Chapter 16
It’s Raining Stars

Sunny eyed the window, and she had been doing so ever since she had set foot in the car. There were too many concerns running through her head, those which were specifically involving her complicated relationship with Hyomin. She pitied the girl, and at some point or another, she had tried to love Hyomin in the same way. However, she couldn’t do so any longer; there was no way she could stay. Love just doesn’t work that way.

It was never meant for lies.

And because of that, she started to question if lying about falling for someone else would help make it easier for them both or would further break Hyomin even more. Sunny knew that she didn’t deserve the girl’s love, and most of all, she didn’t have the rights to hurt Hyomin. Maybe if she didn’t make that dumb mistake to begin with, gulping over bottles after bottles of wine, then maybe everything wouldn’t happen this way, or so she thought.

“It’s only five minutes into the drive and you’re already looking bored. You know, I did say you didn’t have to come with me. I’ll make it up to you at SoShi Café later.”

The driver and her ‘fake’ girlfriend broke the silence as she pretended to focus on the road while taking peeks of Sunny peering out at the glass shield.

“SoShi café closes early on Sundays, Sooyoungie.”

Sooyoung formed an ‘o’ on her lips. Despite going to the coffeehouse several times for breakfast, lunch, and sometimes even dinner, she never remembered to check on their operating hours.

“I guess we could-” Sooyoung paused for a moment before letting her thoughts reprocessed, “…We’ll come up with something eventually.”

“Don’t worry about it. I wanted to tag along. Plus, I like dancing and I like to see people dance. I might learn something new today.”

“Even if this is not a practice date?”

“No, it will be.”

Sunny turned briefly to face Sooyoung, who was, by now, glaring fire at her. The shorter of the two returned the look with a sly grin, backfiring Sooyoung’s tactics of threats. She had planning on telling the younger girl that it was just a joke, but decided against it as she deemed Sooyoung’s nervous expressions as rather entertaining.

“You two are close right? Hyoyeon and you, I mean,” Sooyoung started, avoiding in wanting to know any of Sunny’s schemes, “Shouldn’t Hyoyeon already know about your relationship with Hyom-”

“She doesn’t.”

Sooyoung sent another strange look at Sunny’s way before turning back to the road ahead.

“No one does, besides you, of course. Not even Yuri or Taeyeon,” Sunny added, “It’s not real, and it never was. So why bother?” 

“Yeah, you’re right.”

The taller girl focused on the streets, ignoring the surging disturbance in her stomach as both of her hands gripped strongly onto the steering wheel.

She sighed and whispered a reminder to herself.

“Right, it’s not real.”

★☆★

Jessica twirled uneasily on her bed, wrapping and unwrapping herself in the blanket multiple times until she became bored of her actions. For the past fifteen minutes, she had been repeating the process of reaching for her phone, unlocking the screen, and continued to stare at it for a prolonged period of seconds, as if that would help deliver her the call that she was waiting for. 

Yuri’s late. 

Having been best friends with the black pearl for three years, if not more, she at least remembered Yuri was always very punctual on her appointments regardless if it was to be an important club meeting or simply a friends’ hangout. Thus, that had added onto her worries. But then again, Yuri’s habits could have changed in the past year, and not that she know about that. However, not only had she not received a single text or phone call, but she had yet to hear of any word about Yuri’s whereabouts. The girl had always told her beforehand if there’s a change of plan. Unless…

“I’ll be there at 5:00PM sharp. If not then…something happened to me.”

Jessica vigorously rubbed the blanket against the sides of her head, hoping that the thought would be remove off her mind.

They had both pushed aside that statement off as a joke but now Jessica wished Yuri had never said such a thing. If there was a wooden platter nearby, she would be knocking on them her fists on them over and over again, praying for Yuri’s safety.

To ease her mind, her sight caught itself upon her bookshelf. Only one object stood out from the rest; its vivid blue tempted Jessica to reach for it, so she did.

She opened the photo album that had been viewed countless times, unfortunately, not by the person it was made for. Jessica had never gotten the chance to hand it to Yuri after all those months. She also never got the chance to say “Happy Birthday” when Yuri had turned 20 that night. The night that Yuri had aborted the plane…and left.

★☆★

“Dad, I would prefer that you inform me about this before dragging me in a room where I had no choice whether or not I wanted to stay,” the daughter groaned in distress, leaning her back against the chair in relief that the drastically lengthy meeting had finally ended and that the rest of the board had already took their leave.

“Sorry, Yul. I was too caught up with the business exchange last week to tell you off this. I’m really glad you didn’t decide to run off. The shareholders had very 
high expectations from you, dear,” her father apologized, neatly organizing the important notes from the conference. 

Expectations: she never liked hearing that word.

Yuri got up from her seat and slid the chair back under the table. She then pulled down her wrinkled skirt and ran her fingers through her hair, fixing the strands that she had tangled from ruffling them impatiently during the meeting. 

“Since this is over, I’m going.”

Yuri walked toward a cardboard box sitting in the corner of the room and reached her hand in it, pulling out her phone. Part of the company’s policy was to never permit the use of electronic devices during a meeting, and because of that there were notifications piling up on her screen, most of which were from the impatient ice princess.

Despite being rather frustrated that she was already late for picking up Jessica, she decided to let it pass just that once. The topic was not worth arguing over and every minute she spent in the room was another worry added to Jessica’s concerns. And of course, it was also a minute less to the time spent with the girl.

“Wait, Yuri. I want to ask you about someone,” Mr. Kwon called out, forcing Yuri to backtrack her steps away from the door.

“Yes, dad?”

“It’s about Victoria.”

“What about her?”

Yuri carried a puzzled look on her face, tilting her to the side as she was unable to guess what her father was planning on saying next.

“I looked at all the completed assignments she had turned in to me this morning. It was exceedingly well done,” her father smiled, “I have never seen someone with such great work ethics.”

Yuri waited; she knew her father had not gotten to his main point.

“I already know you have Sooyoung, but two is better than one after all,” he paused for one second, “I want to promote her.”

“You want her to become my secretary?”

“Well, yes, a personal assistant.”

Yuri sighed. A sudden decision was sudden indeed.

“Do you have her consent with this?”

“Yes, I did. She said she needed time to think about it.”

“So I’m the last to know?”

“Yes, you are,” her father playfully grinned. “That girl has such potential. If only you were born a male then I would have a wonderful daughter-in-law.”

Yuri rolled her eyes. It wasn’t the first time that her father had said that, and Victoria was definitely not the first girl out of the countless. 

Her parents had always been opened regarding Yuri’s choice of relationships as long as she kept it out of public display, but she never knew if they were really serious when they had randomly told her that she could marry whoever she wished, a man or not.

Sometimes, she questioned if her parents had really came from the right generation, taking into the account of the discriminating thoughts people their age would have.

“I would love to talk to you more but we’ll just have to do that at the dinner tonight, dad. I have to go pick up Sooyeon and I’m already reall-” Yuri glanced at the wall clock, her eyes widening with shock as she started to panic. “I’m really freaking late!!”

Yuri quickly dashed out the conference room, hastily strapping on her purse and made sure she had grabbed her car key. However, before she had managed to successfully escape, her father’s words had reached her ears. 

“Invite Victoria to our dinner, Yuri-ah!”

She knew it was selfish of her, but how she wished she hadn’t heard what her father had told her.

☆★☆

“I’m all better now!”

Yoona enthusiastically cried out, pumping her hands in the air as she showed her healthy, defined arm muscles, to which Seohyun giggled in amusement.

“You’re getting much better, but not completely, unnie. Your temperature had dropped, although you still show signs of having a fever,” Seohyun stated as the matter of factual claims, waving the thermometer in front of her sick friend.

“That thing is broken,” Yoona pouted, “I’m really well now. It’s Sunday, so let’s go outside and play!”

“No.”

Yoona leaned back on the bed frame, her smile transformed into a flounder face, unsatisfied with the restrictions placed on her. She could have her ways with her father, her sibling, and even Yuri, but never would she be able to with Seohyun. This girl just had some sort of control over her ― mostly emotionally.

“I’ve already checked today’s weather,” the younger girl reasoned, “and there’s 75% chance of rain tonight, so you’re not going anywhere. You’re restricted from any physical activity.”

“So you’re staying with me?” Yoona leaned in closer, smiling with her eyes half closed as her friend blinked and glanced away.

“I-I have an appointment in five minutes,” Seohyun stuttered.

“With who?” 

“Yonghwa-oppa.”

Seohyun watched as Yoona slumped back to the bed frame and dug herself into the comforter, hiding her unpleased expression.

“Fine,” Yoona grunted, although she did not purposely mean it to sound selfish.

“It’ll be quick. I just need to…clarify some things.” 

Yoona remained silent, refusing to bulge her head out from the blanket.

“I’ll be back soon.”

“Really?” Yoona’s muffled voice muttered.

“Yeah.”

A sheepish smile spread across her lips momentarily before it dispersed back to a pensive line.

★☆★

Sunny watched in awe, eyes widened and mouth gawking. She never knew the shikshin had this in her.

The girl was carrying through the beats with her powerful dance steps like a bird fluttering its wings in partnership with the wind. Her movements were exactly on rhythm, never missing a single beat. And if she ever really did make a mistake, it would be instantly voided and ignored because every aspect of the perfection had made up for it. It was a simple, yet so graceful.

“Beautiful, isn’t she?”

Hyoyeon’s voice slightly stunned Sunny but she was still unable to keep her eyes away from the performance.

“Yeah. How long have she been dancing, do you know?”

“From what I heard, around 6 years?” Hyoyeon pondered, recollecting the background information she had received from Yuri, “Though she had stopped dancing for while because of family’s business until recently.”

“For a girl who eats like a Godzilla and slacks around like a sloth from time to time, she sure has some talent” Sunny chuckled, oblivious to Hyoyeon’s smirk.

Hyoyeon leaned in closer, her hand covering the side of her face as she whispered into Sunny’s ears, “Just between you and me, but are you into her?”

“No,” Sunny replied straightforwardly, “It’s nothing more than admiration. And not all of your friends swing that way, Hyo.”

Hyoyeon pulled back, surprised. Her eyes fixing themselves back to the dancer.

“Try to be the only one in your circle of friends that actually has a boyfriend,” Hyoyeon scoffed, crossing her arms.

Sunny twitched. For a second she forgot she was dating a girl, herself.

“Soonkyu.”

“What is it?”

Hyoyeon took in a deep breath then brought her hand to firmly grab Sunny’s shoulder, to which the latter took a moment away from Sooyoung to glance at her friend.

“Don’t make her fall if you’re not planning to catch her.”

Sunny’s eyebrow lifted, puzzled and confused at the choding’s tone of seriousness, but eventually a pensive smile curved on her lips.

“It’s not my choice.”

“What are you two talking about?”

Sooyoung walked up to them, wiping off her sweat with the towel hanging on her neck. 

“Just about preparations for my marriage,” Hyoyeon answered, smiling her brightest.

“Yeah, her marria-…Wait-” 

Hyoyeon’s reply had not quite processed into the girl’s head until a while, and once it did, Sunny quickly responded with much bewilderment. The latter’s smile had not yet left the girl’s face.

“You-Y-You’re…You’re getting married?!”

Sooyoung stood still, resuming to cleaning her face as her view switched back and forth between the shocked and the amused.

“Yup.”

“Congratulations,” Sooyoung finally spoke.

“Thank you.”

Sunny remained immobilize, had not closed itself.

“To whom!?” she interrogated. 

