II

A man's deep voice stopped her before she had gone a dozen steps. “He must be an extremely foolish man to turn his back and run from such beauty.”

“No! You can't do this to him!”

Charlotte whirled to face the man who stepped up on the path behind her. He must have been sitting out of her view on the stone bench in the shadow of the dogwood that reached its limbs toward the veranda.

“Forgive me,” he said. “It wasn't my intention to startle you.”

“Sim Cheong! You can't fucking do this to him!”

In the moonlight it wasn't hard to see the amused smile playing across his lips under his mustache that gave lie to his words. That had been exactly what he'd intended. Charlotte thought as she stared up at him with no pretense of demurely lowering her eyes. He was tall, even taller than Edwin, but while Edwin slouched to try to keep from towering above his companions, this man stood straight, completely at ease with his height. He was quite handsome with thick dark hair brushed back from his forehead and a strong profile. She had no idea who he was. . .

“Why?!. . . This is so fucking unfair! Why would you do this to him, Cheong?! He fucking loves you even with how you're a totally different specie than he is!” Oriana wailed, successfully interrupting Emerald from the novel she was currently reading.

“Oriana, can you please be quiet? It's just a movie.” She sighed, placing her glasses over her head as she looked at Ori over the book.

She was currently lying on their red velvet couch with an opened novel on her chest as she tried to focus but as you could see, her efforts were proving to be futile with Oriana's speaker type voice.

“Just a movie? Just a movie?!” She cried in disbelief.

“You just referred to the most amazing Korean series in the history of Korean movies ever acted in the entire fucking universe as ‘just a movie’?! You're unbelievable, Mera.” She looked indeed hurt as she held a hand to her chest, squeezing tight.

Emerald sighed as she removed her pencil from behind her ear and marked the spot where she had stopped before placing the pencil in and shutting the book.

She ran her hand down her face as she looked from the paused scene that had been playing on the TV to a sniffling Oriana, who was blowing her nose into a tissue, her cheeks wet with tears as she mumbled profanities against the person that had written the play. Her lips, part of her chin and below her nose, completely covered in ice cream. She had actually cried because of a movie.

It was currently a Thursday night and Emerald had had a quite busy day at work with quite a number of clients showing up, both old and new ones. So she had hoped to come home, take a long hot shower, have dinner, take her vitamins and succumb to a world of fantasies for a little while before going to bed, because she also had a packed day ahead of her tomorrow with work and then having to head to the airport.

So imagine her frustration with having to have her plans ruined as always. Every other thing had gone well but as she had settled to dive into one of the new novels she had purchased earlier this month, she had barely completed a chapter when Oriana had decided to grace her with her deafening wails all because of a romance movie.

“What's so special about it anyway?” Ori's head immediately snapped to look at her as the words left her mouth. She was already dreading opening her mouth. She just had to say something, didn't she? She could've just taken the opportunity to retreat into her idyllically tranquil niche. Her most trusted source of solace in times of the grief in her life with the name, Oriana but no, she had to open her big yap.

“Oh I'd be glad to tell you the unique features of this movie. You tell me, what romance movie have you watched where a human fell in love with a mermaid. Despite finding out that she wasn't like him, he still loved and accepted her. Despite the fact that with one look, she could totally wipe his memories, he didn't care and still, he trusted her whole–heartedly.

Despite finding out about the harsh past they had earlier faced in their first life, he still held on and was resolute about having his happily ever after with her. He still focused on spending his eternity with her even when his life was in danger. He could've lost his life, Mera! But he still stood by her!

Now you tell me, does someone as amazing as that deserve to get his memory wiped by the woman he loves? And let's not forget the fact that this man is my fucking boo, Lee Min Ho!” She began wailing again.

Wow! Just wow!

Emerald stared at her friend, dumbfounded. It's settled, Oriana had officially gone crazy.

“I can't believe she would do that to him after all they've been through. He's so stupid, even! Why would he even go after her when I'm perfectly available, single and ready to mingle with him and him alone! I don't know why he can't just look at me for once and reciprocate my one–sided love after all these years. He now had to get his memories wiped by the supposed love of his life!

It's breaking me, Mera. I'm completely shattered.” She bawled her eyes out and let me tell you, it isn't a pretty sight at all, especially with the booger sticking out her nostril.

Emerald couldn't take her eyes off her friend and she was totally convinced, hands down, that her friend had officially gone crazy. She kept looking at her until she calmed down after a few minutes of tears and snots.

“Do you get why it's considered sui generis now?” She peeked at Emerald through her wet eyelashes while dabbing the skin beneath her eyes.

Emerald blinked before she frowned slightly and turned to grab her book. She patted Oriana on her head as she slowly stood.

“I really don't care but there is one thing I'm completely certain about after tonight.” She said and watched Ori's curious gaze as one of her eyebrows rose in question.

“That you've gone crazy, Ori and as your friend, my advice to you is that you should see someone. Maybe a therapist? And lucky for you, I'm one.” She watched as her friend's jaw dropped and her eyes narrowed into daggers.

“Don't worry about the fee though. You'll get a 30% discount. So what do you say?” She concluded as she tilted her head with a mocking innocent smile on her face.

