[summary, up to this point in the story, for the people who have also not read this story in two years: Sooyoung (Joy), Seungwan (Wendy), and Joohyun (Irene) are in college together. Wendy and Joy fall in love. Irene realizes she’s in love with Wendy and can’t deal with it so she moves away forever. Until a decade passes and Wendy’s 10-year-old daughter (named Joohyun as Joy’s dying wish), along with Yeri (Wendy’s little sister), team up to reunite Irene and Wendy. They enlist Seulgi (Irene’s best friend since the college days) and manage to figure out that Irene and Seulgi will be counselors at a summer camp. Joohyun becomes a camper at Camp Happiness, and Yeri wiggles her way in as an unofficial staff member. Furious with her daughter for leaving with Yeri, Wendy goes to the summer camp and gets stuck there. Irene and Wendy fall in love, old feelings resurface, and everything should be great. Except Irene has a fiance (Jennie) and doesn’t tell Wendy. This obviously blows up in our girl’s face, and she is stuck with the consequences. She loves Wendy, though, so she gets her together and vows to work things out, as friends or more.]

So with an itch begging her to turn back around, Seungwan let the hand around her wrist beckon her closer. She shut the door once more, leaving her on the balcony with Joohyun.

“You came,” Joohyun breathed out, relief evident in her voice.

The glow of the light from within the room provided an ambient backdrop to Seungwan’s figure as she stood right in front of the closed door. Even in the moonlight, Joohyun could tell the woman looked beautiful.

She took her time with her eyes, drinking in every curve and glimpse of skin granted by the velvet dress that hugged her body. By the time her eyes reached the face of the woman she loved, she was already being stared at.

“Uh, hello.” Seungwan sheepishly looked down at her feet. “I don’t know why I’m here. I didn’t know…” her voice trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence with “you’d be here” or “this was your party.”

“You don’t know why you’re here?”

“Yerim forced me into getting ready, and nobody told me where we were going. So now I’m here. In your fiancé’s chateau or mansion or estate or whatever the this overtly nice place is.” Seungwan sighed and looked forward, past Joohyun and into the sky. “Congratulations, by the way.”

If you knew where you were going, would you still come?

Joohyun had been staring intensely at the woman in front of her the entire time, but Seungwan’s eyes seemed to have an aversion to even glancing at her. Still, she didn’t need to see those expressive eyes to notice the waiver in Seungwan’s demeanor.

She took a step closer to Seungwan, cocking her head. “Congratulations?” she asked carefully.

If Seungwan minded the closeness, she didn’t mention it. Instead, she scoffed and continued avoiding Joohyun’s stare. “For getting married. December, right? Just a few weeks away?”

One step closer. She could see the rise and fall of her chest, the slight furrow of her eyebrow. “Did nobody tell you?” Joohyun asked with disbelief.

“Tell me what?”

Seungwan finally stopped trying to avoid Joohyun’s hopeful gaze and instead met it shyly, revealing every nerve she felt. She wondered if Joohyun felt taken aback when their eyes met too.

How was Joohyun able to make such a simple, sequined black dress look beautiful? The thin straps rested on her shoulders, leading into a very distracting halter neckline. But the beautiful dress on the beautiful body paled in comparison to the thousands of emotions that filled the eyes of the woman she loved.

And as the woman she loved opened to speak, Seungwan found herself ready to hang on to every word.

“This isn’t an engagement party—this is the night where Jennie’s going to tell her entire family, and the entire world, that the engagement is over. That we’re over.” Joohyun paused, watching the way Seungwan’s eyes widened in realization. “I’m not getting married, Seungwan.”

Seungwan took in a sharp breath, the words knocking the wind out of her. “What? Why? What happened?”

You happened. “I think you know why I can’t marry…” anyone that’s not you “...her.”

A strong wind picked up, and as she saw the tremor in Joohyun’s body language, Seungwan finally realized that Joohyun was standing in nearly freezing weather with no jacket. Without waiting for consent, she opened the balcony door and dragged Joohyun inside, but not before the jacket-less woman was able to grab the champagne.

“I was cold,” Seungwan explained.

But Joohyun remembered how much her Canadian friend used to brag about having a high tolerance for cold, and the velvet dress she was wearing looked more than capable of shielding her from the wind. Maybe it was just her big heart that was incapable of being unkind, but Seungwan’s quiet caring nature still brought a blush to Joohyun’s cheeks.

They stood far apart from each other, not knowing what to say. It was a painfully familiar situation, and they both cursed how easily they fall into the same patterns.

Seungwan wanted to speak, but her feet were rooted to the ground, her lips glued shut. Joohyun, on the other hand, felt the back of her neck gather sweat as she racked her brain trying to come up with something to say. A paralysis of fear had taken over their bodies, forcing them to stare intensely at the cherry floors.

“Are you—“

“How are—“

The awkward overlap penetrated the silence for a brief moment, only to leave them wincing and sweating even harder.

What are we doing, Hyun?

Have we become strangers again so soon, Wan?

