A/N 1: 20k++ words? I must have lose my mind
A/N 2: Save Me, Save You is on the backburner because of this I'm--
A/N 3: But on the brighter side this is over! Although this is a freaking mess...
A/N 4: Happy New Year! X1X got me so hype!!!
A/N 5: Last but not least thank you for all the subscriptions, upvotes and supportive comments! You guys the best <3 Find me on twitter: @lipseulite :)

 

xxxxxxxxxx

 

"Haseul, I'm sorry." Jungeun puts her hand against the door, it's weirdly cold beneath her palm.

She absolutely has no idea on what just happened back there. One moment Haseul's face was so close to hers and Jungeun thought she saw stars behind Haseul's orbs, but then Haseul pulled away out of nowhere like something inside of her just snapped. And in the next instance Haseul basically kicked her out of her bedroom, voice so distant Jungeun had chills ran down her spine. What did she do wrong now?

"Haseul?" She tries again but only silence serves as a response. Jungeun sighs before closing her eyes in her attempt to recollect her thoughts.

Jungeun then tries to force her hearing to spot any sort of sound coming from behind the door but her effort is proven futile. It is of no help that Jungeun is often clueless when it comes to dealing with feelings and emotions like this.

The only thing she is aware of is the state of confusion her brain (and maybe her heart too) is in right now.

 

----------

 

Jungeun has been staring at the ceiling for approximately 17 minutes and 39 seconds now, yet nothing comes into her mind. This isn't a rare occassion, Jungeun has always been good at acting like her brain is occupied with something when really it's only filled with nothingness. She has been trying, struggling even, to get her gears to work but all she gets in return is a pounding headache and a growling stomach (unconciously starving herself from thinking too much). Half an hour ago, she peeks through the gap of her bedroom door to see if Haseul has come out of her dungeon, but the space still appears as empty as the desert (she can almost hear the wind blowing and a couple of tumbleweeds rolling around with it). To say that Jungeun is panicking will be an understatement, her inside is so frantic and messy, she doesn't know what is going on anymore. She can't even tell if Haseul is still in the apartment or not.

She heaves a very heavy breath as her eyes come to a close. The past few months have been quite a torture for her; dodging, acting, faking, lying. You name it, she has done it all. Just anything in order to keep the distance between her and Haseul. But it's proven to be not as effective, she still found herself constantly being deceived by her own heart. One moment she managed to convince herself to ignore Haseul's presence, but the next minute she was already engaging herself in an interaction with the said girl without her noticing. So unlike Kim Jungeun to give up just like that. But then she realized that she might have appeared as a sick jerk in Haseul's eyes and that's when her resolve slowly crumbles. Haseul deserves none of her cruel and heartless act. None at all.

So off Jungeun in search for a headstart. Maybe heaven heard her prayers and it may be a pure luck too, but somehow her slow brain figured a window of opportunity. Others see it as a week of break but Jungeun sees it as 10080 minutes worth of time for her to restore their friendship again. It's just a speculation in her mind, but she thought she saw discomfort behind Haseul's brown eyes when she announced that she will be staying for the week. Although it should not be a far reach, it makes sense for Haseul to feel that way isn't it?

Then Jungeun gathered the courage to actually patch up their relationship so she jumped on the first chance she saw. But guess what? She was ordered to head straight to the exit with no chance to appeal whatsoever. Which is great since her confidence takes off altogether with it. Just great.

Jungeun moves her hand around to locate her phone, eyes still void of anything. Swiping to her recent contacts, she immediately let her thumb to touch the video call button. Good thing that Chaewon isn't around since she forgets to reach for her earphones from the bedside table. A few seconds later, a face shows up on her screen albeit it being a little bit shaky. Jungeun hopes she won't be catching her in a bad timing.

"Hey, sweetie." The person greets her with a smile. Jungeun doesn't respond and instead, has been virtually creating a hole through the screen. "Hey, you okay?" Worry lacing the tone.

Jungeun snaps out of her trance. "Where are you?" A faint noise that sounds a lot like music is flowing out from her speaker steadily.

"Eden's-- waiting for Soo-- be right back." There's a pause. "Waiting for Soo to finish with her rehearsal." The respond comes in a rather distracted manner, Jungeun assumes the girl is not alone.

"Rehearsal?" She croaks another question.

The video then shakes violently, accompanies by a muffled noise. It's not long before she comes into her view again. Jungeun notices that the background is different now, the surrounding is a lot quieter too. "She has another show tonight, remember?"

"Oh, right..." That almost slipped off Jungeun's memory.

"Hey, you look out of it." The girl points out. "What's wrong?" Another question is being thrown at her.

Jungeun just sighs faintly. "Can I come?"

"You already did last night?" Jungeun can see the way her eyebrows move up and down. "But of course you can, sweetie." Another soft smile. "Do you need me to come pick you up?"

"No, it's okay." Jungeun shakes her head lazily. "I'll take a cab or something."

