Jade and Joshua were once the quintessential high school sweethearts, their young love blooming in the hallways of their school, filled with laughter and shared dreams. However, an unforeseen event shattered their once unbreakable bond, sending them...
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Jiwon jolted awake to the loud, relentless sound of a vacuum cleaner humming in the background. Blinking away the remnants of sleep, she sat up on the couch, her back protesting from the awkward position she had drifted off in. As her eyes adjusted to the soft morning light filtering through the cloudy sky, she turned her head to find Eric completely engrossed in his task, the vacuum gliding across the floor as if it were an extension of his own being.
"What in the world are you doing this early, you punk?" she groaned, running her fingers through her tousled hair, trying to make sense of the situation.
With a playful smirk, Eric switched off the vacuum and leaned casually on it, one eyebrow raised in mock innocence. "Vacuuming, if you can see, Wonnie," he replied airily, using her nickname with a teasing lilt. Jiwon grimaced, throwing the blanket aside as she tried to shake off her lingering drowsiness. "Why are you vacuuming in the morning?" she asked, still partially lost in her fog of fatigue.
"When else am I supposed to vacuum?" he retorted, resuming his cleaning with a determined vigour. "I don't know. But weren't all of us asleep?" Jiwon questioned, yawning deeply and rubbing her eyes. "The rooms upstairs are soundproof," he informed her, a hint of mischief in his voice. Jiwon shot him a cold look, feeling the irritation rising within her.
Then, unexpectedly, he switched off the vacuum again, his expression shifting to one of curiosity. "Which brings me to my next question: what's going on with you and Joshua?"
Jiwon rolled her eyes, her annoyance bubbling to the surface. She diverted her gaze to the clock on the wall, which read nine forty-two in the morning. Outside, the clouds loomed ominously, casting a gloomy yet oddly comforting shadow over the apartment. "There's nothing going on with me and him, Eric," she mumbled, the words escaping her lips like a reluctant confession.
Eric grimaced but pressed on, "No, there's definitely something that Jayoung and I don't know about. You don't like sleeping on a couch. And if you did sleep on one, then that means you weren't comfortable sleeping near Josh,"
She shot him a hard glare. "What do you expect between two ex-couples, Jaehyung?" she spat in Korean, the bitterness lacing her words. "Especially when he cheated on me and I waited for him like a fool?" Eric's expression softened as he set the vacuum down and took a seat beside her on the couch. It seemed he had realised that the air in the room and shifted and they were no longer having a laugh.
"What do you feel about him now?" he asked gently, his voice filled with genuine concern.
Jiwon hesitated, struggling to find the right words. Eric's eyes searched hers, revealing the depth of his sincerity, and she felt the walls she had built around her emotions begin to crumble. Closing her eyes, she let out a shaky sigh and stared at him emotionlessly before breaking down. "I hate him," she whispered, her voice trembling as the weight of her feelings pressed down on her. "I hate the way he makes me feel so confused right now, even though I know he's hurt me in the past."
