CHAPTER 26

The walk back to their dorm room was partly embarrassing with some of the students snickering as they passed by, probably thinking they fell into a body of water by accident judging from how their uniforms were dripping wet.

Jessica held her shoes with one hand and her scroll with the other, both victims from when Yuri pulled her into the water without warning, and they only realized this after they returned to shore. Yuri exhausted every apology she could come up with and even though Jessica felt slightly bitter about her scroll losing its functionality, she couldn’t withhold her forgiveness.

“Are you sure it’s really okay?” Yuri asked for what seemed like the hundredth time just as they entered the dorm building.

“Yes, it’s okay,” Jessica answered, almost laughing because she rarely saw Yuri so worried. “I’ll get a new one. I have backup data somewhere... I think. So really, stop worrying about it.”

Yuri nodded and tried to smile but it came out crooked. She felt Jessica’s hand on her cheek a second afterwards. “Sica, I’m really sorry—”

“Nope. I don’t wanna hear it. But if you really wanna make it up to me, you’ll let me use your scroll to take a video of your dance later. Deal?”

The smile came out right this time. “Okay, deal. Sounds fair.”

“Good. Now let’s get out of these wet clothes and take a shower.”

Silence.

“I mean separately!” Jessica added after one or two blinks. She saw Yuri heave a sigh and the tension that was threatening to build up between them dissipated.

They laughed it off, took separate showers and wrung their wet uniforms in the sink before leaving their dorm room once more.

+

Sooyoung and Hyoyeon had just finished training with the Hwang spouses when a call came through to Hyoyeon’s scroll from Yuri’s.

“Yo! It’s been ten thousand years, you tanned monkey!”

“Shut up! Where are you guys?”

“What’s she saying? Is it about the date?! Did she screw up??” Sooyoung spoke into Hyoyeon’s other ear, jumping on one foot then the other in expectation.

“Ssssh! She’s just asking where we are. Keep it down.”

“But—”

“Ssssh!!”

“Hello?? Still there?”

“Yeah. We’re by the training rooms. Just finished a match.”

“On our way!”

“’Our?’ Are you with—Hello??”

The line went dead.

“Huh. I guess she’s with Sica. They’re coming over,” Hyoyeon told Sooyoung. “So keep your mouth shut about the date! They don’t know that we know!”

“But…” Sooyoung sighed, her excitement replaced by a tinge of frustration.

When Yuri and Jessica arrived the two did their best to remain casual, masking their anticipation that they would find something out about the date Yuri and Jessica went on.

“So what made you two crawl out of your dorm room, huh?” Hyoyeon asked.

“Has it really been that long?” Yuri asked back, laughing.

“Duh! I barely recognized you guys!” Sooyoung answered. “But Sica has that resting face and you have your… Your tanned monkey-ness. So I still figured it out.”

Yuri scoffed. “Harhar. Very funny. Remind me never to miss you guys.”

“Oh but you still will,” Hyoyeon said as she poked Yuri’s arm. “Anyway, what’s up? What’s with the sudden reunion?”

“Well, apparently, someone told Sica that I used to be in a dance group. And now she wants to see videos. So please tell me that you still have them or she’ll ice you.”

Hyoyeon turned to Jessica and raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

Jessica shrugged. “You brought it up when I called earlier. I just wanna see.”

“Wanna see her moves, huh?” Sooyoung interrupted, purposely grinning wider than normal. “Just a warning though. Once you see Yul dance, you’ll probably be dying for her to have your babies.”

“I’ll be what?!”

“Ugh. Ignore her,” Yuri said, blocking Sooyoung from Jessica’s view.

“You’ll see what I mean. Show her, Hyo!”

Hyoyeon laughed out loud and held her scroll up while a video played on the screen. Jessica peeked over Yuri’s shoulder and watched a slightly younger version of the trio dancing to a hip-hop song. Her eyes widened when she noticed what Yuri was wearing. Or rather what she wasn’t wearing. Oh god… Those abs… She hoped that Yuri didn’t notice her breathing quicken and how her heart thumped in time with the video of slightly-younger Yuri dancing to the beat of the song that was playing in the background.

Hyoyeon and Sooyoung looked at each other and smirked, signaling that they both noticed how Jessica reacted to the video. When it finished, Hyoyeon waited for Jessica to blink before she put her scroll away.

