I looked through the files and stared at the statistics on the screen. Typing away with a frown on my face, the sound of a ding distracted my attention as I looked towards the lift's door. Instantly a smile appeared on my face, even though the person who was walking towards me had a sulky face.

"Annyeong."

I said to her but I wasn't expecting a reply anyway as Krystal sat down harshly and folded her arms. She had ended her work at 6pm just now but since I was still busy with a lot of paperwork, Krystal decided to look for me at my office. Krystal told me that she would hitch a ride with Tiffany, who would be coming to fetch Taeyeon from work.

"Wae? What's wrong?" I asked while my eyes returned back to the computer screen. Seeing that there was still no reply, I looked away to steal a glance at Krystal and was shocked to see that her eyes were watery. "Hey, hey. What's wrong, sweetheart?"

I quickly stood up from my chair and walked towards Krystal who had been sitting opposite me since she arrived. Wrapping my hands around her shoulders, I pulled her closer so that her head was leaning against my tummy. her hair slowly, Krystal finally started sobbing as I just stood  there quietly.

"I... I hate...her..." Krystal said in between her sobs before she shook her head. "But I love her too."

At that point, I knew that Krystal was talking about her sister. I continued standing there and waited for her to calm down. Once I sensed that she had stopped crying, I pulled a chair and sat directly in front of her. Lifting her chin so that our eyes would be in direct contact, I wiped the remaining tears from her cheeks.

"Waeyo? What happened at work?" 

Krystal pouted before she started explaining. "I was supposed to submit a team project to Unnie by today but something beyond our control happened which sort of delayed the whole thing. A colleague of mine, Ara, was trying her best to help me to solve the problem. I didn't know how Unnie caught wind of the problem but she had misunderstood Ara's effort and thought that she was the reason for the delay. In front of all my other team members, Unnie reprimanded her so I had to stand up for her to prove her innocence. I ended up being reprimanded by Unnie too. She then informed us that my team would be taken off from the project. Now the rest of the team members are angry with me and my other colleague for the whole mess."

I saw Krystal sighing as her eyes started to turn red again. Grabbing both her hands, I rubbed it with my thumbs as she looked at me straight in the eye.

"Why is Unnie acting like this? Is it because I complained about her to Appa and Omma? Even if she's taking revenge on me, she shouldn't bring my other teammates into our personal problem." Krystal let out her frustation as I continued to listen intently. "Do you have any vacancy in your company? Maybe I should just resign and find other jobs."

"Avoiding the matter will not solve anything. Maybe your Unnie is having some issues on her own. Give her some time to think it over. I believe she knows her mistake." I smiled and cupped her cheeks. "Since you're not in a good mood, let's go somewhere to lighten you up. How about Korean beef for dinner? Would you like that?"

It didn't came as a surprise for me when I saw how her eyes brightened up with the mention of her favourite food. She smiled a little and giggled, before breaking out into a wider grin. I told her to give me a few minutes to save up my work before we could proceed for our dinner. It was almost 8pm by the time we made our way to the lift as I pressed the button to go down to the lobby.

************************

Jessica's POV

I stared at my phone and bit my lips before throwing it away, somewhere on my bed. I had just finished reading a message from my sister as the silence in my house was getting too overwhelming for me.

I'll be sleeping over at Eunjin's place. - Soojung

With Soojung not coming back home for the night, I was left alone in my apartment. Tiffany had already informed me earlier that she would be spending the night at Taeyeon's place and Yuri... Well, she should be at her own house right now.

I let out a sigh and scratched my head, making my hair became more entangled. Tonight was the first time that I was alone in my apartment, after a long period of time. I used to be alone when Soojung was still studying since she had the dormitory to stay in. And of course, at that time, Tiffany had not arrived to Seoul.

I can't remember how it was back then when I was alone but I knew that I wasn't as restless as I was right now. Turning and tossing on my bed, I missed the familiar presence of someone warm beside me. A presence that I had gotten so used to by now. The presence of someone by the name of Kwon Yuri.

Ever since that small argument between us a week ago, Yuri had not been coming to my apartment. She said that she had been busy with work and didn't want to disturb me since she would be staying up late to finish it all. I had wanted to scold Eunjin for giving my girlfriend so much work but that was the start of the mess that had been dragging for the past few days.

(Flashback a few days ago)

I was a little upset when Yuri informed me that she would not be able to attend the family dinner, which Appa and Omma had planned for us since a few weeks ago. She said that she had some work to settle and would be staying back at the office. Arriving at my parents' place alone and after greeting my parents at the door, I made my way to the living room where I saw Eunjin and Krystal, sitting together on the couch.

