Episode 22

“Ah… so we have to reach each other’s letters later?”

Curse missions like these.

Yoona groaned and covered her face in embarrassment; she couldn’t read letters even if they weren’t for Yuri. It’s an odd sensation Yoona feels in her chest when she sees people reading letters or things that represent warmth. She might not be one of the most tender-hearted among the members but her heart is definitely soft. It only applies to the people who matter though. Although she doesn't seem to cry much, the one person who has witnessed her tears the most is none other than Yuri herself. 

When her phone began to vibrate, Yoona instantly knew who it was and picked up the call in a split second. She needed to complain about this and fast.

“Unnie…”

“Hey, Yoong! I’m calling on behalf of everyone since they’re all too lazy to get their phones and their butts off the sofa.”

“I understand, Fany-unnie,” Yoona giggled. She never realised how much she missed her members till this very moment. The gap that they fill whenever Yoona overthinks is the bulk of why they'll forever be important to her. “Unnie…. Do you know what the next mission is?”

Yoona felt oddly suspicious when she heard Tiffany trying to hush the other members when they were clearly giggling amongst themselves. She knows that it’s one of the tell-tale signs that there is an extremely high chance the members had a part to play in this; not that it's any surprise at all. It's not just one of them actually, most of them enjoy writing letters to make each other cry.  Call any of them crazy but that's how they bond sometimes; tears are just difficult to reveal themselves. 

Tiffany cleared , “what is the mission, Yoongie?”

“Writing letters.”

Her voice had gone cold and monotonous, and Tiffany felt chills run down her spine. She could feel Yoona's slight annoyance already and she would have given in to her own bundle of nerves if it weren't for Jessica forcing her to continue talking without faltering. Tiffany gulped audibly when she heard Yoona groan into the phone; the doe-eyed woman definitely caught on already. They were messing with the wrong people – to be exact, the real kings of pranks were the victims this time. 

It would be more of a surprise if Yoona didn't catch on quickly.

“Well, you could always request for her to read it silently instead?”

“Aish, Unnie.”

The conversation between them continued with the members giving Yoona advice on what would make Yuri at least tear up, considering that the latter always hides her tears from them. Even when they win grand awards from the nation, there's always loads of tears but Yuri tries to stop herself from crying before anyone notices. This mission would probably become Yoona's tearfest instead of a mutual one, and Yuri's defensive shell still wouldn't show any signs of a crack. 

Yoona shouldn't be too worried though, if only she could see what in the world Yuri's doing right now. 

“WHAT IF I END UP CRYING LIKE A BABY?! MY IMAGE WILL BE COMPLETELY DESTROYED!”

“……”

“Yah, Choi Sooyoung,” Yuri would have screamed her head off for fear the other person was dead. If it weren’t for the sounds of chewing and crunching on food signalling human life on the other end. “Are you even listening to me?” 

Sooyoung rolled her eyes, smiling heartily at the mental picture of Yuri trying to hide her tears. She, of all people, would know what it's like when the black pearl is trying to put on a strong front. Although they were never really roommates, Yuri's time with her ever since they entered the company and even studied together is by far the longest along with Hyoyeon. It also explains why the three of them are always together; they know Yuri has a problem letting out her tears because she feels burdensome when that happens.

Among nine members, more than half of them have a tendency to cry easily and Yuri doesn't want to fall into that category when she can spend more time cheering them up instead.

“Why is it a problem crying in front of your wife?” Sooyoung finally asked, her ears perking up just a bit more to hear Yuri’s soft ramblings to herself. “I mean, Yoona is going to be your wife anyway.”

Well... that's true.

Yuri wonders what Yoona's first reaction would be if she sees her crying. She's always the one who takes the initiative to take care of Yoona when the doe-eyed woman cries; the members do too but when Yuri spots it first, it's different. Other than the little moments of Yoona trying to hold her hand and all, it's not exactly considered as comfort. It's more likely to be because all of Yuri's vulnerable moments had coincidentally occured after their (un)successful attempt at silently removing each other in their lives.

“Sooyoung-ah,” Yuri mumbled as her fingers began moving across the table to grab a pen. She already knows what her plan is and what else there is to do. “Have I told you how much I love you lately?”

Beep… Beep…

“You rude woman!”

*~^~* *~^~*

“Ah… no wonder Sooyoung kept running to the kitchen and back to her bedroom. She was talking to Yuri all along.”

The panel just laughed at Sunny’s words, finding it pretty easy to imagine Sooyoung doing just that. Her reputation of being the biggest shikshin ever has travelled far and wide.

“You didn’t know?”

