"dahyun!  i am so glad you decided to work for me!” jihyo smiled, hugging her friend.

“well, i know jinyoung promised you the place so... might as well help that grandpa out.” dahyun joked.

dahyun sat in the small meeting room, picking at her nails.  this was her fault.  she forgot to take off her ring.  she shouldn’t have come on the trip with mina.  this was all her fault.

“what do you mean korea knows?  what do they know?” mina asked, sitting on the hotel bed as dahyun paced back and forth.

“us.” dahyun whispered.

jihyo promised dahyun her and mina’s relationship would never get in the way of her career.  but this just shows it absolutely will.

mina was silent.  dahyun decided to let mina be silent and left for korea the next day, leaving mina in japan with her family.

“dahyun...  i’m so sorry.  i should’ve let you bring bodyguards...” jihyo whispered to dahyun.  she just smiled at the older woman and her head snapped towards the door.  Park Jinyoung.

“so, you want to stay with us awhile?” her father asked.

“if you don’t mind.  i just... ever since dahyun took the job we never have privacy on dates.  i just want some quietness.” mina sighed.  her mother and father happily let mina stay in her old room for awhile.  she always expressed that dahyuns job was great... but it was tiring.  mina too worked for JYPE, as a choreographer but only on the weekends.  

the two rarely argued because they knew each other well.  dahyun knew mina was in japan just wanting some space.  and that was fine.

“dahyun, what do you want to do?” jinyoung asked.  dahyun bit her bottom lip and sighed.

“tell them the truth.  i’ve been in a relationship since my high school years, i got married maybe a year after i became a singer, and have been married to my wife ever since.  do not say her name, i want mina to still have her privacy.” dahyun spoke.  jihyo felt a smile on her lips.  she had seen dahyun grow from immature to a very mature woman.

“okay.  you are dismissed.” jinyoung nodded and dahyun got up, bowed, and left.  the first person she called was mina.

who didn’t answer.

so she left a voice mail.

“hey, mina.  umm, i got everything settled, but i left your name up to you.  umm... i never knew adulting was so hard uh...” dahyun let out a chuckle, “i decided to-“ dahyun’s phone began to ring.  she ended the voicemail and answered.

“hello?” dahyun answered.

“Mrs. Dahyun, hi.  I left a voicemail regarding your health, but we missed one of the test.  I sent your blood in... and you’re positive for stage 2 of skin cancer.  i remember you telling me how you would vomit early in the morning and you told me you weren’t pregnant.  and how you had some hair loss.  i would like you to look over some options of chemo and if i could get you in for another appointment.”

silence.  dahyun almost fell back, but felt herself fall against the table, catching herself.

“uh, y-yeah... i’ll talk with my job and see what days I can get off.  thank you.” dahyun ended the call and set the phone down.  she slowly kneeled down, sitting on her knees and stared at the floor under her.

“.” dahyun closed her eyes and covered her eyes.

as the next week past, mina arrived back to her and dahyun’s house after a few days.  the two’s life was fairly normal, except dahyun always looked like she had something on her mind.

she stood at the stove, cooking some chicken in a pan.

mina started to smell something burning so she ran to the kitchen.

“dahyun?  dahyun, move!” mina gasped, pulling dahyun away from the chicken that was on fire and burnt.

“oh!” dahyun looked around, grabbing the fire extinguisher and blowing it onto the stove, getting rid of the fire.

the two made eye contact, but dahyun looked away first.

“dahyun, are you-“ one of their phones started ringing.

dahyun set the fire exti