He found it hilarious that it was Yongguk of all people who showed him the pictures. He was getting delusional because he knew that the slow burning in his stomach was jealousy. Get a grip, Daehyun. You don’t love her. She can do whatever she wants.

            And yet, as he saw the pictures of Taewoon holding up a dress against her and her bright smile, and then him stepping in front of her, body hovered protectively as he tried to shield her from whatever nasty questions the media had for her, he found that the green monster ate at him more than he thought it would.

            When he read the poorly written article that accompanied the visual evidence, he didn’t even question the plausibility. Taewoon’s defensive stance made it obvious. Daehyun felt stupid for even thinking they could be getting friendlier. He was clearly being delusional. Either that or something had happened in Japan. It wasn’t beyond Daehyun to remember that for him, things had happened in London.

            His first instinct was to send her a passive aggressive text. But the gesture reeked of jealousy. And he sure as heck was not jealous. He was simply annoyed. She knew they had an image to upkeep and yet she was being utterly reckless, and especially in front of the tabloids. How could she be so careless?

            Yongguk was still sitting in the chair across from him, eyeing him like a hawk. The older man had his fingers laced and a poker face on. Daehyun placed down the magazine coolly. “I suppose she has no care for keeping up pretenses in this fake marriage.”

            “Is that all you have to say?”

            “What else is there to say? Oh, I’m so angry, so hurt? How dare she act all lovey dovey with her intern? Of course not. We made it clear to each other we can each do whatever we wanted.”

            His hyung raised an eyebrow. “You sound quite cavalier. Almost forcibly so.”

            “I’m not. I could care less.”

            “I’m disappointed.” And that was all he got from Yongguk before he got up and walked away. Again, Daehyun felt the twinge of guilt he always got whenever Yongguk criticized him. It also scared him. Because for him to see right past the walls Daehyun tried to put up meant that he was really starting to have some sort of feelings for Jinli.

            It seemed as if all of Korea had read the article. That night as they were having dinner, Hyosung glanced up at him. “So I saw pictures of your wife with another man.”

            He knew she was still testing him. “She’s not my wife,” he groused.

            “Really? Because I think the law would beg to differ.”

            “Baby, stop. I don’t care what she does. If anything, her bold actions only mean that we don’t have to be so secretive. This is better for us.”

            Hyosung smiled. Leaning forward, she tilted his chin upwards. “I love you so much.”

            That night, he let out all his frustrations on her. When he finished, Hyosung was rubbing her wrists and then . “What the , Daehyun!” Daehyun panted as he lay next to her, his body glistening with sweat. It was only until he watched her walk to the bathroom, that he realized subconsciously, he had pictured Jinli.

            He rubbed a hand down his face. It was as if Hyosung had been a vessel and he had allowed all of his anger to pour from him. No matter how much he tried to distract himself, he could not stop the tiny section in the back of his head that flashed images of Jinli and Taewoon together.

            When Hyosung came back, she was livid. “What is wrong with you today?”

            He saw that he had pressed a little too hard around and felt apologetic. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I guess you were just too irresistible today.”

            “Cut the crap, Daehyun.” When he looked at her, he could only read the anger. “You’re thinking about Jinli, aren’t you?”

            It was the first time she had said Jinli’s name, and somehow the two syllables from made the name sound like it’s been tainted.

            “I’m not.” He said this flatly. “I’m tired of you constantly bringing her up.”

            “Don’t lie. I know you better than that.”

            “Yeah, and you also left me for two years. You don’t know me as well as you think you do.”

            Those words made her rear back, as if slapped in the face. Tears immediately fell down her cheeks. “I can’t believe you said that.”

            Daehyun was surprised he did as well. But the anger was boiling over, whether at her, at himself or at Jinli, he didn’t know. “I did, and I don’t take it back either. Do you know how painful those two years were for me?”

            “Why are we bringing this up?” She was sobbing now. Her jealousy was placed in the backseat, and Daehyun watched her coldly. “Are you using Jinli to punish me?”

            “I said don’t ing bring her up!” On impulse, he grabbed her wrist and glared at her. “I don’t want to think about her, but you seem to get some twisted pleasure in crowding this bed. If you think you can make me feel guilty for marrying her and not waiting for you, I’m sorry. It doesn’t work. You were the first to leave. And I will never forget that.”

            The Hyosung in front of him was a mess. She was heaving and crying, her face completely swollen. Her arm hung limply from his fierce grip. After a few seconds, however, he let her go, and sighed.

            “I’m sorry. I just wanted to focus on you. You know how much she annoys me.”

            “Go, please. I don’t want to see you.”

            It was only with a little bit of regret that Daehyun left. Jinli would be coming home tomorrow. This was for the better.

***

            The news article had spread quickly. Lili had sent it to her immediately and Jinli cringed, knowing that there was a high chance Daehyun would have seen it. She wanted to see him face to face and explain. It would be better than a frantic paragraph over text. And it was with a slightly apprehensive heart that she pushed the doors open.

            Daehyun appeared at the top of the stairs, his expression unreadable. Jinli tried a smile. “I’m back.”

            He looked confused and craned his neck, peering this way and that. “Interesting. Where is your lover? Or is he supposed to be a secret now that you’re back in Korea?”

            It was just as she had feared. The old Daehyun was back. “Dae.”

            “Don’t call me that,” he spat. “Do you not know how to go anywhere without causing trouble? Do you know how embarrassing it was for Yongguk to show me this article and then to scrutinize me and see how I felt about your frivolous ways?”

            “You know better than this, Daehyun. You know it’s just the media.” She hated how desperate she sounded. She hated pleading with him.

