A/N: Happy Wendy Day, everyone! This chapter is unedited and kind of hurried because I've been busy, so please ignore any grammar errors or weird little things. Apology in advance for causing so much pain :')

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“What is your address?”

Joohyun startled from her thoughts and turned to the driver’s seat on her left to find Choi Minho staring at her questionably.

She had no idea how many times he had asked her the question but seeing the way his eyebrows were raised with a mix of amusement and concern for her, she assumed that he had asked her more than once.

“I’m sorry. It’s at Seongdong-gu, near Hanyang University –” She stopped speaking and reconsidered, however, when she realized that she didn’t really want to go home and face Seulgi yet. Her mind and heart were both still torn apart and scattered all around her, and she didn’t know how to gather them back just yet.

She felt lost and helpless for the first time in many, many years.

“Just take me to Cheongdam-dong, to my manager’s apartment.” She reached out to the dashboard GPS in the end, tapping in Krystal’s address with a sickly lurch in her stomach.

She felt physically ill, as if her entire body was pulled to two opposite directions cruelly and both sides were unwilling to let go until she was completely torn to pieces.

Joohyun felt like crying.

“Are you okay?” Minho asked, his voice sounding genuinely concerned but still carrying that unmistakable lightheartedness that he seemed to have. “If I’ve known that my driving you home would make you cry, I would have asked my dad to just find you a cab when he told me to take you home.”

Joohyun in her teary breath and wiped off the water at the corner of her eyes. She looked away at the tall buildings outside the car window quickly. “It’s okay. I’m sorry. I’m just – this has nothing to do with you. I just have a lot of things in my mind at the moment. I appreciate you taking me home. Thank you.”

It was a lie.

In all honesty, Joohyun would rather be alone at this very moment.

She would rather Director Choi didn’t ask Minho to drive her home while he stayed behind in the restaurant with Kangta and Krystal to finalize their paperwork.

She would rather walk ashtray on her own to find someplace far away, so she could curl down and cry out all the ache she had been keeping in her heart where no one could see her.

“I know. I was just kidding.” Minho’s playful voice softened into a more serious one as he regarded her with a gentler look. “You do look like you need some cheering up, so...”

Elbow propped against the window and fingers pressed hard against her lips, Joohyun shut her eyes tightly. No amount of cheering up would ever liven her up from this. From the things she was about to do to the most important person in her life.

Joohyun wished she didn’t have to choose.

She wished she didn’t have to do this.

“Look, I know it’s very ty at the moment, the way everyone in this country is so quick to lay blame on female celebs’ doorstep while seemingly letting the male celebs get away with anything, but your career isn’t over yet so you shouldn’t stress too much about it.”

Joohyun let out a cynical, teary scoff that sounded so tired, it was almost drowned by the noise of the radio song playing in the car. “It’s easy for you to say because you’re one of the so-called male celebs.”

Minho cracked a small grin at her comeback. “I know you still have some bites in you. That sounds more like the Bae Joohyun I know.”

“You don’t know me.” Joohyun said shortly, and while her tone wasn’t unfriendly, it wasn’t exactly warm and saccharine like it usually was with people like Minho too. People who held the powers to break or to make her career.

Joohyun supposed, on normal days, she would have used that charming tone on him too. But now, she just felt so, so tired, she couldn’t even imagine doing anything.

The exhaustion that she felt ran so bone-deep, she felt like it had reached into her soul and broke something inside that was always untiring and unwavering before.

She felt damaged.

“Maybe I don’t know you fully yet, but I have a rough picture of who you are and I intend to learn more about you. I think you’re a beautiful, ambitious, and courageous lady.”

“Whatever gives you that impression of me? We have never interacted before.”

“Well…first of all, you slapped a famous actor in front of everyone, so you have to be courageous in the slightest.” Minho’s small, mischievous smile grew.

“And second of all, after your scandal piqued my interest, I did a little reading about you on the internet. I found out that you’ve had many rumors with your costars before. They were mostly unproven and people might be foolish enough to brush them under the rug, but I know what you did, Joohyun, because I’ve been playing the same game for years.”

Joohyun’s thoughts stopped fleeting for a while as she finally turned to focus on him for the first time since she had met him a few hours ago.

Minho’s playful grin curved up higher. “Don’t think I’ve missed the fact that everyone who you’ve had rumors with is always someone significant in the industry. They’re always the sons of notable directors or producers. So yes, I would say that you’re ambitious, even though you pretend to the whole world that you’re not.”

Apparently, Joohyun might have given him too little credits by automatically assuming, on first glance, that he was the likes of Park Bogum; popular, rich men who seemed to have everything but enough brain cells to see anything beyond their singular goal to bed as many women as they could.

