“Damn her,” Sunny muttered to herself, pulling a pair of jeans over her shorts and quickly grabbing a pair of shoes.  She grabbed her keys from the table, picked up her phone and ran out of the door, oblivious to the fact that she had forgotten a jacket to protect her from the elements.  As she charged down the stairs, she called the last person who had spoken to her.

“Hey Sunny,” Jessica answered.

“Jess,” Sunny cried, urgency resounding through her voice.  “Get hold of the girls.  Yuri’s ran away.  We need to find her.  Tell everyone to meet at mine.”

“Sunny, slow down,” Jessica soothed her scared bandmate.  “Where’s Yuri?”

“I don’t know,” she sobbed.  “She’s ran away, and we need to find her.  Just get here, ok?”

“Sunny,” Jessica started.

“Help me, Jess,” Sunny wailed.  “Please.”

Jessica nodded down the phone.  “I’ll call them now,” she assured her friend before hanging up.

Sunny shoved her phone into her pocket before emerging into the storm.  The dark sky, heavily overcast, was lit only by street lights.  It must have been approaching the evening time now, possibly after 8.30pm.  Cars drove past, spraying the thin film of water that covered the road behind them.  Their headlights assured their drivers of the impending dangers ahead of them, their metal chassis providing comfort, security and warmth to their cargo, and the fuel ensuring they would reach their destination.  Sunny ran to the roadside, across the road, into the vast park ahead of her, unsure of where to go, simply following where her legs were taking her.  It had taken a good five minutes to get dressed and another five or so to get to the park, Sunny thought.  That meant Yuri had at least a ten minute head start on her.  She could be anywhere by now.  Sunny wiped the rain from her face and ran along one pathway, looking for the most likely path to follow and making decisions instantly.  Every few seconds she would call Yuri’s name, but no answer was heard.  She trusted the remaining girls to look after the rest of the search.  For at least twenty minutes, she ran along one path and down another, until she reached a crossroads.  Four paths led from where she stood.  She looked around, ignorant to the fact that her clothes were drenched, her skin was soaked and her cheeks bore a mixture of tears and raindrops.  She turned right down a path, and ran for a few hundred meters before she saw a shadow walking away, solemnly, its back to her.  She had seen so few people in the park that evening, only one of whom was alone, and even he was running towards her, looking to get out of the park.

“Yuri!” she called, hopefully.

The shadow stopped in its tracks.  It was her.  Sunny ran a few more steps to her friend.

“Yuri,” she begged, shouting over the falling rain, “come home please.”

“I can’t, Sunny,” Yuri answered.  “I can’t.”

“Please,” she begged.  “Whatever it is, we can fix this!”

“No, we can’t,” Yuri cried, not once turning to face the woman who had scoured the park to find her.

“We can, Yuri, please,” Sunny walked closer, her breath heavy from running.  “Just come home.”

“No,” Yuri shook her head, “I can’t.”

“Why not?” Sunny asked, despairingly.

“I … I just can’t.”

“Why not?”

“No, Sunny.”

“Tell me.”

“No!”

“Just tell me, Yuri!”

“Go away!”

“Come home!”

“No!”

“Why not?!”

“Because I’m in love with you!” Yuri spun on her heel to face the woman she had borne her soul to.  She caught her breath, hoping to take the words back, but it was too late.  Sunny stood, agape, stunned by the confession from her roommate.  “I … I’m in love with you,” Yuri repeated, much quieter than before, shaking with fear, lowering her gaze to the floor.

“You …” Sunny tried to speak.

“I fell in love with you pretty much from when we met,” Yuri explained.  “You were so bright and full of life, you lifted my spirits so high.  I wanted to be so much like you.  You seemed to be so carefree, so full of lust, of passion, of vigour, of everything that makes life worth living.  I thought I wanted to be more like you.”  Yuri shook her head.  “I didn’t.  I didn’t want to be you.  I ... I wanted to be with you.”

Sunny walked closer, step by step, inching her way closer to her vulnerable companion.

“I thought I only wanted you as a friend,” Yuri continued.  “I thought you would be the one to teach me how to live.”  She lifted her eyes, red and bloodshot from crying.  “You became my ideal partner, my confidant, my friend, my life source.  I … I fell for you, Sunny.”  She shook her head and started to turn away.

Sunny reached out her hand and grabbed Yuri’s arm, stopping her from walking away. Moments of silence passed, tensions raising, neither saying a word for what seemed like an eternity.

“Yuri,” Sunny pleaded, her voice broken from emotion.

“I can’t go back, Sunny,” Yuri reasoned.  “If I hadn’t have left before, I would have kissed you.  I wanted you, Sunny.  I wanted you.”  She sobbed, keeping her eyes on the woman she had given her heart to.  “I would have kissed you, held you, craved you, needed you.”

