***I'm gonna get cursed at after y'all read this chapter =]] I'm preparing myself now before anything >.< Btw, some of the parts were befor

P/s: Have y'all watched IZ*ONE's performances at MAMA stages??? I'm so proud of our babies and Chaewon got me really shook when she made a surprise appearance on Mamamoo Moonbyul's solo stage >.< Energetic, LVAR's break dance, The Boys, As We Dream, Memory, Rumor, our IZ*ONe babies really outsold!

Enough with the short rant, I hope you enjoy yourself with this chapter ^^

It Could’ve Been Us

Wonyoung woke up from her nightmare that she wished would never have to come true. In her dream while she was asleep, her father’s evil sister (she’d never adress her as her aunt anymore) and her divillish family found out that Chaewon was made to be only her fake fiancee and their relationship was never real.

The couple was caught red-handed and they were held in and tied like criminals. Wonyoung’s mother was arrested just like them and was forced to sit down and watch how the couple got tortured and had to beg for their lives to be spared. Unfortunately only Wonyoung and her mother were given the mercy to stay alive but Chaewon had to be sacrificed and slaughtered for even getting herself involved in this mess.

It was so dramatic and Wonyoung could never bear herself to see Chaewon gone all because of her.

“You already woke up?” Yujin’s voice stirred her off from her daze. She wondered how that girl could even be in the same room as her in the first place.

“You were making noises in your sleep. I assume you had a really bad dream!” The slightly shorter girl had done washing up and putting on her shirt. She smelt  and looked good. Wonyoung gulped and started to get more paranoid by each second. “What were you dreaming about?”

“Y-Yujin, what are you doing here-” Wonyoung took a good look inside the room and realized this wasn’t hers, but Yujin’s. “-I mean, what am I doing here?”

Yujin was very calm and chuckled as Wonyoung was panicking. “You got too drunk last night, don’t you remember? But don’t worry, I already asked your fiance's permission to let you stay with me for the night!”

‘That’s not what I’m worried about though’, Wonyoung thought to herself and her pupils didn’t stop shaking. She sat up while Yujin took her study chair and sat in front of her like she’s ready for an interrogation.

“Jang Wonyoung, I heard weird noises from you last night when you were sleeping,” Yujin said calmly but something about her expression was off. Maybe Wonyoung did say something weird in her sleep. “Uh?” she hummed.

“A little bit more and we can end this- was what you said or something like that,” the short-haired girl stated and Wonyoung heaved out a long sigh, cursed herself internally and almost face-palmed. She was absolutely screwed now because Yujin had caught her. “What exactly did you want to end?” She knew she had no way out from this. Her best friend surely had known everything. “Are you and Chaewon unnie really-”

“We’re actually plotting something important together!” she confessed before Yujin could say more and like expected, her best friend wasn’t even surprised by the confession. “Chaewon unnie and I are-”

“Fake?!”

Wonyoung nodded and Yujin face-palmed. She heard the short-haired girl sighed and looked at her exasperatedly. “Wonyoung-ah…” she sounded so helpless.

“I know, I know!” Wonyoung frowned and grew frustrated. “This is all wrong, but I have no other choice! Chaewon unnie is the only one left that could help me!”

“Yah!” Yujin was wide-eyed as she stared at her tall best friend ridiculously. “Have you lost your mind? What’s the use of me being your best friend if you can’t seek for my help?!” She felt betrayed and upset though Wonyoung meant nothing to make her feel like she did.

“You absolutely got the wrong idea here...” she attempted to persuade her with a really calm approach but Yujin wasn’t very patient to begin with. It was absolutely hard to deal with her.

“Forget it! I guess I’m no longer your best friend and go seek for Chaewon unnie all you want!”

“You better shut your mouth now before I explode for real, you brat!” Wonyoung snapped, huffed out, her lips and her jaw was tense. Yujin lowered down her sulky attitude because a furious Wonyoung was something she definitely didn’t wish to call out, so she sat silently and listened out to Wonyoung’s explanation all she had.

It made sense to her now that Chaewon was the first person that came to her mind for such a ridiculous deal. The girl was relatively known to be smart and had great interest in business study, graduated her MBA, pursued a successful career and even gained the title manager at such a young age without close connections, unlike Wonyoung who inherited family’s business. There were other seniors who were just as cool and smart as Chaewon was, but all of them were unavailable except her, the single club member.

Wonyoung never learned or understood why Chaewon had all the things she could have in the world easily but not a lover, until Yujin revealed to her that Minjoo was the reason she locked her heart and there was nothing that anyone could do to help.

“I can’t just shamelessly come back and ask for your help, although I badly wanted to, you know,” Wonyoung continued that had Yujin lifted her face and stared at her. “Why?”