"Make sure you cover up properly, you almost got mobbed last night." The girl reprimands her. "And be careful on your way here, okay?"

"Will do. Don't worry." She proceeds to get into a sitting position. "See you."

"Mhmm." The girl waves a hand at her and Jungeun cuts the video off.

It's always a convenient fact that Jungeun is living her life quite simply. She takes less than 10 minutes to get ready, cladding herself in a turtleneck and a pair of plain dark jeans with her black leather jacket being a last minute addition. She initially thought about leaving without notice but then decides against it. So here she is, standing right in front of Haseul's door, palms sweating despite the not-so-warm temperature.

Jungeun makes a few careful knocks. "H- Haseul?" It's not like Jungeun is expecting for any sort of reply, but she still takes a brief pause just to make sure. "I'll be out for a bit... and uh..." feels so hoarse. "... call me if there's anything. Please." She whispers the last word faintly.

Jungeun can't tell if she's just being too desperate but she swears she can hear a light shuffling from the other side of the door. At least Haseul is still here. Wait, that's her right? That has to be Haseul, if not Jungeun is so ready to move dorms again.

One last look, one last sigh. "I'm sorry." She mutters one last time before turning around from the door.

The weather is pretty chilly tonight. Even with layers of clothes on, Jungeun is still shivering to her core. She makes sure her mask and glasses are intact before she steps into the cafe. Last night almost costed her an incident as a group of fangirls recognized her, shouting 'Kim Lip! Kim Lip! Kim Lip!' on top of their lungs and lucky for Jungeun, she got away from them just in time with help from her friends. Don't get her wrong, she appreciates and adores her fans but Jungeun is still a human afterall, with needs of private time and  private space.

She headed for a secluded booth down the floor that happens to have a perfect view of the main stage. Jungeun immediately spots the shiny blonde locks under the dimmed lighting. The girl looks up from her phone upon sensing Jungeun's presence.

"Hey, you're here." She opens her arms, a silent invitation for a hug. Jungeun accepts it gladly before taking a seat next to the blonde, head resting on her shoulder. "Any fangirls waiting for you tonight?" She teases her.

"The only fangirl here is you." Jungeun answers lazily.

"Always a proud one." The girl wraps her arm around Jungeun's right one. "And will always be one." She collides their heads together playfully.

"I'm so lucky." Jungeun exaggerates her tone, earning a jab on her ribs. "Ouch, you meanie."

"You asked for that." She glares at Jungeun, it goes unnoticed since the latter has her eyes on the stage. "So, wanna talk about it?"

"I dunno..." Jungeun sighs. "What's the point..."

"How you gonna look like you're half dead on the phone and now that you're here you suddenly go 'what's the point' with me." She pushes Jungeun off her, this time she makes sure her glare is clear to her.

Jungeun's lips immediately curl downwards before her face contorts into a cry-ready expression. "Can I turn that half into a full circle already?" A smack is heard then. "Ow!" Jungeun rubs on her sore arm.

"About to order a jalapeno juice for you here." She squints her eyes. It doesn't take her long to recollect Jungeun in her hold.

"Y'know, if I didn't know you two were related, I would have thought Soul was dating you." A voice suddenly chimes in. "Tryna steal my girl yeah, Jungeun?" The newcomer let out a relieved sigh as she rests her back against the cushion.

"You stole her from me first." Jungeun rolls her eyes. "But ew that's like , Soo." Her face twists into a disgusted expression.

"That is  by law." Jinsoul corrects her, shaking her head.

"Who knows?" Sooyoung shrugs. "Last I checked, you are still incapable of getting your own girl." That earns a look from Jinsoul. "What? Someone needs to speak truth into existence here, no?"

"Stop bullying me, Soo." Jungeun whines. "I'm not trying to get myself any girl. I just-- want my friend back..."

"Way to friendzone your love interest." Jungeun detaches herself from Jinsoul. "I'm sorry Jungie but as harsh as that sounds, I think Soo is right this time."

"Not you too, sis..." Jungeun widens her eyes at the girl.

"I thought after all that pep talk before, she would be over the denial stage by now." Sooyoung points out. "But I guess not."

"Okay, you two chill. Especially you, babe." Jinsoul sends a look at Sooyoung's direction. "Asking for real here Jungeun, how is it going?"

Jungeun let out a shaky breath. "It has effective..." Sooyoung leans forward at that. "... ly went from worse to horrible."

"Pssh what did I expect from you, you little L." Sooyoung scoffs. "And that's not for 'loser' in case you can't tell."

"Soul, can you ask your girlfriend to stop pushing her personal agenda on me?" The brunette buries her face in her palms.

"Maybe if you stop denying about your feelings for a certain Jo." Jinsoul puts a stress in her tone. "You are head over heels for her since like... what?"

"Forever?" Sooyoung supplies.

