Chapter 26 – I Love Her

At late night – Namdaemun Market

“Youngie!!” An ajumma greeted brightly when she saw Sooyoung and Jessica passed by her teokbokki shop.

“Soojin ajumma…” Sooyoung smiled back to greet her and stepped into her shop, not forget to drag along Jessica.

“Aigoo… Why don’t I see you around anymore? Did you forget my teokbokki already?” Soojin expressed her disappointment while pulling Sooyoung to sit at one of her table.

Before Sooyoung sat down, she pulled back a chair for Jessica to sit first and then took a seat next to her. “How can I forget the most delicious teokbokki place in town? It’s just that I have a business trip in LA so as much as I want to come here, I can’t. You don’t know how much I miss your teokbokki, Soojin ajumma.”

Soojin’s expression immediately brightened up after listening to Sooyoung’s explanation. “Really? You wait here, teokbokki is ready in a second.” Soojin enthusiastically ran to her kitchen to prepare a serving for Sooyoung, her favorite customer

“So… is there something you want to say to me?” Jessica started, wondering what Sooyoung’s purpose of dragging her here was.

“I don’t recall that I told you I had something to say unless… you want to hear something from me.” Sooyoung asked back and placed her chin in her palm staring right into Jessica’s eyes. An amused grin spread across her face.

“But… didn’t you say you want to go somewhere have more ‘privacy’?”

“So? What does that have to with ‘I have something to say’ thing? And besides, this place totally has far more privacy unlike that party. Too crowded and noisy.”

“Is this market was any less crowded and noisy to you?” Jessica asked full of sarcasm. She just couldn’t see any difference between here and that party.

“Totally.” Sooyoung firmly said, “Around here, there are only people and sounds I like: Soojin ajumma, Minhyuk ajusshi, sounds of teokbokki being boiled in some pots. These people and sounds aren’t counted as noises since they don’t bother me at all. Moreover, I get to spend some quality time with only you which made me feel like we’re going on a date.” She finished with a grin on her face.

Jessica let out a defeated sigh. It had always been like this. When it came to talking, there was no doubt that Sooyoung was the best. Seriously, if she said that the sun was a triangle probably people would still easily believe it.

So… this must be Sooyoung’s favorite place in Seoul, Jessica thought as she looked around the place. Most of the times being dragged away, Sooyoung would take her to somewhere she usually went and started to talk nonstop about her interests or some of her reminiscences about that certain place. Well, she couldn’t blame Sooyoung though because if the tall girl didn’t have anything to talk about, their ‘date’ would turn into a ‘who could stay silent longer’ contest.

Jessica had to admit: there was one thing about Sooyoung that she truly liked. Her persistence. It amazed Jessica from time to time how Sooyoung didn’t get bored of her when she didn’t have any reactions when the latter told her something that she thought was supposed to be very interesting. All Sooyoung got was ‘Uhm’, ‘Ah’, ‘Is that so?’ and yet the tall girl still managed to push that aside and eagerly to find another topic to keep their conversation going. Sometimes Jessica really had to try to hold her laughter in when she saw that frown on Sooyoung’s face after she was being told that her joke wasn’t funny at all.

“Here you are, Youngie…” Soojin came back with a plate of teokbokki in her hand. She then placed the plate on their table.

Wait no more, Sooyoung quickly grabbed a pair of chopsticks nearby and started digging. Only seconds later, she looked up and said with a mouthful of teokbokki, “Seriously… your teokbokki is the best, Soojin ajumma.”

“Aigoo… swallow first. That’s not how a lady should eat, Sooyoung-ah.” Soojin gently scolded the shikshin.

Sooyoung was just all smiled. She didn't know how much she missed this warm atmostphere till she heard Soojin ajumma's scolding again.

"And who is this beautiful friend yours?" Soojin smiled at Jessica as her greeting and received a shy bow from the latter in return.

Soojin coukd see a wide smile spread across Sooyoung's face as soon as the shikshin looked up from her teokbokki plate at the mention of her friend. Something was telling Soojin that this friend she brought along held a very special place in Sooyoung's heart. Actually, it was kind of obvious that this girl was 'special'. First: Sooyoung never brought friends with her when she came to her shop, this beautiful girl was the first. Second: it wasn't that easy for Soojin to stop this shikshin from enjoying her meal if she didn't want to say that there was no way to stop her. But now, all it took was a slight mention of this girl over here and Soojin could easily had Sooyoung's full attention on her.

