Chapter 23 – Destiny
Kwon household – YoonYul’s room

Yoona spun her chair around and picked up one of the origami roses on Yuri’s bed, raising it to her eyes’ level so that she could have a good look at it. “Don’t you think Mr. Smith is such a hopeless romantic?” Yoona questioned, referring to the husband of the old lady whom they met back at the wind farm.

“Why?”

“Well, just the fact that he is patient enough to fold hundreds of these every time he planned to propose to Mrs. Smith, not once but nine times in total.” Yoona tossed the rose into the small pile of roses right next to Yuri. 

Yuri shrugged, “Maybe… but I think his love for her must be really strong for a guy to sit down for hours and fold these roses one by one.”

A heavy sigh escaped Yoona’s mouth, “It’s a pity that we can’t see him in person. It would be perfect if we could have a face-to-face interview with him.”

“Yeah…” Yuri agreed, “I bet Mrs. Smith must have been very lonely since he passed away.” She stated sadly.

“She’s very strong though. She didn’t cry much when she told us about their story even though I can still sense the sadness in her eyes.”

“It’s been years already. I guess time can heal a broken heart then.”

Yoona spun her chair so that she could focus on her laptop while having her back facing Yuri once again. The corner of her lips curved up into a sly smile, “Really?” Yoona muttered in a barely heard voice.

“Where is Jessica by the way?” Yuri asked.

Yoona chuckled while her fingers were still typing on the keyboard, “I don’t know… but I think you should ask that question to Sooyoung.

“Why is that?”

“Well… earlier this morning, Sica and I went out to get more information about the wind farm which we choose to be the new sightseeing. Sooyoung just popped out of nowhere and dragged her away… again.” Yoona explained.

Yuri let out a puff of air, “And Jessica didn’t do anything to protest?”

“Not really… she did lots of things and my ear is still hurting because of the side effect. But since it was Sooyoung, the result was no different from the last few times.”

Yuri laughed, “It looks like she truly was shot by cupid love arrow this time.”

“Sooyoung surely left a strong impression on me this time though. I don’t think there’s anyone else in this entire world apart from her who could withstand all that high-pitched voice of Sica without covering their ears. Moreover, she just kept pulling Sica closer to her as if she couldn’t hear clearly what the girl was screaming out of frustration.” Yoona said in amazement.

“That’s what love is all about.” Yuri chuckled lightly and then heaved a sigh right after, “I don’t know if I should be happy about Sooyoung finally found the love of her life though. She’s been dragging Jessica away a lot lately and now we have to take turns filling in for Jessica’s place in our project.”

“Be happy. Our project only needs one last step from completing anyway.” Yoona encouraged.

Yoona and Yuri had split up their work for the project. Yoona would look for required information about the wind farm from nearby travel agency or pictures and videos related it while Yuri would be in charge of their speech during the presentation of the new sightseeing.

“Ah… now that you mentioned Jessica.” Yoona stopped typing and turned around to face Yuri again, “It’s something I just noticed recently and… I don’t know if I should tell you this, Yuri-yah.”

“What… just say it already, you got me all curious now.” Yuri looked up from the origami rose she was folding.

“Your dad… uhm… don’t you think that he’s been acting really strange lately?” Yoona said hesitantly.

“Acting strange? What do you mean?”

“I don’t know… it’s just… how he acts around Sica. He cares for her… a lot.” Yoona tried to find the right words to say just in case that she might offend Yuri.

“You too? And I thought that it was just my imagination.” Yuri replied, much to Yoona’s surprise. 

“Yeah... it’s kind of easy to notice though. He always asks me about her interests like favorite food, hobbies… and so on. It seems like the only topic we talk whenever he’s alone with me is Sica. He took care of her even better than a daughter-in-law like me.” 

“He asked me lots of things too about Jessica too. It’s really suspicious. Do you have any idea why he acts this way?” Yuri asked.

