Chapter 17 – Accidentally

Goddess Cruise Ship

“Achoo!!!” Yuri sneezed loudly for the fifteenth time ever since she joined Yoona and Jessica. In case anyone was wondering, yes, Yoona counted them. It was hard to ignore the fact someone standing beside you sneezing like she hadn’t been able to do that for years.

All three of them stopped walking toward the front desk as Yuri stopped to dig in her bag, trying to find a new pack of tissue since she had used up the one she was holding. After a good five minutes, Yuri hadn’t found one. Before she could get frustrated at her dripping red nose, a pack of tissue appeared in front of her eyes.

“Here.” Yoona said while handing Yuri the pack. “This business trip will last long so you should take better care of yourself. We’ll never get our work done if one of us gets sick.”

“Thanks.” Yuri hesitantly took the pack from Yoona’s hand and said in a small voice.

“If you’re not feeling well then stay here. Jessica and I will do the check-in.” Yoona said as she tapped on Jessica’s shoulder to get her attention since the girl was busy looking around for a certain person. When she finally got Jessica’s attention, Yoona tilted her head toward the front desk, signaling the blonde to go with her there.

Yuri watched as Yoona walked away from her. Right now, the distance between them were no more than ten meters yet Yuri felt like they were worlds apart. Yoona was standing there so close to her yet it was impossible for her to reach out for the latter. Like the way Yoona offered her the pack of tissue earlier, how she said those words made Yuri felt like they were nothing to each other but strangers, co-workers who are forced to go on the business trip together. Yuri knew that Yoona was trying really hard to be friendly to her but deep down in her heart, Yuri still yearned for something more than just friendliness came from Yoona. Just a little bit more was enough for her.

Yoona’s loud voice in the background pulled Yuri out of her deep thought. Yuri started to walk toward the front desk when she saw the irritation on Yoona’s face.

“What do you mean that there’re only reservations for Jung Jessica and Im Yoona?” Yoona shouted in an annoyed tone.

“What happened?” Yuri chimed in.

“They said that the computer only shows two reservations for me and Yoona.” Jessica explained to Yuri.

“There should be one for Kwon Yuri as well, can you please check again?” Yuri softly suggested.

The front desk woman clicked away at her computer for a few minutes, “I’m really sorry, miss but I’ve checked twice and there are only two reservations show up which is Jung Jessica and Im Yoona.”

“How is this possible? Don’t you see that there are three of us? How come there are only two reservations?” Yoona said in annoyance.

If there were only two suites, certainly two of them would be roomed together. Under normal circumstances, there would be no problem if Jessica and Yoona were roomed together since they lived in the same house anyway. However in this case, how could she stay with Jessica in the same room and not act awkward around each other. She was truly afraid that Jessica will notice something strange about her attitude. Yuri was definitely not a possible option either. Who knew what was gonna happen if they stayed in the same room?

“I sincerely apologized for this inconvenience, miss. Can you please take a seat and wait in the lobby and I’ll see what I can do about getting you another room?” The front woman said in a trained perky voice.

Before Yoona could protest, Jessica quickly pulled the hot-headed girl away from the front desk while Yuri put on a polite smile to the front desk woman as she said, “Please do.”

“Don’t worry, they will do whatever they can to get us a room.” Yuri reassured the angered Yoona as she approached them.

“What kind of cruise ship is this? I can’t believe that they actually mistook our reservation.” Yoona continued her never-ending complains.

“The kind that you’re currently a Sales Manager for its company so just stay quiet and see what they can do.” Jessica said in a mocking manner.

That statement did a good job in shutting Yoona up. The doe-eye girl crossed her arms across her chest while tapping her foot impatiently waiting for respond from the cruise staff.

Moments later, a man in the white uniform who they assumed to be the Cruise Director approached them. He politely greeted them before explaining the situation to the three of them thoroughly.

“As you can see, Mr.Choi only informed us yesterday that we had to have three reservations for three of you. Such a short time and we have to arrange three empty suites without any notices beforehand. We did try our best and the result is we can only arrange a single suite and a double suite. We truly are grateful if you can understand our situation and go along with this arrangement.”

