Seungyeon stood motionless in front of Gyuri’s bedroom. Her right hand was hanging in the air, torn in between to knock on the door or not. Afraid of the rejection that would probably come again from Gyuri, she pulled her hand down and ready to turn and walk back to her room when a man voice echoing on her head.

You should try to talk to her. No matter how hard it would be, no matter how long it would take, you have to keep trying to talk to her. I’m sure that’s what she always did to you. I think you have to do the same and feel the effort that she always put whenever it comes to you. Apologize and tell her everything if you willing to do so. She will understand it and it will be better for you.

So, she stopped herself from the intention of going back to her own room and after hesitating for a while, she finally knocked on the door.

Once. Silent. It was around ten and they just finished their dinner one hour ago with both their parents, and Gyuri wasn’t that kind of person who could fall asleep easily after filling her stomach down. She was worried about gaining more weight so it usually took her two hours before she would let her self asleep after having dinner. The conclusion was she most likely still awake.

Tok tok.

“Unnie.”

Seungyeon knocked again, making it twice and adding her voice in this attempt while wishing that it could work better than before. Who knows that Gyuri’s heart would soften a little bit after hearing her voice, but eventually it was still the same as before. Silent.

To be honest, it wasn’t the first time Seungyeon tried to talk to her in that past four hours or so. Since the first moment when she stepped her feet on the house that twilight, she had been trying to talked to Gyuri and as expected Gyuri had been avoiding her too.

She left right away when Seungyeon met her in the living room also when the younger girl bumped into her in the kitchen. She finished her dinner fast and excused herself to their parents, saying that she had to continue working on her thesis. The rest of the time, she locked herself up on her room so Seungyeon wouldn’t have the chance to talk to her.

Seungyeon got a little bit taken aback by Gyuri’s cold treatment. To be treated in such a way was indeed unpleasant. She finally was able to understand Gyuri’s feeling whenever she acted in the same cold way to her. It was all her fault.

She could’ve stopped earlier but she kept remembering everything that Youngsaeng said to her and the guilty that was growing even more inside her, so she lifted her hand and knocked on the door again for the third time. If she still didn’t get any response this time, she would just go back to her room and try it again the next day, she thought.

“Gyuri unnie, it’s me. Can we talk for a while? Really, just for a while.”

Seungyeon didn’t hope much when she said that but to her surprise, Gyuri finally answered her. It wasn’t a friendly or the best answer that she could hope coming from her usual softhearted unnie, but at least she was answering. It was better than to be given a silent treatment and to be treated like she was invisible or something.

“I am busy now.”

“Can’t--ah, okay then. Maybe we can talk tomorrow, right? I-I’ll be going back to my room now. Unnie, don’t stay up too late.”

Gyuri sighed inside her room putting her head on the table as Seungyeon turned and walked away. She was stuttering from excitement, too happy that she finally got a small response. Her expectations rose up. It’s a good sign, she thought.

***

Seungyeon woke up the next day with a better mood and a really big hope that she would be able to settle everything down today. Based on the reaction that Gyuri gave her last night, she assumed that she had a big chance to talk to the older girl and get out of the agonizing and uncomfortable period.

But just like riding on a roller coaster; like how fast it went down from the highest point; that was also how fast her expectations dropped and her mood changed. She went down at breakfast time just to find Gyuri who immediately stood up from her seat leaving her breakfast and rushing outside the house without even a single glance or words of ‘good morning’ to her.

She felt stupid, being happy for nothing.

***

But it wasn’t totally just a desperate hope though. When her home doorbell rang that afternoon, without her knowing she was opening the door for her life-saver, someone who would innocently helping her up.

“Nicole?” She mumbled to herself in question as she stared at the intercom, showing Nicole who was in the middle of waving and smiling brightly as usual.

“What’s up?” That was the first words that she said after she opened the door for that best friend of her. They just parted less than two hours ago after their last class of that day ended, so it was a little bit unexpected to see Nicole at her house.

“You didn’t tell me you’re going here.” She continued, letting Nicole walked inside and led her to the living room.

“Because it’s a surprise! Look, I bring something with me. What do you think this could be?”

Seungyeon stopped and turned around to face Nicole who was standing while lifting a box in the air. Just by looking at it, Seungyeon already could know what was hiding inside. But for the fun sake, she shrugged her shoulders. It would sound better if Nicole was the one who uttered it, brighter, livelier than her plain answer.

“Cheese cake!” Nicole answered her own question in her high-pitched voice, being excited over something that she prepared on her own.

“Let’s eat this together with Gyuri unnie. Is she upstairs?”

Nicole sped away to the second floor leaving Seungyeon who could only sigh and smile to see that behavior of her friend. Sometimes she wondered to her self, how could that girl became really happy just because of food? She had seen Nicole in her best and worst moment. Even after she got dumped by her first ever love; Jinwoon; she stopped crying after eating a dozen of chocolates.

It would be good if just I could be as innocent as her. Just eat and all you problems and worries would be gone away. She walked away to the kitchen with that thought.

Nicole managed to drag Gyuri down with her from the quietness in her room and the distance that she purposely put there for her and Seungyeon. They sat together around the dining table while the big round cheese cake remained peacefully in the middle of the table. It was obvious for the two siblings that Nicole made it herself from the much amount of strawberry and blueberry on the top of it.

Just like Gyuri, she was also concerned about gaining weight. That was why she always tried to balance the amount of fat that she ate with fruits and veggies. Other than that, which bakery would be so kind-hearted to overflow the cheese cake with that much amount of fruits? If the price wasn’t expensive then the bakery would soon be closed.

“Let’s eat let’s eat!” Nicole mumbled excitedly as she cut the cake and put each one slice in the plate then served it in front of the three of them. She didn’t realize the awkward atmosphere between Seungyeon and Gyuri.

