now worthless because of the condition. That news never rested well either.

But still she put on a smile and spoke in a friendly tone, "Next."

Woohyun looked down at the baby in his arms. Gently, his fingers brushed against Haeun's tiny nose. It was the same as his, and the same as his brother's as well. The unmistakeable Nam nose, it must be genetically dominant. And Woohyun caught himself wondering if his own child would have it too, and maybe his sharp eyes, thick hair, or big lips. What features would he gift to the child? And what would be in the baby that would be distintively Maeri?

Yes, he knew of Maeri's claim that she disliked babies, and yet...And yet she still helped to raise Jonghyun from infancy when she was younger. Woohyun had engraved in his memory the mother-like smile that she wore whenever she held Jonghyun and the slight sadness in her eyes whenever Jonghyun had reached a milestone in life and he was growing up quickly before their very eyes. Before Woohyun had wondered if Maeri disliked babies because she felt as if she already raised one in Jonghyun, but last night seemed to prove that theory wrong.

In the middle of the night, Haeun cried, probably scared after waking up in an unfamiliar environment. But before Woohyun could wake up and realize what was going on, he felt the bed shift and saw Maeri rolling out and getting up onto her feet. She shuffled over to the crib, and resting her hands on the rails, she peered inside, watching the crying infant for one moment, then two. Woohyun sat up in bed, keeping a close eye on his friend. He was curious to see what she would do next. To be quite honest, Woohyun had expected her to mildly cuss out the baby for waking her up and pass on Haeun to her uncle. But then she reached down into the crib, picked up the child, and rocked her delicately in her arms while she cooed. And then the motherly smile and affection that she used to show Jonghyun, shone brightly in the scant light of the dark room. Woohyun watched her with a grin growing on his face.

"What are you smiling at?" Maeri mumbled as she looked over at her friend. She narrowed her eyes, probably already deciding that her fiancé was crazy.

"You," Woohyun answered immediately back. Maeri scoffed and turned her attention back to the baby.

"Yah," she whispered to the child, tapping Haeun's nose with the tip of her finger. "I hope you missed out on the Nam crazy genes. You're too pretty to be crazy." Woohyun felt his grin widen, scarcely believing what he'd just heard. He really might just be crazy because he'd just heard Maeri call a baby "pretty," which was impossible. But then his face fell as he saw Maeri lay the baby back down in the crib. The tender moment was already over. His fiancée was already crawling back into bed, about to fall asleep like nothing extraordinary had just happened. But it did, and Woohyun couldn't forget it. 

But like that moment had ended, Haeun's time with her uncle had also come to an end. Boohyun had come to their apartment to pick his daughter up, and after loading up the car with her things, Woohyun handed the child over back to her father. "Here she is. Is everything, okay?" he asked, carefully watching how Haeun grabbed at her father's face, giggling with glee.

Boohyun laughed and pulled his face away from Haeun's tiny hands. "I feel like that's what I should be asking," he responded in a teasing tone. "Rough night?"

Woohyun yawned as his brother asked the question. It honestly was a bit rough. He didn't sleep well for fear of something happening to Haeun in the middle of the night. But even though he slept little, it wasn't like he'd just come back from a funeral. "Not as rough as yours," he spoke through a yawn.

"It was a bit rough," Boohyun admitted. "But my wife is fine. She'll be even better once she get Haeunnie back in her arms." The father cooed at his child, brushing his nose against her round cheek. "She didn't handle the separation well."

Woohyun scoffed at his brother. It seemed like the elder didn't handle the night apart from his daughter well either. "Neither did Haeunnie," Woohyun added as he ran his fingers through Haeun's thin hair.

"Thanks for doing this. I owe you," Boohyun promised as he pulled Haeun away from her uncle and began to place her into the carseat. Woohyun frowned and put his hand into his pocket it, digging it deeply inside. He nodded scarcely to his brother, just to acknowledge that he heard him. After strapping his daughter into the carseat, Boohyun turned his attention back to his disgruntled brother. "So how was Maeri with the baby? I would've paid money to see her change a diaper."

"She did help to raise Jonghyun, you know," Woohyun reminded the other, and Boohyun nodded. But then the younger sighed as he continued, "But she was no help at all. She was on a date. For charity," he quickly added the last part when Boohyun furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

The elder slapped his head with his hand. "Oh right! The charity auction was last night," he grumbled as he dragged his hand down his face. He then look at his little brother apologetically. "Sorry to ruin it for you."

