CHAPTER 4: THE WEIGHT OF SILENCE
285 Words
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Eun’s POV
She hadn’t changed.
That was the first thought Eun had when he saw her under the streetlight, snow in her hair, her expression calm but distant — the kind of calm that comes only after breaking.
He hadn’t meant to see her.
He hadn’t meant to feel everything all over again.
But when he passed that coffee shop, and caught a glimpse of her through the fogged glass, time folded in on itself. It was like being pulled back into a moment he never really left.
Hyeri.
Her name still ached in his chest like a bruise that never healed.
He sat in the corner of his apartment that night, lights off, phone in hand, staring at the message she finally sent.
> One hour. No lies.
He almost laughed. Not because it was funny — because it was fair. She deserved the truth. But the truth… was heavier than she knew. It wasn’t a single sentence or a simple apology. It was tangled in family, in debt, in things he wasn’t proud of. Things that had broken him long before he ever broke her.
Back then, he thought disappearing was protecting her.
Now he saw it was just cowardice in disguise.
He reached for the notebook on his desk — the one where he kept writing her name over and over like a fool. He opened to the first page.
There, in small, careful handwriting, were the words:
> “If I lie to protect someone, is it still a lie?”
– E.H.
He closed the notebook.
Whatever happened tonight, it would change everything.
Because the truth was no longer just his.
It belonged to both of them now.
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- Writer
