A/N: Sorry for posting this later than promised. I had trouble with the wifi. So here's the epilogue. Enjoy!

Word count: 3,568 words

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Sunday.

Morning comes inevitably. The sun arrives as a burst of orange light that dispels the indigo of the sky, turning it to a lighter hue. With the morning comes warmth that spreads throughout the tent but it isn’t enough. Sejeong still feels the cold left by Nayoung’s departure. And so, she gathers her clothes and gets dressed, trying her best to feel numb. She exits the tent and enters the villa with the intention of packing and getting ready so she can catch the next train to Seoul. 

Nayoung has gone ahead, has left before dawn even came. Not that she’s mad or that she regrets not stopping her. It makes her want to laugh a little that she, the player, the one who always left first, was the one who got left behind this time. What goes around comes around. It’s only fair that she gets to experience it even this once.

Sejeong takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. Moments from last night replaying in her mind’s eye. Who would’ve thought that she would give everything away like that on the last night? On the last night! If she had just kept her feelings at bay for one more night they could’ve parted cleanly, stuck to their friendship and called it quits. Maybe they can run into each other somewhere in Seoul, grab coffee together and talk about how much things have changed for them, how they’ve both found someone to make their everyday easier and meaningful. Friendship. Simpler. Easier. Less complicated.

But last night held too much hope for them, even Sejeong couldn’t ignore it. It was too difficult to overlook it. She knew with all her being that she would regret it if she didn’t let Nayoung know before they part. She knew she’d regret it for the rest of her life. Now she’s glad that she did. More than that, she believes that the next days, weeks, months will hold that hope for them too. 

A small voice in the back of her head chides her. You really think she’ll come back for you? You really think that even if she does, you can protect her from yourself?

Sejeong shakes her head. It’s up to her. It’s up to her to decide if she wants to come back to me. And if she does, I will make damn sure that she will be the happiest woman on earth. 

Because Nayoung deserves that happiness. And the desire to give her that outweighs all the fear in Sejeong’s heart. Nayoung wasn’t the only one who learned that love is something you fight for.

--

Nayoung rests her forehead against the cold glass of the train window. Scenery changes in front of her eyes but all she can really see is the island with the waves crashing on the shore, their small bonfire burning just by their feet, her arms around Sejeong, and their last conversation ringing in her ears.

Admitting their feelings for each other, sharing love and all that did not change the fact that they still have to part. A lot of things changed overnight but some things had remained the same. Nayoung has to go back to Seoul to face her family and her job (that she now admits has the life out of her) and Sejeong has to go back to Seoul too, so she can catch a plane to somewhere to forget, to settle things with Chungha. Things that need fixing remain. Last night was both an end and a start for them. An end to being caught up in their fears and a start of something new, something brighter for each of them. Not together. At least for now.

“I was hesitant to tell you because the timing still won’t be right for us.” Sejeong had said. “We can’t string each other along while we’re both trying to move on from other people. We’ll only end up hurting each other if we do.”

Sejeong is right. They won’t be any good to each other at the moment. They both have luggage to take care of. And that’s going to take some time as most wounds don’t heal overnight.

“But I don’t want you to go without knowing. So, here’s the deal… in a year’s time if you feel as strongly for me as you do now… let’s meet in that same place, at that same time. I know I won’t change my mind about you. I know I’ll be wanting you even more then so I’ll leave the decision up to you, Nayoung. Just know that I will be there, waiting for you.”

Sejeong had sealed that promise with one last kiss before she let sleep take over. Or maybe that’s what she let her think. A hunch tells her that the girl was only pretending to be in slumber when she snuck out of the tent and left. Actually, she’s quite sure Sejeong was awake the whole time she was getting ready to leave and maybe even long after she had gone.

A sad smile crosses her face and she looks down at her hands. These were the hands that gave those soggy bus tickets to Sejeong. These were the hands that Sejeong pulled at so she would board that bus to Ansan. These were the hands that Sejeong held when they were running away from the men in black, trying to help Heehyun and Chaeyeon get away. These were the hands that played the concentration game with Sejeong and their younger friends - Mina, Yeonjung, Doyeon, and Yoojung. These were the hands that held onto Sejeong’s shoulders when she was carrying her on her back on that crazy mountain hike race against Nayoung and Jieqiong and their equally crazy companions – Eunwoo, Minkyung, and Yebin. These were the hands that paddled fruitless into the water of the lake where she fell in when she jumped Sejeong. These same hands held Sejeong’s face, caressed her intimately, and rested against her chest to feel her heartbeat in sync with her own.

