After their breakfast date, Byulyi had to say goodbye. They were both reluctant, but Byulyi was already late and Hyejin had just received an urgent text from her best friend.

“I can drop you off if you want,” Byulyi offered, gesturing at her car.

“No, you have a long drive ahead of you.” Hyejin hesitated for a bit. Then, she leaned in and pecked Byulyi’s cheek. “For the road,” she said softly, cheeks flaming, before running in the opposite direction.

“I’ll call you tonight!”

Byulyi’s voice carried clearly over their widening distance and a silly smile made its way onto Hyejin’s face as she speed-walked all the way to Wheein’s apartment.

Hyejin’s bright smile did nothing to lift Wheein’s mood when she opened the door to greet her.

“I brought you some hangover soup,” Hyejin said, lifting the plastic bag in her hand.

“Thanks,” Wheein mumbled.

“What happened to you?” Hyejin asked as she followed Wheein inside. “Why did you drink so much?”

“Nothing happened. Just felt like it.” Wheein picked up the empty bottle of wine lying on the floor and scowled at it. “I’m never drinking wine again,” she grumbled.

Hyejin grabbed the bottle from Wheein and stared at her worriedly. “You drank all of this?”

“No, just half of it.” Wheein hesitated before adding, “A friend drank the other half.”

“Well, I want to see this friend and give them a piece of my mind. How dare they let you drink so much?”

Wheein looked at her oddly and then shook her head, smiling. Hyejin frowned, seeing her reaction.

“What?”

“Nothing. It’s just…nice to see you worry about me.”

Hyejin tilted her head, confused. “But I always worry about you, Wheein-ah…”

Hyejin wondered if she had treated Wheein differently in the past; maybe she was far more affectionate then because she was in love with her.

But nothing’s changed. I still love Wheein. I’m just not in love with her.

Wheein quietly took the bottle away from Hyejin and mumbled, “Yeah, of course. I’m sorry. I was being silly.” She placed the bottle in the recycle bin and took a deep breath. Then, she turned to Hyejin with her usual dimpled smile and asked, “Now, where is that soup?”

Wheein leaned back against the dining chair, rubbing her tummy with a satisfied smile on her face.

Hyejin, who was sitting opposite her, laughed when she saw Wheein’s state. “Was it delicious?” she asked.

Wheein nodded, too full to utter a word.

Hyejin noticed a soup stain at the corner of and automatically leaned across the table to wipe it away with her thumb. Then, she naturally brought her thumb to and it.

Hyejin caught herself mid- and blushed.

It must be the side-effect of recalling her past feelings for Wheein; her body moved so naturally, as if she had never forgotten in the first place. She glanced over at Wheein and noticed that she was staring at her.

“Wh-what?” Hyejin asked nervously as she grabbed a tissue from the tissue box at the end of the table and wiped her hands on it. “Why are you staring?”

Wheein shook her head. “Nothing,” she murmured. “Just wondering if something happened to you…”

Hyejin felt her face heating up as Byulyi’s face entered her mind. “I, um, I met someone last night,” she said shyly.

“Oh?” Wheein smiled teasingly. “Can I expect a wedding invitation soon?”

Hyejin gasped and threw the used tissue at her. Wheein laughed when the tissue fell short, landing inside her empty bowl.

“I just met her,” Hyejin mumbled. “We’re still getting to know each other…”

“My best friend is no longer single...” Wheein clasped her hands together and looked up, whispering, “Thank you God.”

Hyejin shook her head, chuckling. “You make it sound like I’ve been living like a nun. Okay, so maybe I have,” she quickly added when Wheein gave her a pointed look. “But sorry to disappoint you, Wheein-ah. I didn’t get laid last night. Instead, I got a new friend.”

Wheein stared at her incredulously. “What is wrong with you?” Then, she calmed down and took a deep breath before adding, “Tell me that you at least kissed.”

“Yes, we kissed,” Hyejin replied, feeling a little offended that Wheein thought she couldn’t even get a kiss. “I just thought we were moving too fast. So I decided we should start being friends first.”

Wheein let out a long sigh and looked at Hyejin disapprovingly. “Last time I checked, you don’t kiss your friends, Hyejin-ah,” she said, pointing her spoon in Hyejin’s direction. “What if you suddenly want to kiss her while you’re still friends?”

Hyejin bit her lip. She didn’t think that far; she did think about kissing Byulyi though, but definitely not as friends.

“Ugh, that would be a problem,” Hyejin admitted with a defeated sigh. “What should I do, Wheein-ah?”

“Tell her that the ‘friend thing’ is off.”

“Won’t she think I’m fickle?” Hyejin suddenly felt uneasy. “Just this morning I said I wanted to be friends…”

“I’m sure she’ll be okay with it,” Wheein said with a confident smile. When Hyejin looked at her questioningly, she quickly explained, “I mean, if you’ve kissed someone, you don’t want to be just friends…” Wheein paused, recalling a particular incident with a particular person. “Unless you don’t want to date the person you kissed, then just be friends with them.” She looked at Hyejin curiously and asked, “Do you want to date her, Hyejin-ah?”

Hyejin imagined for a moment about dating Byulyi; she imagined waking up next to Byulyi every morning and going to sleep with her every night. Just imagining it was already sending her pulse racing a mile a minute and she didn’t mind it one bit.

“Yes,” Hyejin mumbled, burying her reddening face in her hands. “Yes, I want to date her.”

Wheein let out a satisfied huff. “Good. Now call her.”

“No, I can’t,” Hyejin muttered. “I’m too messed up now. I’ll wait for her call tonight.”

Wheein nodded. Then, a thoughtful frown graced her face. “Will you tell her about…your condition?” she asked carefully.

Hyejin lifted her head and smiled weakly. “Actually, I already did. Just this morning.”

Wheein looked at her, surprised written all over her face. “You did? Did you tell her...everything?”

Hyejin shook her head. “I just told her that I don’t remember much about my past…”

Wheein smiled. “It’s good that you opened up to someone else,” she commented. “I hope you can talk to her about things that you can’t with me.”

Hyejin smiled wryly.

She would always consult Wheein about things from the past, but lately Hyejin kept her flashbacks to herself; like the one from this morning, but she had a valid reason to do so.

Firstly, Wheein wasn’t even in it. Secondly, she felt like the memory was too private to share with someone other than Hamster Unnie.

But you already shared it with Byulyi…

Thankfully not everything, so Hyejin didn’t feel as guilty.

Lastly, it was a memory which reminded Hyejin that she once had romantic feelings for Wheein; she wasn’t even sure if Wheein was aware of her feelings back then and therefore, talking to her about it might not be a good idea.

So Hyejin understood why Wheein said what she said.

“Thank you, Wheein-ah,” she murmured. “Thank you for understanding.”