"It's okay," Woohyun assured him. "Besides Dongwoo and I had fun with Haeunnie."

"If only Dongwoo was a girl..." Boohyun mused.

Woohyun rolled his eyes. This wasn't the first time that his brother had said that (or anyone), but at least Woohyun managed to be good humored about it rather than irritated. "She'd be a lot better than Maeri, that's for sure," he finished his brother's musing with a joke. "She still claims not to like babies."

"Well, soon that might all change. It's always different when it's your own kid," Boohyun commented as he cast a glance back to his own child who was sleeping in her carseat. "Really different," he muttered bellow his breath with a faint smile on his face. He snorted and then faced his brother again. "Thanks for taking care of her again."

"Right. No problem," Woohyun said as he waved goodbye to his brother and headed back inside his building.

Soon that might all change...soon. He repeated 'soon' over and over again in his head as he entered the elevator and leaned against the back wall. The smile returned to his face. Last night, he couldn't forget. He'd caught a glimpse of Maeri as a mother, a glimpse of their near future together. He chuckled to himself as the elevator doors opened wide to his floor. Why couldn't 'soon' be tonight?

If I took things too far tonight, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable.

Maeri read that text over and over again as she sat in the break room gnawing on her lunch. In all honesty, Sunggyu had taken it too far, so far that the line of decency was just a speck to him (or was Maeri overreacting?). But it was one other thing bothering her today, rubbing her nerves raw and pushing her closer and closer to the edge.

"Sungjong-ah, you said that there's half-truths in jokes," she spoke to her coworker who was sitting in the seat across from her at the table. She finally put down the phone, a little too hard. The 'thud' when it hit resounded throughout the small room, but it didn't scare the maknae of the auction house. Sungjong raised an eyebrow as he looked at the woman curiously. It was obvious to anybody. Maeri was frustrated right now, and it was more than a rough day at work.

"Sometimes, why?" Sungjong responded slowly and then took a long drink from his glass. He was cautious to not set Maeri off because she appeared to be a bomb with her fuse lit.

Maeri leaned forward eagerly, almost knocking over her bowl of food. Her brow was creased with worry, and her eyes were darting all over the younger. "So it's sometimes, right? And not all of the time?" she asked hurriedly, as if she needed the answer right now. "Right?" she pressed Sungjong again when he hadn't answered in the second's time that she'd given him to respond.

Sungjong suddenly placed his forefinger into one of the deep creases forming in between her eyebrows. The wrinkles smoothed out, as Maeri was shifting from concerned to confused, and Sungjong pushed his finger forward until Maeri's head was pushed back. The woman cursed under her breath and frowned as she rubbed where Sungjong's finger had dug into her forehead. But just like when she had slammed her phone against the table, Sungjong remained unflinching. "Noona, what is this really about?" he asked. A sly smile graced his face. "And you have to tell me, remember? I still have questions left."

Maeri took in a deep breath and held her tongue. Yes, that was right. She'd nearly forgotten. Sungjong was still allowed to ask personal questions, and she was obligated to answer them. But while he could ask about anything, the amount was limited. And the boy was slowly using them all up. Maeri let out her breath, regaining control over herself. If she was smart, she could put an end to this game.

5..."Sunggyu...ssi," she added the formal address as an afterthought. It sounded awkward rolling off her tongue, but the whole situation was. "He said he liked me, but he didn't seem serious at the time. We were joking, and he just, I don't know, took it too far." It had to be a joke. She needed it to be a joke.

"So you want to know if he's telling the truth?" Sungjong summarize. He leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. Maeri nodded, but Sungjong shook his head in response. "I don't know Sunggyu-ssi very well, so I can't be sure," he answered bluntly. Maeri looked down at the phone still laying face down on the table. Her hand next to the phone curled in a fist. "You should ask him."

Maeri snapped up her head. "What?! No! Why?" she protested.

"Why are you reacting like that?" Sungjong argued and his fingers were rapping quickly against the table. He was slowly losing his patience with the woman, which only worked to her advantage. 

4, Maeri kept the countdown going. Okay that one was a little cheap. She titled her head, acting oblivious. "Like what?" Or maybe she wasn't really 'acting.' She honestly had no idea what the other was getting at.

