three weeks later

"sooyoung, is she here yet?" yeri asked, tugging on the taller girl's sleeves, prompting the girl to roll her eyes.

"aish, you've asked that at least ten times."

"sorry, sorry."

yeri paced around anxiously, drawing curious looks from the chauffeurs and guides standing in front of the arrival hall's glass doors. unlike the two of them, everyone else seemed seasoned to the long waiting times typical at the airport. an old man beside them chuckled raspily at the sight of yeri's restlessness and joy felt second-hand embarrassment for the girl.

"it takes quite long for them to get through immigration and retrieve their luggage. add to that the long queue at the toilet after getting off a flight... if you're here to pick someone up, you need to have some patience."

bowing in thanks to the man for his advice, joy pulled yeri to herself, interlocking their fingers and locking the girl in place.

"yah, i know you're nervous to talk to her, but judging from how you're acting, you're going to be sorely disappointed if grandaunt wendy isn't who we're looking for."

yeri nodded half-heartedly and joy could only sigh. it was difficult to translate logic into emotions after all.

it had been a while since joy first called grandaunt wendy to find out about her travel plans, and they were elated when they found out that the old woman was on the last leg of her trip, of which thereafter she would be headed back to Korea. the rest of joy's family had extended their trip and her father had gruffly instructed joy to pick grandaunt wendy up; thankfully, serving as a very convenient excuse for her to set up a meeting between the old woman and yeri.

it had been a pretty long wait since then, and now that the day of grandaunt wendy's return was finally here, joy empathized with how expectant yeri must have felt to finally have the truth within her grasp.

she could feel from their interlocked hands that the girl was practically buzzing from the amount of nerves she had. looking to the glass doors framing the arrival hall, joy wondered what was in store for them, and for bae-halmoni.

***

it didn't take long before a strong voice greeted them from behind.

"annyeong, kids!"

spinning on their heels so quickly to the direction of the greeting, the duo clumsily knocked down the luggage case behind them along with whatever bags were on it. they apologized profusely to the ahjussis around them as everyone looked upon the ruckus with part surprise and part annoyance. yeri felt the embarrassment burn up her neck and ears as she scrambled to pick up the scattered bags.

"grandaunt! you're finally here!"

sooyoung collected herself first, pulling the older woman into an oversized embrace.

"y-yah park sooyoung, when did you get so tall? why is my face in your chest when you hug me?"

showing no sign of being fearful of her senior, sooyoung grinned devilishly.

"don't you remember? i was already taller than you when i was in junior high!"

"aish," the old lady huffed, slapping the the girl on her bum. "how much more disrespectful you've gotten too."

yeri took a while to register the scene, her synapses finally succeeding in getting the signal to her brain that the person in front of sooyoung was grandaunt wendy. paying proper attention to how the woman looked like, grandaunt wendy was dressed in a sweater too young for her age, but she managed to pull it off stylishly anyway with her small stature and youthful looks, barely looking like she was past her mid-fifties.

wow, she looks a whole ten years younger than bae-halmoni...

a slap on her arm from sooyoung brought her back to her senses.

"yah, yerim-ah, did your soul leave your body?"

yeri snapped back to her senses and quickly gave a deep bow. "a-ah, hello grandaunt wendy, long time no see!"

the woman watched yeri amusedly, a twinkle in her eye, and she patted the girl on her tush. yeri's eyes widened at the familiarity of the action.

"c'mon, i heard from sooyoung that you guys have some good news for me, and it's not going to get told with us standing around here. i'm starving, let's chat over food — my treat!"

sooyoung whooped, sneaking a wink at yeri. it looked almost like sooyoung had it all set up. yeri went along with whatever plan was on the other girl's mind, nodding and offering to carry grandaunt wendy's bags, of which the old lady very politely and reluctantly complied.

"sooyoung-ah, learn from yerimie! look how sweet she is, i'm going to treat just her and not you!"

sooyoung whined loudly in reply and yeri chuckled before whispering to sooyoung, a smug look on her face.

"tit for tat, grandaunt wendy likes me just like how bae-halmoni favors you, heh~"

***

a waiter showed them to their seats and the three made themselves comfortable. it was a simple Korean restaurant, with little human traffic at that time of the day. sooyoung had whole-heartedly pushed for them to eat at the place, citing grandaunt wendy being away from Korea for too long as a reason for them to have local cuisine. yeri laughed and shook her head at that. her girlfriend could get extremely aggressive over food sometimes.

after they pored through the menu, they waved for the waiter and sooyoung nudged for yeri to order first.

"i'll get soup dumplings and a barley tea, please," yeri requested politely.

grandaunt wendy smiled. "a barley tea for me too, and chicken bulgogi."

gaping at grandaunt wendy's choice of food, yeri looked to sooyoung, who gave a faint nod of acknowledgement, as if she had been expecting it all along.

"same for me. barley tea and chicken bulgogi."

as the waiter left with their orders, yeri clutched to sooyoung's hand tightly under the table. hope bubbled in her chest even though she chastised herself for getting too expectant over how grandaunt wendy had just ordered chicken bulgogi. did she perhaps order that because it reminded her of her own first love, or was it just a mere coincidence? she felt a shiver run down her spine in anticipation.

sooyoung obviously sensed the eagerness wafting from the girl, because she jumped right into the topic. "grandaunt wendy, yerim and i are dating now," sooyoung started. "i hope you'll give us your blessings."

struck by the sudden piece of news, grandaunt wendy's eyebrows rose half an inch above their original positions. she dropped her head and busied herself with arranging the utensils, seemingly finding interest in the aesthetic arrangement of the dining table all of a sudden. yeri looked to sooyoung worriedly. it seemed like this was gonna turn out to be a flop after all.

fortunately, after the aged lady managed to control her initial expression did a smile creep onto her face, albeit dimmer than before. it was still something though, and sooyoung's blank expression lit up along with it, while yeri heaved a sigh of relief.

