"Nallina, do we have any rice left?" Mir asks from the kitchen and he lets a cabinet door thump closed.

 From the sun room where his African-Korean girlfriend paints a pretty nature landscape looks up and  replies, "Neh. It's in the same cabinet as the popcorn bags. The second door to the left of the stove." She returns to her painting, meticulously placing dark trees around a cabin in front of a lake. Mountains with melting snow dominate the back ground.

 "Second one to the left," Mir says to the left and looks again. "Oh. I found it," Mir says lifting the mostly full bag of rice out and pouring it into the rice cooker.

 "I'll make some delicious kimbap or something for us." Mir says aloud, more to himself than to her.

 As Mir goes about making the delicious meal for himself and his lady, Nallina completes her painting and sets it up out of the way in order to dry in the sun room and this time, picks up another easel to start another painting. This time, she paints a shadowy forest.

 Mir leaves the kitchen for a few minutes and wanders into the sun room.

  "Wow. These are all very pretty. Will you sell these too?"

 "Neh. I'm going to paint and sell as many as I can so that I can have money for a trip to Japan that I have planned."

 Mir attempts to move her bangs aside and Nallina jerks her head back but doesn't stop painting trees on the canvas.

  He sighs heavily and scrapes his teeth across his lower lip in frustration.

 "Baby, what's wrong?"

  Nallina doesn't stop painting.

 "Nallina? I asked you a question. What's wrong with you? Why have you grown so cold over the last month? What did I do to deserve this coldness from you?"

"I don't have an answer for that, actually. I'm just tired. Of everything," Nallina finally replies. She grabs a rag and all her brushes, rinses them in a container of soapy water and dries them off with the rag, "Of Kpop, of MBLAQ, of Seoul... of Korea..." she pushes past Mir and sets her painting up to dry, "of you."

 Mir stands there in shock. He's speechless for a minute and then, "When did this all come about? I thought you were the girl who worked for years to become an art teacher here. Left everything in the United States to live here. And what's wrong with Kpop? It bought this house and the food you eat. Some of the clothes you wear, too. What's wrong with MBLAQ?"

  Nallina looks him in the eyes and steps up to where the toes of their shoes are touching. She looks up at him, a whole head shorter than the maknae of MBLAQ. She used to be in love, she knows that. She remembers being so happy with him and loving everything he does and is...but the lights went out on that romance. It just isn't going to last very much longer, and she knows it. Mir knows it too, but he won't admit it to himself. Not yet, anyway.

"These secret little fights between us have to stop, Nallina. Whatever's bothering you, whatever made you hate me so much so suddenly...it can't be hidden from them anymore. Or from me. I deserve to know what changed you," Mir says suddenly.

Nallina just shrugs and moves into the kitchen.

Mir yells in anger and slams the door behind him, running down the hall to the kitchen after Nallina.

Suddenly, Mir grabs Nallina by her arms and jerks her toward him in a hug she struggles to get out of. He squeezes her body into his, refusing to let go.

"Talk to me. Tell me why you hate me so much," Mir says in a low voice, almost a whisper as Nallina sstruggle to free herself.

They fought back and forth for many minutes before Nallina gives up and just stands there in his arms.

"I can't explain anything to you, Mir," Nallina says quietly. "I don't know anything. I just do not like you anymore."

"I don't like you anymore...and this is yours," Nallina says rubbing her hand on her still flat stomach.

 Mir stares at her for a second. Her words make no sense. It sounds really odd to hear her speak, like she can't form words properly and her statements are incomplete or hard to understand.

 Mir looks closey at Nallina. It's hard to notice at first, but he can tell only slightly... the features on the right side of Nallina's face have drooped ever so slightly. Like wax just starting to melt.

 "Nallina, are you okay?" Mir's voice is thick and hoarse and scared.