"She's really pretty, isn't she?" Sooyoung complimented Jessica as if the latter wasn't here which resulted in Jessica's cheek was as red as a tomato.

Soojin chuckled, "The prettiest... So, when are you gonna officially introduce us?"

"Right now. Jessica, meet one of my most favorite person in this world: Soojin ajumma. And Soojin ajumma, this is Jessica Jung, my... friend."

"Just friend?" Soojin raised an eyebrow at Sooyoung's doubtful introduction.

"Just friends... for now..." Sooyoung said as she flashed one of her knowing smirk to Soojin ajumma.

"Ah... I see." Soojin nodded as her sign of understanding the situation. She turned to Jessica who didn't know to do anything except hanging her head low in embarrassment as the other two interacted full of implications with each other, "Jessica-sshi, is it okay if I use banmal with you?"

“Of course, you can use banmal with me... it’s... you really don’t have to ask me this, Soojin ajumma.” Jessica politely replied.

“Have some of my teokbokki too, Jessica... and do tell me if it’s good or not.” Soojin turned her attention back to the plate to see that it was almost empty because of a certain someone effort. She knocked Sooyoung’s forehead hard, “Aishh... this shikshin! Are you really that hungry?”

“Don’t blame me, Soojin ajumma. It’s just that your teokbokki is too hard to resist.” Sooyoung tried to reason. The thing was: all the things that could be eaten were unable to resist for her.

“It’s okay, Soojin ajumma. Next time I come here I’ll make sure to taste your teokbokki which I’m sure that it’s gonna be delicious.” Jessica quickly cut in so that Soojin wouldn’t be too harsh on Sooyoung. It wasn’t that hard for Jessica to realize the fact that food played an important part in Sooyoung’s life after countless times being dragged out by the latter. Most of her favorite places, things or good memories were all related to food. Before Sooyoung, Jessica was sure that there was no one who could beat Yoona when it came to appetite for food. But now that she met this shikshin, Jessica guessed that she really had to reconsider that fact again.

“She said that it was okay.” Sooyoung repeated in a louder tone with a smug grin on her face.

Soojin shook her head and let out a sigh in defeat.

“Anyway… it’s so good to see you again, Sooyoung-ah. Seriously, we miss your Christina so much.” Soojin said.

Your Christina? Jessica raised her eyebrow at the name. Who was that? Judging from the name, it seemed to be a girl. Here she was thinking that she was Sooyoung’s first love like the latter always told her. How naïve could she be? And what was this unpleasant feeling that gnawed at her inside? Whatever it was, Jessica didn’t care. She only knew that Sooyoung’s good impression on her was now gone, all gone.

Sooyoung chuckled, “Eyy… Christina is so yesterday. I have another one now which is much better.”

Great! Now she had another one and a better one at that. So much for being the first.

“Do you know Daemul, Soojin ajumma?”

“Daemul? Are you talking about that drama Go Hyun Jung stars in?” Soojin said, thinking about the popular drama.

Furrowing her eyebrows, Jessica thought of the drama Soojin ajumma mentioned. So… was she going to introduce to Soojin ajumma those famous actresses from that drama? Really, what did this shikshin think she was doing? Talking about the other girls while the one she was supposed to pursue was sitting right here? Was she going to treat Jessica as if she was invisible now?

“Exactly, I’m going to show you Go Hyun Jung from Daemul.” Sooyoung said confidently.

Go Hyun Jung? Who was she? An actress, of course. What about her appearance? Was she pretty? How old was she? Suddenly, Jessica found herself being really curious about this actress. This lack of basis social knowledge of Jessica was the result from going oversea too much. Plus, Yoona’s overly good acquaintance with those celebrities left a very bad impression on her about people in that industry.

“That’s great! Show me, show me.” Soojin clapped her hands excitedly, waiting for Sooyoung to do her Daemul. “Wait, wait…” She suddenly stopped Sooyoung.

“What’s wrong?” Sooyoung asked in confusion.

Soojin didn’t reply to Sooyoung’s question. Instead, she turned her head to the direction of the kitchen and started calling out, “Minhuyk-ah, Hongchul-ah, Jiyoung-ah, come out here quick… Sooyoung’s gonna imitate Go Hyun Jung from Daemul.” She said in full excitement.

“Imitate?” Jessica asked out loud, completely surprised. Did this mean…

“Yeah, imitating. Don’t you know that our Sooyoung here is the best at imitation?” Soojin answered also in an exciting tone. The thought of having a good laughter later was keeping her in high spirit.

