Chapter 5

In Your Heart, What Do You Know?

In the vast city that is Seoul, there are exactly two places that connect this one similar pool of frustration, annoyance and, at their own certain degrees, rage.

One of these places was where the smug little face of Ok Taecyeon was diminished with a look of complete and utter emasculation.

‘I don’t get it,’ was the only thing he could say to his manager who stood before him, and had been arguing on the phone since the clock struck eight. ‘How could Yoona be missing?’

His manager angrily shushes him with a shaking finger.

‘No—‘ the more frustrated older male cut off the person on the other line, ‘—this is what I’d like you to think about: we lose nothing – we as in Taecyeon and I.’

Taecyeon might be one too egocentric person – but being mean wasn’t part of his qualities. He could only look at his manager who was spitting showers on his poor phone.

‘I could care less if you are the president of that company, sir. But I know when respect is deserved and when it is not. Clearly, you and your talent have disrespected our agreements without the decency to inform us—‘

Taecyeon almost looked like a lost little boy as he slumped on the couch in his manager’s office, letting the older male’s voice drown into the background instead.

‘—so, Mr. Jung, You do not deserve one bit of my respect—‘

Yadda, yadda, was all Taecyeon heard afterwards.

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The other end of the frustration, but where, at this point, the level of rage was expected to be higher, was the office of one Mr. Jung.

The highly-respected leader of the entertainment company, that owned both his daughter and Im Yoona, appeared to have kept it all in – all the hate, all the frustration.

Well, that was until three seconds later when he puts his phone back into the receiver and takes a very, very, deep, deep breath—

‘JUNG SOO YEON!’

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Choi Sooyoung suddenly felt a jolt that ran cruelly cold down her spine. This time, she was sure it wasn’t because of Jessica who was peacefully sleeping in the other room like the world stopped and waited for her.

She had woken up so suddenly, but there wasn’t a nightmare.

It almost felt like someone was completely angry right now and that she somehow knew that someone was bound to be lectured to death.

But, she is Choi Sooyoung.

So the most logical thing she had come up with to resolve the issue was to get out of bed and pass it off as her stomach calling for her attention.

There’s still some pizza in the kitchen, she thought.

Staying in bed ‘til eight in the morning, Jessica basking in dreamland, Yoona missing (with their consent), eating leftovers and – oh, look at that – it’s the weekend.

Life was good.

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8:10 A.M.

It was indeed the weekend and that occurred to Yuri because of the physical pain she was starting to feel for staying in bed too long – or rather, staying asleep on the floor too long.

She doesn’t remember being as comfortable as she was at the moment.

So cold on the floor yet she felt all warm that she snuggles with her pillow – or was she snuggled with just a pillow?

She looks down and notices a fair-complexioned arm wrapped around her waist.

And, painted nails?

Her eyes were wide open as she slowly turned over to see who it was, loosening this person’s grip in the process.

This person was obviously female, face hidden underneath her own brunette disheveled hair.

Yuri lifts a finger and slowly pushes a few locks off of the person’s face – revealing the one and the only Im Yoona.

Anyone would’ve died to be in her stead, but she was Kwon Yuri; she was technically a hermit who knew about show business as much as a hamster caged with a hamster wheel did.

She sighs in frustration.

Seeing the peacefully sleeping face of Im Yoona reminded her that everything that transpired last night actually transpired.

This time, she groans in frustration.

Nothing was understood at the moment and Yoona had a lot of explanation to do.

Yuri moved to get up when Yoona’s hold around her waist tightened, practically eradicating the space between them.

Now, Yuri felt a different kind of frustration boiling up her stomach. Nothing came this time; no sigh, no groan; just a breath held in.

Crap.

She was going to have to wait until the girl wakes up. It was a good thing it was the weekend.

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9:15 A.M.

With the growing ache in her back, the numbing on her buried arm, and her miraculously maintained erratic pulse, Kwon Yuri has come to the conclusion that Im Yoona was definitely not a human being – she was a species of log.

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10:00 A.M.

Or maybe a special kind of log. Because she just doesn’t seem to grow moss around her surface with laying still this long.

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11:00 A.M.

But no—

Erase all earlier conclusions.

She was a rock somewhere in the earth’s inner core; one rock that’d take a thousand years or a miracle to move.

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11:30 A.M.

Is she dead?

Poke, poke.

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12:00 noon

Knock, knock.

Thank heavens!

‘Yuri?’ Sunny calls from behind the other side of the door. ‘Don’t make me barge in there. You never oversleep!’

‘Please do!’ Yuri hisses.

And even with their proximity and the possible loudness of her voice, Yoona doesn’t budge.

Sunny lightly pushes the door open and furrows her brows at the sight.

