Disclaimer: Like the usual routine (which by the way is the central theme of this chapter), I would like to first thank my usual commenters and a few others who spent time on writing a few words of appreciation: KwonJoYeon, bluelyps27, forrester, 2ne1snsd, ynylsc30518, RavensHaven, yoyusic, and Trackstar. You guys are my fuel, my angels and most importantly, my drive.

I am happy to know that commenters, subscribers and views have grown in number. I am also very glad to tell everyone that I have officially completed the backbone of the story. The only thing that’s left to do is to fill everything out! And whoa, to my new subscribers: God Bless you so, so much! This story isn’t any less for you as those who diligently comment.

Cheers to a prosperous new year to us all! This is for all of you, and for me.

Chapter 9

There is Slightly History Between Us Two

It has nearly been a week since the barbecue date, and the past few days have gone by fairly well for one Im Yoona and one Kwon Yuri, which by the way was something of a bother to the latter. The two girls have already began taking certain activities that have spanned about four to five days into semi-routine, and being the pessimistic borderline paranoid that she is, Yuri knew better than to relax into routine; she always, aaalways, expected the worst from things.

By “fairly well”, Kwon Yuri would imagine more and more of this semi-routine and less of the creature that is Taecyon. Well, the guy seems pretty alright according to Yoona’s feedback so far. Public contact between the two has not even officially started, so Yuri decided she won’t judge. And at the very least, Jessica (God Bless her beautiful soul), was able to pull enough strings to remove all kissing scenes from Yoona’s big movie. It was a huge triumph for Yoona’s party. As Sooyoung would put it: imagine being a pain in the by disappearing without confirmation, then being even more of a pain in the by wanting an entire production team pull off a kissing-scene-less periodic romance movie.

‘Amazing,’ was what Jessica said the first time Yoona got the news back at the café, and Yuri could not have imagined anyone could look as poker-faced as Jessica when she spoke that word. She decided that Yoona’s manager was the embodiment of sarcasm—even out-sarcasticing (is there even a word) Sooyoung.

Yuri shakes her head to snap out of her reverie and tried her best to return her attention to the lecturer who had probably been fake coughing for nearly a minute now just to get her back down to earth. Shoot, she must have been that obvious.

Yes, Yuri always expected the worst out of everything—most especially today.

Because today was the day Im Yoona begins filming, and believe it or not, with zero-talent in acting, Taecyon managed to snag the lead role opposite the seasoned Im Yoona. Why, the people just loved budding romances among celebrities, especially the ever-elusive Im Yoona. In other words: it will make money.

Amazing, Yuri thought to herself with a slight eye roll.

‘You know—‘ Tiffany, from behind Yuri, pokes the latter on the side with what felt like a pencil eraser ‘—you have yet to clarify the entire relationship between you and you-know-who.’

‘Oh, you mean the you-know-who?’

‘Yes, the you-know-who.’

‘I’m not really set on clarifying. It’s probably temporary anyway,’ Yuri said as she attempted to look busy scribbling on her notes.

‘Ooh, Kwon Yuri actually engaging in something temporary,’ Tiffany says with a tone Yuri was sure was so heavy with implication it could fall to the floor and crack the tiles split.

Yuri looks up at the ceiling for a second in thought. Right, that sounded pretty erted.

‘Like I would always say: it’s really not like that,’ she clarifies.

‘Riiiiiiight—‘ Tiffany says with a hint of amusement now, ‘—and I’m married to all members of So Nyuh Shi Dae.’

‘Is that right?’ Yuri says with a cranked up tone of sarcasm. ‘You don’t play for the other team.’

Tiffany almost chortles. ‘I’m a sociology student, and it’s the year 2019. Everybody is allowed to be in any team.’

Everybody is allowed to be in any team.

Why is Yuri even thinking about this in a personal stance now? It has always ever been academic. Thanks to her electives with Tiffany.

She shakes her head again to snap out of any thoughts she really did not want to entertain at the moment. However, she only ended up thinking about what Yoona might be up to right now. Sure, the girl’s busy but these days she’d shoot her a text, telling Yuri how bored she was and somehow telling the latter how her day was going indirectly.

Yuri bows her head a little and brings a hand to her forehead, pretending to ease a little headache, but really, she was taking a peak on the little flash of light from the device on her lap. Message? Yoona, maybe?

Message. Click to view.

She scrunched her nose a little at the minor inconvenience. That’s right, she was the one who set her phone’s message previews to private just a few days ago. After all, somewhere in the deep recesses of her conscious, she thought this was a way to protect Yoona from any possibly hack-related scandal.

