2 Years Later…

“Ryujin-ah! Ah seriously this kid! You’re 18 now you should be able to wake up yourself! It’s your entrance exam day today! Wake up! I made you breakfast!”

“Ugh…omma…I need 5 more minutes…” Ryujin groans.

“You’ve been telling me that since half an hour ago…Ryujin.”

Ryujin groans again and she final get up and stares at Irene in a daze state “I dreamt about mom…” said Ryujin.

Irene gently smiles at her adopted daughter, she sits next to her and her hair “I know you miss her, I miss her too…she must know that today is your big day, that’s why she appears in your dream. So come on get up and eat your breakfast!”

***

It’s been two years since Wendy left them, Irene tried to move on but she couldn’t. She was depressed state for almost a year. She is thankful to all the friends she had around, if it weren’t for them, she would have killed herself out of insanity. Ryujin had become a different person, she is kinder now and a little softer compared to the rowdy and rude personality she had previously.

After the news about the plane explosion, Irene become a recluse, she refuses to meet or talk to anyone and almost starve herself to death. Everyone tried to coax her but failed. It was Ryujin and Yeri that managed to coax her out of her reclusion. Seeing her cousin in such state Suzy had a talk with her. Suzy told her to be strong and don’t be a selfish brat. Suzy told Irene that there’s still people out there that needed her, her life means much more than to love Wendy and she asked Irene to think of what Wendy’s reaction will be if she continues to treat herself like that. Suzy told Irene to pity Ryujin, Ryujin not just lost her friend, she lost her mother, her caretaker and she had no one else in the world but only Irene whom she thinks of as a mother figure.

Suzy said that she knows that Irene was just using her and she doesn’t mind it because it’s a win-win situation for both of them. She gets to cure her sister and Irene get to choose the life she wanted, and she forgave her for that. To ease Irene’s pain over her lost, Suzy stripped her off her princess title. The citizens were angry at Suzy at first, they asked Suzy to justify her action but Suzy stayed quiet. Irene felt guilty for causing such a ruckus in the palace, and Suzy told her to be happy, she just wanted Irene to promise her that she will move on. Irene said she can’t promise her that but she can promise her that she will try her best to cherish her life.

After Suzy ascend to the throne, she kept her promised to change the law of the country. She filtered through the ministry and fire those who are linked to corruption, she added a law to protect those who are bullied, and after her ascend to the throne the suicide rate drop significantly. She approved the same marriage law and create a history as the first queen to ever do so. The LGBTQ community rejoice at the queen decision to legislate the law. Jisoo and Rosé were the first one that got married officially in the country. They were the first couple to register their marriage. All of their friends were happy for them. Irene was happy for them, but she’s a little sad thinking about how she and Wendy could have been the same with Chaesoo if Wendy is still alive.

The king died 6 months after Suzy ascend to the throne. Irene was present during his funeral. Irene had a talk with her mother, she finally gets her mother’s blessing after all the years she was rejected by her mother. The mother daughter reconciled, Jaeho was happy that his daughter and wife were back on good terms with each other. Despite she being stripped off her princess title so that she can just live a normal life, Suzy still allows Iree to come in and out of the palace to visit her. Haruna survived the chemotherapy and she was announced cancer free, she then stayed beside Suzy and becomes Suzy’s most trusted advisor.

Jisoo managed to debut Seulgi as YG new artist and the fans are happy that Seulgi are back. Jisoo then signed a deal with SM to give permission for SM to let Seulgi comeback as a Red Velvet member. SM agreed on Jisoo’s proposal and they welcome Seulgi back as Red Velvet member. 

Over the years, Irene rebuild the café with Jennie and Lisa’s help. She retained most of the recipe but add in one special menu, Wendy’s special hot chocolate. Occasionally she would imagine that Wendy is there with them, laughing and smiling with them. 

Ryujin on the other hand, she refuses to sign the documents for Wendy’s death and trust fund transfer to her name. She still couldn’t accept the fact that Wendy is dead, though she act like she accepted it. Ryujin tries to act strong in front of Irene because she knows that if she showed her weak side, Irene will be sadder. Now that Wendy is gone, she needs to be the family strength and motivator. 

