Chapter 31

Listen

It was a silent drive towards their destination. Sunny occasionally looked at her right only to see Yuri with her head leaning on the car window, deep in thought.

The tanned girl thought back of what happened between them. She was clearly hated by Jessica... “But why the hell would she do that? Is she really just messing with me again?”

Yuri shook her head, “But her eyes...they looked so...sad.”

 [Flashback]

Yuri stood still, surprised by Jessica Jung’s kiss. Mixed emotions went into her system. Confusion? Excitement? Affection? She doesn’t know.

Jessica pulled away and continued to stare at Yuri’s face. She imagined that she made quite a sight at the moment. She could barely stand, the world was spinning so much. The blonde girl clearly was waiting for Yuri to say something but the latter got all tongue-tied. She didn’t know where to start. “Why did you kiss me?”

A few seconds have passed and both were still standing still staring at each other. No movement. The air of tension came flooding in the room. Soon, Yuri noticed tears falling from Jessica’s beautiful eyes.

“Jessica—“

The girl laughed hysterically as she hugged her tummy to suppress it. “You should’ve seen your face, it was so priceless.” said Jessica. In just a few seconds, she resumed her stoic stance and looked back at Yuri.

“Don’t get the wrong idea. I don’t like you. I just kissed you to mess around with you.” She gulped and breathed deeply, she didn’t want Yuri to see her in her weak state. She needs to hide this. Suppress it.

“If you’ll excuse me I’ll be going back to my room. Thank you for the dinner.” said Jessica indifferently. She turned her back, ready to exit but strong hand on her shoulder prevented her to go further.

She clenched her teeth and made a fist. “I don’t need this right now. I hate you.” she grunted as she turned around to remove the hand but Yuri’s grip on her was too strong for her.

Yuri inhaled loudly as she saw tears completely staining her beautiful face. Seeing her at this state, it really hurts. She didn’t want this girl to always be grumpy, lonely, sad, or in a bad mood. She liked a smiling Jessica. Always.

“Why did you do that Jessica?” said Yuri as she raised her hand to wipe away Jessica’s tears. However, the shorter girl prevented her from doing so and slapped her right cheek.

Jessica gasped but hid her guilty expression immediately. She turned her back and wiped her tears with her hands.

“I’m sorry.” her voice quivered and ran away.

[End of flashback]

“I can still feel the sting.”

“Yuri, we’re here.” said Sunny. Yuri shoved away the thoughts and brightly smiled at the girl in front of her.

She was nervous. Sunny is one of Yuri’s trusted friends. Yuri thought that Sunny would greatly help her in solving this dilemma she’s having. She made her conclusion that this friend of hers would accept anything about her and wouldn’t runaway.

“We’ll see about that later...” she sighed as she saw her cute friend return the smile.

Once they went out of the car, the cold wind greeted them. A warm gloved hand held Yuri’s bare ones.

“Let’s go.”said Sunny and she smiled cutely.

The rays of sun touched the streaks of Sunny’s light blond hair which complimented her skin. Her bangs flop down in front of her bright brown eyes half of the time but her hair is short on the back. 

“She’s all grown up now, and turned up to be very pretty.”

Yuri brushed Sunny’s hair to the side and grinned.

“Yes, let’s go.”

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

“She must’ve done something to Yuri. You know your cousin, she’s crazy in love with her.” Thoughts of them together swirled in her mind and her head started to boil. She mercilessly stabbed a chunk of meat with her fork and shoved it in . Every food digested only had decrements of nanoseconds to process.

“Relax Soo, some roads must’ve been closed and I know Sunny..” Hyoyeon looked at Sooyoung with confidence, “She’s too innocent to seduce Yuri.”

Sooyoung laughed mockingly and swayed her fork in front of Hyoyeon’s face. “How can you be so sure that your cousin’s so innocent? I can feel this evil aura when she looks at Yuri. It gives me shivers.”

Hyoyeon wiped her grease-stained face with tissue as she glared at Sooyoung. “How can you be so sure that your Yuri is innocent as well? I can feel her warm aura every time she looks at me. She’s like, seducing me with her eyes. It’s kinda creepy actually. But who can blame her? Everyone’s in love with me.”

Sooyoung guffawed and smacked Hyoyeon’s head. “Dream on girl, Yuri won’t be crushing on you.”

“Oh trust me, she does.” said Hyoyeon. She continued on to staring at the gluttonous girl and wondered why Sooyoung, Sunny, and Taeyeon would be interested in Yuri. “I get it that she’s y and cute, but she’s just a normal girl. They can easily find someone like her anywhere.”

“So why fight over a single girl?” came out loudly.

