Chapter 19 - Kiss, Kiss

Dining room

“Yoona seems much stronger than she looks. She really surprised me by the way she carried you outside proficiently earlier. Does she always do that to you?” Hyesung wondered while chowing down on his beefsteak.

Yuri almost choked on her water because of her father’s sudden question, “Ap-appa, really… what kind of a question is that?”

“What… I’m just curious. She didn’t look like first-timer to me, judging by the way she carried you effortlessly like that, it seems that she has carried you quite a few certain times.”

Instead of replying, Yuri dropped her head, decided to ignore her father’s question. Truth to be told, she didn’t know how to answer because even herself didn’t know why Yoona was so skillful in carrying her when Yuri was sure that she only carried her twice.

“What takes Yoona so long? It’s been more than half an hour now.” Misun asked as she glanced at the clock on the wall. Yoona told them that she was going to call another person to join them for breakfast since three of them were on a business trip together.

Yuri let out a heavy sigh. If Yoona wasn’t by her side, every ten minutes her mother would ask the latter’s whereabouts. As if Yuri needed the girl like her next breath, “Omma, didn’t she tell you that she needed to wake our co-worker? Give her some space, mom. Even though we’re married, she doesn’t have to stick by my side all the time.”

“But you’re still sick, honey. Yoona’s your seobang, she needs to stay by your side to take care of you, it’s her responsibility. How do you expect me to trust her with you when I’m not there if she always disappears in time like this?” Misun reasoned.

“Omma, she’s just left my side for half an hour yet you made it sounds like she’s been gone for years. I’m sure that she’ll be back in no time.” Yuri tried to shake the matter off as she went back to her breakfast.

“I believe that Yoona is quite close to this Jessica girl, right?” Hyesung just stated the question out of blue. 

Yuri raised her head to make eye contact with her father. Ever since the awkward act this morning, her father had repeatedly asked lots of questions about their daily lives, their close friends in Seoul as if he wanted to test how much they knew about each other’s personal lives.

“Uh… yeah. Jessica is Yoona’s best friend. They’ve been friends since pre-school.” Yuri answered, tried to add as much information as possible. She wanted to show her father that she knew everything about Yoona.

“Hmm… I see. So they’re classmates, I presume.”

“No, actually they met each other in an orphanage when Yoona’s father was there for a charity work.” Yuri said fluently, silently thankful to herself that she talked about Jessica’s friendship with Yoona few days ago.

“From what you said, I guess that Jessica always sticks by Yoona’s side ever since she was a kid, right?”

Yuri nodded, “Yeah, they went to the same school ever since. Yoona’s father is responsible for Jessica’s tuition’s fee since she was the only one that could get along well with Yoona at that time.”

Hyesung slowly nodded his head, “Hmm… Is she pretty?” Another question out of blue.

“Wh-who? Jessica?” Yuri really had no idea what her father was thinking. Why brings Jessica’s appearance into this conversation all of sudden?

“Yeah, this Jessica girl, is she pretty?” Hyesung confirmed his question.

“Well, yeah… she’s really gorgeous.” Yuri replied honestly.

Again, Hyesung slowly nodded as he was in deep thought. Yuri raised an eyebrow at her father, “Appa, what’s with these sudden questions about Yoona’s best friend’s appearance?”

Hyesung took a good look at his daughter before he placed his knife and fork down on the table. Then he laced his fingers together in front of him, telling Yuri that he was about to start a serious discussion, “Yuri-yah, I’m gonna ask you one more question and you have to promise me to answer it truthfully, okay.”

Cold sweat started to bead on Yuri’s forehead as she heard the word ‘truthfully’ came out of her father’s mouth. Yuri knew that she couldn’t hide anything from her parents, especially her father, he was too clever to be fooled. Nevertheless, she nodded to her father’s request.

“Are you having a happy life with Yoona the past three years?”

Here it went, she knew this would happen it was just that she didn’t expect it to happen so soon. Yuri was never the type of person who was good at lying. Telling lies in front of her parents was no different than exposing the whole truth to them.

“No…” Yuri said in a small voice as she glanced at her mother, watching her reactions.

Misun jerked her head to Yuri at her answer as she raised a hand to her racing heart. Certainly, she didn’t expect a negative answer from her daughter at all. What did she mean by ‘no’? What about those sweet acts earlier? Were they all an act? Did her daughter lie to her for all those years when she called to ask about their lives?

