Greener Grass [04]

[checkinyourbra]

Title: Greener Grass [Part Four]

Pairing(s): YoonSic

Rating/Genre: R; AU Healing Romance

Warning(s): Sexual themes, language.

Disclaimer: I don't own Soshi. I don't own anyone, in fact. All Fiction.

Author's Notes: Jessus Kryst, I must’ve edited this chapter over a dozen times. Here’s to getting it to a passable place. >.<

Part Four:


--


Fate bestowed a marvelous best friend.

The divorcée’s basement had been transformed into a warehouse fit for a band of restless suburbanites. Insulated walls, music-making software installed to a laptop, brand new microphones and sound system. Yoona whistled, testing the drum set risen on a short platform. Her trial ended with a soft ting to its cymbal. “Your ex-husband left this behind? This beats a blender by far.”

“If it involves manual labor, That Man’s MIA,” Tiffany said, stilling the metal with her fingertips. “Sweet setup, huh?”

“I’m stoked.”

“Speaking of stoking.” Ruby lips curled. “You and Jessica fueled your own fire last night. Onto a car, no less.”

Heat tingled below Yoona’s collar. “Nice show?”

“You’re defaming our stuffy neighborhood. Keep it up.”

“I’m on it.”

“That’s a good sign, yes?”

Yoona replied sincerely. “Yeah. An unpredictable, rocky sign. We have a lot of healing to do.”

“Healing,” Fany smacked her mouth, savoring the word. “That’s new. I like healing.”

“You look well-rested. Mr. Physical didn’t spend the night?”

“His kisses turned me off. On to the next.”

“No sparks?”

Tiffany’s dabbed the corners of her precise lipstick. “Boring conversations. Elmer Fudd laugh. Confused Amy Winehouse for Britney Spears. He’s a bloody buffoon.”

“Yet, you still played tonsil hockey with him.”

“Awful tonsil hockey. I gagged. As in, I literally sprinted to my bathroom to heave.”

Yoona stretched, smile bending her puffy eyelids. This timeline slowly converted her into an early riser. “Any online potentials?”

“Can men like, prove they kiss well before we meet?” Tiffany whined as their mounting steps echoed in the underground acoustics. “They should practice on a pillow and post a video.”

“Is kissing you like kissing a pillow?”

“Are you hitting on me, Im?”

Yoona chuckled, accepting a thermos of earl grey from the kitchen. “Hwang, you couldn’t handle me.”

“You may be right,” Tiffany mused, blowing her own cup. “Watching you and Jessica dry hump was the steamiest thing that happened last night.”

The proud wife gestured cheers to that. Ideally, she’d leisurely sip tea and talk dirty until Fany left for work, but it’d be unfair to leave Jessica alone with Haeun, Joonie, and The Trips for too long. “I’ll drive your crumbsnatchers to school.”

“This is a vacation for me. Adopt them, please.”

“I’d die first,” Yoona called out, clicking the front door at her heels.

Thankfully, the joke didn’t sting.

...

Happening upon a three-boy brawl in her living room, Yoona long-legged over it. She’d check on her own offspring first. Then, spray those Things with a hose or whatever later.

She poked her head into Joonie’s room. “Morning!”

“Yoomiiieeee,” Haeun cheered, crushing chin-first into Yoona’s thigh. “My shoes, Yoomie! Look!”

A leg kicked out for Yoona’s perusal. “Ah, the sparkliest purple for my posh princess. You dress nicer than I do.”

“Silly Yoomie!”

How come she got that title? Yet, when she peeked over at Im Sooyeon who’d managed to style herself and their children into excellence, she settled for ‘silly’.

“Ooh, Sica. I’m humbled.”

The kids wouldn’t gather Yoona’s suggestive lilt. Jessica was no fool, though. In most of her outfit sans shirt, she finished running light product through Joonie’s hair. “Not half bad yourself.”

Haeun bounced in peppy circles. “Am I cute, Yoomie?”

Yoona spoke automatically, placing her tea on a dresser. “Cutest girl in the galaxy.”

“That’s Mummy!”

“Mummy’s not a girl; she’s a woman.”

“Yes! A girl is a girl until she pays rent.”

Yoona swapped faces with a smirking Mummy. “What are you teaching her?”

Jessica shrugged. “Only the truth.”

What a comfort for them to have similar anti-babytalk convictions. ‘Goo goo’ dumbed-down nonsense had a slot in Yoona’s pet peeve list.

A muffled bump brought their minds to the downstairs terrors. “Who wants cereal?”

“Me! Meeee!” Haeun leapt forward, awarded by Yoona swinging her like a pendulum. “Mini-Wheats, please!”

If there were any justice in this world, Jessica would let them try Trix or Lucky Charms. Now, those deserved the excitement.