The long-haired girl blinked a couple of times and took a really deep breath. “You had a girlfriend that you were crazy about and I couldn’t possibly take that away from you, although it seems like your infatuations to her now aren’t as strong as before.”

“Still…” Yujin shook her head and ran her hand through her hair. “...you should’ve told me everything first, why you had to hide it from me?”

Wonyoung could not say a word other than uttering a sincere apology that she knew would melt Yujin’s heart away without a hitch. “Sorry.”

Yujin had a smile on her face instantly. “You’re forgiven.” Wonyoung grinned victoriously. As expected Yujin was really whipped when she said even just something as  simple as sorry. “At least you realize it’s not something rational for you to do.”

Wonyoung’s little heart was whispering to herself. ‘It could’ve been better if my partner is you, not someone else.’ But she could only wish to be brave to say something as bold as that.

***

Minjoo held her hair like she had lost her entire mind. Trying to get connected to the girl that she had been trying contacting was sending her to the edge of her sanity. Why was it so hard for the girl on the other line to pick up her call or answer her message?

>>>Calling Chaewon unnie>>>

“Argggh this unnie!!!” she yelled in frustration and threw her phone on her desk. The writer in her team eyed her in concern and had been wondering why Minjoo got so restless since this morning.

Honestly Minjoo wouldn’t go crazy if she didn’t know who send her home safely from the night she got drunk. It was all thanks to her mother and her blabbering mouth that she got tangled up in her mess.

*Flashback*

“You have to say thanks to the kind young lady who brought you home with so much difficulty,” her mother started when they gathered on the dining table.

“Yujin sent me home last night?” Minjoo asked as she ate the spicy hangover soup that her mother had cooked. Her father laughed at her messy state with her bed hair, the bad puffy eyes and her bloated face when he came down from the stairs.

“Nope! If Yujin were here I would give her a good beating for breaking up with you in the first place!” her mother nagged as she grimaced.

“Mom, it’s not entirely Yujin’s fault that we broke up! We ended on good terms and remained good friends!” Minjoo whined and accused her mother of being a drama queen.

“A.ny.ways,” her folk didn’t take her seriously. “I think I’d seen that friend of yours before when I saw her last night but I couldn’t exactly remember her. She had a small face, cute nose, rosy red lips and significantly pretty eyes that my heart cooled down to know you had such a warm-hearted friend that looked out for you!”

Minjoo’s heart started to beat faster as her mother described her friend’s facial traits. “Was her name Chaeyeon or Yewon? Argh I must be really old that I get so forgetful!”

The only daughter scrolled her phone really fast and stopped at a certain picture that she had saved although it was a really old photo. It was from Chaewon’s high school graduation day. “Is this her?” she showed her screen to her mother with anxious tone and the elder woman bobbed her head excitedly.

“Yes, yes, this is exactly her! Wow she hadn’t changed that much since school, huh?” she looked so elated and was smiling too much.

“What did you say to her? Did you mention anything about my break up with Yujin?”

Her father snickered. “Do you really think your mother shut up about that? She won’t stop talking about your break up for the entire year, and even announce to the whole neighbourhood if she wanted!”

Minjoo threw her head to the back and almost scream. “I’m screwed!!!”

*End*

“PD Kim?” Minjoo rose her head and stared at the writer when she pointed to the door. “Miss Yujin is looking for you!”

Minjoo and her ex decided to head out and have dinner together. Despite ending their long-span relationship that they used to cherish, they still kept in contact and talked to each other like normal friends. Even eating lunch and dinner together weren’t a big deal for the former couple since they shared the same workplace and often crossed paths.

“Staying late for tonight too?” Yujin got a beer and poured her ex a glass. She heard Minjoo hummed and that was her simple answer. “Still no luck with Chaewon unnie?” She really hit the jackpot when Minjoo finally looked at her instead of having her eyes glued down on the table.

“That unnie is dead- ignoring me! It’s been a week, Yujin and she still wouldn’t answer my call!” After the last dinner they had with Wonyoung and Chaewon that was exactly a week ago, Minjoo had been venting her frustrations out on Yujin because a certain older girl hadn’t been answering her.

Yujin knew what was up but didn’t dare herself to say anything explicit. She thought for sure Chaewon would answer Minjoo by now because firstly, what she had with Wonyoung wasn’t real and secondly, she had found out Minjoo was no longer in a relationship with Yujin, and lastly it was obvious Chaewon still loved Minjoo. It made the writer curious what was holding Chaewon back from pursuing Minjoo again.

“Are you already in love with Chaewon back now that we broke up?” Yujin pretended to be sulky and jealous, and Minjoo only threw her a look of disgusted. “Who was it that asked to break up first?”

