Part Twenty

“Here.”

Sunny stuffed the semi-frozen plastic into Tiffany’s hand. The night was chilly, and the night wind a little stronger than usual.

“It’s cold,” Tiffany mumbled, tearing the wrapper, voice muffled by the scarf around her.

“I can tell, girl. You’re all wrapped up.”

Bright, light laughs tinkled out from the petite girl as she unwrapped her own popsicle before taking Tiffany’s hand. It was so natural that she didn’t even give it a second thought. Habits. Intentionally or otherwise, Tiffany had slowly carved all of those into Sunny.

“You’re so strange, Tiff,” Sunny mused as she her popsicle, “You complain of colourings, but you can’t keep away from this rainbow popsicle.”

Tiffany shrugged, letting Sunny lead her on a night stroll of the campus.

It was okay; It was strange, they were strange. Maybe that made things normal.

“This is so phallic,” Tiffany giggled, slipping the popsicle into .

“I reject your use of rainbow ual innuendos,” Sunny laughed along, the silly banter taking her mind off heavier things. Tiffany had this effect on her, like a cup of hot chocolate on an icy day, easily sweeping away unhappiness and surrounding her with a tingling warmth.

“At least there’s no cream in our popsicle.”

“God, Tiffany!”

“Mmhmm, nickname accepted. Call me God and I’ll bring you into paradise. Ecstasy~”

Tiffany winked along with another cheeky of her popsicle. The cheap colouring was slowly tinting the girl’s lips and tongue, spreading a mix of bright colours over lips that Sunny was all too familiar with. And sometimes, she would wonder if it was pure coincidence that Tiffany liked this particular flavour. Maybe there was some special meaning behind her preference.

Thread carefully, she reminded herself. She had to.

“So why did you meet Yoongie? And in my room, no less,” Sunny diverted the topic, the cold dessert leaving a numbing sensation on her tongue.

Hopefully, it numbs other things too.

She had too much on her hands now, and really, she didn’t need Tiffany added into the list.

“To form our alliance!”

“Huh?”

With a smirk, Tiffany bit off a chunk of her popsicle. “Date Jessi Alliance, of course.”

It was a foreign term, but it spoke for itself. Loud and clear.

With the floodgates opened, Tiffany tried to bombard her with more details, delighted with her matchmaker role. But Sunny didn’t need more details.

It was a bad idea.

“Tiffany, don’t meddle. It’s their business.” Sunny tugged at Tiffany’s hand, voicing her disapproval.

“But Yoongie needs encouragement!” Tiffany whined, “And Jessi definitely-”

“No, it isn’t definite. You just want Jessica to be happy... Way too much.”

The date was taking the wrong direction. Sunny frowned.

Date?

“And is that wrong? Yoona makes her happy! Happiest, actually. You know that.”

“But we don’t know for sure. Don’t go putting ideas in Yoona’s head.” Sunny’s eyes shifted uncomfortably as a small splash of sweetened ice melted and fell on the back of her hand. “And false hope.”

She could no longer tell who she was directing this mini speech at, anymore.

Tiffany seemed to have caught the drift as silence replaced the clever rebuttals. They moved in sync, step by step, with only the chilly wind to fill the blank spaces. Sunny swallowed the last of the popsicle just when the red-haired girl broke the tension.

“I was just hoping that somebody, anybody, out of all of us would end up together. Happily.”  Her voice was soft, eyes downcast and the subtle weariness lacing her words didn’t escape Sunny’s notice.

And it was obvious to Sunny that Tiffany was hoping for something. Some kind of assurance to keep her from letting go of whatever they had. A quiet panic seeped into Sunny. But she couldn’t respond with anything more than silence, yet again.

Abruptly, Tiffany stopped, eyes glazed over with a sort of hardness that resembled anger.

“Lee Soonkyu! You’re such-” With a voice harsh with raw emotions and a violent swing, she broke off their joined hands. “I don’t even know what I should say! Can’t you just say something?!”

“Tif-”

“Know what? Forget it. It’s cold, I’m going back.”

“Hey, Tiff!”

“Stay away. I don’t want to talk to you anymore, not tonight at least. Goodnight, Sunny.”

Staring at Tiffany’s retreating figure was something familiar yet foreign. A hundred and one times, she had followed and traced Tiffany’s back, allowed it to slowly shift out of view. However, this was a first. The girl had left with some bitter resignation, tightly fused with a heartbreaking anger.

Tiffany, Tiffany, Tiffany.

Sunny’s phone beeped, and she took a glance at the sender before she unlocked it with a frozen thumb.

It was mother and her wall of text. Problems after problems.

While Sunny tried persuading herself that Tiffany was really the least of her worries right now, she couldn’t stop the painful tug that stirred her inside. When did that start? Sunny had no idea, but when she finally noticed, Tiffany had snuck her way up and perched herself right at the top, overlooking all the other problems like they were mere peasants. They bowed down to her. She was Queen.  

Terrifying, Sunny shuffled tiredly as another gust of sharp, cold wind hit her.

Terrifying.

***

“You can go back, really,” Yoona sighed. “Please, Mom, there's just one paper left! I’m perfectly okay at being left alone!”