She grinned and immediately began moving backwards as she saw Ori make a move to follow after her. Her eyes went to the Cheetos wrapper lying idly and innocently beside the tub of ice cream and she glanced at her friend's socked feet; a disaster waiting to happen. She smirked as she looked back at her oblivious friend who was about to fall victim to her own traps. She was about to reap what she had sown.

She kept moving towards her room with a mischievous smile and as Ori fully got up and prepared to run after Emerald, only for her to slip and fall on her ass, her posture completely weird as she landed half sprawled out on the couch and half lying on the floor.

She let out a groan as she threw a glare Emerald's way which only made her let out a chuckle as she walked to her room.

“Good night, Ori. Your first session starts next week!” She shouted as she laughed and opened the door to her room.

“Fuck you, bitch!” Ori shouted in response before she let her door close shut.

•  •  •

“I'm not even supposed to drop you off today, bitch.” Oriana grumbled, sparing a glare at Emerald, who only rolled her eyes in reply.

They were currently on their way to the airport. Emerald was going to visit her mother in Boston and she couldn't be bothered with the hassle of having to take a cab or the train there, so when her mother had been wailing over the phone, saying how her daughter had neglected her, she had immediately booked a flight to spend the weekend with her and Luca.

So, she had told Oriana to pick her up from work in her own car and the reason behind her friend's sulking was because of the previous night's unceremonious event where she had slipped and Emerald hadn't warned her about the damned Cheetos wrapper.

Emerald had left the house rather early this morning in order to avoid her rants but she had apologised with the preparation of a really scrumptious meal and a note to remember to pick her up, but her constant grumbles and glares were just petty.

“I still don't get why you don't have your own car. You're perfectly capable of driving and you're financially buoyant enough to get the best one there is out there.” Oriana mused with a frown.

Emerald let out a frustrated sigh as she took off her glasses and looked up from her phone. She had tried to continue reading her novel from where she had stopped last night but that didn't work out as her eyes couldn't even focus on a word without being dizzy. Car sickness sucks.

“I really don't know why I have to explain this to you again.” She glared at Oriana. She had told her countless times why she never opted for buying a car.

Other than the usual commute from her home to her office everyday, there was no other need for a vehicle. She'd very much choose taking an Uber everyday to work like she had been doing since college to buying a car and having to go through the trouble of maintaining it.

Besides, most other times she went out, maybe to the club or a place of recreation and leisure, it was always with Ori or Logan whenever he came to visit. So, other than that, she was always just cooped up at home, grasping at every opportunity she got to sit in peace and tranquility.

“I feel like you're being quite bitchy today for an entirely different reason. It doesn't have anything to do with last night's fall, does it?” Emerald stated and her friend's silence confirmed it.

“Hmm. . . Your silence proves that my plausible theory is indeed valid then. Now Miss Mendel, can you please tell me what the problem might be.” She spoke professionally as she kept her eyes on her friend who snuck a chary look at her before focusing on the road once again.

“Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Is it the devil's time of month yet? Don't tell me it's about that memory wipey movie, is it? Or do you have some kind of fever or something? I would check your temperature but I wouldn't want to cause an accident.” She rushed out as she gauged her friend's reaction.

Oriana only furrowed her eyebrows and pursed her lips before replying,

“Is this some kind of session?”

“Answer my question, Ori.”

She let out a sigh before responding, “Ok fine. You're right, I'm a bit bitchy today and it's not because of the fall even though it could have been prevented if you had warned me.” She glared at Emerald again at the memory before continuing,

“Neither is it about my baby, Lee Min Ho, though I'm a bit pissed that he got her pregnant instead of me but I'm glad they had a happy ending. And well yeah, it's my time of month but that's not it and I'm not under the weather either.

It's just that I have this date I was supposed to prepare for today. I was supposed to go to the mall and find a suitable dress to wear after work today but since I had to drop you off at the airport, I had to cancel.” She spoke with a crestfallen expression.

“Oh? Ori.” Emerald called, dragging the ‘i’ in her name.

“Why didn't you tell me this earlier on? You know I could've taken a cab, right? I would never do anything to crash your date.” She spoke solemnly. She hadn't intended to make her friend sad. Yeah, she knew the mood swings due to her menstrual flow were partly involved but she knew how much Oriana liked going on dates just for the men candy, the fun, kisses and most importantly, the food.

“Yeah I know but I wanted to see you before you left. I know I would certainly miss you so much and I didn't want to miss that opportunity.” Oriana replied as her eyes glistened with tears.

Ok, so this was really the mood swings speaking. She was only staying in Boston for the weekend. She would be back by Sunday.

“And you don't have to worry about it, Mera. I could always reschedule it.” She smiled through her tears as she used one of her hands to hold Emerald's.

Emerald smiled back, knowing that this wasn't really Oriana speaking but actually the menstrual cycle.

“Any man would be lucky to have you, Ori.” She grinned at her friend whose cheeks turned slightly pink at the compliment as she bashfully mumbled a ‘thank you’.

“So who's this guy anyway? Someone from work?” She inquired curiously, seeing as Oriana's eyes sparkled and her pearly white teeth were on full display.

‘Wow. My friend is certainly whipped’. She thought as the guilt for making her friend cancel a date with the mystery guy ate deep into her. She seemed to really like this guy.

“He's actually someone you've seen.” Her grin widened even more.

“Oh really? Who is it then?” Emerald asked, her curiosity even stronger.

“It's Lee Min Ho.”

•  •  •  •  •