When the Sky Finally Breaks: Part 2!
There were certain places where people instinctively lowered their voices. Hospitals. Churches. Libraries. Luxury hotels.
The Grand Aurora belonged to the last category, wrapped in polished marble and warm amber lighting that reflected off crystal chandeliers, every detail carefully curated to make wealth appear effortless. Soft piano music drifted through the restaurant without demanding anyone’s attention, disappearing beneath the quiet murmur of business negotiations and expensive wine. You had attended hundreds of dinners like this. Tonight’s was supposed to be no different.
You arrived twenty minutes early with Mr. Han, both of you reviewing the presentation one final time while waiting for the overseas investors to arrive. He sat opposite you, reading through the numbers on his tablet, occasionally adjusting his glasses as he pointed out a figure or reminded you of a question the board might raise.
“You’ll do fine,” he said eventually. You smiled faintly. “I know.”
“I wasn’t talking about the presentation.” That made you look up. Mr. Han rarely commented on anything outside work. His eyes lingered on the engagement ring resting on your left hand before returning to the tablet.
“You’ve looked distracted all week.”
“I’ve looked tired.” you correctef him and played with the ring on your finger.
“Both can be true.”
You looked away before answering. “I suppose.”
Before either of you could continue, another familiar voice interrupted.
“Am I late?” Cha Segye had arrived. His black suit looked as immaculate as ever despite the rain outside, his hair still slightly damp around the temples. He apologized briefly to the investors as they approached, exchanged handshakes, and seamlessly slipped into the conversation as if he had always belonged there.
You caught yourself watching him for a fraction longer than necessary. He noticed. Of course he noticed. His eyes met yours across the table only briefly before moving back to business. The meeting began.
***
Nearly two hours passed in productive discussion. Contracts were reviewed. Future partnerships explored. Expansion plans debated. By the time dessert was served, everyone appeared satisfied. The investors excused themselves for a private phone call before finalizing the agreement, leaving you with a rare moment to breathe.
“I’ll freshen up,” you said, standing. Mr. Han nodded and said: “I’ll inform them when they return.”
You left the restaurant quietly. The hallway outside was considerably darker than the dining room, lined with elegant mirrors and fresh flowers that smelled faintly of lilies. You never reached the restroom. It happened because of a laugh. One you knew. One you had heard thousands of times. Your steps slowed automatically. Another laugh followed.
Female. Warm. Intimate. You frowned. It sounded absurd. Coincidences happened. Cities were full of familiar voices. Still, your feet carried you forward before your mind caught up. Just around the corner, partially hidden behind an open lounge entrance, stood your fiancé. His back was turned toward you. One arm rested comfortably around a woman’s waist.
She leaned into him naturally. Comfortably. As though she had done it countless times before. Your heartbeat slowed. Strangely. Almost unnaturally. Instead of racing, everything inside you became still. The kind of stillness that comes moments before a storm. You watched them for several long seconds. You saw him smile, saw him brush a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
Then he kissed her. Not uncertainly. Not drunkenly. Like a man kissing someone he believed belonged to him. Something inside you ended. Quietly. Without noise.
You stepped forward. Neither of them noticed until your heels echoed across the marble floor. Your fiancé turned first. His entire expression emptied.
“…Y/N.” he said eyes wide, all previous amusement vanished.
The woman immediately stepped away.
“What—”
“You don’t have to explain.” Your own voice surprised you. Steady. Level. As if you were discussing quarterly reports instead of watching your future collapse in front of you.
“You’ve already explained enough.”
He ran a trembling hand through his hair. “This isn’t—”
“What?” You tilted your head. “Real?” you added.
“A mistake? Complicated?”
His mouth opened. Closed. The silence answered better than words ever could. Very slowly, you reached for your left hand. The engagement ring slid free with almost embarrassing ease. For a moment, you simply looked at it resting in your palm. Only a week ago you had stared at it because it represented forever. Now it was only metal. You held it out toward him.
“We’re done.” you said with a stern voice unknown to you. He didn’t take it.
“…Y/N, don’t do this here.”
“I am doing it exactly here.” you glared at him.
People had begun to notice. A waiter slowed. Someone whispered. You didn’t care. Him caring about what people thought and not what he did make it even more surreal.
“I deserve better than someone who asks me to marry him while sharing his life with someone else.”
He reached toward you. Instinctively. As though touching you would somehow reverse what had happened. You stepped back. “I said we’re done.”
“You don’t mean that.” he tried to reason.
Something inside you almost laughed. Almost.
“I’ve never meant anything more.” you said your voice now bitter but truthfull. You placed the ring against his chest. When he refused to take it, it slipped into the pocket of his jacket instead. “There.”
“Listen to me.” he insisted and grabbed your wrist desperatly which felt like electrocution.
“No.” you said and tried to free yourself from his grip.
