Y/N's POV:
The silence in the apartment was deafening. Even the gentle hum of the refrigerator felt like a mocking reminder of the emptiness that had taken root in my heart.
It felt like weeks since Hyein had truly smiled at me, her laughter a distant memory that echoed in the hollow spaces where joy used to reside.
I had spent the entire evening staring at the ceiling, the crisp, white surface reflecting the anxieties that gnawed at my soul.
The world had become a blur of grey, devoid of the vibrant hues that once defined it. My world had been painted with the light of Hyein’s love, and now, that light was flickering, threatening to extinguish itself completely.
“Hyein,” I mumbled, my voice barely a whisper, “are you asleep?”
Silence.
She had been on her phone for hours, her eyes glued to the screen, her fingers flying across the keyboard with an alarming speed.
I felt a prickle of jealousy, the familiar sting of insecurity tightening its grip around my heart. Was she texting some other guy? Did she even notice how withdrawn I was, how my world was spiraling into darkness without her?
“Hyein?” I repeated, this time with a little more force.
The phone remained silent, and my heart sank further.
I climbed out of bed and walked towards her, my footsteps echoing in the stillness of the room. The light from her phone illuminated her face, sharp and defined against the darkness.
Her brow was furrowed, her lips pressed into a thin line. She looked exhausted, her eyes clouded with a sadness that mirrored my own.
“What’s wrong, Hyein?” I asked gently, reaching out to touch her arm.
Her expression remained unchanged, the icy wall of her silence rising higher. I recoiled, the sting of rejection cutting through me.
It was always like this lately. Any attempt at communication was met with a cold silence, a wall that seemed to grow taller with every passing day.
“Hyein, please talk to me,” I pleaded. “I’m so lost without you.”
She finally looked up, her eyes filled with an emotion I couldn’t quite decipher.
“What do you want me to say, Y/N?” she asked, her voice flat, devoid of the warmth that once melted my soul.
“I just… I just want to know if you still love me,” I confessed, my voice trembling. “I can't bear this silence anymore. I feel like I'm drowning in darkness. I just want to hear you say it, Hyein. Tell me you still love me.”
She looked at me for a long moment, her face a study in conflicted emotions. A tear escaped the corner of her eye, rolling down her cheek like a tiny, silent scream.
“You’re the one who needs to tell me you love me, Y/N,” she whispered, her voice thick with a raw, painful vulnerability that cut through me like a sharp knife. “You're the one who needs to prove it. ”
The words hung in the air, heavy with unspoken accusations. I felt my throat constrict, the air suddenly thin and suffocating.
“I do love you, Hyein,” I said, but my words felt hollow, devoid of the conviction I desperately wanted to convey. “I just… I just need you to know that, to feel it.”
“Show me, Y/N,” she said, her voice rising in a desperate plea. “Show me you love me. Love me tonight.”
The air thickened with an unspoken tension, the silence more suffocating than before.
