Chapter 13

Seoul - Central Park

Jessica looked at Yoona who was sitting on a bench with a worried expression on her face. Yoona hadn’t said anything since they left the office. At first Yoona wanted to take a walk alone in the park but Jessica insisted on going with her left Yoona no choice but to give in.

It was official; Jessica hated that girl, Kwon Yuri. She must have casted an evil spell on Yoona, making Yoona loved her even though all she did was treating Yoona as a lifesaver, a rebound, a temporary tool to trick her parents. She even dared to slap Yoona in front of everyone, acting like Yoona was the one at fault and she was the poor girl with the broken heart. She deserved what Yoona did to her in the past for tricking Yoona when she was in her most vulnerable state.

Jessica asked herself these questions for the millionth time. What did Yuri have and she didn’t? Was she not good enough? Was she not pretty enough? Was she not being understanding to Yoona enough? She must have been because if she was, Yoona had fallen in love with her a long time ago.

Time after time, Yuri was always the one who broke Yoona’s heart into million pieces and then Jessica had to be the one to pick those pieces up slowly one by one. She wasn’t going to mention how frustrated it was to look at the emotionless Yoona. Jessica was getting tired of doing this to herself. Did they always say that one-sided love hurt the most when watching your loved one was happy with the others? Wrong! One-sided love hurt the most when you had to watch your loved one cried for the one she truly loved which was definitely not yourself.

At least when Yoona was heartbroken, Jessica was there to pick the pieces up but what about herself? Who was going to be the one mending Jessica’s heart when she saw Yoona being like this or when she kept telling the others that they were just best friends? No one, life was just that cruel when you were in love with your best friend.

Yet, Jessica couldn’t stop herself from falling deeper in love with this clueless girl.

Jessica silently took the seat next to Yoona on the bench. She carefully inched closer to the latter till their arms touched.

“Are you okay?” Jessica asked the question which she had already asked back in the meeting room. She just had to ask again because she wasn’t satisfied with the answer Yoona gave her earlier.

Yoona chuckled, “Didn’t I tell you that I was fine?”

That chuckle again, Jessica hated that chuckle, hated to her guts. Every time Jessica asked Yoona if she was okay, always the same answer, always the same attitude and that same chuckle. Why did Yoona have to act like she was so happy when the sadness was clearly visible on her face? Strangely enough, the sadder she was, the happier she acted. Did she know that she wasn’t only torturing herself but Jessica as well when she acted like that?

“No, you’re not okay.” Jessica grabbed Yoona’s shoulder, turning the girl sideway, making Yoona looked at her, “Why don’t you just quit acting like you are okay and telling me the truth? Do you know how frustrated I am looking at you like this?” Jessica said aloud, almost screamed, she was on the verge of tears, about to cry any moment.

Yoona stared at Jessica in daze, the latter never acted this… angry to her before. The Jessica she knew always smiling, caring and never raised her voice at her.

Upon Yoona’s silence and her blank eyes, suddenly realized that she was being too harsh on Yoona. Jessica softened her voice, “Please don’t hide your feelings when you’re around us, Yoona-yah. If you feel like crying, just cry your heart out. I’ll lend you my shoulder to cry on. And when you’re done, I’m sure you’ll feel much better than you are right now.” Jessica advised.

Crying? Again? A familiar scene flashed into Yoona’s mind. Was crying really make you feel better? Everyone around Yoona advised her to cry. Yuri did and now Jessica. She didn’t hide her emotions, she just lied to herself about what she was actually feeling.

Before she met Yuri, her reaction when something bad happened to her was a blank expression on her face, no crying or any other expressions that showed sadness. For example, when Yoona was nine, a boy next door who was twice bigger than her broke her favorite toy. She looked at the broken toy on the floor and then stared back at the boy who broke her toy, she didn’t even cry or scream just stared at him intensely until he got scared and ran off. When she was back at home, she didn’t eat anything for almost a day, no one in the household understood why she acted like that. They just simply assumed that she was being the little princess again. Or maybe the most obvious one, when she heard her father’s bankrupt announcement, again no reaction was made. She just stood there, frozen and emotionless.

But after that incident, things did changed a bit. When her heart ached for something, she chuckled, grinned, smirked or even laughed just like when she saw Yuri’s painful eyes that day looking at her on their bed with some random girl. That day, she smirked at Yuri, the first time in her life she showed an opposite expression of what she was feeling inside. As days passed, she had gotten used to putting a happy mask on her face. No matter how much she was hurt inside; there was always a chuckle visible on her face. That way she could manage to survive in this world even though her heart had been shattered into pieces.

Yoona looked at Jessica, suddenly guilt filled up her stomach. Her best friend truly cared for her and all she did was neglecting her effort which was trying to make her feel better. Honestly, she hadn’t let anyone saw her crying except Yuri. Unknowingly, she had formed a selfish thought in her mind. She could only cry in front of the only person who had seen her crying, Kwon Yuri. If it wasn’t her then she couldn’t cry at all.

Just like that, the two friends looked at each other. Neither of them said anything. Jessica waited patiently for Yoona to do something to show her what she was thinking. Yoona on her part wasn’t sure what she should do. Obviously, she was hurt, a lot. Being slapped by Yuri was like a confirmation of what Yoona did to her in the past, breaking Yuri’s heart and her own heart. She really wanted to cry out loud just like Jessica advised her to do but she couldn’t do it. She just… couldn’t.

