“Who wants to go pick up your unnies at the airport?” The vocal trainer asked in between giving sips at his coffee. “By the way, Hayoung-ah, thank you for making me coffee.”

Hayoung blushed, and she stood up to get the empty mugs to the kitchen, feeling awkward. She'd been preparing the meals for the last couple of days under Naeun's directions, but it still felt weird.

“I am going to the airport,” Namjoo said, and she looked around at her members. “And I think Hayoung-ah should come with me.”

Hayoung and Namjoo exchanged a look, and then the maknae nodded in agreement. Eunji arched an eyebrow, but she let them be.

“Okay, then we'll be leaving in about five minutes.”

The girls nodded and went to get ready. Spending so much time at home had them in sweatpants and not really caring about their looks, and they need to go back to real life.

“Unnie,” Namjoo approached Eunji in the corridor, “you know what this is about.”

Eunji tried to pretend that she had no idea of what the girl was talking about.

“It's your opportunity,” Namjoo added. “We can't help you more.”

Namjoo finished talking and turned around, leaving Eunji standing there on her own.

On the other side, Naeun stalked Hayoung while the latter got ready to go out. Naeun entered the room and shut the door behind her.

“Why are you doing this to me?” She sounded worried, like she didn't know what to do and that was making her nervous.

“Unnie.” Hayoung's calmness was a huge contrast towards Naeun's nervousness. “You know why. I want –we want– you both to fix things and love each other or be just friends or whatever without hurting the other. I think it's time to talk this through.”

Naeun mumbled something under her breath, not loud enough for Hayoung to hear.

“What did you say?” The maknae asked. “I couldn't hear you.”

Naeun looked at her best friend for about half a minute, their gazes connected by their individual string of friendship.

“I said I don't want to be just friends with her.”

∼

“Bomi-ah, we've landed already.” Chorong shook Bomi's shoulders softly. “C'mon, wake up.”

Bomi yawned slightly and rubbed her eyes, waking up.

“You destroyed my dream,” she complained with a groan. “It was so much fun having you in your new bikini putting sunscreen on my back.”

“What?” Chorong looked shocked, but then she couldn't help but laugh. “Oh, Bomi-ah...”

Bomi sat up and blinked swiftly, getting sleep out of her system.

“Okay, I'm ready,” she said, standing up in one fluid motion. “Let's go.”

Chorong gestured at the almost empty plane, and she stood up as well to get their bags.

“Let's go,” she said while she started walking down the aisle. “Manager-oppa must be waiting for us.”

“Wait!” Bomi grabbed her girlfriend by the wrist. “Don't walk down the aisle on your own. I've always dreamed of walking together down the aisle.”

Chorong looked at her intensely.

“I think it's another aisle you are talking about.”

“Of course,” she said, tilting her head as in making it obvious. “But in that church aisle you'll be the one walking towards me.”

∼

“There they are!” Namjoo pointed at Chorong and Bomi, who were just walking out of the Local arrivals door.

Hayoung ran towards her unnies, and was about to hug them when Bomi ruffled her hair.

“Unnie!” Hayoung groaned. “I'm not a baby!”

“I've missed you, Hayoung-ah.” Bomi pulled her into a hug.

Chorong smiled at her dongsaengs, and walked closer to where Namjoo was patiently waiting. She hugged the latter after thinking about it; she wasn't into hugs, but the younger girl would probably be expecting one.

“How are you?” Namjoo asked after the leader had bowed to their manager. “Is everything going okay?”

“We're fine,” Chorong replied with a smile. “Bomi-ah's looking way better now, sort of rested and calm.”

“That's weird in her,” Namjoo replied, helping Chorong with her suitcase while they made the way to the van.

“It is indeed,” the older girl agreed. “I like it.”

Bomi hugged Namjoo too and Hayoung did the same with Chorong, treating her unnie like the mom she missed.

“Unnie, we've missed you,” the maknae said. “Things haven't been going that well here, between the talk with the president, disbandment and the drama going on at the dorm.”

“We've missed your cooking too,” Namjoo added from the back, and that made the manager laugh.

Laugh disappeared in instants, and silence grew in the van.