“My high school sweetheart and the only man I ever dated,” Hyoyeon stated, eye brow curving and eyes twitching. She thought that if Sunny hadn’t known of her wedding she would at least knew who she would be wed to, especially with that creepy smile of joyfulness taped on her face.

“Hyukjae!? Really!?” Sunny had expected this, but never had she considered it would be so soon. After all, they were all still in their early 20s.

Sooyoung stared up at the ceiling and scratched the back of her head; the name had appeared all too familiar with her. Snapping her finger, she threw an expectant question, “Would this be Lee Eunhyuk? One of the top dancers of the Korean wave?”

“Correct,” Hyoyeon presented a thumbs-up to emphasize her answer, the smile lurking back on her face.

“Wow, so those rumors are true,” Sooyoung stated, nodding her head as she took pride in her daily research of the entertainment world.

“Congratulations!” Sunny embraced her friend and squeezed the girl. It was as if she was the bride and not the latter.

“Thanks, Soonkyu.”

“When will it be? Am I invited?” Sunny fluttered her eyelids, showing off her aegyo, yet, again.

“Want me to punch you instead?” Hyoyeon stated, raising her fist in the air in a false threat. Sunny knew that her friends had always hated her ‘cuteness-that-calls-for-a-punch.’ 

“Of course you are, silly. The wedding is scheduled to be in two months but we got to get to preparations now. I might have Taeyeon and Yuri helped me with that.”

Sunny immediately outstretched her hand above her head with the other pointing to herself. 

“I’m here whenever you need me!” she exclaimed excitedly.

“I will need you eventually but as of now I have a student coming in soon. Sooyoung’s class is over so you two can go home…or go do whatever it is that you were planning to do.”

Hyoyeon mischievously winked and elbowed her friend, receiving a glare in return.

“I told you we’re not like that,” the shortest of the three girls mouthed to the jokester, who merely shrugged and approached the quiet giant.

“You did a great job today, Sooyoung. I hope to see you again. We could have dance battles sometimes,” Hyoyeon offered, proud of her new student.

“Thanks. I’ll call you up when I have time.”

“Okay. Now go go go! I have a tight schedule!”

“Tch…you just want to get things over with so you can go see your little fiancé Hyukie,” Sunny muttered under her breathe teasingly.

“Yah! He might be shorter than average but don’t call him little!” Hyoyeon shouted, “Look at yourself!”

“Why don’t you go stand in front of the mirror?”

“At least I’m not in denial!”

“Okay, you two. Break it off.”

Sooyoung interfered and attempted to break the ‘argument’.

“You have no say in this!”

The two girls exclaimed simultaneously, forcing Sooyoung to take a couple of steps back and retreated slowly out the door, escaping the suddenly erupted scene.

---

The tall girl threw the towel back on her shoulders then proceeded to lean on the wall. She ruffled back her messy hair and closed her eyes for a few seconds.

Surely, she knew their previous topic wasn’t about Hyoyeon’s marriage. And surely, she knew they were talking about her. However, surely, she wasn’t clear on the details.

All she heard was one sentence of the conversation in that split second when the music had come to a moment of pause.

“Don’t make her fall if you’re not planning to catch her.” 

That was the only line that had reached her ears, but it was enough to make her curious.

Who is the ‘she’? If, like Sunny said, Hyoyeon had no idea of their friend’s current relationship with Hyomin then who is the person that they were talking about? 

It bugged her, but she chose not to ask. That would just mean that she was eavesdropping, and who would want someone to ‘accidentally’ overhear something in a conversation that was meant to be kept in private? 

‘It probably wasn’t my business anyways,’ she thought.

And as for the reason for it to be a bother to Sooyoung? Well, it took her a while, but she at least figured that part out.

“Excuse me? May I know where Kim Hyoyeon-sshi’s room is at?”

` A voice interrupted her train of thoughts as she was forced halt her thinking and directed her eyes at the female in front of her. And apparently, her concerns had been immediately replaced with another problem:

Hyomin.

However, she was glad that the girl did not know who she was.

“Oh, um, uh, it’s-“
“Sooyoungie, let’s g-”

Maybe she had her hopes up too early.

“Sunny?”

Sooyoung stood paralyzed. She did not know what to do and neither did Sunny who had just stepped out of the room and into the danger zone.

“Oh, Hyomin, you’re here!”

Hyoyeon pushed Sunny out of the way and approached the younger girl, giving her a nice warm hug as she was oblivious to the mood of the situation.

“Hello there, sunbae,” Hyomin greeted Hyoyeon, momentarily making eye contact with the latter before reverting it back to her dumbfounded girlfriend.

Hyoyeon took a few seconds to read the situation before turning to Sooyoung, who signaled to her with a finger on her lips and a hand slicing on . Understanding vaguely of the scenario, Hyoyeon backed away from the tension.

Seeing as there was nothing she could do at the moment except for leaving the scene, Sooyoung wrapped her arm around Hyoyeon’s shoulder and dragged her along.

“Pardon me, but Hyoyeon-sunbae promised to show me around the building since I’m a newbie here. It will only take a few minutes, right, sunbae?”

Hyoyeon glared at Sooyoung strangely, but eventually understood. She turned back to Hyomin, and being a fail liar that she was, stumbled on her words.

“Y-Yeah, w-why don’t you head into the room first.”

“Sure,” the girl replied softly, having no suspicion of any kind.

Hyoyeon allowed Sooyoung to drag her away with the excuse. However, the one with the most reluctance to leave was the one that had initiated the escape. Sooyoung’s head darted back to the scene, watching the two ‘lovers’ from afar as their conversation slowly became voiceless to her.

Knowingly, her heart throbbed.

☆☆☆

“Is there anything wrong?”

“No I…I just…”

“…Something did happen.”

“Will you hear me out, unnie?”

“Whatever you need to let out, you can say it to me.”

“I like Yoona-unnie.”

Jessica nodded simply, presenting no more than a simple reaction of acknowledgement.

“I-It’s not the normal kind of like. I-I like her more than a friend. That 'kind' of like,” Seohyun clarified, assuming that Jessica had not caught on with the whole idea.

“I know and I understand.” 

It had been on her mind to ask Seohyun regarding this, but it seemed as though there was no need for that now. The suspicion had been brought up to Jessica’s attention by Tiffany, in which, she had first stated her denial against. True, the two young girls might have been expressing a type of touchy physical contact that was rather close, but Tiffany and Jessica had done pretty much the same to each other. Their secret stares might have pointed out some things more than the borderline of friendship, but that was not what had convinced her to eventually believe Tiffany’s words. What, though, had hit her was the image she could relate to as she watched them from the distance. The image she saw was that of her and Yuri back in their school days. Their love was mutual, and neither of them knew it, believing what instead would tear them apart.

It was a similar case for Yoona and Seohyun, and Jessica definitely did not want to see history repeats itself especially if she was going through the pain of it all when it had happened to her.

“How di-”

“Don’t ask me how I know and just continue.”

Seohyun obediently obeyed and carried on.

“I can’t stop thinking about her. I tried to block her out but everywhere I go, something always lead me back to the thought of Yoona-unnie. She is always on the edge of my mind, and I always anticipate our every meeting even if it was only to be no more than one minute. Whenever I see her with someone else, even if I know it’s just acting, it hurts right here,” Seohyun visually described, hitting gently against where her heart lies. Bringing her palms to her face, Seohyun covered it in embarrassment while speaking the last bits of her feelings. “Whenever she is not around, I suddenly feel empty. Like something is not right.” 

Jessica observed the Seohyun’s reactions and thought to herself how adorable her cousin was when the girl’s face and ears had already been starting to redden and how her hands were starting to shake without her even knowing it.

‘I wonder if I was like that as well when I talk about Yuri.’

A smile curved onto her lips simply at the tiny thought about her Kwon-seobang slipping through her mind.

“Joo Hyun, I’m going to be blunt, but do you want to be in a relationship with Yoona?”

“Yes, I do.”

A little stunt at the straightforwardness of the reply Seohyun that had seemed almost like something expected and prepared, Jessica grinned, realizing that her little Joo Hyun had already grown up.

“Honey, that’s what they’re called ‘love’. You love Yoona. And I presume you don’t tell her that because you’re scared. You’re scared of losing your friendship with her, am I right?”

Seohyun nodded.

“Then don’t be. If she is really is your friend and if she really cares for you then she won’t give up the friendship you two have no matter what happens. Fear will only be in the way, Joo Hyun. Fear will lead to foolish mistakes and eventually it will be followed by deep regrets. If you love her, then you need to come out and say it.”

Seohyun stayed deep in thought, recording mentally each and every word of advice that Jessica was speaking to her.

“And about Yonghwa, I feel kind of sorry for him, but you need to do what you got to do. Patience is the key, but sometimes waiting is a stepping stone to loss. Don’t wait any longer, Joo Hyun-ah.”

★★★

Waiting is a stepping stone to loss, and Jessica had taken too many steps toward the wrong direction. 

If there was anyone she was disappointed in, it was none other than herself, who had continued to stray on the wrong road ever since that first step of denial. She could give all the persuasive advices that she want, and they would all worked out well to the person who had came seeking for them, but never could she say the same to herself. The encouragement had never seemed to work for her, the one needed such reminder than any other.

The moment she realized that Yuri had felt something more than friendship for her, she had backed away and distanced herself. However, the second she fully notice her own feelings of much similarity, she picked up her two feet and ran instead. Jessica never liked the idea of homouality. Sure, she was interested to know and eager to ‘test’ it out, but she couldn’t do that with Yuri. The kind of love she had for the girl wasn’t just for ‘fun’ and it was definitely not meant for experimentation. And once she fully understood that for a matter of fact, she had returned to where she should be, only to find Yuri had already gone.

And maybe the girl had even moved on.

Even if she was paranoid of seeing Yuri leaving her again, Jessica still couldn’t gather the courage to say those words aloud. But she knew she had to sooner or later.

☆★☆

“I should get going now.”

Yoona watched as Seohyun strapped on her shoulder bag and began heading out the door. She didn’t say anything and only merely give a nod goodbye when Seohyun waved at her.

The sound of the door clicking against its lock brought back the empty feeling.

Yoona was fine by herself before she had met Seohyun. Besides her dear cousin, Yoona had no one she could fully rely on. No one she could lean on. No one she could depend on. She was only living with her father and her younger sibling as her mother had left her since young. She was not lonely, but rather that her life was dull. But all had changed when Seohyun stepped into her life. That’s right, Seohyun was now her pillar support. The girl had always been ever since they had become friends. And just the thought of losing Seohyun in her life made her crumble. 

Now, she was no longer okay if left alone.

Simply put, without Seohyun, Yoona won’t ever be the same Im Yoona ever again.

She wanted so badly to give up on the younger girl, but it was not something Yoona could do overnight. It was not something anyone could do overnight, for that matter, and Yoona understood that clearly. However, she was not trying her best to forget her feelings either.

Time was merely excuse for her not wanting to give up in the first place.

They might be young and these feelings she had might just be an immature imagination, but she doubted that and knew they were far from just a typical crush. She desired to make Seohyun happy, to carry through tough times with her, and to just be there for her whenever she needed support and comfort. Furthermore, Yoona understood that things don’t need to change between them if that’s all she wished for. They were the best of friends, and they had already been doing all of the above for the past years since they knew each other. 

But it hurt.

“I have to tell her.”

