"What...what are you doing here?" Her voice shook, and she could feel tears welling up in her eyes even as she asked the question. Somehow, deep down inside, she already knew the answer. But she just had to hear it with her own ears. She didn't want to believe it. She couldn't  believe it. Even in her wildest nightmares she could never fathom a situation like this.

"What do you think?" Seunghyun replied her question with another one, his voice mocking and his eyes looking straight into hers. In that one single moment Bom could hear her entire world collapsing and her beliefs shattered to pieces. Never in her life could she have imagined her dear husband involved in something so despicable and degrading. 

Tears of betrayal escaped her eyes. Now she understood everything. From the sudden announcement that they were moving to Wallflowers, to the fact that she knew nothing about his work and he never bothered to fill her in on it. Now she saw how vague his responses were whenever she asked him how work was. Now she saw the late nights, the occasional hurry he would be in getting into work, or the spontaneous days where he'd stay at home. Now she could understand his sudden "promotion" and how he started making much more money in such a quick period of time.

She saw through everything. And how she wished she could unsee all of it. How she wished she never involved herself with Taeyeon nor Hyuna. How she wished she was still living in bliss ignorance.

Even as she was trailing on that line of thought, she knew she wouldn't be able to endure it. She knew she would never be able to pretend like nothing happened and went on smiling and acting like the perfect housewife when she knew what he did just to make money. She would be killing herself. She would be an even bigger idiot.

Yet, more than anything else, was the pain of betrayal. She remembered their wedding perfectly, when he vowed he would not lie to her and would cherish her trust until the day he died. She remembered when he would always kiss her forehead in the mornings and whispered that he loved her. She remembered him, back in the days when they were dating, sticking up for her when people asked her how a plain Jane snatched such a catch. 

"Our marriage..." She stuttered, her sobs preventing her from speaking in a natural flow. "Our entire relationship...was just a front? Was everything...just out of convenience for you? Was I just..a tool to keep people from talking?"

"Do you really want to know?" His voice was cold, his face stoic. Somehow the man standing here in front of her wasn't the same man she slept next to every night. Somehow the man in front of her now seemed worlds away from the man she cooked breakfast for every morning. Somehow this man, even with the same features and physique, was another person. A stranger. Someone she had never met. 

A part of her wanted to believe that it wasn't her husband, that the man she loved and married could never do something like this. But as she gazed at him, at his jawline, his eyes, his hair, his everything, that notion was crushed entirely.

Just like her heart.

"I have to know." She felt as if she was dying. As if every breath she was taking was her last. As if her heart could give out from the pain of deception and betrayal any moment. 

"Yes." 

She never before thought about the power a word carried, but now that idea was all she felt. Such a simple word, yet she felt as if getting hit by a speeding truck was better than hearing it. She couldn't even cry; her sobs would get stuck inside everytime. The only indication of her sorrow were the tears streaming down her cheeks and the pitiful way in which she hiccuped. 

"What did you think, Bom?" Taeyeon, that wretched woman, casually put a hand on Seunghyun's shoulder and leaned against him shamelessly. "Did you really think a man of his magnitude would ever commit himself to you out of sincerity ? Did you really think he love you from his heart? Did you really not know that it's human nature to use others and discard them when they have no further value?"

Her silky words never sounded so repulsive and spiteful through Bom's ears, and if she wasn't bound to a chair and crying her eyes out she would be ripping the female's hair out this instance. 

Her eyes shifted to Seunghyun, whose face was still as emotionless as before. He showed no surprise nor anger at his wife being tied to a chair. No compassion at how red her eyes were. No sympathy nor notice of her heart breaking to the smallest pieces. No knowledge of her trust being destroyed like a wall getting smashed by a wrecking ball. 

Oh God, how could this have happened?

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She wanted to die. 

Death didn't sound bad at all. If she was dead, she wouldn't have to feel the pain anymore. She wouldn't have to cry anymore. She wouldn't have to think anymore. She wouldn't have to deal with the truth anymore. 

