Your scent lingers long after we part,
reminding me that all my dreams are now realities.

-H.F.

“It can't be Yeri,” Seungwan insists, hands gripping her bed-sheets tightly. “I couldn't have made such an elementary mistake.”

Seulgi stares at her, eyes fierce. “You could have. Anyone could, for that matter. They've both dyed their hair the same colour, for God’s sake, it was an easy mistake.”

“No, you don't understand.” Seungwan’s voice shakes, partly in anger at herself, partly in fear. “This means that Joohyun was put in so much danger because of one stupid mistake. My stupid mistake.”

Seulgi rapped the top of Seungwan's head sharply, injury be damned. “Shut up. Are you saying that if you found out that it was Yeri and not Joohyun, you'd be okay? That it would've been better for her to have to face Taek alone? Because let me tell you, Seungwan: if you did, Joohyun would never have forgiven you.”

She glares at Seungwan for a few moments more, then sits down on the edge of her bed with a sigh. “Even when you didn’t, Yeri was still in grave danger, and Joohyun probably feels like she’s partly to blame. There’s no winning this game, Seungwan.”

Seungwan bites her lip; she knows, somewhere deep within her mind, that Seulgi is right. But even so, she struggles to accept the idea that she has been chasing down the wrong leads this whole time. If only she hadn’t picked up this case, none of this would have happened! No fire, no fight, no… Joohyun.

She grips the thin blanket, begging the loud thumps of her heart against her ribcage to be quiet. “I think we should carry out another test. With Yeri’s hair, and with Joohyun’s. Just to make sure,” she added when she meets Seulgi’s steady gaze.

“Alright.” If that is what is takes to convince Seungwan that Yeri is, in fact, the one she was looking for, Seulgi is more than willing. All she needs to do know is to ask their permission, that’s all. What could be so hard about that?

*

“Absolutely not.”

Seulgi nearly trembles in her shoes under the intensity of Joohyun’s glare as the two women stand outside Yeri’s hospital room. She had barely managed to finish the sentence before Joohyun shut her down. Undaunted, Seulgi tries again, bracing herself lest Joohyun gets mad. “But we need to confirm this! Then-”

“Then what?” Joohyun shouts, attracting the attention of passing nurses. “Then what?” she repeats, quieter, with a voice still sharp and tense. “If it turns out Yeri is actually the girl they’re looking for, she’ll be in even more danger. Isn’t she already injured enough?”

Seulgi takes Joohyun’s hand in hers, gentle, pleading. “Please, Joohyun. If we can prove that Yeri is indeed her, then we can maybe lessen the charges on Seungwan, and we can bring Taek - and the one behind all this - to justice. You and Yeri will never be put in harm’s way ever again.”

“Seulgi…”

“Alright.” The door to Yeri’s room slides open with a quiet grinding sound. Seulgi and Joohyun turn to face Yeri, standing in the gap in her hospital gown, her hand grasping her IV stand for support. “Let’s do it.”

Joohyun turns to her with a pained expression, but Yeri stands firm and shakes her head. “Joohyun, I know you’re trying to protect me, but I’m not a child anymore. Trust me for a change. Trust me.”

Joohyun balks under her unwavering gaze, and she nods slowly. She twists a loose strand of hair and in one swift motion plucks it out. Yeri does the same, wincing as the act incites a little twinge of pain in her scalp, and holds it out to Seulgi.

“Here, Seulgi.” Yeri gives her a tired smile. “Let’s get this over with.”

*

As they waited for the results to return, Joohyun sat at the edge of Seungwan’s bed, their fingers intertwined under the blanket. Seungwan leans over to tuck a stray lock of copper hair behind Joohyun’s ear; she cups Joohyun’s cheek and smooths over fair skin with a thumb. Her index finger traces furrowed eyebrows, and she gently presses at them to ease the strain.

“Frowning will give you wrinkles, you know.” Seungwan pulls Joohyun into a hug, hands rubbing her back in soothing . “Don’t worry, it’ll be okay. Seulgi and Joy will do their best to protect the both of you, you know that.”

“I know.” Joohyun sighs, her nose buried in Seungwan’s hospital gown. Seungwan smells less and less like herself every day, and it makes her uncomfortable. Taking a deep breath, Joohyun is relieved to find hints of fresh bread, chocolate brownies, blueberry muffins buried beneath the antiseptic scent of the hospital. She laughs at herself inwardly; how ridiculous it is to be comforted by such a small, insignificant thing as the smell of a loved one. Then again, Joohyun was never one to easily dismiss the little things in life, and especially not fragrances and scents.

And because she is with a woman she loves, and more importantly, a woman she trusts, Joohyun believes it is her turn to be honest with her girlfriend.

“Should I tell you a story, Seungwan?”

Seungwan pulls back and looks at Joohyun in confusion. “Um, sure?”

Joohyun moves so she is sitting in the visitor’s chair instead of on the bed, but her hands never leave Seungwan’s. “There was once a little girl with long black hair,” she starts, “and she had very loving parents. They loved her, but unfortunately, they didn’t get the chance to love her for long. Her father died in an accident when she was two years old, leaving her with a heartbroken mother.

That was when the girl started to display asthma-like symptoms, especially in cold weather. Her mother was panicking - after all, it cost a lot for a single mother to take care of her sick child, and they were not left with very much money. At that time, whether by fate or not, a rich man appeared and offered to take care of her child, if only the mother would marry him. The mother, of course, immediately agreed, and in no time got married.

True to his word, the new stepfather brought the child to a renowned private hospital to find out the cause of her symptoms. When he found out that she did not, in fact, have asthma, he was no doubt relieved. But relief gave way to interest when he also learnt that she had a certain affliction that made her sensitive to the chemicals in certain scents, as well as greatly improving her sense of smell.

It just so happened that the rich man was working for a perfume company, and after leaving the hospital with the girl, he decided to start his own business in the line. He started mixing chemicals and creating fragrance after fragrance, and would encourage his young stepchild to give him feedback about them. He did this so often that it began to greatly affect the girl, and