Ryujin and Yeri rushes through the busyness of the hospital. They spotted Wendy sitting on the bench with her head wrap in bandage. 

“Unnie!” Ryujin calls for her, Wendy turns to Ryujin and she smiles.

“What happened?!” Yeri panicked.

“I loses control over my vehicle and crashed to the road divider…”

Ryujin cries and hug Wendy, Jisoo and Rosé were there too. They look worried at Wendy’s state.

“Where’s Irene unnie, is she’s okay?!” Yeri panicked when she didn’t see Irene around.

“She’s…she’s not coming back…for a year.” Wendy replied sadly.

“What are you saying Wendy unnie? Where did Irene unnie gone to?” Yeri is stammering, she is mad and sad at the same time.

“She went back to the palace with Suzy, I promised her that I will keep this matter as a secret but you girls deserve to know.” Wendy sighed “Irene won’t be back for a year, until she can convince the king to appoint Suzy as his successor…so that she can live a normal life. It’s an arrangement that she made with her father.”

“And you didn’t bother to tell us this?” Ryujin scorned “I thought we are family…”

“Ryujin ah…”

“Ryujin, please be considerate, Wendy is still in shock stage, please don’t ask too many question.” Jisoo tried to calm the pink hair girl down.

“I’m okay Jisoo, just minor scratches…I can go home now, but I need you to drop me back home, my car is wrecked…”

 

The Palace

“Unnie…how much do you love Wendy?” Suzy asked out of the blue. The two relatives were having some tea at their garden. Haruna had retired to one of the guest room after she had taken her medicine. Suzy thought she and Irene can rekindle their long lost connection.

“More than my own life.” Irene replied.

“But stripping you off your title…is not something that I should decide…” Suzy said.

“Well you are the next ruler of this country, only you can strip me off my title…”

“Irene unnie, I don’t understand why you wanted to be a normal citizen when you are a princess, you have a whole country in your hand…” Suzy shakes her head.

Irene zones out and she sips on her tea and then she opens to answer Suzy “Being a princess doesn’t mean you have all the freedom that you needed, you are restraint from being yourself…”

“If the parliament agree to the pass the law, you can be free, you don’t have to be strip away from your title…” Suzy argues.

“The royal life is not for me Suzy, I rather be around those people that I love. I live in the place since I was little, there are so many rules that a princess have to follow…when I step out to the outside world, I realized that there’s a lot of thing that I didn’t know I can do. I hate attending formal meeting, I hate meeting all those diplomat and join in their fake discussion.”

“Oh, so now you’re pushing your responsibility to me?”

“What is your problem Suzy? You didn’t rejected me when I invited you to come but you keep on questioning me regarding my decision to pass over my job.” Irene is getting irritated at Suzy.

“You know what? I was a little disappointed and sad that you didn’t even made effort to find me for 20 years…I was lucky that I got adopted by a nice family that love me unconditionally.”

“We thought you were dead, we did try to find you, and the search went on for couple of years. Grandfather refused to sign your death acknowledgement documents…I am sorry if you are hurt by that, but I’m not forcing you to take over my place. It’s just that you belong here…this place is your place.”

The two relatives are getting tense around each other and decided that it is better if both of them stop talking. Suzy feels like Irene is rushing with the hand over because she just wanted to be with Wendy and Suzy feels that it is very selfish of Irene to be using her as a pawn to replace her. 

“I’m going to explore the palace…excuse me.” Suzy excuses herself and leave Irene alone at the garden.

She bows to the palace servants and they were swooned by her politeness. Suzy smiles brightly at them when they got nervous at the fact that a princess bowed to them. Suzy stops by the hallway and sees the portrait of her father.

He was a handsome man, she admires him from the portrait, he looks so young and a little prideful.

“He was the most stubborn prince that we ever had…”

The king’s voice made Suzy jumps “Oh sorry if I scare you child.”

“It’s okay…”

“He is a great person, he’s very passionate in his work, he is very ambitious and a very dedicated prince. I was so sure that he will be a great king one day. He chose your mother and not his position as the next in line to the throne.”

“And do you think that banished him from the palace will made him change his mind?”

“I underestimate your father child, I thought he would come and beg for forgiveness but turns out he able to survive without all the luxury that he used to have. I’ve always been proud of him Suzy, and I am proud of you too. I’ve heard everything about you from Joohyun…”

“Unnie tells you all about me?”