The only regret that she ever have is that she didn’t spend much time with Wendy and she should have called her ‘mom’ more often. She loves Wendy but she is bad at expressing her feelings, it is very hard for her to initiate the first move though her heart wanted to but her mind just rejected it. Now, she had become more open with her feelings and affection, because she is afraid that if one day she loses another of her loved one at least, she doesn’t regret anything.

Flashback

It was a month after the news of Wendy’s death, Alice went to meet with Irene and Ryujin to discuss about Wendy’s will.

“I came to discuss about the late Wendy’s will…she had put a trust fund in your name Ryujin and as the only family member left, all I need  you to do is to sign this paper and the money is all yours.” Said Alice as she handed Ryujin the paper.

“No…” said Ryujin firmly.

“Ryujin?”

“I don’t want to sign that.”

Alice turns to Irene and Irene looks at Ryujin “Ryujinie…you have to sign the documents…”

“I don’t want to sign it, signing that paper means Wendy unnie is officially dead. I don’t believe that she is dead.” Said Ryujin in tears.

“Ryujin…”

“Unnie I know! But I don’t want to sign this!” Ryujin accidentally raised her voice at Irene and she apologized. “I’m sorry but…this whole thing…had been too hard for me to accept…I don’t believe that she is gone…give me sometimes Alice-ssi…until I can accept that she is gone, then I will sign that paper.”

Alice sighed, but she understands Ryujin’s feelings, so she didn’t asked for more, than she turns to Irene “Irene-ssi…Wendy wrote this will before she flew to Canada, if anything happened to her, the café and the house belongs to you.”

End of Flashback

As for the Mafia clans, Jessica officially take over when the leaders voted for her to lead. She and Taeyeon broke up a year after Wendy’s death. Jessica had become a cold person, she kept blaming herself for Wendy’s death and also the other 74 of innocents life that’s in that exploded plane. Taeyeon tried to help Jessica to overcome her PTSD but she failed. Jessica developed a bipolar disease and Taeyeon was getting tired over Jessica’s paranoid behaviour and in the end they decided to part ways with each other. It was a messy break up, both were heart broken, but it’s the only way for both of them. Taeyeon then started to date the famous solo artist Tiffany Young. Jessica, on the other hand, focused on her leadership, she wanted to formed the mafia organization like how she picture Wendy wanted it to be.

Lia and Yeji broke up too, after all that they endure, it was Yeji that broke things first with Lia. When Yeji failed to get into the same university with Lia, she was devastated. She asked Lia to cut everything with her, Lia refuses at first but Yeji was persistent and they had a huge argument before both broke up. But they stay as friend after that, things do get a little awkward between them but they shake it off for the sake of Itzy. Yeji asked Ryujin to date Lia, now that Lia is single. Ryujin refuses, she said that she can’t force a heart to love her.

Yeji now had become a successful idols together with Somi, Chaeyeong, Dahyun and Tzuyu. Lia continues her study in Dongguk Women Uni, in the fashion department. Momo and Mina had moved back to Japan, and both of them are famous youtuber now, with their channel had more than 900K subscribers. Most of their channel is about their daily life as a couple, and Mina gaming vlogs, then Momo’s mukbang vlogs. They were well received by the public and occasionally, Momo would post a video of her dancing.

Jennie had successfully launched her own perfume line and she named it as ‘SOLO’. She and Lisa managed to move to a bigger house. Lisa graduated from YG Uni and became a famous movie director after her final year project was chosen to be played at the Cannes Movie Festival. Lisa never thought she would become a famous director, when shooting videos and pictures were just her hobby. She wasn’t expecting her crappy movie about two lesbians struggling to stay sane and alive in a judgemental world.

 

Zimzalabim Café

As usual, Irene opens the café at 10am, there’s already a queue outside. Irene greets them with a warm smiles. She welcomes them and let them in. The business is blooming, Irene manages to save the café from bankruptcy. She hires 3 baristas and 4 permanent waiters, and she let kids from nearby school to come and have a part time at the café.

She makes sure everything is okay before she retreats to her office. She enters her office and rest on the couch, she takes out her phone and stares at the homescreen. “Wendy ah...today mark the 2 years that you left us...I’m healing though it’s still hurt...Ryujin is having her entrance exam today, wherever you are, please pray for her. Though we know she’s going to ace that exam.” Irene chuckles a little and then continues to speak to the homescreen “I miss you Wannie...you break your promise that you will come back for this necklace…” Irene holds to the necklace that Wendy gave her before she went to Canada.

