It was finally the day of the event. As Byul was getting dressed up for the evening, she wondered how the party would go. Starship was now a part of her identity and she wanted it to be the best. The movie collaboration project was like a first step to Starship being known globally. But she wondered why Yongsun said she wouldn't be able to attend the event. Well, she wished she could. But since she said she had to attend a client's event, she didn't try to persuade her. Yongsun's client reminded her that Hyejin had her outfits designed by Yongsun for tonight. When she knew about this, she was a bit angry at first but she knew how Yonghee Unnie was and so she decided not to talk about it to Yongsun.

"Let's see how interesting today's party would be!" smirked Byul and left for the venue.

                                                                                               ___________________________________________

        Yongsun was all dressed for the event. Since it was an art related event, she kept it simple yet classy. Taking a final look at herself in the mirror, she remembered Hyejin's favour and what Wheein said before she ended the call. Earlier, she didn't want to attend the event and avoid Wheein but after talking to Hyejin that day, she realised how it must've been hard for Wheein too with all of them breaking apart. So, she decided to face her fears, she decided to meet Wheein because the thought of Wheein hurting by herself made her heart ache. 

"I'll meet her today. No matter how bad it turns out, I can't let her be alone!" and so Yongsun left for the exhibition event.

                                                                                               ___________________________________________

        Hyejin's van was about to reach the venue. She was accompanied by Lee Minho as they were going to walk the red carpet together. The crowd full of cheers and camera flashes awaited them. Being one of the most popular stars of the Hallyu wave, this couple was a huge hit among the people. As Lee Minho got down and offered his hand, Hyejin took his hand and got down. If someone were to describe Hwasa that night, beautiful would definitely be an understatement. She wasn't very fair unlike other actors and actresses, but her beauty was one of a kind. Every step she took was full of confidence and grace. The area was swarmed by reporters and fansites. As they posed for the pictures, bunch of camera flashes filled the air. Well, the party itself was a very high profile one. Soon, they both entered the premises while waving at the crowd.

        As they both entered the hall, they were greeted by many well known personalities in the industry. Smiling and greeting everyone, they walked through the crowd. Just then they were greeted by the host of the event.

        Byul looked at her. Hyejin, her Hyejin. No matter how hurt Byulie was, she can never deny that Hyejin looked a goddess to her. She loved how she was different and not like every other beautiful girl. For her, beauty meant Ahn Hyejin, her girlfriend with a beautiful mind, a beautiful heart. Thinking like just the old times, Byul's feelings were going to soften but just then some moments flashed before her eyes. The person whom she loved with all her heart accused her feelings of being toxic. The only girl she wanted to spend her life with made her want to end her life. After remembering all those last moments, every old beautiful memory was like a thorn to her, pricking her at the worst places. Those 5 years of staying away from her, sleepness nights thinking about how Hyejin would be now happy without her. How someone else may make her smile now. And those darn 2 years they lived together, every moment from each day still seemed like yesterday to Byul. But soon Byul realised she had to free herself. That Hyejin wasn't hers anymore. She no more had the right to miss her, to reminisce the moments they shared,or to feel the happiness Hyejin brought her. And so she decided. The only way she could free her from this evil spell was by hating her. It was very difficult for her, but the loneliness helped. Of course she had Yongsun but somehow she couldn't explain all of this to her. No matter how much you share, there are some things you can never explain to others. It's something to speak to yourself about, you keep it to yourself. And so it started, Byul's hate for Hyejin. And now she was looking at her with bitterness creeping in her eyes.

"Good evening, CEO Moon", Minho started the conversation "Thank you so much for inviting us in this amazing party!"

"Ohh no no, it's absolutely my pleasure, that amazing personalities like you and Hwasa-shi are gracing this occassion!" they shared a laugh.

"Byulie Unnie had always been good with words", thought Hyejin.

"Hwasa-shi, you seem a bit lost" said Byul as she snapped her fingers. Just then someone called for Byul. "Looks like I'll have to attend some other guests, please do help yourself", saying so Byul was going to leave, but she turned around to make a final comment, "Oh by the way, you two look great together. No wonder they call you the best couple" saying so and giving a final look to Hyejin she left to attend other guests. While Minho gave a shy smile at the comment, Hyejin could feel the tint of sarcasm in her tone.

