“Please tell me what happened Hyomin ah” Eunjung asked as soon as they sat down in the living room   

Hyomin looked at Eunjung, she didn’t know where to start, she was contemplating a bit.

“ Qri ssi came to see me” Hyomin started observing Eunjung’s reaction, upon the mention of Qri’s name Eunjung widened her eyes.

“What did she do to you?” Eunjung asked, she formed her hand into a fist

“She did nothing to me, unnie” Hyomin reassured the old woman

 “Why did you get a cut on your head then?” Eunjung asked impatiently

“It was just an accident” Hyomin said trying to make the older woman calm down.

“ She asked me to break up with you” Hyomin continued when she saw Eunjung was more composed

“ What?!” Eunjung shouted in anger

“ Unnie, do you happen to have a feeling for her?” Hyomin asked, she wanted to make sure the older woman also had a mutual feeling for other woman then she would be really happy for her.

“ No way ! What are you talking about Hyomin?” Eunjung said angrily.

 “ But I saw a photo of  you and her ….?” Hyomin felt awkward to say, and Eunjung came to understand what Qri was up to.

“ No, Hyomin ah, I was drugged that night” Eunjung scooted closer to Hyomin holding her hand pleading , Hyomin knew Eunjung so well, that was why she didn’t freak out to find those photos Qri show her, Eunjung wasn’t that kind of person.

“ Unnie, she seemed to love you so much” Hyomin slowly said, she felt pity on Qri who disgraced herself just to get rejected by Eunjung unnie.

“ But I never love her, and you don’t ever think about breaking up with me, cause I can’t live without you” Eunjung hugged Hyomin crying on her shoulder. Seeing Eunjung like this Hyomin didn’t dare to bring up the one thing she really wanted to talk to her, thing was hard for her, she was hurting two people she loved at the same time.

“I’m sorry for all of this, but believe me, I didn’t mean it to happen” Eunjung apologized. Hyomin went quiet, she didn’t know what to think anymore, she just couldn’t push Eunjung away for it wasn’t her fault.

“Nothing to be apologized for unnie” Hyomin said, “Because everything is my fault” the last sentence she said it in her mind.

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

“Jiyeon , just come out of your hiding already ” Hyomin softly said as she was looking for a book at the library.

“How did you know?” Jiyeon smiled sheepishly as she showed up at the corner, Hyomin just smiled and point at the transparent glass wall at Jiyeon’s corner which reflecting her silhouette

“Aish , blame this transparent glass wall, I get caught because of you” Jiyeon playfully stared at it before walking closer to Hyomin; Hyomin could only smile at Jiyeon’s playful side.

“Don’t you get a job to do today?” Hyomin asked while keeping to look for a book

“No , I submitted all my work last night”, Jiyeon yawned and it didn’t go unnoticed by Hyomin

“ Jiyeon ah, you should go back to rest”, Hyomin said with caring tone

“ I’m fine Hyomin ah” Jiyeon said, smiling, “ But I just need a coffee, would you please give me a treat?” Jiyeon  said cutely.

“ Sure” Hyomin said smiling and stopped looking for a book .

Hyomin and Jiyeon walked to a campus café where they first came when they met again. Jiyeon inhaled an aroma scent, she really liked this café, beside the good taste of coffee, the music serenading inside this cafe was so relaxing.

Jiyeon was thankful to God that brought her here to meet this woman in front of her again, she was the love of her life, a love that she could never have but just being by her side and to know that deep inside Hyomin’s heart, she held a place there, that was enough to keep her going in this cruel world. Jiyeon knew how much pressured Hyomin felt so she didn’t want to make it harder for her.

She accidentally found a medicine bottle dropped from Hyomin’s bag in her car, she got curious and brought it to check at the pharmacy to be told by a pharmacist that it was a strong medicine prescribed for heart disease, Jiyeon was numb and shocked, she got more worried about the latter. When she returned the medicine to Hyomin the next day, Hyomin lied to her that it was only vitamin, Jiyeon knew better than to ask but kept quiet, and kept watching over her.