Yuri pouts like small child at her unnie, ‘please help?’

‘Isn’t she hungry?’ Sunny asked in a whisper.

‘I could care less if you whisper or not,’ Yuri says with an eyeroll.

‘What do we do? Lunch will not eat itself,’ Sunny wonders out loud.

And it seemed that it was at the mention of one word in Sunny’s last statement that magically fixes Yoona out of her sleep.

‘I’m hungry,’ Yoona mutters, her stomach supporting her statement with a growl.

‘Seems like you are,’ Sunny reaches a hand out to the celebrity.

Yoona looks at Yuri blankly, not seeming the least bit bothered by their compromising position. She doesn’t give her any form of acknowledgement before taking Sunny’s hand and dragging herself out of the cramp room.

Yuri stays on the floor, staring blankly at the spot that Yoona left empty with a furrowed brow.

She sighs and sits up.

‘Why, you’re ever so welcome, your highness!’ Yuri says to no one in particular, in a fake high-pitched voice.

She rolls her eyes as she dusts herself standing up. She wasn’t unclean; she just felt the need to dust herself from invisible Yoona dust—

Then maybe her heart would still itself.

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The three apartment owners and part-time café employees ate in complete and utter silence for the first time in their lives. If it were just them, it would’ve been a meal with a side dish of healthy jokes and heart-warming sisterly love.

But today, there was just silence—

And occasional glances at their new companion that ate without looking at them.

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They waited for her to finish, and as soon as she practically wipes her plate clean, she sets her utensils down, drinks a whole glass of water and takes a few seconds to give them a bow of gratitude.

‘Thank you for the meal,’ then she retracts her posture and gave them each a tentative look, ‘I will have my manager pay your rent while I am here, including utility bill.’

Seohyun looks at Yoona like she expected that. Sunny, on the other hand, looked like she won the lottery, while Yuri raises her brow, looking as uncomfortable as ever.

‘So—‘ Yuri interjects, ‘how long is “while I’m here” exactly?’

‘Until I feel like,’ Yoona answers simply.

‘And how long do your feels usually last?’

Yoona shrugs her shoulders.

‘You can’t not know!’

‘Depends on you, perhaps.’

‘And “you” includes Sunny and Seohyun, right?’

Sunny and Seohyun chose to stay silent and watch the bickering duo, drinking water casually.

Yoona only smiles smugly at Yuri’s last question.

‘No, really, the smile thing won’t work on this one question—JUST this one question!’ Yuri exclaims, holding out a finger to emphasize the “one”.

‘”You” meant you,’ Yoona answers, nodding her head at Yuri’s direction, ‘—just you.’

Yuri stops, expression the same as the one she had seconds ago.

‘Me?’

Yoona nods, smiling.

‘Just me?’

Yoona again nods, smile more prominent now.

‘Me as in Kwon Yuri?’

Yoona rolls her eyes.

Yuri was dumbfounded.

The celebrity sighs and picks up her phone, dialing some number, ‘I’ll be having food supplies shipped here as well.’

‘You can’t just waltz in here and claim our apart—‘ Yuri was pulled down by Sunny and Seohyun and they covered the agitated girl’s mouth, even offering Yoona very bright smiles.

‘It’s not like she’s kicking us out, Kwon,’ Sunny then hisses into Yuri’s ear.

‘Um, Yoona-sshi,’ Seohyun calls for Yoona’s attention, hand still over Yuri’s mouth, ‘you are most welcome to our home.’

Yuri, after what felt like a year’s fight, finally broke free from her two treacherous housemates’ grips.

‘WHY IS THIS HAPPENING AGAIN?’ Yuri raises her hands at the heavens, ‘She can’t possibly live here. This place is cramp and we’re in a commoner suburb! It doesn’t fit the whole celebrity thing!’

‘That’s actually the point,’ Yoona answers with a yawn and a stretch of her arms.

Yuri looks back down at Yoona.

‘I need your place to hide for a while.’

Yuri still looks unfazed.

Yoona sighs and looks at Yuri straight in the eyes.

‘Look—‘

And Yuri does look at her.

‘Have you ever been made to do what you don’t want to because you have no choice?’

Yuri doesn’t answer.

‘I don’t want to be in a place like that. Not yet.’

She leans forward and takes one of Yuri’s hands in hers.

‘Let me stay—‘

Yuri looks at their hands for a second before letting Yoona claim her by the eyes again.

‘Don’t let them take me—‘ Yoona says in almost a whisper, no sign of her usual smugness in her eyes, ‘—at least not yet.’

And with that erratic beating somewhere in her chest, Yuri just couldn’t bring herself to reject Yoona.