Absent Virtues | { COMPLETED }

Part 4 🫶

The next morning, Kazuha wakes up exhausted, but mostly giddy at the thought that her date with magic-beanie-girl was actually real . She knows this, because she had been up for an extra two hours relaying all the events of her night to Chaewon and Sakura, who looked excited and skeptical at turns, but again. Whatever. She also knows that it wasn't just some invention of her brain, when she flips over her phone to turn off her alarm. There's a text from Jennifer, telling her good morning.

Practically skipping, Kazuha hauls herself out of bed and towards the bathroom for a shower, but she already feels much more awake. Garam's sitting at the breakfast bar with Chaewon, probably gossiping before they go shopping or get coffee or cause other general mischief. Kazuha waves, slipping past them towards the bathroom.

"Morning, Unnie! How was your mystery date?"

"Let me shower, and I'll tell you!"

And she does, which leaves Sakura chuckling (she's already heard the story probably six times), and Garam leaning over the counter, mouth slack. "Wow, Unnie. That is like, the opposite of getting murdered."

Kazuha shrugs, walking back to the bathroom to shake out her dripping hair again. "I know, right?"

"Why was she being all secretive, though?"

"No idea, I didn't really ask."

She can't see Garam from the bathroom, but she can tell she's rolling her eyes. Sakura probably is, too. "I don't mean to be a wet blanket here, unnie, but what if she's like, married? With kids?"

Kazuha bristles, but not because it's a new idea. The thought had been rolling around in her mind since she'd gotten home last night. For all of Kazuha's optimism, she's not stupid. What if Jennifer's hiding from something, or someone? Why else would she be all secretive and covered up?

She sighs, and rubs some product into her hair. Kazuha doesn't get to answer, though, because Garam's attention is quickly pulled away by a ding, probably from his phone.

"Oh my god, unnie, look!"

"Holy shit, is that Incheon?"

"Yes, she's in Korea, right now, oh my god ."

While Kazuha is certainly used to Garam's short attention span, she's still a little miffed that her very real problems are being ignored for someone else. "Huh?" She calls from the bathroom.

"Oh? Nothing, unnie. Jennifer Huh is in Korea, that's all."

"Who?" Kazuha asks, padding into the kitchen.

Garam rolls her eyes and Sakura chuckles. "Only the most attractive woman on the planet."

"She's a singer from America, but she's recently started coming to Korea, nobody knows why." Sakura adds, helpfully.

Kazuha shrugs. She's never really paid much attention to celebrities or singers, certainly not like Garam or Eunchae. "Okay, can she help me with my mystery girl?"

"Point taken. But she sings like an angel and is built like a god." Garam sighs, staring at her phone. Sakura frowns.

"You're dating Eunchae , Garam-ah."

Garam looks up, a little dreamy. Kazuha would've made fun of her for it any other day, but now she kinda gets it. "Yes, and she's wonderful. A little high-maintenance sometimes, though."

"Wow, pot meet kettle."

Garam scowls at Kazuha. She turns to her laptop on the counter, though, and pulls something up on the screen.

"You're telling me that she's not the most beautiful person you've ever seen?"

Kazuha squints, and when the image comes into focus, her stomach drops.

"This is not happening." She murmurs, suddenly feeling nauseous.

"What?" Garam asks, turning the screen back around to see why Kazuha's suddenly turning an unfortunate shade of green. "I know you have questionable taste, unnie, but you really don't think she's pretty?"

Which is sort of the problem. Kazuha thinks that the girl on Garam's computer is very pretty. She also looks a little different, with eye makeup and wavy caramel hair, instead of the blonde bits poking out from underneath her beanie. ButKazuha's certain, if by nothing other than the stone weighing heavy in her stomach, that it's her.

Sakura glances between the laptop and Kazuha, who is white-knuckling the counter and probably only seconds away from collapse, and her mouth falls open.

"No way," She says, but she's always been too smart for her own good. "No way, Zuha, no way ." But one look at Kazuha's expression tells Sakura that she's correct, and her hand comes up to cover her mouth.

"What?" yelps Garam. "Can someone tell me what's going on?"

"This is not happening." Kazuha repeats, raking a hand through her damp hair.

" What isn't happening?"

"You're sure?" is all Sakura says, looking up at Kazuha, deadly serious. Kazuha nods, and she can feel her fingertips shaking. "Positive."

"You're sure about what ?" Garam demands, leaning over the counter. "I'm going to start throwing things if someone doesn't tell me what's happening." 

𝐈 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐖𝐄 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐒 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓

𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐊 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆!!

𝐃𝐎𝐍𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐕𝐎𝐓𝐄

💗