Chapter 20

‘’I can’t believe my hand is still alive.’’ Yoona says, looking at the tortured thing now dragging along her luggage.

‘’Don’t overreact. I didn’t squeeze that hard.’’

‘’You did so! Pretty sure my blood flow stopped at one time.’’

The younger girl grinned, nearly avoiding a playful smack. The airport was filled with people, so many different languages and faces buzzing around them she couldn’t count them if she tried. They’d arrived at Heathrow after a 12-hour-flight in which Yoona and her hand had been acquainted with Yuri’s fear of flying.

‘’It doesn’t look that different from Korea.’’ Yuri remarked as they climbed into the cab, Yoona telling the driver they were staying at the Hilton and yes, they were from Korea. If they were sisters, he asked and Yoona laughed and told him friends.

‘’When did your English get so good? I thought we both at it.’’

‘’I told you I was getting lessons from Tiffany. Besides so many classes at uni are in English I had to keep up.’’

Yuri hummed in agreement, lazily accepting the chewing gum the other handed to her. The long flight had been exhausting (both because of the fact that it was a long flight and because of her racking anxiety the whole time). She felt drowsy and in the small space of the cab the air felt warm and comforting, as did Yoona’s chest as she leaned against it.

‘’It’s sort of y.’’ She mumbled and her lips curled into a grin. Yoona’s chest rumbled with laughter but she remained silent, instead marvelling at the London streets rolling past them behind the windows of the cab. Pressing closer to Yoona’s fur coat, Yuri closed her eyes and quickly fell into a tranquil sleep. Waking up she found Yoona’s hand still in hers.

*

It looks exactly the way she’d imagined it, except maybe a little bigger. She feels like a child, pointing at it excitedly from across the river bank.

‘’Look! There it is! The Big Ben! Woah, it’s really amazing to see it like this.’’

‘’The house of parliament too, don’t forget.’’ Yoona reminded her over the fumbling with the camera.

‘’Can we get closer?’’ Yuri bubbled. ‘’Ah wait, take a picture of me first.’’

The phone was pressed into Yoona’s hands. A picture is snapped of a dishevelled Yuri (the London weather wasn’t kind to them) with two peace signs and a 1000 Watt smile. The tower doesn’t quite fit into the picture but who cares?

‘’That one’s nice! We should combine them and make an album or something. Should we take one together?’’

Cold hands take the phone out of her hands, Yuri’s head rapidly moving in her search of a photographer. She finds her victim in the form of an old man quietly feeding pigeons. Yoona can’t hide her smile as Yuri blurts out a rather loud ‘’picture?’’ and the man looks up in surprise, wide-eyed. He smiles then, quietly mumbling an ‘alrighty-then’ and the pigeons flock around him, discontented with being robbed of their meal. The man asks them where they’re from as the shutter clicks and Yuri happily answers for them (the more excited she gets, the more confident her English gets, Yoona had noticed). One more picture is taken and Yoona can’t help the swell in her chest when Yuri leans in close and kisses her as the camera snaps again.

Her cheeks turn red but Yuri doesn’t seem to care, thanking the man for his help with a big bow.

‘’We won’t be able to use that one in the album,’’ Yoona points out, ‘’I mean, I was going to show it to my father.’’

‘’I know,’’ Yuri lifts the phone again, pressing their cheeks together, ‘’should we take some more?’’

*

‘’So what do you think?’’ Yoona inquired.

It was cold outside but the warm food had filled her belly and the beers they’d shared made her feel giddy and generally upbeat. Her cheeks were still flushed with laughter. Yuri chewed slowly, her expression something of a badly concealed grimace.

‘’Hmm… it’s very special.’’ She mumbled then burst out laughing.

‘’Hey! You’re spraying food everywhere!’’ Yoona laughed then gave the other a soft push on the shoulder.

‘’It’s not that bad.’’ She argued, putting another piece of the oily fish into . She chewed. It was greasy and tasteless.

