"Jung Wheein, stop that." Hyejin woke me up from the slumber. I felt the tightness in my chest I couldn't translate into words. "You should really stop to overthink, sometimes. God. Like, you should've told Yongsun about this earlier. I hate how sometimes you think a lot."
"I only meant to buy Yongmi some time to finally be able to talk to Yongsun. That's all."
"Now it's chaos."
"Yeah, and I can't contact her at all now. Yongmi's ignoring me."
"Jesus. What the hell happened, Whee?"

I downed the can of Hoegaarden in my hand—my second of the night, and stared blankly at Hyejin who was grumbling about my story. Even though this wasn't entirely my fault, I definitely had a hand in the lies and chaos caused by Yongmi. Yongsun already knew that Yongmi was in Seoul, and as one of the people who had known about it much earlier, I couldn't imagine Yongsun's anger and disappointment at me. I tried the hardest to relax myself so I could think clearly and to actually find the solution to this complicated problem. I have to find Yongmi and force her to frankly tell Yongsun everything, but how? And how can I quell the flames that will rise high from my Yongsun? I honestly don't know how. I just wish I could.

"Something's off here. Yongmi told me her boyfriend dumped her for being pregnant."
"But her boyfriend told Yongsun that the girl is actually the one who dumped him? Now that's madness."
"You're not wrong."
"Is she really pregnant?"
"What do you mean?"
"Just in case this little woman is a drama queen in the making?"
"No. I myself accompanied her to visit the obstetricians."

Hyejin threw her body down to the couch.

"I have a dirty thought."
"What do you mean?"
"Maybe. Just maybe."
"Jin-ah. Tell me now."
"Well. She's pregnant. But maybe the child doesn't belong to her current boyfriend. So, she dumped him." Hyejin rolled her eyes while grabbing my beer can and stared at me intently. "The real father of that child is the one who dumped her. Now the question is, why should she hide it all from Yongsunie? And of everyone else, why did she choose to tell you?"
"I have no idea how."
"It surprises me that you didn't of it all from the beginning, Whee."

The night was getting late and the on our faces showed how tired we had been through the day, not to mention the story about Yongmi. Hyejin would spend the night at my apartment before going straight back to Busan the next morning for her business. I stared at her blankly while it seemed that she held so many possibilities I couldn't even.

"Something's off here, Whee."

My mind was torn between my endless office work, and how I miss my girlfriend, Yongsun. It had been a week since my tough conversation with Hyejin that night. Conversation that made me down three bottles of soju plus four cans of beer that can't get me drunk either. Yongsun focused herself on searching for Yongmi who was missing, and I still couldn't think of the right steps to be able to tell her about everything. Hyejin was right. I hate how sometimes I couldn't stop thinking about things.

"Excuse me, Wheein unnie."
"Y-Yoonsun? It's late." I glanced at my watch. "Why are you still here?"
"Working on several revision. Nevermind." She smiled warmly. "Still working?"
"Wrapping up." I replied courtly. I didn't want her to question me further.
"Actually, I brought you a box of inari sushi. I heard you skipped your lunch due to earlier meeting."
"Yeah. I just realised that too." I glanced at the black box with a little red ornament circling and smiled. I felt so starving in a sudden. "And how did you know that I like inari sushi? Did I mention that?"
"Everyone told me that."
"Oh. Thank you. Really."
"Eat well?"
"I will. Thanks, Yoonsun."

I rushed to open the lunch box after Yoonsun left. My stomach, which had been growling since the afternoon, suddenly rebelled. Even my stomach acid seemed to have complained loudly since only the liquid coffee milk that I gave him caused enough heartburn disturbances there. I smiled looking at the piece of paper taped to the lunch box. A witty sentence written by Yoonsun made me laugh a little before I started eating that late dinner, enjoying a set of inari sushi with a taste that piqued my appetite.

A short message came to my cellphone. My eyes widened and I almost choked when I read the message preview from my cellphone's toggle notification. After sipping a glass of water, I opened the message. From Yongmi.

Wheein unnie...
I feel like I want to give up
Should I kill the baby?
Or should I kill myself too?

I rushed to my feet and put important things into my bag rashly. Not even my hungry stomach could stop my panic at that moment. My mind immediately went to Yongmi's apartment, and how could I break into it before it was too late. Leaving the box of sushi I hadn't finished eating, I walked quickly to the elevator that took me to the floor of the car park. Amidst millions of voices in my mind, I tried to be able to accommodate my anxiety, especially because I have to drive to the apartment which is about 20 minutes from my office.

I leaned on the car seat and shut my eyes down for a moment when suddenly my phone rang loudly. I set the ringtone for this one particular person differently, so I don't even need to look at my cellphone screen to recognize her.

"Hey." Her voice sound a little thicker than usual. "Baby, you're still at the office?"
"Yong. I'm inside the car."
"Oh. I was about to ask you to have a dinner with me."
"I was eating some sushi from Yoonsun when—"
"Yoonsun who?"
"My junior at office. She—"
"So, you had dinner with her?"

God. It's not the right time for an unimportant jealousy.

"Yong. Listen to me."
"What's happening, Whee? Is it about the junior—"
"Yong." I sighed a deep one. "I'll send you an address. I'll drive there as soon as possible, and please do the same way. I promise that I will explain it all to you, every detail of it, but later. Now we have to go there."
"What address? What's going on here, Whee?"

I was almost cried, both from the panic as I received Yongmi's message, and from how I felt so clueless on how to face Yongsun after the reveal. I closed my eyes to gain a little power from the appeasement I got before making Yongsun even more worry about things I said.

"Yong, that's Yongmi's address."
"Yongmi? B-But how could you—Whee?"
"Yong. Let's meet there as soon as possible for now. Please."

Tears fell down for how frustrated I felt to be in that position.
"Yong. I promise. I will tell you everything." I whispered, hoping my words would calm her down just for a moment. "I'm sorry."

*** ***

Hyejin patted my shoulder gently, trying to transfer a glimmer of positive energy that I needed on that long, tiring night. Yongmi was lying weakly on the floor and blood was flowing from the bottom of her body, making the scene was so terrible for us to see. In my ear, Yongsun's screeching screams replayed, and how frightened she looked at her younger sister who almost looked like she was not breathing. Previously, on the way to Yongmi's apartment, I who had bad feelings decided to call Hyejin who then called the help center to also come over if something bad happened.

We managed to quickly take Yongmi to the nearest hospital, but the bad news we received was that she had miscarried her child. The doctor said that at least for the last 2-3 weeks Yongmi had taken a lot of sleeping pills in unreasonable doses, and was also experiencing some pretty bad symptoms of mental illness. Yongmi's unfavorable condition of body and mind forced her to lose the baby, although fortunately the doctor was able to save her so she could have the opportunity to return to live after her indirect suicide attempt.

After escorting Hyejin to the front of the elevator, I stepped back into a VIP room where Yongmi rested after going through several emergency measures in the ER. I looked from the front door and found Yongsun still slumped while holding the arm of her sleeping sister with a medical tube in her body. I walked closer. I knew it would be the longest night ever.

"Hyejin is going home already?"
"Yeah."
"Tell her that I thank her a lot to help."
"Sure." I caressed her back softly. "Yong. I bought you dinner."
"You know it's not the thing that I want, nor I need the most for now, Whee."
"I know."
"I'm listening."

Yongsun has every right to feel upset.
I know. It's just hard.

"Yongmi contacted me on your birthday, asking me to meet her in secret. I thought it's something related to your birthday. I thought she was s