Date Completed: 5 April 2017

Song Recommendation:  Westlife – Us Against the World

Minor Pairings: Dandyu, JoyGi

Here's a Taeyeon picture, for reasons.

 

Joohyun did not know why she let Seulgi dragged her to the arcade. She hated crowd, she hated too much noise and these days, she hated humanity in general. She never really liked games too, Seulgi was the game addict. The younger girl often said that games were how she escaped reality, the world where she found her comfort in. It was so unlike Joohyun.

 

Joohyun would usually listen to songs or write on her diary to get her own escape. Once upon a time, she also used to look in her twinkling eyes and listen to her boisterous laughter whenever she was feeling down and just like that, she would feel a lot better. Suddenly the world did not feel that bad of a place anymore. But that was then. Now the privilege to look at her favourite toothy grin was no longer hers. Not since Wendy got married a week ago.

 

Joohyun might complain, but she complied to Seulgi’s wishes anyway. She could hardly ever say no to anyone. The last time she said it, she lost the person she loved most. She was not going to take that chance ever again. And Joohyun knew Seulgi meant well. Seulgi, Joy and Yeri had been worried sick about her ever since Wendy got married. She thought she had managed to hide her feelings quite well but apparently her sister, Yeri heard her cried herself to sleep every night and Seulgi could not pretend not to notice anymore.

 

She came to the Bae’s residence (only Joohyun and Yeri stayed there as they were staying away from their parents) about 2 hours ago and started to knock at Joohyun’s door; shouting that if the older girl did not drag herself out of bed and follow her, she would go and tell Wendy about Joohyun’s feelings. Joohyun knew Seulgi would not do that for real. The bear loved her and Wendy too much to break both of their hearts. But still Joohyun found herself getting out of bed and getting ready, before she was whisked here.

 

And now Seulgi was missing. Typical of Kang Seulgi. She left Joohyun with some tokens and then muttered something about taking revenge at her favourite dancing machine but she dashed off. Joohyun was feeling rather anxious standing alone without doing anything for a while as she realized a lot of people was starting to look at her now. She pulled up her hoodie and then started walking around without any specific purpose. There was no point in trying to call Seulgi now. The girl almost never answer her phone when she hung out here as it was too noisy and she could not feel the vibration in her pocket anyway; she would be too excited moving around.

 

Joohyun wandered around the arcade and sometimes stopping around to look at some of the more interesting games that people played but she did not play one herself. She was hoping to see Seulgi but even when she went to the ‘Infinite Steps’, a dance machine that was very popular and always crowded, she did not see Seulgi. Joohyun was starting to grow weary of the place when she suddenly spotted a lone, deserted machine at a corner of the arcade. There was no one else around the machine and she thought the machine might be broken. She was starting to walk away when she noticed the machine lighted up. Her curiosity got the best of her and she made her way there.

 

‘Fate Channel, 2013 Edition’. Joohyun mouthed the name of the machine and frowned a bit. From the name and the preview she could see on the screen, it seemed to be an RPG game of some sort. RPG game was not the main genre of arcade games so Joohyun was rather intrigued by the machine. Especially since she noticed that in the game, the player had to make some choices in order to advance and the choices will affect the player’s future endeavours. It seemed similar to interactive novel games that Wendy used to love playing back then. Joohyun looked around. Nobody seemed to be interested in the machine so she decided to just sit and play the game, since she had nothing else to do anyway.

 

Joohyun inserted her tokens and quickly made an avatar that resembled herself and named it ‘Irene’. A sad smile crept on her face. That was Wendy’s nickname for her. The cheerful girl once said that seeing Joohyun made her peaceful, so she called Joohyun her own Goddess of Peace, Irene. Then she thought of her younger sister and her best friend, Sooyoung. Both had been busy lately as Wendy had made them in charge of her bakery when she went to honeymoon. The word ‘honeymoon’ felt like it was scratching a new wound at Joohyun’s heart so she did not dwell on it for too long.

 

Joohyun knew if Joy and Yeri were there, they would have complained and nagged her for making such a boring avatar. They would have forced her to choose the craziest styles for her avatar. She smiled a bit with the thought and chose start.

 

As the machine started, a series of instructions came on screen.

 

You cannot simply stop playing in the middle of the game. You will have to find an arcade machine similar to this one to reset. (Eh, I have to do what? Such a good ploy to give people the creeps and finish the game. Good one.)

 

The levels will end when you reach the year that you are currently in: 2016. Again, you will have to find an arcade machine similar to this one to reset, if you want. (3 years…? It’s gonna be a short game then. 3 years in game usually flies fast. Again with the reset machine warning. Ugh. Do I have to keep reading the same thing over and over again?)

