After dinner, Suzy settled against the back of the couch with a glass of wine in her hand. She sipped lightly as she studied one of the photographs on the wall. It looked something related to the world wars. The picture was monochrome and the contrast between light and dark were heavily heightened. She wondered why he'd picked that out in particular. These kinds of things usually said something about the person after all.

Seungri returned from the kitchen and sat near her. "Good meal. Didn't I tell you, I'm an awesome chef."

"I won't argue with that. Thank you," she repeated, facing him. "It was amazing…probably some of the most delicious cooking I've had."

"High praises for someone who goes out to lunch almost every day," he said lightly, patting her head. "And has no experience in cooking."

"Exactly! Which means it must be true," she responded vehemently. "I'm very appreciative of good food, especially food that is unique to the taste. So you must have been following that old man like crazy when you were in high school, huh? I mean, to learn to prepare so many dishes at once and knowing exactly how much of a seasoning to put in one and in another."

Seungri shrugged. "I was curious and had nothing else to do. And he liked teaching it to me, so I thought, why not. By the time I was thinking about living on my own, I got pretty serious about it. I figured, I needed to know how to take care of myself and that meant learning how to cook too." He took a drink and put the wineglass down on the coffee table.

Suzy set her own wineglass on the table. Curiosity was biting at her. She pressed her lips for a moment, wondering how to go about bringing it up. The whole night she hadn't been able to stop thinking about it – the picture frame sitting atop the fireplace. Sometime in between dinner and moving into the living room, she had noticed it was gone. Because of that, it poked at her even more.

"Can I…" She glanced up now, a little worried what his reaction might be.

He met her gaze.

"It's probably not my place. Um…" Struggling to find the right words, Suzy shifted in her seat. "About Hara." She ended up saying it directly. "I'm just…"

"What do you want to know?" He interrupted lightly.

"Do you still… love her?"

He thought about it for a moment. "Not…that way. Not anymore."

"Then why do you have her picture here?"

"Does it bother you?" He asked in turn.

Astonished at the quietness in his voice, Suzy glanced away. So it was a closed-off topic. She couldn't help the sting of pain flittering through her chest.

"I wonder, if I had a first love…would he have been so precious in my life that I would keep a picture of him in my house? I don't mean that in a disrespectful way," she clarified quickly, gesturing with her hands. "I just… really don't know what it's supposed to be like."

After a long, silent pause, Seungri spoke again. "If you knew you'd never see him again…that there was no chance you'd ever be able to see him again." He stood and leaned against the balcony glass door. "If that was the case, is it easier for you to imagine why I'd have her picture?"

She sat still, unable to speak. It took her some time to absorb in what he'd just said. But as realization struck, Suzy felt her heart constrict. She couldn't push herself off the couch to go to him, though a part of her wanted to go to him right then. "She…"

He looked back at her. Those sad eyes she'd seen a few times before were looking at her now. So this was why. He'd lost everyone in his life, including the one woman he'd loved. Her heart broke even more at the sight. When Seungri walked over and touched her cheeks, she was surprised to see the wet tears on his fingers.

"Stop crying," he ordered.

"Sorry," she murmured, knowing the words were inadequate and pointless. "I…"

He sat on the edge of the coffee table and positioned himself in front of her. Mystified by the burst of emotions that had come out, Seungri could only watch her try to regain control on them. Feeling an unmistakeable need to make her tears go away, he grabbed a tissue from the tissue box sitting on the table. As he brought the tissue up to her cheeks, Suzy wrapped her hands around his wrists and stared into those sad brown eyes. Was it normal to feel this much pain for someone else? She had never felt this broken over another person's pain before. Though questions were sitting at the tip of her tongue, she decided to take some of his pain. Without reluctance, Suzy threw her arms around him.

In shock, Seungri remained still. "Suzy-"

"I'm sorry, I didn't know."

When she pulled back and sat in front of him again, the tears were gone. Glad for it, Seungri pushed off from the table and walked to the kitchen. This was too hard, being too close to her and having his feelings out there in the open. He never put himself in such a vulnerable position with anybody around. It was frustrating that with Suzy, it was like that wall he'd built around himself all this time seemed weak and easy to break down. It bothered him that she'd cried like that…for him.

When he returned, he pushed a glass of water into her hands. "Four years ago," he supplied. Seungri took a seat on one end of the couch, a little farther from her now. "She was sick."

Suzy took a sip and held the tissue in her hands. "What kind of person was she, Seungri?" Her reaction earlier hadn't been what she expected of herself. The tears had come out involuntarily. Her heart truly hurt for him.

"You know a little about her already. She was the first person who made the effort to get to know me. I was really anti-social for a while. She just stuck around. She…she's like you in some ways. Beach was her favourite place." He let himself remember for a moment. "Ah…I remember, she was in love with one of our senior at school. He was the good-looking, strong, and smart type." There were days filled with joy, he recalled now, having forgotten it over time. "One time, she actually made me follow him one night so I could find out where he lived."

Suzy smiled wanly. It wasn't hard to picture Seungri falling in love with someone like that.

"The only thing was…" Seungri's smile then faded. "Even when she was sick, Hara wouldn't lean on me. I wanted so badly to take care of her, but…" He rested his head on the top spine of the couch, uncomfortable with the sudden sense of grief filling his chest. "I usually try not to remember. Sorry." With a quiet sigh, Seungri closed his eyes.

After a long period of silence, he felt soft, warm lips touch his. Seungri's eyes shot open and stared up, catching sight of water-filled brown eyes. His heart thudded helplessly. "Why?"

"You looked like you needed it," she offered quietly, feeling her bottom lip tremble. She didn't know what else she could do for him, if only to take away that sorrow for a moment. Before Suzy could walk away, he stood and yanked her into his arms.

"Whatever happens now, I won't stop it," he said, almost as a warning. "I'm really not what you're looking for, Suzy, and I've got too much baggage." Seungri pulled away slightly. "I'm going to end up hurting you."

She could only shake her head in denial. How was it possible for her heart to feel like it was going to burst right out of her ribcage? Was it really possible to be so happy and sad at the same time? Unable to say a thing for fear that the tears that Seungri hated to see would come again, Suzy stayed silent, unsure what to say or do.

He looked deep into her eyes, trying to make her understand. "Don't misunderstand this time. I'm not sorry for doing this."

She had no time to respond as he bent down and took her lips forcefully, passionately.

tq for all ur comment XD....