I stumbled slightly on the pavement, the alcohol making every step feel heavier than it should. Somehow, I ended up in front of his door. My heart raced uncontrollably as I raised my hand and knocked. The moment he opened the door, butterflies erupted in my stomach—but the instant I saw the indifferent expression on his face, the warmth vanished. A cold reminder settled in me: I would never be his woman.

Heung-min looked at me strangely, as if I were some pitiful creature frozen in place. His eyes narrowed slightly, curiosity mingled with caution. “What do you want?” he asked, calm but with that edge of distance I had always felt around him.

I froze. The words caught in my throat, my mouth dry, my courage drowned in alcohol and nerves. I hadn’t known he had a girlfriend; that detail had somehow slipped past me until now. Seeing him now, standing there so untouchable, so happy with someone else, the ache inside me twisted sharply.

“I… I just…” I trailed off, stumbling over the words. “I… needed to see you.” My voice was small, almost inaudible, yet every syllable screamed of longing.

Hector's gaze softened for a moment—not with affection, but with that faint, almost pitying awareness of my state. “You’re drunk,” he said carefully. “Go home. This… this isn’t the way to handle whatever this is.”

I swallowed hard, the sting of reality crashing down. I wanted to protest, to tell him I didn’t care about the world, that I only cared about him—but the truth of his relationship made my voice fail.

“Y-yeah… okay,” I murmured, the bitter warmth of alcohol and rejection burning through me. I turned away, every step heavier than the last, my heart shattering in silence as I realized I had walked all this way only to confirm the truth I didn’t want to face: he belonged to someone else, and I was nothing but a foolish, drunken shadow outside his life.