Before Nayoung knows it, her tears are falling. She feels guilty for leaving the way she did, without a proper goodbye or see you later, not even a note or something. She hopes it doesn’t make Sejeong feel like it was a one-night stand because it isn’t. She just couldn’t bear to look into her eyes and call it the last time (for what would be a year). She thought that doing so would make leaving even harder than it already was. She did what she had to do.

She wipes her tears away with her sleeves and clears . She sighs as she looks out the window again. She’d be lying if she says she doesn’t miss Sejeong already. Oh, how is she going to last a whole year without her? Will she last a whole year without her? She hits herself in the head once at that thought. Of course, she’ll last the year. She’s become a lot stronger since she met Sejeong. And she’ll only get stronger as the days go by, as the weeks turn to months, as the seasons change until they meet again. So she’ll let time heal them both and make them strong but not let it change the way they feel about each other. 

--

About a year later.

The steady clank of her laptop keys as she typed is interrupted by an arm encircling hers. Sejeong looks to her side with a raised eyebrow.

“Unnie! You weren’t listening!” Mina says to her with a pout. That pout may have been her weakness for the last five months but it isn’t now. Unfortunately for the younger girl, Sejeong’s constant exposure to her pouts has given her immunity.

And now, Sejeong sighs, tries not to roll her eyes.

“I was! I’m just multi-tasking!” She exclaims. “You know Hana will have my head if I don’t get this article done by the time we hit land.”

Mina rolls her eyes back at her. “So? Get Mimi unnie to hold her fiancée back or something.” She says as if it’s the most logical solution.

 “As if Mimi would take my side.” Sejeong chuckles. The older girl would definitely not. She still enjoys seeing Sejeong suffer under Hana’s wrath. Maybe she thinks it’s payback for that time when the two of them fooled around and she was dying of jealousy? 

“Anyway, what’s got you so worked up about?” Sejeong continues, tries to appease the disgruntled look on Mina’s face. “I mean, you’ve just seen your family. You’re going to the dance with Sohye. Your meokbang channel is doing well. Hana’s convinced we should never let you get away that’s why she has me helping you with your content. You’ve got wonderful things ahead of-”

“Ugh! You really weren’t listening!” Mina cuts her off, crosses her arms over her chest in exasperation. 

Sejeong lets out a sheepish smile. She really was just too focused trying to finish her article. “Well, what were you talking about? Doyeon and Yoojung?”

“Yes!” Mina exclaims, throwing her hands in the air as she continues. “They’re going to LA by themselves!”

“Calm down, Mina.” Sejeong looks across the aisle, bows in apology to the old man looking at them curiously. “Isn’t it like their 400th day or something like that? It’s a given they’d want to go by themselves.”

“I’m not mad that they’re not taking us with them. I’m just… worried. What if they get lost there?” Her forehead creases and her lips pout again that Sejeong gets the urge to pat her head. She doesn’t stop herself.

“Awww, aren’t you a sweetheart?” She proceeds to pinch Mina’s cheeks much to the girl’s annoyance. 

“They’ll be fine. Doyeon’s not gonna let anything happen to Yoojung.” She says once Mina finishes swatting her hands away. 

Her eyes stray outside the window and catches sight of the clouds and blue sky. Spring has just passed and summer is upon them yet again. It’s been quite a year.  

“You know what? It’s about time I go away on a trip again too.” She mutters.

“A trip that’s not for work?” Mina asks. “Where to though?”

“That’s not up to me to decide.” She says with a smile.

“What?” Mina gives her an incredulous look before she shakes her head at her. “Unnie, you’re talking weird again.”

Sejeong just chuckles, pats her on the head one more time and returns to her article, all the while wondering how much more beautiful she had become over the past year. Only a week remains now.

--

“Nayoung unnie is going to be so sad when she finds out you’re on vacay real close to the time she and Jieqiong are going to be back from China.”

Eunwoo really tries her best to guilt-trip her even through videocall as if doing it in person last week when they were hanging out together was not enough. Not that Nayoung feels guilty. If anything, she thinks it’s cute. It’s nice to have a friend who wants her present at get-togethers like the one happening next week, when the other Nayoung and Jieqiong come back from their third China trip. Still, she feels the need to explain to Eunwoo.