“Your wish is my command.” Yoona found Joonie’s eyes. “Awesome hair, cutie. Unfrosted Mini-Wheats for you, too?”

He whorled into his other mother’s arms, scowling. “I like how Mummy cooks Min’Wheats.”

“Joon, chill out. I don’t cook cereal; it’s poured from a box.” Jessica made to stand, dragging her Velcro son in tow. She muttered as he trapped a hand under a bra strap. “Im Minjoon, I can’t lug you to work.”

Yoona’s self-pity filtered to resentment. Towards Alter-Yoona. “How’s he prefer his cereal?”

“Dry. A box of melon milk on the side.”

“Sounds easy. I could do that for you, Joonie.”

“Yoomie!” Haeun cut in, steadily wrapped at Yoona’s waist. “I eat my mine in a bowl with soy milk. That’s how adults eat them.”

“You’re ahead of your time.” She winked at Jessica. “Care to escort your brother and the Trips to the dining room? I’ll be there shortly.”

After one minute-long lecture to Joonie, the shorties filed downstairs hand-in-hand. Yoona traipsed to their master bedroom. Massaging above her eyebrows, dreading the long, winding road to her son’s heart. Combined with Haeun’s attention-seeking, it’d be safe to bet ‘Breakfast with Yoomie’ was out of the ordinary.

An additional pair of smooth hands cupped Yoona’s face. Thumbs replaced her own, rubbing counterclockwise. “Have a headache, Yoong?”

“A symptom of sex deprivation.”

“Oh my,” Jessica exaggerated in a breathy gasp. “Is there anything I can do?”

“You’re teasing.”

“I am.”

“Five minutes,” she growled, knuckles journeying up Jessica’s bare torso. “Shove your hand down my pants for five minutes and I swear it’ll be worth your while.”

Jessica moved forward. Nipping, chasing a wet stripe along Yoona’s pulse point, holding her wife to the pastel-tinted wall. “How much do you want it? How badly do you need me?”

Yoona moaned, “I’d perish without you.”

“What if I got on my knees? Would you like that, babe?”

Her imagination ran laps. In a shiver, she got wetter. “Shit.”

“Our kids are hungry.” Jessica pulled Yoona’s hand from her lacy breast, her hot perfumed skin. “Feed them.”

“Get on your knees and I’ll feed you.”

Jessica’s eyes were glassy. “Better than cold cereal?”

“Most important meal of the day.”

“Yoomie, Yoomiiiieee!” Haeun’s voice echoed from the corridor.

“You’re summoned,” Jessica cooed, biting her lip. “And I’m skipping breakfast.”

God.

“Wait, Sica.”

The woman paused on her path to the closet, smirk yet to falter. “Mm?”

“What about me?”

She sauntered back. Dark eyes weighted, hips doing that sway Yoona daydreamed about. Into Yoona’s ear, Jessica’s slithered, “Suffer.”

...

Luckily, Fany’s unibrowed hellions had the first stop in Im Yoona’s carpool of youngins. Those Things couldn’t keep their grubby hands out of trouble--from spoon-flinging balled napkins at the breakfast table to blowing raspberries from the back seat. When she roll-stopped to an ivy-crusted school’s curb, they scuffled out in blazers and penny-loafers, dressed to torture the academic community.

Even juggling amidst honey-drizzled Mini-Wheats couldn’t hold their goldfish attention. Joonie and Haeun smiled, though. Which bettered her mood.

Then, Jessica descended from the stairs. Face masked behind sunglasses, robbing Yoona’s eyeballs in a blouse practically vacuum-sealed to her skin. In a pit stop, she kissed their children on the crowns of their heads, finger-combed Thing Two’s bowlcut into order, and fucking fled without so much as a sniff in her partner’s direction.

Nobody teased Yoona in her prior life.

She swung into a painted lot, scheming.

...

Joonie stayed fairly mute as she and his sister walked him to ‘Accelerated Pre-K’. Yoona gave her clumsy attempts--a joke here, an outdated cartoon reference there. He simply pouted and pulled from her hand when they reached his homeroom. She pitied herself until Haeun’s loudest outburst: “My Yoomie’s sexier than anyone’s else’s mom!”

Which wasn’t a lie, she confessed.

Apparently, Haeun painted a “fantabulous” dragon yesterday and she’d combust if her Yoomie missed it. Yoona hesitated; unbriefed on the parental dynamics here. Did they recognize Haeun’s family?

“Please, Yoomie!” she pleaded, as precious as her stubborn mother, “Mrs. Ban called me a Picasso!”

“In what style? Crystal Cubism, Surrealism? Trying your hand at anti-war murals?”

Haeun held her chin, faux-marinating the terms. “Yes. All that stuff.”