Jessica frowned. These were all just imitating? That Christina too? Who the hell was Christina by the way? And why did she have to care anyway? After all, Sooyoung was just… a friend.

Only seconds later, Jessica saw the other three people who Soojin ajumma just called earlier ran toward their table. They were all expecting this imitation from Sooyoung.

“Alright, I’ll start then.” Sooyoung took a deep breath in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6FK-ek9_TM

(A.N: This video is better than words. Seriously, I tried to describe in words but I just find that words aren’t enough for our Sooyoung  Oh, and I just find out something, ‘sooyoung daemul’ is a search keyword on Youtube. It’s really that popular =]])

As expected when Sooyoung finished, her audience burst out in laughter. They were clapping, laughing, nodding as their confirmation that Sooyoung’s imitation was exactly like how Hyunjung was in the movie. Jessica also noticed that the atmosphere right at this moment was completely different from when they hadn’t stepped their foot in. No wonder people at this place liked Sooyoung so much.

As the audience wanted an encore, Jessica got to know what Christina’s voice sounded like. She also took a mental note to herself, go online to search for information about Christina and Daemul.

They stayed a bit longer in the teokbokki shop before decided to bid their goodbye since it was already late. But actually, that was just an excuse for Sooyoung to move on to another shop in Namdaemun Market. Teokbokki alone obviously wasn’t enough to fulfill Choi Sooyoung’s hunger.

…

“Isn’t your throat hurt at all?” Jessica asked after watching Sooyoung imitated Hyunjung for the eighteenth time that night. They were now sitting in Sooyoung’s car on their way to drive Jessica home.

Jessica was amazed. For real this time. As big as the Namdaemun Market was, Sooyoung still managed to remember every shop owner’s name as they passed by one by one. Strangely enough, those shop owners also knew Sooyoung and some of them even asked for Sooyoung’s imitation just like Soojin ajumma. Everyone in this market treated Sooyoung as if she was their own family member. As she walked beside Sooyoung in this market, Jessica had a feeling of walking beside a Hallyu star as everyone started greeted them brightly once they passed by. Sooyoung was just that popular.

“Nah… not really. Seeing their smiles somehow soothes the pain.” Sooyoung said.

“How often do you come to Namdaemun? I can see that you’re quite close to people there.” Jessica asked out of curiosity.

“Uhm… I’m not sure. But… whenever I have free time, I will come here. These people here are like my second big family.”

“I have one question. Why do you have to hide your money paying for the food under the plate? Just ask them for a bill.” Jessica asked, referring to how Sooyoung always found a way to keep her money unnoticed as they left, hiding them under their plate or sticking them on the cash receiver. She just never asked for a bill.

Sooyoung shook her head, “No, that won’t work. They wouldn’t take my money. Believe me, I tried.”

“Why is that?”

“I don’t know.” Sooyoung shrugged, “Maybe it’s a special treatment for a loyal customer like me” She joked.

“Well, I don’t think so…”

Loyal customer? Jessica doubted it. She knew the reason why Sooyoung was offered free food most of the times was because she offered them something else which was much more precious than just her loyalty to their shop. Laughter. Sooyoung had a gift of bringing laughter and happiness to wherever she went. No matter how gloomy the atmosphere seemed to be at one particular shop, after Sooyoung’s arrival, everyone in the shop had this wide satisfied smile on their face.

“I think you’re not being fair to me, Jessie.” Sooyoung said out of the blue.

“What do you mean?” Jessica asked, puzzled.

“Till this point, I’m sure that you know all about me: my interests, my hobbies, my favorite places, favorite people… Yet, I still have no clue what you’re interested in. Hence, I don’t even know what’s your favorite color is. Don’t you see that you’re not being fair to me at all?” Sooyoung pouted.

Jessica narrowed her eyes in suspicion at Sooyoung, “You planned all of this, didn’t you?”

“Well… if you say so…” Sooyoung had a goofy grin on her face. She knew that it wasn’t easy if she wanted to know about Jessica’s interest since the latter had no intention in telling her. Asking her best friend was definitely not an option since she didn’t even want to look at Im Yoona’s face. Therefore, she just had to do it in her own way.

“What do you want to know then? My favorite color?”

“Not that!”

“Why? Did you just sa-”

“Started with your ideal type first.” Sooyoung cut in.

