Jiyeon wanted to hit herself for losing that momentary control over her emotions, but it was enough to have caught Hyomin stunned. That slight reaction had sent immediate warning bells in Jiyeon’s head, trying to wrap around the thoughts of what else Hyomin and Eunjung have kept from her. She heard most of it already, but was there possibly more?

She already heard most of it.

But there was one thing they hadn’t spoken of.

It was something she had not forgotten at all.

The cabin in the woods.

It’s already horrifying to know this is a horror, thriller movie made. It was even more terrifying for her to know if there was truly something that they dared not speak of.

Was there something that truly happened when Eunjung had went to chase Hyomin in the woods, to where they said their cabin was?

That, she didn’t have answers yet.

They both turned silent, the pregnant pause very much unnerving other than awkward.

It wasn’t the right time to ask about that nor did she want her and Hyomin to have a rift. It’s already stressful enough that she’s friends with her wife’s friends and they even share the same best friend. There was practically no one she could turn to that Eunjung couldn’t run to too.

Uncomfortable, that’s what it was. And seeing how distraught Hyomin currently is, or has been, Jiyeon was sensible enough not to cause her any more stress no matter how much it was bothering her. She wasn’t Hyomin’s best friend for nothing. It wasn’t time for a confrontation, not right now, and it wasn’t the right place she could have her answers.

“Uhm, how did your meeting with your lawyers go?” Jiyeon wonders, moving away little by little.

She wanted to talk to her wife but the longer she thought about it, the more she didn’t want to anymore.

They were keeping things from each other. Hiding behind each other’s backs. They were barely even making things work and there was probably more they haven’t told each other. Just how ridiculous this marriage seemed to be.

The thought of it all had made Jiyeon angry, more to herself than everyone else. She was slowly losing sight of the point of why they were even staying in this arrangement.

Why in the world do they have to wait so long to know they were headed nowhere at this point on?

“It was alright…I guess.” Hyomin seemed to be sinking in her seat again, fiddling with her fingers.

Jiyeon nods, trying to get comfortable beside her best friend ignoring the fact that they even had the earlier conversation.

“I sold the studio,” Hyomin manages to say with a falter in her voice. “I just thought maybe I could put my stuff in the apartment, if it’s okay? I’ve already called my staff to get my other equipment shipped.”

“You’re shipping it out to where?” Jiyeon asks in disbelief, completely forgetting their earlier conversation. Her mind went into a whirl in an instant.

Where in the world was her best friend even going?

“Milan.”

Then it finally dawns on her. “You’re leaving.”

“For good,” Hyomin says, her smile barely reaching her eyes. “I decided that I don’t want to put Sunny in this constant stress. I’ve already done enough damage as it is. We don’t need to get this to court.”

“But I thought you’re not going to let her go?”

“I’m gonna give her what she wants,” her best friend says in silent tears, looking down to the floor. “I want her to move on from me. I want her to be happy and I don’t think she ever will be if she were with me. She will never forgive me for what I have done.”

“When are you leaving? Are you really not coming back?” Jiyeon asks out, still disbelieving and even more saddened. She takes Hyomin’s trembling hand in hers, unsure what to do. From her and Eunjung and now, Hyomin. God, what is happening to them all? They’re all in deep , Jiyeon thought angrily.

“I’ll be leaving the day after and…I don’t think I plan on coming back for a while. That’s why I went to meet with our lawyers. We’ve reached an agreement. The money I got for the studio, I’ll be sending to Sunny that should cover up for the amount she’s asking,” Hyomin says with a quiver in her voice. “I think they’d be letting her know about it right now that I agreed to her terms. There’s no more need for us to be in the same room and breathe the same air. I don’t want to torture her more now do I?”

“But…you don’t have to leave,” Jiyeon argues, incredulous. “You can stay here with us.”

“There’s nothing left for me here, Ji. My career isn’t here, we all know that. And you guys are married, how can I intrude? I already find myself an inconvenience, a nuisance, here. It’s…it’s not the same anymore.”

“But—”

“I’ll visit you guys and you guys can come visit me. We’re best friends, distance will never change that,” Hyomin says with a smile. If she was trying to make it look reassuring, it didn’t exactly work. “I just thought you should know first before I tell Eunjung about it. She’s probably going to be angry.”

“But…why sell the studio, Minnie? It’s your hard work in your early years. That’s important to you. I mean, even if you don’t use it as often because of your overseas work, you wouldn’t let it go—”

“Everything is meaningless without her,” Hyomin says with finality and a smile that could no longer light up the room any more than it ever did.

Jiyeon understood. Hyomin had made her decision, but it was just a little bit too hard to accept.

When Hyomin’s phone rings, Jiyeon had figured their conversation was coming to an end. It all turned silent as the picture of Sunny smiling brightly had made Hyomin crumble in tears.

She made it ring with the image of Sunny’s bright smile flashing… It was going to be the only thing left for her, the pictures. Even if they were going to talk, Hyomin knew where it was going to go to a point of no return. So, she didn’t pick up.

Jiyeon watches as Hyomin shakily taps the call to an end, giving her the phone. “Will you please…do me a favor?”

