“Oh, Naeun-ah. You look beautiful tonight.”

Naeun blushed intensely under Eunji’s intense gaze, mumbling a compliment for the other girl as well. But it was true; with her new dress and heels, Naeun looked stunning.

“I am jealous, unnie,” Hayoung told Naeun. “You look too pretty for your own good.”

“Look who’s talking” Naeun replied with a grin. “Have you looked at yourself? When did you turn into such a beautiful woman?”

Hayoung looked down, proud. She had taken special care of her outfit tonight, because she liked to look good, but she wasn’t used to having the time to take care of herself when it wasn’t to follow the schedule. So this was a nice chance to show off, even if it was only dinner with her fellow members.

The girls had arrived to the restaurant they had booked in, a table at their favorite spot near the big window, with a great view of the city at night.  The girls gathered around the table, talking about their day.

But the two older girls weren’t arriving.

“It’s very weird that they’re not here,” Naeun said, trying to take it lightheartedly. “Mainly Chorong. Bomi’s probably asleep somewhere, though.”

Eunji seemed to agree, but she had a worried face that showed more and more concern as the night progressed. She knew Bomi had gone to the doctor, but that was seven hours ago. And where was Chorong? But, as worried as she was, she couldn’t do anything besides calling her unnies once and again. After a while, she desisted, and decided to wait for a while. After all, they were old enough to take care of themselves, and Eunji had to take care of the maknaes right there.

Time went on fast, and they finally decided to order even if the two older girls hadn’t arrived yet, concern obvious in Eunji’s expression.

∼

“B-bomi-ah…” Chorong tried to mumble a full, coherent sentence. “We should… we should go back home, right?”

“Uhm?” Bomi was in a worst condition, her head buried between her hands.

“Here you have.” The bartender gave Bomi a glass of crystal water in order to help her out, at least a bit. Coffee would be better for her hangover, but that’s something she’d have to do in the morning.

 “Unnie,” Bomi said, “I think your phone is ringing?”

Chorong looked at her girlfriend in confusion, but then something clicked in her head and she looked at her phone’s screen. Eunji.

“Oh my gosh dinner!” Chorong immediately got back to her senses, drunkenness forgotten. “I had completely forgotten about it. What time is it?”

The bartender answered, since Bomi didn’t look like she knew what was actually happening, and even less the time.

“Almost eleven,” he said, and Chorong opened her eyes in shock. She checked her phone and found nineteen missed calls from Eunji, and four from Namjoo. “Bomi-ah! Hey, wake up. We’re leaving.”

Chorong’s state had improved considerably, but she grew too confident and she stood up too quickly, stumbling down and falling. She managed to find support and not falling to the floor by grabbing the bar. As soon as she re-gained balance, she asked for black coffee, even if it was starting to be late at night. She needed to be the responsible one and get Bomi back home, so she’d better not be drunk if she had to drive them back. After a while, she was feeling less light-headed, while Bomi had fallen asleep between unfinished alcoholic drinks. She was snoring softly, and Chorong laughed before shaking her head and waking the younger girl.

“Let’s go.” Chorong grabbed her girlfriend’s sweaty hand and pulled her out of the bar. Bomi yawned while the older girl bowed a “thank you” to the bartender, who was sighing while shaking his head, before leaving the establishment.

Chorong had seen Bomi like that before, but she still wasn’t used to drunkenness, because it wasn’t a common thing in their busy schedules. Bomi looked like she was sleepwalking, and Chorong had to make an effort to get her out of the building, still tipsy herself.

“Oh really?” It was heavily raining when they made their way outside. Chorong spotted her Mini at the other end of the street, far from them. She sighed, and decided to wait under the roof for the rain to stop and the drunkenness to disappear, since she was supposed to drive.

There was a wooden bench down the street, covered by a small rooftop, and that’s where the two girls sat down for a while. Bomi looked worn out, while Chorong was just all hype from the recent coffee. Even though, she still felt dizzy and not really under control.

Chorong sat there silently for a while, with Bomi’s head against her shoulder. The younger girl’s breath was against Chorong’s neck, giving her tickles. The older girl started then to remember the events of that night.

We should just go clubbing and get drunk, Bomi had suggested. We can meet the maknaes later, if we’re being responsible enough. Chorong hadn’t agreed at the beginning, but she had seen her girlfriend so down that she had wanted to grant her everything she could possibly ask for.

She didn’t see that as a great idea anymore.

Chorong grabbed her phone with the intention of texting Eunji to tell her they were alive, at least. But, of course, the rain had isolated them, no signal even for a simple text message.

“What now?” – She asked herself, sighing in defeat.

∼

Eunji had driven the maknaes back to their dorm, and she was now making sure that they were going to bed. While they were all worried about their unnies, they trusted their responsibility, and they did not want to become telltales that soon by asking the managers for help.

The 93’er was deeply immersed in her worries, sitting quietly on the sofa while deciding what to do. She had tried to get in touch with her unnies, but there had been no response up to the moment. And it had been hours.

“Unnie? Are you okay?” Eunji heard a soft voice come from the corridor, a few light steps indicating Naeun’s presence.