"Yah, Han Eunjin. Why are you bullying your worker?"

I placed my hands on my hips and glared at the confused looking girl. My parents had went back to the kitchen to prepare for the dinner so it was only the 3 of us at the moment. I didn't know why but after seeing Eunjin smiling happily along with my sister, it made me lost my temper.

"My worker? Bullying? What are you talking about?" Eunjin asked as she scratched the back of her neck.

"Yuri had been spending lesser and lesser time with me because she seems to have an endless amount of paperwork to do." I replied.

"Unnie. What makes you think that Eunjin is the one who is giving her a lot of work?" Soojung interrupted our conversation as I chuckled sarcasticly.

"Because she's the boss." My answer was short as I noticed Soojung rolling her eyes at me.

"I don't remember giving her a lot of work though. But if you say so, then I'll look into the matter for you." Eunjin replied with a nervous smile.

"Good. Because I don't like it when my girlfriend is busy at work while her boss is having so much free time with her girlfriend."

At that time, I knew my words were harsh but I had a lot of frustration inside me. I knew I should have controlled my emotions but I guessed it was too late to hold back. What I didn't expect though, was Soojung's outburst.

"Unnie!! What do you mean by that? And why do you keep finding faults with Eunjin?" Soojung stood up and glared at me. "A few days, you had interfered in her private discussion with Yuri-unnie. Then you sent her a threatening message and now you are even accusing her of bullying her worker while she's enjoying life. What is wrong with you?"

"Yah, Jung Soojung. How dare you raised your voice and glared at me?" I pointed a finger at Soojung as I saw Eunjin trying to pull her to sit down.

"What's happening in here?"

Appa's firm voice interrupted our arguments as I saw Omma setting up the final dish on the table.

(End of flashbacks)

I shuddered at the memories about the aftermath as Appa reprimanded both of us. Soojung was ordered to apologise to me for raising her voice and I had to apologise to Eunjin for interfering in her life. Obviously, dinner became tense and awkward that night. Soojung started complaining to our parents about what I had done a few weeks ago even though I could sense that Eunjin was a little embarassed when Soojung mentioned about the intimate part.

My parents seemed to be taken aback too although they did adviced me not to interfere so much in Soojung's relationship. They agreed with Soojung that she needed to be treated like an adult which I had no choice but to agree with them.

It didn't helped that Soojung continued to be angry at me for the next few days and I sort of held grudges at her for complaining to our parents for what I did towards Eunjin. But I knew I was in the wrong all these while, especially about what happened today.

(Flashback a few hours earlier)

I had just returned from lunch and decided to use one of the Ladies before returning to my office. After I entered one of the cubicles, I heard a few female voices which I had ignored initially. It was until I heard one of them mentioning Soojung's name, that it made me paid more attention to their conversation.

"I heard Krystal's team won't be able to submit their project today. Seems that there's a problem with their supplier."

"Krystal? You mean the CEO's younger sister?"

"Yes, yes. Ms Jung's dongsaeng. You do know that Ms Jung is very particular about the projects that she gave us to handle, right? She expects all of us to get it done by the deadline given to us."

"But I don't think she would take any actions against them since it's her sister's team. No matter what, blood is thicker than water."

"The perks of having a sister as the CEO. Maybe we should try to get close to Krystal too. Who knows what are the benefits that we can get."

"But then again, I heard Ara is trying her best to contact the supplier to try and get it done by today. I wonder why she's trying so hard. Maybe she's the reason as to why the project got delayed or she's just trying to impress Krystal by getting on her good side."

As I continued to listen intently to everything , the voices faded off and soon silence filled the Ladies as I exited after making sure that no one else was around.

(End of flashbacks)

"Why can't Soojung understand that I'm only trying to protect her? I don't want her to be taken advantage of by others." I mumbled to myself before I was reminded of Yuri's words that night.

Once again, I sighed when I realised that what Yuri had said was correct.

************************

"We're getting married."

Taeyeon smiled as she held on to Tiffany's hand and looked at the group of girls in front of them. On Tiffany's fourth finger, was a beautiful shining diamond ring.

It was a momentary silence as everyone seemed a little stunned but after 10seconds, loud cheerings filled the air as everyone congratulated them. Even I was smiling with the news since I knew how much both of them loved each other.

"When did Taeyeon-unnie proposed to you?" Yoona asked Tiffany excitedly as the girl replied that it was exactly one week ago. "Was it romantic? Luxurious? Over the top kind of proposal?"

"It's romantic yet simple. Just the way I like it." Tiffany said with a wide smile as Taeyeon nodded her head.

