Love , Again ?? || RM

Part 56 - Fragments of Us

Joon Pov

 I stayed there, leaning against the door long after Ha Eun had left—as if my body needed time to accept what my heart already knew. The silence around me was deafening, yet inside, everything was screaming. Memories came crashing down on me like waves—her laughter echoing in the hallway, her slippers by the door, the warmth of her head resting on his chest on quiet Sunday mornings.

Now, there was nothing but cold absence.

i slid down slowly until i was sitting on the floor, knees pulled to my chest, still holding the envelope she had given to me. His fingers trembled as i stared at it, unsure whether i was ready to open it. Did i even want to know what it said? Or would it hurt more if it carried the kind of words that once would've healed me —but now felt too late? Minutes passed, maybe longer, before i finally opened it.

Inside was a single handwritten letter. The first few words stopped me in my tracks:

"To the man I loved more than myself..."

My eyes began scanning the lines, each word pulling at the fragile seams of my heart.

She hadn't written to ask for forgiveness. She hadn't tried to justify her actions. Instead, she wrote about their memories. The little things. The first time i held her hand. The way she used to fall asleep listening to the rhythm of my breath. How safe she used to feel just hearing my keys at the door.

And then—how she slowly started breaking things without meaning to.

She confessed that she had lost herself along the way. That the moment she crossed that line, she knew she had lost me. Not just as a partner, but as her future. She didn't expect me to understand or forgive—but she wanted me to know that what they had wasn't fake. That her love was real, even if her mistake had been unforgivable.

My chest tightened with every word. By the time i reached the end of the letter, my hands were trembling, my heart pounding violently in the hollow of my ribs.

"I will carry the weight of what I did for the rest of my life.
But I hope one day, you'll remember me not just for how we ended,
But for how deeply I loved you.
Goodbye, Namjoon.
– Ha Eun"

i folded the letter back with shaking hands and pressed it to my forehead, biting back a scream. There was no solace in her honesty. Only a deeper kind of ache. Because i had loved her with everything i had. i had planned my life with her in every corner of my mind—right down to the books they'd read, the places they'd travel, the names they might one day call their children.

But now, all of that existed only in memory. Dragging myself up from the floor, i walked to the window and looked out at the empty street. The morning sun was rising, soft and golden. A new day had begun. i closed my eyes and inhaled slowly, forcing air back into my lungs. This was my new beginning.

I didn't know how long it would take to heal, or what the road ahead would look like. But one thing i knew for sure— i couldn't carry this heartbreak forever. i had to let go, not just of her, but of the man i used to be when i loved her. And so, with one final glance toward the envelope on the table, i whispered to mymself, voice barely audible:

"Let this be the last time I cry for you."

And with that, i turned away—and began walking toward the light of a life that no longer included her. I didn't know where my legs were taking me, but i walked. Past the kitchen, where they used to dance half-awake while making coffee. Past the hallway mirror where Ha Eun would fix his collar before he left for work. Everything in this house still breathed her—in traces, in shadows, in absence.