Yoona let out a heavy sigh as the director finished his explanation. It was settled, two of them must be roomed together. This business trip just got worse and worse every second.

“It’s okay, we get it. You guys have had a hard time too.” Yuri said understanding because she was also a victim of Siwon’s rush decision herself.

Relief could be easily found on the director’s face as he listened to what Yuri was saying. “I’m so glad that you do. If you guys need something for your business trip, please feel free to tell us and we’ll try our very best to fulfill your request.”

“So much for trying your best.” Yoona mumbled in a small voice and received a nudge from Jessica in return.

The director walked away after giving Yuri their room keys. Holding the keys in her hand, Yuri knew that they have to decide the room’s arrangement.

“Well, I guess Yoona and Jes-”

Yuri’s suggestion was cut short by Jessica’s voice, “How about you and me share a room, Yuri? I think that’ll be fun.”

“What? You want to share a room with me?” Yuri just had to ask again. She believed there must be something wrong with her hearing.

“Yeah, it’s so boring how I always see Yoona’s face because we live in the same house and work at the same department. It feels good to mix up sometimes, seeing new faces you know?” Jessica grinned.

“Yah!” Yoona said, offended.

“Well… if that’s what you want… I’m fine with it.” Yuri said hesitantly. It was really hard to understand what was going on in Jessica’s blonde head.

Unconsciously, a relieve sigh escaped Yoona’s mouth when she heard Yuri’s approval. Of course, her obvious reaction didn’t go unnoticed by Jessica. She tried to force a sad smile on her face when things went just like she expected. Somehow, Jessica had gotten used to doing the things that only herself knew the reason why. Ever since the moment Yoona raised her voice at the receptionist, the blonde had known what her best friend was thinking. Yoona wasn’t that easy to lose her temper especially when she was once a Cruise Director; how they worked around the cruise she herself knew the best. There was only one explanation left for Yoona’s sudden change in attitude: she didn’t want to be roomed with anyone presented at this moment included her best friend.

Sometimes, Jessica wished that she didn’t know Yoona this much almost like she had the ability to read her best friend’s mind. For once, she wanted to be clueless, needed to be clueless. If she did, she would’ve felt much less pain than she did at this moment.

&&&&&&

Room A102

Yuri sat on her bed as she kept her eyes on the blonde who was unpacking her suitcase quietly. Ever since Yoona parted way with them to get to her suite, Jessica hadn’t spoken anything to her. The girl just quietly walked to their suite, sat on the couch and unpacked her suitcase, acting as if they were strangers. It felt like she was a completely different person when Yoona wasn’t here anymore, less talking, less smiling, more cold-expressions. Yuri just assumed that Jessica only acted like this because they weren’t close enough unlike Yoona and her, they were best friends after all.

Even though they had been co-workers for almost a month, this was the first time Yuri could take a good look at the blonde and there was one thing she had to admit: Jessica was gorgeous. Her silky blonde hair, deep brown orbs and her milky white skin, the girl was no doubt a true beauty. Looking at Jessica, Yuri realized that there were so many beautiful girls surrounded Yoona; even her best friend wasn’t an exception. Now she knew how naïve she was three years ago to think that Yoona could actually fall for a girl like her.

Done unpacking, Jessica turned her head to look around the room and Yuri hastily looked away, pretending she was looking at something else.

“I only hang my clothes in half of the closet. The other half is yours.” Jessica said casually while zipping her suitcase.

“Oh… thanks.”

Jessica shifted her eyes from Yuri to the king-sized bed in the bedroom. “Uhm… There’s only one bed and I think that you will find it uncomfortable sleeping in the same bed with me. So I think we should take turn using it. The other can sleep on this couch. What do you think?”

“You mean like today is your turn using the bed and tomorrow is mine?” Yuri asked to make sure.

“Yeah or it can be the other way around. It doesn’t matter whose first.”

“Uh… yeah. I think that’s a good idea.” Yuri agreed. What was there to object anyway? 

“Then it’s your turn using the bed tonight.” Jessica said then she took a few steps over the coffee table in front of the TV. She picked up the daily activities brochure and flipped through it.

Jessica knew that she was acting a little cold toward Yuri but she couldn’t help herself. She wasn’t in the mood to act all bubbly right now. Not after the way Yoona acted to her.

