The door rang, piercing through the silence in the morning.

"Yoona open door."

Before Jessica could respond, a scuffle of feet could be heard as the young girl ran to open the door.

"Who's there?" Jessica had heard Yoona asked.

Silence

"Yoona, who is it?"

Jessica walked out of the kitchen, cleaning her hands on her apron as she went towards the door. Jessica looked at the wide-opened door and stunned.

"Y-yu-r-ri?"

"Mommy, who is this unnie?"

Yoona watched the two ladies before her, her expression confused and curious. She could not understand why her mother and the beautiful lady were staring at each other, each not saying anything.

"Yoona..."

Hearing her name, Yoona scuttled over to her mother. Bending herself to reach Yoona's eye level, Jessica ruffled her hair and smile.

"Yoona, can you go finish your breakfast by yourself?"

Yoona pouted.

"Mommy needs to talk to this unnie here. You are a big girl already. Be a good girl okay?"

This time, Yoona relunctantly nodded. She was a big girl and definitely a good girl. Running over to her unfinished breakfast, she climbed the chair with slight difficulty before starting on her breakfast again.

Seeing Yoona listening to her without any questions asked, Jessica could not help but give out a small smile. However, the smile did not last long. She remembered her visitor, Yuri.

She turned towards the door and allowed the visitor to enter the house. While entering the house, Yuri looked around the surroundings, taking in everything that her eyes land on. Motioning Yuri to sit, Jessica left to grab two glass of water.

Silence prolonged in the living room where the two girls sat quietly, each not knowing what to say. The atmosphere was anything but full of awkwardness and nervousness. Awkwardness mainly for Yuri as she did not know that the girl whom she thought she knew lived in this kind of conditions and a mother of a child. She knew she should check her background first before arriving, but she refused and hence taking in the shock first-hand. Nervousness was from Jessica. Besides her best friend, no one had ever stepped foot into this household, and definitely not to mention Yuri. She did not know what to expect from the girl since there was a lot Yuri did not know about her or rather she was relunctant to tell the latter.

"Mommy."

Jessica turned to the direction of the voice and found Yoona staring at her wide-eyed amd fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. Seeing the younger girl's cute face, Jessica could not help but smile slightly. If there was one thing Jessica could not ignore or get angry with, it was Yoona.

"Yes Yoona?"

"Mommy, Yoona finished breakfast, can Yoona go out to play?"

"Yoona-ah, mommy needs to talk to this unnie here, then mommy needs to go to work. I can't bring you out today."

"Really?" Yoona pouted, her eyes filled with disappointment.

"Yoona don't want mommy to go to work. Mommy to stay with Yoona."

"Yoona-ah..."

"We can talk at the playground."

A voice interrupted the two, causing the both of them to turn their heads to Yuri.

"But..."

"We can talk at the playground."

Yuri repeated, this time more firmly. Jessica sighed softly before turning back to her daughter, who was looking at her with expectant eyes.

"Go change. We will go to the playground first."

"Yay!! Thank you unnie."

The two adults watched as Yoona skipped off to her room before awkwardness sets in again.

"You should change too."

"But..."

"I'll wait for you here."

Relunctantly, Jessica got off the couch and left for her room. While Jessica was busy changing, Yuri walked around the living room, examining each and everything that was placed there. Spotting a photo, Yuri picked up the frame and looked closely at it. It was a photo of a younger Jessica cuddling baby Yoona.

Soon Yuri's mind started drifting off to the various possibilities and situations. In no time, she was so lost in her thoughts that she did not even notice Yoona staring at her with an amused expression.

"Unnie?"

Yoona tugged at the ends of Yuri's pants.

"Unnie?"

This time, Yoona shouted a little louder which fortunately managed to jolt Yuri from her thoughts.

"Yes Yoona?"

The older and taller girl bended down to be in level with Yoona. Looking at her closely for the first time since she stepped into the house, Yuri found Yoona's features to be just like Jessica, just that it was softer and cuter.

"Unnie, why do you keep staring at photo?"

Yuri gave a small sad smile.

"Unnie just wanted to look at the photo, to see Yoona's umma."

"To see umma only? Why unnie dont see Yoona?"

Yoona pouted. Yuri chuckled at the similarity of the pout, and also the effect in which it has on her. Just like Jessica, she could not help but want the girl to be happy.

