Seine
Destiny
"So, is that true?"
"Huh?"
"The news that you're dating your childhood friend?"
"Moonbin?"
"Ne. Moonbin-ssi."
"Are you for real?"
"Why?"
Yerin laughed out loud looking at the wry smile on Eunbi's face. From the very beginning of their meeting and their closeness, Yerin wanted to ask her about this: about the rumors circulating, and where the Korean public sniffed out a special relationship—more than just friends—that happened to Eunbi and a member of the famous idol group called Astro, namely Moonbin.
"Aish. Jinjja."
"So, it's not true?"
"Of course it's not." Eunbi sneered. "Imagine dating the person you knew for your whole life."
"Well, since Yuju was my childhood friend."
"Okay. But it's totally a different case."
"Then what's the ideal dating kind of thing to you?"
"Meeting somebody that makes you feel like you know that person for your whole life."
"Even though you just met that person?"
"Yeah. Sure." Eunbi smiled a little. "Not everyone can be lucky as you. A childhood friend became lover."
Yerin's fingers gripped the iron grip on the end of the private boat that Eunbi rented so they could enjoy the view of Paris, especially the Seine River, from the ship. The cold night made her slowly tighten the thick jacket she was wearing. She looked at Eunbi gently, then threw the sweetest smile Eunbi had seen that night, a smile that made her come back to withdraw from that feeling. Casually, she returned to finish her third glass of wine that night. Her head started to feel light.
"Tell me something about you I don't know."
"I dated a woman." Eunbi replied bitterly. "She was—the love of my life."
It wasn't a thing expected by the tall woman, but she kept on listening even though she warned herself repeatedly to be more careful with the woman in front of her. She might looked so tough, but her heart is like a deep blue ocean. You would never know what's inside.
"What happened?"
"I lost her."
"W-What do you mean?"
"It's all my fault."
"Eunbi."
"I hope I never become a celebrity, have a normal life and live a normal romance." She smiled, taking another sip from her fourth glass. "You know. They said, simple life, simple problem. I want that."
Yerin gave Eunbi time to catch her breath. She Eunbi's arm gently as she finished her fourth glass of wine with an irritated face and hazy eyes. Eunbi suddenly looked like a completely different person. She looked fragile, as if the sadness had been eating away at her.
"Eunbi, stop."
"Let me be."
"You're drunk."
"Let me be."
"Eunbi, please." She wiped her tears away. Eunbi was losing herself. "Don't cry."
"I just—I never told anyone about her, but my manager, my best friend, Eunseo."
"If you want, you can tell me anything."
Eunbi looked at the dark sea that night, then took a deep breath. Slowly, she grabbed Yerin's hand, trying to find the strength she needed from there.
"Her name is Dahyun." Eunbi started. "A beautiful, smart and independent woman I had dated since college. Someone who could first knock on my too cold heart. I love her so much. I never stopped. Even until this moment." She finished another glass of wine, but Yerin let her be as requested. It might be too painful for Eunbi to endure without the help of alcohol. She was clearly needed it. "Everything was fine, even when I reached the top of my career. She was always there, accompanying me through thin and thick. But everything started to go wrong since Dahyun sensed that someone was following her, or taking photos of her secretly. She started urging me to seek safety protection from my agency—which obviously cared about this because they were concerned about my growing career. As a result, they asked me to keep my distance from Dahyun. Stupidly, I complied, even though I thought it was for her own good."
"So she left you after?"
"No. She stayed." Eunbi replied bitterly. She couldn't hold her tears any longer. "Her folly was to endure. And mine was not really deciding well, not taking care of her perfectly. Stupidity I will never forgive."
"Not taking her perfectly?"
Eunbi turned her head, surprising Yerin with how red her eyes were. Confidently, Yerin held Eunbi's face with both hands, trying to calm the woman in front of her. If wordless was the best option, she wanted to choose that, even though everything had already happened. The story had already begun.
"That one evening, she asked me to meet her a
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