“She did…I know I’ve been hard on Joohyun since she was young, Jaeho maybe the next in line but he is not suitable to be a king…he just lack of a king quality, Irene otherwise is a good leader, but that girl is too rebellious…now that you are here…I am putting all of my hope in you Suzy.” the king pats Suzy on the shoulder before he walks away.

Suzy stares at her father portrait for the last time “Daddy…what should I do?” she whispers.

“Suzy-chan…”

“Oh Neechan! You’re awake?”

“I’m worry about you so I came out to find you…” Haruna replies.

“I’m okay…come on let’s go back, did you eat your medicine already neechan?”

Haruna nods sleepily, Suzy smiles at her sister, she holds her hand and they walk back to their room. Suzy purposely request for them to be put in one room because she wants to stay close to her sister.

 

Wenrene Place

Ryujin storms in the house and she slams her door loudly. Wendy is scared of Ryujin, she turns to Yeri for help. Yeri only sighs and tell Wendy to go rest, Ryujin probably in a bad mood, Yeri told Wendy that she should just talk to Ryujin the next morning. Wendy bids Yeri good night and she enters her empty bedroom.

She still can smells Irene’s trace in their bedroom. She opens the wardrobe and takes out Irene’s shirt. She puts it on and lay down on the bed.

Flashback

Wendy was driving back from the palace, she was heading to the café to pick up the kids. She was sad that she had to part with Irene, she thought she would have more times with Irene before she goes for her operation but it seems like God is playing a game with her again. Her mind wander while driving and she didn’t notice the traffic light turned red, she panicked when she saw a pedestrian crossing the road. Wendy loses control over her car and crashed into the nearby lamp post. She was flung out of her vehicle due to the impact and landed on the cold hard pedestrian walk. Her forehead hit the ground first. And her skin graze the cement ground and her head hit the corner of the roadside. She was in pain but her voice just won’t come out. She felt that she slowly loses consciousness, the people around begin to gather around her, some were screaming, some panicking. 

When she woke up, she is already at the hospital, head wrapped in bandage and Dr.Moonbyul was beside her. 

“How are you feeling Wendy-ssi?”

“A little light headed…” Wendy replied.

Moonbyul pull a chair and sat next to Wendy “Wendy ah, you’re okay, no bone fracture and no inner bleeding and such, just a normal exterior bruises and skin grazed, but we did an MRI scan on you and notice that your tumor is growing in a faster rate, you need to do the operation before it becomes cancerous. You’re running out of time Wendy ah.” Moonbyul advised Wendy.

“How much longer can I go without surgery?”

“You can’t hold on any longer Wendy, your tumor is growing faster than I expected. You have to get it removed as soon as possible.” Moonbyul argued.

“I’ll think about it…”

“As your doctor, I really want you to think this thoroughly, the more you postpone, and the harder it is for us to remove it…please.”

Wendy sighs and she nodded “I’ll let you know…Can I go home now?”

Moonbyul was reluctant to let her go but she gave up to Wendy’s stubborn personality. Wendy thanks Moonbyul and she exited the emergency room.

She sat on the bench at the waiting area, trying to absorb what Moonbyul just told her. She shakes her head and she called Jisoo.

“Hello…”

“Hey Jisoo, can you ummm, come to the hospital?”

“What why?”

“I got involve in self accident, ugh, my car is a wreckage now, so can you pick me up?”

“What?! How did it happen?!!”

“I got distracted and didn’t see the traffic light turns red…and I crashed into the road divider…”

“I’ll come pick you up now!”

“Thanks.”

Wendy tilted her head back and rested it on the wall behind she took a deep breath and exhale loudly. She takes her backpack and took out her journal and started writing something in her journal.

Dear me,

Today Irene went back to her place. I was thinking of taking her and the other kids for vacation since Ryujin will be on her school holidays soon. Today you proposed to Irene for the second time, a proper proposal. She looked so happy with the proposal, you bought her a 24 carat diamond ring, a better one than the one that dad gave to you. She said yes for the second time too. You gave Ryujin the adoption certificate too, and it was the first time that you ever saw Ryujin smiled like that. You have a family now Seungwan, you have a daughter and a wife. Then plan that you planned with Seulgi work, Joy accepted Seulgi though I know she probably accepted Seulgi because she didn’t want Seulgi to be humiliated in front of all those people. But I can sense that Joy really like Seulgi, it’s just that she is still confused over her own feelings. It’ll take time, but one day she will be able to reciprocate Seulgi’s feeling.

Today, you got into an accident because you didn’t focus on your driving, you almost killed a pedestrian and yourself. It’s a miracle you are still alive. Dr. Moonbyul told you that you are running out of time, you have to go through the operation. You are in a dilemma because Irene is not around, and if you go for the operation, who is going to take care of the kids? Wendy-ah...what should we do?