It took her a full minute.

“I told you so,” Sooyoung said, patting Jessica on the back. “I think I heard your ovaries explode.”

Oddly, there was no response. Jessica always had a response to Sooyoung and Hyoyeon’s teasing so this was a first.

“I think we broke her brain,” Hyoyeon commented. She waved a hand in front of Jessica’s face and all Jessica did was blink.

“Stop it, you guys,” Yuri said, now genuinely worried about what Jessica thought about her dancing. She turned around and placed a hand on Jessica’s shoulder. “Was it that bad that you can’t say anything?”

“What?! No! You were awesome! I mean, you guys were awesome. All of you. Seriously.” Jessica fanned herself with one hand – something that she rarely did because she rarely lost her cool like this.

“Gee, thanks Sica,” Sooyoung said, laughing. “At least you noticed us somehow. So now that you saw Yuri dance, wanna see her dance live?”

“That was sort of the plan,” Yuri mumbled. But when she proposed it earlier, she didn’t think she would be doing it in front of her friends. “Thanks for showing her the video, guys! We gotta go now—”

Hyoyeon pulled the back of Yuri’s uniform collar. “Woah there, monkey! We haven’t spent time together in weeks! Stay awhile. Let’s all hang out.”

“Uh, I kinda promised to do something for Sica so…”

“So do it here!” Sooyoung said, shrugging. “Unless it’s something… private. Oh who are we kidding? It doesn’t matter what it is. Hang out with us!!”

“But—”

“Dude, we’re your best friends. If it’s something you can’t tell us about then who else is there to tell?”

“They do have a point,” Jessica told Yuri with a slight smile.

“You sure?” Yuri asked in a whisper. “If I tell them about dancing for you they’ll ask why and they won’t ever stop asking why. You know how they get. I might end up having to tell them. About… us, I mean.”

Jessica knew that was where they were headed anyway. She saw how hard Yuri was trying to cover things up in front of her best friends and it broke her heart a little bit that Yuri felt the need to keep something important from two people she cared a lot about, who also cared a lot about her. “It’s okay, Yuri-yah. Go ahead. Tell them.” She saw Yuri’s eyes light up and she nodded in confirmation.

“Thanks, Sica.”

After a deep breath, Yuri faced her friends and said: “Guys, Sica and I… We started dating.”

“OMO!!” went the immediate reaction. Hyoyeon and Sooyoung grabbed each other’s shoulders and jumped, cheering and laughing in between breaths.

“FINALLY!” Sooyoung said, curling her fingers with an irresistible urge to pinch Yuri and Jessica’s cheeks.

“Took you guys forever!! Jeebus!” Hyoyeon added. “So… are we, your best friends, the first to know, huh, Kwon Yuri?”

Yuri scratched her cheek a finger and diverted her eyes to the side. “Uh… Well…”

Sooyoung sighed. “I guess that’s a no. Of course that kid was the first to know, Hyo.”

“That’s how things are now, hm? Way back when, you told us everything!” Hyoyeon faked a sniffle and pouted. “Now Yoona gets all the good stuff. Oh woe is me!”

“Maybe I’ll raid her secret stash of sweets…”

“Stop thinking of food and pay attention to how Yul has replaced her best friends! Us of all people! The ones who suffered when she had that stalker who stalked us even more just to get to her.”

“Oh right! And we were the ones who had to convince that girl that Yul didn’t get her pregnant with just her dance moves.”

“And the ones who had to keep her away from that guy who pretended to at baseball just so he could get her to teach him. What’s-his-face? That Baymax dude?”

“Yeah that one!” Sooyoung said with a big laugh. “And hello? We were the ones who had to make sure Yul was safe from everyone who swamped the pool area just to watch her practice swimming. That was not easy!”

“Not to mention her abs have a fan club of their own. Those people were even harder to manage.”

“Oh yeah! That was insane!”

Yuri watched her friends go back and forth, shaking her head. She could only hope that Jessica wouldn’t read too much into what they were saying. “Okay, okay! I get it. You guys are upset.”