“My word!” Yoona gasped in pompous art patron fashion. Fingers to her chest. “I shan’t miss out on you revolutionizing the art world, shall I?”

“Nope!”

Such a treat, that Haeun. Yoona skipped in jaunty step with her daughter. Driven to instill the finest memories while flying by schoolmates and their worn-out parents, giggling at their collective silliness.

Yoona browsed as the girl branched off to get her teacher. Cubbies, a spectrum of square floor mats, paper shape cutouts, kitchen sets with plastic foods, motivational posters, and storybooks galore. At twenty-eight, all she wanted was to shrink to kindergarteners’ size. So she could relive this period. This was a good period.

Haeun and a woman in too much khakis appeared once Yoona splashed a curious hand into their ‘discovery pond’. Cheeks warming, she dried her it on her jeans. “Sorry about that. Inquisitive mind.”

Mrs. Ban bowed too politely. “We meet again, Miss Im.”

Miss Im. Hmm. “Thought I’d pop in, check out Haeun’s masterpiece.”

“Fibbing isn’t good.” The teacher plastically smiled down at Haeun. “You told me your mother visited.”

“She is,” Haeun said, pointing. “Right there! Isn’t Yoomie pretty?”

Yoona flexed her damp fingers. She needed that buffalo again. “Technically, I’m considered her mother, too.”

“Biologically, that’s impossible.”

“I’m her legal guardian, then. Does that please you?”

Mrs. Ban’s panties were in an obvious twist. “How isn’t this confusing to the child?”

“Haeun’s a smart girl.”

The girl in question hopped in place. “I am smart! I know all the numbers in the world!”

“It’s not about being smart,” Mrs. Ban relayed to her frowning student, patronizing as fuck. “Guardian and a mother aren’t interchangeable. It’s for your safety.”

This khakis bitch triggered bad times. Yoona folded her arms. “I’m not here to get your vote. Only to support the next Picasso.”

“That’s me! I’m the next Picasso.” Haeun tucked her hand into Yoona’s, leading her to an art corner full of miniature easels.

Mrs. Ban followed closely. Terribly uncomfortable, terribly stiff. Yoona almost hissed something, being out of Haeun’s earshot. But, this freaking lady was in charge of her daughter’s grades and day-to-day wellbeing. Best to keep her remarks to herself.

Albeit, stooping to wrap her arms around Haeun didn’t count as a remark. The teacher grew even stiffer, which she hadn’t thought possible.

“You painted this?” Yoona spritzed her voice in extra wonder. “With your own two hands?”

Haeun giggled, touching their cheeks--thus, melting Yoona’s heart. “No, a paintbrush!”

Really, her glitter blue dragon outshined this lot of lackluster blobs. Bias shmias. “See how you depicted its head with lighter strokes than its body? That implies space. As do your thicker trees in the foreground. You’re going to ace perspective.”

Faces still brushing, Haeun nodded. “What else, Yoomie?”

“I admire your medium for the sun. That’s a piece of construction paper, yeah? You’re dabbling into mixed media as a thinker outside the box. Keep that up. Never be satisfied with the status quo.”

“Um, Haeun,” Mrs. Ban, defender of status quo, intercepted. “Class is starting.”

“Can Yoomie stay?”

‘Fuck no’ dribbled from the teacher’s toothy smile. “I’m afraid not.”

Yoona couldn’t let go yet. “Haeun, I’ll buy a frame specially for your dragon and you know what I’m gonna do?”

Haeun shook her head. Speechless, for once.

“I’m gonna hang it in my study so I can admire it every day.”

“Like a gallery?”

“Your premiere showcase.”

“Wow, Yoomie. Mijee showed her dad her flower--he just ‘ooh’ed and took a picture.”

Yoona stood, patting her sweet hair. “Why settle for a photo when I can own the original?”

It didn’t matter whether Haeun understood every word. She spoke to her growing kid like an adult, giving feedback anyone would value. And out bloomed a smile that cratered her cute dimples.

“Haeun, your seat.”

Mrs. Ban wanted Yoona out as much as the woman needed to leave. Client notes awaited her at home, anyways. Along with her yet-to-be-written farewell to Hyelim.

Though, Haeun beckoned her with a curled finger.

Ducking down again, Yoona asked, “What’s up?”

“Thank you, Yoomie.”

Then, delicate as a petal, she kissed her mother on the cheek.

And a light flickered on.

A radiant, unexplored light.

One that reminded Yoona--this life wasn’t a play with no script. Actual children, actual relationships, actual consequences hinged on her every move.

Haeun loved her Yoomie.

Yoona skimmed fingers over the tingly spot on her skin. Carefully, as though she could wipe it off by accident.

