The next couple of days breezed by for SinB, everything was as it always was- she got to school a few minutes before her first class started, she would go from class to class without anyone really noticing her or paying much attention to her, she spent lunch time with her friends laughing, she then went back to classes, after school she would hang out with her friends and get on with some homework. It was like clockwork, it was a comfortable routine.

Her friends practically swamped her with questions when they heard in classes about what happened and how she didn’t melt into an embarrassed puddle on the floor after her encounter with Yuju, which left all three of them laughing when SinB explained that she’d wanted to melt into a puddle of embarrassment when she realised what happened and that she had tried to play it cool. Her friends laughed at her but they were also sorry they’d missed it. “Speak of the devil, a certain someone’s headed right this way. Looks like she’s looking for you” Yerin said quietly. SinB’s head spun in the direction of Yerin’s line of sight and looked around cautiously. “HA! Your reaction!” Yerin was now chuckling to herself, and Yewon was laughing quietly too.

“You guys! As if she’d come and talk to me, I’m just… SinB… and she’s… you know… she’s-”

“Coming right this way?” Yerin interrupted, her eyes looking seriously over the other girl’s shoulder.

“Nice try. Very funny. As if I’d fall for it again, Yerin.” With that someone came up behind SinB and cleared their throat.

“Hey, umm… SinB, I was wondering if we could talk… you know… somewhere kinda private.” Her eyebrow quirked up as if it was a question, but there wasn’t a questioning tone in her voice.

“Yu-Yuna unnie, hi! Ummm…yeah sure. What about?” SinB asked looking over her shoulder at the other girl, and then back at friends, eyes screaming ‘HOLY JESUS HELL! WHAT?!’ Yewon choked a little on her water, causing Yerin to laugh and sling an arm around the youngest girl’s shoulders beside her.

“You go SinB, I’ll take care of Yewon” So SinB got up from the table and slung her backpack over her shoulder. Yuju led SinB out of the canteen area and into one of the empty halls just outside. All the while SinB replayed what happened the other day over and over in her mind.

FLASHBACK

The older girl smiled and hugged her. She whispered into SinB’s ear, her breath was warm and tickled against her neck.

“I wouldn’t walk away from you. I think your dream is amazing and I really hope that you can achieve it. With this much talent, even from a first attempt, this shows enormous potential, and I think any producer would be a fool not to take you on”

When she pulled away, SinB couldn’t understand what was going on in her head, she just felt the need to hug Yuna and to cry. So she did. She buried her cheek into the crook of the other girl’s neck as tears streamed down her face, and her arms encircled the older girl’s waist. Yuna held her while she cried and smoothed her hair while whispering quietly into the air “Shhhh… SinB, it’s okay… you’re okay. Just let it all out. It’s okay.” She held the younger girl tightly while repeating herself over and over. SinB couldn’t line up her thoughts and continued to cry. Eventually, Yuna began to rock her as if trying to cradle her to sleep- the slow rhythm allowed SinB to form some kind of thought process, and the steady beat of Yuju’s heart helped her to calm her breathing. After about a minute, she no longer felt the need to cry, so the tears slowly stopped falling, and so she just clung to the older girl’s waist like a lifeline, like it was the only thing stopping her from crying again. Yuna wrapped her arms tighter around SinB’s small frame and laid her cheek onto the other girl’s head. “You okay?” she asked. SInB nodded her head a few times which made the older girl smile

“Please just hold me for a few more minutes while I gather my thoughts?” she heard muffled against her neck. She let out a relieved sigh

“Sure” and so she continued to cling to the fragile younger girl in her arms, listening to the steady rhythm of her breathing. “Do you wanna talk? Or are we just going to sit here and hug?” Yuna asked after what felt like an eternity but had only been 6 heartbeats by SinB’s counting.

“I don’t really wanna talk about… about what just happened... I’m sorry… that you had to see that but… thank you for dealing with me. It’s starting to get late, you should… we should go.” And with that SinB stood up, walked across the room to grab her stuff and briskly walked over to the door. “Unless you want to spend the night locked in here, I suggest you leave as well” she said over her shoulder as she gently pulled open the door. She made sure that it had clicked shut before she let out the breath she hadn’t even realised she was holding. Then she left.

By the time SinB had walked outside of the building, she was already regretting her decision to leave and so she turned back to return to Yuju. When suddenly she heard someone coming down the corridor, engaged in a conversation SinB could only presume was going on over the phone, she went back and hid around the corner.