Yoona shrugged, “Well… I do have one but… I’m afraid that you’ll be mad if you hear it.”

“Aye… it’s okay, I won’t be mad, I promise.” Yuri claimed.

“Uhmm… maybe, just maybe… your dad…” Yoona took a deep breath in. Even when she already had Yuri’s promise, Yoona was still nervous about the latter’s reaction somehow, “… by any chance, he likes Sica?”

“Like?” Yuri raised her voice, “You mean like as in… like - like?” She asked in disbelief about Yoona’s theory.

“Y-yeah…” Yoona confirmed in a small voice.

“No… no way, not in a million years.” Yuri denied strongly, “My father is the most faithful man I’ve ever known. He won’t have that kind of feeling toward anyone else except my mother.” She firmly stated.

“And you promise me that you won’t be mad.” Yoona shifted her eyes away from Yuri and muttered to herself.

“I’m not mad… I’m just… surprised. Your guess is kind of impossible to happen, you know?”

“Well then… I can’t think of any other reasons why your dad is acting this way when Sica doesn’t have any relations to him. If he doesn’t have any kind of special feelings for her then why does he have to care so much about Sica or her personal information? Yoona reasoned.

Yuri stayed silent. For a moment, she didn’t know how to defense for her father and his sudden interest in Jessica even though she was sure that he didn’t have that kind of feelings toward the girl who could be his daughter in term of age. But she had to admit her father was strange, too strange. He must have acted like this for some certain reasons but Yuri was sure that Yoona’s reason was definitely not one of those.

“Does your mom notice anything?” Yoona’s voice pulled Yuri back to reality.

“No, not that I know of. I don’t think she has suspected anything yet since she didn’t ask me anything.” Yuri said.

“I think that… before your mom could notice something strange, you should ask your father and listen to his side of the story first.” Yoona advised heartily.

“Yeah, I think I’ll ask him soon.” Yuri nodded agreeing before going back to fold her roses.

Just when Yoona decided to continue what she was doing on her laptop, the sight of Yuri fiddling with the small paper in her hands, trying to fold another rose somehow successfully stole her attention. Yoona loved how a cool breeze occasionally entered the room, glided through her slightly tangled hair which was let down on both side made the hair flowing slightly in very tempting way. She loved how her eyebrows scrunched cutely as she focused on folding her rose. She loved how Yuri could make her smile like an idiot by herself without trying.

“Do I have something on my face?” Yuri asked when she felt Yoona’s gaze on her.

Yoona snapped out of her thought, “Ah, no…” She shook her head in denial, “… I was just wondering…”

“About what?”

“Why do you have to fold so many of these? We only need two or three of them for the presentation.” Yoona said as she pointed to the pile of roses beside Yuri.

Yuri chuckled, “It’s kind of addicting, you know? When you aren’t succeeded in folding the first rose, you will feel this urge to keep trying. And once you finally succeed, you will try to make it prettier. Besides, I need some inspiration for my speech anyway.”

“Addicting?” Yoona raised an eyebrow in suspicion, “Somehow I find that hard to believe.”

“Why is that?” Yuri asked in a surprised tone.

“Not sure… maybe I’m not really into folding paper into roses.”

“Why don’t you try folding one? I’m sure that you’ll be hooked on it in no time.” Yuri offered.

Yoona leaned back in her seat, thinking for a while before she decided to get up and walk toward Yuri. Suddenly, a strong wind blew through blew through the open window caused the roses spread all over the floor.

“Watch it!!” Yuri shouted out loud when she saw Yoona was about to step on one of the roses on her way.

Reflexively, Yoona quickly jumped over to avoid stepping on the rose. And there was good news and bad news when she did so. The good one was Yoona had successfully avoided trampling the rose into flat paper and the bad one was after the jump she landed on an even more slippery thing, the square paper on the floor, caused her losing her balance which also resulted in Yoona falling on top of a certain someone who was sitting on the edge of the bed.