Sunny stepped forward, square in front of this vulnerable woman, confessing her deepest, darkest secret to her.  She took hold of both of her arms, and looked directly at her, straight into her eyes.  There it was again.  That feeling from inside the apartment.

“I love you.”

“What?” Yuri blinked.

“I love you, Yuri,” Sunny held her, desperate not to let her go.

Yuri shook her head.  “Don’t do this to me,” she begged.

“I felt it too,” Sunny continued.  “I wanted you.  When you ran away, I felt so betrayed, so hurt.  I didn’t know why.  We were getting along so well, everything was so happy and … I thought I’d screwed up.”

Yuri shook her head again, stronger than before.  “No, you didn’t.  I did.”

“You didn’t,” Sunny gripped her arms.  “Neither of us did.  What you said, just now … it made sense to me.  Everything fell into place.”  She nodded, a sense of affirmation and strength cursing through her veins.  “I’m in love with you.”

Yuri’s lip trembled as the tear drops flickered in her eyes.

“Come home,” Sunny begged gently.  “It’ll be ok.  We can talk, we can clear the air … just come home.”

Yuri pushed back a sniffle.  “You … you love me?” she asked, uncertain.

Instinctively, Sunny raised a hand to her cheek and wiped the tears away with her thumb.  “With all of my heart,” she answered, smiling, her heart singing at the admissions they had made.

“I sure hope everything is ok,” Tiffany mused, climbing the stairs to the apartment with Seohyun and Yoona.  It was the following day, Sunny had assured them all that Yuri was fine, but they had to “sort some things out” first.  Later on that evening, Sunny had sent a text, asking that the following day’s meeting be moved to her apartment.  “Important things” needed to be discussed, she said.  The group were none the wiser, but Yoona was seething.  She thought everything was going well, how could Sunny allow Yuri to run away like that?  She walked behind the other two members in absolute silence as they reached the door.  Seohyun lightly rapped on the wooden pane and smiled as Sunny answered it.  She stood in front of them, a grey sweater over her shoulders, a pair of black jeans covering her legs and a pair of trainers on her feet.  She smiled and gestured to the girls to enter, following Yoona with slight fear.  Yoona completely ignored her bandmate and entered, finding a place out of everyone’s way to sit.  Given the small apartment, comfortable seating positions were few and far between.  Yuri was sitting on the armchair, with Jessica and Hyoyeon sitting on the sofa.  Taeyeon was sitting on one of the arms, the one closest to the empty seat, which Yoona promptly took.  From here, she was close to the door and furthest away from Yuri.  In between her, on the floor, sat Sooyoung and now Tiffany and Seohyun.  As Sunny joined the group, she sat on the arm of the armchair, next to Yuri.

“What happened?” Seohyun asked.  “Where did you go last night?”

“Yeah,” Tiffany asked.  “And why did you tell us to meet here?”

“Actually,” Sunny sighed, “We're going to answer both of those.”

She went through, recounting her story to the group.  As she reached the part of their confessions, she put her arm around Yuri’s shoulder, bringing her closer, displaying her solidarity and commitment to Yuri.

“We came back, we talked, and …” Sunny looked at the vision of light sitting next to her, “we decided to start dating.”

“You what?” Taeyeon gasped, a mixture of delight and surprise.

The pair nodded.  “That’s why we asked to meet here,” Yuri added, taking Sunny’s arm in hers.  “We … we kind of … we’d like your blessing.”

“Our blessing?” Yoona chimed in, her look of hatred and anger completely disappeared and replaced with one of shock and confusion.

Yuri nodded and looked around the group.  “You girls are like family to us,” she smiled.  “Sunny and I are in love, but we want you to be happy for us too.”

Tiffany got up from the floor, as was expected by both Sunny and Yuri, and walked out of the door.

“Tiff, wait,” Sunny called after her, nodding to her new lover and smiling in comfort and acknowledgement.  Tiffany ran down the stairs, through the doors and out into the open air.  Thankfully, the rain from the previous nights had also gone, although the puddles from the night’s rainfall were still plenty to be seen.

“Tiffany,” Sunny called after her, joining her friend in the open air.  “Look, we know you’re not happy with us, but …”

“No,” Tiffany cut her off.  An uncomfortable silence remained for a couple of seconds, before she continued.  “You’re right, Sunny.  You’ve been right all along.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

Tiffany choked back a sob.  “About me and … Taeyeon.”

Sunny smiled and walked closer to her, wrapping her arm around her friend’s waist.  “Let’s go for a walk,” she suggested, leading her friend.

“I wish I had your guts,” Tiffany remarked as the pair crossed the road.

“My guts?” Sunny asked.

Tiffany nodded, holding back her tears.  “I could never tell Taeyeon what you told Yuri.”

She giggled.  “If Yuri hadn’t run away, I don’t think I would have said anything either,” she admitted.  “I guess both of our hands were forced.”