Yuri sat herself down awkwardly opposite Jessica. There were only three people on this business trip, the last thing Yuri wanted at this moment was one of them might act awkward around the others. She wanted to be close to Jessica in some way, at least to the point that she could start off a conversation with the blonde casually like a normal friend.

“Uh… I guess you and Yoona must be close friends to each other.” Yuri said as an attempt to start a random conversation with the blonde.

Out of thousands of subjects to start a conversation, Yuri just had to choose the one which was Jessica’s most sensitive subject to talk about. Yoona was her best friend was the fact that everyone knew of also the fact that she was trying so hard to ignore. What Yuri was saying was like rubbing salt in her open wound, especially when Yoona acted totally distant to her these days. And like a trigged was being pulled, Jessica immediately looked up from the brochure she was looking at.

“No, we’re not.” Came the not so friendly reply from Jessica.

Completely caught off guard by Jessica’s unexpected answer, Yuri became flustered in front of the girl who only had one expression on her face at this moment: cold, “But I tho-”

“You thought wrong.” Jessica snapped.

Yuri leaned back in her seat to keep a safe distance from Jessica. She exhaled heavily as she felt the sudden tension in the room, not to mention the shiver down her back every time Jessica looked at her.

Jessica shut her eyes tightly, trying to calm herself down. Yuri’s sudden silence made her realized that she had been overreacting. For someone who was trying to be nice to her yet the way she was acting like a total jerk all this time. She rubbed her head as she turned her attention back to the brochure, ready for a random chit-chat like Yuri wanted.

“We’re not close friends. We’re best friend, the type who is always there for each other.” Jessica softened her voice even though sadness was still faintly heard in her voice.

“Oh…” Yuri couldn’t understand Jessica at all. She didn’t even get the difference between close friends and best friends. Why did Jessica have to make a fuss over something like this? “So… how long have you known each other? High school? Pre-school?”

“Pre-school, I think…” 

“Woah… that long?” In Yuri’s faint memory, she still remembered Yoona once said that there were only three people in this world that she trusted the most. Yong appa was one of them, the other two were her two best friends, Kim Taeyeon and Jessica Jung. “You guys must’ve met each other at school, I presume?”

“No, we didn’t. I met her in an orphanage.”

“Orphanage?” Yuri asked again and earned a nod from Jessica in response. Did that mean one of them must be an orphan? It couldn’t be Yoona since her father was Yong appa. “Then…”

“I am an orphan.” Jessica finished for Yuri.

“How did you meet each other then?” Yuri blurted out without thinking as she gained interest in Yoona and Jessica’s story in some way.

“You do have a lot of questions, eh?” Jessica looked up from her brochure.

Yuri chuckled nervously as Jessica made eye contact with her.

“When Yoona’s father was still a CEO of the Im Corporation, he used to do a lot of charity work and Yoona had no choice but to tag along.”

Flashback

A nine-year-old Yoona strolled around the orphanage as she waited for her father to finish his weekly charity work. The little girl yawned tiredly, wondering why her father always took her to these boring places. There was absolutely nothing to do here.

Yoona shifted her eyes to the playground in the backyard. A small sleeping figure caught her attention. She thought that every orphan in this orphanage must’ve run to the lobby to welcome her father, the person who always brought them lots of food and toys.

Full of curiosity, the little girl carefully approached the sleeping figure that had her back leaned against a big tree. Yoona got down to the girl’s level, rested both of her arms on her knees, watching the sleepyhead enjoying her nap. She leaned her head closer to the sleeping girl, trying to get a better view of the girl’s face. Somehow the way this little girl didn’t jerk awake despite how close Yoona to her amused her greatly.

As if watching her wasn’t enough, Yoona raised her little finger to poke at the sleeping girl’s forehead, eyes, nose, cheek and lips, any features on her face that Yoona could reach, she poked it. If there was someone to ask her what she was doing, Yoona would answer that she was doing an experiment: how many pokes this girl could take before she was fully awake and went mad?

The result was in, the girl was awake at the twenty-first poke which Yoona used both of her little fingers to push the girl’s nose up and her head was forced to tilt backward and hit the tree in the process. The sleepyhead jerked her head away from Yoona’s fingers and raised her little hand to block the sunlight from blinding her vision.