Wendy stopped writing and she sighed heavily. she tried to  hold on to her tears. she stares blankly at the hospital walls. She had always hated hospital, she never had good memories whenever she is in the hospital. She wanted to scream but she felt numb all over. It felt like her life is over, her phone vibrated, she turned it on to see the notification, she smiled when she saw her phone screen. The photo of the four of them together. 

“Unnie!” Ryujin’s voice snapped Wendy back to reality, she turned to her and smiled at her.

End of Flashback

 

Ryujin wakes up and she cleans herself up before exits her room. Once she outside, she noticed Wendy was waiting for her by the dining table.

“Morning…” Wendy greets with a grin.

“…” Ryujin didn’t reply, she just pull a chair and sit there silently, eating her breakfast that Wendy prepared for her.

“Yeri already went out, she got early schedule for today…” Wendy tries to start a conversation with Ryujin and after not getting any reply from the girl Wendy asks “Ryujinie…are you mad at me?”

“You said you love Irene unnie, but why did you let her go? I thought we are your family but you didn’t even bother to tell me about Irene unnie’s plan…I’m hurt you know.”

“Ryujin…I’m sorry if you feel like that, but I want you to know we really care about you, Irene just didn’t want you to be worried about her. It will only be for a year…it’ll go by fast. We still can call her…okay?” 

Ryujin sighs and nods, she continues to eat her breakfast. 

“Let’s go somewhere later, you don’t have anything to do today right?”

“No…”

“Okay, good, where do you want to go?” Wendy asked.

“Hmmm…let’s go to the arcade. But unnie your head?”

Wendy shakes her head “It’s okay, just a graze.”

Ryujin stops stuffing with food and she looks directly into Wendy’s eyes. The girls attitude sometimes remind Wendy of Irene, so much similarity.

“Unnie...can you promise me one thing?”

“What is it?”

“Since you are my adoptive family member now, can you promise me no more hiding secrets from me or Yeri unnie…”

Wendy reluctantly nods her head to promise Ryujin. Ryujin smiles and her whiskers dimple shows on her cheek, Wendy finds that it’s cute, despite the fact that Ryujin hated it. 

“Quickly eat your breakfast so we can go to the arcade center...and let’s make a call to Irene later this afternoon, okay?”

“Okay!”

Myeongdong Street

Yeji and Lia were having a date at the street, they went to buy some new clothes and make up stuff. They went for lunch together at a cute eatery and watch some people busking on the street. The two girls look so happy together, they were walking around when they heard someone call for them.

“Unnie!” Yeji greeted with a big grin on her face.

“Oh Yeji ah, you’re having a date?”

“Ah...yes...umm this is my girlfriend, Lia...Lia this is my neighborhood unnie, Dahyun unnie, Chaeyoung unnie and Tzuyu unnie…”

“Oh hi...I’m Lia…” Lia shyly introduce herself.

“Dang, Yeji, what a great catch…” Dahyun salutes the younger girl.

“Unnie! I’m over that delinquet life, I’m trying to change my path to a better one now, please don’t act like that around me.” Yeji said.

“Oh...yeah I heard you and Ryujin disband the whole group, sikes, I mean you two were strong back then…”

“It’s all in the past…” Yeji answers, she is trying to avoid the topic about her past delinquency.

“Well you two enjoy your date~ we’ll just walk away~” Chaeyoung tells them goodbye.

“Unnie...the three of you still going around terrorizing people huh?” Yeji questioned the three.

Tzuyu smiles at Yeji “You can join us back if you want~ send my regards to Ryujin~”

“You’re not going back to your past life do you?” Lia questions Yeji.

“What? No! I leave those pasts behind me...now I want to focus on our future~” Yeji smiles at Lia and she pulls her closer. Lia smiles and both of them walk abreast to the nearby mall.

 

Palace

“Morning…”

“Morning…” 

There was an awkward silence between the two girls. Haruna noticed the tense, she gently nudge Suzy. Suzy clears to get Irene’s attention.

“Are you okay?” Irene asked.

“Unnie...let’s have a talk with grandfather after we had our breakfast.” Suzy suggests.

“For?”

“I’m giving you your freedom…” Suzy said and Irene was dumbfounded “What?”

“Let’s just say, I’ll lift the rules where a royal members can’t live outside of the palace, so you can go back to Wendy. And you still can be a princess…”

“Why are you doing this?”

