Chapter 11. Moment

After two hours of driving, Jiyeon finally arrived at her destination, she looked at her left, Hyomin was sleeping soundly, and she hated to wake her up; The latter had been crying since she got in the car , it took her a while to drift off to sleep, dried tear still left its mark on her cheek, Jiyeon unbuckled her seatbelt and reached to wipe it away.

“I would never want to make you cry” Jiyeon whispered, kissing her tear away.

Hyomin was woken by a gentle kiss on her eyelid; she opened her eyes and saw Jiyeon’s face only inches away, her heart fluttered.

“We are here, I’m sorry to wake you up” Jiyeon said before unbuckling the seatbelt for Hyomin.

Jiyeon was clear for her feeling toward Hyomin, she was never hesitant to show it, and every affectionate gesture has sent the warmth to Hyomin’s heart.

“Where are we?” Hyomin asked looking around her surrounding, in front of them stood a light blue one-storey house, surrounded with short white fence, salty sea smell was in the air, and relaxing sea wave could be heard in the background

 “My mom’s house” Jiyeon said, leading Hyomin into the house.

It was a medium cozy house which reflected the character of the owner quite well. The sofa was cover in quilt sheet, photos and painting were on the wall, at the corner of sitting room stood a small wooden piano and next to it was a bookshelf full of books, to their right was a small convenient kitchen with green painted wooden cupboard and white dining table for two.

Jiyeon stood in front of a shelf , she traced her finger along a photo frame of a smiling woman in her arm holding a 3 years old kid who was smiling as same as her mother; She didn’t realized that she was crying until she felt a warm touch to wipe away her tear.

“You got your mother’s beautiful’ eyes and smile” Hyomin said “And tear doesn’t match them”, she smiled and Jiyeon smiled along.

They spent an hour to look around the house, Jiyeon told Hyomin about the story of this house and her mom; Hyomin found out that Jiyeon’s mom was an artist and went to the same university as hers.

Now they were walking along the white sand beach hand in hand, Jiyeon inhaled the fresh air into her lung, she felt so relaxed.

“I think I’ll come back and stay here” Jiyeon told Hyomin as they were walking

“What about your parents in Canada” Hyomin asked

“They will be fine, I’ll visit them time to time” Jiyeon told about her plan

“Will they be ok with that?” Hyomin continued to ask, and Jiyeon nodded.

Hyomin was not sure if she should support the younger woman’s idea, if she came back for good then she would agree but if she came back because of her and had to give up everything there for her then it would be too selfish to keep her by her side, but the thought of Jiyeon leaving here again also made her chest tightened, she placed a hand in her chest.

“Are you alright?” Jiyeon stopped walking when she saw Hyomin stopped and looked uneasy.

 “I’m alright, I’m just tired, shall we go back?” Hyomin said, smiling.

Jiyeon crouched down to let Hyomin ride on her back, Hyomin was confused.

“I’ll piggyback you home” Jiyeon told her

“No Jiyeon ah , I’m fine, I can walk” Hyomin opposed.

“Just get on my back already or do you want me to carry you? Jiyeon grinned

“Fine, but don’t blame me for your backache” Hyomin gave in.

Jiyeon piggybacked Hyomin along the beach back to the house as sun was setting, how Hyomin wished she could stop the time and live in the moment like this forever.

“Are you tired” Hyomin asked Jiyeon

“No, you’re very light” Jiyeon said, smiling.

“Jiyeon” Hyomin called her name

“Hm” Jiyeon responded

“Do you think Eunjung unnie is still mad at me?” Hyomin asked for younger woman’s opinion

Jiyeon stopped walking upon the mentioning of Eunjung’s name, her mood was down, she was upset that while they were together, Hyomin still thought about Eunjung unnie.

“She will be over it soon” Jiyeon coldly said before resumed walking.

They arrived at Jiyeon’s mother house after the sun was already set, and prepared to go back to town but found that two front tires of Jiyeon’s car were flat and there was only one spare tire, there was no choice but had to wait till tomorrow; Hyomin wanted to call to let Eunjung know but realized that her bag and stuff was left behind at the coffee shop, she didn’t dare to borrow Jiyeon’s phone because Jiyeon seemed to have a mood swing whenever Eunjung’s name was mentioned.

“I guess we will have Ramyun for dinner tonight” Jiyeon smiled sheepishly as she reached for package of Ramyun from the cupboard.

“That would be great” Hyomin cheered up, taking Ramyun package from Jiyeon’s hand “I’ll cook it”

Jiyeon felt thankful to Uncle Park, who has taken care of the house and prepare some necessary stuff for her.

“It’s really delicious, Hyomin ah” Jiyeon spoke while eating, Hyomin found it very adorable, she reached out to wipe Jiyeon’s mouth with a tissue, Jiyeon stopped eating and looked into Hyomin’s eyes.

“Thanks” Jiyeon said

*******************

Qri sat in front of Eunjung who was drinking beer like a water, after the unexpected scene at the coffee shop, Eunjung  was driving Qri back to her place but Qri asked her to drop at a seafood restaurant and it ended up that Eunjung kept ordering beers to drink

“Stop it Eunjung” Qri held Eunjung’s hand stopping her from drinking

“Why?” Eunjung asked, annoyed.

