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“It’s so cute!” Naeun’s eyes sparkled when she found a kiosk in the shopping district selling cute phone cases. “Aww… just look at these.” She picked up the phone cases and compared them with each other.

“I’m surprised you like these cute stuff,” Eunji cooed over the merchandise.

“I’ll get these two!” Naeun bought two similar rubber phone cases which resembled cats. One of which was a black cat with matte green eyes, and the other was a white cat with sparkling blue eyes. “Here’s the money. Thank you.” She handed the white one over to the eye-smiling woman. “Here’s yours.”

Eunji stared at the phone case and at Naeun with a dumbfounded look on her face.

“What? You don’t like it?” Naeun pouted.

“Ahh… thanks…” The older woman hesitated putting on the case.

Objects fell when the fair woman changed her phone case. Eunji was the first one to react so she picked up the items.

“Hmm?” Eunji furrowed her brows and examined the shiny card from the younger woman’s case. “Why… Hmm…” She then moved on to the other item. “Yah! When was this taken?!” She flashed a picture of her and Minah in front of the latter’s face.

Naeun snatched the film from the older woman. “This is mine. Funny how you aren’t scared of kids when you’re asleep,” she teased, placing the film in her new phone case. “You can throw that away though,” she said, referring to the shiny card.

Eunji hid the card in her pocket. “Uhm… this is cute?” She glanced at her own cat phone case.

“Of course it is,” Naeun said as satisfied smile tugged her lips. “It looks like you.”

“Me?” Eunji raised an eyebrow as she scanned the case. “How?”

“Just so.” Naeun giggled sheepishly.

“Yours too,” Eunji said admittedly, smiling like a fool. “It matches your beautiful eyes.”

“That’s not true.” Naeun scrunched her face in disappointment.

Eunji suddenly eyed a group of familiar men in the crowd just a few meters away from them.

“!” The older woman clicked her tongue. “Why are they here?!” she muttered frantically under her breath.

Naeun didn’t hear what the other woman said. “Hmm?”

“You got long legs,” Eunji looked down and up. “Can you run really fast?”

“What? Why?”

“Trust me, okay?”

“Huh?” Naeun cocked her head in confusion.

“In three, we’re going to run,” Eunji instructed slowly. “One, two…”

“Wait, what?!”

“Three! Run!” Eunji held on the younger woman’s hand tightly as they paced through the street, dodging the people in the area while fleeing as fast as they can.

It took one of the men a few seconds before he recognized their target was running away. “There she is!” He pointed at the far end of the street. “Let’s go!”

-----

“Oh goodie! You brought them!” Sojin clapped her hands in excitement, immediately browsing through the picture frames her sister brought. “Look at you, Chorongie! You used to have such chubby cheeks.”

“She still have them until now.” Bomi laughed, receiving a tired gaze from Sojin who wanted her time alone with her younger sister. Thankfully, the brunette was able to read in between the lines. “Ahh, yes. Minah and I will eat at the cafeteria. We’ll be back in a few.”

After the brunette left with her daughter, a serious expression crossed Sojin’s face. “Hey. There are some things I haven’t told you yet.”

“Not this again.” A sense of foreboding filled Chorong as her sister uttered those words.

“I need to say these before I go,” Sojin said as an apologetic smile tugged her lips. “I don’t want to leave with a heavy heart.” She clung onto her blanket tightly. “Please, Chorongie. Listen to me.”

Chorong closed her eyes. She never gave in whenever her sister acted like this before. The fragile figure of her sister embracing her convinced her otherwise. A voice in her mind was telling her she had to listen now or she might not ever hear it in the future, and she didn’t want to regret anything.

The older woman heaved a sigh. Chorong laid down on the bed, so Sojin extended her arm as a pillow for her younger sister.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve done this,” Sojin said as she rested her chin on her sister. “Chorong, brace yourself to what I am about to say.”

-----

“Are they go-” The older woman hastily covered Naeun’s mouth.

The two women were cramming themselves inside a narrow alley, snugging their bodies together in the tight space with their faces only an inch from each other. They caught their breaths for several minutes until the group of men passed by them without noticing their presence.

“Finally, they’re gone,” Eunji uttered as she slumped her forehead on the younger woman’s shoulder.

“Hey…” Naeun rested the back of her head on the wall. “What was that?”

“Trouble,” Eunji murmured, but enough for the other woman to hear. “They meant trouble.”

“I know, smartass,” Naeun rebutted. “Mind to tell me why?”

“I’ll tell you what this is about soon enough.”

“Can you promise me that?”

“Promise what?”

“That you’re going to tell me about this.”

“Yeah… sure,” Eunji mumbled. “Whatever.”

“Look at me in the eyes and say it,” Naeun said, wanting an assurance from the older woman.

Slowly, Eunji lifted her head as her gaze locked with younger woman. “I promise,” she told her.

The distance between them only made sense at that point, only realizing that they were, perhaps, a bit too close to each other.

“I’ll buy us some new clothes.” Eunji nervously fixed her eyes towards the exit. “We’re dripping wet from sweat.”

“Oh…” Naeun chuckled. “Yeah…”

After sneaking out of the alley, Eunji followed the younger woman who went inside a clothing store. The latter specifically picked a long brown dress for herself and a dirty white sleeveless dress for the other woman.

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