Chapter 21

TWO WEEKS LATER

Yoona stood at the podium, head held high, and tried not to get distracted by all of the microphones. She took a deep breath and focused on the next part of her speech. “I will release my second album as scheduled in four weeks. This record will also be my last,” she announced. Yoona blinked as dozens of cameras went off, flashes bouncing off every surface in the room, blinding her. You can do this, Yoona, coached herself. She cleared and looked to Tiffany, who was standing off to the side. She gave her a smile, giving Yoona the strength to go on. “In two weeks I will leave for a ten city tour, which is going to serve as a goodbye to all of my fans. I just want to say thank you so much to them for all of your prayers and all of your support that I’ve received over the last few years. Without them, I wouldn’t be standing before you today,” she said softly. “But there’s another side to all of this. And to say that being a singer and entertainer is not what I thought it was going to be, would be an understatement. I love music and I love singing. I even love being on the stage. But my foray into fame has made me realize the kind of person I am. And the kind of person I’m not. I’m not someone who enjoys being followed everywhere I go. Or having my picture taken every time I stop at Starbucks for Peppermint Mocha by some...stalking member of the paparazzi. And I’m not the kind of person who can deal with getting in a car accident...because someone wants a piece of me,” she said emotionally. Her eyes were shinning with tears now. She looked directly into the camera. “So, for everyone who has stood by me...my friends, my family, and my fans...I know it’s not enough, but thank you.”

Suddenly Tiffany appeared and stepped up to the podium. “That’s going to be all for today. Ms ‘Im’ Kwon won’t be answering any questions. Thank you,” Tiffany turned around and ushered Yoona down the wide row separating the two sections chairs, and into the waiting limousine outside, members of the press shouting questions at them the whole way. They climbed in, and the door was immediately shut behind them, the limo pulling away from the curb.

Yoona took a deep breath. “So?” she asked.

Tiffany smiled at her. “You did a good job, Yoong.”

“Thanks.” There was a short pause. “How’s Yul?” she asked quietly. She and Tiffany had been brainstorming strategies over the phone for the last week on how they were going to present Yoona’s decision to the public, but today was the first time they’d seen each other since Yoona had left North Carolina.

“You don’t get to ask me about him,” Tiffany said firmly.

“Fany-ah...”

“You walked out him again, Yoona. How do you think he is?” she snapped.

Yoona clamped her jaw shut and swallowed past the sudden lump in . Her eyes welled up with tears and Tiffany gave her a cutting look. “Save the tears,” she said.

Yoona turned her head to look out the window of the limousine. She missed Yul like crazy, and had been missing him ever since she’d left North Carolina. In fact, it had started the second she’d closed the car door behind her and pulled out of the driveway and away from him.

“Are we going directly to the airport?” Yoona asked hesitantly.

Tiffany nodded.

They rode in silence for five minutes before either of them spoke again.

“If you’re so miserable, then why did you leave him?” Tiffany asked.

Yoona lifted her eyes defiantly. “Who says I’m miserable?”

“Your eyes always give you away, Yoona,” Tiffany told her friend. “And you always lose weight when you’ve had more than you can take.”

Yoona nodded. She had lost weight in the last two weeks, but she couldn’t help it. She just wasn’t hungry anymore. She was exhausted, but she couldn’t sleep anymore, either. She’d lie in bed at night tossing and turning, thinking of Yul. Every time she closed her eyes, she could hear him say, “Is that supposed to make me feel better? Knowing you’re out there... part of you always loving me, but I can’t have you?” She sighed and returned her eyes to the window, watching as they passed by the skyscrapers. It was so different from North Carolina. She hated New York. In fact, she always had.

“I can see you wanting to leave him, Yoona, but you know what I have a hard time with?” Tiffany asked.

Yoona looked at her and shook her head.

“He said you had already told him that you were going to stay before you left. Is that true?” Yoona nodded.

Tiffany looked at Yoona and rolled her eyes. “You’re unbelievable,” she told her.

“Yeah, well, you don’t know what happed,” Yoona said.

“Then why don’t you tell me what happened?” Tiffany challenged.