Hyesung also turned to his wife almost immediately after hearing Yuri’s answer. He was definitely not surprised by Yuri’s answer at least he prepared himself for that kind of answer. He just didn’t expect how straight-forward Yuri was acting. For a moment, he thought that Yuri would somehow try to cover the truth, considering her mother’s condition then he would definitely be able to see through her lies to determine whether she was living happily with Yoona or not.

“Wh-what do you mean?” Misun asked trembling, hands still clutching her heart tightly.

“I-I mean no, we can’t live happily all the time, right? I mean… we do fight over little things, a lot… like those common arguments which married couple usually has. But we’re happy now.” Yuri didn’t lie but she didn’t tell the whole truth either. “Like yesterday, we fought about whether one of us should sleep on the couch or not because Yoona needed to take a proper rest while I’m afraid that I might transmit my fever to her but she kept insisting on staying by my side to take care of me.” This was the truth, she only added some new helpful remarks to spice up the story.

Yuri could clearly see her mother let out a relieved sigh as she heard her daughter’s explanation. A small smile reappeared on her pale face, “Ah… so that’s how it goes. Don’t stop mid-sentence like that, Yuri-yah. You really scared me back then.”

“Are you telling the truth?” Hyesung asked.

“Yes, appa… I can guarantee that it’s the truth.”

“Why are you acting so awkward around each other earlier?”

“Didn’t I tell you that we fought yesterday?”

“Is that it?”

Yuri nodded.

“Well… if you said so, I shall believe you.” At this point, Hyesung chose to believe in his daughter. Maybe they acted awkward around each other because he caught them doing… that yesterday. Hyesung leaned forward a little bit so that he could place one hand on Yuri’s shoulder, “But Yuri-yah, I am your father. You know that you can confide in me everything, right?”

For one split second, Yuri did think of spilling everything to her parents. Just for that one spilt second before everything fell back into its place as she thought of the reason why she had to hide this huge secret from her parents for all those years. Still those same old ones that she always told Tiffany: her mother’s condition, how she wanted to stay in Korea where her friends were. But now, with her parents’ presence and also Yoona’s she realized there was one more hidden reason which was buried deep in her heart: her father’s protectiveness over her.

She was the only one child. Yuri knew how much her father loved her. What he would do to Yoona if he knew what the girl did to her three years ago, honestly… she didn’t want to know and didn’t want that to happen either because the result was definitely ugly, that she was sure of. Yuri was afraid that her father might hurt Yoona because of her. Yes, she was afraid… because deep down in her heart she still cared for Yoona, still worried for her, still loved her with those broken pieces of her heart.

Yuri knew for the thousands times that she shouldn’t feel this way toward Yoona anymore. She blamed her heart, her silly heart which always ran toward Yoona at full speed whenever the latter did only one kind small act for her. Or much more simpler, all Yoona had to do was smile at her then her heart wouldn’t be under her control anymore. All it took was one smile from Yoona.

Taking a deep breath in, Yuri looked at her father, “I know, appa. If something happens, I’ll make sure you guys are the first ones to know.”

“Like I said, I trust my little girl. But you should be careful, Yuri-yah.”

“Huh? What are you trying to say?” Yuri asked, confused.

“Yoona… I don’t know why but I always think that she has this ‘player’ vibe. Even her best friend is also a gorgeous girl like you said.” Hyesung found it hard to express what he was thinking into words. He couldn’t advise his daughter not to trust her seobang but he didn’t want Yuri to trust Yoona too much either. “Aish… You get what I mean, right?”

Yuri chuckled, “You know I do, appa.” What was the point of being careful now when Yoona was technically not hers anymore? The funny thing here was, her father didn’t tell her to be careful when they first got married. Why now? He must have noticed something strange about Yoona, about Yuri, probably even their relationship.

“Anyway, I wonder if Yoona will prepare something for you today. I remember how you go on telling me how she’s always full of surprises.” Misun said.

Yuri furrowed her eyebrows as confusion was written all over her face, “Why does she have to prepare something for me today?”

Misun let out an amused chuckle as she saw her daughter’s confused face, “Oh… honey, don’t tell me you forgot that today is your birthday which I’m sure that Yoona will remember.”

Yuri smacked her forehead, how could she forget her own birthday? That also reminded her the date with Gyuri tonight which she promised to go before she met her parents. Should she call it off?

“Yuri-yah!” Misun called out to her daughter who was lost in her train of thought.

“Yes, uh… I almost forgot, thanks for reminding me, omma.”

