1 Yongsummer-unnie

Kim Yongsun was stuck in traffic in a cab. She was growing impatient as her wristwatch kept ticking closer and closer to one in the afternoon. She was so stupid to drink last night that her alarm did not even wake her up.

Why Yongsun, why. It was her closest friend Wheein's wedding day. How could she be that careless and be late for the ceremony?

Yongsun checked the time for the nth time, five minutes to one. The traffic wasn't moving and the church was still three blocks away. She couldn't sit still at the backseat, and so she decided to just pay the driver and got out of the cab right away.

With her small purse that only carried her phone and wallet, wearing a plain long white cocktail dress with lacey designs, and 3-inch heels, she sprinted along the pavement. She couldn't be late, she was one of the bridesmaids.

After running two blocks she could feel her feet giving up on those heels. But there was no way she would stop. She quickly took off her heels and ran barefoot. One more block to go.

Soon she could see the church and she could feel her heart racing. She could hear the wedding entrance song playing. A solo cello playing the prelude of Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in G major. The wedding entourage had started. Yongsun figured she could use the church's side entrance and could discreetly slip herself at the bridesmaids place in front while everyone was watching the brides walk down the isle.

As soon as she reached the side entrance, Taeyeon, the woman who Wheein was going to marry, was walking down the isle and was almost at the altar. Everyone's attention was to her and Yongsun took this opportunity to wear back her heels and start walking quietly on the side.

Taeyeon reached the front of the altar and turned around looking at the door. It was Wheein's turn to walk down the isle. Yongsun's heart almost stopped and so was her walking when the solo cello switched to a string quartet.

She could hear two violins, one viola, and one cello. The song was familiar but she couldn't remember it. It was like one of those things when she couldn't remember the memory attached to something but she could remember the feeling attached to it. She could feel a fluttering in her heart mixed with anxiety that she couldn't quite understand.

She looked at the big wooden door and a small figure in a pretty white dress appeared. Jung Wheein. The girl she was always fond of. She was now walking down the isle. A crown of small white flowers on her hair. Her tiny hands together holding a bouquet of white magnolias. She was so beautiful with that thin lace veil covering her face.

Her face. Yongsun saw her face looking bothered. Wheein was scanning all the directions looking for something. Or someone. Then Yongsun realized she was supposed to be at the altar now with the bridesmaids. She quickly but quielty ran to the front and slipped herself just behind Hyejin.

And as soon as she looked back at Wheein, Wheein seeing her assuming her position at the altar, the bother disappeared on her face. She was the missing one that Wheein was looking for as she was walking down the isle. Yongsun's heart fluttered again as Wheein smiled at her revealing a lone dimple on her cheek. But that fluttering feeling went away as soon as Wheein turned her gaze to her bride that was waiting for her hand at the altar, Taeyeon.

Yongsun watched as Taeyeon took Wheein's hand and together they sat on their couple's chair at the altar. Soon the ceremony started. Yongsun could only watch Wheein getting married to someone who was not her.

The feelings of pain and regret that Yongsun thought she had let go were all coming back to her. When she drank the night before she wanted to get rid off whatever bits of regrets she had left for Wheein. But regrets came back flooding her system as the ceremony went on.

And then it hit her. As if something in her brain was triggered, the title of the song that the string quartet was playing while Wheein was walking down the isle came back to her memory.

It was The Temper Trap's Sweet Disposition. How could she forget that song? It was the song from that movie she and Wheein watched for the first time together at the cinema.

She was eighteen and Wheein was fourteen. They had known each other for a year belonging in the same choir club. It was a few days before Yongsun was to graduate from high school. Being always isolated, she could only watch her classmates inviting each other to celebrate. She had no friends to be invited by anyone, and no friends to invite to her celebration.

Yongsun only made a few friends in school, all of them belonged in the choir club. She was the only high school member while the rest were middle schoolers. Most students quit being in a club as they approached the final year in high school so they could focus on their studies and attend cram school after classes. This was to prepare for their university entrance exams.

But Yongsun didn't want to leave the choir club. Doing choir was the only thing that made her awkward self belong in the school. She made friends with a few middle school kids, like with the inseparable bestfriends Wheein and Hyejin.

And so on their last practice day, Yongsun invited some members of the choir she was friends with to go karaoke with her. However, these middle schooler friends had curfews at home and couldn't go. Yongsun felt so sad and disappointed until Wheein came up to her and said she didn't want to go home yet so she could go with her. Hyejin wanted to go with them but she ate something earlier that gave her stomach ache she had to go home.

