The next morning, I headed down for breakfast, as usual. But I saw that I wasn't alone at home; Jongin was sitting at the dining table, in a plain navy t-shirt, eating. I stopped walking and stared, until he turned and looked in my direction. "What are you doing?" he asked, perfectly calm. "Do you not eat breakfast?"

"What are you doing home?" I blurted.

"Today's Sunday," he answered, unfazed. "And I decided to take a few weeks off, starting tomorrow, because I'm tired, and because I finally have a good enough excuse."

"Oh," I said, heading into the kitchen to find food. Eun Hye was already there, handing me a bowl of rice porridge, still hot. I sat across from Jongin, unsure if this would cause some kind of reaction, or if he would move, but he didn't.

I started eating, for some reason extremely self-conscious. I kept remembering the way he said my name before, totally devoid of any malice or hatred, unlike the way he was acting today. The way he always did. Cold.

"So, uh..." I started. "Are you okay?"

He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Your head," I clarified. "No pounding headache, nothing?"

Jongin laughed, the first time I'd ever heard him do so. I decided that I loved his laugh, and especially his smile; they made him seem, for a moment, carefree, and reminded me how young he really was. It was so unlike how he normally acted around me. "I'm fine. I normally don't--" Jongin stopped, as if he realized what he was saying. "How would you know if I should have a headache this morning?"

I rolled my eyes. "Normally, when people get home in the middle of the night, dead-drunk, they usually wake up with a killer hangover. How are you not dying right now?"

"You saw me? Drunk?" He seemed alarmed, as if he understood that he wouldn't have been acting like himself.

"Absolutely. Didn't you wonder how there came to be a trash can and blanket where you were sleeping? And you were mumbling nonsense, too."

"Nonsense?" Jongin repeated, seeming even more panicked, if that was possible. "What did I say?"

I was enjoying this. "Oh, nothing really. I wasn't actually listening very carefully. Most of the time you were talking to yourself." I decided to give him a break, since he seemed so worked up about this.

Jongin took a visible breath of relief, and continued eating. I followed suit, and soon enough, we were engulfed in silence once again. Abrupty he stood up and left; he'd finished eating.

I sighed. Jongin hadn't even seem surprised that I was back here, after vanishing for a few days. He hadn't even asked where I'd gone.

After finishing breakfast and cleaning up the eating utensils, I headed into my room and checked my phone. To my surprise, I had 20 unread text messages and 3 missed calls. All from Chanyeol. Each one of his messages had the same content: He was sorry he was being so weird and a jerk, and was asking for forgiveness. He also asked me to call him back once I got his messages, because he was really sorry.

I sighed and called him. He picked up on the first ring. "Hey," he greeted.

"Hey," I answered. I'd almost forgotten how good it felt to talk to him.

"Uh...what are you doing?"

"I just had breakfast, why? What are you doing?"

"I'm just reading a book."

A moment of awkward silence passed between us. Then Chanyeol broke it, rushing through his words. "Look, So Eun, I'm really sorry. I know I freaked out over nothing, and you were right; it's really none of my business. I'll trust you and give you some space concerning Jongin, because I know that if something goes wrong, you'll probably tell me then. I'm sorry I was such a jerk to you yesterday." He sighed and paused for a breath. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I forgive you." After a moment, I added, "You know, I think things are getting better."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, we actually kind of managed to have a conversation this morning, at breakfast. Did you know he's taking some time off from work? That's a first, huh. I wonder why, all of a sudden." I stopped, realizing that I was rambling and that my happiness was probably secretly hurting Chanyeol.

"Oh, wow, really? He actually talked to you? That's an improvement. And as for him taking a break, probably he's just tired, and you give him an excuse to want to stay home anyway."

