‘Is there no end to this?’ Yuju asked herself.

It was nearly sunrise, but the five of them were still up. Dark circles were prominent under their eyes, and redness due to tears were also evident. 

The dishes were left as is, seemingly unable to move on from what transpired yesterday. After Sowon left the dorm, they had been sitting blankly at their living room. Their house was a mess, and they’re not certain whether it could still be called home. All they could see is a path going downhill — a dark cave waiting for them to be trapped. 

Sooner or later, their doorbell rang, making the youngsters anticipate.

“Sowon-unnie?”, Sinb ran hastily towards the door, only to find their manager-nim standing outside. 

“Manager-nim…”, she spoke in low pitch, obviously showinb her disappoinment.

“What’s with the long face?”, he chuckled as he looked at Sinb’s expression. As he locked the door and proceeded in entering the dorm, he saw the rest of the members displaying the same faces. 

“What’s with this atmosphere? You seem so disappointed that I visited you”, he raised his eyebrow jokingly, but the girls’ expressions remained. Looking at them, he realized something was off. That’s right, their eldest was missing.

“Where’s Sowon? Went off to the Pristin leader again?”

He expected a ‘yes’ for response but he got the opposite. They lowered their heads, bit their upper lip to prevent themselves from tearing up, and shook their heads.

“Sowon-unnie wanted to quit the group…”, Yerin collapsed on her knees, and bawled her eyes out. The members started to cry as well. 

“Quit? That can’t be… your comeback is right around the corner. What was that woman thinking?”, he slipped out some swear words after his sentences. Those lines triggered Eunha.

“Is that all you can say, Manager-nim, no, Oppa? Comeback? Is that important right now? She told us how she felt… she’s not even promoted that well… because of us…”, she was having a hard time breathing.

“That’s not it, Eunha-ya. The company is also considering things”, he responded safely, seeing how the members react.

“Comeback or what, our concern is to keep Sowon-unnie from leaving completely. That’s why we’re asking you…”, Yuju knelt and bowed before their manager-nim. “... please don’t tell the higher-ups and let us persuade her alone”. 

He was surprised by Yuju’s unexpected actions, but what surprised him more was the fact that the rest followed and begged for him to stay silent.

He loved the girls so much he treats them as his own daughters. And so he decided to give them the support they needed. They stood up, and thanked him.

“I’m sorry for my remark earlier… if you want any help, I will help you. But I’ll tell you this, in five days, the company will conduct a full meeting about the comeback and other matters. If you can’t find Sowon by then, it would become a huge problem. Please, find her before they do find out about this”, he told them, and they nodded. 

After so, they gained hope. The members immediately cleaned the house, as well as their exhausted bodies. The decided to go to Sowon’s house, and look for her there. 

As they finished tidying things up, their manager drove them to Sowon’s original home. They dropped them off so as to not attract media and fans’ attention. Rumours about Sowon leaving might arise, and that would be unfavourable for the girls and the company.

They pressed on the doorbell and waited for sombody to open the door for them. While waiting, Eunha heard her phone beep — it was her sister. She excused herself and answered the call.

“Unnie?”

“It’s Friday today. I have no schedule with Dr. Seo”

“What do you mean?”

Her eyes were starting to water, and the four members noticed how she was beginning to shake, even from the distance. As soon as she returned from the call, they embraced her to remind her that she’s not alone, but Eunha couldn’t feel as hopeful as she should be. But she smiled, and the members didn’t ask any further. 

In an unexpected manner, the door opened up, with Sowon’s older sister holding onto the door. 

“Eh? Why are you— come in, come in”.

She ushered them to the living room, and offered them water to drink. Eunha calmed down after gulping one glass, but she remained silent about the call. Sowon’s sister looked at them, and noticed how absent-minded they all seemed.

“Why did you visit? Moreover, Sojung is not with you”, she let out a half-smile.

“Eh? Sowon-unnie didn’t go here?”, Yuju asked. Confused, Sowon’s sister hesitantly shook her head. “Is there a reason for her to go here? Did you guys fight?”, she carefully responded with a set of questions. And she received silence. 

“You guys fought, eh?”, she scratched her head. “Mind telling me what happened?”

With that question, Yewon, who was the most composed of them all, managed to share everything that happened last night. Hearing such story made Sowon’s sister surprised as she felt as if her sister wasn’t the type to do so.

“Quitting? That’s not like her”, she voiced out.

“Yes, we know, unnie, which is why we were also surprised and honestly hurt”, Sinb intertwined her fingers.

