“We’ll be leaving now,” Naeun said, and Bomi raised her head to look at Eunji. The other girl, catching the hidden meaning in the shared gaze, nodded, pointing at the bottom drawer of Bomi’s bedside table. The rings. Bomi shivered at the thought, nervousness dominating her body.

“Do you need anything before we go?” Eunji asked with a smile. When Bomi shook her head, the younger leaned her hand on Naeun’s shoulder to tell her it was time to go.

Chorong got into the room in that moment, coming with snacks from the cafeteria.

“Don’t let the kids poison themselves,” the leader told Eunji. “Make sure they eat something that’s edible.”

Eunji laughed and nodded. Chorong, always taking care of her members...

“Let’s go,” Naeun said, grabbing Eunji’s hand slightly, but letting it go not even a second later, flushed red.

“Get some rest, you two,” Eunji warned her unnies before leaving. It was past dinner time already, and after spending the afternoon in the hospital, taking care of Bomi, they were going back home with the maknaes. “Chorong-unnie, take care of her.”

Chorong nodded, a sweet smile on her face. Of course she was going to take care of Bomi, no matter what.

“You’ve seen them, haven’t you?” Bomi asked when the younger girls had left the room, closing the door behind them.

“Of course I have!” Chorong answered with a laugh. “They were so obvious! But I don’t think they even noticed!”

“Who do you think confessed?” Bomi arched her eyebrow. “I’m going to go with Naeun-ah. I’m always telling her to be braver and more confident, so I think she’s probably the one who did it.”

“Maybe,” Chorong agreed. “Eunji-ah’s calm and everything when it is needed from her, but this made her nervous. After what you told me about your conversation the other day, she must really like Naeun-ah...”

The two girls looked at each other with a smile.

“They’re so cute,” Bomi said at last. “Don’t they remind you of us?”

“Oh, Bomi-ah... Our story was way different.”

∼

“Unnie!” Hayoung was walking around the bungalow. “Hey, have you seen Eunji-unnie?”

Namjoo shook her head, shrugging in apology. They had been home for several hours now, and Naeun had made dinner for the four of them. After eating, they had somehow split and they didn’t know what to do anymore. Eunji had been missing for a while, while the dongsaengs just rested in front of the TV.

“Where’s Eunji-unnie?” Naeun didn’t know either, so Hayoung just thought of going outside. It was around ten at night, but the summer weather was warm and the breeze felt great.

“Unnie?” Hayoung saw Eunji lying on the sofa they had in the porch. The maknae couldn’t believe what her eyes were seeing: her unnie had a bottle of what seemed like vodka in her hand, and it was half-empty already. “Unnie?”

Eunji groaned and opened her eyes to look at whoever was bothering her.

“What do you want, Hayoungie?” Her voice was husky from the drinking, and she slurred her words. Hayoung was frozen in place; that was so out of the blue.

“Why...?” She couldn’t even mutter a proper question. “Why are you drinking, unnie?”

Eunji stared at her friend for a moment, then at the bottle in her hand, then back at the maknae.

“I j-just...” Her tongue felt heavy, but her head appeared clear to her. “There are too many things on my mind. Bomi-ah... I’m so worried about her. And Naeun-ah... What am I going to do?”

Hayoung was indeed surprised by the comment about Naeun, but she decided not to pressure her unnie. Instead, she sat beside her in silence, thinking. She had never seen Eunji drunk before.

“This is not like you, unnie,” the maknae said. “You stay silent and overthink about your problems without considering us too trustworthy, but you never drink them out.”

Hayoung somehow sounded hurt when saying that, and Eunji, even in her drunken state, could feel it. But her mind wasn’t working properly.

“Here.” She handed the bottle to Hayoung. “Drink up your problems.”

Hayoung looked astonished and laughed, but then she saw Eunji was believing what she just said. The maknae didn’t know what to do; it was obvious that a sober Eunji would have never offered her a drink, she would’ve lectured her about it. But it was her opportunity, and she didn’t want Eunji to feel even downer, and she actually wanted the drink, and she wasn’t going to drink much, and she wanted to stay there taking care of her unnie...

She took the bottle.

