So, here's the last chapter of this two-shot story. It is from both Yongsun and Hyejin's POV, so I'm sorry in advance if it turns out confusing. Forgive any typos and mistakes. Thank you for reading and subscribing. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Can we talk?

She looked the message in disbelief. Blinking several times she made sure it wasn’t a mere illusion, a prank of her exhausted brain. But it was as real as her thumping heart. Inhaling profoundly and letting a long exhalation she opened the chat. The most simple, monosyllabic answer would suffice, but somehow her fingers refused to type the three letters. Her thumbs trembled over the digital keypad, like she had suddenly forgotten how to spell. There was a necessary and unavoidable conversation awaiting for her, things that needed to be cleared out and discussing them was what she had wanted from the beginning. So why was it so difficult to type “yes”?

Her cellphone ringed again, announcing a new message, when she hadn’t even realized the screen had gone black. She unlocked it with her fingerprint and let out a shaky, weak laugh at the photo of three adorable corgis her ex had sent. Sending cute dogs pictures meant they were on a truce. She replied with the last photo she had taken of Byul’s dog and then added:

What is it?

It wasn’t like Yongsun was excited to get an answer, but she just didn’t feel like going out from the chat window. It took a while for the younger girl to reply and, judging by the number of times the “replying” symbol popped out and disappeared, Byul was having trouble writing.

Have you spoken to Hyejin?

The singer felt a wave of disappointment and anger washing over herself. She wanted to scream at Byul for not being able to apologize even via text. Holding back her annoyance, she replied.

She’s not in a good mood.

Unnie, I know is very selfish of me,

but can you convince her to talk to Wheein?

Yongsun heart made a somersault at how natural the “unnie” was to her ex-lover. At the same time, she felt like a war had arisen inside her, one side begging to help the younger of the two dancers, the other side refusing the idea due to Byul having the audacity to ask her to clean the mess she started.

“It isn’t Wheein’s fault”, she could almost hear someone say. And of course it wasn’t, she and Hyejin were caught in between fire and had unluckily fallen in hands of different parties. Yongsun was aware she had purposely kept Hyejin by her side, hoping the bond the two younger girls shared could help that of Byulyi’s and hers. But it hasn’t gone as planned and, as much as the other singer had criticized Byul’s antics, Yongsun herself wasn’t better. It’s just that she wasn’t completely open on her strategy.

“She didn’t even apologize”, complained the other part of her aching heart. Surely, she found almos cynical that Byul hadn’t even told her she was sorry, but had gone directly to the point instead. Growling with frustration she texted back.

I’ll see what I can do

.

She let her arms fall to her sides. Lying in the bed, looking at the ceiling, she thought of how pathetic it was of her to wait for an apology or something that proved their relationship wasn’t over yet. It pained her profoundly to think that three years worth of shared happiness and sadness went down the drain after a stupid fight. But what hurt her the most was Byul’s seeming indifference towards any solution or way back together. The back of tightened, almost suffocating her, but maybe she had cried so much during the last months that she had finally ran out of tears.

Another message came. She opened the chat and furrowed her brows at the same time she pressed on the play button of the voice note.

“Thank you.” Whispered Byul-yi. Then she stopped, but the light static sound made obvious the recording was over yet. “I... Ah... I’m really sorry. I was an idiot and I ended up hurting all of you.” The knot in was cutting her breath short. She buried her head further down in the pillows, looking for comfort. There was a pause, longer this time, and then the final words of the voice message ringed in her ears: “Yong... Could you open the door?”

She bounced out of the bed and sloppily run to the door, not caring that she almost slid because the floor was slippery and she was running with her socks on. Breathing heavily in front of the entrance she paused for a second, the most rational part of her brain reproaching her precipitated actions. But she couldn’t care less. She opened and smiled sweetly at the younger girl that stood in the hallway, eyes fixed on the ground, one hand playing with the front of her cap, the other carrying a bag from her favorite toppoki store.

*

*

*

Hyejin felt empty. Like a fountain without water, like a pen without ink. Just an useless, void shell. Saying that she was angry on that day would be an understatement, but she couldn’t believe that she had mustered those soulless words to one of the humans she loved the most. The anger filling her heart had soon been replaced by guilt and, as the minutes went by, their real meaning sank much further in her heart.

The more she thought about the damage they would make, the more it weighted her heart. She went even through a stage of disbelief at how mercilessly she spatted those words at her best friend.