"You're over-reacting!" Sungjong pointed out, raising his voice. "You acted like I asked you kill someone, not talk to them." He then suddenly leaned forward, narrowing his eyes on her. "Are you afraid of talking to him?" he challenged.

Maeri dropped her gaze as she traced a '3' on the table with her finger. She rest her cheek against her other hand as she continued to make random patterns onto the table with the other. After a few seconds of contemplation and silence, Maeri finally let out a soft reply, "Okay so I did overreact, and...maybe...maybe I'm just a little afraid." She raised her gaze up to the other. "Just a little," she emphasized.

"Why?"

2, getting closer...Maeri sat up straight and folded her hands in her lap. "Because we're all supposed to be friends. Him, me, Woohyun, and Hani-unnie," she mumbled as she twidled her thumbs. They were supposed to be like a car, with four wheels happily and unanimously rotating as they rolled down the path of life. No one would ever feel like the third wheel to her and Woohyun. They were supposed to be happy. But it seemed like they hit a bump and got a flat. Maeri shut her eyes. "But that's all starting to fall apart. Unnie and him broke up. And now this."

"Do you think he likes you?"

Maeri's head shot up as she stared at the other in disbelief. "Huh?"

"Do you..." Sungjong pointed at Maeri, emphasizing his words. "...think he likes you?"

Maeri let out a deep sigh. Last one. "I don't know." And she honestly didn't know. She didn't have a single clue. But she did know one thing, "But he can't. Or shouldn't...I'm with Woohyun."

"Noona," Sungjong dropped his voice. He paused to cast a glance over towards the door, making sure that nosy Sora hadn't snuck in during their conversation. She hadn't. So he continued to whisper lowly. He himself felt as if he was crossing the boundless line that Maeri had set for him when their game had started. "Do you want Sunggyu-hyung to like you? Do you like him?"

Maeri bolted upright, standing up on her feet. Sungjong was finally startled. His eyes grew larger and round. His lips were twitching, ready to stammer out apologies. But then, Maeri smiled. It was obviously forced, but it wasn't menacing in the slightest. She reached over and lightly tapped her knuckles against his head. "Ddaeng, you're out of questions," Maeri spoke in as light of a tone as she could muster.

But it wasn't like she had an answer for that question. She didn't know herself. And that's what bothered her so much.

And after such a frustrating and long day, Maeri just wanted to go home and mindlessly watch television, maybe taking a nap on the couch (and subsequently on a bit of her fiancé as well). In short, she just wanted to relax and do absolutely nothing. And unfortunately, Woohyun had other plans, which involved a lot of moving.

As soon as she sat down, Woohyun stuck to her side, which wasn't unusual. They would often do this to each other, acting as if they were sharing a seat instead of an entire couch. But what was unusual was what he did next. His arm circled around Maeri's waist, drawing her in even closer, suffocatingly close for Maeri at this moment. Woohyun then placed his head within the crook of her neck. Slowly he turned his head and began pressing kisses against the side of her neck. Maeri gasped. Woohyun had misinterpreted it as a gasp in pleasant surprise, and he raised his head to press a hard kiss onto her parted lips, trying to coax her as best he could.

But Maeri wasn't feeling pliant today. She had bent her will for more than enough people, and so she wasn't about to give into the other. Instead, she tried to push him away as best she could. However, he was determined to stay stuck onto her side like a thorn. "Woohyun," she whined as she wiggled in his tight grasp. "I've had people in my face all day, so can you not?

Woohyun huffed. He had heard all about Maeri's day over dinner, and Maeri could never hide her irritation well. But why was she becoming even more agitated? This was supposed to be relaxing and soothing...pleasurable! That was what he had intended. However, even her ears were growing red and hot. Being so close, he could feel their heat beating on his face (as well as her hits to his chest). Maybe she's nervous? he thought as he recalled their jitters from the time before. So he tried to diffuse the situation with a joke, "But my face is different. It's better."

"It's annoying," she retorted. Maeri also finally gave up her struggle and remained still, with her arms across her chest and her eyes fixed on the television screen across from them.

Now Woohyun's nerves were wearing thin. "Really?! I'm being annoying?" he fought back. 

Maeri faced him again. "Yes," she replied curtly, eyes cutting through him like daggers. "I just want to relax."