“It’s fine. It’s normal to be hurt over that”, she smiled and patted each of the members’ heads. Receiving such act made their hearts warm, moreover they felt Sowon’s spirit in her sister. They are really the same.

“Have you tried contacting her?”, she asked.

“Yes, but her phone’s turned off”, Yuju replied.

“Maybe she’s also reconsidering things, prolly getting some fresh air”, she smiled at them. “You all look tired, want to rest? I can fix Sojung’s room… she won’t mind”, she added as she went to prepare some beddings.

The girls nodded and followed her. Sowon’s room was filled with a variety of stuff, but it was still spacious. Some adornments were also plastered on her wall. Overall, it was a pretty girly and chic, much like Sowon’s character.

“It’s still 9 in the morning, I’ll wake you up when lunch is ready”, Sowon’s sister wore this genuine smile, and that made their hearts soften. 

“Unnie, thank you… we’ll make sure that we’ll resolve this with Sojung-unnie”, Yerin sniffed as she hugged her. The latter responded by patting Yerin’s head. 

“I know you all would, and I hope that whatever decision my younger sister will have, you’ll respect it”, she left the room with such statement, making the members reflect even more.

As they fall into reflection mode, their tired bodies immediately went to revival mode themselves. Almost all of the members fell asleep, except the 97-line. Eunha was still lingering on the call she received earlier, while Yuju was still unsure whether the tension between them has been resolved. 

They were lying side by side, but neither of them dared to utter a sound. Only their heavy breathings were heard, until Eunha spoke. 

“Yuna-ya… I’m sorry”

It was the sweetest and most sincere apology Yuna has ever received, and she didn’t feel worthy enough to receive it. 

“No, I’m sorry… for grabbing your neck, for avoiding you, then suddenly becoming nosy of your illness… I have been giving you heartaches, I don’t deserve your apology, Eunbi”

Yuju tightly shut her eyes, thinking that it would block her tears from falling, but the emotions still managed to escape. Eunha saw this, and closed the distance between them. Wrapping her pain-stricken arms around Yuju’s waist, the little bunny found warmth. 

“Yuna-ya, I already forgave you even before you knew it. I don’t know to what extent could I still hold on, so I will make things right…”, she tightened the embrace and sighed deeply, whispering, “...before it’s too late”.

Yuju responded by hugging her back, and slipped on a ‘thank you’. After doing so, they, too, went to sleep. 

After an hour or two, they were awakened by Sowon’s sister, and were greeted with a warm meal for lunch. Eating such lovely meal reminded them of their eldest’s effort in her food preparations. They missed her, and wanted to bring her back. 

They didn’t stay for long as they decided to head back to their dorm, with their manager’s assistance. 

When they got home, they succumbed to the lonely feeling of not having a complete Gfriend once again. However, as Yuju was recalling some memories, she realized the peculiarity of their eldest.

“Wait…”, she started opening up, “...what if unnie is at the astral realm right now?”

“What makes you say so?”, Yerin replied. 

“I don’t know… it’s just that we’ve experienced too many weirdness that it would be reasonable to think that she’s there”, Yuju was blabbering endlessly, trying to justify her thoughts but she need not do so, since they got her point.

“Let’s check the astral realm then”, Eunha suggested, but hearing so made Yewon tremble. Even if it was merely a dream, she almost died — she almost killed herself. 

Sinb noticed how the maknae became uneasy with the thought of astral projection, so she raised such concern. 

“I don’t think we’re ready to go there… even if months already passed by, the memories are still freshly unpleasant”

“Besides we are not sure whether Sowon-unnie is really there”, Yewon supported. 

Their joint argument confused the 97-liners, as well as Yerin. The latter understood the maknaes’ concerns, most especially because she’s also experienced the parallel nightmare. 

However, Yuju’s intuition kept on telling her that their eldest is there, at that bizarre astral world. 

“But I can feel it… she is there, Sowon-unnie is there”, she insisted. “If you feel uncomfortable, I’ll go on my own”, she declared, startling the other girls.

“Yuna… I’ll go with you”, Eunha lent her strength to her same-age friend. 

“But, what about your illness?”, Yuju worryingly asked.

“I will manage, besides you believe in me, right?”, Eunha held her friend’s hands, and right then Yuju understood her purpose.

“Okay”, she smiled as she did the same. 

With the 97-liners’ decision to go, the rest of the members battled with their own fears, as well as their faith in the probability of seeing Sowon and restoring their group.