Chapter 22 - Origami Roses
Kwon HouseHold – Front Door

“What happened to you?” Misun asked in a worried tone as she opened the front door to see her daughter’s pale face standing right next to Yoona.

“Can we get in first?” Yoona shyly asked.

“Of course, come on in.” The old lady quickly held her hands out, helping Yuri get in the house.

As soon as Yuri sat down on the couch, Misun took the seat right next to her daughter. Her eyes started to scan Yuri from head to toe, checking if there was any visible injury. “What happened?” Misun turned to Yoona and repeated her question once again.

“It was my fault, omoni…”

Then Yoona started to tell Misun the whole story. Throughout the conversation, she kept repeating that it was her fault that Yuri got on that ride.

Misun gave a sigh, “It’s okay, you don’t have to apologize so many times like this… at least you’re there with her right?” She turned to Yuri, “How are you feeling, honey?”

“I’m fine, omma. I just need some time to adjust things.” Yuri smiled to sooth her mother’s worry.

“Do you want some hot tea? I’m sure it will be great help for your condition now.” Misun gently suggested and Yuri replied with a nod.

As Misun stood up, her elbow accidentally hit Yoona’s back caused the young girl to yelp loudly in pain which Yuri and Misun almost jumped in surprise as they heard Yoona’s scream. 

“Oh, I’m sorry. Does it hurt that bad?” Misun asked out of confusion since she didn’t really hit Yoona that hard.

“Ah, no… I’m just… surprised, omoni.” Yoona grinned as she replied even though her hand was still on the spot which Misun just accidentally hit, probably protecting it from any others contact.

Yuri scrunched her eyebrows in suspicion but she didn’t question further more. She waited patiently for her mother to bring out the hot tea, hastily gulped down the glass in one shot then excused themselves for going to their room.

As they opened the door to their room, Yuri purposely trailed behind Yoona so that the latter wouldn’t know what she planned to do. As soon as Yuri closed the door behind her back, she raised a hand to press hard against the suspicious spot. As expected, Yoona yelped in pain even louder than before.

“Ahhhh!!!! What do you do that for?” Yoona asked angrily.

“You’re truly hurt. Why do you have to lie to us earlier?” Yuri exclaimed.

Yoona’s anger suddenly shrunk down like a deflated balloon. She turned away from Yuri, avoided eye contact. 

“Wh-what are you talking about?” Yoona asked even when she knew fairly well what Yuri was talking about.

“Was it because of me? When I hugged you on that ride?” Yuri ignored Yoona’s nonsense question and insisted on getting a proper answer. She had a very good reason to assume things this way. Even though she couldn’t remember clearly where she wrapped her hands around Yoona to hug her, she was sure that she squeezed the latter very hard since she was so frightened. After that ride, they didn’t go anywhere else so she must be the culprit.

Yoona heaved a loud sigh then stayed silent. She didn’t dare to deny this time just in case Yuri might ‘test’ her injury by that cruel way again. She just wished that she could bear her pain better than this. But seriously, Yuri’s strength wasn’t a joke at all. Yoona was pretty sure that there must be some serious bruise around the area which Yuri gripped on earlier.

Yoona’s silence said it all. Yuri silently scolded herself for letting her fear get out of hand. “Can I… can I have a look?” She shyly asked.

Seeing no protest from the latter, Yuri slowly approached her to take a look at the spot where Yoona placed her hand on. She gently lifted up the girl’s shirt and there it was, her red finger marks with some shades of purple around them were easily spotted on both side of Yoona’s back, above the waistline just a little. These red marks would surely turn to black bruise tomorrow.

Probably, Yuri would never be able to take her eyes off of those bruises because of guilty if Yoona didn’t forcefully pulled her shirt down, hiding the bruises.

“I’m… I’m so sorry… I really didn’t know that I… I was just so…”

“Nah… it’s nothing serious anyway. It doesn’t even hurt that bad.” Yoona lied through her teeth.

“Are you telling the truth?”

“I’ve never been more truthful in my life.”

