Finally, the universe cut him a break!

Well, okay. Mr. Parker cut him a break, but still, after all he’d been dealing with, having Yoona again was an incredible relief.

Bursting through his cabin door, Ryeowook practically sprinted into the bedroom. Two-thirty now and he was off lobby duty.

Yoona laid stomach first on the sheets, bare feet propped up on the headboard and eyes on her laptop. She didn’t seem to notice when Ryeowook flew in which explained the high-pitched squeal that erupted as he leaped into bed beside her.

“Ryeowook!” Yoona yelled, slamming the laptop shut.

“Room service!” The boyfriend chirped. Laughing, he caught her in a full-body hug causing another round of squeals. Pressing his lips to her cheek, Ryeowook felt his troubles retreat into the dark. For all her beauty, his girlfriend could really scare away monsters.

Giggling like a child, Yoona turned so he could kiss her on the lips. They were familiar and soft. They continued doing that for a few moments more before Ryeowook dropped on his side, lying beside her.

“Hey you.” Her lips moved in a whisper.

A comforting warmth blossomed in his chest. Things were easy with Yoona.

 “I thought you’d be sleeping.” He murmured.

“Wasn’t tired. I had some stuff to arrange so I figured I get that done. Make some more time for us.”

He chuckled, “Only you could go through a twenty-hour plane ride and still have enough energy to do schoolwork.”

“Doesn’t even wear me out.” she responded with a grin, “I’m ready for dinner the second you and your guests are.”

Reminded of their evening plans, Ryeowook’s grin faltered. Just for a second. But Yoona didn’t miss a cue.

“Oh, I knew you were lying earlier,” she sighed, referring to their brief conversation before he left to work, “You need to stop acting around me. I get all confused because of your mixed signals and I spew words and put you in this awkward position.”

“Well, to be fair the last time you did that you almost landed me a record deal.” He meant it as a joke but it still earned him a smack on the chest.

“Okay, okay,” Ryeowook relented, rubbing his chest, “I thought it was a little weird when you asked, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing!” He quickly added when Yoona buried her face in the covers in embarrassment.

“Oh, I knew I was making things awkward!”

“Aw, come on, Yoona,” Tugging on her shoulders, he tried to coax her into looking up, “I don’t mind the double date. I was just surprised is all. I didn’t know you were a fangirl.”

“Neither did I!" She jerked up with a look of panic, "I can still barely tell what happened. It’s just, I recognized Joohyun, and all the sudden it was like blegh; verbal diarrhea. I still can’t believe I just charged in there and asked them out!”

“Well, they said yes didn’t they?” he cooed, pulling her into him.

“No, Joohyun said yes. The guy didn't say anything. Did you see him? He looked like he wanted to kill me.”

“That doesn't mean anything. Kyu was just … having an off morning.” He supplied stupidly. To be honest, he had no idea what was wrong with Kyuhyun. Nuzzling her neck, he tried to push away the sudden anxieties that came with that name. He’d been working fairly hard to not think about Kyuhyun. It’d been working until now.

Suddenly, Yoona turned to look at him. She wore a puzzled expression, “Kyu? That a nickname? You’re that close with your guests?”

This caused Ryeowook to pause for a second. Was he close to them? Was he close to Kyuhyun? How awkward would it be if he said yes? But to his surprise, a look of exaggerated relief flooded girlfriend’s face.

“Oh thank goodness,” she quickly relaxed into his grip, “They won’t be as weirded out as I thought. You know, I was really worried they wouldn’t want to talk about their idol lives, but they know you and you know them so things won’t even be awkward! Right?”

Ryeowook wanted to point out that they probably shouldn’t talk about the couple’s debut days, even if they did know him, but when those soft doe-eyes landed on him, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He nodded.

“Oh, boy! I can’t wait to ask them what life was like back then. Maybe we could even hear them sing. Oh, Joohyun’s voice was the best!” By now the excitement had caused his girlfriend to spring upright in anticipation.

Contentedly, Ryeowook lay and watched her ramble on. She still had that tender glow to her face and talked passionately through her hands. It was comforting. How many nights had they spent in this very position? Always a distraction from what was to come. 

All day, he’d kept himself busy, avoiding thoughts about their dinner plans. Spending more time to be confused by Kyuhyun when he could have been spending it with Yoona? Not preferrable.

He’d actually been quite surprised to learn why Yoona made the double date. Though Seohyun had been dropped by the time they’d met, it was still strange that he’d never known of her fanatical obsession. He didn’t ponder too much on it though. Thoughts of fans led to thoughts of performers which led to music which led to festivals which led to Friday…

“Wouldn’t that be great, Ryeowook?”

“What?” He blinked, pulling out of his worries.

