YulSicKry

Kim-Hwang Residence



“Let’s stop by and ask for directions”


“No…we are not asking for directions; I got this”


“Stop the car. This is the first house we’ve seen in the last 10 minutes!”


“We don’t need help”


“9011 Royal Drive…we’re close...”, Yuri reassures, repeatedly tapping on the screwy navigator which only continued to spew out blasphemies in a fancy British accent.


Turn left now, Ms. Navigator commands.


Yuri immediately obeys, swerving left until she realizes that she was about to crash into a tree.


Slamming the brakes hard, all three Kwon-Jungs recover from the hard jerk as Yuri squints at the wooded area stretching for an eternity in utter confusion.


“Yuri…”


Dead end.


“Yeah, you totally got this…Hey, maybe the Kim-Hwangs are forest people; you know, like weird backward country side folks”, Krystal sarcastically butts in.


“This weather is screwing up with my signal! Stupid piece of sh*t! Update, damn it!”, Yuri curses, frustration boiling over at having gotten her entire family lost.


As the self-proclaimed appa, she takes her duties as the dependable family head quite seriously.


But just as serious was Jessica, the omma whose duty was to knock some sense on the head when they needed a little reminding.


“HEY, watch your mouth”, Jessica lectures with a quick pinch to Yuri’s arm so as to remind her that their teenage daughter is still in the back seat, hearing every curse word she let slip.


But Krystal merely deadpans in response, “I’m in high school; I hear profanities on a daily basis about as often as you two hold CHT sessions“


Jessica directs a brief side-glare to the back seat as the teenager immediately zips her lips shut, knowing full well she can’t act out with this particular mother.


While Yuri would tolerate a cute brat, Jessica could only tolerate a cute choding.


“Krystal, reach into the back and hand me the map, will ya?”, Yuri motions without looking back, too busy fixing the obsolete equipment to even notice the Jungs’ short-lived bout of intensity.


Krystal immediately complies, handing over the folded map to her appa while Jessica, whose attention was successfully diverted much to the teenager’s relief, could only roll her eyes at Yuri’s stubborn reluctance to ask for help.


Typical.


Are all seobangs too self-possessed to ask for directions?!


As if the act of asking would inevitably spell out the voluntary surrender of their pride.


Pulling over to the curbside right across from the ‘mansion’, Yuri unfolds the map, immediately popping it from a miniature pamphlet to a colossal parachute taking up her entire arm span as she nearly whacks Jessica’s face with a flappy corner.


Jessica glares even harder at the accidental slap while Krystal immediately slaps a hand against , trying to muffle a boisterous chuckle from exploding through gritted teeth.


Oblivious to the murderous aura emanating from the passenger side, Yuri religiously begins to mumble directions to herself like a prayer. She twists the map right then while her head tilts to the side in slight confusion.


“Well do what you want; I’m asking for directions”, Jessica impatiently growls, immediately bolting out of the car towards the extravagant house.


Running high on anxiety and low on patience, Jessica doesn’t think twice about leaving Yuri alone in the car to redeem her pride over possessing at least some sense of direction while Krystal surprisingly follows Jessica’s lead. While attempting to dodge the hail of liquefied bullets, the two runs to the front door as fast as possible. Just as instinctively as Jessica lifts her coat, Krystal immediately takes shelter under her mother’s wing, shielding herself from the cold rain.


As Krystal allows quick side glance up at her mother, she suddenly admires her maternal counterpart. Like rain water itself, Jessica can be just as cold during a storm yet as soothing as the warm summer rain; a double edged sword. Krystal understands exactly how that’s like. Jessica knows of both strengths and weaknesses of her bipolarity and as such, always strives to direct the good towards her loved ones, while the bad are solely aimed to those who seek to hurt them; both malignant or benign.


At the moment, no one is a bigger threat to her family’s welfare than this Seohyun and that crazy mother of hers.


If only the weather could symbolize her mood, this current condition wouldn’t be enough to do justice to what she’s feeling right now. No…had Jessica been Mother Nature, it would be hailing thorns of ice.