"Oh, babe. We really are the only ones with eyes and braincells here." Jungeun just watches in silent as they exchange a sweet (but dreadful) gaze with each other.

"That's so long ago, okay? Pretty sure I'm already over her." She raises her voice a bit, making sure the emphasization is solid.

"'I'm over her', yet you go full on gay panic mode the moment you found out she likes you too." Thankfully her sister is here, Jungeun would have smacked Sooyoung right there.

"I didn't gay panic." Jungeun mumbles to herself.

Jinsoul nods at that. "Yup, it's obvious you still have feelings for her sweetie."

"About time you uncover it, Jungeun." Sooyoung stares at her. "I mean, Kim Lip." The oldest snickers at her own teasing. "I swear to God the gap between Kim Jungeun and Kim Lip is unreal. You sure your lil sis ain't hiding no clones anywhere?" Jinsoul stiffles a laugh, merely shaking her head. "Because best believe, Kim Lip would have gotten this sort out in no time." Both Sooyoung and Jinsoul laugh their heads off.

"Ugh don't you have a stage where you need to be, Yves?" Jungeun looks away. "I regret coming here."

"You have to admit that name is the superior one." Sooyoung smirks before shifting her attention towards the stage. "Still 15 minutes to go by the way."

A hand then lands on top of Jungeun's. "Hey, all the teasing aside, I genuinely think you need to do something about it asap. Communications is key, Jungeun. So, talk to her yeah...?" Sincerity is shining brightly behind Jinsoul's eyes, her sister really is the only one she can trust herself with huh?

Jungeun munches on her lower lip. "But... what if it backfires even more?" A troubled frown appears on her face.

"Even more...? Wait, you haven't elaborate on that event you label as 'horrible'." Jinsoul crosses her arms in a dictating manner.

Jungeun huffs. "I followed your advice okay?" Her hands move all over the place, clearly frustrated at her own decision. She knew the Soo&Soul pact should not be trusted in the first place. "I approached her, did her a favour and it went smooth at first... but then she kicked me out." She slumps further into her seat.

"Why? Is she unsatisfied by your favour?" Sooyoung casually butts in.

"Babe, I love you but can you please shut it for like five minutes?" A playful punch greets Sooyoung's upper arm.

"Ow!" The girl inches away from Jinsoul, a sulky face appears shortly after that. Jungeun can hear her mumbling 'the biasness is real'.

"Okay, you say she kicked you out?" Jinsoul asks in disbelief. "That's not the Haseul that I once knew. Unless you really did something horrible to her..." A panic gasp escapes her sister.

"What-- I didn't do anything to her okay? All I did was... helping her assembling a rack..." The memory is still too painful to her.

"That warrants her to kick you out...?" A crease forms on Jinsoul's forehead.

"No, not that. This is just an assumption though, like there's no clear proof, like--"

"Kim Jungeun." Jinsoul addresses her sternly.

"Uh... I think we... almost... ki--" Hold up, this information is supposed to be kept private and confidential. How is she going to dodge this one? "Ki..." Jungeun shakes her head violently.

"Ki......? What??"

"Kissed. They almost kissed. You're such a noob, Jungeun." When did Sooyoung rejoin them? Jungeun can see Jinsoul mirroring her confused expression. "What? The five minutes is up while Jungeun was struggling to tell you about her oh so amateur experience."

"Hey!" Jungeun leans forward to perform any sort of possible assault on Sooyoung but Jinsoul is quick to put her back in her place.

"Hush now. Do you really want to attract attention on yourself?" The pointed look Jinsoul gives her is enough to make her gulp in nervous. "But, babe..." Jinsoul pulls Sooyoung closer to her like she is about to drop the greatest revelation of the century. "... you thinking what I'm thinking?"

For some reason, that tone behind Jinsoul's voice reminds Jungeun of those banana characters she used to see on television. Jinsoul's golden hair is not helping her to unsee that at all.

"Oh yeah, honey. Shall we tell our little one here?" Jungeun unconciously moves away from the weird couple.

Both Sooyoung and her sister smiles at her, eyes glistening with something that Jungeun can't quite comprehend. Jinsoul then motions for them to say it together. "You're gay, Kim Jungeun."

 

----------

 

Jungeun is about to leave the company's building when her phone buzz, an indication for a new notification. She immediately reaches deep in her pocket for the device.

"So you gonna ignore me like that, huh?" Jungeun pauses her movement at the sudden voice. She looks around in confusion before spotting her manager's offended face.

The woman prompts her to come over. "Didn't see you there..." She reasons out, hesitantly making her way towards the all smiling manager.

"Maybe if you stop for awhile and look around instead of keeping your eyes on the road all the time..." Vivi shakes her head. "Do you even know what 'breaks' means?

"Uh..." Jungeun contemplates whether to answer that question or not.

"It's for you to rest, go out, go home, go anywhere. Do anything that's not related to work. Ever heard of that?" Her manager calls her over to nag her like this? She should have just continue walk pass the exit.