“Yes mum. I’ll be home in a bit. Yes, it overran. It’s fine, I already said that you don’t need to pick me up I’ll walk home. Y-yeah? Okay. I’ll see you in a bit” SinB put her head round the corner to see Yuju walking out of the building plugging in a pair of headphones. As if she could feel the younger girl’s presence, she heaved a huge sigh before saying audibly “I hope it’s okay, I hope you’re okay…” the words hung in the air as the girl walked away into the distance.

End of flashback, back to present

She suddenly stopped in front of the younger girl who accidentally walked straight into her. SinB was muttering a string of apologies when Yuna shushed her.

“It’s okay- that was my fault. Look, I just wanted to talk to you about the other day. The way you were talking made it sound like you wanted to keep your project a secret, so I thought it better to take this discussion away from prying ears. I just wanted to say that I think what you’re doing is really, really great… and to say that if you ever want any help… I’d be happy to try and give you a hand?” SinB was a little startled at the offer, but Yuju continued before she could say anything “I don’t know anything about music really, but I want to try and help you in any way if I can.”

If SinB wasn’t internally screaming about Yuna’s cuteness her jaw might have dropped instead of the grin that crept across her face. “That’s… that’s awfully sweet of you. I’m not sure that I need any help, but… but you know… you’re always welcome to join me at any time… to keep me company while I work on it though. And umm….. I’m really sorry for the way I left you the other day, I didn’t even say a proper thank you or goodbye” the older girl chuckled.

“It’s okay, I understand. There’s no need to thank me though, I didn’t do anything” she stepped forward and the younger took a step back. “I’d love to hang around while you’re working on it- when were you next thinking?” her eyes were bright and filled with excitement, the intensity scared SinB a little.

“Ummm… I spoke to Miss Kim this morning, she gave me the go ahead for tomorrow afterschool if I want to. Shall I meet you there?” Both girls were so involved in their conversation they hadn’t noticed someone approach them.

“Meet you where? Yuju, I thought we had plans tomorrow?” startled, both girls turned suddenly to face Eunha, a friend of Yuju’s who had sauntered up to her and now clung onto her arm. Yuju’s eyebrows were raised in surprise.

“We do? I’m so sorry Eunha I totally forgot. Sorry, SinB. I guess we’ll have to hang out another time, let me know whenever” Yuju couldn’t see as Eunha stood just out of her peripheral, but the look she was giving SinB was smug, as if she’d just won something.

“Hey, it’s… no biggie… don’t worry. I’ll umm… see you round I guess.” she turned to walk away. Yuna grabbed her wrist with her free hand.

“Don’t leave! Eunha, can you give us a minute? We were just in the middle of something?” she looked down at the shorter girl, who let go of her hand.

“What’s so private that you can’t say it in front of your oldest, most trusted friend?” Eunha threw some aegyo towards Yuju.

“Nothing, you wouldn’t be interested. I promise I won’t be too long.” She looked pleadingly at the other girl. SinB looked on and felt awkward for causing this.

“Don’t worry, Yuna unnie, I get it. Thank you for everything. I’ll let you know how I get on tomorrow and I might not even need any more time after that. I’ll see you around. It was nice to talk to you.” SinB wormed her hand out of Yuju’s grasp and walked away, back to the cafeteria. As she walked away, she thought about the smirk that crossed Eunha’s lips as she bid Yuju goodbye, and even the thought made her feel uncomfortable.

Once SinB was out of sight, Eunha turned to Yuju and said “What did she want?” with a look of disgust lingering on her face

“We were just talking about some stuff… you know” Eunha hmmphed in response.

“Why waste your time with a weirdo like her? Me and the others were wondering what was going on when we saw you both just walk out of the cafeteria like that.” A dark look crossed Eunha’s eyes as she spoke, it surprised Yuju. Eunha’s words also made her feel very protective of SinB.

“So what if she’s a little different? She’s sweet, and charming, sincere, and cute, loveable, and passionate, excitable, and she’s kind. We were just talking. She’s not as weird as you guys think she is once you actually get her talking” She couldn’t help herself, the words just came flooding out before she could stop them. Eunha looked startled by the stream of words. After a moment of recomposing herself she spoke

“You sound as if you’ve known her your whole life, Yuju… you’ve known her for five minutes. If I didn’t know any better I would think there’s something going on between you.”

“There’s… there’s nothing going on. Like I said, we were just talking- it’s nothing obscure or unnatural. I’m allowed to have friends who aren’t on the track team or the student council.”

“Well if it was just friendly talk, why don’t you tell me what you were talking about?” Eunha’s voice was laced with challenge and with venom.

“Why does it matter? Wha-Why do you care?” Yuju was starting to get frustrated with her friend’s intense interrogation. Her voice was raised a little. Eunha raised her voice to the same level.