Wheein, her sweet lovely Wheein. With her cute dimples adorning her bright smiles, her shiny eyes turning into half-moons whenever she laughed. Hyejin had promised to protect her angelic smile, it was her life mission. And she had not only failed, she had been the reason why her always tender expression faltered and turned into trembling lips and watery eyes.

Letting out a growl of frustration she ran her hand through her hair. It’s been almost a week since they fought and there were no signals from Wheein. Messages were unthinkable at the time, but not even a single update on social media. She hadn’t seen her around the campus, nor the cafeteria or the library, nor during the class they shared. It was as though Wheein had vanished from Earth.

She had contemplated asking Yongsun, but she remembered they haven’t been in touch since their seniors break up. She even considered texting Byul, but it felt almost humiliating to do so. She didn’t want people meddling in her life, so trying to get information for other students was not an option, and even if it was she would probably receive a “if you don’t know how am I supposed to?” as an answer. She could, of course, message her friend. But... She lacked the courage, even if the worry was eating her inside out.

She spend most of her time fumbling with her phone, opening and closing the text app restlessly, writing and erasing, letting her finger hover over the call button but never pressing it. She never had problems approaching Wheein; more like the other way around, she found it difficult to stay away from her for too long. Spending one or to days without seeing each other happened sometimes, as they didn’t live together and didn’t share more than one subject. But by the third day Hyejin would always find herself craving Wheein’s presence. Now that almost a week had gone by with no signs of her friend, it was starting to feel like abstinence. She felt irritable and unhappy, sleep-deprived and miserable.

She glanced at her phone one again. No messages, at least not from her childhood friend. She didn’t really expect to get a message though. First, if someone needed to give the first step, it was her. Second, she knows Wheein and knows pretty damn well how scared she is of being rejected.

*

*

*

“Yong, it wasn’t only our break up.” The solemn look on the younger girl’s face gave away the gravity of the situation.

Yongsun was rather... Oblivious to the heart matters. It took her a while to figure out her own feeling back then and she needed another handful of time to conclude Byul wasn’t being only friendly. Her not noticing Wheein’s outstanding and blatant crush on Hyejin was very predictable. Yet, she scolded herself for being so blind although she was the oldest among them and was supposed to take care of her three girls. She had failed, worse than she ever thought possible, but that only lit a fire inside her.

After a long talk with Byul, she decided to call her singer friend. She didn’t pick up until the third attempt, answering with a raspy angry voice in which the tears still lingered.

“What?”

“Hyejin-ah...”

“Unnie, hurry up and tell me what you want. I’m not really in the mood right now.”

“Byul came to apologize.”

This wansn’t the plan, Yongsun reprimanded herself. The line went silent and she could not hear even the faintest sound. She glanced quickly at her phone screen to make sure the call was still going on and, indeed, they were still connected. But the other end of the line was heavy with silence.

“Hello?”

“Why?...” She opened to say something but an unknown force stopped her from answering. “So she apologizes and everything is fine? Are you kidding me?”

The older stayed silent. Of course, she had seen this reaction come the moment her tongue slipped.

“Are you telling me all the you went through is over just because she said “I’m sorry”? Do you think everything is gonna be okay because she apologized to you?” She could hear muffled steps, getting faster by the second, like she was pacing up and down the room. Her breathing was louder, angrier. “Do you think her apology will magically fix everything?! Are you gonna tell me things will go back to normal after this?” There was a pause, a chocked sob on the other side, a weak whimper. “Her apologizing is a great thing, I’m happy for you. But that’s not going to bring Wheein back to me.”

She couldn’t see her, but she knew Hyejin was crying. Yongsun gulped her tears down, breathing slowly to bring out steady words.

“I know... Hyejinah, you two share a bond beyond any friendship. Both of you are meant to be together, and I am sure you’re aware of it without me saying it out loud.” She wished she had had this conversation face to face so she could hug her friend and comfort her. “It’s going to be okay.”

“I hurt her...”Choked the younger. “What if she doesn’t want me back?”

“She needs you, Hyejinah.”

“I need her more.”

*

*

*

After hanging up, Hyejin went to take her smudged make up off. She leaned on the sink for a while, mindlessly watching the running water. She closed the tap, patted her face dry and went back to the room. The digital clock read eight twenty p.m. She took her purse, a light coat and went out hastily because she only had ten minutes more to get to the nearest flower shop two streets away.

