track 13 - Rose

having dinner between hwiyoung, the only son of xx corporation's owner, and miyeon, the only person who has stolen her heart like lightning, minnie was feeling like she was suffocating in that deafening silence. just as she wanted to excuse herself to get to the bathroom, miyeon's mother came in out of the blue. 

"damn you ing brats!" shouted the mother. 

hwiyoung got up, "wait wait wait, what? calm down." 

minnie was petrified with astonishment. then miyeon sighed. 

"this is my full-time-hyped mother and that entering is her traditional way of greeting the guests." then leaning in close, she whispered loudly, "the cho family's customs go back many generations." 

"you're being sarcastic, right?" asked minnie and got only a subtle smile as an answer while mrs cho was drinking a glass of water that hwiyoung brought for her. 

"that's right, calm down first. tell us what's happening?" asked miyeon. 

"you... you and your filthy husband-to-be..." hwiyoung slowly began to move away from the woman as she continued, "i-i thought about it a lot. i know what you are up to."

hwiyoung got nervous, "what are you talking about, mrs cho?" 

"now, you two are what? getting married? when her father is kept in jail? does that even make sense? he said he'd come back soon with some help. i assume it was you, right? but instead of thinking ways of getting him out of there, you-... anyway, i see now." 

"what?" 

"you made good promises and caused him to go to his grave willingly on his own two feet. he would never give himself up, had he known this evil plan." 

"mother, is it really necessary to be such excessively rude in front of my guest? get a hold of yourself, please!" roared miyeon. 

"oh shut up!" 

minnie stood up, "i guess it's time for me to leave." 

"no, you stay." miyeon stopped her, "if someone has to go, it's the one who makes a fuss out of baseless allegations." then she looked at mrs cho, "this is my house, not yours. and with all due respect, mother, i strongly suggest you watch what you say or take your leave."

hwiyoung was surprised by miyeon's composed attitude. the last time he saw her like this was in france. he felt like he was just getting to know miyeon. on the other side, minnie wished that miyeon had never actually experienced what she had been through since her pure heart deserved none of this. she wanted to pull out all those bad feelings from miyeon.

"i'll take my leave. but this is not over, you hear me?" mrs cho said and left the house swiftly.

"okay, where were we?" asked miyeon and sat down at the dinner table. 

hwiyoung apologized, "sorry, it's getting late, i should leave too. also i'd better accompany your mother to her house, i'll calm her down and talk." 

miyeon nodded, "mkay" 

and soon, miyeon and minnie were left alone to enjoy the rest of the night. after dinner, they were in miyeon's room, making some small talks. miyeon tried to ignore what just happened and didn't let minnie speak about it. despite all, she was vigorous and happy at the moment. she was feeling at ease, talking with minnie. they decided to drink. and minnie let herself go with the flow. because it was already too late, miyeon wanted minnie to stay over, and minnie accepted. they continued to chitchat. after a while, they took photos of each other for a memento. 

miyeon studied minnie's face in the photo and noticed her expression was a bit different.

"why are you looking at the camera like you're gonna devour it or something?" she chuckled. 

"hmm, you're right, but i wasn't looking at the camera." 

"oh" 

miyeon slightly blushed as she felt butterflies in her stomach. 'strange feeling' she thought. and she felt like her lungs was filled with flowers. and she was slowly letting herself go under the influence of alcohol. then minnie couldn't hold it back any longer. 

"enough of this" she raised voice. 

miyeon jumped out of her skin, "w-what?" 

"this... pretending like nothing just happened." 

"it was indeed nothing, though." 

"then what about the marriage? is it really nothing? why do you have to do this?" 

"because i want to" 

"you do?" 

"minnie i-"

"no, you can't convince me that you really want to marry this guy. i don't know about him, but i do know about you enough to understand what is going on in your mind."

"what is it then? tell me what's going on in my mind." 

now miyeon was looking at minnie, just as how minnie was looking at miyeon in the photo. minnie's heart skipped a beat. still, she managed to get closer to her, then she placed her hand on miyeon's cheek, making her face go red. this warm touch really made miyeon feel things inside. minnie was no different. minnie had already accepted and embraced her feelings towards miyeon. and she wasn't sure if miyeon would reciprocate the same feelings... until now. minnie locked her eyes into miyeon's, getting closer inch by inch. their hearts were beating heavily, making the sounds badump badump. she dipped her other hand beneath miyeon's waistband, feeling the warmth there. they lost eye contact when minnie got closer enough to feel miyeon's warm breath on her face. they both were looking at each other's lips now, hesitating about the next step they were going to take. after waiting for a few seconds, miyeon was the first to move, and she set herself free to reach minnie's lips. minnie was thinking it was soft, tender, and sultry. she felt like she had been craving this for a long time unknowingly. she remembered the first time she had seen miyeon in real life. she couldn't get miyeon out of her head since then and was kissing that beautiful unreachable aphrodite now. while tasting miyeon lips, minnie's thoughts were still lingering around. she thought, the most beautiful thing about miyeon was that she had a vulnerable, dorky and naive girl inside her.

meanwhile, miyeon was feeling like it was a dream come true moment. a dream she didn't realize she longed for. she had strong feelings for someone in such a short time. when the kiss went deep a little bit more and miyeon felt minnie's tongue, she pulled away. 