“I’ve been thinking, the rules of keeping you inside the palace and prohibited you to go out to the world outside is just absurd...I’m going to discuss it with him. My plan is, you still need to come back to the palace, but only on week days and you can go back whenever you want. So you have to agree to come back to the palace and consider this as your work, I mean you can come to the palace from 9-5. I know that you and Wendy are running a café together, now if you want to live freely, please consider quitting your job there and focus on your job as a princess, which is to serve this country.” Suzy suggested, Haruna was so proud of her at the moment.

“How...are you going to make him agree on it?” Irene is interested in Suzy’s idea.

“Well, if he wants me to take over, he needs to agree on my terms…”

Irene smirks, she begins to like Suzy now, Suzy really is a genius and she really can’t wait to tell Wendy the good news.

“I now know why they called you a genius…” Irene compliments Suzy.

“Well, I got it from my father~” Suzy jokes and the 3 of them made a toast for their plan.

 

Arcade Centre

Wendy and Ryujin made a bet on who can score the highest score at the basketball game. Ryujin won effortless and it made Wendy devastated. She was trying to show off her skills to Ryujin but ends up losing miserably.

“Why am I always losing…” Wendy cried.

“Well because I’m have luck on my side and you don’t~” Ryujin makes fun of Wendy as she sips on her milk shake.

“Another round, whoever loses this round, have to do the dishes and laundry tonight.” Wendy dares Ryujin.

Ryujin puts on her game face, she pulls up her sleeves and smirks at Wendy “Bring it on.”

Wendy challenge her to a racing game, and she lose miserably. Ryujin wanted to laugh at her but Wendy’s devastating face made Ryujin to snickers silently on the side.

“Fine you won, I’ll do the dishes and laundry tonight…” Wendy sighed unhappily.

“Unnie...we can do it together~”

Wendy only scrunched her nose at Ryujin attempt to act cute, her phone rings and she fish it out from her pocket.

“Ryujin-ah! It’s Irene!”

Wendy answers the video call and they wait for a while for the connection to connect and when Irene’s face appear, both Wendy and Ryujin’s face light up.

“Unnie!”

“Hi Ryujin…Where’s Wendy?”

“Hey, ummm I told the kids about your plan Irene...I’m sorry but I think I don’t want to hide anything from them.” Wendy apologizes.

Irene can be seen face palming and sigh “I knew you would do that, you’re too easily sway Wendy-ah…”

“Unnie...how dare you do something without telling us...I’m hurt you know…”

“I’m sorry Ryujin-ah...I just don’t want you guys to object with the plan, especially you...Yeri still can be handled. But good news, grandfather accepted Suzy, right now we are preparing for her coronation as the next ruler.”

“Wow really?”

“Yes, we are preparing for the ceremony…and since Suzy is now the leader of the house, she allows me to go back to you, but I have to come back everyday to help her with all the legal matters and paperwork. Suzy said to consider it as my work…” Irene pauses when she saw the bandage that Wendy tried to hide with her beanie “Seungwan...what happened to your head?”

“Ah...I umm got into a minor accident, so I hurt my head but it’s fine.” Wendy lies.

Ryujin was judging her hard by the side, she silently judge Wendy while sipping on her milkshake.

“Accident?!! Why didn’t you call me?! Seungwan ah! Are you okay?!”

“I’m okay Joohyun ah, please calm down. It’s just a scratch, nothing much. So when will you come back?”

“Maybe tonight, you don’t have to pick me up though, the palace driver will drive me back.”

“Alright, nice, anything you want to eat? We can cook it for you!”

“I’ll eat whatever you cook Wendy. I miss you...see you tonight.”

“Yeah...See you...bye…”

“Bye.”

Wendy hangs up and Ryujin gives her side eyes “You lied to her.”

“You know how your unnie is, come one let’s go Ryujin, we need to get a new car, I don’t want Irene to know that I wreck the car!” Wendy panicked.

“We have another car right?”

“Yeah but if she sees the state of my car, she will freak out for sure.”

“Fine, let’s go, since we’re talking about car and you’re my legal adoptive family now, can I get a driving license please??” Ryujin begs Wendy.

“No.” Wendy replies sharply.

“But…”

“Nope, you’re not getting license untl you’re 18!”

“Unnie!!” Ryujin whines.

 

To be continue…

A/N:

Will Wendy be honest with Irene about her tumor? Should I create drama between Yeji Lia and Ryujin? Someone is getting married in the next chapter, Suzy will pass the law without waiting for the other 15% of the parliament member to agree on the law.