☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆

The night was deep as he opened bedroom door.

“As always...” - The young man sighed slightly when only darkness welcomed him... as always. He didn’t know why and from when he started to long for her tiny figure, her pretty doe eyes and her wicked laughs. Their marriage, in the beginning, not because of love then who gave him the right to ask for her warm feeling.

Silently, he slid into their bathroom before crawling on the same bed, peacefully drifted into an emerald dream with her.

...

Dawn’s light, gentle but persistent, found its way through the cracks in the curtains of his bed-chamber. HyunSeung blinked and turned around with hope she was still there but... as always, the other side of this kingsize bed was empty.

He swung his leg over the bed, rose, threw on a robe and headed to the bathroom and... as always, the heat of its previous occupation still lingered in this confine space along with the scent he had started to enjoy every morning. Her favourite smell of lavender... which she always said - “A bit, you’ll feel so calm but a bit more, you’ll be suffocated!”

The hot water trailed down every inch of his skin, pampered them in its most sophisticated way and almost immediately, the stress left him alone as he wished. 

*Click*

The door opened as her beautiful frame appeared in front of it. HyunSeung in only his baby clothes could not help but smirked quietly when she walked in to grasp the thin but very eye-attractive bracelet on the stand right next to his spot.

“Seem you don’t care if I’m or not.” - He teased.

“Huh? Why care? Do you have something abnormal on your body?” - She said in her very calm voice. Well, as an artist, meant nothing to her. How forgetful he was to start a silly conversation like this with this bold lady.

He smirked again but this time, it was tinged with soft melancholy even himself couldn’t understand why.

“Oh... but you have very nice proportion under my taste.” - She said and smiled warmly before closing the door. A nice comment as if he’s merely a statue in her workshop, but deep down in his heart, he wanted to think of it as her compliment because maybe... just maybe... she didn’t dislike him as he thought.

“HyunAh... You’re a very y but why I started to think about you?” - That thought ran around his mind kind of enthusiastically these days.

.

..

...

HyunAh was sitting in front of her painting, started to press down the first of her most favourite color - RED - on the white paper which already was sketched a portrait of one handsome young man. 

Two years together under the same roof created a cozy atmosphere between them. He was, like her, more comfortable on his own, and the two had developed an odd friendship, living in a big house as a lovey-dovey couple before their family’s very eyes.

From inside, she could have a clear view of him, wandering the garden with a cup of tea in one hand and a book in another after finished the breakfast. Though the most of the workshop walls were glasses, they’re one-side mirror and since HyunSeung was never allowed to set his foot in here, he never knew that secret. 

HyunAh converted her eyes back to the unfinished painting. It was his playful face but no matter how she tried, the outcome was never as she expected... A painting immersed eternity... Maybe that sadness would never leave his eyes since the first day they had met.

Their marriage was nothing but to unify two company, to dominate the market as their father always dreamt of. But their emerald dream stood in very opposite side of the bridge. He desired a passionate love while she always wished for a tranquil soul, every day could played with brushes, colors and some small toys she hand-made.

A fainted smile hovered her lips in the first conversation they had after getting marriage...

“I have a girlfriend and I won’t leave her.” - He said with persistent and complexities were reflecting in his beautiful eyes.

“So...?” - She answered, tried so hard to find right words to convey her thought that she really felt happy that he had his own life privately.

Her respond seemed out of the expectation he had planned and obviously, it confused him so much to utter another word to carry on this awkward conversation.

“I know you don’t love me and I just want you to know that I am happy when you may have your own emerald dream...” - She said.

“Emerald dream?”

A smile flashed on her face while witnessing his lovely expression, HyunA didn’t dislike him from the beginning, she liked him, indeed. This guy unconsciously gave her a serenity that she had been always looking for, a kind of companion, not love.

“My word for what you really want in your life. Your ultimate dream, I say.” - She gently explained then paused a bit before continue to press on the start of understanding in their odd relationship. 

“What I want and what you want are different. We’re like two rivers that never joint at one point. I just wanna be your friend, a quiet river run along your side.” - She said with honest talk. - But... there is one and only thing we should make clear. I don’t like kid, so logically, I can’t love your kid if you might have one. Just...” - The she paused, believed that he could easily understand her idea.

