[KTH] 11:00

It's 11:00

Everything looks nice on the outside, perfect house, perfect friends, perfect jobs, so of course, that equates to no stress, right? Wrong.

Park Da-hee was dating the greatest man in the world. Emphasis on was. Right now, she was living with a complete stranger, no, an acquaintance named Kim Taehyung. Believe it or not, Da-hee and Kim Taehyung had that cliché high school relationship. He was popular, she was not, yet she was able to hit it out of the ballpark, landing herself in Taehyung's heart. If anyone heard this story, they would have fawned over the fact she was so lucky: she was a princess, married to her Prince Charming, and that everything was perfect in life.

That wasn't the case.

Behind these closed doors, there was shouting, yelling, broken alcohol bottles, and used condoms from empty sex. There seemed to be nothing substantial holding their relationship together. With the number of mistresses Taehyung had, and the multitude of rich old men that Da-hee met for their money and gifts, everything in their love was fake.

Behind these closed doors: there was no love, there was no family, there was no joy. Only bitter and cold bickers about whose actions were more shameful. Sometimes one of them wouldn't be home for days. Where they had gone, no one knows, but their lover wouldn't care.

It's painful to hold this type of relationship. One with no base, only a plain smile and good acting: the only things that kept people coming back for more. The only reason Da-hee and Taehyung were together - she was pregnant with his child. "I want to get an abortion", Da-hee said; "I want to keep it", Da-hee said. Da-hee was gong through an emotional rollercoaster, and Taehyung wasn't willing to deal with any of it. Neither of them were ready to be stable parents, neither one of them could find it in themselves to live happily knowing the fact that their poor child would live in a family like this. Yet, both of them believed that this child could bring back the spark they once had.

So that's what they did: On October 10th, Kim Seulgi was born. A little girl, 4 kg, and the world to both Taehyung and Da-hee. Da-hee stayed home for a few weeks, Taehyung a few weeks after, to tend to their newborn. But that crummy gear started turning once again, and they returned to the mess they said they would never return to. When Da-Hee went to work in the day time, Tae brought one of his playthings to go and have fun. When Taehyung came back at night, Da-Hee went shopping with Seulgi and these old men, buying the child expensive clothes and jewelry from adulterers who couldn't care less about her. It was toxic.

They only met at eleven, filling four walls with awkward silence, two heartbroken m parents trying to not make any contact while trying to play with their only daughter; The only star that shined in their dark sky. At eleven, they would make small talk, eat, and then part ways. They were flawed.

The selfishness vanished stopped the moment Kim Seulgi turned the age of one. On that day, Da-hee had came back home early, to see Taehyung and one of his mistresses played with Seulgi in the common room. Da-hee unwillingly also got to hear Seulgi called Taehyung's mistress mama. Her world stopped - A wave of anger stabbed right through Da-hee's frail body. Da-hee called for Seulgi, and sparked an argument. Seulgi ran to Da-hee, and Taehyung shooed his mistress out as they continued to bicker on about who had failed. As the echo of Seulgi's sobs began to fill the room, they looked at each other, and they seemed to share the same thought:

"We can't do this anymore. I can't do this anymore."

Both of them seemed to click, as they ignored their own selfish wishes, and hugged their sobbing child at eleven. They chose to make amends to their failing relationship, at eleven. They planned little family dates — where Da-hee, Taehyung, and Seulgi went to the park together, but only at eleven. Both Da-hee and Taehyung knew that they had to change, but it only seemed at eleven, their minds would align. While the child slept, Taehyung and Da-hee tried to patch up their wounds from their relationship, but it only seemed to tear them apart more. Yet they kept trying.

Taehyung's mistresses came to the house less frequently, and he started becoming more active in Seulgi's life. Da-hee started working harder at work, visited the rich men less, and convinced her boss to let her work from home on some days to connect with her child. But, while Seulgi slept at her grandparent's house, her parents fell back to square one: glass broke at eleven, tears shed at eleven, hearts shattered at eleven, and another condom wasted at eleven.

Happy go unlucky. That's what this couple was, yet they tried to make the most out of what they had, the shriveled pieces of what they used to be, and the child who had brought out the best in them. The house of cards they had laid their child was starting to stabilize, little by little. Sometimes their off days would align, and they would wake up with the other person by their side. Those days were used to rekindle a fire: Small dates, small smiles, and even a laugh or two. But as it always was, only at eleven.

Things patched up slowly, and love seemed to blossom on November 11th. On that day, this renewed family went out to eat at the restaurant where they first met, carrying their child. They found nostalgic memories written on the chalkboard from their school years, but suddenly, the world stopped.

Click. Bang.

The love ended. The healed family gone. As expected, at eleven.