Jessica heaved a loud sigh; Yoona didn’t do anything yet again. She should have gotten used to Yoona treating her like a stranger most of the time but she couldn’t stop her heart from aching, and it hurt… so much. She stood up and decided to walk home. What was the point of staying here with Yoona when she couldn’t do anything to make her feel better? If Yoona wanted to be alone then be it.

Yoona got pulled out of her own thoughts when the noise of Jessica’s footsteps walking away filled her ears. Her best friend decided to walk away, to leave her alone just like she wanted at the first place. The problem here was: recently, Yoona had come to develop a habit of craving someone to be by her side at times like this. All because of Jessica. Whenever she was sad, the blonde always stayed with her either told her some lame jokes and the most typical one was about two penguins arguing about whether they were wearing a tuxedo or not then laughed by herself or just simply drank with Yoona all night long even though the girl had told her countless times to go to sleep first.

But now she was walking away, leaving Yoona alone. Had Jessica decided to give up on her? Had she decided not to care about her anymore? She had already lost Yuri by acting this unusual way; she didn’t want to lose Jessica also.

Yoona quickly stood up from the bench, chased after her best friend. She wrapped her arms around Jessica’s neck from behind to stop the latter from going any further.

Jessica’s heart stopped beating the moment she felt an arm wrapping around her, her mind stopped working when Yoona’s scent filled her nose. Yoona was hugging her from behind. Was this a dream? If it was a dream then she never wanted to wake up. If this was real then someone please stop the time and let this moment last forever.

“My heart…” Yoona spoke in a low voice into Jessica’s ear, “It hurts… so bad, Icy-ah.” She tightened her grip around Jessica as she pulled the girl a little closer to her body. At this particular moment, she just wanted to have some comfort from her friend, even though it was just a little, “I’m sorry for everything. Just please… don’t go, I don’t want to be alone right now.”

Jessica got what she wanted, the truth from Yoona. Yet she just couldn’t stop the tears was slowly forming at the corner of her eyes. Her Yoona’s heart was hurt because of another girl. She had acknowledged this matter way before but when Yoona admitted it herself, the pain was just doubled.

However being a good friend like she always was, she couldn’t let Yoona see her tears. Jessica quickly raised her hand to wipe away her tears as she held on to Yoona’s arm at the same time skillfully, making it looked like the only purpose she raised her hand was to hold on the girl’s arm.

“That’s right, Yoona-yah. Just like that. Go ahead and tell me what you’re feeling. I promise I won’t ever leave your side till you wanted me to.”

Maybe Yoona would never know what Jessica was feeling inside. From time to time, there was still some brief moment between them like this. For Jessica, receiving a back hug from Yoona was more than enough to keep her unrequited love alive.

&&&&&&

YoonSicTae’s house

“Hey yo, whatssup?” Taeyeon greeted her two friends excitedly when she caught the glimpse of them open the door to their house.

“Hey…” Absent-mindedly, Yoona greeted back.

Taeyeon ran to her friends, wrapped her arm around Yoona’s neck to pull the girl down to her level, “Come Yoona, you’ll be over-joy when you heard this. Look, I just found out from the folks at my café that there’s a new bar open around our neighborhood yet it’s the best in town. It’s been so long we hang out together since you did the conference thingy. I’m planning that we’ll crash that bar tonight, what do you say?” Taeyeon spoke enthusiastically into Yoona’s ear, looked like she was yearning for some bonding time with her friends and completely oblivious to her friend’s sadness.

“Uh… That’s awesome but… I’m just not in the mood of partying now. Work has up all of my energy.” Yoona slowly removed Taeyeon’s arm around her neck to stand up straight. She felt bad as the sight of a disappointed Taeyeon caught her eyes. She immediately added, “But you don’t have to cancel your plan though, there’s still Sica, you and her could crash the bar together.”

Taeyeon pouted her lips and scrunched her eyebrows. She didn’t expect the ‘Im Yoona’ to refuse a hangout at the bar, “Sica is no fun. How could you tell me to crash the bar with this Ice Princess? It’s always you and me, the party animal duo. Sica’s only needed when one of us passes out somewhere and needed someone to carry both of us back home.” Taeyeon said, still insisted on going.

Yoona exhaled heavily. She didn’t want to disappoint Taeyeon but she really wasn’t feeling like doing anything except resting on her comfort bed, “Maybe next time, I promise I’ll make it up to you. We’ll hang out all night long and it’s my treat.”

“But thi-” Taeyeon was about to convince Yoona again but Jessica quickly smack the back of the short girl’s head slightly to stop the girl from talking.

“That’ll do, Yoong. Next time it is.” Jessica gave a reassure smile to Yoona. “Rest, it’s been a long day for you.”

Feeling relieved that there was someone back her up, Yoona mouthed ‘Thanks’ to Jessica before turn her back and went to her room.

“Yah! Are you really that oblivious?” Jessica turned to Taeyeon, scolding her.

“What… It’s been forever since we hang out. That’s the truth.” Taeyeon said, clearly disappointed that her plan was officially ruined. 

