ALWAYS

XIII

Rays of light slipping from the slight opening of the curtains indicated the new morning… the once dark room slowly lightened its space… it was quiet inside… while humming of birds and the alive neighborhood could be heard outside.

She stirred from her sleep…groaning as a ray of sunlight touched her smooth face… her eyes twitched… as her hands found its way to her forehead…

She slowly opened her eyes to see the morning through the space between those curtains… she rubbed her eyes as she sighed… And just then she remembered something…

‘Was it all a dream…?’

She thought... still looking at the curtained windows… but as she shifted her body on the bed… a little pain below her abdomen made her realized that it really happened…

She pulled her covers… looking under it only to find herself fully clothed… another wonder that hits her… did he fixed her clothes for her…? She thought… and just by that… unconsciously a little smile curved on her pink lips.

All the gentleness… the first softness she felt from him… overwhelmed her feelings… the once last strand of hope she has inside suddenly bloomed…

‘Is he still here…?’

She thought once again… hoping that he would be at her side once she turned to his side… her smile grew wide… not really knowing where the happiness are coming from… and slowly, she rolled herself… turning to his side only to see an empty space beside her…

She sighed… lowered her vision…

“What am I thinking… of course he wouldn’t be here…”

She mumbled… touching the disarrayed sheets beside her… she slowly sat up… groaning a bit from the little pain between her legs… hugging her knees to her chest still looking at her side… thinking what happened last night was all about…?

Another false happiness that she’s trying to feed herself… he would never be soft towards her… maybe that was all just for last night… trapping her into thinking that he is… so that he could get what he wants…

And now… sadness once again enveloped her… he already got it… and maybe he’s now back to his lover’s arms… showering her the love that she’s somehow envied…

The fact hitting her that she would always be only his wife… a mere thing for replacement and only to feed his desires… and she on the other side would never escape it… a payment for ruining his chance to be free.

Still oblivious as to what happened for the rest of last night… that it will maybe forever kept a secret from her that his gentleness wasn’t all a lie to lure her… that the man she’s thinking about is having a hard time trying to right his mind... his mind that is now filled with nothing but her.

She dragged her still tired body towards their bathroom… thankful that there will be no classes until tomorrow… their school is celebrating its anniversary…

At least she could take her time curing herself both physically and emotionally… but a little disappointed for she won’t be able to see her two friends…

Soothing her aching body by taking a hot bath… she closed her eyes… can’t help but to remember what happened last night… fragments of her memory of him… those actions… as much as she doesn’t want to…still feel a little thankful… even it was just all a lie… but still a little softness coming from him is enough to cure the lie behind it.

She stayed on the tub for a while until suddenly her eyes widen as she remembered something… no… someone… her face painted a mixture of horror and embarrassment as the deed last night replayed on her mind and as the man on the other room probably heard it all.

She gasped not knowing what to do if she sees him later… hoping that the walls were thick enough for her shameful moans not to be heard through them…

She quickly went out of the tub… drying off herself and wearing her clothes… her heart beat so fast out of nervousness… not really knowing why she should be… but cant help but to feel it.

Arriving at their dining hall… she didn’t see any of them… only maids who are busily preparing foods… she sighed… her husband’s really not home… but as if

someone read her mind… a maid spoke to her telling that her husband is in his office… and wouldn’t be able to join them in breakfast.

Her face somehow lightened… he didn’t go off… he didn’t go to his lover’s house… he chose to stay… but can’t help but to wonder why is he working so early…?

“Did he already have his breakfast…?”

She asked the maid… answering her back that he doesn’t like to be disturbed and he would just ask the maids when he’s hungry…

She nodded… a little concerned about her husband… today is a free day… but he’s still working… she sighed once again as she took a seat…

And just then another man came… her brother-in-law… whose head is a bit bowed down… and with a blank expression painted on his face… she saw it and cant help but to be bothered… setting aside the thought if he heard them last night… she quickly stood up and went to him.