“I understand.” - He said. His voice filled with disbelief after listening what she truly wanna have with him. Maybe, she’s not a as she always showed to others.

“Great. I know we can do it.” - She smiled with both lips pressed hard on each other, the one looked so happy but something, maybe something melancholy still beneath it.

“How about you sit down and have breakfast with me while we mapping some ideas how to live together?” - She said and that’s how they started it all.

.

..

...

HyunSeung was reading his book, no, he was looking at it while all of his neutrons was gliding themselves to structure her image. HyunAh still acted cozily... as always even after that night - the night he had broken up with his girlfriend and was drunk like mad and had with her... her first time. 

“Why?” - He murmured the question thousand and thousand times but no answer willingly came out to enlighten this myth. Not a day went by that he did not think of that night, wondering if there was anything he could do to make things clear because she’s a nice companion, a very nice woman and swore to God, he could be an to anyone else but her.

She didn’t love him then why she had let him do that to her... without protection? 

HyunSeung closed his eyes and once again, that scene came back like it had only happened yesterday...

“HyunAh... HyunAh...” - He frantically jumped out of his bed, put on his pant and stormed around the house to find her but no sight was caught. 

“Where is she?” - He whispered under heavy pantings. Though the recollection was not as vivid as when he was under a clear state but he still did remember what he had done last night. - “Damn it! What the hell did I think back then?” - Curse flew out of his mouth in a great desperate manner.

An idea flared in his mind as he was calling himself foolish. HyunSeung turned to his room, intended to make a call for her but in the pale hue of early morning, she stood there, looking at him and smiled... as always.

“I thought... I thought...” - He stammered, unable to finish a simple line, just simple as “I thought you’re gone.”

“I’m okay.” She said while towel-drying her hair. - “If you’re worried for me, why don’t you take a bath then join breakfast with me?” - Her head titled a side briefly. Light from the long window behind her, as the day at last began to brighten, haloed her hair a deep glowing red. Mesmerized, he chuckled at her delighted face as she smiled again, the one also lifted up most of his gloomy thoughts.

“Okay” - He smiled at her...

She must be in her workshop at this moment, he guessed. Every time asked her “Why?”, the young lady always said - “Because I think it’s ok. Anyway, I am not pregnant, so if I don‘t care, why so serious?”  

Their days backed to normal or he tried to call them so, partly because she blitheness was infectious. He started more conversations with her in hope that somehow she would tell him the true reason and they all ended up with more understanding, that they really shared many similar mindsets.

“HyungSeung!”

He snapped up and found she was standing next to him with her iconic pressed-lips smile, as if the wall would never be breached. Unconsciously, he craved to know what was inside that calm attitude.

“I called you a couple time but you seemed lost in your world.” - She implied.

“Sorry.” - He smiled awkwardly

“HyunSeung... I am thinking about... should we divorce?” - The words... as always sailed out of like nothing in this world could effect but this time, her eyes were not on him but something far and so far away underneath the skins he was on.

“WHY?” - He rose and said out loud at the same time, the sound was near as a shout than just a simple surprised ask.

“Uhmm... I thought it’s really selfish if I am the only one got my emerald dream.” - A sideslope  smile drew on her lips.

“I don’t understand, HyunAh ah. We’re good, for now.” - He said, obviously couldn’t not control his own anxiety.

“In our two years together, I have had a tranquil life that I always dreamt of, a companion as thoughtful and nice like you... But you couldn’t be with the love of your life. With you, I am the woman I want to be but with me, you’re not. It’s unfair, I think!”- She said... “Beside, seem that you two mended the wound... So...”

His mouth went dry, and a great tide of unease began to rise in his chest. What he saw was a great black void, an infinite darkness. There was fear in those eyes, but also something else. But he wondered, it’s her true inner feeling or just his simply reflecting in her orbs? Something that terrified even a calm person like him. 

“Can we talk about this later?” - After a long moment, he finally said. - “In such a warm morning like this, why don’t we have a cup of tea and talk about the book you gave me last week?” - A weak smile was sculpted difficultly on his face as the ribbon of words escaped. He was honestly surprised that he himself hadn’t shared her feelings, and realized how far he had come from the intention he once had.

HyunAh opened her eyes widely because she could not believe what she was hearing. It’s not relief or anger or contempt, but in wild and shockingly uncharacteristic desperation. Quietly, she nodded.