“What? Us?” Hyoyeon pointed to herself and Sooyoung. “We’re just letting your princess here know what the real Kwon Yuri is all about since she’s so curious about you all of a sudden.” Then she leaned over to Jessica and said: “Lots of stalkers, Sica. Beware!”

“God, Hyo! Stop it!” Yuri protested. “I swear, you two are just getting back at me for not telling you about this sooner! I get it!”

Hyoyeon faked a gasp. “Of course not! We still consider ourselves your best friends even if you don’t anymore, right Soo? We would never be bitter enough to try and get back at you for replacing us.”

“Yeah,” Sooyoung added. “We’re so loyal to you that we didn’t even say anything when you said you had that small crush on you-know-who back in combat school. What was her name again? I think it was—”

“Soo! What the ?! Shut up! I swear you are so dead!” Yuri was about to grab Sooyoung’s arm when she felt a tight grip on her wrist and saw Jessica glaring at her. “Sica, no! Don’t pay any attention to them. They’re kidding. They’re just—”

“Kwon Yuri, you will tell me everything. Everything.”

“There’s nothing to tell! Soo and Hyo are just exaggerating—”

“I don’t care! If you have an army of stalkers, I have to know!”

“What? I don’t have—”

“Oh she does,” Sooyoung cut in. “She’s not ‘Yuri-oppa’ for nothing.”

Hyoyeon stifled a laugh but it came out anyway and Yuri threw her the meanest look she could muster.

“She’s what?” Jessica asked, slightly confused but all the more curious.

“’Yuri oppa,’” Hyoyeon answered with matching air quotes. “Oh you know… Since she’s this cool, tall, dark and handsome prince who’ll sweep you off of your feet.”

“Yuri-oppa, marry me!! Yuri-oppa, be the father of my children!” Sooyoung said in a higher, more feminine tone. “ like that. I cringe!”

“Ugh.” Yuri turned to Jessica again, now more than slightly panicked. “That’s just ridiculous. They’re ridiculous. Don’t listen to them—”

“Oh psh! Stop lying to her, Yul,” Hyoyeon said. “Even the boys were like: ‘Yuri-hyung~’”

“Like they used to say, ‘Yul’s prettier than your unnies, handsomer than your oppas.’ Everyone was all over you, you player!” Sooyoung winked at Yuri then laughed.

“Guys, why are you doing this to me?!”

“We’re saying these things just so Jessica knows,” Hyoyeon answered.

“Huh? Me?”

“Yeah, you. If it isn’t already obvious, this is just us saying that you’re lucky Yul here chose to be with you. We weren’t kidding about the fanbase, okay? She really does have that many people pining over her.”

“So one false move on your part…” Sooyoung placed an arm around Yuri’s neck and pulled her close. “And someone else will come along to take her away. Got it, princess?”

Although she was admittedly intimidated, Jessica felt Sooyoung and Hyoyeon’s concern tower over it. She knew she was lucky that Yuri chose her. She was lucky to have even gotten this far with her. And she wasn’t going to let go of that. She nodded at Sooyoung and Hyoyeon and flashed them a sincere smile.

“Be sure to treat this monkey well and make her happy, okay?” Hyoyeon stood by Yuri’s other side and completed their trio. “She tries to be strong and but deep inside she’s just a fragile baby.”

“That said, you can expect us to come after you the moment you hurt her. Me, Hyo and my dogs.”

Jessica rolled her eyes, amused by these reminders. “Like I’d ever hurt her. I care about her way too much to do that. You guys have nothing to worry about, I promise.”

Yuri wriggled her way out of Sooyoung’s hold and pulled her best friends into a real group hug. “I love you guys but seriously I will still kill you for the things you said earlier. That was way too much!”

“Oh please. You liked it~” Sooyoung said in a teasing, squeaky voice.

“Tsk. Fine, Maybe a little bit. Now can Sica and I please get a bit of alone time? I still have something to care of.”

“Oh my…” Hyoyeon’s hand flew to to stop a gasp. “Don’t tell me you two are…”

“Gonna do oral activities?” Sooyoung continued.

“Oral what?” they heard Jessica say from behind them. She had apparently been listening all along.

Hyoyeon and Sooyoung backed away from the group hug and got ready to leave.

“Nothing! We’ll leave you two alone now,” Hyoyeon said as she started walking.