“I want to go home now” Qri strongly commanded Eunjung

“As you wish , madam?” Eunjung groggily stood up, she stumbled backward a bit but managed to balance herself.   

 As they arrive at Eunjung’s car, Qri snatched the key from Eunjung and walked over to driver seat

“What are you doing? Give it back to me” Eunjung said, Qri just ignored her and started the engine, Eunjung had no choice but to go to passenger seat.

“ I don’t wanna die young, save your thank for later” Qri said with mocking tone.

 “Tell me the direction” Qri ordered

“What?” Eunjung shouted, confused.

“I’ll drive you home” Qri told

“ No need, Qri ssi, just drive to your home then I’ll drive back to my home” Eunjung said

“ If you don’t care about yourself, just think of the person who is waiting for you at home, how she would feel if something happened to you on a car accident” Qri reasoned , she stole a glance at Eunjung , she felt like that girl seemed to have so much influence on Eunjung .

Qri dropped Eunjung at her apartment then getting off the car, passing the key to Eunjung. Eunjung looked at her, confused.

“I’ll just take a cab home, so tomorrow you will have a car to work” Qri said before Eunjung even asked.

“It’s not safe, just take my car and tomorrow I’ll take a cab to work” Eunjung opposed.

“Do you worry about me?” Qri asked hopefully

“If something happens to you, Boss Hyori will never forgive me” Eunjung said

“ Ah, I understand”  Qri said, feeling bitter.

“Drive safe” Eunjung said and walked away.

Qri’s eyes followed Eunjung’s back till she disappeared

“Will you just once look at me as a woman?” Qri whispered, her heart was breaking.

*************

Eunjung entered her apartment to find only silence of the room, through she was mad at Hyomin., she still cared about the latter too much to ignore her, Hyomin was her weak point and she always surrendered to her. She tried knocking on Hyomin’s bedroom door but no response, she decided to open to check on her but only to find an empty room, her heart dropped, she felt strange feeling in her stomach, Hyomin didn’t come home , she felt hot tear running down her cheek

“ Hyomin ah, please come back” , she never felt this lost and lonely before.

**************

“Good morning” Jiyeon greeted Hyomin , Hyomin drowsily smiled.

“Did you have a good sleep?” Jiyeon asked, Hyomin nodded.

“Let’s see the sun rise” Jiyeon pulled Hyomin up from the bed and led her to balcony

“It’s really beautiful” Hyomin said in awe.  Jiyeon smiled, she looked at the side of Hyomin’s face, sun was shining on her face, it was such a beautiful picture that she wanted to capture in her memory forever. Jiyeon reached for Hyomin’s hand and locked her fingers with Hyomin’s, and Hyomin smiled happily, without any word, Hyomin understood what the younger woman wanted to say.

After breakfast, Jiyeon had called a service to come and replace the tires for them , when it was done they set off for the town.

“Can I come back here again?” Hyomin asked, she liked this house so much

“Whenever you want” Jiyeon replied gleefully, she would be more than happy to let the latter to come here without asking.

They arrived the town by noon time, Hyomin asked Jiyeon to drop her at the coffee shop to pick up her stuff and apologized to her boss about yesterday incident, but Tae Woo reassured her that it was alright

“Are you sure you don’t want me there with you?” Jiyeon asked Hyomin worried as she was dropping her in front of the apartment, the scene that Eunjung harshly pulled Hyomin from at the coffee shop was vivid in her mind.

“Jiyeon ah, it’s Eunjung unnie, nothing to worry” Hyomin couldn’t see any harm when it came to Eunjung, the older woman might get mad at her but never once she would hurt her.

“If you need me, just call me” Jiyeon was still worried. Hyomin reached for Jiyeon’s hand and rubbed it gently to reassure her.

 “Believe me” Hyomin gave her a smile, collecting her stuff and about to open the door when Jiyeon called her by her name “Hyomin”  

 Hyomin turned around to face Jiyeon and that moment her world was stopped, Jiyeon pecked her on the lips, it sent both warmth and electricity sense to her heart.

“Take care” Jiyeon uttered while Hyomin was still frozen, her face turned read

 “See you” Hyomin stuttered and quickly opened the door. Jiyeon just smiled

When Hyomin stepped into apartment, she saw Eunjung sleeping on the couch, she approached the older woman and called her name “Eunjung unnie”

Eunjung opened her eyes to see Hyomin right in front of her, she got up and hugged Hyomin waist, putting her head on her stomach.  

“ Hyomin ah, I am sorry, please don’t leave me” Eunjung broke down, Hyomin was very surprised, she has never seen Eunjung this weak, her heart wrenched to see her like this, the one who always protected her and did everything for her, was here crying begging her not to leave ,

“ Unnie, I’ll never leave you” Hyomin gently her hair. The older woman has done for her a lot, it was time for her to repay through it had to hurt her own heart.

To be continued