Hyomin’s POV

Again this name, it leaves me frustrated yet at the same time I feel connected, it’s not because people keep mistaking me for that person, but I personally feel accustomed to it by unknown reason. I stare at my reflection in a mirror for a while, as if it could come out and talk to me. Question is surfacing on my mind that it bothers me enough to give me a headache. I massage my temples hoping to erase tension on my head.   

Earlier I was escaping from awkward moment by excusing myself but it turned out more awkward when a girl named Qri saw me, I could tell she was really shocked, she stormed at me and hugged me like she found her long lost friend. She called me by a name that Jiyeon, Jiyeon’s sister called me the first time they saw my face, and again Jiyeon had to chime in to clear up a misunderstanding “She is not her” , that what Jiyeon said. Then everything fell into silence, an awkward one, so I quickly excused myself and walked away from them to bathroom.

While Hyomin was clouded her mind with a series of questions. In the other side, Qri was staring at Jiyeon, waiting for her to answer her question.

“She is my friend from university” Jiyeon told Qri , “ We met by accident, it’s like a destiny unnie, all of sudden she appeared and came to my life” her lip curved into smile when she was mentioning about Hyomin and it didn’t go unnoticed by Qri. Qri was kind of a person who preferred to listen more than talked

“So she knew about her” Qri asked. Jiyeon’s smile was dropping, she shook her head.

“ I don’t know how to start” Jiyeon wasn’t sure if she was ready yet to talk about her past to someone that she started getting to know, but sure enough she felt comfortable with her.

“I must have scared her to death” Qri said, feeling rude that she suddenly attacked the poor girl with her hug, at that moment she was too shocked to think logically, she missed Jessica badly.

“Mine was worse, unnie” Jiyeon said, reminiscing of her first encounter with Hyomin at university, smile was written on her face.

“She didn’t punch you on the face, did she?” Qri laughed at her own joke.

“She wasn’t that violent” Jiyeon defended for Hyomin. Qri was sure that Jiyeon felt more than friend with this girl.  Although it hurt her, Qri was happy to see Jiyeon was on a step to move on. Since Jessica passed away, Qri didn’t remember seeing Jiyeon smiled again.

“By the way you come back for good unnie?” Jiyeon changed the subject.

“Yes, my father wants me to take care of business in Korea so I think I’ll move back here permanently” Qri told Jiyeon. She wished she could just tell her that one another reason that she made up her mind to come back it was because of the person who was sitting right here in front of her, but it would be more like a fooling herself to hope that Jiyeon would look at her more than her respectful senior and sister.

“Good on you” Jiyeon commented. She occasionally kept glancing at staircase leading to second floor.

 “Are you sure your friend didn’t run away after I sudden attacked her with a hug” Qri said with her calm style, noticing how uneasy Jiyeon shifted in her seat waiting for the girl to come back.

“I hope she didn’t” Jiyeon whispered quietly.

“Well, I’ll get going now, appa is waiting for me, I just drop to say hi” Qri got up from her seat. Jiyeon nodded and followed suit.

“It’s nice to see you here unnie” Jiyeon smiled at her.

“Tell your friend I’m sorry” Qri sincerely said.

“ Ok, don’t worry unnie, I will” Jiyeon reassured before walking Qri to her car and bid goodbye to older girl .  As soon as Qri left, Jiyeon quickly walked toward bathroom because Hyomin hadn’t returned yet.

“Are you ok?” Hyomin turned her head to see Jiyeon standing next to her.

“ Oh I’m ok” Hyomin stuttered, a bit startled .

“I’m checking on you because you took so long” Jiyeon looked worried.

“Oh, it took that long?” She didn’t realize that she was here for a while. Jiyeon stared at her as if she wanted to search for something in her eye

“Look, I apologize for my friend, she just …” Jiyeon said

“Thought that I was Jessica” Hyomin finished Jiyeon’s sentence, “Never mind” Hyomin added. Jiyeon went quiet, lowered her head as if the floor was interesting . Hyomin was expecting Jiyeon to say something, however after a few minutes passed, none any form of response was made, Jiyeon remained silent.

