Things had allowed to be led to this moment, where she couldn’t express how she felt in words. How she felt couldn’t even be deciphered. She was lost among the maze-like woods of her thoughts as she sat on the bed, contemplating over what had went on the night before and what transpired today.

The wind had suddenly embraced her, the door banging open as it came in unperturbed but her gaze remained on the floor, staring intently at the cracks between the wooden floorboards with mock interest. She had almost forgotten that the door was still left open if it weren’t for the chills her body felt while she had thought how no one ever wondered why there were cracks on a seemingly perfect wooden floor.

Everyone would have just stepped on them—unseeing, uncaring—but when they creek, make noise, and soon break under the weight, they become blatantly obvious.

Was that how she had let things be so unseen all this time? Didn’t she notice the creases on her perfectly pressed shirts before? Didn’t she notice the tiny strands of hair she hadn’t combed down? Didn’t she notice those cracks on the floorboards? Didn’t she see anything at all?

That slight crease on a dress shirt could have made an even larger fold. Those stubborn strands could have turned into a tangle. Those cracks would soon turn into a hole.

What had happened in the cabin, she could have never predicted. She came here with the best intentions to be shocked by how things led to now, with her all alone to fend for herself. Unseeing, uncaring she was, she realized. She hadn’t seen anything like this coming.

The aggressive rustling of the branches startled her a bit, the door swinging back and forth with a creak yet her thoughts remained lost.

She was sure in her mind though, that even if she didn’t know how to feel to the happenings that led to this, or how things had led to this; she will bury everything as it was. It was for the better that she couldn’t find the voice to speak, because whatever happened didn’t really need to be thought of anymore. It didn’t need to be mentioned or remembered.

When Hyomin had waked to walk around as quietly as she could around the cabin, she had her eyes remained closed. Ruffling, footsteps, a soft creak, zip, relaxing hum, more ruffling, footsteps, another zip. She then heard scribbling and soon she felt as subtle caress on her cheek and soon a kiss on her forehead. And when she heard the door slowly opening, Hyomin stopped on her tracks.

“You can’t wake someone pretending to be asleep,” Hyomin’s voice had been softer, as if she had been mumbling to herself when Eunjung heard it. She feared Hyomin had caught her pretense, until she said, “And you shouldn’t keep your eyes closed for too long, you might see someone or something else instead of what or who you actually want. I’m not even talking about me.”

Footsteps, a door creaking but never really closed, more footsteps. Then she was gone.

Her eyes opened, and she sees the letter.

I’m sorry. I had to go, I need to. 

                                          Minnie.

It didn’t matter. She smiles to herself.

All that mattered for now, was she needed to get herself together as she tucks away the last remnants of memory to whatever happened last night, locking it in a chest as it should be as a precious memory of what she was willing to do for a friend and of what she had to do as a friend. She would bury it with pride, soon it will be gone and tomorrow morning, she’d come home to Jiyeon, and for now, she buries herself in the sheets and into oblivion. 

Because what mattered most was that she had realized that she hadn’t seen everything as it should have been seen. Maybe from now on, she would be willing to wake up to her own reality.

-

Amber looks down with agape towards a large blob of what used to be cake and icing now on the kitchen floor.

Gasps resonated around the small kitchen and hurried footsteps approached the perpetrator.

“,” Amber curses, looking up to see Taecyeon’s panicked eyes before the hurried footsteps halted.

Krystal.

Her footsteps were heavy, and her fiery eyes suddenly zoom into the clueless looking man, ready to murder him. Just the look in her eyes told everyone she was ready to drown him in the toilet and chop his body parts. 

“You,” Krystal hisses with much venom in her voice, facing up to the buff man who remained surprised. “What the are you doing?! That cake’s going to be picked up in four hours! Four hours, Taecyeon!”

“I-I’m sorry! I didn—” Taecyeon quickly tries to defend himself, backing away from the furious woman before him.

Amber quickly sidesteps Krystal in an attempt to stop the girl from reacting rather violently, even if she herself wanted to side with her. But as Jiyeon’s assistant, she had to do what she had to do even if it meant getting in between them.

“Taec,” she calls out but before Taecyeon could even explain further Krystal steps in, pushing Amber away.

