PART IV - (1/?)

Montreal, Quebec, CAN (1994)

At their last encounter, the jolt caused by the impact of the airplane wheels against the ground is what wakes Wheein up from a dream she doesn’t really remember. She yawns and lazily stretches her arms as the people around her unbuckle their belts against the safety protocols printed on the newsletters right in front of them. The lights at the Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport glows brightly as the sun sets and even in the dark, Wheein can tell that the city is even more beautiful than her friends have told her on the phone over the past months.

Moonbyul and Yongsun are living in Montreal for over six months now, while Wheein was still in the US taking care of the rest of the details of their company's move to Canada.

"Hey! Wheein!!!" She hears a familiar voice call out in the distance. She’s struggling to handle all three of her suitcases and a backpack, so she turns around with a great amount of difficulty.

"You're here!" With a lot of enthusiasm, Yongsun throws herself at Wheein undoing all the progress she had made in holding the bags. All of it fell on the ground and Wheein almost went along with it.

"I am." She says with a wide smile. Moonbyul’s standing right behind Yongsun, holding a poster with the word ‘Wheeinie’ and a very bad drawing of several puppies all around it. "Cute." She acknowledges Moonbyul as she puts the drawing in her pocket and throws herself at her two friends in a strong group hug.

"Here, Iet me help you." Moonbyul takes one of the suitcases and the backpack. Yongsun also takes one to help. "Did you have a nice flight? Come on, we have an amazing place to show you today."

"Wait, I have to get one more thing." Wheein heads towards the cargo window.

“Another suitcase? Wheein, you used to be a more detached person.”

"Imagine her traveling the world just like we used to with all of that." Moonbyul points to all of her luggage.

Wheein gets the receptionist’s attention and hands over some documents that allow her to take whatever luggage she still has there. The receptionist asks for a minute and disappears behind a door that has a sign with the word "fragiles" right above it. Throughout the process, Yongsun and Moonbyul followed her, glued to her neck and watching every move Wheein made. When the receptionist comes back with a large cage in hand they almost don’t believe what they see.

"A cat???" Moonbyul shouts in surprise, sneezing right after. 

"You have a cat now?" Yongsun asks, incredulous.

"Kind of." Wheein takes the animal out of the cage to check if it’s alright. Moonbyul sneezes again and keeps some distance while Wheein pets the cat. "Are you alright there?" She uses a baby voice to speak.

"I'm fine, I don't know where it came from." Moonbyul replies.

"I'm not talking to you." Wheein dismisses her and turns her attention back to the cat. “Did you have a good flight as well? Did they take good care of you?” She keeps petting the animal as Moonbyul looks offended behind Yongsun’s back. She’s about to say something but another sneeze interrupts her.

“How do you kind of have a cat?” Yongsun air quoting the ‘kind of’.

"I... I'm just taking care of him for someone."

“You literally brought him to Canada with you. Does that someone know that? ”

"I'll explain later." Wheein puts the cat back in the cage, picks up a suitcase and heads towards the exit. "Come on, let's go, you said you wanted to take me somewhere. I hope it has good food, I'm starving." She takes the lead until she realizes that she has no idea where she is going. Noticing it, Yongsun anticipates and guides them towards the car. 

The trip to the apartment building which Yongsun and Moonbyul share downtown is considerably short, but long enough to make Wheein want to keep as much distance as possible from Moonbyul, who keeps sneezing non stop as she sits in the passenger seat next to Yongsun. Wheein keeps the cat on her lap in the back. 

"We thought we could go straight to the restaurant but now we have to leave this thing at our place." Moonbyul complains.

"It's Ggomo."

"What?"

"His name is Ggomo."

"Wheein has a cat named Ggomo." Yongsun states aloud like she’s tasting to see if it's real.

"Are we there yet?" Wheein changes the subject.

"I wish we were!" Moonbyul keeps complaining.

Twenty minutes later - after a fight between Moonbyul and Yongsun to decide who would take the cat to the apartment while they were parked in front of the building (Yong felt sorry for Byul and decided to take it herself) - they arrived at the restaurant. A shiny sign outside announced "The Palace" as the name of the place.

“It’s our favorite place for a nightly attraction in the city. They always have a great repertory of live artists, we already signed with a band that we discovered here and I’m sure you’re going to love them.” Yongsun says when they find a table next to the stage. “Speaking of which, how was it finishing the whole transfer thing in the US. A lot of work, right?”

"Ah, no more than expected." Wheein shrugs.

"I still don't know why you didn't let me do this when I volunteered since you know I don't mind dealing with the paperwork. But I'm glad you did, anyway." Moonbyul states as she raises a hand calling for a waiter. Her face is still flushed but she had stopped sneezing for a while now. 

"Except we know why she wanted to stay." Yongsun says knowling and Wheein avoids her eyes. Moonbyul is a little lost. 