She wouldn't have to do anything. At all. 

That was her only thought and preoccupation as she sat there, bound into the chair, slumped over with her long hair covering her face, and sobbing nonstop. She had been going at it for god knows how long, and she was sure she would be blind by the time she was finished crying. 

"Are you going to stay like that?" 

Recognizing Hyuna's voice, Bom was momentarily distracted from her sorrowful thoughts. She whipped her head to look at the female next to her, who was grunting in pain. Amidst all the discovery and painful revelations, she forgot the unconscious Hyuna next to her. 

"You're alive?" Her incredulous tone made Hyuna give her a look, to which she silently apologized. Hyuna groaned out loud when she realized she was tied to a chair just like Bom, and blinked rapidly against the blood flowing down from her injured forehead. 

"What the hell happened?" 

"I can ask you the same question." Bom leaned back into her chair, resigned and tired from all her crying. At this point she didn't care if Taeyeon was going to win and no one would find out her despicable secret. She just wanted to...sleep. As long as possible. 

"All I remember was snooping around Taeyeon's house before the show and..." Hyuna stopped short to take a look at her surroundings. "We're inside her house aren't we?"

"Yeah."

"." Hyuna cursed, flinching from the pain her injury was giving her. "That ."

Bom offered no comment nor reply. Hyuna noticed her bizzareredly calm state at their current circumstance, and frowned. 

"What's up with you?" Hyuna leaned her head closer to look at Bom's face. "Are you crying?"

In a barely audible voice, Bom told Hyuna everything she found out. After she was done, even Hyuna looked at her sympathetically.

"Well," Hyuna mused, not knowing how to console Bom. "At least now you know he's a scumbag."

Bom didn't reply, and instead hung her head low defeatedly. The pain of betrayal was too much, and she felt as if its impact knocked her off her axis. Never had she felt so lost, and all she could do about it was cry. 

"We need to get the hell out of here." Hyuna stared, looking around the dark room they were in. 

"Why?"

Hyuna threw her a look that was confusion and annoyance and pity all rolled into one. 

"What do you think they are going to do to us?" She asked matter-of-factly. "Play Scrabbles with us? Honey the least they'll do is lock you up in some mental asylum in the middle of nowhere so you can't spill their secret. Just like they did to Sooyoung."

"What?"

"I did a little research." Hyuna swallowed, apprehension evident in her features. "She's probably rolling around in her white room with the white walls and overdosing on morphine as we speak."

Bom frowned at what Hyuna revealed. It was then that fear and unease crept into her system, pushing back the pain and sorrow of being betrayed like the beach waves lapping at the sand. It was likely that Taeyeon and her husband will get rid of them to preserve their secret. Once she and Hyuna were out of the way, there would be no one to bring their despicable doings to justice. 

Furthermore, betrayal-no matter how painful-wasn't as daunting as death. Or getting locked up in a straight jacket, for that matter. The mere thought made Bom shiver. 

"What's your plan?" Bom finally asked after some time of pondering. Here they were, tied to chairs in a dark room with no windows and the doors were probably locked. 

"That a girl." Hyuna said, unamused. "I have a little knife in my back pocket. Scoot over here and get it."

Bom wriggled, and found that she could move her chair by a few centimeters if she wiggled hard enough. After what seemed like forever and some dangerous maneuvers (which almost resulted in her falling face first onto the floor and breaking her teeth) Bom was finally right next to Hyuna. She tried to move her arm, which was tied, and reached for Hyuna's back pocket. 

"We don't have time." Hyuna urged, wriggling in her own chair. "Why are you taking so long?"

"Almost..." Bom said, risking breaking her arm and stretched all her muscles with all her strength. After a few more seconds her fingers finally grasped the knife and pulled it out.

"About time." Hyuna whispered. Bom began gliding the knife's edge into the rope back and forth. 