Misun smiled warmly at her daughter, “I’m sure that even if I didn’t remind you, Yoona would do that for me, right?” 

“Uh… yeah, I guess so.” Yuri smiled nervously. There was no way Yoona knew her birthday since she never got around to telling her included those seven days in the past. 

Before Yuri could go back to what she was doing, she let out a relieved sigh at the sight of Yoona walking through the main entrance. Finally, she could stop replying to her mother’s question about Yoona. “Here she comes, Omma.”

Yoona walked leisurely to Yuri’s family’s table while dragging Jessica along with her. It was obvious that Jessica wasn’t fully awake yet since she still carried this blank expression on her face. “Omoni, aboji.” As soon as Yoona reached their table, she bowed her head formally to greet them. “This is our co-worker, Jessica Jung. She is also my best friend.” Yoona introduced her friend while gesturing to the blonde standing next to her.

“It’s really nice to see you here, Mr and Mrs Kwon.” Jessica also bowed her head to greet the elders.

Both Misun and Hyesung stood up from their seats so that they could greet Jessica properly. Misun was the first to greet back at Jessica.

“Nice to meet you.” Misun smiled. Noticed her husband still staring at Jessica, Misun nudged him slightly to get his attention.

“Ah… uh, it’s nice to see you too.” Hyesung finally greeted back, still couldn’t take his eyes off of the blonde in front of him.

“Let’s take a seat.” Misun suggested.

As they settled in their seat, Jessica could still feel Hyesung’s intense stare on her made her wonder if there was something on her face. She had to admit, she felt kind of uncomfortable when Yuri’s father stared at her like he had a crush on her or something.

Minutes later, Yoona’s bacon, fried eggs and Jessica’s salad were served. As soon as Jessica’s dish was placed on the table, she wrinkled her nose in disgust at the awful smell came from the plate in front of her.

Being friends with Jessica for all those years, Yoona immediately knew why her friend acted this way. She grabbed her fork then dug in the salad to look for the cause of Jessica’s distress. As expected, Yoona found some ‘tiny’ pieces of cucumber in the plate. She let out a soft chuckle. It was unbelievable how sensitive Jessica’s nose could smell when it came to cucumber.

“How about I pick it out for you?” Yoona kindly offered.

Jessica shook her head, “Nah… even when you pick those out, its nasty smell is still left. It’s okay, I don’t feel like eating anyway.”

“Is there something wrong with the dishes?” Yuri asked.

Yoona turned to Yuri on her left as she replied, “Ah, Jessica couldn’t eat cucumbers. She’s allergic to them.”

Yuri tilted her head to look at Jessica’s plate. She tried to spot the cucumber Yoona said but she couldn’t find any, “Is there? I can’t see any of that in the plate.”

Yoona stayed silent as she dug her fork into the dish again to find that tiny piece for Yuri to see, “Here.”

“It’s that small? Wow… how could you know when you don’t even touch the dish?” Yuri asked Jessica, amazed.

Yoona chuckled, “If she didn’t know then she wouldn’t be Jessica Jung.”

“Oh… what a coincidence. Yuri’s appa is also allergic to cucumber. He can’t stand its smell at all. Right, honey?” Misun turned to her husband.

“Ah, uh… yeah.” Hyesung answered absent-mindedly.

Misun looked at her husband oddly. He had been acting extremely quiet ever since Jessica and Yoona joined them. Pushed those thoughts about her husband to the back of her mind, Misun put a happy expression on her face as she looked at Yoona.

“So… you’ll start filming again after breakfast?”

“Yeah, omoni. All of us want to complete this task as soon as possible.”

“When will you finish?”

Yoona shrugged, “I don’t know exactly but… I believe that it will be very late at night.” She answered truthfully.

Yuri widened her eyes at Yoona’s irrelevant sudden honesty. She hastily took Yoona’s hand in hers and brought their joined hands hidden under the table.

“Late?” Misun wrinkled her forehead into horizontal line, confused because of the unexpected answer from Yoona.

Taking this little time which her mother was busy thinking, Yuri quickly used her fingers to write on Yoona’s opened palm, ‘Today is my birthday.’ As soon as the message in Yoona’s palm was delivered to her brain, Yoona quietly clicked her tongue in regret for accidentally exposing everything.