“Alright…” Yuri nodded slowly as if she actually believed in Yoona’s obvious lie. Right now she was truly irritated. If Yoona was hurt that bad, why didn’t she just say it out loud, scream it out loud if it was necessary? Why did she have to keep everything to herself like this?

Just when Yoona thought that Yuri finally decided to drop this subject, she noticed Yuri’s hand was making its way to her bruise again but it was too late to stop the latter from ‘testing’ which result in…

“Owww!!! Yah! Will you just stop doing that?” Reflexively, Yoona covered her bruises on both side with her hands.

“I won’t stop until you admit that it does hurt.” Yuri said as she put both hands on her hips, demanding.

“Fine! It hurts as hell, pleased now?” Yoona finally admitted defeated annoyingly.

“Very…” Yuri simply said then she turned toward the door to leave the room.

Yoona pouted as she stared at the closed door. “Jeez… is this how she usually treats her rescuer?” She mumbled to herself as she lifted up her shirt, trying to have a peek at her bruise. But all of her efforts were to no avail, the bruise was way behind her back. The only thing she managed to see were some faint red mark on the side of her hips. Yoona hastily pulled her shirt down when she heard the sound of the door knob turning.

Yuri returned with a pack of ice cubes in her hand. “This will help you heal faster.” She waved the ice pack in front of Yoona and then bent down in attempt to apply it on the bruise.

“I-I can do it myself.” Yoona quickly stepped back when she realized what Yuri was about to do. Taking the ice pack from Yuri’s hand, she started to look around the room to find a place where she could sit down. Unfortunately, the only thing she could sit on was Yuri’s bed. Now it was either the floor or her bed.

“It’s okay… you can sit on my bed. I really don’t mind.” 

“Ah… uhm…” Yoona mumbled to herself since she didn’t know what else to say. Thank you? Too formal… did she have to thank Yuri every single time she did some good deed for her?

As Yoona sat down on the bed, she pondered whether she should ask Yuri to leave the room since she was technically taking off her shirt here. Nah… too rude, this was her room beside she had seen everything anyway. Having made up her mind, Yoona slowly lifted her shirt up to reveal the bruises in front of Yuri’s eyes once again. Yoona couldn’t see where exactly her bruises were so she just blindly put the ice back on her back at some random places, completely missed the bruises.

Yuri shook her head in displease at the scene. This was what Yoona got for being too stubborn. Have had enough, she took a few steps toward Yoona and snatched the ice pack right from her hand caused the latter to stare at her in confusion. Without any explanation, Yuri sat down on her bed right behind Yoona and gently rubbed the ice pack over the bruise.

“Yahh… I can d-” Yoona tried to turn around to get the ice pack back.

“Don’t you dare saying that you can do it on your own.” Yuri cut in before Yoona could finish her sentence. “Stay still.” She added with a demanding tone while pushing Yoona’s shoulder forward.

And Yoona obediently did as she was told. Now she wouldn’t dare to move an inch even if there was someone tickling her. Yoona could feel the ice pack slowly running up and down at some particular spot on her back, it must be her bruise right there. This was weird, was she supposed to feel some kind of pain right now? Why did she feel so… so… good? Maybe it was because either she had lost her sense of touch or there was this strong sensation inside of her that made her skin tingle, her body became stiffen and for a moment made her forget all about her aching back.

Unknowingly, a secret small smile appeared at the corner of , not just any smile, this happy smile was the one that had been lost the moment she overheard what Yuri said to Nicole three years ago. Yoona didn’t realize that at this point she had stepped over that off-limit line which she endlessly told herself to stay away. Stepping over it and just keep going without looking back even once.

“Why didn’t you stop me when I gripped on you this hard?” Yuri’s soft voice from behind pulled Yoona out of her thought.

Thinking. Silence.

“I can’t… didn’t you tell me not to leave you?” Yoona said in a low tone just enough for Yuri to hear which came out almost as a whisper. Thank god that Yuri sat behind her, it was much easier to talk if she didn’t have to look at the latter in the eyes.

