(And of course, the bgm for this chapter would be Yerin Baek's 'Bye Bye My Blue'!!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbhK3wMXluE&list=PLieo0apvqId4vV2E6rwRY65FNVChbrvb9&index=1)

“It’s like you came from a totally different world, a world that isn’t supposed to cross path with mine. You make me feel weak, and small, and scared. You make me feel like a child.”

Kermit perches lonesomely at the corner of the dim-lit bedroom, looking over at Kyungwon with faithful eyes. The yellow light of the only lamp casts a strange spell on both the green skin of the puppet and the olive complexion of the girl, making them look bluer than ever.  

Time seems to go slower every time whenever it is nighttime to Kyungwon and she hates it. She also hates mystery, she also hates uncertainty. And Kim Minkyung who embodies everything she hates. 

But could she bring herself to hate her, really?

Pulling an all-nighter for the past week has taken a toll on the poor girl who seeks distraction. Kyungwon wants to remind herself that she is good at something. Kermit isn’t helping but at least he is there.

Kang Kyungwon isn’t good at holding grudges against people though. She is good at forgiving. Even to those kids who made fun of her and threw her precious sketchbook out of the window during recess.

She is trying hard to forgive both Minkyung and herself. Even though it might not be Minkyung’s fault in the first place. 

Like, did Minkyung even do wrong?

Was Minkyung wrong for choosing someone who is brave enough to take the risk and confess? Was she wrong for not knowing Kyungwon, who chose to mute herself most of the time, actually wants her the same way? Was she wrong for wanting Kyungwon to stay as a faithful friend?

To these questions, Kyungwon has no answer.

She dare not bring herself to think whether Minkyung meant she wanted to talk to her with her last few messages or not. It hurts just to open that app again where Minkyung called out for her one last time.

It is too late to say those things, she said. Kyungwon finds it painful to just smile at times like this. It hurts. 

She wants it to go away. Everything. Minkyung, the bar, Kermit, the texts, and the wrenching feeling of tearing something away from herself. Kyungwon didn’t know that until now. 

She has given her something that she can never return.

She hopes it would go away along with Minkyung. Kim Minkyung who used to fascinate her so much, now just haunts her like a phantom pain from a limb that she has never had. 

It hurts, and it still hurts even when she had it cut off.

The green puppet stays at where it belongs, silently yet ever so concentrated. Its eyes have never left Kyungwon who is unable to finish even one sketch a day.

Her phone is buzzing as notifications flood in. Kyungwon spares a second to look at the caller before turning back to her giant pile of crumbled paper. She has to modify one of her designs and it is darn urgent. The show is in two days. 

She is not expecting Minkyung to text her again and say she’s sorry. She doesn’t need it. She doesn’t need Minkyung to feel sorry for her. They seem to live in different worlds anyway. If they stay that way, Kyungwon thinks maybe she could forget Minkyung one day, someday. 

There was once a breakup which drained her tears and her eyes when she was very young. It was like losing her world. But Kyungwon soon had the broken pieces picked up and her world rebuilt. 

Can someone grow a limb back then? Can she?

Still, Kyungwon is a trusting person. She didn’t add walls in when she rebuilt her world. Minkyung is the very first person she has to shut out. It is too much to handle perhaps. Although she is the one who knocked on Minkyung’s door first. She now regrets it.

She really meant it when she told her that she wished she had kissed her that night, she meant it when she told her that she didn’t plan for them to hook up that night. But now she is not so sure.

What if they did end up together? What would it be like if Minkyung and her started dating? Would Minkyung still be so hard to read? Or, would she finally feel like home instead of something Kyungwon barely knows?

Minkyung wished Kyungwon was braver. But she left without a word after that night. The night where Kyungwon was finally brave enough. And so, it brought Kyungwon to think that it was wrong. Minkyung’s text sort of confirmed her theory. And so, she took a step back, back to where she had been all the time.

