The month passes by in a flash as GFriend starts having more activities again. Umji is back with the group after a hiatus for her injury, they've got year-end activities lined up for the festive season and ShinB finds relatively less time to wander about and meet up with anyone besides her members- and especially a particular someone she's missed. However, they've gotten closer through texts and phone calls, something that ShinB cannot help but feel grateful for every single day. Sometimes, when her mind drifts, ShinB recalls how lucky she is to have been given the opportunity to meet and get close to a seemingly untouchable figure, one that everyone admires and heavily respects from afar, and she'd release a hearty chuckle or two with a fluttering heart within her. Despite that, behind every shy smile and grateful laughter, ShinB doesn't realise how much BoA has become a person she now often relies on. 

When her phone rings, she scatters for it in the first vibration and picks it up swiftly, lightly closing the bedroom door behind her.

"Unnie!" ShinB answers the call with a chirpy voice. Going by the bedroom, Yerin's ears perk up to the cheerful voice and eyes the younger girl with large, curious eyes. 

"I'm sorry I haven't been replying! We've been practising," ShinB giggles, in a somewhat adorable way that Yerin has never witnessed, which makes her even more intrigued. 

"Ah okay, I'll text you again about tomorrow after I check my schedule," she answers brightly. "Eung, arraseo," ShinB smiles brightly before ending the phone call. 

Entering the bedroom, Yerin stifles a playful laughter behind ShinB. 

ShinB slowly turns around and almost jumps, startled. "Unnie, why are you looking at me like that?" ShinB asks nervously, almost shouting. 

Yerin giggles as she walks over and places an arm over the girl. "Who's this unnie that you call so brightly?" Yerin asks with a mischievous smile as she puts an arm around ShinB, "You don't even call me that way."

"A-Ah... This unnie..." ShinB looks away as she mutters. 

Yerin notices ShinB's lack of focus and grabs the mobile phone in ShinB's hand and proceeds to unlock it. 

"Unnie!" ShinB yells in response. "Wait, how did you know my passcode?" she furrows her eyebrows in irritation. 

"We live under the same roof, of course I know how to unlock your phone," Yerin plainly answers as she browses the phone for ShinB's call log. 

"That doesn't even make sense," ShinB mumbles in frustration. 

"This doesn't make any sense! BoA unnie?" Yerin reads out the characters of the contact number. "The Kwon BoA nim?!" Yerin shrieks. Her jaw drops in disbelief; her eyes are round and enlarged. 

ShinB stiffens for a moment upon having the cat let out of the bag. She sighs and scratches her head. "How am I supposed to explain this..." she mutters under her breath.

"What's going on here?" they hear a voice from outside, followed by footsteps into the room by the rest of the members. 

"She-" Yerin points an accusing index finger at ShinB, "She was speaking to BoA sunbaenim!" 

"What?" four voices synchronise in a question. 

"I know right!" Yerin is still wide-eyed in disbelief. "And apparently they plan on meeting tomorrow!"

ShinB brings a palm to her forehead and sighs. "Aish, please don't make this seem like a huge matter-" ShinB pleads, exasperated. 

"I think we need an explanation, ShinB-yah," ShinB buries her face in her hands and nods her head at the statement, knowing that this situation would've come anytime.

"It's not like I've done anything wrong right?" ShinB says as they drag her to the living room.

"No!" Umji answers, much to her relief, "But I can't believe you kept such a thing from us!"

Eunha is excited with curiosity. "How did you even meet her in the first place?" she asks with twinkling eyes. 

"It's a really long story," ShinB slurs an answer, squirming under the radar of five other pairs of eyes as she tries to reach out to retrieve her phone. 

"Stop, Yerin unnie, what are you doing!" ShinB snatches her phone back just before Yerin reaches her text conversation with BoA. 