The younger chuckled at the older girl’s funny meme-worthy face. If anything she actually looked so at ease and relaxed rather than jealous. If this were before when they were not what they’re like now, Yujin would definitely be burning with jealousy, but it was in the past and Yujin had learned to become the bigger person. The writer cleared and started to talk more seriously. “Actually, I have something to share and I think it’s important that you know too.”

Her wording perked her interest and Minjoo was ready to hear her out intensely. “This is about Chaewon unnie and Wonyoung, if you happen to have a plan to get back with her.”

***

“Maybe it’s you who should be honest with your feelings instead of me. Yujin deserved to know how you feel towards her more than Minjoo and I do.”

One thing Wonyoung admired about Chaewon was the older girl always knew what to say and could touch people’s hearts with her words at every situation. When they were having a one-on-one talk about their honest feelings, all Wonyoung wanted to do was persuading Chaewon so she could have an honest conversation with Minjoo to clarify whom their hearts belong to but her plan backfired when the older girl started to mention Ahn Yujin.

Wonyoung stared at the white envelope that Chaewon gave her. According to the former manager, this could be a one-time opportunity to prove herself to Yujin and at the same time getting an answer about how Yujin really felt about her. Even if they didn’t work out well after Wonyoung passed the envelope to Yujin’s hand, at least they came clean to each other.

In exchange of Wonyoung’s confession towards Yujin, Chaewon promised that she’d also talk to Minjoo and declared to their other peers about what she and Wonyoung had been doing behind their backs and spilling the reasons to them.

The tall girl inhaled a deep breath before exhaling slowly. This was really going to be now or never.

Yujin opened the door for her when Wonyoung came for a short visit and she had to say it right there at the door step before entering without wasting more time.

“Ahn Yujin,” Wonyoung showed the white envelope and gave it to her. “Chaewon and I are getting married!”

***

Minjoo thought she already had everything she wanted in life and would never ask for more.

Graduating school, possessing a diploma, working in a broadcasting station that she long dream for, getting honorable mentions as a producer left and right, and having the supposedly love of her life, Ahn Yujin.

However, the love life that she craved and was crazy about unfortunately didn’t last long. Gradually, the once strong feeling of love towards the younger girl slowly became nothing more than just an affection for a younger sister, and she believed Yujin’s feelings were also mutual towards her, thus the break up happened.

Her close friends said they saw it coming, but were just as surprised as she did when it actually occurred.

But Minjoo also knew they were kind of glad they broke up. Not meaning to be entirely mean, but she knew deep inside them they had someone else in mind they wanted to pair Minjoo up with; and that someone had always been Kim Chaewon. Moe and Yunjin especially, were always the strong Chaewon’s supporter but kept it subtle in front of Yujin. What a bunch of dorks!

And if Minjoo were to be honest, without masking herself or putting up with more lies, Chaewon always had a special place inside her heart. And she knew Yujin knew it too though the girl never spoke it out loud. When the younger girl decided to call their relationship off, that’s when Minjoo knew Yujin had given up on them.

“Chaewon unnie and Wonyoung aren’t a real couple- I think you should at least know that!” Yujin’s revelation hit her so hard. Why Chaewon had to go that far to commit herself into a relationship that didn’t mean to be real? She couldn’t take it well. Minjoo became desperate to seek for Chaewon’s explanation.

She drove out and ran hard on the road while trying to get in contact with Chaewon but like always, the girl never picked it up. Frustrated, Minjoo sent her a text that would become a threat to the older girl!

To: Chaewon unnie

Yah Kim Chaewon! Pick up your damn phone before I cause a riot and break a world war 3!!!

Minjoo hit right on Chaewon’s nerve like she expected when the older girl finally relented and agreed to see her outside.

“Why did you do that?” It was visible Minjoo was angry at her. “I thought you’re serious with Wonyoung and I even wished for your happiness!”

Chaewon was looking at her as if she was being funny. “Don’t take it wrongly! I didn’t do it because of you; my world doesn’t always revolve around only you!”

Minjoo’s tear rolled down as she felt Chaewon’s words stung her heart.

“I’m getting married with Wonyoung soon for real, and no one could stop us from doing that!”

“Don’t do it!” Minjoo half-yelled. “You won’t be happy by doing that!”

“You chose Yujin to spite me before and were happy with her, you think I couldn’t do it?!” Chaewon exploded.

“Look at us now!” Minjoo snapped. “We had passed half a decade in our relationship but didn’t last long! We weren’t happy like we used to be anymore!”

The future CEO’s fiancee kept closed and listened to Minjoo’s rant when the younger girl began to soften. “Please, I beg you…” Her voice cracked and she was crying. “I love you, Chaewon unnie…”

Chaewon heaved out a long sigh after the confession that had been her dream for the longest time. Slowly and heavily she took out a white envelope from her coat’s pocket, the same one like Wonyoung had and showed Minjoo. “Our wedding invitation. I hope you’ll come…”