Hyomin tapped her fingers impatiently against her sling bag as she waited outside the president’s office. She had woken up this morning in high spirits when Sunny had gently coaxed her awake by kissing her gently and she had responded with hunger a few moments later. She had noticed the email instruction her to meet the president after they had freshened up together in the shower, which took Hyomin an hour to get ready instead of the usual fifteen minutes. 

“Miss Park, the president will be a little late, please take a seat in the mean time,” the secretary’s voice shrilly cut through her day dreaming about the beautiful morning with her beloved bunny.

Hyomin grumbled inwardly and took a seat on the same plush leather couch she had sat on the first time she came to meet the president. The television today was on and she noticed that it was displaying some news about a cruise that had met a disaster just a few hours ago. Remembering her call with her mum two days ago, she panicked and pulled out her cell phone to dial her mother’s number.

Her heart sank as she received only a tone requesting her to leave a message and tears quickly formed in her eyes as a black hole slowly appeared in her heart. Tears started streaming down her face as the new captions ran across the bottom of the screen informing that they had not found any survivors yet due to the rough seas. She barely heard the secretary approach her again to inform her that the president was ready to see her.

Hyomin stood and dazedly walked inside the large room that no longer held its grand first impression, but rather looked foreboding and cold because of its occupant. The stern man was wearing what appeared to be a sympathetic expression though it did not quite reach his eyes.

“Miss Park, thank you for seeing me. Please have a seat.”

She sat down without speaking as the man observed her. “My deepest sympathies on the news of your parents.” Hearing the word parents, Hyomin’s head snapped up furiously, “They’re not dead!” The man sighed, “Maybe, maybe not. There has not been any reports on survivors but if we look at worst case scenarios, there may be high possibility that they may not be able to walk out of it alive and well.” Hyomin balled her fist furiously at the man’s words although a part of her knew it was true.

Omma. Appa. It can’t be. You can’t be-

“That leaves us with the important question of your studies here, Miss Park. This university is recognised as the nation’s top and from your file, you are not in any of the scholarship programs.” Mr. Lee leaned back into his leather chair and scrutinized the brunette’s facial expression. Seeing no response from the girl, he continued, “Which brings me to the difficult question of how will your tuition fees be procured?” 

He watched Hyomin’s expression change to a troubled one and they sat there for a few moments in silence. After a full minute of silence, Hyomin choked out, “I-I’ll figure a way out. M-my parents would have l-left something to take care of me.” And with the thought of the possible reality of her beloved parents being gone for good, she burst into painful tears and the man watched her without pity.

“Maybe, but until then, I have a solution to offer you.” The crying girl looked at the distant man hesitantly, knowing that his suggestion was one to be wary of. 

“Leave Miss Lee Soonkyu, and I will put you on a scholarship program so that you would not have a worry about continuing your studies here.”

—————

Jessica watched the brunette girl take her seat next to her, the evidence of her crying still fresh on her face. Although Jessica maintained her icy aura, she couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to the girl before this. Noticing that the usually studious Hyomin was not paying any attention to the lecturer’s words, she intercepted the question directed to her desk mate, “The answer is zero, seon-saeng-nim.” This sprouted curious looks from the lecturer and Hyomin’s friends who had been watching the depressed girl since she stepped into class. 

“Look, we may not be friends, but you can tell me what’s going on. I promise I won’t bring up your girlfriend,” Jessica whispered to Hyomin after the lecturer had turned back to the board. Hyomin noticed the cool but gentle tone that Jessica carried and although she wanted to cry badly once more, she fought back the tears and steadied her voice, “There was a cruise ship disaster a few hours ago, and my parents-“

The ice queen turned to see that Hyomin had choked up and promptly lifted her hand to get the lecturer’s attention, “Seon-saeng-nim, I think Miss Park is not feeling too well. May we be excused so that I can take her to the nurse’s room?” The lecturer looked at the pair and nodded her head. Jiyeon made a move to stand but Eunjung held her down, whispering that the lecturer would scold her if she made any more fuss in their classes. “We’ll go see her after this class ends, alright Dino? Besides, I don’t think Jessica is up to harm Minnie. Her aura is different today,” Eunjung whispered to Jiyeon as she watched Jessica Hyomin out of the class.

Hyomin felt numb as she followed Jessica blindly and stopped only to collide into the blonde’s back. She looked around and realized they were in a quiet spot in the campus gardens. Jessica motioned for her to take a seat on a bench next to them and Hyomin, who was already feeling tired from her emotions, obediently sat. The blonde girl sat down next to her and the pair sat there in silence for a long while.

“So.. Are your parents alive?”