“Stop exaggerating. Im knows that this has been planned a long time ago and she understands.” She says simply, keeps her hands busy with packing her bag. 

“That’s not what she told me?” Eunwoo attempts to be sly.

Nayoung hears Minkyung sigh nearly at the same time as she does (even though she can’t see her because Eunwoo’s taking up all the space on the screen). 

“Eunwoo, I know you want to see the whole gang together again, especially since you and Siyeon just became official, but Nayoung unnie really has to go on this trip.” She hears Minkyung say from somewhere in the background.

Eunwoo furrows her eyebrows, looks away from the camera to wherever Minkyung is. “Why does she really have to go? Unless…”

“Yes!” Yebin exclaims, squeezing herself in the frame to give Nayoung a wide grin. “It’s exactly that.”  

“Oh! Well, why didn’t you say so?” Eunwoo raises her eyebrows at her.

“Well, I just assumed you knew. Anyway, I have to go now.” Nayoung says, finally zipping up her backpack. She looks to her phone screen again to find that Yebin has set Eunwoo’s phone down on a stand so that all three of them appear in the frame.

“I’m so excited for you, unnie!” Yebin gives her two thumbs up and a wink.

“We all are.” Minkyung says as she wraps an arm around Yebin, shares a look with her. “You’ll let us know what will happen, right?”

“Of course!” Nayoung replies. “I’ll talk to you girls soon! Don’t stress Im out when you pick her and Jieqiong up at the airport next week.”

Eunwoo gives her a wide grin. “We can’t promise you that! But have fun!”

Nayoung smiles and nods, thinks she’ll definitely do that.

--

For some reason, the weather man seemed to be so sure that they’ll be getting very small chances of rain today. Whether it was because she agreed with him or she just wanted to believe that no form of misfortune will come her way today, Sejeong did not bother to bring an umbrella with her.

She stands under the canopy of the same bus stop where she first laid her eyes on Nayoung exactly one year ago. She remembers clearly how she felt then - deeply curious about the stranger and a tiny bit hopeful that she would share her extra ticket with her. It’s overwhelming to know that she shared so much more with her. Her darkest secrets and her brightest dreams. The electricity of her touches and the heat of her kisses. A year was a long time and Sejeong’s entire body is abuzz at the thought of seeing her, of holding her, of being with her again.

A bus pulls over and the driver gives her an inquisitive look to which she replies with a shake of her head. The driver nods, closes the door with a press of a button and drives away. A group of friends occupy the bench behind her and throw her a couple of curious looks. They stay there for a good ten minutes until the next bus comes and they hop on it.

A weird feeling starts to creep at her stomach and thoughts enter her head. What if she isn’t coming?

Sejeong looks at her wristwatch. Only fifteen minutes have passed. She’ll be here. She’s just a little late. I can wait a bit more. She had waited for a year. Waiting for a few more minutes won’t kill her. Right?

Her foot starts tapping apprehensively on the sidewalk. She went to right place. She came right on time. All the other buses were on schedule so there couldn’t be heavy traffic on the roads, right? Right?

She breathes out heavily through , breathes in deeply through nose, trying to calm her nerves. She’ll be here. She’s just a little late.

Her hand itches to call her to ask her of her whereabouts but who is she kidding? They didn’t even exchange contact numbers!

She frowns at the ground in annoyance. Whose bright idea was it to do that? Oh, right, it was hers. She wants to hit herself on the head for it now but she never gets the chance to because she hears a car door slam shut a couple of meters away from the bus stop.

She looks to it hopefully, only to find an old woman alighting the said car.

Her shoulders slouch in disappointment. Could it be that-

“Excuse me, miss, but is it me you’re looking for?"

Sejeong’s head snaps to look at the other direction, finds Nayoung standing three feet away, smiling at her. She doesn’t even get to call her out on that reference because her body start to act on its own. Her feet close the distance between them and her arms throw themselves around the taller girl in a tight hug.

Nayoung chuckles in her ear and Sejeong wants to give her a piece of her mind for scaring her but she couldn’t do anything but to melt in her arms. Finally. Finally.

There’s a million things she wants to say to her now that she’s here in front of her. I have missed you so much. It was so lonely without you. How have you been all this time? Did you miss me? Do you still want to be with me? But nothing comes out of .

“I’m sorry for leaving like that.” Nayoung says. “I didn’t want you to think like I was sneaking out because it was a one-night stand or something. But I had to. Or else I wouldn’t have been able to leave at all.”

