Back in the dorm, the four awake members celebrated their mini reunion through a simple dinner. Their eldest unnie, with the assistance of Eunha, cooked for them. 

Over their hearty meal, Yerin shared her experience once again, but now in a more detailed context. The three of them lent their ears, especially the mental maknae who was hearing it for the first time. She was relieved that Yerin regained herself after her experience in her own world. 

However despite of displaying a full face of mirth, Eunha felt hollow inside. After her check-up with Dr. Seo, she couldn’t bring herself to be genuinely cheerful. But since her eldest unnies are here, as well as Yuju, she forced herself to extract that miniscule amount of delight inside her. 

On Yuju’s side, her sight was just glued on the bunny’s figure. She didn’t mean to creep her out, or for the 97 halfie to distance herself more from her, but she couldn’t help herself. Earlier, when she welcomed Eunha home with a smile on her lips, she got ignored. The petite lady just glimpsed at her figure and slightly bowed, as if she was talking to a person she’s not particularly fond of or so. Yuju acknowledged that there was a sting in her heart when she received the cold shoulder, but she guessed it was still rational for Eunha to do so. After all, she strangled her and avoided her even before this whole crazy stuff began. 

“Sowon-unnie, I’m glad that you seem fine… contrary to my dreams”, Eunha started to shift the topic from Yerin’s adventure. 

Sowon looked at her with a motherly gaze and spoke, “Yes, it would be horrible to die”.

The other two members were obviously aghast with what they just heard. 

“Oh, I forgot to mention that Eunha’s dreams were all about me dying”, Sowon grinned to them, which weirded out Yerin and Yuju. “She must have thought of me so much that she dreamed repeatedly of me”, she added while tickling Eunha’s double chin. 

Eunha was also taken aback with the way Sowon addressed the whole eerie dream. It was as if it didn’t matter to her as much as it did based her original reaction. 

“Oh, that’s right. Our manager contacted me earlier, he will be coming back tomorrow”, Sowon shifted the topic and went back to her food. Her message shook the three members.

“To—tomorrow? What do we do about the maknaes?”

“What should we have as an excuse?”

Sowon just shushed them, and replied, “Your beautiful leader took care of it already. I told him that Sinb and Umji went home. Of course, he was pissed off because he informed us beforehand about the practice schedules, but he bought the lie anyway”.

Yerin couldn’t help but sigh at her unnie’s response. She spoke of it as if she did it so swiftly, without hesitation. It seemed like it wasn’t Sowon who spoke to them. 

“This is delicious”, Sowon slipped on some comments while slurping her ramen. She noticed how the three members stopped indulging their food, and so she looked at them and said, “Eat, and just worry about tomorrow when tomorrow comes”. The members couldn’t agree to it wholeheartedly, but they gave her a nod anyway. 

When they finished dinner, Yerin took care of the dishes, saying that she somehow missed doing chores. The eldest immediately went to sleep, and the 97 liners sat at the living room. 

Opposite from each other, an uneasy atmosphere was really clouding over them. One could easily tell that they’re avoiding each other, because these same age friends have always been shy yet expressive of their friendly affection towards each other. 

“Eunbi…”, Yuju mustered courage to call her name. 

“Hm?”, the bunny quietly replied. 

Yuju didn’t answer back, instead she just stared into her soul. Hanging at the tip of her tongue are the words she’s been dying to tell. ‘I know about your sickness’ ‘I’m sorry’ — those sentences haunt her but she cannot confess to Eunha for some reason. 

“Stop staring… it’s weird”, Eunha lowered her head and stood up. The moment she tried to get out of the couch, Eunha lost her balance. Out of reflex, Yuju came to help Eunha get back to her feet. When she held the petite girl’s arms, she could see up close some bumps and lesions in her skin. 

Yerin came running from the kitchen when she heard the loud sound. She was hurt upon seeing Eunha on the floor, and came to help her stand with Yuju’s aid. 

“You okay?”, she asked the bunny with much sincerity. 

“Ye-yeah”, Eunha faked a smile. With the two members’ assistance, she stood up and regained her balance. Yuju, who was still stuck with the marks in Eunha’s skin, stayed latching onto the girl’s pale arms. When Eunha flinched, she came to her senses and released her friend’s arm. 

“So-sorry”, Yuju stammered. 

“It’s fine”, Eunha sighed and continued, “I’ll be resting first”. She smiled and head towards the 97-liners’ room. 

Yuju could feel her tears building up, but she held back. Yerin saw the awkwardness between her two sisters, and she couldn’t help but worry. She patted Yuju’s head and told her, “I will not meddle because I trust that you two will fix this. Just tell me if there’s something I can help you with”. 