 

Once you have made a choice in the game, you cannot take back the choice. You only have one chance. You will have to find an arcade machine similar to this one to reset. Any changes you made will then not be recorded and you will come back to the same world you left. (Alright, alright. Geez.)

 

You will get to make three choices. Once the last choice has been made, you will not get another chance to reset and you will immediately come back to the year: 2016 to see the result of your choices. (So it’s gonna stop talking about chance to reset now? Finally!)

 

Be true to your heart and think carefully when you make the choice. You have made a lot of mistakes in life and this might be your only chance to make it right. Good luck. (What?)

 

Joohyun was puzzled by the instructions but she clicked agree and then waited for the screen to load. She watched her avatar woke up from sleep and got greeted by another avatar. Just then, a prompt came on screen and she read it carefully.

 

“You just received an offer to study overseas. If you go, you are guaranteed to get the dream job you have been wishing. However, if you choose to go, you will leave the person you love most in the entire world and there is no guarantee that you will be together with them again.”

 

“Leave or Stay?”

 

Joohyun chose to stay this time.

 

 

“Hyunnie~ Wake up~” A bright voice broke the silence of the morning and the sound of curtain being pulled was heard. Joohyun groaned as she recognized the voice.

 

“Hyunnie~ I prepared pancakes. Hurry up before Yeri finishes everything.” Joohyun did not know how, but she could just hear the pout that was surely plastered on the girl’s face now. Joohyun was tempted to smile but she didn’t open her eyes. Not yet.

 

“Wendy, how many times do I have to tell you that ‘Hyunnie’ is a nickname and it is not equivalent to ‘Hyun unnie.’ You’re still using banmal to me, brat.”

 

“But unnie is my Hyunnie~” The younger girl said and then laughed.

 

Joohyun opened her eyes and then saw the grinning face that she had missed so much. It had been so long since she had seen that grinning face. Ever since she came back from Switzerland, she had not seen that grin. Wendy would just give her a polite smile and avoided her eyes. It had been so long since she had seen her beautiful face, even. She did not go to the wedding. She told everyone she was busy with work then.

 

After all were said and done…why the hell was Wendy here? Joohyun jolted and sat immediately on her bed, her eyes widening. Wendy was startled by the abrupt action by the older girl but the smile never left her face.

 

“Wan…Wan-ah. Why are you here?” Wendy pouted when she heard the question. Joohyun was frazzled. Seungwan was sporting her blond hair now. She had not had blond hair for…years! Not since before Joohyun left to Switzerland. Seulgi had once accidentally let out that since Joohyun loved to see blond Wendy, the latter could barely look at herself in the mirror before she re-dyed her hair to red. The last time Joohyun saw Wendy, the girl had a blue hair, the one she dyed especially for her wedding.

 

“Unnie, you promised to bring me to look around my college today before the registration day, remember?” Joohyun widened her eyes when she heard this. Wendy was almost done with college! She was on her final year and that was why she decided to marry her fiancée, since he was planning to take her to Singapore after her graduation as he had accepted a job offer there. It was Wendy’s turn to leave her.

 

“What…what date is it today?” Joohyun was confused and she shuffled almost frantically, trying to look for her phone. Wendy who was pouting before had a concerned expression when she looked at the state Joohyun was in.

 

“Unnie, it’s the 1st of August, 2013. Are you joking? Are you alright?”

 

Joohyun who just found her phone dropped it in horror. She had gone back to the day of her greatest regret…and she had a chance to make it right this time.

 

 

Joohyun had until midnight to make up her mind to decide whether she was going to accept or reject the offer for her to continue her studies in Switzerland. It was a brilliant offer, a Master in Finance in one of the top universities there and internship would be included. She chewed her lower lip lightly while thinking about what was going on. Currently she was waiting for Wendy who was cooking omelette for both of them and Yeri. She sat at the dining table and started to evaluate on what happened to her.

 

The last thing she remembered was that she chose to stay using that Fate Channel game but…it could not be so right? How could anyone travel back in time? Was it possible that everything was just a dream now? Probably Joohyun was too upset with Wendy’s wedding, which was the reason why she was making the whole scenario up.

 

Then…if it was only a dream, it would not hurt if she tried to make the best of it right? Joohyun pondered on all this and nodded to herself, not realizing the amused look being thrown to her by Yeri.

 

“Unnie, are you alright? Any good looking girl caught your attention lately? Why do you look so deep in thought?”