“Because she’s the school’s nobody! Because you shouldn’t waste your time on someone like her! Because talking to her out of pity isn’t going to help her at all- if anything it’ll make things worse for her because she’ll think she means something to you!”

“What are you talking about? I’ve only known SinB for as you said ‘five minutes’ why does this mean she’s suddenly become so important?” Yuju’s voice was tense, and straining. She was beginning to lose her temper with the shorter girl, who seemed to be equally frustrated.

“You don’t get it do you?! Associating with her could damage your reputation. She’s a nobody, you’re a somebody. You can be anyone you want, be friends with anyone you want. She can’t. She’s not like you, like me, like the others. Associating with her is going to damage the image for yourself that you’ve worked so hard to build, and you’re going to fade into the background. I just worry for you, Yuju. I don’t want to see all of your hard work go to waste”

“I hate to say this, but if my image is so important, I think it’s for the best to just give it all up. I’d rather be someone who can do whatever they want and not get all this crap for it than be someone who constantly has to worry about keeping up appearances!” Yuju threw her hands up out of frustration and began to storm back down the corridor she’d originally come down.

“Wh- what do you mean?” When the younger girl kept walking, Eunha yelled after her “Choi Yuna, what are you saying? Yuju spun on her heel to yell back

“I QUIT! I don’t wanna be your little presidential princess! I don’t wanna be captain of the track team! Heck, I don’t even wanna be on the track team! Take everything that makes this image you say I’ve constructed and shove it where the sun won’t shine! I’m done. We’re done here!” she then whirled back around and stormed straight back to the cafeteria to find SinB, leaving Eunha standing in place completely dumbfounded by what Yuju had said to her.

When she entered the cafeteria, there was no sign of the girl she was looking for. She stood near the edge of the room for a few minutes trying to pick out the girl she was looking for amongst the crowd. When she couldn’t find her, she walked over to the table where she’d initially found the other girl. Normally she wasn’t so nervous talking to people, but because of who it was regarding she could feel her heart racing. “Ummm… hi… Yerin and Umji isn’t it? I was just wondering… on the off chance… you know…. do either of you know where I- where I might be able to find SinB?” Both girls looked over and looked blank.

“The last time we saw SinB was when she left with you. Has something happened?” the younger girl spoke, her voice laced with worry.

“We were talking, and then one of my friends came over and there was a bit of a scene, and then SinB left and then me and Eunha had an argument and now I want to check on SinB and say I’m sorry for the interruption. I figured she would have come straight back to you guys, but apparently not. Do you know where she might have gone?”

“What do you mean there was a bit of a scene? Do you mean like an argument, or a heated discussion? Was there yelling?” Yerin asked the questions in very quick succession.

“No, there wasn’t any shouting, but the conversation was a bit tense. Not mine and SinB’s conversation… Eunha came over and she heard me making plans with SinB and then she said that I’d already made plans with her, so I told SinB we could re-arrange. And so, I asked Eunha to give us a minute and then Eunha started being obnoxiously clingy, I could see that SinB was feeling a bit awkward so I tried to convince Eunha to let us finish our conversation but, SinB thanked me for the chat and walked away. I figured she would’ve come straight back to you guys.” Yuna heaved a sigh. She only wanted to make it up to the other girl, and now she was nowhere to be found. Yerin pulled out her phone from her pocket and began to tap away at the screen. She then held the phone up to her ear. After a few moments she withdrew the phone and shook her head.

“Voicemail. It rang a few times, so it’s switched on which is unusual for her…” all three girls sighed. “Sorry, Yuju. I don’t know where she is. I think she wants to be left alone right now.” Yerin smiled weakly at her, and Yuju nodded her head in response.

“Okay, thanks. I guess I’ll see you around” she turned to walk away, not knowing where she would go. She didn’t want to go back to her friends and have to deal with their questions and melodrama. She headed for the one place she thought she’d be able to clear her mind. The roof.

She clicked the door shut behind her and made her way to the edge. She looked out across the campus and breathed deeply. She closed her eyes. Her thoughts were racing about recent events- every thought ended at SinB. She heaved a sigh.

Then she had an idea.

Authot's note: Hi. I'm back. Sorry this update took so long, Life's been getting in the way of progress recently- how inconsiderate of it XD Anyway... this is it for now. For now being the most important. The more observant of you will have noticed I've titled this chapter 3.1, I'm hoping for the next chapter (chapter 3.2) to be from SinB's point of view to explain where she's at and her side of things.

I'm so grateful for all of you who have read, subscribed to, commented on, and upvoted my story. *sending hugs*  I love to talk to people so feel free to post any thoughts in the comments, or to drop me a message. Thanks guys, I'l be back soon. Take care of yourselves. :)