"I'm just glad it's over."

"Great. So you didn't leave any unfinished business?"

"What? No, of course not, I wouldn't do that ”

"I'm not talking about the work, Wheein."

"."

"Oh yeah, right!" Moonbyul says as she seems to have just understood what they’re talking about. “You said the breakup with Soyoon was… turbulent. I beg it’s because you stole her cat.”

"I DIDN’T ST-" Wheein tries to protest but lowers her voice once she gets a nasty look from a old lady from a table at her left. "I didn't steal her cat, okay? And how do you even know it's her cat? You’ve never seen it.”

“I was fishing and you just just took the bait. Also, you mentioned she had a cat before, I just didn't think you liked it so much that you would steal it.”

"For 's sake..." Wheein massages her temples just as the waiter approaches to take their orders. She knows that Moonbyul is just messing with her, but she hoped she wouldn’t have to talk about it so soon. When the waiter leaves she decides to just get it over with. “Soyoon left. I had to bring him so I can take care of him for a while, but I think she'll want him back. ”

"What do you mean by left?" Yongsun asks.

“Well… we had an ugly fight when I said I was going to move, I already told you guys on our last phone call, right? What I haven’t told you yet is that it kind of happened last week… I only told her last week.”

"You didn't do that!" Yongsun scolds. “Wheein, you’ve known for almost a year and choose to tell her last minute?”

"I knew she was going to react badly. I admit that I was trying to postpone it, but it really backfired."

"I really want to hit you right now." Moonbyul ponders aloud.

"It gets worse. Turns out she wasn't upset about the moving. She told me she loved Canada and a whole lot of other things about getting our relationship to the next level or whatever that means." Two pairs of anxious eyes waited for her to continue. "She just got mad because I didn't let her come with me."

"She was willing to change countries with you even with a one week notice?" Moonbyul can’t believe what she hears.

"Looks like it." Wheein avoids their eyes as she continues to tell the story. “I told her that I didn't want to do long distance and she said that she would come with me. So I had to tell that I didn't really want to do the relationship thing at all and she didn't take it very well.”

"Oh, Wheein, I thought you really liked her." Yongsun says empathetically.

"I mean, she was cool..."

"C’mon, dude, you'd been together for so long." Moonbyul remembers. 

"Together is a very strong word. It was kind of an on and off thing." She continues to avoid her friends' eyes.

"For over two years, Wheein..." Yongsun points out sternly.

"I know! I know, you don't have to remind me. It was a mistake, okay? I knew she would want things to get more serious soon and , she’s a mortal, I had to put an end to this. I was wrong to let it go on for so long and I’m not proud of it. I couldn't let her change her whole life if we were doomed to end.” She explains everything in one breath, just to get it over with. After her little speech her friends share looks of empathy, rather than the judgmental ones they had a few seconds ago.

"Yeah, you're right." Yongsun recognizes after she thinks for a moment. “But I really liked her. I hope she’s fine because she’s always really nice.”

"Right? And so hot, damn. How did you even manage to hit that?” Moonbyul teases but they know it’s just to lighten up the mood.

"So, you’re good? No heartbreak or anything?” Yongsun interferes to prevent the impending banter that was about to take place.

"Nope. Ready for the next one." She answers with a wink and this time Moonbyul actually punches her arm. “I'm just kidding. It's going to be okay, guys, I know I made a mistake and I’m trying to make it right. I have no intention of getting involved with anyone anytime soon, I promise.”

“We hope so, heartbreaker. We didn't raise you for that.”

The truth is that Wheein really liked Soyoon’s company and all the benefits that come with it, but she never came even close to actually falling in love with her. She would never have been with Soyoon like that if she had. Wheein doesn’t do this kind of anymore, she feels like has learned enough. For almost thirty years now, Wheein’s never seen love in the same way again. She would be lying if she said that before the events that took place all of those years ago she had never dreamed about living a romance like people do in the books. More than that, since she’s an immortal, Wheein  used to have a dream where she would meet someone like her, another immortal, to fall in love and live a literally eternal love, but now she knows that this is not possible. Of course it wouldn’t be, she would never be so lucky. And therefore, it made her adopt some new rules.

At first, after the Mexico “incident”, she decided not to have a relationship with anyone ever again. She didn't want anyone since she couldn't have the only person she really wanted. The person who, in fact, probably hates her now, with a very good reason. That’s if she even thinks about Wheein at all. Fall into oblivion or face incessant hate. She doesn't know what would be worse, but still, Wheein continues to think about her on a daily basis. There’s a constant voice that keeps reminding her of what she can never have. But instead of fighting with her reality, she learned to push this voice, these feelings and all related thoughts so deep in her mind that she truly believed that they weren’t there. But, , how they were. They were, are, and will be there for as long as she breathes. She’s sure about it.