                                                                                                ______________________________________

         On the other hand, the exhibition was like a very quiet event. Well, art is meant to be soothing. As Yongsun entered the gallery, she could see many paintings put up for the exhibition. She was never much interested in paintings, but she started to explore them because of Wheein. The way Wheein's eyes sparkled whenever she spoke about paintings, Yong loved her seeing like that. As she entered further, Hyoyeon greeted her.

"Woah, Yongsun you're really here? I thought Yonghee told me you wouldn't be able to attend!"

"Actually I wasn't going to then.."

"Then I insisted her to do so", Yongsun heard a voice behind her. She didn't have to turn to know who it was. That honey voice was something Yongsun tried to remember everyday for the last five years. 

"Really, you did Wheein? But I'm a bit upset, Yongsun, you wouldn't listen to Unnie but to Wheein?"

"Ahh Unnie, it's absolutely not like that. I just had some meetings scheduled earlier. Please don't get me wrong"

"Oh of course not, I was just teasing you a bit! Haha, but I need to go now, good that we've got Wheein. Have a good time, Yongsun!" saying so Hyoyeon left in a hurry.

"Hi Unnie!"

"Hi Wheein-ah", she was still as pretty. If she were to describe Wheein in one word that would be 'mesmerizing', Yongsun would always fall in a trance whenever she saw Wheein. It was like she wanted to surrender herself to this girl. She wanted to do everything she could for this girl. She wanted to be the reason for her smiles and the one who hugs her when she cries. At first she used to think that these feelings were just as an Unnie. But as she spent more and more time with the younger, she realized that she needed Wheein too. She wished Wheein would care for her too. 

"So, when did you arrive here?" asked Wheein.

"It's been a few minutes..."

"I mean in Korea, Unnie"

"Ah..it's been more than a week"

"Hmm...and we're meeting today", Yongsun could see a tint of dissappointment on her face "Anyways, how've you been doing?"

"Well I studied a bit there and also helped with the establishment of Unnie's company branch in the US. How about you? It's good to see you pursuing painting.."

"Thank you Unnie! Well, earlier I wasn't sure if I could do this, then someone made me realise how this makes me happy and so I decided to paint more. Then I met Hyoyeon Unnie at one of my college exhibitions. She said she liked my paintings and urged me to participate in her exhibitions. Thankfully, people liked my art and so I decided to go with it."

"Well your paintings have always been beautiful, didn't I tell you? See I was right!"

    Wheein gave a faint smile, in a way paintings reminded her of Yongsun. She came to this gallery for the first time with Yongsun, she always encouraged Wheein saying she paints really well. Her paintings always had depth. A hidden meaning and a message for everyone.

"Unnie, I'll have to go up the stage in some time, let's talk after that, okay?"

"Oh sure, take your time", Wheein flashed a sweet smile towards Yongsun and went towards the stage. Yongsun missed that smile. She decided to look at some more paintings and moved around the hall.

                                                                                    _____________________________________________

     Hyejin was surrounded by many people. But suddenly she felt like she needed some fresh air. So getting herself a drink she walked towards the small garden beside the hall. She looked at the sky, it had quite few stars. A cold breeze blew past her and she wrapped her arms around her shoulders to keep herself warm. Just then, she realized someone else's presence beside her. She turned around to find Byulyi standing with a glass of champagne in her hand. 

"Oh, Byulie Unnie!", Hyejin cursed herself for addressing her informally. Ever since they've met Byulie has always addressed her formally. Maybe she wanted to maintain the distance from her. Eventhough Hyejin was a bit dissappointed at that, well she couldn't complain.

Byul let a light laugh, "Hello, Hyejin"

     Hyejin was surprised. She could now feel her voice soften, warmth in her eyes. She tried to keep the conversation going.

"How have you been? It's been a long time. Five years I guess.."

"5 years, 2 months and 7 days"

"Ahh you remember tha..."

"5 years, 2 months and 7 days of hating you, Hyejin-ah. How can I forget that..."

                                                                                   _______________________________________________

      As soon as Wheein got down the stage, she looked for Yongsun. All these years, she lived thinking about what Yongsun felt. She couldn't wait. She wanted to ask her why she cut her off. She wanted to ask a lot more things, but maybe next time. She searched through the crowd and found Yongsun looking at one of her paintings. She looked at her from a distance.

"Unnie still looks as baby as she was" Wheein thought. "Does she still have those dolphin laughs?" she wondered.

"Unnie!" called Wheein. 

"Oh you're here!" Yongsun walked to Wheein. Wheein had a bottle of Champagne in her hand. She held Yongsun's hand and dragged her towards the exit.