Nayoung, who has replaced Kermit as Kyungwon’s new best friend, told her that she was rooting for them. They went out for a coffee one day and the older girl had the guts to bring it up. It is a taboo shared by their little group of friends. Kyungwon still remembers the taste of her Americano. That bland sour liquid stung her taste bud and lingers even today. 

To be honest, Kyungwon doesn’t have a single clue of where Nayoung’s blind faith comes from. Even though it is also one of her many traits that she adores. She met Minkyung at a bar when she was drunk, they talked mostly through texts, they only know each other for a little more than a year. 

But then, Nayoung insisted with her stern face on. She said there was something special about the way they look at each other. Something was there. Nayoung didn’t name it. It wrapped them around in a bubble and in that moment the world suddenly didn’t matter anymore, she described. 

Kyungwon laughs and flops back to her bed with the thought of this. Nayoung’s romantic words. It is just someone else’s story now.

Kyulkyung and her are like a perfect match, two pieces of the puzzle that are made for each other. They understand each other with just one look. 

So Nayoung wouldn’t understand.

“I did take my chances.” She pushed an half-finished cake to the other girl’s side. “She just didn’t bother to see that.”

Nayoung lifted a very small smile (but big enough to put people in a trance), and rested her fork on the wooden table creating a not-so-slivery clink. “Did you two ever talk about it?”

“You must be kidding me.” Snorting in a child-like manner, Kyungwon rolled her eyes at such question. “There’s nothing to talk about anymore.”

She just shrugged but secretly relieved seeing Kyungwon’s cute antics again, “She probably needs some time.”

“How can you be always so sure about things?” Her coffee turned slightly too cold for her to enjoy. She just craved for something warm, to warm her up.

“I just know.” Smoke from the latte got to Nayoung’s eyes and they looked ever so alive to Kyungwon. “I once made Kyulkyung very sad too. And I’m still making up to her even to this day.”

Kyungwon raised her voice out of bottled up frustration, “But it’s still different!”

“If you say so.” Nayoung remained as composed as usual and decided it was time to let the younger girl think for herself. “Now, did you say you got some shopping to do today? I’m up for it.”

She knows Nayoung wants nothing but the best for her. But she is not all-knowing and she is not always right. 

It has scarred her for life that time when Eunwoo and Siyeon got paired up for groceries by the older girl but ended up calling an ambulance for a fractured ankle and a bleeding nose at the end of the day.

For now, she needs some sleep. It would be great if she could just fall asleep.

-

“Congratulations!” Without any hesitation, a bubbly girl throws herself into the designer’s arms once everyone enters the backstage after a successful show.

Chuckling, Kyungwon gently pats the crown of Siyeon’s head, “Thanks, princess.”

A husky voice chimes in, “Once in a blue moon, you two are actually nice to each other.” 

“I don’t think Siyeon has the heart to be mean to Kyungwon at her big day.” Sungyeon smiles and reaches out to ruffle Kyla’s messy bangs.

One of the staff interrupts as the group of friends gathers around celebrating. The slender girl tiptoes and raises her camera, calling for the designer’s attention. 

“Hey Kyungwon, just wanna check something with you.”

“Oh, hi Seulgi. What’s it?” The tall girl turns and greets her colleague. “Anyway folks, this is our lead photographer of the show. ”

“Hey, hi there. And yeah, did you run out of passes to give?” Seulgi’s face spells confusion and there seem to be some situation outside. 

Kyungwon frowns recalling a certain piece of memory (which she would paint it blue if she has to - cold, distant, deep),  “No, I didn’t. You guys have given me your spares as well, remember?”

“Yeah. I also remember Moonbyul had checked with you already, and you told her that’s more than you need.” Seulgi gives the girl a firm nod before mumbling to herself. “Well then, that’s weird.” 

“Is there a problem?” Kyungwon worriedly waves a hand at Seulgi who is gradually zoning out. The backstage is lively but she can still feel as if something is dead inside her, all of a sudden. 