At the back of Yuju’s mind, she thought of telling Yerin everything, but she decided not to. She just embraced Yerin and went inside the empty room of the maknaes. It didn’t feel right to be in the same room with Eunha, but unbeknownst to Yuju, Eunha waited for her. 

At morning, their alarms went on and on til they woke up. It’s their first day of practice for their ‘Season of Gfriend’ concert. Originally, they haven’t announced it because they wanted to tease Buddies, but now the reason has changed. Only the Gfriend members know that they’re not in the right season for practices or announcements because they’re currently lacking members. Worse thing was that even their managers, CEO, and other staff had no idea about the dilemma as well.

At the last second, Sowon decided to stay at the dorm to look after the maknaes. The three girls went with the flow and traveled to the venue. 

As they got there, the first thing that their manager did was scold them, but later on, he just allowed them. They all did their warm-ups and vocal practices. 

“That was refreshing”, Yerin drank her water as they began their break time. She looked at the two youngsters and frowned at how distant they have gotten. 

Yerin playfully skipped her way to Eunha and backhugged her. 

“Unnie”, Eunha was surprised but let her do so anyway. 

Trying to lighten up the mood, Yerin started her mischievous acts and tickled Eunha on her sides. The bunny burst out, with tears forming at the corners of her eyes. 

While Yerin continued to do so, she noticed the bumps on the small girl’s skin. She examined them further, and noticed that her lymph nodes were swelling a bit. They were visible as Eunha tied her bob in a short ponytail. 

The abnormalities she saw bothered her which is why she stopped tickling her. She also released her from her embrace. As Eunha faced her, the former looked jubilant, as if it was the first time she’s laughed in years. However, Yerin couldn’t help but ask, “What are those bumps and those swollen nodes, Eunha?”

Jung Eunbi’s eyes widened, and she lowered her head. Yerin could hear her gulp proceeded with a short answer, “These are nothing”. 

Eunha raised her head and looked straight to Yerin, giving her a smile. The milky white woman wasn’t convinced, but before she could interrogate her further, Yerin was personally called by their director. She had no choice but to go. 

Yuju, who was just standing and staring at them from afar, took one chance to talk to Eunha again. She noticed the intense mood right before Yerin left, and she concluded that it might have been connected to her current state. 

“Eunha…”

As she walked near her, Eunha untied her hair and quickly worn over her jacket that was just wrapped around her waist. Her sickness was physically manifesting, and she didn’t want them to know. Although sooner or later, they most probably would. 

“Yuju… how are you?”, she exhaled a heavy breath, as she occasionally flinch in pain. 

“I’m fine”, Yuna responded. “How about you?” Goodness, their conversation sounded so forced and rehearsed. 

“I’m okay”, Eunha smiled at her. Obviously she wasn’t, and Yuju could see through her disguise. 

“A—Aren’t you going to tell us something?” Yuju asked out of nowhere, though it wasn’t her intention to do so. 

“Like what?”, Eunha was trying to play safe. 

Before Yuju could sort things out, Eunha’s phone rang. She took a glimpse on the caller ID and it was her unnie; she ignored it. 

“Won’t you answer that call?”, Yuju was feeling hard to breathe. 

“No, it’s fine”

“What if it’s from Dr. Se—” Yuju froze as she realized she buried herself deeper into her own grave. Eunha analyzed what Yuju was implying and realized that she meant Dr. Seo.

“Why did you assume that that may be her?”, Eunha’s anger was starting to pile up. 

“Eunha… I’m sorry, I can— wait, um”, Yuju was trying to answer properly, with all the truth, but her brain and tongue failed her.

“Ya, Choi Yuna… do you know about this?”, she lifted her hair and pointed at the swollen lymph nodes. Her eyes were getting that reddish hue, from the accumulating tears and frustration. 

Yuju silently nodded, and proceeded to explain her side. She told her about the astral travel and how she somehow eavesdropped and Dr. Seo and her conversation — everything. But it was too late for Eunha to understand.

“How can you do that?”, she paused in disbelief. “I understand that you’re concerned or probably just nosy, but I never wanted to tell anyone about this… how can you invade my privacy like that?”

“I— I feared that your situation will worsen… I was just—”, Yuju found herself stumbling on her own reasons.

Eunha took a deep sigh, and wiped her tears away. She shook her head multiple times before going back to Yuju, “I guess that could happen, but I want to deal with my illness myself. So I’m begging you, don’t tell anyone”. Her tone was more of a commanding one rather than a pleading voice.

 Yuju refused to talk any further, and so did Eunha. They were just there, frozen, standing still against the challenges of time.