The old lady who ran the place looked about to smack her head for entering minutes before closing, but seemed to take pity on her miserable expression and let her roam about the shelves in search of the prettiest yellow flowers. She went with a pretty bouquet of yellow lilies, daisies and geraniums. The shop owner eyed her while she tried to take out the coins of her wallet, trembling fingers not working properly under pressure, but encouraged her with a “it’s gonna be okay, kiddo” when she handed out the receipt. She went out after thanking her.

Half jogging through the streets she arrived at Wheein and Byul’s apartment building. She went up to the second floor and ringed the bell, waiting impatiently for the door to be opened. The key clicked from inside and the older dancer looked at her like a curious cat.

“Hyejinah. What-?”

“Get out.” She growled, opening the door fully and pushing the senior aside.

“Wheeinie just fell asleep on the sofa.” Announced the dancer, dumbfounded. “I’ll go out, call me if you need.”

She didn’t answer nor moved until the door closed and Byul had left. She tiptoed around the room, peeking at the small figure curled up in the old sofa. She sat down on the floor and took in how pretty her friends sleeping face was, how peaceful she looked. Her bangs were all over her forehead as if they had a life on its own, but that only accentuated her natural innocence. She took out a flower, cut it short with her long nails and placed it carefully behind Wheein’s ear.

“Wheeinah, do you remember the last time we had a fight this big? It was during high school, when you were dating that jerk. I thought you preferred him over me but you were just protecting me.”

Hyejin wasn’t from a wealthy family, to say the least. Nobody but Wheein knew, but this guy was obsessed over her tiny friend and followed them around, thus finding her living conditions. He blackmailed Wheein into a relationship and, needless to say, Wheein accepted in order to protect her best friend. “You didn’t need to do that. I would have rather had the whole school laughing at me than seeing you with other person.”

She took another flower, spinning it in between her fingertips and the placing it close to Wheein’s curled fists.

“I always call that our first break up.” She laughed humorlessly. “I promised myself that I wouldn’t let anyone get in between us again.” Taking yet another flower she noticed how bad her hands were shaking. She was running out of air. “But it was me who got in between us. I’m sorry.”

The tears fell on the bouquet wrapping with a soft dull sound. She tried her best to muffle the sobs against the back of her elbow, not wanting to wake her up. But she realized her monologue was heard when tender fingers reached her damp cheeks, delicately drying the tears away.

“Why is a beautiful flower bringing more beautiful flowers?” Hyejin snorted at her cheekiness, but felt her chest swell up with warmth.

“I’m giving it to the best gardener of this world.”

The older let out a funny howl of disbelief and then laughed heartily. The brunette felt like her surroundings regained its vivid colors after listening to her laughter. Wheein sat up lazily, stretching towards the ceiling. She offered the bouquet and Wheein took it, gazing dreamily at the vibrant yellow petals.

“They are so pretty.”

“But you are prettier.” Said both in unison, gazes meeting at the same time like they had rehearsed it. They laughed at the coincidence.

With the laughter dying they locked eyes again. Both puffy, irritated i’ve-been-crying-every-night eyes. Words were unnecessary, for their gazes conveyed everything they wanted the other to know. The guilt, the longing... the love. They could peek into each other souls and meet in a complete different dimension, where it was only them with nothing or no one to worry about.

“Let’s not break up ever again.” Offered Wheein kneeling down to hug Hyejin.

“I’ll never let you go.” Accepted the younger wrapping arms around her soulmate.

*

*

*

She answered the phone and was met with a precipitated thank you. Not really knowing what was happening, she asked for a more elaborated explanation and Byul told her how she had been mercilessly kicked out from her own apartment. Yongsun chuckled, capable of recreate the scene in her head. She leaned against the veranda, drinking a lukewarm cup of chrysanthemum tea while appreciating the city lights. They stayed in silence for a while, just breathing calmly, phones against their ears. The wind blew weakly, carrying away the remains of yet another early summer day. On days like this, when she was alone, she thought about how she had spent the last months acting as if everything was okay, as if a break up wasn’t a big deal. She had found herself drowning in the depths of melancholy at first, but right now, she was starting to feel slightly lighthearted.

“Byul-ah,” She heard an absent-minded hm at the other side “I really like Daylilies.”

“Hm?” She could hear Byul’s confusion and she was equally confused as to why she blabbered her favorite flower out of the blue.

“You know, if you take good care of them, you can make them bloom twice. That’s why I like them.”

She let the words linger and be drowned into the sound of the city traffic. The tea had cooled down completely and the night was getting chillier. She turned around to enter the living room but stopped at Byul’s whispered question.

“Would you like to be my Daylily?”

Her eyes prickled with tears, but her lips curled upwards.

“I’d love to.”