Tears Fall Like Rain

Chapter 1

MIYEON

People only talk about what happens when you break up. But they don't tell you what happens after the breakup. What does it feel like afterwards? How will your life change? I wished I had someone to prepare me for this.

"Miyeon, let's break up."

Those cursed words had the audacity to exit the mouth of my boyfriend of four years. At that instant, it felt as if my whole world had come crashing down. Break up? From the moment we started dating, I had never imagined the day when our relationship would end would ever come. I thought we would be together forever.

"Why?" I could only muster out a single word. Jaebeom was not one to tell jokes. If he said something, he meant it. And I wished so badly that this was one of the rare moments where he made a joke. How could we break up? After all that we had been through? The jokes we shared and the memories we made. What would become of them?

Jaebeom leaned backwards. "You find me annoying for always prioritising work." His voice dripped with sarcasm as if to tell me that my concerns were ridiculous. "I find you annoying and clingy for always asking me to do useless things."

I winced upon hearing that. Clingy? Useless things? Those words felt like arrows shot right at my heart, piercing it like a million daggers, tearing it apart. Was asking him to eat with me being clingy? Was sharing our hopes and dreams useless to him? Was planning our future together considered useless as well?

"Useless things?" I asked. I took out a red book that contained our bucket list, which we had created in the first few years of our relationship. We made it together and agreed to tick off the items as we progressed as a couple. "Do you mean this?"

"Yes," he replied. "That useless bucket list that we made when we were young university students who had nothing but school to care about. I can't believe you can't stop harping over it even when we've already started working. I don't understand your obsession with it. That should be left in the past or perhaps brought up again in the future when we have fewer things to worry about. Now is just not the time to care about a freaking bucket list."

In a way, Jaebeom made sense. However, what I believed was that this book carried our dreams for the future. It contained our past memories and moments that we hoped to create together in the distant future. It was simply... special.

I thought he cherished our bucket list as much as I did. Was I mistaken? When did our relationship deteriorate to this point? Was it all my fault?

"I work so hard for a better future for us, but all you do is complain. We're no longer happy. Doing this is the best for both of us."

My jaw dropped, and I was instantly snapped back into reality. Gone was all the self-blame that almost consumed me whole. Were my simple pleas for him to put aside some time to even just dine with me or watch a movie unreasonable? Were my requests just labelled annoying complaints to him? Since when did I mean so little to him?

Taking a deep breath, I tried to reply as calmly as possible, "Jaebeom, I'm sure there's a way for us to compromise—"

"Miyeon, stop lying to yourself. Our relationship has gone to a point of no return," Jaebeom said immediately.

I tried my best to maintain my composure as I looked him in the eye. All I could see was frustration and self-doubt. One would have suspected that he had fallen for another girl, but I knew that he was not one to sway that easily. Jaebeom was a logical person, and I was sure that he had made his calculations before making this dreadful decision. I believed that didn't want this either.

And that made me feel even worse; I had no one to blame. I didn't want to break up with him, but it seemed like the best option we had, given how unhappy our relationship was making us. I didn't know when it happened, but our goals in life had diverged long ago. We could no longer see things eye to eye. I could understand his perspective from a logical point of view, but I couldn't accept it emotionally.