Stage 1 (1/1)

Jihye couldn’t remember much of the end of her relationship. That was mainly because it was always fight after fight with Hanbin. It was impossible to have a decent conversation with him. And the night of their breakup was no different, with both of them sitting in the studio where he worked on his tracks. She had planned a dinner date at his favorite restaurant but had to cancel it at the last minute due to some emergency at work.“I cancelled recording just for tonight and now you’re saying you can’t make it?” Hanbin’s face bear a slight frown but the degree of his anger was evident in his voice. He was furious.Jihye bit her lip, “I’m sorry… I never wanted this to happen, too.”But why was she apologizing for something that was beyond her control? Her boss had called her to stand in for a photographer who was down with diarrhoea. It wasn’t like anyone wanted such bad luck.“And I’m not even sure why are we doing this on a weeknight.”“I just thought we should spend some time together since we haven’t been doing so.” she dug her nails into her palm, fighting back the urge to cry. She had shed a lot of tears these past few weeks. “That’s because we’re both busy with our lives, I thought that was mutually understood.” Hanbin rubbed his temples, speaking with a softer tone once he noticed the crack in his girlfriend's voice. “So you want to go on like that? Not giving each other time of the day just because we’re both busy with our own lives?” she tried hiding her disappointment when she remembered he wouldn't even go to her to relief his stress. There would be no point in being his girlfriend if he didn't even let her be there for him, to care for him. “We could always see each other later, when we’re free or something.”Jihye scoffed, “That’s what you always say, Kim Hanbin! But every time you’re done with a project, you move on to another!”“I’m sorry I'm working hard on my dream, then.” thinking back, Hanbin probably didn't mean for it to sound as harsh as it did. Thinking back, she should've known Hanbin was the kind of person who, when frustrated, spoke without tasting his words first. But that didn't stop the emotion that was beginning to boil inside her. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “And I’m not? I have a packed schedule, too! But I make time to see you because I miss you.”Her voice lowered down to a whisper towards the end of her sentence. It hurt her pride to admit that especially after his demeaning statement but sometimes love makes you do the stupidest things, right? “You don’t even let me visit you at your studio!” she continued when he remained silent. “I don’t see any need for you to travel so far just for an hour of visit.” he mumbled, face in his hands. “The need is to see you!” Dumbass!, she wanted to yell. “I can hardly experience anything new when I’m so tied down in a relationship!” Hanbin yelled, looking up into her eyes. She saw the look of regret the second those words slipped past his lips. But that was the truth he bottled up inside of him all this while, wasn't it? It was the truth, even when he regretted saying it. Hanbin had to tear his eyes away from her face, his heart felt heavy when the sorrow crept into Jihye's eyes. He opened his mouth to speak again but was cut off by her.“If a burden’s all that you think I am to you, Kim Hanbin, then maybe it's best I leave your life." the moment those words came out, she regretted them as well. She willed herself to stop, feeling that somehow this wouldn't be one of their petty breakups where one would apologize and they would eventually make up. This was the end, she could feel it. “I won’t be a burden to you anymore.”Maybe it was for the best. Hanbin's career was reaching its peak and Jihye was held down by her studies and her part-time photography job. Her background didn't make her good enough to be the girlfriend of Kim Hanbin, one of YGE's most promising young rapper and composer with a rapidly growing fanbase. Sometimes loving someone isn't enough to keep them with you.She was responded with silence. Hanbin was bent over, face buried in his hand once again. He wasn't crying, Kim Hanbin wasn't one to shed tears over his girlfriend. Jihye felt her anger grew along with the silence. Finally, she grabbed her bag off his table, accidentally flinging his phone to the ground. As she glanced at the gadget, a call ended and a picture of her lit up the screen. Jihye felt her heart stop. Maybe she can take back her words then and there and apologize. Then, she could try to make things work.But maybe her mind knew better than her heart about what was best for her.“You’re welcome for this new experience. Good luck on your next track.” Jihye rolled her eyes, turning around to exit the room just before her tears rolled down. /// It had been two weeks, two weeks and not a call nor a text from Kim Hanbin.The next two weeks went by in a whirlwind, although she would prefer to pretend it never happened or get a time machine to go back and tell herself not to be so pathetic. Sitting up in bed and staring into space, the events from the past two weeks popped into her mind again. Multiple drunk dials, texts, banging on his apartment door.It would’ve been alright if she had only bothered Hanbin with her post-breakup behaviour (since he never responded anyway) but she had to go breaking down, drunk, on Jinhwan and Bobby when she ran into them near the YG building. She didn’t really remember what happened after she ruined her mascara by crying though. But she could vaguely recall Bobby carrying her to her bed and both boys shaking their heads at her.Her face grew redder when she realized it happened last night. No wonder her head felt so heavy. She was unto the memories of her third night of drunk dialling Hanbin where the one-sided conversation consisted of her narrow yet colourful knowledge of profanities when her room door opened.“You look like crap.” her best friend since high school, Subin grimaced, leaning against the doorframe. “Actually, no, you look worse than that. You look like you went through a triathlon on no sleep then got run over by a herd of reindeers.”“I believe ‘post-breakup’ would be a more suited description of my current situation but I like your confidence to show off your imagination even when your best friend is in this state.” Jihye sent her a sarcastic smile before pulling the covers over face once again. “Now, please leave me alone while I translate your words into visuals in my mind to save me from thinking of a million ways to murder Kim Hanbin.” She felt the space beside her sink. “I’m pretty sure it’s a million other things to say the next time I drunk dial Kim Hanbin but I’m sorry I have to crush that dream, honey, because I’m here today to deliver some good and bad news.”Jihye groaned when she pulled apart the covers. “I want the bad news first.”“It’s the same piece of news just that I’m not sure whether it’s good or bad.” Subin rolled her eyes. "Anyway, Hanbin lost his phone two days after your breakup. So all your drunk dials probably went to his voicemail or you’ve been confessing to m style="line-height:1.6;">and cursing a stranger.”She wasn't sure how to feel about this. “How should I be sure you’re not lying to get me out of bed?” “You were drunk out of your wits last night and ran into Bobby and Jinhwan. I guess all you talked about was drunk dialling Hanbin the past two weeks because I woke up to a text from Jinhwan this morning saying that Hanbin lost his phone.”“I called Jinhwan and we talked for a bit. And man, if you knew what you said to them last night, you would never want to appear in front of them ever again.” Subin had the audacity to giggle even when Jihye was already shooting daggers at her.“But Jihwan being Jihwan, they will let those words fall on deaf ears.” she continued.Jihye faked a sigh of relief to entertain her best friend. But actually, she didn't really care if Bobby and Jinhwan heard her drunk talk. They often played the peacemakers during her relationship with Hanbin. Whenever they fought, either Bobby or Jinhwan would become her outlet to vent, never failing to throw in a couple of good words for Hanbin to help patch back the couple. So her rants would come as nothing new to both of them. “Look, Jung Jihye, at any rate if Hanbin wanted to get back together, he would’ve already come knocking at your door. And did he? No. So go wash your face, take a damn bath and we’ll go get something to eat. You need to live to post a malicious comment when his next track comes out.” Jihye snorted, “That’d be so petty.” She couldn't bring herself to insult his compositions when she, of all people, knew how hard he worked on them. But she had to make herself feel better. So when she found out his song was being used for some idol group's debut, Jihye had liked all the hateful comments on the Internet. Even though she thought the song was amazing. But believing that there were people on her side prevented her from regretting her actions.  -Really sorry I took the longest time to update but thank you to my patient subscribers! Pretty uneventful first chapter but I hope you enjoyed reading  ♡