The candle flickered softly on the table as Seoyeon sat across from Jungwon, her eyes filled with warmth and familiarity. The restaurant was quiet, the kind of place they had always gone to for their most intimate moments. But tonight, the comfort of the setting felt like a cruel contrast to the turmoil brewing inside Jungwon. He could barely meet Seoyeon's gaze, knowing that what he was about to say might destroy the woman who had stood by him for years.
Seoyeon noticed his silence, her brow furrowing slightly. "You're quiet tonight," she said gently, placing her hand over his. "Is something on your mind?"
Jungwon's heart clenched at the softness in her voice, the concern in her eyes. How could he explain what was tearing him apart? He had rehearsed this moment over and over in his head, trying to find the right words, but now, sitting here with Seoyeon, those words escaped him.
"I've been thinking about us," Jungwon finally said, his voice barely above a whisper. "About…everything."
Seoyeon's smile faltered, a flicker of uncertainty crossing her face. "What do you mean? Is something wrong?"
Jungwon swallowed hard, feeling the weight of his betrayal. He wanted to tell her everything, to lay it all out and let her see the truth. But looking at her now, with her hopeful expression and the love she still clearly had for him, he hesitated.
"I've just been feeling...conflicted lately," he admitted, his eyes dropping to the table. "About where we're going, about us."
Seoyeon's hand tightened around his, and she leaned in closer. "We've been through tough times before, Jungwon. We can get through this too. We just need to talk, to be honest with each other."
Honesty. The very thing he had been running from. The truth that Yoonah had pushed him to face, and now, here it was, staring him down.
"I need to tell you something," Jungwon said, his voice shaking slightly. "There's someone else, Seoyeon."
The words hung in the air between them, like a knife cutting through the delicate thread of trust they had built over the years. Seoyeon's face went pale, her eyes widening in disbelief.
"What…what do you mean, someone else?" she asked, her voice barely audible, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing.
Jungwon looked up at her, his heart breaking at the sight of the pain he had caused. "Her name is Yoonah," he said, his voice filled with regret. "I didn't mean for this to happen, but it did. And I'm so sorry, Seoyeon. I never wanted to hurt you."
For a long moment, Seoyeon didn't say anything. She just sat there, her hand slowly pulling away from his, her face a mixture of shock and betrayal. When she finally spoke, her voice was cold, unlike anything Jungwon had ever heard from her before.
"How long?" she asked, her eyes piercing through him. "How long have you been lying to me?"
Jungwon hesitated, but he knew he owed her the truth, no matter how much it hurt. "A few months," he admitted, his voice barely above a whisper.
Seoyeon's eyes filled with tears, and she shook her head in disbelief. "A few months? You've been with someone else for months, and you didn't tell me? All this time, I've been here, trusting you, loving you, and you've been…you've been with her?"
"I never stopped caring about you, Seoyeon," Jungwon said quickly, reaching for her hand again. But she pulled away, standing up from the table as if she couldn't bear to be near him.
"If you cared about me, you wouldn't have done this," she said, her voice shaking. "You wouldn't have lied to me. You wouldn't have betrayed me."
Jungwon stood too, feeling the distance between them growing by the second. "I didn't mean to—"
"You didn't mean to?" Seoyeon cut him off, her voice rising. "How can you say that? You made a choice, Jungwon. Every time you were with her, every time you didn't tell me, you were choosing her over me."
The pain in her voice was unbearable, and Jungwon felt his own heart breaking as he saw the tears streaming down her face. He had known this moment would be hard, but he hadn't been prepared for just how much it would hurt.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, the words feeling hollow in the face of everything he had done.
Seoyeon shook her head again, wiping at her tears. "Sorry isn't enough, Jungwon. Not this time."
She turned away from him, grabbing her coat and walking toward the door. Jungwon wanted to stop her, to beg her to stay, but he knew that he had already lost her.
As Seoyeon disappeared into the night, Jungwon was left standing alone in the empty restaurant, the weight of his choices crashing down on him. The cracks in the foundation of their love had been there for a long time, but now, they had finally shattered beyond repair.
And in that moment, Jungwon realized that he had not only lost Seoyeon, but he had also lost a part of himself.