There's always room for another

Chapter 18: 3.5 - the memorials

Yuna had known from the minute she stepped into the room that she'd made a terrible mistake in coming. The shock on all their faces. The anger. Yuna couldn't help but feel like she'd betrayed them somehow.

The room was deathly silent after Yongsun's departure. The sound of the door slamming seemed to echo, just like how her footsteps were on the floor outside. Yuna grabbed at her collar, hoping to keep her own feelings at bay, to stop them from overwhelming her.

(She felt hands on her, touching her, pinning her.)

(The phantom touch of sheer discomfort.)

Yuna sucked in a deep breath when she felt someone come closer, inquisitive dark eyes still rounded with surprise.

"Unnie?" Yuna recognised her as Wheein. "Is that really you?"

"If you mean me as in Byulyi, then -" Yuna choked on a broken laugh. "I'm not really sure how to answer that one. But the simple answer is yes." It was strange to hear how confident she sounded.

(Inside, she could feel her heart thudding in her veins.)

(Just under the skin.)

A sudden weight against her almost threw her off her feet, causing Yuna to yelp as she was, once again, pinned against the wall. But this time, before the panic could set in, Wheein pulled herself away to look at her from an arms-length away. "Oh my god."

"Hi." Yuna managed a wave. "It's nice to meet you."

"Stop being ridiculous, unnie." The other woman - Hyejin, she remembered - stalked up to her. "Don't play these games with us. Not us."

"I'm not sure I know what you mean." Yuna tucked her hands into her pockets, hoping for some respite from the curious eyes on her. "I'm not playing any games. I promise."

"So we're just meant to believe that you completely lost your memory?" Hyejin's eyes narrowed, ignoring Do Hoon call her name in warning. "What's my favourite colour?" Yuna just stared at her blankly. "What do I always order at the bar?" She seemed to get even more agitated by Yuna's silence. "What the hell do you call me when you're really trying to piss me off?"

"I'm sorry. Really," Yuna tried to back away from the other woman before she remembered she had nowhere to go. "For me, this is my first time meeting you." She wanted to take it back immediately because of the identical looks of pain flashing across their features. "I don't know how to answer any of those questions."

"Then can you answer this one?" Wheein licked her lips as she grabbed Yuna's hand pleadingly. Yuna stilled, unaware that she had been fidgeting with her sleeves. She was sure her helplessness showed on her face. "Unnie," Wheein began carefully, exchanging glances with the others in the room. "What happened to you?"

Yuna swallowed harshly. This was going to be a long story.

- - - - -

In the end, Yuna wasn't sure what did it. Maybe it was the way she kept their eyes as she spoke. Maybe it was the way she realised she was hesitating around them, unsure of their reactions. Or maybe it was the sheer... absurdity of the whole situation that grounded everything in the end.

(She would never know that it wasn't any of these.)

(Wheein and Hyejin had known - as well as Yongsun had - that things were different from the minute she stepped through that door.)

(From the moment Yuna had smiled helplessly at them, instead of running into their arms with her naturally bright smile.)

(They had known that the person in their midst wasn't the Byulyi they knew.)