Using her arms to push against the bed, shifting her weight off Yuri… at least that was what Yoona thought she should do at this moment. She should’ve pushed herself off Yuri and then immediately apologized to the latter for her clumsiness. She should’ve stopped staring into Yuri’s captivating eyes like someone who was being hypnotized. She should’ve had better control of the hormones inside of her which caused human brain to react in many unexpected ways.

And here was the key word: ‘should’.

Should mean something was right to do at this moment, something she ought to do or most likely something… she wasn’t doing. Yoona found herself lost in those eyes which was staring back at her, she felt her gaze tracing down to the lips which was like calling her to taste them at this moment and as expected, Yoona just couldn’t stop herself from leaning in, doing what her hormones demanded her to do at this moment. 

Kwon Yuri was just too hard to resist when she was in a defenseless mode.

In her mind, Yoona was hoping Yuri would do some kind of act to stop her from doing something crazy since she couldn’t control herself very well now. But no… why didn’t Yuri do anything to protest? Why didn’t Yuri push her away? Why closing her eyes? Why making Yoona felt like she also wanted what she was about to do?

They were both lost in their own thoughts that they didn’t hear the sound of the door to their room was flung opened.

“Yuri-yah, are you…” Hyesung stopped himself as he finally realized what the couple on the bed was doing. He knew it. He should’ve knocked the door first instead of barging in like this. 

As if a spring was being tighten and then suddenly released, Yoona immediately pushed herself off Yuri as quick as if her life was depend on it when she heard Hyesung’s voice. She didn’t know if she should be mad or thankful to him for ruining their moment like this.

“A-aboji…” Yoona composed her appearance into a more appropriate one in order to talk to her father-in-law.

Yuri also shot up from the bed, her cheeks flushed red as she ran her hands through her hair, trying to untangle her messy locks.

“Am I interrupting something… again?” Hyesung asked in a small voice since he was feeling guilty for interrupting his kids’ moment time after time.

Yuri and Yoona didn’t say anything to deny. What else could they say? Hyesung caught them in the most indisputable position, one person on top of another. Could it be more obvious? Also, they didn’t reply since were too busy thinking about much more important matters. Much more complicated. 

Hyesung chuckled awkwardly, “You should’ve locked the door, you know? I…uh…”

“Uhm… it’s nothing. We weren’t doing anything… important anyway.” Yuri also chimed in a very awkward tone.

“Err… I heard you called Yuri earlier. Do you need something from her, aboji?” Yoona asked. The room was still filled with this awkward atmosphere, not only the awkwardness between the dad and his children but also the awkwardness between the two main victims. 

Hyesung quickly nodded, “Ah, yeah… I need some help with my orchids in the back garden but your mother was taking a nap so I came to ask for your help if… you aren’t busy.”

“No, no, I’m not. Let’s go.” Yuri quickly exclaimed. Without waiting for either Yoona’s or her father’s response, Yuri quickly dragged Hyesung out of their room, escaping from the tension in this small room.

Watching the two figures hastily leaving the room, Yoona let out a heavy breath which she didn’t know she was holding. Yoona closed her eyes and started to gently slap both of cheeks with her hands simultaneously, trying to get those inappropriate thoughts about one tanned girl out of her mind.

“Im Yoona, Im Yoona, promise me that you won’t go down that road again. You won’t!” She chanted to herself.

&&&&&&

Back Garden

“Yuri-yah, will you help me bring those pots behind the bars here?” Hyesung asked but his eyes still fixed on the pots of orchids which he was trying to arrange in front of him.

“Yuri-yah?” He called once again since Yuri hadn’t come yet. Sensing something strange, Hyesung turned his head from left to right to look for his daughter. Finally, he found his little girl was squatting in a corner of the garden, cheeks cupped in her hands while her eyes staring blankly at the empty pot in front of her. 

Hyesung smiled gently at the sight. Even when his little girl had grown up, her way of thinking about her problem was still the same like she was five years old, looking at the blooming orchid, pondering whether she should continue to water the flower or not.