“Ah… I know.” Misun smiled mischievously as she finally came to conclusion for Yoona’s odd answer. She assumed that the girl only pretended to forget her daughter’s birthday and then gave her a big surprise later. Or maybe she didn’t want these two seniors hanged around, spoiling their supposed romantic moment, “Filming late eh? Alright, ‘filming’ whatever you want. But remember to take pictures for me. I want some pictures of my daughter-in-law with my little girl in our house in LA.” Misun grinned while trying to emphasize on the word ‘filming’.

Yoona tried to force a chuckle out but all she could do at this moment was grinning stiffly at Yuri’s mom, going along with whatever happened in her mind as long as she didn’t suspect anything.

&&&&&&

Deck 4 – Aqua Theater

“That was so close. I really thought that your mom will notice something earlier.” Yoona said relieved.

Yuri giggled wholeheartedly as she replied, “There are a lot of things my parents are good at. But there’s one thing I know for sure that they are the best at: assuming things.”

“But… should we feel grateful for that?” Yoona laughed. Listening to the sound of Yuri giggling, oh, how she missed that sound, the loveliest sound she had ever heard, Yoona just felt hyper for no reason.

“You got a point.” Yuri nodded. Ever since they started, this was the first time that Yuri felt like this plan could actually work, they really could trick her parents into believing that they were still married, even though Yuri believed that her father might notice something strange about them.

“Ah, are you feeling better now?” Yoona asked, concerned.

Unknowingly, a small smile crept on Yuri’s face as she heard the question came from Yoona’s mouth. Here it went, her stupid heart just bounced rapidly over nothing again, “O-oh, I’m fine now.”

“For real?” Yoona asked as she raised an eyebrow at Yuri. After so many times claiming that she was fine then ended up falling unconscious later on, Yoona found that Yuri’s words were most likely untrustworthy whenever she said she was okay.

Yuri rolled her eyes. Sometimes she felt like Yoona and her mother was similar in some ways, always asked the same question till they got the answer they wanted, “When I said I’m okay, shouldn’t you just believe in me and then we’ll carry on to the next topic?” 

“I can’t because I want to make sure if you really are okay since whenever you claim that you’re okay then probably the next second I’ll see you in a nearly fainting state.”

“If you don’t believe in me, why bother asking?”

Yoona shrugged, “I don’t know about you but I always recover faster when there is someone by my side asking me if I’m okay every minute.”

Yuri let out a chuckle, “Why is that? Isn’t it bothering?”

“Not at all. I love the feeling being taken care of by someone. That’s the feeling you need the most when you’re sick.”

Yuri chuckled, Yoona always had her way of enjoying specific things in life while most of people thought that was annoying. For some reason Yuri found this was the most enjoyable conversation between her and Yoona since they met again. They could laugh together, no awkward moments and Yuri could see that maybe it was just manner but at least Yoona still cared for her in some way. That was truly enough to fill her heart with joy, probably hope.

“Uhm… today is your birthday?” Yoona asked.

“Yeah.” Yuri shyly nodded.

“Happy birthday.” Yoona sincerely said as she turned her head to look at Yuri who was walking beside her.

“Thanks.”

“Sorry, I didn’t prepare any present for you beforehand. Promise there won’t be next time.” Yoona bowed her head slightly as she raised a hand over her forehead in an apologetic manner while grinning nervously. 

Yuri couldn’t help but laugh at Yoona’s way of apologizing. There was a time Yuri thought if Yoona was truly a kid in an adult body, she laughed like a kid, cried like a kid and now apologized also like a kid who was scared of the upcoming punishment.

“It’s okay, I never get around to telling you anyway.” Yuri smiled to reassure Yoona, “But…”

“But…?” Yoona urged.

“Can you do me a favor on my birthday?”

“What kind of favor?”

“My mom thought that you’ve already prepared something for my birthday so… is it okay if in the end of the day we’ll snap some pictures about this celebration? You know like…”

“Alright… I get it. Didn’t I agree to help you to hide this from your parents? This is something I should do.” It looked like Yuri wasn’t gonna tell her parents about the divorce anytime soon and Yoona didn’t seem like feeling bothered by that at all, not one bit.

Watching the two girls walking ahead of her interacted, Jessica felt her heart was aching again, even though she couldn’t hear clearly what they were saying. She unconsciously slowed down her pace, didn’t dare to interrupt their own little world. Jessica had watched Yoona talked, flirted, hugged maybe even kissed those random girls at the bar but she had to admit none of that hurt her more than watching Yoona chatted happily with Yuri. Yoona was so gentle, so sweet, so caring with Yuri that made Jessica doubted if the person in front of her was her best friend who was immature, flirtatious and playful she knew for all those years. How did Yuri manage to bring out the real Yoona when she just simply shared a conversation with her while with Jessica, in order to see that Yoona she had to get herself in trouble or take sick with a serious cold?