Sooyoung followed close behind. “Use protection!!” she yelled before they got too far.

Yuri laughed to herself and shook her head. “As if that’s what we’re gonna do.”

“It’s not like we’ll need it if ever, though,” Jessica said with a shrug.

“Heh. You’re so right. So,” she held her hand out for Jessica to take, “shall we dance?”

“Here?”

“We can use the training room. Better lighting,” Yuri said with a wink.

Jessica took Yuri’s hand and laughed. “What’s that got to do with dancing though?”

“Hm… nothing really. We can see each other better is all.”

+

Yuri guided Jessica to the bottom step of the bleachers and gestured for her to sit down. Their hands didn’t part until a few seconds later and she handed her scroll over for Jessica to take a video of her dance as promised. The music player was already open in the background and she asked Jessica to press play after she walked toward the middle of the room. Before she gave the signal, she saw Jessica watching her and it made her a tiny bit nervous. It had been a while since she danced. She wasn’t like Hyoyeon who could incorporate her dancing into fighting and this past year had been all about that. Just fighting. She hoped that she could still remember how to move to music.

“Well, here goes…”

She asked Jessica to press play on her scroll and waited to hear the music. When she heard the first beat, her body responded. It was slow at first but when the tempo picked up, her arms followed and so did her feet. She had danced to this song before and her body somehow remembered how to move on its own, taking its cues from each beat. She felt like the only person in the world until she saw Jessica smiling at her, watching as she flowed from one move to another.

She blushed and the rest of her body grew warm. So warm that she felt the need to shed her blazer. And just in time too, because the next move in the dance required her to spread her arms to her sides. Once the blazer was off, she thought she heard a gasp. She turned to Jessica while she transitioned into the next dance move and true enough the gasp came from that direction.  She knew because Jessica was no longer smiling and was instead biting down on her lip as if trying to prevent another sound from escaping her.

Yuri giggled to herself, satisfied with the reaction. It wasn’t long before she heard another gasp, this time after she ran a hand up from her lower abdomen to her chest when the song reached its bridge. Her uniform top rode up with the motion, exposing the skin underneath and she felt an icy breeze flow past in that fraction of a second.

“Sica! You okay?” she called out as she ended her performance. The song hadn’t finished yet but she figured she had already complied with Jessica’s request. It was time to claim hers. She picked her blazer up and left it beside Jessica’s spot on the bleachers. Then she held her hand out. “Are you okay?” she asked again.

Jessica nodded and put Yuri’s scroll down after saving the video she took. She didn’t know where her words had gone. She already had something to say a while ago. Until she took that blazer off… She kept a sigh to herself and took Yuri’s hand. “Uhm…”

“I think I’m a bit rusty. It’s been a while,” Yuri said as she led Jessica to the center of the room. “Maybe it’ll be better once you start dancing with me?”

“Oh I doubt that,” Jessica replied with a slight laugh, finally finding her words. “I’m not much of a dancer. You, on the other hand, look like you were born to do it. You’re amazing.”

The song already reached the final chorus and all they had done was do one-two steps back and forth while holding hands.

“I’m sure there’s a dancer in you somewhere too,” said Yuri as the song ended and another one took its place. It was slower than the first one and instead of beats there were notes.

Jessica recognized the intro and hummed it to herself, imagining how the piano keys moved consecutively as the music played.

“For real this time, shall we dance?” Yuri asked with a curtsy.

Jessica nodded. “Okay. This I think I can dance to.” She raised Yuri’s hand which was in hers and placed it on her shoulder then she took the other one and placed it on her other shoulder. She saw Yuri smile in response. “And then…” She placed her arms on Yuri’s shoulders and brought her hands together behind Yuri’s neck. “Perfect. Looks like this is my lucky day.”

“Hm? Why’s that?”

“’Cause I get to dance with Yuri oppa.”

Yuri wanted to laugh it off but she gave Jessica a smile instead and they started to dance.

They swayed from side to side in the middle of the room, pressing against each other at times then pulling away before twirling the other whenever the song broke off into an instrumental riff. They both laughed when Jessica attempted to bring Yuri down into a dip and both of them almost fell over. They stuck to the swaying after that, their hands moving from each other’s shoulders to each other’s hips while their foreheads touched.

“Sica?”

“Yeah?”