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"Why the hell is this house so big?" Hyuna asked as both of them crept silently down the halls after getting out of the room. 

"Probably to store all the secrets inside it." Bom whispered back, gazing back forth furtively to see if anyone was around. 

Minutes earlier, they escaped the ropes holding them to their chairs to find out that someone was approaching. Both of them waited before launching a surprise assault on one of the housewives who came to check on them. Hyuna knocked the woman out with a punch to the face, and both of them tied the woman with the ropes before escaping out the opened door. 

"Where do we go?" Hyuna inquired when they reached a point that branched off into three paths.

Bom tried to conjure up a mental map of the house, and decided to venture straight. She and Hyuna spent a few more minutes of carefully creeping forward until they came upon a staircase that led down to the main entrance.

"Bingo!" Hyuna hurriedly put one foot on the step before getting yanked back by Bom. "What the..."

"Ssh.." Bom hushed the female and pulled Hyuna into the shadows, for she heard voices downstairs. She peeked her head out to see who it was, and her eyes widened when she saw it was no other than Taeyeon and her husband. They were talking in low voices, and at one point Taeyeon started getting touchy with Seunghyun. Bom hurriedly hid in the shadows to save herself from seeing the revolting sight. 

"You okay?" Hyuna asked when she noticed Bom breathing heavily.

"Just peachy." Bom whispered, biting her lips to stop herself from crying again.

They snuck back down the small hallway, taking a left that branched into another corridor. For some reason, the sight of Taeyeon and her husband wouldn't leave her alone, and she found herself dwelling over it and not paying attention to where she was going. She bumped into a table with a decorative vase on it, and the thing fell to the ground and made a loud noise as it shattered into a million pieces. 

Almost instantly voices and footsteps followed. They were busted. 

"Damn it." Hyuna cursed, dragging Bom along. They quickly ran towards the end of the hallway where there was a big window and two paths. They could choose to run down a path together, or split and run separately, or...

Or jump out the window. 

"Which way?!" Bom asked frantically. The footsteps were getting closer and the voices louder. It was matter of time before they get snatched. 

Hyuna cursed under her breath and hastily pulled open the window. 

"Jump!" She yelled, and Bom couldn't even grasp what was happening before Hyuna dove out of the window. Bom closed her eyes and expected to hear a sickening crack that signaled Hyuna hitting the ground, but t her surprise she only heard a soft grunt followed by some rustling. Hyuna fell onto a patch of tall grass in the back yard. 

"Jump!" Hyuna shouted. Bom stared at the height in fear, and looked behind her. She saw Seunghyun turning the corner and rushing towards her, and before she knew it she was falling. 

"Oomph!" She landed in the grass, but when she tried to stand up she discovered she sprained her ankle. 

"Hurry!" Hyuna pulled Bom yo her feet and the two ran down the street. Bom casted a look over her shoulder to see her husband looking down at her from the window she jumped from. She saw him pulling out something and her jaws dropped when she realized it was a pistol. 

"He's going to shoot us!" She yelled, causing Hyuna to almost trip. Oth of them moved as fast as they could and didn't look back.

Suddenly, a loud "bang" pierced the night air. Bom heard Hyuna grunting in pain and falling down to the ground. 

"Hyuna!" She turned to find Hyuna's shoulder bleeding. 

"It only grazed me." Hyuna urged, wincing from pain. "Run! I'll hide myself before he gets here!"

She didn't want to leave Hyuna behind, but staying behind only heightened the risks of both of them getting caught. 

She ran, praying that Hyuna wouldn't get caught. She ran until she reached her house only to discover she didn't have her keys.  

"Damn it!" She yelled, pulling the gates as if to break them open. She stopped and ran frantically over to Kris's house and pounded on his door. "Kris! Open the door!"

No one answered. There was no light coming from his house either. She tried a few more times before stopping and standing there like an idiot trying to figure out where to go. If she kept dallying Seunghyun would catch up for sure. She tried to discard the notion that he already caught up to Hyuna, but the possibility was too plausible. 

