an update! cause! i! love! every! single! one! of you!

*WARNING* quite dramatic and long. idk if this one'll make you cry buckets but i really hope you do cause i cried writing the first part in this. i'm so sorry, this one had just to be written. this by far is my favorite of all chapters and, um, just a warning. you might hate jeongguk even more.

SCENE XIV - ACT I : SOLOMON'S DOWNFALL

"was it fun?" jiho's voice came out fragile - broken even. the moment jeongguk stepped out of the bathroom, jiho just couldn't contain the pain, sorrow and anger that ran in her still broken body.

jeonggguk froze, eyes immediately trailing on the woman seated on the edge of the bed as her head faced the floor, her fingers trembling. the man stopped drying his still damp hair as his thoughts became clouded with confusion, pondering what jiho meant.

"f-fun?" jeongguk squeaked, feet dragging itself to seat beside jiho. the man felt an unpleasant aura wrap around the room but he was still completely clueless. fun? he thought once more, still finding no answer why jiho would've asked that the moment he stepped out of bath.

jeongguk's eyes trailed on jiho's trembling hands once again before his heart churned - yesterday, oh yesterday was such a traumatic experience for jiho and what was even worse was he wasn't beside her when it happened.

the thought of jiho trembling with fear as jin's clammy hands touched her made the blood boil on jeongguk's body. it was me, i'm at fault. i couldn't and didn't do anything when i promised - when i promised to protect her. unable to contain the guilt and pain he had in his heart, he tried to hold jiho's hand against his - only to be pushed away and be slapped straight on his right cheek, harshly.

wh-

hand trailing on his left throbbing cheek, jeongguk felt jiho move away and even before he could've registered what happened, jiho's broken voice rang on his ears and he swore, he swore that the words escaped in her dear lips crushed his heart into pieces.

"don't touch me . . . you! you monster!"

m-monster?

lips quivering, he once remembered how taehyung called him one and he felt nothing about it, but hearing it escape on the tips of jiho's lips - hearing it coming from her made his heart crack as it leave him breathless and gasping for air. "wha-wh-"

jiho cut jeongguk once more, "how dare you? how could you? haven't you had enough? haven't you had enough of hurting me?! was it really fun?! was it fun toying with my feelings?!"

jeongguk couldn't understand what jiho was coming from. yes, he knew jiho could be upset about what happened yesterday but when his eyes met jiho's tear stricken green ones, he knew, he knew that it wasn't just about yesterday. it was something deeper that made her snap at him.

"i-"

"haven't you had enough? i gave you what you wanted, i gave you the divorce and all i've ever asked for is fourteen days. fourteen days to help yeon, my son - your son to adopt in us separating. all i ever wanted was to help him get used to us separating but, why? why would you make things so complicated?!"

jeongguk felt his heart shattering. this was the first time, the very first time he saw jiho unravel herself. he had expected jiho to act this way the moment he broke to her about the divorce but right now - as jiho unveil her deepest scars, it took a lot of courage to swallow the lump forming on his throat as he sat speechless of jiho's fragile outburst.

tears soaking her porcelain cheeks, "i can fully understand why you weren't there yesterday, i can understand that cause i'm no longer-" a pause, a pause before a sob escaped, as if jiho found it hard to speak the next words. "-i'm not important to you anymore. i understand that everything you've been doing with the stalker thing is out of pure pity. i can clearly understand how pitiful i am in your eyes that you have to force yourself to contact me when all you've wanted is to get rid of me . . . i understand that, i completely understand how i am the only one left loving and yearning for the other - but-"

jiho wept as broken sob escaped her trembling lips once more, "but why? why would you have to lie? why did you have to pretend? why did you have to . . . kiss me?" jiho's voice became so small before she cupped her cheeks, crying infront of jeongguk.

kiss. tears escaping on jeongguk's eyes, the memory three nights ago flashed in his eyes. "no, no, no, jiho-please, it was a mistake-i-" jeongguk started to panic, he didn't want to be busted, didn't want that little secret popping like a balloon. didn't want to add another salt to jiho's deep wounds.

"no, don't! don't come any closer! haven't you had enough?! i'm so sick of everything!-why? just why? does it make you feel happy seeing me hurt and broken?! is it so fun playing with my heart as if it's just a piece of toy?! i don't understand you, i can't fathom why . . . i can't understand why you had to kiss me that night, i don't understand why you had to pretend like you were taehyung! why? just fucking enlighten me, why?!"