She decided to bring her gaze back to the lecturer, but definitely not her attention.

That seems to be happening a lot now these days. It’s a good thing the lecturer was somewhat useless anyway. Most of what he would say was viewable on most references the school had available.

Yuri sighs internally. This lecture is going to be longer than it’s supposed to be.

.

.

.

As soon as the lecture was over Yuri bolts out of the door and unlocks her phone. Indeed, it was Yoona.

I want to call.

Well, at least she didn’t call whenever she wanted to like she used to a few days back, which cost Yuri a lot of time at night as she was cruelly given more stuff to do by the professor at the time.

Yuri’s expression doesn’t change as she pushes the dial button, but Tiffany nonetheless was having the time of her life, experiencing first hand scoop none of the tabloids could get.

‘Hi,’ Yuri greets as soon as she hears noise on the other end of the line. It would seem Yoona was ineed on set; her background was noisier than usual. ‘You were going to call?’

Yuri’s fingers would fold about her belt bag and fondle with the tiny pieces of metal on the adjustment buckle. Tiffany immediately tones down her teasing aura at the sight. She knew when Yuri was anxious.

‘Hey,’ came Yoona’s rather heavy response.

Yuri immediately picked up on the weight and absence of even her usual subtle mischief.

‘Are you alright?’

‘Yes—‘ a breath, was it a sigh of relief or emotional strain, Yuri wasn’t sure, ‘—yes, I am now.’

Yuri was not buying it.

‘Will you be able to come home early?’ Yuri asks, hoping the other girl would say yes so she could lift her spirits by saying she would be spending time with her later to cheer her up.

‘I’m not sure either,’ Yoona says, this time followed by a sigh that Yuri was now certain was out of frustration. ‘Jessica-unnie and Sooyoung-unnie had to have another meeting with the writers. They kept one kissing scene.’

‘Well, that’s persistent,’ Yuri side comments rather out loud. ‘No dinner then.’

‘Yeah, no dinner,’ Yoona groans this time, ‘apparently the company chairman permitted them to keep that scene, but the unnies are pushing for breach of agreement.’

Yuri felt it wasn’t right to speak yet. She could hear Yoona shuffle and sigh from the other line. Yuri made a low hum, urging the other girl to speak more.

‘I met Taecyon today,’ Yoona says with seeming nonchalance.

‘So—how’d that go?’

Yuri’s grip on her bag’s belt tightened.

‘He’s actually nice—‘ Yoona sounded pensive, ‘—it alleviates the burden a little.’

Yuri wanted to click a tongue but bit her tongue. She didn’t want to sound like she hated Yoona’s response even when she did. She really didn’t want to be a burden.

‘Yuri?’ she sounded expectant now, Yuri had to do something to lighten the mood.

‘It’s the weekend tomorrow. Do you have anything scheduled?’ Yuri lousily asks.

A sigh from the other end of the line.

‘Nothing in the morning,’ that sounded flat now.

‘I’ll wait for you later?’

There was silence now. Yuri wasn’t sure how to gauge that. For a second she hated how she always had to gauge what the other girl felt to decide what to do next. She blames a lot of things including her own social inability. For so long, she only constantly interacted with approximately four people—occasionally six. To her credit, that was the first time she admitted to Yoona that she actually waits for the other girl these past few days.

‘Well, I did say I’ll be late. Will that be fine?’

Yuri wanted to read between the lines with that response, but sometimes Yoona was hard to read—or again, Yuri really was just socially unable.

‘Yes. Yes, of course.’

‘Late is late. Like, really late.’

Yuri chuckles through her response this time, ‘by now that should be normal for us.’

Us.

‘Okay,’ Yoona probably sounded lighter because of the elicited air somewhere. A chuckle? A sigh?

‘Okay,’ Yuri awkwardly repeats Yoona’s response. ‘I’ll see you then?’

Yoona hums in response, and Yuri couldn’t hate being clueless any more than she was slowly willing to admit to herself. Come to think of it, Yoona was a big social lesson for someone like her. She had to learn everything in one go—daily dinners with someone became a constant, somehow committing to making sure someone was having an okay day, expecting messages, long phone calls that had nothing to do with school requirements, and a couple of sleepless nights over the welfare of someone other than herself.

‘Bye, Yuri-ah.’

It was safe to say it took a full three seconds before Yuri could respond to that. It sounded different coming from Yoona. She would always hear it from Sunny and Tiffany, but with Yoona it was—just different.

‘Bye, Yoona-yah.’

—and with that, even with words of goodbye, Yuri couldn’t bring herself to end the call. She did take the phone off of her ear, but ended up staring at the screen and the running seconds of her call with Yoona until Call Ended finally showed up and she was greeted by her home screen.

