“I don’t think we can be together.”

Se Hee’s cold voice flew towards Kyle, who had been trying to avoid her.

“… What’s the reason?”

Kyle, unable to escape the shock, asked after a long time.

“I think there must be a reason why you suddenly changed your mind.”

Kyle’s voice was clearly filled with uncomfortable emotions.

Se Hee picked up the glass of water in front of her and slowly moistened her lips.

From now on, she had to say painful and difficult words.

Last night, after sorting everything out, Se Hee decided to lower the curtain on this play herself.

Deciding not to be a supporting actor who leaves everything to him and exits quietly.

“Since the trip we initially planned is over, I think it’s right to return as scheduled.”

Se Hee said calmly, as if it were natural.

“… I see. But I’m asking because we had agreed to stay together longer.”

Kyle’s dark eyes persistently followed Se Hee’s gaze.

Parched by his gaze, Se Hee drank water again.

And carefully placed the glass back on the table.

Se Hee took a deep breath and raised her head.

Kyle’s furrowed brow, looking extremely tense, came into view at once.

She must not waver.

Because it’s all an act.

Clenching her fists tightly, Se Hee opened her mouth.

“… I’d like our relationship to end here.”

With those words, Se Hee’s red lips closed firmly.

At that moment, Kyle was stunned.

What words had he just heard?

What had Se Hee said?

That short sentence made no sense at all.

Kyle froze, unable to say anything.

Even while directly observing Kyle’s confused state with her eyes, Se Hee didn’t stop.

Because she thought it was right for her to end this play first.

“I’m really glad I got to know you, and I was happy while we were together. This trip will be an unforgettable memory for the rest of my life. Thank you for everything.”

Se Hee spoke while trying hard to suppress her emotions, but it was difficult to maintain that state for long.

She clenched her fists to hold back the rising emotions. Her nails dug in deep enough to draw blood, but she felt no pain at all.

“… I’d like you to speak in a way I can understand?”

The expression disappeared from Kyle’s face.

His cold voice, devoid of pitch, was directed at Se Hee who was barely holding on.

She had planned to say only what she had prepared and get up from her seat right away, but was his pride not allowing it?

For me, not him, to conclude this play?

Se Hee swallowed dryly.

She no longer had the strength to pick up the water glass right in front of her.

Trying her best to compose her trembling emotions, she made an effort not to reveal her feelings.

“I think it was a relationship born out of impulsive emotions in an unfamiliar travel destination. So I judged it would be good to end it along with the trip.”

This was the ending Se Hee had chosen for this play.

Kyle’s face, which had lost expression, darkened seriously.

“Who… made… that judgment?”

Although Kyle was trying his best to control his emotions, he couldn’t completely hide the surging anger.

“Who exactly? I’ve been rational all along.”

Kyle’s low murmur was colder than ever before.

“At least I… was. A meeting mixed with unrealistic, impulsive emotions in a fantasy-filled travel destination, something I might regret when I come to my senses…”

“Suddenly? You’re making such excuses now?”

Nonsense.

Kyle cut off Se Hee mid-sentence.

A chilling sensation suddenly enveloped Se Hee.

But Se Hee remained faithful to her role until the end.

“… It was just a deviation that happened at a travel destination.”

Se Hee put the final period on this play, saying it was just an impulsive deviation.

“… Ha… What? Deviation?”

The emotions Kyle had been trying hard to suppress, like boiling lava, finally cracked.

A scornful laugh burst out.

“You’ve been playing with fire with me all this time?”

Kyle’s voice was gradually becoming more agitated.

“Look me straight in the eye and say it again.”

Kyle’s sharp gaze, as if it would pierce Se Hee’s heart, flew towards her.

His gaze was full of anger.

So Se Hee was flustered.

Why?

Is there really a need to act to this extent?

If she easily set the stage, shouldn’t he just pretend to give in reluctantly?

But as if he had truly been in love.

Why was he looking at her with such eyes?

Is it ultimately about pride?

That just as he started this play, he should be the one to end it?

No. The trip lasts until tomorrow.

His acting with all his might would probably end the moment this cruise ship completely docks at its final destination.

Se Hee had to hold onto her crumbling heart.

She had rushed too much.

It seems she should have told him tomorrow.

Because he’s a meticulous and perfect man who would have calculated even that final moment of ending the play.

“… Cha Hyo Jun. Is it ultimately because of that man?”

Kyle asked, slowly exhaling a hot breath filled with anger.

Se Hee looked at Kyle with a surprised expression.

Suddenly mentioning Cha Hyo Jun.

What did that mean?

But Se Hee soon grasped Kyle’s intention.

This must have been his ending.

Lee Se Hee returning to her ex-boyfriend.

So he would let her go?

It was truly bitter.

It certainly wasn’t a good look.

But thinking that he wouldn’t end it unless it was a conclusion made by his will, Se Hee decided to go along with Kyle’s play.

She no longer had the confidence to endure.

Regardless of whose ending it was, Se Hee just wanted to end this play quickly somehow.

“… Yes. The three years I spent with Hyo Jun weren’t a short time. He asked me to come back.”

Se Hee closed her eyes resignedly, exhaling a deep sigh.

Please end it now.

Now that you’ve heard the answer you wanted, please lower the curtain.

“… Are you serious?”

But Kyle didn’t seem to want to end this play quickly.

Kyle’s voice, becoming more emotional, grew intense.

“Are you… doing this because you want to see me go crazy?”

Kyle, furrowing his brow seriously, was on the verge of exploding.

Kyle found it difficult to look at Se Hee closing her eyes as if recalling memories with that man.

He simply couldn’t suppress the boiling anger.

“… I’ll get up now.”

