“Sica?” 

“Hmm?”

Both of them were sitting on their beds, studying. Midterm was fast approaching. Project defense and midterm exams are the only things occupying their heads. Not really.

“Do you have any plans for Parent’s Day?” 

“Well, mom and dad are going on their weekend getaway so… I don’t think so. No. I don’t have any plans for Sunday. Why?”

“My parents said that, I…uh, I should invite you to go with us since we’re going to Busan this weekend,” she answered while looking at Jessica who’s ‘totally focused’ on her notes.

“Okay.”

That was easy. 

“Aren’t you supposed to ask for your parents’ permission first?” she asked.

“I’m sure they’ll allow me plus all these school works are stressing me out.”

“Do you need any help with your school works?” Taeyeon asked.

“Well, I do need help on making incomes statements, capital statements, balance sheets and—“

Taeyeon spaced out. She really couldn’t understand the terms coming out of Jessica’s mouth right now.

“I… uh, I could call a friend of mine if you really need help.”

Jessica chuckled. “No need. You should study those things though. It might come in handy. It will be very useful if you’re planning to manage your parents’ restaurants.”

“Nah, my brother’s in charge of that. “

“Will your brother be there, too?”

Taeyeon nodded. “Why?”

“I’m excited to see if you two really look like each other in person.”

“Remember that time when you told me that not all siblings—“

“That doesn’t apply to you two,” Jessica cut her off.

“What is with you and Tiffany’s fondness for siblings that look alike?” she muttered.


---


“Fany, are you sure you don’t want to come with me?” Sooyoung asked. It was Friday night and the other girls except Yoona, Seohyun, Sunny, Yuri and Tiffany are going back to their families and celebrate Parent’s Day with them.

“Maybe next time, Soo.” 

Sooyoung asked Tiffany to go with her so that she could introduce her to her parents but Tiffany declined. They’ve been together for barely a week and she thinks it’s too soon to get introduced to her girlfriend’s parents.

“Alright. I guess I have to put up with Hyoyeon’s driving and nagging again,” she said.

Unfortunately for her, Hyoyeon heard it, “Yah! Fine! Walk back to your house!”

Sooyoung chuckled, “You always say that, Hyo.” She turned to face Tiffany again and said, “I’ll call you when we get there.”

“Why can’t you leave in the morning? It’s already late.”

“We like travelling at night. For some reason, both Hyo and I are very energetic at night,” she answered with a smile.

She kissed Sooyoung goodbye. Yuri’s bad timing made her witness her roommate and her girlfriend kissing again. She was on her way to the kitchen to get something to drink when she saw both of them in the living room. She walked faster simply because it was awkward seeing them like that.

She saw Seohyun and Yoona washing the dishes, talking and giggling in the process. So that’s why those two always volunteer to wash the dirty dishes.

“Hi, maknaes,” she greeted.

“Hi, unnie. You’re not going back to your parents’ house for the weekend?” Seohyun asked.

“It’s a long drive. Can I ask you two a question?”

“Sure, unnie. Fire away,” Yoona turned to her and smiled widely.

“Are you two back together?” The maknaes looked at each other before answering Yuri. They smiled and said.

“No.”

“Yes.”

They stared at each other again. “What?”

“Hyunnie, I thought we were…” Yoona was flabbergasted and continued to stammer, “You said you and i… we’re back together. Back at Taeyeon-unnie’s house, you…I thought…”

Yuri looked at them suspiciously. “What did you two do at Taeyeon’s house?”

When she sensed that the conversation might lead to talks about making out, she quickly opened the fridge, grabbed an apple and rinsed it with water. She then dashed out and went to the living room. Luckily, the love birds weren’t there anymore.

Sunny was sitting on the couch and talking on the phone. Probably talking to her parents.

Her guess was dead wrong. She heard Sunny using aegyo and saying, “But I want to see you this weekend. Let’s go on a date.”

“Damn it!” she cursed. Everywhere she goes, she sees and hears couples talking.


---


“Sica, can you please hurry up? We have to catch the train,” she said. She was waiting for Jessica who’s currently taking a bath. A very long bath.

“Hi, Taengoo.” She looked at the person who just entered their room. “Where are you guys headed to?”

“Busan. My family’s already there. We have to catch the train that would be leaving in an hour.”

Tiffany nodded and looked at Taeyeon sternly, “Listen here, Kim Taeyeon.” Taeyeon looked at her, surprised that the bubbly Tiffany is talking to her that way.

“Don’t even think about hurting my sister. If she sheds a tear because of you, I swear I would hack every account that you have, Yahoo, Google, Youtube, Facebook, everything. You hear me? EVERYTHING! I will make your life miserable. I’m going to post edited photos of you online and I’m telling you now that it won’t be pretty,” Tiffany glared at Taeyeon which made the latter gulp.

