At school, things weren’t awkward between them at all, unlike what SinB expected. While she had never been in this position before, she had meant it seriously when she said she wanted to stay friends with the older girl. But SinB found herself panicked whenever she was alone with her. She would feel her heart racing, her palms sweating, and as much as she wanted to she found it difficult to stop herself from saying or doing something stupid. They were in constant contact with each other and, if anything, their friendship seemed stronger than it had been before their confessions.

SinB had told her friends about what had happened a few days later, after much hounding from Yewon more so than Yerin. Yewon had been astonished while SinB told them about the cd and she practically melted when SinB recollected Yuju asking her to be her girlfriend. Yerin on the other hand, had remained silent during the explanation, she added the occasional ‘aww’ and ‘cute’ but nothing much. When SinB had finished her story, Yerin decided to ask “So, how have things been between you since then? Are you guys still on speaking terms? Is she respecting your decision of not taking things further?” and various other questions along those lines. This made both the younger girls laugh at their unnie’s protective nature.

“Things are normal, it’s as if nothing happened at all. We text pretty regularly and we speak on the phone every night. She’s asked me to hang out with her afterschool on Friday and you know, everything’s just really chill between us. I’m really glad that she didn’t let my reaction cause any tension. But… you know… I wish I’d said yes.” Yewon elicited a sharp gasp, a megawatt smile framing her face, and there were hearts practically spilling from her eyes “I just, well… I think I panicked. You both know that I’ve liked her for a really long time, but I’d come to the conclusion that my feelings would never be reciprocated. Knowing that she feels the same way, after such a short space of time, worries me that I’m not going to be good enough for her, that I’m not exciting enough for her, I’m not the kind of person she wants. I’d rather stay friends and wish I could have her for myself than have her for myself while she wishes for something else.” SinB finished her monologue and folded her hands under her chin forcing a smile to her face. Yewon looked sad for SinB, she reached across the table to grip one of her arms and gave her a weak, friendly smile. Yerin hung her head low.

“If you ever get together and she wants someone else, she’s crazy. She’ll never find anyone to replace you, she won’t find someone to fill up her heart in the same way you do. If she ever hurts you, it’ll leave a SinB sized hole in her heart, and I might cause a fist sized bruise if she thinks about it” Yewon laughed awkwardly at Yerin’s speech, and then chimed in with a witty comment

“Jeez unnie, if I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought YOU were SinB’s girlfriend” they all laughed at the comment, but SinB didn’t fail to notice Yerin’s lingering gaze and hollow laugh. She knew something was up with her unnie, but now was not the time to ask. “Anyway, SinB-ah. You say you and Yuju text all the time and call each other every night?” SinB nodded at Yewon’s comment. “And you hang out outside of school?” again, this was met with a nod. “And you’ve both confessed more than friendly feelings to each other?” another nod. “So basically you’re already dating, you just haven’t made it official yet” she said this with such conviction, a huge grin swallowing her face.

“Well…. We… no… we’re just… it’s just friendship. I’d do the same… with you guys if you weren’t so busy or in detention all the time.” This caused all three girls to break into wide grins and laughter.

********************

That Friday, Yuju and SinB were in the practice rooms working on the vocals for SinB’s music project afterschool. SinB was shamelessly staring at the older girl and every time their eyes met they would both get flustered. After the second recording was finished, SinB could barely hold back the urge to say something. She bit her tongue as she felt her mind formulate sentences about that night: that she had panicked, that she was sorry for what she said. She hadn’t stopped thinking about her conversation with her friends about her and Yuju, and she wanted to talk to the older girl about it. She was so caught up trying to stop herself from saying these things that she hadn’t noticed Yuju staring at her, a shy smile tugging at her lips, watching the younger girl’s eyebrows knit in confusion.

“SinB? Is everything okay?” that was enough to drag her from her thoughts. She looked over at Yuju beaming that smile that made her heart flutter.

“Ye- yeah, j-just thinking some stuff through. Shall we playback what you just recorded? I don’t wanna add anything until I know that you’re happy with it” Yuju smiled and nodded, so she began clicking the mouse and unplugging her headphones from the monitor to project the sound out loud. After a few minutes of careful listening they were consumed by silence once the recording ended. Yuju was pleased by all that she heard. She glanced over at SinB who was already looking at her, who had probably been looking at her for a few moments now. There was a glint of adoration in those eyes as she just stared, folding her hands over on the desk but then unfolding them and using one to support her chin. “Just” she heaved a long breath “gimme a couple of seconds to scrape my jaw up off the floor” at which Yuju laughed. After a brief pause, she blinked rapidly, her smile looking much less distracted as she said “that was fantastic! I think you’ve hit it perfectly! You… just… you’re just… wow….” Her smile morphed into a goofy grin as she continued to hold eye contact with Yuju.