“When will your exam start?” Jiyeon started the conversation when she saw the woman in front of her busily reading.

“It will start next week” Hyomin still read her book

“Drink your hot chocolate already, it’s getting cold now” Jiyeon took a book from Hyomin’ hands.

 “Ok, fine” Hyomin sighed but complied.

“You’ll be fine Hyomin ah, I believe you can do this” Jiyeon cheered her up.

“Thanks Jiyeon ah” Hyomin grained more confidence with just simple encouraging words from Jiyeon, beside her words, Jiyeon showed her faith look in her eyes to support her.

“After you finish your exam, I’ll take you for a short holiday” Jiyeon said, hopeful.

 “Really ?” Hyomin’s eyes were lightened.

“Of course, as a reward for a hard-working girl” Jiyeon smiled

But then Hyomin’s smiled faded away when she thought about Eunjung unnie, she wasn’t sure if she would allow her.

“ Why, you don’t want to go?” Jiyeon asked as she noticed that Hyomin’s smile faded.

“Eunjung unnie” Hyomin softly said.

“ Don’t worry, we’ll talk to her, three of us may all go together like when we were kids” Jiyeon suggested her idea, she was fine if Eunjung had to go with them as long as she saw Hyomin happy. Hyomin nodded, agreed with the idea.

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

Qri was discharged from the hospital after a few days of admission. She avoided seeing Eunjung by not showing up at the pub for a whole week, she wasn’t ready to face her, she did everything even trying to take her own life just to have Eunjung attention yet she couldn’t win Eunjung’s heart.

 As for Eunjung even how much she wanted to hate Qri for what she did, Hyomin asked her to forgive Qri and moved on because the younger woman didn’t want Eunjung to have problem with Qri and Eunjung just hoped Qri would really stop this.

“Do you want to see me boss?” Eunjung went to Hyori’s office after she got a phone call.

“Oh Eunjung, please sit down” Hyori gestured her to sit.

“Well, next week, I want you to go to Seoul for a business trip with me to meet my new partnership” Hyori told her the news

“Next week?” Eunjung asked

“ Yes , do you have any problem?” Hyori asked

“ No no , but who is going to take care of the work here?” Eunjung asked

“ Don’t worry, Jang Woo will be assigned as acting manager while you are away, and beside it will take only a few days” Hyori explained.

“ Ok, boss” Eunjung accepted her assignment.

Eunjung went back to her office looking through the glass window down to the dance floor, people with alcohol in their system , ranging from working men and women to high class business men and women even celebrities were enjoying their night life dancing like there was no tomorrow.

She walked to her chair and sat down, she took a photo frame on her desk to look

“Just wait a little bit more Hyomin ah, I’ll make it up to you” Eunjung said to a photo of smiling Hyomin. Once again Eunjung had to choose work over Hyomin, the latter just talked to her this afternoon about a holiday plan for the three of them, although at first she didn’t totally agree but seeing how excited and hopeful Hyomin look, she couldn’t refuse her, beside they didn’t have much chance to go on holiday so it could be a great chance to be reunited with Jiyeon as well as relaxing themselves out of all stress. But her decision today made her fight with her thought whether to ask Hyomin to cancel the plan or let Hyomin go with Jiyeon alone. She knew the first option would really disappoint Hyomin and she would never want to see those disappointed eyes, but the second option wouldn’t make Eunjung happy either.

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

“ Hyomin ah, good luck for your final exam today, hwaiting !” Eunjung cheered Hyomin up as she was dropping her in front of her university. As today Hyomin would have her important final exam so Eunjung got herself to get up at the day time to drop Hyomin off at her university though the younger woman was against the idea for she wanted Eunjung to take more sleep.

“Thank you Eunjung unnie” Hyomin said

“ Hyomin” Eunjung called her back

“Yes ,unnie” Hyomin turned around. Eunjung bent forward to kiss Hyomin on her forehead.

