A/N: I know we're in a bit of a dark place right now...Thanks for reading (and having faith) :)

As he drove along the winding streets of Stockholm on his way to the restaurant, Yi Jeong stole glances at his girlfriend of just over an hour, who had been fidgeting with her skirt for the entire car ride.

He'd never get over how cute she could be, calling him out on his errant behavior one minute and blushing at his compliments the next. He had always liked making her nervous, mainly because it made him feel powerful and in control of the moment. Maybe because, he could now admit to himself, it was easier manipulating the feelings of others than paying attention to his own feelings. Yet as he watched her twiddle her hair around her fingers and noted the tension in her shoulders as she sat beside him, a new urge came over him. More than he wanted to awe Ga Eul or seduce her, he wanted her to be comfortable around him. He genuinely wanted her to have a good time.

Reaching over when they stopped at a red light, he grabbed her left hand and brought it to rest on top of the console with his. He traced soothing circles on the back of her hand with his thumb.

When her shoulders relaxed a bit and she sunk back into her seat, he asked, "Have you ever been outside of Korea before? And I'm not counting New Caledonia."

"Mmm, no...How many countries have you been to, Sunbae?"

"Let's see...Sweden, France—New Caledonia is a French territory—Italy, Spain, Japan, Australia—my mother's parents live there—England, and China. How many is that? Eight?...Oh, but I forgot the short tour I did when I was sixteen. I think that would be eleven altogether."

"Tch...showoff," Ga Eul grumbled.

"I have to show off for my girlfriend. You might leave me for the owner of that cat...dog...animal that nearly killed me."

"Don't tell me you still have a grudge against the dog...Sunbae...you were really scared, weren't you? Admit it." She smiled. He'd noticed she always smiled with her eyes before it ever met her face.

"Scared? Tch...I was surprised, that's all."

Ga Eul giggled.

"I bet you didn't see something like that in all those countries you went to."

"There's nothing like you, Ga Eul-yang, in any country."

It took him a moment to realize the import of what he'd said. She must have realized it too because she didn't reply. He steadied his gaze back on the road.

"Hey, I have something you can definitely beat me at."

"What's that?"

"How many part time jobs have you had?"

"What type of question is that? I've only ever worked at the porridge shop, so one."

"See? You only had one, and you still beat me."

"Are you saying you want a part time job, Sunbae?"

"A face like mine would be good for business."

Ga Eul scoffed.

"You wouldn't last a day as waiter. I guarantee it. For one thing, you'd have to take orders from other people, which I happen to know you are incapable of."

"And how is it that you've managed to stay employed?"

"I listen to Master. He's much nicer than you."

"Ah...Then that means you like guys who aren't nice. And I thought Miss Ga Eul-yang was an innocent." Braking, he stopped at a red light and turned to look at her. She was already facing him, poised to dish out some of her trademark sass.

"Obviously not. You don't date innocents, remember?"

As she pursed her lips, Yi Jeong's eyes swept from her playfully defiant eyes to the simple gold chain resting against her bare collarbone and back up to her mesmerizing mouth painted in a familiar shade of red.

"Maybe I don't."


At first, Yi Jeong couldn't feel anything when he looked at the picture. Sure, it was a stomach punch to the gut but one where the pain was perhaps too intense to be felt all at once, and before those feelings overwhelmed him, he'd reached for the only safety net he knew of—his trusty friend in a bottle. If only it contained a magic genie instead of the bitter liquid searing his throat. What should he wish for? To go back in time? To forget everything? To never meet her at all?

"What?" Slouched against the kitchen counter, he kicked at Milo, and the cat ran into the guest...well, the bedroom that was supposed to be Ga Eul's. Yi Jeong drained the remainder of the wine bottle. Even in her absence, the dumb cat preferred her.

Her.

The girl who spouted all that fucking nonsense about soulmates and happy endings.

The same girl who'd had her arms around some other guy's fucking waist, her mouth against his like they were in a still from some sappy rom-com, wearing the clothes and the handbag he'd given her.

