Goodbyes were never easy.

Going to the movies together, walking down the street hand in hand, kissing each other for the first time after walking home from Seulgi’s party; that was easy.  

But leaving behind the person who you grew to love, the person who made you better, the piece of you that had been missing all this time; that was not easy.

~~

The drive to the airport was quiet and the air was thick with words that went unsaid. Both knew what was happening and why, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt any less. All that time together, all those memories, would be left behind in Korea. Left with the woman who she made them all with.

3 years ago, Wendy Son was sent to Korea to study music and composition at the National University of the Arts. It was there, in her first semester, where she met the beautiful, yet timid, Bae Joohyun.

They met in a music theory class.

~~

Wendy was never good at the theory side of things and so preferred the more practical side of writing music. The experimentation, being able to play with the notes under her fingers and manipulate a melody out of her piano, that’s what inspired her to study music. She never cared for the books and other people’s ideas behind music, she’d rather figure it out for herself; not with the help of some 60-something-year-old man who decided to write a book about it.

This was her downfall, however.

In order to continue the music programme she was enrolled in, she had to pass her first year of theory. Only then, could she leave it behind and carve her own path into the world of music. However, that was easier said than done.

Wendy remembers it well.

One day, they were studying the theory of “The Circle of Fifths”. Wendy knew what the circle of fifths was. She’d used it before when she dabbled in Jazz for a while. Learning this was the key to Wendy being able to make the piano her personal playground, it allowed her hands to flow through chord changes like they were nothing.

But explaining it to others? Writing it down in a way that people would be able to make sense? That was proving to be a bit more of a challenge than she thought it would have been.

So there she was, sat at the back of the class, head in hands, pouring herself over her textbook trying to find some feasible way to explain this simple concept to her teacher beyond “It’s just like that okay.”

She must’ve been sat there for about 20 minutes since the assignment was given out, when she felt a soft tap on her shoulder. When Wendy looked up she was met with a shy smile coming from a girl with silky brown hair that framed a face with skin like porcelain and eyes so beautiful, so deep, that Wendy swears to this day that they could hold the secrets to the universe.

“Are you okay?” the brunette asked her, voice barely above a whisper as her eyes looked over to the teacher at the front, whose eyes were still focussed on the papers in front of him, “You seem to be a little...troubled?”

Wendy had blinked a few times at that, brain still processing at the fact this sheer beauty was talking to her.

“Y-yes?” She closed her eyes and took a breath, “Look, it’s these damn fifths,” She waved to her notes with a half hearted fury, “I know how they work I use them all the time. It’s just stupid I have to explain it to him, rather than show him which I’d be able to do in a heartbeat.”

“So what you’re saying is you know it but you want to show it rather than write it?” The stranger asked.

Wendy nodded at her request.  

“Show me then.”

Wendy, for the second time that day, blinked at her.

“Wh- what?” She stuttered out.

The girl reached over, grabbed Wendy’s left hand by the wrist and placed it on the desk in front of her.

“There,” she nodded to Wendy’s limp hand on the desk, “that’s your piano, now show me a circle of fifths.”

Wendy nodded shyly and then started to move her fingers slowly, but with a sense of certainty, allowing her hand to dance over the non-existent keys.

“Well let’s say we start on A, we can go up to here, then back down to G, then up, then down then back up and so on…” As Wendy slowed her explanation to a stop, so did her hand. She looked at the girl, wondering if that was even remotely  the explanation she was after.

The girl had a smirk on her face, she quirked an eyebrow at Wendy.

“You’re good with your hands.” Wendy’s brain short-circuited for a second, but before she was able to get a word out, the girl continued on, “You can use my notes,” she dropped a small notebook in front of her, “it seems you need them more than I do.”

And then she left. She just got up and left.

Wendy looked down at the name on the notebook.

Bae Joohyun.

~~

It had been quite a while since that first encounter. Their story was as cliche as anyone else's. Sharing classes meant sharing notes. Sharing notes meant sometimes they would work on paired projects and compositions together. Eventually, they decided not to just work together and instead, just be together.

It happened after their friend’s, Seulgi’s, house party. Wendy had enough liquid courage buzzing around her system on the walk back to the university dorms, that she plucked up the courage and told Joohyun to her face that she thought she was the best thing that ever happened to her. That and the fact that she’s the only part of musical theory that she even remotely understands.

Joohyun did what she had always done, she laughed at Wendy and her words. But then she did something she had never done. She kissed Wendy, right there on the sidewalk, and Wendy kissed her back.