“Didn’t you say that you’ll help me with the orchids?” Hyesung asked when he already settled in a squatting position right next to Yuri.

Snapped out of her thoughts, Yuri jerked her head to the right to look at her father, “Ah, yeah… I forgot…” Yuri quickly pushed both of her hands on her knees, ready to get up. However, before she could do anything, her father’s hand placed on her knees was pulling her back down.

“I don’t think I’m the one who needs help right now.” Hyesung smiled wickedly at his daughter when a confused look appeared across her face, “Is there something bothering you, sweetie? You can share with me if you want.” He sincerely offered. 

Yes, yes… Yuri wanted to say yes, needed to say yes. There were tons of things on her mind right now. She wanted to ask her father why she didn’t push Yoona away when she knew that the latter was leaning in to kiss her, why she had to close her eyes, why her mind stopped working the moment she felt Yoona’s warm breath on her face. In short, Yuri wanted to know why was it so hard to control herself when Yoona was near?

Then again, Yuri chose to bury those inquiries deep in her heart like a coward she would always be. Her father was smart enough to know what was wrong if she asked those questions. He would give out more further questions about their relationship and soon he would find out that they had been divorced long time ago. Then her mother would know and even more and more terrible consequences after that. Yuri tiredly closed her eyes at the possible scenario. She wouldn’t let that happen then so there was no reason that she would let that happen now.

“It’s okay, appa. I’m just feeling tired, staying up all night to do those stuff.”

Hyesung let out a soft chuckle as he teased, “Really? You don’t seem very tired when I walk into your room just minutes ago.”

“Th-that was just…”

Hyesung laughed out loud to stop her daughter from explaining, “I get it. You are just tired for most of activities except that one.”

“Appa…”

“Alright, if you are tired then you should get up and help me get this done quickly so that you could go back to your room ‘resting’.” Hyesung winked at his daughter by the last word before pushed himself up into a standing position.

Yuri also followed her father and assisted him in gardening. About ten minutes later, all the flowers had been watered and fertilized, most of the pots were arranged into their spot they only needed to move those last unused pots into a corner. 

“Yuri-yah, if I’m not mistaken then you must have been hanging out with Sooyoung since you were little, right?” Hyesung asked out of blue.

“Yeah, appa. Sooyoung is my best friend, and Tiffany too who is in Korea now.”

“You guys must have known each other’s personalities very well then.”

“Well, in some way… yeah.”

“From what I can see, she’s really good friend, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, she really is. My job in STS is also offered by Sooyoung. If it wasn’t for her I would still be unemployed by now.”

“How about in relationships? Is she the serious type or the play around type? Have she dated before?”

Yuri looked up from what she was doing. Now she understood why the sudden talk about Sooyoung. Her father must have seen the shikshin dragging Jessica away, screaming to the world that they went on a date. That girl was just too loud sometimes.

“I don’t think she likes playing around. Sooyoung only goes after someone when she feels really, really like that person.” 

“Ah…” Hyesung slowly nodded, taking in the new information Yuri just gave. Sooyoung truly was someone he could place his trust in. He also noticed how caring she acted when she came by to visit them every time she went on business trip to LA. Hyesung believed that she could take good care of Jessica when she was with her.

Yuri also stayed silent as she tried to look for the right words to ask, it was such a sensitive topic after all. “Appa… uhm… do you… what do you think about Jessica?” Yuri finally asked after plucking up enough courage.

“Jessica? I think she’s a really nice girl.” Hyesung answered honestly without thinking much.

As Yuri heard her father’s answer and also thought back to the theory Yoona told her, Yuri felt even more anxious about the outcome of this conversation. “Are you… I mean… do you… like her?”

Hyesung nodded, still focused his gaze on the pot, “Of course I like her, what is there about her not to like?” Once again, he answered without noticing something strange in Yuri’s voice.

