38.

My World, My Love
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"I don't understand," Suyeon was saying as they walked down the sidewalk to the garage. "Why can't we just take the bus to have an unnies' breakfast?"

"Because," Yoojung said, "the bus will take longer and we're hungry."

"Plus," Doyeon added, "in your car we can choose the music we listen to."

"But in the car we'll have to find parking," Suyeon protested.

"Lee's American has a parking lot," Elly said.

Suyeon looked from one of them to another. "I don't stand a chance of changing your minds, do I?"

Yoojung shook her head. "Not at all. Now let's hurry up - I need some loaded hash browns!"

Suyeon sighed and led the way into the garage. She found her car and hit the button on her key fob to unlock the doors.

"Shotgun!" Yoojung called.

"You always get shotgun!" Doyeon protested.

"Because I always call it first," Yoojung explained, using the same patient tone she'd use to explain a very simple concept to a small child. Yoojung opened the front passenger door and climbed, leaving Doyeon and Elly to find their way into the back seat. Suyeon was already sitting in the driver's seat, holding her key fob and looking at it as if she'd never seen it before.

"It goes in the slot next to the steering wheel," Yoojung said helpfully.

"I know," Suyeon said. She reached forward to put the key fob in, then jerked her hand back as if she'd been burned. "I don't know if I can do this," she said. She looked around at them. "I haven't driven since the accident," she admitted.

"We know," Elly said. "That's why we're going out to unnies' breakfast this morning, so we can help you get past this hurdle. If we had noticed this problem sooner-"

"Or if you'd told us about it," Doyeon interjected.

Elly waved for Doyeon to be quiet. "Yes, or if you'd told us about it, we could have helped you sooner and it wouldn't be so difficult. But now we know about it, and you've got to get through this, and we're here to help you."

"I know it needs to happen," Suyeon said, clutching the keyfob with both hands, "but can't I do it tomorrow?"

Yoojung appeared to be on the verge of giving in when Elly spoke up. "No," she said firmly. "Tomorrow it'd be even harder than it is today. Suyeon, we wouldn't be doing this if we didn't care about you so much, but we do care about you so: Are you going to start the car and drive us to Lee's American for breakfast? Or am I going to call Manager-nim and tell her what's going on?"

Suyeon whipped her head around to look at Elly. "You wouldn't!"

Elly held up her phone so that Suyeon could see Manager-nim's number on the screen and her finger hovering over the call button. "Wouldn't I?" she asked. "I don't want to, Suyeon, but I care about you, so I'll do it if you make me, even though I know it'll mean therapists, possibly medication, maybe even a hiatus."

Yoojung grabbed Suyeon's hand, directing her attention back to the front of the car. "One step at a time," she said. "Start the engine."

Suyeon's hand was shaking so badly that she could barely put the fob in. She hesitated for a moment, then turned it. After a moment's hesitation, the engine started. Suyeon stared out the windshield, a haunted look on her face, her breaths starting to come faster and faster.

"Next step!" Yoojung said loudly, drawing Suyeon's attention away from her impending panic attack. "Put your foot on the brake, put the car in reverse, then slowly release the brake and back out of the parking space."

Suyeon followed Yoojung's directions, backing slowly out of the parking space. She then took a deep breath, put the car in drive, and put her foot on the gas, starting the car going forward.

"That's it!" Yoojung said. "You're doing great!"

"Gone to a special unnies' breakfast," Sei read aloud from the note that Elly had left on the kitchen table. "Don't get into trouble, and be dressed and ready for promos at 11:30!" She crumpled up the note and threw it in the recycling bin. "Why do the unnies get to have a special breakfast? We like breakfast too! I'd like to celebrate no longer being a prisoner in this apartment!"

"Trust me," Lua said, not even looking up from her phone, "whatever we end up doing will be more fun than what the unnies are doing. I guarantee it."

"How can you guarantee that?" Sei asked petulantly.

"Because I overhead the unnies talking last night," Lua said. "This 'special unnies' breakfast' is just an excuse for the other unnies to force Suyeon to drive." Seeing the look of incomprehension on Sei's face, Lua elaborated: "Apparently Suyeon hasn't driven since the accident." After waiting to see the realization dawning on Sei's face, Lua said "Now you can see how I can guarantee that we'll have more fun than they do. Now, go round up Lucy and Rina - we're going to Taco de Burro for breakfast, my treat."

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brithistorian
I'm going to be trying to update this fic plus "I Don't Like Your Girlfriend," and "Second Winter at Fire Lodge" simultaneously - I've never successfully updated 3 ongoing fics at once before, but I feel like I've got a handle on it this time.

Comments

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Mustafina
1157 streak #1
Chapter 43: Not the effect being hard enough to make someone turn in their straight card 🤣
sinb-fan-01 #2
Chapter 23: dateing is so hard for them. i was hope that suyeons idea was going to wrok, but it sounds liek its bad. 17 weeks is long!
poor elly has such hrad time talkng with kwill
sinb-fan-01 #3
Chapter 22: poor suyeon, five months such long tiem for fake dateing, and poor elly havng to see it
so diffcult for group now!
sinb-fan-01 #4
Chapter 21: that was soem drama there, i didnt know suyeon wuld get that mad. i hav to see how media if they give porblem to sei and lucy now