 

Joohyun snapped out of her thoughts and blushed when she realized what Yeri was asking. It did not help that Wendy poked her head from the kitchen, her eyebrows lifted high, obviously curious as well.

 

“Irene unnie, you have a girlfriend now? Will I get to see her later? I bet she’s as pretty as you!”

 

Wendy cheered from the kitchen excitedly and Joohyun sent her a bitter smile. She thought Wendy might had some sorts of feelings for her back then but probably she was wrong. Joohyun was wrong about a lot of things anyway. Wendy quickly went in the kitchen again and Yeri bombarded Joohyun with more questions, ones that Joohyun just ignored.

 

Instead, she walked in the kitchen to help Wendy. Wendy was standing still in front of the stove, probably waiting for the omelette to be cooked. Joohyun went to her and hugged her from the back, startling the younger girl. Wendy yelped and threw the spatula she was holding to the back, hitting Joohyun’s shoulder in the process. Joohyun let go of the girl and cursed in pain. That was when she realized the burning omelette in the pan.

 

“Wendy! Move! Let me deal with this.”

 

Joohyun pushed Wendy aside and quickly took the pan and put it in the sink. The noise called Yeri to the kitchen and the youngest girl quickly took charge of switching off the gas and cleaning up the kitchen while taking out a few things of the fridge in order to cook them breakfast. Joohyun led Wendy to the living room and Wendy felt so guilty, she just kept on apologizing to Joohyun. Joohyun just shushed the shaken girl.

 

“It’s okay, kid. Accident happens all the time. It’s so unlike you to mess up in the kitchen though. What’s wrong?”

 

Wendy got flustered at Joohyun’s question and just mumbled something about being distracted while avoiding Joohyun’s eyes. Joohyun hugged the younger girl to calm her down although her own heart seemed to beat faster due to completely different reasons.

 

She might be wrong about Wendy’s feelings towards her after all. Wrong in a right way.

 

 

Joohyun was getting a bit bewildered now.

 

She used to be interested in the topic of lucid dreams and did a lot of research on it. She still remembered that among the ways she could test if she was dreaming were to count on her fingers and to look at the clock. She tried both and nothing seemed out of place. She also tried growing wings but she only looked like she was about to poop. And everything seemed to be very detailed and there was no jumping in time or anything, it just went like it usually did. So no, this was very real.

 

Presently, she was with Wendy at her college and Wendy’s soon-to-be college. She was showing the younger girl on the registration place, her dormitory, the classes’ blocks and a few more important places. Then Joohyun decided to show Wendy the department she would be majoring in, the music department. They were just about to go in the building when someone bumped Wendy’s shoulder and dropped the books he was carrying.

 

Both of them were apologizing to each other and collected the books together. Joohyun was about to help them when she froze, finally recognizing the guy in front of her.

 

Zhang Yixing. Wendy’s future husband. So this was how Wendy got to know him, she met him during her first visit to the college. Probably he was the one who would give Wendy the tour she gave her today as Yixing is the Student President of Music Department. She could see too how Yixing could charm Wendy. He was tall, good looking, the shy yet charismatic and funny foreigner who was kind to everyone. He was very talented too. Joohyun had interacted with him a few times before she migrated to Switzerland since she was the Student President for Business Department after all but the gravity of those small interactions hit her hard now.

 

In the reality Joohyun had known, she cancelled her promise with Wendy today and was busy preparing to move. Wendy was heartbroken but she understood Joohyun’s decision and she still went to the college, dragging Seulgi with her although the latter was applying to a different college. From her faint memory, Joohyun remembered Seulgi mentioning about a Chinese guy giving them a tour around the college. So it was him.

 

“Ah, it’s Joohyun. Hello there.” Yixing greeted Joohyun, pulling her back to her current situation. Joohyun returned the greeting while cautiously looking at Wendy, wondering if she would see the bright eyes being charmed by Yixing, the way the younger girl used to look at Yixing in the reality she came from. Yet, Wendy was only looking at Joohyun with one eyebrow raised.

 

“Urm, Wendy. Meet Yixing. He’s in the same year as me and he’s the Student President of Music Department. Basically, he’s someone you will need to know if you’re studying here.” Wendy and Yixing politely bowed at each other.

 

“She’s very pretty. Is she your younger sister?”

 

Yixing flashed a blinding smile at Wendy and Wendy looked away from him shyly. Joohyun’s blood boiled and she grabbed hold of Wendy’s hand firmly.

 

“No, she’s not. Fancy seeing you here, Yixing. Do you usually come here during holiday season?”