Jessica rolled her eyes. Taeyeon was no doubt Yoona’s friend, not the party animal duo but the clueless duo, “Can’t you see that Yoona was upset?”

“She was upset? Why?” Taeyeon asked, dumbfounded.

“Because of that girl.” Jessica scrunched her eyebrows, only the mention of her was enough to irritate her.

“Yuri?”

“Who else?”

Taeyeon gave a heavy sigh. It seemed that the only person could make Yoona this much upset was Yuri, “What did she do this time?”

“She dared to slap my Yoona in front of everyone at the meeting.” Jessica angrily said.

“My Yoona eh?” Taeyeon smirked, took note of Jessica’s way of addressing Yoona. Her smirk turned into a laugh when she saw Jessica lowered her head in embarrassment, “Anyway, I wonder why Yuri did that. I thought she would be on good term with Yoona after the conference.” 

“All because of Siwon. He had some crazy ideas about our cruise’s theme, making us recall all the memories about out most memorable love. Well, the result is a slap in Yoona’s face.” Jessica explained while staring at Yoona’s closed door.

Taeyeon her chin thoughtfully. She knew it wasn’t right for her to talk about this but looking at Jessica, she couldn’t help but state what was on her mind, “Yoona really need someone by her side now, doesn’t she?”

Jessica nodded as a matter of fact, “Yeah…”

“Uhm…Sica-yah…” Taeyeon paused, trying to find the right words to say so that she wouldn’t sound like an opportunist, “Don’t you think that this is… the right moment to make a confession?”

Jessica turned to Taeyeon right away, astonishment written on her face, “What do you mean?”

“Aish, Sica-yah, you know what I mean. At this moment, Yoona really needs someone to be there for her, to care for her, to give her the love which she deserves. And you can be the one who could do all of that for her. I think that she’ll easily accept your feelings if you confess to her at this point.”

“You mean like… I’m taking advantage of her vulnerable state to make a confession so that she could accept me?” Jessica stated Taeyeon’s suggestion in her own words.

Taeyeon raised an eyebrow at the phrase ‘taking advantage’. Well, that was a bit blunt. It wasn’t taking advantage but more like confessing at an advantageous time. “Don’t twist my words. You make it sounds like I’m the bad guy here.”

“Well, I don’t want to. I don’t want her to take pity on me or offer her love for me as a recompense for being there for her. Yes, I really want her to accept me but only when her heart is telling her to do so. Not her mind telling her that it’s the right thing to do.” Jessica firmly said.

“I’m not telling you to take advantage or make her take pity on you. What I’m trying to say is you have to take your chance when it’s right in front of your eyes. Remember 3 years ago? She met Yuri when she was the most vulnerable that’s why she can’t forget that girl. Even though all Yuri did was using our best friend as a tool to trick her parents.” Taeyeon grabbed Jessica’s shoulder, making the girl look at her straight in the eyes, “Listen, Jessica Jung. You’ve already waited for too long, already missed too many chances. It’s the time to take back what’s rightfully yours at the beginning. If you really love her then don’t wait for her to love you back. Get her to notice you, see you more than a friend and make her fall in love with you is what you should do at this moment. You hear me?”

“But I’m afrai-”

“No, you have no time left to be afraid. If you don’t do this, believe me there will be a second Yuri appear in Yoona’s life soon. When that happens you’ll regret that don’t listen to me now.”

Jessica hadn’t moved an inch from her spot as Taeyeon’s words rang through her head. She had already lost too many chances. Waiting for Yoona to love her back was hopeless. And if she kept on waiting, sooner or later a second Yuri would come and took her Yoona away. She had to be the one to make the first move, making Yoona see her in a new light.

“I have to do this the sooner the better right?” Jessica asked Taeyeon, even though she’d known what the shorter girl’s answer was.

“That’s the spirit, Sica. That’s what I want to hear. Now I want to know exactly when you’re gonna confess to her.”

Jessica let out a soft chuckle, “You’re not gonna go easy on me this time, are you?” 

“Nope.” Taeyeon grinned

Jessica rested her chin in her palm and thought for few seconds before speaking, “Maybe when she takes me out for dinner and movie.” She said in a casual tone.

Taeyeon opened her eyes wide in shock as she raised a hand to hit Jessica hard on her shoulder, “Jessica Jung, I can’t believe you!”

“Owww…” Jessica rubbed the spot she just got hit then turned to Taeyeon, “What was that for?”

“For hiding your date with Yoona from me. How could you? I thought best friends tell each other everything.”

“Date? What date?”

“You will go out with Yoona for dinner and movie. You said so yourself.”

Jessica rolled her eyes. This was how one small rumor led to a big misunderstanding because there was people like Taeyeon existed in this world who loved twisting the others’ words “I didn’t say it’s a date. Yoona felt guilty making me quit my job on the cruise to become her PA so she said she’ll take me out for dinner to make up for my leave. She promised me a while ago but it just slips my mind since we’ve been both busy on getting used to the new job. Nothing special though, just as simple as a ‘hangout’.” Jessica stressed on the word ‘hangout’.

Taeyeon dropped her shoulders in disappointment. She should’ve known better that Jessica would never muster enough courage up to ask Yoona out for a date, “So that’s how it goes.”