☆★☆

Yuri started off the engine of her car, twisting the key clockwise. She then gently took off her long sleeve coat and threw it in the back seats before going back to examining her bandaged arm. The bleeding had stopped but the wound still continued to inflict pain on her. Yuri was disappointed that she was in no condition to take a ride on her motorcycle as much as she loved to. She had always wanted to show Jessica her hard earned Yamaha R6 beauty, but it seemed like today won’t be it.

Reminded of Jessica, Yuri pulled out her phone from her pocket and sent a quick text to the blonde, informing of her late coming. Scrolling down her list of contacts, she suddenly remembered there was something else she had been asked to do. Reluctantly, she dialed the call to that someone.

Surprisingly to her, not even a second passed before the line was instantly retrieved by the other end. 

“Victoria?”

“Yuri? What is it? How are you feeling?”

“I’m better. More importantly, would you like to join my family for dinner tonight?”

Yuri waited patiently as the pause filled in their conversation.

“Hello?”

“I’m sorry, Yuri, but I have plans today with my friends already. I promised to take them out because of my absence during their last hangout. Sorry.”

Yuri almost let out a sigh of relief but held it back. She did not want to sound rude even though she know she was being rather selfish in not wanting Victoria to join in.

“How is your arm, Yuri?”

“It’s healing slowly. Still hurts from time to time, but the doctor did let me off saying there was no infection. It should be fine,” Yuri answered honestly.

“Thank you so much.”

“For?”

“Saving me.”

The happenings of yesterday’s incident came flooding back into Yuri’s mind again. She had to say she was scared but she was glad that it wasn’t anything too serious.

“We were fortunate. The gang was just a bunch of college students trying to snatch money from girls, that’s all. They had admitted to the police that they had attempted to do much more but was never really up for it,” Yuri snickered. 

Even so, they still managed to harm her – well, more like just their reckless leader. While struggling on top of ‘Jiyoung’, he had somehow found his ways to swipe his pocket knife into Yuri’s arm. Thankfully, she got off him before it had gone too deep to be removed without ripping off some muscle tissues. After injuring the girl, Jiyoung had got on his feet and dropped the knife, shock at his own doing. None of them could move their legs and none of them attempted to run. It only proved to Yuri further that they had never truly harmed anyone before. Shortly after, the police sirens drew near and Yuri was taken to the hospital with Victoria by her side.

But more than just that happened that night.

“You haven’t changed. Still trying to be the hero.”

Yuri giggled.

“I’m not trying to be. I just happened to be.”

They shared a short laughter before silence filled into the gaps again.

“Sorry Victoria I got to-”

“Hey, Yuri?”

“Yes?”

“About yesterday…”

Yuri remained silent, feigning her ignorance as she thought Victoria could have been thinking of taking back what she had said. She was wrong.

“I was serious.”

★☆★

“Would you anything to eat or drink?”

“No, I’m fine. Yoona-unnie is sick so I have to go back to tend to her later on.”

“Oh I see.”

Seohyun reached for her water bottle in her bag as the tension started to get to her. She took a small drink before placing it neatly back into the spot where it used to be. Her eyes now directing at Yonghwa, who was tapping his fingers against each other, waiting for what seemed to be an answer he had been impatient for.

“So you called me out because…?”

“I want to talk to you about…about my answer to your confession.”

Yonghwa swallowed, nervousness traveling down his throat.

“Go on.”

Seohyun closed her eyes momentarily before opening them again.

“I’m sorry. I can’t go out with you.”

Yonghwa huffed out a long sigh. He had been holding his breath, hoping for the best, but now there was no need to. Attempting to stay calm, he sipped his hot coffee before staring back at Seohyun with a pensive smile trying its best to form on his lips.

“I see. You must have your reasons.”

She wasn’t inquired to tell him, but she felt like he needed to know.

“I’m in love with someone else.”

Hope…she was afraid of destroying it, but the worse would be raising false ones.

He had never heard Seohyun falling in love with anyone before, and now that she did, it must have been someone really special. Someone he couldn’t match up to. 

Yonghwa nodded with understanding, briefly stared out at the dripping rain outside the glass window, then, again, brought his cup to his lips to taste the rather bitter and steaming coffee. It burned.

“You need to go, right? Yoona-sshi must be waiting for you.”

“I’m sorry, Yong.” 

The familiarity of his name being called was once used to be a remedy but was now more like a thorn stabbing him, but he knew he would have to let her go. He wanted Seohyun to be happy even if it’s not with him. 

Genuinely smiling this time, he said to her, “I’m fine, Hyun. Just don’t let me catch him hurting you.”

Seohyun beamed in relief, though still had her doubts. 

“Don’t worry. That person won’t hurt me.”

☆★☆

Immediately after having read Yuri’s message, telling the girl that she had finally arrived, Jessica picked up her coat and dashed out the door with haste. She locked then slammed the door behind her and rushed to the elevator with unhooked heels dangling on her feet.

“Aish, hurry up!!”

She yelled at the automated lifter, tightening her footwear while she was at it. Jessica was in contemplation whether or not she should take the stairs, eyes darting back and forth between the two directions. But after a few short seconds, she died down her impatience and relaxed herself.

‘Yuri can wait.’

Jessica finally stepped into the elevator and reached to the lowest floor. From afar, she could spot a tall girl consulting with the apartment’s guard. A huge smile plastered on her face and she instantly ran to tackle a hug at whom she knew best.

“S-Sica!?”

The tan girl stumbled but maintained her balance as she tried to pull herself out of the girl’s tight hug. Jessica puckered her lips forming a pout when Yuri pulled herself away from the idol.

“Oh, so you really do know Jessica-sshi. I’m sorry. I’ll remember next time.” The guard apologized sincerely, bowing to the taller girl.

“No, it’s alright. I was just afraid that she would be too lazy to get off her bed,” Yuri chuckled lightly.

“Says the person who was twenty-one minutes late.” Jessica scrunched up her nose and crossed her arms, half-faking her annoyance.

“I see you don’t want me here. I’ll leave then. Have a good day, sir.” Yuri turned around and smiled to the guard before walking off.

“No wait!” 

Jessica bid her good-bye to the security before skipping closely behind Yuri. When she finally caught up, Jessica held onto the hem of the younger girl’s shirt to prevent the girl running off, even though she knew Yuri wouldn’t do that either way. Uncertain of where they were heading, she allowed Yuri to lead her.

Soon, they approached a black BMV, much to Jessica’s surprise who had expected the other compact vehicle.

“I thought you have a motorcycle…?” Jessica asked, inspecting the car which shaped nothing like what she imagined Yuri to possess.

“I do. I just didn’t feel like riding it today,” Yuri replied, opening the passenger’s door for her friend, “Get in.”

Jessica abided and seated herself with the belt strapped over her. She took a minute to observe the interior design.

‘Wow…’ she thought in amazement.

“Sorry about being late. My dad dragged me into one of those boring conferences and I couldn’t escape.” 

Jessica nodded with understanding, glad that nothing else happened.

“Oh, I see. It’s alright. You’re here now.”

Yuri smiled upon hearing Jessica’s calm words and was relieved that she did not get yell at.

“Let’s get going shall we?”

Yuri started the engine and pushed on the pedal.

“To the Kwons!”

Jessica pumped her fist in the air, clearly excited about the whole event.

After receiving a silent treatment from Yuri, she turned to the girl and eyed her. It was not far into the road until Jessica noticed the linings of bandages camouflaging behind Yuri’s thin-clothed dress-shirt of the same color. Her eyebrows curved up in confusion.

“Explain.” 

Jessica demanded, pointing to Yuri’s arm that was wrapped in pure white.

Yuri stared down at Jessica’s finger and where it was directed to before nervously focusing back on the road.

“I hurt myse-”

“Don’t you dare lie to me, Kwon Yuri.”

Yuri huffed out a sigh before briefly explaining the happenings of yesterday’s occurrence, cutting on the unnecessary details that would only worry the blonde more. Jessica listened attentively, her eyes glistening with terror and hanged open in shock.

“Are you feeling better now?” Jessica asked, concerns flooding her words.

“Yeah.”

Jessica extended her hand and (roughly) poked Yuri’s arm, to which the girl instinctively yelped in pain.

“Liar.”

“I can’t hide anything from you can I?”

“I’ve known you for too long.”

Yuri grinned then allowed her injured arm to rest itself on her side as the other stabling controlling the wheel. 

Jessica stared at Yuri’s free hand for a prolonged period of time, unconsciously gulping air down .

“What are you looking at?”

“N-Nothing.”

Jessica shook her head and faced away toward the window next to her. She brought her palm up, covering her blushing cheeks. She wanted so badly to hold Yuri hand but she knew it would be awkward if she was to just suddenly reach for the girl. Back then, she would have already done so without a second thought of reconsideration. It’s different now.

Despite how they have been acting normal in their conversations and actions, she still understood they were not like how they were with each other back in the days. The mood and atmosphere were just so…distant. Yuri was so near, yet so far from her.

“I thought you changed, but I guess you’re still an idiot.”

“But isn’t that what you like abou-”

Yuri stopped mid-sentence and pretended that she never said anything regarding the matter. But Jessica heard it nonetheless.

With a shy smile on her lips, Jessica slowly reached for Yuri’s hand and began interlocking her fingers with the girl’s own, one by one.

“Yeah. That’s one of the things I love about you.”

They didn’t face each other. They couldn’t. Just the physical contact was driving both crazy. But neither of them know how the other felt and neither of them had the courage to ask.

Furthermore, Jessica was disappointed to realize that Yuri’s fingers had not returned her hold.

“Your friend is safe, right?” the blonde asked, trying to start a conversation again.

“Yeah. Just some bruises but nothing serious.”

“Anything else happened yesterday?”

“No.”

Yuri lied again, but this time, Jessica did not know.

★☆★

As much as she would love to take shelter from the rain, she was in the worse of luck to have forgotten that her only source of rooftop was the SoShi Café, which had already shut its door for their early closures on Sundays. It was another mistake of her to have carelessly left the house without an umbrella, despite knowing that the probability of rain was certainly high today. But, most importantly in her list of her clumsiness, she had forgotten to charge her phone. 

Tiffany used on hand to bring her bag up above her head, having no concern about her expensive possession getting soaked. She secured her phone in the driest place but was disgruntled as she watched it flickered off the last bit of its light. Scoffing, she tossed it back in her coat’s pocket and sat on one of the public benches. 

She could have entered another shop and waited there but she was afraid that her boyfriend would leave the second he knew she was not at the location they had promised to meet up. He was never the patient person; neither was she.

It had been one hour past 5:00PM, their appointed time, and yet, still no signs of Jaejoong. 

“I’m really sorry for not spending enough time with you, but I still love you very much. Will you forgive me, Tiffany?”

At times like this, she wondered why she even bothered waiting. Was she too nice of a person to say no? Or was it because of the childish belief that she had two years ago in trusting that Jaejoong would be the right one for her ― the one who would give her a future she always dreamed of, a life she always wished for, and a kind of love she always wanted.

She found the tears no longer worth it. At least not for him.

It might not have been official, yet, but at that moment, Tiffany had already declared her break-up with Jaejoong. She no longer considered him her boyfriend in her mind or her heart.

Was Jaejoong the one that had not really grasp the meaning of love and what it meant to love someone? Or was it really just herself that was confused?

It would have seem almost cruel and nonsensical to some on how she had decided to ‘dump’ her ‘ex-boyfriend’ just because she had fallen for someone else; and to top with that, a girl for that matter. But her heart ceased from beating faster around that person, and her mind would not stop unconsciously thinking about her. Taeyeon taught her genuine love; because of that, she knew being with Jaejoong was far from what she believed it was.

