"How have you been?" Y/n fiddles with the ring on her finger as she watches the waiters scurry around them. She feels as if she's regressed. How did she use to look at him? How often? How long? She begins to sweat and takes a breath to calm down.
Ray watches her and lights up as his eyes land on her fingers. "I'm happy you're still wearing it." He pulls the chain from beneath his shift. His own ring dangles from his neck.
"I would've worn the other ones too if I knew you were coming." She laughs lightly as she recalls their last date, which feels like a distant memory. "You have to start telling me when you're going to pop up. I want to prepare something for you too."
"Just being with you is enough."
That's the line that Y/n couldn't get out of her head. Even when she was laughing with Saeran, hugging him, and letting him drive her back home— she couldn't get that one line out of her mind.
When he goes in for a goodnight kiss as she stands on her doorstep, her mask finally comes toppling off.
"Y/n..." Ray rubs her arms with his calloused hands. His eyes are wide and worry fills his voice. "What's wrong? What's wrong? Did I hurt you? Did I—"
"How could you leave me for months and then come back like you've never left?!" Her voice quakes and her hands tighten protectively in front of her chest. She falls back away from him. No, this is not what I wanted to say. "How could you abandon me for months without telling me a damn thing?!" I should be hugging him. Thanking him. Thanking him for coming back. "Is it fun?!" A light chuckle breaks out of her throat as she realizes how pathetic she is. "Is it fun watching me wait for you endlessly? Is it fun having someone like me helplessly devoted to you?!"
"Y/n I—"
"Why did you leave me!" She screams. It's the cry of a wounded deer. Fatally wounded, but left abandoned by the predator. Not good enough to have been consumed, but not allowed to live as it was before either. Instead she's forced to feel every inch of its her life drain with each passing second. So she screams. At the lion. At the wound. At her self. At the world. "Why?! Tell me why?!"
Saeran stares back at her, but not a single word leaves his lips. He simply watches her. His eyes wide open, his arms stiff at his sides. It's all his fault. It's all his fault. It's all fault. He was wrong. Something like him was not supposed to love. He wasn't supposed to be happy. He wasn't supposed to feel like he belonged. He wasn't supposed to get carried away with the joys of love. He was never strong. Never. He should've lived low to the ground, hidden in the shade, and away from the light. That way it would be as if he had never been born in the first place. Then Rika would've never met MC. He would've never burdened his brother. He would've never been tortured. Most importantly, he would've never hurt Y/n.
"Really?" A smile as sweet as rotten fruit decorates her features. Only the face in front of him isn't the one he fell in love with.
Rika.
His hands are around her throat, then ripping out his hair. A gun is shot at Saeyoung's leg.
It's all his fault.
It's all his fault.
It's all his fault.
"You have nothing to say for yourself?"
Y/n wipes her tears and straightens up on her own. No matter how she wished, things weren't meant to be. Love doesn't last forever. She pulls her bag on her shoulder and walks past the man she loves, leaving him standing alone in front of her apartment. She doesn't look back.
"I loved you, Saeran. Just the way you were."