Chorong entered the room carefully. The room Namjoo shared with Hayoung was in complete silence, the maknae completely asleep in Bomi’s arms. Chorong smiled at the vision, but her smile soon turned bitter when she remembered what Bomi was doing there with Hayoung.

“Good morning,” she started softly. “Bomi-ah? Hayoung-ah?”

They looked so peaceful when they slept, Chorong didn’t want to wake them. But there were things to do, appointments to fulfil... Life was always on the way.

“Unnie?” Bomi opened her eyes first.

“Good morning.” Chorong tried to smile, she tried really hard. But she couldn’t. “How is she?”

Bomi looked at Hayoung, the sleeping maknae still in her arms and her hand caressing the younger girl’s hair slowly.

“Last night was bad,” Bomi said. “Really bad. She was scared.”

Chorong kept looking at Bomi, waiting for her to say something else.

“I was scared as well.”

The leader walked towards her members and sat down next to Bomi. She kissed her girlfriend softly on the lips and smiled against them.

“I am scared too, every single day,” she said against Bomi’s ear, softly. “But we cannot let fear control us.”

“I know.” Bomi’s saddened face hurt Chorong deeply.

Hayoung moved then in her sleep, her eyes fluttering open.

“Good morning.” She rubbed her eyes, her back still against Bomi. When she realized her weight was against her friend, she sat up and apologized swiftly, which made Bomi smile softly.

“Let Bomi-ah go get ready,” Chorong told Hayoung. “We need to go.”

Bomi raised her eyebrows in surprise, but got up anyway, leaving the oldest and the youngest members together. Hayoung was still in a semi-unconscious state, so she easily lay back down, this time on Chorong’s lap.

The leader caressed Hayoung’s cheeks and forehead, slowly. The maknae opened her eyes a bit to look at her but closed them soon after, tired. But she was awake already.

“I was so scared last night, unnie,” Hayoung began. “I had this dream... We all woke up, and Bomi-unnie didn’t and then... you... and us... We couldn’t do anything and...”

“It’s alright, Hayoung-ah, you don’t have to tell me,” Chorong looked at her friend intensely, trying to transmit comfort with everything she had.

“I don’t want her to go.”

“No one does, Hayoung-ah, no one does.”

∼

“Where are we going?” Bomi asked on the way to the car. Chorong had dragged her out after having a fast breakfast.

“We have an appointment,” Chorong said, avoiding her eyes. “With the president.”

Bomi opened her eyes wide and stood still for a while; she then nodded in understanding.

“Okay.” Her voice showed no feelings whatsoever. “But can we go have some ice cream later? I am craving some good cherry ice cream.”

Chorong gave her a confused glance but shrugged.

“Sure, why not? I could use some ice cream too.”

They arrived in the company building right on time, and their manager walked them to the president’s office, leaving them there on their own. Chorong and Bomi exchanged a look before knocking politely and walking in.

“Good morning.” Both girls bowed at their president, and so did him.

“Chorong-ah, Bomi-ah,” he greeted them. “How are you?”

The girls answered lively, but the president was obviously trying to see more into it. He got straight to the point soon enough.

“So... Bomi-ah,” he looked straight at her, “what did the doctor say?”

“I need to start chemotherapy sessions as soon as possible,” Bomi answered, no emotion in her voice. “It would be better to start them this week.”

“No problem, the company will pay for them.”

“No.” Even Chorong was surprised at Bomi’s negation. “I will pay for them myself. It is enough trouble for the company to have us disband and then everything that comes along with it, so I don’t want to cause any more trouble.”

The president looked at her cautiously.

“So you have decided to disband?”

“It’s what my members want.” Bomi’s answer was simple.

But the CEO hadn’t had enough.

“Is it what you want?”

Bomi hesitated, and her hand looked for Chorong’s without them looking at each other. While she grasped her girlfriend, their fingers laced, her mind had grown clearer.

“Yes, it is.” She sounded firm, and Chorong was proud of her. “We’ve discussed it, and that’s what we’ll do. There is no way I am living through this, so I don’t think it’s probable for us to want to promote again; not the six of us.”

The president looked taken aback by such a harsh comment, but he just looked at Chorong and kept asking questions.

“Does that mean that you may want to promote as five members in the future?”

“No.” Chorong felt an ache in her heart but her voice was firm. “Apink will not be Apink without Bomi, so we can’t continue promoting the same thing without her.”

The president didn’t ask any more questions, even if he clearly needed to know the future plans of the girls. But Bomi was right there, and what he needed now was to take care of the girl who had auditioned for him so many years before then.

They were dismissed not long after, and the two girls took a deep breath as they walked out of the door.

“It went well, right?” Bomi asked, and Chorong just shrugged. The leader smiled and kissed her girlfriend on the cheek, making Bomi smile in reply. “Let’s go get ice cream!”

“Okay, okay,” Chorong laughed, and then she addressed their manager, who’d been waiting for them there. “Can we go on our own?”

He thought about it for an instant before replying.

“I don’t see why not,” he shrugged and gave Chorong a set of keys. “These are yours, by the way, your car is still in the parking lot since before your holidays.”

“We get the car!” Bomi was celebrating while Chorong bowed a thank you to the manager.

“Come on, let’s go.” Chorong linked hands with Bomi as they walked out of the company building, the sunny day waiting ahead of them.

They walked towards the company’s parking lot, hand in hand.

“Let me call Eunji-ah, so they don’t worry about us,” Chorong said, and Bomi nodded while getting the car keys from her unnie.

“Unnie?” Eunji answered the phone at the first ringing. “How did it go?”

“I guess it went... okay?” Chorong wasn’t so sure herself. “We’ve talked about the chemotherapy, and Bomi-ah’s going to start her sessions later this week. For some reason, she insisted on paying them herself... I am worried. But I guess it’s okay.”

“I see... I’ll talk to her later,” Eunji answered. “And what about disbandment?”

“I just let him know that Apink is no Apink without Bomi, and that’s the important thing here,” Chorong said, her voice firm. “I’ll tell you more later.”

“Okay, don’t worry now. Are you coming home?”

“No, I promised Bomi-ah some ice cream after the meeting, and I’m planning on taking her to Hongdae, I think.”

“That sounds nice.” Chorong could hear Eunji’s smile through the phone. “Are you girls going for lunch too? I can take the girls somewhere if you’re not coming.”

Chorong looked at Bomi, who was getting in the car as she spoke. The younger girl smiled at her unnie, her face lightening up in an instant; her eyes bright when she saw Chorong.

“Actually, I think I will,” Chorong told Eunji with a smile. “There’s a fair this afternoon, we can meet there after lunch. I’ll send you the details. Treat the kids to something and let them play around.”

“Oh, yes, I will,” Eunji finished. “Have fun.”

“You too,” the leader said before hanging up. “See you later.”