Yoon Min could sense Seokjin wasn’t feeling any better since yesterday. She couldn’t blame him, he met his father after decades and now he heard he's gonna die. And his mother's also on her way to afterlife soon. Like Almighty couldn’t choose any other time for this to happen.

She was silently arranging the papers in his hotel room while he was sitting on the bed, working on his laptop. Hate to confess they didn’t share a single word between them after he told her to work in his room instead of hers. It was practically very strange to think Seokjin always wanted to keep her around him.

While pretending to only work, she secretly took soft glances at his unreadable face time to time, thinking what she should do to cheer him up. The last thing she wanted to see was a bright person turn as dark as shadow.

So she finished up her work quickly and put them aside on his bed. Then she made her way towards him and stood politely by the edge of his bed where he was sitting. Seokjin figured out she wanted to say something so he glanced at her face and remained silent, waiting for her to say what she wanted.

Yoon Min fidgeted with her thumbs and asked, “Wanna go see the falls?”

Not expecting to hear an offer like that, he didn’t answer straightaway, only gave her a couple of surprise blinks with his beautiful eyes. He shook his head and replied “No” in the softest voice.

She sighed openly, her shoulders relaxed as she managed to sit in front of him while he stared at his laptop screen in full concentration, fearing her gaze on him. His heart was beating in an anxious pace with the thought of her trying to cheer him up.

“You'll feel better.” she tried the second attempt, her index finger drawing circles on the bed sheet as a sign of anxiety.

He shook his head again, this time he didn’t bother to look at her or add anything. He was honestly feeling like sleeping for hours and just hug someone for a long time. He wanted the latter mostly. He just needed a person he could rest his head on and be whispered kind words of comfort. And he had none as of now.

Well he had someone right in front of him; for him to have her, he could fight against all odds and differences. He liked her to that point he couldn’t bear to stay alone without her for a single moment. It was too strange and too fascinating for him to feel like this as a boss.

In order to escape from this puzzling thoughts, he suddenly closed his laptop, surprising her. Getting down from the bed, he wore a jacket and looked at himself in the mirror. Yoon Min stood up, thinking he wanted to go see the falls with her. But she asked anyways,

“Where are you going?”

“Gonna take a walk outside.”

Yoon Min pouted a little and nodded her head. Right, he should be left alone to himself for the time being. Some people can heal themselves by their own silence without anyone’s help. Maybe she really should let him go. She could spend the evening with her dramas anyway.

But when Seokjin was leaving the room, he halted on the way and glanced at her from his shoulder.

“Come with me if you want to.”

Well, why would she say no?

----------------

It was merely nothing. Both of them were just walking down the streets silently side by side, their heads following their feet. They were slightly bothered by the people around them, all seemed to be couples. They were all holding hands, giggling, hugging, kissing, doing everything in the public boldly. It looked only the two of them weren’t close.

It wasn’t even winter. The season of autumn didn’t make the night atmosphere look any better. Yoon Min really expected to see brighter stars here but they were also sorrowful like them. Their lights weren’t twinkling or shining, as if they were a bunch of broken bulbs in the dark sky.

Most importantly, Seokjin didn’t seem to come out here to make himself feel better. He wasn’t talking or doing anything. Sooner or later, he needed to do something about his father. But it seemed like he didn’t care at all.

But Yoon Min didn’t want to end their relationship like this. She wanted the father-son to have a good time together and bid a final goodbye before returning to their own lives. She was responsible and sensible in this matter. Not like him who was constantly running away from the problem.

So without any hesitation, she asked directly, “What are you gonna do about your father?”

Seokjin didn’t want to talk about this now. Mainly that was why he was only walking without any words. But upon being asked this, he had no choice but reach a decision. It wasn’t like he could spend his entire life avoiding this.

“I-I don't know.” He replied honestly.

She gave a nod before stating, “It wasn't right for you to leave the cafe like that.”

He only answered a sigh. He also knew it wasn’t right but he couldn’t do anything back then. He just knew he had to get away from his father as soon as possible.

“I think you guys should meet again.” Yoon Min suggested calmly. “Talk to him like a son and hear him out.”

“What's there anything to hear out, Yoon Min?” Seokjin had an eye-rolling expression. He only called her by her name when he felt too comfortable with her.