Minho seemed pleased with his on-point observation, even though Joohyun said nothing to confirm it. He looked straight ahead on the roads again with a smile on his face. “And well, the third point doesn’t even need explanation. You’re beautiful, easily said.”

Joohyun wished that it had mattered – that her being beautiful or ambitious or courageous had mattered in her career – but now she knew that none of it mattered. At the end of the day, she was still just a small pawn underneath other people’s claws.

“I do that too, you know, sleeping around.” Minho clicked his tongue. “I don’t know if you’ve heard about my…less than grand dating reputation in Hollywood or not, but I’m just doing it for my career.”

“Why would you ever need to do that? You’re a man.” Joohyun only half registered his words because her gaze was glued again on the window beside her, watching the afternoon slowly roll down to dusk. People who had just finished their work were leaving the tall buildings and walking quickly with intention to get to their homes.

Home.

Something that soon, Joohyun would no longer have because she wasn’t sure Seulgi could forgive her for what she was about to do to her.

Seulgi was her home and now she was about to lose her, possibly forever.

“Well, Hollywood is the grandest of film industries but it isn’t the kindest. Especially to people who aren’t white.” Minho turned to regard her with a coy smile. “I did what I had to do to survive the industry, just like you. Which is why, I hold no judgment for you and decide to help you out with this role. Birds of the same feather should flock together and help each other out, don’t you think?”

He seemed to be undeterred by Joohyun’s unresponsiveness and kept on driving, until he had to pull the car to an abrupt stop just before they entered Krystal’s apartment building because people – a mass of people – were crowding in front of the entrance.

“Holy crap.” Minho breathed out, eyes wide as he took in the crowd in front of them.

Joohyun startled from her thoughts and focused her sight too, and that was when she noticed the mass carrying cameras and lounging noisily in front of the building.

Reporters.

Her face paled at the big number of them.

“It seems like they’ve found your hideout at last.” Minho grimaced and seemed to be confused himself about what to do.

Some of reporters began to notice the metallic black Bugatti he was driving and started to point at them with recognition. In under one minute, the crowd flew over to them like vultures spotting carcass and cornered the car from all directions.

“Miss Bae Joohyun! Is that Choi Minho with you?” A reporter banged on the window on her side, making her jump a little as the other reporters raced to press their cameras against the window too. Flashes went off like crazy and blinded her.

“Mr. Choi! Are you guys together? Has she been hiding with you all this time? Was this why she had a fallout with Park Bogum? Was she cheating on him with you?”

The reporter barely finished his line of questions before another one banged the window on her side again, furiously demanding answer. “Miss Bae! Does this have anything to do with the rumors that you’re about to star in Director Choi’s newest movie despite your current scandal? Are you sleeping with his son to land this role?”

“Get me out of here.” Joohyun bent her head low and clamped her ears with both of her hands, curling in into herself as flashes went off all around her like she was some sort of wild animal at a zoo. “Minho, get me out of here! Please!”

“Alright, hold on.” Minho switched in the gear and pulled the car off from the curb, going on reverse with full speed and throwing some of the stubborn reporters off of the car.

The sportscar roared loudly and raced out of the area with a deafening screech.

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Seulgi checked her phone for the nth time and felt disappointment just like the many other times she had felt in the past ten days.

Her hand fell limply to her side as she pushed her phone back into her jeans pocket, her body leaning desolately on the wall of the studio she was waiting for Sunmi in.

The dejected feeling in her chest seemed to sting more and more acutely with each radio-silent day that passed, and Seulgi didn’t know what to do to put a stop on it.

How could Joohyun still not return any of her voicemails and texts? She wondered.

By this time, she should have known that not giving her any tip at all about her whereabout would kill her with worries and throw the entire production of her short film into a limbo.

Did she not know? Or did she just not care?

Seulgi wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer because both would just imply that she had no real…value to Joohyun. That maybe, she wasn’t as important to her as she used to think and as Joohyun herself used to proclaim.

“Hey, I’m sorry the casting took a little longer than expected. I’m ready to go now.” Sunmi appeared on her side and squeezed her arm, yanking her out of her miserable thoughts.

The older woman was donning a thin, cream-colored cardigan, looking beautiful but tired after spending the day helping her casting director find the actor for her other project.

Seulgi forced herself to pull a smile because she didn’t want to look as miserable as she felt. “It’s okay. I don’t mind waiting. I’ve always liked being inside big studios like this. It’s fascinating to see all the busy movements behind the cameras.”