Jessica was in deep thought for a while before replying, “Someone who makes me feeling happy when she just simply stands right next to me. Someone can make my heart racing whenever we have skin contact. Someone who still cares for me even when I told her that I don’t need it. Someone…” …who was just like Im Yoona. Jessica decided to keep the last part of the sentence to herself. If the person who was listening to her was someone else, Jessica would definitely say the rest of the sentence but in this case, it was Sooyoung. This cheerful girl didn’t have to know about this. Some part of Jessica just didn’t want to crush Sooyoung’s small hope. Not at all.

“Someone what?” Sooyoung asked eagerly.

“Someone who could make me laugh.” Jessica said with a small shrug.

Sooyoung her chin, “The first two standards are sort of hard but the other two are really easy. I can say that I’m half way succeeded now. Yayyy!!!” Just like that, Sooyoung celebrated all by herself.

“Sooyoung-ah…” Jessica quietly interrupted Sooyoung’s small celebration.

“Yeah?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead…”

“If… between friendship and love, what will you choose?”

“What do you mean? Like I have to choose between my best friend and my lover?”

“No… like… you love someone but… you must choose to be her lover for one day or forever be her friend then what will your choice be?” Jessica was trying her best to hide the fact that she was talking about her feelings for Yoona. Maybe she was a bit cruel to Sooyoung if the latter realized who she was thinking of but right now, Jessica really needed an answer from a third party like Sooyoung. Or probably, Jessica just wanted to hear the answer that she could easily guess judging by Sooyoung’s straightforward personality.

“Ah…” Sooyoung slowly nodded. Friend and lover? Now, she got it. Still all about her best friend. Sooyoung looked away from Jessica and focused her gaze on the road. A bitter, forced smile crept up on her face as she stayed silent.

Watching Sooyoung’s expression, Jessica knew that she just did a very bad job in hiding the name Yoona in her question which was why she didn’t say anything even though Sooyoung didn’t give an answer for her question.

Both of them kept their lips sealed for the rest of the ride. Jessica just kept looking over at Sooyoung to see if there was any sign of the latter being mad. However, she found none. Instead, Sooyoung just had this serious look on her face, an expression which she had never seen before. Aishh, if she knew that this happened, Jessica would never ask Sooyoung that question.

The car came to a stop in front of Jessica’s house. Sooyoung got out of the car first and went to the other side to open the door for Jessica.

“Thanks…” Jessica said quietly while stepping out of the car. Then she quickly ran to her house to escape the awkward atmosphere which she created by herself because of her stupid question.

“What is there to think about?” Sooyoung suddenly said out loud caught Jessica by surprise.

“Huh?” Half way to the door, Jessica turned around.

“If I were in that situation, I would choose to be her lover. Even if it was just for one minute, one second let alone for one day. Because one second is enough to say those three words to her. And that’s all I need… for her to know that I love her… more than just a friend.” Sooyoung said loud enough for Jessica to hear before turned her back and got in her car again without waiting for Jessica’s response.

Jessica stayed frozen on her spot.

There it was. The answer she needed.

W Hotel – Room 808

Yuri jerked awake at the sound of her phone beeping. She blinked a few times to get adjusted to the sunlight in the room. The first thing Yuri was aware of when she was fully awake was the breathing sound of another human being other than her own. Almost in an instant, Yuri whipped her head to the right to see another warm, body lying right next to her, legs tangled with her, one arm wrapped tightly around her waist while holding her close as if the sleeping girl was trying to claim Yuri as her property, even in her sleep.

So… it really did happen.

Yuri suddenly laughed at her own stupidity. How could she still think of last night as a dream? Slowly relaxing in Yoona’s warm embrace, Yuri closed her eyes as she let everything happened gradually came back to her mind. Yoona had been gentle, sweet and tender with every touch, every caress like she always did. But hours later, she didn’t hold back. Fast, hard and rough was all that Yuri could remember. There were times that Yuri doubted if the girl who was doing wonders to her was really drunk or not.

A smile spread across Yuri’s face as the sleeping girl stirred, bringing Yuri even closer to her body as if it was still possible to do so before unconsciously nuzzled her neck. A few seconds later, Yoona settled back down and continued to wander in her dreamland with a smile on her face, it looked like Yuri was no doubt a comfortable pillow for her.

Yuri slightly turned her body to the right, watching the sleeping face beside her. After all those years, the way she slept was still the same, still that angelic face, still those slightly parted lips. Again, Yuri found herself smiling at the sight. At this moment, she was sure that she had officially gone insane. This was definitely not the time of doing what Yuri was doing right now. This was the time of being freaking out, trying to get out of Yoona’s embrace and jumping off of the bed and leaving this room as soon as possible. There wasn’t even enough time to do all of that and yet, Yuri still took her time watching the girl next to her drifting off to her dreamland.