“You know Wannie, Jisoo and Chaeyoung are married now, Chaeyoung had become a renowned artist. Jisoo successfully revive YG entertainment with Seulgi’s help. Red Velvet is back together now and they are going strong. They just come back with their newest song called ‘Psycho’. The song sound a little creepy, but somehow addicting. I’m happy that Yeri is happy now with Seulgi and Joy. Oh and you know what? Ryujin got herself a girlfriend! I’m so happy for her, but I wish you were here to see her. Everyone is happy not Wannie, but me…”

Irene’s monologue was interrupted by a phone call from Yeri, she smiles and answer the call “Hello Yerimie~”

“Unnie~”

“How is your concert preparation?”

“I’m going to the rehearsal later on, I tried to call Ryujin but I forgot that she’s having her exam…Did you got the tickets for the concert tomorrow night?”

“Yep, got it. Don’t worry we will be there Yerim.”

“Unnie…”

“Hmm?”

“I know today is the 2^nd anniversary of Wendy unnie’s death…it’s been two years now unnie…shouldn’t you be moving on?”

“It’s not easy Yeri…I tried…but I can’t…” Irene sighed.

“Look unnie! There’s someone who is interested with you, I’ve invited her to our concert tonight, and maybe you should try to go out with her!”

“Look Yeri, stop trying to pair me up with someone else, I know you care about me. I will move on when I want to, for now, I rather put my focus on building Wendy’s business and Ryujin’s education.”

“Alright fine…well see you tomorrow night!”

“See you, bye.”

Irene hangs up the phone, and she sees the time almost lunch hour, she takes her handbag with her and goes out to tell her staff that she will be going out for lunch.

 

Roseanne Garden

“Unnie~ over here!” Rosé calls for Irene when she spotted that her walking in the restaurant. 

After Rosé marriage to Jisoo, she opened up a restaurant where she put up her artwork and also set up a stage where young talents can come in and express their talent on stage while getting scouted by YG entertainment. It’s a beneficial situation for the couple. Jisoo gets to scout more talent for her agency and Rosé gets to put up her artwork and also eat some good food.

“Hey Chaeyoung, how was your exhibition?”

“It was great! I met a lot of new aspiring young artists, and the food was so good!”

“Hey honey, Oh Irene unnie, how are you?” Irene and Rosé’s conversation were interrupted by Jisoo who just came in too. Jisoo leans in to give Rosé a kiss on the cheek.

“Hey babe~” Rose greets back.

“Glad to see you are joining us for lunch today unnie, how are you lately?” asked Jisoo, as she seated herself next to her wife.

“Good, I guess…” Irene replied with a weak smile.

Jisoo and Rosé aware that, that day is Wendy’s death anniversary, they try to change the topic to Red Velvet new song. 

“It’s great, wonder where they get the idea to write such a song, it’s so different from their previous concept and song.” Asked Rosé.

“I think Seulgi wrote it based on Joy, Seulgi, Wendy and Irene’s relationship, when you think back at how complicated their relationship back then.” Jisoo replied and she paused when she accidentally said Wendy’s name in front of Irene. 

“Umm sorry about it unnie…”

“No, no it’s okay.”

“Unnie, it’s been two years, you should try to move on.” Said Rosé as she holds Irene’s hand to comfort her.

Irene smiles weakly at her “I don’t want to lie to my heart Chaeyoung ah…I can date anyone that I want but if this heart of mine doesn’t love that person, I’m only give fake hope…and I don’t want to hurt their feelings.”

Rosé and Jisoo only smile at Irene, they don’t know what to say to her, and the situation turn a little awkward. Luckily for them, Jennie and Lisa come at the right moment.

“Sorry we’re late! Traffic.” Grunts Jennie with her eyes rolled.

“It’s okay, we’ve just arrived too…” replied Irene.

“Did you guys order?” asked Lisa when she flip through the menu.

“Yeah we did…” Jisoo replied and she calls for the waiter to take Jennie and Lisa’s orders.

“I’ll have the creamy rosé pasta with roasted tomatoes and sparkling water.” Jennie placed her order.