“Right.” She mumbled. To be honest, Yuri didn’t really remember why she had to say those words to Yoona. However, even when she was panicking, she still managed to remember every single word of Yoona’s reply to her sudden plea. “You… are you… never mind.”

“Are you what...?” Yoona asked again. She didn’t know exactly why but she wanted to hear this question, all of it.

“Are you… always like this?”

Yoona raised her eyebrow. Giving out unspecific questions must be one of Yuri’s hobbies. “Like what?”

“Like this.”

“This?”

“This.”

Yoona let out a soft chuckle. Seriously, she really didn’t know what kind of conversation they were having right now. “Really, what does ‘this’ mean?”

“Like… being good to your friends?” Yuri had been thinking and she could tell that Yoona was a good friend judging by the way she worried about Jessica earlier. Maybe that was why the latter comforted her back on that ride and even made that promise to her. Maybe Yoona didn’t actually mean what she said. Maybe she just randomly said whatever came to her mind to sooth away her fear.

“Isn’t that what we supposed to do? Looking out for our friends all the time?” Yoona confirmed without a second thought, thinking Yuri might refer to what she ask about Sooyoung earlier.

Do you mean what you said earlier? Will you keep that promise you made to me? Who am I to you? A friend, a co-worker or just a stranger? Why are you being so good to me all of a sudden when you’ve been distant lately? Why do you always agree to help me whenever I ask for it? Why do you just walk back into my life when I thought that I could forget you? Why do you have to make me fall in love with you again and again?

So many questions yet too little courage to ask. That was why Yuri found herself replying Yoona with one simple sentence, “Yeah, you’re right.”

Silence filled the room as Yuri went back to what she was doing. Both of them knew that these forbidden feelings inside would take control of them sooner or later. And when that happened, hopefully things would get better than right now.

&&&&&&

Kwon Household – Back Yard

“Tell me again, why do we have to sneak in the house by this back door?” Jessica asked the tall girl standing next to her as she fidgeted with the back door’s rusted lock.

“Don’t you think that it’s more exiting this way?” Sooyoung had this amused grin on her face while enjoying the view which Jessica was getting frustrated at the lock.

“No…” Jessica coldly admitted, her eyes and hands still fixed on the door lock, “… what’s so exciting about getting this rusted door opened? Aishhh…” Jessica clicked her tongue in annoyance. No matter how hard she tried to push, the door didn’t seem to budge even for one inch.

Sooyoung secretly chuckled. Of course there was nothing exciting about getting in the house by this back door. It was just a simple excuse for her to prolong this date as much as possible. Sooyoung went on to LA for a business trip quite frequently, which was why Yuri usually asked her to pass by her house to visit her parents just in case the two elders needed some help. Two weeks ago, the tall girl had known fairly well that this back door was broken because she saw Yuri’s father tried to fix the lock for hours and finally decided to ignore it since they didn’t use this door often. Now this door can only be opened from inside, there was no way that Jessica could open this door on her own if there wasn’t anyone on the other side of the door helping her pushing.

“It is to me though. Sneaking in the house in the middle of the night, especially after a wonderful date, makes me feels like a teenager all over again.” Sooyoung tried to reason.

Jessica turned to Sooyoung and raised an eyebrow at her. “Right now, I can say that your mind works in the most unusual way I’ve ever known.” 

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Sooyoung grinned. It seemed like she couldn’t wiped that grin off her face the entire night.

“Anyway, I’m through with this door. Let’s use the front door already.” Jessica said as she tried to pass the tall girl to get to the front door.

“Wait! Why don’t you call someone to help you open the door from inside? I’m sure it’ll help.” Sooyoung suggested.

Jessica shook her head in disbelief. She didn’t know how many times she behaved like this because of Sooyoung’s crazy idea during their date. “Why bother doing all of that when I can just ring the doorbell and get in the house like a normal person not some kind of criminal trying to sneak in someone’s house in the middle of the night like this?”

“Ayee… come on, it’s no fun going in that way. I’ll call Yuri, okay?”