She took one look at Yoona who was looking at her with a goofy smile on her face before saying only one word in an annoyed manner, “Weirdo.” She stood up from her sitting position while brushing the dust off her clothes and walked away, leaving the ‘weirdo’ alone.

“Where are you going?” Yoona hastily stood up, catching up with the girl.

“Some other places without you so that I can sleep peacefully.” She answered, not looking back at the questioner.

“Why don’t you go to the lobby?” Yoona asked.

“Why do I have to go there?”

“Because my appa is here.”

“So?”

“And he brings lots of toys. You should’ve gone there in the first place.”

The girl shook her head in a boring way as she continued to walk away from Yoona despite her effort to keep up with her. Yoona pouted her lips when her ‘new friend’ didn’t response. She quickened her pace and grabbed a hold of her shoulder to stop her friend from going.

“Yah… Why don’t you answer me?”

“I don’t like toys okay? I only like sleeping.”

“Why don’t you like toys?”

“Why do you keep asking me so many questions?”

“Because after watching you sleep, I want to be your friend. You sleep in such a funny way.” Yoona grinned. “What is your name?”

The girl raised an eyebrow at Yoona, her reason for being friends with her sounded offended in some way. Well, apart from the weird reason, the little girl couldn’t help but feel excited for her first friend at this orphanage who wasn’t even an orphan to begin with. She thought for a moment before saying her name, “Jessica.”

“Ah, Jessica…” Yoona nodded satisfied while the goofy grin was still visible on her face, “Now you’re officially my first friend here in Seoul.” Yoona stretched her hands out, offering Jessica a handshake mimicking the way her CEO father always did when he greeted his ‘friends’.

Jessica looked at Yoona’s hand and back up at her face, questioning, “What do you want?”

“Friends have to shake hands first. My father does this all the time with his friends.”

“No, friends don’t do that.” Jessica placed her hands on her hips, arguing.

“Then what do people do to become friends?”

A mischievous smile crept up on Jessica’s face as she moved closer to Yoona. “Come closer, I will tell you.”

Yoona naively complied what Jessica told her to do. She inched her face closer to Jessica. As soon as Jessica saw Yoona’s face was close enough to her, she quickly raised one hand to flick Yoona’s nose and ran away.

“Ah! That’s hurt.”

“That’s for messing with my nose when I’m sleeping, weirdo.” Jessica shouted over her shoulder as she stuck her tongue out at Yoona.

“Yah!!!” Yoona shouted after the girl while hugging her nose and started chasing after the culprit.

From afar, there were two adults watched the kids interacting. A satisfied smile plastered on the old man. He had never seen his daughter was so happy since he brought her to Seoul.

“Which school does the girl who’s playing with my daughter go to?” The middle-aged man asked the nurse who was standing beside him.

“All the orphans usually don’t go to school. We teach them ourselves here.”

He turned to the nurse, “I have one favor to ask from you.” He said with sincerity in his voice.

“Anything, Mr. Im. We’ll try our best to do it.”

“Can you arrange for that girl to go to same school with my daughter? I’ll be responsible for her tuition’s fee.”

End of Flashback

“So… you guys always go to the same school and have been best friends ever since?” Yuri asked. She couldn’t hide the jealousy was clearly heard in her voice. Yoona and Jessica had been friends for years, the blonde must’ve known a lot about Yoona. Unlike her, she didn’t know anything about Yoona, her interests, her fears, her habits, nothing.

“I think so.” Jessica said. Suddenly, her cell phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out to see that she had received one text message from Yoona. “Yoona said that we’ll start filming in another three hours so that we could have some spare time to rest. She asked if that is okay with you.” Jessica told Yuri her message’s content.

Yuri nodded, “That’s fine.”

“Uh… I guess I’ll take a nap now if you don’t mind.”

Yuri shook her head, “No, I don’t. Not at all.”

Jessica laid down on the couch and turned her back to Yuri. Watching Jessica’s back, Yuri heaved a loud sigh. She started to think back to Tiffany’s offer which her best friend wanted to go on this trip with her, frankly saying, it wasn’t so bad after all. Yuri stood up and walked toward the door. Some fresh air on the deck was the best at this moment to clear her mind.

