Byulyi dreaded this alumni reunion because it meant going home. To her hometown.

The same place she was running away from.

No, that was wrong. She wasn’t actually running away from her hometown. How could she when her family still lived there, and heaven knows that her family is everything to her. What she was running away from was the painful memories that place held.

She did her best not to go home. When holidays came around, she picked her family up and they spent it with her in Seoul. Her parents, and sisters’ birthdays were all spent together through video calling. She did everything to avoid going home and facing her heartbreak.

Byulyi sighed as unwanted memories started to flood her mind. She closed her eyes tightly and whisked them all away. She was already starting to pack for her short stay in her hometown, and she couldn’t afford for another scolding from Hyejin through the phone. Seriously, the woman was three years younger than her, why is she scolding Byulyi?

But Byulyi knows why lets her. Because Hyejin is right most of the time, and she just cares for Byulyi’s well-being.

“I better see you at the alumni homecoming.” Hyejin said on the phone a week ago, approximately three weeks after she received the invitation through her mail. “You better be, Moon Byulyi, it’s been ten years, or more I don’t know, since you set foot in Bucheon.”

Byulyi rolled her eyes. “Hyejin—”

“I will not take no. Wheein made sure that that event is perfect, and she’s proud to show it to her bestfriends. You will show up and you will tell her that she did a magnificent job.”

Byulyi sighed harshly. So, that’s why Hyejin wanted her to come. Her wife planned the whole thing.

“Fine.” She sighed again. “Will she be there?” she cleared because it clamped up as her mind wandered to a painful memory. “Yongsun?”

She hears Hyejin sigh on the other end. “She hasn’t RSVP’d but Wheein sent her an invitation. I told you, she wants to see her bestfriends again.”

Bestfriends.

Yongsun and Byulyi were more than bestfriends. They were soulmates. Or that’s what she thought before Yongsun singlehandedly took her heart out of her chest and crushed it with her own palm.

The four of them knew each other well. They grew up together as they were next-door neighbors. At first, it was just the three of them; Byulyi, Wheein, and Hyejin. One day, they decided to adopt this cheeky girl (how does one have so much cheek?), a year older than Byulyi, who was always picking fights with other children for being mean to her. After that, the four of them became inseparable. Their parents always joked about them changing the term ‘three musketeers’ with ‘four musketeers’ because they were always together.

Wheein and Hyejin shared the exact same interests, even with food. Especially with food. But Byulyi, although she could vibe with whatever the younger girls did, she had a little quirk with food. And Yongsun proved to be her perfect match when her food preferences were the same with Byulyi’s. Their dynamic changed again but not by much. They became a group of duos just because of food preference differences.

Up until Byulyi’s sophomore year in highschool, everything was fine. Until one day a girl confessed that she was attracted to Byulyi. She declined because it wasn’t in her mind back then to date but her mind had played with the idea of being with a girl. And the confession just solidified something she had been putting aside for a while; her uality.

She immediately confessed to her mom that day after she went home. Her mother just waved her hand, and said ‘So, what about it? I made chocolate cake. Make sure you share it with your friends’. She was shocked that her mother didn’t even care so she went to her father and told him the same thing. Her father looked at her, smiled, and said ‘Your mother made chocolate cake. Make sure you share it with your friends’.

In her young mind, she got frustrated because she felt as if her family wasn’t validating her feelings but it was her family’s way of telling her it was okay, that it was normal, and that she was accepted.

Byulyi’s eyes opened to a different world after that confession. Then, she was confronted by another thing she was pushing aside. She had a crush on her friend, on Yongsun.

This tore her up inside because first; they were friends for ’s sakes. She couldn’t afford to make things weird between them. Second, and most importantly, she wasn’t sure that Yongsun felt the same way, or if she ever considered dating girls. Combining all her insecurities, and worries, she just settled on hiding her feelings.

Byulyi’s junior year, and Yongsun’s senior year, when she made the mistake of letting her feelings for the older girl slip through .

“Byulyi…” Yongsun looked shock.

Yongsun was telling her about a guy who asked her to grad ball, and Byulyi’s jealousy took over her consciousness. She just wanted to ask Yongsun why she didn’t think about Byulyi before saying yes. They already went to all the dances, even prom, together. What was another dance with Byulyi? It was also special since it was her last dance before college.

Byulyi looked down on the floor of Yongsun’s floor in embarrassment. She couldn’t believe she just told Yongsun she liked her. What would happen now?

“Forget about it, Yong.” She sighed. “I’m going home. It’s getting late anyway.”

She didn’t have to hurry home since home was across the street but she ran as if she was being chased.

Some other senior took Byulyi to grad ball and what she witnessed broke her heart.

Yongsun was kissing the guy that she came with.

Without saying anything to her own date, she left the venue, went home and ransacked her father’s beer stash in their garage. When her father suddenly walked in on her drinking, she panicked and tried to hide the can but he just settles in the other bean bag beside Byulyi.

“Want to talk about it?”

It was embarrassing how Byulyi suddenly broke down.

The next morning, she asked to be sent away to Seoul. To spend the summer with their extended family.

“Yongsun’s moving away in a month. Won’t you say goodbye?” Her mother had asked.

Funny how it slipped Byulyi’s mind that she only asked about Yongsun and not about Wheein and Hyejin.

Byulyi shook her head. “I’ll just leave a letter for her.” She paused. “Them. I’ll leave a letter for them. Would you mind handing them out for me?”

Her mother of course didn’t mind but her eyes held a deep understanding. One that Byulyi missed again, and wouldn’t realize what it meant until she was more mature.

She came back home for a whike just to send Yongsun away to college, even fron afar. Then, she went back to Seoul where she finished her studies and eventually started to work.

She didn’t see Yongsun after that. Partly because she spent a lot of time away, in uni, and Byulyi… well, Byulyi avoided going home.

Byulyi sighed as she brought herself back to present time.

“Stop daydreaming and finish packing, Moon Byulyi.” She mutters to herself.

“Byulyi!” her mother squealed in delight and ran up to hug her tightly.

Byulyi laughed. She didn’t tell her family she was coming home, and seeing how happy her mother was made her proud of her decision.

“Surprise.” She says while chuckling.

“You brat. I haven’t cleaned your room.” Her mother complained as she pulls away.

“Don’t bother. I’m staying an inn nearby.”

Her mother frowned at her. “Nonsense. You’re staying here.”

She got dragged inside their house where her sisters ran up to her in and greeted her in the same manner as their mother. Her father just waited until they settled and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

“Welcome home, Byulyi.” He said.

“Welcome home to me.” She whispered back.

Her mother and sisters immediately went to work on cleaning her old room. She tried to persuade her mother to just let her stay in an inn but her mother just smacked her shoulders at her every attempt. Byulyi wanted to go back to Seoul in one piece so she just relented.

Dinner came and they had a very hearty conversation at the dining table. Most part of it was her sisters’ bickering, and her father teasing their youngest sister about having a boyfriend. Byulyi felt so happy that she almost didn’t want to go back to Seoul.

Almost.

The thing she dreaded was scheduled this weekend so she couldn’t say for sure.

She met up with Wheein and Hyejin the next morning.

Wheein immediately ran up to hug her and pepper her face with kisses when they met. Hyejin laughing