. . .

Yongsun was slowly losing her patience.

"Mom. I told you, I'm not going!"

Her mother ignores her as she barges past her into her bedroom, carrying one of her expensive travel bags, quickly stashing whatever lone piece of clothing she can find into the bag as if she were packing to runaway.

"Hana," Yongsun turns to look at her older sister helplessly, who glances at her with a sympathetic smile, "Please do something about this," she pleads

"Oh please." their mother walks back into the living area, wagging an accusatory finger between the both of them, "You're both acting as if I'm punishing you! It's an all exclusive spa weekend, all paid for, may I add, by me."

Yongsun throws her head back in frustration and lets out a groan, "Mom. I'm just really swamped with work, I had stuff planned --"

"I checked your calendar. Your weekend is free."

Her youngest daughter gapes at her, "How do you know that?"

"I logged into your email of course," her mother replies, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Yongsun looks towards Hana, who merely gives her a noncommittal shrug in response which makes her think that her poor sister was probably also subjected to their mother's secret password guessing talent. Being a prominent neurosurgeon, Yongsun doubts her sister would voluntarily give up her rare free time to go on a five hour drive just to get massages. Yongsun suppresses her moment of sympathy for her once she remembers that her sister was now teaming up with their mother and ambushing her in her own home.

"Mom, you do realise that's a crime, right?" Yongsun tells her stubborn mother slowly so that she can register what she was saying.

"Is it a crime to want to spend time with my children?" she asks incredulously. Both girls watch as their mother falls down onto the couch, shoulders slumped down in resignation. She lets out a dramatic sigh, "I suppose the only time when I will get to see all my children will be on my deathbed."

Yongsun and Hana share a look. They were all too familiar with their mother reminding the both of them of her inevitable demise and how they should both cherish their time with her. It was her go-to tactic to getting whatever she wanted. 

"That's not -" Yongsun pinches the bridge of her nose and lets out a deep sigh, "I'm just saying, it's an invasion of privacy."

"Invasion of privacy? You want to talk about an invasion of privacy? I carried you for nine months."

"mOM."

"Twenty-four hours, Yongsun."

"Mom."

"I was in labour for twenty-four hours."

"Alright, alright." Yongsun quickly says, "I'll go."

"Excellent," her mother gives her a cheshire grin, "Hand it over."

"Hand what over?" Yongsun's eyes dart to Hana, who in turn looks at their mother's handbag with a yearnful expression.

"Your phone."

Yongsun clutches her phone against her chest in horror, "No, mom."

"Yes. If we're going to be spending the weekend together, I want you both to be one hundred percent present."

"mOM!" Yongsun whines

. . . 

It has been so long since Yongsun last messaged Moonbyul.

Well, actually, that was a lie.

Yongsun did message her 48 hours ago after parting ways.

yongsun [12:52 am]: made it home in one piece. goodnight :)

But that was the obligatory 'text me when you get home' message, not a 'hey I wanna talk to you' message. 

Moonbyul chews the lid of her pen as she stares vacantly at the computer screen in front of her.  Half of her worried about what Yongsun was thinking after meeting, while the other half is berating herself for even worrying in the first place. Yongsun is probably busy, that's all, she had reasoned with herself but that didn't stop her from sending her a text simply saying that she was bored.

A text that Yongsun still has not replied to.

Moonbyul taps her phone screen to check her notfications and unsurprisingly, there are no messages.

She pouts. 

"Hello, are you still there?"

. Moonbyul shakes herself from her trance, dropping her pen onto her phone screen in the process, "Sorry, ma'am. Could you repeat your question?" she asks in a monotone. Her supervisor shoots her a warning glance at her tone of voice, but Moonbyul can not bring herself to care.

. . . 

Yongsun grins with joy to herself as she quietly slips out onto the balcony of their fancy hotel room, clutching onto her phone as if her life depended on it. As she waits for her phone to come back to life - slowly but surely - she begins to wonder if Moonbyul had noticed her absence, just like Yongsun had noticed hers, back when she was busy with her exams. She glances down at her phone which was now buzzing with various notifications. Email, more emails and a text from Theo. Yongsun rolls her eyes as she clears that notification away from her homescreen. 

