Her
The studio lights were dimmed now, just a soft glow brushing the walls as the chaos of the day finally settled. I leaned against the cool metal shelf, letting the silence press against my thoughts. My fingers still tingled with the ghost of a touch I couldn't name, and my chest felt heavier than it should.
I hadn't even realized I was crying again until I heard his voice behind me.
"Are you okay?"
I didn't turn around. "I'm fine," I said quickly, wiping my face with the sleeve of my hoodie.
Jay didn't buy it. Of course, he didn't.
He stepped closer, his voice softer now. "You don't have to say you're fine just because I asked."
I exhaled, the breath shaky, almost silent. "Then what do I say?"
He was quiet for a moment, and I finally looked up to find him watching me—those warm, unreadable eyes taking in everything I wasn't saying.
"Is it about him?" he asked, careful not to say the name. He didn't need to. We both knew.
I opened my mouth to say no. The word balanced on my tongue, waiting for a lie to carry it out. But it didn't come. Just silence.
Jay smiled, small and sad. "Thought so."
Still, he didn't press. He just stood beside me like he always had, neither too far nor too close.
"I don't know if I should stay close or give you space," he said after a beat. "So I'll just stay close enough."
Those words wrapped around me like a blanket I didn't know I needed. He didn't reach for my hand. He didn't ask for anything. He just stood there, letting me fall apart quietly in front of him, without making me feel like a mess.
Maybe it was too late. Maybe everything between me and Sunghoon was already lost in translation. But this moment with Jay... it was real.
Close enough. And somehow, that mattered more than anything else.
____________________________________
The air outside was colder than I expected.
I wrapped my arms around myself, my hoodie not nearly enough to keep the chill from settling into my skin. I hadn't even realized how late it had gotten — the parking lot was mostly empty, just the low rumble of the city filling the quiet between us.
Jay followed silently behind me, his steps soft and easy, like he knew I wasn't ready to talk but also couldn't walk alone.
"You really should dress warmer," he said suddenly, his voice quiet, almost scolding in that soft Jay kind of way. I glanced at him, and before I could even respond, he was shrugging off his jacket.
"Here," he said, gently placing it over my shoulders.
"Jay—"
"Don't argue," he smiled, tugging the collar around me before I could protest. "Just take it. You're cold."
I felt something pinch in my chest. His warmth lingered in the lining of the jacket, and even more in the way he looked at me—like I was someone worth protecting, even if it meant nothing more than that.
____________________________________
Him
The door slammed open.
Everyone in the room jumped, startled by the sound—except me. I was already on fire inside.
Jay looked up from his seat, halfway through tying his shoelaces. His smile faded the second he saw my face.
I stormed across the room and slammed my phone down on the table in front of him.
"What is this?"
He blinked at the screen, confused for a second... until recognition dawned.
The photo. His jacket. Her wearing it.
Jay didn't say anything. His mouth opened slightly, then shut again like he didn't know where to begin.
"Why were you outside with her?" I asked. My voice was quiet, but it was the kind of quiet that could shatter glass.
Still, no answer.
I could feel the air shift. The others in the room—Min Ho, Danial, Junguwon —had stopped talking. No one dared move.
Jay glanced at the screen again, then at me, as if trying to piece together what I really wanted to know. But he didn't get it. Or maybe he did, and that's why he couldn't speak.
"You think this is nothing?" I asked, stepping closer. "You didn't think it mattered that the entire country woke up to this?"
"I didn't mean for it to happen—" he finally muttered.
"But it did."
Jay looked down.
The silence stretched between us, heavier than anything I could carry.
I wasn't angry just because of the photo. I was angry because I knew what it looked like. And it looked real. It looked... warm.
Like something that should've been mine.
___________________________________
Sunghoon's fist clenched as he turned to leave.
"Don't cross the line again, Jay," he muttered, voice low and sharp like a blade. "I am staying still because it is You, or else you know where this ends."
But Jay didn't back down.
"What if I do——cross the line?"
The words hit the air like thunder—quiet but impossible to ignore.
Sunghoon froze mid-step.