Jessica quickly raised a hand to stop Sooyoung from pulling her phone out. She really didn’t want to have anything to do with Yuri. Another heavy sigh escaped Jessica’s mouth, after this date she came to one conclusion: Jessica Jung would never be able to persuade Choi Sooyoung to change her mind about something the latter wanted to do.

“Alright, you win. I’ll call Yoona for help, pleased now?”

Sooyoung wrinkled her nose, “Not really… I don’t like that girl.” 

“I know.” Jessica ignored Sooyoung’s reply as she pulled out her phone to dial Yoona’s number. Pressing the phone to her ear, Jessica waited patiently for the other line to picked up.

“Hello?” Came the strange voice on the other line.

Jessica furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Only one word, she could realize that the person on the line wasn’t Yoona. Jessica took the phone away from her ear to check if she dialed the correct number. Weird, it was Yoona’s number.

“Excuse me, is this Im Yoona’s phone?”

“Jessica-sshi… it’s me Yuri.”

Jessica felt like there was someone clutching her heart tightly. What were they doing? Why did Yuri pick up Yoona’s phone? “Wh-where is Yoona?”

“Uh… she’s sleeping. Since it’s late and you haven’t come back, she asked me to pick up her phone if you called just in case she fell asleep. Well, and she did.”

“So… you… don’t sleep?” 

“Ah, no. Not yet, I need to stay awake to combine all the clips we shot recently.”

“Uhm…” Jessica absent-mindedly replied.

“So… do you need something?”

“Ah, can you help me open the back door?”

“The back door? Why?”

“It’s more exciting this way.” Jessica simply said.

“Oh, just wait a minute. I’ll be right there.” Yuri responded and hung up the phone even though she had no idea what Jessica was talking about.

Jessica stared at her phone in deep thought and then turned to Sooyoung with a sad smile on her face. “You’re right. I should’ve let you call Yuri.”

Sooyoung her chin for a while before saying, “You know… this is the first smile you give ever since I took you out on this date.”

Jessica still had that sad smile on her face, “Really? I didn’t notice.”

“Yeah… and I can’t believe I’m saying this but… I don’t like your smile.” Sooyoung stated seriously. 

Sooyoung’s sudden comment caught Jessica off guard. Throughout their date, there wasn’t one thing Sooyoung stated she didn’t like about her. Even when she screamed or got angry, Sooyoung still saw her ‘adorable’. But now…

“Why?” Jessica couldn’t help but ask.

“Because you hide your real feelings from me. And I don’t like it at all. You’re supposed to smile when you feel happy. If you don’t, why do you have to force a smile on your face?” Sooyoung took a few steps closer to Jessica to take her hand in hers, “When you’re with me, please don’t try to be like anyone else. To me, you’re the prettiest girl when you’re being yourself.”

Jessica was supposed to pull her hand back but for some reason, she couldn’t do it. Maybe it was Sooyoung’s sincere words, her tender touch, her faithful eyes staring right into her own made Jessica forgot what she should do at this moment. 

The back door suddenly flung opened. Jessica hastily pulled her hand almost immediately as she quickened her steps to get in the house.

“Jessie, wait!” Sooyoung called out to the flustered girl.

Yuri stepped back for Sooyoung to catch up with Jessica since she knew that she might interrupt their moment.

Standing in front of Jessica, the playful look was back on her face, “Can I have a goodbye kiss?” Sooyoung grinned.

Jessica’s cheek heated up in less than second, “Wh-what…”

“I don’t ask much, a kiss on the cheek will do.” Sooyoung said while pointing to her cheek.

Jessica stayed rooted to the ground.

“Hmm… how about forehead?”

Still didn’t move.

“No? Okay, just blow a kiss then. That’s enough for me… for now.”

“I-I guess I’ll see you later.” Jessica said as she quickly turned around to run to Yuri’s house.

Sooyoung smiled as she watched Jessica running away. She knew that the latter would never give her a goodbye kiss when Yuri was standing right behind them. Truth to be told, Sooyoung just wanted to tease the girl since she was afraid that they might get awkward around each other because of their interrupted moment. But she didn’t mind if Jessica did kiss her that would be a great success for tonight. Sooyoung turned around to leave the house just to find Yuri shaking her head at her.

