I'm back! Sorry I took so long to update. I was banned from using internet at home and I had some stuff to take care of.

Anyway, I hope you'll like this chapter! ^^

Enjoy ~

P.S. I'll be treating you to a doublle update as compensation. Please do look forward! I'll be posting the next one after a few minutes or so... :)

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The sky as pure and golden as her, the one she has her eyes upon; everything as wonderful as she is, the one she has swore to love; all the seasons all year round as beautiful, charming and marvellous as the one she has made a promise to; all the people brightly smiling as captivating and warming as the one she has secretly watched upon. However, now, all these presumptions have vanished into thin air as she gazed upon the figure a good, long distance away from her as broken as infinitesimally shattered glass.

She sighed in immense longing and sadness. But, most of all, regret. Memories whirred themselves in her head and tears began welling in her eyes, threatening to fall down her bitter-stricken face. She held her tears back, turning to look upwards to prevent them from rolling down her face completely.

“If only I could turn back time…” she mumbled as she continues to gaze upon that one person.

Reverie had struck her and she remained rooted to the spot. She went right down through memory lane and tears now successfully made their way down her face. But, she made no attempt in stopping their progress. Instead, she welcomed the soothe they gave her – heartbreaking yet comforting.

The moon shone brightly up, and so did the stars. Everything all around was just in order, in their right places, save for the two. The staffs paid no mind for they knew the truth about everything, from between two sides, and they just let them be in their own little, personal bubble.

A wail echoed all around and she snapped out of her reverie, pulling her out of memory lane. She winced as she saw that person, so very important to her, crumble to dust and nothingness just like that. Pain shot up her heart and she grasped her chest tight, tears falling nonstop from her eyes but not taking them away from her.

“Yoong… please, stop.” she said in between muffled sobs.

The girl continued to cry, to scream, to let loose all of her pains and grievances and watching from afar, our persona felt just as much pain as her attention’s host. The girl finally lost it and screamed out loud till nothing more came out but muffled sobs barely heard, an empty aura surrounding her, seemingly a black hole of bitterness and heartaches, a void of one’s own self. Heartbreaking and haunting silence followed.

Our persona witnessed it all, with her own two eyes, and she collapsed to the ground, unable to bear the sight in front of her, sheer pain flowing up and down her being.

“I’m sorry… I’m so, so sorry…” she chanted like a mantra, words that would as if save the girl from utter misery, from the void of emptiness and loneliness and hurt.

Tears hit the ground one after another, ceaselessly dropping themselves unto the concrete, unto the earth. Another void opened up from where our persona was at – a void of massive hurt and regret.

“Yoong… Yoong… Yoona-yah…” she said on and on and on, the name of the girl whom she’s following. “I’m sorry, my little rascal. I’m sorry…”

She turned her gaze unto Yoona and finds her little rascal falling asleep looking a bit gruesome and a lot miserable leaning on the railings of the ride where everything started for them.

“Merry-go-round…” she mumbled as she smiled bitterly.

She slowly got up from her post and made her way to Yoona.

Little by little, step by step, she inched closer to her. With every step comes with every memory, with every moment in time – how they met, how they started as friends, became a family, and then ended up as lovers, and apparently, as nothing more than strangers. Tears continued to make their way down her face.

“Everything was still fresh, you know that Yoong?” she said as she walked to Yoona’s side. “When we were still strangers, then became friends and then family with the 7 others, became lovers secretly to others but openly to them, to Taeyeon, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, and Seohyun. And then now…”

She paused nearly at the end of her sentence but still continues to tread on the path leading to Yoona’s side.

“We’re now… nothing.”

She stopped at the last word as she was now standing before the girl.

“Isn’t it ironic Yoong?” she asked the sleeping girl as she sat herself next to her. “How we started as strangers and then ended up as strangers still?”

She laughed bitterly, accompanied by regret and hurt-filled tears.

“Shouldn’t we be ending as something more than lovers, heading towards and living life eternally together and not back to where or what we started as?”

She turned to look again at Yoona and her tears ceaselessly fell.

“I’m sorry… I’m really sorry….”

She then hugged the sleeping Yoona who didn’t even move. She caressed her in her arms and cuddled her as if there’s no more tomorrow (which was quite true in their case). A single tear then escaped Yoona’s eyes involuntarily and for God-only-knows-what concrete reason and explanation, as if she heard and felt the apologies and regret of the one holding her, the one with her.

Stillness followed accompanied by silence. The world seemed to have stopped moving, stopped revolving, seemingly locking this moment forever, never letting time makes its flow again. Alas, this was but imagination and wishful thinking. The world didn’t stop, the entire planet didn’t, but their own worlds did.

Suddenly, in the middle of all this momentous happening, a phone rang and made itself known to its owner, in a not so comforting and soothing way. Rather, disturbing.

Quickly, our persona fished out her phone and checked the caller ID. Yoona moved a little bit, hearing a bit of the fuss, which worried and panicked our persona a bit but the former was still deep in slumber. She then turned to settle the girl to lean on the railing for the meantime as she answered the call.

“Hello…” she began saying, as she slowly inched away from Yoona.

“Where are you, Jess?” the person from the other line asked.

Hearing her name said like that, Jessica winced as she remembers the memories she’s had with Yoona and the others, the moments when her also American-raised Korean bestfriend, Tiffany, calls her by that name.

