It’s midday now and Hyunnie took a nap to escape reality, the inevitable tears soon following after.

Although I shouldn’t be surprised, I see all of my clothes neatly laid out right beside her on the bed, ready to be put in a box and shipped out to Yeri. It’s time. She’s actually moving on; she’s going to let me go. I feel relieved but dejected at the same time. As much as I want her to cling onto what was us, I knew it wasn’t good for her to keep going like this.

For once, I won’t act out of selfishness. I’m willing to let her move on, even if it means living a dull dreary existence filled with many regrets. I deserve it. I should’ve loved her more.

--

It’s early evening now and the doorbell rings, waking up the sleeping woman beside me. She opens her eyes and sighs at the discovery of her tears, growing tired of crying over the same unfaithful girl over and over again.

Ignoring the door, Hyunnie only pulls the blanket closer to her body as she feels a sudden chill. Regardless, it continues to ring, quickly irritating the once patient woman. She tosses the blanket aside in exasperation and stomps downstairs, restless to find who dared interrupt her depressing desolation.

Taking a place by the stairs, I quietly follow Hyunnie out of curiosity, just in time to catch a glimpse of her opening the door for Wendy. Had it been anyone else, I know she would’ve slammed the door in their face without so much as a second thought.

“Hey, are you okay? You look sick,” she says with genuine concern as she's led in, putting a gentle palm on my wife’s forehead.

“I’m okay,” Hyunnie replies lethargically, offering a faux smile. “What are you doing here?”

“Well I thought I’d surprise you with my company…and carrot cake,” Wendy added with a warm smile when Hyunnie remained unresponsive. But now she complies, not because of the carrot cake but rather the thoughtful gesture. Come to think of it, I’ve never surprised her with her favorite food…

“Come to the kitchen.”

--

“You know, Krystal’s going to have your in a platter for not coming to work today. What have you been doing all day?” Wendy says as she sat herself down on my chair and began serving carrot cake for the both of them.

“I was cleaning out Seulgi’s clothes,” Hyunnie bluntly states, placing a warm cup of hot chocolate in front of Wendy. She abruptly halts everything to look at her, unsure of what to say. After seriously going over her words and making sure it wouldn’t upset the grief-stricken woman, she finally breaks the silence I’ve been unable to break.

“Listen, you don’t have to hole yourself up in here all day. Want to eat dinner with me? My treat! C’mon, it’ll be fun,” I see her playfully pinch Hyunnie’s arm in a kind and friendly manner.

Warmth. So with a faint but genuine smile, she left with Wendy. I begin healing her soul by doing nothing.

Wendy is exactly what Irene needs.

--

Homebound, I seem to lose track of time when Hyunnie’s not around. Moments without her are too insignificant to note. This existence is now dedicated to her, and only her. Nothing else matters. So it was a safe guess that it must’ve been around midnight until the two finally came stumbling back to my house, with Wendy supporting an obviously wasted Hyunnie.

I fumed at the sight. How could she let her drink? Hyunnie never drinks!

I knocked some things over in anger, a lamp, some books; anything to be heard past their booming footsteps merely to have both of them overlook my signs of frustration as nothing more than the wind rushing in from a seemingly open window.

“I told you not to drink too much…” Wendy scolded her as she dragged the half-conscious girl up to our room.

“I need it…” I heard Hyunnie mumble in reply.

“You don’t need it.”

“I need Seul…” she says truthfully, the alcohol now eradicating all signs of her inhibition. Wendy just sighs as she wiped my clothes off the bed to lay the intoxicated woman down.

“What are you doing to Seul’s stuff?” Hyunnie slurred in protest, trying to get up but was instead pulled back down by overpowering vertigo.

“I’m packing it for you.”

“No…I’ll do it myself…”

“Can you? You’ve been telling me you’ll send these to her sister...” Hyunnie stays silent, cuing Wendy to add onto his previous statement.

“This isn’t healthy. You don’t think anybody notices what you’ve been doing to yourself, but I notice. You need to move on...”

I see her reach for Hyunnie’s hand in consolation, providing her with the comfort and warmth I could never have given. She stays silent in agreement; Wendy is right. Tonight, I witnessed her walls further crumble, allowing yet another soul to help heal her fragmented ones.

--

Hyunnie woke up in the middle of the night in Wendy’s arms and I'm glad to see that there are no more tears this time.

But I felt conflicted when she uttered her first words, “Seulgi?”

“No, it’s Wendy,” she says, effortlessly tucking a strand of her hair behind an ear.

“Oh…You look so much like her…” she blurted mindlessly. I see Wendy halt her loving gestures to look seriously into Hyunnie’s eyes.

“Stop it, Irene.”

“Stop what?”

“Comparing me to her. I feel insignificant.”

Go figure; she was envious of me all this time too.

“I’m not Seulgi,” she added, her voice carrying a somber tone.

“I know…” Silence; but this time, Hyunnie willingly breaks it.

“I dream of her every day and I can’t help but cry when I see nobody beside me…I’m still not used to it. But I’m not crying now.” She pauses but continues when Wendy’s expression softened, a sign of her understanding.

“Do you know the last thing I told her?”

“What did you tell her?” and Wendy resumes her hair as Hyunnie snuggled closer into her arms and closed her eyes in painful reminisce.

“I told her I never wanted to see her ever again…I’m horrible aren’t I?”

“Hyunnie… Seulgi wouldn’t have wanted to see you like this.”

Another reason why I never lik