My vision was blurry by the time I got out of the elevator. I dragged my feet across the hospital’s deserted lobby towards the main entrance.

It was just this morning that Byulie and I fought. I went to Hyejin’s, but I was sent back to apologize. Then, I saw that scene.

I sighed, suddenly feeling exhausted.

I was even reluctant to answer my phone when it rang; I finally answered because the ringtone was making me more upset than I already am.

“Wheeinie, how did it go?”

The moment I heard Hyejin’s voice, my throat clenched up and I couldn’t keep it in anymore.

“Wheein?” Hyejin’s panicked voice made me cry even harder. “A-Are you crying? Why? What happened?” Her voice suddenly became fierce. “What did Byulie-unnie do? I’ll skin her alive if she-”

“Sh-She didn’t do anything,” I sobbed. “I didn’t even talk to her.”

“Then, what happened?”

“I…I shouldn’t have come back, Hyejin-ah,” I said with a shaky voice. “If I didn’t, maybe I wouldn’t have to see that girl kiss her.”

“Wait, wait, wait…What girl?”

I described the girl I saw, but Hyejin couldn’t remember seeing her around Byulie before.

“Maybe she’s an old friend. From overseas. I mean, foreigners greet people with kisses all the time,” Hyejin reasoned.

But I wasn’t convinced.

I was there when that girl touched Byulie and I saw the look on Byulie’s face; whoever that girl was, she had a past with my girlfriend.

“Wheein!”

My steps halted when I heard a familiar voice.

I turned around to find Byulie standing a few feet away.

I almost didn’t recognize her; her hair was messy, her face flushed and she was breathing hard. She wasn’t her usual cool and composed self; she looked frantic, almost desperate.

“B-Byulie?” I instinctively took a step back. “Wh-What are you doing here?”

Byulie scowled and in a flash, she was right in front of me, holding my wrist hostage.

“I can’t let you go,” she said breathlessly. “I can’t let you go knowing that you misunderstood what happened.”

“Is that Byulie-unnie?” I almost forgot that I was on the phone with Hyejin. “Wheein? Yah, Jung Wheein, answer me!”

“I’ll call you back, Hyejinnie,” I said without breaking eye contact with Byulie and ended the call. “What did I misunderstand?” I asked her coolly. “I saw her touching you and then kissed you. Tell me. What did I misunderstand?”

She opened and closed it again. Her hesitation made me even more suspicious and I felt my anger started to rise.

Then, with a firm voice, she said, “I don’t know what her intentions are when she did that, but I want to believe that it was out of gratitude more than anything.”

I frowned. “Gratitude?”

“Yes. She’s the girl I saved that night.”

“Oh.”

I immediately cooled down when I heard that. Then, I felt embarrassed for jumping to conclusions.

“I’m sorry,” I said, lowering my gaze. “I shouldn’t have assume things…”

Byulie pulled my wrist until my face was pressed against her chest. “I would have thought the same if I was in your shoes,” she murmured. “Considering what you said this morning, this little misunderstanding would have made things worse. I had to quickly clear it up with you.”

“I’m sorry about that too,” I mumbled, wrapping my arms tightly around her. She was covered in sweat, but I didn’t care; I just wanted to feel her against me. “I didn’t mean any of it. I was just really, really angry that you’re pushing me to go to Europe when I don’t want to…”

“You really don’t want to go?”

It would be a lie if I say I don’t, but I don’t want to leave Byulie either; not when there could be a girl somewhere out there waiting to snatch her away.

Byulie laughed. “Of course you want to go,” she said matter-of-factly. “It’s your dream, Wheeinie. I want to support your dream. That’s why I’m asking you to go.”

I raised my head and asked, “What would happen to us?”

She looked at me with confused eyes. “What do you mean?”

“If I go, are we still together? Or are we going to break up? I’ll be gone for a year, you know.”

Byulie sighed and knocked me gently on the head. “Why are you being so negative, Wheein-ah?” she asked. “We can always have a long-distance relationship.”

“What if that doesn’t work out? What if you get tired of me and decided to break up?”

She chuckled. “I think you’re the one who’s going to get tired of me,” she murmured. “I’d be pestering you with random video calls just because I miss you.”