Sniffling and shivering, the brunette watched as the people on the streets ran across the sidewalks, bumping into one another in rush of finding a place to hide. As for her, she was soaking in the rain alone. She had no watch, no phone, and no other device of communication, not even a nearby telephone booth. All she had with her were just a bit of cash, enough for one cab ride back home, and her house keys, which she had stuck in her jeans’ back pocket. The only possible entertainment that she had was the billboard flashing pictures of Jessica. They were of Taeyeon last week.

Sighing, she dug her hands in her pocket, tired of holding up the costly, compact Yves Saint Laurent bag that did her no good.

Nothing was going right today.

“Fany?”

On the second thought, she’ll take that back.

Tiffany suddenly felt a shroud of warmness surrounding her as she no longer felt the rain drops dripping on her but only heard the sounds of them thumping against…an umbrella…?

If she hadn’t believed in fate before, it sure had proven itself to be true now. Out of everyone she knew, fate had brought Kim Taeyeon to her.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m w-waiting for s-some-someone,” Tiffany found it difficult to speak. She didn’t realize that her teeth had been chattering in rhythm with the droplets that had hit the ground for quite a while now.

“Wha- Who-…” the shorter girl quickly browsed around before turning back to the one in front of her, “You know what, I can’t have you wait out here in the rain. I’ll take you home. Come with me.” 

Taeyeon did not give the latter a second to rebuttal and immediately reached for the girl’s arm.

“W-Wait, Tae-”

Tiffany stopped mid-sentence, observing Taeyeon’s expressions. Was she upset? Worried? Maybe a little bit of both. 

Knowing what’s best for her, Tiffany followed Taeyeon into the taxi that the older girl had conveniently hauled over without another word of protest. 

The brunette was led in first as Taeyeon soon followed suit. Tiffany rubbed the sides of her arms but soon found warmth again when Taeyeon threw the girl’s only jacket over her.

“You don’t have to-”

“Where’s your house?” Taeyeon cut her off. 

“Um…go straight about two blocks, take the first right and then the second left.”

The taxi driver headed off after he had been given the directions. The car was then filled with silent with just a slightly shivering Tiffany and a sighing Taeyeon, who merely gazed out at the window with her eyebrows scrunched together.

“Are you mad at me?”

“Yes I am.”

“Why? You don’t really have any reason to be so, right?”

“I care for you. Shouldn’t that be enough of a reason?”

It was the first time Tiffany had heard such straightforwardness from Taeyeon. The girl had never come close to admitting her feelings even if they both knew it was mutual – or at least on Tiffany’s part. Maybe she had knocked some sense into Taeyeon the night before, or maybe it was just water clogging her ears. Regardless, Tiffany smiled.

The younger girl closed the space between them and s her hand around Taeyeon’s arm while placing her head on the girl’s shoulder. The latter might have shivered slightly from the wetness of Tiffany’s hair but she did nothing to object to the contact, which surprised Tiffany further. 

“Sorry, I’m really cold,” Tiffany reasoned, but Taeyeon remained in quietness.

A few seconds later, Tiffany felt herself being pulled closer.

“You’re shivering a lot,” Taeyeon reasoned, her eyes did not meet with Tiffany’s

Being this close in proximity to Taeyeon reminded her of yesterday’s night.

They kissed. Well, maybe it wasn’t an actual kiss, but their lips did, however, touched for that one swift second. They had parted ways shortly after Tiffany hung up the call from Jaejoong, due to the aggravation of Taeyeon’s manager because of her sudden ‘kidnapping.’ After the fuss from his constant calls in demand of Taeyeon’s return, Tiffany had decided to take the older girl back to the company. She had made certain to avoid the curious media, which had fully bombarded the front entrance with their flashing cameras and shoving microphones. On their silent walk, Tiffany did not hold hands with Taeyeon like she usually did nor did she attempt to be closer to the girl; same went for the latter. 

After arriving home, the only texts they had sent out to each other was a simple “good night” with no emoticons or any extra lines added whatsoever like they normally included. (Well, at least Taeyeon wasn’t really mad at her, or so Tiffany thought.) The brunette was definitely sure that Taeyeon had spent the whole night thinking about her after that incident, because she surely did think about the latter. In fact, she hadn’t gotten peace during her slumbering hours that night.

Additionally, Tiffany was not even sure if they had gotten more distant or intimate. Taeyeon wasn’t backing away from her touches, but she couldn’t recall if Taeyeon ever did so anyway. Nevertheless, she was in no state to think properly.

“Don’t stand out in the rain like that again,” Taeyeon finally spoke again, hands enclosing themselves on Tiffany’s arm, “Totoro is not going to magically appear and give you his umbrella.” 

Tiffany giggled. 

‘So she watched it…’ 

It was one of the many things Tiffany loved about Taeyeon. The older girl would listen carefully to every single detail to what anyone had to say. Tiffany would not want to think that she was the special case, but Taeyeon had even remembered the name of the animated character that she personally loved. She had only mentioned it briefly in their conversation and for Taeyeon to have taken note of that one small mater was another extra point added to her favor of the girl (like if there weren’t countless already).

“You didn’t answer any of my texts or calls. I texted Sica and she said hadn’t heard anything from you either.”

Even with the condition that she was in, Tiffany still had the energy to be jealous of her own childhood friend. Not to also mention how Taeyeon had preferred the idol. However, she had no energy to give a decent reply and instead pulled out her black-screened phone, to which Taeyeon understood immediately.

“I’m glad I found you before it start raining even harder. You should have taken shelter in one of the shops nearby. Who were you waiting for anyway?”

Tiffany closed her eyes. She did not want to think of the reason for her to soak pointlessly in the rain for nothing. Right, technically, she was waiting for no one. No one and nothing at all.

“Never mind you don’t have to tell m-”

“Jaejoong.”

Either way, she gave Taeyeon an answer.

Tiffany didn’t like the way she referred to her boyfriend ― correction, her ex-boyfriend ― for it seemed almost too distant and cold. It was like they never had any history together. She wouldn’t say that she was not the type to bear grudges, because in some cases, Tiffany did keep things in her heart for a while before letting them go. After all, it had been a 2-year worth of disappointment. Though she wouldn’t say that there weren’t any happy moments when she was still with Jaejoong; it was just too little to be counted for.

The brunette noticed the uneasy shuffling she felt from the latter shortly after she had given the name, which had became almost forbidden to the mood of their conversations.

Her eyes remained close, however. She couldn’t seem to open them and her muscles felt as though they would fall apart. Tiffany did not realize that her limbs had been weakening slowly and that her hold on the girl next to her was losing its strength.

It wasn’t before long until she was unable to hear Taeyeon’s voice loudly calling out to her.

☆☆☆

“You’re going to be okay, Yuri. We’re almost there.”

The older girl grabbed tightly onto her injured friend’s hand, sweat pouring out from nervousness. She repeated the words over and over again, soothing herself more than it did for the girl lying on the emergency carriage.

Blood. There was just so much.

“No need to panic, Victoria. I’m going to be fine.” Yuri let out a soft chuckle, the pain threatening her constant breathing, “I’m fine, really.”

Yuri allowed her unattended hand without the injections of needles and chords to reach out for Victoria’s, rubbing comfort on the girl.

They stayed in silence as the wailing of the sirens continued to sound off. Yuri smiled again, but weaker this time. She gazed at Victoria before grabbing a tight hold on the girl’s palms that were drenched with tiny droplets of tears falling from her eyes.

“It’s all my fault.”

She wanted to wipe the tears away but her hand had been too occupied ‘surviving’ the hurt to even move a muscle. Sighing, Yuri then whispered to the best of her ability, “No, it’s not. Please, don’t cry. Just trust me.”

Victoria nodded and tried her best to form a smile. Feeling satisfied, Yuri closed her eyes, moving back her arm to her side.

“Wake me up when we get there.”

---

“Miss Kwon, I have your results.” The man in white pushed up his glasses, clearing his throat as he scanned through the documents on his patient before resuming to his speaking.

The patient swallowed the lump in but was met with a smile from the middle-aged man.

“It is still in drastic condition and the wound can be re-opened at any time. We have done our best to stop the bleeding and infections, but we cannot guarantee that it would be any less painful until a couple of days from now,” he paused momentarily before continuing with a reassuring grin on his face, “You are able to early release but you must take extreme care measures to your arm.”

Both Yuri and Victoria simultaneously sighed in relief, looking at each other before moving their eyes back to the man in white.

“I understand. Thank you so much, doctor.”

Yuri beamed, overjoyed to hear that her wounded arm was not of a serious case. Victoria was relieved, but still had her concerns
although she was less panicky than before.

“Feel free to rest here for a couple of hours,” the doctor informed with a welcoming voice, “After that, I will need you to fill out some forms on the counter before you leave.”

“Alright, I got it. Thanks.”

Yuri and Victoria bowed to the old man as he exited the room, closing the door behind him. Yuri let off a sigh shortly after and soon climbed off the bed, making certain that her arm would not make contact with anything.

“Where are you going?” Victoria puzzled.

“Leaving, of course. Who would want to stay another minute here?” Yuri replied casually, strapping her bag onto her normal shoulder. “See? I’m all fine.”

To her surprise, Victoria had said nothing back but instead had thrown her arms over the girl’s neck, hugging her tight and immobilizing her to move anywhere.

“Victori-?”

“Don’t ever do that again.”

Yuri stayed silent and brought her left hand behind Victoria’s back, patting the girl whom she knew was nearing tears again.

“Sorry that it was kind of impulsive. I didn’t really think of what would happen,” Yuri giggled.

“It’s not funny,” Victoria let go of her friend, wiping the fluids on the edges of her eyes, “You could have been killed if the police didn’t make it on time.”

“Nah. I don’t think that would happen. He was shaking when he stabbed me. That was the only reason why I wasn’t severely hurt. He didn’t mean to hurt me.”

“It didn’t look like it to me,” Victoria crossed her arms, unconvinced just as Yuri expected.

“You know…he said sorry to me.”

Victoria widened her eyes but remained quiet as Yuri carried on.

“Before I was carried onto the car and while you were reporting to the police, he and his gang walked passed me with their wrists hand-cuffed by the police. They bowed and said sorry many times. I’m sure they learned their lesson,” Yuri reminisced, inwardly hoping for a light punishment on those boys.

Still, Victoria said nothing and only stared at her arm. Yuri let it be.

---

They finally finished the papers that were asked to be filled out and exited the hospital. Yuri raised one arm up to stretched, breathing in the fresh air. The hospital always gave her the choking feeling.

Yuri then turned to her friend, who had been keeping her eyes on the girl’s bandaged arm, still feeling remorseful about what had happened.

“Let me take you home, okay?”

“It’s alright. I’ll take the bus. In fact, take the bus with me. You can’t drive your motorcycle in this state,” Victoria denied the offer.

“Look over there,” Yuri pointed and Victoria’s eyes followed to where a black BMV was parked with a young man waiting just outside its door, “I had my car driven here. I’ll take you home. No buts.”

---

“We’re here.”

“…”

Yuri looked at Victoria and noticed that the girl had not stopped looking at her arm. Blood was still vaguely visible through the blinds of the white wraps but she was feeling fine (only if she didn’t move too much.)

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m really sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” Yuri repeated and made the effort to lean over and wiped off the tear threatening to fall off the edge of Victoria’s eye.

As she pulled back, the older girl reached for her hand and held it.

“Please don’t give me false hopes by caring so much for me.”

Yuri’s eyes widened. She catching on but pretended not to by questioning further.

