Wheein awoke to the smell of burning food and the sounds of hushed cursing just outside the bedroom door. She wanted to feel rested, sober and content with the fact that she no longer needed to hide her feelings from her group members. But the growing knot in her stomach just made her feel nauseous and apprehensive.

Nothing had been resolved the night before and that terrified her. Moonbyul had promised her it would settle down quickly. Hyejin had promised Yongsun would see the fault in her reasoning by morning. But Wheein didn’t know if she believed them or not, her mind was a terrible jumble of ‘what if’ scenarios.

Wheein rolled over lazily and picked up her cellphone. There were already encouraging messages from Hyejin piled up from early this morning in her notification list. She read through them, smiled and put her phone back down and thought Moonbyul deserved a better girlfriend than she was being at the moment. She wondered where all her confidence had gone in the last few days. She felt very out of sorts. Wheein looked at the spot Moonbyul should have been occupying and saw Moonbyul’s phone peeking out from under a pillow. She quietly unlocked the phone, the passcode was her birthday, and looked at the photo library.

Wheein wasn’t sure what she thought she would see there. Perhaps she was looking for messages or photos to prove the existence of this ‘other’ Wheein or this ‘other’ world Moonbyul was experiencing. She was shocked to find both of those impossible things were very much real. It was a confusing merging of both worlds on the smart phone. Wheein felt very odd looking at pictures of herself in places she has never been or looking at Moonbyul in a way that was so loving it made her jealous. The stark difference between the intimacy in the photos with this other Wheein and the photos involving herself was like punch to the gut. She tried to remind herself that this other Wheein had been in a relationship with Moonbyul far longer than she had.

“Why does Moonbyul put up with me when she has this waiting for her?” Wheein grumbled to herself as she put the phone back under the pillow.

“Because it’s you.” Moonbyul said softly from the bedroom door, “I can’t be without you Wheein.”

“But she’s so much more affectionate and courageous than I am. I would be clawing and biting my way back to that other world if I were you.” Wheein suddenly blushed and looked anywhere but at Moonbyul, “I saw those text messages too.”

“I’m not asking you to do those things or to be anything more than you are at this moment. You know that. You know she wasn’t the same at the start of our relationship. You know we’ve been together for at least two years now.”

“I’m still scared.” Wheein confessed, “I need Yongsun to be okay with us being together.”

“She will be, just give it time.” Moonbyul pushed her bangs out of her eyes, “Um hey let’s go out to get some breakfast. I kinda ruined what I was trying to prepare for us.”

//

Jin followed Moonbyul to a cozy cafe and took a table outside that gave him a good view of the inside and of his victim’s table. He was a little peeved at how Wheein seemed to be less affected by the steady flow of doubt he was sending to her than he wanted. He could still feel that she was hesitant but it wasn’t enough and he feared this game was going to get boring soon.

He could sense his colleague before he saw her appear at his table. Kyungeun’s mouth was pressed into a fine line and her red hot glare sent a shiver down his spine.

“What?” He croaked turning his attention back to Moonbyul in an attempt compose hisself once more.

“It looks like you really messed up this time.” Kyungeun hissed, “How hard it is to cover your tracks during these stupid experiments or whatever your call them?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You haven’t been reseting the human’s technology you idiot.”

“That’s because I don’t know how. Blasted things are more trouble than they are worth. But don’t worry its working in my favor.”

“How is it working in your favor? From what I’ve seen the one you’ve been sowing doubt into is overcoming it thanks to this little revelation. Its not even that hard to reset old man.”

“Don’t be so sure about that. Give it time for the insecurities to kick in.” He looked her in the eye before continuing, “Trust me Kyungeun. I’ve been doing this for centuries.”

“Do you at least have a plan to end things? I think this might be the human that ends your fun before you know it.”

“Don’t worry so much about things that don’t concern you.”

Kyungeun scowled at him once more before disappearing in a smoldering black puff of smoke.

//

The silence in the practice room was smothering as all four members gathered for dance practice. Hyejin was the first to get fed up with it and some loud music to block anyone who could inadvertently overhear them from the hallway.

“Unnie I need you be the leader and apologize to those two.” Hyejin said as she pulled Yongsun closer to the couple in the back of the room, “This discord is going to do more harm the longer it lasts.”

“I’ll make things easier for you. Just apologize to Wheein.” Moonbyul squeezed Wheein’s hand assuringly.

“I don’t want anything unless it is sincere.” Wheein said softly.

“I’m not apologizing for anything. I will tolerate this for now but I still do not agree with it. I don’t care what you threaten me with Hyejin I’m not doing it.”

Moonbyul felt the last straw finally snap in her head and suddenly grinned like a Cheshire Cat as she pulled Wheein until she was standing in front of her, “Fine then I’m not holding back in front of you anymore. I’m not holding back for anyone in this reality anymore. Screw it! Wheein I ing love you and I don’t care who disagrees.”

She gently put her hands on either side of Wheein’s head as she leaned in and kissed her. It was the most sensual thing Wheein had experienced in her