Out of the blue, Hwasa suddenly announced a hiatus.

It was quite puzzling to the producers who had been working with her – her new album was already half-way done and all that was left was to shoot the MV. When the news was broken to the media, the company was crowded with reporters, but no one was willing to comment on it.

The same day that the hiatus was announced, Ahn Hyejin also disappeared.

None of her friends knew where she went – not even her best friend, Wheein – and even if her family knew, they had chosen to keep silent on the matter. Even her girlfriend, the person who was supposed to know her best, was in the dark about it.

It was an understatement to say that Byulyi went crazy looking for Hyejin.

She finally realized how little she knew of the present Ahn Hyejin. She was the only one who remembered their past after all; a past that was irrelevant to Hyejin with amnesia and completely useless in her current search for the dark-haired woman.

Byulyi could not help but think about that day all over again – the day Wheein delivered that heart-breaking news about Hyejin; Hyejin who had apparently forgotten about their promise to keep in touch. The feeling of being abandoned, of being forgotten, resurfaced and she fell into the same cycle of sleepless nights, losing her appetite and the burning need to consume alcohol.

It took a few drunken nights with Wheein and a whole lot of scolding from Yongsun to finally get Byulyi back on her feet.  But the sleepless nights continued – knowing that Hyejin was still somewhere out there, still keeping her heart as a prisoner, Byulyi scoured the streets at night, looking for her beloved until dawn. Then, she went straight to work, ignoring Yongsun’s concerned comments about her state of health and overall appearance.

It went on for a month until Wheein barged into her office one day with an envelope in her hand.

“Th-this is for you, unnie,” Wheein said breathlessly, eyes shining with excitement and anticipation as she handed the white envelope to Byulyi, “I think it’s from her.”

With trembling hands, Byulyi took the envelope from Wheein. She scanned the front – “To Moon Byulyi” was written across it in a familiar scrawl; Hyejin’s handwriting.

Byulyi swallowed hard, afraid of what she might find in it. Slowly and gently, she turned the envelope around and opened the flap. A yellowed Polaroid picture peeked out and Byulyi frowned at the two teenagers depicted in it – a younger version of Hyejin and herself, on that weekend trip years ago; the weekend before she had to leave the country. She never remembered taking the picture though; it must have been Hyejin’s doing.

Then, she saw a dirty white paper tucked neatly inside the envelope. She shoved the picture into her shirt pocket and took the folded paper out. As she unfolded it, her heart skipped a beat; she recognized the logo on the top corner – it was from the same cabin that she and Hyejin had stayed on that weekend.

She took a deep breath and read the simple note written on the paper.

Byul-ah,

I’m giving you a big clue here.

Come and find me already.

- H.

Byulyi’s face cracked into a smile, her heart blooming with the knowledge that her beloved was alive and well. Plus, there was also a possibility that Hyejin had remembered that weekend; it made her heart race even faster and her nerves jumped with impatience.

“Tell Yong I’m stepping out for a bit,” she said as she grabbed her jacket and shoved the paper and envelope into Wheein’s chest. She looked at the younger woman with sparkling eyes and a face-splitting grin and added, “I’m going to bring Hyejin back.”

Relief washed over Wheein’s face and she smiled her most genuine smile in days. She was also worried sick about her best friend, just as much as Byulyi had.

“Don’t worry about Yongsun-unnie,” she replied as she nudged Byulyi towards the door, “just bring Hyejinie back.”

Suddenly, Byulyi grabbed Wheein’s face and planted a big wet kiss on her forehead. Then, she laughed and ran away before the smaller woman could recover.

She should be driving faster, but she knew that Hyejin was not going anywhere. There was a reason she was summoned and she wasn’t about to be reckless just to find out what it was. The drive was an hour long, so she took that time to reminisce that weekend, trying to figure out why exactly Hyejin had chosen that place to hide away.

Hyejin hated hiking, but for some reason, she agreed to go on a hiking trip with her on that particular weekend. She knew it would be a while until they could spend time together again and since they were not dating back then, it would probably be the last time they could be alone. She could never resist taking Hyejin’s pictures back then; she did it in secret out of habit, even though they were no longer dating, but those were the most memorable ones and she still kept them tucked away in a secret folder in her computer.

They talked about a lot of things during those three precious days and she almost thought, a lot of times actually, that Hyejin wanted to rekindle their romance. But nothing happened – not even on that last day when they were parting ways. It was a memorable trip, but she had only thought of it as a regretful memory – the last chance she had to have Hyejin again and she let it slipped through her fingers.

Does Hyejin feel the same way? Is that why she chose that place of all places?

She kept wondering this even as she pulled up outside of the cabin. She turned off the engine and stepped out of the car, eyes wandering around, looking for a certain dark-haired woman.

“You came.”

Byulyi’s eyes snapped in the direction of the voice and curved into a soft smile. “Of course,” she said as her legs brought her to the cabin’s doorstep where her beloved was standing, waiting for her, “you know I’ll run to wherever you are…”

Hyejin smiled and tilted her head to one side, curious eyes studying Byulyi as she came to a stop a few feet away from her. Byulyi studied her too – the way she was carrying herself, the aura surrounding her, the look in her eyes; there was something different about her…different, yet familiar.

“You look different,” Byulyi suddenly blurted.

“I feel different,” Hyejin replied. She paused, eyes flickering between the ground and Byulyi’s face. “Did you…read it?” she asked nervously.

