Five months ago, in Seoul

Karina's phone chimed, interrupting whatever yoga pose she was attempting.

📷 Instagram: notningning just posted a photo.

She Instagram notifications for her cousin after they left South Korea. Their falling out due to cutting things off with Winter dragged on for years. Despite Karina's attempts to reach out, Ning remained unresponsive. Initially unsure of where they went, Karina found solace in Ning's online updates, easing some guilt after what happened.

"Rina?" A knock on the door accompanied by a guy peering into her yoga session disrupted the tranquility.

"Excuse me, you are not allowed inside this room!" Her instructor promptly closed the door.

"Who the hell was that?" Karina questioned, bewildered by the intrusion and the use of the name 'Rina.' She didn't appreciate it.

"I have no idea. Probably some unhinged fan who sneaked inside. Call your manager, now," demanded the instructor.

Karina quickly dialed Jisoo's number.

"That was Mr. Park. Didn't you read the email I forwarded?!" Jisoo scolded her during lunch after yoga.

"I'm busy, that's why I have you. To read my emails," came Karina's curt response. "And I don't care who he is. He cannot barge in during my yoga classes."

"I'm sorry, I'll have a talk with him. You got the part, by the way."

"Which one?"

"The surfer biopic short series. We auditioned for that a few months ago."

"Oh," Karina responded halfheartedly. She wasn't genuinely excited about this. The audition was a result of her mom's insistence, and with the movie produced by a close family friend, Mr. Park, she knew she'd be chosen. She does not care about being called a nepo baby. Karina's stance regarding that is either you whine about it every day or embrace it and do good. She prefers the latter.

Her problem with this project was her mom micromanaging her career.

"What do you mean, 'Oh'? Aren't you excited? I thought dating that surfer was you preparing for the role."

Karina remained unfazed, continuing to eat her lunch.

"What was her name? Ryujin?" Jisoo continued. "Just make sure she isn't one of those lunatics you dated. You're like a magnet for crazy people, y'know?"

"Can we finish up and go?" Karina ignored her manager's hounding.

"Oh, and the production team is currently scouting for locations. They can't film on any of the beaches here because of some oil spill thing. They mentioned Bali, Hawaii, Fiji, Siargao—"

"Siargao, like the Philippines?" Karina looked up this time.

"I don't know, I'm not a geography expert. Why?" Jisoo replied, scanning the details on her phone.

"No reason." Karina responded. She immediately opened Ning's Instagram posts and scrolled through. She definitely knew where they were. She was there once.

She could say she's probably moved on. A bunch of stuff has gone down in her life; she's juggling tons of projects, and she did get the fame and career she aimed for. But every now and then, like really, really rare moments, she catches herself thinking about Winter and quietly wishes she knew what the other girl was up to.

Occasionally, she'd click on articles about her winning surf competitions, half-hoping to find any trace of her whereabouts yet there was nothing.

The only updates she got were from Ning's Instagram posts. Knowing they were doing okay brought some relief. All Karina really wanted was to make sure Winter was okay.

🌊🌊🌊

Siargao, currently

"I hate her guts," Aeri's mouth was full of pancit canton (Filipino stir-fried noodles), "She's a full-blown superstar yet she chooses to lounge here? At our apartment? Ugh. I've always hated the Yus." She continued, the plate clean.

Aeri grew up in South Korea and is a professional swim coach. After her family's business went bankrupt, she jetted off to Siargao for a breather and she fell in love with the place. She shot out invites to a few friends, including Seulgi, Winter's surf coach.

Back in South Korea, amidst the show business rivalry between the influential Yu and Kim families, Aeri found herself drawn to Winter's side. She admired how her friend never gave a no matter how much crap the media threw at her. She always thought how Winter was able to handle all the scrutiny.

"Sometimes it's hard to believe that Karina and Ning are from the same family. They're complete opposites and do not share the same values at all." Aeri rambled on as she tackled the dishes.

Winter sat there in silence, just nodding along to whatever was being said, keeping her thoughts to herself.

Knowing Karina inside out, she could vouch for the fact that despite once leaving her hanging, Karina wasn't all that bad. Sure, she had her quirks – very high maintenance, a disaster in the kitchen, seriously clumsy, and can't multitask to save her life. Yet, beneath all that, Karina was a pretty decent person.

But of course, she couldn't tell Aeri that. Opening up about how Karina was once her on-again, off-again sort of girlfriend would unleash a saga that had run its course and was firmly in the past. Some stories are best left untold.

"I heard from Seulgi that you had an important meeting earlier?" Aeri mentioned, now drying off the plates.

"It was a surf brand, but ever since I bit the dust in the last competition, it's like they've lost interest," She was relieved she didn't skip the meeting; her coach would've given her an earful. However, the meeting was quick. They checked in on her and asked about her schedule in case they wanted to shoot a commercial. Advert gigs weren't Winter's favorite, or basically anything that plasters her face on the tv screen but for the cash right now, she'd bite the bullet.

"Morning, ladies," Ning greeted, evidently in a good mood. Along with Aeri, they said their goodbyes to Winter after breakfast, heading off to open their surf shop.

Left alone in the apartment, Winter idly browsed through her laptop catching up to her emails.

Her attention snapped to the sound of scrambling, and she perked up