She always smiled when he called her name, everytime she felt like he was the only one who could call her name ordinarily but extraordinarily at the same time, the one who was meant to call her name. Hiding her smile, she came back to the main point,

“Well, even if there isn't anything to talk about, you should still give him a second chance, CEO Kim.”

“He left us. He married another woman and has a family now. He destroyed our whole life. Why should I give him a chance?” he argued, not looking at her.

Yoon Min liked how he was opening up slowly so she didn’t stop, “But you're his son. You met him after such a long time. You can't just leave without a goodbye.” When she didn’t hear any response, she continued, “Look, I'm not telling you to forgive your father. He only has a few months to live and when a person realizes death is knocking on his door, his life falls apart. He starts to regret every mistake he committed in his whole life and asks forgiveness to whoever he can. And who knows your father really wants to meet you and your mother?”

Seokjin stopped walking in the middle of the street, causing her to stop as well. His shoulders were stiff and straight as if he was too overwhelmed for some reason.

Yoon Min didn’t miss a chance, she moved forward so she could look at his face straight and talk to him.

“Sir? His last wish could be your forgiveness, okay? You can't assume him to be bad even during his last days.” she breathed.

Seokjin meeting her serene eyes released a sigh and looked into her face emotionless. “I-I can't meet him, okay? It's--”

“Meet him for your mother's sake.” She told him straightaway. “You might not care and forget about everything, but your mother deserves his apology. You have to do this for her sake.”

He was caught off-guard when she brought his mother on air. Confounded by her words, he couldn’t deny that she was right. He saw his mother weeping in her room almost every night, waiting for her selfish husband to come back to her. And that time, he only watched her cry, never did anything.

When his face went pale, she continued more, “Just one more time. Let's meet your father one more time and after that, you can go on your own way and let him die peacefully.” She licked her lips, “But you gotta give him a chance to aplogize.”

Yoon Min tried to figure out what was he thinking. Most of the time, she could read him and feel his emotions as she knew him really well. Even he could do that, understand her and feel her emotions. But sometimes, she couldn’t just guess what was he feeling. He should show whatever he's feeling, right?

And she had nothing more to say anyway. She said enough and if he still didn’t listen to her, she couldn’t do anything about it. It was his personal life and she only tried to help. Because when Seokjin's heart broke, so did hers. Even a small crack in his heart could cause a dangerous earthquake in her weak heart.

But he wasn't answering. His face was unreadable and his eyes were empty unexpectedly. She expected he would break down and cry, but he didn’t. But what she didn’t expect was the thing he did next.

He simply gave a soft smile, a smile that was fainter than the distant stars of the universe and more beautiful than the wonderful galaxy. A smile of his was priceless, she should capture his smiles and secure them in her memories. And he slowly walked forward, to the point she had to step back a little; but before she could do that, he wrapped her arms around her and rested his head on her shoulder.

Yoon Min prayed hard not to faint right now. Her legs were already giving up and her good-for-nothing heart was making everything so obvious by beating too loudly. She blinked quickly, a rapid flutter of her eyes as she tried to focus on the situation. She couldn’t even lean into the hug and close her eyes out of ecstasy. She was already a mess just by a simple hug so imagine what would happen if he ever decided to do something more to her?

But why was he hugging her? They already hugged yesterday. And why was he holding her so specially? He could let her go after a second but he was still holding her in the most desired, warm hug. Sometimes, she couldn’t just help but fall for him hard.

She soon found her answer when she heard him murmuring beside her ear, “I don't know what I would do without you.”

Heat rushing up in her cheeks, eyes widening and mouth opening to gasp, she pressed her lips together to stop everything she wanted to do; from hugging him back to screaming. Her heart was right now dancing with the other organs of her body so she knew he could feel her lightspeed heartbeat.

She was embarrassed.

Little did she know, Seokjin was so happy to hear her heartbeat racing and the fact he was the reason behind it excited him unlike nothing. If he had the capability, he would hug her more tightly, even lift her off from the ground like in the movies; but fate would never allow him to stand in a position he could do that. So he held onto what he was doing, which was having her this close to him and feel the sound of her beautiful heart.

