“She’s getting surgery right now,” Eunji told Chorong after she had managed to calm the leader down a bit. “The doctor said they’ll be extirpating the tumor Bomi has on her femur so it can’t spread locally, but that nothing guarantees that the carcinogenic cells haven’t spread through her body already.” 

Chorong stared at her friend, thinking about what Eunji just said. The other members were sitting all around Bomi’s room, tension and worry filling the air. Eunji elaborated on the treatment of the angiosarcoma, and the radiation sessions Bomi would have to go to after the surgery was successful.

“It’s one of the most invasive types of cancer,” Eunji finished, looking down. “So even if they can successfully extirpate the tumor, there’s still a low probability of her being completely healed through the radiation therapy. It’s fatal on most cases.”

Eunji finished talking, and she hugged Chorong tightly. The older girl wasn’t into displaying too much affection, but this hug was something she needed.

“I am here for you, unnie,” Eunji told her. “You don’t need to worry about anything, since I’m going to take care of everything now so you can just be with Bomi-ah. Count on me for whatever you need.”

Chorong pulled Eunji closer, thankful for having her. Eunji was the only person she could rely on; even if she was younger than the leader, she had this motherly spirit that made her take care of everyone and be calmly in charge of everything that was needed from her. She could count on Eunji, and that’s what she needed in that moment.

A sudden knock on the door pulled them apart. The doctor was standing in the corridor, and Eunji ran to him in order to hear the news.

“How is it going? Is it over? Is everything okay? When can we see her?”

The doctor put his hand on Eunji’s shoulder, trying to get her to calm down.

“It’s going as planned, everything’s okay. It’ll probably end in less than half an hour if there are no complications, and then it will take an hour or so until she’s back in this room and you can see her.” He paused. “We’re doing everything we can, and the outcome looks favorable.”

Chorong nodded in understanding, and she felt Hayoung caress her back in empathy, trying to console her unnie.

“It’s going to be okay,” the maknae said when the doctor left. “She’ll be fine and back to her own self soon.”

∼

“You can go see her now,” the doctor announced a couple of hours later. “She just woke up and she’ll be moved to this room in a short while.”

The girls had been lying down in all sorts of positions around Bomi’s hospital room, some sleeping, some awake. Eunji and Naeun had been sleeping as far from each other as it was technically possible while in the same room, avoiding each other’s gaze by blushing every time their eyes met. But no one was paying them too much attention at the moment; Bomi dominated their whole minds.

Namjoo was yawning in one corner, her head against the cold window, when the doctor came in, waking up Chorong as soon as she heard the news.

“Unnie! Wake up!” She shook Chorong’s shoulders gently. “Bomi-unnie’s awake and we can go see her!”

Chorong stood up, suddenly awake, and the five girls left the room to go to the post-operatory room where Bomi was staying at the moment.

“Bomi-unnie!” Hayoung was the first one to approach Bomi. The older girl looked very tired, and also quite weaker than her usual self, but besides that, she looked okay.

“Bomi-ah...” Chorong left her hand on Bomi’s, the younger pressing their palms together and intertwining their fingers. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

They all chatted for a while, avoiding the topic of the cancer as much as they could.

“You should go get some rest.” Chorong was back to her composed leader self, and she told Naeun and Eunji to go home and rest for a while. They had been there all night, after all.

Eunji nodded, and Naeun did too, blush present on her cheeks. If Chorong found it weird, she didn’t mention it, and she just sent the two girls home with money for a taxi.

“Namjoo-ah, how’s your shoulder?” Chorong asked when the other girls had left the hospital room. “Does it hurt?”

“Not right now, unnie,” Namjoo answered. “But it does when I move too fast or too harshly. Even though, the doctor said I should rest and it will be okay in a few days.”

Chorong looked concerned: with a member suffering from cancer and another with a dislocated shoulder, she didn’t see how they could go back to practice soon. And it had all happened in that week of vacation they had been granted!

“Hayoung-ah! Did you call our manager-oppa?” She suddenly remembered.

“I did, unnie,” the maknae answered. “He sounded pretty mad and really, really worried, and he said he’d call you in the morning, which is around... now?”

Chorong sighed. What was she going to say? That they had ruined the group after less than two days of their well-deserved freedom? The manager was going to kill her, since she was the leader and responsible for the other girls. As the leader, how could she not know about Bomi’s illness?