“Is it a journalist?” Kyulkyung tries to peep from the curtains to take a quick glance of the audience out there.

“Unlikely,” Sowon the stage manager answers from afar while urging the models to get changed. “There’s a press conference in an hour. And our security should have fended off anyone with a camera or a pen except our people.”

And there is a rustle at the back entrance of the backstage, turning everyone’s head towards the source of such noise. Everyone except one.

“Excuse me, miss. Please show me your pass if you wish to enter.” Sowon is the first to react and rush to greet the intruder.

Seulgi heaves a sigh and tightens her grip onto her camera. “Oh, there comes the tall scary girl who kept asking me where the backstage is and asked for Kang Kyungwon.”

Then, Nayoung finally says something. “Just let her in. It’s a friend.”

Shocked by the statement, Eunwoo almost snapped her neck to bore holes on Nayoung. And Kyla has to make sure the girl's head is still firmly intact with her body by shaking her shoulders several times.

Kyungwon, however, slowly turns around and somehow finds her eyes first. 

“Hi, Minkyung.”

-

Minkyung finally hurdles through thousands of obstacles and is now standing face-to-face with Kang Kyungwon who looks ever so distant and drained. 

With the mightiness of Nayoung, everyone has been dragged to the changing room area leaving the two alone for some private time. Sowon and Seulgi gladly helped as something tells them that this person might be able to dust off the cold tone on their new lead designer’s face.

Kyungwon, on the other hand, withers with every word she speaks. Her hands on her phone. Cold aluminum burns the tip of her fingers. “What brings you here?”

“I need to see you.” Like a distress call, Minkyung’s voice reaches out for Kyungwon whom is poising between the slant of the spotlights and the curtains’ shadow. It is not bright, it is not dark. Nor murky, nor nitid. Like the calmest lake under a late winter’s moon. 

She draws a deep breath, eyes downcast, “For what?” 

“I need to talk to you.” She takes a few steps closer, one foot after another. 

“Oh, you do?” She looks at her and it almost feels warm - just like what Minkyung kept seeing in her dreams (or are they fragments of a reality which never exists?).

“You need to listen, Kyungwon.” She knows it too, that she doesn’t have the walls to shut her out. “You need-”

“No. No one needs to do anything.” Kyungwon is surprised to see herself when she looks up at Minkyung. It still hurts, but it hurts less when Minkyung is here.

“I’m sorry.” Minkyung gets caught up in the softness of Kyungwon’s voice, all over again. Kyungwon is like the gentle breeze she met where the sky meets the sea, waltzing in and leaving a soft kiss on her cheek. But if Minkyung has to give Kyungwon a color, she won’t color her blue. Kyungwon should be the color that seeps past her windows when the Sun and the Moon are on the two sides of the sky, that warms her up before the night falls.

After a brief silence, Kyungwon finds herself smiling without hurting. At the absurdity she cannot seem to get rid of when it comes to a certain girl. She is never mad at Minkyung. She never would. “What are you sorry for?”

“For many things.” Minkyung therefore smiles too. She shouldn’t have left that morning. Even if Kyungwon had planned the whole thing, didn’t she want the same as well? She was the pushy one, not Kyungwon. She could have been the one who kissed Kyungwon instead when they stood under that lamppost looking at the snow. She could have been the one who asked Kyungwon to stay instead of walking away. And she continues, fingers her now-brown hair. “I thought I did what’s best for the both of us. I thought we missed the chances and were better off the way we were. I thought I was waiting for Yebin the whole time, like-”

“It’s not how love works, Minkyung.” Kyungwon curtly cuts her off while she moves away to switch off a spotlight. It looks nearly overheated. The room is getting too stuffy. “It’s about how a relationship works. We are never in a relationship. You and Yebin are. That makes a difference.”

It takes her two seconds to fully comprehend everything, “You mean you-”

“You should have known long ago, Kim Minkyung.” She lets out a loud cackle. Yes, it feels like someone else’s story now. “I didn't get to say no when you just stormed into my life and claimed yourself a place.”