Jiyeon nods, feeling her chest tighten at Hyomin’s act of slowly detaching herself from whatever emotion she was feeling. The distant look in her eyes was heartbreaking to see and underneath it all, Jiyeon can feel how much Hyomin was feeling by trying not to cry any more than she already was.

Hyomin’s eyes stares at the phone, gripping it tightly in her shaking hand, slowly handing it over to her best friend.

“No, Minnie…”

“Please, I have to. I won’t be able to do it. She recently changed her number so I—the point is, I might not help myself, Jiyeon. Please just do it for me…please,” Hyomin says, her voice faltering as each second passes as her best friend slowly takes the phone away from her.

“Okay, I will.”

Hyomin looks away in tears as Jiyeon freezes at the sudden ringing of the phone, not surprised to see Sunny’s picture flashing on the screen once again. Jiyeon glances at her best friend who now turns her back away, silently and vehemently crying ring after ring.

She couldn’t see her best friend like this.

Not anymore.

Without a second thought, Jiyeon rejects the call before scrolling through the numbers despite the heaviness she could not fathom, tapping Sunny’s contact.

Block.

Messages. Delete.

Call History. Delete.

Contact…

Delete.

But as soon as that was over, Jiyeon wasn’t sure if she’d done the right thing.

“There’s so much I have to take care of,” Hyomin hurriedly says, avoiding Jiyeon’s eyes the moment her best friend hands her the phone back. “Can I borrow the keys to your apartment? Vic and the rest will be coming over to hand me my personal possessions, I’ll come back to return it before I head to the bank to take care of some stuff.”

Jiyeon stands gingerly, fishing for the keys in her pocket and giving them to her best friend. “You sure you don’t want to talk about it?”

“No, I…let’s talk about it when you two get back to your place. I’d have to break the news when Eunjung comes back,” Hyomin shrugs, still having her back to her best friend.

-

“What’s going on?” Krystal whispers towards Wooyoung who also looked as clueless as everyone else as Eunjung walks past the kitchen staff, almost bumping into the latter holding large mixing bowls he just washed.

Eunjung had gone through the double doors connecting the shop and the kitchen with a bang, causing such a ruckus reverberating throughout the shop as Luna and Dara jumped in fright, Hara who was trying to wipe the glass displays almost bumped her head. The new guy Key, who was on the lookout at the men working outside for the shop’s exteriors and last minute touch-ups even got Eunjung’s attention.

They watched quietly as Eunjung rushed to get to the new and improved office and back out in a matter of seconds to see nobody around.

Everyone knew not to mess with her with the aura she gave off. Her anger just seemed to wrap around the whole shop in a matter of seconds as she huffed in frustration, running a hand through her hair, not even minding how it had gotten longer.

“Are you looking for Jiyeon?” Hara dares to ask out loud. “She and Amber went out to meet with the PR Company to see if everything’s going as planned and to talk about the new website for the shop that’s been up and running since yesterday.”

“What time did she come back from lunch?” Eunjung asks monotonously, looking at Hara.

Intimidated, Hara timidly says, “I think she came back at two. Then she and Amber went out at two forty for the meeting at three.”

“Did you see anyone who came to drop her off?”

Everyone from the service crew glanced at each other in wonder.

“No,” it was Luna this time, quick to tell the truth, as if knowing it would somehow help Jiyeon in a way. “She was alone. She took a cab.”

“Eunjung?”

Everyone looks towards the double doors, somehow afraid of how anyone was even brave to cut Eunjung off of her interrogation. “What is it Suzy?”

“I need to talk to you,” Suzy softly says with a grimace after gaining Eunjung’s full attention who merely looks at her with a blank stare. “It’s important.”

“What is it about?” Eunjung’s stance soften at the timid gaze Suzy held. Suzy looks away with a different look this time, something Eunjung could only point out as a mix of nerves and sadness.

This takes her off guard for a second, forgetting her initial intention of getting to the bottom of things with Jiyeon. But Eunjung felt her instincts rise up, ready to take a stand to come to Suzy’s aid and be her friend…or something like that. She couldn’t really think but the look Suzy gave her was enough for her to block anything else for now, and so she gestures for the office where Suzy turns and makes her way to for them to talk in private.

Before she could make it inside, the service staff’s depressing reaction to Suzy’s exit made her question what exactly it was they were going to talk about. Luna looked like she was about to cry as she turns away to get back to work. It was only then did she realize that something was wrong.

Other than everything else going wrong in her life, Eunjung wasn’t sure if she could handle this.

-

Hyomin purposely ignored everything that had to do with Sunny.

The moment she stepped out of Piece-Of-Cake’s office, Hyomin had immediately wore her expensive sunglasses just to hide away from the sun because it reminded her of Sunny. Sunny was as bright as the sun…she was and she hoped Sunny would always stay happy now that she’d be gone.

Then she had ran home to Eunjung and Jiyeon’s apartment when she saw a little girl walking with her mom carrying a cage with a rabbit in it because Sunny used to wear this seductive bunny costume last Halloween complete with the bunny ears just for her to see.

She had went to take the stairs because she remembered the time when she and Sunny were still dating, and they would make out countless times in elevators the moment the doors closed.

It was too much for her to bear when all she could think of was Sunny.

Everything Sunny was totally out of the question, she said. That was why Victoria was besides her, organizing a lot of her stu