Byulyi raised an eyebrow. “The note? Yeah, that’s why I came.”

Hyejin bit on her bottom lip, suppressing the frustrated sigh threatening to escape her. “The picture,” she said, forcing herself to sound calm. “I was talking about the picture, Byul-ah.”

Byulyi remembered and took out the Polaroid in her shirt pocket. She studied the picture for a moment before turning it around. Her whole body stiffened when she realized something was written across the back; something from Hyejin.

She read the words and re-read them, making sure the words were safely imprinted in her mind. When she was finally done, she took a deep, shaky breath and lifted her head.

“What does this mean?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

Hyejin made her way towards Byulyi, making sure that her eyes never left the older woman’s frowning face.

“It means that I love you, Moon Byulyi,” she said softly, a smile slowly making its way onto her face, “and I was willing to wait for you to come back…even if it means I have to wait forever.”

Byulyi’s frown deepened. “But that means…”

“Yes, I was supposed to give this to you before you left,” Hyejin sighed, finally breaking eye contact as her eyes flickered to the picture in Byulyi’s hand, “but I changed my mind.”

Byulyi gently guided Hyejin’s chin with one hand until their eyes were meeting again. “Why did you change your mind, Hyejinie?” she asked. “I think things would have turned out very differently if you had given this to me back then.”

“No, I think it would have been worst,” Hyejin replied with a wry smile. “You would be even more devastated and I would be really sad if that happened, Byul-ah.”

Byulyi knew Hyejin was right, but she still would have liked to know that the younger woman had felt the same way even back then. Her words seemed to be stuck in , so all she could do was kiss Hyejin on the lips, soft yet firm, hoping that it would be enough to convey everything that she was feeling right now. Hyejin’s eager response to the kiss told her that her message was received. She put her hands on Hyejin’s waist and pulled her closer, deepening the kiss in the process.

Suddenly, Byulyi broke the kiss and the younger woman let out a protesting whine. She chuckled softly and gave a few pecks of apology on Hyejin’s lips before staring curiously into Hyejin’s hooded eyes.

“When did you realize you love me?” she asked.

“I think I have always loved you,” Hyejin murmured in a thoughtful voice as she left a trail of soft kisses along Byulyi’s jawline, “I just never realized that I do…until it was too late.”

“But when I told you that I love you…”

“Those three words probably scared teenager me back then, especially when-”

Byulyi frowned when Hyejin abruptly stopped. The younger woman’s nervousness and hesitance was evident when she started chewing on her bottom lip while averting her gaze away from her.

Suddenly, it dawned on Byulyi.

“Especially when I was just a rebound,” she said quietly, not bothering to hide the bitterness in her voice that mirrored the bitterness in her heart. “So I was right all along, huh?”

“Yes, you were a rebound,” Hyejin admitted, eyes finally meeting Byulyi’s, “and I had planned on breaking up with you before anything else happened, but-”

“You wanted to break up with me?” Byulyi interjected, her face contorted into a mask of disbelief and pain. “Even before we actually break up?”

“Yes, but that’s only because I didn’t want to cause you anymore pain,” Hyejin hastily said, a hint of desperation and pleading in her voice.

Byulyi scoffed and started to untangle herself from Hyejin’s embrace, but the younger woman quickly wrapped her arms around Byulyi’s torso, preventing her from escaping.

“I know what it feels like not having the person you like returning your feelings,” Hyejin boldly stared into Byulyi’s hardened eyes despite the fear of losing the older woman gripping at her heart, “and I didn’t want to lead you on any longer.”

“And yet you stayed. Why?”

“I didn’t realize it then,” a timid smile graced Hyejin’s face, “but I started falling for you on that day. The day we had our first kiss…”

Byulyi’s eyes softened as she searched Hyejin’s eyes for the lie; she only saw sincerity…and love. When she spoke again, her voice was gentler, but full of curiosity.

“But that was even before I told you that I love you, Hyejinie…”

“Yes, I was supposed to break up with you after that day, but I was greedy and selfish and I refused to let you go,” Hyejin sighed and tilted her head to the side, letting all the adoration and love she had for the older woman shine through her eyes before adding in a soft voice, “and I was definitely a fool for not realizing sooner that I had already fallen for you back then.”

Byulyi looked at Hyejin for what seemed like eternity – she needed to let this new revelation soak into her mind; she needed to make sense of everything that had happened so far; she needed to make sure that this was not a dream and that she would not wake up with a broken heart. Not again. Not this time.

As if reading her mind, Hyejin touched her cheeks with both hands, a reassuring smile on her face; as if she was telling Byulyi that she was real and this was not a dream; a silent reassurance that Byulyi would wake up with an intact heart this time.

Byulyi felt every pent-up emotion inside her gathered in her chest, up and finally spilling out of the corners of her eyes. She ignored the wetness on her face and covered Hyejin’s hands with her own.

“I love you.”

Even after everything; even after knowing how Hyejin felt about her, Byulyi’s hands still trembled from the fear of being rejected. But her fears were laid to rest when she saw Hyejin’s lips curved into the gentlest smile Byulyi had ever seen on a person and then opened to whisper the words she had longed to hear.

“I love you too.”

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A/N: Well, this is the last chapter. I hope you enjoyed the story until the end. ^^

Now, there is just the bonus chapter left. See you then. ^_^