Even minutes later, while steering off school premises, she grazed her cheek.

To make sure the tingles hadn’t faded.

--

She tried to message Hyelim over lunch.

Bitten gimmari suspended by chopsticks, Yoona read the lengthy scroll of unanswered messages from her other self’s paramour. She chewed, speculated, organized phrases in her head.

This was hard. Because Yoona had few feelings for this woman--one being ‘worry’ as the texts and emails turned frantic. Hyelim fell for Alter-Yoona, undoubtedly. Of course she’d assume the worst in her absence. An accident, ailment, discovery by Jessica, death...

What happened to the other Yoona’s soul?

Hyelim did lose her.

And Yoona lost her appetite. She couldn’t just drop the lover, but her heart wouldn’t bend in Hyelim’s favor.

Like with Chanhwi. Her first-year ‘Art of the Narrative’ professor knew she batted for the gay team after stumbling upon her sucking face with a curvy classmate. He confronted her about it and instead of showing the disgust that came so naturally for her parents--he accepted her. Took her under his wing.

And while freshman Yoona noticed his sidelong glances, they continued to hang out. The man knew how to have a good time. Not partying like a drunken chimp--learning, devising, discussing concepts she’d never challenged.

Their friendship rode on a swift, intense track. He placed a hand on her knee and asked for a kiss. She let him. Chanhwi made her comfortable; he mended her broken trust in adults, in men.

Before long, he offered a room in his house. Her parents’ hate for her sexual preference flowed to this friendship, too. It’d been a matter of time until they cut her off. He had steady income and Yoona blocked out her aversion to his affection, commitment, sex once they shared the same roof.

Her random hookups with girls dwindled. She convinced herself that a love of his brain would be enough to stomach his breath on her shoulder. The sound of his zipper descending. The weight of his firm build.

Grossed out, Yoona closed every tab on her screen. Hyelim brought her killer to mind. Not a good sign.

Thank the universe and a mysterious fate for her angel.

Angel Sooyeon delivered her from the bullet wound’s pain. The more Yoona recollected those holy eyes meeting hers as she bled, the further she spaced herself from her computer. Padding soft slippers into a hall, down the steps to her bedroom.

Yoona plucked a silk robe folded prettily on the bed, thrusting it to her face. She fancied Jessica’s perpetual scent. Light and fresh and feminine.

That morning came flooding back. Jessica played her expertly through slinky words and lean, deft lips blessing her neck. Now, those kisses set her aflame.

Chan never made her suffer like that. He couldn’t.

Yoona changed her trajectory. Deciding to rummage in her closet of possibilities in lieu of wasting brainpower on men or an empty draft file to Hyelim. Her past, Alter-Yoona’s past fucking sucked. She’d tackle them sooner or later.

But current, present, living Im Yoona arranged greater plans.

...

Jessica’s work building blended with any of the cloud-grazing mammoths running the financial district. Her father invested in this and neighboring structures, according to Alter-Yoona’s emails. Meaning Jessica had a leg-up in the industry, falling into a cushy position straight out of college. And she kicked ass. Delighting him and his partners as she climbed the ladder, carving her own niche within the brand. Jessica was resolute.

‘And I’m gonna make her so horny,’ Yoona thought, boarding a level of suits, heels, and more suits. Most of them chattering, others busying in their cubicles. An eye or two regarded her--probably to scam at her legs.

Yoona hooked a thumb into a pocket of her shorts--formal in material, eye-catching in (lack of) length--and waved attention to the receptionist.

“State your business,” she droned, closer to mannequin than human.

“I’m here to see Im Sooyeon.”

“Who?”

“Jung,” Yoona corrected, remembering Jessica’s family name. “Jung Sooyeon.”

‘Seo Juhyun’ gleamed from her metal name plate. “Do you have an appointment?”

“Nope.”

“Does she know you’re visiting?”

“Tell her it’s Yoona.” She grinned at Juhyun dialing a single digit. Jessica earned this status--to have a gatekeeper to her private office. Little factors like sexuality couldn’t interfere with her success.

Soon, Juhyun closed Jessica’s door at her back. Yoona patted the knob until its lock secured in a quiet click. “Good afternoon, boss lady.”

Jessica scoffed, glimpsing from a spread of papers. And as her eyes darkened, swallowing Yoona’s heels, miles of leg, tiny shorts, and tightly buttoned blouse, Yoona declared her victory early.

“What brings you here?”

“Oh, didn’t you know?” Yoona kept her gait paced, purposeful. Poring over her wife’s version of a study. Black-on-cream coordination, sweeping windows, meticulously mapped. She strode in an arc, ending her short tour behind the slated desk. “I’m your slutty new intern.”

The woman blushed, humming. “I don’t recall ticking the ‘slutty’ option.”