 

“Oh, sorry. I was just assuming…Never mind. I came here to reject my offer to study in London, actually. I think I like it better here, in Korea. Oh, that reminds me. Congratulations Joohyun! I think Suho mentioned something about you studying in Switzerland…”

 

“Actually, no. I’m going to reject it too. We better take our leave now. I still have some more places to show Wendy. Goodbye, Yixing. See you around.”

 

 

Joohyun hugged her knees and rolled on her bed. She just had an argument with Wendy and she did not feel good about it. If it was not because of Yixing; no one would have known that she got the offer to study in Switzerland.

 

“Unnie, did you get the offer to study overseas?”

 

“Hurmm? Forget it, kid. Do you want to eat pasta for lunch? We can buy some for Yeri.”

 

“Unnie, I’m not a kid.”

 

“Sure, kid.”

 

Joohyun laughed then and ruffled Wendy’s hair lightly but she was surprised when Wendy deflected her hand. Joohyun stopped in her track and watched the younger girl’s steely eyes. She sighed then, she had expected this kind of reaction from Wendy.

 

“Irene unnie, can you answer me for real? Did you get offer to study in Switzerland?”

 

Irene hummed as an answer and Wendy ran her fingers through her hair in frustration.

 

“Why didn’t you go? I thought you were telling everyone a few months back how much you wanted to study out of Korea. So why?”

 

“Do you want me to leave so badly, Wan ah? I can still go, you know. The deadline is tonight.”

 

“No! I mean, I want you to go for the right reasons. And if you choose to stay, I hope you’ll choose to stay for the right reasons too. Why would you let go of something you’ve wanted for so long just like that?”

 

Irene still looked relaxed although Wendy seemed to be raising her voice with each word she spoke.

 

“Can’t you alone be enough reason for me to stay? What if I tell you that I’ve wanted something else for far longer and even more so than I want to study overseas?”

 

Wendy blushed and Irene was mesmerized by the sight in front of her. She could not believe that she had the power to make Wendy blush that easily. However, it was not yet the time to use her newfound knowledge. She still had to make sure that she was right.

 

“Just kidding! Kid, you should’ve looked at your face when I said that. You want unnie’s love that much eh?”

 

Joohyun pretended to smirk and watched Wendy’s reaction. The younger girl’s eyes watered and she let out a weak smile.

 

“Yeah, probably this kid is hoping too much from her unnie. I think I’ll head back first unnie, see you when I see you.”

 

Joohyun did not mean to make Wendy cry. She was only trying to see if Wendy shared the same feelings as her and the girl left before Joohyun could explain anything more. She had already received calls from Seulgi and it was a nightmare. The usually sweet and kind Seulgi actually threatened to do something to her if she did not apologize to Wendy.

 

Joohyun was not sure what exactly Seulgi would do to realize her threat. Pikachu her to death? Kang Seulgi was too gentle to do anything more than that usually but this was Wendy; and Seulgi always had soft spot for Wendy; Seulgi cared about Wendy more although she was Joohyun’s friend first so Joohyun thought she should be more careful.

 

If Seulgi knew, Joohyun was willing to bet Joy knew too. And if Joy knew…

 

The light knocks at her door seemed to confirm her suspicion. The door opened even without Joohyun’s verbal permission and Yeri stood at the door, not even going in the room. She was squinting her eyes and staring daggers at her older sister.

 

“Yerim, what are you doing?”

 

“Oh, nothing. I’ve been informed that a jerk lives in this house. So I guess I might as well observe the jerk in her natural habitat. It’s rare for me to get to do this kind of field research.”

 

Joohyun rolled her eyes at this and got up from her bed. She moved around the room to grab her hoodie and mask before she started to head out of the room. Yeri moved aside and let Joohyun pass.

 

“Where are you going unnie?”

 

“Revel Mart. You want anything?”

 

“Yeah. Can you buy some apologies at the mart? I think you might need it when you see Wendy unnie again.”

 

Joohyun did not reply and just closed the door, slamming it a bit harder than usual. She began her walk in the cold night and she started to think again.

 

Could it be possible that the reality in which Wendy was married to Yixing was actually a nightmare? Joohyun thought it might became more and more likely as time passed on. It all felt like a dream anyway. Her being in Switzerland, far away from everyone else and Wendy being married.

 

‘Wendy was so young. What a ridiculous dream.’

 

Joohyun felt her steps became lighter after that. She would see Wendy, Seulgi and Joy tomorrow and apologize. She would treat all of them to dinner, Yeri included. When the time was right, she might even confess to Wendy but she would take her own sweet time on that.

