SOUR - BAEKHYUN

001

"Your light voice passes me by,

would you please call my name one more time?"

The clock struck six along with the slowly rising sun, its gentle rays warmed up the messy blanket covering half of Park Soon-ok's body. With her tear-stained cheek pressed against the cool side of the pillow, she hollowly stared into the screen of her smartphone. It felt like her dry eyes were burning in front of the displayed text messages that she had spent the whole night staring at. Her thoughts would always wander back to that one question she truly didn't deserve to ask herself.

Where did I go wrong? Where did I lack?

Blaming herself was naturally the first reaction, but so wrong. So extremely wrong, Soon-ok had to remind herself that none of this was her fault. Never was and never will be no matter how much she reflected upon the matter.

It's over between us

seen, 07:00 am, yesterday

Her heart painfully clenched as she once again glanced at the text she had sent a day ago. The fact that he had seen it and not bothered to answer made her feel completely worthless, embarrassed, and miserable. The next set of surging emotions quickly morphed from despair to anger, a flame of rage erupted within her chest, licking and consuming her clenching organ. To think that she had let such a man feed her empty words and lies- that she had let him touch her intimately and take her for granted. If there was something she wouldn't be able to forgive herself for, it would be letting a man take advantage of her. But most of all, letting herself be deceived by such insincerity. This pain was going to serve her as a very important lesson in life. Sighing, she turned to lay on her back with one arm resting on her forehead as she looked into the white ceiling where there used to hang countless photos of her and the said male, but was now almost completely empty.

"If you can't imagine your future with him..." Soon-ok rasped in her morning-dry throat and started reminiscing on a set of words that her mother always sent her way when she had the chance. "Then he isn't the one for you." She finished into a soft whisper. A disappointed laugh left her throat as she finally forced herself to get out of the beautiful trap that was her fluffy bed. "I guess she is right after all." the girl hummed thoughtfully. The man had left her to her destiny after being partially responsible for their relationship becoming complicated, throwing three precious years away, as if ashes, as if they had never even happened. She wondered what she has been doing all this time, she felt so foolish for having been infatuated with a lie.

Those three years with him, perhaps...No, surely, they hadn't been so precious after all. Soon-ok figured she had wasted three years of her life which soured her mood gravely, a bitter taste spread immediately into her mouth along with a fresh set of frustrated tears that she allowed herself to spill.

Soon-Ok threw on a semi-elegant button-up and a pair of black trousers. Usually, she would've opted for a pencil skirt, but her condition would protest against the tightness of that clothing, which was why she had recently started wearing softer pants, to keep her body comfortable throughout the long office workdays. Having fixed her hair but not bothered to do much about her face, Soon-Ok took off to her workplace. A part of her nagged at herself with regret for having left the house while looking so wrecked, but at the same time, she would remind herself that it would've been foolish, as well as futile, to try to cover her bloodshot and swollen eyes. What she truly needed was time to get herself back together, but time had always been precious and expensive, something she couldn't afford.