“Th-thank you, SinB-ah. I think I’m - happy enough with that to go ahead with if you are.” The older girls’ eyes glistened with emotion as she maintained the eye contact. For about a minute, they did nothing but stare at each other, and SinB could feel those words bubbling in the back of again. She smiled, but it was forced.

Yuju noticed the change in SinB’s expression, especially the confusion dancing in her eyes. She reached across the table and placed one hand on top of hers, hoping that it was enough to convey her thoughts of ‘whatever you’re thinking, you can tell me’. She tried to add extra warmth to her smile as SinB glanced down at their hands and then back up to her face. The confusion dancing there seemed to increase and Yuju didn’t know what to do.

‘Damnit! First you look at me with that shy smile, and then you grab my hand, and now you’re smiling at me with so much love in your eyes that I feel even more like a jerk… Okay, Hwang, take a couple of deep breaths, smile and pretend that nothing happened. You’re friends, remember? You don’t want to rush things, remember?’ As she was internally lecturing herself, she could feel Yuju’s grip on her hand tighten. As her hold tightened, SinB’s resolve weakened. She put up a weak smile as she took a few deep breaths. “Yuju, unnie, do you wanna… go and grab a coffee with me once we’re finished here?” she smiled a weak smile at the older girl and mentally face-palmed at her awkwardness. The older girl looked a little stunned at the sudden question, but her smile was warm and inviting

“Well… umm… of course I would. Why so suddenly?” she asked.

“I need to tell you something, and while this place means a lot to me, I’d rather tell you some place a little more comfortable” she said, twiddling the headphone cable between her thumb and forefinger. At this, Yuju let out a shy giggle, swung her feet up onto the chair beside her and looked her in the eye

“I’m pretty comfortable here, why can’t you just tell me now?” SinB also let out an airy chuckle at the girl’s antics.

“Now isn’t the right time, not when I’m this close to finishing. Do you think you can wait 20 minutes?” she asked, rubbing small circles on the back of the older girl’s hand – which was still holding hers – with her thumb. Yuju gave the younger girl a warm smile and a firm nod.

“Anything for you. I’d wait for you forever if I had to” she virtually whispered the last sentence. If it hadn’t been just the two of them, if SinB hadn’t being paying as much attention to the girl as she was, if the silence between them was any less suffocating, SinB might have missed it, but she caught the words escaping the girl’s lips. Before the blush she could feel rising to her cheeks showed itself, she looked down at the computer and reached to plug the headphones back in before clicking and dragging and dropping things into the timeline that was her bassline melody.

Yuju simply pulled her phone out of her coat and played on it while she waited. Every so often, her leg would brush SinB’s and she would apologise profusely before reverting her attention back to her phone. The younger girl barely seemed to react. After about 20 minutes of almost complete silence, SinB pulled the headphones off and loudly announced “Done!” she unplugged the headphones again and just as Yuju reached across from the table to grab her hand, she pressed play.

They were silent as they listened to the melody of the remix bouncing off the walls and echoing around them, completely enraptured. As the music trailed off to leave them in total silence, Yuju gave SinB’s hand a warm affectionate squeeze. SinB looked at the older girl to see her eyes glistening with tears. “SinB, that was beautiful, like REALLY beautiful, and amazing and just…. Wow. I don’t know what to say.” The older girl seemed completely in shock as SinB tried to stop a broad grin cracking across her face.

“Thanks, but I couldn’t have done it without you and all your help” she smiled warmly at the other girl, her eyes glimmering.

********************

Once they arrived at the small coffeehouse around the corner from their school’s site, they ordered drinks and took seats at a small table by the windows. The café was busy and there were many students they both knew cluttering the other tables. Every so often, as SinB would glance round, she would see many other girls looking at them in curiosity. SinB shook off the discomfort it caused her, a bigger discomfort gnawing at her gut – or was it butterflies? – from what she was about to tell Yuju. The older girl looked comfortable sat across from her, one elbow propped on the table hand holding her chin. Her eyes were warm and friendly, but inquisitive and bright. SinB could tell she was dying to know what she wanted to say, but didn’t want to force it out of her. SinB smiled sheepishly at her, one hand reaching across the table to grab Yuju’s other hand and give it a gentle squeeze. She took a couple of deep breaths before she started talking. “So… what I wanted to say was… I wanted to talk about what happened the other night…” Yuju looked a little astonished, and her eyes grew distant for all of a moment before she opened to speak.

