The Way I Loved You

I'll Weather Through The Storms With You

After their rather tense discussion the night before, there was an air of awkwardness between the couple the next morning. They sat at opposite ends of the table during breakfast, avoiding eye contact as much as possible, although they peeked at each other whenever they thought the other wasn't looking. The entire table sensed the strange energy that buzzed between them, but they simply exchanged curious looks without commenting.

Hyunwoo's dash inside had been quite the romantic gesture last night. Beomja had swooned internally as she watched him run as fast as his legs could take him, as if a microsecond would make all the difference to Haein's welfare. It was clear that his world revolved around her, so why were they so tense this morning? Did they fight again after he brought her into the room?

After breakfast, they set off in the car after being sent off by Hyunwoo's parents. The entire journey was silent, the lingering tension erecting a barrier between them. Haein noticed Hyunwoo glancing at her every once in a while through her peripheral vision, but she pretended not to see it. It was sweet really, that he was so attentive towards her that he seemed to be trying to catch the slightest hint of fatigue or discomfort the moment it crossed her face.

As they drove towards the city, Hyunwoo resisted the urge to reach over the console and squeeze her in his arms. Dressed in casual jeans and a cap, Haein looked a lot smaller than usual without her usual flamboyant outfits. Rather than a fancy peacock, she looked more like a little quail. Especially with only light makeup and her hair unstyled, she looked a lot younger and much sweeter, a far contrast from her usual fierce image. This was the girl he'd been attracted to when he saw her at the printer. Before she'd stepped into her role as CEO, she used to be much more receptive to his love, more willing to be coddled because she didn't have a reputation to uphold. He longed for those simpler times.

Even the simple act of driving her to her appointment felt incredibly domestic. It was ridiculous really, how they were acting more like a couple now that they were divorced than they did while they were still married. How he wished to do these mundane things now, to drive her around whenever she needed to go somewhere, to help get her medication, to buy her food. He wanted to do all of these things every day.

Although Haein was sitting right beside him in the passenger's seat, her mind seemed miles away.

"She likes me... she likes me not... She likes me... she likes me not... Oh?"

Haein hadn't been able to sleep that night. It felt like there was this tangled knot inside her chest that wouldn't allow her to relax. Long after her bedtime, her mind continued whirling, struggling to process everything that had just happened. She felt guilty for being so harsh to Hyunwoo, she should've at least thanked him for running home with her filgrastim shots but she'd shot down all his efforts to care for her. Being mean to Hyunwoo was like kicking a puppy, you couldn't do it without the guilt that accompanied. That was why she'd been prepared to come out and apologise when she heard his voice approaching.

"She likes me?" She heard him murmur, a childlike innocence in his voice that she knew only emerged when he was drunk. Her hand paused on the handle, her lips curving into a smile. He was so cute when he was drunk, it was the whole reason she'd started falling for him in the first place.

He giggled, the sound making her heart flutter. "Really?"

Really. She thought internally.

"But that's not the case for me." She frowned, her heart dropping at his words. Did she push him too hard this time? Was he mad at her now?

"I... I love her." There was a pause, and Haein could tell from the way he was mumbling that he had the dopiest grin on his face right now.