Three long weeks slowly went by before Joohyun finally decided that her life had become nothing... useless. It was lonely and dreary, the isolation, but she had no one else to blame other than herself. Reflecting on the scene at her grandfather’s home, she acknowledged that maybe she had overreacted a bit much.

Maybe she should have listened to Seokjin’s reasons. Maybe she should have asked her grandfather for a better explanation. Or maybe she should have just forgiven them both the moment she found out because honestly, she was exhausted of all the fighting and all the antipathy. Why did everything have to be so difficult?  Why did it have to be so painful?

It hurt to be separated from the man she loved once more, so soon after having reunited with him. Why were they even fighting? Were they even fighting anymore? She had no idea, but what she did know was that she was a coward.

She stared out at the scenery beyond the window of the train. A deep sigh escaped her lips as she softly smacked the back of her head against the headrest of her seat. Here she was, running away again. 

When had she become such a coward? It was so unlike her. That’s what Kim Seokjin did to her. 

She shut her eyes and let out another sigh. It became apparent to her a week prior that if she was to return to him at all, she had to do it with a clear mind, and so she left. She left her friends, her company, and Seoul altogether. 

“Are you okay?” Yeri’s voice called out to her darkness.

Her eyes fluttered open, and she pasted on a false smile, “Yes, why?”

“You don’t look okay,” Yeri commented from the seat across.

She sat up straight and tried to put on a casual facade, “yeah, yeah, I’m okay.”

“You know,” Yeri carefully spoke, “a year ago, Jungkook and I broke up.”

“You did?” Joohyun’s brows lifted dramatically.

“We did.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t even remember, honestly. I think we had an argument about whether to move in together or not. He was ready and I wasn’t.”

“Really?”

Yeri smiled shyly, “why do you sound so surprised?”

“Well, I always thought you’d be the one to want to move in together with Jungkook, not the other way around.”

“Yes, well, I did at first, but when he finally asked me, it just felt so rushed. I was scared and nervous. I don’t know why. It’s all I had ever wanted, but suddenly it wasn’t.”

“So, what did you do?”

“I told him I couldn’t do it. He got angry, saying stuff like, ‘if you truly loved me, you’d move in with me’.” Yeri smirked, “I didn’t take that too well.”

“Of course, you didn’t.”

“But you know me; young, short tempered, easily antagonized, and slightly shrewish.”

Joohyun chuckled and sarcastically added, “you’re not shrewish at all.”

Yeri smiled at her and then sighed, “we separated for two weeks, and in that time, I missed him so much, I became slightly depressed.”

“Only slightly?”

“Okay, maybe a lot. I was angry on the first night. And then, by the second, I was soaking my pillow with tears. On the third night, I was already craving his touch.”

A long second of silence passed before Joohyun spoke, “I assume he apologized, seeing how you are together again.”

Yeri smiled softly at the memory, “I apologized, actually.”

“You did?” Her brows shot up in shock.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Well, by the second week, I realized two things, “first, I loved Jungkook and missed him terribly. And second, I realized that I made a mistake refusing him. I mean, I love him and knew I wanted to spend my life with him, so why did I have to pretend and wait? I wasn’t happy about what he’d said, but I was just lying to myself, thinking that I needed to be alone to be a successful young woman.”

Joohyun smiled at Yeri, “and you obviously have proven that fact false.”

“Yes, I have,” Yeri returned her smile, “I moved in with Jungkook, and opened my very own studio... now, I've got more jobs and clients than I could wish for, and I don’t regret having made that decision.”

“Truly?”

“Truly.”

Joohyun stared out the window for another long second, “thank you, Yeri-ah... for coming with me.”

Yeri chuckled, “well, I’ve been meaning to escape the cities anyways... and it’s always a pleasure traveling with a friend.”

After about three hours and 45 minutes, they finally arrived in Daegu, not to reside in a lush hotel or bright cityscape, but to hide away in a small country cottage out in the middle of a field of yellow canola flowers. Joohyun figured that if she were to run away from her problems anyway, why not run to a place that looked like heaven.

“Wow,” Yeri exclaimed as they entered the quaint cottage, “look how adorable it is!”

As Yeri rushed through the house and excitedly shouted at the surroundings, Joohyun slowly traipsed into the living area. She spied a note on the coffee table at the center of the room and read it out loud, “welcome to our BnB, we’ll stay out of your hair as much as possible, but in the case that you need something, my husband and I can be found in the house a mile down the main road. The fridge is full of food, and we left a home meal on the dinner table. We hope you enjoy your stay.”

“How sweet,” Yeri whispered, peering at the letter over Joohyun’s shoulder.

They both dug into the home meal and then quickly settled in for a few drinks before going to bed.

“Cheers to our youth,” Yeri announced with a lift of her beer, prompting Joohyun to do the same.

“Cheers to our youth.”

“Ah,” Yeri exclaimed, “that tastes amazing!”

“Yes, it does,” Joohyun sighed with contentment.

“Doesn’t this bring back memories?”

“What does?”

“Sitting on the floor, drinking beer together around the coffee table. It feels like it was just yesterday that we met; you, the stoic sunbae and me, the clumsy first-year.”

Joohyun chuckled at the memory, “yeah, I remember quite well… you were so innocent then. What happened?”

“Hey! I still am.”

Ignoring Yeri’s protest, she continued with a sad smile, “you had just joined our team, and we were questioning you. And then we went out for drinks, and you were drunk as a nail.”

“That makes no sense! Nails do not get drunk.”

“Ha. But you were drunk, you can’t deny it.”

“I won’t deny it,” Yeri responded jovially with another big gulp of beer, “that was also the day I met Jungkook.”

“That’s right, it was.”

“He was such a prig.”

“A handsome one though.”

“That’s true.”

Joohyun smiled, “he was a gentleman, through and through. I almost batted him sideways that night for offering to take you home.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“I just felt like he’d do the right thing.”

“How’d you know he would do the right thing?”

“I didn’t know. I just went with it.”

Yeri snorted, “the great Bae intuition, huh?”

“Exactly.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Yeri took another big gulp.

“Yah,” Joohyun grinned at Yeri’s enthusiasm, “slow down, lightweight, you’ll end the night early.”

“No, I won’t! Tonight, is our night and we will spend it drinking to our hearts’ content.”

“Cheers to that!”

Exactly one hour later, Yeri was on the floor, passed out from drunkenness… or exhaustion… or maybe both, Joohyun wasn’t really sure.

“See,” Joohyun poked Yeri’s bony hip, “I told you.”

She turned away from her sleeping friend, gazed out the window at the starless night, and sighed. What a dreary looking sight… just like her future. What was she to do? She knew it was expected for her to eventually inherit the company from her grandfather, but was that really what she wanted? And was she really ready to do that?

She shook her head dramatically as if catching herself. Why would she even consider it? It was never in her plans. She had always known that she would break away one day and accomplish her own dreams. As a matter of fact, she was already on that path. All she needed was the right timing.

The only thing that didn’t fall into place was Kim Seokjin. That infuriatingly tall, broad-shouldered man who had broken her heart into two and stolen one of the pieces for himself. The worst part was that even though he had broken her heart, she was still very much in love with him. He still popped up in her dreams and still made her silently weep at the loss of his presence. Why did he have to go and make that deal with her grandfather?

Could she really blame him though? She should… so why didn’t she? With a sigh, she fell over and joined her friend on the floor. She could worry about those things tomorrow, or maybe next week. Those thin