“I said, maybe those Joohyun or that other guy still have connections in the industry. We should try to make good impressions. You could get like a composing job if you go back to Korea!” Yoona looked thrilled by the horrid idea, “Joohyun and I really were childhood friends you know? I bet she’d love to help you out.”

On reflex, a straight refusal sprung to his tongue. Ryeowook knew to deny any opportunities to enter the music industry. It would obviously end in pain. This time though, something made him hesitate.

Taking his silence for a yes, Yoona clapped enthusiastically and pulled him into a fierce hug.

“I knew you’d gotten your confidence back! When your boss said I had to come see you perform in public, I just knew it!” Grabbing his hand, she yanked him off the bed. That's the only reason Yoona came? Nothing from the entire summer when she didn't have school could have drawn her here? 

“I am just so proud of you and how independent you’re becoming!” her squealing rang in Ryeowook’s ear and suddenly he highly uncomfortable in her grasp, “Just you wait. Soon enough, you’ll be back in Seoul making beautiful songs and you won't even need me anymore.”

Her eyes gazed at him, filled with blank enthusiasm. Swallowing a sudden lump in his throat, Ryeowook reminded himself to smile back. This was his girlfriend. So what if some specifics had shifted? They’d been apart far too long for him to start nitpicking.

So pulling her into an embrace, he ignored the alarm in his head. The one that screamed of her fakeness

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Kyuhyun swore he’d never been on such an awful date night as the one he was currently sitting through.

They were stuffed in the corner of a large seafood restaurant. His skin still felt dirty and uncomfortable. He hadn't gotten the chance to shower back at the cabin so now the secent of seawater tainted the air.

Ryeowook’s girlfriend and his empty seat sat across from them while Seohyun was beside Kyu against the wall. The guide had gone for the bathroom but Kyuhyun had refused to leave his seat for fear of getting run over. With all the waiters and small children running around, it seemed like a legitimate possibility. Add the glaringly bright lights and the sunburn that was starting to show its severity and he was seriously wishing they were back at the hotel.

“So, Cho Kyuhyun.”

Kyuhyun forced himself to look at the speaker.

The girl, Im Yoona, was smiling widely at him. Maybe to show off her teeth or something. 

“Yes, that is my name. Do you need something, Im Yoona?”

Undeterred by his sarcastic tone, she continued, “I was wondering, what it was like to be the youngest of your group? It was so large it must’ve been nice to have an established place.”

“Actually, it quite a bit.” Kyuhyun stated with as much hostility as he could muster.

 “Really? Why was that?” Yoona stared at him worriedly with her large doe eyes. He could almost taste the bile.

“Well, I guess, seniority is a big deal in that business. People didn’t treat me very well because I joined late and I was born late so, you know…” She stared at him blankly.

Kyuhyun pursed his lips, “It was just a bad experience.”

That seemed to satisfy her for the time being, and she turned back to Yoona to begin quizzing her on variety show scripting.

The girl truly spewed the most irritating stream of questions. They ranged from dumb to intrusive yet she hadn’t stopped since they’d sat down. Most of them were for Seohyun but every time she turned to him, he tried to give the lamest answer possible. It still hadn’t discouraged her.

Luckily, Ryeowook finally came back, sliding in the seat across from him.

“Wow, I just realized how far back our table was,” he said with a laugh, “So did they take our order yet?”

Kyuhyun’s heart leaped. The voice he’d so desperately missed paired with guide’s glowing exterior was enough to make him forget the lousiness of everything else. If just for a moment. He opened his mouth to answer but Yoona injected first.

“No, nobody has noticed us! They haven’t even stopped to get us water!”

“Aw, geez,” Ryeowook smiled apologetically at his guests, “I’m sorry you guys. This is a popular place, but when they said they could fit us in I thought it meant it would be less crowded tonight.”

“That’s pretty illogical.” Seohyun’s mutter barely registered in Kyuhyun’s head as he was too busy trying to not to fume. Ryeowook had almost immediately turned away to start flirting with the girl.

He couldn’t figure it out. Ryeowook didn’t look shallow. He didn’t act shallow. So why would he settle for ditz like Im Yoona?

Perhaps he was one of those guys that believed in opposites attracting.

It was obvious the guide was kind, clever, and caring. As his girlfriend proceeded to attempt ‘conversation’ with Seohyun, it was incredibly apparent that she was not.

“I remember we had such a strict dieting routine. We practically counted every carb,” Seohyun recalled in response to Yoona’s question.

“Wow. Why would you need to do that?”         

“To maintain our skinny figures, I guess.”

“What does calorie intake have to do with it?”

Kyuhyun could hardly comprehend her.