“Excuse me?”

“Why are you interested in Yuri? You can have anyone as your girlfriend/boyfriend...but why her? What did you guys see in her?”

“You want to know my criteria?”

Hy0yeon nodded in response as she sat down to listen attentively to Sooyoung.

“Well, that person has to be awesome in the dance floor. Someone who can sweep me of my feet with their dance moves.”

Hyoyeon gasped, “Does that mean you have a crush on me too?”

“Hold on, I’m not yet finish.”

“Alright, but just to let you know, you’re not my type so if your heart got broken because of Yuri, you can never--“

“Yah! You’re so full of yourself. I was about to say that that someone must be at least a 165 cm tall and you girl are certainly not one.”

“Hmph, I can wear high heels.” said Hyoyeon in defeat. “But why the height criteria?”

Sooyoung shrugged, “I just don’t want someone tiptoeing to kiss me.”

“.....”

“Anyway, the other criteria would be that that person has to be charming, understanding, patient, and caring...and sweet—“

“Yuri is sweet? In what way?”

“She does these ugly, sometimes funny faces just to cheer me up...we would go to places with beautiful sceneries—“ she giggled, “almost like a date, she gives me roses when I feel down and treats me to my favourite restaurant...and would play a nice melody using the piano” said Sooyoung with a dreamy face.

Hyoyeon whistled. She was impressed. For a girl, Yuri sure knows how to make a girl swoon.

“God, I was so gay for Yuri back then. And now. Only this time, it got worse. It’s like I can’t contain these feelings anymore because I’ve been dreaming of me touching her intimately—“

“Yeaaaaahh, I get it.” Hyoyeon shook her head. “These girls are going to be the death me of me.”

“So Yuri clearly doesn’t know that you’re in love with her all this time?”

Sooyoung nodded her head and sighed deeply. “She’s too dense with those sorts of things, you see...”

Sooyoung continued to share the things that have been bothering her about Yuri. Fortunately, Hyoyeon was interested in knowing more about her friend and was a good listener. Both girls were engaged in talking until Hyoyeon brought up one of her crazy idea.

“So she liked a sissy boy...why not act more like him? Yuri clearly fell in love with his personality.” said Hyoyeon as she remembered Jo Kwon’s picture that was handed to her from Sooyoung.

The taller girl stared at her friend incredulously, “How the hell am I going to do that? I’m not as perky as Jo Kwon!”

“You said you’re friends with this guy right? Why not call and invite him to have some cup of coffee together in a cafe nearby?”

Sooyoung raised a brow, clearly confused on why they would do such a thing. Hyoyeon face palmed herself because of her friend’s slow mindedness.

“You’re going to have to ask him to give you some lessons on how to get Yuri’s heart.”

Play: Just Playing With You

[Meanwhile]

“Thank you for meeting me here in the cafe, I don’t know where else to talk to you in private.” said Tiffany in a relieved tone as she sat down comfortably at a chair just across from Taeyeon’s.

As soon as both made eye-contact, Taeyeon straightened up and immediately stared down at her intertwined hands. Fidgeting to say something smart to the girl in front of her, “Tiffany, what did you want to tell me regarding her?”

Tiffany sighed and inhaled deeply as she placed her elbows on the coffee table. She leaned forward as to make her voice only audible to Taeyeon. “This is going to be a long story...I know Jessica has told you some nasty things about me but you’ve clearly only gained small parts of the information correctly.”

Taeyeon raised a brow and chuckled, “I know what you did to her and it was very selfish of you to do that. I really admired you last year and considered you as a friend but you blew it up with all your selfishness. I’d rather—“

“She wasn’t the only one who got hurt.  Tch, just please listen to me!” Tiffany stood up and slammed her hands on the coffee table which gained a lot of attention from some customers who just arrived.

Taeyeon gulped and was surprised by Tiffany’s sudden change in attitude but she remained stoic and kept mum.

Tiffany bowed apologetically to the customers and settled in once again to the comforts of her chair. “I’m sorry that I yelled at you but I am sick and tired of people judging me because of some lame gossip and wrong information.”

Once Taeyeon saw Tiffany on the verge of tearing up, she coughed slightly and gave her her full attention.

“It’s okay. I’m sorry I was rude. Now tell me everything that I need to know.”

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sunny and Yuri walked along the patches of snow and the crunching of thin wood can be heard from where they’re headed. As they went to a stop, they scoped the whole place that looked different during winter. The vast lake became a skating rink and most of the trees were devoid of their leaves.

Sunny breathed in and exhaled comfortably as she stretched her little arms forward.

“I missed this place.”