"um... i think we should stop. this is not appropriate." 

minnie paused, "you're going to regret this, aren't you?" she was annoyed all of a sudden, remembering miyeon introduced her to hwiyoung as her best friend. 

"let's just... sleep. there's a room for you. let me show-"

"no need. i can go by myself." 

***

within a week, hwasa accepted to come back to the neverend magazine with her lawyer's and minnie's huge efforts on one condition - no one was going to lose their job and TJ was going to make a public apology. although tensions between hwasa and TJ seemed like to continue, TJ was ready to put the issue behind him and act more professionally, thanks to the solid warnings he received. so, minnie really convinced the board that firing hwasa was actually bad business.

TJ made an official apology statement, however, minnie also made another apology for behaving somehow unprofessional. they tried their best to keep it formal since none of them was actually sorry for what they have done. and like that, when all worked out and everyone was happy in the magazine, one thing still was not okay for the girls. yuqi was nowhere to be found. it was a sunny but chill morning when shuhua went to yuqi's house and found out from her landlady that she wasn't home. soyeon also went there before but didn't encounter someone. shuhua was lucky that the landlady stopped by. she learnt from the lady that yuqi had gone to china to see her parents. she didn't say when she'd be back, and she didn't tell about this anyone but her landlady. this was really heartbreaking for shuhua since she thought yuqi would tell her anything no matter what. 'she must be really exhausted and upset to do such thing, but what happened? just because she broke up with Lucas?' she thought. shuhua had so much questions in her mind lately. when she got to the office she told this to the other girls and they retreated to the closet to talk about their very unwelcome new reality. 

after telling about yuqi, shuhua ranted, "okay so, i want you all to promise to be completely honest to my questions and that everything will be discussed openly here, okay?" 

minnie and soyeon promised to be honest as shuhua asked.

then, "she went to china without us knowing it and..." said soyeon and stopped,"... oh"

"what is it?" asked minnie. 

"i just remembered something. you know that night, when we... when you saw us... close?"

"ah that time you hooked up?" 

"no, we did not do that, definitely." 

"what happened to the being honest?" minnie insisted. 

"okay, we were about to kiss i guess, but that's it. and we didn't, thanks to you... anyways, back then she told me she missed her parents and i advised her to visit them." 

"so you basically knew where she was." shuhua was sulking. 

"i told you i just remembered, shuhua. i obviously had no idea since i forgot about that."

minnie got up from her seat, "but why wouldn't she tell us? she could have just texted one of us, you know?" 

"maybe, this is not just a visit..." said shuhua. everyone went silent for a while. 

"she can't leave us like that. i won't let her go." soyeon said. 

"what are you planning to do?" 

soyeon stood up, "i'm gonna follow her." 

"what??"

"what the?" 

soyeon surprised shuhua and minnie as she was heading to the door without a second word. she left them, and minnie was about to go after her. but, shuhua jumped in front of minnie, blocking her way. 

"let her go, she's the feature writer of our magazine. i'm sure she can find a way to take time off work and get yuqi back here. in fact, we all can go together. but first, it's your turn to spill."

minnie got confused "spill what?" 

"i'm not gonna beat around the bush. just tell me what actually happened between yuqi and lucas and what you did to soojin at the funeral, now!"

minnie was out of words, "i-...wh-... i didn't do anything, what you talking about??"

"you promised, minnie unnie, to be honest."

they looked at each other for some time and then minnie sighed, "okay, let's have a seat first."

they settled down and minnie started to tell her everything. first, she started with yuqi's story. it all happened when shuhua was in busan; yuqi got hospitalized, then ended up in holding cell with soyeon, minnie and hwasa got them out. then in yuqi's house they called lucas etc. minnie was telling every detail, and she also mentioned what really happened back then when they were gathered at shuhua's house to discuss hwasa's issue but ended up looking for shuhua in lucas' house. 

"so you all thought i heard about the whole the story there and that's why you all got so worried when i left suddenly for my bike. i see now."

"yeah, then i was about to tell you everything after all that mess, but yuqi looked at me and shook her head like 'don't tell her', you know? so i told you they just broke up." 

"i don't understand why she would hide this from me." shuhua said. she was so upset and angry. she could kill lucas right there without any hesitation if he showed up before her. 

"actually, i think she'd have told no one about it if she could. she may be blaming herself in some way."

"if soyeon unnie can't make her come back here, i'll go to her. i need to have a conversation with her. also, don't think i'm not mad at you guys. you hid everything from me and yet, here i am, thinking i'm your friend." 

"don't say that, you know we had no option. it was her decision which we had to respect."

shuhua was feeling so sorry, thinking that she couldn't be there for yuqi when she needed her. she wanted to give her a big hug. 

"and about soojin..." minnie continued, drawing shuhua's attention, "i slapped her in the face." 

"no you did not" shuhua's mouth was wide open in shock. 

"yes i did and i'm truly sorry for that. i regret every second of that move." 

"then why did you do that??" 

"it was because she poked her nose in my family matters. but i get that i was doing the same that's why she-" 

"you can't be serious, unnie. you can't just go slap someone in the face when that someone is literally at her mother's funeral!? what in the ing world were you thinking?" shuhua shouted.

"okayy i know, i know! calm down first. let me tell you everything. i guess i need to talk about this."

"about what?" 

"my family... actually, my family is one of the richest families in thailand. the yontararak family."