The warm and soft touch could still be felt on her cheek, Nayeon wanted to open her eyes but it was hard to move for even an inch.

Someone’s here. Right beside me.

Is she holding my hand?

Where am I?

Shouldn’t I be…

“Hey, hey, it’s me.”

Jihyo gently patted the panting girl’s chest who opened her eyes too abruptly that almost scared her. “You’re safe now, Nayeon.”

Few minutes passed, Nayeon finally stopped staring at the ceiling and turned her head to her friend. “Jihyo…” She whispered, her face was pale.

“Yes, I’m here.” Feeling her gripped her hand, Jihyo gave her an assuring smile. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Nayeon barely nodded and her breaths gradually eased. From the way she looked like, Jihyo knew she didn’t forget about last night, but she wasn’t sure how much she remembered.

“How are you feeling?”

“Heavy. My head feel heavier than my feet. I’m not handstanding, am I?”

“No, you’re not. It’s normal, rest for some more time and you’ll get better.”

Jihyo carefully observed her. “You know you are in Sana’s house?”

“Y-Yes. I remembered calling her…But I didn’t know you would come too. I’m sorry if I interrupted your work…”

“No, don’t say that. You did the right thing, and thank god she dragged me along with her.” Jihyo smiled. “You should see how she played dumb just to get us out, I have to admit she’s actually smarter than I thought.”

Nayeon did not seem to get her joke, she immersed into her thoughts and when Jihyo tried to call her, she struggled to sit up before locked her eyes with hers.

“I-I need to ask you something.”

“Sure, go ahead.”

Nayeon swallowed, not knowing how to start. Jihyo just looked at her, waiting for her to finally speak.

“…You’re the only one here…with me?”

“No, Sana’s now downstairs, talking to Tzuyu on the phone probably.”

“Last night…It was just you and her came and took me here? You stayed with me for the entire night?”

So this is really the first thing she wanna ask.

“Well, Jaehee helped us too, it was actually the three of us.”

Nayeon’s orbs shuddered. “Where is she?”

“Our senior called her back to the branch. Why, you wanna talk to her?”

She gazed at her for few seconds and lowered her head. “Nah.” She said softly. “Nothing. I just wanna…Um, forget it.”

“Do you want to thank her?”

Nayeon was confused. “Thank her?”

“Yeah, you know she made you dinner last night?”

As expected, she gulped nervously. “She really…did?”

“Yes, I was in the bathroom and she suddenly called me, saying that she somehow became the cook but had no idea what to cook, so I told her what you like since I don’t know and don’t care what HE likes.”

The tension on Nayeon’s shoulders gradually faded as she lowered her head again, the way she looked forlorn was like a sting in Jihyo’s heart but she still remained the calm expression. “…You told her about the dishes?”

“Yeah.”

“How do you…”

There was a slight doubt in her eyes at first but it disappeared quickly. Duh. Of course it’s because she told her before.

“You know that…Jeongyeon talked about you a lot.”

“She did?” Nayeon smiled bitterly. “I didn’t know she’ll tell you this too.”

“Believe it or not, she nearly told me everything whenever she missed you.” That wasn’t completely a lie. “Um, do you mind I said these to Jaehee?”

Jihyo never knew saying these two names at the same time would be so difficult. Nayeon shook her head before scoffed.

“Are you alright?”

“Everything happened recently doesn’t feel right, Jihyo. Nothing’s right. Taein’s attitude, his father’s words, and the way I feel toward Jaehee…”

Jihyo watched her rested her forehead on her palms. “You must think I’m crazy, it was just a plate of normal pasta, but it happened to be her who made it and it was also something that I thought only the two of us knew…Last night, I was almost sure she’s back, she’s Jeongyeon, but who am I fooling? Even if she went through some kind of facial surgery,” Jihyo flinched slightly when hearing this. “the way she acts is totally different, not to mention the moles and scar didn’t even exist.”

“What mole and scar?”

“Jeongyeon has a mole on her left index finger and the middle of her neck. She cut her palm when we were in high school, the scar was still visible when I last saw her. That day, when Jaehee punched that man…I checked. She has neither of them.”

You better have no marks on your legs, Yoo Jeongyeon.

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but uh…why would you think she’s her? I mean, they are…totally different, right?”

Nayeon looked up, her eyes blurred again because of deep thoughts. “I just…have this feeling. Doesn’t make sense at all.”