She could continue to stare at her screen, but Tiffany had other plans.

‘Yoona-yah?’

Okay. At least Yuri could identify the more obvious social clues of the Art of Irking.

Yuri looks up at Tiffany and wanted nothing more than to pinch the older girls cheeks to remove that annoying smile off her face.

‘Come one, Yuri-ah,’ Tiffany says with emphasis on Yuri-ah, then beckons for Yuri to walk with her. ‘We got homework to bust.’

Calls, messages, shared dinners. Yuri concluded names of endearment made it to the list as well. With Yoona, nothing was ever truly gradual the same way nothing was ever truly certain, and Yuri somewhat was not blaming her cluelessness.

.

.

.

Somewhere in Seoul, in the middle of a busy set, one Im Yoona very pensively ends a phone call. She really did not feel like ending it. After all, “us” was a word she has not shared with anyone in a while. She sighs while a smile tugged at the corners of her lips, and she almost chuckles at how ridiculous she probably looked.

Yoona slides her phone into her jacket pocket, and turns in time to see a very stressed-out Sooyoung coming out of a tent entrance and making her way to her.

‘Hey, kid.’

With the way that sounded, Yoona’s smile immediately drops.

‘I hate to be the one to break it to you but—‘ Sooyoung sighs and reaches for her forehead, massaging the crinkles away, ‘—Papa Jung seems to be stronger than a contract. He has lawyers.’

Yoona frowns at this.

‘He is hiring lawyers against his own talent?’

Sooyoung shrugs.

‘Nobody said anything in the meeting. We just caught word from Shin Dong that it’s his doing. The old man hired lawyers for this production company. That’s where all this sudden confidence is coming from.’

Yoona hisses under her breath, but shakes it off with the thought of just wanting to go home.

Home. She had not had one in a while.

‘We won’t be filming anything today. Jessica kind of blew up on the production company, she says you’re better off training with Hyoyeon and Taeyeon instead. They cleared a few schedules for you.’

Yoona sighs, accepting defeat.

‘Well, what’s one kiss, right?’ Yoona says with a shrug of her shoulders.

‘About that—‘ Sooyoung reaches for the back of her head now, scratching nervously.

Yoona’s eyes immediately narrow.

‘What?’

‘—it’s not just a kiss.’

Seriously?

‘You’re making out with loverboy.’

.

.

.

That night, Yoona was at the verge of killing herself with vocal and dance training. She might have landed the best coaches in all of Seoul, but even with their standards, they were the one who wanted to push her out of their studios to get her to rest.

In their trained eyes, Yoona might have been driven, but her mind was elsewhere—like a speeding car with an untrained driver.

Nobody bothered to ask what’s gotten into the girl, they all assumed it was that scene she had to pull off, and also, it’s Yoona—she looked just a pinch away from throwing a major fit.

To her credit, which Sooyoung and Jessica didn’t fail to notice, she didn’t throw a fit. She was relatively levelheaded. Sure, there were a few occasional groans, ignored questions, ignored food, and roughly thrown items here and there, but she wasn’t screaming at them or making unreasonable demands. Instead, they would see her constantly shoot a few texts here and there.

That was new, and it should be good.

‘This is… good,’ Sooyoung tentatively says as she watches Yoona casually toss her phone into her bag as she runs back to Hyoyeon’s side. ‘This is good, right Jess?’

‘It should.’

‘Should,’ Sooyoung agrees, nodding.

‘As long as the person on the other end of those text messages keeps this up, she’ll make it through tonight.’

‘You sound worried.’

‘I am. She has only had the two of us for so long, Soo.’

The whole Yuri arrangement worried Sooyoung as well. However, Sooyoung was much less calculating than Jessica. She was the kind of person who’d shrug at risks.

‘But you don’t hate the idea?’ Sooyoung attempts to clarify.

‘I don’t. I’m actually happy for her.’

‘Just cautious?’

Jessica nods.

‘I understand,’ Sooyoung says with a nod. ‘Come to think of it, she’s only let someone actually in after—what—like five years? Wasn’t easy what this kid has been through.’

Jessica sighs—the heaviest one she made this day. It earns her a pat on the back from Sooyoung.

‘It’s not your fault what happened to her mother. She chose to take the role; she chose this life.’

‘I want to believe that.’

‘You should,’ Sooyoung leaves her arm around Jessica’s shoulder as she attempts to melt the ice.

‘The irony of everything though—it’s what’s making all this difficult to fully accept,’ Jessica says with a hint of what Sooyoung thought was nostalgia.