“Do you best” Eunjung said, Hyomin gave her a confident smile and got off the car.

After Hyomin was done with her exam, as planned they would go on a holiday, Eunjung decided to tell Hyomin one day before holiday that she couldn’t make it to go with them since work called for her so she would let Jiyeon and Hyomin to go first and if her business trip was finished early she would follow them there.

“Enjoy your holiday and have a good trip”, Eunjung was dropping off Hyomin at Busan Airport for Tokyo, Japan.

“Thank you unnie, same to you, have a good trip to Seoul” Hyomin said hugging Eunjung.

 “ Jiyeon, please take care of Hyomin for me” Eunjung said

“ You don’t have to ask, cause I’ll do my best” Jiyeon said while taking her luggage

“ Call me when you get there” Eunjung told Hyomin

“ Yes, unnie, we have to go now, please take care, I’ll see you soon” Hyomin hugged Eunjung one last time before walking to passenger gate with Jiyeon.

Eunjung waved goodbye to Hyomin until she disappeared from the gate

“ It’s not that I trust you Jiyeon, but I can’t bear seeing Hyomin disappointed” Eunjung said to herself

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

Hyomin seemed so excited with this trip, this was her first time travelling oversea, she felt bad that Eunjung couldn’t come with them, she expected them to hang around and refresh the memories of their childhood, but it didn’t happen. If it was possible, she would want to spend every minutes of everyday with her loved ones until her last day came; Eunjung was everything to Hyomin, she was her savior, friend and sister, the bond between them could never be cut, Hyomin loved her as much as Eunjung did but just in different way; While Jiyeon was her happiness, the light that shone through her life and a love that completed her. 

After two hours of flying, they finally arrived at the destination; Jiyeon took care of everything for them from air flight tickets to hotel booking. They took a taxi from airport and arrived in their hotel

 “How may I help you, Miss? “ A hotel receptionist greeted them with a smile.

“We have booked two rooms for 4 nights at your hotel” Jiyeon said in English

“May I have your name please?” A receptionist politely asked

“Park Jiyeon ” Jiyeon said and turned to smile at Hyomin who was admiring Jiyeon speaking English.

“Miss, we found your booking only reserved for one double suit room” A receptionist said to them

“Can you check for me again please? Jiyeon asked politely

“Yes, Miss, I’m sure your booking was only for one room and other one was cancelled”

Then Jiyeon realized that it was her own mistake that she cancelled the booking for one hotel room and air flight ticket after she was informed by Hyomin that Eunjung was not going.

“ If in that case, can you please find one more room for me please?” Jiyeon asked, looked troubled.

“I’m sorry Miss, our rooms were all booked till next week” the receptionist apologized.

“ What’s wrong Jiyeon? ” Hyomin noticed that Jiyeon looked serious though she couldn’t understand the language

“ It was my mistake and we had only one double room booked” Jiyeon said

“ It was fine Jiyeon, we can share the bed” Hyomin said, she didn’t see any problem.

With the answer Jiyeon smiled and told the receptionist that it was ok to get only one room. The receptionist passed them the key and they checked in to the hotel.

“ Are you hungry now?” Jiyeon asked Hyomin as she was unpacking her stuff.

“ A little bit” Hyomin said.

“Let’s go out and eat then” Jiyeon got up from lying on the bed, grabbing her bag and took Hyomin’s hand

“What’s about unpacking first?” Hyomin asked

“We will do that later” Jiyeon said.

 “I wonder it’s you or me that get hungry” Hyomin said as she took her bag

“I’m starving” Jiyeon grinned and Hyomin shook her head smiling.

After they enjoyed sushi at Japanese restaurant, they decided to take subway to explore the city and visit tourist attractions; Hyomin was awed at how beautiful the city was, Jiyeon didn’t miss the chance to take picture of her.

“Are you not getting tired of taking my photos?” Hyomin asked.

