‘Fate,’ I thought as I sat on the couch in my living room. ‘It can be so cruel sometimes. Even when what you want more than anything in the world is only an arm’s reach away, fate steps in and snatches it away from you.’ I buried my face in my hands. ‘It’s so unfair! She was so close. She had always been so close to me, but I let the moment pass every single time! I am such a bloody coward! Why couldn’t I ever approach her and tell her how I felt about her? Dammit! Damn it all! Because of my cowardice, I was forced to sell my heart and soul to that woman. The woman whom I cared about, but in time began to detest. Letting her take control of my life was the worst mistake I have done to myself and to the woman I love. How could I have been so foolish as to allow everything to reach this point?’

“Baby,” I heard that all too familiar voice call out to me. The voice that makes me cringe every time I hear it. It’s the voice that belongs to the woman who ruined my life; the source of all of my pain and suffering. “Is something wrong?” she asked.

I shot her a small smile and shook my head. “I’m fine, Fany. I couldn’t be happier with a wife like you.”

Tiffany smiled. “You’re sweet, Tae Tae. That’s why I love you,” she said as she gave me a peck on the cheek.

“Yeah,” I replied almost robotically. “I’ll always be right here.”

“I know that,” she said. “But the question is: do you want to be here, Tae?”

I stared at her in surprise and immediately composed myself. “What kind of a question is that, Fany?”

She smiled. “I believe it’s a reasonably fair one. You don’t love me, do you?”

“What on earth are you saying, Fany?” I asked, standing up.

“Stop it, Tae,” she said, studying me. “You’re not fooling me. I know you still love her.”

“Fany,” I began. “I—,”

“Why?” she asked. I looked at my wife and noticed her trembling. Whether the trembling is the cause of her anger or sadness is beyond me, but regardless of that I walked toward her and wrapped her in my embrace. ‘Who am I kidding?’ I thought to myself. ‘I may hate Tiffany for ruining my life, but I can’t deny the fact that I still care about her. She may be a selfish at times, but she’s still my best friend. She’s still the girl I promised myself I would protect from everything; even from herself.’

“I’m sorry, Fany.”

I could feel her tears staining my shirt. “Why can’t you just learn to love me?” she asked. “Am I so hard to love?”

“No, Tiffany.” There was a short pause, and I continued to comfort my trembling wife. “It’s not that you’re hard to love.” I tilted her chin so our eyes would meet, and I wiped her tears away. “My heart is just not ready to love someone else.”

“You’re not ready?” she asked. “Or you won’t let yourself love anyone other than her?”

“Fany,” I began.

She shook her head. “Tae, stop. It’s okay. For now I’ll try to understand since I know I’m the one that brought you into this mess. I was the one being selfish first.” She walked toward me, took my hand in hers, and looked directly into my eyes. “You know I only did that because I loved you so much.”

I sighed. “I know, Fany. I understand that. But I wish that you would also understand that it’s not easy for me to forget about her. Just like you can’t let go of your love for me, I can’t let go of my love for her. As much as I would love to stop these feelings and start loving you instead, I can’t Tiffany. I just can’t do that.” She buried her face in my chest and began to sob once more. “Fany,” I whispered, her long hair. “Please stop crying. You know I don’t like it when you cry.”

“I’m sorry, Tae,” she said through her tears. “I’m sorry for falling in love with you and making you suffer like this.” She pecked my lips and walked into our bedroom, closing the door behind her.

I stared after her. “Tiffany,” I said, my heart aching for my wife. I let out a deep sigh and leaned against the wall. ‘I should hate her. I know I should hate Tiffany for everything she has put me through. But for some reason, I just can’t seem to bring myself to do it. No matter how selfish and possessive she may be, I still care about her. No matter how much pain she inflicts on me, I can’t help but love her. She’s my wife. No matter how much I try to deny it, the fact still remains. Tiffany Kim is my wife, and it’s my responsibility to take care of her regardless of my personal feelings. I committed myself to her, and I can’t turn my back on her completely. I can’t do it; at least, not right now.’

I composed myself, walked toward the bedroom door and knocked. “Fany, can I come in?” I heard a faint mumble and assumed she was agreeing with my request. I turned the knob and walked toward the bed. I kneeled on Tiffany’s bedside and her cheek. “I’m sorry.”

She shook her head and held the hand that was her beautiful face. “No, Tae. I should be the one apologizing. Everything is my fault because I was the one being selfish. If I had just left you alone you—,” I quieted her by kissing her lips.

“Fany, listen to me. Yes, you were being selfish, but it was my fault for even giving in to your will in the first place. I brought this upon myself because I can’t bring myself to hurt you. I hurt Jessica as much, if not more than you did. I didn’t have to consent to what you wanted, but I did because I didn’t want anything to happen to you.” I pulled Tiffany into an embrace. “You may not be the woman I love, but I do care about you. I care about you so much that I prioritized you over my own feelings and Jessica. Jessica’s fragile, but I also know that she is stronger than you. I know she will wait for me, but I know you well enough to know you will endanger your life and others in order to get what you want.”

Tiffany tightened her hold on me. “Tae, I don’t deserve you.”

I smiled at her. “No, you don’t. But you should make it your job to make yourself be worthy enough for me.” I gave her a peck on the cheek. “Someday, I will ask you to let go of me in order to let me think and this time, allow me to make my own decision as to whom I want to be with.”

“But I already know that you will choose Jessica. So that’s like asking me to forget about you.”

I shook my head and kissed her hand. “As I spend more time with you, I begin to fall in love with you little by little. Someday, there will come a time when I will love you as much as Jessica, but for now I want the freedom to be able to think about who I truly want to be with.” There was a short pause. “Do you think you can give me that time?”

“But that means we won’t be together, right?” she asked. I nodded in reply. There was a long period of silence and I heard Tiffany sigh. “All right. I’ll let you do what you think is right. And I promise to wait for you. But I won’t make any promises about being able to accept your decision if you choose her over me.”

I smiled. “I don’t expect you to. But if that is the case, I will be here to help you through it. Like I said before; just because I don’t have romantic feelings for you, it doesn’t mean that I don’t care about you.”

Tiffany nodded. “Just so you know this will be the only time I will ever act selflessly.”

“I know, Fany,” I said, kissing her forehead. “I will see you soon.”

I stood up and began walking out of the room. “Taeyeon,” Tiffany called out to me. I turned around to look at her. “I love you,” she said.

I smiled. “I love you too, Tiffany.” There was a short pause. “Someday, I hope I’ll be able to say that to you wholeheartedly.”

A/N: Hi everyone! Here's that update for you! Sorry for taking so long. :( I didn't know how to approach this chapter, but I pulled it off somehow. :P I hope you enjoy! ^^ Comment on your thoughts below and I would be more than happy to answer questions in order to help you understand what happened in this chapter (if you were confused). :) COMMENT, UPVOTE and SUBSCRIBE, you guys! I would really appreciate it!