‘’Ah…’’ she paused, her chin, ‘’as expected. It tastes horrible.’’

More laughter and now some people were beginning to stare but she couldn’t care less. Perhaps that was partially caused by those five beers.

Yuri patted with a paper napkin, shoving away the half-eaten fish and chips.

‘’This really isn’t it. Can’t we go to a Korean restaurant or something?’’

‘’Where am I supposed to find a Korean restaurant right now? Am I a magician?’’ Yoona protested. Yuri sighed, uttering some complaint about her half-empty stomach.

‘’Let’s go back into town.’’ Yoona decided, sliding an arm around Yuri’s shoulder. Yuri followed the gesture, instead sliding an arm around Yoona’s waist. Pressed in close Yoona could smell the familiar scent of peachy shampoo on Yuri’s hair and the warmth of her body against hers. Yuri exhaled slowly, chest moving up and down. It was very .

‘’Let’s go back to the hotel.’’ She pressed into Yuri’s collarbone.

‘’What, why?’’ Yuri chuckled, her steps swaying slightly. Suddenly she found herself pressed against the wall, Yoona’s hands clutching her jacket.

‘’Let’s go to the hotel.’’ She whispered against Yuri’s lips. Her heartbeat quickened, looking back at blown pupils. She swallowed.

‘’Well. They have room service.’’

*

‘’See? There are lots of young people here.’’ Yoona pointed out. Yuri huffed, pulling at the strap of her dress annoyingly cutting into her skin as Yoona showed their tickets to the nice lady at the registrar.

‘’There’s some young people.’’ Yuri corrected and Yoona rolled her eyes.

Clutching the other’s arm she dragged them to their seats on the balcony. Truthfully, she was a bit disappointed Yuri was such a bad sport when she’d made it obvious she’d been excited for this evening. Lang Lang had been one of her inspirations for as long as she could remember and to see him live, in such a place no less, was not something she would ever have imagined. At least Yuri might have faked some enthusiasm.

Pointedly she pulled out her phone, ignoring Yuri as the other talked to her, only humming every now and then. An annoyed whine and then Yuri started continually shoving her shoulder and really, she couldn’t pretend not to notice.

‘’Look!’’ Yuri pointed as calm as a kid high on lemonade, ‘’Woah! They must be at least a hundred years old.’’

Two very ancient life forms were taking their places in the front row. Very, very slowly. Despite her anger she couldn’t help but crack a smile and she cursed herself for not being able to resist the other girl.

Poking her side, Yuri gleefully added a: ‘’everybody’s so young here!’’ and Yoona couldn’t stop the wide grin on her face anymore.

‘’’Stop it. You’re being so rude.’’ She said but was laughing still. As their giggling slowly faded so did the lights, phone being shut off throughout the Royal Albert Hall and the excited chatter changing into soft whispers. Yoona concentrated on the stage, not wanting to miss a single second of the concert.

The first note sounded and her heart fluttered at the magic of those white keys in the distance.

‘’Do you think we’ll be together that long?’’ Yuri suddenly blurted out while the first piece was nearly ending. Yoona looked at the other girl staring straight ahead in the darkness. There was applause, big spotlights following a black suit moving on the stage and she wasn’t sure if that was the reason her heart skipped a beat.

‘’How could I put up with an idiot like you for that long?’’ she muttered, slowly moving in to rest her head on Yuri’s shoulder. She found Yuri’s hand as the first chord of Liebestraum resounded in the concert hall.

*

The concert didn’t end until late and they stayed around a little too long afterwards, Yoona hoping to catch a glimpse of her black-hair, black-tie hero before hearing after 1 AM from an old woman with blonde hair that Lang Lang had already sped off in his Ferrari.

They walk back to the hotel, the weather having taken a turn for the better, Yoona’s fingers intertwined with the elder’s. It’s not a short walk but they prefer it this way, sobering up before they go to bed. Yuri says she can’t say goodbye to London, not yet, and Yoona is inclined to agree.

