Minji groaned in complete annoyance and sighed for the ninth time as she kept on calling him only to have his phone travel to his mailbox. She walked out of the car and felt her head spin but she forced herself to focus, ignoring the pain as she kept on redialling his number. It had to be the twentieth time she bombarded his phone with her calls. He had woken up early that day, around 5am after his cell phone rang and rushed out of the house after, telling her to go back to sleep and that he’d meet her at the cemetery as he had an emergency matter to attend to at this moment. She had been too sleepy and tired to argue so she mumbled an incoherent reply and went back to dreamland. She had driven all the way to the cemetery from the airport and called him along the way to only have her calls rejected.

She made excuses for him not picking up his phone and hoped as she drove to the cemetery that he would be there but as they say, the greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment. Her family members questioned little about her lonely presence but her mother frowned, her daughter had clearly stated that her husband would be coming along with her so what had happened? Minji saw the look on her mother’s face and lowered her head, feeling embarrassed, ashamed, betrayal and most importantly, anger at him for not picking up any of her calls and for breaking a promise. She knew that promises were made to be broken anyway but she felt so frustrated with the matter, she felt like crying and just wanted to roll up into a ball and do so but forced the tears away. She didn’t need her family members worrying about her on this day but it felt so suffocating to not let her tears flow, especially when she saw the picture of her grandmother. She felt her eyes burn and the unshed tears blur her vision. She turned away from her family and walked to a secluded area where she let her tears fall, allowing a few minutes for her emotions to become what she deemed as stable before heading back to join them and again, they did not question her missing presence to which she was extremely grateful for. She wanted to do anything but offer an explanation right now, she felt her emotions and thoughts going wild.

As they finished with the ceremony, they bid each other farewell with Minji lingering around her grandmother’s tomb a bit longer than necessary afterwards. The confused girl spoke to her grandmother like she would usually do and told her of her troubles, only to have the rustling of leaves offer her a reply. As she spoke, her tears fell and she felt so suffocated and scared. But as she slowly calmed down, she offered a light joke to cheer herself up which failed desperately. She smiled softly, her finger tips touching the framed photograph of her grandmother before bidding her goodbye. She travelled silently back to Seoul via the airplane which didn’t exactly help with her headache which was increasingly growing.

She settled for some Advil and a short nap in attempts to get rid of it which succeeded for a short amount of time because as soon as the plane came to a stop and she woke up, her headache came rushing back. She groaned and waited patiently for the other passengers to leave before getting up to do so. She hopped into her car and drove along the roads of Seoul, having the window drawn all the way down and the wind blowing against her in an attempt to rid of her headaches which usually worked. She sighed, suddenly wanting to have coffee from Starbucks and drove to the nearest store where she ordered her warm coffee and sat in a corner by herself. She looked out of the windows into the street and froze. She felt her eyes burn and a mix of emotions occur within her but anger and betrayal were very evident.

“You’re so stupid Minji. So so stupid” she whispered to herself as she felt her heart break. She watched as they got into his car with smiles on their faces and drove off. She stared into the empty space before feeling a presence before her, she looked at him in the eyes and broke down. He smiled softly at her as he offered her a tissue and squeezed her hand, not caring about the looks they were given by customers who happened to witness the scene. She slowly calmed down and he moved to hug her, whispering and telling her everything was going to be okay when he, himself knew that things were far from okay. He had seen the two himself as he was about to enter the place and felt his blood boil. He would’ve done something had not he been warned by the others and saw her in the store, sitting by herself. He wanted to make sure that she did not see the scene but was too late to do so.

He grabbed her hand, forgetting his coffee crave and helped her into his car where he drove them to a quiet and secluded place to enjoy a scenary and some peace from their busy and daily city life. They sat in silence and he did not pry her for any information because he knew she would speak to him when she wanted to and maybe this topic was not something she wanted to speak about. He had heard the ringing of her phone a few times in the car and saw that she had rejected all the calls and when the calls wouldn’t stop, turned off her phone.