 

However when she arrived at the mini mart, the dark windows stunned her in her steps. Her theory about everything she thought she knew was a shattered in an instant. She stood straight and stared at her reflection in the dark window but it was not what caught her attention.

 

Instead, she saw Fate Channel, 2013 Edition in front of the window, emitting ghostly glow, as if calling her.

 

Joohyun should be scared and just ran away but she was called to the machine. There was a lot of unexplainable things in this world so what was one more…right? But this one involved her. Joohyun almost hyperventilated but she kept calm and reminded herself that resetting everything was always a possibility, as the machine kept on reminding her.

 

She walked to the machine and saw a prompt popping out when she was close enough to read it.

 

“It’s your sister’s graduation day but the love of your life will be involved in a competition that might change her whole life that day. Who will you choose?

 

“Sister or Love?”

 

Graduation? Singing competition?

 

Joohyun knew about Yeri’s graduation, it was going to happen next month, in about 7 weeks. But a singing competition? Wendy did not say anything about a singing competition. Joohyun smiled slightly on how easily she thought of Wendy’s name when she saw the word love.

 

Again, this was a tough decision to make. Yeri was her only sibling and her parents were staying far away from Seoul. It was up for her to be there for the younger girl’s grand day. And Wendy was…Wendy. She was not Joohyun’s sister or family but Joohyun would always put as much importance on Wendy.

 

Her tongue stuck out a bit while she was pondering on her decision. Any passersby would have been amused by the look on her face. Actually, they would also be amused because all they could see was a young woman standing in front of a broken game machine, making a serious face.

 

Joohyun took a deep breath and chose her sister. Besides, she could always go to Wendy’s competition with Yeri right after the graduation ceremony, right?

 

 

Wrong.

 

Joohyun was driving like a maniac right now after she received the call from Seulgi. Yeri was sitting beside her, worried and her face was marked by dry tears. On her lap, a bouquet of flowers in disarrayed state and a crumpled graduation hat rested. She was afraid with the way Joohyun was driving but she knew no words could get through Joohyun right now. Her ears could go deaf with the amount of honks and shouts directed at them but Joohyun seemed to only be focused on one thing: getting to Wendy.

 

‘Wendy got into an accident. She’s in a critical condition right now.’

 

The words played like a broken record in Joohyun’s ears and with gritted teeth, she pressed the pedal a little faster.

 

She would not let her bad choice kill Wendy, no.

 

When they arrived at the hospital, both of them ran to the ICU and they were greeted with Seulgi and Joy’s solemn face. Both of them seemed like they had been crying too. Yeri immediately walked over to Joy and hugged the tall girl while Joohyun moved closer to Seulgi. Seulgi shook her head at the unasked question.

 

“They are still operating on her. It had just been an hour. Joohyun unnie…there was so much blood. I-I was so scared. She was not moving at all when they moved her.”

 

Seulgi’s voice was quivering and Joohyun hugged her without saying anything. She was afraid if she opened , she would start crying and did not stop. Joohyun had to stay strong because everyone was leaning on her. Internally, she was screaming because she saw the huge blood stain on Seulgi and Joy’s clothes and she was expecting the worst.

 

Her mind brought her back to the day after they had their argument, the day after she made her second choice. She made up with Wendy then. She refused to elaborate on the reason why she did not choose to study overseas; only citing Yeri and Korean education as being good enough too as her reasons. Wendy seemed to accept that very well and although on the surface they looked fine, a wall appeared to have grown between them but not quite at the same time.

 

By then, Joohyun knew that Wendy had feelings for her too, but Wendy could not be sure whether Joohyun felt the same. They swayed a careful dance around each other with their loyal spectators teasing them sometimes when they got bored with the careful approach the two were taking. Joohyun would sometimes flirt with Wendy openly and Wendy would show how much she cared about Joohyun, even more than she cared about the others. Seulgi, Joy and Yeri would just roll their eyes looking at the flirtatious not-quite-a-couple.

 

When Wendy talked to Joohyun about the singing competition, Joohyun was the one who encouraged her to enter the competition. It was a huge opportunity, the winner could be signed by a famous record company and being a singer had always been Wendy’s dream. Wendy was reluctant to join since she felt she had to be with Yeri during her graduation day but when Yeri herself threatened Wendy that she would stop talking to her if Wendy refused to enter the competition, Wendy gave in and prepared.

 

After a few discussions and minor arguments, it was decided that Joy and Seulgi would accompany Wendy and Joohyun would be with Yeri on her big day. At the end of the day, they would all gather and celebrate Yeri’s graduation and Wendy’s participation.