"Yes, I know all of that." Jungeun drops her gaze to the floor.

"Then explain the reports that I get about you being here almost everyday this week?" Of course.

"Who playing snitch now?" The brunette rolls her eyes.

"Does it matter?" Her manager asks nonchalantly.

"Yes?" Jungeun shifts her weight to her left foot. "So that I know who to avoid."

Vivi snickers. "That's what you're good at huh? Avoid." Jungeun tries her best to shrug that off, but it feels like there's another layer beneath that. "Since you're already here..." Jungeun sees Vivi gesturing her to come closer (seriously just how close she wants her to be next?) to which she abides. "Are you and Haseul fine now?"

"What does that even mean?" Jungeun jerks backwards, giving her all to appear as confused as possible.

Vivi seems not to buy it. "Your acting is terrible, Miss Kim." The manager shakes her head.

"I still don't understand what you talking about." She looks away, trying her best to brazen her front.

"Well, if you say so..." Vivi leans back in her seat, shrugging lazily. Jungeun knows that Vivi is just avoiding from potentially making her upset.

"I'll get going then..." She starts with a slow reverse away from Vivi.

"Remember what I said about breaks." Vivi gives a pointed look before waving her off. "Oh, and don't forget to say hi to Haseul for me!" Jungeun blinks rapidly at that. Say hi to Haseul huh? For heaven's sake, Jungeun is aware that both Haseul and Vivi exchange text messages with each other almost everyday. She bets Vivi is already on her way to notify Haseul about her whereabouts right now.

Wait. Jungeun might have accidentally obtains herself a lead on the identity of that snitch. It's possible...

Oh well.

There seems to be a pack of people at the bus stop, Jungeun checks on her wristwatch and only then notices that it's the rush hour. Out of the many times in a day she actually choose the peak hour to commute back home, she can't help but sigh at that. Jungeun then pulls her cargo hat further downwards before checking if her mask covers enough of her face. Once satisfied, she makes her way towards the bus stop and decides to lean against one of the poles instead of joining the mass of bodies under the roof. A few minutes later, only then she remembers to check on her phone and she swears her heart almost dropped at the text message she received a while ago.

[Haseul]: hey will u be home late?

Jungeun unconciously hyperventilates at the unexpected text message, she brings her free hand to fan at her warm face while bouncing about on her feet. It's such a simple and generic text message but why is she panicking like a high school teenager receiving a 'hi' from their long time crush? She looks around to find any possible witness to her little freak-out moment but is relieved to see everyone is occupied with their own stuffs. Jungeun stares at the string of five words without blinking once, head is completely empty. Jungeun wonders if Haseul is in trouble, she sent that almost 20 minutes ago. She would have called straight away if it's an urgent matter, right? Should she answer Haseul truthfully or should she test the waters first...?

Jungeun scoffs at her ridiculous state. This is so embarrassing, she is thankful that no one will ever learn about this little secret of hers. No one ever.

[Jungeun]: not sure yet
[Jungeun]: why?

Jungeun hits herself repeatedly on the head after sending that. Why did she reply in two separate sentences like that? Haseul only sent one in, so her reply should be in the same length too. It's the rule. Now she is 100% sure that Haseul is going to sense her over the top reaction. You dummy. Jungeun calms herself down by breathing slowly, she needs to stay composed. The only thing left now is for her to wait for Haseul's--

A buzz.

Seems like she doesn't have to wait for long as her phone vibrates in her hand and she almost dropped it to the ground. So much for staying composed. The idea of Haseul expecting for her reply is making her heart flips.

[Haseul]: just wondering
[Haseul]: :)

That's all...? Jungeun can't hide her disappointment. Oh, but there's a smiley. An old school one but still a smiley. Jungeun is unsure of the indication behind that. Is that a genuine smile or the 'shade' kind of smile? Should she be worried about that? Ugh. Locking her phone, she opts to keep the device back in her pocket. How she wishes that Haseul would say something more. It has been over 24 hours since they last spoke and to think how unpretty the way it ended yesterday, a text message from Haseul seems like a glimmer of hope to Jungeun. But now it appears to be going nowhere, Haseul is probably only checking on how much time left before Jungeun arrives home and she have to send herself back to the dungeon again. Maybe Jungeun should do her a favour and head somewhere else first.

Her phone vibrates again and with a low grumble, she pulls it out without much thought. Oh, it's Haseul (The Jo freaking Haseul!). 

[Haseul]: i made some food
[Haseul]: ok not some
[Haseul]: this is dumb but
[Haseul]: i forgot that i should be cooking for one person
[Haseul]: so haha

Jungeun proceeds to deadpan at the content of Haseul's new text message. Haseul will always be Haseul, huh? Her thumbs hover over the keyboard, pretty much unsure on how to respond to that. Jungeun would have typed in a big 'LOL' but with the current state of their relationship and her own state of overthinking, that could be consider as inappropriate. She takes another look at the crowd waiting at the bus stop and immediately makes up her mind. Jinsoul's 'You need to do something about it asap. Communications is key, Jungeun.' echoes at the back of her mind. Hailing a cab that happens to approach right on time, Jungeun gets inside it without second thought.