They walked home hand in hand that night, hearts full and racing at the promise of more days like that one, more days together.

~~

But even the longest of times run out eventually.

Wendy helps Joohyun out of the car and they make their way into the airport, closer to the place where they will part. Closer to the end.

Wendy takes her girlfriend’s hand, letting it slip between her fingers in an all too familiar fashion. She feels a squeeze from it’s owner and looks into Joohyun’s eyes, she received a weak smile in return while her eyes give off a small pang of sadness.

Wendy stops and reaches up to her ear and takes out one of her earpods, she then proceeds to place it in her partner's. Afterwards, she pulls out her phone, giving the screen a few taps before placing it back in her pocket as the opening notes of a piano ring out in the ears of the pair. Joohyun look up to Wendy, eyes shimmering with the threat of tears.

“Our first piece we composed?” She says weakly as the soft jazz continues to play, “Don’t you think it’s a little upbeat for the occasion?” Joohyun manages to huff out a weak laugh at the irony of the moment.

Their first piece was a soft jazz number. Wendy playing the piano while Joohyun led the piece with a melody from her saxophone. They composed it as a project on the major scale in class and decided to record it together. Wendy had saved it ever since. She saved all their pieces.

“Nonsense,” she squeezed Joohyun’s hand as she pulled her in closer, “I think it’s rather fitting. The beginning at the end. We’re coming full circle.” She winked at the girl next to her, and laughed lightly, “It’s all very symbolic isn’t it?”

Joohyun giggled softly, and leaned into Wendy’s arm, “You’re so weird.”

They continued to walk through the airport, stopping to get coffee after getting through security and check-in for Wendy.

All the way through the airport, the earbuds stayed in their ears, their personal soundtrack ebbing through their ears and into their hearts.

It’s foolish to say the music Wendy and Joohyun made together over the years was always good. There were pieces that were fully fleshed out, that had taken them days or weeks to put together, but there were also small bits, little clips that were barely ten seconds long that Wendy thought were worth keeping because “well, you’re in them, why would I delete that?”. There were also clips that to other people would be just noise, but to Wendy and Joohyun it was them making music out of noise and chaos, it was the sound of them making things work.

They eventually found their way to the gate. Gate 23. The place where they would part and the place where Wendy would be able to hold Joohyun for the last time.

This was it. This was the place.

Wendy knew it.

Joohyun knew it.

They both knew it.

But neither of them said it.

Instead, silence filled the air between them as their playlist ended and the two were left with nothing but the white noise of the semi-busy airport.

Joohyun was the one to break the silence first.

“Airports .” She huffed.

Wendy was snapped out of her thoughts by the sudden statement.

“They do! So many people say goodbye here, people are always leaving. I hate people leaving.” The brunette turned to Wendy, “I hate you leaving.”

Wendy pulled Joohyun into a hug after that, her hand softly drawing small circles in her girlfriend’s back, “I know. I know.”

She pulls away, holding Joohyun by her shoulders, “But airports are also good, people arriving in new places, people moving on from old things to new ones…” she paused, wondering if she should say her next point. She continues on, “People going home…”

“But this is your home,” the small girl in front of her pouts, “it has been for the last three years when your parents sent you across the globe. Here is your home, with your friends and with the people who love you. With me.”

Wendy could see the tears welling in Joohyun’s eyes again, threatening to spill at a moments notice.

“Hyun…” she softly coos at the sniffling girl, “you know I have to go, you know they said they’d want me home after I finished my studies, I…” she takes a breath, “I can’t stop this.”

Joohyun sniffs and then nods, “I know,” she sighs, “I know, we talked about it. I just,” another sniffle, “I really don’t want you to leave!”

With that, the small brunette flings herself back into Wendy’s arms and Wendy can feel her shirt grow wet as Joohyun finally lets her tears fall.

Wendy just stands there and hugs the girl. She already cried her tears in the days after the phone call with her parents. Angry tears. Sad tears. She cried them all.

She remembers the call well. She remembers being angry with herself that, even after three years, she’s still under her parents’ thumb to the point where she has to leave the one good thing in her life behind. She hates that they made her do this. She hates the fact she let them.

“Hey,” she Joohyun’s hair softly, “hey, shh,” she lifts the crying girl’s chin with her free hand, looking her into her shimmery eyes fresh with tears, “it’s gonna be okay. I’ll come visit this Christmas, and summer, as much as I can. We can text and facetime and email and heck I’ll send a damn carrier pigeon if I have to,” that earns a soft laugh from the girl in her arms, “I’m not giving up on us just ‘cause there’s going to be a bit more space between us.”

