(Woo-jin's pov)
Back when I was younger, I never understood love. That was until I met Dae-hyun for the first time. I was assaulted by Sabrei and what's worse I let myself be deluded.
I really believed you loved me but I let my fantasy and delusions be blinded by your pity.
The sting in my heart. The pain I encounter. Will you ever understand? No one would ever understand! They never do. It's about their needs. Their reputation. So what the hell was I supposed to feel?
If anyone ever said when they loved me, what was I supposed to react? What was I supposed to feel?
It's just another spill of a lie, just how I foolishly thought you loved me.
Manipulated, fear, envy and despair is what I felt throughout my entire life. When it came to Dae-hyun, I felt something different. A hope. I hope to finally be happy.
Words are hard to believe. Love is just an illusion. I'm just a broken soul with no desire to live anymore.
Yet I allow myself to believe in such lies that you, you actually loved me, even if it's fake.
As soon as I ran away from Dae-hyun saying I never wanted to see him again. I fell down and broke into pieces. My heart, it shattered. Shattered into millions of pieces just like glass being recklessly taken care of.
When reality struck hard in me, I cried a river. The sting in my eye, the pain in my heart. I pressed onto it, enduring the suffering. Never have high expectations, it just always makes a person suffer. My heart beats fast as it slowly heats to a sensation of burn. I dropped tears of pain as I shoved my hand against my face. I wanted to disappear into the thin air.
Then it hit me.
The ocean roared in front of me — dark, endless, hungry.
The waves crashed like they were calling my name.
Come back.
Let it end.
I don't remember how long I'd been running.
I just know my chest burned, my legs ached, and my heart felt like it was collapsing in on itself.
Because of Dae-hyun… I lived.
But now…
Now he had a life.
And I—
What was I, except a reminder of everything he lost?
My feet stepped into the cold water.
Just a little deeper.
I've attempted to jump twice.
I tried a new method.
Maybe this time it would work.
But then—
A voice.
Shaken. Rough. Familiar in a way that tore me open.
"Don't do this… again. Not the 3rd time."
I froze.
My breath caught.
My heart stopped.
I turned.
He was there.
Dae-hyun.
Soaked from the rain. Hair dripping. Breathless — like he had run all this way just to reach me.
His eyes… They were the same.
Warm. Terrified. Angry.
Hurting.
And they were directed at me.
"I..you re-remember…."
Later on.
Me and Dae-hyun went to his apartment.
The room was quiet.
The kind of quiet that presses against your ribs from the inside.
We were sitting on the floor beside his bed — the same bed where we once slept with our backs turned to each other for two years.
He had pulled me back inside after I tried to step out — maybe leave, maybe disappear — I don't even know anymore.
My hands were trembling.
I didn't try to hide it.
He was looking at me — not angry, not confused — just… shaken.
"Woo-jin," he said softly.
"…I saw something."
My heart stopped.
He wasn't supposed to remember.
Not even pieces.
I didn't speak.
Couldn't.
"I don't know when it was," he continued. His brows drew together. "We were on a rooftop. You were doing something dangerous and I tried to stop you from it. Then, I was holding you. Like… like it was the only thing that mattered."
My throat tightened.
He remembered that one.
Of all memories.
I looked down at my hands.
They were gripping my own knees like I could hold myself together.
Dae-hyun's voice dropped lower — careful.
"We knew each other before the marriage. Didn't we?"
I closed my eyes.
That was the question I had feared for years.
I didn't answer.
Because if I opened that door — my heart would spill out all over the floor.
He let out a slow breath — shaking.
"…I don't know what we were," he admitted.
"I just know it wasn't strangers. It couldn't have been."
I stayed silent.
He leaned closer — not touching — but close enough for me to feel the warmth of him.
"Woo-jin," he whispered.
"Tell me what we were."
My voice broke before words formed.
I swallowed.
Then I shook my head.
"No."
Dae-hyun's eyes widened — hurt flickering there — not because I said no,
but because he could see why.
He understood too quickly.
"…It hurts to remember," he said quietly.
My breath left me in a shudder.
A tear slipped down my cheek before I could stop it.
I didn't wipe it.
He didn't either.
He just watched.
No pity.
Not confusion.
Something else.
Something old.
"Okay," he murmured.
"I won't force it."
A silence.
Deep.
Heavy.
Full.
Then, softly:
"…But was I good to you?"
The question broke me.
Were we in love?
Did we belong to each other?
Why didn't I remember?
Just:
Was I good to you?
My voice came out thin. Weak.
"…Yes."
He exhaled — shakily — like he had been holding that breath for years.
"Then," he whispered,
"I'll find that version of me again. Even if I can't remember him yet."
My chest ached so painfully I had to curl forward.
His hand hovered — wanting to hold me — but he didn't touch.
Not until I leaned into him first.
Then his arms came around me.
Slow. Careful.
Like I was something he was afraid to break.
And maybe he was right.
I buried my face in his shoulder — silently.
No explanations.
No past.
No answers.
Just the quiet understanding that even broken love can still reach across time.
"Dae-hyun, for now I'll treat you right. I was annoying and irritated and made jokes, I just didn't want to be weak. Now I understood how fed up and irritated you felt. I'll try my best to be a better person."
He smiled at me. I smiled back.
Just like the universe was empty and it was just the both of us in it.