HYUNJIN ran a hand through his long, dark hair as he finally sat down on one of the kitchen stools, sighing heavily in the process. Chan turned to face him almost immediately, soon followed by Lino, both having their faces coated with a concerned gaze.

"So?" Lino began, his hand gently letting go of the plate he was holding and setting it with a soft thud on the kitchen island. "What happened?"

Hyunjin's face was slowly lifted to face his older friends, his mouth dry and his heart aching at the memory of his friend, Felix, sobbing softly into his pillow with pure heartbreak.

"H-He..." He inhaled, his breath shaking to match the rhythm of his hands. "Mal... She proposed to him."

The two let out soft gasps of shock at the words, both understanding and knowing very well that the idea had been roaming around Mal's head for a while now.

"And?"

"And he rejected her..!" Hyunjin sobbed out, reaching a hand out to wipe a small tear that made its way down his distressed face. "He rejected her, Hyung!"

Chan covered his mouth in shock, immediately hurrying to sit down across from Hyunjin and setting both hands on the kitchen island.

"W-What?" He began, his voice barely above a whisper. "Why... Why did he do that?"

Lino made his way towards the stool beside Chan, his eyes wide with confusion.

"Why did he? Mal was so excited, especially when she showed me the diamond rings!"

Hyunjin nodded his head, finally allowing himself to break down into tears.

"And I encouraged her, Hyung! I told her to do it, I told her to propose to him!" He wailed, slamming his fist against the marble before him. "She must be heartbroken right now!"

A moment of uncomfortable silence overwhelmed the three friends before the youngest began once again, "god, I'm such a homewrecker! What if their relationship is destroyed?"

His last question came out above a whisper, his back slouching as he raised his legs and hugged them close to his chest.

"What if I ruin their relationship?"

"You won't ruin their relationship, Jinnie!" Chan cooed, stretching his hand to grab his friend's as he attempted to reassure him. "I'm sure they're just having a bad day, okay?"

"Isn't that so unlike Felix though?"

Lino's question caused the other two to bolt their heads in his direction in dismay. Chan shook his head as a brief warning, while Hyunjin allowed another sob to escape his mouth, using the sleeve of his oversized sweatshirt to wipe away some of his tears.

"I'm just saying, why on earth would Felix reject Mal's marriage proposal when he loves her to death?"

Chan shook his head once again, his head hitting the marble island with a small pop.

"Lino, it almost doesn't matter anymore. All we know is that both of them are going through a bad day. Mal is probably going to be destroyed, so we need to do our best to fix everything in case there's any tension between them."

"This is all my fault!" Hyunjin sunk his face between his knees, his grip tightening over Chan's hand to seek reassurance.

The older friends sighed heavily, and eventually, Lino stretched his hand out to pat Hyunjin's back and rub it gently to calm him down, taking one final glance at Chan, who was staring back at him with eyes swimming with tears. Lino knew that if it wasn't for him being the oldest, Chan would've allowed himself to break down into tears right then and there.

If it wasn't for the fact that made them both question the reason for Felix's sudden rejection of his girlfriend's proposal, then it might've been how Chan was questioning how the relationship might end up.

Because how on earth were they all supposed to react to such a situation?

It didn't take a detective for Chan and Lino to know that Millie's death, and Griffin's premature burial, weren't the only two things throwing their group's mental health into the bin.

. . .

Mal sighed heavily as her head hit the steering wheel before her, meanwhile, her fingers reached for the car's doorknob, contemplating whether she should snap it open or not.

How was she supposed to face her friend group at that moment, after she's made a fool out of herself?

Most importantly, how was she supposed to face Felix, her lover of three years?

Maybe she wasn't his lover after all. He might've been hers all along, but maybe he didn't love her the same way.

No, no—Felix loved her. She knew he did. He was just in the wrong state of mind. He only needed some time for himself, after all that he's been through.

Wasn't that right?

She knew that, from the bottom of her heart, Felix loved her the same, if not more.

Proposing at such timing, however, was the dumbest idea she might've gotten. Felix was bound to reject her advances, after all. With all the strange occurrences happening in their town, he was probably only discouraged and unmotivated.