As luck would have it, Jessica’s attention was solely caught by the golden plates plastered to the side of the door, shining brilliantly like the light from heaven itself as it manifested in the form of four seemingly random numbers:

9-0-1-1.

Jessica briefly looks back to the car where Yuri still sat, scratching her head, dumbfounded, while a previously unnoticed street sign suddenly glows amongst the dull drizzly atmosphere: Royal Drive.


The Kim-Hwang residence.


Right. Under. Her. Freaking. Nose.


Before Jessica could break down the door with the sudden realization, Krystal beats her to it, equally—if not more—aggravated, banging on the door with added force in extreme annoyance.


BANG BANG BANG!

“Open the door!”



BANG BANG BANG!

“It’s cold out here!”

_{“Coming!”}


“We’re getting soaked!”

BANG BANG BOP--!

_{“I said I’m comin--!”}




“YAH, CALM DOWN KID!”, a Kim-Hwang yells after swinging the door open, staring down the shorter girl who had accidentally gutted her with a knocking fist.


Krystal immediately withdraws in shock, but not without parting with a nasty look as she retreats to shrink behind her mother. Whoever this woman was, she was taller and looked pretty scary.


“Is this the Kim-Hwang’s residence?”, Jessica cuts in, eerily composed; a sight that had even the intimidating girl at the door straightening out.


“Yes, and who might you be?”, she replies as coldly, hands on her hips.


“Mrs. Kim-Hwang?”, Jessica answers with another question. The young woman before her seemed to possess the sass and authority Jessica pictured a bothersome in-law to have though she looked far too young to be a mother.


“That would be my mother. I’m Ms. Kim-Hwang.”


The young woman doesn’t miss the flash of fury in Jessica’s eyes.


“You’re Seohyun?”


“That would be my sister”, Victoria retorts.


“She’s out right now but my mother is here if you want--Is this an emergency or something?”, Victoria adds when she inspects the two drenched figures.


The blonde mother deadpans through clumped hair as if to say, ‘I’m standing in the rain soaked to my socks, what the hell do you think?’


Victoria is taken aback by Jessica’s passive aggression.


“Did Seohyun come back?”, Victoria hears her mother’s voice from behind, just in time to snap Victoria out of her slight shock.


Suddenly noticing the two unexpected visitors, Mrs. Kim-Hwang turns her attention towards the Jungs.


“Can I help you?”


It takes Jessica a second to answer, slightly distracted by the arrival of this new tenant. Jessica scans the woman up and down, from head to toe in extreme scrutiny.


Noticeably older than the first girl, she had dark hair comparable to that of Yuri, except slightly shorter and a lot more wavy. She wonders if this is an older sister of Seohyun’s.


And those eyes…


“I’m looking for Yoona”, Jessica flatly states as Tiffany throws her a look of confusion.


“I’m her mother”


Both Hwangs settled for a boisterous gasp of surprise; The Hwangs’ lack of volume control at its finest. Likewise, the Jungs could only throw a grimace, a little deaf from the sudden squeals.


“Oh! I--Come in!“, Tiffany begins, ushering the Jungs into her home as Jessica suddenly feels even more hostile at their futile attempt to act friendly.


She knows they are anything but; especially after what they did to Yoona.


“We weren’t expecting you to stop by! Yoona never mentioned anything. But can I interest you in some—“, the older Hwang began until she was rudely cut off by the older Jung.


“Are you Seohyun’s mother? Mrs. Kim-Hwang?”, Jessica cuts to the chase, in no mood for anymore bullsh*t.


Oddly, this lady’s talkative nature reminded her of Yuri’s own insipid tendency...


“Ah…yes, that’s me. It’s quite a pleasure to meet you. I wish I could introduce you to Seohyun’s appa but…”, Tiffany began but suddenly trailed off at the sight before her.


So this is her, Jessica thought. That’s all she needed.


Tiffany stares at Jessica, slightly tilting her head to the side in wonder of the wolfish grin suddenly plastered on the blonde’s face.