“Is that why you had to leave?” Minkyung doesn’t like it how it is now too dark to see Kyungwon’s face. She wants to see Kyungwon. She has come all way just to see her.

“You've left me no choice.” Kyungwon stares at the perfect aligned dressing tables, reminding herself that she is now a designer in the industry - not just some helpless child in front of Kim Minkyung.

And just so they both happen to look into the mirror at the same time. She is looking at her and herself who is looking at her.

This, ironically, feels like some kind of intimacy that none of them seem to have felt before. The locking of the eyes, the palpation of the heart, the longing of the touch. As if it’s the most intimate thing to be touched by her eyes. Which doesn’t really make sense. As if love really makes sense. 

A thought hits Minkyung hard. Just like love does. That knocked all senses away from her ages ago. If she ever gets to trace her fingers on the contours of her face again, would it feel cold? Has Kyungwon already left? 

Kyungwon, who is just standing a few inches away from her, has never really left. She can see how Minkyung is getting more scared by every second for she is staying quiet. What is she struggling for, Kyungwon wonders.

Minkyung’s body jerks a little when she sees Kyungwon still looking at her. Kyungwon is the one she wants all along, but somehow she kept letting things get in their way. Yet she was heartless enough to put the blame on Kyungwon. 

She has always been the one with the stranglehold. And Kyungwon had been nice enough to let her hands wrap around her neck until she got back with Yebin out of the blue one day. If she were Kyungwon, she would have strangled herself to death and feed the body to those stray dogs. 

“You already have someone.” Looking away, the real Kyungwon breaks the silence and Minkyung lets out a breath she has been holding since god knows when. “And that’s my cue to leave, Minky. I chose to stay the last time and things got…… worse. I can’t do this to Yebin. This is unfair.”

“This time, can you hear me out?” Minkyung rubs her sweaty palms on her sides, the fabric of her sweater tickles. “You’re not going anywhere until I finish.”

“Fine.” Kyungwon answers although her action hints the otherwise. She wants to flee. She needs not to hear the things she already knows. She might not know Kim Minkyung, but she knows what she is going to say. An imaginary Nayoung is wiggling her eyebrows at her right now, and Kang Kyungwon just wants to go home and hugs her dog (screw Kermit). 

Minkyung tries to ignore the whispering and shuffling behind those thick curtains. This is really not the time to back out. She admits that she was a spoiled brat, she was always wanted and loved. She should have learnt how to be patient, she should have learnt how to love. Does it matter that much if Kyungwon would never tell her she loves her when she already knows?

“I love you too.” She can no longer see Kyungwon clearly because of those salty liquid threatening to redden her eyes and shaken her voice. 

“I know,” Kyungwon’s head weakly tilts towards her. She has never seen Minkyung cry and she would never want to. Nevertheless, she is listening to the sound of her heart breaks. “Does it change anything?”

“It changes everything! Goddamnit.” Minkyung curses gritting her teeth. “If you’re really as cold as you are pretending to be, then tell me to go away and I would!”

It somehow gets on Kyungwon’s nerves, forcing her to turn on her heels. “You can’t just say you’re sorry and you love me and you want me and hope that I would take you back! We both ed up and things are never the same!”

The girls eavesdropping behind the curtains could only pray to whatever deity there is that this sudden shouting feast would have a happy ending instead of a bloody one.

“Everyone around me knows that, I am actually in love with you right from the start.” Hanging her head in great shame and deep regret, Minkyung makes a failed attempt to dry her tears. “They all told me how I became so quiet around you. But they also said I would end up hurting you, like a fox to a sheep. So I got careful, maybe too careful. I thought I would be better off with someone different, and so would you. But in the end, I…… Even she, Yebin told me that I have never changed, that I wasn’t really there. Because-”

Minkyung pauses as she finally knows Kyungwon has never left - Kyungwon’s fingers have reached out to her first - her tears taking shelter on her index and her thumb, while she lifts her chin with her free hand so they can lock eyes again, “You’re really unfair.”