Sunny chuckled to herself and shook her head; her members only got cuter in her eyes, never annoying like it happens in other groups. Of course there are times when they argue and have disagreements but underneath all that, the girls have barely changed at all. Besides blossoming into women and some mindset changes which is completely natural, they haven't had any major changes at all. She can barely find anything to complain about now as compared to the past where they were all immature and could barely begin to understand each other. 

“I’m sure those two have come up with something. They’re always together doing all sorts of nonsense anyway.”

*~^~* *~^~*

Yuri’s smile widened when she read through her cutely-decorated letter once more; Yoona is definitely going to fall in love with her even more after tomorrow’s events. She hasn’t always been good with words but thanks to this program, Yuri’s gotten a lot better at talking to others more tactfully. Yoona’s genuine personality is almost ninety percent similar to her persona on stage; the only difference being Yoona more shy than y. It does make things better for Yuri though; she doesn’t feel as embarrassed as she would if Yoona was radiating y.

Okay, but where is Yoona?

It’s been almost half an hour since the allocated time slot and Yoona still isn’t here. Even if she’s late because of an unexpected event, Yoona would usually text or call her to let her know at least.

“Did you hear anything from Yoona?”

“Nope, but it’s okay,” Yuri grinned and rested her arms atop the table, “I’ll wait for her. I’m not hungry anyway.”

“I’ll wait for her. I’m not hungry anyway.”

Yoona could already feel her heart melt into a puddle of goo at those words. She had arrived here way before their allocated reservation but went along with the members’ suggestion to give Yuri a little surprise. She felt a little guilty but there was no denying that she wanted to see Yuri’s actions too. So if her members are deemed guilty, so is Yoona for being so curious. Yuri's known as a gentle-woman among almost everyone they know, so it's only natural for Yoona to wonder, isn't it?

The fact that Yuri could very well go ahead and eat without waiting, yet she didn’t – it’s the exact reason why Yoona feels more touched than a normal person would.  

“You’ve married the right person, huh?”

“Definitely,” Yoona murmured with teary eyes. She couldn’t deny the speed her heart was racing at right now, especially when Yuri’s proving herself to be amazing.

Carefully touching up her make-up to make it seem as if she just arrived, Yoona made her way to the table where Yuri sat. She couldn’t bear to make her wife wait any longer, not when Yuri’s tummy was probably grumbling madly. She ran her fingers through her hair and felt her cheeks warm; the purpose of finishing her letter earlier was so she could give her hair a little more colour. Would Yuri like her new look or prefer her old one? Gosh, Yoona could barely care about what others thought; as long as Yuri liked it, the unsupportive ones could on that.

“Hey, Yul.”

“Yoong!” Yuri jumped up from her chair and walked to pull out the other for Yoona, rubbing her neck sheepishly when Yoona planted a peck on her cheek. “I’m so glad you’re here. Can we order now?”

Yoona watched closely as Yuri offered her the different desserts here, and how much Yuri wanted to make sure Yoona would be full after this meal. She would never be able to get over how sweet Yuri becomes when it’s just the two of them (minus the cameras, of course). Yuri’s equally nice to everyone but things are just different when Yoona’s the one in question. Her shoulders relaxed as she waited for Yuri to do the ordering, giggling when the struggle to speak fluent English hit Yuri like a wrecking ball.

Since Yuri already made such a show of ordering their desserts, the least Yoona could do was order the drinks. Reaching over to hold Yuri’s wrist, Yoona looked up at the waitress and flashed her a smile, “just two more lattes. Thank you.”

A heavy blush appeared on Yuri’s face yet again, feeling embarrassed for not being able to order smoothly like she did in her head. She lowered her head and mumbled a soft ‘thank you’ – another point for Yoona. If Yoona had an opportunity to decide what would be the context of their dates next time, she would be content with just watching Yuri blush. It's a rare sighting that all their members find pretty amusing and Yoona wished it'd happen more often instead of during certain occasions.

 “Hey,” Yoona lifted Yuri’s chin with a heart-warming smile, poking the latter's forehead afterward, “it’s not a big deal, y’know?  

“B-But…”

“No buts.”

“Y-Yes, Yoong.”

CUT!

Yuri cocked an eyebrow and turned around to face the camera crew behind them, wondering why the scene was cut so abruptly. She let go of Yoona’s hand unconsciously and got up from her seat to check with the staff. She completely missed the frown that was on Yoona’s face for a split second, not that it lasted for too long. Yoona crossed her arms over her chest and waited patiently, trying her best not to think about how cold her hand felt when Yuri pulled hers away. She felt incredibly different from when her members kept her warm instead, and the varied effect on her was undeniable. 

“Ah… we just received a message that a dating article has been released, and it features you.”  

“ME?!”

*

[Breaking!] Girls' Generation Yuri dating in real life? 

On the night of 20th January 2018, an American media outlet spotted Girls' Generation's Yuri sitting in one