[Jungeun]: lol? actually
[Jungeun]: i'm already on my way home now
[Jungeun]: and i'm pretty hungry
[Jungeun]: coincidence huh? >.<

A smile creeps upon her face slowly and Jungeun unconciously hums along to the songs playing through the stereo.

[Haseul]: oh? what are the odds
[Haseul]: but great then!
[Haseul]: we can have dinner together

Jungeun supresses the chuckle threatening to escape her, causing her body to tremble along. She just ignores the look that the gray-haired driver gives her way, too elated to care about her surroundings.

[Jungeun]: what are the odds indeed

She stares at the '<3' emoji before her thumb taps on the backspace key almost instantly, replacing it with something less intimate. Maybe too soon for that...

[Jungeun]: see u soon ^^

It is a well known fact that Haseul is not that good of a cook. Jungeun thinks that's how heaven keeps the balance in nature. Haseul is gifted with almost everything but the talent to make great food and maybe, maybe, the horizontal elevation on her physical. Despite that, she ticks off any other boxes such as:

☑ Beauty
☑ Kindness
☑ Intelligence
☑ Leadership
☑ Wealthness
☑ Artistry talents (well, minus handiwork...)

Haseul is (almost, almost) immaculate.

Jungeun puts her head against the headrest, smile still playing behind her black mask. Haseul is a special one and no one shall rebut that. And there's no room for Jungeun to question her willingness to taste Haseul's dishes as she is so focused on fixing their misunderstanding over any other matter.

Or is it Haseul over any other matter?

~

She glides her sweaty palms against her sweatpants, suddenly the sight of their dorm causes her anxiety to reach a new height. It is just their tiny leader, Haseul, behind that door so what is she being so nervous for? There's no possibility for her to get assaulted or murdered by that little angel so really, Jungeun has no reason to act all antsy. One deep breath and she keys in the password before pushing the door open in a careful manner. No sign of Haseul yet but weirdly, relief and disappointment are washing over her at the same time. Jungeun puts in an effort to shoo those feelings away with a shake of her head. Be gone. Using a hand to support herself against the cold wall, she takes one sneaker off her right foot.

"You're home." Jungeun's left sneaker dangles at the end of her foot awkwardly as she is stunned by the greeting, eyes so wide as she engages herself in an impromptu staring game with Haseul. The older girl is wearing a simple oversized white shirt with a pair of shorts, her usual outfit when she is lazing at home, and her hair is tied up in a messy bun. It is nothing out of the ordinary but for unknown reason, Jungeun's breath gets caught in and she is looking no different than a fish being denied of its much needed H2O. Jungeun mentally blames it on Haseul's breathtaking smile (and eyes and face and voice and bedhair and li--). Damnit.

Regaining whatever is left of her sanity, she let out a cough and shifts her gaze to the floor beneath her instead. "Yeah, I'm-- home." Jungeun tosses her sneaker away carelessly (the normal Jungeun is going to kill her for that) much to Haseul's amusement, before stepping inside of the apartment completely. She stops in a safe distance away from Haseul, forcing a small smile on her face to cover up her nervous state. The brunette can literally hear her own heart beating like mad in her ears.

"Right on time. I'm on my way to set the table." Set the table? Please don't light up no candles. Haseul's smile looks calculated, like she is afraid of smiling too much. It is still beautiful to Jungeun nevertheless. Huh? Hold up right there.

"Oh..." Jungeun nods eagerly, eyes darting around the space where her words are floating virtually in the air. "I can help?" She tilts her head.

"I don't think there's need for that." Her chuckle tickles Jungeun's ears softly and she is this close to losing her mind. Seriously, what is happening? "Why don't you go change first?" The way Haseul's brown orbs move to scan her from head to toe makes Jungeun feels so small and she has the urge to go into hiding for the next four days.

"Good... idea." She mumbles absentmindedly, still lacking focus in general.

"Lippie...?" Jungeun is way too deep in her mind that she fails to notice Haseul inching closer, she stumbles back once Haseul's face enters her peripheral vision out of nowhere.

"Y- yeah?" She raises her eyebrows at Haseul.

"You not going to change?" Haseul is looking at her incredulously.

"Will do!" Jungeun straightens her back abruptly, a finger pointing at the direction of her shared bedroom with Chaewon. "On my way. I'll be quick." She shoots her a wide grin after that.

Jungeun is literally running to her bedroom (or is she running away from Haseul, she can't tell) before slamming the door behind her. Resting her lanky figure against the wooden barrier, Jungeun struggles to regulate her breathing. For heaven's sake, what is she being so frantic for? It almost feels like her body isn't hers, her brain isn't hers and her heart, oh her goddamn heart, isn't hers anymore. She is so desperate to get a grip on herself again.