‘’I can’t believe we’re going back already.’’ She says and sighs, drinking in the sights around her; the excitement of the bars and cafés, the piece and quiet of the Thames, the yellow lights from the flats across the river and wonders what secrets they might have discovered the following day.

They pass an empty playground and Yuri squeals as she runs towards one of the swings, hastily pulling off her heels.

‘’You’re gonna rip your tights if you take off your shoes!’’ Yoona warns but does nothing to stop her 11-year-old girlfriend.

Yuri is going up and up and down and down, legs swaying happily and giggling all the while through. The moon is bright and yellow and the wind is remarkably soft for this time of year. She thinks she might have fallen in love with Yuri all over again these past few days.

She remembers when they had first met that day at university and thinks about how different Yuri truly is. She had been intimidated then by her long black hair and leather jacket, her deep voice and dark eyes. It had taken her a few weeks to realise what a dork Yuri truly was; a couple of months to realise how deep her thoughts were and how small her heart.

It had taken her over a year to realise just how much she loved this girl.

Yuri calmed down after a while, having tired herself out on the swing, breathing deeply. Yoona hadn’t taken her heels off, preferring to sway carefully, pushing only from her heel.

‘’You know,’’ Yuri began, ‘’I know they’re nothing alike but the Thames still reminds me of the Han river.’’ She said, staring out at the large body of water in the distance.

‘’Yeah.’’

‘’It’s the feeling right?’’

Yoona hummed. The two sat in silence for a while and Yoona found herself wondering what Yuri was thinking about. Neither of them were one to talk much about their feelings. Not because of a particular adversity, rather because it didn’t seem necessary. What good did talking about one’s feelings bring? More often than not, Yoona found that others did not understand when she had tried explaining her heart. However, with Yuri, she didn’t have to try and explain. She just knew.

‘’If only it could always be like this.’’

From the corner of her eye she could see Yuri turning to look at her, probably a little startled by her sudden emotional outburst. She probably sounded like a fool, Yoona mused, but she really couldn’t care. Her heart felt so full she thought she might die from not letting any of it out.

‘’Isn’t it perfect like this? If I could be like this with you always, I would truly be happy. I mean…’’ she paused a moment, not sure whether to say the rest, ‘’if I died right now, I’d still be happy, you know?’’

‘’Well I wouldn’t be happy,’’ Yuri replied but there wasn’t a harsh tone to it, both girls understanding Yoona’s implication, ‘’so you better stay with me, Im Yoona.’’

‘’Will you promise me?’’

‘’What do you mean?’’

Yoona let her hands glide down the metal chains of the swing, standing up and folding herself across Yuri’s lap carefully, her heels slightly crunching the grey pebbles. Cupping Yuri’s chin she felt the other girl’s heat through her skin and smiled.

‘’Promise me you’ll stay with me?’’ she pouted, sticking out her pinky. Yuri chuckled softly though still pressing her hand against Yoona’s.

‘’You want me to pinky promise you to stay with you?’’

A nod.

‘’Alright then, Im Yoona. I hereby declare I’ll stay with you for as long as we’ll go. Don’t get sick of me along the way, okay?’’

It was said as a joke but Yoona knew that Yuri’s words had just as much meaning as hers. The other girl was never going to be as straightforward about these things as Yoona but she could understand nonetheless.

She felt as if her heart might burst from the happiness she felt. She watched Yuri’s face, her long black hair slightly flowing with the wind and listened to the soft sounds of the city and forced her mind to clutch at this moment; already a memory. She wished she could stay in there, in that playground, at that very second but she knew she couldn’t. She realized that the happiness she felt then and there would not return for a long time to come so she drank it all up, revelled in it.

Leaning forward she hovered over the other girl’s lips, never quite touching.

‘’I love you.’’

All walls broken down.

‘’I love you too.’’

*

Thousands of feet up in the air and miles between London and South Korea, Yoona found her home in the hands of the other girl.