“SinB, we don’t have to talk about it, it’s fine. You don’t need to explain yourself to me. Can we just forget it happened?” there was a trace of pink climbing up Yuju’s cheeks.

“WHAT?! No, I don’t want to forget it happened. I never wanna forget what happened the other day. I haven’t stopped listening to the cd you made for me and I keep replaying our conversation over and over in my head, and I realise I was stupid.” The older girl looked totally flabbergasted. “I know it doesn’t make much sense, but I meant it when I said I like you. I like you a lot, and I want nothing more than to be by your side every day. And the thought of hurting you scares me so much, but I’d love to be someone you trust your heart with.” A huge grin cracked across Yuju’s face as SinB kept talking “If you can forget what I said the other day, I… I’d like to be your girlfriend. But… like I said, I’ve never dated before so I can’t promise I’d be the best girlfriend ever, and I’m not the most exciting person in the world so I don’t know if I can live up to your expectations, but I’d like to give it a try. What do you say? Can you give me a second chance?” she smiled nervously at Yuju, then cast her eyes down to her drink, tapping against the mug with her nails. Yuju brushed her leg against SinB’s.

“I dunno, you seem to be very good at changing your mind. What’s to say you won’t change your mind tomorrow?” she bit her lip. When SinB finally looked into the girl’s eyes to protest, she saw insecurity and a nervous smile.

“I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life” this brought a smile to Yuju’s face, it was warm and looked reassured. She brushed her leg higher up the younger girl’s leg which sent shivers to her spine. If she thought she’d seen Yuju being playful before, this was something entirely new. Her eyes now glinted with mischief, and if she was honest it scared SinB a little. Her cheeks flushed red and she grabbed Yuju’s hand to capture her attention. The older girl smirked at SinB’s flushed expression. “Yuju- I – we… can’t. Not here” the older girl started to pout

“Aw, what’s wrong? Does my little TtinB not want to play?” she chuckled a little, and SinB could now even feel her ears burning.

“We’re in public. Those girls over there KNOW us. I don’t want any rumours to start” the older girl rolled her eyes at SinB’s caution

“Rumours suggest there’s some kind of secret in it all. I’m not ashamed of us, SinB. I don’t care who knows, or what they say.”

“Us? You mean you’re gonna give me a second chance? You mean I haven’t blown it?” a huge grin cracked across the younger girl’s face. She didn’t think she’d smiled quite so big in a long time and after only a few moments her cheeks hurt. This elicited a hearty chuckle from Yuju who seemed to be enjoying watching SinB’s happiness at the revelation.

“Of course. I would have waited forever to have heard you say that” and both girls blushed at the sincerity in Yuju’s tone.

“Can I request one thing though?” SinB was tentative, nervousness lacing her tone and expression

“Of course. Anything” she said giving the younger girl’s hand a warm squeeze

“Can we take this slowly? I don’t wanna rush things and have whatever this is fizzle out too soon. I’ve not got any experience in this field so don’t know what I’m doing, but I don’t know how slow is too slow” SinB had put a lot of thought into her request and she wasn’t sure if she explained herself clearly, but from the warmth oozing from Yuju’s gaze and the way she tightened her grip on her hand before saying ‘we can take this as slowly as you want, we have all the time in the world’ which brought a smile to the face of both girls.

Author's note: Heyyyy! I'm so terribly sorry that this update took like forever to be published but I've been crazy busy with my job recently. I know I could've been writing on my days off, but because I'm so lazy it actually took me six evenings off to get this finished.

I'm not totally happy with the way this chapter has turned out, but it's definitely better now than the first draft was. Let me know what you think, I'm always open to constructive criticism and appreciate hearing your thoughts on how ir's going. THIS HASN'T BEEN PROOF READ SO I APOLOGISE FOR ANY MISTAKES.

DISCLAIMER: this isn't the end. There will be more because I feel like there's more than one loose end that needs to be tied up.

That's all from me this time, hopefully the next chapter won't have you waiting so long. Take care of yourselves until then. Stay happy, healthy, and keep streaming Sunny Summer. It's such a great tune that it's been stuck in my head on loop for days. I'm so proud of our girls for this comeback, as I am with every comeback! Bye guys! :D