As they rode down on the elevator, Hyejin listened intently as Eunbi rattled off her schedule for the rest of the day. Occasionally, her eyes would wander towards her best friend who was standing on the other side of Eunbi.

It puzzled Hyejin why Wheein was so entranced by Eunbi; the manager was clearly not her type and neither was she available.

As they stepped out of the elevator and headed towards the waiting car, Hyejin grabbed Wheein by the elbow and let Eunbi walk ahead of them.

“Why are you crushing so hard on her?” Hyejin whispered, linking her arm through Wheein’s. “You just met her, Wheein-ah.”

Wheein shrugged, eyes still trained on Eunbi. “I could say the same to you,” she murmured. “You like Byul so much and you met her once.”

“It’s…different with me and Byul. I feel like I’ve known her forever. I just don’t-”

“Remember her?”

Hyejin stopped walking, pulling Wheein to a stop too. “What did you say?”

Wheein looked at her innocently. “What did I say?”

“You said I don’t remember her…should I remember her?” Hyejin searched Wheein’s face for answers, but her best friend remained stoic. “Wheein, what aren’t you telling me?”

“You know I can’t tell you anything without you doubling down in pain,” Wheein replied with a gentle smile. “It’s better if you remember on your own, Hyejin-ah.”

Then, Wheein unlinked their arms and jogged towards a waiting Eunbi.

Hyejin’s head was swimming with questions about Byulyi, but she decided she would ask Byulyi in person the next time they meet and tucked them neatly away for that particular time. Then, she took a deep breath and joined Wheein and Eunbi in the car.

It wasn’t until the car had started moving that Hyejin realized something.

“Wheein…”

“Hm?”

“Why are you in the car with us?”

“What do you mean? I always tag along when you go off to your schedules.”

Hyejin narrowed her eyes; that excuse was plausible if this was something Wheein usual do, but it wasn’t.

Wheein saw the look on Hyejin’s face and let out a long sigh. “I want to get to know her better,” she said in a low voice, gesturing to the front where Eunbi was sitting in the passenger seat. “There’s something about her. Something…different.”

Hyejin shook her head. “The things you do to chase women…”

“Hey, this is a rare occasion,” Wheein protested. “When have you ever seen me chase a woman anyway?”

I could think of one time, but you probably just want to forget it…

Hyejin shrugged and stuffed her ears with earphones. “Suit yourself. Don’t come crying to me when you get your heart broken...”

“Oh, I know I’ll get my heart broken,” Wheein replied with a wry smile. “But this time, I’m ready for it.”

Hyejin stared at Wheein and silently cursed the woman who broke her heart the first time. “I hope your heart will stop breaking, Wheein-ah,” she murmured.

She didn’t expect Wheein to hear her, but they were sitting close enough that it was inevitable.

Wheein looked at her with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “It will,” she said quietly. “I don’t know when, but it will.”

 

They were the last to arrive at the set; the crew was already moving around, setting things up while the managers were busy ushering the models to their rightful places.

Wheein was b with excitement as soon as they stepped inside. She wandered around, admiring the props and colourful wardrobes; like a child set loose in a candy store. Eunbi smiled amusedly as she followed the puppy-like woman with her eyes.

“Don’t fall for her,” Hyejin warned the manager in a quiet voice. “She’ll break your heart.”

And you’ll break hers.

Eunbi looked at her, a little startled. Then, she shook her head and laughed. “I assure you, Hwasa-ssi. Nothing like that will happen.”

Hyejin heard her, but the pink colouring her cheeks was louder than her words; she knew her manager was already taken in by Wheein’s charms.

Hyejin and Eunbi moved further inside, leaving Wheein to her devices, and came across an ongoing photoshoot. It wasn’t surprising, but it was the first time that Hyejin saw a female photographer at work.

The photographer was quietly directing the model and threw out compliments when she did as asked. The model was positively beaming every time she heard those words and looked eager to please the photographer – in more ways than one.

Hyejin would have found it a little disturbing if she wasn’t distracted by the back view of said photographer; it wasn’t her backside that attracted her eyes, but her whole back that looked strangely familiar to her.

Just then, the photographer straightened up and turned around.

