"Why is the door locked?" Sooyoung scratched her head. Yuri's door didn't want to budge when she turned the knob. "She never locks her door."

"Call her," Jessica said impatiently.

"Yuri! Open up, it's Sooyoung and Sica!" Sooyoung called, knocking hard on the door. A moment passed by, but not a single sound could be heard from the other side. Sooyoung then turned to Jessica. "What now?"

"I don't know..." Jessica whispered. A very bad feeling rose up inside of her all of sudden. She couldn't explain where it came from, or what it could possibly mean, but she knew the answer was probably just behind this very door. "She didn't tell me where she went when she left me this morning. But knowing her, I thought she could only go to Iustit."

"If she's not here now, she will come soon, then," Sooyoung said, sounding more confident than she actually was. "She can't disappear when work is a mess. You weren't able to change her that much."

Sooyoung's smiled awkwardly, attempting to lift up the mood. Jessica gradually smiled, too.

"Let's go have some spicy noodle for breakfast. We can watch Iustit's entrance from there, so we'll see Yuri once she arrives. And," the shikshin let out a small sigh. "-I'll treat you. Just this time."

Jessica, despite the anxiousness, couldn't resist this offer. Not when it was spicy noodles. The two girls had just turned around and were about to leave when--

"Good morning, ladies."

A voice, not so familiar to Sooyoung but too familiar to Jessica, greeted them jovially. This caused both girls to stop dead in their tracks, turning around in an instant. The door to Yuri's room was already open, and in the doorway stood the last person they'd expect.

"K-Kwon Jiyong--?!"

"What a surprise, Jessica." The young man smiled, amused at her reaction.

"What are you doing here?!" Sooyoung, just as shocked as Jessica, shouted at the person standing in the doorway.

"Come in first," Jiyong said before stepping aside, gesturing the girls to enter.

Despite of the bewilderment, Sooyoung and Jessica complied. Kwon Jiyong's presence could mean no good, Sooyoung was definitely aware of that. But she believed if Yuri had really let Jiyong in, her best friend must have had a reason. The tall girl already had an idea what that reason could be, but be her assumption right or not, she knew Jessica wouldn't be happy. It was possible that Yuri had called her grandfather to seek for help, trying to save the Jung Enterprise. If it was the Yuri three months ago, Sooyoung would never imagine her to ever want to see her family again for any reason. But then, Jessica came and she had changed Yuri so much. Now Sooyoung didn't have the slightest doubt Yuri would do everything for her girl, even if it's begging the family she had purposely distanced herself from years ago.

"Calm down, Sica." Sooyoung whispered into the blonde girl's ear, seeing the still horrified look in her eyes. It was like Jessica had seen a monster, not her ex.

Sooyoung glanced at Jiyong, spotting him looking at Jessica with the same smile from earlier. Her eyes then wandered around the room while she wondered where Yuri was. Everything looked normal in this office, Sooyoung realized. The only thing that was wrong, and by wrong she really meant wrong, was that instead of Yuri, her hated cousin was present.

"I bet you're wondering where Yuri is."

Kwon Jiyong broke the silence as he closed the door and made his way towards Yuri's desk. He walked around it and slumped into the chair, twirling one round. With an eyebrow raised, he looked at the two girls who were still glancing all around the room.

"Where is she?" Jessica asked, her voice steady and cold. She had found her cool again.

"Very near." Jiyong answered without hesitation. "But I guess you'll have to wait a bit before you get to see her."

"Why?!"

"Because I said so." Jiyong leaned forward, his hands folding neatly on the desk. "I know you have many questions. But if you listen patiently, those questions will be solved soon."

"I don't wanna hear anything coming out of your mouth," Jessica's voice got a hint of impatience. "It's all lies anyway." She ignored the grip on her hands that was coming from the girl behind her. Sooyoung was trying to hold her back, but Jessica knew she was still in control of herself. At least for now.

"I see. You're still not over it, Jessica." Jiyong leaned back, relaxed. "You don't believe me. But that doesn't change the truth."