After a quick wash and a change to a more comfortable outfit, Jungeun sees herself to a dinner she never dreamt of having when she first woke up this morning. Haseul is already at the dining table, occupied by something on her phone. Jungeun clears softly, just enough to make her presence known.

"Oh? You're done." Haseul's eyes meet hers almost instantly and Jungeun suddenly having trouble to differentiate her right foot from the left. "I was afraid that the food would gone cold before you finish."

Jungeun chuckles awkwardly. "Yeah, sorry. It took me longer somehow..." She tried her best to get ready as soon as possible and somehow she managed to hit her head on the shower pole, almost falling to her due to the slippery floor, accidentally splashed the soapy water right into her eyes, stubbed her right toe on the bedpost and put her shirt on invertedly. Yeah, somehow. The series of events is enough of a proof on how her anxiety has officially kicked in full force.

"It's alright, I don't mind waiting." Haseul shoots her a smile as she takes her spot on the opposite of the former. "Anyway, I hope you didn't get your hope too high since I cooked nothing fancy..."

Jungeun let her eyes to scan the table and true enough, Haseul isn't lying about it being nothing too fancy. But the scale of her home cooked dinner is more than enough to feed their whole band members. "You sure you're not throwing a party?" She bites down on her tongue when she realizes that her filter is off with that one.

Haseul stares at her hard and Jungeun immediately questions her own IQ level (without knowing the correlation to it). But it's not long before the older girl breaks into a small laugh. "I admit this is a little too much." She gestures at the fully occupied table. "I had the thought to get rid of them... or maybe distribute it to every unit on this floor." Haseul looks back at her. "But luckily, I remember... about you..." Jungeun tries not to put too much concern to it when Haseul seems to fidget in her seat.

"I'm the last option huh?" Jungeun jokes for the first time since she arrived back home.

For a split second, Jungeun thinks she spots something behind Haseul's eyes but it's gone as soon as it appears. "Does it matter now that you have all this in front of you?" The older girl returns her joke with another question, almost evading Jungeun's query on purpose. "Enough with the chit chat. Help yourself." Haseul motions for her to start eating.

Jungeun laughs airily before reaching for her chopsticks. The last time she actually permitted herself to consume something made by Haseul, she ended up with an upset stomach the next day. But of course, she let it be known to nobody. She have hope that Haseul may have step up her cooking skills since then. "Thank you for the food." Jungeun holds up what is going to be her first bite tonight, smiling at Haseul to deliver her gratefulness.

Haseul nods at that, she doesn't say anything afterwards but Jungeun can tell she is anticipating for her reaction. She starts with a slow munch, trying to savour the taste first and foremost. Her eyes divert back and forth between her plastic bowl and the black haired girl seated across her. Jungeun wanted to prolong Haseul's wait but the nervousness plastered on the latter's face beats her in her own game. "It's..." Jungeun continues to munch on the last bits. One big gulp and she stares at the dishes in front of her again. "Are you sure you cooked all this?"

Haseul frowns. "Yeah... is it that bad?" She bites on her lower lip (Jungeun unconsciously blinks faster to get rid of that image).

"No offense but..." She clears . "... how did you make all this?" Jungeun makes a big movement to point at everything on the table. When she sees Haseul's puzzled expression, Jungeun had to laugh. "This is so good." She takes another huge bite to get her point across, her cheeks puff out like a chipmunk devouring its favorite nuts.

It takes her a while but Haseul eventually forms an 'o' with . "You could have spare me the suspense!" She whines but soon let a smile to decorate her face. "But that's only your first dish though..."

Jungeun just laughs (she laughs a lot more tonight compared to the last two days combined). "I'm not worried about the rest..." One more bite, one more smile. "... because I know I can trust you... r upgraded cooking skills through this alone."

Haseul drops her gaze to her laps. "I hope that's how it'd be..." She says so faintly, Jungeun had to restrain her ears to catch it.

Jungeun has always been one with immense appetite but good food makes it grow bigger and this is one of the instances. She reaches for more and doesn't forget to encourage Haseul to join her. "So, what's your secret to all this?" The brunette asks while munching on her dinner.

Haseul ponders for a bit. "Hm... Vivi might have given me some useful lessons and tips..."

Jungeun smirks playfully. "I knew it."

The unplanned dinner, as opposed to what Jungeun initially predicted, gone by quite well. They share a few good laughs and banter with each other. Jungeun also makes sure that her honest compliments about the food actually triumph over Haseul's self doubt on her supposed lacking cooking talent. It's quite a joyful night for her personally and Jungeun wishes the mealtime won't end as fast but she can only hope.

Jungeun is halfway back to her bedroom when Haseul's voice greets her again. "Lippie... wanna hang around... for a bit?" She asks from the confine of couch in their living room.