Just when Yoon Min overcame her shock and was ready to hug her boss back, both of them heard his phone calling like the devil appearing with drumrolls.

Yes, it was whom you are thinking.

Seokjin immediately pulled away and didn’t give a single glance at her face as he was too worried to see who it was. While he was taking his phone out, Yoon Min placed her hand on her chest and breathed like a sportsman. She put her hair strands behind her ears while trying her best not to blush.

He read the contact name and closed his eyes in disappointment before opening them and answering,

“Hello?”

“What is this I am seeing?” Jisoo's extremely cold, serious voice caused both of them to look at each other.

Seokjin licked his lips and asked, “What're you talking about, Jisoo?”

“Don't act like you don't know! You're trending #1 now everywhere.”

Without wasting a second, Yoon Min took out her own phone and scrolled through social medias. Both of them didn’t actually use the internet the whole day due to their upset minds.

She indeed found his name trending worldwide. But what surprised her more was the photo that was actually trending.

Someone took a blurry photo of them from yesterday, when she pulled him for a hug after he cried. With the news article saying, “Actress Kim Jisoo's boyfriend caught with another woman?”

Somehow, instead of feeling mad and frustrated for clicking their photo secretly and spreading wrong information, she felt guilty and ashamed. She was always the kind to blame herself first even if it wasn’t hers. And right now, she felt like she destroyed everything, just by hugging him.

Seokjin snatched the phone away from her and read the article on his own. Eyes widening in horror, he tried explaining to his girlfriend first,

“Oh God, it's not what you think. Jisoo, I-I..something happened and I was upset, heartbroken and crying. So she--”

“Out of every girl in this world, you had to hug her? That goddamn orphan?!” Her clear hatred for Yoon Min was visible.

Seokjin tried to ignore the hurting truth that his girlfriend didn’t ask the reason behind his cry but asked a nonsensical question. He ran his fingers through his hair and explained, “Jisoo, you don't understand. Please this is a misunderstanding.”

Yoon Min remained silent and regretted her action from the bottom of her heart. Closing her eyes, she just listened to the couple fighting on the phone because of her mistake. Because of her uncontrollable fond for him.

“What do you want me to do? My fans are bombing my social account with messages and they are jumping to conclusion already! They think you're cheating and our relationship is not working!” Jisoo yelled from the other side.

Wasn’t that the truth? That their relationship never worked?

“Look, I'll fix it. I'll fix everything and explain it to everyone. But please believe me. I want your trust more than my self-respect, Jisoo.” He seemed like he cared a lot when his girlfriend was mad at him.

“Whoa, stop this drama, okay? Do you realize the director might cancel my role now? Because of this scandal? Seokjin, you always ruin everything between us! You know what your problem is? You never think. You never think before you do something and that's what makes you an unthoughtful idiot! Your girlfriend is a worldwide celebrity. These things matter, okay? One small mistake can ruin my whole acting career. And there you are, hugging your imbecile secretary!”

He couldn’t say anything further. He wanted to. He wanted to stop her from thinking so low of Yoon Min. He wanted to tell her it wasn’t her fault. But his throat ached so much that no word was coming out.

How wonderful that Jisoo was thinking about her career instead of talking about their relationship...

“I hate you! God, I hate you when you do these!” saying that, she hung up the call, leaving her boyfriend in a miserable state.

Seokjin bit the inside of his cheek and glanced around. He blinked rapidly as he tried to dispel the glossy seen that built in his eyes.

Damn, her words hurt like hell. She always said things that would stab his heart so sharply that a wound would form and never heal. And since he was a man, he couldn’t even cry.

Meanwhile, Yoon Min was still standing quietly, waiting for the minute he would start walking back to the hotel so that she could also return and lock her inside her room. She messed up everything. She just caused a fight between them again and ruined his name. It was all her fault. She shouldn’t had hugged him in public. No matter how bad she felt for him, she should've controlled herself.

Knowing there was nothing she could do now, the only thing left for her was to apologize. So she lifted her head, fighting her tears and managed to mumble.

“S-Sir, I-I...”

She couldn’t finish her sentence because that's when Seokjin met her eyes and asked normally like nothing happened,

“Where did you say the falls was?”