Yuri

Yuri wore the pink blouse, that thankfully hid her newly bandaged arm. The wounds stung, but at least it was disinfected and clean. She didn't expect Yoona to remember her favourite colour, pink. Or maybe Yoona just randomly selected the colour of the blouse, Yuri honestly didn't know herself.

Yoona had led her to Twinkle, Taeyeon's orphanage, which was surprisingly also Yoona's workplace. Apparently Taeyeon was Yoona's close friend, and they shared an unbreakable bond that even Jessica was jealous of. These were a few things Yuri didn't know about Im Yoona, and she was quite upset that she knew so little about her, even though the later knew her darkest secret.

This was her second visit to the orphanage, and now that she wasn't as troubled as before, she started to notice her surroundings.

Everything inside screamed bright colours, and the cheerful colours were too deceiving. Wasn't this a home filled so much sadness?

She didn't understand why Yoona would want to 'cure her broken heart'. Time would heal, or so she was told. She just needed a little more time to forget him.

She also didn't understand why Yoona was doing this for her. Was she pitying her? Because she knew that in the end, Jiyoung would choose her instead of Yuri? Or was it because she felt sad for Yuri's disgusting past?

Im Yoona's cold facade was annoyingly deceiving, but Yuri wanted to believe that she was affectionate and caring. The way she treated Jiyoung was so loving, yet the way she treated Yuri was so... emotionless. Almost as if she didn't want Yuri to be around. It made Yuri feel very confused and dejected.

"Jessica unnie!" Jiyoung shouted, shaking her from her thoughts and the younger child ran towards her favourite ice princess.

"Hey sweetie!"

Yoona? You're late." Jessica's tone changed from sweet to cold.

"I was preoccupied, Jessica unnie. Where's Taeyeon unnie?"

"She's in her office, and she wants to see you." Jessica answered, and then she turned to face Yuri. "Hello dear. Feel better now?"

Yuri almost took a step back in surprise. Why was Jessica treating her nicely too? Wasn't she just annoyed with Yoona? Nevertheless, she answered,"I'm fine, thank you."

She never understood the human facade. Why must humans use a fake outer appearance to mask reality?

She's not the type to be easily deceived, and she swore that she never will be.

 

"Yuri, I'll be talking to Taeyeon unnie. Jiyoung, sweetie, bring Yuri umma around please?" Yoona patted the little girl's head before heading to Taeyeon's office.

Yuri owed Yoona so much, and these were one of the moments when she felt so grateful to the younger girl.

"Yuri umma! Why are you my umma too? Umma told me to stop asking questions and wait until I'm a big girl, but I'm already five!" Jiyoung pouted, her arms folded in a cute manner.

Yuri was speechless; she didn't quite know her own child yet, so she didn't expect such a question.

"When you're ten I'll tell you why ok?"

"But ten is too far away!"

"Hey look! Wanna play on the swings?" Yuri tried to avoid the question, pointing to the swings. Thank God the little girl had the attention span of a goldfish, since she raced to the swing and sat down happily, showing off her eye smile.

Yuri thought of Yoona's mini game yesterday as she helped Jiyoung sit down on the swing. If she played it with Jiyoung, could they become closer?

"Jiyoung? Wanna play a game?"

After explaining the game to the little girl, they started firing questions at each other.

"Jiyoung, what's your favourite Disney character?"

"Minnie and Mickey Mouse!"

"Really? Mine too!"

Yuri laughed as Jiyoung entertained her with all types of questions, ranging from "Why is the sky blue?" to "What happens when the tooth fairy comes?"

Of course, the naive girl also asked a few embarrassing questions.

"Yuri Umma, are you and my umma dating?"

Where does a little girl get her ideas from?

"No! Why do you ask that?"

"Sometimes my friends call Jessica unnie and Taeyeon unnie 'umma', and they're married!" Jiyoung grinned, excited at how smart she was.

Yuri laughed it off, asking Jiyoung more questions as the pair bonded further. And for the first time in a long time, she felt happy again.

"Higher!" Jiyoung squealed as Yuri continued pushing her. She spotted Yoona talking in Taeyeon's office, but she saw something worrying. Was she... crying?

"Umma wait! Jiyoung's crocs flew off!"

Yuri snapped back to face Jiyoung, who was already in tears since her favourite crocs flew away. What happened in Taeyeon's office? She could have sworn that Yoona was crying...

But after she helped Jiyoung wear her blue crocs back, the office was empty.

Yoona was gone.

 

Yoona

Yoona has absolutely no idea why she had gone to Taeyeon's office, when she should be helping the rest and working. The shorter girl was obviously angry with her after yesterday's events.

"I told you that if you got to emotionally attached to Jiyoung, you would not be able to part with her easily." Taeyeon pointed out, her baby face masked in a cloud of disappointment.

"And making Jiyoung choose? You know that you've got the upper hand. You are doing Yuri no good, but she's Jiyoung's rightful mother."

"I know, but Yuri's not well! She can't take care of Jiyoung without proving herself! Her screams woke us up today. Screams, Taeyeon unnie. If she can't even help herself, how will she help Jiyoung?" Yoona shot back, angry that her closest friend would reprimand her like she was some kid.

"So you thought that by helping her forget her past, you would feel better? Because in the end you're going to take Jiyoung away anyway?"
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