Yoona opened the door, and upon seeing Seohyun's worried expression, his face faltered.

''what's wrong?'' his voice was a stammer, and he looked awkward.

''There's something I need to talk to you about.''

As if knowing what was coming, Yoona pulled the door wide enough for Seohyun to walk through. Yoona closed the door behind them, resting his back against the wood. His eyes fell to the carpeted floor, and he was biting his bottom lip.

''It's not true, is it?'' Seohyun asked. She choked on the end of her sentence. Yoona, however, didn't show as if he had heard anything.

''You're a boy, right?...I mean, I kissed you..''

''that's why I didn't kiss you back. I didn't want to hurt you.'' Yoona answered. She wasn't facing Seohyun.

Seohyun stood in silence, as if in shock. Her thoughts raced, and instinctively her fingers travelled to her dry lips. Yoona looked up and noticed, ''I knew if you found out, that you'd be angry at me, so I didn't...but I wanted to, Seohyun. I really wanted to kiss you.''

Seohyun shot an angry look at Yoona, and the girl flinched in response. As soon as Seohyun had done so, despite still being visibly angry, she felt guilty.




-


She didn't visit Yoona for the next three days, and kept to her room. The only travels she made was to school and back, and she was never allowed to go to the well, in case Yoona tried to talk to her again.

Seohyun had pretended in front of her parents that she was fine with not seeing Yoona anymore, but at night, she couldn't help but dream about her. She'd wake up with feverish dreams where she had touched Yoona's lips once again, and the soft, sweet sensation poured through her body. Yoona's lips had been soft and pink, and Seohyun had shaken it off as her being young.

She still wanted to know why, though.

Why was Yoona pretending to be a boy?








*

It happened in the middle of the night, a knocking noise on her bedroom window. Seohyun had ignored it the first couple of times, believing it was the wind. But after the fourth knock, she flipped in her bed to peer at the window. Her eyes were bleary, so she got up and looked out the window. A familiar face looked back at her and Seohyun jumped back, her heart beating fast. Yoona held a finger to her lips and with another pointed towards the window latch. She hadn't seen Yoona in such a long time that she was afraid of doing so. Although, she could not deny that she was excited - she could feel the way her heart thumped excessively against her chest - it felt good but it also frightening.
Seohyun undid the latch and opened the window wide enough for the other girl to crawl in. Yoona whispered that she musn't make a sound.
''What's going on?''
''Just a second.'' Yoona froze, one leg in and one out whilst she looked about the room, searching for any sound.


-

Yoona sat in the middle of her bed, with her, moments later.

''Why are you here?''

''I'm saying good bye.''

''you're leaving?'' Seohyun felt her chest tighten. It was a feeling she hadn't felt in all her life - it was uncomfortable. Was this what she got for ignoring her for three weeks? was it Seohyun's fault?

''I have to.''

''but...why?'' the tears fell of their own accord, and Seohyun could not stop them from showing up. Memories of spending time in the room together talking about their favourite authors and then kissing her filtered her mind. All that and here it was disappearing.
Yoona hadn't noticed how disappointed Seohyun looked, as she was too busy trying to explain her situation. Yoona told Seohyun that the authorities were coming to take Yoona way from her father, and that they were going to make a break for it before they arrived. According to Yoona, one of their neighbours had informed a child care center, and mentioned abuse.

''My father, in all his life, has never once touched me!'' Yoona was understandbly angry, as if she was ready to punch a hole in the wall, ''my father isn't like that, and he has treated me with respect my whole life. He loves me, and he loves me the way I am...and, and, me dressing up and pretending to be a boy is my own thing. My father accepts it...but he knew this would happen.'' tears now sprung from Yoona's eyelids,

''he warned me. He told me people would talk...but - ''

Seohyun leaned over, and held Yoona in her arms. Yoona fell onto Seohyun's lap and sniffed. It was strange seeing Yoona cry - it was the first time that she had seen a boy cry. It was at that point that Seohyun realised that despite it all, she liked Yoona. Seohyun caressed the top of Yoona's head and began to wish desperately that this was all a dream. She wanted to believe that Yoona wasn't leaving and that she was here to kiss her good night. She wanted a good memory of the two.

''I don't want you to leave.''

Yoona sniffed, ''that's strange. I would have thought you wanted me to leave as soon as possible.''

''if I did, would I have let you in this room? would I be holding you like this? touching you?''

''you have a point.'' Yoona answered and Seohyun saw the faint sight of a smile approaching Yoona's lips.

''You're not mad at me anymore?'' Yoona questioned.

''I'm a little mad....but....''

''but?''

''I want you to stay. I can't....explain it. I don't want you to go Yoona.''

''I'm glad.'' Yoona smiled up at her, rolling off of her lap and then he gently held Seohyun's hands in hers, ''so you forgive me for lying to you?''

''I figure you have your reasons.''

''I do...this is...'' Yoona looked about his own body, as if inspecting his clothes, ''this is me. This is...besides my dad, the first time someone..'' he looked at Seohyun's eyes, searching for understanding, ''someone asked me why, rather than make fun of me.....or treat me like i'm a ert.''

Yoona froze all of a sudden and Seohyun knew why. The distinct sound of foot steps on the wooden floor outside her bedroom. In a matter of seconds, the door burst open and her parents stood there, with wide eyes. Her mother's eyes turned from fear to outright disbelief.

''What are you doing here?!'' Mrs Seo ran over and grabbed a fistfull of Yoona's hair, pulling her off the bed.

''Mama! wait!'' Seohyun jumped towards Yoona's help and began to sheild Yoona from her mother's grasp. Her mother let go of Yoona's hair as the boy crumpled to the floor, grabbing onto his head while wincing in pain.
''Umma! what are you doing??'' Seohyun held Yoona in her arms tightly as Yoona grabbed onto Seohyun's arms to protect herself.

''Don't touch her! don't touch my daughter like that!'' her father lunged forward, ready to punch Yoona on her body. Seohyun blocked him from doing so.

''Stop it! Stop it! both of you!''

''Seohyun stay away from that thing!''

''Don't touch him. I'm warning you.'' Seohyun held her ground, ''you hurt Yoona and I'll...'' she couldn't think of what she would do in response to her parent's abuse towards the boy, but she knew that she was willing to do whatever it took to protect Yoona from their wrath.

''I'm calling the police. You broke into our house.'' her mother ran out of the room and Seohyun screamed for her to stop. Seohyun and Yoona exchanged glances and then, without a word, Yoona knew what he had to do. He ran towards the window, flung himself out and then made a break for it. Seohyun watched his retreating figure - her heart hurt. He hadn't said goodbye or anything and after experiencing what he had in her house, there was hardly a glimmer of hope that he would try to meet her again. She turned to face her father, still standing at her bedroom entrance. Her eyes glowered, drip after drip of tears were hard to fight back. She wanted to hit her father. She wanted to scream obscenities at him. Her mind was filled with violent images of Yoona holding onto his own head.

Rather than any of that, she chose to jump out of the window and run. The sound of her father screeching for her to return 'at once' was all that was left before she chose to memorise the route to Yoona's home. She hadn't been there in a long while.