“What?”

 

The exclamations were spoken at the same time. Moonbyul kept her stare pointed until she looked away. Any attempt to pull the conversation into a much lighter atmosphere went into thin air as she pulled herself up a little too quickly without noticing the wardrobe with one of the lids opened on display.

The loud thud making the lady’s brows furrowed.

 

“Ouch!”

 

With curses muttered in small voices she rushed to Moonbyul and pulled her to the sofa, taking the first aid kit, discarding all the materials on the table and tending to the bruise that has been formed on Moonbyul’s temple. After a quick assessment, she poured drops of disinfectant on a cotton swab and did not rush into swiping the temple. Still, sharp pain ensues when Moonbyul cannot hold back a hiss in reflex.

 

It went on without any word spoken.

 

And the question that has been hanging on the tip of her tongue starts to surface.

 

“Why were you in the club yesterday?”

 

The rougher dab compels a jerk to the side as if she can avoid the pain if she did. “Some business I had to tend to.”

 

It certainly did not sound like a coincidence at all, but Moonbyul did not find any will to argue. Instead, the way this lady in front of her did not come up with more sound of a reason stick out to her. Whether she can comprehend is another matter.

 

“I haven’t thanked you for yesterday and today.”

 

She lowered her head to mimic a bow but it was straightened again with both hands. The lady reprimand her not to budge before she finish the treatment. As minutes set in, all was done with the cutest hamster band-aid Moonbyul has ever encountered. Her fingers carding lightly between Moonbyul’s hair to make the bandaid less visible.

 

“Take your time here. I will prepare breakfast.”

 

With that, the lady disappeared behind the door.

 

After successfully rousing herself to a stand within a count to three, she stretch her entire body, feeling the cracked joints and slipping inside the hotel slippers, she make her way out of the room.

 

The suite was basically a two- storied studio with an avant-garde level of art that Moonbyul might never come into if not for the current situation she’s in.

 

Mindlessly tracing over the handrail as she walked down the circling stair, she take her time admiring the intricate details of the dragon fissuring until the end of the stair down to the first floor. So this is how tucking in a President suite feels like.

 

When she walked further, the sight of the lady cooking from the back halt her steps. It feels like a scene that she has been seeing her whole life. The lady took a sudden turn and Moonbyul isn’t quick enough to put her gaze away.

 

She was invited to sit behind the counter. In front of her, a pot was sifting and the lady lift the pot lid, bombarding Moonbyul’s face with warm air and the aroma that Moonbyul has been missing for a long while. They start to eat in silence.

 

“You must have a Cantonese name while you’re here.”

 

Moonbyul nodded in confirmation before pronouncing her name sheepishly.

 

It was a name that earned her first smile of the morning. It is at this point Moonbyul realized that the lady has been so tense the whole time.

 

“Can I call you that?” she said playfully, enjoying the name rolling in her tongue several times without getting bored of it.

 

She can claim without a doubt that this woman had the power to call her whatever she wants. But let’s not give in too quickly. “My Korean name is Moon Byulyi. What’s yours?”

 

“Ahn… Hyejin.”

 

“It’s a nice name.” She nodded, the nose muscle crunched when she grinned. “Cute, even. Can we be friends? I like you already.”

 

Moonbyul missed the deep blush encompassing Hyejin’s cheek as she stuck her hand to the cheek, absorbing the rising hear. “Is that a confession?”

 

“What…? No! I don’t mean it that way! Uh, um…” The way she stuttered only worsen the attempt on damage control. “I mean, it will be really cool if you want to but—”

 

“Let’s say that I take on your offer.” Hyejin steps forward, the sheer whim in her eyes making Moonbyul take a step back for no reason. “What’s in it for me?”

 

She’s right. Moonbyul indeed had not thought of that before. What can she give her? This room is already a testament to how vast their differences are when it comes to social standing.

 

Why should she give her the time of the day?

 

“You don’t have to answer right now, you know.” The sullen expression on Moonbyul is pure amusement for Hyejin at this point. “Let’s just talk about how you came to live in Hongkong.”

 

--

 

The first thing she ever saw when she came back from a coma was of her dad.

 

She had been taken to a hospital in Hong Kong, a part of the world she had never really paid attention to before. Whatever questions she threw escalated into arguments when her father never elaborated much besides how this is their chance to forget the past and start over with a new life in Hong Kong. The remaining memories that were mostly compiled of her childhood only make things convenient.

 

The rest stayed as bits and pieces that she never got the chance to unravel.

 

So she waited. And waited. It was a wait for the "temporary" to pass and maybe she can remember them and find her roots in this foreign land. Her life is an imitation to the one she had in Korea: joining a night-class, getting various part-time jobs, renting a flat that was only there for the sake of having a roof over their head.