“Why would you say that? What do you mea-…?”

Before Yuri could finish her sentence, she felt a soft pair of lips touching her cheeks for a short moment before pulling back out. She blushed instantly, eyes widening, and mouth remained agape.

‘That was a kiss wasn’t it?’

“I really like you, Yuri-ah.”

‘That was a kiss…’

“Thank you for the ride home,” Victoria said after a few seconds of silence that she had implanted on the atmosphere.

“O-Oh…you’re w-welcome.”

Victoria hid her reddened face. She then unfastened the seatbelt and got off the car, bidding her greeting before heading off into her house.

“Good night.”

“G-Good night.”

Yuri waited before Victoria was out of sight before heaving a huge sigh, slamming her head on the headrest of her seat. She ran her fingers through her head before sighing again. Yuri then moved her hand to touch her warm cheek. Yuri didn’t know what to feel.

‘She said she likes me…’

★★★

“I think we just passed your house, Yuri-ah.”

Yuri flashed awake, starring back at the empty road with her friend’s reminder escaping to the other ear.

“Huh? What?”

“I said you just drove past your house,” Jessica repeated, pointing back to the two-story home a block away.

“Oh.”

Yuri shook her head at herself for the loss of concentration and made a U-turn with the car, straining her wound a bit from the force.

“Are you feeling alright?”

“No, I think I caught the Sica-effect,” Yuri joked, smiling to cover up her thoughts, but ended up receiving a rather painful punch on her leg.

“Still violent as ever,” the tanner girl chuckled, whispering words that earned her another hit.

“You’re still an idiot as ever,” Jessica fought back.

Yuri looked at Jessica, who was pursing her lips into a pout, from the corner of her eyes and formed a genuine smile.

Maybe things haven’t really changed after all.

---

Arriving in front of the doorstep of the Kwons, Jessica felt like being back at home again, though not literally. She was back at home, home to the memories of Yuri and herself.

“We’re here!”

Yuri echoed through the halls, placing her heels aside as she casually walked in. She didn’t have to tell Jessica where to put her shoes or to make sure to wipe off her feet on the mat before stepping on the tiles. The girl knew all of that, having been here so many times a year ago.

“Did you kidnap Sooyeon for me!?” a voice of an older, but enthusiastic, lady shouted off from the kitchen.

“Eomeoni?” Jessica called out to the middle-aged woman, who turned around at the calling from a familiar voice. Her expression was filled with glee and her arms spread opened in a welcoming manner as she approached the blonde girl.

“Oh my! Sooyeon-ah! I miss you, darling!” Mrs. Kwon, the older woman, embraced Jessica warmly, moving back and forth with the girl to their little reunion dance. “It had been at least one week since I last seen you!”

“Is our little Sooyeon here to visit?” Another person entered the kitchen, newspaper in one hand and a cup of hot chocolate in another.

“Hello, abeoji!”

“Hi there, dear. It’s good to have you over again,” Mr. Kwon greeted, placing his belongings on the counter before wrapping his arms around the petite girl for an embrace and patted her head in a way of family closeness.

“Where’s Hyuk Joon-oppa?” Jessica pondered, searching for the second oldest man of the house.

“Oh right, I forgot to tell you,” Yuri face-palmed herself, moving back to the group that she had been secluded from, “He left for the army last month.”

“Oh…I see…”

“You need to update Sooyeon on everything, KkabYul. Therefore, she will stay here for the night. Don’t you think so, honey?”

“You’re asking me?” Mr. Kwon questioned, his eyebrow lifted before nodding in approval. “I think that’s a great idea.”

“I-…” Jessica remained speechless, caught in her tongue as how to properly respond. It wasn’t in her plans to sleep over.

“Mom, you have to ask for Sica’s opinion first!” Yuri butted in.

“Oh, right, I’m sorry. Sooyeon-ah, would you like to stay over for the night? I can always call your parents.”

“I don’t live with my parents anymore, but I’ll think about it,” Jessica stated, to the surprise of the older woman, who laughed nervously in response.

“Seemed like I need an update on things as well.”

“Let’s get to dinner then and we can talk about everything that had been missed,” Yuri’s father suggested, already situating himself on his usual seat.

“I’m hungry…” Yuri followed suit, sitting on her usual seat.

Mrs. Kwon shook her head and demanded in a loud voice, “Yah! I especially ask all of our workers today to take a day off so that mean you two will help with the dinner! Serve yourselves for once.”

Yuri and her father looked at each other, sighed simultaneously, and then responded in obedience as they got off from their chairs and headed to the kitchen.

“Yes m’am.”

Jessica giggled. They were still the same, still lively as ever.

“Is there anything you would like me to help with?” the blonde girl offered, heading toward Yuri who was busy placing the food neatly on the plates.

“No, dear,” Yuri’s mother pulled the young girl back and led her to the table, forcing the girl to sit down on one of the chairs. “You just sit here and wait while my servants do the hard work.”

Jessica nodded, smiling at the woman’s reference of her husband and daughter. However, her expression soon dropped pensively when Mrs. Kwon turned her back to her. Observing the family’s interactions, she felt rather secluded and distant.

Yuri’s mother walked back into the kitchen but stopped in her tracks. She turned back to Jessica and placed a firm hand on the girl’s shoulder as she whispered warm words only Jessica could hear.

“Sooyeon-ah, always keep in mind that we never treat you as a guest. Once you step into the Kwons’ home, you’re family.”

Jessica beamed. Not everything had changed.

☆★☆

“I’m back!”

Yoona tucked back into her blanket at the sound of Seohyun’s voice approaching. She didn’t know why she was faking sleep but she just felt that she needed to ‘rejuvenate’ before getting on with what she ‘planned.’ Meeting Seohyun in the eyes would only weaken her.

“Unnie…? Are you sleeping?”

Yoona stayed silent…only until she was suddenly poked on her belly.

“Ow! What was that for?”

Seohyun chuckled at the latter, who had flipped the blanket off and scurried farther back into the bed frame.

“I knew you weren’t sleeping. You never sleep with the blanket on your face,” Seohyun stated, giggling still.

Seohyun stopped her laughter when she noticed how tense Yoona was appearing to be. The girl had her finger curling up against the sheet and her face reddened.

“I’ll get you some water.”

Before Seohyun could get up and walk away, Yoona had tossed her blanket aside and held back the girl’s arms. With almost no warning, Yoona pulled her friend toward her and embraced the girl into a possessive hug, arms tightening around Seohyun’s waist and upper back.

“U-Unnie?”

“You said I’m restricted from physical activities, but I’m allowed to do this right?”

Yoona giggled softly, burying her head into the crook of Seohyun’s neck.

“Yoona-unnie…?”

“Don’t. Don’t go out with him. Please.”

“Unnie, what are you sayin-”

“You said you will always be with me when I needed you. Well, I need you. I need you now. I need you a minute later. I need you years later. I need you forever. So please...” Yoona paused shortly, catching up on her breathing before giving her small speech a final statement, “…please stay with me.”

Yoona’s voice was trembling and her small tears had managed to sink its ways through Seohyun’s shirt. The older girl could care less about her unreasonable claims as of the moment. She needed to express the feelings she had been caging for so long.

It hurt the latter, because whatever Yoona was going through in the girl’s heart right now must be pain.

But pain from what? She still couldn’t understand. Or truthfully, she didn’t want to assume too much.

“I don’t get what you’re trying to say, unnie. Is your fever acting up again? Of course I’ll stay with you. It’s not like I’m going anywhe-”

“I love you. I love you more than a friend.”

Three words, eight letters…answered everything.

Seohyun smiled widely, her eyes suddenly shedding tears of joy as she held Yoona into her arms. She was so happy. So content. She had always dreamed of hearing those words from the person she loved. Seohyun knew she had to respond, and so she did. They were sweet words of the same purpose: to convey one simple message that contained so much more than what was said.

Yoona pulled back, to Seohyun’s disappointment. However the girl’s arms were still loosely wrapped around Seohyun. She wiped the edge of her eyes with her pajamas’ sleeve and avoided the younger girl’s gaze, fearing that her world would crash when her pillar decide to withdraw from her.

“I’m supposed to make this confession all fancy. I had It all planned but now look at me. I was going to shower you with Keroro, flowers, and all of those other things that you love. But now, I’m saying these words to you, in an ill state ― sick and bed-ridden,” Yoona laughed sympathetically at herself, “Just look at me. I’m such a fool, aren’t-”

Yoona stopped speaking when she felt Seohyun’s warm forehead against her own. The gentle tapping on her back further soothed her. Seohyun’s simple actions were filled with understanding, comfort, and love.

What love?

“I love you, too.”

Three words, eight letters…erased all of the doubts.

★☆★

All ‘four’ members of the family sat down, for the mouth-watering delicious delicacies cooked by Mrs. Kwon. The parents placed themselves next to one another, forcing the children with no other choice but to sit beside each other. They started the dinner with silence, filling their tiny platter with various treats from the side dishes then from the main entrées.

Jessica attempted to reach for the piece of barbecued beef on the plate across from her but failed to. She retracted her arm and pouted, proceeding to eat the other foods that surrounded her.

Being observant that Mrs. Kwon was, she watched as Yuri obliviously continued to munch on and on, feeding her own stomach as Jessica stared longingly at the meat. Rolling her eyes she extended her foot and kicked her daughter under the table, making the latter yelped in pain.

“Wh-!”

Yuri glared at her mom and was silenced by the knowing stare that she received. She followed the directions from Mrs. Kwon’s wordless signs and nodded with full understanding when she retrieved the message. Yuri turned her chopsticks around to the clean end, stood up momentarily from her chair, and then reached for the galbi, placing the piece of meat on Jessica’s plate.

Jessica stared at it and then at Yuri in surprise.

“Thank you,” she uttered, immediately biting on the beef.

“If you want any more, just tell me. I’ll get them for you.”

“Aww, such a gentlewoman,” Mrs. Kwon squealed, earning shocking glances from her husband and daughter (while Jessica was too busy spacing out with her food.) “What? I think Yuri will make a great husband.”

“Too bad I’m a woman, mom,” Yuri resumed back to her food, occasionally checking on the girl beside her for any reaction.

None. The latter was just too indulged into her meat.

“I would marry her to Sooyeon.”

Instantly, the three pairs of eyes, including those of Jessica as well, shot up from the table and aimed directly at the giggling, shameless mother. They couldn’t tell if she was joking or not.

“I mean, they’ve been together for so long. Don’t you think they would make a great pair, honey?”

“Mom!”

Yuri’s cheeks brightened up in pink then darkened by the seconds. She avoided eye contact with Jessica, who was obviously staring at her to search through the girl’s reactions for some sort of specific emotion she was looking for.

“What? I’m just stating my opinion. Can I not do that?” Mrs. Kwon shrugged and continued to stare at the two girls in front of her with a wide grin on her face. “Such a beautiful duo. Wonder what my grandchildren would look like.”

“You wouldn’t have grandchildren if you’re marrying her off to a girl, honey,” Mr. Kwon stated as a matter of fact, slurping on his soup calmly.

“Oh, hush. I can have my fantasies.”

“If you ask me, I would marry her off to Victoria,” her father stretched on the conversation, “what a great girl she is.”

“Dad! Why are you dragging her into this, too!?” Yuri dropped her eating utensils, voice rising in the highest levels of embarrassment. She cupped her hands into her face, covering her reddened ears while she was at it.

“Are you saying our Sooyeon is not good enough?”

“For goodness sakes, Yuri can have polygamy for all I care. Just beware of cat fights, dear. They can get wild and feisty.”