After they placed the orders and waited for their meals, he learned that Yoona was living in France for college. She’d been the one to convince Ryeowook to come to the island before she left. They didn’t mention anything about his music career, but Kyuhyun knew the rest. To him, it sounded like Yoona had ditched when the record deal flopped and now she was living it up in Paris while the guide cried into arms of strangers like him.

So once again, why was Ryeowook dating her?

Ryeowook treated Yoona like a crowned princess. He openly held her hand, whispered in her ear, but possibly the most uncomfortable part was the way he gazed at her whenever she talked. Those brown orbs were filled with devotion and longing and it was all for a wrong person. Just watching it made his skin crawl. 

It didn’t even occur to Kyuhyun that his girlfriend awaited the same treatment from him. No, he was too busy breaking apart every mistake and vexation the girl across from him committed.

She was loudmouthed, insensitive, and her phone buzzed every five minutes. Would it kill her to answer the thing?

When the food finally arrived, Yoona’s seemingly endless stream of questions slowed down to about one a minute.

He tried maintaining his cool. It wasn't working so well. Soon his short clipped answers starting coming out cynical and derisive. Not that Yoona could have picked up on that cue. 

It didn’t matter how negative the answer; the girl seemed hell bent on putting a positive spin on things. Got starved before debut? What an effective dieting method! Forced to work on holidays? What a wonderful gift to your fans! He couldn’t even tell if she had been a fan or not. It was so blatantly offensive, Kyuhyun was ready to throttle her.

Lucky for her, he only stabbed at his fish.

While Yoona dominated the conversation, Kyuhyun barely heard a word from her boyfriend. Ryeowook had hardly spoken all night and when he did address them, it was always to both of them. As in him and Seohyun. His guests. Nothing more.

Maybe that was for the better. 

Kyuhyun wasn't sure what Ryeowook's eyes would say, but he found himself very glad to focus on course after course of clams and shrimp. The longer the dinner dragged on, the less time he spent looking up. There were two upsides to this. One: there was no way he could make eye contact with Ryeowook. Two: It left Yoona's main focus on Seohyun. Unfortunate for her, though. 

A part of him almost felt bad for Seohyun. Since she apparently did know Yoona from school, the bulk of the questions were directed on her. It was simply answer after answer about her life; past and present. Kyuhyun actually learned things about her trainee days. It must have been unpleasant to dredge up the past, but considering it was her fault they were on the date, he couldn’t find that much pity.

As the night progressed, it only seemed that the awkward, ditzy girl across from him was completely wrong for the guide. Even Seohyun seemed to agree with him. The only ignorant person was the boyfriend.

Why would Ryeowook tie himself down to Im Yoona? He was perfect. He was wonderful. Last night had proved that. Of all people, of all choices; why her?

So immersed in his own frustrations, it never once crossed Kyuhyun’s mind that Yoona wasn’t the problem. It could have been anyone and he would hate them just the same.

________________________________________________________________________________

Ring, ring! Ring, ring!

Yoona’s phone chirped again. Seohyun swore that was around the tenth time that night. The woman didn’t even live here; who on earth would be texting her?

Stopping mid-sentence, Yoona sighed and pulled out her cell which she had ignored the last few times. Reading the screen, her perfectly polished mask seemed to slip. But putting the phone away and turning back to them, nothing seemed out of place.

“Sorry, you guys. That's just my project partner. He’s been freaking out that I’m not there to supervise his every move.” Yoona rolled her eyes as if that were perfectly normal.

Seohyun frowned, looking up from her dessert. “Isn’t it extremely late in France? Why would he be texting you at this hour?”

“Oh, he’s a night owl. Plus, the project is due tomorrow so he’s probably worried over the last minute improvements.”

“But if it’s finished you could tell him to leave it as is.”

“I’d prefer not to. The international rates for texts are just ridiculous. But anyhow,” she continued before Seohyun could interject again, “I’ve been forgetting to ask you guys if you’re going to the music festival on Friday. Ryeowook’s playing at it and it is going to be amazing!”

The petite male across from her blushed and ducked his head. Seohyun scrunched her eyebrows. Chewing her toffee thoughtfully, she recalled the first mention of the festival two days ago. No wonder Ryeowook had seemed sad when she rejected it. He was performing at it. 

Seohyun almost felt bad, except she didn’t.

“No, I don’t think we’ll go. We don’t have a huge love of live performances anymore. Got enough of those during our idol days, right Kyuhyun?” She turned hopefully to her boyfriend. Kyuhyun barely glanced up as he grunted.