“Sing us a song. I wanna stay like this with you a bit longer.”

It was only then that Jessica realized that the song was already finished and nothing came after it, which she found strange, but that wasn’t her immediate concern. “Yuri, I can’t sing,” she said in a mumble.

Yuri continued to sway, leading Jessica to move in the same direction. “Yes you can. You have a beautiful voice. I know because I hear you sing in the shower sometimes.”

“You do? Am I that loud?”

“Just enough for me to hear you sing. You should do it more often, you know? Share your talent.”

“I… I dunno about that. I’m too shy.”

“Don’t be. I’ll be cheering you on. You’ll do great~”

“Hm…”

Yuri touched the tip of her nose to Jessica’s and gave it a tiny nudge. “Please?”

Jessica smiled then took a deep breath. “Well… I guess I can try.” She hummed the song first to get the feel of the starting notes then the lyrics followed. It was an old song but she remembered every word, probably because she had been feeling the longing behind it throughout most of the year. All those times when I thought I would never have you… She felt the regret coming on as Yuri led her through the rest of their slow dance and she sang her feelings out. They could’ve done this a long time ago, she realized. She could’ve found out about Yuri’s dancing and Yuri could’ve asked her to sing and they could’ve started dating, slow dancing and just being together. She missed these times that they never had. How that was possible, she didn’t know.

“I hear you sing this sometimes too,” Yuri said after Jessica sang the last note. They stopped swaying but they remained in the same position. Their bodies were still almost pressed together and their faces were only inches apart with their eyes locked.

“You know it?” Jessica asked.

“Yeah. I’ve always wondered why you sing it though. It’s such a sad song.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring the mood down or anything—”

“No, don’t apologize. I didn’t mean it that way. I was just curious. You don’t have to tell me why you chose it though. You sang it well. Like I said, you have a beautiful voice.”

Jessica blinked, blushing from the compliment. “Honestly, it’s just a song I can relate to. But hopefully that doesn’t last for long ‘cause I don’t wanna keep settling for ‘almost.’ I’ve wasted too much time on that already and...” And you’re already right here. With me. “I think I should move forward.”

“We're moving forward,” Yuri said. She took Jessica’s hands and gave them a slight squeeze. “I’m happy we did this.”

“Me too.”

“We should’ve done this sooner.”

Jessica laughed. It was either Yuri could read her mind or they were starting to share one. “Exactly what I was thinking. Better late than never though, right?”

“Right. Uh, speaking of late, I think I better talk to Soo and Hyo. I feel bad that I hid things from them for so long so I wanna at least explain why that was the case. If it’s okay with you, I mean.”

“Of course it is. They’re your best friends. And they care about you a lot. So much that they enjoy torturing me with all those stories about your stalkers and secret admirers. God…”

Yuri flashed a wide smile then leaned closer so their foreheads would touch again. “That doesn’t matter now though, does it? I chose you, remember?”

“I know,” Jessica replied in a whisper. It was all she could manage to say because she swore she felt her strength leave her the moment Yuri looked into her eyes and said what she just said.

“Good. Never mind what those two said. They can be idiots. All the more reason for me to explain things to them. So… I’ll see you back in our room?”

“Yeah. I’ll try to wait up.”

Yuri giggled, now recalling that Jessica was a sleepyhead. “It’s okay. You should get some rest. I did keep you from taking that nap earlier so you should take one now. You deserve it.”

“True. But I better find you on your side of the bed when I wake up. Okay?”

“You know there’s nowhere I’d rather be.”

They parted ways after that. Jessica said she would grab some water from the cafeteria first while Yuri stayed behind and sent her friends a message asking where they were. She received a ton of teasing replies before getting an answer to her question and off she went to the third floor of the dorm building.

+

A pillow came flying toward her the moment she opened the door. She caught it with her face and she fell backwards from the harsh force. “Goddammit Sooyoung!!”

“You okay over there, Yul?” Hyoyeon asked from her bed. Sooyoung was rolling on the bed next to hers, laughing her heart out.

“Ugh. Why did I even come here to apologize…” Yuri stood up and pretended to leave. When neither of her friends stopped her, she sighed and turned around. “Okay. So I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you guys about me and Sica. It just happened. After we got back from Atlas we were suddenly… I dunno, involved?”

