Hyomin had always wanted a nice married life and a happy family; wherein she and her wife could go on dates, enjoy each other, then maybe fight like cats and dogs and make up in the cheesiest way ever, buzz around the kitchen early in the morning and screaming for the kids to get ready, reading the kids their bedtime stories and tucking them in to sleep, taking the dogs out for a walk while her wife gardens and welcomes her back with a smile.

Maybe the idea of a warm family enticed her so much that she dreamed of having one.

But with the recent events; her and Sunny’s separation, Hyomin had seen the world she imagined and wished for disappear into a black hole in an instant. She was lost under the devastation of having her wife leave her that she almost saw no point in living.

But she’s got a job, she’s in demand, and she’s got friends; that most nights she preferred to just forget about her misery with the use of alcohol or simply just cry herself into oblivion. Either way, it made her heart feel just a tad bit better, no matter if it didn’t really make that much of a difference anyway.

When she had watched Jiyeon hover over Eunjung in the bathroom this morning, giggling amongst themselves about Eunjung looking like a dog, she couldn’t even turn away as she took notice of the way they held each other and even when they kissed each other goodbye.

Hyomin was struck with the idea of loneliness and how she could never have something like that now.

Watching her best friends in their own world, like usual, was never really much of an issue for her because either way, whether she and Jiyeon or she and Eunjung would be placed in the room together, they’d probably laugh about something too.

But now it was different. Watching her best friends smile at each other or simply seeing the looks they give to the other without the other’s knowledge, made Hyomin feel like hugging and bawling herself at the corner feeling so alone and with no one to smile at and look at the way her best friends had looked at each other.

She wasn’t blind to see the changes. But maybe these two have been, they probably couldn’t tell. Unlike her, she might have been the one who wasn’t so dense in the areas of the L word, and she can tell that these two need to get their acts together.

Maybe there were issues that really needed a fix, but all she could do was hint it through to the both of them. She wasn’t in their shoes to know exactly what their problems were, the best she could do was listen. And so far, only Eunjung had been speaking up. What she feared most was what Jiyeon could do.

For the past days, Jiyeon hadn’t opened up about anything with her. She had been reserved and cautious, keeping her thoughts to herself and that’s what she feared. It was as if Jiyeon just floated through everything, mysterious and untroubled. It was concerning.

She felt some tension between her and her best friend for the first time in her life. Hyomin wasn’t that unreceptive to things like this, no she was practically the most sensitive. For years she knows how both her best friends worked, how they thought, basically how they function as human beings in the society.

Hyomin was sure it had something to do with her presence, being there. And she isn’t oblivious to the fact that Eunjung was practically driving her nuts by treating her like a child who can’t pick herself up after falling. She was grateful for it, and even if she does find it a bit alarming how Jiyeon throws glares her way when Eunjung’s near she never means to cause a rift between them. But it’s okay, she chided herself. Everything’s going to end soon, and she will have her way to fix anything between them the subtlest way she can.

Right now, the fixing had to do something about Eunjung.

Eunjung was the opposite of Jiyeon. If Jiyeon was a pot slowly simmering with her troubling thoughts quietly at the side, then Eunjung was the noisy kettle that boiled, shake and whistles with hers. What troubles her thoughts reflects in her actions and sometimes, it can get pretty ugly. Eunjung needed some time and cajoling to work it through everything with every step, extremely conscious, feeling worthless…whatever could she help her with when Eunjung’s biggest enemy was herself? It wasn’t Lizzy, maybe Jiyeon could help. But ultimately, the only thing that could help Eunjung was herself.

If the couple is truly going through something, it would have been hard to tell for most people but her being the best friend made her know the truth. Which married couple doesn’t?

Besides, who was she anyway, when she’s probably the best one at breaking people’s hearts amongst the three of them?

If she could only turn back time she would redo the mistakes she did. A ride on a time machine would just be about right.

Maybe that’s why she loved drinking at times like this because sometimes, being drunk just helps her imagine riding through time and undoing everything that made her life a tangled mess right now.

But that wouldn’t really help.

“You know it won’t,” Eunjung had said, over the glass of whiskey she had in her hands. “Even if you turn back time to when you could stop yourself from drinking too much and sleeping with someone else, it wouldn’t change the fact that you had drunk too much because Sunny was driving you insane, admit it.”

