there is a sleek silver ring on his finger that doesn’t belong to him. shouldn’t—it is a relic of years past. jaebum is not the same man now as he was years ago. he doesn’t know if he can be. doesn’t know if he wants to be. his younger self was foolish and optimistic, believing in promises of forever. life doesn’t work like that; it’s a lesson hard learned. but seulgi isn’t the same person she was when he left, and jaebum recognizes that now. she’s stronger now, hardened. he wonders if he did that to her. he wonders if he should apologize for it.
( love. he would’ve scoffed at the word before, but if this isn’t love, what is? )
he would be lying if he said her ultimatum didn’t leave him shaken. the deeper parts of his mind understood they couldn’t remain in flux the way they had been, but he resented her for driving him into a corner despite that. still, it hadn’t occurred to him to leave the ring in the box. rejecting it was out of the question. but every time he attempted to broach the subject with seulgi, his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. talking is not his forte and this was above and beyond a simple conversation.
so he waited and planned and now the day is finally here. his fight or flight response tells him to forget the whole thing and flee as fast as he can, but seulgi said she was fighting for them and so should he. hands gripping the steering wheel, he waits parked outside her office. jaebum sent her assistant a message asking seulgi to come down and see him for a quick second. hopefully, she should be down anytime now. once she’s here, he can whisk her away for their surprise vacation, hoping his actions will convey all the things he can’t say.
if she agrees to go with him, he thinks with a wry twist of his mouth. he’s pushed her away so many times. what’s to stop her from pushing him away this once?