“Meaning you two were making out twenty-four-seven,” Hyoyeon pointed out.

“Well…”

“Dude, we know,” Sooyoung said. “We saw you guys kiss back in Atlas. And then we expected you to tell us but you didn’t. So…”

“Oh man…” Yuri ran a hand down her face and groaned. “You guys saw that?! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Hyoyeon asked back with a frown. “We didn’t tell you about it because we were respecting your privacy. We were just being good friends.”

“But that apparently doesn’t matter because teammates are more important, right? Yoona’s your closest friend now, right?” Sooyoung threw another pillow at Yuri but this time out of bitterness instead of for laughs. “Earlier, when we were joking about being replaced, we meant it. It’s sad, you know? It’s like we’re just background to you now. Back then we were inseparable. Remember when we found out about the initiation? You freaked! Then you said there was no way that you would let the three of us get further apart even if we couldn’t all be in the same team. And when we did get separated… everything changed.”

Yuri had nothing to say to that. She knew it was wrong for her to keep secrets from her best friends. She also knew that things had changed among the three of them. Or rather between her and the two of them. She thought back to what Sooyoung was talking about – that life-altering initiation day.

“… eye-contact with will be your partner.”

Yuri turned to her side and saw Sooyoung and Hyoyeon staring right at her three platforms down the row of spring-boards. They already knew about being required to have a partner during their stay at Beacon Academy but they didn’t expect this to be the manner of choosing one. They thought they would have to fight through a tournament or they were going to be paired up by their professors or that they could choose for themselves. In any case, the three of them agreed to do their best to stay together even if that meant that one of them would have to be left out.

“If you guys don’t find me fast enough I’m choosing someone else!” Yuri told them with a laugh.

“I pity whoever’s gonna be stuck with you, you idiot!” Hyoyeon yelled back.

“If I end up having to choose one of you, no hard feelings, okay?” Sooyoung added.

“You’ll obviously pick me,” Hyoyeon said, pointing to herself.

“Oh yeah right! Soo loves me more, don’tcha Soo?”

“Whatever—”

The next thing they knew they were in mid-air.

Yuri was above an open space when she started losing altitude. After she landed, she scanned the area below for signs of either Sooyoung or Hyoyeon and when she didn’t see anyone, she picked a direction and started walking.

“They can’t be that far…” she mumbled to herself.

The clearing was wide and by the time that she reached the trees, she saw some of her classmates already in pairs. She avoided eye-contact just in case and kept walking with her head down, hoping that she would recognize either Sooyoung or Hyoyeon’s shoes if ever she did pass them by before looking up to check.

When she did recognize their shoes (and part of Hyoyeon’s rainbow socks), she looked up and figured out what had already happened.

“Ugh. You two are partners now, aren’t you?” she asked despite knowing the answer.

“Had to save her from an ursa. The eye-contact was inevitable,” Hyoyeon said. “Friendship rules and .”

Sooyoung laughed and pulled Hyoyeon into a hug. “Oh don’t pretend. You just lurve me too much not to help me out back there~!”

“Yeah, yeah. Shut up.” Hyoyeon pushed Sooyoung before she could start making kiss-kissy noises. “So that means you have to find someone who’ll put up with you, Yul. What an unlucky person…”

“Unlucky? You’re the one stuck with Soo, not me,” Yuri replied with a shrug. “But fine. I better go look for a partner now.” Yuri waved at her friends and got ready to leave.

“Go before you run out of the good ones!”

“And don’t choose an !” Sooyoung added before Yuri disappeared from view.

Yuri still heard Sooyoung’s reminder even after she was already meters away. It was logical not to choose an but how was she supposed to know who was and who wasn’t?

When she saw mist above the trees ahead of her and walked toward it, she saw a clear rainbow. Or at least it looked like a rainbow. Huh. Maybe there’s a pot of gold at the end. She realized that it was a path made of ice when she got closer. And at the end of it was a girl who was trying to get up from the ground. She was about to say something just when the girl managed to stand up.

And then their eyes met just as required.

“Looks like we’re partners. My name’s Yuri.”

She held out her hand but only got a blink in response. She didn’t want to believe that that was a major sign that she had just chosen and . Oh no…

Then the following days just proved her right. This girl could be an .