"Because Yoona is here."

Yoona cocked her head trying to understand the meaning behind those words, but when she realized she was not able to, she shrugged her shoulders.

"Unnie, what's your name?"

"Yuri."

Once again, Yoona tilted her head slightly as she memorized the name along with the face.

"Yuri unnie, are you mommy's friend?"

Yuri hesistated in answering, or rather she did not know what to answer. To say that they were friends, but it seemed they were more than that. To say they were lovers, but they were less than that. But at that moment, they seemed to be neither friends nor lovers. Seeing Yoona waiting for an answer, Yuri gave a rueful smile because answering hesitantly.

"Yes. We are good friends."

"Really?"

Yuri gave another small smile.

"Then I will have another friend."

Seeing the hyperactive girl, Yuri suddenly became curious of Yoona. It was a weekday afternoon, but yet Yoona was not as school seemed weird to Yuri.

"How many friends do you have?"

Yoona held up two fingers proudly.

"Two?" Yuri asked in disbelieve. She could not believe that this friendly little girl has only 2 friends. She ought to have more if she was this friendly.

"Yup. Tiffany unnie is my best friend and Yuri unnie."

"Tiffany unnie?"

The name seemed to ring a bell in Yuri's mind but she was unable to attach a face to that name.

"Yup. Tiffany unnie comes and teach Yoona a lot of stuff."

"Oh..."

That was all Yuri said.

"Yoona."

"Mommy."

Yoona scampered off to her mother's side and tugged at her hand. Seeing Yoona's bright smile made Jessica momentarily forgot all the worries that she had.

Holding her child's hand, both mother and child walked towards the door with Yuri following out behind.

The walk to the park was nothing better than the atmosphere in the house. The young child skipped along the pavement, humming a new song which she learnt recently, oblivious to the silent settings surrounding them while the two adults walked slowly behind, each immersed in their thoughts and afraid to break the silence. It was when Yoona called out to them did they realize they had reached the park.

"Mommy?"

Jessica watched the young girl looking at her with expectant eyes.

"Sorry Yoona. Mommy got to talk to Yuri unnie. Go and play by yourself okay?"

Nodding, Yoona ran off towards the playground while the adults sat on the bench nearby, both have their gaze fixed on Yoona. Once again, silence crept in and settled there, but this time, the atmosphere was not as awkward.

"Yuri..."

Jessica broke the silence. She watched the younger girl hesitantly, unsure of whether to continue.

"Why?"

Yuri turned to look at the older girl, her voice calm but her mood far from calm. She was trying her best to keep her voice down so that Yoona does not hear anything.

"Have you not trusted me enough?"

"No."

As if on cue, the two girls avoided contacts with each other and turned back to the playground.

"I was afraid."

Jessica spoke up after minutes of hesitation. She turned her head slightly and took a peek at the other girl who seemed to be staring at Yoona but she knew that Yuri was listening attentively.

"I did not want to risk anything, your image, your life and our lives."

Jessica paused, checking on the younger girl once more. Seeing no reaction, she continued.

"You have your career, your family, your image and reputation to take care of, while I only have Yoona. If things don't work out between us, At least nothing will change. You go back to your life, I carry on with mine."

Jessica could feel tears circling in her eyes, threatening to fall down her cheeks anytime. Not wanting anybody to see her cry, especially Yuri, Jessica stood and called out to Yoona.

"Now that you know the truth, I guess we don't have anymore reasons to see each other."

Jessica gave a slight pause before saying the last word.

"Goodbye."

The words were soft, but to Jessica, it was heartbreaking. It was as though the word shattered her heart into pieces. She knew it was the last time she would see the girl, hence she took one more peek before leaving the place with Yoona with tears escaping down her cheeks.

Yuri watched as the mother and child slowly walked away. She had wanted to stop Jessica but she also knew she could not. Who is she to stop them from leaving? It was until the the two of them were out of her view then she let her tears out, crying to her heart content.

 

 

A/N: I have been missing for long, my apologies... This serves as an appetizer as I get back on track to writing... I do read comments and some of them are in works. No idea what will come next, but Hyo is my bias and all of my Hyo's ship has been sailing smoothly during the comeback, esp HyoTae, the rarest occurance, so, you know what comes next :D
It will take me a while more, but I'll be back, soon. Thank you for new subscribers and the comments. I'll see you soon.