∼

The trip home was silent, and so was the bungalow, but their hearts weren’t. I think I’m in lo-... Naeun had started to say something before Bomi had gotten worse, and those moments of doubt and the confession she had started were making Eunji nervous since then, so many hours before. Now she was exhausted from looking over Bomi and the other girls, and waiting for news on her 93’er friend. Now that she was home and Bomi was okay for now, with the other three members to take care of her, she could relax her heart for a while and push her thoughts back to Naeun and how her heart fluttered when she thought of the younger girl. She wanted to hold her. She wanted to hug her. She wanted to kiss her so hard and fast that the other girl would be left trembling from finding out Eunji’s true feelings. The older girl had never been the one to be shy, but Naeun changed her completely, and she just wanted to jump on the younger girl and kiss her feelings out of her.

“You need some sleep, unnie. You’ve been taking care of us all for hours; you deserve some rest and peace now.” Naeun didn’t want anything more than to comfort her unnie right then, she wanted to hug her tightly and never release her from her embrace. Her heart beat for Eunji, she could feel it expanding in her chest when the older girl was around.

“I need you.” Eunji moved so fast that Naeun didn’t have time to react, and without knowing how, she realized Eunji had locked their lips together. The warm contact made Naeun shiver, and she realized that the older girl was trembling, the confidence she’d shown seconds ago completely forgotten.

It all happened too fast, but Naeun wasn’t going to complain. Eunji pulled the younger girl towards her, breathing warmly against the other girl’s lips. It had been a long time since Eunji had last kissed anyone, and the passion and the need she felt right then and there were something she hadn’t felt before. It was consuming her. But she let it happen anyway.

Soon Naeun was when she felt Eunji’s teeth slide down her neck, biting her softly while her lips never left the other girl’s pale neck. Naeun pulled Eunji’s hair towards her, bringing the girl closer. Her hands suddenly started going under the older girl’s shirt, much to both girls’ surprise, but Naeun didn’t want to stop. Her fingers had reached Eunji’s bra, the contact making her feel bolder. She felt the older girl shiver, her back arching in pleasure when Naeun moved her hands to the front.

“Naeun-ah...” Eunji’s voice felt husky, like she was a victim of some drug that controlled her; the drug of need. They had both been waiting for so long to confess at each other, and now the time to be together had come, even if it was the aftermath of a still ongoing tragedy.

Eunji’s hands were also exploring Naeun’s body with a confidence that had been given to her by the younger girl’s actions. Her cold fingers were caressing Naeun’s back and stomach, pulling softly at the waistband of her trousers. Naeun moaned when she felt the cold touch, and when she arched her back Eunji took advantage of the situation and pulled Naeun’s shirt up, lifting it over the girl’s arms and finally leaving it on the floor.

Naeun’s cheeks were flushed then, aware of her semi-ness, and Eunji looked at her passionately, enjoying the innocence in the other girl. The kiss they shared after that was even harsher, a dance of tongues competing for the best place, trying to make the other moan while consuming the air in their lungs.

Naeun’s hands shook in nervousness when she lifted Eunji’s thin sweater over the older girl’s arms, the two standing now in the same conditions. Not very aware of how it happened, they found themselves on the sofa, Naeun’s back against the soft cushions while Eunji hovered over her. Naeun’s eyes were close when she felt Eunji’s soft lips on her chin, on and going down and down until she could feel them on her stomach, making her shiver. The younger girl could feel the trail of kisses even after Eunji had pulled herself apart; the touch was still lingering there after it was over. Eunji laughed against Naeun’s skin, and the other girl smiled at the contact; how ticklish Eunji’s laugh had ended up being.

Eunji was going up again, her hands memorizing every inch of her fellow member’s body just like the younger girl’s did. The bra was forgotten on the floor, and Naeun’s face couldn’t blush more. Eunji was softly biting her ear while mumbling some incoherent things to her, and Naeun’s body was trembling in pleasure, her toes curling. She moved her hands up and down Eunji’s , pulling the girl closer, and the two lay there, their bodies in contact, memorizing each other with the tips of their fingers.

Eunji moved back, only a couple of centimeters, but enough to look right into Naeun’s light eyes. The younger girl’s eyes were clouded with passion, and seeing her dongsaeng like that made Eunji so nervous that she got back to reality in the blink of an eye, breaking the magic.

“I-I’m so-sorry...” Eunji stuttered, suddenly incredibly nervous. “Naeun-ah... I just...”

“Why are you even apologizing?” Naeun answered boldly. “I was so looking forward to this moment, unnie.”

Eunji raised her eyebrows in surprise, but also in amusement when she saw the younger girl’s expression. Naeun’s lips were swollen from the kisses, her eyes dark from lust. Eunji wondered whether she would be looking just like the other girl, in a state of ness that had made her feel bold for a while.

“Naeun-ah,” Eunji said, still smiling. “We need to talk.”