Hyejin took in her sharp features, the round glasses perched on her equally sharp nose, the dark hair pulled back into a ponytail, and those chocolate brown eyes she remembered drowning in the day before.

The woman’s eyes fell on Hyejin and her face was frozen in surprise. Hyejin would have been amused if she wasn’t just as stunned.

“Byulyi?” she blurted, her pointer finger lifting unconsciously towards the tall woman. “What are you doing here?”

Byulyi looked awkwardly from her camera to the model and back at Hyejin. “Uh, I’m working? I’m a photographer, so…”

Hyejin felt a little embarrassed for asking the obvious, but she was grateful that Byulyi was kind enough to humour her.

Then, Hyejin remembered that she was supposed to ignore the woman. But that clearly proved to be easier said than done; one look into those dark eyes, Hyejin felt butterflies swarm inside her stomach and a soft smile tugged at her lips.

Byulyi was smiling too as she approached her. “This is a pleasant surprise,” she said. “Have you come to forgive me for last night?”

“Actually, I-”

“Unnie!”

Hyejin and Byulyi swivelled their heads around at the sound of excited squeals. A dark blur later and Wheein was clinging onto Byulyi like a cicada.

“Wheein?” Byulyi’s voice was laced with surprise and amusement. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, I’m accompanying Hyejin,” Wheein said easily as she smiled into Byulyi’s eyes. “Unnie, this place is amazing!”

Byulyi chuckled. “Are you sure you’re not drunk, Wheein-ah?” she asked as she struggled to pry the smaller woman off of her; Wheein had a surprisingly strong grip and she soon gave up and hugged her back.

Hyejin watched their interactions with an uneasy feeling. Suddenly, her head throbbed and she winced. “You two…know each other?” she managed to ask despite the pain.

Byulyi and Wheein exchanged glances; Hyejin suddenly had a horrible thought that they were coming up with some sort of lie to tell her.

Byul wouldn’t do that…neither would Wheein…Right?

“We were housemates in the States,” Byulyi finally said, tugging Wheein impossibly closer to her. “Right, Wheeinie?”

“Y-Yeah, we were,” Wheein said, her voice a pitch higher than usual. “I stayed with unnie until I finished my studies there. I told you before, remember?”

Hyejin did remember Wheein mentioning a housemate, but she didn’t pay much attention to it then; maybe she should have.

Hyejin couldn’t stand seeing the intimacy between Wheein and Byulyi; she felt like a vein would pop in her head. Then, without warning, a sepia-coloured scene flashed in front of her eyes…

 

I was pouting.

It was summer and I had stubbornly decided to stand outside in the heat, but I didn’t mind it; I had always liked summer better than winter anyways. Plus, I was waiting for Wheein, so it was worth it.

But she was late and my patience was running thin.

Wheein had dragged me into joining a performing arts summer programme, but we ended up in different classes and I was extremely unhappy about it. Wheein had promised that she would buy me dinner and ice cream to make up for it, but we couldn’t make proper plans until today.

Suddenly, I heard a familiar laughter floating through the doors as it opened and two figures walked out.

I narrowed my eyes when I saw that it was Wheein and an older girl. It was a rare sight for me; Wheein was usually reserved when it comes to meeting new people, but it had been three days into the programme and it was ample time for Wheein to get used to everyone, so it shouldn’t have come as a surprise to me.

But it did bother me when I saw the adoring look in the older girl’s eyes as she listened to Wheein ramble on about her love for arts; the puppy-girl was too absorbed in her own story to notice the hearts being sent her way…or me, for that matter.

I finally called out to the oblivious girl, my voice laced with irritation. Wheein turned towards me and her whole face lit up when our eyes met; I felt my frustration melt and a smile found its way onto my face.

“Oh, Hyejinie! This is Byulie-unnie,” Wheein said as she grabbed the older girl’s wrist and pulled her along towards me. “She’s an assistant trainer from my dance class.”

“H-Hello, Hyejin-ssi,” the older girl said, giving me an awkward smile. “My name is Moon Byulyi.”

 

The flashback abruptly ended and Hyejin found herself back in the present.

She nearly laughed at the absurdity of it all; it took one bout of jealousy to make her remember that Hamster Unnie was actually Moon Byulyi.

