"Come with me?"
It was after the sunset, and Bomi had looked for Chorong so they could get out of the house for a while, have some time for themselves while Naeun and Namjoo made dinner. They had volunteered so Chorong and Eunji could have some time for themselves, since they were the ones doing everything for the members. 
"Sure." Chorong looked at her fiancée curiously. "But go get a jacket. It’s not that warm outside and I don’t want you to get sick."
"The irony," Bomi muttered under her breath. 
"What did you say?"
"Nothing, nothing," Bomi answered. "That I’m going to get one. Do you need anything from our room?"
Chorong shook her head and sat on the couch, waiting for Bomi to wrap herself up warm.  
"Where are you going?" Namjoo asked the leader while she waited. 
"I don’t know," she responded. "She wants to have some more alone time."
"Don’t let her take you too far, nor do too much effort." Namjoo sounded worried. "She’s been very weak lately, and today she had a hard time. I guess you didn’t know about that?"
Chorong frowned in concern. 
"She couldn’t get out of bed this morning until Hayoung-ah and I went to help her. She said she was feeling incredibly cold, but then an hour later she wished for a cold shower because of the heat she was feeling. And she gets out of breath when she walks. To me, it felt like she looked at the walk between her room and the kitchen like it was the odyssey."
Namjoo shivered and hugged Chorong. 
"I’m sorry, unnie," she mumbled. "I think we’re losing her."
"Don’t say that." The leader kissed her dongsaeng on her hair. "We can’t give up."
                                                                                                                                                   ~
The sun was still shining when they reached the bridge, a colorful, warm sky dominating their evening. The scenery was just like they remembered, the same quiet place where they wished to stay forever, just contemplating the sky above them. 
"Want to lie down?" Bomi asked, grinning at Chorong. 
The older girl nodded with her head, getting closer to Bomi to help her lie down. The girl had been very weak lately, her steps in no way as vivid as before. Chorong had observed her on the way to the bridge, panting heavily every few steps, and the frown of worry wasn’t disappearing from the leader’s face. 
"How are you feeling?" Chorong asked while they stared at the night sky. "Be honest with me."
"Weak."
Bomi turned her head towards Chorong, her eyes staring at the girl’s cheeks. 
"I feel like I’m dying, unnie." Her voice cracked at the end of the sentence. "For real."
"I don’t-"
"Like me to talk like that." Bomi interrupted, rolling her eyes. "I know. I thought we were past that by now."
"Right…" Chorong sounded lost in thought. "I’m sorry."
"I don’t-"
"Want me to apologize." Chorong laughed. "Really, Bomi-ah? We know each other so well…"
Bomi grabbed her fiancée’s hand in between hers, eyes going back to the stars.
"There’s plenty of stars up there tonight, don’t you think?" Chorong muttered, her voice very quiet but breaking the heavy silence around them. 
"What do you think happens when someone dies?" Bomi closed her eyes. "Do you think we become stars? Or we turn to dust…"
Chorong tightened her grip on Bomi’s hand, moving her thumb up and down the back of the girl’s hand, trying to comfort her while her own heart beat like crazy. 
"I don’t think any of that happens." She chose to be sincere. "I think that someone never leaves nor becomes anything else. Physically, they do, but they remind alive in all the minds of people who have known them. That’s enough to keep anyone alive."
"Will it be enough for you?" Bomi looked at Chorong, tears striking her beautiful face with wet welts that traced curves down to her chin, going down her cheek to the floor. "Will the memory of me be enough for you when I leave?"
"Never. But I’ll try."
"But I don’t want you to have to live like that!" Bomi shouted, and then incorporated so she could recover her breath properly. 
"There’s nothing we can do, Bomi-ah… We need more than a miracle." Chorong was crying as well, tears ending their journey in her smile. 
"I wish I’d seen you walk down the aisle in your white dress," Bomi sighed. "You would have looked beautiful. You are beautiful."
"I love you, Bomi-ah. No matter what happens," she took a deep breath. "I wish I could… be the one dying for you."
Bomi’s eyes opened up wide. 
"Don’t you ever say that again," she was straightforward. "You have to live. You have to live for me. For us. For our love."
Chorong nodded quickly.