Tiffany nodded.  “So what now?”

Sunny stopped them dead in their tracks, stood in front of Tiffany and shrugged.  “What do you want to do?”

Tiffany sighed.  “I want to tell Taeyeon how I feel about her.  How much I love her.  How I think of her every night.  How I dream she's telling me she loves me.  The two of us holding hands together as we walk through the mall.  Eating Thanksgiving dinner together, or celebrating Christmas together.  I want to tell her how I think of all of these moments and ... how I wish I could share them with her not as a friend, but ... as her lover.”

“So tell her,” Sunny smiled.

“Oh yeah,” Tiffany laughed sarcastically.  “Excuse me Taeyeon, I know everyone thinks I’m some self-righteous homophobic , but the truth is I only pretend to be because I’m madly in love with you, but I don't want anyone to know how I feel, just in case they lynch me.”

Sunny laughed, her eyes giving off their natural twinkle.  “Maybe not like that,” she smiled.  “But definitely tell her that you like her.”

Tiffany shook her head in defeat.  “How?  What would I say?” she asked.  “I would need to think real hard about what to say.”

“Then I suggest you think very quickly,” Sunny advised her, gesturing behind her friend with a nod of her head.  Tiffany turned to look behind her, and found Taeyeon standing, not more than three metres away from the pair.  Across her face was confusion, pain, and shock, but mostly raw compassion.

“I’ll let you two be alone,” Sunny smiled, patting Tiffany on the arm and walking away, smiling at Taeyeon on her way past.

“You heard?” Tiffany asked when Sunny had gone.

“Every word,” Taeyeon admitted, walking closer to her distraught friend.

Tiffany closed her eyes and sighed.  She never imagined it would be this embarrassing.

“Tiff,” Taeyeon held her in her arms.  “You know I care about you, a hell of a lot …”

“You’re going to friendzone me,” she laughed.  Taeyeon looked away, ashamed of what she was about to say.  Tiffany smiled, comforted by how she was being so honest with her.  “I guess I’m no Jessica Jung,” Tiffany confided.

“Huh?” Taeyeon’s gaze shot back.

“Sunny told me,” she admitted.

“Look, Tiff,” Taeyeon her arm in comfort, “yeah, I like you.  I don’t feel the same way you do, but I like you a lot.  You are possibly the closest friend I have there.  You’re the one I turn to when I need someone to give me a kick up the .  When I need someone to help guide me, you’re the first one I come to.  You’re my sister from another mister!” she beamed, as Tiffany dropped her gaze and nodded.  “And yes, I am crazy for Jessica,” Taeyeon continued, “but …”

Tiffany’s eyes lifted, looking directly into Taeyeon’s.  “But what?”

Taeyeon sighed.  “With Jess, it’s more …” she struggled to get the word out.

“More ……?” Tiffany pressed.

“More … ual,” Taeyeon whispered.  Tiffany’s eyes widened.  “I mean … come on, Tiff.  We’re young.  We’ve got this whole life ahead of us.  We’ve got the band, we’ve got a career, we’ve got each other.  I’m just … I’m not looking to settle down right now.”  Tiffany nodded, understanding her leader’s logic.  “Besides,” she carried on, “I could never see me and Jessica settling down, having a house together, maybe kids …”

“She’d set it alight whilst making a salad,” Tiffany laughed.

“Maybe,” Taeyeon smiled.  “But it’s a fling.  It’s nothing serious.”

Tiffany sighed again.  “So … there’s a chance?  For us?” she asked hopefully.

“I …” Taeyeon thought long and hard, “I don’t know.  Right now, there isn’t.  I don’t like you the same way you like me.  But … who knows?  Maybe in the future, I might love you.  Maybe you’ll see that you’re really straight.  Maybe you’ll be marrying Prince William!”  Tiffany shook her head and laughed.  “My point is,” Taeyeon held her arms, “I can’t say for certain whether there would be a chance or not.”

Tiffany nodded.  “I get it,” she smiled, gently prizing one of her arms away and wiping her eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” Taeyeon apologised.

“No, it’s ok,” Tiffany assured her.  “I mean, you didn’t exactly say ‘No, not ever’ … just ‘Not now’.  Maybe things will change, you’re right.  Maybe they won’t.”  Taeyeon smiled and nodded.  “But we’re still friends, right?” Tiffany asked, not wanting for this last bastion of her relationship with her leader to disappear.

“Of course!” Taeyeon hugged her.  “I’m not giving you up that easily.”

They embraced, comforting each other.  Tiffany took a deep breath, being finally able to be herself.  She felt as though a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders.  Granted, the outcome had been less than desirable, but at least Taeyeon wasn’t disgusted by her.

“We should get back,” Taeyeon suggested, releasing Tiffany from their embrace, linking her arm and walking with her to the exit and back to Sunny's apartment.