“No, never” Jiyeon said, looking through her camera view finder.

“Can I try it?” Hyomin asked for Jiyeon’s permission. Jiyeon handed her the camera.

“How do you use it?” Hyomin asked as soon as she got hold of camera

“Just look through this and pressed this , and to review photo, you click on this” Jiyeon explained

Hyomin did as told, she took pictures of view but then she turned around and took picture of Jiyeon when she wasn’t really ready.

“Hey, that wasn’t fair, I didn’t even prepare”

 “ But you look beautiful, Jiyeon ah” Hyomin said as she was  reviewing the photos, and she missed to see how red Jiyeon was , she was blushing.

“Let’s take a photo of us” Jiyeon suggested before taking camera from Hyomin and took their selfie.

“Smile” Jiyeon said, both of them smiled at camera.

“One more shot” Jiyeon told Hyomin, Hyomin was smiling at camera, just then Jiyeon pecked on Hyomin’s cheek and snapped. Hyomin blushed while Jiyeon acted as nothing happened

“Kawaii” Hyomin and Jiyeon turned their head to a group of few Japanese girls who were shrieking to see them.

“Excuse me, can you please take the photos for us” a girl cheerfully took a camera, Jiyeon walked back to where Hyomin stood and embraced her waist. The girl took a few photos for them.

“Thank you” Jiyeon said before taking her camera back.  

After that Jiyeon guided Hyomin to an Art Museum, she thought the latter who would like it and she was right, Hyomin enjoyed the visit a lot.

“Are you tired?” Jiyeon asked as they were taking subway back to the hotel

“No, not at all, I really enjoyed it, thank you Jiyeon ah” Hyomin said

“I’m glad you are happy” Jiyeon said, smiling. Hyomin put her head on her shoulder.

The next day Jiyeon took Hyomin out for city detour and returned to hotel in the evening, getting dressed for a dinner, Jiyeon told her they were going to meet her important people so Hyomin was quite nervous.

“They are there” Jiyeon led Hyomin to a corner of a restaurant which sat a couple.

“Jiyeonnie” A woman hugged Jiyeon and Jiyeon hugged her back

“How are you mommy?” Jiyeon asked

“I’m good dear” A woman released a hug and Jiyeon turned to hug a man.

 “I hope you are doing well daddy” Jiyeon greeted.

 “And this beautiful lady is ?” Ryeo Won asked as she noticed a lady standing behind Jiyeon. Hyomin bowed her head to them.

“Mom , dad, this is Hyomin” Jiyeon said.

“Good evening aunty/uncle” Hyomin bowed again

 “It’s nice to see you Hyomin ah” Ryo Won said and gave her a hug.

Hyomin could feel a heartwarming greeting from Jiyeon’s adopted parents, they were so nice and talked to her like a she was a part of their family, Hyomin always longed for such a moment in her life and she never thought she would feel this way again since her parents passed away.

Jiyeon was holding Hyomin’s hand under table and smiling. Mr & Mrs. Kim were so happy to see Jiyeon’s smile, the smile that they rarely saw it all these years they brought her up, she smiled with her eyes shining. They were going on a holiday but stopped over in Japan to see their adopted daughter, they wanted to make sure she was fine but what made them surprised was that Jiyeon looked so happy and they knew the reason.

“I hope to see you again Mr.and Mrs.Kim” Hyomin bowed to them when they had to leave

“Just call me mommy and Rae Won as daddy already” Ryeo Won said and looked at her husband

“Yes, just call us as Jiyeon does” Rae Won added.  Hyomin was touched by how sweet the couple were to her.

 “ We hope to see you again soon” Ryeo Won said and hugged her.

“Take care kids” Rae Won said and hugged Jiyeon

Jiyeon and Hyomin left the restaurant and strolled along the road at night, beautiful street light shone through them. Hyomin took a glance at Jiyeon’s face, she was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. She wish she could stop the time and lived in the moment like this as longest as possible. 

TO BE CONTINUED