Nearly a decade ago, they found the young Yoona on a set at a hospital, offered her an audition opportunity which the then child took to cover for her only parent’s medical expenses. She landed the role and people loved her, but at the expense of a loving mother not longer than two years later.

Sooyoung nods, each nod slowed by nostalgia as well.

‘That Kwon Yuri,’ Jessica starts, ‘—she’s good for Yoona.’

That sounded like a question to Sooyoung.

‘—but not for her career?’ Sooyoung finishes for her friend.

‘I need coffee,’ Jessica says with a groan. ‘I’ll probably call Taeyeon, too.’

Sooyoung waves a hand in response. She was the assistant and she should do for her boss both of what Jessica just said she’d do, but she also knew when Jessica wanted time to think.

She shrugs a shoulder as she continued to watch Yoona who was pretty much wobbling already from dancing too much.

.

.

.

Changes in routine was quickly becoming a thing for both Im Yoona and Kwon Yuri—or maybe added stuff to their supposedly usual routine. Exhibit A would be how Yoona had to ninja her way to the unassuming neighborhood of the three café girls. It should be tedious to have to hop cars just to decoy paparazzi, but when it’s become routine, it’s a lot easier to deal with in time.

Yoona arrives at the apartment to find Yuri scrunched up in a blanket on the couch. Somehow, she was very sure it wasn’t Yuri who covered herself with something to keep her warm, seeing how most of her homework was scattered on the floor.

The actress smiles at the scene. How many people slept with their tongues slightly out?

She walks—no, limps—her way to the other girl and gently wakes her by smoothing her hair.

‘Hey,’ she whispers. ‘Hey, I’m home.’

Yuri shifts, and eventually her eyes flutter open. As soon as her narrowed gaze lands on the actress, she groans and lifts a wrist to check the time.

‘Good morning,’ she says groggily.

‘It’s only two AM,’ Yoona chuckles.

Yuri shrugs as she sits up. ‘Still morning. Let’s go to bed?’

‘Yeah,’ Yoona says as she offers a hand to help Yuri up from the couch. ‘Come on, I’ll change into more comfortable clothes, too.’

‘And probably shower,’ Yuri jokes, which earns her a swat on the shoulder.

‘I don’t smell,’ Yoona insists with a tinge of playfulness as they made their way to their bedroom, and Yuri doesn’t miss the slight limp in Yoona’s walk.

‘I’m kidding, but you probably should to relax. I heated the shower for you.’

Yoona pauses. ‘Oh, thank you.’

‘I’ll wait for you, see?’ Yuri attempts to assure her, stretching her eyes open with her fingers like a child.

Yoona chuckles and grabs a towel on her way to the bathroom.

Right, waiting. Yoona was making Yuri do a lot of that lately.

Moments later, Yoona reemerges with only a tower around her torso. She chortles at Yuri nearly falling off the bed at the sight of her.

‘I—should I—I should leave so—so you could—you know.’

It would seem Yuri forgot people actually left the bathroom in a towel, or maybe even how to speak.

Yoona just laughs. She awfully wanted to tease the other girl but she was too tired to do it. She moves to make her way to the closet (which now had a few of her clothes housed), but quickly ends up reaching for the closest object sturdy enough to keep her up as her legs wobbled.

Yuri was quick to come to her aid, helping her sit on the bed.

‘What happened?’ Yuri almost sounded like she was going to scold her. That was new.

‘Nothing big, really. I think I might have overworked my feet,’ Yoona answers sheepishly.

To Yoona’s further surprise, Yuri kneels in front of her and takes one of her feet in her hand. Her fingers start moving on the pads of her toes, her soles and her heels. Yoona hisses at the sensation.

‘Ow—‘ Yoona, by reflex, almost pulls her foot back as Yuri’s fingers hit a few sore spots.

‘Really,’ Yuri starts, ‘killing yourself isn’t the way to go, I heard.’

‘Well—‘ Yoona wanted to say that it is somewhat the way to go when you are being made to do something you really don’t want to, but she cut herself off with a sheepish grin instead.

She remembered why she attempted to murder herself with work in the first place. Right there, looking at Yuri doing things she probably had to be forced to do before, she simply couldn’t find it in her to break the news to the other girl. Somehow, as conceited as it sounded, she knew it wouldn’t sit well with Yuri. A kiss she can try to explain to, but a supposedly heated and prolonged one poses a problem.

She pauses though. For in the midst of her internal debate, she realized she had just put the idea of kissing and Yuri in one train of thought while the other girl was running her suddenly very warm hands over her skin.

It was probably her turn to fall of the bed any minute now.