Tiffany giggled after seeing Taeyeon’s terrified face. “I’m just kidding, silly. I just wanted to try doing that. You’re the first person who actually had the guts to confess to her. I commend you for that.”

She started heading out of the room but turned around when she remembered something. “But seriously though stop treating her like a damn princess and cook for us, too. Dammit!”

Taeyeon pouted. “But she is a princess,” she mumbled when Tiffany left.

Jessica got out of the bathroom a few minutes later. They bid goodbye to their housemate and headed to the train station. They only have about twenty minutes to get to the train station and purchase their tickets. All thanks to Princess Jessica’s shower time. Sometimes Taeyeon wonders what Jessica does in there besides taking a bath. Maybe she sleeps there, too. That’s possible. She stays there for two hours.

Fortunately, they got there in time. 

“Taeyeon, how long will the trip to Busan take?” Jessica asked as soon as she got seated. Her seat is by the window and Taeyeon’s is on the isle. 

“Two and a half hours. It’ll be about six hours if we didn’t take the express train,” she answered after putting their bags on the top compartment.

Jessica was looking outside. “I miss my mom,” she suddenly said. “I mean, I like my mom now, Tiffany’s mom, but there are times when I still think about her. I wonder what it would be like if she was still here,” she paused. She looked at Taeyeon and smiled. It was a sad smile though. Very different from her roommate’s usual smile. “I think I’d be jealous once I see you with your mom.”

Taeyeon admits that she likes Jessica’s expressionless face better than what she’s seeing right now. “Wanna bet?”

Jessica just looked at her, confused as to why she would suddenly propose on making a bet.

“I bet that once we arrived at Busan, my mom wouldn’t even care about me and just take care of her favourite shikshin,” she smiled hoping Jessica’s mood would make a hundred and eighty degree turn. It did.

Jessica chuckled and hit Taeyeon’s arm lightly. “Why would your mom do that?”

“Because you’re her favourite shinkshin. Is it a deal?”

“Alright, deal! What happens to the loser?”

“Loser? You mean Jessica Jung, right?” That earned her another hit. Before this trip ends she would probably have a grape-colored arm. “The loser would do anything that the winner tells her to do.”

“That’s too much.”

“No it’s not. Come on, don’t tell me Jessica Jung is going to back out?” she egged her on.

“Fine.” 

The train finally started moving and after a few minutes, Taeyeon saw Jessica’s head leaning on the glass window. She’s already dozing off. Sleepy shikshin. She carefully held her head and made it lean on her shoulder instead. She fetched her phone from her pocket and sent a message to her brother to pick them up at the station. She was sleepy but decided to stay up and wait until they get there.


---


“Sica,” she lightly shook the girl next to her. They were approaching the station but Jessica still wouldn’t budge. She’s been waking her up for fifteen minutes now. “Sica, wake up. We’re almost there.”

Jessica finally woke up and rubbed the sleep off her eyes. “Are we there yet?”

“Almost. Are you hungry?” she asked when she remembered Jessica’s statement. All that sleeping actually made me hungry. 

“Yeah. I need food.” Taeyeon actually meant it as a joke but Jessica’s reply proved that what she said last time is the truth.

She gave her a Chocopie and Jessica started to munch on it. She finished it in three bites so Taeyeon handed her a box of pocky sticks which she devoured in less than ten seconds. “Do you have more?”

Taeyeon nodded and stood up to get her bag full of snacks. When the train stopped, they stood up, gathered their belongings and stepped out of the train. Her brother told her that he’d be waiting in the parking lot.

“Ji oong-oppa,” Taeyeon called.

When Jessica saw him, she almost dropped the bag of she was holding. “Wow! You two are like… two peas in a pod.”

“You should see our cousin, Hany. By the way, my name’s Ji-oong,” he smiled.

He’s just like Taeyeon.

“She’s Jessica. Enough with the introductions because it’s late and I think Sica would want to sleep now,” said Taeyeon.

They got inside the car and went to the Kim’s house in Busan. When they arrived, Taeyeon’s parents were already asleep so Taeyeon decided not to wake them up anymore. She brought Jessica to one of the spare rooms and said, “My room is right next to yours so if you need anything just tap the wall or something.”

Jessica nodded. “Goodnight, Taengoo.”

“Night.”


---


Yuri woke up early and decided to go out for a jog. The whole campus seemed so quiet. Well, it is Saturday and perhaps most of the students went back to their parents’ houses to celebrate Parents’ day with them.

After a good half an hour of running around the campus, she went back to their house. She saw Tiffany sprawled on the couch. She walked over to her to see if she’s sleeping.

“Morning, Yul.”

“Why are you sleeping here?”