A soft chuckle left Jessica’s mouth as she looked at her best friend who was in depress. Honestly, she felt a whole lot better since she told Taeyeon everything. At least there was someone else shared her sadness or happiness when things went up and down between her and Yoona.

“Thanks, Taeyeon-ah.” Jessica pulled the shorter girl in for a hug and spoke in a soft tone.

“I already know I’m a really good friend so you don’t have to thank me all the times.” Taeyeon grinned cheekily.

“Ah, you said that best friends are supposed to tell each other everything, right?” Jessica asked all of a sudden, still hugging Taeyeon slightly.

“Yup.” And her best friend answered without thinking.

“So… when are you gonna tell us what’s going on between you and Tiffany?”

Taeyeon immediately broke their hug and took a few steps back when she realized that she just fell completely into the trap which Jessica just set, “Ti-tif-tiffany who?”

“Don’t play dump with me, Kim Taeyeon. You want some times to settle things and I’ve already given you more than enough. Now spill everything out when you’re still alive. You own both me and Yoona an explanation.”

Taeyeon held her breath. She swore she felt a cold shiver down her spine every time Jessica was being a good friend and showed her concern toward her. It was true, she owned her friends an explanation but there was something she had to clear up. It wasn’t like she didn’t want to tell, it was just that they were never around since the conference thing came up, that was why today she suggested this bar hangout. Now that Jessica was asking about this matter and she was ready to tell her everything.

And the story began. Taeyeon told Jessica every little detail about their first encounter. How Tiffany left her hanging for almost a week and how Taeyeon got the girl back in her embrace. Jessica’s reaction to the story went from ‘ah’ to ‘oh’ and ended with ‘aww’.

“Yah, can you have more reactions than just those one-word-ones? Yoona is a much more listener than you are. Her reactions are various.” Taeyeon complained.

“Whatever, it’s still considered as a reaction nevertheless.” Jessica stuck her tongue out at Taeyeon, “Wow, one thing I didn’t expect that Tiffany was really… straightforward. Oh, and you too.” Jessica said in amazement. She wished she could have half of Taeyeon’s courage instead of being a coward, waiting for a miracle like this.

As expected, Taeyeon blushed deeply at her comment. “Yah… we’re just being true to our feelings.”
“Anyway, have you met her again after successfully getting her number? Ah, that reminds me how much of an idiot you are. You could’ve asked me or Yoona for her phone number instead of waiting hopelessly at the café like that. It’s not like we don’t know the reason you were out of it was Tiffany. We even have her e-mail and home address. We’re in the same department, remember?” Jessica said it like a matter of fact.

Suddenly, the fact hit Taeyeon like a ton of bricks. She realized that she was… an idiot like how Jessica put her. It must’ve been so much easier rather than waiting for Tiffany at a dark alley like a creeper. Still, it was too embarrassed to admit. “Aish, how could I not know that? It’s just that … uhm… it’s much more romantic this way.” Not waiting for a reply from Jessica, Taeyeon quickly changed the subject to avoid Jessica’s suspicious stare the girl was sending, “Uhm… About your other question, we haven’t met again. But we did send each other texts sometimes.”

“Eh? Why? I thought you’d be eager to know why she kissed you at the first place.”

“I do but… I don’t want to rush things and scare her away since I was a little… bold back in the alley. Besides, I think she was busy and needed her time to adjust… things, you know?”

“Alright, alright, do it the way you want. I have to admit that I’m not an expert in this relationship thing.”

“Oh? You know that?” Taeyeon asked, surprised.

“Yah!” Jessica yelled back, clearly offense.

Before Jessica could grab her, Taeyeon had already run off to her room. She was still smart enough to know that waiting for the Ice Princess’s reaction would do her no good. At all.

&&&&&&

STS – Sales and Reservation Department

“Morning…” Yoona greeted her co-workers as usual, expected them to greet back brightly just like the past few days.

Much to her surprise, no one opened their mouth or even looked at her. Corrected. There was Luna looking at her or glaring at her to be exact. In addition to that, Tiffany had this satisfied look on her face. Needless to say, Yoona could easily guess the reason why they were acting like this. Yuri had probably revealed their past and from the tanned girl’s point of view she was nothing but a heartless cheater.

Yoona silently walked to her room and sat on her executive chair. A heavy sigh escaped , everything was back to normal sooner than she expected. Maybe it was even worse than before, at least there was no glaring when she first came to STS.

Minutes later, her door flung opened and collided with the wall created a loud noise. Yoona didn’t have to look up at the person who just went in. Her best friend was the only one could do that.

“Yah… do you know what’s wrong with them? My work is still on my table. They didn’t do anything to them. They didn’t ask me if you have your breakfast either.” Jessica said in surprise.

Yoona let out a soft chuckle. Her friend was really hard to please. She complained when others did her work and she also complained again when they didn’t do that anymore. “Why? Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“Well, I do but… it was so strange, yesterday they were still Yoona this, Yoona that.” Jessica explained.

Yoona shrugged, “Well, it’s really simple. Yuri must’ve told them my past from her point of view and in their eyes I’m a cheater who broke Yuri’s heart. If they still treated me like yesterday, now that’s strange.”