“I worked my ing off for that cake!”

“I’m sorry! It was a mistake. I was being clumsy, I’m sorry,” was his frantic defense.

“Look, Krys, you can use the cake that’s coming out in fifteen minutes. It’s about the same size, larger in fact and it’s also chocolate. I’ll make myself another one quick, the cake I’m making isn’t going to be picked up until tonight,” Suzy speaks up from the side, warily watching her fighting coworkers at her station.

“I’ll help you, Suz,” Wooyoung calls out, immediately taking spatulas, mixing bowls and an electronic weighing scale from the other table as Suzy immediately jumps towards the storage to get the ingredients she needs.

Areum seeing Krystal still confronting Taecyeon and Wooyoung and Suzy stepping in to help Krystal’s cake, says, “C’mon Krys, it’s no big deal. I’ll help you with decorations.”

The frown on Krystal’s face turned even worse, as she steps forward pushing Amber’s attempts to stop the confrontation. It was already an inconvenience and a hold back for everyone just because of Taecyeon’s mistake. Without Eunjung there, they were trying to make it through the day and be able to prepare as much pastries for tomorrow’s service and be able to finish the cake and pastry orders on time but the guy just had to destroy the workflow. It’s much worse that she had tried so hard to make that cake as realistic as she could, trying to correctly form Ironman—it even looked like a freaking Ironman mask—only to have it gone to waste.

She closed in on the man who dared destroy her creation—it was her creation!—and it was going to be for a boy who happens to be a cancer patient. His parents wanted him to have an ironman themed cake, his favorite superhero. It was that special and Taecyeon just had to destroy it just when she was about to finish. She would not even believe it was just a clumsy mistake, not when she could smell something off about him as he kept backing away.

“I really didn’t mean to! I didn’t see…”

“Are you ing drunk?!” Krystal exclaims in disgust, pushing herself even further to get more of the foul smell coming from her coworker as he spoke. It must have been a good thing for the guy when Krystal backs away after pushing him by the shoulder. “You’re drunk!”

“I’m not!”

Hearing the accusation, Amber yanks Krystal away, only to corner the man and got a whiff of the strong smell of alcohol and cigarettes. “Teac, what the hell dude? Why’d you come in smelling like a hobo?”

“Oh please, he’s been drunk four times this month! I will not let him prance around here like a ing God and destroying everything because he can’t even walk straight!” Krystal screams. “You better thank heavens Eunjung covers for your every time!”

“What’s going on here?”

And as if to make matters worse, the kitchen staff all turned towards the door to see an even scarier looking woman. Jiyeon looked lost after hearing the commotion from behind the double doors that separated the counters and the kitchen. The heated argument was alarming enough.

It wasn’t difficult to pinpoint who were arguing; though she had thought it was Amber and Krystal in a possible love spat until she sees Taecyeon cowering away, with Amber holding onto Krystal’s arm, Suzy and Wooyoung huddled up in one station with several large amounts of ingredients for prep that wasn’t supposed to be likely to be making at this hour and Areum halfway away from her own station and from the group of three near Krystal’s station.

What had went on, Jiyeon had no clue.

“Taecyeon, did you just come in?” Jiyeon questions sternly, observing the guy who had his chef’s jacket still ed.

Areum, Suzy and Wooyoung looked at each other in dread as Taecyeon bowed his head in guilt. The whole staff looked on in worry, with Krystal still raging over the drunken man and Amber looking displeased and disappointed at her friend. There hadn’t been many incidents like this in the kitchen, especially when the team had been accustomed to working together for years now. It’s less likely of kitchen mishaps ever happening. And so far, this had to be one of the worst.

The tension had rose to an overwhelming height when Jiyeon steps further inside the kitchen, only to be horrified at the sight of a large cake on the floor.

Jiyeon had been helping out up front, with Hara the only one manning the counter, seeing as Amber wasn’t there. The line was ridiculously long due to an event happening downtown again, a community having their festival and many people wanted to have as much cakes and pastries in the celebration. Until the line minimized did she and Hara get time for a breather before another wave of customers came in, it was finally the opportunity for her to look for her subordinate who had been missing longer than just a regular break.