&&&&&&

Deck 15

Even though it wasn’t the same cruise ship but the feeling which the wind was blowing in her face was still the same. Yuri wondered why every time she stood here to feel the wind, she was supposed to feel cold or maybe freezing because of the strong wind kept blowing in her way but somehow she didn’t feel anything like that at all. Instead, she felt her back was warming up in some way because three years ago, someone had soaked the back of her dress with her warm tears. The memories stayed there so clearly in her mind yet things had changed in such a rapid pace that she couldn’t catch up with its pace or maybe she didn’t want to catch up.

“Achoo!!” Yuri sneezed loudly. Her cold got worse and worse and it annoyed the hell out of her. She dug her hand in her pocket to find the pack of tissue which Yoona gave her earlier. Unfortunately, she had also used up this pack without noticing, she exhaled annoyingly, “Aishh…”

She angrily rubbed her already red nose, it was so itchy that she wished she could chop it off right at this moment. Again, another pack of tissue appeared in front of her eyes. Yuri smiled, how come Yoona was always there, offering the thing she needed. She took the pack from the girl’s hand.

“Thanks, Yoo-” Yuri stopped herself when she realized that the person beside her wasn’t Yoona. 

“Gyuri-sshi!” Yuri addressed the right name of the person who offered her the pack. Surprise was easily heard in her tone.

“Surprise?” Gyuri chuckled.

“Yeah, of course.” Yuri also smiled. This was the third time she met Gyuri accidentally, how fascinating was that? “But… how come?”

“Why? You sound like you don’t want to see me here.” Gyuri tried to pull a joke.

“No, no, don’t take it like that. It’s not like I don’t want to see you here. I’m just surprised, you know? And when I’m surprised, I don’t really know what I’m talking about so please don’t take anything I just said seriously.” Yuri babbled in a rather high tone.

Gyuri chuckled at Yuri’s cuteness. There she was, getting herself all flustered over nothing again. Gyuri didn’t know when she began to enjoy Yuri’s company so much. Just to be fair, it was true that Jessica arranged for her to go on this cruise ship but the fact that she met Yuri here was totally by accident. She had been watching Yuri ever since the tanned girl lost in her thought as she stared out blankly at the sea. The way her long beautiful black hair was waving in the wind made Gyuri’s heart quickened its pace abnormally. Yuri was truly a goddess, no wonder Yoona only fell for her in seven days.

“Don’t worry, I’m just kidding.” Gyuri smiled to reassure the flustered girl, “As for your question, I have a friend who is a senior staff on this cruise and he offered me this free ticket.”

“Ah…” Yuri looked down at the pack of tissue in her hand and realized that she hadn’t thanked Gyuri properly, “Oh, and thank for this.” She waved the pack in front of Gyuri.

“You know, you own me a lot.” Gyuri stated out of the blue.

Taken back by Gyuri’s straightforward sentence, Yuri raised one hand behind her to scratch the back of her neck, “Uh… yeah. And I really don’t know how to repay you.”

“I know how, do you want to know?” Gyuri asked, watching Yuri’s reaction with a smile on her face. Seeing the tanned girl nodded, Gyuri continued, “Can I take you out for dinner tomorrow? My treat.”

“How can I repay you if the dinner is your treat?” Yuri asked, confused.

Gyuri smiled, “The fact that you’re willing to go with me is more than enough to repay everything else. It’s only fair and square when I’m the one who pays.”

Yuri blushed at Gyuri’s sudden confession. This could be considered as a confession, right? “Uh… I…”

“Please say yes.” Gyuri cut in to stop Yuri from denying.

Yuri could feel Gyuri’s sincerity through her voice. It had been such a long time since she had a date with anyone, or more precisely it had been three years. Maybe this was her chance to move on with her life. But this time she wouldn’t rush anything with Gyuri, she would take everything as slowly as possible. She wouldn’t go down the same road again.

“Tomorrow it is.” Yuri smiled.

Gyuri let out a relieve breath. She was so afraid that Yuri was gonna reject her, “Thanks.”