“What…?”

“You’re so thick-skinned.”

Sooyoung shrugged, “So?”

&&&&&&

Kwon Household – YoonYul’s room

“I think we’ve covered all sightseeing in LA for couple. Don’t you think it’s time to move on to our last mission now?” Yoona asked as she looked at Yuri who was sitting on her bed, rearranging the pictures they took the past few days.

In the last three days, they had gone from place to place to film lots of things. Right now, all they had to do was looking for a new romantic sightseeing and then they could go back to Korea. Also, ever since Yuri left her finger marks on Yoona’s back, their relationship had gotten much better, less awkward around each other. Maybe because of the fact that every night, Yuri would make sure to have Yoona use the ice pack for her bruise which also meant they had to sit down on the same bed for almost an hour, with Yuri rubbing the ice pack on Yoona’s back every night.

At first, Yoona didn’t really approve the idea which her back being exposed to Yuri like this but the latter was really persistent in taking care of Yoona’s bruise. She wouldn’t go to sleep unless Yoona let her do what she wanted to. After going through lots of debate, Yoona now acted completely obediently to Yuri. If she saw Yuri came to the room with an ice pack in her hands, Yoona would naturally sit on Yuri’s bed and waited for her to put it on.

“Where are we gonna start searching?” Yoona said.

“I guess there’s no place left in town. How about going out of town, like the outskirts or suburb?” Yuri suggested.

Taking one final look at all the pictures they took, Yoona couldn’t help but to agree with Yuri. “Yeah, I think that’s a great idea. Let’s head out of town. I’ll go call Sica.” 

Yoona left their room and came to knock on Jessica’s room but getting no answer in return. She slowly turned the door knob and slightly pushed the door opened so that she could peek through a small crack. Jessica wasn’t inside. “Hmm… Where did she go?” She mumbled to herself.

“What are you looking at?”

Yoona jumped in surprise at the voice right beside her left ear. “Yah!! Icy-ah, don’t come up from behind like that. You scared the hell out of me.” She said while placing a hand on her chest, trying to control her racing heartbeat.

“What…? Did you do something wrong? Why are you peeking in my room like that?” Jessica faked a suspicious look.

“That’s not peeking. I was just looking… with caution.” Yoona quickly denied, “Anyway, that’s not important. Where were you? It’s rare to see you wake up so early in the morning.” She teased.

“I… uh…”

Yoona suddenly grinned knowingly, “You went to the front door to check if there was a bouquet, right?”

Every morning, no matter if it was rainy or sunny, there would be a bouquet of roses hanged nicely in front of the front door. Needless to say, everyone in this household knew exactly who was cheesy enough to send those bouquets for the Ice Princess as one of many attempts to melt her heart. Of course, Yoona wouldn’t let this off easily, she kept teasing Jessica whenever she had a chance.

“Yah! I did not.” 

“Okay… I can see that you don’t have any rose in your hands. It looks like she didn’t send them today.” Yoona tilted her head from left to right, examining the situation. She really had to take a mental note to herself about thanking Sooyoung. Just when she didn’t know what to do about Jessica’s feelings toward her, her savior Choi Sooyoung had arrived. Yoona felt truly relieved knowing that Jessica had someone took care of her the way she couldn’t.

“So? It’s not like I care.” It was true when Jessica said that she didn’t go check for those roses in front of the front door. She didn’t sleep well last night which was why she woke up early today. But when she said that she didn’t care about those roses, now that was a big lie. Jessica did feel disappointed when she didn’t see what she expected to be there. Maybe Sooyoung wasn’t as serious about pursuing her as the blonde thought she would.

“Uhmm… I’m gonna act like I believe you this time.” Yoona still had that teasing grin on her face, “Anyway, I’ve got some good news for you. We’ll go back to Korea soon, maybe in two or three days.”

“Really?” Jessica immediately brightened up at the thought of going back.

“Yeah…” Yoona nodded to confirm, “Since half of the job is completed and now all we have to do was looking for a new sightseeing like Siwon wanted then we’re done with this business trip.”