"So when's the big day?" I asked as Taeyeon explained that they were still sorting out certain things.

"Since most of Fany's family member are in LA, we are still deciding on the location. It's either we will be having two weddings for LA and Seoul or we might want to have it in another country for both sides to travel to." Taeyeon ended her explanation as the rest of us nodded our heads.

"Guess Taeyeon will be getting that sponsorship from us. Right, Yul?" Sunny's sudden remark caused everyone to turn to look at both of them.

"I guess so." Yuri pouted and let out a deep sigh. "Update us about your choice of stay and we'll spilt the cost between us."

"Wait, wait.. What are you two talking about?" Jessica asked with a curious expression.

"A few years back, when we had just started the workshop, the 3 of us were hanging out together after work. It was one of those nights where we had nothing to do and no topics to really talk about until Yuri mentioned about marriage." Sunny started explaining.

(Flashbacks a few years ago)

Sunny, Yuri and Taeyeon were hanging out at the workshop after it was closed for the day. With a few cans of beer and two packs of fried chicken, the 3 girls sat down and talked about life, work and how they could improve the business of the workshop. They were running out of topics to talk about but none of them were interested to return home. Lost in their own thoughts, the sudden beeping of Yuri's phone caused the other two girls to look at her.

Yuri took out her phone from her pocket, read the message before she chucked it away to one side.

"Who was that? Some lonely girl asking you to accompany her for the night?" Taeyeon tried to guess as Yuri nodded her head.

"I'm not in the mood to entertain anyone at the moment." Yuri replied non-chalantly.

"Have you ever thought of settling down for good?" Sunny's sudden questioned caused Yuri to arch her eyebrow.

"I think among us, Yuri will be the 1st one to get married since she has so many choices to choose from." Taeyeon commented as Yuri wriggled her finger at her.

"Anni. I'm not serious with any of them. Furthermore, I don't think they are even thinking of me as their choices. I'm just someone for them to spend time with. That's all. No strings attached." Yuri explained.

"Don't you ever feel that whatever you're doing right now is meaningless?" Once again, Sunny's question made Yuri frowned.

"I... I...." Yuri bit her lips before she let out a sigh. "I wish there's someone for me out there.Someone who can accept my past, my present, my future."

"Who do you think among the 3 of us would get married first?" Taeyeon asked as Yuri pointed to Sunny but the girl pointed to Taeyeon instead. "Me? I don't even have the courage to approach any girl, unlike Yuri."

"That's because none of the girls have attracted your interest before." Sunny responded as Yuri nodded her head. "How about this? Whoever among us who gets married first, will have the remaining two to sponsor her honeymoon suite package. Call?"

"Yah!! Are you tempting me to grab any girls right now and get married?" Yuri chuckled as Taeyeon laughed out loud.

"The only condition attached to this awesome offer is that we have to get the approval of our closest friends to be married to that girl." Sunny explained further.

"CALL!!!"

Yuri and Taeyeon shouted at the same as the 3 of them raised their cans of beer and cheered together.

(End of flashbacks)

The rest of the girls laughed as they listened to the stories from the past. Yuri chuckled nervously as she eyed Jessica, who had folded her arms, beside her. 

"Is that why you wanted to get married as soon as possible?"

Everyone kept quiet when they heard Jessica's firm tone of voice. Yuri's smile disappeared from her face as she faced Jessica.

"Of course not. I didn't even remember about the deal until Sunny mentioned it earlier. It was something that happened a few years back." Yuri explained but the look on Jessica's face was obvious that she didn't believe Yuri's words. "Oh come on, Sica. I might not be that well-to-do but I can still pay for our own honeymoon suite. Did you really think that I wanted to get married because of that deal?"

The silence from Jessica didn't make the atmosphere any better as everyone started to give each other the eye signal.

"I don't understand why you have to work so hard for our marriage when I've already informed you that I'm willing to share the cost or even pay for everything. You've been spending lesser and lesser time with me due to work. Sometimes, it makes me wonder if there's someone attractive at work who is making you work until late." Jessica bluntly said as I heard gasps coming from someone.

I saw the change in Yuri's expression. It was obvious that she was angry with the accusations but at the same time, there was a tint of disappointment in her eyes.

"So basically after all these time you are with me, you can never forget the fact that I'm someone with such a past? Someone who flirts around. Someone who used to be a player." Yuri asked in a very deep and low tone of voice. "I knew I made a lot of mistakes in the past, hurt a lot of people and I was ready to accept whatever judgement that was given to me. But the last person I would ever wanted it from was you."

