NEVER AGAIN

"GET OUT!"

A duffel bag came flying out the front door of the third-story apartment, landing on the ground with a dull thud. Right after it came a young man in his twenties, and a pair of sneakers were thrown at him, hitting him in the shoulder before he caught them. The door slammed shut, shaking the walls of the old building, and there was a ringing in the air from the sudden silence. The man stood still, staring at the door incredulously, then dropped his shoes, and pounded his fist on the door, yelling,

"MiSun-ah, open the door!"

When he got no response, he angrily slammed the door with his open palms and raised his voice, demanding, "Yah, Park MiSun! Open this door right now!"

Again, he was greeted with only silence. Scoffing in disbelief, he grabbed the duffel bag and shoved his shoes on.

"You know what? Fine. Be that way. You'll ask me to come back-just like every other time!"

Throwing the bag over his shoulder, Cha SunWoo strode away from the apartment to the stairs. As he made his way down, it was completely silent-save for the clunking of his heavy footsteps against the metal stairs-but in his mind, it was far from quiet. Hundreds of thoughts rushed through his head, ranging from the last words his girlfriend had yelled at him to how annoying the humid weather was at night. Once he was outside the building, he sat down by the entrance and lazily dropped the duffel bag next to him. Leaning against the brick wall, SunWoo looked up at the night sky and noticed that he couldn't see any stars tonight. He raised an eyebrow in confusion but quickly dismissed it and instead tilted his head further back to look up at the windows of the apartments. Some lights throughout the building were on, but there was no light coming from their apartment. Looking straight in front of him now, SunWoo narrowed his eyes and quietly asked himself,

"Is she really not coming out..?"

Pursing his lips in thought, he started thinking about their past fights. Every time, MiSun would get mad and hit him, but after half an hour she would forgive him, saying it was "the last time." They had had over twenty "last times," but none of those times did MiSun kick him out of the apartment. Slowly, SunWoo took from his pocket the couple ring MiSun had thrown at him mid-way into tonight's fight. Holding it up to eye-level, SunWoo stared at his reflection and remembered the sound of crashing glass-how MiSun had gotten so frustrated that she took a picture of the two of them at their first date and threw it on the ground. He remembered the tears that fell from her face-how tonight was the only time he had seen her cry. He remembered every word she had yelled at him-how her voice shook even though her body never showed such signs of fear.

Putting his face in his hands, SunWoo sighed, realizing how much of a jerk he had been to her for the past three months. Coming home late without telling her, missing dates because he was always out with his friends, half-heartedly telling her the first thing that came to mind whenever she asked him a question... And only now-after three months-did she finally break. Only after three terrible months did she finally decide enough was enough.

It was only now that SunWoo was actually scared of losing her.

Taking his phone out of his pocket, he took a deep breath and dialed MiSun's number. The first five times he called, the line rang until he was sent to voicemail. After a while, he debated on sending a text but quickly decided against it and redialed her number for the twenty-second time that night. On the thirty-eighth call, the dial tone suddenly halted after only three rings. Glancing at the phone screen, SunWoo saw that the call was going on from the small timer in the corner. Hesitantly, he put the phone back to his ear and swallowed the lump in his throat, softly asking,

"MiSun?"

When he heard no reply, he checked the phone again to make sure she hadn't hung up. SunWoo put the phone back against his ear and spoke in a gentler voice.

"MiSun, I know you're there. Say something...please."

She still said nothing. Not a sound could be heard, but SunWoo knew she was listening. He knew she was waiting. Running a hand through his hair, SunWoo sighed almost inaudibly and continued,

"Okay. If you won't say anything, just hear me out." He paused for a short moment to put the words together in his mind. "I'm stupid, and I'm immature. I've never had a girlfriend before you, so I don't always know how I'm supposed to act or what I'm supposed to say. And I know you've had other boyfriends-how they hurt you and how they lied to you... I'm sorry, MiSun-ah. I'm sorry for not loving you like I should. I'm sorry for not telling you I love you enough. I'm sorry I've never apologized for anything I did, and I'm sorry for making you cry."

He waited for MiSun to say something, but she still wouldn't speak.

"MiSun-ah, I love you. I love you more than anything in this world. I'm sorry I'm not the guy you deserve, but I need you. Without you, I'm nothing. So please...don't leave me."

SunWoo sat there for about ten minutes, waiting for her something-anything. He checked the phone and realized that the call had ended twenty minutes ago. He stared at the phone, then lowered his gaze to the ground, suddenly embarrassed that he had been talking to himself. But he was more upset that MiSun hadn't heard anything he said. In defeat, SunWoo lightly hit the back of his head against the brick wall and slowly stood up, taking the duffel bag in hand, and started walking away.

Spotting something out of the corner of his eye, he turned around and saw MiSun standing in the doorway, staring at the ground. His heart inflating with hope, SunWoo quietly asked,

"Did you hear..?"

After a few anxious moments, MiSun just barely nodded her head in response, still avoiding his gaze. Nervously, SunWoo whispered, at a volume to where he almost couldn't hear himself,

"Then...do you forgive me?"

MiSun didn't say anything and for a long time she continued staring at her feet. All the hope in SunWoo's heart suddenly started retreating, and his entire body felt numb from fear. His heart was racing, and he was sure his breathing rate had increased as well. He didn't know if he could handle losing her. He tried to imagine life without MiSun, but all that came to mind was a world of perpetual darkness-a world where he could neither hear nor feel anything-a world where everything...was nothing.

But SunWoo knew his answer when MiSun looked at him and just barely smiled.