ACT II

all it takes to shake up jiho's day was an unexpected phone call.

"are you done yet?" jiho heard taehyung's teasing tone as if mocking her from being a slowpoke. "deal with it, sir. damn you for giving me tons of things to do—"

"you could have just left them for tomorrow, i mean it wasn't my fault that you're just so slow—" "i wouldn't do that for pete's sake, sir" she wouldn't? more like couldn't. all day, the woman had kept herself busy with paperwork. jiho had initially kept herself busy to not let her mind wander off into space and think of things that'll leave her into a pool of tears.

letting out a not-so-manly whine, her boss rolled his eyes teasingly, "look at this woman, you act all goody-two-shoes and innocent, calling me sir but the way you speak is so informal. you hypocrite" taehyung crossed his arms as he eyed the woman with a sick grin.

a chuckle escaping on jiho's lips, the woman strode to where the man was stood, "oh puhlease! you love it when i act this way, sir" a wide grin gracing taehyung's heart lips, "point given miss—"

interruption and a sudden breakout, a rare sight of mihyun panicking was what jiho's eyes caught. phone in her hand and eyes glossy, the moment mihyun suddenly entered her office, jiho knew something was wrong. "mimi—" "jiho!" cutting another sentence, the assistant secretary almost tripped on her way to hold jiho's hand. worried, jiho trudged to mimi as she tried to calm her down . . . only to be slapped with a rather harsh reality.

"jiho – jeongguk, jeongguk's company called!" at the mention of those words, jiho's heart dropped. what happened? jiho encouraged mimi to talk further as she traced soothing patterns on the other woman's hands but mihyun only handed the phone she held unto jiho's shaky ones.ello—"

"j—jiho, is that you?" yugyeom. hearing yugyeom's shaky voice ring on her ears made her mind scheme countless of possibilities of the call's reason. nonetheless, she tried to bury the negativity in the back of her head as she tried to focus and listen.

"god jiho, thank god. i—jeongguk—i—he—" tired of the broken words and shushing the panicked man, jiho tried to ease the man on the other line. "calm down, yeom. just tell me what happened and i'll try to do what i can" the woman was quite surprised of how calm those words came out of her mouth when deep inside, she was nothing but a storm.

a hiccup and a sigh, jiho prepared herself for what was there to come. "y—you see, j—jeongguk had a sudden panic attack a few hours ago, we managed to miraculously calm him down but once he regained self-control he refused to let anyone near him. he almost pounced on namjoon and lilia when they tried to take him to the hospital. we tried everything we could and we're starting to get worried of what was going on inside his office because he locked his door and the lights were off and we were hearing grunts coming from him and i—" jiho has heard enough. regaining composure as she pressed the end button and returned the phone on mihyun, the woman's body seemed to move on its own as she raced to the parking lot and drove to jeongguk's office, all the voices that seemed to call for her were shut into silence.

heart on her mouth and with shaky legs, she tried to tone down the way her nerves shake. jiho had safely reached RUNCHA RANDA corporation but she was still clueless of what was there to come. to say that jiho was nervous was an understatement, countless of thoughts seem to run unstoppable in her mind as she trudged her way inside the building and reach the reception.

"g—good evening i—" a hand coming into contact with her trembling shoulder, even before jiho could've asked permission on the woman sitting on the information lounge, a pair of glossy brown eyes welcomed her sight."y—ugyeom?" "jiho, i—please come with me immediately!"

what happened?

thousands of thoughts occupying jiho's mind, the woman didn't know the right thing to do. eyes wide as she stared blankly on the pale door and nerves running overdrive as her heart hammered inside her chest, jiho couldn't move as she stood frozen infront of jeongguk's office. namjoon and even lilia had stood a couple of good five meters to make way for the 'so called' privacy.

standing beside yugyeom with her shaky hands, she gathered the courage as she let her skin meet the wooden frame but for almost the umpteenth time, she had hesitated on knocking. am i really needed here? am i even supposed to be here? the phrase was the first thing that had ever crossed her mind when yugyeom called. knowing full well that her relationship with jeongguk was almost coming to an end (specifically, in the span of almost three days) and they're almost as close as strangers, the woman didn't know if she should really be the one standing here or lilia, jeongguk's current lover.

i am nothing but his wife on the paper and the mother of his son, nothing more and nothing less. i am nothing to him, he has a new woman in his heart and yet why would they still contact me? heart sinking, jiho could only swallow thickly. yugyeom, sensing the reluctance on jiho as he knew the current situation between the broken couple, the man could not blame the woman for her hesitation and he decided to put everything in his hands to push her. "jiho," the man gave an encouraging smile to jiho, before his actions made the woman panic.

a knock followed by a soft voice echoing in the vicinity, jiho felt her breath being caught up in her throat as she heard yugyeom speak, "jeongguk this is yugyeom, jiho has come to take you home"

wide eyes meeting yugyeom's, even before jiho could've processed the other man's actions, a tired and tear-stricken jeongguk suddenly opened the door and the next thing she knew is that she found herself stumbling a bit as she became entrapped in a trembling arms.

"ji" a soft and broken whisper echoing delicately on jiho's ears, a surge of warmth seemed to creep inside her heart and the urge to return the embrace ate her heart. "ji" a sniffle and a shaky sigh escaping on jeongguk's lips, the arms that encircled her petite figure had started to shake vigorously as jiho felt tears soaking her shoulder.

clinging unto jiho as if his whole life depended on her, the bottled up feelings of whys, how, regret and the self-hatred he had accumulated burst into his broken body once he had heard of jiho's presence. all of the self-moping he had inside, popped into tiny pieces as he desperately seek for jiho's warmth to blanket him. he wanted to get on his knees and beg for forgiveness on jiho, he wanted to make it up for all his mistakes . . . all along he had always been running on a lost cause. all along, he had been running futilely, hurting the one person who'd always stood right beside him through ups and downs. he had been such a fool to hurt the one person who'd have been the first one to give him the brightest smile and the love he had always yearned to be returned.

