Sana was confused. Again. Dahyun really surprised her this time. She went on with the days as if the two hadn't shared an intimate kiss. Dahyun was normal; still the same kind of silly, caring, and awkward. Sana had expected her to be extremely awkward about the kiss. Or at least, something. But there seemed to be nothing different. Was Step 2 of Operation "Get Kim Dahyun to fall in love with me" also a failure? Hell, that was all Sana had under her sleeve. If Dahyun wouldn't fall in love with her after a kiss like that, then what else did she have to do?

But Sana didn't forget that Dahyun kissed her back. Although the kiss was inexperienced, that didn't mean Sana didn't like it. The simple feeling of Dahyun's lips on hers, she liked. But Dahyun kissed her back, which made things even better. It was a kiss that Sana felt paralleled Dahyun's eyes. The kiss was intense, yet tender. And boy, how could Sana not love that with everything she had? Seeing that intense yet tender gaze didn't compare to feeling it. Sana wanted Dahyun to kiss her again.

But back to the point, Dahyun kissed her back. Why, that could only mean that Dahyun loved her back! That's what Sana thought until she had encountered Dahyun for the first time after that intimate moment. She was so normal that it bothered Sana. Did she still view Sana as an older sister? Why couldn't Dahyun just fall in love with Sana and confess to her?