Then again, she asked herself her very own question, ‘What does Yuri have and I don’t?’

“I think we should split up to get the work done faster. I’ll go to Deck 3 to film while I think you should go ask the Cruise Director for information about special activities on the cruise. Jessica will…” Yoona stopped herself while turning her head from left to right as she realized someone was missing. “Where is she?” Then she spotted her best friend was far behind them, walking slowly toward their direction. ‘Aishh, this sleepyhead, she was dozing off again.’ Yoona thought to herself.

“Yah! Sica! Hurry up, are you dozing off again?” Yoona yelled out to get her friend’s attention while waving her hand.

Jessica shook her head, trying to push those selfish thoughts of her to the back of her mind as well as her heartache, “Coming!!”

&&&&&&

Deck 3 – Center Ice Rink

“Such an unexpected result. I didn’t know that there’re so many romantic moments at the ice rink.” Yoona grinned while staring at her camera’s screen. She was quite pleased at those moments were captured on her camera. These couples who were smiling at each other while ice-skating were truly a sight to see. Anyone could easily felt the passionate love between them from the way they looked at each other lovingly.

“Hey, Yoong.”

As she felt a slight tap on her shoulder, Yoona turned around to address the owner of that familiar voice, “Gyul…” Yoona said in a low voice, her happy grin now turned to a frown.

“Yah! Why do you always greet me with that face?” Gyuri said, slightly offended by Yoona’s sudden change in attitude. 

“Ah… no, it’s just… I’m surprised to see you here.”

“You’re acting really strange these days, Yoong. Tell me honestly, are you feeling fine?”

“I’m fine, really. Don’t worry Gyul.” Yoona said as she tapped on Gyuri’s shoulder, telling the latter to trust her words, “Anyway, what brings you here? Don’t tell me you’re interested in ice-skating, now that’s a shock.”

“Nah, you know me. Sport isn’t my thing. I’m here to look for you.”

“Me? Why do you have to look for me?”

“For advices, I need your advices on something.”

This wasn’t good, this wasn’t good at all. If Gyuri needed advices from her then that matter only involved around that person, “I’m not sure if I can help though.” A soft chuckle was forced out of Yoona’s mouth. 

“Yes you can. I know you can. You’re my only hope left. It’s about Yuri.”

Bingo! It was about Yuri.

“Uh… what about her?”

“The thing is… Yuri agreed to go on this dinner date with me tonight at the Royal Ball. You don’t know how happy I am when she agreed, Yoong. Well, even though it’s not an actual date more like I treat her dinner but there’s only me and her so…”

Tonight? Did that mean Yuri agree to go with Gyuri for dinner on her birthday? Did she want to spend her birthday with Gyuri? Was Gyuri that special in her heart already?

“Yah, Yoong. Are you listening?” Gyuri asked since Yoona was staring blankly at the ground, seemed like she wasn’t paying attention.

“Y-yeah, I am. So…?”

“Well, I’m gonna confess to her that I like her tonight then I will ask her to be my girlfriend. In order to do that, I want to sing her favorite song to her. Do you know what her favorite song is?”

“Her favorite song?”

Flashback 

“How do you know ‘Complete’ is my favorite song?” The tanned girl happily asked her fiancé who was walking beside her while holding her hand tightly. They were going back to Yuri’s room after the proposing performance back at the theater.

Yoona grinned cheekily as she opened the door to ‘their’ room. As soon as they were in, Yoona pinned the tanned girl against the wall, leaning closer to her while closing the door in the process “Do you want to know something?” She whispered in a husky voice.

“What?” Yuri could felt her cheeks were heating up because of how close Yoona’s face to her.

“I have an ability to read people’s mind.”

Yuri raised an eyebrow at Yoona. She wondered why the latter always tricked her into believing the impossible “Do you really expect me to believe that?”

“Well, I do. Because it’s the truth.”

“Then prove it.”

“Alright, your wish is my command. You’re thinking about…” Yoona leaned even closer to Yuri until there was a tiny gap between their lips. Whenever she said something, their lips would slightly brushed against each other, “… how tasty my lips are when they’re pressed against yours right at this moment, aren’t you?”