Brushing a strand of fallen hair out of Yoona’s face, Yuri started to think of what she should say to the latter to explain the situation when she woke up? At least, Yoona still had the excuse of being drunk for doing what she did. But what about Yuri? Last night, she was completely sober. Yuri was fully aware of what Yoona was doing to her and would do to her. Still, she didn’t stop Yoona. Instead, she’d rather enjoy and let Yoona did whatever she wanted to her. In fact, Yuri had never been able to stop Yoona from taking what she wanted, three years ago she couldn’t and last night wasn’t an exception.

Once again, the sound of her phone beeping somewhere interrupted Yuri’s train of thoughts. She started to panic when she saw Yoona scrunched her eyebrows and unconsciously turned her head to the direction of the noise. Yuri held her breath as she watched Yoona’s further movement, silently praying that Yoona would go back to her sleep. She wasn’t ready to face a sober Yoona yet, not now, not in this condition… Only when the sleeping girl snuggled closer to Yuri while tightening her grip on her waist, the tanned girl was finally able to let out the breath she was holding in relief.

This was not good. Yuri needed to turn off that damn phone before it succeeded in waking Yoona up. And in order to do that, she needed to get out of bed first. Slowly and carefully, Yuri placed her hand on the hand which was wrapping tightly around her waist and slightly pushed it off her body. Yuri merely managed to push Yoona’s possessive hand away before immediately stopped when Yoona shifted and groaned in displeased with her furrowed eyebrows, “Mhmm…”

Yuri’s effort of getting away was a complete waste when Yoona had replaced her hand on that position once again, even tighter than before. Seconds later, the sleeping girl settled back down after she was sure that her pillow was still in her arms. It seemed that Yoona would easily wake up if Yuri had any attempt of moving from her current position.

Stuck. Trapped.

Probably, those two words were the most appropriate ones to describe the situation Yuri was in at this moment. If her phone kept ringing, it was only the matter of time before Yoona woke up and yet she couldn’t do anything about it since she was trapped in the latter’s tight embrace. Yuri glanced at the clock on the nightstand which read ‘8:30'. An image of a worried Tiffany popped into her mind as she thought of the possibility of who was the person sending that text message to her.

“Aishh…” Yuri grunted quietly. They had to get up soon unless they wanted their friends and co-workers to barge in the door, looking for them, thinking that something might have happened. Right now, the most effective and quickest way was to wake Yoona up first but Yuri didn’t want to do that, not at all.

As if Yuri’s phone alone wasn’t enough, another ringing sound echoed in the room to speed up the process of waking up the sleepyhead on the bed. Certainly, that annoying noise came from Yoona’s phone scattering somewhere on the floor. Why? Just why? Out of all days, out of all times, people just loved choosing this exact moment to contact them.

And what must be, must be. Yoona started to stir and fluttered her eyes at the endless noisy sound coming from her phone. With one hand still secured around Yuri’s waist, Yoona peeked one eye opened as she turned her head back to the direction of her ringing phone. Obviously, her brain was still in such a deep slumber that it wasn’t functioning well enough to realize the ‘thing’ she was hugging right now wasn’t some kind of a comfortable pillow but a breathing human being.

Please take note: This was the process of Im Yoona waking up in a slow motion after her phone had stopped ringing.

Slowly acknowledge of her surrounding from her half opened eyelids…

Hmm… strange room, how did she get here? Started to spot some of her scattered belongings on the floor, all of her clothes was there, why did she still feel so warm? Shrugging, probably the heater was doing its job.

Easing into the warmth in the bed. Definitely not in the mood of waking up yet, closing her eyes and snuggling back to her ‘pillow’.

Wait…

This was strange…

Her pillow was…

Much more softer… much more warmer… much more comfortable. And the strangest thing was… her pillow had ‘curves’…

Curves???

Yoona shot her eyes opened and looked up. Then looked down and widened her eyes simultaneously and looked back up again. Yoona stared at the person who she still had a firm grip around the waist with her widened eyes and dropped. She couldn’t take her eyes off the view in front of her for even one second like she was afraid that if she did everything would disappear in a blink of her eyes.

Now, anyone could see that Yoona was now fully awake, the only person who didn’t know if she was awake or not was Yoona, herself.

