Miss Kim picked me up the next day in the morning. She greeted me with a warm smile as she opened the passenger seat door for me.

“Good morning, Whee”

“Good morning too, Yongsun-unnie”

Her smile got brighter at hearing me call her unnie again. She also reached to gently pinch my cheek, making me pout at her.

“Haven’t had enough sleep?”

“It’s still too early, unnie” I complained as I got inside her car.

She shut the door for me. I searched for the seatbelt while rubbing my eyes off of sleep.

After spending the whole day running around and playing yesterday, I am now paying the price of not giving myself time to rest even when others had insisted. Only when it was time to go home did I stop and rest. Miss Kim drove me and Ggomo home and I slept for the entire ride out of pure exhaustion.

Miss Kim grabbed the lock from my hands and did my seatbelt while I mumbled my thanks.

“Did you run out of coffee again?”

I shook my head first before adjusting in my seat. I rested my entire upper body on the backrest, breathing deeply as I closed my eyes.

“Then why are you still so sleepy? Was it because of yesterday?”

I nodded, not bothering to open my eyes.

Miss Kim chuckled before I felt her hand holding mine. “I’m still allowed to do this, right?”

“Unnie… shh. I’ll sleep on our way to where you want to take me” I drowsily whispered.

Miss Kim chuckled again. This time I felt her soft lips on the back of my hand. Then she rested our interlocked hands on her lap.

“Whatever the baby wants…”

I wanted to sleep but I wasn’t able to sleep.

Every time she kisses my hand, it would always arouse excitement and these fluttery feelings inside me. And even though she whispered something in English under her breath, I totally understood what she said. As a result, my heart was a mess, my mind was recalling the soft tingling feelings I felt from her kiss, and my lips were fighting not to curve upwards.

And then her thumb started caressing the knuckles on the back of my hand. My mind just wandered towards that and my skin focused on the feeling of her gentle finger. It’s so tingly but it’s a good kind of tingly.

I can’t sleep.

“I can’t sleep, unnie” I whispered.

“It will be better if you’ll recline your seat. Wait, let me…”

She let go of my hand and that made me pout.

I finally opened my eyes to see her getting busy having her Raven to drive us. My hand stayed lying on her lap when she moved her seat backwards. Then she reached over to adjust my seat.

Her closeness surprised me but washed my pout eventually. Her familiar scent surrounded me. She always smelled like an elegant flower. Not the kind of flowery scent for girls but richer and fuller. Something that belonged more to a woman than a girl.

My seat fell backwards and now I am leaning back on my seat halfway lying down. I got too focused on our closeness that I forgot to tell her I didn’t want to sleep anymore.

She sat back again on her seat and stared at me with worry in her eyes. “Is that okay?” she asked.

“I can’t sleep anymore, unnie”

That made her frown while her eyebrows furrowed even more, forming more wrinkles in between her brows.

“Do you want me to play some music?”

I silently giggled as I shook my head.

She still looked so confused but she smiled at hearing me laugh.

“I can’t sleep anymore. That’s all. Can you also lean your chair back? Is it safe? I want to see you properly”

“Of course”

As she adjusted her chair, I laid on my side so I could look at her. She mirrored my position while our hands were connected once again, resting on the center console.

“Are you having trouble sleeping?” she asked.

I shook my head. “I’m just fully awake now. That’s all”

Her eyes scanned my face because despite my words, she still looked unconvinced and worried.

“Can you tell me where we’re heading?” I asked, changing the subject.

“To the columbarium. I want you to meet Gabby”

I’m even more awake now than just a second ago.

I gasped while Miss Kim only gave me a sad smile. “You mean… she’s… she’s…”

She squeezed my hand and nodded at my silent question. “I want to tell you everything about me, my past, my relationship with Hyejin. Everything. I’m actually scared about today but Jinnie has been nagging me since I started dating you. She said that if I’m serious about you then I better start to move on and forget about Gabby. And I think this is how I’m going to start… by telling you everything. Can you promise me one thing though?”

My heart fluttered at knowing she’s serious about me because I am too. It’s just that the uncertainty of how things will turn out today scares me a little bit.

But I will listen and stay open-minded.

“What is it?”

She smiled nervously, opting to stare at our hands. “Can you not let go of this hand until I finish telling you everything? I have a feeling that the way you’ll look at me will change after knowing my past. Please?” she asked, eyes hesitant, nervous, and hopeful.

I squeezed her hand in return as I nodded. “Okay”

“Thank you…” She sighed in relief. “I guess I better start talking while Raven drives us to Gabby”

“Okay. I promise to listen to everything, unnie”

She smiled gratefully.

“I met her as Gabriella Ahn. I’ve known her as Gabriella Jung. But she was Gabriella Kim or Gabby for as long as I can remember”

Miss Kim’s gaze was lost to her memories of Gabby. There was longing in her voice and sadness in her eyes. And the way she held onto my hand says that it still hurts her having to talk about Gabby.

“I met her through Hyejin since we worked in the same company in LA but we worked in different departments. I was in the IT department and Hyejin’s in the management department. In LA, I’m known as Solar, which is my English name, and Jinnie’s Maria”

“Sola Kim?” I tried running her name on my tongue.

She smiled brightly as she nodded at me. “You got that right. Gabby is Hyejin’s best friend and adopted sister. They’ve known each other their whole lives but they’d rather call themselves best friends. I’ve never known she has a sister so I was curious when I saw Gabby at the company lobby one time.

