It was late in the evening, and Dahyun was heading toward the locker room to grab her things after a long, exhausting shift. She had managed to avoid Kang Dong Joo for most of the day, but she knew that couldn’t last forever. The weight of their unresolved conversation hung over her like a dark cloud, and she was in no mood for another confrontation.
As she reached the door, she froze. There he was—Dong Joo, leaning against the wall near the entrance, waiting for her. His eyes locked on her the moment she stepped into the hallway. Dahyun's heart skipped a beat, but not from affection—it was the sinking feeling of dread. She braced herself, knowing this wasn’t going to end well.
"Dahyun," Dong Joo called out, his voice soft but urgent. "Can we talk?"
Dahyun kept walking, pretending she hadn’t heard him, but he stepped in front of her, blocking her path. "Please, just… hear me out."
She stopped, her gaze cold. "I don’t want to hear anything you have to say."
"Dahyun, please. I need to explain—"
"You need to explain?" she snapped, cutting him off. Her eyes flashed with anger, the words spilling out before she could stop them. "What exactly do you think you need to explain? That you’ve been lying to me this whole time? That you have a *fiancée* and still somehow thought it was okay to be with me?"
Dong Joo flinched at the harshness of her tone. "I never meant for this to happen. I didn’t mean to hurt you—"
Dahyun laughed bitterly. "Didn’t mean to hurt me? You think that makes it better?"
He stepped closer, desperation in his voice. "I know I messed up. But I never lied about how I feel about you."
Dahyun’s hands clenched into fists at her sides, her body trembling with a mix of hurt and rage. "How you feel about me?" She took a step back, shaking her head. "I was the *other* girl, Dong Joo. Do you know how humiliating that is? I loved you. I—" Her voice cracked, but she forced herself to keep going. "I love you so much it’s suffocating. It’s like I can’t even breathe sometimes because of how much I wanted this to work. And all this time, there’s someone else… someone who’s waiting for you to walk down the aisle, say your vows, and spend your life with her."
Her voice broke completely on the last words, and she turned away, covering her face with her hands, trying to keep the tears from falling. But they came anyway.
Dong Joo moved closer, his hand reaching out to touch her arm, but she pulled away before he could. "Don’t."
"I understand that you’re mad," Dong Joo said softly, his voice pleading. "I do. But I didn’t want it to be like this. I’m sorry, Dahyun."
"Mad?" Dahyun whipped around to face him, tears streaming down her cheeks now. "Mad doesn’t even come close to what I’m feeling. You think this is about being mad?" She let out a shaky breath, wiping her face with the back of her hand. "I feel… I feel betrayed. I feel like a fool. I trusted you, Dong Joo. I trusted *us*. And now—" She trailed off, her voice trembling.
Dong Joo's expression was filled with regret. He opened his mouth to say something, but the words never came. His silence hung in the air like a heavy weight between them.
Dahyun swallowed hard, her voice barely a whisper now. "If there’s Jisoo in your life, then who am I? Who was I supposed to be?"
Dong Joo froze, unable to respond right away. He stared at her, his face torn with guilt. The words he wanted to say—the truth he needed to tell her—they all lodged in his throat. He couldn’t find the right thing to say.
All he could do was look at her with that same, familiar sorry expression, the one she had seen far too many times in the past week.
Dahyun watched his face carefully, waiting. But when the answer didn’t come, the last bit of hope she had been holding onto shattered.
She let out a short, bitter laugh. "You don’t even know, do you?"
Dong Joo lowered his eyes, the guilt practically radiating off him.
"Okay," Dahyun said quietly, her voice suddenly calm in a way that scared her. "You know what? It’s fine. I get it now."
"Dahyun, please—" Dong Joo tried to reach out again, but she stepped back, holding up a hand.
"No, Dong Joo." Her voice was firm, even though her heart felt like it was breaking all over again. "It’s okay. I understand."
She brushed past him, not looking back as she walked away. The sound of her footsteps echoed down the hallway as she disappeared around the corner, leaving Dong Joo standing there, alone, in the suffocating silence of his own choices.
And for the first time, as he stood there with his hand still hovering in the air, he felt the full weight of what he had done. It wasn’t just about Dahyun or Jisoo anymore. It was about the person he had allowed himself to become, and how he had broken something fragile and beautiful in the process.
But it was too late.
