"It’s been a while, Ju Hyun—Ah! Right, you changed your name... How have you been, my dear daughter Irene?"

That authoritarian face never changed through the years, aside from the map of wrinkles on his face. His eye lines traced coldness that hadn't gone off since they last met. He greets Irene with a scourging smile, as if to convince her to remember everything that happened not too long ago.

"You didn’t even tell me you moved out. Why trouble your father like that? I had to go through all sorts of things just to find you."  His deep voice had a way of igniting Irene’s inner horror.

Irene barely got herself to get up, and now she’s back on the ground, shaking in fear. Her tears transpired before she could even utter a word.

This is not it, she screamed in the back of her mind. When she wished to see the world again with her bare eyes, this was not what she had hoped to see first. She felt... played. Just when she thought she’d be able to live life as everybody else around her, she’s taken back to the dark abyss.

"I thought you remained blind when you bumped into me. But seeing you cry like this, I guess you got treated well."

Paralyzation. That’s the most accurate word to describe Irene’s current state. She couldn't move an inch even as the wicked man stepped closer.

"Isn’t it rude to ignore your father like this? I think I taught you how to greet people properly." He squats to meet Irene’s gaze, which has been avoiding him for minutes. "Or was I too lenient with you?"

"P-please leave...leave me alone." Irene pleaded in whispers, barely audible.

"Leave? But I just came." He sighs. "This is why I wanted a son. It’s just too hard to tame a daughter, you see. Especially ones like you."

He raised his hand with force. And it became some sort of a mechanism. Irene flinched, waiting for that palm to land on her face. But it never came. The wicked man halted as he remembered where he was. He couldn’t take the risk of getting locked up again just after his release.

"Why are you flinching?" His hands, that halted in the air, resorted to caressing Irene’s hair. "My dearest daughter hasn’t changed at all. Still full of fears, aren’t you?"

Irene can never be sure if it’s because of her trauma, but every touch from him felt like numerous knives penetrating through an existing wound. A feeling she could never get used to.

With her remaining strength, she shoved his hands away and got up on her feet. Her abrupt movement caught him off guard, giving her a chance to escape the room.

People around her feast their eyes on her as she escapes from a prison invisible to others. The hallway felt like it was coldly turning into an endless tunnel of infinite darkness. Irene’s skin shuddered. She could feel her brain starting to defocus, searching for a way out... Aside from her own noisy breathing, there is nothing to be heard.

--

"Excuse me, have you seen the patient—"

"Oh, that girl? She came out running from there."  The woman points at the ward. "It’s been fifteen minutes since then. She rushed in that direction."

Coming back from Tiffany’s office, Seungwan had arrived to an empty ward. Irene was nowhere to be seen and the door was left wide open.

Seungwan’s gaze trailed to where the woman was pointing.

But, that’s headed to the emergency exit... and what? She came out running? Seungwan doubts what the woman just said. Unless—

She got rid of her assumptions and ran towards the exit right away. Worried that something unfavorable might happen, she bolted. Why’d you have to leave her alone?! She scolds herself.

Upon reaching the emergency exit door, she turns the knob aggressively.

"Wait, what—why is this locked?"

She pounds on the door once in an attempt to open it. When her actions went unanswered, she knew something was odd. Emergency exits are not supposed to be locked, and why now of all times? She pounded on the door again but received no response.

Spending a few moments to compose herself, Seungwan decided to take the elevator, heading a floor down. She opted to check on other emergency exits, and she was right. Only the door from upstairs was locked.

The discernment only caused her to worry more about Irene.

She ran upstairs after contemplating which direction to go in. Perhaps a little while ago she would have complained at the idea of running fast, but now her soles are feeling every step with no proper rhythm. Her feet dashed as if they were made to travel at the speed of light. She arrives at the hospital’s rooftop garden, breathing unsteadily.

She urged herself to calm down, only to get her breath taken away for the second time, seeing the person she'd been worrying about all this time.

Irene is there, seated on the bench of simple planks fixed together and painted forest green. However, the bench, for Seungwan, failed to do exactly what it was supposed to. It should have raised Irene up from the ground to see the beauty of the view, but now it’s carrying the beauty itself.