She pouts.

Really? 

Nothing?

Her phone vibrates once again. 

She glances down and instantly breaks into a smile.

NEW TEXT FROM moonbyul (ASTRIC) [1 day ago]: i'm bored :(

yongsun [9:47 PM]: hey. sorry for the late reply... :)

"How did you manage to get that out of the safe?"

Yongsun looks over her shoulder and throws Hana a smirk, "Mom isn't the only one with a knack for guessing passwords and passcodes." 

"Wow," her sister says with an impressed smile, "Did you grab mine as well?"

Yongsun scoffs, "Don't think we're all buddy buddy. I'm still upset with you two ganging up on me," she pauses, "Where is mother dearest?"

Hana sighs, "She's napping. The hike tired her out."

"Speaking of, I was promised relaxing massages only. I did not sign up for a hike," she complains, "Also, why is it just us two? Why aren't Do-hwan and Seungjae here?"

"This was meant to be your Christmas present, you know. From mom." her sister says pointedly.

"What?"

"This." Hana gestures back at their cosy hotel room.

Yongsun feels a tinge of guilt at this confession as she thinks back to this morning and how she point-blank expressed how much she did not want to go on this trip. She swallows the tiny lump that forms at the back of , "She could've just said," she mutters.

"Well that was kind of difficult considering you didn't come home for Christmas," her sister points out, "Besides, would you have come if it were just the two of you?"

Yongsun stays silent.

Hana nods as the unspoken answer flowed gently through the air, "That's why I'm here." she continues, "I think she knew as well that you wouldn't come if it were just you and her." 

Her older sister gives her a moment to let it sink in before gently saying, "She's trying, you know. I guess this is her way of making up for lost time." 

Again, Yongsun remains silent.

"I know she was tough on all of us back then," Hana starts to say, to which Yongsun turns sharply and gives her a pointed look in response, "Okay, she was very tough on us, particularly on you." 

"That's putting it mildly," Yongsun mutters under her breath

"But just so you know, out of all of us, you make her the most proud."

"That's bull."

Hana sighs, "Don't you get it? You literally got to where you are all by yourself. You left home with only a suitcase and a bag and now look at you. I don't know how the hell you managed to do it," she pauses for a moment and gives her a weak smile, "Don't get me wrong, I'm proud of myself as well but I wouldn't have gotten this far if it had not been for our family's connections," she admits.

Yongsun places her hand on top of Hana's and gives it a gentle squeeze, "Thank you."

"This is on the verge of becoming very cheesy," Hana says with a light laugh, "Let's talk about something else."

Yongsun's brow quirks in amusement, "Alright. What shall we talk about?"

"How's Theo?"

She makes a face at the mention of him, "We broke up."

"Riiiight. So why is he texting you?" Hana juts her chin at Yongsun's vibrating phone.

"It's a long story." 

"Give me the condensed version then."

"He broke up with me. I took my time in getting over him but then ended up under him instead and now he wants to get back together."

"Huh. And that's definitely off the table?"

"Definitely." Yongsun says with absolute sincerity.

"You better break the news to mom. The last time she saw Theo, you seemed to be head over heels in love with him. She's probably convinced that you'll end up marrying the guy."

She looks at Hana with a grimace for even mentioning the words 'marriage' and 'Theo' together in the same sentence, "That's never going to happen."

"I sense a lot of contempt towards him."

"Your senses are correct." Yongsun hides her face with her hands with a groan, "I can't believe I actually liked this guy even after I got dumped in public. I feel so stupid."

This time, Hana gently squeezes Yongsun's hand in solidarity, "You're not stupid."

. .

Wheein watches as her friend trudges into the apartment with the same downcast expression that she has been sporting for the past few days. She raises her brow at the sight of Moonbyul makes her way over to the couch, slowly shedding her backpack, her coat and scarf before face-planting onto the spot beside her. Recently, Wheein has been debating whether or not to stage an intervention, because Moonbyul was for sure acting rather strangely. 

