Naeun had been avoiding Eunji for a couple of days now, trying not to run into her while they were at the dorm and then everything would be fine. So she'd been spending most of her time with Hayoung, shopping and walking around Seoul now that they were still in sort of a vacation, their future still uncertain.

“Unnie, that does not look like you. It looks amazing, though.” Hayoung pointed at the outfit Naeun was trying on, a short dress that left her open and most part of her shoulders. “Who are you trying to impress?”

Naeun opened to answer, but then she seemed to realize something and she was left just there, confused and speechless.

“Yeah, who is there for me to impress?” She started to change her clothes.

A while later they were having some coffee at their favorite café, just chatting about things of minor importance while it was obvious that there were other things to talk about.

“Okay, can we just talk about what we both want to talk about?” Hayoung finally stopped the meaningless conversation. “Have you talked to Eunji-unnie since..., you know..., since you slapped her?”

An evil grin grew in Hayoung's face when she remembered. When Naeun had appeared that night at her door, shock all over her face, and told her what she'd done, the maknae couldn't help but laugh. She had never thought Naeun as capable of hitting anyone, and even less her beloved Eunji. This was getting too complicated, and it was not the right time for this kind of drama.

“I haven't even seen her,” Naeun answered. “I don't want to have anything to do with her.”

Hayoung smiled sadly. “You and I both know that is not true.”

Naeun stared at her for a while, then moved her gaze towards her plate. She stayed silent for minutes and minutes, her eyes locked in the éclair she'd been eating.

“Unnie,” Hayoung hesitated, “I don't want this to be any harder than it already is, but you need to talk to me. I need to know how you feel. How you really feel.”

“How I feel?” Naeun lifted her head. “I'm in love with her, Hayoung-ah!”

Hayoung looked at her and nodded.

“Thank you for saying that,” the maknae said, trying to stop a smile from growing on her face. “But what are you going to do?”

“I just still can't believe she acted like that because of a game. That's not how Eunji-unnie is. It's nothing like her.”

“I agree,” Hayoung nodded. “I think there's more to it than we know. I think you should talk to her.”

“What? No!”

“Unnie, you said yourself that you love her.” Hayoung looked so old and mature sometimes. “I don't want to live in a drama. You go talk to her and apologize for slapping her, since I know that's what you really want to do. And then you decide from then, depending on what she says. You girls have been friends for years! You know each other like family.”

Naeun just stared at her friend in silence, remembering Eunji's look when she said everything had been a game, when she shattered her heart into pieces. But then, her heart was already broken now; it wasn't possible to shatter it any more. She had nothing to lose.

∼

Chorong had her head resting on Bomi's shoulder, silence embracing them both as they saw the sun beginning to hide behind the horizon. The sun was dyeing the sky with all shades of purple and pink, oranges leaving space for the dark night blue.

“What are you thinking about, unnie?” Bomi's voice was barely a whisper.

“You.”

Bomi moved slightly to the right, and Chorong lifted her head so the girls were looking at each other. Bomi moved forward, leaving a soft kiss on the corner of her girlfriend's lips, and Chorong smiled at the action.

“What about me?”

The smile disappeared from Chorong's face while she moved her gaze away, towards the darkening sea.

“I can't lose you.”

Her words were no more than a whisper, but they meant coldness and darkness in their hearts. Bomi looked at her girlfriend carefully; choosing her words like her life depended on them.

Since they argued and made peace days ago, things had been extremely calm, but there were all these moments when the weight of the future caught up with them and tears were shed.

“Can't we just look at the stars like we used to, wishing for a future we know nothing about?” Bomi answered; a forced smile could be felt on her voice.

Chorong didn't answer for a long while, and the two girls quietly looked at the darkening sky until it became purely night.

“Look!” Chorong's hand pointed at the sky. “Make a wish on that star!”

“You know we'd be wishing on dust and sand, right?” Bomi said with a bitter laugh. “That can't help us.”

Chorong looked like a kid, her eyes opened wide in excitement and full of hopes and dreams. The night sky was becoming more and more filled with stars, their brightness reflected in Chorong's dark orbs.

“Be quiet,” she ordered. “And make a wish.”

Bomi looked at the star, and she looked at Chorong.

“I don't need a star,” she said with a grin. “I already have you.”

“Cheesy much?” Chorong smiled and kissed Bomi on her forehead.

The girls linked hands while silently enjoying each other's company. Time went by, and no more shooting stars appeared, but they didn't need them. Shoulder against shoulder, calmly enjoying their time on the front porch.

Bomi's words broke the silence. “I want to grow old and grey and full of sleep.”

