Ahn Yujin

It’s Saturday and Yujin decided to take a break from the broadcasting station. As the youngest writer and the latest member that joined her team, they surely did give her a lot to do despite it’s been two years since she worked there and she wanted to get away from them for once.

“Wonyoung, can you spare some time and walk with me?”

After gaining the other girl’s approval and ending the call, she rushed to clean herself up and put on decent outfit for a winter outing. She saw the dark grey coat Minjoo bought her two years ago when her job application was first accepted and took that to keep herself warm in the cold weather.

Yujin did not tell Wonyoung where they were going. The latter only followed her bestie’s steps to anywhere she’d be led to as long as she felt happy and pleased to do so.

They rode the bus, reminiscing the old memories when they’d take that very transportation to and back from school. The town changed a little since the last time Wonyoung saw it but the surrounding was still familiar in her eyes. And if her sight didn’t play trick on her, the path they took would actually lead them to their old school.

True enough, the two girls descended from the bus and Wonyoung saw the big and glorious structure of the school in front of them living up to the prestigious international school’s name that was. She was shocked that her jawline dropped at how the school still looked the same in her eyes except the colour had been upgraded and looked new.

“Shall we go in?” Yujin offered her hand out. Wonyoung was more than glad to accept her and walk inside together.

The students barely came since it’s Saturday. Most of them stayed in the dorm and the two visitors had the place very much to themselves.

They remembered learning about many things in the school. Basic subject educations, foreign languages like English and Japanese, taking part in many other activities like sports, arts and etc. Even the memories of living in a dorm with unfamiliar but funny fellow students or seniors were vivid in their minds.

The two tall girls walked along the corridor and passed by a few classrooms. They recalled having seated in one of them in their first year of middle school and thinking it probably wasn’t as fun as the classrooms in the upper levels and they were not wrong about it.

Wonyoung asked Yujin to go to the school hall where it triggered their memories from their first year. The school used to hold a festival once a year as a reward for the students who had to work hard everytime so their grades wouldn’t fail. The festival however was 100% organized by the students themselves and Yujin remembered how astonished she was and thought her seniors were really a bunch of cool kids.

“Yujin, remember when Chaewon unnie and Minjoo unnie used to be the hosts alongside Sakura and Chiyori sunbaenim because they were from the school radio club?” Wonyoung pointed at the stage and could imagine the mentioned seniors stood there prettily while keeping the show running.

“Yeah, how could I forget that?” Yujin wore a smile on her face and her bunny front teeth were showing.

“You went crazy for Minjoo unnie because she was so pretty back then! Remember when the dance club asked you to join them dancing on stage and you randomly came up to her and asked to couple dance? You were absolutely crazy!” Wonyoung went again and snorted thinking of how whipped her bestie was for one of the most beautiful girls in school at that time.

Yujin went silent, unconsciously staring into spaces while thinking about Wonyoung’s words.

Surely, she was really crazy and head over heels in love with Kim Minjoo. The girl with charming voice while DJing for the school’s radio. The girl with pretty face even when she did nothing but staring down at the ground. The girl with a cold beauty which captivated Yujin’s attention when she came to watch her sport’s competition, although she was just tagging along with her friends who actually looked happy and super loud during the competition than her.

“I wonder where all the beautiful and significantly magnificient feelings of such love had gone to…” she let out a long sigh which caught her friend’s worry. Wonyoung threw her a look of concern and was startled by the girl’s words. “Y-Yujin-ah…”

Yujin asked her to head out together when the afternoon was approaching so they could talk more about it later.

***

Instead of stopping at a restaurant to eat lunch, Wonyoung suggested they went to the girl’s house where her mother would cook them lunch and they’d get to eat the food for free.

The both of them enjoyed the meals and only got to talk about the small things while Wonyoung saved the best for the later. When they were done, Wonyoung’s mom told them to leave the dishes and go upstairs instead where the girl’s room was located so they could have more time to themselves and said she wouldn’t be bothering them.

As expected, Wonyoung’s room was as feminine as her appearance and had so much cute stuffs although she had obviously grown older. Yujin had nothing to say against her honestly because it was Wonyoung’s charm that she couldn’t dismiss; cutesy and feminine.

“Isn’t Chaewon unnie going to be mad that I’m going into your room?” Yujin asked and yet still sat on Wonyoung’s bed shamelessly.

“Why would she be? She’s not even my rea-” Wonyoung quickly closed realizing the other girl or anyone else wasn’t supposed to know her relationship with Chaewon was a fake one.

“Huh?” Yujin hummed cluelessly.

“N-Nothing! She won’t actually mind because you’re my best friend!” Wonyoung covered up her mistake and joined her bestie on the bed.

They breathed peacefully while the temporary silence calmed them. Wonyoung however anxiously tapping her feet on the floor while waiting for Yujin to open , but the latter didn’t seem like to do it anytime soon. She wanted to know what exactly she meant back then when they were at school badly.

“E-Earlier, what do you mean by where the feelings had gone to?” she eventually asked out despite her hesitance.

Yujin sighed out briefly before sharing the truth that gave her pain and probably Wonyoung would feel the same. “Everything is over for us, Wonyoung-ah. Minjoo unnie and I broke up!”

Wonyoung couldn’t content her surprise and gasped before covering . “A-Ahn- but why?”

“I guess we weren’t as happy as we were when we first dated. Minjoo and I had so much and even gone through countless fights since we started living together three years ago, before I had my career,” Yujin started, her voice was melancholic but not as emotional. She was upset they had to end the relationship but at the same time she thought it was for the best.