Unknowingly to her, she had stuck to her reverie a second too long, which prompted the person on the other end of the line to ask and check.

“Hello, Jess? Are you there? Are you still there? Hello…???”

This brought Jessica back to the present and yanked her out of her zoning out moment.

“Uhh.. y-yes, I’m here.” she stammered as she struggled to compose herself.

“Good, now back to my question – where are you right now?”

The man on the other line bellowed in frustration, yet concealed beyond was concern.

“Somewhere down the road.” She replied coolly, not minding the tone of the other party.

The man groaned and yelled on the phone. Again.

“JUNG JESSICA. AGAIN, WHERE ARE YOU RIGHT NOW?!”

Jessica’s forehead scrunched into a scowl, her brows furrowed into a frown and her eyes held a murderous glare.

“SOMEWHERE YOU’LL NEVER FIND OUT TYLER!” she hissed and spat out as she snapped, then ended the call, not allowing the person on the other end of the line, Tyler Kwon, to even react.

She then held the bridge of her nose to calm herself down. After a while, she returned her gaze towards Yoona and her face turned soft, no trace of anger or whatsoever emotions coinciding with it yet with traces of sadness and regret.

Seeing Yoona just lying there, leaning on the railing for support, she dialled a number on her phone. After a few seconds, she dropped the call.

“You’ll be alright. Someone’s coming to pick you up already.”

Tears welled up in her eyes and rolled down her face once more as she went back to Yoona’s side and caressed her cheeks and prepared to bid goodbye and so long to her. All the while, smiling bitterly and regretfully, a decision has already been made and sealed in her head.

“Thank you...” she began to say, “for the time, for this moment. And…”

“I’m sorry…” Jessica said for the nth time and then planted a kiss to Yoona’s forehead.

“Remember that I’ll always love you, no matter what, that I’ll always be there with and for you – in the shadows, silently watching over you. I’m your angel, remember?”

A bitter smile graced her lips while tears streamed down her face as she turned to look down as her actions pained her. Yoona’s innocent face pained her. Their current disposition pained her. Everything pained her.

“Love was never a sin, loving was never a crime.” She said to herself as she wiped the last of her tears. “We haven’t done any wrong, we were awfully right.”

She paused as she got up and turned back on her heels and faced the direction opposite the person she longs and cares for the most.

“But, I guess, we were just about not right at one point…”

She paused again for a second before continuing, as if the next few words were a bit too painful for her to utter.

“… my little rascal.”

She started walking away, slowly disappearing, slowly retreating unto the shadows, not letting herself be fully known to that one person.

Never bothering herself to look back, she continued on walking farther and farther away.

“We never just had the perfect time.”

The wind blew and the leaves rustled – a perfect, starry night. As the wind has come, so has her words have gone – up, up, into the air, along the night sky, carried on to the stars in the heavens above and away from the scene where everything has begun and has faced an end.

“Goodbye, Yoona…”

A sigh escapes her as she closes the portfolio in her hands. She leans on her chair and rests her head on the headrest and closes her eyes as pain slowly makes its way inside her.

I really shouldn’t be thinking about that night.

The clock continues on ticking away in the corner as time continues to slip away. Its sounds waft through the silent office room. Nothing but silence, save for the ticking of the clock, rings in its four corners while the sun shines brightly and its rays light up the black and white interior, and outside, buildings stand tall and tranquillity hangs in the air despite the chaos and rush of everyday life.

Images begin flashing across Jessica’s head as she is absorbed in her memories and unknowingly, a tear escapes her eyes which she quickly wipes away. She quickly sits straight up and heaves another sigh as she turns to look at her office, and everything in it.

“I really shouldn’t be thinking about it, about everything.” She says to herself.

Everything in her room is neatly arranged – the papers, the documents, the frames, decorations, nothing is seemingly out of place. Everything is there, everything she needs is there inside its premises but one.  There is still something missing – a fragment, a small yet essential part.

Slowly, she stands up and treads the length of her room, gliding her hands across its contents. Then, her desk phone rings but she pays no attention and continues on with what she’s doing.

She feels empty despite work, all the other people filling her attention, and everything that’s currently in her hands right now. She still misses, she still longs, she still remembers.

“I wonder,” she begins saying, “how are you right now? Do you still remember me, even at the slightest?”

She turns to look outside and observes the hustle and bustle of the city below, concealing the busyness in the façade of beauty and glamour and everything of the sort. The look in her eyes is far and seemingly looks beyond the buildings and into the distance, beyond the clouds, the mountains, the striking distance in between.

In the middle of her reverie, her secretary knocks and opens the door, snapping her out of it.

“Ms. Jung, sorry to bother you but I’m here to remind you that your meeting will start in 30 minutes and the board requests your presence now prior to the arranged schedule. You weren’t picking up the calls so I decided to come personally. Anyway, are you ready to go, ma’am?”

Time for business.

She closes her eyes and exhales all her previews thoughts and worries then puts on a firm and stern expression. She turns to her secretary and nods.

“Let’s go.”

As Jessica takes her leave and the door to the office closes, the sun continues on to light the four-cornered room making the scene seemingly filtered to be bright, making the black and white combination look even more stunning as they are engulfed in a heavenly light.