The younger girl blinks for a few seconds, brain struggling to process the invitation. "... Sure..." Jungeun withdraws her hand from the doorknob before making her way towards Haseul in a much jittery manner. Deep down she knows that this is not going to be a typical 'hang out session', Haseul is just using that term as a cover up. Communications is key, Jungeun. Jungeun hesitantly plops herself down at the other end of the couch, creating an awkward looking gap in between them. "Uh... thanks for the meal again. It's marvelous." She starts slowly, half glancing at Haseul. Weird how within the last hours, it felt like nothing was wrong for the two but now they are suddenly back to square one. Jungeun is afraid that they might have been delaying from addressing the elephant in the room for far too long already. "You should cook more often."

"This is like the hundrenth time you say that." Haseul chuckles. "Question is, are you seriously willing to eat my cooking again?" Jungeun can see how Haseul has her eyes fixated on the television screen from her peripheral vision, maybe she is not the only one that is currently dealing with nervousness.

Jungeun hums lowly. "You won't need to ask."

Haseul shifts to face her, legs folding onto the couch comfortably. "You like my cooking that much huh?"

Jungeun spares the other girl a timid glance. "Haven't I make it obvious enough?"

"Wait, does it mean you didn't like it before?" Haseul squints her tiny eyes a little bit too hard.

A trail of coughs escapes Jungeun forcefully. "It's not like that..."

Haseul's laugh flows out of her in a beautiful rhythm (is that even possible). "Just kidding. I'm aware how terrible I was."

"You're never terrible..." Jungeun tries to change Haseul's perspective but words get stuck down again so she only falls into silence afterwards.

The way Haseul draws in a sharp breath makes Jungeun's heart pounding more than its normal rate. "Lippie... actually..." Her tone drops into a serious sounding one and Jungeun feels slightly uneasy because of that. "I've been doing a lot of thinking since... yesterday..." There it is. "And I've made up my mind. What do you say if we... put everything behind us? And restart again?" Jungeun bears witness as Haseul is searching for her eyes.

She swipes her tongue on her dry lips. "Wha- what do you mean?" Jungeun can't hide her confusion at the sudden proposal.

Haseul rubs a palm on her nape, probably feeling torn than ever. Jungeun can't tell. "What I'm saying is that um... can we forget about that?" She whispers the second part faintly, as if she's going to break if she said it any louder. "And back to being friends again, like the old days?"

Jungeun feels a pang of daze hits her hard, all she is able to do is stare at Haseul like she has just come up with the most ridiculous proposition ever.

"Lippie?" Haseul waves her hand right in front of Jungeun's face to which the latter responds with a soft jerk, virtually pulling herself out of the alternate dimension. "I understand if you don't--"

"Wait." Jungeun stops her abruptly. She needs a moment to gather her thoughts again. Haseul is suggesting for them to look pass that incident and act like it never happened, is that it? That's basically asking her to reset her memory, can Jungeun ever forget something so big that easily? "Wh-- why? Are you sure about that?" This time, Haseul's brown eyes are all she can see.

Haseul let her fingers to dance with one another on her lap. "Yeah... I've think it through."

There's a low ringing in Jungeun's ears, steadily increasing as time lapse. How does she go around this question without sounding inconsiderate? "Are-- are you... are you going to be okay?"

When Haseul keeps mum, Jungeun feels regret creeping up on her in a rapid pace. She is about to apologize when Haseul opens again. "Don't worry about that, I can manage. I'll be just fine." She turns her head to send a smile at Jungeun's direction.

Logically, in a manner that is supposed to make sense to Kim Jungeun, Haseul's white flag should be a major relief for her. Haseul volunteers to erase that memory from their shared diary so that they both can move on like the good friends they were, back to how they have always been in the good old days. But why does this feel like a twisted lost for her? Something doesn't sit right with her and Jungeun's head (and maybe heart too) is about to combust from too much thinking. "But I..."

"Do me a favour." That smile is still on her face, so soft looking yet gloomy in Jungeun's eyes. Jungeun feels something akin to pain down her chest and she is not even the one whom so willingly giving up on her feelings. It's Jo Haseul. Jungeun wonders just how bad the pain is on her end to finally push through with this. "Don't you ever, like ever, feel sorry for me." Her final resolve is clear in that one and Jungeun is further stunned.

"Why you do this...?" It's almost like she is directing that question more to herself than to Haseul.

Haseul's laugh sounds dry. "Either this or I lose the friend that I had in you." The ringing gets louder and slowly deafening Jungeun, she whips her head away in an attempt to make it stop. "So, what do you say?" Friendship over personal importance, Haseul is really doing this.

"I..." Jungeun shuts her eyes to get a clearer view on the inside of her thinking process, all she sees is a jumble of mess. "... if you say so." She meets Haseul's eyes, a smile too wide it almost splits her face into two.