"jiho, please-"

"i love you yet you broke me. you say that it was a mistake?! why of all mistakes you had to do that?! you tore our family apart and i gave you the divorce you wanted in exchange for fourteen days and all i ever wanted is for you to carry me outside the house, that's all. was that so hard to do? it's a simple thing - it's a simple thing compared to the pain you've given me because you wanted a divorce. you crossed the line-"

jeongguk just couldn't keep silent anymore as he reached out and held jiho's trembling form. "it's because of you! you were so broken, you kept uttering taehyung's name. kept calling out for a man that isn't me! kept wanting another man when i was the one beside you! you kept calling out for his name, didn't bother thinking that it was me who was beside you! you were looking for taehyung when i'm your husb-"

"aren't you the one who pushed me away!?" eyes widening, jeongguk's hammering heart churned with pain. "i-"

"you said you don't love me, anymore. you fell out of love and i - i'm no longer needed."

"i-"

"you're cruel, jeongguk" cruel? i'm cruel?! jeongguk's eyes flashed red, anger immediately seeping in his veins as he couldn't help but snap at the woman. "now, i'm the one who's cruel?! you act like you're the victim when everything's just . . . just your fault! you, you're the one that's cruel! you left me, left me as a second option and never tended to me! you think that i would bother finding another woman if only you tended to my needs?! you didn't give me any attention at all. i'm a man and i have my needs but all you've ever done and all you ever cared about i-"

jiho slapped jeongguk's hand away from her hands, shaking her head completely disbelieved, "you, you left me because i couldn't give you what you wanted?" jiho's voice came out broken, couldn't believe that the reason for their divorce is as petty as a shit. "you-you're asking for divorce just because i couldn't give you . . . sex?"

"i-" jeongguk seemed to calm down upon hearing jiho's fragile voice, but shame started to spread in his body.

jiho's lips quivered as tears pooled her eyes, shaking her head in pure disbelief as she pushed jeongguk away from her. "you're asking for divorce because i couldn't give you sex?! you, you're heartless!"

"jiho-" "you're cruel, jeongguk. you're the one that's cruel and . ." eyes pooling with even more tears, jiho stepped back, wanting to be as far from jeongguk "and . . not me. y-you're going to leave me just because there's another woman willing to give her pussy to you, open her legs wide and give you all the pleasure i couldn't give you? fuck you"

"ji-" prickling. jeongguk found it hard to breathe, as if thorns started to tear him inside out.

"you're cruel. you're saying that those two years of you not coming home every-night was because you were just fucking someone?! just because-just because i couldn't give you what you wanted?! you're cruel, jeongguk! the most despicable man i've ever met and i wish you never came into my life! your reason for divorce is as petty as that? just because i couldn't give you that? what about my feelings for you?!"

"i-"

" have you forgotten? have you forgotten everything you promised to me at the foot of the altar!? you promised we'd make the family i never had, you'd never leave me like everyone else, never hurt me like my father did, never belittle me like my mother did, never abuse me like jin did until death do us part! you promised to treasure and cherish me with all of your heart! you-"

"please, jiho-"

"no! you're cruel and i hate you! you have the audacity to tell me that everything's my fault? but, did you ever think about what i would have felt the moment you put that dick inside of your fucking secretary?!"

jeongguk couldn't find any words to speak as he saw how jiho broke infront of him, "i waited every night, worried and restless because you wouldn't come home. i tried so hard to keep myself together, to keep this family together. i never mentioned anything about how things were hard at work, how fucked up our clients were just to not add up to your worries. i was careful with everything and yet . . . yet, this is all i get?"

"jiho, pl-"

"i'm so foolish" jiho sarcastically laughed, letting out a dry chuckle. "how much of a foolish i am to keep calling out for your name yesterday. i kept calling and screaming for you, wishing you'd come save me, wishing you'd never let jin tear me inside out but, what happened? you were out of reach, you were out of reach because you could be fucking another pussy again! you're cruel! you're cruel, jeongguk!"

"i'm-"

shuffling, jiho's right hand trailed on her left ring finger, jeongguk's eyes widened as he knew what she was about to do. harshly pulling out the ornament that hugged her skin, jiho threw the gold ring to jeongguk and the man felt his heart ripping into two. "i wish the remaining five days comes fast so i could clearly get away from a bastard like you, i'm a fool for even loving a monster"