Chorong stood up, looking at her with a serious face. There was gleaming sadness in the older girl's eyes, though she smiled as if that could hide her emotions. But Bomi wasn't looking at her, her gaze was focused on the far horizon.

The leader felt her eyes grow wet with tears, just like it happened every time Bomi expressed her feelings about her condition. She was suffering too. And no matter how much Chorong tried to be strong, her voice also broke when she spoke.

“And I want to wake up every morning and feel you by my side, until we are both old and grey and full of sleep.”

∼

“Hello?” Eunji picked up the phone without even looking at the caller's ID.

She'd been playing cards with Namjoo in their living room all evening, waiting for Hayoung and Naeun to come back home, but they still hadn't heard from them.

Eunji had been feeling worse and worse each day, guilt and despair travelling through every cell of her body. But she had to stand by what she had decided, even though seeing Naeun like that at first had made her heart suffer. Now the girls didn't even see each other much, and when they did, it was the younger who locked their eyes together and threw a look that could kill.

“Eunji-ah?”

Eunji's face lightened up when she heard Bomi's voice.

“Bomi-ah! How are you?”

“I'm feeling alright, I guess,” she answered, saying nothing about her nightmares and her midnight pains. She felt perfectly during the day, after all, and she wasn't going to worry Eunji nor Chorong nor anyone else if the sudden pains left as fast as they showed up. “We're leaving Jeju tomorrow morning.”

When she heard Bomi's announcement, Eunji felt a smile grow on her face.

“You're coming back to Seoul?” She asked. “I'm so glad! We've been missing you both so much...”

“Then you don't need to worry anymore,” Bomi said with a half-heartedly laugh. “You can come pick us up tomorrow at around... midday? Let me ask Chorong-unnie.”

Bomi came back to the conversation seconds later and confirmed the time. They'd only been apart for a little more than a week, but the group felt incomplete on both sides. They had spent so many years together that this time apart felt weird, added to the worry they all had back in Seoul about Bomi's well-being.

“You are needed here. The... atmosphere isn't very comfortable.”

Bomi didn't know what she was talking about.

“What? What's going on there?”

∼

Chorong was packing their belongings while Bomi spoke on the phone. It had to be Eunji, she presumed. The two 93'ers had missed each other.

HyeNa had left the day before, accompanied by the doctor who had come to check on Bomi before letting them go back to Seoul. The nurse had left reluctantly, making Chorong promise that they'd keep in touch or at least contact each other once in a while, when they needed. Bomi hadn't looked too happy to hear that, but Chorong had accepted HyeNa's request while having her arm around Bomi's waist, her chin on the younger girl's shoulder, and that simple gesture had made everything right.

Now she was folding up all their clothes and putting them inside their suitcases, everything else together because it was shared. You look like a married couple, Namjoo had once said.

Bomi entered the room and sat on the bed next to where Chorong was folding the couple of shirts she had left in the closet. The younger girl looked at her girlfriend in silence, thinking of how to speak up her thoughts.

“Unnie.” Bomi’s tone called for Chorong's attention and she stopped folding.

“What's wrong?”

Bomi looked at her, her expression a mixture of anger, confusion and disappointment.

“Why did you tell Eunji-ah that it was okay to tear Naeun-ah's heart apart? How could you do such a thing?”

Chorong took a step back, thinking.

“I thought that was the right thing to do at the moment,” she said. “Manager-oppa had explained the reasons and I agreed with her, seeing as her and Naeun-ah being apart was sort of needed at the moment. We need to thing of the biggest picture.”

“The biggest picture?” Bomi raised her voice a bit. “That's the same thing as if I was telling you to break up with me because I don't want you to suffer when I die!”

“That is not the same thing.” Chorong's voice could be sharp as well. “You cannot choose that for me.”

“And Naeun-ah? What about her? She doesn't know that Eunji-ah truly loves her!”

Bomi was taking the matter too personally. Both girls had suffered, but Naeun was just ignorant about what had really happened.

“No one has the right to break two people apart,” Bomi said. “They couldn't do it with us and they shouldn't now.”

“It's still not the same thing as you trying to push me away because of some knightly thoughts you have.” Chorong sat down, burying her face in her hands.

Bomi looked at her calmly before answering.

“I wouldn't try to push you away.”

“Good, because I wouldn't let you,” Chorong was still harsh.

“Good,” Bomi smiled slightly.

“Good.”

A/N I can't believe it's chapter 35 already... For you all to know, the story has 70 chapters overall. I don't know if you expected less, or more, but this means we're exactly HALFWAY through it already, and it feels like it's all going so fast! I've written this for such a long time that publishing feels very short. But I'm enjoying every second of it, and reading every single one of your words makes my heart warm all over. Thank you very much, you make me very happy <3