“Then why are you sitting here? Go out there and explain yourself. You don’t deserve to be treated this way; it’s not even your fault to begin with.”

“Nah… you know that I don’t fond of explaining myself to others. ‘Because’, ‘the reason is’ or ‘due to’ those words are pointless when they have already judged me as a cheater. It’s not even that necessary though. I don’t care what they think about me, it’s enough for me even if Jessica and Taeyeon are the only people in this world understanding.”

Jessica smiled happily as her heart was melted. Again. Even though in Yoona’s sentence there was Taeyeon and Jessica but in her ear there was only her name was heard. Her silly heart was jumping with joy over something so little again. Yet she wasn’t bothered by this. Not one bit.

“So… you’re not gonna expect your coffee with ‘a tad of milk and two cubes of sugar’ soon?” Jessica joked.

“I guess so.” Yoona laughed along. Somehow her talk with Jessica yesterday lightened up her mood in a magical way. Yoona was in deep thought for a while before saying, “I wonder if Seohyun also heard that story though. She’s the only person in STS who I don’t want to misunderstand me.”

“Lucky for you. I heard that after the meeting yesterday, Siwon specifically called her to his office for something important. There’s a big chance that she wasn’t here listening to that girl’s ‘once upon a time’.” Jessica answered.

“Really? That’s good.”

“Yeahhh… it’s really good that your Seohyun don’t misunderstand you.” Jessica said in a mockery tone.

“Yah, what’s up with that sentence? You’re mocking me, aren’t you?”

Jessica kept silent as an answer then suddenly raised her voice to say, “Hey, do you know that Taeyeon and Tiffany are kind of together now?” Jessica said, completely avoided the previous subject.

“Kind of?”

“Yeah, not official. She wanted to have things more romantic, jeez.” Jessica put on an offense face as she recalled how Taeyeon called her as a novice in love yesterday.

Yoona let out a loud laugh, looked like her friends’ warm-hearted conversation ended up with a fight again, “How do you know? Did she tell you?”

“Yeah, yesterday. She even complained about my lack of reactions, saying that you’re so much better.” Jessica pouted.

“Still, she told you not me.” Yoona said as she felt a little sad that Jessica was the only one to hear the story.

“Jeez, I was just happened to be there when she wanted to tell a story. Maybe she’ll tell you when we’re back home today.”

“Guess so.”

Looking at her peaceful desk outside of Yoona’s room, without her co-workers running around trying to steal her work, Jessica gave a relieved sigh, “Woah… I didn’t expect my heaven to come back so soon. We’re back to working as a duo in this department again.” 

A soft chuckle left Yoona’s mouth, “Yeah, maybe mine too.”

&&&&&&

STS – Sales and Reservation Department – Yuri’s office

“Ahhh, it felt so good Yuri-yah.” Tiffany grinned as she clapped her hands together. “Yoona finally got what she deserved, told you that you have to tell them about the past sooner.”

Yuri let out a sigh, “I’m not sure about this though. I felt like I’m a big mouth here.”

Tiffany smacked Yuri’s forehead slightly, “Yah, you’re not allowed to think like that. Is it wrong to let them know what kind of person Yoona really is?”

“Still…”

The sound of Yuri’s phone ringing cut short their conversation. She had a new text message. A heavy sigh left as she read the text.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing serious but I think that I’m gonna take the rest of the day off.”

&&&&&&

STS – Sales and Reservation Department – Yoona’s office

Knock, knock

“Just come in already Icy-ah, when did you start to decide to knock on my door before coming in?” Yoona said without looking up, assuming the person at the door was Jessica since all of her co-workers are all ganged up to make a cold war against her.

The person opened the door and walked in, “I think you should take today off.”

Yoona immediately looked up at the familiar voice which she never expected to see, “Yu-yuri!” She exclaimed in a rather high voice, almost jumped out of her seat.

Yuri rolled her eyes. Yoona was acting as if she was seeing a ghost. Yuri guessed that she had to repeat her suggestion again, “You need to take today off now.”

“Wh-why?” Yoona stuttered. Don’t ask, she herself didn’t even know why.

“Your father’s nurse just texted me that he will do a surgery at 12pm, removing his tumor. I should’ve sent you an e-mail like before; still I already knew who you are so it’s pointless to do something unnecessary like that.” Yuri said in a mono tone.

“Uh… why haven’t I received such a message like that?” Yoona wondered. Usually, if something important like this happened, the first person to be informed must be her, his own daughter.

“Yong appa told the nurse to keep it from you since he…” Yuri trialed off, trying to find the right words to say, “…don’t want to see you.” She said in an as small as possible voice.

“Oh.” Yoona blurted out.

“Anyway, you should hurry because they need your signature to start the surgery.” Yuri urged. No matter how many times her mind told her that Yoona deserved everything happening to her, Yuri couldn’t help but feel guilty when the sadness was clearly visible on Yoona’s face.

“Uh…” Yoona said as she started to gather her things and followed Yuri to the elderly care.

&&&&&&

Seoul Hospital – Yong appa’s room

Yuri opened the door to Yong’s appa room. As soon as the old man saw the tanned girl came in, he smiled brightly to greet her. But that smile was faded away in an instant as soon as he saw the girl was following closely behind Yuri.