Seungwan slapped herself. She was hell-worried just a while ago. How could she instantly have such cringe-worthy thoughts?

--

Irene jolted out as a hand rested on her shoulder. She barely recovered from the shock of meeting her father as soon as she regained her eyesight, and yet…

"I’ve been looking everywhere for you. How did you get here by yourself? "

A sense of relief and reassurance came running down her system. A part of her celebrated that it was Seungwan who found her first, but she hesitated to look at Seungwan in the eye. She desperately wants to see her face, but...

"Oh? What’s wrong? Did you cry? Your eyes are swollen."  Seungwan asks anxiously.

Irene heaved a sigh. She doesn’t really have any other choice now, does she?

She lifted her head, finally getting a glimpse of Seungwan’s face.

Irene’s mouth fell open with the sight of her. Every facial feature was just beautiful. It made her wonder if she’d always had a soft spot for chubby cheeks. Because, as of the moment, she could confidently say that the most beautiful woman was standing before her.

Looking at it wasn't enough for her; she reached out her hand to touch it and feel the softness she kept within, while also meeting her gaze. That's when Seungwan pulled her closer. Her attractively expressive eyes stared, telling Irene how worried she was.

"I finally got to see you, Seungwan." Irene whispered.

In the quiet moment, when everything seemed to be put on pause, Seungwan smiled in happiness. "Even if I’m dissatisfied that you had to see me like this, I’m so happy for you, Irene… I really am."  She joked, seeing how Irene was starting to tear up again. "Don’t cry. Your eyes will get clouded by tears. It’ll be hard to see again." She wiped Irene’s tears away before folding the latter into her arms.

--

"They said you came running out of the ward earlier. Why’d you come up here?"

Seungwan’s question caught the girl, who had just finished crying, off guard. She totally forgot about him thanks to the fleeting moment.

After running away from her father, she somehow ended up on the rooftop. She knew locking the door was a hopeless move, but she had hoped that it would briefly keep her safe at least. She’s actually surprised that her father gave up on chasing her, as he had never done that before.

Irene assumed that her father feared being sent back to prison. But she knew that if the encounter a while back happened years ago, locking the door wouldn’t have kept her safe. The door would surely end up shattered.

"I was... excited. Y-yeah. That’s all. I wanted to look for you, but I realized I didn’t know what you looked like. So, I ended up h-here."  She smiled awkwardly.

Seungwan finally leaned back in contentment. "I see. Why did you lock the door though?"

"Ahh, I did t-that? I must have done it unconsciously."  Irene is ashamed of herself for the lies that came out of . She got mad at Seungwan for fooling her, and now she’s being no different.

"And the tears?"

Keeping it a secret is not the best choice she had, but it was less painful, so she couldn’t help herself. "I was h-happy. As I’ve said, I got excited."

As if they’d never see each other again, Irene relished getting lost in Seungwan’s eyes. She’s literally staring into her soul. To Irene’s defense, she’s bewitched by how expressive Seungwan’s eyes are. Her worries, guilt, joy, relief... It just shows.

"Now you can tell me about it again." Irene broke the silence.

"About what?"

"Falling in love during the first encounter?"

The way Irene said it, as if it wasn’t a big deal, flustered Seungwan. She’s already embarrassed for suddenly blurting it out, yet here comes Irene’s nonchalance, putting her in an even tighter spot.

"Oh, I guess you didn’t mean that." Irene uttered as Seungwan remained quiet.

"H-huh? Yes—I mean, no. I was being serious when I said it."  She bashfully bows her head.

"Really?"

Seungwan nods. "Yeah. I didn’t realize I said it out loud. "

Irene could only smile at Seungwan being shy. "Now I’m curious. How’d you realize you fell for me then?"

Seungwan finally raised her head, trying to remember. She smiled as she reminisced about what happened that day. When they arrived at the museum during their first encounter, none of the paintings appeared to be appealing to Seungwan, honestly. But she still described them out loud — only with beautiful and pleasant words.

"I realized it… when we were at the museum. While I was helping you visualize the paintings."

"Ahh, right. You were so good at describing. In my mind, I pictured them all beautifully."

"But they’re actually not as good as I described them to be."

