***Prologue***

Kris leaned against the hard grove behind him with his arms crossed against his chest, while watching the slow ascent of the sun. The heady morning air of the public park was thick with the unmistakable odor of the rain the night before, while the busy rustle of Seoul traffic echoed in his ears.

Any passerby would call him casual and nonchalant, but the seemingly relaxed stance was a product of accumulated self-discipline and control - things that he had learned agonizingly for the past six months.  He became so adept at pretense that he himself did not know how he felt.

But right now, he knew exactly what he was feeling.

Today was supposed to be their first anniversary as a couple and he was in the park where they first met. 

He didn't even know why he was here right now. Unknowingly, his feet dragged him all the way here. He refused to acknowledge the fact that he wanted to see her. He refused to admit it. He told himself he just wanted to get over her for good.

The range of emotions kept on ricocheting on his chest until it hurt to breath. He could still remember the anger, the shock, and most importantly, the pain. Even now he asked himself for the hundredth time what had gone wrong.

Their relationship of one year seemed almost too perfect to be true. Kris couldn’t go a day without an embrace nor a kiss from her. She couldn’t go a day without a call from him.  From the moment they began dating, he and Hana were inseparable entities.  They understood each other's pain and dreams. 

His parents had doubts of their relationship because Hana came from an impoverished family while he was an heir. They thought of her as a gold digger. His mother wouldn’t hesitate to point out that she didn’t approve of the relationship even in the girl’s presence. His mother would even become more vicious and point out to him that she had scheduled marriage interviews for him to attend. 

Kris woud be riled with his mother’s unjust attacks on Hana and he was left consoling her. He would always produce the same white handkerchief that she had sewn for him and used it to wipe her tears. He would console her with his words. After that, he would see again that radiant smile that he dearly loved - her brilliant smile that seemed to cast away the emptiness that was his life.

At the end, they would share passionate kisses and heated embraces to erase all the accusations thrown their way.

She was his.

And he was hers.

But then one day, everything changed. Out of the blue, the poignancy of their relationship turned into doubts. Kris noticed how she seemed to withdraw from him. She wouldn’t answer his calls nor respond to his kisses like she used to. Whenever she looked at him, he could read the guilt and sorrow on her brown eyes. He began to have doubts in his mind. He thought of other men preoccupying her but rejected it to be too cruel to even think about.

She wouldn’t dare cheat on him.

She loved him.

Or did she?

And then his doubt turned into reality.

When he witnessed his friend Sehun kissing her on the lips, he could feel the tightly leashed emotions burst into an unexplainable rage. He couldn’t remember how he approached the two and separated Sehun from her. He couldn’t remember how he had almost knocked Sehun unconscious. His fists connected endlessly to Sehun’s body until his knuckles ached from the effort. He barely heard Hana’s screams as he continued planting his fists on his friend.

The rage was too great that when she tried to separate them, his fist accidentally landed on her cheek. The sight of her sprawled on the ground with her hand grasping her injured face brought him abruptly back to reality.

He couldn’t forget the awful sound of her cry. It shook him to his core. He stared at her, shock and remorse written all over his face as he stared at her bruised cheek. He barely heard the painful groans of Sehun in the background because he was too preoccupied with the sight of her.

He was too shocked; he couldn’t even move an inch.

When she stared back at him, he could see the disappointment and the pain lurking in the brown depths of her eyes.

He wanted so much to erase her pain right there and then. Forgetting the reason of the entire fiasco, he started to approach her but Sehun already had his hands on her and began comforting her. The sight of her dejected pose being soothed by his friend brought an unexplainable anguish running on his body.

Time seemed to stand utterly still as he continued staring at them in silence. He could only stare at them. He saw her eyes looked up to him, still simmering with disappointment and pain. He knew he was the reason. He couldn’t even dare look at her anymore. He averted his gaze and despite his reluctance, his tired body limply walked away.

Weeks had already passed since he last saw her - her dejected pose while looking at him with pained eyes and bruised cheek.

He had learned about Hana and Sehun being together almost every day. He tried to be nonchalant about it when his friends began to suspect that the two were dating. His mother furiously informed him that Hana's parents had asked money from his father in order for her to break up with him.

And that became the last straw.

Remorse turned into hatred. One day, he just woke up from the usual sleepless night that followed the incident, hating her. He thought of her kissing his friend. He thought of the guilt in her eyes. And finally, he thought of the pain flashed in her eyes and the cry that escaped her lips when he had accidentally punched her.

Abruptly, a cruel, satisfied smile went to his lips. She deserved it and he would make sure that she will feel more pain.  

“Kris oppa,” the familiar voice brought him crashing to reality. He stiffened as his arms disentangled from his chest. He straightened from his stance and turned to stare behind him.

The sight of her rapidly brought to surface the range of emotions accumulated on his chest for the past months. Her long hair blew restlessly against the wind, covering almost half her face. Kris noticed that she lost weight with the more prominent cheekbones. Yet her eyes lurking from the incredibly long lashes seemed larger and more luminous, her lips looked fuller, smiling audaciously at him. The smile made his fists tightened to his sides.

He turned to fully face her; his goal was to erase that smile off her face and put it on his own.

Best Angst || Freedom Writing Contest

Third Place || EXOplosion Writing Contest 

Third Place || B2UTY&B2ST; One Shot Writing