“Ugh…I’ll have the chicken parmigiana and lemonade…”

“How was Thailand?” Irene asked the couple.

Jennie and Lisa blushed when Irene questioned them and Irene chuckles at their reaction, she knows that the lover had exotic escape upon their reaction.

“Thailand is good…good food, good people…”

“Good …” Jisoo interrupted and Lisa almost spit out her water. Jennie is steaming, she tried to hide her blushing face but failed.

“Yah, Jichu, don’t tease them like that!” Rosé slaps Jisoo on the thigh when her wife tease the couple.

Irene laugh along with the girls, she is grateful that even though Wendy is not around, these girls had been keeping her company and keeping her sanity in check. The 5 of them continue to catch up with each other while having their lunch together. Once they all finished their food, Jisoo clank the glass to get their attention. Jenlisa and Irene turned their focus to Jisoo. Jisoo cleared and then nervously look at her wife, Rosé gives Jisoo a gentle squeeze on her hand before the girl look back to her friends.

“Well...me and Chaeng are having a baby.” Kim Jisoo announced.

“What?! OMG! Yass!!” Jennie cheered for them.

Lisa was so shocked that she couldn’t close , Irene was happy for the couple, she congrats them and claps for them.

“So which one of you is pregnant?” asked Irene.

“Well not yet, we are still in the planning stage and trying to find the right donor...We both decided that…I will carry the baby.”

“I will carry the baby” Rosé said in unison with Jisoo. The atmosphere turned awkward when they said it at the same time. Rosé and Jisoo exchange glances, Jisoo shakes her head and hold Rosé on the shoulder.

“We’ve discussed this! I’ll carry the baby because I am older…” said Jisoo.

“But babe. .” Rosé whined cutely at her wife.

“I will carry our first baby, and then when we want the second one, you can have it okay?” Jisoo tried to coax her wife.

“But...I wanted to be the one…” Rosé pouted as she sulk and she looks away, and she starts to play with her salad.

Jisoo tries to ask for help from her 3 friends, she kicked Lisa underneath the table and the girl startled. Lisa frowns and Jisoo but Jisoo beg her silently, Lisa sighs and then elbow Jennie.

“Oww!” Jennie yelps, and she saw both Jisoo and Lisa begs her to talk to Rosé. Jennie rolls her eyes and clears to get Rosé’s attention “You know Cheang ah...I think it’s better if Jisoo carries your first baby, because childbirth can be painful, at least let Jisoo suffer alone…”

“Jichu unnie is going to suffer?!” gasped Rosé dramatically.

“Oh no…” Jennie just realized her mistake, she knows how Rosé hated to see Jisoo gets hurt.

Irene silently judges them on the side while sipping her tea. She giggles when she finds how cute the girls are. Her phone rings while she was judging the girls, and it was Ryujin.

“Ryujinie~”

“Omma~ I’ve finished my exam, can you pick me up?”

Irene looks at her watch and see that Ryujin is an hour early “Did you do you paper properly Ryujinie? You’re supposed to be finished around 4, now it’s only 3pm!”

“Omma, you know these paper is a piece of cake for me right?”

“Yes, yes I get it, I’ll pick you up now. Give me 10 minutes.”

“Alright, drive safe.”

“Are you going to invite Heejin to come over?”

“No.” Ryujin replied monotonously.

“Aww come on, I’ve always wanted to meet her!” 

“Nope, how many times do I have to tell you, she’s just a friend.”

“But you two seems close…” Irene tried to defend her point.

“Unnie, please…” Irene can hear the annoyance in Ryujin’s tone and she laughs.

“I know, wait for me at the front entrance, I’m coming now.”

“Alright.”

Irene hangs up on the call, she faces the four girls and they all look at her “It’s Ryujin?”

“Yup…” replied Irene, she gathers all of her stuff “She just finished her exam, I’m going to pick her up and then we’ll head home.”

“Let’s go celebrate if she passes her exam!” suggested Lisa with a gleam in her eyes.

“Great idea!” Rosé agreed.

Irene smiles and she replies “Oh, just get ready your pocket because I believe that my Ryujinie will pass with flying colors!” and she sounded like a proud mom.

 

JYP High

“Ryuddaeng!”

“Hey! Yuna!” Ryujin greets back at the blonde haired girl who’s coming running toward her.