Jay stood up slowly, shoulders tense but eyes steady. "You don't love her, Sunghoon. Or else you wouldn't have left her like that. You wouldn't have pushed her away when she needed you the most."
The silence between them crackled like static.
"Let me take my chance now."
That did it.
Sunghoon spun around and grabbed Jay by the collar, fury igniting in his chest. His jaw tightened, and for a second, it looked like he might actually hit him.
His fist lifted—
____________________________________
Her
I stepped into the room like I wasn't even breathing.
Jay's voice faded in the background, and all I saw was him.
Sunghoon.
His hand was still gripping Jay's collar, his chest heaving, eyes burning with something too raw to name. But the second he heard my voice, he froze.
"Sunghoon..." My voice cracked, but I didn't stop. "Stop."
He let go slowly, fingers trembling, but he didn't look at me—not right away. Not until I took another step, the sound of my boots hitting the floor echoing louder than my heartbeat.
A tear slipped down my cheek before I could hide it.
"Look at me," I said, barely above a whisper.
And he did.
God, he did.
But the eyes staring back weren't the ones I remembered. They weren't warm. They weren't soft. They were guarded, afraid, and overflowing with everything he never said.
"When..." My voice broke. "When did you turn into someone I can't even recognize, huh?"
He blinked, jaw tightening.
I laughed bitterly, brushing the tear away with the back of my hand.
"You used to care if I was cold," I said. "You used to show up when I didn't ask. You used to see me even when I didn't say a word."
He looked away like my words burned.
I didn't stop.
"But now? You look through me like I'm no one. Like I don't matter anymore. Like all those nights we stayed up talking about dreams and fears meant nothing to you."
"Jiwon," he whispered, barely audible.
"Why do you keep doing things that hurt me?" I asked, stepping closer. "And worse, why do you keep doing things that hurt you?"
His throat moved as he swallowed hard, trying to keep himself together.
"This isn't just hurting me, Sunghoon. It's hurting us."
And then, out of nowhere, he snapped.
"Why did you have to cry in front of Jay?" he shouted, voice raw and desperate.
I stepped back, stunned.
"Why him, Jiwon?" His chest rose and fell rapidly. "Why is it always him now?"
I shook my head, unable to understand the storm raging in his voice.
"Why do you act like nothing around me, but with him—you fall apart so easily?" His fists clenched. "Why do you let him see you broken when I've always been the one trying to put you back together?"
He took a shaky breath, eyes shining now—not with anger, but heartbreak.
"Why don't you smile at me the way you smiled at him this morning?"
That one hit like a punch to the chest.
"Why?" he said again, quieter this time, like he wasn't even asking me anymore.
And for the first time in a long time, I didn't have an answer.
I couldn't speak.
Because deep down, maybe I knew—somewhere between all the silence and avoidance, I'd started pushing him away.
Not because I didn't care.
But because I was too afraid to admit I still did.
He stood there, eyes heavy with everything he wouldn't say and every wound I had accidentally reopened. His jaw clenched, and he shook his head with a bitter breath.
"You never have answers to my questions," he muttered.
Then, without waiting, he turned to leave.
My heart dropped.
His back faced me, and I could already feel him slipping away again, just like before—walking out of the room, walking out of me. I couldn't let him go. Not like this. Not again.
"Because I cared about us!" I said, my voice cutting through the air like a blade.
He paused.
Just for a moment.
But it wasn't enough.
His steps started again, slow but certain, pulling him further from me. My hands were trembling now, my vision blurred with tears I'd been holding back for too long.
And then it slipped.
The truth I had buried in the cracks of every silent moment between us.
"Because I loved you," I whispered, my voice breaking open.
Silence.
Deafening, aching silence.
The room fell completely still.
He stopped walking.
Frozen.
My breath caught as the weight of my confession filled the space around us like thunder. His back was still to me, but I could see his shoulders rise—once, sharply—like the words had struck him where it hurt the most.
He didn't turn around.
He didn't say a word.
Just his back—broad, silent, and heavy with everything he didn't say.
And I stood there, shattered, wondering if I should've held that "I loved you" a little longer.
Or maybe... never said it at all..