Seohyun huffed, feeling a pang of hurt under the typical annoyance. Why was Kyuhyun being so difficult? If he was so bothered about talking about their idol days then he should just say something instead of acting like a child. But of course, her boyfriend wasn’t like that. He would just fume and glare and expect everyone to be able to pick on the fact that he was upset. Was it any wonder he couldn’t accomplish anything?

Seohyun on the other hand, felt perfectly comfortable discussing her past. A fact that surprised even her.

After getting dropped from SME, Seohyun had thought her life was over. Singing had been her goal and she always achieved her goals. Of course, that was far from being the case. Nevertheless, her life was now smooth, successful and singing rarely even crossed her mind. What did it matter? Her girl group days were long gone.

But even though she’d stuffed those memories away, it was almost easy to pull them out. All Yoona had had to do was tug on her stage name, the last memory she’d clung to, and Seohyun found herself talking quite easily. It was almost fun. And with Im Yoona too, a relic from her past. It felt fitting almost, that she got a final dinner with a ‘fan.’ Like closure.

It almost made her wish Kyuhyun wasn’t there.

Huffing at her boyfriend’s non-reaction, Seohyun turned her attention back to Yoona. The other girl was scrapping at her the remains of her chocolate cake with a pensive look on her face.

“That’s really too bad,” she muttered, referring to Seohyun’s previous comment, “I really wish you would go to the festival. Ryeowook could use all the support he can get.”

“I’m sure we aren't the support he needs.”

“Well, your choice is yours! I just wish we could have had more than three hours together,” Yoona smiled though, pushing her chair out, “I guess we should call it a night though.”

“Yes!” Everyone turned to look at Kyuhyun who had apparently been unaware of his volume and turned deep shade of red. Quickly, the male turned and started shoveling pudding into his mouth while avoiding all eye contact.

Brushing it off with a smile, Yoona stood up, “Yes, it has been a nice dinner. I’ll just go to the bathroom and we can leave.”

Seohyun watched her retreat into the bathroom hall, feeling her copious amounts of irritation spilling over.

“Wow,” she turned towards her boyfriend, “Of all the snarky comments tonight that was the worst.”

Kyuhyun didn’t even look up.

“Seriously, Kyuhyun. Did you even realize how rude that was? Yoona’s been trying to talk to you all night and you can’t even pretend to care? Kyuhyun?”

“It’s okay, really.”

Seohyun stared Ryeowook, who had been rather quiet for most of the night, “It is not okay. That was your girlfriend he just offended. Or did you not even realize she was hurt? This is my boyfriend and his actions reflect on me. His behavior was straight up rude. Please don't try to make excuses here-”

“Okay, already!” Kyuhyun whipped towards her. Spoon in hand, it flicked just enough to spatter Seohyun’s shirt with several globs of pudding.

He froze in horror. That would leave a stain. And that was not okay. Ever.

But Seohyun didn’t say anything. No one said anything. Instead, she stood, without a word, and strode for the washroom. 

She kept her head held high until the second she was out of their sight, Seohyun ditched the proper lady act, slamming open the bathroom door and storming in towards the sink. Dammit! What was wrong with him? What was wrong with her? Without a care for the delicate shirt, she rinsed and scrubbed the stain with pouring water.

Ever since she’d found that ring all she could feel towards Kyuhyun was annoyance. Annoyance here, annoyance there; everything he did irritated her in some impossible way. Even when she tried to think nice thoughts, he would still vex her for no reason. It was like she couldn’t even stand his presence. What was wrong with them?

Turning off the water, Seohyun tried taking a deep breath. Letting her thoughts settle down, she could feel the pressure and anger wear off. It left her very tired.

With the commotion in her head silenced, Seohyun suddenly noticed something. It was very quiet. Aside from some echoing drips of one sink, there were no other sounds in the bathroom. Quickly scanning the stalls, she realized they were all empty. She was only one in there.

Yoona?

Slipping out of the bathroom, Seohyun scanned the hallway in confusion. Yoona wasn’t out here either. There was no way she would’ve missed her if she’d come out before her. Had she gotten lost somehow? That was impossible though; Seohyun had seen her turn into the hall. Who could get lost in a straight hallway?

A soft breeze caught her attention. The door at the end of the hall was propped open. A streak of panic shot through her as a million irrational events shot through her head. What if Yoona had gotten kidnapped? What if she went to commit suicide?

Hurriedly, Seohyun rushed to the open door. Just to see if Yoona was out there.

To see what she was doing. 

To see hear what she was saying. 

To realize what she meant. 

To sprint away in panic. 

... Maybe she shouldn't have heard that.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Wow, three different character perspectives! That's ... actually not that much. But anyways, what do you guys think? Most of this was just inserting Yoona as a character, but there was some plot. What do you think the chapter title means? What do you think of Yoona's character? I appreciate all comments!