“Please.” he pleaded and his grip became tighter.
And suddenly, another hand wrapped firmly around his wrist. Cold. Steady. Immovable.
“Let her go.”
Segye.
He stood beside you without looking at you first. His attention rested entirely on the man holding your wrist. There was no raised voice. No dramatic anger. Which somehow made him infinitely more frightening. Your fiancé frowned.
“This has nothing to do with you.” he furrowed his brows and looked between the two of you. Segye’s expression remained unreadable.
“It became my concern the moment you ignored what she already told you.” Segye added his voice relentless.
“You don’t understand.”
“No,” Segye replied quietly, “I understand perfectly.” The pressure around your wrist disappeared immediately. Your fiancé rubbed his face in frustration.
“Y/N…”
For the first time since you had arrived, Segye looked at you. Only briefly. Only long enough to silently ask whether you wanted him there. You answered with the smallest nod. Barely noticeable. Enough. Segye turned back.
“This conversation is over.” he said stepping between you and your fiancee.
“You can’t decide that.”
“No.” His voice remained perfectly calm, “She already did.”
There was something terrifying about the certainty with which he spoke. No threats. No insults. No posturing. Simply certainty. The security staff arrived moments later, alerted by the commotion. Your fiancé looked at you one last time.
You looked back.You felt…Nothing. But only on the surface. You were too afraid to look deeper. That frightened you more than anger ever could. He left. The woman followed. The hallway became quiet again.
The investors apologized awkwardly. The dinner ended early. Someone offered to drive you home. You declined. You thanked everyone for their concern. You smiled. You even apologized for disturbing the evening. Mr. Han watched you carefully the entire time. So did Segye.
Neither believed the smile. Neither said anything.
***
Your room was silent. You changed into comfortable clothes. Made tea. Forgot to drink it. Placed it face down inside a drawer. Brushed your teeth. Washed your face. Climbed into bed. Closed your eyes. Nothing happened. Sleep refused to come. Because the moment you closed your eyes…you saw it again. His smile. His hand around another woman’s waist. The kiss. Again.
Again.
Again.
At two-thirty in the morning you gave up. You pulled on a hoodie, slipped into sneakers, and walked outside without an umbrella.
The rain had already begun. A quiet drizzle at first, turning the empty streets silver beneath the streetlights. You welcomed it. It gave your body something else to feel. You wandered without direction until the city became unfamiliar, your thoughts finally catching up with everything your composure had refused to acknowledge.
It hadn’t only been betrayal. It had been every tiny moment over the past months suddenly rearranging itself into a different truth. The unanswered calls. The cancelled evenings. The distance after the proposal.
You had blamed stress. You had blamed work. You had blamed yourself. How humiliating. How awfully humiliating.
You laughed. A small sound. It cracked halfway through. Then another came. This one broke completely. Your knees gave out before you realized they had stopped holding you. You sank onto the rain-soaked pavement beside a deserted riverside path, one hand pressed over your mouth as if you could somehow stop the sounds escaping your own body.
The first sob hurt. The second hurt more. Soon you couldn’t breathe around them.
“I wasn’t enough…” The words slipped out before you could stop them. “What did I do wrong?”
Rain blurred together with tears until you couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began. “I loved him…” Your shoulders shook violently now.
Years.
You had given him years.
Your future. Your trust. Your certainty.
And suddenly you felt foolish for grieving someone who had stopped choosing you long before tonight. A pair of polished black shoes stopped a few feet away. They didn’t move closer. Didn’t interrupt. Didn’t speak. For several seconds, whoever it was simply remained there.
Waiting.
You looked up through blurred vision.
Segye.
His umbrella was forgotten at his side, hanging loosely from one hand as the rain soaked through his suit without him seeming to notice. He must have been searching for you. He didn’t ask why you had left. He didn’t tell you to stop crying. He didn’t offer meaningless comfort.
He simply looked at you. And something inside him broke. Because until this moment…he had never seen you stop holding yourself together. The woman who smiled through impossible deadlines. Who remained calm while directors argued. Who protected everyone else before herself.
She was gone.
In her place sat someone whose heart had been ripped open so completely that she no longer knew how to hide it. His hands clenched so tightly at his sides that his knuckles turned white. He thought of your fiancé. Of the way he had touched another woman. Of the way he had dared to grab your wrist after destroying you. For one blinding second, Segye wanted to find him. To make him understand exactly what he had done.
Instead…he walked forward slowly. Removed his suit jacket. And draped it gently over your shoulders. Then, without asking permission, he lowered himself onto the rain-soaked pavement beside you. Close enough that you could lean on him. Far enough that you would never feel trapped. Neither of you spoke.
You cried.
He stayed.
Sometimes love looked less like grand declarations and more like a man sitting in the rain until dawn because the woman beside him shouldn’t have to fall apart alone.
