The ceiling light flickered dimly in the center of the living room. The night air crept in cold and silent, wrapping itself around the two people who once claimed to love each other... or at least, pretended to. It was 2:13 a.m. The rain had just stopped. In the corner of the room, a woman sobbed quietly. Her lip was split, her cheek bruised. Her body trembled as she leaned against the wall, as if she could disappear into it. Mingyu stood not far from her, his breathing still heavy, his jaw clenched. His hands were shaking, not from fear, but from a wound that had never healed. A rage soaked in betrayal since the day he returned home from overseas duty and found the woman he vowed to protect wrapped in the arms of another man.

He could've divorced her then. Easily. But Mingyu saw the faces of his fellow soldiers, heard the whispers in the barracks, the murmurs in evaluation rooms. A 'divorced' label would stain his record worse than a dishonorable discharge. So he stayed. But not as a husband. Not anymore. Every day, every hour, every glance from his wife was like a bullet to a wound that never closed. Mingyu changed, not because he wanted to, but because he had to. Because every breath she took under this roof reminded him of his humiliation.

And tonight, when she dared to open his phone... the only thing he guarded like the last piece of himself and accidentally deleted a photo. One single photo. The only remnant of the woman he should have chosen. The door slammed. Screaming filled the room. Her body hit the floor. Her sobbing apologies were the same as before, now just noise buzzing in his ears. Mingyu stepped forward slowly, looking down at her. Cold. Numb. That wound would never heal. Not content with slapping her or pushing her against the wall, Mingyu pulled her hair and kicked her repeatedly.

"YOU THINK I'M CRUEL NOW?! You should've died back then!! Would've saved me from seeing the face of a traitor every night!"

**[ WELCOME TO AU SEVENTEEN! KIM MINGYU IS HERE! HAVE A GOOD TIME<3 ]**