Woohyun let out a deep breath and bit his tongue until he could taste blood in his mouth. He knew that tone of hers. He hated it. Maeri often bottled things up inisde until she finally exploded all over the place after one final trigger. And that tone was like the ticking of a time bomb. But after knowing her for over a decade, Woohyun maybe had learned how to diffuse this bomb with careful fingers. "You want to relax?" he asked as he cracked his knuckles, warming up his hands. "Then how about this?" He brought his hands to her shoulders and began massaging them. But the tension did not go away. Maeri raised her shoulders even higher, hunching her back.

"Hyun!" she cried. Once again she pushed her fiancé off of her. "What's gotten into you? Why are you acting so weird?" she demanded. Her eyes were wild, a raging fire lit behind them. The bomb had detonated. 

The trigger must've set off a chain of explosions because even Woohyun had had enough. "Weird? Weird?!" he repeated with a strangled laugh and a twitching lip. "Maybe I'm weird for thinking that this is what couples do."

Maeri huffed and closed her eyes. "Please, Woohyun, can we please not get into it right now?" she begged.

"Get into what?" Woohyun fought back, waving his hands in the air. Maeri opened her eyes again and stared at him as if he should already know. "Get into what?" he repeated more loudly. "Because we never get into it! You're not even trying!"

"I'm sorry if I don't want to have ..."

Woohyun cut her off, "It's not about that!" And it really wasn't about intimacy, not anymore. It had stopped being about that the moment Maeri pushed him away for the second time. Now it was about everything, every little doubt that Woohyun ever had about them, every single thing that annoyed and irritated him. And at the center of everything was Maeri. Even the way she way looking at him right now, in disbelief, as if Woohyun didn't have more worries than just , like an animal, it irritated the Hell out of him. "It's not," he insisted. "You don't try at making this...us work!"

Maeri scoffed in disbelief and threw her head back. "Oh, and like you try so hard," she retorted.

"I do!"

"When?" she challenged.

"Now. Yesterday. Everyday!" Woohyun exclaimed, his voice raising higher after each word until he was shouting.

"Yesterday?" Maeri picked that one out. "You weren't even there!"

"I had to look after my neice," he excused himself. What was he supposed to do? Turn his brother down and turn his neice, his family way? His family...that's when Woohyun realized that it wasn't really what he was supposed to do, but what Maeri should have done. It wasn't just his family anymore. "Our neice!" he corrected himself. He then pointed a finger at the other, accusingly. "You should've been there to help."

There it was, guilt. The guilt on Maeri's face was all the evidence that Woohyun needed to prove that he was right. However, she wasn't ready to accept the entire blame herself. "If you needed help, you should've just asked!" she argued.

"I shouldn't have to ask! We're family," he retorted. It should've been her natural response, just like when she had gotten up the night before after Haeun cried. And you should want to spend time with me, Woohyun couldn't help but to think that as well. "We're family, and you shouldn't have stayed at the auction last night," although his voice had dropped lower to a normal register, it still seemed to cut through Maeri harder than anything else he had said, probably because it was paired with hurt eyes.

"I...I didn't have a choice," she stammered lowly. She couldn't even look the other in the eye. 

Woohyun scoffed. "I bet you didn't even ask your boss if you could leave," he guessed. Once again, Maeri's actions gave him all the answer that he needed: she looked the other way. "I thought so," Woohyun muttered as he got up from the couch. "I'm going to bed. Don't follow me," he demanded as he slunk off into the bedroom and slammed the door close.

Once the door shut, Maeri mimicked the other, "Don't follow me." She narrowed her eyes on the closed door. "What am I supposed to do? Sleep here tonight?" she asked the door with a sneer on her lips. It gave no answer. "Fine!" she huffed as she flung herself onto the couch, spreading herself as much as she could. It was rare that she'd ever have the couch to herself since she'd moved in with Woohyun, and she was going to enjoy it as much as she could. "This nice," she muttered, trying to convince herself. "I finally have the couch to myself and I can watch whatever I want." Maeri grabbed the remote and immediately flipped to her favorite channel. It was playing a documentary about a solved murder. She watched it in silence, complete silence. There wasn't even a peep coming from the bedroom. It was as if she was in the apartment entirely alone. Maeri wiped her eyes as she continued to watch the documentary. "I bet the husband did it. He murdered his wife.The husband is always to blame," she muttered, finally breaking the chilling silence in the apartment.

Except she knew that in her situation it wasn't the husband's fault. Maeri was the guilty party. She was guilty of everything.