"What truth?!" Jessica snapped. She was getting enough of Kwon Jiyong. She didn't care about whatever he was planning to tell her. All she needed was to see Yuri, N.O.W, right now.

"Let's hear what you have to say, Kwon Jiyong." Sooyoung pulled Jessica back. "It's always better to hear the lies first and then the clarifications."

Jiyong gave a laugh, as if the whole situation was kind of a show that he found absolutely enjoyable and entertaining.

"Sooyoung, Sooyoung. Do you really think I could be so confident if I was a liar?" He chuckled, ignoring the glares that both girls were shooting him. "To be honest, I admire your loyalty to Yuri. A friend like you is the most useful kind ever. No joke. And luckily, Yuri belongs to the rare people who know how to make the best out of available things. She is one of the Kwons."

Jessica's gaze bored holes in Jiyong's head. She stared at the still grinning man, trying to read his expression, trying to see something, anything, that was saying his words were only trying to confuse her. But Jessica couldn't find anything. The only thing she saw was that uninterpretable smile. Her jaw clenched tightly, and she unconsciously dug her nails deep into her handbag. If Jiyong was trying to confuse her, he had already succeeded.

Sooyoung, on the other hand, found the pride in Jiyong's voice when he said 'one of the Kwons' the only disturbing thing. That guy understood Yuri far less than her, she was sure of that. She trusted Yuri, she knew Yuri - Yuri would never consider her 'useful', neither would the girl ever be proud of the 'Kwon' in her name in that way.

"Your look tells me you do not believe me, Sooyoung." Jiyong continued. "Well, it's the common human reaction. What we don't want to hear, we take them as lies. But you have to know, truth is ruthless. It won't change just to please you." Jiyong smiled his trademark smile - a smile that was nice at the first look, but turned out so fake after closer observation. "And in this case, truth is: if it wasn't for your help, we couldn't have taken down the Jung Enterprise."

Jiyong's eyes landed on Jessica's shocked face.

"...What?" She uttered disbelievingly. Sooyoung?

"Sica, no--"

"Before you start accusing, Jessica, let me explain. It wasn't Sooyoung." Jiyong stood up and walked to the other side of the desk, nonchalant and at ease, as if he was a tourist guide who was going to give some historical information about an interesting sight. He picked up a photo frame with Yuri and Jessica's picture from the desk. "This girl here," he pointed at the tanned girl in the picture. "Was the mastermind who schemed the ingenious plan, from the very first steps to this final success. From meeting you, Jessica, to defeat your family's business."

"Bullsh*t." Sooyoung scoffed before Jessica could even freak out. "This lie is even more obvious. I was the one who set Yuri and Jessica up. I was the one who make them meet. I was the one who provided them space and time to fall in love with each other. No way could you have planned that before."

"Agreed." Jiyong smiled. "I wasn't able to do that. And I never said it was me who planned it, Sooyoung. It was your best friend Yuri's effort. Who do you think had organized the book fair that you and your three friends - Sunny, Taeyeon and Tiffany, right? - went on?" Jiyong tapped his right temple, acting like he had just remembered something. "Oh, actually it was me who paid for the fair. But the one coming up with the free buffet was Yuri. Nice decoy, don't you think? She has to understand you well enough to even purposely set up our book stand next to the sushi stand." A small laughter escaped his mouth. "And then it's all your merit, Sooyoung. Yuri had told me that book would inspire you to introduce her to Jessica, but she didn't expect you to do it like that. Kidnapping them to a deserted place. The ultimate solution - fast and simple, of course. You did a very good job, Sooyoung."

Jiyong noticed Sooyoung's unfazed expression, but he couldn't hide his grin seeing Jessica's shocked face. He knew it made sense. He knew the blonde girl couldn't help but to feel unsettled after this revelation.

"Afterwards, it's all thanks to her excellent acting," Jiyong nodded to Yuri's picture. "In order to win your trust," he smiled at Jessica. "--she pretended to give up Iustit and help your father win the Kim Company project bid against us. We got her back, of course, so Iustit is like whatever. But the interesting thing is, unplanned things always add fuel to our plan. We saved so much time thanks to your father keeping Iustit as a whole and deploying Yuri as the branch manager. It took her just three months to break through the data base security system. And of course everything went smooth afterwards, as you can see the results now."