Her father’s completely relaxed answers had pushed Yuri over the edge, “No, appa! What I mean is do you like her? The kind of like which a person feels attracted to another one.” Yuri raised her voice a little louder than she expected.

Hyesung whipped his head around to Yuri in a flash, looking at the serious expression on her face. What even more unexpected was Hyesung raised his hand to knock hard on Yuri’s forehead as if some kind of a punishment a father always gave his daughter when she did something wrong, “What are you thinking, Kwon Yuri? I won’t ever have that kind of feeling toward someone who is younger than me over twenty years.” He said as if it was a matter of fact.

Yuri immediately released a relieved breath when she heard her father’s confirmation. There was no way Yoona’s theory was true. She knew it. But since it was Yoona said it, Yuri would find it easier to believe in the latter than anyone, even herself. The girl had always had this ‘negative effect’ on her.

“But… what exactly makes you think like that?”

“It’s just that… the way you always talk to us about her or care about her sort of leading us to make this crazy assumption, you know?”

“Us? You mean…”

“Ah, it’s me and Yoona.”

“What about your mother? Did she say something to you?”

“No, I don’t think she noticed anything yet. But appa… I think you do realize that you care about Jessica way more than a guest right?”

Hyesung stayed silent. How can he deny the fact that Jessica meant way more than a guest to him? Looking at his daughter, suddenly he felt really guilty. She must have gone through lots of thinking about this matter. More than anyone, Hyesung thought that Yuri had the right to know what happened between Jessica and him. Besides the blonde wouldn’t stay with him in LA anyway, she would go back to Korea soon. That was why he needed someone who could stay by her side, take care of her the way he wanted like a family would. 

“Yuri-yah… I think there’s something you should know about me and Jessica.” Hyesung slowly said.

Yuri tried to swallow through her dry throat. The word ‘and’ came from her father’s mouth made her feel even more nervous than she was before. 

“There’s a big chance that… you guys are sister.” 

Yuri stood motionless for a good five minutes as the sentence hit her like a ton of bricks. Then she shook her head furiously, trying to get a hold of herself as she raised a hand to lightly slap her cheek. Yuri had to make sure that she was now awake not having a dream.

“There must be something wrong with my hearing. I think I just heard you said that me and Jessica were sisters.” Yuri assumed.

“No, you heard right… you two are sisters. Jessica is my daughter.” Hyesung once again confirmed.

The fact was too much for Yuri to take in such a short amount of time. Hundreds of possibilities running through her head about her dad being unfaithful to her mom. Ever since she was little, her father had always been the ideal standard for her future husband. Faithful, caring, responsible, gently, hard-working, her father had it all. But now, the fact that he had an affair with someone in the past somehow made Yuri felt very disappointed.

“M-my sister? H-how come?” Yuri asked in trembling voice.

A heavy sigh escaped Hyesung’s mouth as he closed his eyes, old memories flooding back into his mind. “That was the biggest mistake in my entire life. I won’t ever forgive myself for doing this to your mother and also her, Hyein.”

“Hyein? Is that the name of Jessica’s mother?”

“Yeah… she was my assistant back when I worked for a company in Korea. When your mother carried you, she usually acted all grumpy about every little thing in the house, always got upset over absolutely nothing. We used to fight a lot. I still remember there was one time that we literally yelled at each other face almost to the point that we didn’t want to see one another again. That was the biggest fight which your mother and I had ever got in.” Hyesung heaved a sigh, thinking back to how immature and thoughtless he had acted to his wife during her pregnancy.

“That night, I was so depressed that I called Hyein to hang at the bar and then got myself completely wasted to forget all about the sadness. Well, the next thing I knew when I woke up the next morning was Hyein lying next to me without a piece of cloth on her. I nearly pulled all of my hair out as I tried to come up with some proper explanation to her. However, before I could say anything, Hyein quickly stated that I didn’t have to be responsible for anything, whatever happened between us would always stay as a secret. She quitted the job at our company the day after and I never met her again. I just can’t believe that that only one time got her pregnant and she didn’t even tell me about Jessica. Maybe it was also because of me since I decided to move to LA three weeks after what happened.” 

