"I'm telling you, if you had just grieved like a normal person you wouldn't have had that breakdown. Now look at you. All these bottled up emotions are begging to come out," Seulgi said, passing a tissue to Miran. "Next you're going to be having breakdowns at the grocery store."

        Miran laughed. "Yeah, I know." She wiped some tears away with the tissue.

        After the incident at the bookstore, Miran had called Seulgi and told her what happened. Seulgi insisted she come over to help Miran out and arrived with a bottle of wine and ice cream after she got off work.

        Seulgi stuck a spoonful of ice cream into and an idea popped into her head. "Miran, this might sound a teensy bit crazy but, I have an idea."

        Miran was listening.

        "Okay, just picture this. Eunwoo is sitting in his room, crying his eyes out because you two aren't together anymore. All of a sudden, he hears a knock at the door. He opens it, and you're standing there. You apologize and tell him that you love him and that you were wrong. You two make up. The end."

        "What? Are you insane?" Miran asked her, wondering if Seulgi was a bit tipsy.

        "Why? Why is that so insane? He made the first move in asking you out, I think it's only fair if you go and win him back," Seulgi said.

        Miran thought about it. "I really don't think he wants to see me right now."

        "You're just making excuses and you know it. What do you have to lose, really? List me one thing."

        "My dignity," Miran said.

        "Besides that," Seulgi replied, realizing Miran had a point.

        "Do I need any more reason than that?"

        Seulgi clasped her hands together and focused. "Okay, let me put it like this. If you're already feeling horrible about yourself even if he does reject you, you won't feel any different since you're already in a bad mood."

        "Was that supposed to convince me?"

        "Come on, please," Seulgi begged. Then, a thought formed in her mind. "You know my birthday is in a couple weeks..."

        Miran was stunned at Seulgi's comment and laughed out of disbelief. "You're really going to guilt me with your birthday?"

        Seulgi nodded.

        "What about his roommate?" Miran asked, questioning the logistics of the plan. "It's almost midnight; what if they're asleep?"

        "Screw his roommate." Seulgi said. "And who cares about how late it is, it's the weekend anyway and they're grown men, they're probably still awake."

        Miran sighed and drank the last of the wine in her glass, giving her a boost of confidence. "Fine. I'll do it."

        Seulgi's eyes widened. "Really?"

        Miran shook her head yes. "Happy birthday."

        Seulgi squealed and gave her a big hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

        The two of them left the apartment and waited at the front for seperate taxis.

        "You take this one," Seulgi told Miran, seeing a taxi approach the curb.

        "Okay," Miran said, taking deep breaths.

        "Good luck and call me after, okay?" Seulgi said, watching Miran get into the taxi.

        Miran buckled in her seatbelt and waved goodbye to her friend.

        Her taxi drove smoothly on the street with little to no traffic since it was so late at night. When they arrived in front of the apartment, Miran was almost tempted to just tell the driver to drive her back to her apartment. She paid the taxi driver and hesitantly stepped out of the car. The apartment stood before her, reminding her of all the times she had come here with Eunwoo while Jinwoo was at work.

        She continued to Eunwoo and Jinwoo's apartment, rehearsing what she would say in her head. She would tell him it was all her fault, that she realized she really did want to be with him and was just afraid of getting hurt. She would even beg him to give her another chance, unafraid of being humiliated.

        Stepping off the elevator onto his floor, Miran was greeted by echoes of music. It was becoming clearer that the music was coming from their apartment as each step she took amplified the volume. If it wasn't for the glass of wine Miran had drank before coming she might have turned around at this very moment, but decided to continue anyway.

        She walked right up to the door, took a deep breath, and knocked.

        The door opened. It was someone she had never seen before.

        The opened door let the bright white light from the hallway pass into the apartment, a harsh contrast to the completely lights out party they were having. Many of the guests turned to the door, wondering who was making such a late appearance, including Eunwoo.

        His face was illuminated by the hallway light and Miran had the perfect view of him, along with Yejin's head on his shoulder.

        "Hi?" The guest who opened the door said. "Are you here for the party?"

        Miran had never felt so naive. She wondered why she hadn't expected him to move on already.

        As Eunwoo's eyes readjusted to the bright light, he caught a glance at Miran's face. He wondered if he was imagining things and thought about how many beers he had. He stood up, trying to get a better look.

        "Miran?" He whispered to himself.

        "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt," Miran said to the guest, not wanting Eunwoo to see her. "I'm really sorry. I'll go now." Miran immediately walked away and pushed the elevator button to go down, but it was arriving too slowly. She felt trapped and needed air. She ran to the staircase and began to walk down.

        The guest had closed the door, bewildered by the interaction, but was then pushed aside by Eunwoo who hastily opened the door and rushed out. Jinwoo was wondering who the girl was at the door but judging from Eunwoo's reaction, he knew that it was Miran.

        "Miran?" Eunwoo called out to the empty hallway. He saw that the elevator button was still pressed, which had to have been Miran. He knew if she didn't get on the elevator then she had to be in the staircase.

        He opened the door to the staircase and yelled out her name. Miran ignored him, feeling guilty about ruining his night. She wished he would go back to his apartment and pretend that this never happened.

        "Miran, can we talk?" He said, looking over the staircase railing and seeing her a couple floors down. Miran held back tears, not wanting to let him see how much it hurt her. She remained quiet, knowing if she spoke to him she'd just break down into tears again, and continued down the stairs.

        "Come on," he said, quickly running down the stairs. He was worried that she was angry with him after seeing Yejin. "I don't even know her, we just met tonight."

        He waited for her to respond but her silence began to infuriate him. "I don't get you. You told me that you don't want to be serious with me and now you're mad at me for something that you wanted. You don't have any right to be mad at me if I want to move on or not. I'm not going to be here waiting for you like some kind of idiot, I can be happy without you."

        She was still not responding, her pace slowed down as she tried to stop herself from crying.

        His tone grew more and more accusatory. "Why did you even come over here if you were just going to ignore me?" He finally caught up to Miran and grabbed her arm to turn her around and face him.

        Eunwoo tensed up and released his hold on her arm; this was the first time he was seeing her cry. She became ashamed and covered her face with her hands. The tears began to trail down her face as Eunwoo's heart sank into his stomach. A gut wrenching feeling twisted his insides; he had never felt so guilty before. He realized her silence wasn't due to her anger but was to hide her tears. He grabbed her hands and removed them from her face, finally being able to look her in the eyes for the first time tonight.

        "I'm sorry," he said softly, as he embraced her. He felt her tears against his neck and hugged her even tighter, gripping the sweater she was wearing. Her arms were lifeless and at her side. He rested his head against hers and felt her silent sobs against his chest.

        "I'm sorry," he repeated. "I messed up."

        Miran brought her arms up and wrapped them around his waist, finally giving in. "I'm sorry too."

        Eunwoo placed his hands on the sides of her head and wiped away her tears with his thumb. "Don't cry."

        He leaned into her, hesitating, before closing his eyes and gently pressed his lips against hers.