It took way longer than she likes to admit but after going through all of the mourning phases, - which she still prefers not to think about considering how painful it was - when she finally got to acceptance, she fought her way out and decided to abandon the phase of total isolation to put herself out there. She felt like she deserved to have some fun, after all, that’s what Moonbyul and Yongsun kept saying. They didn’t even know the real reason why Wheein was like that, but as the good friends they were, they stood by her side through all of that.

Wheein wasn’t sure if the whole loss of immortality drama also applied when an immortal would fall in love with a mortal - she believed it didn’t, but she wasn’t willing to take the risk, either way. Whenever she thinks about it she wishes she could have had more time with her. Nope, she can't think about her. What really matters it's that Wheein never got a chance to find out more. Anyways, therefore she decided to never have relationships with anyone she thought she might actually like like that. At least that’s what she told herself, when in fact, that same voice she’s always trying to suppress also repeats that no matter who she gets involved with, she will never really like anyone because she already loves someone else.

Since then, Wheein has always been very transparent in her flings and kind-of-relationships. After that, she had never been with anyone for so long until Soyoon. She was beautiful, funny and bed skills were definitely a bonus. Even though at the beginning she made her intentions very clear (“I don't do relationships,” Wheein had said between kisses at a very eventful night when they had just started their thing. “I can live with that,” Soyoon answered breathlessly.) But at some point, in the middle of the two years they spent ‘not actually together’, those words were clearly lost and fell into oblivion for Soyoon, and Wheein did nothing to change that. Mostly because Wheein saw her as a friend, - a good friend with benefits, sure - and she didn’t want to lose her. But for Soyoon they always were something more, even if that something was never labeled as a serious relationship. It was an one and only mistake, Wheein told herself, she won’t let that happen again.

"I know, I'm really sorry." Wheein sincerely apologizes, mostly to Soyoon, even though she’s already done it directly for her, but also to her friends, since she doesn’t want them to think she’s like that now. 

"Okay but back to the problem, we were talking about the cat. When does it leave?"

"I don’t know."

"Wheein!"

“Listen, as I said, when I finished things with Soyoon we got into a huge fight, right? But that still wasn't the worst part. We break up, so far so good. Two days later I went to her apartment to pick up the rest of my stuff and she gives me a box with my clothes and Ggomo on top of it.” Wheein tries to explain.

"Why would she do that?” 

“I thought the cat was hers.” They say at the same time. 

“Well, she kind of adopted him the same week we met. She said he brings back a lot of memories and that he always liked me more. She also told me that she was going to her mother's house in France, so she needed someone to take care of him. But I don’t think she meant definitely, I think it’s just her way of coping...”

"No, that can't be right." Yongsun says incredulously once again.

“But that's okay, I think she'll want him back, you know, she just needs some time. So I'll take care of him for now, that's all.”

“I like Soyoon a lot less now.” Moonbyul makes her point.

"Right? Who would do that to a little guy like that? They’re like children." Yongsun replies.

“In fact, I'm more concerned that she left him with Wheein of all people. Doesn’t she have any other friends? That animal can’t live in my apartment, I think I’m allergic to it."

"Dude, that’s impossible." Wheein says. “When you had Janggu you never had any allergies. You’re an immortal, for God's sake, you can’t have allergies since allergies can actually kill you.”

"I know! But something has been going on since you arrived with that anim-.”

"Ggomo!" Wheein corrected. 

"Whatever! You saw it yourself, I keep sneezing when I’m around it.”

“This is psychological. You just don't want to accept another pet after Janggu.”

Another childish discussion is about to take place when the waiter returns with their food. The live show also starts on the stage just behind them.

"Thank you." Yongsun thanks the waiter, more for interrupting the fight than for the food itself. Six months away and she had forgotten how much Wheein and Moonbyul liked to pick on each other. She decides to change the topic before they can go back to fight about the cat. “Anyway, Wheein, it’s great that you're finally here. As we were talking about before, you will love this place. We were thinking that maybe you could come here a few times a week to hear the artists since you are indeed our best scout.”

"And eat this food every day?" Wheein asks, still full. "Sure, sure, it comes with the territory or whatever."

"Not every day." Yongsun laughs at her enthusiasm. "You have other places to go."

"Now I understand why you only broke up with Soyoon last week... It seems like eating your own food for the last days was so good that you’re starving." Moonbyul sneers. Wheein’s actually not really a great cook but she can handle herself in the kitchen. She knows Moonbyul is only trying to get on her nerves so she chooses to ignore her in order to enjoy the good food.

Later that night, while Wheein’s settling the couch she’s going to sleep in, Moonbyul lays down on the smaller couch at her right to keep her company. Yongsun had already gone to bed and Ggomo had climbed on top of the