Yuri’s cheeks now turned a deep red color as she heard Yoona’s ‘prediction’, that was exactly what she was thinking, “Yah! That was ch-”

Yoona silenced what Yuri was about to say by capturing those kissable lips of hers. All night long, no almost two days, she had been dying to feel her kiss, only now when they were alone in their room she had the chance to do so.

Kissing was obviously not enough for Yoona, it had been two days, two damn long days. She needed to be with Yuri as soon as possible or else she would explode. Yoona sneaked a hand under Yuri’s shirt, desperately wanted to feel her soft skin by her own hands. But before Yoona could do anything else, Yuri had stopped that hand from going further in her shirt as she pushed Yoona away from her.

“That… was cheating.” Breathless, Yuri decided to finish what she was gonna say earlier.

Yoona chuckled, “How is that cheating? What I said was true right? You’re thinking about how tasty my lips are.” She protested.

“Well… that’s not the point. What matters is you made me to think like that.”

“Oh, did I?” Yoona grinned goofily as she leaned closer to Yuri again as an attempt to get another kiss.

Yuri shyly turned her head away from her ert fiancé, “No… really. How do you know that was my favorite song?”

Yoona heaved a defeated sigh. Looked like Yuri wasn’t gonna give her what she wanted anytime soon if she didn’t reveal the answer why she knew her favorite song, “Alright, alright. I didn’t know. I picked that song because that’s also my favorite song. But I guess this is our favorite song now, isn’t it?” Yoona said while unconsciously pouting her lips.

Yuri couldn’t help but giggle at Yoona’s cute disappointed expression when she rejected her, “What about the piano performance? You disappear for almost two days to practice playing piano, right?”

“Yeah… I don’t want to brag but you don’t know how hard it was for me to practice this song in order to have this wonderful performance. My piano teacher said I’m a really fast learner, considering the fact I haven’t played piano before.”

“So?” Yuri teasingly asked.

“So? I work hard for my reward…” Despite Yuri’s hands were still on her chest, keeping a safe distance between them, Yoona was still able to pull Yuri closer to her by tightening her grip around the latter’s waist, “… and I have to take it right here, right now.”

“Reward? What reward?”

“You don’t know? Oh, don’t worry, if you behave I’ll enthusiastically show you what my reward is. We can share it if you want.” Decided not to prolong this conversation anymore, Yoona pressed her lips against Yuri’s to put this into an end as she made their way toward the bedroom to get Yoona’s reward.

End of Flashback

“Yoong? Yoong!”

“H-huh? Y-yeah, what’s wrong?”

Gyuri gave a loud sigh. These days, it seemed like it was really hard to have a proper conversation with Yoona. Her mind was just everywhere but here. “You just spaced out after I asked what Yuri’s favorite song is.”

“Uh… honestly, I don’t even know what her favorite color is let alone her favorite song. I don’t know much about her interest since we didn’t get to know each other that much, you know?” Yoona wasn’t lying, she never lied to her friends. She didn’t know Yuri’s favorite song, she only knew their favorite song.

“And I thought that you can be a great help for me…”

“I’m sorry…”

“Nah, It’s okay. I’ll pick a random song then.”

“Uhm…”

“I won’t bother you working anymore, see you soon, Yoong.” Gyuri sadly said as she was about to walk away from Yoona.

“Uh… Gyul…” Yoona hesitantly called out to her friend.

“Huh?”

“You know, you shouldn’t rush things with Yuri. It may scare her away. You know what happen between us.” As a good friend, Yoona knew she shouldn’t have said what she was saying at this moment. However Yoona also knew that if she didn’t say it, she probably wouldn’t get sleep tonight.

Gyuri thought for a moment before she finally agreed with Yoona, “Hmm… I think you’re right. I guess I’ll ask her to be my girlfriend on another date which I’ve prepared everything carefully. I shouldn’t rush things; good thing comes to the one who waits, right?”

“Yeah… I think you should wait.” Selfish, too selfish, Yoona was being too selfish at this moment, she knew that. But she would rather being called selfish than watching Yuri fell into another person’s arms which weren’t her.

&&&&&&

Deck 5 – Royal Ball – 7:05pm

Yuri twitched nervously in her seat, waiting for Gyuri to come in. It was still early, she went straight here right after she finished filming at the spa on deck six. Honestly, she just hoped Gyuri would appear right away so that she could apologize and end this dinner as soon as possible. The last thing she wanted was her parents caught her hanging out with another girl rather than Yoona on her birthday. There was no way that she could get away with it if they did.

As soon as Yuri caught a glimpse of Gyuri’s figure walked right through the main entrance, she waved her enthusiastically for her to come over.