“How do you know Jessica’s yours, appa? Did she tell you so?” Yuri questioned.

“I don’t think Jessica knew of my existence as her father.” Hyesung shook his head, “Hyein never mentioned to her about me. I only knew her because she looks exactly like her mom. Hyein also kept the pendant I accidentally left on the nightstand since I left in a rush that morning. She said it was the only thing belonged to her dad that her mom left for her.”

“Appa… don’t you think… Ms. Hyein likes you?” Yuri asked out of nowhere.

Hyesung furrowed his eyebrows, “No… why do you say so?” The idea of Hyein had special feelings toward him never once crossed his mind.

“Well, I just tried to put myself in her shoes. If she wasn’t the type of easy girl then she wouldn’t do anything with you at the first place even if both of you were drunk. In addition, she didn’t want to put you, a married man in a difficult position so that she immediately claimed that you didn’t have to be responsible for anything. She also quitted her job right after that so you can easily forget about what happened. Isn’t that obvious that she had feelings for you?” 

“So… you mean… she did all of that, kept all of her feelings inside… just because of me?” Hyesung asked which Yuri nodded in return. How ironic, a man in fifties like him was able to figure out the obvious truth only when his daughter in mid-twenty pointed out. Now he knew that he owned Hyein so much.

“Then Jessica… really is my sister.” The phrases ‘my sister’ came out of Yuri’s mouth for the third time. It seemed like the truth just couldn’t get through her brain. “So appa… are you gonna tell all of this to omma and… Jessica?”

Hyesung shook his head, unsure, “I will tell them everything but not now. I need some time.” 

“I understand, appa.”

Hyesung put on a happy smile on his face as he placed his hands on Yuri’s shoulder, “Anyway, I’m really glad that you take this matter much better than I thought Yuri-yah.”

Yuri let out a chuckle. Honestly, the idea of Jessica being her sister was much better than the one her father had a thing for the blonde like Yoona said.

“What are you gonna do now?”

“For now, since you guys gonna go back to Korea soon I think that I’ll have to rely on you to take care of your sister while I’ll look for the right time to tell them everything as soon as possible. Can I trust you with that?”

Yuri firmly nodded, “Of course you can, appa.”

&&&&&&

YoonYul’s room doorway

Standing motionless, staring at the closed door in front of her, Yuri really didn’t have the nerves to turn the doorknob and entered the room and facing Yoona after what happened.

What if Yoona asked her the reason why she didn’t push her away? What if she noticed Yuri closed her eyes, silently approved for that non-existent kiss? What if Yoona asked her if she still have feelings for her? And if she did, what would be her answers? How about shamelessly admitting that she was still in love with her, those feelings she had for Im Yoona hadn’t changed over the years? That she would throw away her pride, forget everything happened between them and start all over again if Yoona chose to be with her again. These actions would definitely put a stop to all of her headache about forcing herself to go against what her heart desired.

Sometimes Yuri just wished that she could be just as thick-skinned as Sooyoung.

However, she just couldn’t stand here forever, sooner or later she had to face Yoona. Yuri closed her eyes as she took a deep breath in, ready for what about to come.

Much to her surprise, as Yuri opened the door to their room she found the room was empty. Yoona wasn’t here.

“Where is she?” Yuri mumbled to herself.

Looking at the origami roses were still spread all over the floor, Yoona must have left this room right after Yuri left with her father. She really wasn’t in the mood of writing the speech anymore. There was too many things occupied her mind. Yuri slowly bent down to pick up the rose, “The Tale of Blossomed Rose, I think I need some inspiration.”