Was there anyone wonder what our Kwon Yuri was doing during this process? Just so you know, our Yuri had stopped breathing the moment she saw Yoona opened her eyes and stayed motionless, trying her best to act as an actual ‘pillow’ and hoping Yoona would fall for her brilliant act and go back to her sleep. Apparently, that wasn’t the case.

And Yoona’s phone was ringing again.

Seriously, Yuri had to make a big mental note thanking this persistent caller. Without him or her, she really didn't know how much longer Yoona would stare at her. "Err… I think your phone’s ringing.” Yuri awkwardly stated.

Yoona was still in daze.

Seeing no reaction from the latter, Yuri repeated, "Your phone... It's ringing. You should... pick it up..."

"Ah... Uh..." Yoona quickly removed her hand from its previous position before rolling on the bed to the direction of the ringing phone, her eyes hastily scanned around the room in attempt to search for it. Her mind was completely empty... no, actually... it was filled with only two thing: Kwon Yuri and things related to Kwon Yuri. That was why she acted all flustered, looking for her phone when Yuri told her to pick up her call. Right now, if Yuri told her to jump from the rooftop of a twenty-floor building, Yoona would still happily comply her wish.

Once she spotted her phone, Yoona immediately leaned forward and grabbed it. She let out a sigh as she looked at the caller ID 'Icy', her best friend must have been worried since she didn't come home last night. Sitting up while clutching the bed sheet tightly around her chest, Yoona picked up the call.

"Hello?"

"Yah! I thought you were in your room but you weren't. Where are you? Did you even come home last night or not? Taeyeon isn't in her room either. You guys left me alone in the house last night that I don't even know of this. You should know how much I'm scared of-.

"Alright... Alright.... It's my fault, okay? I was drunk last night so I couldn't get home." Yoona quickly cut in to stop Jessica's endless rant.

"Drunk? What happened? I thought you were with Siwon talking to some managers."

"Listen... I'm.... a little busy right now so... I'll talk to you later. See you at work, Icy-ah."

"Yah! Yoon-

Yoona quickly end the call before Jessica could say something else and then turned off her phone, she knew her friend wouldn't be satisfied with her reply but Yoona was really not in the mood of explaining right now. She turned to her right to see that the person she saw just minutes ago wasn't on the bed anymore. Before Yoona could calm herself down by assuming that the image she just saw was just an illusion, she heard the sound of water running in the bathroom, telling her that person's location and also confirming that everything was real, more real than ever.

Shutting her eyes tightly, Yoona rested her head against the headboard. Her mind was working its best to remember as little as she could what happened last night. But nothing came to her mind except the scene which Siwon brought her to the VIP section to rest. Yoona wanted to remember, needed to remember what happened. This didn't make sense, the last person she met wasn't even Yuri but now they were on the bed together, ... and not to mention their intimate position they were in when she woke up. Im Yoona was smart enough to know whatever happened before leading to this but what she needed was the details. Did she blurt out something wrong last night? Was Yuri drunk too? She must be... if not Yoona was sure that the latter would never do this with her.

Yoona clutched her head as the headache had come on her. The certain side effect after knocking down over twenty glasses full of wine last night. At the moment, Yoona wasn't sure if the alcohol's effect was giving her a headache or those random thoughts were running rapidly in her head was. What had she done? What about her promise with Tiffany? This was certainly not staying away from Yuri but getting even closer to her in an even more intimate level. When Tiffany got to know this, Yoona would have been titled as 'the promise breaker' along with the familiar 'the cheater' one.

Shaking those thoughts off her head, Yoona turned to look at the closed bathroom door again. Yuri hadn't come out yet. Should she get up, pick up her clothes and redress so that she could talk to Yuri when she came out in a more acceptable appearance and not just a bed sheet around her body like this? Right! That was what she should be doing right now and she should be hurry since she had already wasted too much time thinking already.

The moment the door to the bathroom flung opened was exactly when Yoona finished buttoned up the last button of her shirt. Yuri came out, fully dressed made Yoona wondered when did she have the time to gather all of her clothes. Her call with Jessica wasn't that long though.

Standing face to face, they really didn't know how to start despite the fact that they both had tons of questions that needed answers from each other. They just stood there, staring at each other's face as if they were trying to memorize every feature on the other's face.

"You... don't remember anything.... last night, right?" Yuri was the first to start after five minutes staying silent that she thought lasted longer than a century.