“Who told you to let her in?” Yong appa said in an angry manner. He was feeling like he was betrayed.

“Yong appa, you know that you can’t start your surgery without her signature.” Yuri said in a gentle voice, convincing the stubborn old man.

Ignoring Yuri’s pleading words, Yong appa turned to the nurse, “My daughter has come. You can hand her the paper so that she can sign it.”

Both Yoona and Yuri let out a relieved sigh as soon as they heard him called Yoona as his daughter. The nurse nodded and moved to Yoona and Yuri’s spot. She handed Yoona the pen, told her to where to sign. However just when Yoona was about to sign, three of them heard the old man’s irritated voice.

“That person is not my daughter. The one next to her is.” He said coldly.

“Me?” Yuri asked dumbfounded while pointing to herself.

Once again ignored everyone’s surprise, Yong appa asked the nurse “My daughter-in-law can sign the paper for me, right?”

“Huh? Yong appa, Yuri’s your daughter-in-law?” The nurse asked. She just went from one surprise to another one consecutively.

“Yeah, she is.” Yong appa said casually as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

The nurse smiled, “Ah… that’s why she was much closer to you than the other elders at the care.”
At this moment, both Yoona and Yuri should’ve said something to deny the nurse’s assumption. They weren’t married anymore. They had divorced. However, not one denial was heard from both parties. They knew that if they opened their mouth to inform their divorce, denying their relationship which Yong appa insisted on saying, a chain of terrible things would happen.

The first thing on the list was Yoona was being kicked out of the room the moment Yong appa heard the confirmation of her being a cheater. Secondly, the stubborn old man wouldn’t let Yoona sigh the paper anytime soon and the surgery wouldn’t happen anytime soon. Lastly, both of them didn’t want to push the father-daughter relationship down to another level.

The nurse turned to Yuri as she hit the girl’s shoulder lightly, “Aish, you should’ve told me sooner. Contacting you would be much easier than Yoona who’s always out of network coverage since she’s travelling oversea, doing her work. You guys are a married couple after all.” The nurse excitedly turned to Yong appa, “Yeah… your daughter-in-law is more than fine to sign the paper.” She turned to Yoona and Yuri again, “I don’t know why but he’s really mad at you. Just let your wife sign the paper already, Im seobang.” She whispered into Yoona’s ear while taking the pen away from her hand and handed it to Yuri.

Holding the pen tightly in her hand, Yuri looked back and forth between Yoona and Yong appa, wondering how the hell she got herself tangled in this mess. With the nurse continuously urged beside her ear, Yuri exhaled heavily before signing the paper under her name as daughter-in-law.

The nurse smiled happily as she announced, “Please wait here, Yong appa. Your surgery will begin in half an hour.”

The room filled with silence after the nurse left. The three of them didn’t say anything to each other until a group of nurses and doctors came in to transfer Yong appa to the operating room.

&&&&&&

Outside of Yong appa’s operating room

Yoona and Yuri sat at the other end of the bench placed outside of the operating room. They hadn’t said anything to each other for half an hour since the surgery began. Yoona was staring at the on-call light box on top of the operating door while Yuri was staring at the floor, lost in their thoughts.

“Thanks.” Yoona said out of the blue.

“Huh?” Yuri lifted her head up. Honestly, she was so focus on thinking on her own that she didn’t hear what Yoona said clearly.

“Nothing.” For Yoona, it was too embarrassed to say it twice anyway so she decided to let it go. Maybe Yuri heard her but pretended that she didn’t hear.

“Oh…”

Judging from Yuri’s reply, she probably didn’t hear it for real. Yoona let out a sigh, she owned her a debt of gratitude. And Yoona hate it when she was in debt to someone.

“I said ‘thank you’.” Yoona said, much louder this time but not making eye contact with Yuri.

No reponse.

Aish, what’s with this silence? Can she at least have some kind of a reaction? Maybe she didn’t hear me again. Yoona thought to herself. Out of curiosity, she turned to the side to see Yuri staring at the ground again. She was not listening again, Yoona assumed. Turning to Yuri completely, Yoona raised her voice.

“I said th-”

“I heard it already.” Yuri said, cut short Yoona’s sentence.

“Then why don’t you reply to let me know you heard it?” Yoona asked, irritated.

“I was busy thinking, okay?”

“A nod would be fine but you didn’t do anything.”

“What if I did? How do you know if you’re not looking at me?”

“I…” Yoona had nothing left to say. It was true that she didn’t look at Yuri when she said it though. “Whatever, I never expected to respond to me nicely anyway.”

Yuri let out a sigh. Yoona started it in a friendly way, she even said it three times in total to show her gratefulness, how did the thank-you ended up like this? 

“It’s nothing. I don’t want Yong appa to prolong the surgery anyway. The tumor inside his body would do him no good. I do this for him and it has nothing to do with you.” Yuri said as a response that Yoona wanted.

Weird. It’s really weird. Yoona actually felt disappointed when she heard Yuri made it clear that everything she did had nothing to with her. But how could Yoona expect Yuri to be attached to her the way she secretly wanted? After all the things Yoona did to her, breaking her heart. Tsk, what was she thinking? Yuri used her. That was the truth, she heard it with her own ears. 

“I already know that.”