Yuri smiled, she ruffled Sunny’s hair and cupped her small face. Even though she’s been in this place for a couple of times, it still feels different when Sunny’s around. It was very nostalgic and she felt more relaxed and at home.

Instead of being annoyed at Yuri for messing Sunny’s hair, she enjoyed it. Having Yuri to touch her so tenderly like that gave her hope and a boost of confidence for the possibility that there would be something more in their relationship.

Sunny giggled but soon enough stared at Yuri’s brown orbs for answers as to why they were back in this place. This place served as their meeting place when either one of them have something troubling their mind.  Just by conversing and sharing their problems to each other made them feel that they have solved half it already.

“What’s troubling you Yuri?” Sunny said softly.

Yuri tensed up and pulled away a little, she made up her mind that it was best that she would break the news to Sunny slowly. “Well you see...I have been having problems with my body...”

She took a peek at Sunny who was listening very attentively so she continued, “I was thinking if I could change it to being a boy...” she huffed and scratched her head; she doesn’t know how to say it to Sunny directly.

“Let’s just say I turned into a boy because of some black magic. Would you believe me?”

Sunny continued to eye her but soon laughed hard.

“I knew she won’t take it seriously.”

Sunny settled down and wiped the tear in her eye, “Tell you what, let’s talk while skating, maybe that’ll make you more relaxed in talking to me.” she said as she raised two pairs of skates that she got from her backpack.

.....................................................

And it did. Skating helped Yuri to relax a bit and have organized her speech to Sunny. Yuri gazed at the shorter girl was enjoying gliding on the ice with her angelic laugh. Like a swan dancing on the lake, Sunny twirled like a pro-skater. Yuri smiled  at the sight and soon enough both made eye contact.

“Yuri, do you remember when we were kids, we saw a shooting star and wished for something.” said Sunny as she skilfully  glided her skated around Yuri.

Yuri giggled and remembered their past escapades and numerous sleepovers. “I do remember. Clearly. I wished that you would be my husband when we’re all grown up.”

It was Sunny’s turn to laugh, “Yup, but unfortunately, we’re both girls and I’m pretty much not the husband material.”

The tanned girl shook her head and slightly got a headache from Sunny’s twirling. “I could be your husband since I kinda fit the part...”

“Tall, dark, and handsome. Yessir, you’re a jackpot.”

Yuri glared at Sunny and playfully stuck out her tongue. “I look pretty feminine, thank you very much.”

“....”

A minute of silence. It was not awkward silence but of comfort. Both just enjoyed each other’s company.

Sunny was the first to break the silence, “Yuri, do you have any idea of what I wished for on that fateful night?”, she asked as she glided her way closer to Yuri.

“No, what did you wish for?” said Yuri. She stopped as she saw Sunny going her way. She opened her arms to catch her.

“I wished on the stars to make you my wife.”

Yuri held the shorter girl’s slender waist as Sunny held onto Yuri’s shoulders to get her balance.

“I can be your wife, there’s no problem with that.”  Yuri half-smiled as she continued to stare at Sunny’s beautiful face. For a brief second, she noticed the shorter girl’s face turn into beet-red.

Sunny sighed and stared at the tanned girl’s tantalizing brown orbs,

“You don’t understand, what I’m trying to say is that I...”

She gripped Yuri shoulder tightly as she said,

“I’m in love with you.”

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[Cafe]

“So that’s what happened...” whispered Taeyeon.

Tiffany nodded as she continued to stare at her half-filled latte. Usually, she could finish a cup within 20 minutes but sharing and talking about a sensitive topic to someone just made her not to.

She heard the screeching sound of the chair being pushed away, Taeyeon stood up and  took out some bills from her designer handbag. She placed them on the table and stared at Tiffany. Taeyeon showed a doubtful face to the girl. She needed more explanations from the other girl.

“I’ll need to talk to her about this, I still don’t trust you that much.” said Taeyeon. She bowed and was ready to walk away but a hard grip on her wrist stopped her.

“I loved her. I really did.” said Tiffany as she finally loosened her grip.

Taeyeon did not respond and continued to walk out of the coffee shop.

As the bell rang by the cafe door, a tall girl with her apron sat opposite from Tiffany’s. She propped her elbows on the table and cutely pouted.

“Unnie, what happened between the two of you? It looked like you were talking about something serious...Are you alright?”

Tiffany raised her head and acknowledged the tall girl with a smile.

“It was nothing. I’m fine.”

The taller girl grinned and made a thumbs up.

“If you need someone to talk to other than that kid, I’ll be more than happy to listen to you.”

Tiffany giggled at the sight of the hyper girl, “Thank you...”

“...Yoona.”