“Sooyeon is better!”

“Victoria!”

“Sooye-”

“Okay stop right there! That’s enough!” Yuri flailed her arms in front of her parents, hoping that she would put an end to the fairly odd topic and came to the point of almost begging, “No more. Please.”

“Sorry, Sica… They can be unreasonable sometimes,” Yuri apologized, earning nothing but a quiet treatment from the latter, “Sica…?”

Jessica remained silent, her appetite drowning away. The only thing that was in her mind right now was the identity of the other individual ― the other woman that had earned the favor of Yuri’s father.

---

Yuri allowed her body to freely fall upside down on her queen-sized bed, spreading her arms and making shrivels of folds on the once neatly displayed comforter. She brought the blanket to her face, furtively hiding her gaze.

Jessica was wordlessly scanning through her friend’s room, observing all of the designs that had not seemed to change since a year ago. The colors of the walls, the style of the curtains, and, especially, those old photos ― their photos ― taped on the edges of the mirror were all still in the same spots they were the last time she remembered them to be. It was the same floor they had once lay together on when they had decided to toss their sleeping bags aside. It was the same music player that they had every Friday and danced together to, celebrating the end of the week and welcoming their freedom from the suffocating ‘jail’. It was the same bed they had slept together on, making sure that they had their own privacy at the ends of the mattress, only to somehow eventually wake up in each other arms.

Jessica remembered everything clearly, and she missed those memories so much it hurt just to look at what remind her of those irreversible moments. Their relationship was not fully what she had wanted between them now, but it was more than just close to what she wished from them both.

“Are you alright?”

Jessica turned to the person calling out for her in concern and gave a cheeky smile in apology for her die-hard habits of daydreaming.

“Sorry. Just reminiscing,” she replied, tracing her fingers against the inked writings on the Polaroid photos.

The one stood out to her the most was the one of August 5^th, 2007, a duplication of the same photo she had placed inside the sky blue-covered album she had meant as a gift for Yuri’s birthday. 

“About?” Yuri pondered.

“Us.”

Yuri also looked at the photos thoughtfully. She had meant to take them down to abstain from the hurt she was suffering back when she had visited the mansion during the party but decided against it. It wasn’t worth ruining their friendship to that extent just for her selfish means, she reasoned.

“Did you miss me?”

Jessica peeked at Yuri for a second then went back to staring at their photos covering the mirror. Its original purpose was of no use now.

“Yeah. I missed you a lot,” the blonde girl paused, clenching on the rims of her blouse, “I still miss you even now.”

“Why? I’m here now. It’s not like I’m going to go anywhere anymore,” Yuri faked a chuckle. She clearly knew what Jessica meant. Being together for so long, they could easily encode each other’s the hidden message. Unfortunately, not so much of the obvious were understood.

“I know, Yuri-ah. But don’t deny it. We’re not like how we used to be. We’re not as close anymore,” Jessica turned to gaze at her friend, “You’re so near, yet so far.”

“Can we fix it?”

“Can we really?”

Yuri did not know how to answer it. Their friendship and bond was breaking itself in front of her and she couldn’t hold them back together. Not by herself at least.

“Yeah, I think so. If we both try.”

“Are you trying?”

Yuri knew how much effort she had threw in to put their bridge back intact.

“Or are you really just running away from me?”

And she understood that she was just a sitting stone, just watching Jessica from afar as the girl held up their bridge all by herself.

“Never mind,” Jessica waved it off.

Both felt the tension rising and decided to drop the topic. It wasn’t something worth to strain their time on, considering how much they had missed over the year that needed to be caught up on.

“Hey, Yuri?” Jessica started.

“What is it?”

“Who’s Victoria?”

Yuri thoughtlessly bit her lips.

“She’s my colleague.”

Jessica turned to stare at Yuri, her eyes unintentionally sharpened with a flare as she listened carefully to Yuri’s very brief description.

The black pearl sighed, adding more to her sentence to satisfy the waiting ice princess.

“She’s my colleague, whose family saved mine from a stock market crash. She’s also my new friend.”

“Do you and her,” Jessica coughed mid-sentence, tightening, “have something for each other?”

“What?”

Yuri pondered at Jessica’s words for a few seconds, eye twitching and eyebrows lifting when the girl refused to repeat herself. It did not take her long before she managed to decipher the implied meaning and quickly acted upon it, showing much in her emotions.

“No! No no no no no nothing! W-We’re not like that,” Yuri panicked and swayed her arms in the air, emphasizing her answer as if she was talking to her lover who was suspicious of her duplicity.

“Are you lying?”

Yuri opened to speak, only to be tongued tied by the memories of Victoria’s confession. She reflexively brought her hand up to feel her redden left cheek, the one that had been kissed involuntarily.

“You’re lying, aren’t you?”

“No! You’re the on- I mean, no. No we’re-…we’re not like that,” Yuri replied hastily, almost letting slip of the irrelevant fact (that was ironically necessary.)

‘This is embarrassing…’

Yuri jumped back to the bed, burying her face into her blanket, hoping that it would soon color itself back to her normal skin tone.

Being too occupied with her own business, Yuri did not take notice of Jessica’s reactions: a beaming smile and a happy sigh of relief. However, she couldn’t lie that concerns were still lurking somewhere in her heart.

“Sica…?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you mind…singing for me…?”

Jessica glanced at Yuri, meaning to ask for the reason. However, she retrieved her initial question and replaced it with an answer immediately after seeing her friend acting all cute from the excitement. Yuri was pouncing on her bed and had her blanket covering half her face, revealing only her round eyes that glittered from anticipation. The blonde girl was just at loss when it came to her crush’s aegyo.

“Sure, but which-”

Jessica paused, realizing that Yuri had been out of the country for one year and had not caught up with everything going on in Seoul, maybe even including her album release.

However, she was wrong.

“Tears. I really love that song.”

☆★☆

“Hey, Fany? W-Would you like to…you know…h-have dinner with me tonight?”

Taeyeon nervously spoke, her words soft and almost inaudible. She received no response from the latter and felt even more
discouraged as to why she even bothered bringing it up.

“I-I mean…if you’re not busy...”

Still no response.

It struck Taeyeon as odd. Tiffany had always given her some sort of reply regardless of what question she might ask. Turning to look at the girl, she found her friend asleep.

Or maybe not.

“Fany…?”

Taeyeon lightly shook Tiffany by the shoulder, trying to garner just some sort of confirmation that the girl was alright.

No movement.

“Fany… Fany! Tiffany!” Taeyeon raised her voice, calling out for the girl in her arms.

Not even a budge.

No shivering, no shuffling. Nothing but an inconsistent rhythm of breathing.

“Miyoung!” Taeyeon panicked and held onto Tiffany tighter, bringing her hand to feel the girl’s heated forehead. Right at that moment, she understood the reason for the silence: Tiffany’s condition was getting worse.

“Mr. Taxi, please drive faster!”

The man nodded and speeded through the lanes as Taeyeon worriedly hug the younger girl, who, as Taeyeon soon realized, already loosened the grip on her shirt.

---

Taeyeon quickly pulled out her money, not even bothering to count to the exact amount, and paid the taxi driver after believing to have arrived at their destination. The older man had offered to help carry her friend to the apartment but Taeyeon had politely refused… mostly for personal reasons revolving around her jealousy that she could not speak of.

After getting off the car with Tiffany on her back, unfolded umbrella in hand, and their bags dangling around her small neck like giant medals, she proceeded to carry the brunette to the apartment. Her legs weakened and struggled at the weight she had to bear. Regardless, she still managed to race into the building and out of the rain.

She took a very short break before hurrying through the security guard, to whom she called out for help.

“Excuse me!”

“Yes? Do you need something?” the muscular man responded, crushing the tip of light off his cigarette at the sight of the young female.

“Do you know where Miss Hwang Tiffany’s apartment is?”

He peeked over Taeyeon, catching glimpse of a familiar young lady that he had always encountered every morning, and immediately gasped when he noticed of her condition.

“Oh! Miss Hwang! Her apartment is on the third floor to the right, number 27.”

“Thank you so much! And please, just keep this for me.”

Taeyeon handed the man her umbrella (in fear that it would get in the way) and immediately dashed forward the elevator, only to be halted back by the security guard.

“Sorry, miss, but the elevator is currently out of service! You’ll have to take the stairs that way.”

The older girl inwardly groaned but persisted to continue on.

“Would you like me to help?” The man offered, approaching the girl dripping in both rain and sweat.

“N-No, I’m f-fine. T-Thank you.”

Taeyeon could not afford to waste any more energy or time and went onto the drastically long set of stairs. With each step was a muscle strained but she had not once let go of Tiffany even for a second. (Thank God she was wearing tennis shoes.) If there was anything to distract her from the pain, it would have been the beautiful drawings on the walls, but her eye-sight would give up the details before it could even see the artwork as a whole.

After reaching the second floor, she took a few quick seconds of rest, leaning her forehead against the wall as she panted for oxygen.

Tiffany still had not said a word nor moved a muscle.

Balancing the girl’s body in her hold, she continued walking again until she reached the third floor. She was sure that by that time, she would have broken at least one bone in her body somewhere. Thankfully, it was just a false assumption.

Finally after long minutes, Taeyeon arrived safely in front of Tiffany’s residence.

Then she stood still, staring at the door knob as she whispered a series of magical words in her mind.

Taeyeon then lowered to the ground, mentally abusing herself for she had forgotten that she had no way of getting through. Laying her bag flat on the floor, she carefully placed Tiffany on it and against the wall, using her hand as a cushion for the girl’s head as she searched inside Tiffany’s bag for the keys with the other.

Make-up stuff, phone, wallet, more make-up stuff. No keys.

“Fany-ah, where’s your keys!?” Taeyeon asked aloud, despite knowing that there was a high chance that the latter would not reply.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t the case.

“…b-back pocket…”

It was a tiniest whisper, like the sound of a leaf scraping by, but Taeyeon’s sensitive ears had heard it.

“Your back pocket?” Taeyeon reaffirmed as Tiffany nodded weakly with her eyes still closed.

Taeyeon smiled widely and leaned forward to Tiffany, but her smile soon dropped when she realized what ‘back pocket’ really meant: reaching for Tiffany’s-

‘Snap out of it byuntaeng! Now is not the time to t-think about t-that…’

The answer as to why Tiffany would keep her keys in that location when she had her bag with more than the adequate space required remained a mystery to Taeyeon. She could hardly concentrate or think with the right mind as of now.

Taeyeon took a deep breath, gulped down her spit, and then scooted closer as heart thumbed louder with the close proximity. Taeyeon knew it was irrelevant but Tiffany’s scent, even though enveloped in the smell of rain, was deliriously driving her insane (as if she wasn’t already from the exhaustion.)

She was relieved that the hall was completely empty at the moment, otherwise she would have been judged as a ert ― a ladies molester ― and soon the headlines of every newspaper would be entitled as ‘Kim Taeyeon: solo singer artist and songwriter’s bottoms caught in the act!’

However, the situation gave Taeyeon no other option other than occasionally touching places where she shouldn’t have her hands. She steadily helped the brunette on her feet, supporting the taller girl to the best of her abilities. Tiffany’s clothes were still drenched as the water had even seeped through the jacket Taeyeon had given to the younger girl. Embracing Tiffany with one arm, she used the other to search for the girl’s pocket, diving her shaking hand into the petite pouch on the girl’s jeans.

Tiffany flinched.

“S-Sorry Fany-ah…” Taeyeon apologized, pulling her hand out.