The younger girl smiled worryingly and sat beside Eunji on the couch. She was also worried about her unnies, but she was more concerned about Eunji always worrying about everyone else. There was no way anyone could be that willing to care about every person around, taking care of them like no other, but that was how Eunji was.

“I’m worried about them.” Eunji mumbled the obvious. “It’s too late for them to be around on their own. It’s not that I don’t trust them; I am just worried.”

“You act like their unnie sometimes,” Naeun smiled. “I am sure they are okay. And they are together for sure, helping each other. Chorong-unnie’s smart, and she takes care of Bomi-unnie. And Bomi-unnie… she may be reckless, but she’s not stupid. And she would never let anything happen to leader-unnie. And how else could they both be missing at the same time?”

Eunji nodded in agreement and let herself sit back on the sofa, feeling more relaxed only by having Naeun next to her.

The two girls sat silently for a while, immersed in their thoughts. The younger girl was feeling sleepy, her eyes unintentionally closing. She laid her head down on Eunji’s shoulder, the older girl surprised by the sudden contact. Even though it felt unusual, it also felt good, so Eunji didn’t move nor wake the younger girl up.

She looked at Naeun carefully, not willing to move too harshly, and she observed the long eyelashes against her pale skin, her soft lips curving in a soft smile because of something she might be dreaming. Eunji couldn’t resist the temptation and she pushed some loose locks aside from Naeun’s smooth forehead.

Eunji was still worried about her unnies, but in that moment Naeun made everything else go away, and she couldn’t keep her eyes away. Something fluttered in her stomach, something unknown, but that sensation disappeared when her phone suddenly beeped on the table in front of her. She moved brusquely, thinking it was probably Bomi or Chorong, but when she realized it wasn’t them, she lay back on the couch. With all that movement Naeun’s eyes had opened, and she yawned softly.

“Oh, Naeun-ah… Sorry I woke you.” Eunji saw Naeun shake her head in response. “It’s late; you should go to bed if you’re tired.”

“You’re sure you don’t want me to keep you company?” Eunji thought for a couple of seconds, and the wish of asking Naeun to stay was there, she could feel it. Even though, she knew it would be better if the younger girl got some sleep, so she shook her head and sent her to bed with a smile, her eyes following Naeun’s steps down the corridor.

∼

The rain was still falling heavily when Chorong decided she was sober enough to drive. Bomi was feeling better, too, after those glasses of water, but she was still in the happy and reckless phase of being quite drunk.

“Wild tonight?” She asked. Chorong opened her eyes wide in shock and then laughed; there wasn’t anything else she could do after listening to that, because taking a drunken Bomi seriously wasn’t something that was going to happen soon. They say we tell the truth when we’re drunk, but it is also true that we are also too optimistic and happy then.

“You really need some sleep, Bomi-ah” Chorong answered, still laughing.

“I’m serious, unnie.” Bomi’s eyes smiled at her girlfriend. “I’m not… I’m not drunk anymore.”

“Sure, whatever.” Chorong smiled back and hugged the girl. “Let’s get home. They must be worried sick about us, and I haven’t been able to call them because there’s no signal with this huge storm.”

“Oh, our leader-unnie will be in trouble if manager-oppa finds out” Bomi mocked.

Chorong considered that as a sign that Bomi was better; she could still walk on her own and laugh, even if it was still laughing because of meaningless things. Chorong pulled Bomi’s hand so they were both under the rain, walking towards the car.

“Unnie, I love you so much.” Bomi stopped laughing suddenly to grow dead serious. “You have no idea how much I need you. Here, by my side.”

Chorong tilted her head and turned around to look at her girlfriend. She smiled and proceeded to hug Bomi so hard that the other girl almost couldn’t breathe. Even though she was the leader, Chorong had never been the one to express her feelings the most. Verbally, at least. She was known for crying, and crying…

“I love you too, Yoon Bomi,” she said, tilting Bomi’s chin slightly up so the girls looked right into each other’s eyes. “No matter what, you’ll have me by your side every single second of every single day.”

Bomi started crying then, but the heavy rain hid her tears from Chorong. Her eyelashes were all wet and shiny and drops fell from them, some salty ones that Chorong didn’t notice. Because, why would her? Bomi did not cry unless something huge was going on.

They arrived to the car, soaking wet. Their clothes, their hair stuck to their scalp… But it gave off sort of a beautiful feeling too. Chorong was looking for the car keys in her purse when Bomi suddenly turned her around and pushed her, the older girl’s back against the wet car.

Bomi looked at her girlfriend for a couple of seconds before locking their lips together. The kiss was deep, hard and salty. They couldn’t seem to get enough of each other, linking their mouths, their tongues together. They were hugging tightly, battling silently for the kiss. It was wild and it was passionate, and it felt salty from Bomi’s tears.

Bomi kept crying, sobbing then, but Chorong confused it with needing more air because of the kiss. If only she had known how wrong she was… It was a kiss of pain and tears, of future hopes and dreams, of wishes, need and passion and, overall, it was a kiss of love.