Another sob filled the bathroom and Byulyi could do nothing but comfort the elder with her embrace.

Wait.

Is she laughing? Has she gone mad? Byulyi wondered, leaning away to face the laughing brunette who only stopped to grasp her abdomen and express a grimace.

A flash of concern washed over Byulyi’s visage again however it was quick to be replaced with fear when Yongsun was out and about her hysterics again.

“A-are you alright, unnie?” She cursed herself mentally for stuttering although admittedly she was overly concerned and a bit scared for her best friend’s mental health.

“Yah Byul. I know my face is swollen and everything but for you to accuse me of being pregnant-! How dare you?” Yongsun cackled again with a hoarse voice. The insisting tears earlier completely gone and replaced with joyous laughter.

“What? So you’re not pregnant?” said Byulyi after releasing a relieved sigh.

“Of course not! I’m much more cautious than what you think. Besides how did you even manage to think of that?”

A small frown creased on her eyebrows at the implied idea of Yongsun doing it with Eddy or anyone else for that matter; but she reluctantly let it go after much deliberation that she had no right to question her best friend’s life.

“I saw the pregnancy test box two days ago. I… thought it was for your own use,” she shrugged casually despite the overthinking she went through since then.

“I asked for a tampon just a day before that, don’t you remember?” There she goes again laughing whilst Byulyi was internally agonizing over her stupid brain, which forgot that fact and brought her unnecessary anxiety.

“Then why do we even have that here?” Byulyi palmed her face as she asked.

“It’s for Wheein-“

“Wheein?!” she exclaimed as she looked over the brunette—eyes wide as saucers. How could that be? Her precious puppy? Her little sister? Her-

Yongsun cracked up yet again to which the ash-haired unappreciatively glared at.

“You didn’t let me finish. It’s for Wheein’s friend, she’s apparently a minor so I bought it for her.” The short explanation made Byulyi slump on the ground in relief. “You should cut that habit of judging other people when you can just ask straightforwardly,” she rolled her eyes then reached over to flush the toilet.

Byulyi simply mimicked the action at her sermon before standing up and offering a helping hand to the brunette, which the latter took graciously.

The duo soon went to school in courtesy of Byulyi’s resolute insistence.

“Avoiding them is no safer than hiding here. You will eventually face them and the only difference is that doing one makes you courageous while the other cowardly,” Yongsun remembered the motivational words her best friend said exactly; however, now that she was finally trudging the hallway, she was becoming unsure if she really could handle whatever was coming.

Sensing the elder’s troubled tenor, Byulyi endearingly clasped her hand and gave her an assuring nod in such a way to say she would be beside her no matter what—and that she did the whole day.

Surprisingly, they were undisturbed by Eddy’s presence and were about to go home until, “Byulyi!” A familiar shrill voice called.

Byulyi saw the woman overzealously waving by the university gate and she would have been cordial enough to greet her back if it wasn’t for the sight of Eddy looking troubled like he had just been caught red-handed. They were standing a few meters beside each other for anyone’s liking, and it really wouldn’t take a genius for Byulyi not to figure they were flirting.

“You know her, Byul?” The brunette asked as she squinted her eyes at the blurry figure as if that would do anything to appease her bad eyesight.

“Ahh… just an acquaintance. Let’s take the other exit,” she answered through gritted teeth and was about to pull them away.

“Wait. Why should we? Are you avoiding her?”

It’s not her. It’s him.

“Come on, this would be fun. You two should hang out and get to know each other,” Yongsun said as she pulled them to the said acquaintance but her strength seemed to falter after a few steps when she realized Eddy was there.

“Yongsun,” both Eddy and Byulyi uttered.

“Can we talk?” This time both Yongsun and Eddy asked at the same time.

“Am I missing something? What’s with the jinx?” Sunmi chuckled, unmindful of the tension in the air.

“We need to go first, come on let’s go, unnie,” Byulyi said, first to break the stifling atmosphere, as she held tighter on the brunette’s hand.

“Please,” said Eddy as he reached for Yongsun’s hand but was cut off by Byulyi’s fast reflexes. The older guy glared at her which she responded back with an intensified glare. Sunmi looked back and forth the two and she swore she could see electricity sparking between if she focused enough.

“Fine,” Yongsun replied as she slipped her hand off the ash-haired. Byulyi’s eyes featured concern and frustration at her agreement, but she couldn’t really do anything if Yongsun wanted to face him head on with a reassuring grin.

Byulyi reluctantly nodded in approval as well before watching them walk to a quiet corner. Her eyes would have only trained on the couple had she not been disturbed by a waving hand in front her face.