Sunmi looped her arm around hers and tugged her to walk out of the studio, and Seulgi hated herself for still instinctively stiffening up a bit at the contact because she had only ever been really used to it if it was Joohyun who did it.

“Have you been to many film studios before? I thought when we shot your short film in that small studio last week it was your first time.”

“Ah, well, it was – it was my first time shooting in one, but I’ve visited film studios before.”

“Oh?” Sunmi’s eyes lit up with interest as they walked leisurely to the nearby train station where they would take a train to Busan for their…first date night. “How is that so? Did you try to audition as an actress when you were younger?”

Seulgi’s throat dried up. She swallowed forcefully so her voice would come out uncracked. “No, I – I’ve always wanted to be a screenwriter and maybe a director one day, but I never want to be an actress. It was – it was Joohyun who auditioned. I just accompanied her.”

“Oh. I see.” The light on Sunmi’s face dimmed a bit but she pushed out a smile for her, nonetheless. The rest of the walk continued in silence, however, and Seulgi wondered if she had made a mistake by being honest and bringing Joohyun up.

It wasn’t until they reached the train station that Sunmi spoke again. “You two have a lot of history together, don’t you? It’s going to be hard for you to really let her go.”

“I have to.” Seulgi said, even as her heart squeezed when they found their seats inside the train because the first thought that fleeted through her mind was the memory of Joohyun asking her for the window seat whenever they boarded train together and cheering with glee whenever Seulgi gave it to her.

She shook her head off strongly. “Do you want the window seat?” She hoped her voice didn’t sound as cracked as her heart.

“Yeah, sure. Thanks.” Sunmi smiled at her and settled into their seats first. Seulgi followed afterward and sat beside her.

The rest of the train ride passed in small talks, as Sunmi asked more about her parents, her childhood, and all the lighter topics surrounding her to get to know her better.

Seulgi did the same too, and by the time they arrived in Busan, the sun had already set and the sky was slowly rolling down from its orange hue to its darker, quieter color.

“So, you did grow up in Busan for a while?” Sunmi asked her through their dinner at the renowned seafood restaurant she had chosen for the night, cutting through the lobster she had ordered and taking some of it out for Seulgi.

Seulgi smiled in gratitude when she put it on her plate. “Yeah, I was born here. I attended school here too up until I turned eight. Then, dad decided that he wanted to work in a smaller city that still lacked neurosurgeons, so we moved to Sokcho.”

Sunmi hummed. “You must be bummed back then, having to leave a big, lively city like this for a town as sleepy as Sokcho. I, for one, love Busan and all its beaches and seafood, which is why I ask you to come here tonight.”

The small smile that left Seulgi was unforced this time, but still just as morose. “Actually, I was bummed out for a while but then I realized that I was happier in Sokcho. I didn’t have…friends here, in Busan. I was quite a loner. It was in Sokcho that I finally made good friends.”

Because Joohyun always went out of her way to include me in all her friendships and made sure that I was never left out.

The fingers around her fork and knife curled tighter.

“So…your parents are still in Sokcho now? Do you visit them often?”

“Y-yeah, they are still there.” Seulgi swallowed, shaking off the unwanted thoughts from her mind. “I visit them at least once every two months. Usually on the weekend when I have no class. How about your family? Where are they now?”

Sunmi launched into the story of her father and mother who lived in Japan now and how she couldn’t bear to live there with them because they were incredibly against her ual orientation, and then it ended up with them discussing how she had come out before.

“Do you think you will ever come out to your parents one day? I mean, do you think they will accept it well?” Sunmi asked her when they were strolling languidly on the night beach after finishing their dinner, arm linked with hers once again.

Seulgi had to forcefully blink herself out of her trance because her gaze was caught on a few white fishing boats anchored to the pier and it was, inevitably, pulling her mind back to the memories of her simpler life in Sokcho with Joohyun.

That night when Joohyun had just finished an audition and made her take her sailing on her dad’s fishing boat; when she had plunged Seulgi into the water and they had ended up laughing and splashing water at each other; and when Seulgi had pinned her against the side of the rocking boat and nearly kissed the drop of water off of her lips under the stars and moonlight.

Seulgi should have known that she was in love with her best friend back then.

“Seulgi, you’re spacing out.” Sunmi’s gentle voice drew her back to reality and she had to blink strongly, one more time, to really get rid of the images of Joohyun from her mind.

“Oh. I’m – I’m sorry. I got…lost in thoughts for a bit.”

Sunmi didn’t seem to mind her momentary absence, but Seulgi felt furious at herself.

How could she live her life at all if she was going to think of Joohyun in every step and every little thing? What was the point of her asking Sunmi to date her, to try things out wit