A/N:

okay this is the last part of chapter 0, and i hope it sheds light on why they were being "sketchy" throughout the whole story.

I will say that not everything in the flashback was as straightforward as it was. That being said, hope you guys take (everything) with a grain of salt. I can't really ask for you guys to root for kwonchaeng blindly, but they're working on it lol.

Please enjoy :))

p.s. reread chapter 0 (pt 2) for better flow :)

Chaeyeon only entered their bedroom when she was sure Eunbi had gone to bed, and that the next part of her plan was ready––she checked off another item from her list: anniversary present. It was one o’clock in the morning by then. She had made sure to not make the slightest of sounds.

For some time, Chaeyeon just lingered by the door, afraid to wake her wife.

She felt like a creep for watching her wife sleep soundly, but she couldn’t help it. Eunbi looked so small in their large bed, one that they’ve shared for a little more than a decade. Chaeyeon wishes for nothing more than to climb into bed to fill the space, to pull her wife closer into her chest and match heartbeats.

She walks cautiously towards the bed and lowers her body slowly to sit on the edge. Unknowingly, Chaeyeon’s hand moves forward to reach out to her wife, brushing away the strand of hair covering her face to tuck it behind her ear. Chaeyeon didn’t retract her hand immediately, instead she cups Eunbi’s cheek with a light feathery touch. “Happy Anniversary,” Chaeyeon whispers sadly, and soon joins Eunbi in bed but leaves a large space between them. 

Naively, she was still hopeful to once again close the distance between them, in every way possible.

Two hours later, at 3 a.m. on the dot, Chaeyeon’s phone vibrated on the nightstand with the alarm that she set. Chaeyeon hadn’t really needed the alarm anyway, only because she couldn’t sleep for more than a few minutes at a time. The nerves of what she’s planning for their anniversary was already getting to her. It almost resembled the way she felt the night before she proposed to Eunbi. Only this time, she couldn’t be sure of Eunbi’s reaction.

Mustering up all the courage that she had, Chaeyeon places her hand on Eunbi’s arm and shakes it lightly. Chaeyeon softly calls out for Eunbi’s name but all that came out was a strangled sound. It seems she couldn’t hide just how nervous she was.

She clears before trying again. “Eunbi… Eunbi....”

Eunbi stirs awake but keeps her eyes closed, her groggy voice asks, “Chaeyeon?” Eunbi’s eyes finally flickered open, “W-what’s wrong? Is it Wonnie?”

“Wonnie’s fine,” Chaeyeon quickly assures her wife. Swallowing down her fear, Chaeyeon says, “I want to take you somewhere.”

Eunbi started looking for the clock on the opposite wall, but still shrouded in the dark room, she didn’t manage to make out the numbers. “What time is it?”

“Early,” Chaeyeon answers. “It’s 3 a.m.”

Chaeyeon hears Eunbi let out a confused sound. “Chaeyeon––” Eunbi starts, but is quickly cut off by her wife’s pleading tone, “Please, Eunbi.”

Even in the dark room, illuminated by nothing more than the invading light through the gap of the curtains, Chaeyeon could make out the scrunch of Eunbi’s eyebrows, the slight frown on her lips. “Please,” she says once more. If Chaeyeon sounded pathetic, she didn’t care––she was desperate.

Eunbi must’ve heard the desperation as well, as she finally agreed.

Twenty minutes later, the two women sat in the car as Chaeyeon drove them down the empty dark streets of Seoul. Eunbi fell asleep right as she climbed into the passenger seat, trusting Chaeyeon to take her to wherever their destinations was. It took another twenty minutes for them to arrive.

This time, Eunbi easily awoke just by Chaeyeon calling for her name.

Chaeyeon watched Eunbi look around, the recognition settling in quickly. “Han river,” she states more than asks.

“Like old times,” Chaeyeon replies, the longing clear in her voice. She didn’t wait for Eunbi to say anything more before Chaeyeon climbed out of the car, grabbing the bag with the gift from the backseat.

Noticing that her wife still hadn’t gotten out of the car, Chaeyeon walks over to Eunbi’s side and opens the door for her. It came as a surprise to even Chaeyeon herself when she offered up her hand for Eunbi to take. There was hesitation, of course, but Eunbi still took it, and Chaeyeon led her wife to an empty bench overlooking the river.

The bag Chaeyeon brought sat in between them, keeping the two a safe distance apart. Chaeyeon only put it there for Eunbi’s comfort instead of her own.

The silence didn’t even last a minute before Eunbi broke it. “Why did you bring me here?” 

Instead of answering, Chaeyeon asks her own question, “Do you know what day it is?”

“Of course I do.”

Chaeyeon feels herself tensing at her wife’s answer. “I thought it would be meaningful to come here on our anniversary. I remember we used to do it all the time,” Chaeyeon couldn’t help but reminisce, the nostalgia evident to anyone who was listening. Though Chaeyeon was scared, she knew she needed to say her piece. “I want to apologize to you—I must be an idiot to not have realized it sooner, but I’m sorry the last few years didn’t turn out so well between us.” She pauses, feeling the bile rise up, but somehow manages to swallow it down to continue, “If it has to end, I want it to be… a good parting, at least.”

Eunbi hasn’t spoken and it worries Chaeyeon slightly.

After a heavy sigh, Chaeyeon starts to rummage inside the bag for the gift she had prepared, her hands clasped tightly on it. Her heart started beating quickly in her chest. “I have something for you,” Chaeyeon says, taking out the gift that was meticulously wrapped in paper, and handing it over to her wife.

Eunbi took it with a slight frown on her face. “What’s this?” She asks.

“Open it.”

Eunbi gives Chaeyeon one last glance before she rips the gift-wrapper open to reveal a small glass picture frame. Inside it was a once-folded, faded looking paper. Eunbi looks taken aback at the gift, open and closed a few times, clearly finding it challenging to find the right words.

Eunbi finally looks up from the gift to face Chaeyeon. “Your marriage vows,” her words came out in a whisper. Seeing Chaeyeon nod, Eunbi looks back down towards the gift, studying it. She brushed her hand over the glass as if reaching to touch the paper inside. “I thought we lost it after the honeymoon.”

“No, I… uh… I kept it in my parent’s house to hide it from you,” Chaeyeon tells her. “I had the idea to frame it and give it to you for our 25th anniversary...” she trails off, not able to say anything more.

It hurt Chaeyeon to think that they weren’t going to see that day through, and that the gift won’t serve its original purpose. Maybe that’s what she gets for being presumptuous. Chaeyeon knew that today was her last chance to stop their impending divorce, but the guilty part of her is telling her that it was too late and she had to make peace with what this gift could mean for them now.

“So…” Eunbi in a gasp. “Is this a goodbye gift?” Eunbi finally asks.

It seemed erse to repurpose their vows as a goodbye gift. Even so, she’d still like to give a meaningful gift to Eunbi if this anniversary was to be their last. Yet Chaeyeon finds herself shaking her head. “I don’t want it to be,” she answers honestly. “But if it ends up that way then I want you to have it. And, If you don’t mind, I had your vows framed too… I’d like to keep it.”

Eunbi doesn’t say anything for the longest time, and Chaeyeon didn’t know what to say either. The silence thickened for every second that passed. Chaeyeon doesn’t think she