“Hi, did you wait long? I’m sorry I’m late.” Gyuri immediately apologized as she settled down on her seat.

“Actually, you’re not late. I’m just here early.” Yuri smiled politely at her.

“Uhm… have you ordered yet?”

“No, not yet… but…”

“Is there something wrong? Please feel free to say it if there is.” Gyuri kindly offered when she saw there was something bothering her.

“Well… There is something. I feel really bad when I have to say this but… there’s something unexpected came up and I’m really sorry but I can’t have this dinner with you. But I promise that I’ll treat you some other days soon.

“Oh, is that so?” Gyuri said in a low voice, she couldn’t hide the disappointment in her tone. “Uh… well, let’s have dinner some other times then.” She tried to force a small smile on her face so that Yuri didn’t have to feel bad for canceling the dinner.

“Thanks for understanding, Gyuri-sshi.”

“Hmm… can I walk you back to your room?” Gyuri offered again, she wanted to stay with Yuri for as long as she could.

Yuri nodded slightly. She didn’t feel like rejecting another offer from Gyuri when she just cruelly let her down by doing this.

However, they couldn’t get far to the main entrance since Yuri had stopped dead in her track at the sight of her parents standing at the doorway, looking around for something. Fortunately the ball room was too large for Yuri’s parents not to spot her with Gyuri right away.

“Oh Gosh! How come they always manage to catch me in this situation?” Yuri asked out loud as she began to panic. Yoona wasn’t here either, what to do now? “Gyuri-sshi, do you know any other ways to get out of here beside the main entrance?” She asked as she turned to Gyuri.

“Uh… I-I’m not sure. The main entrance is the only exit I know of.”

Yuri paced back and forth in her spot. If Yoona was here, Yuri was sure that the latter would figure out some way to turn the table. She knew how witty Yoona could be.

Before Yuri could faint due to nervousness, she felt a hand grab her own hand to turn her around, back facing her parents. That hand couldn’t belong to Gyuri, the hand which felt so perfectly fit in hers must belong to only one person.

“Yo-yoona!!” Yuri blurted out loudly.

“Shhh… your parents are coming this way. Act surprised.” Yoona warned as she tightened her grip on Yuri’s hand.

“Yoona, Yuri... you guys are really here.” Misun exclaimed happily as she saw her daughter.

Yoona was the first to turn around, “Omoni, aboji… how do you know we’re here?”

“We ask the cruise staff the place where couples usually celebrate their loved one’s birthday and he guided us to come here to see. Turn out you guys really are celebrating here at the Royal Ball.” Misun went on talking about her reason for being here excitedly.

Hyesung let out a small chuckle, “This lady here, she kept pacing back and forth in our room, hesitating if we should ruin your ‘romantic moment’ or not.” He stopped to put an air quote around the phrase ‘romantic moment’ which was repeated more than a hundred times ever since they got back to their room, “Then she finally decided to come here since we haven’t met Yuri for a long time and we really don’t know when will be the next possible time that all of us can celebrate together so she just automatically assumed that you will understand her.” Hyesung laughed amusingly as he recalled his wife’s debate back in their room.

Amused laughter could be heard from both Yoona and Yuri while Misun hit her husband’s arm slightly for revealing her embarrassing act to the kids.

“Don’t worry, omoni. I think Yuri will be overjoyed if you guys can join us for celebration. Truth to be told, I only have a cake for her and sing her happy birthday. I was kind of worried that Yuri will get mad at me since I haven’t prepared anything special on this cruise ship due to this sudden business trip. It’s a good thing you’re here to save my lousy celebration for her.” For someone who didn’t know anything about their current state like Yuri’s parents, they would easily believe that Yoona was still in a happy marriage with Yuri thanks to her fluent speech to cover the obvious slip. Just like Yuri said, Yoona had a gift for fooling people into believing in the impossible. 

Yoona simply brought Yuri from one surprise onto another continuously. Questions were swirling in her head. How did she know Yuri was here with Gyuri when she hadn’t once mentioned about meeting her to Yoona? How was Yoona always by her side when she needed her most, making her heart flutter for no reason again? When did she prepare a cake for her like she said when they only bid goodbye to each other less than an hour ago when they finished their filming?

“Now you’re done with your work, right?” Misun asked.

“Yes, omoni. We just finished.” Yoona said.

Then Misun noticed Gyuri standing next to Yuri, “Oh, your friend…” she stopped, trying to remember her name which her daughter once told her, “…uhm… Gyu…ri, she’s here to celebrate too?”

