Eunbi rushed over to Hyewon’s apartment after Chaeyeon had told her what had happened. She rang the bell as many times as she could without breaking it. The door opened revealing a disgruntled Minju.

“What’s your problem? I thought we were just to leave out the plates so you can pick it up. Why are Korea’s deliverymen so--- Oh. Hi Eunbi.” Minju said the last two words louder than the others. She was anything but subtle about her intentions of informing Hyewon.

“Who is it?”

Minju could only shake her head at her failed attempt at subtlety, “It’s Eunbi!”

“Who?”

“EUNBI!” It was Eunbi’s turn to scream as she marched towards the kitchen where her girlfriend was. She was about to get there when she was suddenly tripped by an unknown object.

“What the--? Hyewon, what is that?” Eunbi pointed to the luggage bag haphazardly placed in the middle of the living room.

“Let me explain, Eunbi---”

“You’re leaving?”

The younger girl remained mum, not knowing how to respond.

Minju tried to interject, “Eunbi, please listen to Hyewon. She has a good enough reason---”

“Good enough to ghost me for a week? Were you just preparing me for when you’re going to be gone? That’s it. We’re done!” Eunbi bolted out of the apartment and slammed the door behind her.

Minju could only look on to her older cousin, who was fighting back her tears.

“Do you know what the worst thing about that was, Minju?” asked Hyewon, her voice shaking after every syllable.

“I didn’t even hear her.”

----

Eunbi had been sulking in her room for three days now. She was frustrated about how her girlfriend handled things and hid the fact that she was leaving the country soon without telling her why, but now that she has had time to think about it, the root of her frustration was not the deceit and the secrets Hyewon had.

It was the fact that she felt helpless about it.

Hyewon was always the one who protected her. She was the one who shielded her whenever she got a panic attack out in public. She was the one who always handed her spare noise cancelling headphones whenever they passed a place with loud noises. She was the one who held her hand whenever she felt anxious or when she just simply hated people for existing. Hyewon was the person she could depend on, but why did Hyewon feel like she could not depend on Eunbi?

Eunbi unlocked her phone and read the last message that she received from Hyewon right after she left the younger woman's apartment.

Hey Eunbi. I'm sorry for not telling you about me leaving. Everything has just been overwhelming and after the incident at SNU, I was lost and I did not know what to do. 

Eunbi, I'm losing my hearing. I know, I know. It's ironic for an acoustic engineer to lose their hearing, but it's happening and I know you've noticed it. It takes you three times to call my name and get my attention when we're at the supermarket. You ask me how I don't know the song you were bopping to on the radio. The most obvious one was when I did not hear a full band approaching us and it led to your most recent panic attack. That was when I felt that I needed to do something about my hearing loss. I want, no, I need to protect you and I cannot do that in my current state.

When Minju first came to Korea, she told me about this experimental treatment for people like me who have degenerating hearing. She told me that slots for getting the treatment have opened up again recently. I hesitated because I did not want to leave you alone, but now I think I don't have a choice. That's why I'm leaving for Toronto three days from now.