"And what's that long story? I'm sure we'd all love to hear every single detail," Umji speaks with a little playfulness amidst her curiosity. Well, ShinB gulps, it's nothing wrong for them to want to know, she thinks, since they have been together for almost every moment of their lives ever since they've debuted and there's no way anyone can hide a secret from the rest. 

ShinB sighs. Thinking that she's come this far without them knowing anything about what has been going on between her and BoA is already quite a feat. 

ShinB realises that the BoA she sees now, seems to be way happier than the first time they've met in the convenience store, when they opened themselves up to each other for the first time before a cup of hot chocolate. A small hope in her causes a glint in her eye, that perhaps, in a minute percentage of a chance, that she has made a change in BoA's life as BoA has in hers, though she knows immediately that it's too much to ask for.

Her thoughts are interrupted by the sound from the friction of the chair opposite her against the wooden floor. ShinB looks up and her lips break into a smile. "Unnie!" she delightedly calls.

"ShinB! How have you been?" BoA asks while seating herself down.

"We've been busier recently," ShinB's smile does not falter in her speech.

"And you look happier," as usual, BoA's gleam seems to make ShinB's heart stop, while her words make ShinB ponder about them.

ShinB looks down, presses her lips together and releases a small smile. After a pause, she quietly replies, "Unnie too."

BoA, too, has the smile on her lips downsized to a small, jittery one as she begins, "Actually," while rubbing her palms together, "I've got something I need to tell you for quite a while now."

ShinB freezes. The thought from before, about the reason to BoA's happiness, reoccurs to her. Could her suspicion be right? Her fingers tense up as she grips the edges of her seat. It was just a passing thought, and ShinB knows she's not a fortune teller nor a seer. What could the chances be?

"About the time we met, just a little while after, I started seeing someone," BoA speaks calmly, albeit without facing ShinB. ShinB feels her heart shatter at the instant, seemingly hearing the breaking of a glass from within her. ShinB is glad BoA isn't looking at her. 

With a pained expression, ShinB finds her breath caught in . She did not expect herself to be right. 

"We've just started, so I'll ask you to kindly look on us," BoA looks up now, with a shy smile. 

ShinB tries hard to smile, and nods in response. She finds that her voice is still unable to make its way out of her.

"It's not even on the news yet, and not many people know of it, but I trust you," BoA's eyes glitter as she smiles, "I really felt that I cannot keep this from you," she continues. 

Should I be honoured? ShinB almost asks, but glad that her voice hasn't found its way out yet or that would've caused trouble. 

"You're pretty silent about this," BoA chuckles, slightly nervous. 

"Ah," ShinB manages to make out a sound. She clears , "I didn't expect this," ShinB pushes her lips into a smile, "but I'm happy for you."

Or are you? A question sounds at the back of her head. 

"Thank you, ShinB yah," BoA heaves a sigh and smiles, with the least tension she seems to have since the start of that night. "Thank you," BoA says again and reaches out to place her hand on ShinB's. 

ShinB's hand almost shudders at the contact. 

BoA tries not to mind the flash in her eyes and the imposed smile on ShinB's face. 

"It's nothing unnie, really," ShinB is glad she can finally speak normally, "I'm just really happy that you're happy," she says next and finds the truth in her words. 

BoA is much relieved by ShinB's statement. In gratitude, she gives ShinB's hand a squeeze, to which ShinB holds her hand in return. 

ShinB suddenly wishes that she won't ever need to let go of that hand. 

But she knows that will never be. That hand doesn't even belong to her.

i actually wrote these pieces some time ago; the first part of the chapter from ages ago i don't even remember, and the second part, probably last month or the start of this month? decided to just put some more touches and update the fic bc i've been leaving it hanging for almost 2 years now lol but i have indeed been thinking a lot about this fic bc i still love BoA and ShinB a lot hehe but i'm in the midst of rly important national exams so this update could just be one time off, and i'm really not sure when the next would come, i'm so sorryyy -_-|| that being said, hope everyone has a good day/night ahead!