Yoona met Tiffany’s eyes for a minute and then looked away again. “His father happened,” she said softly.

“What did he do?”

“What he always does, Tiffany? Ruined everything,” she said coldly.

“With what? Words?” she asked sarcastically.

“You don’t know what he said,” Yoona whispered.

“Well, he’s my father-in-law, too, Yoona. So in true hi style, I’m sure it wasn’t very flattering. I’m sure he taunted you and hit you below the belt. That isn’t a surprise you not standing up to him? That’s the surprise.”

“Tiff...”

“A lot of people had expectations regarding you, Yoona. I just never figured it would be their father’s that you lived up to.”

Yoona’s eyes filled with tears as she remembered what he had said to her, but she blinked them back. She refused to cry one more tear for that sorry son of a . Tiffany never said another word to her on the way to the airport, and when they got out of the limousine, she went her way, and Yoona went hers.

Yoona took a mug of hot chocolate her sister gave her and took a sip as Yoonhee sat down on the other end of the couch. Yoona’s back was resting against the arm and her knees were resting against one of the back cushions with a blanket around her. “You’ve hardly said a word since you arrived three days ago,” Yoonhee said. She watched as her sister nodded miserably. “Still nothing?” Yoonhee said softly.

“I don’t know... what to say,” Yoona told her.

Yoonhee took a deep breath. “How about you start by telling me why you left?” she suggested.

Yoona took a deep breath, then leaned forward and placed her mug on the coffee table. She crawled to the other end of the couch and lay down so her head was resting on her sister’s leg. “Yoong?” Yoonhee said. She started her sister’s hair, “You okay?”

“Yul’s dad came to see me the day after I told Yul I’d stay,” Yoona told her sister. She felt Yoonhee cringe at that piece of news.

“You know this isn’t going to end well,” Yoonhee said crossly.

“Understatement,” Yoona whispered. “He said some really mean things, Yoon.”

“What did he say?” she asked. She felt dampness on her leg and knew that her sister was crying. She continued to Yoona’s hair, trying to comfort her. It had been something Yoonhee had done when they were little girls to keep Yoona calm during thunderstorms.

“He reminded me of the times I’d left Yul. And he said that he thought I’d been planning to go to Stanford all along, and that it was awfully convenient for me when my son died,” she told Yoonhee on a sob.

“What?” Yoonhee exploded. “Did you tell Yul?”

Yoona sat up on her knees and looked at her sister. “No. I couldn’t. I didn’t tell anybody. Except now you. How could he say that, Yoon? I understand that he wanted to hurt me, but he could’ve found something else to say! That was his grandson.”

“That bastard,” Yoon said. “I could kill him!” She looked Yoona up and down. “I’m surprised you didn’t,” she said.

Yoona shook her head. “All I could do was slap him.”

“Well, he deserved it!”

“He deserved so much more than that, but I just didn’t have it in me, Yoon. I’m just so tired,” she said, her voice breaking.

“I know, baby girl,” her sister said, pulling her into a hug. She started Yoona’s hair again. “But why would you leave Yul?” she asked.

Yoona didn’t say anything, just pulled away and wiped her cheeks with the backs of her hands.

“You do realize that you’re punishing Yul for his father’s mistakes, right?” Yoonhee told her sister. Yoona nodded.

“It’s not fair,” Yoonhee pressed.

Yoona looked up at her sister with the tear filled eyes.

“You’re not only denying him the love that you have for him, but you’re taking away from him being able to love you. And he’s so good at it, Yoong.”

“I know,” she said sadly. “And you know what, Yoon? Yul is so different from what he was when we were younger. And I’m so proud of the man he’s become. He has this honesty about him now that I’ve never seen before. I thought I knew him, Yoon, every inch of him, but it was only the tip of the iceberg. There is more to my husband than I ever even imagined.”

Yoonhee cocked a brow at her sister. “Your husband?” she said knowingly.

“Well, legally he still is. He never signed the divorce papers,” Yoona said quickly.

“And he probably never will,” Yoonhee told her.

“Oh, he will,” she told Yoonhee. “After this, he will. He’ll never forgive me for walking out on him this time,” she said with certainty.