“That’s great. I really miss our house… and Taeyeon too. Wonder if she is doing okay back home.”

Yoona chuckled, “More than okay actually. I just called her the other day to say that we’ll stay in LA for another week and guess what? She roughly hung up on her best friend saying that she had to pick up her Fany at her house.”

Jessica shook her head slightly, “Typical Taeyeon.” 

“That aside, I think we should get going now. Today we have to go out of town to look for that place.” Yoona urged her best friend.

“One more minute, you can go get the car first though.” Jessica raised one finger up then quickly ran to room to get her phone.

“Alright, we’ll wait for you outside.” Yoona turned her back and walked away from Jessica’s room.

Jessica stopped abruptly in her track. We? So there was a ‘we’ now? She scoffed bitterly. Looking at the cellphone in her hand, Jessica slowly opened it. The picture of her and Yoona grinning brightly at the camera came into view. If she already knew that Yoona would never see her the way she wanted then these sweet memories were should be deleted… right? 

“Sica-yah, delivery for you!!!” Yoona’s loud cheerful voice from the outside brought Jessica back to reality.

Delivery? What delievery? Jessica furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. As soon as she was out of the door, the sight of a familiar tall figure caught her attention. No wonder there was no roses hanging at the front door today, that girl came in person to give those to her.

“Hi!!” Sooyoung waved at her with a bouquet of roses in her right hand.

“You…” Jessica didn’t know what to say at this moment. Greeting back? Somehow she didn’t feel like doing those things at all.

Sooyoung let out a soft chuckle as she approached closer to Jessica, “How come the first word you say whenever you see me is always ‘you’? I thought you knew my name already.”

“Wh-what are you doing here?” Jessica blurted out without thinking much.

“Here, for you.” Sooyoung held out the bouquet for Jessica, completely ignored the question which meant for her.

“Th-thanks.” Jessica gently took the bouquet from Sooyoung’s hand.

“Alright, let’s get going.” Sooyoung excitedly claimed while holding Jessica’s wrist, ready to drag her away… again.

“Wh-where? Wh-what are you doing?”

Sooyoung gave Jessica a confused look, “Didn’t you just accept to go on a date with me?”

“When?” Jessica raised her voice and widened her eyes in astonishment.

“You accept my flowers, right?” Sooyoung asked.

“So? You gave them to me, didn’t you?” 

Sooyoung grinned wittily, “Well… there was a card placed inside.”

Jessica now noticed there was a pink card placed right in the middle, taped to one of those pink roses. She quickly took it out and looked at the message: ‘Accept these flowers if you want to go on a date with me – Sooyoung’. The blonde stared at the card in disbelief. She had fallen right into Sooyoung’s trap smoothly.

“You…” Jessica was speechless once again.

“Yeah, me. Let’s go.” Sooyoung took Jessica’s wrist and pulled her away by force once again. The situation was pretty much like their first date. One was excited, one desperately looked for a way to back out.

“Yah! Choi Sooyoung!!!!” Here came that lovely sound again. Sooyoung just smiled all the way to her ear.

“Woah… Sooyoung is truly an expert.” Yoona commented as a bystander who had been watching everything from the beginning.

Yuri chuckled, “Yeah, a thick-skinned expert I might say.” 

&&&&&&

Driving around the town for almost six hours, Yoona and Yuri hadn’t been able to see any place which caught their eyes. Yuri let out a sigh as she averted her eyes from the road and sat back in her seat in a tired manner. She also arched her back with a tired yawn.

“You’re tired?” Yoona asked when she noticed Yuri’s zoned out face.

“Yeah…” Yuri replied lazily.

“Let’s pull off the road for a while, taking a short break.” Yoona suggested.

As soon as she parked her car, Yoona stretched her arm over her head and yawned. Since they were on the outskirts, it was hard to find a place to rest properly like a restaurant or a stopover.

“Are you hungry? My mom prepared for us some sandwiches. They’re in the backseat.” Yuri nodded her head to the backseat.