"i'm happy for you two, sooyoung-ah. do your parents know?"

at grandaunt wendy's query, sooyoung shook her head slowly and shrugged. 

"nah. i don't think it's the right time to tell them yet, given how sticky this is,' sooyoung gestured to themselves vaguely, "yerim has also only told a halmoni she's close to as well."

grandaunt wendy nodded. she took in a deep breath and exhaled through in an 'o' shape.

"it's ok, take your time with that. some things can't be rushed," there was a lilt of curiosity to her tone. "why tell me, then?"

yeri looked at grandaunt wendy uneasily, hesitant to bring up the topic, but sooyoung cut to the chase. turning to the girl, yeri could see in her eyes the intent gaze that set in only when sooyoung was being extremely serious.

"do you perhaps know a bae joohyun, grandaunt wendy?"

the old lady's eyes fluttered slightly and then drooped in response, as if reminded of a bittersweet memory. the youthful enthusiasm she possessed from earlier seemed to have completely extinguished this time, a pale color setting into her cheeks, accentuating smile lines and crow's feet. it was amazing how much a smile, or the lack thereof, could do to a person's features, yeri noted.

grandaunt wendy put the back of her hand against the bridge of her nose, unable to bring herself to look the two kids in the eyes.

"how..." confusion quickly transitioned into an intelligent but reluctant guess, "ah... is it her? yerim's halmoni?"

their guesses were confirmed. sooyoung frowned, apologetic for having brought up what seemed to be a topic of agony for grandaunt wendy.

"yes," yeri answered softly, but firmly, "...she misses you."

***

yerim spent the next hour or so providing a brief background on her relationship with bae-halmoni, and detailing how sooyoung and her had put two and two together. the food had gone largely untouched, with the exception of sooyoung's steadily depleting bulgogi (as much as she was serious about the conversation, she was serious about food. wasting it was a big no-no.).

wendy stared at a stain on joy's used napkin, finding the entire situation surreal. it had been years since the last time she met joohyun. years since she had turned and ran away, after someone else had appeared beside joohyun, another someone whose touch joohyun accepted as easily as she remembered her own having been, another someone who joohyun had opened up to.

it had been forever since anything remotely related to the girl (woman, wendy corrected herself) had last been spoken from her lips. 

wendy stared at a signage at the back of the restaurant, finding herself desperately hoping to walk under the white bold words on green background and get away, away from the topic she had forced herself never to bring up ever again.

(for 's sake, she sometimes barely remembered how old she was, but she still remembered details of that day as if it was yesterday.

it had been the most bitter day of her life, when she cried for a love long lost.)

"if you guys are asking me to go meet her, no, i won't."

disappointment welled up in yerim's eyes, and wendy almost felt bad for breaking the young girl's heart. even though she had to admit she felt curious about how the other woman had been all these years, it was way past the time for old scars to be picked. she prodded at a piece of chicken on her plate, finding no appetite to eat the dish that she'd religiously had every time she returned to Korea.

"please, it means a lot to yerim," sooyoung pleaded, earnesty present where a twinkle of mischief usually resided.

if she had to be honest (for the thousandth time today), at that moment, wendy was impressed more than anything. granted, it had been quite a while since she last saw her grandniece, but sooyoung had changed, evidently for the better, becoming someone much more considerate, sensitive and caring. she sighed inwardly. the magic of young love.

re-evaluating her own emotional state, wendy actually felt touched by how sooyoung had spoken up for yerim. a warmth pulsated through her veins, close to replacing the chill that had been circulating in her system earlier.

"what does it even mean to you two if we meet?" wendy probed.

yerim replied with an intensity to her tone much too reminiscent of someone, that wendy could only weakly nod.

"love should never be marked by regret."

***

the three rode in a hired car with joy in the middle, yeri and grandaunt wendy sitting on either side of the brunette. 

buildings passed by them too quickly to be scrutinized, but grandaunt wendy seemed to focus solely on the passing sights, uncharacteristically quiet for joy's impression of her.

joy slid her stance lower and gingerly placed her head on the small shoulder of the old woman. grandaunt wendy brought a hand up to caress her cheeks, before dropping it back on her lap with a small sigh.

"what's in your mind, grandaunt wendy?"

silence ensued for a few moments as the old lady continued staring out the side window, and joy wondered if grandaunt wendy had heard her at all.

"don't you ever get hit by these feelings of..." grandaunt wendy trailed off, unconfident over how to phrase her thoughts properly.

joy pushed, encouraging the woman to go on, "feelings of?"

"of," she looked down at her fingers, "...wanting to love someone, even though you don't even know how to love yourself?"

joy pursed her lips, unsure of how to carry the conversation forward. if the old lady didn't know after so many years of living, then what did she, a mere teenager, know?

"i do,"

yeri reached over joy to grandaunt wendy's clasped hands, a gesture of understanding and commonality. the touch allowed a tear to run down the old lady's cheek, breaking down a wall she's held between her emotions and the two kids beside her.

"i get those feelings all the time."

frown deepening, joy stared at yeri in confusion and worry. 

since when?