He gazed at her, admiring how strong she was with her broken relationship and ruffled her hair, speaking to her about the past in an attempt to distract her from her current problems and he succeeded because a genuine smile graced her lips. When he deemed that it was late and that they should go, she was quiet and he saw that she did not want to go back but agreed to do so anyways because she knew that he was keeping her oppa from going to his love.

They rode back with booming music and laughter as they spoke, only ceasing as she saw the familiar house – their house come into view. She felt the twisting of her stomachs and was so uncomfortable and scared with leaving the car that protected her from reality. But she knew better than to delay things, who knows, he might still be out with the lights out and all. She prayed that he was out though because she was not ready to face him at all. She quickly bid her Se7en oppa good bye, thanking him with a hug and kiss on the cheek before stepping into the house and turning on the lights to have a pair of glaring eyes looking straight at her. She didn’t falter however as she stared right back at him emotionlessly, she was tired so tired and annoyed. She broke their staring contest to take off her shoes and moved past him to head to her room to which she knew she would be stopped. She saw it coming, the hold on her wrist as he forced her to turn around and face him.

“Where were you?” he asked through gritted teeth, it annoyed him so much to see her come out of another man’s car. Sure, he felt so guilty when he saw the missed call counts on his phone and remembered the event that was supposed to occur today but the fact that she had ignored his calls because she was with a man did not cut it for him. He was angry, annoyed, betrayed and scared.

“Why do you care?” she retorted as she pried his hold off of her.

“Because, my darling, you ignored all my calls and just walked out of the car with a man”

“Oh. I ignored your calls? What about my calls? What about the promise you made with me? What about that girl I saw you so happily holding hands with today huh Lee Taemin?” she questioned with anger in her voice and glared at him. Taemin stood stunned for a moment, not expecting to hear that she had seen him out and about today and with a girl in fact.

“It’s n-“

“I don’t care about your excuses Taemin. All I know is that you broke a promise with me, one that I valued very much because you had to spend time with a girl. I don’t care what happens anymore with you. I’m so tired, so hurt that I just want to give up but do you know why I’m still holding on? Because I truly love you but I question your love for me. Have you ever genuinely loved me? Have you? Have you ever been with me without being in a dilemma about your love with me? I’m sick of this you’ve put me through. You blew it Taemin”

She made an attempt to walk away from him but failed again as he held her arms firmly, gripping it as he spun her around.

“What do you mean I blew it? What about you? Why didn’t you answer my calls? Who was the guy with you just now? Was it that guy who had his arms all over you at the club? Was it? Are you cheating on me?” he shot back.

And the only response he received was a slap to the face which sounded loudly in their empty house. That did it he thought as he dragged her up the stairs and threw her on the bed before locking their bedroom door. She protested against him but to no avail as he got his way with her as he whispered harsh and hushed words to her.

She cried but he ignored it, kissing away her salty tears.

She cried because she knew he didn’t love her – he probably never did.

She cried because this wasn’t something she wanted, this wasn’t something she was used to.

She cried because she was tired with a headache and aching back in no mood to do whatever he wanted to do.

She cried because she felt filthy and used.

She cried because she felt betrayed and embarrassed.

She cried because her hopes of a happy marriage with the man she loved would not occur.

She cried because she felt her body betraying her, responding to his actions which encourage him on.

As they both completed their ual activity, he leaned down towards her and whispered near her ear with low and harsh pants “You’re mine. Mine only” before he got off her and rolled to his side of the bed where he tried to calm his beating heart and slow down his pants. He thought over what had just happened and cringed at his actions, he was blinded by pure anger and irritation as he forced himself upon her. He turned to look at her, to see that she had turned away from him with her shoulders trembling.

He sighed and his heart felt so heavy. He slowly moved towards her, wrapping his arms around her to feel her stiffen and he cursed himself for letting his emotions get the best of him. “I’m sorry baby” he whispered repeatedly as he kissed her shoulder and her hair. And with his constant apologies, she slowly fell asleep with him failing to do so as guilt ate him up inside. He held onto her and buried himself on the crook of her neck, inhaling her addicting scent as he kept repeating his apologies despite her not being able to hear anything. And as he slowly tired himself, he fell asleep with his arms wrapped tightly around her waist.