Author's Note: Happened to watch Wingwomen on Netflix, and the friendship between two female leads reminded me of Molip. There was a specific scene when the older woman was saying goodbye to the younger, amidst the shooting and all. Some lines that were spoken are something I imagined Monika will tell Hyowon if they ever parted ways.

***

When Hyowon arrived home, Jung Woo wasn’t there.

“Tsk, why say see you at home when you’re not even here”, she muttered, annoyed.

Again, she tried to search for notes out of habit but found nothing. Exhaustion and her lack of sleep from the night prior began to seep through. She decided to take a nap while waiting for her roommate to appear.

It was past ten in the evening when Hyowon woke up, having slept for a full six hours. “I must be very exhausted,” she thought.

The apartment is eerily quiet. Lately, she's been thinking of Jung Woo not leaving her a note when they missed each other at home. But now, it wasn’t just a note but a whole letter staring at her on her bedside table. It was folded neatly, with her name beautifully written.  Unmistakably, it was Jung Woo’s handwriting.

Dread washed over her. She was silently praying that it was not what she thought it was. With shaky hands, she opened the letter. Tear marks stained the paper she was holding. Her mind was murky; all she could think of was Jung Woo saying goodbye, leaving her. In a panic, she rushed to the other room. Empty. Next, she checks Jung Woo’s clothes in their shared dressing room. Nothing. All gone.

She cried like she had never cried before. Her body convulsed as she sobbed uncontrollably.

***

She found herself inside her car, still wearing her pajamas, racing towards the airport. Tear streaks stained her cheeks. She drove way faster than she should have, all the while repeatedly calling Jung Woo with her phone connected to the car's speakers.

Finally, the call picked up, her breath hitched, but it was only met by silence on the other end.

“Unnie, where are you?"

“I am at our spot," Jung Woo replied. She was not expecting the other woman to respond or disclose her location easily.

“Stay there; I am on my way”. She commanded and hastily made a U-turn, hurrying towards the other woman's location.

"You don’t have to, Hyowon. By the time you get here, I'll be gone." Jung Woo's calm voice scared her. It was the voice of someone who had already made up their mind.

“Don’t say that,” she spat out angrily. “Whatever you have to say, say it to my face. Let me see you." Her voice was hoarse from crying too much.

“I’m sorry, Hyowon. I can't do that. If I see you one last time, I won't be able to leave at all.”

“Unnie,” she protested as fresh tears started to flow.

“So listen,” the woman said firmly, almost as if signaling that this would be the final conversation between them. “Hyowon, I've been watching you for years, bypassing significant opportunities, sabotaging your own relationships. At first, I convinced myself that maybe, just maybe, those opportunities weren't meant for you.”

“Please, just stop talking. Stay where you are; I’m coming for you,” Hyowon pleaded, but her pleas fell on deaf ears as Jung Woo continued speaking on the other end.

“Remember when I told you how sorry I felt for you every single second, every day?”

Hyowon stifled a sob, already sensing where the conversation was heading.

“That was the moment I realized I had been selfish. I've been holding you back from your career, from your chance to marry.”

As Hyowon sped along, her heart pounding, the car's speedometer creeping up to 80 mph, Jung Woo’s voice continued through the car speakers.

“I meant it when I said all your exes were s. I knew very few men are able to love a girl like you." A pause. “Because girls who are kind, smart, funny, women who don’t need to be protected, well, it’s not easy to love them, it’s scary. I wouldn’t be afraid to love you if I were a man.”

Though she couldn't see Jung Woo, she sensed the sincerity in the black-haired woman's voice, and it shattered her even more.

“I am glad that Minjun came, and I was even more glad that you took the chance to let him into your life because he is not afraid to love you, and he deserves you. But you turned him down for what?”

“How did you know any of that?” Hyowon’s voice quivered as she increased her car's speed to 95 mph, the road blurring around her.

The other woman ignored her question and continued.

“I also know that you were offered a once-in-a-lifetime career opportunity in LA. You’d be choreographing and dancing with the biggest Hollywood stars, it was your dream, but you are also turning it down.”

‘This doesn’t make sense. There’s no way Jung Woo knows any of that, Hyowon thought, pressing the accelerator to 100 mph.

“Fate is handing it all out for you, Hyowon. All you have to do is grab it, but you are sabotaging it for what?” Jung Woo’s words pierced through the car's speakers.

“For you! Okay, I am doing it because I cannot leave you. I don’t want to leave you. I’ve spent a huge part of my life with you, and I don’t plan on starting a new one being apart from you. I just don’t know how, and I do not want to start figuring it now." Hyowon's voice cracked as she pounded her constricting chest, gasping for breath amid her sobs. She calmed her voice and went on.

“So if it’s not yet clear, unnie, it is you who I want to be with. I don’t care if I rot in our apartment or die unmarried as long as it is with you.”

“That is exactly what I am afraid of, Hyowon-ah. So I am doing this for you.”

“Bull!” Hyowon scoffed, reaching 120 mph, her vision blurred by the never-ending tears in her eyes. “How are you doing this for me?”

Again, the woman ignored her question and went on.

“Thank you for always choosing me in a heartbeat—though that is so dumb of you. You kept me grounded, you remained patient with me, you understood and believed in me when no one else does, but all I did in return was to hold you back."

Hyowon sobs were uncontrollable at this point, begging, sensing that the call was nearing an end.

“What else could I do to make you stay, huh?” She drove faster, nearing Jung Woo’s location. “Please, tell me.” Her voice filled with outrage and agitation as she pushed harder on the gas pedal. She felt like she was driving in a road that doesn't seem to end despite her speed. 

“Nothing. If I stay, you’ll stay with me. H