She racked her brain, and the only other place she could think of running to was Hyuna's house. Before she knew it she started running again, her frantic steps resounding in the dead silence of the vacant streets. Wallflowers had never looked so ugly and atrocious in her eyes, as if its real interior was revealed after the glossy cover was ripped off. Gone was the sophisticated and glamorous neighborhood, and in was the revolting and degrading hive that kept the darkest secrets hidden.

She arrived at Hyuna's house, and sighed in relief when she saw that the doors were opened. She dashed through the doors and locking it when she was inside. 

She wandered through the living room, wondering what the heck she should do. Amidst all the running and anxiety, she needed a moment to compose herself. She looked around, trying to locate a telephone she could use to call the police. After a few moments, she stumbled inside the kitchen. There was a windows overlooking the backyard, and after some scanning she found the telephone on a counter. 

She reached for it, but before she could even lift the receiver up a loud bang broke out and the windows shattered. The vase next to the telephone bursted into a million pieces, indicating that the shooter was aiming for her. She fell to the floor in shock, and briefly caught a glimpse of Seunghyun in the backyard. 

Frantically, she picked herself up as his footsteps got closer. Running up the stairs, she could hear him climbing over the broken window and stepping on the broken glass. 

She dashed up the stairs to Hyuna's bedroom. There, she raked her mind for a place to hide. His footsteps downstairs were getting louder and louder, and the clock hung on the wall seemed to be counting the mere seconds she had left to live. 

Her eyes landed on Hyuna's big wooden closet, and she immdiately opened the doors and crawled inside. She grabbed a hanger and bolted the handle (not that it would make a difference considering he could rip It out easily). 

Then, she clamped her hands over and stayed put in the darkness of the closet. No sounds were heard except her own ragged breathing and the footsteps that were growing in volume. She stopped breathing when she saw his shadow fell across the floor through the crack of the closet's doors. She peeked through the crack, telling herself not to panic when she saw his shoes walking around the bedroom. He seemed to be listening for her, slowly but deliberately trying to use her fear so she would give herself away. She swallowed when she caught a glimpse of the glistening silver pistol he held in his hand; he would undoubtedly put a bullet through her head once he found her. 

She was scared. There she was, hiding from her own husband. The husband whom, just a few days ago, she was feeling guilty towards for hiding secrets. The husband who, just until she learned he never loved her, was the most considerate and thoughtful person in the whole world. The husband whom she vowed to cherish and love for the rest of her life. 

A tear escaped her eyes again, when she recalled his gentle smiles, his kindness, his loving embrace, his tender kisses, his deep voice whispering he loved her each night, his solid shoulders that she could lean and cry on,...

She didn't know the real him at all. He conjured a fantasy for her, and right now-as she was sitting inside this closet one wrong move away from being murdered by him-she was facing the reality. 

As she thought about all of this, he had checked the whole room but the closet. She saw his shoes standing right in front of the small crack, and knew that her time has came. She closed her eyes tightly, a memory of him and her on their first date replaying in her mind like a broken tape recorder. 

"Why me?" The question left her lips, uncertain and full of doubts. No matter how much she thought she couldn't fathom why a guy like him would want to go out with a girl like her. 

He glanced at her in surprise, staring at her lowered eyes. A strand of hair fell across her forehead, and she widened her eyes when he put his hands on her shoulders.

"Why not?" He gazed straight into her brown eyes, his smile playful yet reassuring at the same time. He lifted one hand up to tuck her hai in place, and before she could process what was happening, he leaned in and kissed her on her forehead. 

The jarring sounds of sirens coming from outside awoke her from her trance, and when she opened her eyes she realized she was still alive. She hurriedly looked through the crack to see that he was no longer there. She let out the breath she was holding, and was about to stand up and get out when a wave of dizziness hit her.

The last thing she heard was the incessant sound of the sirens before everything turned to darkness.