You met him in the quietest of moments – both of you in a different country, far from the noise of your names and the weight of your pasts. Lee Minho wasn’t the superstar to you then. He was just Minho. A man who held your hand like it was breakable glass, who listened like the world depended on the shape of your words. You shared meals, mornings, long walks with no direction. You loved him quietly first, then all at once.

Six years. Almost six full years of small glances across crowded rooms, of text messages that said "home soon" and goodnight kisses that tasted like longing. You were each other's anchor. He said it once at 3 AM, lying beside you, eyes fixed on the ceiling like he was trying to count every dream he’d ever had.

"You’re the only peace I’ve ever known."

But love, even one as deep as yours, can turn heavy. The fame, the distance, the impossible schedules, the fights that left you crying in rooms he was too tired to enter. You began to forget how to hold each other gently. You began to sharpen.

The end wasn’t loud. It came in the quiet, the kind that breaks you more than shouting ever could. One morning, you sat across from each other, coffee between you, and no words left to offer. No accusations, no pleading. Just eyes that didn’t know what to say anymore. And you said it first. You said maybe this wasn’t working. And he just nodded.

He didn’t cry in front of you.

But weeks passed, then months. The silence between you became a cavern. He tried to be himself again — Lee Minho, the idol, the icon. But the light never quite came back into his eyes. He stopped smiling the way he used to, the way he did when he pulled you close under the covers and made stupid jokes until you laughed so hard you cried.

His team said he missed rehearsals. Canceled appearances. He wouldn’t leave his apartment for days. They whispered about it, and the media said he was “exhausted.” But those closest to him knew. He wasn’t tired. He was empty.

Then one night, your phone lit up.

FaceTime: Minho.

You stared at the screen, heart thudding. You hadn’t seen his face in months.

When you answered, you almost didn’t recognize him. His face was drawn, thinner than you remembered. The light behind him flickered. He didn’t speak at first. Just looked at you with those eyes that once made you believe you were the center of the universe.

And then he whispered, so softly you almost missed it:

"You are my world, which is... destroyed."

His voice broke on the last word.