“I’m late but here!”  Yuna handed Ryujin a little blue pouch. Ryujin looks at it puzzly, she takes it and sniff it.

“What is it?”

“It’s my Yuna Power Cookie! I just learnt it from our baking class last week, I thought I wanted to give to you and Chaeryoung unnie before your exam as a token of luck, but I couldn’t find you anywhere!”

Ryujin took a peak at what is inside the pouch and she was shocked to see a burnt cookies with a bad aura oozing out from it. She awkwardly smile at Yuna and thanked her “Thanks Yuna, I will eat it later. Did Chaeryoung ate it?”

“She did! But don’t know why she vomited after that, and she was rushed to the hospital...and she’s going to take her exam there...poor unnie…” said Yuna with the bright look on her face.

Ryujin gulps down her fear, she saw there were many of the cookies in the basket that Yuna is holding. She doesn’t want any other students to fall victim to Yuna’s rancid cookies so she asked for all of it from Yuna “Can I have all? You know I love cookies right? Especially sugar cookie…”

“Oh but, I wanted to give these to the others.”

“How about you go and buy flowers for them and I’ll have all the cookies? Here take this money and go buy flowers for them!”

Yuna grins brightly at Ryujin’s idea and she took the money without second thoughts and handed all the cookies to Ryujin. 

“Ryujinie!” Irene’s voice startled Ryujin. She turns and enter the car, she put her bag and the cookies she bought from Yuna at the back seat.

“Cookies? You don’t even like sweets…” asked Irene.

“I don’t like sweet unnie...but the problem is, those cookies could kill, they were made by Yuna…”

Irene learnt from Ryujin that Yuna is not a good cook, though she tried her best to make them edible. Irene turns around to look at the cookies and it indeed oozing out a bad aura from it. She turns to look at Ryujin “What are you going to do with it?”

“Throw them away. It may seem heartless but it’s better than giving it to other innocent students.” said Ryujin calmly.

Irene laughs at Ryujin’s remark but she somehow agree with Ryujin because she tasted Yuna’s food before and almost got hospitalized for food poisoning.

“Since you’ve finished your exam, is there anywhere you want to eat? Oh and, Yeri invited us to Red Velvet La Rouge concert tomorrow night, here’s the tickets!”

“Oh! I’ve always wanted to go see their concert! Hey unnie, can the others go too?”

“Sure, Yeri gave me extra tickets just for that, and she gave us VIP tickets too!”

“Nice! I’ll give them a call! Oh no wait...Chearyoung got hospitalized because of Yuna’s cookies...sikes!...she might not be able to go.”

“How scary is Yuna’s cookie…” Irene was visibly scared of that evil cookies.

“Very scary…”

***

Irene stops in front of the café to take a few documents to bring back home and to inform her staff that she will be leaving early too. Ryujin waits in car while Irene go in to take her stuff. Ryujin caught a glimpse of the old dying sakura tree in front of the café, and she was astonished when she sees that it’s blooming, during winter.

“Okay got my stuff, let’s go eat some korean bbq…” sad Irene as she enters the car, and she put on her seatbelt.

“Unnie…” 

“What?”

“Look…” said Ryujin as she pointed at the blooming tree.

Irene’s eyes went wide, for as long as she has been at the area she had never seen the tree blooms even once. “Wow…”

The two steps out of the car and approach the tree, many of the patrons had stopped there too to take pictures of the tree that blooms in the middle of winter.

“Is this what they called as winter miracle?” Ryujin asked.

“I think so...it’s so beautiful…” said Irene, the magnificent tree indeed took her breath away. She can feel the wind blowing through her hair gently, it was cold but somehow her heart feels warm. She closes her eyes to enjoy the wind blows that was when she heard Wendy’s voice. She was surprised, she turns around to find the voice because it sounded so near and so real.

She thought she spotted Wendy among the crowd, and she was smiling. Irene never like crowded places but she tries to walk through the crowd to get to whom she thought was Wendy just to make sure that her eyes didn't play tricks on her. She touches the girl’s shoulder and the girl turns but she is not Wendy, it’s just that she sounded like Wendy.

“Sorry, I thought you were someone that I know…” Irene apologizes, the girl frowns at her and she left with her boyfriend afterward.

