There's always room for another

Chapter 17: 3.4 - the reunion

3.4

"You knew." Yongsun didn't bother to keep her accusation out of her tone. Seulgi had known her sister was alive and hadn't told her.

Her.

(" ... you're Byulyi's person, unnie. You know that. ")

"Unnie -"

"How long?" She couldn't bear to hear the pleading in her tone, the guilt. "How long did you know?"

"... they found her two weeks ago." Yongsun exhaled shakily, her entire body weak. Ignoring the rest of whatever Seulgi had to say, she hung up and curled under the safety of her bedsheets.

Here, in the dark, Yongsun didn't have to face the truth.

That Byulyi had died that day on the bridge, and someone else had taken her place. Someone who had no idea who Yongsun was.

Her phone lit up again - Seulgi was trying to call her. Yongsun took her phone and threw it across the room.

And then she closed her eyes and wept.

(And wept and wept and wept .)

- - - - - -

As always, Hyejin was the first to find her voice, stepping forward in her shock to get closer. "Unnie?" she called, her voice weak and trembling. "Is that you?"

"Um, not really." Yongsun was frozen, just watching as Byulyi wrapped her arms around herself and glanced at Do Hoon nervously. "Like I said, my name is Yuna."

"What are you talking about?" Wheein's brows were furrowed. "You look just like her."

"I..."

"She goes by Yuna now." Yuna nodded gratefully as the CEO stepped in. "I don't know all the details either but -"

"This isn't funny." At first, Yongsun wasn't sure who had spoken, but then she realised that it had been her. "Whatever joke you think this is, it's not funny."

"It isn't a joke." Byulyi - or Yuna, or whoever she thought she was - frowned as she stepped closer. "I really am Byulyi -"

"How much are they paying you?" Yongsun was stalking closer now, everything about her angry. "Huh? A thousand? Two thousand? It must be a lot for you to come here and pretend to be her, to come up with this bullshit about amnesia -"

"Yongsun, stop -"

"Don't tell me what to do!" She snarled, startling Wheein, who had her hand outstretched. "I am sick and tired of everyone telling me to...to... to step up! To do better!" She whirled back to face this imposter, her finger jabbing into her chest. "And then you show up and expect us to believe you? That you're her? Well I'll tell you what -" Yuna was looking at her with wide eyes, stepping back till she hit the wall behind her. "None of us are buying your bullshit." They were eye to eye now, close enough that Yongsun could see the pores on her nose. And when Yuna didn't say anything else, Yongsun scoffed and left, slamming the door behind her.

No one followed after her.

- - - - - -

In hindsight, Yongsun regretted her actions immediately after she'd done them. She hadn't given anyone the chance to explain - not Do Hoon, and especially not Yuna -

(or Byulyi, or whoever the fuck she thought she was)

And now, lying on her bed hours later, Yongsun regretted.

"Fuck," she whispered, rolling onto her back as she tried to ignore how swollen her eyelids felt, how tight her skin was from crying. A quick glance at the bedside clock told her that it was nearly 3am in the morning. Yongsun had been up for hours now. But her brain wouldn't let her sleep.