I hadn't thought of that; I'd never questioned Jongin when he told me he finally had an excuse. Most likely, people were cutting him slack because he was a newlywed, and we were traditionally supposed to be on a honeymoon. "Huh, you're right," I mused. "Using me as an excuse to slack off, that guy. Jerk." But I didn't really mean it. After what Jongin had just told me, I couldn't blame him for wanting to escape all of that stress for a while.

"Psh," Chanyeol said, seeing right through me. "Absolutely. But honestly though, considering that he's home now, shouldn't you two be together? What are you doing talking to me?" He tsked over the phone. "Go spend some quality time with your husband. This book is amazing, and I want to read the rest of it. Have fun!"

"Bye, Chanyeol," I said just before he hung up.

Chanyeol had a point. Jongin was home. I might as well try to get him to open up more. I headed downstairs to his room, and knocked.

"Yeah, come in," he called.

Jongin was sprawled out on his bed. Once I walked in, though, his eyes widened the slightest bit. "You?" he asked.

"Yeah, me. Is it so shocking to see your own wife in the same house as you?"

Jongin sat up and tousled his hair. "Yes, actually, if she was gone for the past three days or so."

For some reason, I blushed. Hesitantly, I headed toward him and sat on the edge of the bed. "You don't even want to know where I went? Or why?"

He shrugged, eyeing me. I immediately became self-conscious, as I just now realized that I was wearing an old t-shirt and a pair of shorts. I grabbed a pillow to cover up, as he said, "Well, it's your life. I have no reason to ask."

My heart sank a little as he said those words. He was reaffirming what I'd already known: he just considered us two strangers, brought together unwillingly, with no reason to interfere with the other's life. Jongin probably sensed my mood, as he quickly added, "But I guess since you're here, where'd you go?"

"I went home. It kind of got lonely here, being all by myself. Plus, I really have nothing to do except eat, sleep, and watch TV." I frowned. "My parents decided to give me an indefinite break from my work because I just got married. 'Honeymoon,' and all that, I guess." I shifted uncomfortably, aware of what I'd just said. I'd just told him that the reason why I left was because of him, and the reason why I was even stuck here, miserable, was because of him.

"Honeymoon, huh," Jongin said, smirking, then laid back down and put his hands under his head.

I cleared my throat.

"Great fun we're having," he added, and snickered. "Well, I'm sorry to hear I'm the cause behind all this. Please, go on living how you used to before I came along. It's not as if anything has changed, anyway."

Jongin his side so that his back was facing me. It was obviously a dismissal, but I didn't move, lost in my thoughts. After a few moments of silence, when I thought Jongin might actually have fallen back asleep, I said quietly, "I'm sorry that looking at me reminds you of your stress."

He huffed, the only sign that he heard me. I continued, "Did you lose someone important to you because of me? If you did, I'm really sorry. You know, I lost someone too. It hurts. He was the only one I was ever really able to talk to."

Jongin sighed, and turned so that he was now facing me. "It's not your fault. And you losing that someone isn't my fault, either. It's the past, and we have to live life anyhow." He buried his face in a pillow. "So anyway, I think I've talked enough for today. Bye."

This time, I complied and left the room, closing the door softly behind me, but before I could, Jongin yanked it open. "Wait," he said. "Were you the one at the door the other day?"

"What?" I asked.

"I figured it was probably Eun Hye or someone, but considering what you just said, it was you, wasn't it?"

I couldn't meet his eyes. I'd eavesdropped, albeit by accident, and he'd caught me. Jongin sighed. "All right. Bye," he said, and shut the door in my face.

I trudged back to my room, emotions conflicted. On the one hand, the fact that he'd talked to me, and started to open up a little, was a miracle. But then, he'd found out that I'd eavesdropped on his private conversaion, and that was bound to make him hate me.

I sighed. This journey was not going to be an easy one.

A/N: Hey! I'm back! ^^

Anyway, I'm glad to be back, continuing this story, ehehe. Do you guys like it so far? No one's been commenting or anything, so...let me know what you think about my story please!

Have a great day!