Irene frowns. "What do you mean?"

"The truth is... the paintings were not handled properly. Most of them were damaged, and some of them were full of mold. To be precise, the place itself is poorly managed for certain reasons."

"So, you’ve been lying the whole time?"

Seungwan shook her head defensively. "I thought so too. At first, I was shocked at how good I was at lying. Then I realized I wasn’t. Because the whole time I uttered those beautiful words... I was looking at you. Not at the paintings, but you, Irene."

Every hint of disappointment disappeared from Irene’s face, but she is now flushing red. She wished she didn't blush so fast; she wished that she had the ability to keep her emotions to herself. Because in an instant, her feelings showed all over, as if she had written them in a little note and handed them out to Seungwan.

"I like you… I know I shouldn’t feel this way towards you, but I can’t help it Irene. I just like you so much to deny it to you—and to myself." Seungwan confessed.

"Seungwan, I already told you, didn’t I? None of those were your fault. You can’t keep on blaming yourself like that… And why shouldn’t you feel that way towards me? There’s nothing wrong with that. If you need something to excuse yourself from our situation, then fine. I’ll give you one. I like you too, Seungwan. I like you a lot."

There was nothing else for them to say. Smoothly, Seungwan took Irene’s hands, slightly giving a squeeze, as if asking permission for what she was about to do next. Her hand slid up to Irene’s arms, and one tangled itself in the latter’s hair. Irene shivered under her touch. Seungwan moved in closer, drawing Irene closer with her hand resting between her shoulder blades.

Irene simply doesn't know what to do. Unconsciously, her hands had wrapped around Seungwan’s shoulders and were pulling her closer before she realized what she was doing. Seungwan’s breathing became shallow as she felt Irene’s face not more than an inch away.

But then Irene’s heart drops from the loud ringing of Seungwan’s phone. She pushed against her shoulders just enough for one to pull away. Seungwan breathes heavily, almost sadly. She maximized her ringtone volume in case of emergencies involving Irene, and now she can’t even regret doing it in the first place.

"You should answer that." Irene mumbled, looking up at her so she could see her lips. And her disappointment. "It could be urgent."

Seungwan picked up Seulgi’s call, cursing in the back of her mind. ["What is it?"]

["Are you with Irene? She’s not in her ward."] Seulgi’s obviously worried for her, but none of them seem to be thankful at the moment.

["Yeah, I’m with her."] She answered, followed by a sigh. ["Why?"]

["Oh? What’s with the sigh? I must have called at a bad timing."] Seulgi giggles. ["Sorry for that, but I have to check on her before my appointment with another patient."]

["Alright, we’ll be there in a second."]

They stared at each other before helplessly laughing at the awkward moment they shared. "We should get going." Seungwan stood up first, offering Irene a hand.

On their way back, they’re put to a halt as a gorgeous blonde woman with a shapely figure stops before them, blocking the way. "Seungwan!" The woman, flaunting her elegant aura, greeted. She leans forward for a peck on both of Seungwan’s cheeks—or might as well call them kisses. They weren't light enough to be considered a peck.

She did it before Seungwan could even recognize her. Thus, Seungwan was taken aback, blinking continuously.

"Oops, sorry. You’ve been in Canada for so long. I thought you'd gotten used to that kind of greeting. I missed you—Wait, do you even recognize me?"

"Mina?" Seungwan utters, lacking confidence. "H-hey, it’s nice seeing you again, but what are you doing here?"

"Oh, Tiffany unnie didn’t tell you? She personally reached out to me to take care of you, dummy. I guess you’ve been too busy, you forgot that I studied psychiatry."

"Y-you’re a psychiatrist now?"

"Yep, and personally here for you~" She shows off her bubbly personality.

Their oddly unexciting reunion was delayed as Irene walked away on her own. With gestures asking for Mina to wait, Seungwan ran after her.

"Irene…" She reaches out for her hand.

"Let go. I have to go, remember?" She withdraws her hand before Seungwan can tightly clutch it.

"I’ll go with you. I just have to—"

"No. You stay. Stay here and greet your friend. CANADIAN STYLE."

And she walked away, just like that.

A/N: Woah! I have mixed feelings writing this chapter... How was it for you?