Sohye flopped down unceremoniously while the manager sneered at her actions. It had not gone unnoticed by the girl but she merely ignored it.

“Thanks for the hard work, unnie.”  Sohye said lazily from the couch.

“Sure sure.” The manager replied unfazed. “Get some rest, Sohye. Oh, hi Kyulkyung.” She greeted. Pinky waved in response. “Alright, I should get home. Have a good night.”

The two girls shouted their farewell as their manager left. Pinky flopped down next to Sohye.

“How was your individual practice?” Pinky asked casually.

“Fine.”

“Any good results?”

“Hn.”

“You okay?”

“I’m tired.”

“Why? Did anything happen?”

“No.”

“Reaaally?”

“Unnie. Why do you keep asking? Do you know something?” she faced the older girl with a stern look that made no time for jokes.

“Uhh…” Pinky’s eyes darted around the room.

“Unnie.”

“Oh, fine.” she said exasperatedly as she looked at her dongsaeng. “I may or may not have told someone you were practicing alone and that you probably needed company. I’m not saying who.” she looked away and pretended to whistle.

“So it was you?” Sohye said more as a statement than a question. “Unnie, there was no reason for you to do that.  I didn’t need company. I was completely fine on my own.”

“That’s not what he said.” Pinky replied as she waved her phone with a text convo on it. “He said he found you doing it wrong, lol. I say it did you good having a personal teacher.” she said while wiggling her eyebrows.

“Wha—Wh—“ Sohye fumbled. “Ugh!” She groaned into her hands as she curled herself into a ball.

Pinky chuckled and crawled on her to shake her loose. “Yaaah~ Sohye, tell me what happened. Come ooon! Don’t be embarrassed.” she pestered. She shook her relentlessly but Sohye laid rigid.

Suddenly, she stopped.

“Sohye?” Pinky called out in panic. “Yah, Sohye. Are you crying?” she used more strength and pried the younger girl loose. And sure enough, she saw a tear-stricken face, but still stubbornly covered by hands.

“Sohye? Oh no. What’s wrong? I’m sorry for interfering, Sohye. Please forgive me. Hey?” she continued murmuring apologies and comfort as she pulled Sohye into an embrace. “It’s okay. Shh… What happened back there?”

“Unnie, so you know, right?” Sohye asked calmer than before as she pulled away. “About me and him.”

“Yeah…”

“He… I think… he wants to get back together.”

“What?! He said it? He already said it?? Omo!” Pinky desperately held in her squeals. “Then? What next? What did you say?”

“I… can’t, unnie.”

---

Earlier…

“I’m trying to win you back, Sohye.”

Sohye looked up at him with pure shock in her eyes while his reflected conviction. She was utterly frozen by that gaze and the firm hand in hers. opened and closed repeatedly as she fumbled for words. But all she blurted out was:

“Why?” in a low whisper.

She watched the wheels turn in his head as he prepared an answer, but she didn’t let him.

“Why?” she asked louder. “Why would you?”

Her face contorted into a look of dismay and anger. “Just what do you think I am, Wonwoo? Win me back? Am I a toy? Am I just some sort of prize to you?” she said angrily as she broke free from his grip and stepped back.

Wonwoo’s eyes widened as he registered her words.

“What, after playing with my feelings and throwing me away for your ‘new toy’ years ago you think that you can just waltz back in my life and say you’ll ‘win me back’?! Did you think it was that easy?! Did you actually think I’d let you?!” she almost shouted. Her chest heaved up and down as she expressed her anger. She broke away as she looked everywhere, trying hard to calm herself. She bit her lip as she looked up at him again. “Don’t you-- Don’t you understand just how much you hurt me, Wonwoo?”

Her eyes softened from fury into sorrow as she stared back into his still surprised eyes.

“I hate to bring this up, but you know I loved you so much. I gave everything I had and wouldn’t have hesitated on giving more because that’s how much you meant to me. I thought it was worth it. I thought you were worth it. I thought I wouldn’t regret it.

But now I realize I shouldn’t have. I should have saved the tiniest bit of love for myself. Then maybe I would be a notch above utterly crushed by you breaking my heart. Because while I was giving my all, you were giving it to someone else.

