During a Thursday get-together of the nine friends, at their favorite tteokbokki restaurant, Jeongyeon took Nayeon’s hand and announced to her friends their relationship. Everyone aside from Sana showed great surprise about the news. 

“Since when?” Dahyun asked. 

“Summer,” Nayeon replied with a smile. She gently squeezed Jeongyeon’s hand, controlling the desire to wrap her arms around her right then and there. 

The night Jeongyeon messaged her to meet at the courtyard, Nayeon was hesitant to go. It wasn’t that she was being stubborn, just that she didn’t want the younger one to see her look so defenseless. She still had her pride as the oldest one in the group. However, the abrupt message Jeongyeon left contained such seriousness that she couldn’t contain the desire to go. 

When the older one saw her at the courtyard, Jeongyeon was muttering to herself. It seemed as if she was practicing her words of apology to her lover, and Nayeon couldn’t help but smile at her effort. 

That night, Jeongyeon got down on one knee in front of her and asked her, once more, to be her girlfriend. “No secrets this time,” Jeongyeon added. There were no hesitations, only a wave of love came surging up from within her heart and Nayeon threw herself at her in a tight embrace, accepting her confession a second time. 

When the secret was finally out, Jeongyeon felt scared for a moment, but her fears were diminished by the series of congratulations she received from her friends. As expected, the group couldn’t resist teasing the two whenever they got the opportunity, but it was a relief that she didn’t have to grab Nayeon’s hand from under the table, or gaze into her eyes when nobody was looking. The short-haired woman was happy to be able to openly show her affection towards her beloved. Of course, the usual bickering between the two still remained. It was in their personalities after all. 

The only one that seemed to have a change in attitude was Jihyo. The news came out to her like a blow in the back, a sense of betrayal came upon her as her two best friends revealed their relationship. Of course, she didn’t want anybody to notice, therefore Jihyo kept a facade that it didn’t bother her one bit. 

“Is everybody getting into relationships now? Should I start dating Tzuyu too?” Momo joked.

“Sorry, Unnie, but my heart is not in that place at the moment,” the maknae bluntly said.

The rest of the group laughed and Momo revealed her pouting face. “Don’t worry Momo-yah, Tzuyu rejects everyone,” Sana commented, as her head remained rested on Dahyun’s shoulder. 

“It was the same in high school too,” Dubu chimed in. “Remember, Chaeyoung, when someone gave her a love poem and she thought it was for that Korean assignment we had a week before. So, she handed it to the teacher.”

Chaeyoung burst into laughter, “That’s right! Poor guy got so embarrassed. The teacher gave it back because he already submitted one, so everybody in the class found out about the rejection.” The two older maknaes reminisced the moment, and they went about telling stories of their high school days.

When the group parted ways, Jihyo, who had nothing in particular to do for the rest of the day, suggested to her two best friends a movie night. 

“Sorry, Jihyo, but Nayeon and I are going to the park to ride pedal boats,” Jeongyeon said. “You can tag along if you want.”

Jihyo shook her head and smiled, “It’s okay. You guys enjoy.”

Nayeon and Jeongyeon waved goodbye as they made their way to their date spot, leaving their friend to watch romantic comedies by herself.

Not wanting to return to her dorm, Jihyo went to the local theater. She bought a ticket for two as if to ease the burden of having to be alone in the movie theater. She sat at the top and tried to enjoy the film to the best of her abilities. However, not even the scenes that sent the audience laughing off of their seats could lift up her spirit. The leader got up in the middle of the movie and left.

Jihyo ended up spending the rest of her time at a cafe a little ways from the University. She could’ve gone to a nearby cafe, but felt that she might run into people she knew from school if she did so. Unfortunately, as she sat in the corner sulking on her own over a glass of iced tea, a familiar face showed up in front of her.

“What are you doing here?” Yerin, a friend of hers from another university took a seat across from her. 

Jihyo groaned, “I forgot you live around here.”

“Are you alone? Aren’t you usually with your friends?”

“They’re busy.” Jihyo took a sip from her beverage.

The barista brought Yerin her drink of iced latte, the boy fumbling as he placed the beverage on their table. Yerin smiled at him and said thank you. With a slight blush on his cheeks, the barista gave a slight bow and left. “And you’re not?” the woman said as she took a sip of her drink.

Jihyo shook her head. She sighed, then all of a sudden grabbed her friend’s hands and looked her in the eyes. “Am I untrustworthy to you?”

Yerin, confused, brought her eyebrows together and gave her a bewildered look. “What are you talking about?”

“My friends… they had trouble telling me things and kept something from me for five months. My bestfriends, whom I share everything with, even my hairbrush, didn’t feel comfortable enough to share this secret with me, and I was wondering that maybe it’s because I’m unapproachable? Maybe I don’t seem accepting to them?” Jihyo looked down as she kept a grip on her hands, her voice trembled at the last parts of her words. 

“Nayeon-ssi and Jeongyeon-ssi?”

The leader gave a slow nod.

“Yah! Why are you like this?” Yerin pulled her hands back from her grip and grabbed her by the shoulder. “You’re Park Jihyo, God Jihyo right? If something bothers you, you ask them, not mope on your own in the corner of the cafe looking like a sad puppy who had just lost her owner. Be upfront about it. You won’t solve anything by keeping it to yourself.”

Jihyo kept quiet and continued staring at the empty space in front of her. 

Yerin sighed, “Listen, they’re your bestfriends. You’ve been together through thick and thin, and for the longest time, amidst all the differences you’ve had, the conflicts and arguments that arose at one point, you remained the closest of friends.” She kept a firm grip on Jihyo’s shoulders, which were still down with dejection. “I’m sure they had a reason of their own for not telling you, and you won’t know the answer unless you ask them yourself. You’re usually not the type to hide behind the bushes anyways.”

“You’re right!” Jihyo got up in dedication. “I’m Park Jihyo! I shouldn’t be feeling down like this. I will go up to them and confront them head on!”

Yerin got up with her, bumping her fist in the air. “That’s right!”

Just then, the shy barista came up to them, “Umm, can you please lower it down. It’s a disruption to the other customers.”

They took a look around them and realized everyone else in the cafe were staring at them. Jihyo slowly went back down to her seat in embarrassment. Yerin gave slight bows to the crowd, “Sorry, sorry.” She sat back down and the two ended up giggling together. Jihyo was glad to have run across Yerin, for it made her more certain about herself, growing the confidence to confront her two bestfriends about her feelings of their new profound relationship. 

~
After spending the rest of the afternoon with Yerin, Jihyo shot a message to Nayeon and Jeongyeon about meeting up for dinner. However, her invitation was shot down due to plans they made together. Jihyo walked back to her dorm, feeling rejected once more. “How am I supposed to be okay with this when they don’t even have time for us anymore,” she muttered to herself. 

Jihyo opened the door to her room to find an array of food on the table and a well-decorated cake in the middle. Jeongyeon and Nayeon jumped out from behind the door with enthusiasm. “Ta-da!” they yelled, giving their friend a fright that had her staggering back. 

“What’s all this? I thought you guys had plans.”

“We do,” Jeongyeon said. “Surprising you. You were surprised, weren’t you?”

“Extremely.” Jihyo walked up to the table and observed all the food laid out. There was sausage stew, rabokki, grilled beef and ch