Jiyong couldn't hold back a gleeful chuckle. He saw Jessica's lips moving, but the girl brought out no sound. He knew she was on the edge of screaming, throwing insults at him. It wasn't that Jessica still had feelings for him that kept her away from doing so. It was just the shock, the bewilderment, the uncertainty of believing or not his story, the torture of Yuri's absence when the girl couldn't defend herself. It's the fear of truth that made Jessica not being able to aspirate a sound.

Jessica's eyes were wide as she stared at him. She wanted Jiyong to say it was just a trap, that he was trying to blame everything on Yuri, to separate Yuri and her, and then she would tell him she was never going to fall for it. But a wish was a wish, and reality remained the same uncertainty.

"Everything was so much easier than we had expected. When Yuri came to grandfather half a year ago, we had doubted her. I mean, she ran away for a whole year, then came back and founded her own company, and then all of sudden, she wants to be a part of the Kwon Enterprise again?" Jiyong shrugged. "But she was persistent. She promised something that made grandfather give her the chance she needed."

Jiyong looked Sooyoung and Jessica, expectation on his face.

"Can't you guess what it is?" He grinned. "It's the Jung Enterprise of course. She promised to make the Jung Enterprise vanish within one year, to show how she had really changed, how she had finally realized grandfather's words are true. Considering the fact that the Kwon-Jung battle had been going on since more than five years, that one year was acceptable." Jiyong crossed his arms, musing. "I could say Yuri was trying hard. She's made grandfather proud."

Jiyong then smiled his smile again. The confusion and uncertainty in Jessica had slowly turned into anger. Even Sooyoung started to look bothered.

"Well, well, Jessica." Jiyong continued. "You sure are appealing. Yuri was doing nothing but researching and gathering information about all of you Jungs for about a month. But she already came up with the raw idea for the plan the first time she saw a photo of you." And then with a smirk, he added. "You were the easiest prey."

"Shut up, Jiyong."

Finally, Sooyoung cut him off. Jessica couldn't stand it any longer, Sooyoung could sense it.

"What you say doesn't make sense. That plan you're talking about - it's not real. It was just coincidence I met Taeyeon and Tiffany, it was just coincidence we shared our stories about our best friend, it was just coincidence we came up with the idea of setting them up together." Sooyoung shook her head. "If you're trying to blame this all on Yuri, I tell you, you're not gonna succeed. She is not your kind."

"What kind?" Jiyong raised an eye-brow. "She is a Kwon. There's nothing you can do about it." Then, he clapped his hands together. "And about how she made Taeyeon and Tiffany meet you, I don't know. Why don't we hear it from Yuri herself?"

Before Jessica and Sooyoung could react to Jiyong's words, the door to the room next-door opened. The room next to Yuri's office was thought to be a place for a secretary, but since Yuri never needed one, it stayed empty. Jessica's eyes landed on Yuri, and her heart sank as she saw the girl being too calm, too cool about it all. Didn't she want to defend herself? Didn't she want to beat up that liar? Didn't she want to tell Jessica there's nothing to worry about?

"What the hell is this, Yuri?" Sooyoung asked as she watched Yuri walking quietly to the middle of the room. "What is he doing here? Why did you let him in?"

"Sooyoung..." Yuri just shook her head, looking away. She then turned to Jessica, and their gazes immediately locked.

"Yuri..." Jessica barely brought out. She suddenly became more scared than ever. It was the look in Yuri's eyes that had multiplied the fear in her. "Tell me it's not true..."

"Sica, what are you talking about?" Sooyoung tugged her sleeve. "Of course it's not--"

"I don't think lying is necessary anymore." Yuri quietly said. That was the moment Jessica knew, even though it broke her heart and was so painful, every word Jiyong said was nothing but the truth. This voice, this answer, this look in the eyes ? she had seen it seven years ago, coming from someone she thought she loved and loved her. Nothing but delusion.

"Yuri, wha--" Sooyoung's mouth hung open as her gazed went back and forth between Jiyong, Yuri and Jessica.

