"A house made of cards, and us inside

Even if you say you see the end, 

even if you say it'll collapse soon

just stay a little more like this"

Miyeon checked her watch again. She came a bit too early, about 20 minutes early actually, but that's only because she wanted to deal with this as quickly as possible and just go home and let the awkwardness leave her body for the day; Still, despite feeling out of place and a bit annoyed by the current situation, she was still polite enough to quickly bow to the seniors that walked by; Part of her is mad that Minnie put her up to this as a way to punish her for how she acted back when they went watch the movies. Well, perhaps punish wasn't the best choice of words but is how the woman currently felt standing by the hallway of the filming studio, waiting for Shuhua to come out so she could pick her up and drive her home as Yuqi decided to borrow the taiwanesse's car that day for some reason and Minnie had asked her very understanding and kind wife to go pick her up as she was busy with work yet again. The same old excuse, Miyeon thought to herself. 

"The auditions will only take place in two hours" She heard the voice of a man next to her, which made her startled for a quick second as she looked at him. He was taller than her, with hair as black as his eyes. "You might wanna come back later" He instructed with a smile on his lips and she couldn't help smiling back and then awkwardly chuckle.

"No, I-I'm not here for the auditions." She was quick to explain. "I'm here to pick up a fri-" She's not your friend anymore, Miyeon a voice rings in the back of her head. "I came to pick up someone, T-That's all. Really"

"Oh!..." His eyes move down and then up as if measuring her. "You look like you could be an actress." He said, with a smile and Miyeon couldn't stop the heat on her cheeks at the compliment. 

"That's nice of you to say-"

He offered his hand to her. "Hwiyoung."

"Miyeon." She replied, accepting his handshake.

"Who did you come to pick up? Usually most actors are already out and about" He told her. 

"I'm here to pick up Yeh Shuhua" He seemed surprised by that, and the woman can't blame him. That kid made a name for herself.

"You two are friends?" He seemed surprised and Miyeon doesn't blame him, she can only assume that Yuqi was the only person those people were used to seeing with Shuhua. 

"Yes." No. "We've known each other since high school." 

"We're in the same drama together." He replied, smiling proudly. "As for Shuhua it seems that she's talking with our director about the script. She does that a lot." He added. 

Still obsessive. Miyeon thought.

"Sounds like her." She checked her watch again. "Do you think this is gonna take too long?"

"I don't know, honestly." He said. "We have a waiting area, I can take you there while you wait for her." He suggested and Miyeon smilled 

"Thank you" She said before following him. 

x--------------------×-------------------x

Soyeon thinks it is a coincidence. 

Yuqi would rather believe it's fate. 

Meeting in the grocery store was not something that the korean woman was looking for that afternoon, Yuqi however didn't seem that bothered by it and was quick to make conversation once they were next to each other, picking what pasta they would take home that day. 

"Still declaring war against vegetables, I see" The chinese woman comments with a smile as she notices everything but vegetables inside the older's shopping cart; The comment usually would result on them bantering and bickering about how Soyeon doesn't need any carrots on her daily diet while Yuqi would try to convince her that vegetables were in fact, tasty. 

"What are you doing here?" It's what Soyeon said instead, and Yuqi felt like a fool for thinking the opposite would happen, But her hopes were still high either way. 

"Groceries. Just like you" Yuqi replied. "I can't trust Shuhua to remember we have to eat." The chinese woman knew that if it was up to her taiwanesse friend, they would live of coffee and chocolate bars. 

"Still babying Shuhua, I see," Soyeon pointed out. "But I guess I get it now." She added and Yuqi gulped as she knew what the other was talking about. 

"She's my family." Yuqi replied, the playfulness in her voice was gone and Soyeon looked at her, confused by the sudden mood shift.  "Like a sister." She then added with a smile. "Nothing more, Nothing less." 

Soyeon knew what the other meant, she knew this was Yuqi's way to say that all those past feelings she had for Shuhua were long gone and that their relationship was nothing but platonic and she couldn't stop herself from feeling satisfied by those words despite telling herself that the way Yuqi feels about Shuhua is none of her business and wouldn't change anything between them. She was moving on after a long time.

"Well, that's good for you." She said, placing the past inside her shopping cart before moving on, only to be followed by the other. "Do you need anything else?" 

"Your number" Yuqi told her and Soyeon stopped, surprised before looking at the chinese woman who didn't seem flustered by her request. "I have your apartment's number but-"

"No." 

"Soyeon-"

"Yuqi-"

"I still want to be close to you." and she wasn't going to let some guy take Soyeon away, she got her once without even trying, she could do it again, and if Soojin's words from before were any indicator, Soyeon wasn't in an actual relationship so everything was fair. "We used to be friends before anything else." She then said and watched as the other sighs. 

"and we drifted apart for a reason."

"a reason that we can put in the past, where it belongs." Yuqi told her. "You know how persistent I can be so-"

"Ok, fine. I'll give you my number." Yuqi smiled wide before handing her phone to Soyeon. "Just so you stop talking!"

"That won't happen either" The other said, following her around the store as she watched Soyeon quickly type in her number. 

x--------------------×-------------------x

"Is actually my first lead role." Hwiyoung told her with a proud smile and Miyeon smiled back.

"It must be cool, exciting even." 

"It is!" She could tell he was passionate about what he does, she smiled at that and couldn't help feeling a little envious as she looked at her own life and noticed that wasn't much to share. She never once thought that she would resent being the stay at home mom, after school was over she didn't really think about what to do with her life and then marriage came and then she had a child. Now she couldn't help but feel like she might have rushed things too much. 

Do I regret it? She asked herself.

"Oh." Hwiyoung says, suddenly as he checked his watch. "It's my time to go now, Noona, it was nice talking to you." He told her with a warm smile before there's a soft shade of red on his cheeks. "Can I have your number? we can be friends!" He offered. 

"Of course." Miyeon was quick to accept as she gave the man her phone while taking his and typing her number. She tells herself she needs more friends of her own, all of her friends are Minnie's friends so meeting new people wouldn't hurt. "Here." She says, giving it back to him who said a quick thank you before saying his goodbye and leaving. 

Miyeon looked around and crossed her arms, hoping for Shuhua to show up, But instead found her standing by the elevator looking in her direction, only approaching when the older one looked at her, she seemed both surprised and confused and before she could say anything, Miyeon was the one to break the silence.

"Minnie told me to come pick you up, nothing