 

It didn’t take long for Moon Heejun to fall back to his old habits of gambling and womanizing, and what became the main source of their friction in the first place resurfacing again, only budding in a different place.

 

Moonbyul sometimes forgets how hard old habits die hard. The rest of the time working her bones out, cleaning up the mess her father got into and being kept in the dark most of the time.

 

--

 

Moonbyul observed the palm slowly forming into a fist as Hyejin listened to her story. She looked up to find the latter adopted a stern expression. It eerily looked like simmering rage bubbled up. “I’m fine now, though!” Moonbyul regrets telling her story now. She must have imagined herself to be such a killjoy. “The café’s owner considering me as the manager. So all’s good, I guess.”

 

“I mean what I said before. Let me repay you back. This cost a real lot.”

 

The repetition of this question made Hyejin sigh. She reached out her hand and traced the bandaged wrist, treating the bandaged temple with the same level of softness. Every touch sends cascades of zaps into her mind.

 

Their eyes bore into each other. It was the first for Moonbyul. The intensity of that dark orb and the pulling effect is not something anyone can ignore.

 

As for Hyejin, all she sees is a pair of eyes going puppy, all curious and a little bit eager. It made her feel like laughing. With or without memories, Moonbyul will always prefer her a little too quickly. “How about you? Tell me about yourself.”

 

Their conversation was interrupted with a ring. Hyejin walked away from the kitchen and put the telephone closer to her ear. Her face, first a mask of nonchalance, quickly contorted into the unreadable. As she put down the telephone, she turned to Moonbyul with a lowered voice.

 

“Can it be next time? I had some matters I need to check…”

 

“Of course! Of course…” Ignoring the slight disappointment that is there for reasons Moonbyul cannot comprehend, she took her hat and pulled up her jacket, and the casual look did a number against Hyejin’s better judgement.   

 

“I’m sorry for taking up so much of your time.”

 

Moonbyul extends her right hand in front of the girl, initiating a handshake. “Friends?”

 

With arms folded in the front, Hyejin look at the hand and focused her attention again on Moonbyul. The collective silence did not seem to disappoint Moonbyul, at this point looking highly optimistic that the stunning lady would accept her offer.

 

“For this..” Hyejin moved forward, pulling her arm and pointing to the wrist. Moonbyul’s breath hitched. “And this…” She traced her palm across Moonbyul’s back, creating soothing circles. Moonbyul can feel her nerves loosening up. Instead, her knees went jelly. “Can I help you with that?”

 

The last sentence was uttered as a whisper in her ear. Putting up a will on not to waver is a daunting task in itself.

 

“I cannot ask someone else to bear my own cross, Miss Ahn.”

 

Just when Hyejin thought she could get closer, the woman put up a clear line between them.

 

“Then I cannot be your friend. Friends help each other out.”

 

She stepped down and almost burst out laughing upon seeing the dejected look on Moonbyul. But she bought this upon herself. “Kyung will take you home.”

 

--

 

Inside a luxurious limousine, Moonbyul’s mind going places.

 

Can I help you?

 

Why did she want to help her?

 

They just met. With Moonbyul already showing how lame she can be on several occasions.

 

“Is this where you live?”

 

The limousine came to a stop near the curb. An obvious frown was revealed in the driver’s face, almost a scowl, but Moonbyul did not take offense. It is, after all, a dingy place that needs some fixing here and there. The driver quickly opens the door and Moonbyul steps out. “Thank you for the ride.”

 

“You still look the same, Moonbyul-sshi.”

 

Moonbyul eyed the driver with increasing wariness. “Sorry?”

 

“I’m Kyung.” He shakes her hand. “At your service.”

 

--

 

The books dropped and scattered all over the table as Hyejin dropped herself dramatically on the bed. On the wide TV screen, Yongsun is observing from sideways.

 

“She is already engaged.”

 

“Oh my.” Replied Yongsun distractedly. “Then there’s nothing much that can be done about it.”

 

“She’s lying.”

 

“Oh?”

 

“I already did the background check on her.” And all those days of attending the coffee shop, ignoring how creepy it looked and instead continuing. “There’s no such thing as fiancé, not that I know of. Is she hating me so much that she has to lie?”

 

“Hyejin-ah.” Yongsun scratched her head, trying her best to keep up in the conversation despite the workload. “Attending the coffee shop for a solid week, taking her to the hotel and asking her to go back to bed together… that’s stalking-ish behaviour if I've never seen one.”

 

“But she doesn’t seem to hate it!” Hyejin closed her eyes, shaking her legs in frustration. “Until she bumped her head against the cupboard like an idiot!”

 

“This version of Byulyi seems like such an interesting one.” Yongsun put her work on hold and looked at Hyejin with a mischievous smile. Hyejin groaned at the amusing tone she gave out. The older woman seems to take this as a total joke. “I can book tickets and fly there next week with Wheein. I bet she will be happy to see Byulyi again, memories intact or not.”