She wraps her arm back around Joohyun, enveloping the girl in her form. She leans into the hug, resting her head on Joohyun’s shoulder,

“I got you.” She whispers into her ear.

A beat.

“I always will.”

They stay like that for a few minutes, in each others embrace, the rest of the world may as well be dead to them. That is until one voice cuts through their bubble of quiet,

Flight A709 for Toronto, Canada will now begin boarding at Gate 23.

That was it. The voice that signaled the end. Wendy peeled Joohyun from around her body, leaving her shirt tearstained and her heart heavy.

This was it.

“So this is it I guess,” Wendy said looking at the ground, “you…” she pauses, trying not to break, “you promise you’re not gonna run off and fall in love with some other, more charming, Canadian, right?”

Joohyun lifts her hand to Wendy’s cheek, her thumb it softly, “There’s only one I’d ever wanna be with.”

She smiles through her teary eyes and leans forward to give Wendy one chaste peck on the cheek. She pulls back slightly, still hovering over Wendy’s cheek. The canadian pulls her by the chin over to her lips and softly kisses her.

The kiss is slow and full of so many things she wishes she could tell Joohyun. That she’ll wait for her. No matter how long. That she’s always with her. No matter the distance. That she will always love her.

They pull away.

This was it.

This was their Goodbye.

Wendy looks at Joohyun and sighs, giving a sad smile to her love, “I better get going then.”

Joohyun only nods sadly, still sniffling and wiping tears from her cheeks.

“I’ll see you around, Bae Joohyun.”

Wendy wants to hug the girl in front of her. Oh, she wants to hold her one last time so badly. But she knows if she does, she’ll never let go.

So instead she walks backwards, towards the gate. She bumps a couple people and swiftly apologises, but she keeps going right up to the gate, where she hands over her boarding pass to the flight attendant. Eyes never leaving Joohyun.

“You’re clear to board, miss.” The flight attendant politely tells her.

But Wendy is still looking at Joohyun.

“Y-yeah…,” she’s looking at the girl she’s loved for three years, looking into her beautiful brown eyes for the last time in a long time, “just...just give me a couple of seconds would you?”

And with that, Wendy sprints back to Joohyun, pulling her in for one final kiss. A kiss filled with so much need and want. Wendy feels her desperation seep through every pore of her skin, she feels so much and she feels it all for Joohyun and it isn’t fair. She wants her so much and knowing she can’t have her, not in the way she has done for the past three years, breaks her into pieces. It tears her apart.

She kisses Joohyun harder, with more feeling than she’s ever felt in her life. This girl, this beautiful human being she’s with right now, she’s her very lifeforce and now she has to leave her behind. She has to leave it all behind. And it just isn’t fair. None of it is. Not to her, not to anyone. Especially, not to Joohyun.

She pulls away, wiping her own tears.

When did she start crying?

She leans her forehead against Joohyun’s, their breathes mixing in the space between them.

“I’ll call you the moment I land. I promise.” She feels Joohyun nod against her head, the girl too emotional to say anything.

“I love you Joohyun,” Wendy says urgently, “I love you so much. Never ever forget that.”

“I love you too.” Joohyun says softly, her voice barely above a whisper in volume, surprisingly it’s her who separates the two of them, “Now go, I’ll wait for you but your plane won’t.”

She swivels Wendy on the spot and gives her a light push towards the Gate again. Wendy doesn’t fight it and walks towards the Gate almost robotically, her feet feeling heavier and heavier the closer she gets to it.

She gives a weak smile to the flight attendant who smiles back sympathetically. She then turns back to Joohyun, the small brunette, made smaller by the large gap between them, waves at her, giving a small shoo motion, telling her to get on the plane.

Wendy gives a weak wave back, feeling all the strength in her arm vanish. She then turns and walks into the entrance that leads to the plane, head hung low and shoulders drooped.

She entered the plane and sat in her seat. She sat there for a moment in silence. Then another moment. And then another.

It was when the door to the plane shut, did it hit her. It was only then that the magnitude of the situation really hit her.

And she cried.

The tears flowed so freely now, the salty taste made its way into as she gasped for air. The thought of not seeing Joohyun again, not being able to hold her girlfriend when she needed her most, not being able to call her whenever because she might be asleep or in class still. Despite them only being a building away right now, Wendy could already feel the growing distance between them. She could feel all 5,000 miles fighting to keep them apart. And there was nothing she could do. She was so weak to all the people trying to run her life. They did this. And she did nothing.

Wendy left the only good thing for her in Korea and was going home to nothing but a demanding family who want nothing more for her than to carry on in their footsteps.

