Chaewon has no idea how Hyewon knew. She did—or thought she did—her best not to leak any hints about the divorce. In addition, she assumes her dad and stepmom wouldn’t have said a word about it, too, to Hyewon. Not unless they knew for sure because Hyewon is precious. She needs to be protected. “Did I say divorce?” Chaewon tries to cover it up, but is a tad bit too late, Hyewon was already bawling with her face in her hands. 

It might sounds mean but Chaewon actually loves seeing Hyewon cry. She thinks it’s adorable. The younger woman reaches over and pats Hyewon on the head gently, brushing it.

“Why are you crying? It’s alright,” Chaewon can’t hide an awe chuckle as she scoots closer to embrace Hyewon in her arms. While rubbing the older’s back as well then she rests her chin on Hyewon’s shoulder, “Don’t cry. Who says mom and dad are getting a divorce? Even if they are, we’ll stop them together. They’ll stay together for you and me,”

Chaewon hears Hyewon sniffling as she begins to mumble between heavy breaths, “I-I saw the p-papers in your room,”

Chaewon forms a thin line with her lips, while she curses herself out in her head. How could she be so reckless? So thoughtless as to leave important, controversial documents in plain sight—on her desk.

“Uh, actually Goeun got those to divorce me,” Chaewon mindlessly, jokingly lie, hoping she will get a smile out of Hyewon. To her surprise, she got more than she bargained for. Hyewon begins to laugh as she wipes away tears. It took her a second to calm down before she readily turns to Chaewon for an answer. 

“They really won’t separate for our sake?”

Chaewon builds up a kind smile, “Without a doubt. I have a plan but before mom gets home, I’m gonna go see Goeun and see what she thinks. And if we can come up with a backup plan in case my plan fails,”

While exchanging gazes, Hyewon nods and flashes one of her loving contagious smiles. 

Chaewon is back at Starbucks, slouching in a chair at the table closest to the twin glass doors when Goeun walks over, fanning herself with her cap. The lass who had just punched out for the day heaves an exhausting sigh as she approaches, “You’re back already?” she asks and takes the empty seat next to Chaewon. When Chaewon doesn’t answer, she inquires, “How did it go? Judging from your expression, I'm going to guess you failed. Made a mistake?” Once Chaewon’s blank eyes were on her, Goeun smiles a little, “You messed up didn’t you?”

A sharp sigh escapes Chaewon’s lips before she explains, “Hyewon saw the divorce papers in my room. My stepmom is inclining on accepting whatever ruse my dad is cooking. My dad is a nutjob. He believes my stepmom wants to stay married to him because of his handed-down wealth when he’s the materialistic one,” Chaewon shakes her head in defeat, “I want them to separate but Hyewon seems hurt by the idea. I lied to her saying I have a plan to keep them together,”

Goeun studies the spiritless Chaewon once again before asking, “Perhaps it’s because she’s afraid of losing you?”

Chaewon unconvincingly smirks her off, “Their divorce has nothing to do with our relationship,”

The other clicks her tongue in disagreement, “Oh, but it does. Living apart will weaken your guys’ bond and you’ll eventually grow apart. It's part of life. Also, once you start working, you won’t have a lot of time for her. Even for me. So your parents separating will take a toll on your sister-bond with Hyewon,”

Quietly, Chaewon processes every word that falls out of Goeun’s peachy lips as if they were wise words she is hearing for the first time. Though she knew full well that she has no control over her parents' marriage, she likes to pretend she does by playing for it. By assuring herself that there is no other better option than divorce. They are adults, after all, and more importantly a couple. Whether there is love or not, they’re the couple and it took Chaewon up until that very second to realize how effective their decisions can be.  

“The real question is,” Goeun begins, earning Chaewon’s attention after she appeared to have fallen into another trance, “is your dad really doing this because of his will or is he doing this to get back at his second wife?”

Chaewon furrowed her brows and in a more serious tone utters, “You mean the woman who gave birth to me. The woman who’s supposedly my biological mother,”

Goeun ignores Chaewon’s bitter, sarcastic remarks and hums, “Is he still searching for her or whoever he was looking for? Maybe he didn’t like what he found?”

Like a light bulb being flick on, Chaewon swears a few concern of hers were immediately made clear. She has forgotten that she heard from one of hers and Goeun’s mutual friend that her father filed a missing person report some time ago. Suddenly interested, Chaewon raise a brow, “Would Yena be able to find out?”

Goeun shrugs, “It’s Wednesday, I’m sure we can catch her at the police station,” 

Just as Goeun predicted. When Chaewon and Goeun walk into the storied building, they see their target at the front desk with two other. The shorter woman is in her uniform: blue short-sleeved button-up, blue tie, black slacks, and a nylon duty belt fastened around her waist. Yena’s black hair was in a ponytail while her bangs block her from seeing her two guests.

When Chaewon reach the front first, she rests an arm on the quartz countertop and smiles, “Good evening, Officer Choi Yena,”

Upon hearing and recognizing Chaewon’s voice, Yena flicks her head up and their eyes meet. Rapidly Yena’s face lights up with a cheery, yet, surprised smile. “Kim Chaewon, Na Goeun!” she calls upon exchanging gaze with Goeun too.