Right?

Without any further thought, she snapped the doorknob open and made her way out of the car, and soon enough, she was twisting the doorknob to the front door open, unlocking the door to her shared house with her roommates.

Taking a few steps inside the corridor and shutting the door behind her, she soon made her way towards the kitchen doorframe, where she was met by the familiar, friendly yet concerned sight of Chan, who was slowly making his way towards her.

"Mal..." He softly called, stopping in his tracks when his eyes fell on the nearly visible stream of dried tears on both sides of her cheeks. "We heard what happened. I'm really, really sorry."

A shaky sigh escaped her mouth, her tongue hitting the roof of her mouth to moisturize it before opening her mouth to reply.

"It's fine, Chan." She assured, her voice serious and monotone so that she didn't end up breaking down into tears. "I'll be fine. I just need some time alone."

Chan nodded his head, swallowing the lump in his throat before starting again.

"Felix is upstairs. I know you two probably don't want to see each other right now, but he's been crying ever since he came back a few hours ago."

She nodded in reply, her throat dry at the mention of the love of her life crying. Whether he rejected her proposal or not, it was his personal space and he did not deserve to feel bad about it.

"I'll go check on him now." She whispered, her eyes sparkling with fresh, hot tears of heartbreak. "Don't worry about me, okay?"

Chan sent her a small, weak smile, which she did not hesitate to return. She then allowed her feet to drag her up the stairs, through the long corridors, towards her shared room with Felix.

There went nothing.

. . .

Inhaling a large portion of air, she then twisted the doorknob to her room open, peeking inside with her squinting eyes to make out some of what was inside the dim-lit room. Surely enough, her ears perked up at the soft, muffled noise of her lover's sobs as he shoved his head into the soft pillow.

She quietly shut the door behind her and took further steps inside the room.

And before she could reach the king-sized bed in the center of the room, Felix's head bolted upwards to glance in her direction, causing her to jump a step backward, slightly taken aback by his sudden reaction.

As soon as his vision focused and his mind realized that it was her, he immediately jumped out of the bed and stood up, facing her.

"Felix, I-"

Large tears escaped his eyes, along with weak, muffled sobs escaping his throat. His feet dragged each other heavily, hesitantly, towards the side of their shared room, where his lover was standing. Her voice, along with her small sentence of regret, caused his heart to burn with heartbreak. His hands clutched the bottom sides of his shirt in agony, suddenly the fabric overwhelming his weak body.

He was just Felix.

"I-I'm s-sorry..." He whispered, his figure stopping just a few steps away from his lover.

She didn't respond. Instead, allowed tears of her own to stream down her face. Her arms clutched each other in an attempt to hug herself, her sight drifting away from her lover to try and make the situation any less painful.

It didn't work when her ears caught some of his strangled sobs yet again, this time ignoring her heart shattering in the distance.

"I-I lost you," he murmured, and even though she could barely hear his voice, she could hear how heartbroken and guilty he sounded, "didn't I?"

Before she could turn her head in his direction once again, words of reassurance already forming on the tip of her tongue, the lump in her throat grew bigger as she sensed the sudden yet gentle arms of her lover wrapping themselves around her torso, her shoulder shaking with his sobs.

She slowly returned the warm embrace, sinking her face into his soft, long hair and placing a reassuring kiss on top of his head.

"You didn't lose me," she replied, her tone barely steady with all the mixed emotions inside her body, "I'm right here."

Clutching his small waist tighter, she attempted to hug him closer to her body just as he tightened his grip around her torso. Their bodies carved into each other, he slowly raised his legs and wrapped them around her waist, the movement causing her to tighten her grip around his thigh with one hand, her other hand briefly holding onto his waist before it moved to clutch his other thigh.

"I didn't—I d-didn't mean to hurt your feelings, baby," he sobbed out, "I-I didn't mean—I swear it won't happen a-again. I'm really sorry..."

She nodded her head, her feet holding both of them upwards, soon stepping closer to the bed.

Yeah, that was what they all said.