My eyes watered, but I held them back. “I don’t mind,” I mumbled and buried my head in her neck. “You’ll make me worry if I don’t receive a call from you at least once a day.”

Byulie tangled her fingers in my hair and gently massaged my scalp. I sighed and kissed her neck gratefully; her scalp-massages always made me feel at peace.

“So, we’ve decided that you’re going?” she asked after a while and I could almost see her smiling down at me.

“Yes, yes, I’m going,” I mumbled. “I just hope they don’t make me go before you’re fully healed.”

“I hope so too.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It didn’t take long for the hospital attendants to find us and drag me back to my room.

When they tried to stop Wheein from sleeping over, I threatened to escape again; they only agreed to let Wheein stay because they didn’t want to run around the hospital looking for me again.

We were cuddling after lights off when I suddenly realized I haven’t given Wheein the full disclosure on YooA.

“Wheein-ah…”

“Hm?”

“Actually, I didn’t tell you the whole truth.”

I felt Wheein stiffened beside me. I couldn’t see her face because she had her head lowered, but I could imagine what was going on inside. I tightened my arm around her waist, just in case she decided to run away again.

“That girl I saved,” I continued. “She’s actually my ex. Her name is YooA.”

She finally raised her head and looked at me curiously. “Your ex?”

I smiled. “I told you I had girlfriends after Krystal.”

She was silent for a while. Then, she asked, “When did you and YooA break up?”

“A year before we met,” I replied.

She frowned. “But Hyejin said she’s never seen YooA around.”

I smiled, feeling both bitter and sad as I recalled my past relationship. “Of course not,” I murmured. “I kept my relationship with YooA a secret from everyone. Even my best friends.”

She looked at me curiously. “Why though? Why keep it a secret?”

“I didn’t like who I was when I met her. I hid the worst part of me and presented her the better version.”

“Is that why you two break up?”

I hesitated. “I…we bumped into one of my friends and things just went downhill from there. In the end, she couldn’t take it anymore and dumped me.”

She slowly sat up and studied me with intense eyes. “Should I be worried about your friends showing up out of the blue?”

I chuckled. “You don’t have to. I see them from time to time at the club, but I haven’t been visiting them since my breakup with YooA.”

Her face softened and she chuckled. “So that’s the breakup that finally made you want to turn a new leaf, huh?”

“Yes, it was.” I paused, suddenly remembering our past conversation. “Do you remember when you talked about meeting the one, Wheein-ah?” I asked. “Do you remember saying that even if I met her, she wouldn’t be with me because I kept playing around?”

She nodded and waited patiently for me to continue.

“You were right,” I said, smiling slightly. “When I met YooA, I honestly believed that she was the one. But I didn’t cut those girls off like I should when I started dating her and she left me because of that.” I paused and took a deep breath. “I think somewhere deep down, I too believe in meeting that one person who would be my whole world. That’s why I started to change. To be a better person when I finally meet her.”

Wheein looked at me with the most adorable smile, showing off her deep dimple. “And have you met her?” she asked softly.

“Yes, I have,” I answered and reached out a hand to caress her cheek, letting my fingers linger on her dimple. “When I first met you, I wasn’t sure. But now, I am.” I paused and took a deep breath. “You’re the one, Jung Wheein. And I love you so much.”

“I love you too, Byulie,” she whispered as she intertwined our hands.

I pulled her towards me and pressed our mouths together. The kiss was slow and deliberate; just the way we like it.

When we finally pulled away, we were both breathing heavily, faces flushed, with a content smile on our faces.

“It’s okay if I’m not the one for you, Wheein-ah,” I said, toying with a strand of her hair. “I’m just telling you that you are for me.”

She chuckled. “You are the one for me, Moon Byulyi,” she said. Her smile softened as she added, “I introduced you to my family because you are my whole world. I needed them to know that and I needed them to know you.”

My throat constricted with emotions I couldn’t name; I didn’t even realize my tears had fallen until Wheein gently wiped them away.

I grabbed her hand and kissed it, muttering how much I love her and that I wouldn’t let her go no matter what.

She just smiled and whispered, “I know.”