“Uh… she’s….” Yuri stuttered.

“Actually… Mrs Kwon, I just saw Yuri and came to greet her. I was just about to leave.” Gyuri quickly added in, now understanding the reason why Yuri had to cancel the dinner date with her.

“Ah…” Misun nodded.

“I hope to see you again soon, Mr and Mrs Kwon.” Gyuri bowed politely to Yuri’s parents before turned to Yuri, “See you soon.” And then took her leave.

Another question popped in Yuri’s head. Gyuri seemed to know the situation between her and Yoona, why was that?

&&&&&&

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to Yuri, happy birthday to you.” Yuri’s parents and Yoona clapped and sang together to Yuri.

They finished the song in another round of applause as Yuri bent down to blow out the candles on the birthday cake Yoona prepared.

Misun moved forward a bit as she pulled her daughter in for a hug, “Happy birthday, honey.” She planted a kiss on Yuri’s cheek which the tanned girl gladly accepted.

As soon as Yuri turned to him, Hyesung took the chance and also pulled her in for hug, “Happy birthday, my little girl. You’re all grown up now.” He pulled back and ruffled her hair.

Once Hyesung was done, he and his wife turned to look at Yoona, who didn’t seem to move from her position, waiting for her to do something.

“O-oh!” Yoona snapped out of her thoughts when she realized two pair of eyes on her. She went around the table to get to Yuri’s side, “Happy birthday baby.” She said and then went in for a hug.

“Just like that?” Misun said disappointedly, “Come on kids, don’t be shy, you’re married for 3 years for god’s sake. Told you guys that I want some pictures to hang around the house, a kiss will do.” She waved her camera in front of her kids, desperately wanted something more than just a simple hug.

Yoona closed her eyes, Alright, let’s do this. She chanted quietly to herself then turned to Yuri. She gently cupped the tanned girl’s face in her hands as she leaned closer to her. If Yuri’s mom wanted a kiss, a kiss it was then.

It wasn’t that strange if Yuri didn’t do anything to protest. It wasn’t like she could tell her mom to stop asking for something like a birthday kiss – the most normal act for married couple. Knowing that, Yuri had no choice but to close her eyes, waiting anxiously for Yoona’s lips on her. Yes, waiting anxiously, the kind of feeling that you’re excited for something good was about to happen.

Pretty much to her dismay, Yuri opened her eyes when she felt Yoona’s soft lips on her forehead and the sound of the camera shutter clicking. She didn’t really know if Yoona did kiss her on the forehead or not, too quick and too light to feel anything. Right, what was she thinking? Yoona would never kiss her on the lips, they were just acting, remember?

Misun looked at the picture on her camera screen then furrowed her eyebrow. Looked like she wasn’t that much satisfied with the result. ‘Gahhh! These kids are getting on my nerves sometimes.’ She thought to herself.

“Yoona, Yuri, can you guys do it once more time? I can’t capture that moment on my camera.” Misun told her kids and earned a slight nod from both of them, “Honey, take their picture for me, I have something else to do.” Misun whispered to her husband while handing him the camera.

Yoona closed her eyes again, hoping that Yuri’s mom would capture whatever she wanted this time. Following her instinct, Yoona leaned her head toward Yuri slowly, attempting to kiss her forehead once more. Suddenly, she felt a hand behind her head, pushing her forward at full force, the result was she landed her lips on Yuri’s… lips, a proper kiss like Misun wanted at the very beginning.

Yoona was completely surprised but she didn’t dare to pull back. She didn’t have to open her eyes to know who was the one pushed her. So she just stayed still like that, neither pulled back nor deepened the kiss. Yoona had to shut her eyes even tighter than before as an attempt to stop the burning desire from growing inside of her. The desire which she wanted to grab Yuri’s face and then kissed her fiercely, left her breathless like she used to do.

Yuri was just as equally surprise as Yoona. She also expected a light forehead kiss which she wondered if it was considered as a kiss or not. But the moment Yuri felt Yoona’s lips on her, she thought that her heart was gonna jump out of her chest. As seconds passed, Yoona didn’t pull back, unknowingly to Yuri, curled upward into a small smile. The moment that smile appeared was also the moment which Yuri found herself melted into this sweet kiss.

Misun looked at her kids satisfied, “Now that’s… what I call a birthday kiss.”

A kiss from her seobang as a birthday gift, not bad at all.

TBC