Hyomin had pondered her best friend’s words, sipping on her drink as she crosses her legs on the chair she sat quietly in her best friends’ small dining area.

They had both went through the extremely hectic day at the shop, stressing over the details, and making sure everything was where they belonged and that everything was working the way they were supposed to. After all, it was the least she could do for her best friends who had given her a temporary solace in their home.

Now that the day had passed and the night had taken its place, as soon as dinner was over, it was as if Eunjung had read her thoughts and had popped out the bottle of expensive whiskey out of the cupboard.

Both of them weren’t drunk but hit enough by the alcohol to easily let their thoughts come out of their mouths without the drunken slurs. It was just enough alcohol to put courage in the both of them to speak out whatever they needed to talk about. They both needed the listening ear. And they thought they would need extra as they prepared the empty glass beside Eunjung for when Jiyeon comes home from her trip from their home town.

“Sunny was driving me insane,” she admits softly, as if she was committing another crime, cautious and scared of what she was saying.

But then that was the truth. It couldn’t have been even barer than that.

Eunjung nods. “I guess sometimes, being so passionately in love like that brings the worst out of two people.”

“We were really driving each other insane,” Hyomin says in agreement.

“Minnie, let’s not forget to mention she couldn’t trust you and she has her own issues.”

Hyomin sighs, taking a small sip of her drink, trying to wrap her head around that thought.

“I’m not saying what you did was right,” Eunjung quickly saying the obvious. “But even so, I doubt everything would get better if she couldn’t learn to trust anyone but herself. Always excessively jealous and unreasonable, you said so yourself.”

“She just has a problem with her parents, okay,” she defends in her frustration. “Just imagine if you had seen one of your parents cheating with someone else as a child and then grow up to think that she would steal her friend’s girlfriend.”

“Wouldn’t that be something that would plague you your whole lives then if she didn’t even get to the root of her problems?” Eunjung points out. “If she still thinks she stole you from Tiffany, when technically you broke up with Tiffany before you committed to her; that points out her insecurities. There wasn't much you could have done about it. But still, what you did was inexcusable.”

“I know,” Hyomin says as she takes another sip, then wiping away the tear that was about to escape her hold. “I don’t even know why I did it. Saying I was drunk won’t even get me Sunny back.”

“Yeah, you screwed up big time,” Eunjung sighs.

“I just wish we could actually talk it out, you know?” Hyomin says, placing down her drink. “She didn’t give me much time to explain. I barely explained at all. Most my calls went to voicemail.”

“Just keep trying,” Eunjung encourages.

“I don’t know,” Hyomin says, resigned, massaging her head as if it would make her feel any better, “I just want everything to end.”

“Are you serious?”

“I am. I don’t think I can do this anymore. I hurt her so much, I don’t think I can keep doing this and continue to hurt her by being here,” Hyomin says. “And believe it or not, I’m just so jealous of you guys right now.”

“What for?” Eunjung asks, incredulous.

“You guys have everything I could only wish for,” Hyomin bitterly says. “You’re married, always together, booming business, somewhat settled, maybe happy…”

“That’s a lot to say, and you know it,” Eunjung mumbles pouring more alcohol to her glass with a frown. “I don’t even know if we’re genuinely happy at all.”

“Then spend some time with her, Eunjung,” Hyomin strongly suggests. “All you’ve been doing is accommodate me. You guys have been tired and cranky, you forget to even notice each other. How could you even say you’re happy when you two are about to fall over your own two feet?”

“I know but it’s not just that,” Eunjung vehemently.

“Then what is? It’s about Suzy isn’t it,” Hyomin had wondered.

She wanted to get to the bottom of things. If Eunjung couldn’t admit it to anyone, she wondered and fret what Eunjung felt about Suzy—if she felt anything at all, for which Hyomin is positive about—would only grow. That would have been something catastrophic and the fact that Jiyeon would be the most affected would just kill her with guilt because she didn’t do anything to help Eunjung about it.

If any one of them chose to hurt the other in this condition, Hyomin knew the implications would ultimately lead up to such devastation and collapse of friendship. There was no way they’d probably fix it and if they did, it would forever be incomparable to how it used to be.

The fact that Eunjung couldn’t even answer her right now had only doubled her fear. She wanted to know so much that if only she could s