&&&&&&

Seoul Hospital – Outside of Yong appa’s room

1 hour later

“The surgery was a success. But your father had to stay in the hospital two or three days for further examination.” The doctor smiled warmly at the duo, informed them the old man’s condition.

“Thank you so much, doctor.” Yuri thanked him.

“Can we go in visit him?” Yoona asked.

“Yes, you can. He’s awake now.” The doctor nodded.

The two bowed to the doctor before coming in Yong appa’s room. Yong appa was lying with his back facing the door.

“Yuri-yah, told the person standing next to you to go home. I don’t want to see her face.” Yong appa said, not turning around to face them.

Yoona lowered her head in disappointment. Like father like daughter, her father was certainly stubborn just like her. It was better if she left like he wanted, she didn’t want to provoke her father anymore.

“Yong appa…” Yuri called the old man’s name, she didn’t like the way Yong appa was acting at all.

“Oh, and told her that she has to keep in mind what I said to her before. I was serious when I said I don’t ever want to see her again if you’re still not my daughter-in-law the way I wanted.” Yong appa persisted.

“Appa!” Yoona raised her voice, “Why are you being too unreasonable? What happened between me and Yuri was over. Why don’t you just let it go already? What do you want me to do? Begging her to marry me again?” Yoona screamed out of frustration.

Over? Was that what Yoona thought of their relationship? Suddenly Yuri’s heart was just simply ached for some unknown reason. Why was her heart aching so much when Yoona just stated an obvious fact like that?

“It’s not over when I’m still alive. And you said it yourself that you’ll beg her to marry you again. It’s actually not a bad option.” Yong appa said in a casual tone, not one bit affected by Yoona’s angry voice. He was used to this kind of behavior coming from her since she was young.

“APPA!!!!” Yoona screamed from the top of her lung. She didn’t know why she was yelling like this. It had been a long time since she was so furious. Maybe anything that involved Yuri could easily make her lose control.

“Get out! You’re disturbing the others who are resting.” Yong appa said calmly.

Bottling up all of her anger, Yoona stormed out of the room, closing the door with a loud slam. The loud sound caused both Yuri and Yong appa to jump in surprise.

“Yong appa…” Yuri said slowly, watching for Yong appa’s reaction.

A heavy sigh was heard as he turned around to face Yuri, “You can stay if you want to take care of me. But if you want to talk about my rascal, you can save your breath, I’m not gonna change my mind. You know me well, Yuri.”

Yuri shook her head slightly, this was getting worse but she knew she couldn’t do anything to change his mind, “Let me unpack your overnight bag.” Yuri said, finally gave in.

&&&&&&

Yoona was running as fast as she could on the sidewalk. She didn’t even stop to catch her breath just keep running with no sign of stopping. She was furious. What kind of nonsense was this? Begging Yuri to marry her again? He must be kidding.

She was even more furious when she wanted to blame her mistake on someone else, something else but she couldn’t found any. It was her fault all along, trusting Yuri when she just met her for 7 days, proposing to her without waiting to get to know her better, choosing to get back at Yuri after her heart was broken and still blindly loving her despite what she did.

Finally, Yoona came to a stop since she was seriously out of breath. Leaning her back on the wall next to an alley, taking a deep breath, trying hard to calm herself. 

Out of nowhere, she heard a familiar voice was talking at the end of the alley. Curiously she walked in just to find that Gyuri was being pushed hard on the wall and surrounded by five men. Gyuri looked really scared.

“Yah!!” Yoona yelled out to stop whatever they were doing to Gyuri.

A guy was wearing sunglasses turned around to look at Yoona from head to toe, examining her. Looking like he was the boss out of five. “Eh? A young lady…? Are you her friend, miss?” 

Yoona quickly slipped in between them, standing in front of Gyuri, shielding her but Gyuri didn’t hide behind her back instead she stepped forward, using her hand to pull Yoona back.

“This girl has nothing to with me, don’t you dare to bother her.” Gyuri said.

“You’re not in the position to speak here, Park Gyuri-sshi.” The boss said as he pulled out a cigarette and lit up.

“What’s wrong, Gyul?” Yoona asked.

“Yeah, Gyul. Tell her what’s wrong.” The boss urged Gyuri to say something.

“I… I…” Gyuri stuttered.

“How great! Just a moment ago you’re all babbling to us and now you’re stuttering, acting oh-so-innocent.” The boss waved his hands in a circular motion to add some drama effect. “If you couldn’t say anything then I’ll say it for you.” He pointed to Gyuri before speaking, “Just to keep it short, this lady here is in debt to us, 20 millions wons.”

“20 millions?” Yoona’s eyes were widened in shock.

“You heard it right, 20 millions and now I have to take my money back. That’s all.” The boss said.

“Liar! My father only borrowed one million from you and I’ve already paid you back. We’re even.” Gyuri talked back.

“Tsk, tsk. Park Gyuri-sshi, I didn’t know that you have trouble in hearing. I’ve already said that the amount you paid me was only the interest. You came to pay the debt after two years. Of course the amount wasn’t the same anymore. At this moment, both principle and interest was 20 millions. But if you wait until next month, the amount you have to pay me will be 20,5 millions. That’s how we roll, it was also pointed out clearly in the contract which your father signed. Sorry but there’s nothing I can help.” The boss shrugged, faked a helpless manner.

