08- Prickle

She had just parked her car inside her sister’s school, sighing as she closes the door behind her. She looked up at the clear blue skies, the wind blowing gently making everything in her sight blur from the movement. It has been a month since she felt that uneasiness seep into her but she had long learned to ignore it and focus on other things like her planned confession to Taeyeon that she’ll do by the end of the week.

It was the start of summer vacation, and she can feel the humidity even though the sun was already setting, masking her surroundings with an orange tint as she walked towards the building where Seulgi’s having her sports activities along with her friends, Joy, Yeri, Irene, and Wendy. Her sister’s graduating high school in a month’s time, the school they sent applications to weeks ago had already replied but Seulgi hasn’t told her if she got in or not. She knows her baby bear’s decision will most likely root from what Wendy’s answer will be.

She stopped by the door of the building and leaned her back on the wall, looking up as she saw the sky slowly being painted from orange to purple to indigo and the moon slowly coming into shape. She saw the first star of the night and had smiled at the thought of brown orbs before getting startled by Seulgi who had an unreadable expression on her face.

“Let’s go, unnie.” She nodded her head, no words were needed to be said between them as she guided her sister towards where her car is parked, quickly entering and starting the engine before driving back home. It was a quiet ride, she had glanced a lot of times to gauge her sister’s emotion but the latter had been staring blankly out into the passing streets. Once she had safely parked the car, Seulgi was fast to go out and into the house, straight to her room without even uttering a single word to her. It frightened her but she knew she must wait. Her sister will eventually tell her whatever it is when she’s ready. She decided to go to her room and call her friends to set up a meet-up schedule for their summer camping that they had talked about before school ended.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Jessica!~” she greeted, happy to hear that it was her best friend who picked up the phone.

“Hey, Yul.”

“Are you okay? You sound tired.”

“Yeah, I’m okay. Did you want to talk to Taeyeon?”

“Uhh-”

“I’ll go get her.”

“W-wait--” There was some shuffling on the other side of the line,

“Hello? Yul?”

“Taeyeon?”

“Yes. What can I help you with?”

“I-I was just going to ask about our planned camping trip…..”

“Oh, okay~” Taeyeon answered and they had begin conversing about setting the date and what materials to bring before Yuri interrupted,

“Hey, Taeng, can I ask you something?”

“You already did~ But what is it?” she can hear the smile from the other line and she can’t help but smile too.

“Is Jessica mad at me or something? I haven’t seen her nor talked to her in so long...”

“Hmmmm, she’s not. She’s been a bit out of it lately though. I’ve asked her what’s wrong but she just says that she’s tired….but she sleeps a lot…”

“And she’s still tired?”

“Uh-huh”

“Maybe she needs to go out and exercise a bit...” Taeyeon laughed at this.

“Don’t worry, Yul~ I’ll tell her you told me that. hahahaha. I’ll see you for dinner on friday, right?” Her heart did a leap at the thought of what she’s going to do on that friday dinner.

“Y-yeah. I’ll see you~”

“Alright~ Bye, Yul~~”

“Bye~”

It was three days later, when she was hugging the aircon in her room due to the hot summer weather, that her sister barged into her door and had dropped papers on her bed. She looked up in question.

“I’ve accepted the offer. I’m going to California to study.”

“W-wHAT” she stuttered out, falling over herself as she tried to stand up and grip her sister’s shoulder.

“I already called mom and dad, they’ll arrange everything. Krystal said I could stay with her until I get the hang of things there.”

“A-are you---Are you sure? Seulgi, are you really sure? You’re going to be far away from me….Are you--” Seulgi bowed her head in defeat.

“I...I was too late, unnie...” and she understood. She understood her sister completely as she pulled her in for a tight hug.

“Okay, Seul, okay. I understand.” her sister sobbed in her arms and they stayed like that for the entirety of the day.

Friday came by too fast for her liking. She had spent almost her free time helping Seulgi arrange her required documents while also calling Sooyoung and Tiffany to inform them about the camping trip while trying her best not to spill that Seulgi’s leaving her. Her little sister, best friend, the person she had grown up with, was leaving her to study abroad while also try to piece her broken heart together. It was really stressful but she had to accept and respect her baby bear’s decision. She sighed as she cooked the special food she prepared for her dinner with Taeyeon later. Her heart had felt somber but she ignored it and continued on with her plan.

Around 7 PM, the doorbell rang and she had quickly went to answer it. She smiled as she saw Taeyeon standing there wearing a white sundress and a lilac knitted cardigan, the friendship bracelet she had given her adorning the fragile looking wrist of the girl with the onyx eyes.

“Come in~”

“Thanks. Is Seulgi here?” Taeyeon asked, looking around for the girl.

“She’s next door by Yeri. She wanted to spend some more time with her before she leaves. Dinner’s ready by the way.” She explained as she ushered Taeyeon towards the glass doors leading to the backyard where she had set up a candlelight dinner. Taeyeon’s eyes widened.

“Whoooaa, Yul. What’s the occasion?” She blushed, trying to act nonchalant by shrugging her shoulders and pulling the seat out for the smaller girl. The latter smiled as she took her seat and looked around the table to see some of her favorites. “You made all of these?”

“Yeah~ eat up.” She didn’t need to tell her twice because the girl had started tasting everything and releasing sounds of contentment after each bite. They started dinner enjoying each other’s company before Taeyeon looked back at her.

“So, you said that Seulgi’s leaving?” Her smile dropped a bit at this question, poking the food in her plate.

“Yeah, she decided to study abroad for college.”

“WHAT?!”

“Yeah. We were a bit busy fixing all her documents.”

“.......aren’t you sad?”

“I am” she smiled, looking at the smaller girl, “but it’s her decision and I respect it. I’m thinking about doing my practice there next year so that I can keep an eye on her and be close. But,” she paused. This is it. She’s going to tell Taeyeon how she feels. It’s now or never, right?

“But what?”

“...how do you feel about me going abroad to practice?” Taeyeon scrunched her eyebrows in confusion.

“I’ll be sad that my bestfriend is going away but I’ll be proud too because you’re there to practice saving lives of animals…. Have you told Jessica about this?” At hearing the name, she felt something prick from inside her.

“No.” She shrugged the feeling off, “Taeyeon,”

“Yeah?”

“I...uhm...Remember the first time I saw you and asked for your name?” Taeyeon laughed.

“Yes! You creeped me out a bit back then!” she smiled, shaking her head at her silly antic.

“Sorry about that. But that night, hearing you sing that song.. I knew you were the one.” the smaller one stopped laughing and just stared at her with an inquiring face.

“The one?”

“My childhood friend. My first love. The one that descended down from the skies and stopped in front of my hospital room window--”

“Yuri, I- I”

“Taeyeon, I love you.”

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I'll see you next weeeeekkkkkk~~~