“You’re too stressful lately.” Jihyo threw her arms around her body and squeezed. What she was ready to inform Nayeon when she woke up suddenly stuck in and couldn’t come out. “Too many things are lingering in your mind. You need to take some rest.”

“I wish I could.” Nayeon scoffed again. “Last night I thought I could relax a bit from the tension between us but I ended up drunk badly and escaped from the house. I think I might vomit once I leave this bed.”

“You…drunk?”

“Taein didn’t tell me that’s orange liqueur, I thought it was juice so I drank it all. I should be more careful.”

Maybe I’m wrong about it? Maybe it was really because of alcohol, not drug? No no no, I can’t be wrong……

“Look, Nayeon, he…” Jihyo decided to tell her in another way. “He tried to…” When she found herself couldn’t say it directly, she pointed at her chest that was covered by marks. Nayeon pulled up her collar and sighed.

“He does this…sometimes.”

“And you just take it!? It’s not a big deal for you?”

She regretted the moment those words fled from . “I’m sorry, I…”

“I refused him.” Nayeon said without looking at her. “Like always. He didn’t do anything…further and you guys showed up.” She didn’t know why but she just wanted to explain. “I swear.”

“…You don’t have to. No one’s judging you.” Jihyo hugged her tighter, struggling mentally if it was a right move or if there was any uses to tell her what really happened.

“Nayeon unnie! You’re awake!”

Sana barged into the room and lurched to her. “You made me worried sick!”

“I feel much better.” Nayeon managed to curve up her lips. She looked out the window and found the sun hanging high in the sky. “W-What time is it?”

“Almost noon. You slept for a long while.”

“Yeah, and Jung Taein never stopped calling and messaging.”

Sana gave her phone back. “I even have to charge in case the battery dies.”

Nayeon quietly gazed at the phone while her friends looked at her with concern, none of them wanted to face but the problem there was evident. “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps escape for one more day and go back tomorrow?”

“Do you have to be back tomorrow? I mean, I can always share my room with you, my parents will welcome you with open arms too.”

“I know.” Nayeon squeezed Sana’s hand in appreciation. “But tomorrow is the opening ceremony. It’s probably the most important occasion for the Jung this year and many people are going, I can’t be absent even though I don’t want to go.”

The phone screen lit again and the name on it was as expected. “Sorry but do you guys mind…” She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I think I’ll have to talk to him now if I’m not planning to go back today.”

Sana and Jihyo nodded and left the room, giving Nayeon space to deal her never-seemed-to-be-solved puzzles.

“Well at least…She’s fine now.”

“I’m not sure about that.”

Sana frowned. “What do you mean?”

Jihyo looked at the closed door before shook her head, deciding not to tell this missy her worries at that time. “Maybe I’m overthinking.”

“So you stayed with her for almost two days but she still had no idea she was drugged by her husband? And you drove her back already?”

“We don’t have evidences, I might be wrong…”

“How could it be wrong? You want proofs? You’re standing right inside their house, I bet the proofs are everywhere!”

Jeongyeon was sitting in the car with Tzuyu beside her a couple blocks away from the mansion, they were not talking on the speaker but Tzuyu could hear the conversation clearly since both their volume were pretty high.

“You didn’t see how distressed she was!” Jihyo held back the urge of shouting and peeked to make sure Nayeon didn’t hear anything. Somehow she felt slightly eased that Jung Taein had gone to the mall first so there were only the two of them in the house. “She said nothing in her life is right recently but when I asked if she wanna talk about it, she said no. She looked almost ashamed. Do you realize it? She didn’t even wanna tell me! It’s either nothing severe or everything severe and considering her situation, I would never believe it’s the former. How was I supposed to tell her another ing story and made her more depressed?”

“Are you serious? Hiding the truth doesn’t mean it will disappear or never existed! I’m telling you, Park Jihyo, that’s not…”

“Ha, says who.”

Jeongyeon was taken aback by her partner’s reaction. “Don’t you feel ridiculous speaking it out loud yourself?”

“……”

“…The thing is,” After the silence, Jihyo gave in and sighed. “I’m not hiding it, I just can’t tell her now. She has to attend that stupid opening ceremony and acts like a happy couple with her husband in front of the media, telling her what we think happened won’t be good for her. Tonight is the last and the most important press conference for their family, at least we can’t make it harder for her to go through.”

“She hates those occasions.” Jeongyeon mumbled, not sure whether she was telling her partner or herself. “It will be tough anyway.”

“So? You still choose to leave her in this life instead of dragging her ou