 

“Not yet. I need some time, unnie.” This would have been done much quicker if Moonbyul haven’t being such a stubborn mule in the first place. “She didn’t even want my help. I just—”

 

“You just met her!” Yongsun laughed. “Why would she ask a stranger to solve her problem? I thought you thought of her better than a golddigger, Hyejin-ah!”

 

Hyejin admits (begrudgingly) that all these displays of stubbornness came back to bite her in the . It was the same attitude she displayed to Moonbyul when the other girl offered her help numerous times.

 

“On a more serious note. If you can look at this.”

 

Hyejin put her reading glasses on and scanned all over the details that Yongsun shared on the screen. It was part of a project and the commitment they both find themselves into: tracing the existence of “orphanages” that has been supplying children, taking them from their own home, and giving them out to benefactors like a prize from funfairs. After a long battle of diminishing every trace of them and what’s left, the last orphanage intact was found to have resided in Hong Kong.

 

“After long last.” Hyejin put out her glasses and smiled, satisfied at herself for doing such a good job. “Thank you for helping me all this time unnie.”

 

“Nonsense. I hated that place from the start. You’ve been through hell because of them lechers.” She grimaced, visibly disgusted when reminded of Hyejin’s past as she was told before. “Trailing this one should be a piece of cake, and then it will be all over. What are you planning to do if, God forbid, Byulyi reject your advances?”

 

“She won’t be able to resist.” Hyejin’s eyes burn with animosity, Yongsun shuddered. “I won’t give her any chances to.”

 

For a short while she was reminded of a lioness stalking up on her prey.

 

--

 

Miss Ahn is not here again for the third day of the week.

 

Not that she’s been counting or paying attention. When you work in a café for a while, some details become hard to miss. It’s not like she’s been missing something, somehow.

 

The desire to make out her remaining memories has long gone and now what’s left is a desire to pull her life together despite numerous wounds she didn’t really remember where it came from. With old wounds, flats that are barely liveable, no college degree (that she will soon possess once she gets her acceptance letter), anyone would be insane not to take up on that beautiful lady’s offer.

 

But if there’s one thing she can be absolutely proud of, it is her pride. One would argue that it is almost to the point of vain, but she begs to differ. Pride keeps one living with strength and dignity to gain it all.

 

She won’t be like her father, hanging from one woman to another. She’s all that her father does not. She won’t let herself be disappointed again. Her mother will have a chance to be proud of her.  She will not let herself stay in ruins forever.

 

But that doesn’t really stop her from missing the lady in black.

 

Could you stop it? Their world is vastly different!

 

“Mansaeng!”

 

Woken up from her daydream, she stops what she’s doing and regards her co-worker with a polite smile on her face. “Yes?”

 

“My girlfriend’s giving me flak again for buying a new ride.” Shuhua is a beautiful woman, younger than Moonbyul, who has a lovely girlfriend and absolute interest in shiny rides. Moonbyul still cannot fathom the reason why she would even consider working in this place of all shops in Hong Kong. “Please do me a favor, unnie.”

 

“Again?”

 

Not that she didn’t want to help, but going back and forth to farthest places like beaches or mountains isn’t exactly what she wants to do for three weekends in a row, the time that she could have spent just by relaxing leisurely at home. She would always find herself yawning profusely every Monday for the same reason. But of course whatever this is urgent and needs to be resolved as discreetly as possible.

 

“Yuqi’s been easily bristled these days. She kept complaining why I couldn’t save up and tried to think of our future for a second.” Moonbyul chortled as she pulled leverage from the coffee machine and prepared the milk for the coffee art she’s going to concoct.

 

“You know this will all be very easy once you pop the—”

 

“Cherry? Already, actually.” Shuhua narrowed her eyes. “Ah unnie, don’t tell me you haven’t—”

 

“I was about to say ‘question’.” Moonbyul winced. “Why is your mind always in the gutter? Too much information, my mind’s going haywire.” Moonbyul cringed over and over, ignoring the playful grin on Shuhua’s face, teasing going successfully.

 

“Please, unnie…”

 

Moonbyul served the latte that was soon taken by another server before turning to Shuhua with a glare. “First, why don’t you just take your ride and hide it? I’m sure you can find any bunker in Hong Kong that would be more than glad to take your precious ride for the weekend. Second, why me? Don’t you have some friends to take up this favour with? I need some sleep.”

 

“To answer your question, Yuqi has her friends all over town that she still keeps in contact with.” Moonbyul forgot that she’s also a loaded lady as well, if not more than Shuhua. “And second, you seem to have nothing to do every weekend… In conclusion, you have no life!”

 

“… I’m not sure that’s the tone you should be using to ask someone for a favour.”

 

“Unnie! Please! My last request!” Shuhua put her hands together in a praying position and pu