     Wheein brought Yongsun to the small lawn beside the building. There were two chairs around a small round table with two glasses on it. They sat beside each other.

"Why did you bring Champagne?"

"Mmm...no reason. I often drink here. The air here is quite fresh." As Wheein was about to open the bottle, Yongsun squealed when the cap flew open. Wheein couldn't help but laugh at her, "Unnie, you still make these weird noises", giggled Wheein.

"Ah...you know how I'm afraid of these sudden things" Yongsun felt a bit embarrasing.

"Of course I know", Now was the time, Wheein gathered a lot of courage and tried to initiate the talk.

"So Unnie, shall we talk about those avoided questions now?"

Yongsun looked a bit confused. She was afraid. Afraid of Wheein asking for answers she tried not to face.

"Why did you leave Unnie? You and Byulie Unnie"

Yongsun sighed, this wasn't very difficult to answer. And as a close friend, Wheein had every right to ask this question.

"You know how Byulie was totally heartbroken after Hyejin left. All of that came as a huge shock to her. At times she even started hallucinating. The doctor said this was because of the mental stress she had been facing for the past days. She cried all the time and all she coould think of was Hyejin. She tried to runaway a few times. She was out of control."

            As Yongsun spoke about these incidents, Wheein could feel pain in her voice. She could hear her voice weaken. "I can't see Byul like that. To me Byul has always been the happy person who always stayed by my side. I thought the only way to help her overcome all of this was to make her leave Korea. Because every street, every food corner reminded her of Hyejin. Yonghee Unnie was working on the US branch opening and I decided to help her with that. So, we both immigrated to New York."

"Hmm...I think it was for the best. She needed a change of environment. Thankfully, she's over Hyejin now, right?"

"Yea, probably." Wheein could see Yongsun's smile fade away.

"Unnie"

"Hmm?"

"Why didn't you tell me you were leaving?"

Yongsun fell silent. She fiddled with her bracelet avoiding Wheein's eyes.

"Why didn't you contact me even once? I waited Unnie. Everyday, hoping you'd call or text, anything!"

Yongsun slowly looked up to face Wheein,"I couldn't..."

"I couldn't, Wheein." Wheein couldn't understand.

"You remember I was going to give you something that day?"

"Yeah, you asked me to wait but when you rushed upstairs, Byulie Unnie had cut her wrist" 

           Scenes of that day flashed before her eyes. Byulie laid unconscious on the floor while her wrist bled like crazy. Tears were b in Yongsun's eyes.

"The fact that it happened because I left her alone made me guilty. I wanted to protect her till the end. Also, somehow it made me feel guilty towards you and I couldn't face you after this. Also, I couldn't give you what I wanted to that day"

"You can give it to me now" Wheein spoke softly, she could see the tears formed in older girl's eyes.

"I don't have it. I lost it" Yongsun lied.

      Wheein was forcing herself not to ask about that. She didn't want to scare Yongsun away. Just then Yongsun got up, "I gotta leave Wheein, I'll see you later"

Just then Wheein called her from behind, "Unnie!" Yongsun turned to look at Wheein. Wheein looked in her eyes. Those same affectionate eyes full of love, making her go crazy. All the time they used to spend together when Yongsun used to look at her with these eyes, Wheein couldn't help but wonder if Yongsun really felt something for her.

      Wheein tried all her might to not ask about that, but she couldn't. If it wasn't for that look, she wouldn't have asked. But now she had to. She was tired of assuming things herself. She was afraid Yongsun would run away again.

"Did it not mean anything to you Unnie?" This is what Yongsun was afraid of.

"The kiss, Unnie. That night, the kiss we had, did it not mean anything at all?"

                                            _____________________________________________________________________________________________________

         So finally I finished writing this at 3am! Actually, for this fic, I'd decided to update every weekend but lazyness got me and so I'm posting it on a Monday. I hope you all like how the story goes. I've tried not to make it too dramatic and focus on the emotional aspects of every character. If only I wasn't this lazy :)) But please do comment about what you like in this story, what you dislike, anything you'd wish to happen! I smile like a pabo while reading those comments :)))

        Also there's something I wanted to ask my readers. In later part of the story, there's a character who Wheein had a crush on when in school. I do have some names in my mind. But I'd want you guys to suggest me who you want it to be. Please let me know in the comments! I'll try to write accordingly. See you on the next weekend (hopefully kekeke)!!!