Jessica turned to look at Hyomin, who let her tears stream down her cheeks once more. “I-I don’t k-know. I’ve c-called omma b-but no one’s answering.” The blonde girl crossed her arms, “Look, obviously no one’s gonna answer-“

“They’re not dead! She can’t be-” Jessica raised a hand impatiently to stop Hyomin from turning into a screaming mess. The blonde beauty sighed and folded her arms.

“I didn’t say they were. You did not let me finish. Now, your mother and father have probably lost their cellphones somewhere in the middle of the ocean and it’s taking a rescue crew some time to get to them. And even if they were now safe and sound, do you think they’d be in the best health to call you now? They’re probably in a rescue chopper on their way to safety and tired out from the bad experience. I saw the news earlier myself and they’ve already got two teams working on getting to the survivors. So unless your parents’ names have already showed up in the deceased list, stop jumping the gun and get a grip on yourself. Your parents would hate to see their daughter in this state, alive or dead.”

Jessica peeked at Hyomin from the corner of her eye and saw that the girl had calmed down a little after digesting the reality of Jessica’s words. Hyomin wiped the remainder of the tears from her face and looked towards Jessica with grateful eyes.

“Gomawo Jessica-ssi. I guess I was too scared and upset to think of the situation rationally. Thank you for snapping me back to reality.” Jessica waved off the thanks and stood up, “It’s nothing, I just hate seeing crying faces. Since you’re feeling better, I’m gonna head back to class, otherwise that crazy Jiyeon girl is gonna think I brought you out to murder you in secret or something.”

Hyomin watched Jessica leave and thought to herself, there’s definitely more to Jessica Jung than meets the eye.

“Hyomin-unnie! Are you alright?” A tall, thin body slammed into her side. “Jiyeon-ah, stop suffocating poor Hyomin,” Eunjung sighed as she watched Hyomin flailing from the baby dinosaur’s bear hug. “What’s going on Hyomin, is everything alright? Why did Jessica bring you out of class?” Eunjung asked gently as she took a seat next to the two girls. Jiyeon was busy inspecting Hyomin for any damage Jessica could have caused her friend until Hyomin assured her that she was fine.

Hyomin proceeded to explain what had happened, from watching the news to Jessica’s words and made it a point to leave out the president’s suggestion of leaving Sunny. She did not need her friends worrying about that additional matter when her two classmates was already on the verge of crying after hearing the news about her parents.

“As much as I hate to say it, but I think Jessica’s right. It’s not a time to jump to conclusions, we’ll just have to wait and see if your parents or someone from the cruise company contacts you,” said Eunjung with a sigh. “Have you told Sunny-unnie?” asked Jiyeon who had snuggled into Hyomin’s arms like a puppy. The brunette gently shook her head, “She’s got mid term exams today, so I don’t want to distract her from her focus.”

Jiyeon turned her head upwards towards Hyomin and smiled cheekily, “Unnie, you’re so caring. If you ever leave Sunny-unnie, can I date you?” The trio was spotted scaring a couple of pigeons away with their laughter as Hyomin moved to tickle a laughing Jiyeon and Eunjung shook her head at the immaturity of her two choding friends.

—————

Sunny frowned at the question she was answering. She was sure she had read this earlier this morning before her first paper but she seemed to have forgotten the first line to the topic. It seemed like an eternity before the bell rang and she breathed out a long sigh as she handed in the paper. 

“That was a tough one,” Yuri grumbled as she moved to stand beside Sunny who was clearing up her things. Sunny nodded with another sigh and slung her bag over her shoulder as Taeyeon and Tiffany moved to join their friends. Taeyeon showed a news article to Tiffany and turned to Sunny, “Hey danshin, did you see the news about the cruise ship?” 

Sunny perked up her ears when she heard the word cruise. “Nope, what’s going on? I heard Hyomin’s parents got on a cruise but I’m not too sure which one it is.” She quickly moved to call Hyomin’s phone as her three friends looked at each other worriedly. 

“Sweetheart, I just heard the news. Are your parents alright?” Sunny asked hurriedly when Hyomin answered the call. She moved away to the back to get more privacy and the girls waited for their friend to finish her call. Sunny looked glum when she hung up and moved back to her friends, “Guys, I think I’m gonna skip the rest of the day and go wait for Hyomin.” Taeyeon was about to protest when she heard a beep from her phone.

From: Hyomin

-    Hey Taeng, please tell Sunny I’m fine and get her to finish her exams. I’ll promise to meet her right after her last paper.

Taeyeon moved to grab Sunny’s arm to stop her from running off and flashed the text in front of her. Sunny sighed as Taeyeon patted her friend’s back, “Look Sunny, I know you want to be next to her but I’m pretty sure Hyomin won’t want you screwing up your exams over this. Besides, there’s nothing much you can do even if you go to her now.” Sunny glared at her best friend, “Yes there is, I can comfort her. That’s what girlfriends do.” Tiffany smacked Sunny’s head, earning a yelp from the small girl, “And you’re going to make her feel guilty for making you skip out on your exams?” 