Wendy felt nothing towards what she was leaving for. And felt everything for what she was leaving behind.

But at this point in time Wendy only felt one thing. One thing above all other emotions. She felt it so hard she felt sick to her stomach.

She felt incredibly and undeniably sad.

~~

Joohyun stood there. Looking at the gate.

The tears had stopped flowing, they stopped as soon as Wendy left five minutes ago. Or was it ten? Or thirty? Or an hour? Time seemed to have stopped for Joohyun the moment her girlfriend went through that gate.

Joohyun sniffed loudly, wiping away any remaining tears and tried to sort herself out a bit. She pushed her hair behind her ears and felt something move as she did so. As she pushed her hair back, that something fell to the ground with a quiet clatter. Joohyun bent down to pick up the fallen item, she realised what it was the moment she picked it up.

Wendy’s earpod.

Joohyun stared at the earpod for a few moments before looking around.

Wendy’s plane was still outside but the door was shut and the gate closed. There was no way to return it.

She quickly whipped out her phone, Wendy might still have hers on before take off. It was worth a shot.

(4:48pm) To: Waaaaanda <3

You left your earpod with me. In all the crying I guess I forgot to give it back :(

As expected, a few moments later, Joohyun was met with a response,

(4:49pm) From: Waaaaanda <3

Ah crap, just look after it for me, I’ll get it when I next see you at Christmas :) I can live with one ‘til then, knowing it’s safe with you.

(4:49pm) From: Waaaaanda <3

I already miss you so much :(

(4:50pm) To: Waaaaanda <3

I miss you too :(( I wish it didn’t have to be like this…

Joohyun looked up from her phone and then back to the earpod in her hand.

When I next see you.

Joohyun thought for a moment. She thought long and hard about what she was about to do.

She had nothing left for her in Korea. She was due to take her Master’s class in September when term started again but that was it. She didn’t really have any friends to stick around with. There was Seulgi, but after graduating she had already planned to move to Jeju for a job. There was Joy and Yeri, but they had eyes only for eachother, they would survive just fine without Joohyun. As for her family, she hadn’t spoken to them in months, maybe even years now. There really was nothing left for her. In fact her only reason to stay in this small country had just gotten on a plane to leave.

I wish it didn’t have to be like this…

But what if it didn’t?

What if there was something else out there for her that went beyond the border of this small country? Something that was bigger?

She thought for a small while longer, staring at the earpod all the while she did it.

The logistics of what she was about to do, she’d work those out later. She’d have to sort out her stuff at some point. Maybe she’d text Joy and Yeri to look after the apartment or something while she was gone, but she would have to come back eventurally and sort that out for herself.

Whatever she has to do to make this happen, she’ll make it work. She always does.

So with that in mind, Joohyun walked up through the airport, back to check in and up to the closest desk clerk she could find.

“Excuse me,” she said, voice shaky still from crying, “I’d like a ticket for the next plane to Toronto.”

~~

Now she’s waiting at the gate. The same gate where she said goodbye to Wendy just hours ago. She texted Joy asking her to bring a case of clothes and essentials for her while also asking her to look after the apartment.

Of course, Yeri came with Joy and her suitcase to say goodbye.The devlish duo said they would miss Joohyun but understood her choices. They were always fond of Wendy and have always supported Joohyun and her relationship with the Canadian. So they hugged it out and said their goodbyes, but they promised to stay in touch. Joohyun even went so far as to threaten them with cooking for them at Christmas, which, in turn, ended up with her being hastily pushed towards the gate.

“The further away you are from our kitchen the better.” Was what they said to her as she boarded the plane.

A few final waves across the room and then Joohyun was through the gate and on the plane.

As she sat down in her seat, she found herself thinking again. She thought that, despite what she said earlier, perhaps airports really weren’t so bad.

She thought that, maybe, just maybe, Wendy was right.

Although Wendy left, leaving her and Korea behind. Joohyun finally understood what the other girl meant about the good side of airports.

Joohyun was going back to Wendy.

Joohyun was going home.

End.

_________________________________________________________________________

Just a quick one shot inspired by the many wenrene airport photos. Though the one of Wendy giving Irene her earpod is what pushed me over the edge to write this (if you didn’t guess).

This is the photo: https://twitter.com/maplesyrup0221/status/998073957545787392

I hope you liked it and it was okay, I’m never really good at angst/oneshots so ofc I wrote both.

Please leave your comments and thoughts, I always love reading them <3

Gee c:

(Twitter: @Geefar_ )