And so Yongsun and Wheein met outside the school's entrance after their classes.

"Yongsun-unnie!" Wheein called her cheerily as she approached Yongsun who was standing there waiting for her. Wheein quickly clung her arm around Yongsun's and said, "Let's go."

Yongsun smiled at her. Wheein was so mischeviously cute and she was always fond of this girl. She brightened up everyone's mood and an overall fun person to be with.

"Unnie, maybe karaoke isn't a good idea. Let's watch a movie instead," she told Yongsun while they were eating ramen at a cheap local restaurant downtown. "What do you think?"

"Wouldn't it be too late for you to go home?" Yongsun asked. "Won't your parents be looking for you?"

"My parents are too busy having divorce they won't notice I'm not home yet," Wheein said forcing a laugh. "They'll just know I wasn't home yet until I knock on the door."

Yongsun sighed. She wanted to go to the movies like Wheein proposed but she didn't want her to get in trouble with her parents. "I don't want you to get in trouble when you get home."

Wheein thought for a while weighing her options. Or more like thinking of a way to go about this. "Will it be okay for unnie to come home late?"

"It's okay, my parents would even be glad that I hang out with friends even it's late," Yongsun told her. "They say I should hang out more with people to develop my social skills since I'm soon going to uni."

"Is it okay for unnie to walk me home after the movie then? Just tell my parents some excuse why I'm home late or something."

This girl was asking Yongsun to lie to her parents. But who could resist this girl? "Sure," Yongsun replied with a smile.

It was Yongsun who chose the movie. Being the hopeless romantic that she always was, she chose that film 500 Days of Summer. Wheein just went with it. Yongsun figured Wheein just didn't really want to go home. Maybe her home environment was something that wasn't really nice having a parents that were divorcing.

She bought an extra large popcorn to share and two regular cola. They sat beside each other inside the movie theater. Soon the lights turned off when the movie started.

"Unnie, you know I'm afraid of the dark."

"Do you want to leave?"

"No," Wheein took Yongsun's hand and slipped her fingers between hers. "Just hold my hand I'll be fine."

Wheein's hand was tiny and soft. Yongsun held it throughout the movie. She would let Wheein rest her head on her shoulder and figured Wheein might be getting sleepy. But whenever she would chance a glance at her little face, her cute eyes were wide awake and fixed on the screen.

So Yongsun rested the side of her head on Wheein's head that was resting on her shoulder for the rest of the movie.

When she walked Wheein home, Wheein was still holding her hand. It was half an hour to twelve and she was sure Wheein's parents were worried.

"Unnie, have you thought of a good excuse yet?"

"I'm not good at lying," Yongsun said bluntly. "So I haven't."

"Just tell them we have a choir event tomorrow and we had to prepare everything today. That's why we're late."

"That's a good one," Yongsun said.

Wheein laughed a little, amused at her Yongsun-unnie's lack of lying skills. Then she told her with slight sadness in her voice, "Though it might be unnecessary. They're probably asleep by now."

Wheein pointed at a white two-storey house with two parked cars in the garage. They noticed all the lights were out. Wheein's parents must be already sleeping.

When Wheein was to say goodbye to Yongsun, she smiled and told her, "You're like that girl in the movie, unnie."

"Summer? Why?"

"I don't know... just." Wheein again smiled. "Maybe I should call you Yongsummer-unnie from now on."

Yongsun playfully pinched Wheein's nose, "You're so cheeky!"

"When you leave for university, are you still going to visit me?"

Yongsun's heart swelled. She never thought someone would actually look forward to see her again after leaving high school. "I'll be coming home every weekend."

"We can still hangout on weekends then!" Wheein hugged her tightly and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek Yongsun's face could feel heat on her face turning into a blush.

The she watched Wheein expertly climbed the gate to enter their house and disappeared out of her sight.

And now Yongsun was there at the altar. Wheein was so close right at her sight but she was soon to disappear from her life. It finally hit Yongsun that she really was losing Wheein. And there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. The more she watched the wedding, the exchange of vows, looking at the sea of smiling people, the more she could feel her regrets about Wheein getting stronger it was taking a hold of her.

She wanted to burst out in tears, but the show must go on. And when it finally ended, she watched everything like she was watching a movie. Wheein was smiling at Taeyeon as they walked out the church. She was holding Taeyeon's hand and how Yongsun wished it was her hand that Wheein was holding just like that night when she was walking Wheein home from the cinema. But it was now too late.

