Hyejoo showed up at the ice cream parlor no less than thirty minutes later as promised. Contrary to other people that calmly walked through the door however, the rookie idol basically crashed her way through, gathering the attention of all the patrons in the establishment. Go Won almost dropped her spoon from the commotion she caused with her entrance.

The younger girl, embarrassed, bowed to the shop manager and other workers in apology. When the atmosphere was back to how it was, Hyejoo looked around scanning the place to find the black-haired girl. The older girl noticed Hyejoo's appearance was rather disheveled, something that was unlike her. Her clothes were wrinkled as if she put them on in a hurry, her hair was still looking like it did when she woke up, and her shoelaces weren't even tied.

In contrast, Go Won was the one to look nice. She had decided to wear her hair down this time. Normally when she woke up she just tied her hair up in a messy ponytail and headed to school. Today, since she skipped, she also ditched the disheveled look. Hyejoo already knew she had money, so she decided to wear clothes of her usual liking. Not too expensive to show off, but nice enough to know she didn’t get them from the Saturday market. In a way she felt like she could be more comfortable about herself with Hyejoo.

A pastel pink dress shirt and a black pleated skirt with knee-high socks. She decided to keep her glasses just because that’s always her signature look. She didn’t actually need the physical glasses, she could always just choose to wear her contacts instead, but over the years she had grown so accustomed to using them that being without them almost felt like she wasn’t herself. Not having glasses on meant Loona, and she was not Loona right now. She was Park Chaewon.

The navy-haired girl made her way over, taking a seat in front of the older girl abruptly. She wasn’t saying anything, just staring with that fiery look as Go Won ate her ice cream. Hyejoo's eyes were shaking, not being able to focus and sort her thoughts. The secret idol knew she must have a hundred questions swimming in her mind, but everything was in Hyejoo’s court. Go Won was always giving her opportunities to ask about her personal life, yet Hyejoo turned them into missed shots every time.

“Do you want anything?” Go Won finally asked after being almost done with her serving of the creamy dessert. "Are you only going to watch me eat?"

“Why did you...” Hyejoo trailed off and never finished.

She didn’t even know how to ask about the medicine comment. What if she was just being paranoid? Maybe everything was just one big coincidence. There was no way. The alcohol from last night probably made her imagine things. Yeah. That was it. Her brain was malfunctioning from the toxic substance in her bloodstream. It was obvious to assume that she must've missed school because she wasn't feeling well. Chaewon was just using context clues, Hyejoo convinced herself.

Go Won frowned when she saw how out of it the girl across from her seemed to be. It was like she was having an internal conflict or an existential crisis. It was almost like she wasn’t present and the person in front of her wasn't Hyejoo. The rookie singer was currently staring off into space yet again. The shorter of the two didn’t know if she was like this because of last night or a combination of everything that had happened collectively throughout her entire career so far.

“Are you feeling better?” Go Won set the ice cream aside and reached for her hand across the table.

Hyejoo finally snapped back to reality and looked down at their hands. She pulled her hand back like the touch burned her skin and left marks and Go Won felt her heart sink a little.

“What do you mean? I’m fine.” Hyejoo lied.

This was it. The same tactic she used with everyone else about closing up and not letting anyone through. It was the mask she was so used to wearing in front of everyone else. A reinforced wall to keep herself guarded from showing her vulnerability. 

Go Won wasn’t giving up. “You don’t seem fine Hyejoo. Would you like to talk abou–"

“I’m okay, Chaewon. Don’t worry about it.” Hyejoo cut her off with a tone of warning.

She didn't come here to get interrogated and pried to about her life. In all honesty she didn't even know why she ran here so urgently in the first place. Hyejoo didn't want Chaewon to be like everyone else that tried to talk to her, too nosy for their own good and not knowing their boundaries. She appreciated Chaewon telling her about her life and opening up the other day, but the reason why she hadn't asked her for more was because she didn't want the shorter girl to ask her the same thing.

Chaewon got the memo and decided to back off. She went back to her forgotten ice cream and resumed eating silently. She focused on the cup and tried not to look at Hyejoo, but it was proving to be difficult when she could practically feel the taller girl boring holes into her. All she wanted was for Hyejoo to not close herself up and be comfortable to talk about her problems. She wanted the rookie to be able to share her burdens with her, whether as Loona or Chaewon, but it looked like Hyejoo didn’t want to let anyone in.

—☆★°•°•°★☆—☆★°•°•°★☆—

On the days that followed, school was exceedingly awkward. Hyejoo was not talking to her, or she was, but it was very minimal and unlike usual. Go Won wasn’t going to pretend like everything was fine and dandy either. She could read Hyejoo’s mood perfectly, and the girl still seemed to have a lot on her mind. She made a mental note to check on her as Loona tonight. If anything, the rookie had reinforced the wall that surrounded her. 

During lunch, Hyejoo didn’t have an appetite and always disappeared without her. During breaks, the girl simply stayed rooted at her desk looking empty and hollow. After school she would go straight home without a word. Go Won didn’t know what to do or how to lift her spirits. She was always good for being able to brighten the mood in any situation, but Hyejoo seemed to be the one person who she couldn’t cheer up.

It had been three days– today being Thursday– of things being this way, and they only seemed to be getting worse. It hurt. That Hyejoo was closing herself and distancing herself from the world. She had asked Sooyoung if Hyejoo’s manager had said anything about her behavior as of late. Jiwoo told her that Hyejoo hadn’t been answering her calls or replying to her messages. Whatever was bothering her, the younger girl was going through it alone and Go Won knew how much harder problems could be when you were alone.

Back in the classroom, Hyejoo has been staring outside the window when something seemed to suddenly get her attention. The change was so sudden it was alarming. Her eyes widened and her face was briefly overtaken by this look of fear and panic. Go Won