"Okay, what is up with you?" Wheein finally asks

"Nothing." Moonbyul grumbles as a response, her voice muffled by a cushion.

"This doesn't seem like nothing," she says with slight concern, "I can't help you if you don't talk to me."

At this, Moonbyul sits herself up like a normal person, "It's nothing," she insists, "It's stupid."

"Seeing how much it's bothering you, I don't think it's stupid."

Moonbyul hesitates for a moment before saying, "I . . . -"

Her head turns at the sound of a notifcation from her phone and she quickly scrambles over Wheein in order to get closer to her discarded coat. With frantic hands, she searches her coat pockets for her phone, all the while Wheein sits with a bemused expression at the rare sight of her friend acting crazy over a text message. 

"Ah. I think I know what's going on with you," Wheein says as she peers over Moonbyul's shoulder, "Who's Yongsun?"

Moonbyul moves away from her and starts to retreat to her bedroom to get some privacy but her friend bounds after her and blocks her path with a grin, "Who's Yongsun?" she says with a teasing smile.

"No one!" 

. . 

" . . . And another thing," Yongsun says flaring her nostrils, "He's always got that smug look on his face, it just makes me want to . . . " she clenches her fist in anger and slams it against the palm of her hand, "You know what I mean?" 

Hana nods along as if she paid attention to what Yongsun was saying for the past fifteen minutes, "Sure."

"Ugh this reminds of something else he said - "

The sound of her phone dinging cuts her off.

Hana inaudibly sighs in relief to see Yongsun distracted by her phone. She loved her sister dearly but another rant about the mere existence of Theo, is something that she can not bear. Her curiosity piques when Yongsun's bright grin emerges, "What's got you so giddy?"

"Nothing."

"Doesn't seem like nothing," With quick hands Hana snatches the phone from her grasp, "Who's Moonbyul?" she asks while dodging her sister's attempts in grabbing her phone back.

"Give it back!"

"Not until you tell me who this is!" 

"None of your business!"

"'I was starting to worry that you were kidnapped lol'" she reads aloud, "'I missed you.'" Hana's brows shoot up in intrigue at the last part of the text and while she was busy trying to figure out who this person was and inconspiciously trying to read their previous text conversations, Yongsun uses this opportunity to grab her phone back. "Stop reading my messages," she says with a huff.

Hana watches as Yongsun gaze falls back to her phone, her sour expression instantly replaced with a small smile as she types out her response.

After a few moments, Yongsun returns her attention back to her sister, who stares back at her with a knowing smile, which kind of makes her feel slightly self-conscious . . . how long had she been staring at her?

"What?" Yongsun asks defensively

To her annoyance, her sister's smile doesn't fade, "Nothing."

She narrows her eyes at her, "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"I just noticed something, that's all."

"Tell me."

"Don't want to. You'll figure it out soon enough."

"What the hell does that mean?"

Hana shrugs and starts to make her way back into the room, "C'mon, it's getting chilly out here."

. . . 

"Guess who?"

Yongsun slightly flinches at the feel of soft hands covering her eyes from behind, "Umm . . . "

"Your favourite person," the stranger says

"Jinah?"

"Wrong. I'll give you two more guesses."

"Why don't you just tell me to save us both time?" Yongsun suggests

The stranger drops her hands, "You're no fun," she says with a pout, "It's me, Hyejin!"

"Who?" 

Yongsun looks over her shoulder to see Maria staring at her with a slightly offended look, "Oh! Hi, Maria."

"Hyejin." she says with a glare, "My friends call me Hyejin."

"Oh-kay . . . " Yongsun utters, slightly taken aback, "H-how have you been?"

Hyejin steps closer towards her and slowly tucks a loose strand of Yongsun's hair back behind her ear with a playful smirk, "Better now that you're here. Are you enjoying yourself? I have to say, I'm a bit surprised that you're here, since you never responded to my texts."

"O-ooh, is this your party?"