However, Mrs. Im shook her head in disapproval at those words, walking alongside Yoona without missing a step. Time had flown faster than Yoona could say “oh ” and the next thing she knew, her mother had decided to air-drop herself into their apartment in the name of exam preparation.

Another blink of the eye and exams were almost over.

“Mom, you don’t have to follow me everywhere! I’m not going to meet with any mishap!”

“A flowerpot could drop on you,” Mrs. Im smiled, a tad bit cheekily. “I need to buy some ingredients for tonight’s dinner too. Sooyeon needs it more than you, she looks so pale nowadays.”

That knowing smirk on the older lady’s lips teased Yoona into shrugging and conceding defeat. It was as though her mom knew just what would snuff out the complaints.

Was it that obvious?

Yoona often wondered. The fact that everybody seemed to know and think that her life revolved around Jessica in varying degrees, had it been that obvious all along?

Mummy, I’m a lesbian, I like girls.

For a moment, Yoona let this thought twirl in her mind. Crazy little ripples danced in her heart as her mother spoke of how the two girls were lacking nutrition.

In fact, I might be in love with Jessica unnie.

“Sooyeon’s too thin, you’re thin too but Sooyeon-” Mrs. Im sighed, “-Terrible. I need to fatten her up.”

“She’s busy, hospital and stuff,” Yoona responded absent-mindedly.

Nah, I can't ever tell her that.

Rationality took over, and the prospect of even briefly hinting about it scared Yoona. She didn't need to tell her mom. Surely, everyone kept some secrets of theirs hidden all the time and it was possible to live without coming clean about everything.

“Sooyeon’s all skin and bones! She doesn’t take good care of herself at all,  but she takes such good care of you. Haven’t you grown again?”

Yoona laughed, “No, I haven’t! But wait up, it’s confession time. Who’s the real daughter? I’m in a life-and-death exam and you’re concerned about unnie?”

“My job is to feed you, not study for you,” Mrs. Im mirrored Yoona’s laugh, “Both of you, in fact. Besides, I treat Sooyeon like she’s my own daughter. She’s practically a real sister to you.”

Discomfort seized Yoona, worming it’s way into her feet and rooting her to the spot.

“Yoona?”

The call came, not from her mom, but from Yuri who was just a short distance from them.

Shorts and a tee shirt, hair tied up in a messy bun, it was so very Yuri.

“Your friend?”

Yoona noded stiffly. She had imagined that she’d want to shoot a million daggers at Yuri, rage at her, maybe kick her in the shin before stalking off majestically. But when it came down to this, with Yuri seemingly as uneasy, realisation hit her like a .

Thoughts of childish revenge dissipated and there wasn’t a shred of rage left, just tiredness. And, even more surprisingly, there was this tiny spark of happiness that ignited.

“Hi, um-” Yuri bowed a little awkwardly, seemingly unsure about how to proceed, as Mrs. Im returned her polite gesture with a warm smile. “I’m Kwon Yuri… Mrs. Im?”

“Oh, you’re Yuri! The volleyball player, how are you? You’re a year older, right?”

“Um, yes, I am…” Yuri looked extremely confused, darting her eyes to Yoona who hadn’t spoken a single word so far.

“Yoona used to talk about you all the time when I called her. I can see why she thinks you’re impressive,” Mrs. Im patted Yuri’s arm, laughing lightly. “Which college are you at?”

Yuri gave a sheepish smile, the atmosphere was possibly a little awkward. “Yonsei and still in the volleyball team.”

“Oh! That’s fan-”

“Mom, don’t interrogate my friend,” Yoona shook her mother’s arm as she cut into the conversation. “She’s not some criminal.”

“Of course she isn’t, dear. I was just excited to finally meet the Yuri.” Mrs. Im smiled affectionately, “I shall excuse myself then. What do you want for dinner? Besides unhealthy fried stuff.”

“Mom, I’m healthier than you. You ate all the chips and unnie hides them all the time! Both of you are depriving me of snacks!”

Yoona chuckled as she pushed her mother off in the direction of the grocer. Turning back, she found Yuri still rooted to the ground, and the small smile she had on previously had faded.

“Hi, Yoona,” Yuri’s eyes were travelling from Yoona to Mrs. Im’s disappearing figure, lingering for a while, before shifting back to Yoona.

Her expression was somewhat sour and distant.

But what right had Yuri to be upset? She was the betrayer, Yoona fumed slightly at this thought.

“Yeah, hi, criminal.”

“Can we talk?”

Yoona gaze steadied on Yuri, engaging her in a one-sided contest. Seconds later, Yuri was the first to break contact. It was a pointless victory. It had zero impact but held sufficient significance to Yoona and only to her.

“I’m out of pens for the exam, gotta buy a few new ones,” Yoona said and walked off, but did not reject Yuri's presence.

Seconds into Yuri’s stuttering interactions with her mother, she had decided that it was dumb to kick Yuri out of her life. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, it’s been said. Yuri hovered between the two categories, neither completely a friend nor exactly a foe.

It was funny, how this girl, still objectively attractive, was once her crush.

“So.. you wanted to talk about something?”

Yoona’s fingers skimmed the pens on display half-heartedly. The older girl had been hesitant on their way here, keeping shut despite asking for a talk.

“You know…”

“I don’t know.”

Yoona’s gaze was almost