It was the only warning Tiffany detected before all hell broke loose.





-------------------




Airport




“I’m heading to my gate now. I’ll be coming home in a couple of hours”, Yoona says into the phone as she makes her way around the airport looking for her gate.


“Okay, I’ll pick you up. Just call me when you land…”, a voice rings out from the speaker pressed snugly against her ear.


“Not that I mind, but why aren’t you calling your parents instead?”, she hears hesitance coating every word, no doubt afraid of offending her.


“Because…I’m a failure”, Yoona states flatly.


Indeed, she doesn’t think she can ever face her parents again out of shame and embarrassment. Did she not boast about bringing home a beautiful fiancée?


But here she is, empty-handed as her ring finger obnoxiously shows an equally empty spot where an engagement ring should rest.


No, she can’t bring herself to give them anymore shame for giving birth to such a failure. She’s shamed them enough with her troublesome years in high school. Now that she’s older, she needs to take a little responsibility for herself. Suddenly, Yoona regrets calling her parents. Not only did it show she was incapable, she almost broke down; which is why she’s been ignoring their calls for the past hour. The moment she hears her omma’s reassuring voice, love and worry alike coating her word, Yoona would no doubt break down. Jessica’s voice always did lull her into security, providing her an unbreakable safety net whenever she needed it like a loving mother always did. But what she needed now was to find her own security. She needed to grow up. Yoona refuses to burden her parents any long.


“I need to stay at your place for a little bit”, Yoona says, knowing full well she’ll get 100% approval for her request.


“Sure. But tell what’s happening first”


Yoona stays mum.


“Is it a guy?” The voice on the other line is adamant for information. Typical. Just as it used to be.


“No”


“You’re lying. Tell me his name”


Well, technically she wasn’t lying though she’s still in no mood to talk about Seohyun even with him—especially with him.


“Yoona…”, she hears his familiar voice on the other side just as she hears another in her other.


“YOONA!”


She briefly looks back to confirm her suspicious and sure enough, she sees Seohyun sprinting towards her drenched in rain water.


Speak of the devil.


“Is that him?”, the phone on her left ear says, no doubt hearing Seohyun’s muffled shout as the latter continues to boisterously call out for her on her right.


“Taecyeon, let me call you back”. Yoona picks up the pace, not trusting her reactions for a possibly explosive confrontation.


No, she’s not going to have an emotional verbal argument in such a public place.


“Yoona, especially if he's hurt you, I’m not joking when I say I’ll take care of him”, Taecyeon says seriously and Yoona doesn’t doubt his words one bit.


Ironically, Seohyun seems to have forgotten that she’s a shy, conservative girl as she’s suddenly screaming at the top of her lungs for Yoona to halt despite some ‘passerby’s throwing her looks.


Seohyun on one ear, Taecyeon on the other. She doesn’t know if it’s her existing headache but her vertigo worsens as Yoona desperately tries to drown her out though she can still hear Seohyun closing in despite Taecyeon's deep voice coming from her other ear.


“I know you will, which is why it’s best to leave it at that”, Yoona talks into the phone now growing weary of listening to both Taecyeon and Seohyun.


“So it is about a guy”


“Taecyeon, I really gotta go”, she sighs in apologetic aggravation.


She doesn’t want to deal with it.


“I’ll call you when I land there”, Yoona gently lets him go, flipping the phone shut before he could argue, just in time for Seohyun to reach her.


Besides her, a breathless Seohyun struggles to match her rushed strides as she shows no signs of slowing down.


“Yoona…I—“, she begins though Yoona just continually walks away.


Seohyun catches up again, rushing besides Yoona whilst dodging incoming human traffic and ignoring their blatant looks of distaste as she harshly and quite carelessly bumped shoulders with most of them.


“I…um…Yoona…Where are you going?”, Seohyun struggles to find the right words before breaking the ice with an annoyingly generic question.


“Home, what does it look like?”


Yoona swears she’s never been so irritated with Seohyun.