Maeri must've fallen asleep like that on the couch, unwashed and still in her work clothes, because she woke up that way. The television was still on, but it wasn't the channel she'd left it on. The news was playing. It must've been reporting a car accident because on the screen there was a tattered shell of a car. And as Maeri was watching, the car suddenly combusted, bursting into flames. She yelped in shock, her heart was racing in her chest, wildly. Firefighters rushed onto the scene, trying to fight the raging fire, and losing. The flames only rose higher and higher until it took over the whole screen.

The newscaster's voice finally appeared, narrating the events: "There was an accident tonight in the downtown area. Help on the scene tried the best they could, but the gas tank in the vehicle had caught on fire, causing an explosion. There were no survivors. The victim appears to be a man in his 20s or 30s, but as the body was so disfigured by the flames, it is difficult to tell who it is at this time. I'm Oh Hani, reporting the evening news."

Maeri turned off the television with a shakey hand and then raced off into the bedroom. The bedsheets were rumpled and empty. He wasn't there. She ran into the bathroom and flipped on the light. Save for Fish Woohyun, swimming in their bathtub, no one was there. Maeri dragged her feet back into to living room. She was alone, completely alone.

But not for long. There was a knock at the door. Sungkyu was there, dressed in a police officer's uniform and with a pitiful look on his face. "We did all we could, but we couldn't save him," his voice was shaking, as was his hand as he handed over a burnt jacket. Woohyun had been wearing it when he left, Maeri could recall it clearly. "Maeri, Woohyun is gone."

"N-no!" Maeri objected, clinging the jacket tightly to her chest. She fell onto her knees right then as she buried her face in the jacket. Even though it was badly burned and smelt of ash and gasoline, it still smelled like him. "He can't be gone. He can't be!" She raised her head again as she yelled, ready to curse out the officer, but Sungkyu was gone. Her parents were standing in front of her now along with Jonghyun.

Her mother knelt down next to her and took her daughter's cheeks in her hands. "Maeri, you have to pull yourself together," she urged her. "You have to be strong for the baby."

"What ba—" Maeri voice was cut off by a shrill cry coming from the bedroom.

She jolted upright. Her neck was stiff, and her head was aching. Her heart was still racing from the dream that she'd just woken up from. It was just a dream, just a dream, she reassured herself, but her heart wouldn't slow down. There was still a cry, ringing out in the room. It was coming from a show on the television. She'd left the television on. That part of her dream was true, but the rest of it wasn't...right?

As ridiculous and unrealistic the dream had been, the emotions that she'd felt were real. Those emotions, she couldn't just shake them off with ration or reason. So while the dream was ridiculous and unrealistic, to Maeri, it was ridiculous and unreal to not have Woohyun by her side. He'd always been there, but tonight, she'd pushed him away, twice. But she wouldn't push him away this time. And her heart wouldn't rest until she saw his face again, saw that he was, indeed, alive.

So after turning off the television, Maeri violated Woohyun's demand and followed him into the bedroom. Once she opened the door, she breathed a sigh of relief. Woohyun was alive and laying diagonally across the bed, covering both sides of the bed, sleeping. Maeri couldn't care less that he left her no room on the bed. She'd sleep on the couch tonight, if she had to. But there was one thing that she wanted to do before going back to sleep.

"Woohyun-ah...Hyun-ah," she called out to him in a low voice, gently shaking him awake. Woohyun easily woke up. He must've just fallen asleep. Maeri spoke before Woohyun could throw her out, "I'm sorry. You're right. I should've asked if I could leave."

He looked her up and down, assessing the situation. He saw the distress all over Maeri's face and sat up. "It's okay," he replied. "You should've stayed. It was your job." He then reached out and grabbed her hand. "But are you okay?"

Maeri shook her head. "I had a weird dream...You were gone and..." she couldn't bring herself to finish telling him. All she wanted to do right now was to forget about the stupid dream, to forget about the fight, and for the two of them to move along side-by-side like they've always had.

And Woohyun was about to make that 'side-by-side' literal. Still holding her hand, he gently tugged on it, coaxing her to sit down with him. This time, she did so willingly. And this time, she was the one to wrap her arms around the other in a tight embrace. Woohyun returned the hug, patting her on the head. "I'm here now. I'm here," he whsipered, and she only clung on tighter to him. As if she was afraid that he'd disappear. Woohyun sighed. He'd always thought that she didn't care. But seeing how this dream was eating at her, he was dead wrong.

Maybe we both need to try harder.