“Am I fired?”

“Dressed like that?” Jessica’s eyes flashed mischief. “I was startled when Juhyun rang me.”

“Why?”

“You haven’t visited in a year. You probably don’t recognize anything.”

Yoona masked her disappointment. “You like?”

“I do.”

“Is this paper?” She fluttered a sheet or two with playful hands, body deliberately arced. “Too hipster for the digital age?”

Jessica stared at Yoona’s fingers. “Paper still exists.”

“Whatever.”

“Would my intern fancy a drink?”

“Like?”

“I have wine.” Slowly, sensually, Jessica uncrossed her legs, departing for a table covered in bottles. “Rosé’s not my top pick, but our clients this morning swear by it.”

“Boozing me up on the first day, Ms. Jung?”

Jessica’s shoulders fell. “I beg Daddy to acknowledge our last name, okay?”

“No, it’s fine. I’m not offended.”

“We fought about it last month.”

Stupid Alter-Yoona. “Eat lunch yet?”

“Not yet,” she sighed, filling two glasses halfway. “I’m meeting the same clients at a sushi restaurant later.”

“Free food.”

“We pay for them, actually.”

Yoona plopped into Jessica’s leather seat. “Pandering sucks.”

“It gets the job done.” She held a flute of pale pink in each hand as she approached, eyebrow kinked. “Interns don’t belong in my chair.”

“Nobody’s stopping you from sitting down.”

Yoona could count the teeny creases on the sides of Jessica’s skirt--bend-lines made while throned in her boss lady chair. Plus, her blouse. Yoona envied the fabric adhering to her breasts.

Jessica handed her a wine. “You’re looking at me again.”

“Can’t I look at you?”

“You know what I mean,” she answered lowly, taking a sip. “You’re staring like I’m a piece of meat.”

“Filet mignon.”

Jessica giggled into her glass. “Scoundrel.”

Everything about how Jessica loomed over her, dressed to the nines, chipped at Yoona’s cool, seductive exterior. And when Jessica licked her lip of a stray drop, her pulse spiked. “This chair’s big enough for the two of us.”

“You locked the door, didn’t you?”

“Shall we finish what we started? Ready to get on your knees for me?”

“You’re dirty, Yoong.”

“You like?”

“I love.”

“Then,” Yoona unsnapped a blouse button. “be a peach,” Two more buttons, “and get your money’s worth out of me.”

“I work my employees hard.”

“Is that a promise?”

Resolve visually crumbling, Jessica swept through her glossy tresses. Getting it messier, sexier. “You’re my subordinate. Shouldn’t this be reversed?”

“I don’t know the rules.” She batted innocent eyes, spreading her legs slightly, “train me.”

Within seconds, Jessica’s fingers snarled into Yoona’s hair, gelling their lips into a hard kiss. A flustered Yoona gasped, totally not prepared. Losing the upper hand when nails dug into her scalp.

It was a sexy hurt. “S-Sica.”

“That’s Ms. Jung to you.”

Yoona groaned and scooped Jessica’s tongue into her own. Churning, spiraling in wet circles. Glazing the corners of their mouths. Hairs raised when the businesswoman broke away only to lick the moisture hungrily. Yoona’s mind projected this ravenous treatment to the mess in her shorts. What she’d planned as a ploy to get her lady frustrated flew out the window. She ached to be taken.

“May I ride your face, Ms. Jung?”

Jessica sprouted upright, thick lashes battling gravity. And a simple motion--twirling her hair into a makeshift ponytail to swing over a shoulder--quaked a moan from deep in Yoona’s gut.

That must be her habit before oral. Yoona hoped her body would survive the orgasm.

Jessica descended fluidly, elegant enough to teach lessons in reverse-seduction. “You’re too hot for your own good.”

“Shit,” Yoona croaked, relishing in the image, sensation of Jessica’s tongue bathing her left knee, then her right, an expanse of thigh, curving to the softness bordering her core. “I should drop by more often.”

“You should.” A manicured fingertip drew a line from the top button to where her clit would be. “Maybe I’ll test your self-restraint.”

She coiled at the light pressure. “Don’t.”

Donning an impossibly sensual smirk, Jessica showed mercy, undoing Yoona’s button and zip. She delved under her blouse, caressing her wife’s taut abs with tongue and teeth. The shorts glided inches along Yoona’s legs, bunching midway.

“Sica,” she whimpered as Jessica nuzzled her nose into lace panties. Breathing her scent, ghosting her open mouth in a lustful loss of wits. “Please.”

Jessica rose, holding a hand out. “They’re stuck.”