That was the wrong pocket.

Having only a chance of 50/50, she totally missed the right one. Sighing while feeling the heat reaching to her ears, she attempted the second time. Placing her other hand into the other pocket, she searched for the item. Smiling victoriously in relief, Taeyeon managed to find and pull out the lanyard that had the keys attached to it this time. While supporting Tiffany as she placed the younger girl’s arm over her shoulders, Taeyeon opened the two gated doors with the specifically shaped pieces of metal and quickly stepped inside.

She had no time for observations other than the search for the couch she had laid her eyes upon. Taeyeon kicked her shoes aside and resumed to carrying Tiffany to the large cushion and gently placed the girl down, making sure she had taken off the girl’s heels beforehand.

Storming through the house, she barged into Tiffany’s room and grabbed the pink blanket (which had been left unfolded on an undone bed) and then dashed back to her shivering friend. She then laid out the comforter and wrapped it around the girl’s body warmly.

Next, Taeyeon rushed to the bathroom, grabbed a nearby towel, and applied hot water on it. She then went back to her friend and placed the warm cloth on the girl’s forehead.

Thinking for a minute, she pondered on whether or not she was missing any procedure.

Though as much as she wanted to change Tiffany’s clothes for her, considering how soaked they had been, she decided against it. That would be going too far as to invading privacy.

Besides, Tiffany had already stopped shaking and even gave a small, but content, smile.

The job was done.

Taeyeon wiped the sweat off her forehead with her sleeve then situated herself comfortably on the single seated sofa. Now that she had relaxed, she took a few minutes to glance at her surroundings. Aside from the mess in the kitchen with piles of dishes stacking up on top of one another, the home was relatively clean. The designs were quite simple actually; in fact, the living room consisted of nothing more than a bookshelf filled with religious readings, a unique TV unit, the white sofa set they were on, various pictures spread across a specific corner of the wall, and a photo frame resting on top of a coffee table facing an awkward direction.

It seemed almost out of place…as if it had been relocated and placed back randomly on the table top without care. Taeyeon took a moment to observe the photo from afar, giving no effort to curiously take a closer look until it struck her as to whom were the capture of.

Of course, there was Tiffany…and of course, there was her boyfriend.

Her heart became tight as she glanced away with a twitch of the eye, only to find herself gazing back at the photo again. The longer she stared at it, the longer her heart throbbed. Through with it haunting her, Taeyeon scoffed, stood up and headed for the bathroom to clear her mind.

★☆★

The sound of hands enthusiastically clasping together created loud echoes throughout the wide room. The special live performance was over and Yuri was fully satisfied.

“That was amazing. You improved so much.”

Jessica smiled, scratching her head shyly. She then placed the comb, which had been a replacement for the microphone, back down on the make-up table and neared Yuri.

“Thank you.”

“I miss your voice. I miss your singing. I miss-”

“Me?”

Jessica finished off Yuri’s sentence for the girl who merely grinned and nodded.

“Yeah. I miss you,” she finally said.

Yuri got up from the bed and threw her arms over the singer, unconsciously lifting the girl up and dropping her back down on the bed. However, she accidentally tripped over an unknown object in the process and was forced to hover on top of the latter.

Jessica closed her eyes at the rough collision against her head on the cushion. Once she decided to open them, Jessica couldn’t stop staring; an angel had fallen on her.

Deep, dark eyes were gazing right into hers, telling of a story she couldn’t read. Glistening black hair was streaming down slowly, strand by strand, tickling her cheeks. Off-beat breathing was brushing against her skin, making her shivers from her spine down.

She was speechless.

“You’re beautiful, Yuri”
“You’re beautiful, Sooyeon.”

As if it was telepathy, both had unwittingly complimented each other simultaneously. Yuri and Jessica then shared their giggling, laughing randomly but joyously. Some things just haven’t changed between them. Maybe it was just their imagination, because surely, their bond was still there. They had not need to hold up their bridge. It would not break.

It would never break.

Slowly they eventually noticed the awkwardness in their positions. Yuri was on top of Jessica with one arm bearing weight against the mattress while the injured one was helplessly hanged along her side. Their faces were of close approximation and neither was breathing properly from the tension. How could they?

Jessica opened , and then closed it, despite wanting so badly to speak of the words that were just on the tip of her tongue. She felt the confession she had been saving up had not only been swallowed back to her guts but had also then been dispersed from within. What happened to the courage that she had a few days ago? She didn’t know what was holding back. She didn’t know.

It wasn’t fear. If it wasn’t that, what was it?

She had to say them, she reminded herself. She had to.

“Yuri-”

“Let’s take a nap. I’m a little bit sleepy.”

Before she could spout out anything else other than the girl’s name, Yuri had back-dropped herself down onto the bed and crawled under the sheets.

‘I was so close!’

If it wasn’t because of the respect she had for Yuri and that this wasn’t her home, Jessica would already charged at any nearby object and tear it to pieces from frustration.

“Sica?”

“Yes, Yuri?” Jessica replied in the grinding of her teeth, turning her head to her side.

“Come here.

“…?”

Yuri lifted up the blanket and patted the cushion on the empty space next to her with a wide grin on her face.

[Soundtrack: Sad Love Story]

Despite needing to cool down her temper, Jessica obeyed and slipped under the cover Yuri had pulled up to allow her entry. Immediately after she had settled down warmly, she was pulled closer by Yuri and was entrapped among the thick, grey sheets wrapped around her body. Yuri then further surprised Jessica when she slyly s her left arm along Jessica’s back while the other gently placed itself on Jessica’s waist. She then propped her leg on top of the girl’s body, immobilizing her friend in a tight spot.

Jessica was just utterly in shock to even question the how’s and why’s to Yuri’s actions.

“Just like good ol' times…Sica-pillow…” the black pearl chuckled, holding onto the blonde girl ever so comfortably as her voice lowered in volume until it was inaudible.

Jessica beamed and played along, embracing and pressing her body against the younger girl. Back then, she would have been fine with the situation they were in, but now, her racing heart was beating too fast to keep up and too loud to not be heart. She was suffocating, but in a good way.

But what was the point? Yuri had already fallen asleep, quickly too. Jessica could tell because the girl had already starting to stick her tongue out, a habit she couldn’t control when drifting into a deep slumber and was still a laughing matter to the blonde. But now she couldn't laugh. She couldn’t even sleep.

As much as she valued her nap time, with Yuri being this close to her and enveloping in so much skin contact, Jessica just couldn’t bear to waste this moment on sleep.

The blonde caressed the tan girl’s cheek with her tender fingers, watching as the latter flinched and shifted but with eyes remaining closed. Taking the moment to her advantage, Jessica placed her lips on Yuri’s forehead and kissed her softly. It was gentle, it was quick, but it was not enough.

However, there was nothing she could do. Anything more would be just taking advantage of Yuri, whose feelings were a mystery to her.

She wished it was her that Yuri loved, and still loved.

“When I call you, when I find you, come to me as the wind,” she began whispering the lyrics to her song, speaking from her heart, “Hug me in secret so I can feel you…that you are always next to me.”

Jessica clung on as she fought off the side of her that was holding her back.

“I love you. I love you so much.”

She said it. She had really said it. But unfortunately, the confession was not heard by anyone else but its speaker.

Nevertheless, she was content with just how they were, in each other arms just sleeping off the mid-day.

Giving up for the day, Jessica buried her head into the crook of Yuri’s neck, and let the wonder-worlds be casted in her dreams. The only thing running in her mind was those three words, over and over, again and again.

‘I love you. I love you. I love you.’

[end soundtrack]

☆★☆

Taeyeon opened the bathroom door and headed out with a towel she borrowed draped on her shoulders. The tips of her hair were still drenched from the water she had splashed on her face. She thought maybe having a quick wash would actually help her ease her mind but it did no more than remove the droplets of rain off her skin.

She ambled back to the living room and witnessed as the sleeping beauty was still in her slumber. A warm smile crept on her face before she decided to walk to her princess.

Wanting to take a better look, Taeyeon lunged on the floor and placed her arms as a chin rest on the soft cushion. She watched Tiffany quietly while chuckling at the drool pouring out from the unconscious girl’s opened mouth. Taeyeon took the cloth around her neck and used it to wipe off saliva, and then strolled back to the bathroom to throw it in the laundry basket. She took another towel nearby and soaked it with warm water, going back to replace the cooled one on Tiffany’s forehead. After placing the heated patch on her friend, she sat back down on the ground and continued to observe the girl with the utmost interest.

[Soundtrack: From the Beginning Until Now]

Love was so simple, Taeyeon always thought. One look was all it took to deliver her heart on a roller coaster ride and filled her stomach with roaming butterflies. Though, it only ever happened to one person, the one girl in front of her.

Taeyeon had fallen in love before, in fact, a few times during her adolescent years and once or twice during her trainee period. She had dated at least three times, but never did either last more than six months. However, they were all males.

Encountering and getting to know Tiffany made her confused and made her question about herself. Surely, she couldn’t deny that she wasn’t romantically attracted to females, and truthfully, at one point or another, she had come to terms that she was swinging the other way. Even so, she never did confess to a girl or ever truly fell for one.

Until she met Hwang Miyoung, that is.

She was wrong, meeting Tiffany didn’t confuse her. Tiffany, herself, confused Taeyeon. She could not fully read any of the girl’s emotions or actions. Sometimes Tiffany’s approaches seemed to her as more than what they appeared to be but Taeyeon refused to be led further into the assumptions that might have been wrong.

All she knew for a fact was that she loved Tiffany, so much she couldn’t go to sleep without having the girl cross her mind at least once. Nevertheless, awake or asleep, Tiffany was always on her mind, as if the girl was stalking her mentally.

Taeyeon didn’t mind that though, because she loved Tiffany.

After observing for what seemed like a very long while, Taeyeon reluctantly got up and stretched her arms above her head. Her eyes wandered to the kitchen. The mess was calling out to Taeyeon, and eventually, her compulsion for cleaning got the best of her.

Dipping the sponge into the soap, she began to wash every single dirty plate and bowl there ever was in the sink and on the nearby counter. She didn’t even felt the least of burden, and was happily humming along to a certain melody while placing the shining silverware into the automated drying machine. She would gladly do it, or anything for that matter, if it meant it was for Tiffany.

Even if it meant she had to remain quiet about her feelings.

It might sound crazy to some (if not all) about how madly in love she could be when she was only friends with Tiffany for no more than nine days. But it was possible, because it happened to her. It’s fate.

Taeyeon dried her hand and skipped back to Tiffany but was suddenly aware of the time. It was already late in the hours, around 8:00PM. It would be rude for her to stay over without permission although she did not want to leave the girl unattended. Not that she was worried Tiffany couldn’t take care of herself, but for once out of all the times, she wanted to be there for Tiffany, to tend to her even if her help might not be needed.

‘I can be selfish just this time right?’

Taeyeon shook her head as well as the thought off her mind. She shouldn’t be, especially if Tiffany might get the ‘wrong’ idea afterward. She hastily picked up her shoulder bag and headed toward the door before her greed could pull her down.

“Taeyeon…”

The short hair girl turned around in reflex at her name being called by the girl whom she thought was unconscious, or should be. Like the voice of the sirens of Greek mythology, she had been drawn back to Tiffany. Having no concern of what the girl might think of her the next day, Taeyeon laid down her belonging and sat down on the floor, watching Tiffany all over again.

She smiled widely as she was intrigued by the simple scene of Tiffany dozing off. She was so beautiful. So precious. So enchanting.