At the reception, Yongsun sat beside Hyejin. Lost in her regrets, she couldn't process anymore what was happening. She excused herself to go to the restroom and as soon as she entered a cubicle, she finally let herself cry after holding it in for the longest time.

Then she heard a voice outside the cubicle. It was an unfamiliar deep voice of a woman, "It's too late, isn't it?"

Yongsun wasn't sure if it was talking to her.

"Is crying all that you can do?" The voice again spoke almost mocking.

"Wh-who are you?"

Yongsun heard the woman's footsteps paced around the restroom as if she was thinking. "I might be the one you need to change some things in the past so you won't crying right now."

Yongsun wiped her tears. When she opened the cubicle door, there was nobody else inside the restroom but her. Maybe she was having a mental breakdown and just hearing voices and things. Maybe regrets for an unpursued love could drive a person crazy.

She returned to the reception hall and saw Hyejin was talking on the microphone something about Wheein. When she sat on her chair at the table, the video that Hyejin prepared for Wheein started playing.

It was a slideshow of Wheein's photos from the first time they had known each other and became bestfriends. It was Hyejin's tribute for their long lasting friendship. A friendship of 12 years and counting. Some photos from their first year in middle school was shown.

Yongsun watched intently, knowing she might also appear in some of those photos. A group photo of the choir club taken after a competition was flashed on the screen. And suddenly everything stopped...

Everything. Yongsun was weirded out. She looked around and literally everyone stopped moving like they were frozen or something. She blinked her eyes thinking she was really losing it and going crazy until she heard that voice again. That voice from the restroom.

"Don't worry, you're not going crazy," the voice spoke.

Yongsun turned around to find the voice belonged to a slim woman in suits. She had long blonde hair with smugness on her face. Her hands were shoved deep in her pants pockets as she walked closer to Yongsun. "I'm Moonfairy--"

Yongsun suddenly choked laughing at her name. Is this a joke, she thought.

"How dare you laugh, I'm here to help you."

Yongsun stood up. She was a little shorter than that woman who introduced herself as Moonfairy. "Help me with what?"

Moonfairy looked at Wheein, "That girl. You love her, don't you?"

Yongsun looked down, suddenly interested on the floor as she softly spoke, "But it doesn't matter anymore."

"You give up too easily, that's your problem." Moonfairy told her with an almost scolding tone. "Question is, did you even try?"

Yongsun looked at the couple at their table. Taeyeon was smiling looking at Wheein. Wheein was looking at the video.

"She's looking at the choir photo, right?" Moonfairy said. "But who exactly is she looking at?"

Moonfairy took Yongsun and almost dragged her near the screen. They both studied Wheein's face and her eyes and who she was exactly looking at in the photo based on the angle of her gaze. Wheein was the only person not smiling in the group because they lost in that choir competition.

"She's looking at herself," Yongsun answered.

"Are you always this stupid?" Moonfairy softly hit Yongsun's big forehead with a paper fan she didn't even know where it suddenly came from. "She was looking at you!"

Wheein was standing in front of Yongsun so their proximity in the photo was very close it would be impossible to tell whether Wheein was looking at herself or at Yongsun.

"But not exactly at you," Moonfairy pointed at Yongsun's left hand resting on Wheein's left shoulder. "She's looking at your hand on her shoulder."

Yongsun creased her forehead, "How can you even tell?"

"I'm the fairy here, you're not supposed to question my abilities. All fairies have 20/20 vision," she impatiently snapped at Yongsun.

"Okay, so what now?"

"What if I tell you you can go back to that time in the photo and do something to change the present?"

Yongsun wanted to laugh at how crazy the Moonfairy sounded. But she was not to laugh. She was willing to believe it if that was what it would take to have her Wheein back. "How?"

"Just raise your hand up like this," Moonfairy demonstrated it by making a V-sign with her fingers as she raised her hand up to the air, followed by making a sweeping motion from left to right in front of her eyes. "Then after you say Hallelujah Chance!"

"Huh?"

"Come on, just do it Yongsummer."

Yongsummer.

This might be a legit fairy after all for her to know Wheein's nickname for Yongsun. And so without even thinking how crazy it seemed, she raised her hand with a V-sign then sweeped it left to right in front of her eyes as she said...

"Hallelujah Chance!"