When Love Forgets

Chapter 18

              

              Taehyung’s POV

I stood there, frozen. Divorce papers in my hands. Her wedding ring—our wedding ring—cold against my palm.

Did she just...leave?

My mind couldn’t process it. It felt unreal, like I was in a haze, watching everything happen but unable to stop it. I kept hearing her voice. “You’re free now.” The words hung in the air, echoing in my ears. Free? From what? From her? From this life? Or was she freeing herself—from me?

My eyes snapped to the door, my breath caught in my throat. She was gone.

She left.

How had this happened? One moment I was buried in my thoughts, trying to get through the endless weight of work and guilt, and then the next moment, she was standing in front of me, telling me she was done. I didn’t understand. None of it made sense.

Marriage. Divorce. Mina.

I stumbled back, the walls closing in. My chest felt tight, suffocating. What was happening? My whole life had been spiraling out of control since the wedding. A wedding I never wanted. A wife I couldn’t remember. Mina, my childhood friend, standing beside me like a stranger I could never quite understand.

Why can't I remember her?

I let out a shaky breath, trying to piece together everything that had happened. I’d been dreaming about her—about us—about something lost in the fog of my mind. I kept seeing us in Daegu. The laughter, the smiles. The promises we made to each other. It felt so real, but when I woke up, it all slipped away, leaving behind only this aching emptiness.

But what was real? Was it just some fantasy my mind was conjuring up? I didn’t know anymore. And now she was gone, and I couldn’t even ask her.

What is wrong with me?

I clenched my fists, the papers crumpling in my hands. Sora was gone too, off chasing her dreams, leaving our relationship as fractured as my memories. I couldn’t stop her from leaving, just like I couldn’t stop myself from pushing Mina away. Everything in my life was slipping out of my control, no matter how hard I tried to hold on.

My gaze drifted to the wedding ring she had returned. The one she used to wear with so much hope, even when I didn’t deserve it. When did everything get so broken? When did I become the one breaking it?

I thought of the last time I really looked at her—really saw her. Her eyes. That haunted look she wore like a shield. I always saw it but chose to ignore it. But now, standing here, with her gone...I couldn’t run from it anymore. I couldn’t escape the guilt gnawing at me, the guilt I had pushed away every time I saw her try and try again.

Her broken eyes.

I hated that I could still see them in my mind. The way they looked at me, pleading, hopeful, and then—nothing. It was like she stopped hoping. She had stopped...because of me.

And now she’s gone. She’s gone, and I can’t even ask why.

My head fell into my hands as everything crashed into me all at once. The guilt, the anger, the confusion. My heart pounded in my chest, a chaotic rhythm that matched the chaos in my mind.

I wanted to scream, to throw something, to undo everything that had led us here.

But I couldn’t.

Because I didn’t know how.

I didn’t know how to fix this. How to explain the mess inside my head. How to tell her that I didn’t hate her. That it was never about her. That I was the one who didn’t know what the hell I was doing.