“I wasn’t sleeping. I woke up and got hungry but there was no food in the fridge that I would to put in my mouth. Can you please make spaghetti for breakfast? The same spaghetti you made before.”

“For a person who can’t cook, you are really picky.”

“Please.”

“Ugh, stupid puppy eyed freak,” she mumbled and went to the kitchen.


---


“This is… heavenly!” Tiffany exclaimed. Yuri ignored her and quietly ate the dish she made. “Remember that time when you told me that your mom’s spaghetti is better than this?”

Yuri nodded without looking up.

“I want to meet her,” she said. “I want to meet her. That way, I’d be able to know whose spaghetti is better. Can you introduce me to your mom? Is she working on your family restaurant? You do have a restaurant, right? Or does she only cook for you guys?”

Yuri looked at her and thought about it. “Finish that first and take a bath. It’s a long drive.”

Unlike her step sister, Tiffany moved quickly and in about half an hour, she was all dressed and ready to go.

Yuri was driving since they agreed to use the taller girl’s car. She looked at Tiffany who’s sitting in the passenger seat and saw her yawn. “Go ahead and sleep. We’ll be there in about two hours. I’ll just wake you up.”



---


“Fany, we’re here.”

Tiffany woke up when she heard Yuri’s voice. She looked to her right and saw Yuri standing beside the door, holding a bouquet of white tulips. She scanned the area and saw huge trees. Trees and what seemed to be like a never ending meadow.

“Where are we?” 

Instead of answering, Yuri started walking. Tiffany had no choice but to follow her.

Where in the world are we? 

Yuri continued to walk but stopped when she saw Tiffany was lagging behind. “Fany-ah, hurry up.”

“Yuri, where are we?” she asked again.

She stopped waking when she saw Yuri stopped in front of a tombstone. No way.

Yuri carefully placed the white tulips in front of it and sat down. She looked back and motioned Tiffany to join her.

When Tiffany did, she stared at the tombstone and said, “This is my mom. Hi, mom, this is my roommate, Tiffany.”

“How did she—“ Tiffany didn’t continue. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—“

“No, it’s fine. I was actually hesitating to bring you here but since you seemed so eager to know where my mom is, I thought it would be better if I bring you here.”

There was that eerie silence again. Tiffany broke it and asked, “So… how…uhm, how did your mom pass away?” She looked at the tombstone again and saw when Yuri’s mom died. “Yuri, forget about that. You don’t have to—“

“She had a ,” said Yuri. She was looking alternately at the gravestone and the white tulips. Tiffany listened attentively and focused her attention to what Yuri was looking at but stole glances when Yuri stops talking. They were sitting side by side but they were away from each other.

“It was all too…sudden. Everything happened fast. I thought what happened three days after her birthday wasn’t serious. I was told that it was only a mild . One day we’re celebrating her birthday, the next day she’s rushed to the emergency room because she can’t feel her hands.”

She stopped talking so Tiffany stole a glance. She saw Yuri looking down and saw her writing ‘Omma’ on the grass.

“We fought that day. On her birthday, I mean. I didn’t talk to her during dinner. When we have fights we usually just ignore each other for a day then talk to each other the next day like nothing happened,” she smiled at the memory of her and her mom.

“The next day after school I went straight to my parents’ room and saw her there. She was crying and saying that she couldn’t feel her hands. She couldn’t even lift her whole arm. When my dad got home, he immediately brought her to the hospital,” she paused again and looked up, trying to prevent her tears from falling. Tiffany didn’t see it though. She was hugging her knees close to her body and resting her chin on her arms. She was staring at the tulips.

“When I visited her, I didn’t get the chance to talk to her anymore. She was already in a coma,” Yuri’s lips were quivering now. “I didn’t even get to say sorry to her.”

Her tears were already threatening to fall. She used her hands to wipe it away even before it falls freely on her cheeks. “The next day, the doctors said she was doing fine but later in the afternoon…” She was now using the back of her hands to wipe her tears away. “I saw one of the doctors talking to my older cousin. My brother and my dad were back in the house, resting and the two of us were left there. She approached me and asked me…she asked me what I would do…what I would do if my mom’s heart…if her heart suddenly stops beating.”

She tried to calm herself down before speaking again, “A few minutes later, they told us to go inside the room. I saw them… I saw people trying to revive my mom. Cardiac arrest. That’s what they said. Then they stopped. They approached me…they said she was gone,” her voice cracked.

Tiffany looked at her and saw Yuri covering her face with both of her hands. She immediately went closer to her and hugged the girl. “Yuri.” She was not used to seeing her roommate like this. Tiffany didn’t know what to do. Yuri was crying so hard that her breathing hitched every time she tried to talk. She hugged her tighter. A few seconds later, she felt Yuri hugging her back and she felt her shirt getting wet. “Yuri, please, stop…stop crying.”