Se Hee, who had exceeded her endurance limit, stood up from her seat.

“I didn’t get an answer.”

Kyle growled.

“I don’t think we have anything more to say.”

Se Hee answered, pouring out the last of her strength.

“I’ll ask again. Is it really… because of Cha Hyo Jun?”

At that moment, Se Hee felt in her skin that this was the final moment, from Kyle’s voice that had suddenly sunk low.

“… Yes. It’s true.”

This is the answer you want, right?

Se Hee smiled faintly, as if giving Kyle a final greeting.

“… I see… Alright.”

Kyle’s voice sank to the depths of the sea.

At that moment, Se Hee felt as if she was turning into sea foam.

It felt as if all of herself, all the time she had spent with him until now, was disappearing.

Covering her mouth, she ran away from there as if escaping.

Returning to her cabin, Se Hee turned the shower in the bathroom to maximum, and poured out the cry she had been holding back with all her might.

Her chest hurt.

That pain was more excruciating than any other time in her life so far.

It felt as if her beating heart was being torn apart and shattered into pieces.

* * *

The trip was over.

The Decona, which had set sail powerfully announcing Evans Cruise Line’s first voyage, smoothly completed its itinerary and entered its final destination, the port of Venice.

Befitting a cruise ship boasting the largest scale, its pristine white exterior created a magnificent spectacle like a floating castle on the sea.

As the crew finished preparing for disembarkation, travelers waiting in line descended the stairs one by one, talking about their happy memories on the cruise.

Se Hee was standing at the very end of that line.

The time that felt like a happy dream has ended, and now it’s time to return to where she originally belonged.

Se Hee’s watery gaze, full of pain, slowly examined the Decona, engraving each detail into her mind.

The moments she spent with him appeared before her eyes, conveying a lingering emotion.

She will never forget what happened here on the Decona.

It was more thrilling and beautiful than any other moment in her life.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it the best moment.

Thinking that this was the end, she simply couldn’t take a step.

Exhaling a long sigh, she painfully lifted her legs that seemed glued to the floor.

Se Hee stepped down from the last stair connected to the cruise ship.

The cruise shuttle bus that would take her back to Venice Marco Polo Airport, where Se Hee had arrived when the trip first started, was already there.

Se Hee also found her luggage and headed towards the bus.

At that moment, a painfully fresh scent carried by the sea breeze enveloped Se Hee’s entire body.

The moment she turned towards the direction of the wind, Se Hee’s heart sank.

A tall man casting a deep shadow, completely blocking the sun high in the sky, was standing before her eyes.

“Is this how you’re going to run away?”

His low bass voice, chillingly cold, sent a shock through Se Hee’s entire body.

Kyle.

Just making eye contact with him made Se Hee’s heart race madly.

However, the words that came out of her mouth were completely different from the emotions her heart was conveying.

“It’s not running away, it’s returning. To where I belong.”

Se Hee spoke as calmly as possible, trying to hide her trembling voice due to her already shaken emotions.

“Why does it look like you’re fleeing to my eyes?”

His gaze, arrogantly scanning her, felt like it was binding her entire body.

“Since the trip is over, it’s only natural to leave the deviation behind.”

Se Hee said nonchalantly.

However, Kyle’s thick eyebrows twitched at the word ‘deviation’ that Se Hee uttered.

“Just a deviation?”

His voice, lower than before, was even dropping the surrounding temperature.

“… Yes. A deviation that can easily happen in such an unfamiliar travel destination. And something insignificant that’s easily forgotten.”

While emphasizing that it was something insignificant.

While dismissing it as such herself.

Se Hee’s heart was crumbling.

Se Hee bit her trembling lips firmly.

“Easily forgotten… something insignificant?”

Displeasure filled Kyle’s deep blue eyes as he murmured lowly.

Se Hee tried not to be deceived by that appearance.

Because it’s all an act.

Because everything is a lie.

If the place I met you wasn’t the Decona cruise ship,

No, if it wasn’t the maiden voyage.

Complex emotions mixed in Se Hee’s heart.

Kyle’s deep navy eyes, looking at such a Se Hee, became darker than the deep sea.

Almost to the point of being black.

His eyes, seeming to see through a person’s inner thoughts, clearly reflected Se Hee’s pale face trying hard to suppress her emotions.

“Are you telling me to believe those words? That this is your true feelings?”

Kyle’s questioning words were like iron chains strongly binding Se Hee’s heart.

Se Hee painfully met Kyle’s eyes.

I wish your heart was sincere.

You have no idea how much I’m hoping for that.

You can’t know at all.

My heart that can’t help but be shaken like this by your eyes, by that one word, even while knowing all of this.

My heart that might have already fallen for you the moment I first saw you.

Because my feelings won’t matter to you anyway.

Se Hee exhaled a long breath to calm her turbulent emotions.

And she came to a conclusion.

That she wasn’t being played by his false deception, but simply leaving a deviation she had brought upon herself.

One wound was enough.

She didn’t want to create another wound.

“… It’s true.”

Se Hee, who had steeled her heart, coldly uttered.

As Se Hee immediately started to move, Kyle blocked her path.

“So, you’re going to… end it?”

For an instant, the distance between the two narrowed as if they would touch.

His deep scent breathtakingly penetrated Se Hee’s lungs.

“… But Lee Se Hee. I have no intention of letting you go.”

Kyle’s intense gaze was fully directed at Se Hee.

Se Hee, completely caught by that gaze, couldn’t push him away as he approached closer and closer.

As if knowing she wouldn’t be able to refuse, Kyle’s strong arm naturally wrapped around Se Hee’s slender waist.

Kyle’s dizzying kiss that followed, as if it had been waiting, was engraved on Se Hee’s heart, causing a strong thrill.