He'd fell for her and her ridiculous notions, and the worst part of it was he'd started to believe in it. He'd really believed they must be soulmates. That there was a happy ending awaiting them just over the rainbow. The whole fucking time he'd been in Sweden, all he could think about was her. The faces she made when he teased her. Their silly arguments when she did pottery with him. The places he wanted to show her on her next visit. The feeling of warmth and security he'd always had waking up with her cuddled up next to him. Before he knew it, he'd been sucked into the light she exuded. Perhaps it had blinded him. He'd never bothered to think that she might betray him too.

In his mind, Ga Eul had been many things over time, but unfaithful was not one of them. Her dedication to her friends had impressed him from the beginning.

"Why?" he wondered aloud. It didn't make sense. It didn't fit with anything he thought he knew about her, but it had been printed for his viewing torture on thick, glossy photo paper nonetheless.

Fucking hell, who did that bastard think he was touching? And what was she doing? Just standing there. Leaning into him, no less.

If he didn't fucking break something, he might lose his shit altogether.

The better part of him knew that his grandfather was the larger problem, but she was much easier to be angry with, and in his stupor he stumbled over to his bedroom to the collection of unskilled and slightly misshapen pottery lined up on shelves across from his bed.


Woo Bin had spent the entire morning in a conference with his father about the charges So Yeong-cheol was bringing against Song construction. The story had exploded before he'd had time to explain his involvement in any of it, and his father had been far from happy to learn that his only son was selling out part of his own family. Losing the reporters tailing him had proven more challenging than he expected, but when he finally made it Yi Jeong's apartment hopefully undetected, he faced yet another challenge in getting his stubborn best friend to come to the door. He tried knocking and calling his cell phone multiple times. Just when he was about to pick the lock he heard a crash inside the apartment and instead kicked the door in, uncaring of the damage.

A muffled groan greeted him from Yi Jeong's bedroom, in addition to the broken wine bottle shards on the floor of the kitchen and a mess of papers and various items that looked like they'd been knocked down from the kitchen counter.

The potter sat on the floor of his bedroom, kneeling over a broken vase, his hands cupping a few jagged pieces, their edges digging into his palms.

"Yi Jeong!" Woo Bin hauled the drunk potter to his feet, examining the cuts on his hands-hands that were trembling but from pain or alcohol or rage Woo Bin couldn't say.

"Get a hold of yourself, Yi Jeong." He shook the potter's shoulders. "Don't start smashing everything you've made again. I'm sure there's an explanation for everything that's happening."

"I don't want your help," Yi Jeong snapped and shoved Woo Bin away. "You're a traitor too." Stumbling back toward the kitchen, he scattered the papers under his feet. Glass crunched under his black dress shoes.

"The hell...Yi Jeong, I thought we had talked about that already."

Yi Jeong slammed his fist down on the kitchen counter.

"Then why does everything keep leading back to you?"

"I...I don't...I didn't..."

"Did you know?" Yi Jeong demanded.

"Did I know what?"

"Did you know about that...about what happened with Ga Eul and that guy? Did you keep that from me too?"

"How the hell would I know that?"

"You tell me. He worked for you."

"He worked for my father. And I told you. I didn't know anything about him until you asked me to look into him."

Yi Jeong scoffed.

"You're angry now, bro. I get it. But I know Ga Eul. I know how much she loves you. You said before that they were drinking that night. You know how she gets when she's drunk."

Instead of answering, Yi Jeong grabbed another bottle of wine from the cabinet and clumsily fumbled with the cork.

"Clearly, he took advantage of her. Can't you see that?!" Woo Bin shouted.

For a moment, Yi Jeong appeared not to hear him. He got that far off, vexed look in his eyes that he always got before he flew into a rage, so when he finally spoke, the raspy, wounded tone in his voice took Woo Bin by surprise.

"No...I took advantage. And now, I'm going to destroy her. My grandfather's going to see to that."

"Yi Jeong...This isn't your fault."

"Isn't it though? I knew what this world does to people. It twists them until they either break or become as twisted as everyone else. I was the one who warned Jun Pyo from the beginning. But because I...I..."

Yi Jeong drew out a ragged breath.

"You loved her," Woo Bin finished for him as Yi Jeong took a slow, long gulp from the new bottle.

Setting the bottle down, Yi Jeong gripped the sides of the sink and stared into the metallic void.

"I wanted to break it. All the pottery in there. But I couldn't do it." His voice broke over the words. "And it didn't matter because the damn thing slipped from my hands anyway."