Sunny mumbled something about not thinking about it that way and Yuri placed her hands on the shorter girl’s shoulders, “Sun, let’s just get this last paper out of the way and then you can go see Hyomin all you want since we’ve got no other tests after this.” Throwing her hands up in defeat, Sunny sighed, “Fine, but let me send her a text before we get to studying before that damned paper.”

To: Hyominnie

-    Baby, I’m sorry to hear about what happened. I promise I’ll finish this paper well and I’ll see you right after. You know that I love you, right? ♡ 

Sunny sighed for the nth time and cursed that she was still stuck for another two hours before she could comfort her girlfriend. The poor girl must have been holding back from telling her so that she would not disrupt her focus. What did I do to deserve such a thoughtful angel like her? Sunny thought miserably, wanting nothing more than to wrap her arms around her beautiful brunette and tell her everything would be alright.

Beep.

From: Hyominnie

-    Thank you bunny. Please work hard on that paper. I know you do, but know that I love you more. ♡ 

Sunny smiled at the message and quickly got to doing her best to make sure she could make her girlfriend proud of her.

—————

Hyomin heard a beep from her phone and saw a message from Soyeon saying she had seen the news. The brunette sighed as she read words of sympathy from her friends in the hospital. She tapped her fingers nervously on the steering wheel of her car as she kept a lookout for a certain short blonde.

Sunny appeared two minutes later looking like she had run a marathon to get to her girlfriend and quickly slipped into the car to throw her arms around Hyomin, who resigned her body to the warmth of Sunny’s embrace. “Everything is going to be alright baby,” Sunny smiled to Hyomin and cupped her girlfriend’s face. She weakly returned the smile and suggested they visit Boram who was still in the hospital which Sunny readily agreed to.

Boram was looking a lot better after the excellent care the medical staff of the hospital had given her and even had the energy to get out bed to hug Hyomin. The two couples spoke for awhile before Sunny asked to be excused as she wanted to bring Hyomin somewhere special.

“Where are we going, Sunny?” Hyomin asked as they zipped through town after Sunny had requested to drive so that her girlfriend could rest. 

“You’ll see.”

The sky had turned ink black as Sunny maneuvered the sports car up a mountain. As they got closer to the peak, Hyomin noticed a tall tower stood proudly that was lit up prettily by dozens of brightly coloured lights. “What is this place, bunny?” Hyomin stared at the tower in awe when she got out of the parked car. Sunny smiled and took Hyomin’s hand in hers, “This is called the N Seoul Tower but that’s not why I brought you here.”  Sunny led her up a small slope to reach the base of the tower and guided her around the lower deck. Hyomin saw what looked like a couple of colourful looking trees but as she got closer, she noticed those weren’t trees and the colours were from thousands of brightly coloured locks. 

“They’re called Padlocks of Love. Couples come to the tower to lock their padlock of love onto the railing and to dream that their love will last forever. But today, we’re gonna lock one for your parents, that their love for you is so strong that you would be blessed enough to see them again,” Sunny explained cheerfully and handed the brunette a baby blue padlock along with a marker.

Hyomin took the padlock and with tears in her eyes, wrote; To Appa and Omma, wherever you are, please be safe and come home to me. Your loving daughter, Sunyoung.

She handed the padlock back to Sunny who promptly secured it as high as her height allowed her, onto a tree. Turning back to the tearful Hyomin, she stuck her hand into another pocket and pulled out another lock which was baby pink with some writing on it. “This one is from me, for us.” She moved to secure the padlock next to the blue one she had placed previously.

I, Lee Soonkyu, promise to love Park Sunyoung with all my heart for as long as it beats.

Hyomin whispered Sunny’s promise to her as she read the message inscribed on it and allowed her tears to freely fall from her eyes alongside the few raindrops that had fallen from the black sky. This short girl had touched her heart in more ways than one and she felt those arms wrap around her once more. “I’ll stand by you always, no matter how hard times may get, know that I will always love you,” Sunny softly said into Hyomin’s ears. 

The two held each other for a long time even when the drizzle turned into pouring raindrops, washing away all of the president’s words to Hyomin this afternoon. She made her decision there and then when Sunny moved to kiss her, that she would never take the president’s offer, no matter if her parents were still alive or not. How could she, when Sunny had become all she needed to live for?

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Author’s Note:

Hello! Here’s yet another chapter.

I’m sorry for the slightly slower updates. Things are hectic at work. D:

My writer’s block is pretty bad these days with the added pressure of a full time job, but I hope this chapter did not disappoint!

Thank you for reading! Do share any feedback you have with me. :)