From her anti-social tendencies and her lack of emotional sensitivity down to that lost puppy look she has on her face. Yoona purposely avoided looking at her, as she feels a tinge of remorse creeping in at being so harsh to Seohyun.


Really?! She berates herself for even feeling slightly bad for treating her like this. She deserves it!


“L-let me come home with you”


“I mean home as in my parents’; not our apartment”, Yoona immediately brings her down.


“Oh…well…listen—“


“I’m gonna miss my flight. If you’ve got something to say; say it. You’ve got until I reach the gate”


Yoona doesn’t have time for babbling apologies.


Seohyun continues to trail her heels, more urgently now but still too hesitant by Yoona’s standards. She doesn’t know what frustrates her more; the fact that Seohyun won’t leave her alone or the fact that she’s being too passive about this whole ordeal.


She actually wished that Seohyun would just grab her arm and demand her to listen though Yoona knows it’s not within the spectrum of her reserved nature to do so.


Nonetheless, Seohyun’s lack of assertiveness was sending all the wrong messages. Did she not matter to Seohyun? It was a sign of surrender in Yoona’s eyes and Yoona had already made up her mind not to fight for someone who cannot return let alone match her own passion.


“I’m really sorry for slapping you”, Seohyun apologizes breathlessly, either from running or perhaps finally having gathered enough courage to look Yoona in the eye though the latter’s sunglasses obstructed their connection.


Seohyun seems to get the hint that Yoona doesn’t want to deal with it as she merely continues her pace, careless of the rather reserved though heartfelt apology.


They must’ve stayed like that for a good minute, briskly walking side by side in silent tension. Known for her patience, Seohyun just continues to apprehensively follow her like a second shadow though slowly growing irate of Yoona’s reaction or lack thereof.


How can they solve the issue if she refuses to tackle the problem head on?!


“Yoona, please say something...”


Yoona’s avoidance had always been a source of discontent for both even back then so it didn’t come as a complete surprise when Yoona ignored her once again.


“Can we talk this out? You’re running away again”, Seohyun softly says, though frustration slowly seeped through.


“Don’t act so magnanimous; I’m choosing to walk away”, Yoona calmly states, staring straight ahead as she readjusted her sunglasses.


Seohyun pauses as she gathered her thoughts and courage alike. She finally speaks up, pressure building when realizes that time was running out as she could finally see security leading up to the gates up ahead.


“I know I messed up. I’m so sorry. Could you just give me a chance to make it up to you? I’m sorry for everything. It just took me by surprise! Had we been under different circumstances, I would’ve given myself to you. But with Yonghwa at the door, I just couldn’t afford to—“


“Is that all you have to say? My flight boarded 5 minutes ago”, Yoona cuts her off.


Seohyun stares in disbelief at her detachment, a little shocked. Yoona had never been so distant and spiteful.


As if to prove it, Yoona peers down her watch nonchalantly, not even bothering to give her the decency of some much needed human eye contact.


Seohyun looks into her eyes through the shroud of Yoona’s transitioning shade of dark brown Ray Bans.


She could faintly see her glassy eyes through the translucence but the message has never been clearer.


Though Seohyun owns up to the fact that it was her fault, it always did take two to tango.


Yoona’s refusal to give her the chance, no matter Seohyun’s willingness to try, serves a sign of utter surrender.


In Seohyun’s eyes, it was Yoona that has given up.


“So that’s it? You’re not even going to bother putting effort into getting over this wall?”


“It’s a pretty damn big wall. So yeah, I guess this is it”, Yoona shrugs, heading towards security.


“Yoona, would you wait!”, Seohyun finally finds her backbone, halting Yoona with force as she stops her from taking another step.


But it was already be too late.


Yoona finally takes off her sunglasses as she stares seriously into Seohyun's with eyes red from tears incessantly shed.








“Seohyun, I’m tired of waiting for you”








------------------


A/n: IT'S ALMOST OVER!

And wow my bad, i went away longer than expected. Things came up and I suddenly found myself scrambling out of state.

I must confess that I don't quite have it in me to write TaeNy so I'm holding off that special update until I find inspiration.

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