Once Yoona followed, she detoured to kiss Jessica as deeply as she knew how, lips traveled to her neck and its skin put her senses into overload. Softer than soft, cool against her tongue, prickled with chill bumps. Yoona took the lead, ignited by the dainty fingers fondling her ass.

“Up.”

The single word sprung Jessica onto the desk, shifting papers. Yoona sailed light fingers from the curve of her hips to the hem of her pencil skirt, wishing to maneuver between Jessica’s legs. To buck until she came.

Jessica kissed her ear, guiding Yoona’s hand into her skirt. Teasingly close to her heat. “Is this what you want?”

“Nope.” Fogged in lust, she collided with highly saturated lingerie. “I want this.”

“I can’t get sweaty.”

Yoona grinned into Jessica’s jawline. “You’re already grinding on my fingertips.”

“Because you’re hitting all the right spots.”

“There’s one spot I haven’t hit yet.”

Her high moan could’ve shattered windows, but Jessica slid off the furniture anyway. “I’m the boss. Get on my fucking desk.”

Who’d argue with that? Yoona tangled the tight shorts to the floor and scooted upward. Willing, open. All systems ready. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Lie down.”

White sheets crinkled on her back, edges prickling flushed skin. Jessica yanked her flush by the legs and Yoona nearly detonated. “Your mouth’s gonna send me into orbit, isn’t it?”

Beautiful hair adorned Yoona’s stomach--blocking the view, but god, she felt everything. Jessica biting bruises on a thigh, skimming lower to fleshier skin, supping excess moisture. Tasting her. Jessica’s was tasting her.

“How am I, Sica?”

Jessica either didn’t hear or was too wrapped up in the elastic framing her folds. She glided the hand that wasn’t holding a thigh to Yoona’s stomach, palming a stretch of skin, grazing teeth over sheer lace. Mouth suctioning, tongue free-forming, panting breaths tickling.

Then, she was gone.

Dazed, Yoona propped herself on an elbow. Jessica spoke into the phone she hardly registered ring, licking her lips intermittently as she overcompensated in an ultra even tone. Yoona heard the receptionist making an affirmative noise.

“My clients will be here in ten.”

Starkly returned to professional mode, Jessica tossed Yoona’s shorts to the desk and reapplied her lip gloss in a wall mirror.

On and off? That easily? “Jessica.”

The woman flinched, rolling her eyes. “Put on your clothes.”

She did as she was told, watching Jessica fluff her hair, flatten any temporary wrinkles, and uncap a tin of Altoids from her handbag. The sexy cheeks remained, only to be dusted off with a brush of matte powder.

“Sica.” Her dejected heart sank. “You were into it, right?”

“Are you joking?”

“Not at all.”

Jessica slipped her purse on to her arm, smiling tenderly. She advanced--posture perfect, pitch aligned--to nibble at Yoona’s ear. “As much I’d love to fuck you on the yearly budget, I have responsibilities.”

“Why won’t you give in to me?”

The smile curled. And summing up what Yoona hadn’t realized she feared, Jessica hissed, “You know why.”

...

“Take this,” Tiffany instructed, passing another one of her smoothies. Light orange and thick, hinting of pineapple. “Drink. It’ll repair your day.”

Hunched in her drum set seat, Yoona drank.

Nope. Day still blew.

‘You know why.’

Ominous chills raked her flesh. Not once had the emails contained a ‘Jessica’s on to us’ discussion, unless those were done verbally. How much could her wife know?

Jagged peel scraped the roof of her mouth. Yoona winced for other reasons--asking ‘how much could her wife know?’ reeked of sleaze. She’d sunken to slimeball level.

A reborn sheep in wolf’s history.

A coward, too. Every time her thumbs attempted to terminate Hyelim’s relations, she’d choke. Haunted by her father’s infidelity and Chanhwi’s gun.

Yoona’s past was unresolved.

Yet, here she sat, dwelling on solving her other self’s pitfalls.

Carrying this guilt, she’d employed her phone for other matters: canceling today’s insane afterschool schedule. Choosing instead to drive Haeun and Joonie to an arcade. Arcades granted respite during Yoona’s emo teenage years; maybe her children obtained her player skills.

In pinball. Not on women.

They were a little young for the setting, earning her chances to pose Haeun to weather-scratched steering wheels like a hero.

Joonie’s temperament softened since that morning; so, he let her hand him wooden ammunition for ski-ball. The boy found hurling them at full strength hilarious. Yoona went with it, becoming the hapless parent too thirsty to placate.

She avoided shooting and 8-bit games.

Later, Yoona pressed a long finger to her lips like she had the first day they met. Making them swear not to tell Mummy of their adventure. Haeun mimed a zip to the lip, Joonie wobbled a nod, distracted by the blinking lights of Dance Dance Revolution.

“Damnit,” Yoona cursed, judging the afternoon flashback.