“Champagne?” Joohyun offered with a shaky hand, extending the entire bottle to Seungwan.

The mother’s eyes regarded the drink warily, knowing it would only lead to bad decisions and unnecessary carbs. But that had to be better than sweating because of awkward social interactions, right?

“ it.” She grabbed the open bottle and brought it to her lips, letting the expensive fragrance and bubbles make their way down . 

Joohyun watched in wonderment, adoring the way her manicured fingers wrapped around the neck, how bobbed with every swallow. Perhaps the alcohol was already getting to her head, or perhaps she was just in love, but the sight of Seungwan letting go was sinfully attractive.

Champagne is a sinister drink, a wolf in sheep’s clothing that gets you drunk before you even realize it. Seungwan knew this, Joohyun knew this, but they also knew that their hearts alone were not enough to let the things they wanted to say come out.

So they sat on the edge of the king-sized bed, trading the bottle until they felt the signature bubbly demeanor and comfort that could only come from the inside of a bottle.

“This place is beautiful,” Seungwan observed, her eyes dancing around the pristine room. Eventually, her eyes landed on the woman beside her, and she wanted to talk more about her beauty rather than the room.

There was something different about the woman she loved, and she wasn’t sure what. Her hair was still long, her beauty still potent. But in the way she carried herself, something had shifted.

Joohyun noticed the eyes wandering all over her body and cleared , hoping she wasn’t visibly blushing.

“Isn’t it? I’ve been liv… I lived here for so long, and I still got lost in it.”

Seungwan caught the mistake in her words, and she gave the woman in the black dress a once over.

“Why are you giving all of this up?” her voice held a challenge, an accusation, and a plea all in one.

It was a genuine question in Seungwan’s eyes, but it only made Joohyun scoff and shake her head.

Too many moments of silence passed, and Seungwan knew she wasn’t going to get an answer. She brought the bottle to her lips once more, and before the liquid finished making its way down , Joohyun took the bottle back, not caring about the champagne that now dribbled down her former best friend’s chin.

A strong gulp and a sigh that held years of unspoken words were the only sounds that left Joohyun. Until she spoke.

“I don’t know what you want me to say. I can’t marry Jennie, and I can’t live in this ridiculous house because…” no more running. “Because I’m in love with you, Seungwan. There’s no changing that.”

And I’ll hate myself for ruining it.

 I love you, too. “I know, Hyun. I know,” was all she whispered.

She supposed there could’ve been worse reactions to a confession, but she also knew there were better answers than “I know.” The bottle returned to her lips, hoping the bitter liquid would wash down her words.

A light silence settled between them, more warm than the uncomfortable tension before as they continued to exchange drinks.

“I hate champagne,” Joohyun admitted, staring hard at the bottle in her hand as the unmistakable feelings of drunkenness settled in her bones. 

“I do too.” Despite her weary heart, Seungwan smiled at the sight and took the bottle away, setting it down to the side. “Why am I here?”

“Where?”

“Why am I at this party, Hyun?”

“I needed to see you, even if it would’ve been from a distance,” she confessed.

Seungwan’s heart fluttered at the words, but it also tightened. “It’s been three, four months since I’ve seen you. No call, no text, not even a damn email. How can you say you need to see me when you haven’t even tried to talk to me?”

“Would you have picked up if I called?”

“Yes, of course I would have,” she answered instantly.

Joohyun sighed, loving and hating how Seungwan thought with her heart. “That’s the problem, baby. You would’ve answered my calls, and we would’ve fallen into this again. But it was too soon, even if you don’t want to think that. You deserved space from me, even if you didn’t want it.”

Seungwan closed her eyes, knowing it was true. She would’ve picked up the phone the day after Joohyun left—she was too weak to stay away on her own.

“And what about you?” Did you want space? Did you want me? Did you miss me?

“It’s killing me everyday. There hasn’t been a night where I haven’t thought about it, about caving in and calling to hear your voice again. I missed you more than anything,” she whispered.

Seungwan’s heart soared at the confession, and her fingers grasped the sheets underneath them to try to ground herself.

She looked down at her hands, noticing how close they were to Joohyun’s. The lack of a ring on that left hand made her heart swim, and she couldn’t help but reach out and touch the finger.

When Joohyun felt a hand over hers, she gasped and looked over at Seungwan, watching the way her eyebrows furrowed. Against her better judgement, she flipped her hand, leaving the palm facing up in order to intertwine their fingers.

Taking this as an invitation, Seungwan scooted in, bringing their joined hands to her lap. The lack of space between them let her move in even closer, until their shoulders were touching.

Joohyun’s heart pounded with every passing second. Her bare shoulder was resting against velvet, and she knew if she just turned her head to the left, she’d be close enough to take what she wanted.

Seungwan seemed to have the same idea, because without any hint of the hesitance Joohyun faced, she turned her head to the right, brushing her lips against a hot ear.

“Kiss me,” Seungwan demanded in a pleading whisper.

But Joohyun could tell her words were laced with champagne