"ji" he had let out once again, not finding the right words to speak as he nuzzled his head on the crook of jiho's neck. he had realized that jiho hadn't returned his embrace and it made his heart drop, he knew the woman must be shocked of how needy he was acting but he couldn't care less. all that mattered was jiho and only her warmth. a shaky sob escaped on his trembling lips and soon enough, relief made its way to his body when he felt a gentle touch unto his skin. "ji"

"let's go home, gguk" gguk and home. a sob escaping on his lips as tears immediately pooled in his eyes, it had been so long ever since he last heard jiho call him with his treasured nickname. he had been so occupied with feeling so alone when right from the start, if only he had been the one to reach out first, the one who broke the silence of needing jiho's attention then none of the hesitation, heartbreak and ruined marriage would've existed.

pulling away from the embrace, jeongguk didn't expect to see a gentle smile gracing on jiho's lips as she wiped the tears that ran unstoppable in his cheeks. "let's go?" her voice was so soft, just the way he liked it. timidly nodding to jiho's question, the man couldn't help but snake his hand on jiho's. seemingly like a child, he didn't want to lose the warmth that his wife emitted unto him, he refused to let anyone near as he only focused on jiho's presence.

letting jiho pull him out of the office, jeongguk didn't even notice the way a pair of hate-filled eyes glare through the linked hands, still too high on his own head-space as he only kept himself close to jiho.

"d—don't leave" jeongguk found himself speaking as he tightly held jiho's small hands into his, the voice he managed to squeak was so small as if he was trying his best to not break out into another fit of crying session.

the night was still young as the estranged couple was already at home, the both of them had taken a soothing bath and now clad in their comfortable sleep wears, the only thing left to do was to sleep. disbelieved and confused of the man, jiho was bewildered. the woman had intended to sleep on jinyeon's room for the night, the pillow and blanket on her arms were a proof of her intentions. the mother had grown accustomed in sharing a night with their son ever since she had thrown the ring unto jeongguk on the day she had let all her feelings out.

"jeongg—" hands tightening its grip on jiho's, jeongguk's head hung low for barely a minute before he laced his eyes unto jiho's hesitating emerald orbs, the man repeated the words again, now a little firm. "p—please, don't leave. stay here, sleep with me" frustration running inside her thoughts, jiho was now beyond confused. just what are you trying to do? what are you implying?

jiho couldn't decipher jeongguk's actions, first the way he clung unto her a few hours ago and now, this? you want me to share the bed with you? just what does this means? are you playing with me? are you kidding me?

words coming out on their own without any filter, "what's wrong with you? just—just what are you trying to say to me?!" she barked, taking her hand away from jeongguk's grip out of impulse. "what are you implying on me?!" jiho continued to ask the man, refusing to let herself be swayed with the unusual actions of her husband.

"i don't understand you. i don't get you, why are you clinging to me as if losing me would make you go insane? you've been crazily sticking close to me and, and you use that little voice as if to mock me. why are you playing with my feelings? don't you have lilia to comfort you?!" lilia. the name ringing on jeongguk made his heart drop a few feet on the ground. he didn't want to heara the name, he didn't want to think of it and he couldn't help but reach out to touch jiho once more. "what-what are you doing?!" she'd let herself speak, unable to hide the way everything made her feel complicated.

"you act as if you did nothing to hurt me, when all you've been doing for the past weeks, months and two years is make my heart bleed! you cheated, don't you remember that?!why? just what did i do to deserve this . . . from you?" jiho's heart exploded once again as her eyes pooled with tears, her legs betraying her when they wobbled on the soft mattress and she found herself wiping the tears that furiously flowed against her skin.

"i'm not a fool. i know you're doing this again only . . . only to hurt me" a hiccup making its way on jiho's trembling lips, jeongguk could only let his own tears fall. he knew that he was at fault, he was the one to blame for this broken marriage. no words could repair the way he broke the heart of this angel weeping beside him.

once more, as the words painfully pierced inside his heart, jeongguk gathered himself to try and fix the broken pieces of jiho, wishing he could manage to mend a little portion of her wounded heart in this night. i'll make it up to you.

hesitating arms embracing jiho's trembling body, jeongguk gathered all his courage to entrap the woman against him. "i'm sorry, i'm sorry. i'm so sorry, ji" letting his head rest on top of the woman's head, he tucked the trembling body on his own. letting out a whine of protest, jiho trashed against jeongguk's hold as she threw little fists on the man's chest over and over. "i hate you! i hate you! let go of me! let go of me! you said you don't need me! you said you don't love me! let go of me! i hate you!"

he didn't let go.

i know that a hundreds, thousands and millions of sorry won't ever make it up to all the pain i've made to wound your porcelain heart but now . . . now i'm going to do my best, i'm going to do whatever i can to win your trust back. i'm not going to run away. i'm not going to be a coward again. i'm going to make it up to you. i swear it to my grave.

swear it on your grave? funny, didn't you do that already at the foot of the altar?

romeo or arthur? who do you think would be the rightful owner of a precious heart?

who's the rightful owner of jiho's trust and love?

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i'm really sorry for the late update. i'm trying my best to update as much as i can cause i really want to end the book soon. please bear with me and oh!! christmas is almost there!! love you all my lovely readers ☆