&&&&&&

“Thanks for letting me accompany you this time. This video will help us a lot in our presentation.” Yoona said in English to the old lady walking beside her as they were on their way from Mrs. Smith’s house to the wind farm, flying the roses, the activity Mrs. Smith always did ever since her husband passed away.

“It’s really nothing, Yoona. It’s nice to see someone interested in our boring story. Why doesn’t Yuri come with you by the way?” Mrs. Smith asked.

Yoona’s relaxed expression switched in a flash, “Uh… we split up the work which I have to film this video while she will do all the typing and thinking on her laptop.” 

Filming this video was just an excuse for Yoona to avoid facing Yuri right after her tactless behavior. Maybe if she prolonged their meet long enough, Yuri would forget all about their little moment.

“So that’s how it is. I just thought that you two were having a fight. I hope that it won’t ever happen though, you guys look so good together.” The old lady smiled warmly.

Yoona raised her eyebrows as she tried to work out what Mrs. Smith mean by ‘together’. Was she another person who was added to the list ‘Assuming Yoona and Yuri is a couple’? Yoona wondered why everyone around them always assumed that they were a couple, not to mention that they were both girls for god sake.

“Just so you know, uhm… me and Yuri are just friends, normal friends.” Yoona quickly informed.

A surprise look spread across Mrs. Smith’s face, “Really? I just thought…” And then suddenly, the corner of her lips curved up into a knowing smile, “Ah… you don’t have to be in denial. It’s okay, society are more open these days. Love has no boundaries.”

Yoona heaved a loud sigh. Again, why did people always think she would be in denial about being in the relationship with Yuri? Why did she have to deny exactly? If she truly was in a relationship with Kwon Yuri, she would scream to the world that they were a couple, she would proudly claim that Yuri was her girl so that no one could flirt with her or hit on her.

“No, really… we’re NOT together. We’re only co-workers and friends. That’s all.” Yoona tried to stress on the word ‘not’, strongly stated the fact they really weren’t a couple. 

Mrs. Smith scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. She could notice how they act around each other yesterday when she was with them, how they looked at each other lovingly, how they smiled or laughed at the same time, up until then she was still so sure that they were in a relationship.

“You guys are really not a couple?” She asked again.

Yoona shook her head, “No, we’re not.”

“That’s such a pity, I’m sure that you guys would make such a great couple. Seriously, you should make a move on her.” Mrs. Smith honestly encouraged.

Yoona smiled. Mrs. Smith was such a kind lady. “Thanks, I will keep that in mind.”

Minutes later, they arrived at the same hill as they were yesterday. Mrs. Smith slowly opened the rectangular box in her hands, let the roses fly one by one to the air. Holding the camera in her hand, Yoona started to film the first rose started to fly to the air, and gradually the rest of them followed the first one, being blown out of the box.

As Yoona focused on the camera screen, she realized there were some other origami roses came from another direction. She took her eyes off of the screen and turn to Mrs. Smith who was standing next to her.

“Some of the roses aren’t ours, right?” She asked which Mrs. Smith shaking her head in return. “I’ll be right back.” Yoona quickly ran into the roses’ direction, hoping to catch a glimpse of the person who folded them and maybe have an interview with her.

Mrs. Smith smiled at the running figure of Yoona. “Go meet your destiny, Yoona.” She mumbled in a small voice.

‘If you fold ninety nine origami spinning top roses, let it fly to the sky one by one…’ 

Yoona was running at full speed in the direction of the flying roses. She could feel a tight knot of anxiety in her stomach as the roses flying around her appeared more and more. Was this a side effect of knowing that she might meet her ‘true love’ like Mrs. Smith said? Yoona chuckled to herself, she couldn’t believe that she actually was looking forward to this. She was never the type to believe in those tales before.