A few days have passed since the kiss, and still nothing from Dahyun. At this point, Sana was done with playing games.

~~~

Okay, we're going to be honest here, Sana had not thought of what she was going to say or what she was going to do. She just stood there, in front of the door to the maknaes' room. Inside, she could hear Chaeyoung and Dahyun laughing loudly. Outside, Sana was standing there, silent and unsure of what to do. She stared at the floor before her.

"Thinking of what to say?"

Sana jumped at the sudden voice behind her.

"Yah! Mina-chan!" she screamed. Then she immediately covered for fear that Dahyun or Chaeyoung may have heard her.

"Are you though?" Mina asked.

"Yes," Sana said in defeat.

"Just tell her you love her."

Sana frowned, "I already did and–" She cut herself off, "Wait! How does everyone know?!"

Mina only stared back with wide eyes. "I didn't," she admitted, "I was only joking."

Sana stared at her with a blank face for some time before immediately turning red. What a fool she was for that; for assuming that Mina knew everything about her feelings.

"So you already confessed?" Mina asked.

Sana nodded shyly, "Yeah."

"How'd you do it?"

Sana's face, if even possible, became a darker shade of red, "It– I... Well, like– We... No, I–"

"You kissed her?" Mina asked.

Sana didn't respond, which Mina took as a yes. Suddenly, to Sana's surprise, Mina began to blush.

"W-Why are you blushing??" Sana asked.

"I'm just wondering how you could ever have the courage to do that," Mina mumbled as she brought her hands together to play with her fingers.

Sana chuckled at her embarrassment, "It's easy when you know what you want."

"And you want Dahyun?" Mina questioned.

Sana looked off to the side, "Yes."

"Well, in that case, it looks to me like you work best when you act based on instinct. So stop thinking about what you should say. Go on in there and say whatever comes to mind," Mina said, as if the solution was that simple the whole time.

"Maybe you should try acting on instinct, Mina," Sana said, then she smirked, "You'd probably have Chaeyoung by now."

Mina blushed before quickly frowning, her face still a dark red. She didn't respond and only her heel to leave. Sana chuckled to herself as Mina walked away from her. Once she was gone, Sana turned back to face the door. Okay, so she was going to do it. She wouldn't think up speech or anything; she would just go in there and say whatever came to mind. She took in a deep breath before swinging the door open. Inside, Dahyun and Chaeyoung were sitting on the floor. Their eyes were staring widely at Sana.

"I'd like to speak with Dahyun," Sana's eyes darted to Chaeyoung, "alone."

Chaeyoung, intimidated by Sana's stare, immediately dropped the cards in her hands and stood and left without speaking. As soon as Chaeyoung left the room, Sana closed the door and locked it. Then her eyes darted to Dahyun. Dahyun swallowed; that glare was intimidating all right.

"Dahyun, we need to talk," Sana said, taking a seat on Dahyun's bed.

Dahyun wondered if this was the time for her to finally confess to Sana.

"Okay," Dahyun responded. She stood up and sat on the bed opposite from Sana.

"You need to stop playing with my heart."

Dahyun furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, but said nothing.

Sana sighed lightly before saying, "I've been in love with you for over a year at this point. And I've been okay with the way things were between us up until this last week. I was okay with pretending Saida was real, just for the fans. But now, I want you, Dahyun. And I need to know if you want me too. Because I really can't tell ever since that kiss how you feel about me. But I want to know, Dahyun. So answer this. What am I to you, Dahyun?"

Dahyun didn't respond. She looked down at the floor between them in silence. Dahyun knew that she was in love with Sana, but that still didn't answer this golden question. Their relationship with each other seemed unclear to Dahyun. And so she didn't know where Sana stood in her mind. Who was Sana to her? Someone more than a sister, but less than a lover.

"I don't know," Dahyun responded.

Okay, . Not the right way to start a confession.

"What do you mean 'you don't know'?!" Sana raised her voice, showing irritation and desperation, "That's what you said to that one fan at our last fansign event! And I had to cover for you even though I had no idea what you meant by that! Do you still not know?! After that kiss, do you still–..."

Sana's voice cracked as tears escaped from her eyes, "Why can't you be genuine with your feelings and tell me how you feel about me?"

Dahyun looked up to see the tears on Sana's face. She had hurt her, again. After she swore to herself that she wouldn't hurt Sana again after Sixteen, she had done so twice within a month.

Dahyun couldn't answer Sana's initial question; but she could answer the last question Sana had asked. Because now, she knew how she felt about Sana. There was something she could answer honestly about.

So Dahyun stood and approached Sana. She knelt down in front of her and took her hands into her own. They met eyes.

Sana saw in Dahyun's eyes a new kind of sparkle that she didn't notice before. And she knew even before Dahyun spoke, that her response was in the different look in her eyes all along.

"Sana," Dahyun started, clutching Sana's hands, "I don't know what you are to me but I do know how I feel about you. I know now, after sharing a kiss with you. But before that, I didn't know. Everything about how I thought of you confused me. I would find myself looking at you as though you were the greatest thing God created. But friends who share a sisterly relationship don't think of each other that way. So I didn't know what to think. But now I know that I do have feelings for you; feelings that are stronger than how sisters feel about each other. But I still can't answer the question: What are you to me? Because I know that saying 'a sister' is wrong. It's something more. I just don't know what."

Dahyun smiled sweetly at Sana, causing her to blush a little. She brought a hand up to wipe Sana's tears.

"So," Sana sniffed, "I guess I'm asking the wrong question."

She gathered herself before asking, "Do you love me back, Dahyun?"

Dahyun looked up at Sana's eyes before responding, genuinely, "I love you, Sana. I've loved you ever since I met you."

Sana couldn't help but smile. Dahyun began to love her even before Sana fell in love with her. Sana felt good knowing that every time Dahyun had shown affection to her that it was genuine. Yet neither of them knew that. It was just so natural for the both of them every time. So, Operation "Get Kim Dahyun to fall in love with me" was falsely named; it should have been called "Make Kim Dahyun realize she was in love with me".

Either way, it was a success after all.

"So make me your lover then, Dahyun-ah," Sana declared.

"Lover?" Dahyun questioned.

"Dahyun-chan~," Sana purred, "We both love each other."

She took her hands from Dahyun's in order to wrap her arms around her neck. She pulled Dahyun towards her and then placed their foreheads together. Then Dahyun looked up into her eyes. There was that look again; that gentle look that seemed to want something.

"What am I to you now, Dahyun?" Sana asked, urging Dahyun to respond. "You can't say 'I don't know' this time."

Dahyun opened and squeaked, "A lover."

"Sorry, I didn't hear you," Sana leaned in so that their lips slightly grazed against each other, "What am I to you?"

"You're my lover," Dahyun responded more clearly.

"Ask me."

"Ask you what?"

"Ask me what you are to me."

Dahyun gulped before asking, "What am I to you?"

"My lover," Sana responded as she closed the space between them for their second kiss.

[AUTHOR'S NOTE]

So, a short chapter, but I think it gets the job done. I could've made chapters 9 and 10 merged but I didn't wanna end on chapter 9 haha

Um, btw... Have you all seen some of the clips from ONCE BEGINS? Their fan meeting?? Well, if not, you should because 1) there's a good Saida moment in which Dahyun makes the move and Sana gets shy, 2) our little Dubu goes around acting like the snake that her gf is and 3) Mihyun! An underrated ship but still so cute.

Check out my Saida AU called “She Is”.