And Minkyung can see Kyungwon smiling even though it only reaches her eyes. So she pulls her into a tight embrace, so tight that Kyungwon could never get away even if she ever wants to. “Give me a chance. I’ll prove it to you.”

“You’d better do.” Kyungwon finally breaks a smile at the crook of Minkyung’s neck since the latter isn’t looking, and allows Minkyung to squish her like a giant plushie.

Sungyeon squeals at the adorable sight and Eunwoo cheers for how her prayers earlier are being answered. Luckily, the two are too busy to notice.

Nayoung shoots them a look before herding the girls to somewhere else so they won’t disrupt this little moment.

-

“Kyungwonnie :)”

“Yes?”

“You busy? :(”

“It depends.”

“Fancy a date? ;)”

“Yes, I’m busy.”

“:(((((((((”

“I also haven’t had lunch yet.”

“I know somewhere nice!”

“Please say yes :’(”

“Pretty please?”

“You won’t regret it. I promise :) Got something for you!”

“I’ll pick you up in 15?”

“We can’t park at the front entrance.”

“It’s the company’s rule.”

“So it’s a yes? :)))”

“Take it before I change my mind and go order a sandwich :)))”

“And do I need any Aspirin for your surprise? I might need to grab some for a heart attack before I go.”

“Kyungwon!”

“Minkyung!”

“What?”

“Aren’t we shouting names?”

“Is this some sort of punishment for me? T^T”

“Don’t text while driving.”

“I don’t want you dead.”

“Yet.”

“:)))”

“Please stop hanging out with Siyeon.”

“I want soft Kyungwon back.”

“:))”

“If I didn’t see you in 15, you are dumped.”

“I will ask Siyeon out instead.”

“Okay! I’ll be there!”

“See you <3”

-

“What is this?”

Barely recovering from the slip, Kyungwon looks at the red petals scattering all over her house. Her eyes traces the trail the petals made, all the way from her bedroom’s door to the living room, and at the end there waits the perpetrator. 

“Happy 100 days!” Standing on the couch, Minkyung pops a confetti popper celebrating the entrance of her one and only guest in this party. 

The true owner of the house makes her way to the dining table and points, “What’s up with Kermit?”

Minkyung giggles as she adjusts the pink ribbon tied around the puppet’s head, “It’s very important to our relationship so of course it is invited!”

Kyungwon decides to move on and stares at a poorly garnished steak, “Did you do all this by yourself?” 

“Y-yes?” Stealing glances at her girlfriend’s “thinking face”, she grins sheepishly. “I know you told me to give you a heads up even though you have given me the keys. Look, I’m sorry but I thought this should be a good surprise. And I tried! I swear this is my best attempt! And…… I also fed Kongie for you-” 

“Come here, you.” Kyungwon gestures her to come down and join her by the table.

“Did I do bad?” Minkyung nuzzles up to Kyungwon’s side, making the latter stumble a bit.

The corners of Kyungwon’s lips are tugged in a very nice angle where her pearly whites are displayed in a very nice manner but Minkyung is too sulky to see, “No, Minky. You did well.”

“Really?” She beams, looking up to get a good look of Kyungwon’s smile but then she gets caught in something again.

“Congratulations,” She stops as the tip of her nose touches Minkyung’s. “You have proven yourself.” 

And Minkyung can’t be happier as she is given a sweet kiss as her reward. Kyungwon can’t be happier too even though Minkyung still hasn’t given her heart back, but it is in good hands now.

So here is the ending aka Kyungwon's side of the story aka Part II!!!

I hope this is the ending you are hoping for (since most of you guys voted for this one).

And hopefully I didn't do too bad lol I don't know what took over me and made this so experimental. But yeah, I hope it is still an enjoyable ride :)

Any comments would be nice!!

Maybe I'll be seeing you again soon. Kudos!