Chapter 82 — The One Smile She Couldn't Fake
The sun had already started to set when Jaeheon returned to the hotel.
None of the members noticed he had been gone. Or rather—they noticed, but didn't ask.
They were used to it now. He disappeared like a ghost sometimes, slipping into alleys of silence no one could follow.
He stepped into the suite quietly.
The living room was filled with the smell of food—lemon butter pasta, warm ciabatta, something sweet baking in the oven. AUREUS had taken full advantage of the hotel chef. Minjae was singing into a wine glass again. Rin was curled up with a notebook, sketching stage layouts. Hyunjae and Sungchan were deep in a debate about outfits for the encore performance.
The whole place buzzed with warmth.
But Jaeheon stood in the entryway like he didn't belong in it.
His coat was dusted with the faintest trace of river mist. His hair was tousled. His expression unreadable.
"Hyung," Sungchan called, spotting him first. "Where'd you go?"
"Walk," Jaeheon replied.
His voice was flat. Not cold. Not distant. Just… subdued.
No one pushed further.
But he walked straight past them. Straight to the furthest room. Closed the door behind him.
They didn't follow.
Inside the Room
Jaeheon pressed his forehead against the door for a second before sliding down to the floor.
The weight in his chest was something old.
And something entirely new.
He'd seen her. Anastasia.
She hadn't seen him—at least, he didn't think so.
She was at the riverside café, sitting across from a man in a navy suit. Their conversation looked easy, unhurried. She had smiled once—faintly, the way she always did. The way only he remembered. But it had gutted him.
It had been six months.
Six months of silence. Six months of longing, folded into quiet rituals. Six months of one-sided messages.
And now?
She was here. In Milan. With someone.
The ache in his chest wasn't rage. It wasn't even jealousy.
It was finality.
Or something close to it.
Later That Night
He didn't eat dinner.
He sat at the small desk by the window, opened his notebook, and wrote something that wasn't quite a song. Not yet.
The title at the top of the page read:
"If You Had Someone, I'd Still Choose Silence."
The first verse came slow.
I saw you in gold again, beneath a foreign sun
Your hair catching light like a name I couldn't say
And I smiled like a man who understood that some things
Aren't meant to be touched twice.
He stopped. Closed the book.
Then, without warning, he opened the message thread again.
Typed:
"Since you already have someone…
I won't appear in your life anymore.
I'll keep my feelings in my heart.
I won't bother you."
He hovered over the send button for a long, long time.
And then deleted it.
He sent nothing.
Instead, he turned off the light and sat in the dark.
Across the City — Midnight
Anastasia wasn't with the man anymore.
She was alone again, inside the suite reserved for her by one of the Seven Legacy Courts.
She stood in the center of the room, holding her phone.
The message thread with Jaeheon still open.
She hadn't replied to his last message—but she had read it. Just like she always did.
She knew what he saw today. She knew how it must have looked.
She didn't owe anyone explanations. Not even him.
But he wasn't "anyone."
And she hated herself for knowing that.
Her eyes lingered on the screen, where his message ended with:
"I wonder what you're building right now."
Then she whispered to herself—
"...a way to come back."