Yuri made her way along the bridge, lifelessly dragging her heavy being as she gazed out into the river. She couldn't stop the numbness she felt in her veins and her body; how in the world did things come to this state? All she could remember were the tears that ran down Jessica's face when she first confessed her love, before the latter accepted willingly.

How could Jessica do such a thing?

Yuri was at a loss; trying to understand the situation was giving her more than a headache and it was only making her heart ache even more. Perhaps it was her fault for not being a good girlfriend to Jessica; that reason might have sparked off the affair between Jessica and Tiffany.

“Yul!”

“Yoong?” Yuri whispered, finally letting herself sit at the edge of the bridge as she swung her legs back and forth, “what are you doing here?” Yoona carefully sat beside Yuri and looked at her best friend with a sympathetic but an angered gaze in her beautiful doe eyes, “why do you think I’m here?” Yuri shook her head, chuckling at Yoona’s attempt to get an answer out of her. 

As the two best friends enjoyed the comfortable atmosphere, Yoona couldn't help but turn to check on Yuri time and again. She had been so worried ever since the day at the restaurant where Yuri broke down in front of them; Yuri doesn't shed tears in front of them, so if she does, it means her emotions are spiralling out of control. 

“Stop looking at me like that, Yoong,” Yuri muttered, her gaze now fixated at the starry night sky above, “I’m not going to kill myself or anything, don’t worry.”

Those words sparked off an even deeper emotion of hate; Yoona could barely hold herself from shouting a string of vulgarities when she was talking to Jessica but for the sake of Yuri, she kept it all in and swallowed it down no matter how hard it was. The part that truly disappointed her was that Tiffany was the one who turned out to be the third party; it was a horrible twist of a drama. 

“That’s not the point, Yuri,” Yoona said, her voice starting to get deeper, “the point is that she could have let you go when she had the chance to instead of letting you carry on. Wasn’t that a tad too selfish? She could have carried on with Tiffany after the two of you broke up instead of bringing a third party into this.” 

Maybe Jessica could have done that, but Yuri wouldn't have been able to accept it either way. 

With a sad but pitiful grin, Yuri turned to Yoona with the most heartbreaking gaze, “I wasn’t enough for her… at least she let me know that,” Yuri held back her tears at the memory of Tiffany having a mental breakdown in front of them the other day, “and at least now I know that Fany is fine; no one was hurting her or anything. It was just the guilt.” 

Yoona wanted this to stop. She wanted Yuri’s self-blaming to go away but a person in love was not someone who’d listen. The very fact that Yuri was still making excuses for Jessica was a clear piece of evidence that she still harboured one-sided feelings for the latter. If Yoona exploded right now, then she would look like she had been waiting for this chance – she was, but not at this moment.

“Why are you even making up excuses for her?”

Yuri took note of the rising hostility in her best friend and she took Yoona’s trembling hand into hers, “don’t blame Sica totally, or Fany, for that matter. It takes two hands to clap, remember? So if this relationship failed, I definitely had something to do with it.” Yuri smiled, gently massaging Yoona’s hand as she noticed the younger one calming down.

Okay fine, that was true - Yoona would give her that. Then there was nothing else to say; Yuri would always have a logical but painful answer for Yoona's questions and she didn't want to torture her best friend any further. Her constant questioning was probably like dousing open wounds with salt.

To: Yoong

please bring Yul back with you

From: Hyoyeon-unnie

Yoona didn't know if Yuri was ready to go home, since they were all living in the same house after all. She was sure that if Tiffany had family living in Korea, she would go to them but she can't because they're in America. As for Jessica, going back home would only alert her family because she never goes home without notice.

“Let’s go home!” Yuri exclaimed, getting up as she stretched her long limbs, “it’s getting late, Yoong.”

“Are you sure?”

Yuri just chortled and pulled Yoona up from her seat, dragging her stubborn and over-worried best friend with her. Yoona's attention automatically went to their tightly-intertwined hands, unable to take her eyes off it. The warmth of Yuri's palm was endearing and Yoona relished the feeling of it; she just wanted to hold her hand forever more.

The dinner table at home was awfully silent as the seven girls waited for Yoona to bring Yuri home. Hyoyeon had been glaring at the two Americans since God knows when, and it didn't look like she was going to stop anytime soon. Taeyeon was unfortunately in the middle of everything as always, and she didn't have an appetite to eat tonight. No one could even bring themselves to touch their bowl of rice, not until Yuri and Yoona were safely back home.