While Goeun distracts Yena with a greeting gesture, Chaewon urges, “Yena, you said my dad filed a missing person report years back, right? Can you check the exact date on that and who the missing person is?”

Once Goeun is standing beside Chaewon, Yena pivots her main focus back to Chaewon. “Pardon? You want to know who your father was looking for?”

Chaewon hums, “You can check it for me on the computer right?”

The other doesn’t object but says, “Unless your father left a contact number or followed up after he filed the report, I have no real way of knowing. I can give you a contact list of the people in charge of missing person cases, but I doubt you’ll want to reach out to every one of them. Your other option and I would say is the best, and easiest is to ask your father who he’s looking for,” Yena says as her fingers move over the computer keyboard without a break.

A small but sharp sigh escapes Chaewon as she brushes her hair back, “As if he’ll tell me who,”

With a gasp, Goeun smacks Chaewon on the arm softly, “What about Mr. Oh? I doubt your dad reported it himself. Mr. Oh must know who your dad is looking for,”

At the realization that Goeun is more than correct, Chaewon hits the countertop with a splat, “Well then, it was good seeing you Yena. We’ll see you later,” before the duo can leave as they wish, Yena quickly stops them.

“Wait, are you guys doing anything on Saturday?” she asks, less formally now.

Chaewon folds her arms over her chest and leans a bit toward Goeun, “Depends, what's happening on Saturday?”

Yena sighs in distress, “Yujin and Minju played me. I set up a blind date with three people for the three of us, but they bounced as the date closes in. So I was wondering if you guys can go with me. I’ve been trying to find a pair to go with me but haven't had any luck with it,”

Without any hesitation, Goeun asks just to be clear if she still remembers the other's preferences, “People? Are they women?”

The duo watches as Yena avoids their eyes and curl her lips, then she bobs her head once. “I know you guys like men but it’ll be really embarrassing to go alone and or to cancel,”

While Chaewon thinks about it, ironically, Goeun agrees to Yena’s plea in a heartbeat and leaves Chaewon puzzle. What straight woman finds an all women blind date interesting? Not that Chaewon is anywhere near intrigued herself. Really, the words ‘relationship’ and ‘significant other’ are unappealing. And she blames her parents for it. 

Dusk was falling rapidly when Eunbi pulls the covers over her mother and tuck the ends under her body to keep her warm. Meanwhile, at the door, Joohyun studies the older woman’s ashen face. Not only is the color of her skin horrifying, but the woman’s breathing is slow and ailing. Worry that her mother’s health isn’t improving, tears begin to flow down her cheeks. It isn’t until she sniffles that Eunbi glances up and over to her.

“Joohyun,” Eunbi begins softly as the one being call wipes her tears.

“I’m okay,”

Eunbi knows that between the two of them, Joohyun is hurting the most. When Joohyun was at her lowest and was very sensitive, their mother entered their lives and changed it for the better. Joohyun was given the chance to experience having a good mother as her role model as she was always envious when other girls spoke about the things they do with their mothers.

When Joohyun turns away and returns to the kitchen, Eunbi quietly leaves the room and shut the door behind her. She takes a deep breath and goes to the living room, where she sees Joohyun doing the dishes with her back to her. “Joohyun,” Eunbi calls out gradual, hoping Joohyun heard her. “Can we talk?” she asks, but Joohyun doesn’t reply and continues to do the dishes.

Eunbi walks over to give her sister a back hug, and that is when she felt Joohyun’s tears fall on her sleeve and soaks through the fabric onto her skin. It breaks her heart seeing her only sister in so much pain. And she hates herself for lacking. If she was a better worker, if she was smarter, if she was braver, perhaps they wouldn’t be suffering so much. “I’m sorry, Joohyun,” she mumbled before hiding her face in the crook of Joohyun’s nape.

It is a little past nine when Eunbi and Joohyun had calm down and were sitting, facing each other, on the floor. Joohyun didn’t look at Eunbi but the younger can only stare at her sister. Then after a lot of thinking, Eunbi breaks the ice, “Joohyun, I’m going to Seoul. Mom wants to see her daughter for the last time and I think if they meet, it could motivate mom to get better,”

To Eunbi’s surprise, her sister shows little to no reaction about what she said. After all, Joohyun was the first one to suggest Eunbi goes to Seoul and bring their mother’s biological daughter. However, now she isn’t so cooperative. “Joohyun,” Eunbi begins only to get cut off.

“All transportations to Seoul aren’t running at this hour. Go in the morning. I will give you the money then. I’m sorry but I’m a little tired, I’m going to sleep first,” Joohyun says before she gets up and walks over to one of the corners in the room. Quietly, she lays down on a sheet and covers herself with another.

“Good night,” Eunbi says then turn to a window near her and glances out into the cold night sky. As she attempts to count the stars, she wonders if they were warm or cold. If they were watching her like she was watching them. Will they guide her safely even when she won't be able to see them when morning comes?

Pulling her knees close to her chest, Eunbi wraps her arms around them and rest her chin on her forearm. “Kim Chaewon,” Eunbi breathes, “you better be worth all the tears we’ve shred,”