“What makes it your business who I’m dating?!”

Choa was practically roaring at her best friend, but neither were cowering or concealing their rage.

“It’s for the band,” Jimin reasoned, slightly calmer than the blonde. “We don’t want any secrets to spill outside of our band, let alone to the enemy.”

“The enemy,” Choa scoffed. “You act like this friendly competition is a war of life and death.”

“Friendly competition?” Jimin scoffed back at her. “I’m just doing what Youkyung wants us to do, which is to take this competition seriously.”

“What for?” Choa was beginning to have a growing confusion. “We’re still new to this band, so don’t beat yourself up too much about it. Matter of fact, don’t beat me up too much about it. Don’t you trust me?”

Jimin shivered. She heard that voice before, especially when it was combined with that look in Choa’s eyes. It’s the one where she gets really sad, yet slightly seductive. It’s as if her voice was river sorrow, laced with a hint of inviting lust. Jimin’s mind was thrown off.

“I-I do,” Jimin stuttered, looking away from her best friend. “It’s just I don’t trust him to keep his boundaries.”

“Well I do,” Choa said softly. “And for your information, his name is Seunghyun, he’s a few years older than me, and he’s one of the truest gentleman I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet.”

Jimin felt her heart in , but not before feeling it shatter and gouge her chest as it made it’s way up to . She couldn’t speak, much less breathed.

“Jimin,” Choa called softly, her voice almost a heartbreaking whisper. “Look at me.”

The manager closed her eyes and faced her best friend before opening her eyes. They were at the edge of tears, wet with a storm gathering right in front of them. Her eyebrows were furrowed with fury, but when she saw the way Choa looked at her gently, they softened, showing defeat on Jimin’s face.

I lost…

“Do you really love him, then?” Jimin’s eyes grew hard as she lashed at her best friend. Her question was choked. Choa was taken aback in disbelief by the way her friend looked at her, not with disgust or anger, but with humiliating defeat. 

It was almost as if…

Choa raised her hand to cover her gaping mouth. 

Was- Is she…?

Jimin saw in Choa’s eyes her realisation and cursed silently to herself. She turned to looked away from the blonde and sighed softly, causing the blonde to look down onto the concrete walkway. She looked up with lost eyes and mouthed, “Why?” It left an awkward silence between the both of them.

“I’m sorry.”

They both snapped their gazes to each other. They both had said the same thing at the same time, causing their hearts to flutter. They looked each other in tense silence, though both were unsure on what to blame their tension.

“So.” Choa broke the silence first. “You like me, huh?”

To Jimin’s surprise, it wasn’t one of disgust, but rather one of wonder with slight disappointment. The truth was out, there was no more denying it. It’s not like Jimin would want to repress her feelings any longer, not when they first started appearing in their middle of their first year meeting each other. She thought it was a momentary phase, one that she was sure all girls had before they fade away. But the more she stayed, the more the feelings grew deeper, and it was only when they graduated did they finally entrench themselves in her mind. She thought the cafe would keep them both close to each other long enough for her to gather some courage.

Unfortunately, Jimin waited too long. Her silence only served to answer Choa’s question, which made her nod.

“So why did you support me?” Choa asked, not angry but only confused. “You could’ve stopped me from going further with Seunghyun and taken me for yourself, so why didn’t you?”

Jimin flinched when Choa said his name. She felt her heart dropped from to an abyss within her. She couldn’t speak, for her voice fell as well. Jimin gulped, clearing the tension in . The saliva cleared the roadblock, and thus she found a clear, yet soft voice.

“Because it would be injustice for you,” Jimin said, with a gentle confidence. She raised her head to look at her friend head on. “I can’t let my petty feelings stand between you and your true love.”

Jimin smiled sadly and set her hand on her best friend’s shoulder.

“I’ve wasted my opportunities and waited too long,” Jimin reasoned. “I just needed reassurance that I needed to move on.”

Choa shook her head in her disbelief. Her face wasn’t furious, much to Jimin’s surprise. However, to her dread, it was one of disappointment. The blonde sets her hand aside.

