UNCHANGEABLE - SEULRENE

SR - after all

seulgi kicks her car door close and carries the sleeping yerim in her arms into the bae compound.

"she fell asleep crying," she says as she meets up with joohyun and her mom at their doorstep. "maybe i should carry her directly to her room so she won't wake up."

they lead seulgi to yerim's bedroom to tuck the kid in. when she's left alone, seulgi murmurs one more apology and kisses the kid's forehead. she heads out of the room and sees joohyun standing with a phone against her ear.

"... yeah. she's sleeping now. let's talk to her tomorrow about it."

joohyun's gentle voice is so soothing seulgi can't help but smile. she stood there staring, admiring how elegant the woman looked in her long white nightdress. but there's still a hint of jealousy inside, knowing joohyun's talking to her husband--or ex-husband-to-be. joohyun hasn't talked to seulgi yet. the ambiguity of their relationship sends seulgi to uncertainty.

joohyun turns around and meets eyes with seulgi. "yes. that would be great. goodnight, junmyeon," she says, not breaking the gaze. she hangs up. seulgi takes it as a sign to approach.

"hey."

"hey."

"umm." seulgi looks to her left and right as if she's searching for something. it was undeniably awkward, and she's sure joohyun can feel it too. "i don't know if there's any better way to say this, but yerim knows everything now, and she hates me."

joohyun raises her brows. "she what?"

"i'm sorry. but she overheard your mom and your husband talking about this other person involved with you. and i don't want to pretend and lie to her. i told her it was me."

"gosh." joohyun brings a hand to her forehead. "i'm sorry. this is all my fault."

"hey. it's not your fault. i should be the one apologising. she's got every right to hate me."

joohyun massage her temple this time. seulgi notices how she look so stressed like she hasn't been sleeping well for days.

"i don't know what to do anymore..." says joohyun, almost helpless. "whichever path i take, someone will always get hurt... it s you, or me, or yerim, or junmyeon..."

"hey. hey. calm down." seulgi reaches out, cupping joohyun's elbows, the latter leaning in the touch and breaking down in seulgi's shoulder instantly. "hey. it'll be okay."

"i don't know what to do anymore, seulgi..." joohyun's frame shakes. "i don't know what to do anymore. this is all my fault..."

"there's no point trying to find out who's at fault or who's to blame. what you need to do is find a way to fix this."

"but what should i do? i don't want to hurt anyone anymore..."

seulgi rubs joohyun's back. "look. the more you try not to hurt anyone, the longer people around you will get hurt. you just have to decide, hyun, and be firm with it."

joohyun looks up at her. "but how?"

"ask yourself, what do you want?"

"i can't do that. because no matter what i choose somebody will always get hurt."

"people are already getting hurt. and the more you're stuck with this indecisiveness, the longer all of us will suffer."

"but how can i be happy with my decision if i know i've hurt you, or junmyeon, or yerim in the process? i can't take that, seulgi. especially yerim, she's the last person i wanted to hurt with my decisions."

seulgi feels like her heart is being pulled down. if it's a battle between her and junmyeon, she stands a chance. but if yerim is involved, she knows that even she would tell joohyun to make it up with her husband.