“Really?” Yoona’s expression switched in a flash when she heard anything related to food. 

Yuri laughed amusingly, “I’ll get them.” She leaned over and grabbed the basket placed on the car backseat.

“Your mom is definitely the greatest mom in this whole world.” Yoona shamelessly praised Yuri’s mother.

Yuri chuckled again, “Here…” She handed Yoona the sandwiches.

As if someone who was left starving for days, Yoona quickly took the sandwiches from Yuri’s hands and started to munch the sandwiches hastily.

“Take it easy… don’t worry, there’re a lot more for you.” Yuri reassured the girl since she was afraid that she might choke on her food.

It was lucky that Jessica didn’t go with them or else Yoona’s share of sandwiches obviously wasn’t enough to satisfy her hunger. And Yuri was truly amazed. This was the first time she saw this side of Yoona, a true shikshin which reminded her of her thick-skinned friend Sooyoung.

“Ahhhh… I’m full.” Yoona leaned back in her seat satisfied while placing a hand on her full stomach. 

“Of course…” Yuri scoffed as she looked back at her empty basket. From the sandwiches to the can of milk which was prepared for three people, nothing was left.

“Let’s go!!!” Yoona excitedly exclaimed with her full stomach.

Two more hours into their searching, Yuri started to feel sleepy again. If it wasn’t for Yoona’s sudden shout, she might have drifted off to her dream land.

“Hey, Yuri-yah!! Look!” Yoona abruptly stopped their car as she pat Yuri’s shoulder to draw her attention to her left. 

As Yuri looked in the direction Yoona pointed, probably there was thousands of wind turbines came into views. But what caught her eyes the most was hundreds of colorful small papers flowing in the air with the yellow sunset behind as the background completed the wonderful picture in front of her. Those papers which she couldn’t make out theirs shape kept flowing in the sky as if they actually had wings since the wind was way too strong. On the other hand, Yoona quickly pull off the road to park their car.

“Come on, hurry up!! We must know where all of these coming from.” Yoona hastily opened the car door to step out.

On her way following Yoona, Yuri bent down to pick up the small paper on the ground. Turned out, the thing flowing in the air earlier wasn’t some shredded ordinary paper, it was a beautiful folded paper rose with a spinning top. 


 

“Yuri, come on!” Yoona once again turned around to urge Yuri to quicken her step. Following the direction which those paper roses came, Yoona and Yuri finally saw an old lady, who must be in her mid-fifties, holding a big rectangular box on her side, standing on top of the hill while looking up at the sky.

“It must be her. Let’s go.” Yoona enthusiastically ran toward the lady.

The sound of footsteps caused the lady to turn around, facing the two strangers. She smiled warmly to greet them and then stared at the view in front of her again. They maybe one of a few people who passed by this wind farm admired her hand work, “It’s a beautiful view, isn’t it?” She said in English.

“Yeah… it’s truly beautiful.” Yuri honestly stated also in English, “I think this is yours.” She stepped in front of the lady and opened her palm to reveal the paper rose inside. However, the rose only stayed in Yuri’s hand less than one second before being blown in the air to join the rest.

“Do you know what does this called?” The old lady referred to the paper rose just to see both Yoona and Yuri shaking her head in return.

“This is an origami rose. A type of folded paper rose in Japan. Have you ever heard about the Tale of Blossomed Rose?”

Again, Yoona and Yuri shook their head curiously.

“It said that if you folded ninety nine origami spinning top roses and stood on top of this hill, let it fly to the sky one by one and when all of them flowing in the air all at once, that’s when you’ll meet your true love.”

As they listened to the lady’s story, the corner of Yoona’s lips started to curved upward into a grin. “Yuri-yah, are you thinking what I’m thinking right now?”

Yuri slowly nodded, “Yeah… I think I am.” She turned to the lady, “Please, can you teach me how to fold these flowers?”

The lady happily nodded, “My house is very near from here. How about you stop by and have a cup of coffee while I teach how to fold these, agree?”

Without hesitation, Yoona and Yuri quickly nodded to the hospitable lady’s offer.

TBC