“What are you saying? I’m the one who’s supposed to say thank you.” Yuri chuckled amusingly. Suddenly, she thought of something, Yuri raised her voice “Wait! Tomorrow?”

“Yeah… is there something wrong?” Gyuri asked worriedly.

“Uh… no… it’s nothing. Tomorrow is fine.”

“It’s really cold here. Let me walk you back to your suite.” Gyuri suggested and earned a nod from Yuri in return.

&&&&&&

“Oh… so you’re on a business trip?”

“Yeah, my boss’s decision is so sudden. Yesterday, I have to stay up late to finish all the work I had in hands before handing over to someone else.”

Gyuri and Yuri chatted happily as they were on their way to Yuri’s suite. Little did Yuri know, her worst nightmare would come true in any minute.

“Yuri-yah!!” A female familiar voice came from behind caught Yuri’s attention. The tanned girl turned around to make sure that she didn’t mishear the voice she had been missing so much.

“Omma!” Yuri shouted as she began to run to her mother’s awaited opened embrace.

“I’m glad that you still remember these two elders.” A male voice joked to announce his presence.

“Appa!” Yuri opened her arms wider, pulling both of her parents into a group hug. “I miss you guys so much.” Yuri said, her eyes welled up with happy tears.

Hyesung smiled at his cry-baby, he raised his thump to wipe away the tears falling down her cheek, “We miss you too, sweetheart.”

“Why are you here on this cruise ship? I mean this one departed from Korea; I thought you guys were in LA.”

“We are on a vacation, darling. At first, we plan on surprising you without telling that we’re coming to Korea but only to find out from Tiffany this early in the morning that you’re already on a business trip to LA. Coincidentally, this cruise ship was also a part of our planned vacation so… here we are.” Misun explained to her daughter.

“I’m so glad you’re here with me, Omma, Appa.” Yuri said without thinking. According to her well-planned plan, her parents shouldn’t meet her here, on this cruise ship which Yoona was also here.

“Well, what can we do? Our daughter may have forgotten about us since she was so happy with her married life.” Hyesung tried to pull a joke again. There was only one thing; this joke wasn’t funny to Yuri’s ear at all. “Ah, that reminds me, where is Yoona?”

All of a sudden, everything came rushing back to Yuri’s mind as she pulled away from her parent. Dead, she was so… dead. “Uh… She’s… uhm…”

“And who is that friend over there? Your co-worker?” Hyesung asked Yuri as he pointed at the girl behind Yuri, waiting for them to finish their celebration of the family reunion.

“Uh… no, appa, she’s not my co-worker. She’s my friend whom I also met on this cruise by accident.” Yuri said as Gyuri came closer to them. “Omma, appa, this is my friend, Park Gyuri. Gyuri, these lovely elders are my parents.” Yuri smiled while introducing them, glad that she could skip the subject named ‘Im Yoona’.

“It’s really nice to meet you.” Yuri’s parents shook hand with Gyuri in a friendly manner.

Yuri’s happiness didn’t last long because her mother had brought up that name again, “But where is Yoona, Yul? Doesn’t she go with you? I missed my daughter-in-law too, haven’t heard her voice for ages. Every time we called, it was always you who picked up the phone.”

Yuri closed her eyes tightly. Never before in her life was she this desperate in need of some kind of brainwashing technology. Whatever, she would talk to Yoona later, for now just said that she wasn’t here first, “Yeah… she isn’t h-”

However, before Yuri could finish her line, Hyesung had cut in with his excited voice, “Ah! She’s here.” He exclaimed as soon as he spotted a familiar figure walking past them, “Yoona-yah!” He shouted loudly while waving his hands enthusiastically to get the tall girl’s attention.

Was there any possibility that there would be some magical power that could tell Yuri she was dreaming right now? Maybe a miracle happened that Yoona suddenly couldn’t see four people standing here, waving for her to come to them. The closer Yoona got to them, the more irrelevant hopes appeared in Yuri’s mind. What else could she do at this moment except waiting for a miracle at this moment?

On the other hand, as she walked toward them Yoona felt extremely confused about the way Yuri’s parent were acting. She was quiet sure that Yuri must’ve told about their divorce, it had been three years already, there was no way they didn’t know anything. 