She shut her eyes tight, took a deep breath, and then opened them again. Her eyes fell on the two women who were looking at her with worried eyes.

“Jung Wheein, I need to talk to you,” she said as she grabbed Wheein by the hand and dragged her away, completely ignoring Byulyi.

When she found an empty room, she tossed Wheein into it, stepped inside and locked the door behind her.

“Now, tell me what you’ve told unnie,” Hyejin demanded, arms crossed and eyes narrowed.

Wheein immediately understood that Hyejin had remembered Byulyi. She straightened up and smoothed down her blouse. “I didn’t tell her anything,” she mumbled.

Hyejin frowned. “So…she doesn’t know?”

“If I didn’t make that promise with your parents, I would have told her in a heartbeat,” she said, pouting. “But since I can’t, you have to tell her.”

“Me?” Hyejin was taken aback by the suggestion. “Why me?”

“It’s your life story. Even your parents can’t say anything if you’re the one who talked.”

“You know they only did that because they don’t want people to take advantage of me…”

“I know. But it’s frustrating because unnie is one of those people who knew you from the past and I want to talk to her so badly about you…”

Hyejin pulled the pouting woman into her arms. “I’m sorry, Wheein-ah. I’m sorry that I made you feel lonely. I…I’ll talk to unnie about everything.”

Wheein nodded against her shoulder. “Thanks, Hyejinie…”

Hyejin smiled. She now knew how much Wheein had been holding back for her sake; the last time she heard that nickname coming out of Wheein’s mouth, she was in so much pain and had refused to see Wheein for a while. Wheein had stopped using it, but it also made Wheein become a little distant.

Suddenly, a thought flitted across her mind.

“You know,” Hyejin murmured thoughtfully. “I didn’t like Byul-unnie the first time we met…”

Wheein chuckled. “Yeah, you were always glaring at her. I felt sorry for her every time we hang out.”

“Remember that flashback I told you about? The one where I know I was crushing on you?”

“Yeah…?”

“That flashback also showed me how I became friends with unnie. I think it was around the time you snagged yourself a summer boyfriend.”

Wheein pulled away a little and looked at Hyejin amusedly. “That’s interesting,” she said. “I knew something was different about you two back then. I mean, you were still giving her death glares, but you were more, I don’t know, affectionate?”

Hyejin scoffed. “Maybe we were a little friendlier, but affectionate? Come on…” She paused and frowned. “But then again, maybe you’re onto something, Wheein-ah. Because I cannot logically comprehend how we got from being friendly to me wanting to stick my tongue down …”

Wheein grinned. “That’s a very good question. Maybe we should ask unnie-”

Hyejin shook her head vehemently, blood rushing to her neck and face. “No. Nope. We are not going to ask unnie about it. I’ll find out for myself. I just need to, uh…”

“You need to tell her that you don’t want to be just friends,” Wheein said as she stepped away from Hyejin’s arms and pushed her towards the door. “Maybe sticking your tongue down unnie’s throat might actually jog your memory.”

Hyejin glared at her; Wheein just gave her a cheeky smile in response. Shaking her head in disbelief, Hyejin unlocked the door and pushed it open.

“OW!”

Hyejin gasped and immediately apologized, but her words faltered when she saw that it was Byulyi standing behind the door.

“Hey,” Byulyi mumbled, rubbing her nose with one hand and holding the door with the other. “I know you’re envious of my nose, but don’t break it…”

Hyejin resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She glanced at Wheein who gave her an encouraging smile. She nodded and took a deep breath.

“Unnie, I need to talk to you…”

Byulyi immediately snapped her eyes to Hyejin. “‘Unnie’…?” she asked, raising an eyebrow amusedly. “We’re back to that now?”

Hyejin bit her lip. Her every being wanted to wipe that smirk off of her pretty face with one searing kiss, but she needed to change their friendship status before she could do that…and possibly more.

“So, can we talk?” she asked again, clasping her hands behind her back to hide their twitching. “Alone?”

Byulyi looked a little confused, but she wasn’t going to pass up a chance to be alone with the younger woman. “Sure, Hyejin-ah,” she said with a smile. “Let’s talk.”