“In some ways, Gabby is just like you, Whee. Smart, cute, beautiful, genuine… But in so many ways, you two are different”

“Miss Ahn said we have a lot of similarities”

“You did,” Miss Kim agreed. “At one quick glance, your facial features tell me you're Gabby but the longer I stare, the more I realize you two are totally different from each other. As a start…” She reached over and brushed her hand over my hair. “You have this bright orange hair that will always ask anyone’s attention while Gabby has short dark hair.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you… Why orange?” she asked, amused.

I shrugged in response, head shaking.

“Just”—she shrugged—“like that?”

“Yes.” I shrugged again, making her laugh.

“You’re very pretty in it. I must say…”

“Ya…” I brought my free hand up to my face to cover my blush.

Miss Kim laughed harder. “You really are though…”

“You’re changing the topic, unnie” I complained.

“Sorry” she whispered while squeezing my hand. “Where was I again? Uhm… Oh, the differences… There’s a lot, Whee. Even though you share the same birthday, family name, and that single dimple on your right cheek, you are a completely different person”

I lowered my hand to look at her as she was explaining and I was met by a very warm smile she directed to me.

“I can name them all but I’ll focus on explaining my past first”

Her eyebrows danced again above her eyes, demanding for attention, so I nodded at her.

“I’ve mentioned this before but Gabby is my type and so are you. Though the things I like about you and her are different. With Gabby, I like how simple she is. I like the feeling of having to protect her, to keep her safe, to make her happy all the time. In fact, that’s exactly what I vowed to her on our wedding day. To love her, keep her happy, protect her always, and make her smile for as long as she’s married to me.

“In return, she takes care of me like a very good housewife. She knows my cues. She knows how to comfort me in the many different conflicted feelings I have over work and other things. She cooks for me and make sure that I am well rested”

I’m not going to lie, but the way Miss Kim said this with so much love and passion makes me a little jealous. Because deep down, in the past few days I’ve realized, I love her. I fell in love with her.

“Our marriage was fantastic. We sometimes argue because she was too shy, too nervous, timid, and that she let her nervousness and fears get in the way first before experiencing new things. But again, those were the things that made me love her even more. I feel important in her life because I can make her comfortable. I can protect her and keep her safe. And there’s really nothing more that I ask than to be right beside her. I was content with what we have”

Her thumb started unconsciously rubbing the back of my hand as she sighed deeply.

“Our marriage should’ve been fantastic…” she whispered with so much sadness and regret.

Her eyes looked conflicted so I kept quiet and let her process her emotions first. I waited on my seat and just watched so many emotions that passed through her eyes. I offered comfort by holding her hand tightly.

The car rolled slowly until it eventually stopped. This prompted Miss Kim out of internal struggle.

“We’re here. Let me just park the car and then I’ll continue where I was, okay?”

“Okay, unnie”

She smiled at me before readjusting our seats again. She drove the car this time to look for a parking spot. She went to the trunk of her car first before meeting me by the passenger seat bringing a small bouquet of flowers. Her hand immediately found mine and we started slowly walking towards the building.

“Jinnie spent her day here yesterday. We always do but there was a mistake in my delivery that I had to check on how things were going at the shelter. I also wanted to spend the day with you”

“It was also Gabby’s birthday yesterday, right?”

“Yes”

“Did you feel bad that you didn’t get to spend it with her and Miss Ahn?”

“I feel bad having to leave Hyejin on her own but…” She smiled at me and squeezed my hand. “I also want to spend it with you too”

“Thank you… For yesterday”

She softly chuckled, pulling me closer to her. “You’ve already thanked me”

I pouted. “It feels like it wasn’t enough”

Her brown eyes were staring intently at me again as she raised my hand to her lips. “To me, it was more than enough”

She laughed again at seeing me blush and only smiled when I pouted at her.

“Gabby loves to garden” she said, bringing us back to what we were talking about in her car. “All plants in the office and in the garden were personally taken care of by her. When Jinnie and I had to move here, we didn’t want to leave Gabby in Santa Clarita. That’s where we live, by the way. So we brought her ashes here and the plants too. Mercedes helped me transport the plants, my archives, mainframes, and that car I’m driving now”

We climbed the stairs and reached the second level in the building. Miss Kim led me to the third room to the right of the stairs. We entered there and stopped right in the middle. She let go of my hand to attach the flowers on the glass panel that kept the urn in safety.

There are pictures of Miss Kim, Miss Ahn, and what I think is Gabby surrounding the urn. There’s also pictures of what Miss Ahn looked like when she was young and a young Gabby, I think, with their parents.

From the pictures, we do look similar but I know that’s not me. I can already tell.

She stood beside me again and held my hand. Then she breathed deeply while I only watched her.

“Whee…” Miss Kim said, meeting my gaze with a smile. “I want you to meet Gabby”

I smiled at Miss Kim first before giving a small bow towards Gabby’s urn as a sign of respect.

“Gabby… This is Wheein. The one I’ve been telling you about”

I turned to Miss Kim again, surprised to hear this. She talks about me to Gabby?

She chuckled at the look on my face and nodded at the question lurking in my mind. She then squeezed my hand and said, “Would you mind if we stay quiet for a while? I just want to greet her on her birthday”

“I don’t mind, unnie” I said with a shake of my head.

“Thank you” she whispered before facing Gabby’s urn.

I stayed quiet right beside her while still holding her hand. It was a little awkward but I promised that I’ll hold her hand until this day ends. And I know how important this is to her.

She has always been quiet and mysterious. She and