Yoona bowed respectfully to the two elders in front of her, “It’s really nice to see you here, Mr and Mrs Kwon.” 

As soon as Yoona finished her greeting, she received a knock on her forehead from Misun, Yuri’s mother, “What’s with the formal title? Why don’t you call us omoni and aboji like you used to?”

Yoona scrunched her eyebrow in confusion as she rubbed the spot she just got hit, was there any chance that they really didn’t know anything about their divorce? Yoona turned to look at Yuri who was clinging to her father’s arm, silently expecting an explanation from her.

“Uh… Om…omoni, but I think there is something you should know about us first. We h-”

“Omma, we’re co-workers now. Both me and her work for STS at the same department and we also go on this business trip together.” Yuri cut in to stop what Yoona was trying to say.

“Really? That’s great news. Now you two lovebirds can always stay together, can’t you?” Misun smiled as she pinched her daughter’s cheek lovingly.

Lovebirds? Yoona let out a chuckle. Now she was sure that they absolutely knew nothing about their divorce. Based on the way Yuri was acting, Yoona believed that she didn’t want her parents to know about this any time soon. If that was what Yuri wanted then Yoona would stay silent, for now.

Suddenly, Misun held on her husband hand tight and raised one hand to rub her forehead in a tired manner. Noticed his wife tiredness, Hyesung couldn’t help but felt worried “What’s wrong, honey? Do you feel dizzy again?” He asked and earned a tired nod from his wife in return.

“What’s wrong with omma, appa?” Yuri was also worried for her mother’s condition.

“She has been feeling dizzy a lot these days. The doctor said that this disease was something goes along with your mother’s heart disease and the frequency will increase as she got older. That’s why I have to close our business in LA for several days to go on a vacation with her, hoping that somehow she’ll get better.” Hyesung said sadly.

“Don’t worry, dear. I’m fine. I’m kind of used to it.” Misun smiled, reassuring her daughter. “By the way, which room do you guys stay?”

Yoona and Yuri looked at each other before both of them said at the same time.

“A102.” 

“A115.”

“Don’t you guys stay in the same room?” Hyesung asked, confused.

“No, we do.” Yuri raised her voice, “It’s…” Yuri stopped for a second to think of a better choice in this case. Jessica was sleeping in their suite, what if her parents wanted to visit their room now. Yoona’s single suite wasn’t an option either, how could a married couple stay in a single suite?

“It’s A115.” Yoona finished for Yuri.

“A115? Why? It’s a single suite, isn’t it?” Misun wondered.

“Uh… that’s our intention. I like smaller bed better. It’s pretty… cozy.” Yoona tried to cover up the obvious slip as she chuckled nervously.

Somehow, Yuri’s parents actually believed in that lie as Hyesung let out a small laugh, “I get it, you want to be closer to your wife, eh?” He grinned knowingly.

Another nervous chuckle left Yoona’s mouth, “You got me.”

“I guess I’ll take your mom back to our room. You guys still have work to do, right?” 

“Yeah, plenty of them.” Yuri added in since she wanted to have a talk with Yoona as soon as possible.
“We’ll see you guys later then.” Hyesung smiled warmly.

“Yeah, will do.”

As soon as her parents walked away, Yuri immediately turned to Gyuri. “I’ll explain everything later.” Then she turned to Yoona, “We need to talk.” She said and received a nod from the latter in return.

&&&&&&

Room A115

Yoona slowly closed the door behind her back then leaned her back against it, watching Yuri pacing back and forth in her room, mumbling something incoherent.

“Why don’t you tell them?”

Yoona’s voice pulled Yuri out of her train of thoughts as she stopped in her track and turned to look at Yoona. “Because I… I can’t.” Yuri slowly said.

Lowering her head, more than anyone Yoona should’ve known the reason why Yuri couldn’t tell her parents. Wasn’t it the same one when Nicole broke up with Yuri and had her as a replacement? Her mother’s illness. Now Yoona could really see why Yuri had to find a replacement for Nicole. In her own eyes, Yoona could tell that Yuri’s mother was really weak earlier. She didn’t think that the old woman could take the shock which was her daughter being dumped just one day before the weeding.