She wouldn’t stop her affair. Told her kids to keep secrets from their mother. And Jessica stuck around, guilt-tripping her.

Enacting the life of her own parents.

“Yoona?”

She broke from her misery to regard Jinki, their clarinet-playing bandmate. He and the others were chill, thankfully. None seemed homophobic. If they were, Fany surely threatened them not to show it. “Yeah?”

“Round five?” He pursed his lips onto a shiny mouthpiece.

To get their feet wet, Fany’s crew of divorcées voted on cover songs. It involved fewer headaches than songwriting and everyone seemed eager to put mileage onto their instruments. Unanimously, they chose ‘Feel Good Inc.’ by The Gorillaz.

Yoona loved this--playing the drums. Probably because it was a pre-Chanhwi talent. She taught herself and it freed her from zoning into crucial memories. No violent images or present stresses flickered behind her eyelids as she, Jinki, Sooyoung, Minjun, Jung-shin, and Fany sought their rhythmic harmony.

That harmony ceased one instrument at a time. Yoona parted her lashes, listening to her lone drum echo through the silenced basement.

“Jessica!” Tiffany greeted in a swoop of arms, “Have you returned to break more indecency laws?”

Fany really enjoyed teasing them about that post-bar make out.

Coloring, Jessica twisted a finger into her hair. “May I steal Yoona?”

“She’s busy rockin’ out, whore! Could you hear us from upstairs? We sound fuckin’ raw and real.”

“‘Raw’ is a generous term.”

Yikes. Bitchy.

Yoona hopped from her platform. A single drumstick spun in her left hand as she whispered, “Everything okay?”

Jessica hardly lowered her voice; its eloquence clearly pronounced, “Why are you fooling around with these losers?”

“Sh-shit, Sica,” Yoona muttered, pupils grazing the perimeter for a few insulted expressions. “Don’t be a hater. We’re Ctrl+Ex. Like the keystroke? I thought of it myself.”

“‘Noise Pollution’ is more fitting.”

“I’m orderin’ steak!” Tiffany hollered, snatching the closest person--Choi Sooyoung, the guitarist--in her ass haul to the stairs. “Steak dinner, anyone? Let’s give Yoona and Jessica their privacy.”

Jessica responded without breaking Yoona’s eye contact. “The kids are in the den.”

“Noted. Thanks!”

Maybe her wife wised up to their arcade hooky. Didn’t excuse this rudeness. “Seriously, Jessica? We won’t get fame or glory from Fany’s band, but its priceless.”

“You’re surrounding yourself with lonely divorced people.”

Lonely.

Like ‘Married and Lonely’. Yoona held her tongue.

“Have you given up on our marriage?” Jessica narrowed hooded eyes--eyes accented by a rim of dew. “Are you forgetting my sacrifices? How I flew across the fucking world to add your surname to mine until Cali could sanction our marriage?”

Yoona stalled, unable to pare her sights from floor. “N-no. I haven’t forgotten.”

‘Cause she didn’t know.

“I fought tooth and nail for Haeun and Joonie to keep your name, too! So we could be a normal family.”

Normal. What a joke.

She and her parents had been ‘normal’, too. If that entailed hypocrisy and camouflaged deceit. Golden Globe-worthy acting for family photos. Hugs in public that amounted to squat.

“Sica, the only thing that’s mine in our relationship is my last name.”

Yoona meant financially. Authority dynamics. Say-so within their household.

However, Jessica’s features were painted with utter horror, offense. Chin dimpling, brows tensing as she stepped away.

“N-no!” Yoona pursued her, dropping the stick and clapping her fingers into caramel. Jessica whipped her head to the side. “I didn’t mean it like that. Haeun and Joonie are ours. Wh-what I’d been--”

“You punish me every day!”

“That’s not true!” Knuckles tightened; one hand fell to clench her wrist. “I’ve changed! I’m not the same fucking person!”

Jessica spat directly in her face. “Liar!”

Yoona gritted past the nasty, unexpected action. “I am different!”

“You’re soulless.” Jessica’s hand balled into Yoona’s collar. “Stop blaming me for the cobwebs in your useless fucking womb.”

Tears smeared her view of the shorter woman. “You know nothing about my soul.”

Savage. This was why Yoona cleaved to Hyelim.

She understood.

“An inconsiderate, soulless woman drops five children on me without preamble so she can jerk around with our pathetic neighbors.”

“Even Fany?”

“This band is a slap in our marriage’s face! I demand you to quit.”

Last straw right there. “Everyone can’t be born into power, Sica! With beauty and poise an-and Daddy to offer a career on a porcelain platter. Fuck your eggs and fuck your demands.”