He stiffened as he felt her hand on his arm… bringing him back to the world… “Oppa… are you okay…?”
She asked him… he just looked at her blankly… nothing is okay in his already abused heart…

He sure heard them last night… at first he thought it was all his imagination… but her muffled voice that still escaped the thick walls hunted him… he tried to escape…tried to throw himself out of his bed but he couldn’t…

His body stayed glued on it… while his ears torturing itself by hearing her moans for another man… maybe his body wanted to tell his mind and his heart to stop hoping for more… that she would never be his… that he would always be a brother to her…

And now seeing her once again… after a night of torture for him… made it clear that she really is now someone else’s… seeing some marks on her neck… her blooming aura… everything shouted that she’s now someone’s possession…

At last… after his series of trying… he finally curved a slight smile… anything for her… he could endure any pretending…

“I’m okay… I’m just hungry…”

He reached for her face and caressed it a bit… she smiled and quickly dragged him to the table… putting foods on his plate… totally forgot the last night’s happening…

He just watched her… busily tending him in his needs… he can’t help but to feel envious of her husband… for any man having her would definitely be the luckiest man.

“He’s so lucky to have you…”

He mumbled after she finished preparing his food… “Huh…? Did you say something oppa..?”
She asked him… “Nothing…”
He shook his head and went to eat his food… she pouted while nodding… tilted her head wondering why she always hear voices in her head… shivered and giggled a bit to herself thinking that she must’ve been slowly losing her own mind…

The two ate silently until she remembered her niece’s arrival… her eyes widen in delight as she turned to Mingyu.

“Oppa..! Soojin will arrive today right..? Are you going to pick her up at the airport…? Can I come…?”

She asked him while smiling like a child… all the heartaches that he’s feeling right now suddenly subside upon seeing her smile… he nodded for approval which made her smile grew big… she sure is really excited to see her little angel.


Mingyu went back to his room to change…

Rosé prepared some breakfast for her husband… holding a tray on her hand, she nervously went to his office… the door is slight opened… peeking through it… she saw him busily reading some papers… his desk’s full of documents…

Her forehead creased… totally concerned about him… she sighed before slowly pushing the door to open…

He didn’t look up… maybe thinking it was just some maid…

“Uhmm… Jungkook… I… I prepared some breakfast for you… I think you should eat first…”

She nervously said, standing a little far from him while still holding the tray….
Upon hearing her voice, he immediately looked up…

The woman whom he supposedly avoiding… burying himself to work early in the morning so that he wouldn’t be able to see her… totally forgetting that he could have just went to his lover to clear his mind…

After a moment of silence between them… he finally cleared his throat… looking away and back to his papers…

“I’m not yet hungry… just put it over there…”

He said coldly… she complied and put down the tray on a coffee table… she then went back in front of him… standing and hesitating a bit to tell him that she’s going to accompany Mingyu at the airport.

Jungkook noticed it… he slowly looked back at her and raised a brow. “What…?”
He asked in his still cold voice.

“Uhmm… can I go with oppa at the airport…? We… we will just fetch someone there…?”

He wondered who it is… at first hearing the word airport suddenly made him a bit uneasy… thought that she would run away with him… but why bothering asking for his permission…?
He clicked his tongue for his silly thought… he sure is still in his foolish self… “Why are you asking for my permission...? Go wherever you want to go… go with
whoever you want to go with… I don’t give a sh!t … Just leave… you’re bothering
me…”

His voice trailed off a bit… not really knowing if he really wanted to say those words… he saw the tinge of pain in her face and in which he immediately looked away …

“Mi-… mianhe…”

She said weakly…. She looked at him one last time before bowing her head… He heard her trails as she made her way out of the room… and as soon as heard the door closed… his hand found its way to his hair… brushing it as he throw his head back… slumping on his seat and sighed deeply…

His eyes glued on the closed door as his other hand crumpled the papers he’s been holding for the past hours… still not deciphering what he has been reading for quite a while… for the last night’s deeds keep on rewinding inside his head.

After a while… he stood up… went to the coffee table and glanced at the tray of food prepared for him… he reached for one sandwich and took a bite… closing his eyes before swallowing the food… and just then he heard some noises outside his window…

He slowly went to it… setting the curtain aside… stared outside and seeing her with her brother-in-law… he saw how he carefully escorted her in his car… and  again a pinch of pain struck his chest… painful seeing her going off with some other man… much more painful than seeing her smiling…

And as the car as about to head off… their eyes suddenly meet each other as she glanced through the car’s window… tried to have a one last look on his room’s window…

Jungkook quickly let go of the curtain… turning himself… his back pinned on the wall… clutching his chest and wondering if she saw him… and lastly hoping that she didn’t.

‘If you didn’t want her to leave… you could’ve just told her…’

He heard something inside his mind… shook his head to brush off the thought… feeding himself yet again another lie… that he doesn’t care is she leaves… and better yet she would never come back…