“You…” Gyuri found herself speechless since the contract had her father’s signature.

After listening to the story attentively, Yoona was lost in her own thought. She was only pulled back to reality when she heard Gyuri’s yelp in pain as she was pushed hard to the wall again.

“Yah! She’s gonna get hurt if you keep doing that.” Yoona said in a worried tone.

“I don’t care as long as I get my money back.” The boss cruelly said as his boys continued hitting Gyuri non-stop.

“Stop!!!” Yoona yelled, all the attention was back to her, “I’ll pay for her. I’ll be her guarantor. Tomorrow I’ll bring the money to you.” Yoona searched in her pocket for her business card and handed it to him. “If I don’t come to you, you can come here and find me. Now leave her alone.”

The boss grinned evilly, “That’s what I thought.” Looking at the business card in his hand, he read out loud, “Im Yoona. Sales Manager – STS cruise line. Ohhhhh, a manager, eh?” The boss snapped his fingers and all the boys gathered behind him, “Let’s go boys, we have our money.”

As soon as they walked away, Yoona rushed to Gyuri to help her get up.

“Yo…yoona, you don’t have to… do this…” Gyuri panted the words heavily, the wounds on her body made it hard for her to breath.

“Save your breath. I’ll take you to the hospital.”

&&&&&&

Seoul Hospital – Emergency room

Twice a day, Yoona visited the hospital. Needless to say, while waiting for Gyuri to be examined by the doctor, Yoona ran to her father’s room to check on him even though she was still somewhat mad at him for being unreasonable. Peeking through the window, she saw he was sleeping peacefully on the bed while at the end of the bed there was Yuri folding his clothes. Yuri was still here to take care of her father while she couldn’t. Yoona guessed that she had to thank the tanned girl again.

When she returned to the emergency room, the curtain to Gyuri’s bed had been drawn opened. Yoona quickly slid herself in.

“I’m the one who brought her here, she’s my friend.” Yoona pointed between her and Gyuri, “How is she, doctor?” She asked.

“She’s fine, nothing serious, only a few broken ribs. If there isn’t anything else she can be discharged from the hospital anytime.” The doctor said.

Yoona bowed to the doctor as he walked away. Then she approached Gyuri’s bed.

“Babo Gyul, you should’ve me told about this debt sooner.” Yoona scolded her friend.

“You shouldn’t do this Yoong, I don’t know when I could pay you back.” Gyuri said, feeling guilty for making Yoona taking her debt.

“Too late, I already did it.”

“But…”

“No but Gyul. Your job being an artist is just enough to make end meet. You can’t afford paying such a huge debt. Let me help you, at least I can stop your debt from growing. I didn’t say I gave you the money for nothing though, you have to pay me back. It’s just that I don’t set a timeline for you. Just repay me whenever you can.”

“Thanks, Yoong. I don’t know what else to say.” Gyuri was truly moved. Yoona was no doubt a really good friend.

“From this moment on, I’m your new boss. You have to work hard and pay me back, I’m not gonna let my money go to waste.” Yoona said while placing her hands around her hips, doing a bossy pose.

Gyuri smiled as she did a salute to Yoona, “Roger that, boss.” 

“Good. Now I need a friend to hang out at the bar with Taeyeon and Jessica. What do you say?”

“Your wish is my command, boss.” Gyuri grinned.

&&&&&&

Rock Bar

Thanks to the hangout at the bar, Gyuri had a chance to know about Yoona and Yuri’s story from Yoona’s side and whole situation between Yoona, Yuri and her father.

Taeyeon let out a heavy sigh, “I didn’t know that Yong appa was so persisted in the whole daughter-in-law.”

A scoff escaped Yoona’s mouth, “You didn’t see how he acted whenever he saw me. Not even making eye contact, like I’m carrying some kind of deadly disease.”

“Then what are you gonna do? Say sorry to Yuri and ask her to marry you again?” Gyuri said

“NO!” Both Jessica and Yoona said at the same time.

“There was no way I’m gonna do any of that.” Yoona said

“Yeah. It’s not Yoona’s fault why does she have to be the one to apologize?” Jessica said in an irritated tone. She didn’t know if she was annoyed at the fact Yoona had to say sorry to Yuri or the fact that Yoona was forced to propose to Yuri.

“Wow, wow, no need to be panic and gang up to me. I just said it as a suggestion.” Gyuri raised her hands in front of her in a defense pose.

“You can’t let your father keep being angry at you, it’s not good for his health.” Taeyeon said as a conclusion of the matter.

Jessica snapped her finger as something which she thought was brilliant came to her mind, “Hey, what if Yuri’s in love with someone else and decides to marry that person? Your father will let you off if that happens right?”

Taeyeon let out a non-humorous laugh as soon as she heard what Jessica was saying, “Ha ha, nice theory, Sica-yah. Now can you tell me when will that person appear?”

Jessica pouted, “Oh… right.”

“Let it go guys, I’m destined to be alone for the rest of my life.” Yoona said.

“Let me help you.” Gyuri said all of a sudden.

“Help me what?” Yoona asked, dumbfounded.

“I’ll be that person.”

TBC