“Yoona…sshi, I know this is too much to ask from you but can y-”

“I’ll help you.” Yoona cut short what Yuri was saying, caught the latter completely off guard.

“What?”

“I’ll help you to hide our current relationship away from your parents until you’re ready to tell them what went down between us.” Yoona said firmly.

She must’ve gone crazy to say the things she was saying at this moment. Yoona knew that she should’ve said no, should’ve walked away from Yuri and should’ve ignored whatever happened to her family. That was what they always said, she should’ve done a lot of things. But here she was, still accepting another due which she found herself attached to Yuri in every possible way. Because no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t ignore the guilt was piling up her stomach every time she thought of that plan, the plan that slowly every breath out of her.

“You will help me?” Yuri asked again, unsure. Yoona was being too nice to her, way too nice. But Yuri knew that she missed this feeling, the feeling which she felt grateful to Yoona.

“Of course, did I…” Yoona stopped herself, she was gonna say the line ‘Did I ever lie to you?’ then she realized that she did lie to Yuri, a lot.

“Thanks.” Yuri said in a small voice but full of sincerity.

Before they could say anything else, the loud knock behind Yoona’s back caught their attention.

“Yuri, Yoona, are you in there?” Hyesung shouted from the other side of the door.

Yoona turned to face the door as an attempt to open it which Yuri hastily stopped her.

“Wait!!”

“Why?” Yoona asked.

“Uh… I don’t have any of my personal stuff here, not even my suitcase. We can’t let my father get in here. He’ll get suspicious.”

Yoona smirked, “You don’t want him to get in here? It’s easy.” Yoona slid both of her hands in her hair as she tried to ruffle them as much as possible, making it looked like a total mess and ed the first button of her shirt.

“What… what do you want to do?” Yuri widened her eyes. 

Yoona didn’t answer Yuri instead she went in the bedroom to grab a blanket and wrapped it around Yuri. Yoona also slid her hand and in Yuri’s hair and did the same thing.

“I’ll open the door. All you have to do is let him see your blanket.” Yoona told Yuri then she walked toward the door and cracked it opened a little. “Ab-aboji!!” She pretended to be in a panic mode.

“What took you guys so long? Where is Yu…” Hyesung trailed off as he took in his daughter-in-law’s appearance and he also managed to catch a glimpse of his own daughter who was running around the room behind Yoona wrapped in a blanket. “Oh… I’m sorry, did I interrupt something?”

“No, no aboji, not at all. Is there something that we can help you?”

“Uh… it’s just that I need help from Yuri with her mother. Can she go to our room with me?”

“Wh-why not? But… aboji, can you stay out here and wait? Our… our room… is kind of a mess.” Yoona said awkwardly.

Hyesung grinned knowingly, “It’s a relief to see you guys are… like this. From the way you acted earlier, I thought that you were in a fight. It’s okay, I’ll wait here.”

Yoona let out a relieve sigh as she chuckled, “Thanks for your understanding, aboji.” Yoona closed the door behind her and flashed a okay sign to Yuri. “I think you need to fix your hair first before you can go to with him.”

Yuri nodded as she ran to the bathroom and fixed her hair. When everything was back to the way it was supposed to be, Yuri walked to the door. Before she opened it to get out, she turned her head to look at Yoona, “Thanks… for everything.”

Fifteen minutes later, Yoona heard a soft knock on the door. She quickly stood up from her seat to open it.

“Why are you back so soon?” Yoona said while opening the door even though she hadn’t been able to see her guest yet. When she could have a good look of the person in front of her, Yoona realized that this person wasn’t the one she was expecting at all, “Gyuri…”

“What’s with the long face?” Gyuri lifted an eyebrow at Yoona.

“No… It just that I didn’t expect it was you. Come in.” Yoona moved aside from the doorway so that Gyuri could come in.

“Who do you expect then?” Gyuri asked while making herself comfortable on the couch.

“Uhm… no one. Anyway, is there something you want to say to me?” Yoona asked her friend, she knew Gyuri well enough to know that this girl didn’t come to look for her for no reason.

Gyuri took a deep breath in, getting ready for what she was about to say, “Yoong… I don’t think I can continue this plan anymore.”

TBC