            “Last time it was Youngjae. This time it’s that scuba instructor. You really know how to use the media as your scapegoat, don’t you?”

            “You’re being ridiculous. What’s wrong with you?”

            “Don’t cry. I hate women who cry.” Daehyun said sharply when he heard the first sob come from her. He didn’t know what was fueling the anger, the venom. But watching her begging him was somewhat empowering.

            Jinli swallowed. “Fine. Fine.” And Daehyun watched her take her suitcase and walk back out of the door, and perhaps out of his life.

            In the car, Jinli screamed in frustration and pain. The ache in her chest expanded to encompass her lungs. She had stupidly allowed herself to fall for Daehyun again, knowing very well that he was a ticking time bomb. There was no real love between them for him to forgive her or try to understand her.

            There was a knock on her window and she looked up to see the devil standing outside. He pulled on the handle but she had locked it previously. “Jinli. I’m sorry.” And that was when she woke up.

            Her heart was pounding and so was her head. She wiped at her face and felt her wet pillow. It has been years since she has had such an intense reaction to a vivid dream. With her flight home in just three hours, the stress had been getting to her. She wanted to text Daehyun, to see how he would respond to her in general, but knew that that would be the coward’s way out. Unable to control her emotions, Jinli allowed herself to keep crying. Daehyun meant too much to her, and she knew that would come back to haunt her.

***

            Daehyun knew Jinli was coming back. In his heart of hearts, he knew that it wasn’t her fault. And he really couldn’t find it in him to be angry. He was… he didn’t want to think about what he really was. But he was determined that when she came back, he wasn’t going to treat her coldly. He wasn’t going to treat her like a stranger because they were finally getting to middle ground. And it wasn’t like he was completely innocent himself. He had Hyosung. But even that thought made him strangely uncomfortable.

            “Hi, I’m back.”

            Her voice was soft, apprehensive. He looked up at her and tried to smile, but found that it would not come. It was as if the old habit had come back. To say he was cold, he wasn’t. But the look on his face did not quite cause her to ease her fear.

            “You’ve had quite an eventful conference.” Daehyun cringed on the inside. Even his words sounded like they were back to square one.

            He noticed her entire body tensing. “Daehyun, about the photos,” she began.

            “No, forget it. I don’t really want to know. I don’t think it was what the media construed it to be. The more you explain, the worse it will be.” He saw disbelief and even relief, hope shine from her eyes. “But if you do have feelings for him, you know.” He waved his hand vaguely.

            Daehyun could see the argument beginning to form in her eyes. A strange wave of irritation surpassed him and he tried to control it. It has been a while since he felt this old bitter resentment towards Jinli. This is not her fault, he emphasized to himself. opened to talk and then she probably thought the better of it because she shut it again.

            “Are you busy tomorrow?”

            The sudden change in topic threw him off. “T-tomorrow?”
            Jinli had turned away but still answered him. “Yes. Do you think you will be late at work?”

            “I don’t believe so. Why?”

            “I’ll probably be at the Seoul office, so if you come back and I’m not home, I’m sure Eunah will have dinner ready.”

            “Oh.” He felt oddly disappointed that there wasn’t anything more to that. He followed her up the stairs, lifting her suitcase, to her surprise.

            “Thank you.” She seemed to hesitate at their bedroom door but Daehyun pushed it open.

            “Don’t tell me you need someone to open your doors too?”

            Despite the uncertainty from before, this comment did make her laugh. She casually swept her bangs away from her face. “Yeah, and maybe some help lugging the other two suitcases downstairs would be appreciated.” Daehyun chuckled, knowing there was no more luggage left.

            Almost on impulse, Jinli dropped the handle and threw her arms around his waist. This action took him by surprise and for a while he just stood there. His lack of reaction seemed to be a check for her. Immediately, she started to withdraw her arms. Daehyun stopped her by holding on. For a moment, they stood there, feeling the other’s heart beating slightly erratically.

            “I’m not angry about the photos.”

            She sagged in relief. “Thank you.”

            Daehyun glanced at his watch. “Go shower. Dinner should be ready. I’d like to hear how your trip went.”

***

            He only remembered it was his birthday when his mother gave him the traditional call at the time he was born. “Daehyun-ah, umma left you soup and make sure you come by over the weekend so we can celebrate too. Make sure you tell me what Jinli makes for you tonight.”

            It was with an uncomfortable feeling that Daehyun remembered she wouldn’t be home. It wasn’t like she really knew when his birthday was anyway. This type of personal information may be common but was never shared between the two of them. He contemplated texting his friends. They had always done something so it was strange how quiet each of them were.

            There was a knock on his door. “Come in.”

            It was Hyosung. She looked apologetic as she came in. “Baby, I’m sorry about the other night.”

            It was a conflict of emotions. He did still love her but this weird relationship with Jinli was making it hard for him to love Hyosung unconditionally. “It’s quite alright. I overreacted.”

            She walked up to him and slipped her hand in his. Something hard scratched his palm and he saw that she had worn the ring he had given her so long ago. Daehyun swallowed. “Happy birthday, love. Let me make it up to you tonight?” She held all of her hopes in that one question.

            Daehyun looked into her mesmerizing eyes and was lost when he saw a tear fall down her cheek. He has always been like this. He could never bear to see her be upset. Besides, Jinli wouldn’t be home anyway. He squeezed her hand tightly and kissed her. “Yes. Yes.”

Ah so sorry for not updating in so long!

I was stuck a little on this chapter but I think I once more have the direction of where this story is going.

I got tickets for NYC Party Baby and this comeback has been so beautiful. ♥