It was a busy day and the least she expected was for her to witness the kitchen in chaos. Eunjung had only been officially gone and missing for two days and the kitchen already had staff fighting. Only missing for a day, and suddenly everything’s not working out the way it’s supposed to be.

It didn’t help her mood that Eunjung never texted her nor called the night before and yesterday as she promised. Qri and Hwayoung dropped her off at their apartment after she and their group of friends had spoken. So, she spent the night waiting for a call or text that never came.

She was worried. But even that was an understatement. She couldn’t even get a wink of sleep!

Her thoughts had been plagued of whatever could have happened to her wife, if her wife were bitten by wolves, attacked by a bear or if she even got to Hyomin on time. She worried about the silliest things, of whether Eunjung’s car broke down in the middle of the road, with a dead mobile phone and trying to hitchhike and getting a ride from a or a freaking serial killer.

Just thinking about it had left her in anxiety.

How the hell would she even have the greatest mood today when she’s sleep deprived, irritable, nursing a headache, with a wife that probably didn’t give a to think about her getting worried, the kitchen chasing after their schedule, two kitchen staff arguing, and a destroyed cake.

It was moments like this where she wished Eunjung was there. She couldn’t control everything and Eunjung had that. What she couldn’t control herself, Eunjung could.

Even when they were children, Eunjung would be her saving grace.

When they were little, Eunjung made her feel better when she cried about the toy she lost. When she and Minnie would have a squabble, Eunjung would come in between, taking her side and always entertained her.

Even when they were in primary school, Eunjung would give her answers on those exams she didn’t know anything about, and she would return the favor later on. Or when someone teases her for being a crybaby, she would hide behind Eunjung because the bullies liked Eunjung and didn’t want to mess with her. Or when she scraped her knee and was afraid of the nurse, she’d ask Eunjung to put a band aid on it instead to stop it from bleeding.

Eunjung even made up lies when she went out with her boyfriend back in high school, telling her parents they were doing projects when in reality her boyfriend only wanted to make out with her by the bleachers. Eunjung would even give her own lunch when her stomach demanded for the lunch Eunjung’s mother made instead of the cafeteria food.

College was such a no brainer. She had Eunjung to defend her, to take care of her when she was sick, or when she needed to be accompanied to study at the library or even when she ran out of tampons. Eunjung could listen to her rants about near-failing marks and encouraged her to study even harder than she already was, even when she herself needed to make her own thesis.

Now, she still needs Eunjung. And today just happened to be full of happenings she couldn’t control and Eunjung wasn’t even there.

I need Eunjung, Jiyeon thinks in irritation and desperation at the staff before her. For now, she had to try at least.

“Amber, Krystal, Taecyeon, in my office,” Jiyeon sternly says. “Now.”

-

“I’m glad you’re back but I wouldn’t go in there for a while boss,” Amber warns the newcomer from entering the office, blocking the door just as she existed to see Eunjung about to get in.

“What’s up?” Eunjung quickly asks, getting the drift, warily glancing at the closed door to the office. “Is she alright?”

“Uhm, no, it’s not Jiyeon. It’s Taecyeon. He messed up big time,” Amber mumbles.

Hearing her kitchen staff in trouble, Eunjung panicky asks, “Why? What went on while I was gone?”

“He came in two hours late, drunk and he still had his flask in his pocket,” Amber admits.

“God damn it, Taec,” Eunjung mumbles, massaging her head.

“That’s not all,” Amber hurriedly says. “He got Krystal furious because he knocked off the cake she made when he came in. You know this isn’t the first time he came in late and with a hangover.”

Eunjung sighs with a small nod. “Did you tell Jiyeon that?”

“I didn’t…yet. But I wanted to. I think that she already knows, though,” Amber says, looking down to her feet. “He’s gonna have a baby boy. He told me he was celebrating last night. I couldn’t say it just thinking about his unborn baby, what if he gets fired?”

“He always says he’s celebrating,” Eunjung grumbles. “Is Jiyeon going to…?”

“I think so,” Amber whispers, looking towards the door and back at the counters before excusing herself, “I gotta get back to work and help Hara.”

Just thinking about one of her team getting fired bothered her, as she contemplated whether or not to interrupt Jiyeon from letting her staff