“Mad at me? Fine. Don’t take it out on Minjoon! Throw out another joke about his co-ed team or sneer at his hair clips again and I swear I’ll--”

She flung Jessica’s wrist, too repulsed for skin-on-skin. “You’ll what?”

Yoona braced herself to hear: ‘I’ll leave’ or even ‘You’ll regret it’.

Not this.

Not,

“Make my baby boy cry again and I swear I’ll kill you.”

Her angel. Sooyeon the Angel wouldn’t...

Sooyeon provided mercy; stroked her face to allay the pain.

Or had she been Yoona’s Angel of Death?

“Where’s your ring, Yoona?”

Jessica the Human stomped her heels upstairs, sparing no moment for Yoona’s inevitable answer: “I don’t know.”

She was so sick of not knowing.

...

That night, Yoona got drunk in her study. She slept there, too.

Just to wake up at the crack of dawn, drenched in sweat. From the worst nightmare to date.

A repeat of the Chanhwi dream. Only he’d been replaced by Jessica aiming the metal death barrel. And when Yoona withered to the floor, her body morphed into her father’s.

Too petrified to tread the halls for a bathroom sink, Yoona quaffed the last of her wine. She sucked her teeth of the tart flavor. Her mind conjured how she’d sucked a similar taste from Jessica’s tongue hours earlier.

Fucking Jessica.

Her phone chimed in a new email message. Yoona double tapped, feeling Hyelim all over this.

‘Yoona,

So much has happened! My husband bought me a hamster. ^^ He (or she? I can’t tell) isn’t as awesome as the Gauguin print you sent a month ago. It’s hanging in our bedroom. hehe

Does your wife treat you more kindly? Tbh, I hope not. We’re in this boat together. Us two.

Where’ve you been? I miss you. I want to show you Giuseppe (that’s what I named my hamster. His eyes are pure and adorable like yours).

Are you laying low? Keep reading these messages ‘cus we both need them.

~Hyelim

PS. I’ll wait for you.’

“Alter-me, you bitch,” Yoona breathed, drooped onto the cold wall. “Tangling this nice girl into your downward spiral. Buying her shit like a rich fuckin’ twat. I should end this right now.”

She didn’t.

Instead, she corresponded.

‘Hyelim,

Thanks for waiting. We should meet.

-Yoona’




--
SHOUT OUT TO A CERTAIN THIRSTAE MINION FOR ‘SAVAGE’.
...Anyone notice my ‘Galaxy Supernova’ ref? Heh.

How’s that angst, tho?? :**

Comments

Re: YAAAS (04)!!

[checkinyourbra.livejournal.com]

Did something happen? //scrolls up

>:))))

Hahhaha oh gawd I killed your commenting process. xDD Thank goodness you could recover because I freaking love what follows here. And just…asjfld;fjsldfl for you to be so affected makes my heart go pitter patter. LOL Oh, Serendipity~

Yoonsic fallout
”NGL, I'm scared to find out if it was Sica finally losing her cool over the affair and this sudden change in who she still thinks is AlterYoong or if Sica really has been this abusive, controlling person all the time.”—I love that you consider this one. Those words are rough ones and in order to clear the air of their origins, these women are gonna have to talk.

Plus, from a writer’s standpoint: I thought, ‘What is the WORST thing she could say to Yoong?’ and I found it. Went from uh oh to D: real quick. hahaha…I mean… ;((

Hyelim
GIUSEPPE. Makes me wanna get a hamster and name him this. I was so proud of that name.

SAVICA. HAHAHHAHAHA

”it doesn't seem fair to Hyelim or Sica because neither really had AlterYoong no matter how much they thought/hoped they did and they definitely don't have her in Yoong now”—YOU’RE ON A ROLL. OMG. I’ve had my share of ‘villain-esque’ characters, but it’d be too easy to make Hye some basic Cruella side chick. Nah, Yoona would cheat with a nice chick.

Mama Hwang and the Things
HAHHAHA SPRAY THOSE KIDS. That Man seems to have a habit of collecting instruments. Tsk tsk. Really, idk where she’d be without Tiffany as a bestie.

Schooltime!
THAT TEACHER. hahahahaha so bitchy that I loved it. Some people feel so entitled to just…yeah. She sucks.

Awwwww I warmed your heart. >.< ((then attempted to rip it out)) Kids are such a big part of her new life. Glad Yoona realizes this.

Smexy Office Time!
AYYYYYYYYYYYY I loved writing itttttt ;DDD

THANK YOUUUUU FOR THE NOVEL, MAH YAAAS BB. I’ll….try……to…..mend things. I got back into NYC yesterday and New Year’s is gonna be busy. BUT DON’T THINK I FORGOT ABOUT GG. That new chapter is written and I gotta edit like cah-razyyyyy >.<