∼

“Do you want anything from the cafeteria?” Chorong asked, and when Bomi shook her head she grabbed her purse. “Okay, I’ll be back in five minutes.”

She left to grab some snacks so she could have something in her stomach before going to bed. She hadn’t had a proper meal in about 24 hours, but it was okay since that meant she’d been taking care Bomi.

After Chorong had left, Bomi sat up on the bed and leaned to the side so she could open the drawer. That simple movement caused her to groan in pain; her bones seemed to hurt no matter what she did, and she couldn’t get rid of that. She took a deep breath and kept moving. She grabbed the small jewelry box that Eunji had brought her and smiled at the touch. She’d been wanting to give it to Chorong for a while now, but she knew the older girl wasn’t expecting it at all. They’d been dating for almost a year, but to Bomi that had been enough to know that it was all she needed and more. Life looked now shorter than ever – it was shorter than ever for Bomi – and she wanted to take that opportunity. But she had to talk things through with Chorong; they should think it all over and face the future together.

“I’m back. “As soon as she heard Chorong, Bomi put the box back in the drawer and shut it close, closing her eyes as a way of containing the pain. I don’t know if this is the right time. Chorong looked at her girlfriend in concern, then at the closed drawer. “Are you okay?”

“Don’t worry.” Bomi sat back, her back against the pillow.

“Bomi-ah...” Chorong shook her head, giving away a tired and slightly disappointed image.

“What? You think I’m lying again?” She sounded exasperated, and Chorong took a step back, surprised at Bomi’s outburst. “Yes, I am lying! Again and again! Because it freaking hurts all the time, every second of the day, but I just can’t handle you worrying about something you can do nothing about! I sometimes think I’m going to die of pain but I just can’t get myself to tell you because I don’t want to hurt you even more! Is that what you wanted to hear?

∼

“Namjoo-ah!” Naeun was freaking out. She had been looking for Eunji so they could talk, and what she had seen in the porch had struck her. Hayoung, baby Hayoung, was completely drunk, and Eunji seemed to be the cause of it. Both girls had been so focused on sharing the bottle of vodka that they hadn’t seen Naeun come out. But the girl didn’t know what to do, so she turned to call Namjoo.

“Naeun-ah! Don’t go!” She heard Eunji’s voice behind her, husky because of the drinks. Somehow that voice made her remember their situation last night, and she blushed at the memory. But Eunji kept stuttering some words. “Na-naeun-ah... Don’t you want to join us?”

Naeun lifted her eyebrows in surprise, and she approached Eunji slowly.

“Unnie... this is not you,” she said. This was more typical of Naeun herself than mature Eunji. “Remember how you lecture me when I go clubbing? How’s that different from what are you doing now?”

Those words sunk in and seemed to have an effect on Eunji, since she stumbled to her knees and fell to the floor.

“I just... Bomi-ah... And us... You...” She wasn’t saying anything coherent, but Naeun could make out some of the girl’s thoughts.

“Unnie... Don’t worry about Bomi-unnie,” Naeun said. “She’s even stronger than you think. She’ll be okay.”

“No, she won’t!” Eunji was suddenly crying, and Naeun didn’t know whether to cry too or to start laughing, since it was all painful but strangely awkward for her.

“Unnie, calm down.” Naeun was grabbing Eunji’s shoulders, forcing the older girl to look at her straight in the eye. What she wasn’t expecting was drunk Eunji to stop crying out of a sudden when the older girl crashed their lips together.

Naeun was taken aback by Eunji’s strength, her back crashing against the wall.

“Unnie!” She tried to free herself from Eunji’s embrace, but she was held too tightly. “Eunji-unnie! What are you doing?”

Eunji didn’t look like she’d be stopping anytime soon though, her hand climbing under Naeun’s t-shirt, which won her a strong slap on the arm. The younger girl hadn’t wanted to slap Eunji seriously; she wasn’t too aware of her actions after all.

“You might be drunk, but what happened to you? Are you suddenly stupid?” Naeun sounded really mad. “Where’s the unnie I fell for?”

Naeun ran out, shutting her room’s door behind her, leaving a speechless Eunji behind.