Yoona helplessly shook her head. Yuri didn't know how desperate Yoona wanted to remember right now. Every detail of it. Millions of questions were running inside Yoona's head right now that she just wanted to grab a pen and write it down so that she could ask Yuri one by one. And the biggest question of them all was whether Yuri was sober when they were doing 'it' or not? Yoona wanted to know everything about Yuri's feelings, before it, during it and after it. Everything!

"We... did it... right?" And out of all her brilliant questions, Yoona just had to choose the worst and most obvious one to ask back. Maybe she wasn't thinking very clearly right now but let's just say that our Im Yoona needed a confirmation. And she wanted to hear it from Yuri.

"Uhm..." Yuri nodded.

"So..."

"It's late..." Yuri chimed in before Yoona could finish what she was about to say, "... we should get to work now. I don't want Siwon to come here and look for us." She added and quickly moved toward the door to get out of this room.

Yoona also quickened her steps and moved toward the door but she didn't have the same purpose with Yuri. Instead, her purpose was completely opposite. Yoona wouldn't leave this room or let Yuri leave if they didn't talk this through. Screw work!

"Wait!” Yoona said aloud when she successfully got a hold of Yuri's hand, “Don’t you think we should… talk?"

Yuri looked down at the hand was being gripped by Yoona and then up to those sincere eyes of her. Yes, they needed to talk however at this moment, Yuri didn't know how she could tell Yoona about what happened last night. And if she did, how much would she tell the latter? Everything was such a mess in her head now and Yuri needed time to sort it out. More time so that her feelings would be clear enough, she hoped.

"We'll talk... But not now." Yuri said.

Now Yoona knew that the 'being late for work' thing was no more than an excuse Yuri made up for herself to leave this room as soon as possible. It was her way of refusing to talk about this matter. Yoona also knew that at this moment, if she tried to hold on to Yuri here, forcing her to talk about this matter, probably she would be able to know everything she needed to. But the thing was: Yoona didn't want to force Yuri to do something that she wasn't willing to do. She had always respected Yuri's decision and that wasn't going to change anytime soon. So, Yoona loosened her grip on Yuri's hand just like the latter's unspoken wish.

Yuri gently shook her hand off of Yoona's grip. Once she did, the tanned girl quickly opened the door to get out, leaving a bewildered Yoona behind.

&&&&&&

STS – Cruise Sales And Reservations Department 

As soon as Yoona stepped into the office, Jessica came rushing to her which sent shivers down Yoona’s back since she could see flames in the latter’s eyes. No joke.

“Yah! Im Yoona!” As expected, the blonde girl shouted from afar.

“Sica…”

“How dare you hanging up on me? You even turn off the phon-”

“I’m a little tired now. Sica-yah, can we talk about this later?” Yoona asked tiredly.

Taken back by Yoona’s attitude, Jessica immediately stopped what she wanted to say, “Yah… are you okay?”

“I’m fine… let’s get to work.” Without waiting for Jessica’s reply, Yoona walked past her best friend toward her own room. As she passed by Tiffany, Yoona noticed the latter was texting someone on her phone with the same expression Jessica had on when she first stepped into the office. Clearly, it was Yuri who she was texting which meant that Yuri hadn’t come to the office yet. How strange… Yuri left before she did right?

Shaking her head, it wasn’t that long since they last met and now Yoona’s mind was filled up with thoughts of Yuri again.

Taking her eyes of Tiffany, Yoona quickened her steps toward her office. Right now, all she needed was working. Maybe it would help her get her mind off of things.

&&&&&&

STS – Lunch Break

Jessica opened the door to Yoona’s office. She gave a heavy sigh when she saw Yoona was burying her face in her palm, looking very depressed. All that Jessica wanted at this moment was running to her best friend, wrapping her arms around her, soothing her worries, sadness. But something stopped her from doing so and this was the first time ever, Jessica felt something like this.

Taking a few careful steps forward, Jessica asked in a quiet tone, “Are you sure you’re alright Yoong?”

Yoona looked up at the sound of her best friend’s voice, “If I said I was fine, you wouldn’t believe it, would you?”

Jessica shook her head as her answer. “What happened last night?”

“Sica-yah… you don’t know how much I want to know the answer to that question right now. I can’t remember a thing about last night and it’s driving me crazy here.”

"Then what's bothering you?"

"It's... Sica-yah, I know that you're worried about me but I'm really confused right now. I just... I need some time before I'll tell you everything. I promise."

Jessica gave a loud sigh. Looking at those round sad eyes of Yoona, she couldn't bring herself to refuse her request. "Alright... What you say. By the way, it's lunch break now. Do you want to go out and have lunch?"