Hyejin sighs, "My quest for your friendship continues." She swipes up a shot from a passing tray and gulps it down as if it is second nature, before brushing past a slightly confused Yongsun. 

What a weird person, she thinks to herself.

. . 

Theo downs the rest of his drink before making his way towards her at the open bar. For the past ten minutes, he had stood idly by as he observed Jinah brushing off guys left and right but this one guy did not seem to get the message. Judging by the expression on her face, she was quite close to dumping her drink on him, and that seemed like as good a cue as any for him to step in. 

"I leave you alone for a few minutes and you're already getting yourself into trouble," he says as he approaches her

She merely scowls at him, her eyes telling him that she can handle this, but the man's hand resting on the back of her seat begged to differ. "I think you're awfully close there, buddy." Theo says to the man, his gaze darkens, "She's not interested."

The man scoffs and mutters some profanity at him before skulking off to look for another target to kiss at midnight. 

"I didn't need your help." Jinah mutters

"No. But you know what they say, team work makes the dream work." 

Jinah's mouth slightly twitches but she quickly turns away and sips on her drink instead.

"Where's Yongsun?"

"Nice try. Don't get any ideas on kissing her at midnight." she says with a glare as she slides out of her seat.

"Well I suppose I'll have to kiss you instead then." 

She rolls her eyes with a scoff, "In your dreams."

Theo bites back the crude joke that was on the tip of his tongue. He was still unsure on where he stood with Jinah after everything that has happened. He had no doubt that Jinah was up to date with the events that had transpired between him and Yongsun, which probably did not work in his favour in his effort in attempting to revive his tarnished friendship with her. As he watches her leave, he finds himself wondering what he can do to make things right between them, because if he was being truly honest, he kind of, sort of missed her.

. . . 

"Thank you for waiting with me." Yongsun mumbles.

This was very awkward indeed. 

"It's no problem." Theo says as he holds out a bottle of water for a drunk Jinah to drink, to which she pushes away with vigour, "Actually, I've been trying to find you all night to tell you that I -"

"Theo." she cuts him off, "Listen, I don't know or trust anyone else with Jinah at this party, except you. That's the only reason why I called you. So don't get any ideas or try to look for any hidden meaning behind me calling you."

Theo lets out a small chuckle, "I know."

Yongsun looks at him with an endearing look of puzzlement, "If you would let me finish," he continues, "What I was going to say was that I'm sorry . . . you know, for being a bit crazy after our . . . incident for a lack of a better word." 

"Mistake." she corrects him

"Ouch. But okay. Mistake." he nods, "I was feeling very low that night when you called . . . I think I was beginning to panic at the thought of myself being a middle aged man and still not settling down so . . . I guess after our mistake, I just thought, maybe this was my second chance to do things right."

"I don't think we were right for each other," she says quietly

He stares at her, hurt, unsure on what to say.

"I always found myself changing little things about myself when we were together," she meets his gaze, "I lied, I didn't enjoy Fight Club and it's certainly not my favourite movie." 

They stare at each other in silence for a few moments before bursting into laughter.

. . 

Their taxi finally arrives after forty minutes of waiting. 

Theo helps Yongsun carry Jinah into the back of the car, before holding open the door for her to climb in.

She lingers for a moment, pondering on what to say to him. 

"Happy new year." she eventually says with a genuine smile

"Happy new year," he smiles back and gestures for her to get in the car.

As he closes the door for them, curiosity gets the better of him and he knocks on the window, telling her to roll down the window with his eyes.

She does.

"Out of curiosity, what is your favourite movie?" he asks

"Ferris Bueller's Day Off," she says without hesitation, with a smile to herself.

. . . 

author's note: hello, it's been a while. how are you? it's been a busy semester and i just needed some down time away from my laptop, which is why it's taken so long for me to write this chapter (sorry!) but i hope you enjoy this one. i know there's little to no interaction between them in this chapter which may be disappointing to some, but i really wanted to show the people around them noticing first before they, themselves realise. in other words, two oblivious people who are in love but don't know they're in love.

anyway, as always, hope you are safe. and happy new year!