“And then, was it this year?- we barely talked like a real couple. We went to work, eat together but nothing felt as lovely as we used to be.” She nibbled her lower lips and let her mind worked on the right words again. “It’s like we lost the spark in our relationship and everything got so dull.”

The other girl couldn’t find the right words to say to her. It was like everything happened in a blink of an eye and she was too stunned to fully accept Yujin’s revelation.

Yujin on the other hand just smiled blankly through the pain and Wonyoung could see that through her. “A-Are you okay?”

She sniffled and thought for a while. “Am I okay? Let’s see…” Yujin tilted her head and looked at Wonyoung. “When we had dinner last week, I saw Minjoo with Chaewon unnie and she said something that hit me hard.”

The slightly taller girl stared at her expectantly. “What did she say?” she urged.

“I really hope you can be happy - was what she said then I realized - ah, she wasn’t as happy to be with me as before and I should do the right thing to make the both of us become happy again!” Yujin’s eyes were teary when she remembered Minjoo’s face back then and how painful it was to see her that way.

Wonyoung offered her a tissue to wipe her tears and blow her nose. She never saw her bestie cried over something that people loved to be cliche about; love!

“Did you know Chaewon unnie and Minjoo used to have that thing between them?” Yujin chuckled as she thought of the irony thing. Wonyoung was startled to learn something new from her. “They what?”

“Minjoo would never tell me anything if not for Yena unnie unnie who broke the news. She and Chaewon unnie weren’t dating but everyone expected them to come out as a couple because they knew the two of them liked each other.” Yujin actually laughed as she reminded of when Yena whom she became close to because they were from the same dance club first told her. “She said I ruined everything once I came between them - of course jokingly, but  they couldn’t blame me.”

“What was it that you did that ruined everything?” Wonyoung snorted.

“Chaewon unnie was one step too late to confess because I already won over her. I tried so hard to win Minjoo unnie’s heart, and she eventually fell for me which they believed Chaewon unnie regretted so much. I heard from Yena unnie that once Chaewon unnie confessed, Minjoo rejected her.”

Wonyoung never knew she and Chaewon actually had something in common; they both loved someone that they couldn’t get. While she knew that Chaewon knew about her never-ending crush on her bestie, Ahn Yujin, she was too dumb to know that Chaewon felt the same thing for Yujin’s (now ex) girlfriend, or she hid her feelings too well.

“Chaewon unnie never told me,” she said slowly and realized how slow-witted she could be.

***

They didn’t know how they ended up came like this or who actually set them up, but three of them were surely a little more uncomfortable while the other one was too clueless for the world.

Was it Yena and Yuri who suggested they had this dinner together in the first place but had to sit out because Yuri’s parents suddenly came from Busan, or was it Eunbi and Chaeyeon who promised to join them but called it off because the taller girl had to go see Sakura who was left alone in the house because Kaeun had to go home where her folks lived?

They had too many excuses, apparently!

Nako and Hitomi were out of context because they joined Miu and Moe back to Japan. Hyewon had her own plan with Chowon and their so called kids, Minami, Erii, Nanami and Yuuka.

Chaewon grilled the samgyupsal for her companies the most and Minjoo helped her serving the younger ones first. She didn’t forget to serve Yujin whom she had been treating like a young master even when they were dating back in the past years.

Wonyoung awkwardly wrapped a piece and fed Chaewon, her fake girlfriend, pretending as if they were a lovely couple like that.

Wonyoung and Minjoo got so drunk as they cleared the food on their plates. Yujin got worried for the both of them while Chaewon initiated to call substitue driver for them. She was the only one who had a car while Minjoo didn’t come with her vehicle like she always did.

“She’s staying at her mother’s for now and she came with a cab earlier on,” Yujin informed her.

Chaewon was like a lost child who had no idea what to do whether to give all of them a ride or took separate transportations. Yujin and Wonyoung’s places were on the opposite ways from her own so you could tell she somehow had a dilemma.

“D-Do you mind if I take Wonyoung home at my parents’ while you send Minjoo safely for me? The both of you had the same route anyway while I could handle Wonyoung since she’d been my friend for a long time.”

Yujin’s suggestion wasn’t so bad except that she’d be alone with Minjoo, and who knew what she could do since Minjoo was drunk and Chaewon wasn’t exactly in her right mind either.

“P-Please!” The taller girl pleaded with her puppy eyes which were irresistable. Chaewon sighed out and had to reluctantly agree. “Fine!”

The two towers managed to get a cab that would take them home. Yujin was thankful Chaewon approved that Wonyoung could stay a night at her place or she’d get into trouble just so if she really had to take the girl to her folk’s.

Once they got inside Yujin’s parents’ house, she supported her friend’s wobbly walk to her room upstairs with so much difficulty and finally dropped her on the bed.

She was responsible to take the girl’s socks and jacket off while laid her on the bed properly with her head on the pillow. Yujin took the time to change herself and used the bathroom before eventually returned to the bed.

Yujin covered Wonyoung’s body with the blanket more properly in case the room’s temperature got colder. While she was at that, she heard the sleeping girl mumbled in her sleep.

“Chaewon unnie...hang on there a bit more. A bit more and we can stop…” It was almost inaudible that Yujin had to lean down her ear right close to Wonyoung’s lips.

“...and we can stop this fake relationship.”

Yujin drew her head away from Wonyoung and was absolutely stunned by this revelation.