"But live. Don’t spend your life mourning, regretting what could have happened or remembering everything we had. You must live for a future." Bomi’s stare was really intense. "Promise me."
"I promise." Of course she did. And of course Bomi wanted that from her. "But this, this situation we’ve gotten used to… Why have we given up? You still need to fight. I can’t let you leave me without fighting."
"Of course. I fought to have you, remember? Stronger than ever before," she gave a hint of a smile. "Fighting for my life is nothing compared to how difficult it was for you to realize you loved me too."
"And here I am, with an engagement ring on my hand."
"And I’m happy. I got everything I could have ever wanted and more."
"Because you are everything."
"You are."
Bomi stood up slowly, bringing Chorong up with her. They looked out into each other’s eyes, hands linked, and they hugged. They grabbed into each other’s bodies like they wanted to melt into the other person, be together forever, and they stayed like that for what seemed like an infinity. 
"I love you. I love you. I love you, "they both muttered into the other’s ear. "I love you."
                                                                                                                                                   ~

Hayoung was waiting for Bomi when the girls arrived. Dinner wasn’t ready yet, and the girl was already done setting up the table, leaving her enough time to be sitting down on Chorong and Bomi’s king-sized bed when the older girls arrived from the bridge. 
"Hayoung-ah." It was Chorong who spoke first. "Everything going okay?"
The maknae nodded, hugging her friend before speaking. 
"I wanted to talk to Bomi-unnie before dinner."
Chorong took that as her cue to leave, and smiled to the two girls before making her way out, kissing Bomi on the cheek before closing the door behind her. 
"You’re not okay, are you?" Bomi asked, lying on the bed with her head on the pillow, bringing Hayoung in for a hug she definitely needed. 
"No." She stuck to the point, and the silence that follower felt eternal. 
They stared at the ceiling for a long time, Hayoung’s head resting on Bomi’s shoulder while the girl hugged her with her left arm.
"I’m sorry, Hayoung-ah." She left a kiss on the girl’s hair, right above her ear. 
Hayoung was her friend, her dongsaeng. She was her sister. And she couldn’t bear watching her suffer like that. But what could she do about it? 
"I’m sorry," she repeated, the impossibility of finding different words causing a knot in . 
"We both know it’s not your fault." Bomi had to move closer so she could hear Hayoung’s weak words. "It’s no one’s fault. And that’s exactly why we can’t do anything about it."
They both stayed silent for a while, no words needed for their feelings to be understood. 
"I wanted you to teach me how to drive." Hayoung spoke after a while. "I wanted you to be the one to come with me to my driving test and tell me how proud you are when I passed."
"I don’t need to see you pass a test to tell you how proud I am of you, Hayoung-ah." 
"I wanted you to be the unnie who scared my first boyfriend off, making us fight over him because I would secretly know how much you cared." Hayoung didn’t answer Bomi, but continued speaking while staring straight into some infinite point only she saw. 
Bomi shivered at Hayoung’s words, her lips in nervousness. 
"I wanted to go skydiving with you, because you’re the only one crazy enough to accompany me. I wanted you to be there, with your hand on my shoulder when I graduate from university." She paused, collecting her breath. "I wanted to be your bridesmaid, for me to act like that little sister I’ve always thought I was to you."
"You are," Bomi replied, tears sliding down her face without her being able to stop them. "You are way more than that."
Hayoung looked at her, pensively. 
"There’s so many things you still have to do here!" She exclaimed, desperation tinging her voice." You can’t just go now! This can’t be happening…"
"I’m sorry, Hayoung-ah. We can only pray now…" She could swear her heartbeat could be heard all over the room. "There’s plenty of things I haven’t done yet."
The maknae stood up, moving closer to her unnie, and gave Bomi a kiss on the cheek, soft like a feather. 
"Don’t abandon me." Hayoung’s eyes begged for a miracle. For something to save Bomi. To save them all. 
The older girl hugged Hayoung tightly, using her hand to caress the top of the maknae’s head, burying her fingertips in between locks of soft hair. 
"I won’t."

A/N. There are only TWO chapters left to be published and I'm just... so sad that it's ending. And so thankful to you all who have been reading this since the beginning... Be strong. I love you guys^^