‘… and when all of them flowing in the air all at once…’

Yoona came to a stop when she saw a girl was standing on top of one hill. The girl was also holding a rectangular box by her side, looking up at the sky, watching her roses flowing at every the strong blow of the wind. Her slightly tanned skin was sort of dazzling in the golden glow of sunset behind as the background. Her long waved hair was blowing back in the breeze gracefully making her look like a beautiful princess appearing in those bed times stories. Yoona swore, her heart quicken a few beats at the view in front of her which she only managed to see the tanned girl’s back. 

The roses were still flowing in the air without any sign of landing. Hundreds of them kept flying around made Yoona felt like they were under a origami roses rain.

As she approached closer and closer, Yoona realized that the figure who took away her breath was way too familiar. Even the white rectangular box in her arm was all too familiar in her eyes. Wasn’t that the box Yuri used to contain her origami roses? Her dark hair, her tanned skin, her slim body, why couldn’t she notice this sooner?

‘… and that’s when you’ll meet your true love.’

“Yu-Yuri?” Yoona called out.

The not so mysterious girl turned around, she was as fairly surprised as Yoona. “Yoona!”

“Why are you here??” They both questioned at the same time.

Yoona scratched the back of her neck awkwardly, “Ah… uh… I want to film Mrs. Smith flying these roses once again because the one we filmed yesterday was kind of short in some way. You?” She answered the question first.

“Err… I just need some aspiration for my speech so I came here to experience the feelings on my own and then put it into words.” 

“Ah…” Yoona nodded, “How did you get here by the way? I already took the car.” 

“I asked a neighbor for a ride and he was kind enough to offer one.”

Yoona furrowed her eyebrows, “Then how do you get home? Your neighbor won’t wait for you, right?”

Yuri shrugged, “I was just gonna spend the night at Mrs. Smith’s house then. She offered for us to stay yesterday anyway.”

Yoona slowly nodded. It looked like she wasn’t the only one who wanted to avoid the other. “Uh… do you… want a ride home now? She offered which Yuri nodded as her reply.

They returned to the hill where Mrs. Smith was standing to bid their goodbye to the kind lady and then got in their car to go home. Mrs. Smith had this wide satisfied smile on her face when she knew that Yuri was the person flying the roses. 

Fifteen minutes into the ride, Yuri turned to Yoona as she was the first to start the conversation, “Do you think it’s true?”

“Huh?”

“Do you believe in fairy tales or some tales is similar to?”

Yoona stayed silent as she was thinking carefully of the answer, “Well, most of the time, no…”

“Oh, is that so?” Yuri pressed her lips to a thin line before turned her attention back to the road.

They didn’t say anything else after that conversation. Another twenty minutes passed, as she stopped their car at a traffic light, Yoona turned her head to Yuri who was already drifted off to her dreamland. Yoona pulled off the road, got out of the car, brought the blanket from the car boot and pulled it over the sleeping girl.

Suddenly, something caught Yoona’s eye. Yuri’s tongue. The tanned girl was sticking it out in her sleep. Yoona chuckled at the sight, this must be one of the weirdest sleep habit she had ever known.

But that aside, Yuri was seriously tempting her. That tongue of her was like daring, challenging Yoona to taste those lips. She could finish what they left off in their room without anyone knowing, not even Yuri. There would be no more interruptions, only the two of them here. Seriously, this was the best opportunity. 

Alright, Im Yoona officially took up the challenge from the person who didn’t even know she was challenging.

Yoona slowly leaned in, closer second by second. There was no need to rush, she had plenty of time to taste those lips. So, Yoona took her time. She gently slightly brushed her lips against Yuri’s sweet ones before finally applying just enough pressure on. Just when Yoona started to have an idea how tasty those lips were, Yuri jerk her head in her sleep making Yoona hastily pulled back in a heartbeat.

Once again, Yoona glanced at the sleeping figure and found herself smiling like an idiot again, just watching her sleep. She gently tucked a strand of hair behind Yuri’s ear before leaned forward ever so slightly planted a kiss on her soft hair and whispered in a small voice.

“You are the only fairy tale in my life that I actually believe in, Yuri-yah.”

TBC