“How are you feeling, unnie?” Namjoo asked Bomi.

“I'm...” She hesitated. “Great. Absolutely. Feeling awesome.”

Hayoung moved towards Chorong and whispered in her ear. “How many drugs is she taking?”

Chorong didn't smile.

“She says she's feeling better,” she assured the maknae. “She's been having some strong medication for the pain but the doctor said we need to reduce the dose so no side-effects appear.”

“I see,” Hayoung nodded. “We are all so worried here.”

“Everyone's worried,” Chorong whispered, looking at how Bomi joked loudly with Namjoo and the manager. “Everyone but her.”

∼

Naeun was lying on her bed, her eyes opened. Her mind kept wandering about whether to stand up and walk across the corridor to where she knew Eunji would be or wait for the older girl to do so herself. But she wasn’t the one who’d made the other suffer; she should not be the one walking around in search of reconciliation. So she waited.

It hadn’t been five minutes since she’d lain down on the bed when she heard a knock on the wooden door.

“May I come in?”

Naeun didn’t answer, but Eunji walked in anyway. The older girl looked horrible, her hair disheveled and her eyes puffy and red.

“You should fix yourself before they get back,” Naeun spoke.

Eunji stared at her, their gazes interlocked for a couple of instants until Naeun moved her eyes away.

“You don't have to worry about that,” Eunji answered, her voice flat.

An awkward silence followed that. Eunji sat on the other bed, and the girls ended up in front of each other but without looking at each other. The older girl looked for Naeun's eyes, but the latter didn't want to give her the pleasure of looking into them.

“Naeun-ah...” Eunji's voice was weak and sounded sort of sad and guilty. I” need to confess something.”

When Naeun didn't answer she continued.

“I guess you'll think this is some sort of lame apology but I know I've behaved in the worst way possible and that I don't deserve your forgiveness but I'm going to speak the truth anyway.”

If Naeun felt touched about the comment, she didn't show it. Her shoulders moved uncomfortably, but she didn't look like she was paying attention, even if Eunji knew that the younger girl wasn't skipping a single syllable.

“I love you, Naeun-ah.”

Naeun raised her head and looked into Eunji's eyes, her gaze lost deep into those orbs. Eunji felt uncomfortable, like all her secrets were out in the open. After Naeun had told her she loved her a couple of times, she hadn’t said anything; she just wasn’t sure. But she knew what she felt now. And more importantly, she felt like it was finally the right time for Naeun to know. But she didn't answer. She just stayed still, frozen in the spot, waiting for her unnie to keep talking.

When Eunji started talking, her voice was shaking, just like her hands. She had opened her heart, but that hadn’t been enough, not yet.

“When we got back from Jeju Island... You know that night when we... cuddled together?” She didn't wait for a reply. “I guess no one told you, but manager-oppa caught us that morning. He arrived in the dorm and the maknaes were too slow to warn us.”

Naeun's mouth opened in shock; she could maybe see were this was going after all.

“You were asleep, but I wasn't,” Eunji kept going. “And he asked to see me afterwards. I know this is no excuse, and that it is my fault no matter how you see it, but he forbid me from being with you and he made me break up with you and push you away as far away as possible by being cruel and cold.”

Naeun stood up out of a sudden, and Eunji stopped talking when she saw that, but the younger girl sat back down after a few instants, something going on in her mind.

“I... I don't want to blame anyone here, but I asked Chorong-unnie for help and she agreed with manager-oppa. No matter how much it hurt, both me and you, it was the right thing to do at this point. With everything that’s going on with Bomi-unnie and the disbandment or whatever the future has planned for us, I understood that we needed to stay low, that we needed to keep this hidden but, more importantly, nonexistent. At least for the moment being. I knew I would always regret it but I did it anyway. And I am extremely sorry for that and I can't expect your forgiveness because I don't deserve it and I am apologizing because I just can't bear behaving like some spoiled brat who plays with people and you do not deserve that and the only thing you should get is love and I failed so strongly. But I have realized how much I really love you and-

She was cut by Naeun's body falling on her. Their lips connected and she knew that everything was okay. They were going to be okay.