“You didn’t even try.” Choa’s eyes were the same as Jimin’s; at the edge of tears. “You could’ve at least told me that you…”

Choa couldn’t the exact word. She ducked her head, no longer able to keep her gaze with her best friend.

“I’m sorry,” Choa apologised softly. “I should’ve known as your best friend, I should’ve-“

Choa stopped talking as she felt her best friend pull her in for a tight hug.

“Remember when we were in that lacrosse club?”

It was Choa’s turn for her heart to drop, not with dread but with regret. She knew where the conversation was going, as it led to one of the most painful experiences of her life.

“Th-the one you dragged me into with Hyejeong?”

They both strained a laugh that hid their sobs. 

“The one with that one guy you fell hard for.”

There it was. Choa sighed at the memory of her falling hard for her first ex for the duration of at least half a year. The time before she confessed was agonising, and it still pained her even to this day. When she was accepted by him, her feelings soared to great heights, but it didn’t last long. A few months after they started dating, they broke up much to Choa’s grief. The pain of breaking up was intense, where she couldn’t handle it alone.

“I actually thought it wouldn’t last,” Jimin recalled, her words slightly bitter. “And when it ended the way it did, well…”

Jimin sniffled, causing Choa to sniffle as well. They both recalled the bitter winter’s night as the couple stood on the bridge. Jimin passed by as she saw her best friend’s confused look turned downcast as she ducked her head. She remembered clearly the way the guy’s face buckled under her fist. She remembered how warm his blood was on her knuckles. She remembered how she used those same hands to comfort her best friend. She remembered how she used those same bloody hands to pull her from the edge of the bridge. 

“It hurt too y’know…” Jimin hugged Choa tighter. “I thought I was gonna lose my heart…”

They both stood in silence. Choa returned her best friend’s hug, slowly then tightly, causing the brunette to gasp.

“And then I realised.” Choa looked into her friend’s eyes in confusion. “When it comes to someone I love, my feelings don’t mean .”

“Don’t say that.” Choa’s face hardened. She didn’t want her friend, who had helped push through hell to say a statement of defeat. “It’s not like you.”

Jimin grinned sadly at her best friend before poking her nose. They both saw how close they were to releasing their tears. Their eyes were red, swollen, and wet, which, for Jimin, made them painfully beautifully. The manager laughed. 

“I actually remembered when you literally moved Hyejeong’s glorious to get a view for this guy,” Jimin recalled, trying to alleviate the tension. Choa didn’t want to laugh, but she did anyway at how accurately her friend remembered the event.

“It was, and still is, a g-glorious b-…” Jimin buried her head in her friend’s shoulder. “I thought there would be other women like Hyejeong to replace you…”

Choa remembered how close Hyejeong and Jimin was in university before suddenly becoming distant. She had always thought it was simply because classes drifted them apart since they were in different years of their undergraduate degrees.

“You actually had a th-thing with Hyejeong?” Choa laughed as she asked, still trying to dam her guilt and pity for her best friend. It didn't matter that her two best friends had an affair behind her back; she was only focused on the idea that she could’ve done something. She could’ve opened herself up more and could’ve been more trustworthy for her best friend. Jimin only nodded as she buried her head in Choa’s shoulder. “I take it didn’t work.”

“She’s too tall.”

They both giggled out loud, and that was their last attempt at damming their feelings. Their laughter turned into sobs of sadness, feelings torrenting down their tears that drenched each of their uniforms. It was a whiplash of emotions, and the pain of it showed in their eyes as it bled a stream tears. They were too busy crying to notice a few of their customers ushering them back into the cafe and away from the streets, which were slowly filling up. 

Everyone could only watch the two as they cried in each other’s arms, but only before looking away. They didn’t want to be infected by the depressing sight. Chanmi and Yuna kept to themselves at the counter, preparing some pastries that the boys had ordered in the middle of the  commotion. A few of the boys could only grip each other’s hands for comfort at the sound of crying, while the rest looked away from the rest to hide their faces. Jin looked to Jungkook and Jimin with worry, who were sitting the farthest from each other, much to his understanding and worry.