“I tried everything! I tried talking to her. I tried asking her to eat with me. I offered to help her move her stuff. Nothing works! Please tell me there’s a way to change partners!”

Sooyoung and Hyoyeon tried really hard to hide how amusing it was to see Yuri so stressed.

“But hey, you can’t deny that she’s attractive,” Hyoyeon said, trying to be comforting. “That’s gotta count for something.”

“Totally!” Sooyoung chimed in with a thumbs-up. “You know, after you left we saw some people following you but they backed off when they saw you two together. Now that’s either because you two look so good together already… or they knew that she could be a and didn’t want her to find them. But dude! It’s not all bad, right? Like Hyo said, she’s pretty. At least you have eye-candy in the room. Plus, she doesn’t talk to you so no one ever nags you to clean or to stop eating on the bed or whatever it is that Hyo tells me when I’m not listening.”

“Hey! I’m not a nagger!” Hyoyeon punched Sooyoung’s arm and when Sooyoung punched back they started a brawl and ended up fighting on their dorm room floor.

“Guys, you’re not helping. I need a new partner!!”

Sooyoung and Hyoyeon quickly settled their fist fight as a draw and got back to Yuri.

“I think you’re stuck with her, Yul,” said Hyoyeon. ”But at least you can always come over here to hang out without her caring, right?”

“Yeah. It’ll be just like old times,” Sooyoung added.

Yuri remembered that conversation vividly and she bet that her two best friends did too. So she knew why they were acting the way they were, why they were upset about her talking to Yoona first. If she were in their shoes, she would’ve felt the same way.

“Guys, I’m sorry. I know that doesn’t make up for what I did but I still want to apologize. Also, you guys should know that I kept this from Yoona too. It just suddenly came up while we were talking about her relationship with Seohyun. I didn’t really plan to tell anyone anything. She just happened to have good timing, I guess. But I’m an idiot for not telling you guys anyway so I’m really sorry. Please don’t think that I replaced you guys with Yoona ‘cause that’s pretty much impossible. You guys are my best friends and she’s… she’s like my own child—I mean, my sister! She’s like a little sister to me!”

Sooyoung and Hyoyeon burst into laughter and they each threw a pillow at Yuri’s face.

“Dude, you just said Yoona was like your child! What the actual hell does that even mean?” Sooyoung said after a loud chuckle.

“Her child with Sica most probably,” Hyoyeon said while wagging a finger. “You guys move fast don’tcha?”

Sooyoung also wagged a finger. “And even after I told you to use protection! Tsk tsk.”

“Fine, fine,” Yuri said, raising her hands in surrender. “You guys can say whatever you want. I deserve it. Just please tell me that we’re not fighting anymore.”

“Who said we were fighting?”

A small smile formed on Yuri’s lips and it grew wider after she successfully trapped her two best friends in a tight hug. “You guys are the best.”

“We know, we know,” Sooyoung and Hyoyeon answered in chorus. “So you wanna sleep over like old times?” Hyoyeon asked.

“As much as I want to…”

“Oh here we go,” Sooyoung said with a groan as she pulled away from the hug. She saw Yuri starting to get worried and she laughed at how easily she could tell. “Don’t worry. We know the princess has you on a leash.”

“I can stay but I have to be back before Sica wakes up.”

“Ah yes. Don’t you just miss the times when she didn’t care where you were?” Hyoyeon asked with a nudge. “Right? Right?”

Yuri could only smile. If Hyoyeon had asked her this question a year ago, she would’ve said yes in a heartbeat. But now that she was where she was and Jessica was no longer her of a partner, the answer was a resounding no. ‘Cause that girl I found at the end of the ice path did turn out to be a pot of gold, if not even more valuable.

+

An airship barely landed on an unoccupied space at the landing bay. Its engine finally died after the struggle of a trip that it had to make from beyond the four kingdoms. The hangar door opened and out came BoA, trying hard not to show how she had to limp because of her healing injuries.

Note: We're sorry about not updating like we usually do. We're both so busy nowadays and this will continue on until November. But of course we're still going to update the fic! We just have to adjust the updates to twice a month or once a month. We hope you guys will still stick with us and support the story. We would really appreciate it. Thank you!