Taeyeon softly patted the sleeping girl’s head and smooth out the brunette’s ruffled bangs with her fingers, hanging any strand that might be ticklish behind the girl’s ears.

“…TaeTae…”

The short hair girl jolted and retracted her hand, although she was relieved to find that Tiffany was merely sleep talking. But why her name?
There it was again: the assumption that Tiffany might feel the same way surged within Taeyeon. Though, this time, she couldn’t force it away.
Then Tiffany’s pink lips attracted her attention, tempting her further.

Taeyeon then held her balance on the ground with her knees and then placed her hands firmly on the sofa. Almost having no control of her body, she leaned forward, slowly and carefully as to not make any disrupt movements.

But she stopped, shortly before their lips could come into contact with the one another.

The photo sitting on the table flashed into her mind at the worse time possible, and reminded her of something important. It was something that didn’t need to be reminded, because Taeyeon, herself, knew all too well.

Taeyeon got up from the ground and away from Tiffany, sitting on the single-seated one she had lain herself upon earlier. Gazing at the girl she loved, Taeyeon heaved a long sigh. She knocked her head back and diverted her vision to the ceiling, then eventually decided to block everything else when her lids shut due to the fatigue from sleepless nights. Even though her body had relaxed and her conscious was wearing out, one thought still remained even in the midst of her dreams.

‘Because I know you’re not mine and that you will never be, all I can do is stare. Pathetic aren’t I? Yet, I still love you. I’m so in love with you, Fany-ah.’

---

“You know, I wouldn’t have mind if you really kissed me,” Tiffany said aloud, disappointed that Taeyeon never went through with what she started. But then again, never did she.

Tiffany had been up for a while. To be exact, it was from after the moment she had unconsciously called out Taeyeon’s name when she magically sensed that the girl was no longer by her side. She had to thank herself for practicing her self-controlling skills, because if she hadn’t, she might have just taken the initiative and pull Taeyeon right in for the kiss she waited far too long for.

Tiffany flipped the thick covers off and headed for the restroom to remove the smell of rain that was stubbornly attached to her. She made certain to spray the newly purchased perfume on her neck and arms before heading back to the living room. It was cold but her body still felt warm from Taeyeon’s embrace. She was so grateful to the girl.

She then sat on the floor, just like how Taeyeon did, and propped her elbows on the arm rest of the single seated sofa and her chin on her palms. Tiffany was mesmerized at the non-humanistic beauty portrayed in front of her.

The brunette had been straight for whole life and never once did she ever sway her feelings for the same . But Taeyeon changed all of that. Her emotions, her mind, her heart…her everything. She had thought that she loved Jaejoong but now she understood the missing piece that she had always felt around him was indeed love, itself. But she found it again, not with Kim Jaejoong, but with Kim Taeyeon.

With no warning, Tiffany landed her lips softly on Taeyeon’s forehead, pecked it softly before going onto kissing the tip of the girl’s nose. The latter twitched slightly but showed no signs of being awake.

Without any hesitance of any form, Tiffany leaned forward and closed the distance between them, landing her lips on Taeyeon’s. She wasn’t afraid that the girl would wake up. She didn’t care. Her only explanation was that of love.

It was nothing more than a simple touch but it meant so much for Tiffany. But how she wished she could kiss her without restraints and have her kiss being returned in the same manner when both of them were awake, being fully aware of their doings and purposes.

How she wished they were real.

[end soundtrack]

★☆★

“Sorry for not staying over,” Jessica apologized, unhooking the seat belt that was strapped over her.

Yuri halted the engine in front of the Jung’s home, and shook her head in response, “It’s okay, I understand.”

“I would love to but I can’t,” the blonde girl sighed, “I have a magazine shooting early tomorrow.”

“It’s alright. I’m sorry all we did was sleep.”

“No, I had fun cuddling with you,” Jessica smiled contently, using a word that surprised Yuri who decided not to question it.

“Do your best at work, Sica,” Yuri encouraged, pumping a fist into the air.

Jessica chuckled heartedly, “You do your best, too, seobang.”

Yuri smiled slowly dropped but soon lit up again upon hearing what Jessica had called her. Even after so long, she was still referred as the girl’s ‘husband’ – a way of addressing in such familiarity and closeness. Though, she did not know there was more to that.

“Please take care of your arm,” Jessica stated worriedly, running her hand down the linings of Yuri’s bandages.

“I will,” Yuri assured, patting her hand on Jessica and removed it into her hand momentarily before letting go.

“Call me when you have the time, okay?” Jessica opened the door but still held onto the handle.

“Okay.”

Jessica looked around cautiously before averting her gaze back at Yuri, who stared at her strangely in wonders of what the older girl was doing. Meaning to ask, Yuri opened , but was soon silenced by the sensation on her cheek. It was so warm, or maybe that was just her face burning up.

A simple kiss.

“Love you! Good night, Yuri.”

“N-Night…”

Dumbfounded, Yuri stuttered in her greeting and watched with mouth agape as Jessica walked in the girl’s apartment building. She slapped herself with both of her hands, squeezing and pinching her skin to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. She wasn’t.

It had been one year since Jessica last kissed her like that, but even now, the feeling was still the same. It drove her crazy even though she kept in mind that it was nothing more than a friendly gesture.

Still, she felt happy.

Yuri turned her car around and drove home with a permanent smile plastered on her face. For now, she’ll let go of the thought that she had already went with the decision to give up on Jessica. Just for now, she’ll stay blissful.

☆★☆

“Darn it…I burned the eggs again,” the brunette groaned and dumped her second batch of fail attempt into the trashcan. She then searched through her refrigerator and pulled out two more eggs. Determined to make a great breakfast for her crush, Tiffany tried again.

It was morning and the rain had finally ceased its unwanted fall. The sky was still gloomy but the brightness of the big star had begun to shine its radiance upon the world. Another day was here.

The girl on the sofa twitched in her sleep at the disturbing smell from the kitchen. As soon as she was conscious in what it was, Taeyeon flashed her eyes opened and jolted from the couch. She stood up from it and quickly glanced behind her, only to find that there wasn’t really anything serious.

Actually, she’ll take that back. Having Tiffany cook might become a disastrous situation.

She could tell that the girl was going nowhere with those eggs and bacons. Grinning playfully, she walked over to girl but halted in her steps when she remembered how bloated her face could be after waking up from a long sleep. Sighing, she used her hair and covered her face before approaching her friend.

Taeyeon gently tapped Tiffany on the shoulder and the girl slowly turned around. Immediately in response, the brunette jumped in shock at the ‘stranger’ in front of her, almost flipping the pan into the air along with the egg which would land on her head. She was glad she recognized who it was in time before being stuck to clean up with a dirty mess.

“TaeTae! You scared me,” Tiffany exclaimed, calming down her weak heart, “Why are you covering your face like that?”

“’Cause-”

“Aish, here,” Tiffany did not even allowed Taeyeon to finish her sentence because she was certain it would be an unreasonable one. She forced Taeyeon’s hands away from the girl’s face and smoothed out the girl’s hand, smiling when the cute face was fully revealed.

“You’re adorable,” Tiffany complimented with a bright smile glistening upon both her lips and crescent eyes.

Taeyeon blushed and looked at the floor, whispering a low ‘thank you.’

They looked at each other for a while, with Tiffany’s hand still cupping Taeyeon’s cheeks. The brunette ran her thumb on the girl’s soft skin when Taeyeon unconsciously touched the hand that was on her face.

Then the burnt smell intruded, yet, again.

“Oh no, not this time, too!!” Tiffany panicked and headed back to the stove, to which she was forced to remove her hands off where they wished to be. She then turned off the fire in haste and observed the horrible results of her ‘food.’

“Let me do it. Just sit down.”

Taeyeon swiftly took the pan and dumped the tattered eggs into the trash before heading toward the refrigerator.

“How many of these and bacons do you want to eat?”

“How many are you eating?”

Taeyeon turned to look at Tiffany, tilting her head and uplifting her eyebrows, “I’m eating, too…?”

“I tried cooking for the both of us since I thought you might be hungry for not eating anything for dinner last night,” Tiffany said, pouting at her failure, “You asked if I would like to eat dinner with you right? Well, it might not be dinner now, but it’s breakfast.”

‘So she heard…’

“You don’t want to?” Tiffany stared straight into Taeyeon’s eyes, her lips puckering up in a cute gesture and eyes glittering with aegyo.

“N-No, I do.”

Taeyeon looked away and buried her head into the cold storage to cool off her heated cheeks.

‘That look. It’s going to kill me someday.’

“I’ll make two each for us, okay?”

Tiffany nodded. “That sounds good. Thank you. For today and yesterday.”

“You’re welcome.”

Taeyeon turned to give Tiffany a quick, heartwarming smile, one which made Tiffany’s jaw dropped momentarily. She then averted her attention back to the stove and skillfully cracked the eggs into the frying pan, something that Tiffany had troubles doing without having crumbs of the shells all over the place.

The younger girl, not wanting to distract her friend, headed in her room and changed her clothes, which she had not gotten the chance to do so since she woke up the night before. Storming through her cabinets and closet, she smiled when she mischievously picked out a giant T-shirt. That was it. She was merely dressed in just a long, dress-like, white T-shirt for her outerwear.

She then walked into the bathroom and once again sprayed some of the perfume from yesterday. Satisfied, she skipped back to Taeyeon and crept behind the girl furtively.

Instantly, Taeyeon picked up the sweet aroma like a puppy hunting down its favorite meal.

“Like it?” Tiffany questioned and smiled, knowing fully Taeyeon understood what she had meant.

“Y-Yea-…” Taeyeon stopped in her reply and elevated her eyes down to what Tiffany was wearing…or not wearing. “D-Do you always d-dress like that?”

“Like what?” Tiffany leaned closer almost pressing her body against Taeyeon’s.

“…s-y…” Taeyeon whispered, gulping down the rest of her words that should have been in her sentence to rid of the awkwardness.

“Only around people I’m comfortable with,” the brunette replied in a seductive whisper.

Tiffany bit her lips, tempted to hug Taeyeon in her arms but withdrew herself and walked around the counter. She laughed quietly when she witnessed the older girl heaving a long sigh after being tested by ‘the devil’.

“This might be too personal but,” Taeyeon started, squeezing the question out from her guts, “do you love your boyfriend…?”

“The word ‘love is a very complicated one,” Tiffany responded simply, walking toward the living room and settling down on the couch, “you don’t just blurt out ‘love.’”

“Are you saying your boyfriend is not special enough?”

“I guess you could say that.”

Tiffany’s straightforward reply stunned Taeyeon but she kept calm from showing any reaction.

“Do you have someone you ‘love’ then?”

“Like not including family and friends, you mean?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm…I wonder,” Tiffany smirked, gazing at Taeyeon who she soon noticed was peeking at her, “I just might.”

Taeyeon reverted back to focusing on the cooking, questions storming her mind and worries capturing her heart. Who else could their possibly be other than Jaejoong that Tiffany had her eyes for?

The brunette sighed at Taeyeon’s obvious obliviousness. She slumped against the sofa and blankly observed her living room. Then that photo caught her sight.

She had forgotten to put it away the other night.

Tiffany stared at it for a while before pensively smiling. Reaching for the photo frame, she placed it upside down, and then leaned back onto the soft couch. For a short moment, she turned her head to look at the girl busily shuffling around in the kitchen. Grinning, she spoke up a suggestion that was more than just a simple question.

“Say…Taeyeon, would you like to take a picture with me?”

It was a decision.

===========================