The faded lines stained his thin skin; parallel to each other, like soldiers at attention. True, some call them 'battle scars'. To him, however, they were a burden. Jonghyun scratched at the scabs of the most recent addition on the inside of his wrist. Her footsteps echoed down the hallway and he quickly pulled down his sleeve. For extra measure, he buried his wrists beneath his knees. He looked up from his seat at the table and gave Eunsook a wan smile as she settled in the other chair. The tea was poured into the two cups before them.

They shared a companionable silence. They were settling into their relationship; their giddy passion was relaxing into a comforting warmth. He had finally noticed her in the final weeks of their semester at university. He was her group tutor and she had always stayed behind with a shy smile. It was a sweetness in the murky shadows that clouded his sight.

'Ah!' She was clumsy. The spilt tea pooled on the table and he quickly stood up and grabbed some nearby napkins. He leant forwards to wipe at the brown liquid, his movements naturally pulling his sleeve up his arm.

"No, I've got ..." she was protesting and suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

He looked up and noticed her wide stare at his wrist. She had also stopped breathing. He hastily sat back down and looked away, pulling down his sleeve.

"Don't worry about it," he stammered. His eyes still refused to look back at her.

"Oh, ok," she whispered.

*** *** ***

They had not met each other the following day, nor the next. She had tried to call. He ignored her texts. Plainly put, he was ashamed and embarrassed. He will have to end it.

"Jonghyun."

Jonghyun paused at the door of his shared office in the university. Eunsook stood outside in the hallway, her eyes both sad and determined. She pushed him back into the office. Jonghyun was thankful that it was empty, for he would not like the additional teasing by his colleagues. But he was on his way to a tutorial class and he was going to be late if he did not get rid of her as soon as possible.

"Eunsook, stop," he wearily commanded her. She had continued to push him backwards after he had already been stopped by a dividing wall.

"No, you stop," she whispered from beneath the curtain of her long black hair. Her arms were outstretched from her grip on his arms; her head was turned down towards the ground and she was staring hard at his shoes. Then, a heartbeat later, she must have realised what she had said because she gasped a hurried apology.

She looked up into his face with panic. "Jonghyun, I don't know what to do." She was utterly honest. Her heart was on her sleeve, whilst he knew that his own sleeve hid his weakness he did not want her to know about.

"Jonghyun..." she was pleading.

He wanted to wipe the tears away that were marking her cheeks. He wanted to, but he pushed her off him instead. "I have to go."

"No!" Eunsook protested and she tried to grab a hold onto his arm again but failed. In desperation, she fisted the back of his shirt and dug in her heels. "Don't go. Don't leave me, please."

It was a loaded statement. 'Don't go.' Don't leave her now. Don't leave her ever.

Eunsook yanked his shirt again and enveloped him in a back hug. She clearly did not want to let him go. Jonghyun looked down at the thin arms that encircled him. He belatedly realised that he was shaking, but from what emotions, he was unsure. He was at a complete loss.

The grip of her arms tightened about his waist.

And yet the thin skin of his wrist felt heavy beneath his sleeve.