Predictably Nicole was the only one who whole-heartedly enjoyed the cake while the two only ate it for the sake of Nicole. No, it wasn’t that the cake didn’t taste good. It tasted really good actually; since Nicole had been trained by her chef mother even when she was still in the womb; but with the problem arousing around them, they couldn’t enjoy it to the fullest. Especially, when the food didn’t work on them like how they work on Nicole.

“Ah, right. Seungyeon-ah, how’s your ankle?” Nicole interrupted in the middle of their silence after swallowing the mouthful portion of cheesecake in . Her eyes went bigger with concern.

“Oh-it’s all fine now. I’ve compressed it with ice and applied some medicine.” She answered carelessly. Not noticing that it had attracted Gyuri’s attention.

“What are you talking about? Nicole?”

After hesitating for a while, Gyuri decided to ask. She pretended to not care, she tried to prevent herself from asking but in the end she couldn’t care less. If the impression that she got on her mind was right…

“Heung?” Nicole stared back at her with the same confusion in her eyes, seemed like she didn’t get what Gyuri was trying to ask.

“A-Ankle-”

“Ah, that! Aigoo, Seungyeonnie didn’t tell you again, did she? Unnie, she fell again today. Please tell her to stop using those high-heels just to look taller while her own safety is on the risk.”

Gyuri’s mind went blank with the worries that started to overwhelm her. Seriously, why did that girl keep falling off? She felt the urge to pull Seungyeon to hospital while Nicole had started talking on her own again.

“Speaking of which, she had been really gloomy these days. Don’t you think so unnie? I wonder why. But to think of her personality, she wouldn’t tell it easily. So I only did the basic thing. I kept feeding her with chocolates but seems like it doesn’t have any effect on her. Why do you think so? Is the problem with her or with the chocolate? Should I change the chocolate brand that I usually eat? But I gave her the high-quality ones already.”

No one gave her response other than a weak “Stop it already, Cole-ah.” from Seungyeon while Nicole kept talking about Seungyeon as if the later wasn’t there at all. On the other hand, Gyuri was already on her own thought, sinking in after she digested all the words that Nicole uttered. It hit her hard. Much or less, she paid some portion in the cause of Seungyeon’s unwell state.

Are you really hurt that much Seungyeon-ah?

Nicole went back that night after the dinner. She supposed to get home earlier but she met their parents in the front door and the elders insisted her to stay over dinner. She was gladly willing to do so. Their mom was always favored Nicole since she was all those cute, innocent and bubbly kind of type just like the dream daughter that she always had on her mind. Fatefully, she couldn’t get her third daughter and none of the two daughters had those personalities even though Gyuri would do aegyo once in a while.

They sent Nicole to the front gate, Gyuri and Seungyeon, where she left strolled happily to her car that was parked in the side road. They marched back inside after she officially left with her car, climbing the stairs toward the terrace in silence. But then Gyuri who was three stairs ahead of her stopped mid-way.

“Hey! You. Han Seungyeon. I’ll be waiting in my room.” And with that, she continued to walk in a quick pace leaving Seungyeon with a smile that had found their way back to her lips.

“Unnie…” She whispered.

***

They talked a lot that night. In the beginning it was quite a mess up since Seungyeon really didn’t know where to start, to apologize first of to explain first. But as the minutes passed by it just flowed naturally like a river, like how they used to be, talking comfortably.

A lot of tears were shed, a lot of locked painful stories that were opened again for the sake of a better understanding. The anger that appeared for the first time after the new acknowledgement, a dozen assurances of ‘I am alright’ and mostly a bunch of apologies and make up hugs.

Finally the two siblings had found their way back together again.

***

When Seungyeon woke up the next day and her gaze met the cell phone that was lazily lying down on the night stand, a scene was replying on her mind.

-FLASHBACK-

“Are you sure you’re gonna be alright? I mean-well-you know.” Youngsaeng asked as he walked behind her toward the front door of his apartment.

“Yes. It’s not that far though, my home. I shouldn’t forever trouble you anyway.” Seungyeon gave him a faint smile before squatting down to put on her shoes. Not quite sure of what she saw passed on Youngsaeng’s expression for a second. Was it worry and concern? But that was impossible, why should he?

“Where is your cell phone?”

Seungyeon who was still in the middle of putting her shoes looked up to Youngsaeng with a puzzled look; confused of his sudden inquiry. She tilted her head as a sign of asking back.

“Give me your cell phone.” Demanding, he put his opened palm in the air, waiting for Seungyeon to put the small thing on that. Even though now knowing the reason why, she eventually stirred her bag and searched for the object in question. Typed the password to unlock it then gave it to Youngsaeng and continued to put her shoes on.

She watched Youngsaeng pressed this and that as she stood up and at that time he put the cell phone in his ear. Calling someone? She thought. After another several typing he showed it back to her.

“This is my number. Well-just in case, since you don’t want me to send you back home.”

She really didn’t know what to say. What did she feel? Gratefulness?

In the end she only managed to say “Err-thank you.” Opening the door, she gave him a last glance and a slight bow with her head then she walked away to her going back home journey.

-END OF FLASHBACK-

Seungyeon reached for her cell phone and went searching through the contact until she found that name ‘Heo Youngsaeng’. She stared at it for a while, unreasonably bemused. Taking a deep breath, she typed in.

Thank you, Youngsaeng-ssi.

And sent it.

A minute later, at the different place, someone was feeling silly for smiling just because of a new found message.

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

Author's note:

This is Chapter 27!!! :D

I was craving for chocolate and cheese cake while writing this ;_; lol

Enjoy this and don't forget to leave your comments <3