Startled, Sa Rang looked up from her coffee.

What did he mean by that? She blinked in confusion.

Do Han, watching her, clenched his fists under the table.

“I’m going to study abroad.”

He had spent days thinking, and this was all he could come up with.

Feeling ridiculous for even saying it, Do Han cursed himself.

“Hye Ri is going to have surgery in the U.S. soon. She’ll receive treatment there afterward. So, my father and I have decided to go with her.”

Sa Rang’s mouth opened slightly.

She couldn’t believe that Hye Ri was sick enough to need surgery, let alone that Do Han was leaving.

“When? When are you going to the U.S.?”

She knew she should prioritize Hye Ri’s well-being, but she couldn’t help but focus on Do Han.

“Next week.”

“Next week? So soon?”

As he nodded slowly, Sa Rang let out a sigh.

Her hands shook as she held the coffee cup, and her mind was a complete blank.

“When will you be back?”

Holding onto a sliver of hope, she asked.

Tears were already welling up in her eyes.

Do Han couldn’t meet her gaze and slightly turned his head.

“I won’t be coming back.”

“What?”

As Sa Rang’s voice trembled, Do Han met her eyes again.

To make her resent him freely and forget him without lingering feelings, Do Han coldly proposed a breakup.

“I’m saying we should break up.”
“I’m saying we should break up.”

It must be bewildering and incomprehensible.

I can’t even convince myself, let alone you.

Do Han sighed deeply.

If he had known he’d have to let go of Sa Rang this quickly, he would have accepted her confession then.

Or better yet, he should have approached her first.

No, he should never have shown clumsy kindness to a drunk freshman in the first place.

All he had were regrets.

The biggest regret being that he never once called her by her name.

And that he never once told her he loved her.

Do Han recalled the moment he uttered Sa Rang’s name in front of Hye Ri.

Although Sa Rang had lifted his long curse, he couldn’t call her by her name or tell her he loved her.

Being tender was not an option when he was about to break up.

Do Han looked at Sa Rang and murmured in his heart.

‘Sa Rang.’

Will there ever be a day when he could call out her name aloud?

‘I love you, Sa Rang.’

Could there ever be a day in his life when he could face her, caress her face, and whisper those words?

Watching Sa Rang, who had lost focus in her eyes, Do Han suppressed the words rising to his throat.

“But I can come back, right? That’s uncertain.”

Sa Rang wanted to deny the reality.

Just as she had never thought Do Han would say they should break up, she hoped that he might return after a year or two.

“I’ll wait for you. I can wait. We can talk on the phone often, and I can visit you in the U.S. during vacations.”

Her eyes brimmed with tears, which finally fell drop by drop.

Sa Rang pressed her eyes several times, wiping away the tears.

“In the end, we’ll break up anyway. So let’s just end it here.”

“No, I can’t. I can’t just break up like this, suddenly…”

She couldn’t part with him, not now.

Aren’t breakups supposed to happen when feelings end?

She still liked him, so why did they have to break up? Sa Rang couldn’t accept it.

“I don’t think you’re too young to understand what I’m saying.”

Do Han looked at her straight with cold eyes.

Seeing Sa Rang shocked, he confirmed that this moment was indeed the last.

“Then I’ll take it you’ve understood and leave first.”

As Do Han stood up and left, Sa Rang felt all her strength drain away.

She couldn’t think of chasing after him and holding him back, instead she just cried incessantly, as if her tear ducts were broken.

Sa Rang feared that the image of him ingrained in her eyes would fade away.

“Stop drinking. You’ve had too much.”

Ji Woo snatched the glass from Sa Rang’s hand.

Sa Rang was supposed to go to the hotel to do a project with Do Han, toggling between nervousness and anticipation, but she ended up drinking alone at home that weekend.

She had broken up with Do Han just a few days ago.

Ji Woo was disbelieving for a while, then eventually got angry, knowing this would happen, and drank heavily with Sa Rang.

“Really? Am I drunk?”

Sa Rang wobbled even while sitting and chuckled.

“But why do I feel so clear? I understand everything you’re saying and know where I am.”

“You probably won’t remember when you wake up tomorrow.”

“Ah, is that so?”

Sa Rang marveled as if she had just learned something she didn’t know.
“Will I forget Do Han oppa by tomorrow, Ji Woo?”

Sa Rang’s mention of Do Han’s name made Ji Woo frown and sigh.

That jerk. Swear words came to mind unbidden.

He resented Do Han for giving his heart away when he was only going to date for a couple of months.

“Time will make you forget. You’ll even date a guy a hundred times better than him.”

Anyone would be better than Do Han.

That much Ji Woo could guarantee.

He handed the glass back to Sa Rang.

On days like today, if not drinking, then when?

Getting drunk might lessen the heartache.

“So forget him. As time goes by, you’ll wonder why you dated such a person.”

Ji Woo refilled her empty glass, and Sa Rang gulped it down, shaking her head.

“No. I don’t want to forget, Ji Woo.”

The second bottle of alcohol was already half empty.

It was the first time Sa Rang had drunk this much, and her vision was blurring.

Yet, she couldn’t understand why Do Han’s face was becoming clearer.

“I’ll never forget. I’ll remember him all my life and live well to show him. Just like you said, I’ll date a guy a hundred times better than Do Han oppa. I’ll hear ‘I love you’ from that boyfriend. And…”

Sa Rang took another drink.

Tears welled up again, a sure sign she was drunk.

Let’s cry only until today.

With these tears, let go of Ji Do Han, who had been her world.

From tomorrow, she would embrace a new world.

“I’ll make him call my name every day.”

“Name?”

“Yes. My name, ‘Sa Rang.'”

The name he never called once.

Not during their relationship, not even from the first time they met until the day they broke up.

She wished to hear it just once from him.

But now, that would never happen.

“He never called you by your name?”

Sa Rang’s faint smile and nod made Ji Woo’s eyes widen.

“That’s unbelievable. Really cruel. How can a boyfriend not call his girlfriend by her name?”

“Was I really his girlfriend?”

“What?”

Ji Woo’s face twisted in disbelief.

How could it not make sense after dating for over two months?

“Maybe not.”

“Then what were you?”

Sa Rang felt her strength draining.

Her eyes were getting heavy, and her words felt distant, as if coming from afar.

“I wonder what I was to him… what was I really to him?”

Did he ever truly like me?

Was he ever sincere with me?

While with him, she felt sure of his affection, but after breaking up, it all seemed like a delusion.

She thought she knew him, but she knew nothing.

Sa Rang turned on her phone, which she hadn’t put down for days, and opened the call log.

Do Han’s name was at the top.

Despite countless calls, not once had they connected.

She chuckled and pressed delete.

But at the prompt asking if she wanted to delete the contact, Sa Rang hesitated and pressed cancel.

Deleting his number wouldn’t erase him from her heart.

Now that they had broken up, she only wanted to see him more.