“Unnie! There you are, please don’t walk away like that ever again! I thought I was going to lose you!” said Ryujin and she holds Irene’s hand tightly. Ryujin saw the tears in Irene’s eyes, she quickly pulls Irene into her embrace and gently the older girl’s back to comfort her.

“I thought I saw Wendy, Ryujin-ah…”

Ryujin looks up to the tree again, and she smiles “I think the tree blooms is a way unnie tried to tell us that she is okay unnie...maybe it’s time for both of us to move on.”

Irene looks up to the tree and it indeed remind her of Wendy. Her heart feels warm whenever she looks up to the tree. She tugs Ryujin of the sleeve to make Ryujin look at her “Let’s go home Ryujin-ah…”

Ryujin takes another glance at the tree before she walks away with Irene to the car. “Hey unnie, let me drive today.”

“No! You’re going to kill us both!”

“When are you going to let me drive?!”

The mother daughter duo bickered all the way to their car. Many think that Irene is being overprotective over Ryujin but Irene just want Ryujin to be safe, because they only got each other now.

***

“Hey! Where did you go?”

“I thought I saw someone familiar…” 

“Nonsense, we just got here, it’s impossible that you know anyone around here!”

“Yeah… maybe just dejavu.”

“Yeah, maybe. Hey! Let’s take pictures with that tree! It’s the first time I ever see a tree bloom in the middle of winter!”

***

Irene and Ryujin reached home safely though Irene swear that Ryujin’s driving skills had shorten her life by 10 years.

“You’re still alive right unnie?”

“Yes but my lifespan just got shorten.” complained Irene.

Ryujin laughs at Irene’s dramatic remark, she puts down her bag at the living room and she asked Irene to relax and let her prepare their dinner. They changed their korean bbq plan last minute because Ryujin said she wanted to just be at home and call for delivery. Ryujin wanted to have some ramyun and maybe order a few side dishes. Irene is okay with the plan, she wanted to help but Ryujin pushes her away.

After Wendy’s death, Irene decided to take Ryujin in as her adopted daughter, and Ryujin is now her legally adopted daughter. She tried her best to provide for Ryujin, and she would do anything for her daughter. Seeing how Ryujin had grown, Irene couldn’t be more proud. Ryujin had changed from the spoil brat to a caring and gentle person. She can see a little of Wendy’s personality in Ryujin.

“I’ll be watching some netflix while waiting for your ramyun~” Irene said out loud.

“Deh!!” Ryujin replied form the kitchen.

 

Red Velvet Concert Rehearsal

The trio were resting at the changing room after the rehearsal was done. They were tired so their manager asked them to rest well because they need to be fully energized for the concert tomorrow night. Seulgi suddenly asked Yeri about Irene and Yeri’s plan to pair Irene up with someone she met during the RV world tour.

“She rejected huh?” Seulgi asked.

“Yep…” Yeri affirmed.

“But are we sure we wanted to do this?” Joy questioned both of her band members.

“Irene suffered a lot because of us, the least thing we can do now is to help her to move on!” Seulgi suggested.

“Yeah...but right now, can you two don’t show much PDA in front of me? It’s making me sick.” Yeri acted like she was going to vomit. 

Joy was straddling Seulgi while they’re having discussion and had been nuzzling Seulgi’s neck.

“We’ve been out to the public and all of our fans accepted the fact that we are dating Yerim-ah~ if they can accept us being lovey dovey~ why can’t you?” Joy questioned.

Yeri rolled her eyes and she ignored Joy, which make the taller girl to sulk at Yeri’s treatment. “We have to try to make Irene unnie meet with this person!”

“I know Yeri-ah, but how, you know how stubborn is your cousin.” said Seulgi with a sigh.

“I’ll get Ryujin’s help!” said Yeri excitedly.

“But what if Irene unnie rejects this person?” Joy questioned again.

“I know she will not reject her right in front of many people...we just need the two of them to meet and everything will eventually fold in perfectly.” said Yeri.

“I do hope so…”

“Because if this plan failed, Irene is going to hate us forever,” said Joy.

To be continued…

 

A/N:

Seriously guys! The news about Wendy’s injury hurts me so much! Let’s all pray for her recovery! Get well soon Wendy. Next chapter is the finale. Irene is going to move on with someone new…she can't replace Wendy but she can heal Irene's heart.