“What?” she asked rhetorically with a frown.

The poor girl merely smiled cheekily at Byulyi’s frustration before walking over her front, effectively blocking the sight of Yongsun and Eddy. She tried to scoot sideways to regain the vision but each time she does, Sunmi moved too.

It only took a minute before Byulyi sighed in resignation. “What do you want?” she asked as she focused on the taller woman.

“To notice me?” she answered mischievously before snickering momentarily.

“Now, that’s done. Get out of my sight and go home.”

“Na uh uh,” she wagged her finger sideways then continued, “Didn’t I say I’d pay you?”

“And didn’t I told you that it’s fine?” she snarkily replied because of growing impatience.

“But you already agreed!”

“Only because you insisted.”

“Still, you agreed.”

“Fine but can’t we do it later? I’m pretty busy,” she sighed for the nth time.

“Busy looking after your friend? Or busy pining over her?”

The latter question made Byulyi stood straight like a log. She glared at the taller woman before saying, “Mind your own business.”

“So you do like her,” Sunmi’s voice laced with delight eagerly said.

“I don’t,” she denied.

“Yes, you do,” the taller pointed out with a mischievous wide grin. Byulyi was about to rebut but was shushed by the former’s explanation, “Or else I wouldn’t be seeing so much love and pain in your eyes when you looked at her and watched her go.”

Byulyi was taken aback at the observation—she’d always thought she was doing a perfect job of stashing her feelings but she guess not.

“Don’t worry, my lips are shut tight,” she winked before adding, “as long as you let me take you out on a date.”

“A date?” Byulyi queried quickly to make sure she didn’t hear wrong.

“Yes, a date,” she chirpily answered.

“Are you blackmailing me?” The frown deepened on Byulyi’s visage.

“Of course not! I’m not that low, and come on, do I look like I need to blackmail anyone to have a date with them?” Byulyi purposely eyed her up and down to which the latter rolled her eyes at. “Seriously.”

“Just one date and promise me you’ll never tell anyone about that.”

“Promise. Cross my heart, hope to die,” Sunmi eagerly swore before snickering at her own childish action.

Their short conversation must have lasted longer than what Byulyi expected because next thing she knew Yongsun was walking over them with Eddy in tow, their hands clasped together as if the elder didn’t have a mental breakdown due him last night.

“You girls up for some dinner?” He asked amiably though his look at Byulyi was still hostile.

“Tell you later,” Yongsun mouthed to ease Byulyi’s frown though that didn’t really do any good.

“Wow, are you treating?” Sunmi questioned.

“Definitely, let’s eat at Lotus Island,” he shrugged arrogantly like the place wasn’t a fine dining restaurant best known for catering the rich.

“Aren’t your parents drowning in de-” Her words were cut off short by Eddy’s deliberate cough.

Byulyi’s eyebrow cocked at the curtailed sentence but she decided to just ask Sunmi later what was that about instead she suggested, “Why not just at the Cube?”

“That’ll be better, oppa! I’d rather have local cuisine over something so foreign and expensive to be honest,” Yongsun agreed immediately.

“Well if you say so, dumpling.” He ruffled her hair before taking the lead and walking ahead of the other two girls.

The two watched the couple playfully conversing with one another as the followed them by a few steps behind. It was kind of ironic how Byulyi always thought of not being able to reach Yongsun and here she was now, looking from behind, watching her be happy with someone else.

“We can go somewhere else,” Sunmi hesitatingly said to break off the silence.

“Nobody dies from free dinner,” Byulyi joked whilst giving off a fake wide smile that Sunmi almost believed because of how natural it seemed.

“But anyone can die from heartache,” she replied seriously as she glanced at Byulyi’s side profile.

“I’m immune to that.”

“If you are, why are you hurting right now?”

“I don’t know,” she said truthfully. It’s been a year or maybe so since she met Yongsun and there had been so many times she saw the latter with another guy, but why was she still so affected each and every time?

“Wait. Since when did our conversation become so cringe worthy?” Byulyi humored again to appease Sunmi’s concern.

“I don’t know too,” the taller replied with a shrug—saving her opinions at Byulyi’s unrequited love for a later time, after all she had to commend the latter’s attempts to distract her from worrying.

The story is a little bit running slowly, but fear not, it's just the exact tempo I'm looking for so as not to leave loose ends in the future. Anyway, thank you again for all the new subscribers and comments, you guys are the best. 

Don't forget to leave a comment-- reaction, critique, suggestion, etc. I would much more appreciate it than silently reading. <3