"He's not lying."

"Wh...at?"

"I was the one who set it all up," Yuri finally broke the eye-contact with Jessica and looked at Sooyoung. "I knew the only way to beat the Jungs were through Jessica. I had to know everything about Jessica in order to do that."

"She's had Jessica spied on." Jiyong smirked. "She knew everything about Jessica. That includes Jessica's friends. Her only two friends, to be precise."

"No!" Sooyoung yelled. "That doesn't explain it. It's impossible that you know about Sunny's connection with Sica!"

"Nothing is impossible, because I did know." Yuri shook her head. "It was coincidence, though. When you told me you had a crush on that Lee Sunny girl, remember I jokingly said I had to do a background check on her? Well, I did run one. And surprise surprise, Sunny and Tiffany are both photographers under the same company." Yuri's mouth corners turned up on each side, but her eyes weren't smiling. "I immediately made the connection with Si--Jessica. And at that moment, I knew it was time."  

"But--" Sooyoung breathed. Disbelief was written on her face. "Jessica and you... The vacation house, it was me--"

"You still don't understand?" Jiyoung tossed in. He rolled his eyes. "If you hadn't come up with that vacation house idea, you would have come up with another idea. We didn't care about what you were going to do, Sooyoung. It didn't matter how Yuri and Jessica would meet. All that matters was that they were to meet. We had time, we could wait for another chance if we missed one. If there was no Sunny, Yuri would think of another plan to link Taeyeon, Tiffany and you. If the Workiee book hadn't helped, Yuri would have thought of another scenario to make you guys do what we want. In the end, Yuri would still meet Jessica, Jessica would still fall for her, the Jungs would still trust her, and they'd still be dead. The method doesn't matter; all that counts is the result. You understand?" And then, with a small laugh, he added. "I told you you are useful, Sooyoung."

"Listen," Yuri exhaled as she turned away from Sooyoung and approached the frozen Jessica instead. "I know this hard for you to take and I'm sorry if I broke your heart, but--"

Yuri shut up immediately, seeing Jessica's hand raised up into the air. She shut her eyes, waiting for the slap to come as she didn't want to dodge. But nothing happened. She opened her eyes again just to see a trembling Jessica, tears in her eyes, her hand still in mid-air. For some reason, she had to clench her teeth hard at that sight.

"BAST*RD!"

Yuri groaned as her head was thrown harshly to the side by something else, unexpected. She tripped as she heard Jiyong gasping, and Jessica croaked something that sounded like a horrified, cracked scream. She felt pain numbing her complete mouth. Sooyoung's fist had hit her hard.

"Sooyoung--" Jessica was trying to hold the tall girl back, tears now unable to be held back anymore.

"I--"Sooyoung's self-control was limited. She panted hard through her clenched teeth, her fists balled up so tight that it hurt herself. "I-I have defended you, trusted you... until the last moment... I have never, ever... not a single second... did I doubt you... Kwon Yuri. Kwon Yuri!"

Jessica felt her hands weaken. Still, she tried her best to hold tightly onto Sooyoung. Her body trembles, her breath ragged. Yuri, Yuri, Yuri, she thought as she saw the tanned girl's blurry vision stepping back to avoid the raging Sooyoung.

"KWON YURI!"

"GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF CHOI SOOYOUNG!"

Everything was shaking violently. Even the ground under her feet was trembling, and Jessica felt her knees go weak. Somewhere far away, she heard Sooyoung groaning in anger and Jiyong's voice yelling continuously. Faint footsteps approached the room, but Jessica couldn't care less.

Lies, Yuri, lies, Yuri, lies.

Sooyoung's arms slipped out of her hold.

Yuri, lies, Yuri, lies, Yuri, lies.

She dropped on her knees. The only noise she could hear was the rapid pounding of her heart. She broke out into sobs. Somewhere far away, someone faintly called her name. But all she could think of was one name, one person.

Yuri, Yuri, Yuri, Yuri.

She closed her eyes and sank onto the floor, still occupied with that one and only question even when she passed out.

Why?

Why, Yuri, why?