Yoona broke the first smile ever since she entered the building, reassuring Jessica that she was somewhat okay. "Nah... Not in the mood. I think I'm gonna stay here and finish this report instead."

"Then... Do you want some sandwiches? I'll get them."

Yoona nodded, "Uhm... That sounds great. Thanks, Icy-ah."

Jessica could finally smile when she heard her nickname came from Yoona's mouth. "I'll come back in ten minutes." She said and then walked out of the room.

Once the door was closed. Yoona leaned her head back and rested on the headrest while closing her eyes. The headache was still raging painfully through her mind. There was nothing she wanted more than laying down on her bed at home and rested but she didn't. At home, she couldn't see the person she wanted to see. If Yoona was to choose, she'd rather stay here regardless if the headache was getting worse or not.

Tiredly pushed herself up, Yoona made her way to the break area. At this moment, she needed a cup of coffee, her favorite drink when she needed something to set her mind at ease. Absentmindedly, Yoona kept putting what she thought to be the coffee powder into her cup while in fact they was actually soil that Onew used for fertilizing his small ornamental plants on his desk. The soil was kept in a jar whose label turned out to be a coffee powder label. Yoona was just too lost in her own thought to realize that the thing she was putting in couldn't be eaten. As a result, Yoona was stirring the liquid which she thought that was her coffee while it was just a mixture of milk, sugar and soil.

Slowly, Yoona lifted the cup of 'coffee' to her lips, ready to take the first sip from the drink. Fortunately, as the cup merely touched her lips, Yoona found it was being pushed away by a strong force from behind.

"Yah... Are you crazy?"

Yoona turned around to meet the familiar voice that she had been dying to see again ever since they parted this morning.

"Yuri-yah..."

"Are you trying to kill yourself by doing this?" Yuri raised her voice and took the cup from Yoona's hand. She just passed by the break area to see Yoona was putting soil into her cup. At first, she just thought that Yoona needed the soil for something else. And then she couldn't believe in her eyes anymore as Yoona lifted the cup to her lips in order to drink the thing she just mix.

"I was just... drinking coffee..."

"This is not coffee, babo-yah! This is soil."

"But the label said..."

Yuri cut her off, "Everyone in this department know that Onew kept his soil in this jar for fertilizing his plants." She turned away from Yoona, grabbed the jar and put it somewhere hidden so that there wouldn't be anyone else making the same mistake again, "Aishh... I knew that this would happen. I've told him like a thousand times to replace the jar and he didn't. Whe-"

Yuri stopped herself as she felt a pair of arms wrapping themselves around her waist. Her heart almost stopped beating as she felt Yoona's hot breath on her neck. This was not good. Not good at all.

"Can we talk now?" Yoona said in a small voice.

"I... This's not the right time yet." Yuri said as she tried to find her way out of Yoona's tight grasp. But to no avail, no matter how hard she tried, it seemed like the girl behind her wouldn't even budge for one inch. What a familiar scenario. Yuri was once again trapped in Yoona's arm, the exact same situation like this morning.

"You're killing me here, Yuri-yah. Are you gonna act like there's nothing happen between us for the rest of your life? Are you gonna let me forever drowning in my own assumptions about all the things that might happen last night? Please, Yuri-yah... do me a favor. Tell me what happened... everything... your feelings, your thoughts..."

"Yoona-yah... I-"

"Im Yoona! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

The loud voice from behind caught both of them by surprise. Yuri immediately pushed the girl who was hugging her from behind away. The strong force made Yoona stumbled a few steps back.

Tiffany angrily took hurried steps toward Yuri, blocking in front of her, face to face Yoona. She was angry, no, she was furious. Was this what she get from Yoona for placing her trust in the latter? Tiffany couldn't believe that she was fool enough to actually think that she could believe in Yoona on this one. Guess she was wrong now, too wrong.

"Yoona-sshi, I never thought of you as a person who can keep your promise but this time, I decided to place to a bet on you. And all I got is this big disappointment. It isn't even that long since you made that promise to me. Am I expecting too much from you, Yoona-sshi?" Tiffany let it all out.

Yoona hung her head low as she stayed silent, listening to Tiffany's outburst. And when she looked up, Yoona had this serious expression on her face, determination could be seen in her eyes as she spoke, "That promise... I can't keep it."

"Why?"

Looking straight into Tiffany's eyes, "Because I love her." Yoona shifted her gaze to the person standing behind Tiffany, staring right into those brown orbs of her, "Because I love you..."

TBC