#marklineson

Chapter Song: MAMAMOO’s “Paint Me”

Word Count: 1.4k

ACT ii - WEAK

After the first feelings of emptiness and betrayal had vanished, Sooyoung had regained her full conscience and washed her face in the bathroom, erasing the marks and the ruined make-up her tears had left behind. After that, she had stepped out of the dark blue dress she had worn- a birthday present from Chanyeol- and gazed at her half-naked reflection in the mirror before putting it away and stepping into the shower to erase all of the self-doubts trying to make their way back to the surface after all these years.

After refreshing herself, Sooyoung got back to work. She barely had to think about what she was going to do, had planned it all in her head and replayed over and over again. She'd always been suspicious of Chanyeol ever he had started acting different, putting it off as stress and mood swings, blaming it on the things she had done in the past- yet deep down, she had always known he was enjoying someone else's company.

Filling in the gaps regarding her on the divorce papers, she thought back to the day he had proposed to her. The way he had been acting suspicious all day, telling her to go grocery shopping on her own just so he could prepare everything for his -their- big moment.

Or the day they had actually gotten married- thinking about it now, it was ironical. They had been signing the marriage papers together. She'd sign the divorce papers on her own, just like he would as soon as he got home. He had once carried her past the door sill, and now she'd walk the same way out of his life. This time, Sooyoung realized while she packed all of her belongings, she would be alone.

By the time she had arranged everything for Chanyeol's arrival, it was past ten. She laughed as she looked back at her phone and remembered the text message Byun Baekhyun had sent her when her husband had left the office. Turned out she wasn't important enough to keep a promise made to her, not even on Christmas Day. Their day.

"Sooyoung", she mumbled to herself, feeling dizzy as she reached for her bag and gazed at the two large suitcases by the front door, "today was the last time you allowed yourself to be weak."

She turned her back on the photobook, the documents on the table, Chanyeol's favourite cookies, an nearly empty christmas tree-

And with a last look over her shoulders, Sooyoung left the house, leaving her past self behind the wooden door.

When Chanyeol arrived at his house it was close to eleven. His smile grew as the familiar scent of his favourite cookies hit his nose, and the thought of Sooyoung coming to greet him every moment made his heart swell over with anticipation... yet she wasn't there to listen to his whining about the monstrous amount of work he had finished that day. Today, his sweet wife wasn't there to embrace him.

After shoving off his shoes and taking off his jacket at the front door, he made his way to the kitchen-diner, where he'd noticed the gentle light of the christmas tree burning. Surely Sooyoung had fallen asleep while waiting for him.

Barely did he know he'd find the room to be empty, too. One closer look told him something was off- no candles burning, no tree decorations but the holiday lights themselves hanging on the tree to bathe the room in a dim golden light. Just a plate of his favourite cookies and something blue on the kitchen counter, carefully arranged there for him to see. 

At a closer look, he recognized the blue something to be the dress he had gotten Sooyoung for her twenty-fifth birthday this year. "It's a size too big!!", she had whined while hitting his shoulders, yet still didn't want him to exchange it for one in the correct size. He’d never realized why, and he had no time to think about it now, being too shocked by the things underneath the dress:

  A red envelope. 

Sooyoung's smartphone.

Divorce papers.

 "Di- divorce...?", he read, his voice starting to get shaky in the middle. "Sooyoung, why-" He slammed the documents back on the table, running upstairs to check the bedroom- photos, clothes, hygiene utensils- everything belonging to her was gone. After searching the house, he realized there was no trace of Park Sooyoung, nothing left to hint he'd ever lived with someone.

 Back at the kitchen counter, he searched the divorce papers -He'd neversign them!- for a hint of Sooyoung's where-abouts, yet all she'd left for him was a small note saying "Give these to Seulgi, she's my lawyer in this case and will handle the rest.". Ripping on his hair in need of a saviour, he put the last bit of hope he had left on the red envelope carrying his wife's handwriting. With shaky fingers he ripped it open, the tears in the corners of his eyes already speaking of the message inside.

 "I love you, Chanyeol.

I love you, and I know you once loved me, too. 

Just like you gave your heart to me so sincerely three years ago, I will now vanish from your life for you to be free.

All I want you to do is to live and love well.

Don't worry about me, I will find my own peace in the near future.

 — Sooyoung."

  "Sooyoung... why did you-", he whispered, his voice hoarse and shaky as he tried to keep himself from breaking down. 

She couldn't just leave him like that!

She couldn't leave him behind for doing something like sleeping with someone else- she had been the one to reject him, she had pushed him away over these past three months. She couldn't blame all of this on him.

His steps led him over to the phone, the same phone Sooyoung had found out about his after-work activities with, and dialed the number of Sooyoung's parents- yet all he did was getting his in-laws nervous.

"You mean Sooyoung's not with you right now?" Chanyeol tried denying it, yet the aggitated undertone in her mother's voice was making him worry him even more. "Did- did the two of you fight?"

"No, I just got home from work and I couldn't find her here- she..." He trailed off, hearing Sooyoung's mother starting to sniff. Suddenly, he fet bad for even calling her like this. "She... she just left her phone on the kitchen table and- oh, I think I just heard the front door." At least she stopped sniffing.

"Really? Chanyeol, if anything bad happened, please tell us-"

"Don't worry, she says we were missing out on sugar, so she bought some at the convenience store down the street." It was a big, fat lie, and he was sure he'd have to pay for it sooner or later. "She tells me to send you the sweetest greetings, by the way."

"Oh, I see." He could hear Sooyoung's mother sighing again. She seemed relieved, yet Chanyeol still felt uneasy. What would they do once their daughter showed up on their doorstep? "I was so scared you two had gotten into a fight because of- uhm, anyway, please keep your eyes on our precious daughter, dear."

After exchanging their farewells, Chanyeol threw the phone onto the sofa, something in his mind stirring and awakening the urge to read Sooyoung's note again.

"There it is-", Chanyeol exclaimed, his eyes squinting at the sentence he faintly remembered, everything swirling in his mind like a tornado. "Just like you gave... three years ago..." He reread the sentence, ten times, twenty, until an idea formed in his head.

Three years ago on Christmas Day, he had confessed to Sooyoung- and the red thread dangling from one of the christmas tree branches, carrying Sooyoung's two rings, gave Chanyeol the rest.

  That night, for the first time in his life, his temper got the best of him.

  Sooyoung had left him. 

He had cheated on her. 

There was not a single trace of her, not a single way left to contact her for now- and the fact that she seemed to have planned this divorce all along didn't make it any easier for him to get over. 

 When Chanyeol woke up on the twenty-fith of december, he found himself in the middle of a completely destroyed house- another sign of his own weakness.