Sejeong pulls back with a laugh. “You really think I didn’t let you sneak out on me?”

“So you were awake! I knew it.” Nayoung says. “Why didn’t you stop me?”

“It would be selfish of me to.” Sejeong replies. “But all of that is in the past now.”

She slowly takes Nayoung’s hand in hers. “Now… now, it’s you and I.”

Nayoung smiles. “Yeah. It’s you and me. God knows I have so much I want to ask you.”

“I do, too.” Sejeong takes a step closer to her again, tucks a lock of her hair behind her ear. “But that’s alright because we’ll have all the time in the world now.”

“So where to?”

“I don’t know. You can decide. I don’t really mind because… anywhere with you is paradise.”

“That’s so cheesy!”

They cringe and laugh together as they draw closer. When they dive in for that long-awaited kiss, it’s as if everything finally falls into place. Life has taken them to so many detours and pitstops, made them go around in circles, wandering for directions. Nayoung knows there would be more, more tears, more laughter, more heart break, more learnings - six ways to Sunday. But she feels certain that wherever life takes them this time, they’ll be okay because they have each other. 

“So… how does Daegu sound?” She asks when they pull away.

“Sounds awesome.” Sejeong replies.

Their fingers intertwine as they start walking.

“Did you by any chance meet any of our friends?” Sejeong asks, her eyes on Nayoung.

“I did! As it turned out, Minkyung and I happened to be working for the same company. But she’s in a different department so we didn’t really know each other before. Also, I quit my job there two months ago.” Nayoung says. “But I keep in contact with all of them still. The other Nayoung is basically my best friend.”

“Is she now? And what? You quit your job?” 

“Yeah! She and Kyulkyung got back together. She didn’t caught up with her at the airport that time but she followed her to China to win her back. They’ve been to and fro China several times now.”

“That’s amazing!” She exclaims, thinking about how hopeless they were at that time.

“Right?” Nayoung agrees. “How about you?”

“Mina and I are basically colleagues now. Hana came across her youtube channel and she saw her potential so she reached out to her. She has me helping her write content for her meokbang show and occasional travel vlogs. Maybe you can come work with us!”

“The kids are doing well, I suppose? And that's not a bad idea.” 

“Right? And the kids are alright. I get to meet them on some weekends. Yoojung and Doyeon are still the same. Both Mina and Yeonjung have their own love lives now.”

“That’s so cute! I want to meet them soon.” She wants to thank the kids, especially. They don’t even have any idea how much they helped her.

“You will. When we get back from Daegu.” Sejeong says with a smile, holds Nayoung’s hand tighter.

Nayoung nods. “Have you heard about Heehyun and Chaeyeon though?”

“Yeah. It was on the news a couple of weeks ago. Chaeyeon’s dad has been brought in for embezzlement and corruption involving a government project.”

“I guess this will finally put a stop to all their running.”

“Yeah. I do hope so.” Sejeong gives her a hopeful smile.

“We’ll be hearing from them soon.”

  
Silence befalls them as they continue to walk the mysteriously empty streets leading to the train station. The sun shines above them brightly. So different from when it was hiding from them exactly one year ago.

“It turned out okay for all of us, huh?” Nayoung can’t help but say.

“Yeah. I guess we all got lucky somehow.” Sejeong agrees.

“I still think I’m the luckiest though.” Nayoung stops so Sejeong has to stop too.

The younger girl frowns at her. “No, you’re not.” 

Nayoung frowns back. Sejeong stands on the tip of her toes and pecks her on the lips so it disappears. “I am the luckiest! Because I have you.” She finishes with a giggle. 

“But that was what I was going to say!” Nayoung complains.

“Too bad you’re too slow then!” Sejeong replies, sticking her tongue out.

“Oh, yeah? Race you to the ticket booth then!”

“Hah! Prepare to lose, Kim Nayoung!”

Fin.

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A/N: (April 1, 2018)

Awwwww, yeah! Finally got to finish this story! I'd like to thank all of you beautiful people for being patient with me. Especially, since the ending took so long. I thank you all for leaving such wonderful comments and encouragements to me. Thank you for all the support you've given me. I really enjoyed talking with you all. I apologize for not being to reply to some of what you wrote me but I guarantee you all that I appreciate your taking the time write me something. This is my first time writing a gugudan story and this won't be the last! I'll continuously look for inspiration to keep writing stories like this so please look out for me. I'll be seeing you all around here! Again thank you!