“I think I should get going now” Hyomin felt it was necessary to leave, she was suffocating in this unwanted silence.  

“I owe you an explanation” Jiyeon finally spoke, grabbing Hyomin’s hand, preventing her from leaving, Hyomin stopped her movement.

“You don’t really have to if you ….” Hyomin heaved a sigh and said the opposite of what her mind was curious to know.

“Do you know somewhere nice and peaceful?” Jiyeon cut Hyomin’s sentence, Hyomin tiled her head  

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A serene lake surround with pine trees gave off a peaceful feeling to those who looked at it, and it applied to particular two young ladies who were sitting on the bench staring at the lake before them, none of them wanted to break a comfort silence, they felt it was needed. An hour ago, Hyomin was led to Jiyeon’s car and left the restaurant. Jiyeon was driving for one hour far to the direction Hyomin was telling her, and here they were, admiring the beauty of nature, inhaling fresh air into their lungs.

“She was my girlfriend” Jiyeon said out of the blue. Hyomin slowly turned her head rightward to see Jiyeon calmly staring at the lake.

“We met each other when I went to study aboard, we fell in love and ended up together” Jiyeon continued, she turned her head to the left to face Hyomin.

“She looked exactly like you except for the eyes” Jiyeon smiled at Hyomin, at that moment Hyomin didn’t know how to feel, a slight jealousy built up yet new found feeling filled the space . A long pause fell upon them, Hyomin took a silence as a permission for her to ask a question .

“Where is she now?” Hyomin was scared to know the answer but it was better than not to know at all.

“She is above there” Jiyeon looked up in the sky, with her sad smile.  

“I’m sorry” Hyomin regretted asking her that question, she really felt sorry for her and at the same time she felt her heart wrenched, she couldn’t figure it out why. Jiyeon forced a smile before continue telling the story.

“One day we had a fight and she left, I didn’t even have a chance to say goodbye” Jiyeon’s voice cracked. Hyomin bit her lower lip, she felt her heart tighten, she hated this feeling.

“It was my fault, if only I have asked her to stay, she wouldn’t have left that night and had a car accident” Jiyeon couldn’t hold back her tear anymore, she finally broke down.

Hyomin didn’t understand why she was related to this pain and loss, it wasn’t like she knew Jessica at all but instinctively her heart ached. She looked at her side, Jiyeon was trembling, it was unbearable for her, she leaned forward and gave Jiyeon a side hug, caressing Jiyeon’s back. She couldn’t come up with any good word to comfort the girl in her embrace, she was lost at words, feeling like they were sharing the same loss of their beloved person. Jiyeon hugged Hyomin back, allowing the warmth of their embrace slowly healing their souls, one with a haunting past, and one with unexplainable instinctive pain.

Longest time it might seem, they ignored physical numbness caused by staying in the same position for hour, Jiyeon finally stopped tearing up, and they broke the hug.

“I don’t think she would be happy if she looked at you from above and saw you suffering from the pain” Hyomin looked up into the sky, Jiyeon followed suit.

“Can you help me Hyomin?” Jiyeon turned her head to face Hyomin , “ Set me free” her eyes were pleading with hope, their eyes met, Hyomin didn’t say anything but smiled as a response.  

The sky was turning orange creating beautiful glow on water surface, Jiyeon was more calm and relaxed after a heartfelt talk, Jiyeon began to miss the warmth from Hyomin’s touch, she slowly reached out for Hyomin’s hand and held it tight as if her life depended on it, the other girl didn’t seem to mind it either.    

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“Hyomin called me she would go somewhere with her friend, who happened to be a sister of our customer” Minyoung told Eunjung who came over and looked for Hyomin at the shop.

“Her friend?”Eunjung raised her brow

“Yes, her sister is our new customer, Hyomin offered to help deliver flower to her restaurant this morning” Minyoung talked to Eunjung while she was t f