 And after all that, now you have the audacity to want me back? What? Why? How? Wonwoo, just how… how are you going to heal this?”

Silence engulfed them. Wonwoo stood rooted to the spot as her words dawned on him, along it came intense guilt and remorse for the he did to her. He was speechless as she stared him down. His mind ran wild with replays of her words as he racked his brain for a response.

“Let me guess.” Sohye spoke again. “You don’t know, do you.”

Wonwoo was silent.

She sighed as she rubbed her face and eyes. “I’m exhausted.” She picked up her things and slowly walked to the door. She was just about to step out when her name rang in the air.

“Sohye.”

She stopped.

“Please… Please know that I am completely serious.” Wonwoo said. “Tell me what I should do for you to believe me. Please.”

Sohye held her breath and pursed her lips. She stood still for a few moments until she exhaled. Without looking back she answered. “Figure it out for yourself, Wonwoo.”

Because I don’t know either.

--

Present…

“You can’t??” Pinky asked in shock. “Why?”

“Because he cheated on me, unnie!” Sohye exclaimed. “Don’t you get it? It’s not easy to be okay with someone who played with my heart, trust and loyalty and left me for another girl. And it is near impossible to even want to get back together with that someone thinking that what he did was nothing serious, nothing heartbreaking and nothing short of traumatizing!”

Pinky stared silently at her dongsaeng as the latter expressed her pain and anger. Sohye stared back, her eyes pleasing and trying to convince Pinky of her cause.

“Do you…” the older girl asked quietly. …”really think he thinks that?”

Sohye was silent.

“Sohye. Did he really only ask that you get back together? Without clearing up your past?”

Sohye was hesitant and embarrassed, but the look on her unnie’s face was one she knew she couldn’t fight back. “…no.”

“What else did he say, then?”

“He said he wants me to believe he was serious in getting me back. That he’ll do anything…”

“See? He said it himself, Sohye. He’s serious. And we both know you know he wasn’t lying when he said that. Why are you so against yourself believing it?”

“Because, my pride won’t accept it. I’ve lived on so far with only my pride holding me up. It saved me from being a constant mess. It saved me from him. I won’t betray myself, unnie. I can’t let myself be stepped on and played with again.” she declared firmly.

Pinky sighed as she ran her hands through her hair in frustration.  “Sohye.” she spoke just as firmly. “Answer me this. What did you feel when Wonwoo confessed to you?”

“I felt… so angry. Like, how could he even dare to think that?? Why--”

Sohye was quickly cut off. “Now, what if you set aside your ‘pride’ for a second. If you heard him say those words again. What would you feel, then?”

“I would feel—“

--overjoyed.

--ecstatic.

--thankful.

--excited.

Sohye held her tongue as she caught her thoughts.

It was Pinky who was silent this time, her eyes sending across a knowing look. She took the other girl’s hands and squeezed it. “Yah. Listen to this unnie, okay? And remember this: pride will make you strong. But it will never make you happy.”

Sohye stared in a mix of awe and confusion at the older girl. Her mind ran chaotic with thoughts of defiance and agreement, with voices of longing and voices of pride and endless visions of what ifs. She couldn’t even start make sense of all of it.

Pinky smiled encouragingly. “Sohye… maybe you’ve been strong for too long. Maybe it’s finally time for you to be happy.”

---

Sohye woke up early. Way earlier than usual and way earlier than any of the other members. The sun could barely peek through her window.

It was because she was insanely nervous of what she was planning to do. So nervous that she barely got a proper amount of sleep the night before. But who could blame her?

With shaking hands, she picked up her phone and pressed on the contact she was forced to save last night.

To: Jeon Wonwoo

Hey. It’s Kim Sohye.  Good morning.

First of all, I hate you for dropping that bomb on me last night. But I hope you forgive me for exploding on you.

But what I really want to say is…

I hope you do your damn hardest.

I’ll be waiting on the end of it.

Bye.

-------------

I'M SORRY FOR BEING LATE AF. TT PLEASE FORGIVE MEH

I hope you like it, though. Comment if you did, thanks. :D

ANYWAY SEVENTEEN JUST HAD A COMEBACK!!! IF YOU HAVEN'T STREAMED THEIR MV YET, GO NOOOW! Let's get them some awards, fam. ^^

Bai~