Jessica blinked her eyes as she bit her lips. She was about to say something but Yuri held up her hand to prevent her from talking.

"I'm sorry for spending lesser and lesser time with you lately because I've been under a lot of pressure at work since I needed to prove my worth to a manager who thinks that a woman like me shouldn't even be in that line of job. I'm sorry if my reason for staying away from you was because I was afraid that I might vent my work frustration at you. Instead, you think that I'm staying back at work because I was flirting around or cheating behind your back. I'm sorry that I couldn't propose to you as soon as possible even though I'm dying to spend the rest of my life with you close beside me. I'm sorry for rejecting your offer to contribute to our marriage because I wanted to prove to people that I was not after your money. I'm sorry for being this worthless."

Yuri ended her speech as she stood up and turned to face Taeyeon and Tiffany. Bowing her head, she apologised for making such a joyous event turned sour as she congratulated both of them before walking away.

Nobody stopped her since all of us were too stunned in the change of event that night. Everyone was looking at each other before me and Taeyeon stood up at the same time after about 5 mins. Both of us knew what we had to do as I turned to face the other girls.

"We're going off to look for Yuri." I said as Sunny nodded her head as I saw Krystal scooting closer to her sister , who had started to cry. I was about to say something to Krystal when she smiled and nodded her head at me.

"Go ahead. Me and the other unnies will take care of everything here." 

************************

Yuri's POV

I swiped my hair to the back and wiped away the tears from my cheeks. I let out a heavy sigh and leaned back into my car seat. I tried to erase Jessica's words from my mind so that my tears would stopped flowing but to no avail. I knew that Jessica was the kind of person who would just say out everything that was making her frustrated without thinking of the consequences. I knew that she didn't really mean what she said and would regret her words soon. Being with her all this while, I knew that she's actually a very nice person except for her inability to control her temper.

I had expected that my past lifestyle would one day bite me back but I didn't anticipate that it would hurt this much. Maybe because it came from Jessica or maybe because I was just disappointed in my ownself.

'I should have put aside time for her instead of concentrating too much in my work.'

I thought to myself as I let out a sigh when I was reminded of how work was at the moment. Mr Choo was getting unbearable with his constant insultS and sarcastic remarks. But I don't have the heart to feedback about it to Eunjin.

I was about to close my eyes when I heard a tapping sound on my window screen. Turning to my left, I almost died in shocked when I saw two distorted faces on the screen. Before I could react any further, the two faces left the screen and turned into expression of laughters as Eunjin and Taeyeon laughed at me.

"Yah!! What the hell!! I almost died in shock." I nagged at them after I rolled down the window screen.

"You should have seen your surprised look. It's like you've just seen ghosts." Taeyeon said as Eunjin chuckled.

"Obviously, I'm shocked. Do you think both of you are that good-looking?" I rolled my eyes at them before both of them climbed into the back seat. "How did the both of you managed to find me?"

Taeyeon showed the GPS apps that could detect the location of my car as I let out a sigh.

"Gwenchana?" Taeyeon asked as she kept her phone aside. "Sica was crying when we left the cafe just now. Just for your info though."

"I can see that you cried too." Eunjin intercepted even before I could reply as she pointed to my red eyes. "You do realise that I'll be talking to you about what's happening at work after you blurted things out, right? But I'm not going to talk about that at the moment. I will settle that with you in the office."

I nodded my head slowly at Eunjin who then smiled and continued asking if I wanted to talk things out with her and Taeyeon.

"Sica has the right to be angry with me since I've not been spending time with her and looking at my past, there's bound to be some doubt in her. But at the same time, I'm upset that she's even doubting me. So, should I be angry at her too? Or should I be disappointed in myself for my decisions and my past? I don't even know what I'm feeling right now."

"I think she misses you, Yul. She's so used to having you around her that maybe when you decided to spend lesser time with her, she feels lost. Krystal told me that you've not been to Sica's apartment for almost two weeks."

"Two weeks?" Taeyeon was shocked to find out as she shook her head vigorously. "I can never be apart for that long from Fany. I'll go crazy by myself. No wonder Sica lost her mind."

"I was too stressed out at work and I didn't want to lose my temper at Sica because of my stress. That's why I decided to stay away." I tried to explain as I saw the frown on Eunjin's face. "I know there are better ways to handle all these. I guess I made the wrong decisions."

Our conversation was interrupted by the continuous beeping sound of Yuri's phone as she took it out to read.

I'm sorry, Seobang. - Sicababy

I just miss you too much. - Sicababy

Please come home and talk things out. - Sicababy

I need you. - Sicababy

I'm truly sorry for everything. - Sicababy