"Great." Haseul mirrors her smile and Jungeun's subconscious mind hates the connotation behind it. "And thank you." Haseul giving up her feelings creates a shortcut for Jungeun to reach her goal on recovering her friendship with the former. But this isn't how she imagined the success would feel like, hollow and empty.

A harsh vibration from inside of her pocket causes Jungeun to jump in her seat. She pulls her phone out and taps on the green button swiftly out of habit. "Hey sweetie! Oh! Is that--" Jinsoul's face pops out of nowhere and Jungeun scrambles to turn the video call off. She turns her head towards Haseul in a sharp manner and the surprise coloring the older girl's face is unmistakable. The confusion and shock are shining brightly behind Haseul's eyes.

"I... I'll be right back." She points at her bedroom door before running towards it, not sparing another look at Haseul. Out of so many hours in a day, why now? Ugh, Jinsoul. As she has expected, Jinsoul rings her phone again. "What?" She whispers angrily despite having the door closed. Jinsoul's preferred means of communication irks her sometimes. 'Can't miss your default annoyed expression' she used to say. Jinsoul is a sweet and gentle person right until Ha Sooyoung shows up in her life. Seems like Sooyoung has successfully recruited her as her own little spawn of satan.

"Did you just hang up on me?" Her sister quirks an eyebrow, voice short of nothing but offense. "Huh."

"Well, bad timing." Jungeun rolls her eyes. "And stop calling me that every single time."

"That what?" She sees Jinsoul's eyebrows slant downwards. "Oh..." She smirks.

"Don't even think about it." Jungeun grits her teeth.

"Sweetie~" She proceeds to cackle. "Soo, look at Jungie being a whiny baby again." She looks at somewhere off screen.

"I swear to God if you don't stop-" She huffs to calm herself down. "Ugh, whatever."

"What you so mad for?" Jinsoul asks in wonder. "Ah... because I interrupt your date with Haseul huh?" She laughs out loud.

Jungeun puts a hand over the speaker. "Shut up, you're being loud." Her mind travels back to the talk they had a while ago and she frowns at it.  "And it's not a date..."

"You're such a cute gay." Another voice joins them and Jungeun drops her head in defeat. Great.

Jungeun sighs. "If there's nothing important, I'm hangi-"

"Wait!" Both Jinsoul and Sooyoung stop her from ending the call. "I'm calling you with purpose."

"Doubt it's anything relevant." Jungeun glances at the clock on her bedside table, it has been five minutes since she left Haseul by herself.

"Listen first will you." Her sister reprimands her. "Anyway, Soo came up with an idea."

"I told you I want no more of Ha Sooyoung's ideas." Jungeun tries to dismiss her. "I had enough."

"Jungeun, come on." Sooyoung takes the baton from Jinsoul. "This is going to be fun."

"No."

"Pleaseeeee."

"Nuh-"

"You don't love me do you?" Jinsoul's pout is so exaggerated, Jungeun can almost see it coming off the screen.

"Don't use that on me." She rolls her eyes.

"..." The blonde says nothing but her sulky face speaks louder than words.

"Ugh." Jungeun kicks the air in frustration. "Fine, what is it?"

That successfully lights up her sister's face again, it's like looking at a before and after comparison in real time. "How does a road trip sound to you?"

"Wha..." Jungeun is so unimpressed by the idea that she ends up staring at the screen with a total blank face.

"We plan on going on a road trip tomorrow and since your break won't end until the weekend, why not invite you to join us yeah? The more the merrier!" Sooyoung explains in excitement. "Come on, Jungeun. Stop being a homebody for once."

"Tomorrow is too sudden..." Jungeun blinks. "And I don't want to leave Haseul alone."

"Ask her to come along!" Jinsoul encourages her.

"What? You out of your mind?" Her eyebrows almost knitted together.

"It will be fun!" Jinsoul looks so thrilled and that is something so distant in Jungeun's memory.

And somehow Jungeun finds herself in another lengthy argument with the persistent couple. She keeps an eye on the time and it takes her 20 minutes to finally leave her room. This time she makes sure to abandon her phone on the bed, no more possible interference from her sister and her girlfriend. Haseul is still there, half laying on her back against the couch.

Now the question is how is she going to ask Haseul without sounding like a complete moron? She knows she is going to regret this later, somehow Jinsoul and Sooyoung always manage to make it worse for her. She sees no reason for this to be any different but Jinsoul actually uses her older sister power (does that even work in this case) to make Jungeun consider joining. Jungeun rejoins Haseul who has her eyes glued to the screen, some movie that Jungeun doesn't care about is playing.

"You're not asleep yet?" She asks without warning which causes Haseul to startle. "Sorry." Jungeun whispers in the passing.

Haseul puts a hand over her chest before letting her lips to curl upwards. "Yeah... I'm not sleepy yet." Jungeun clears while unconsciously fidgeting in her seat. "Is everything okay?" Haseul's attention is on her now, all she need to do is ask her the question.

"Yes, everything is okay." She grins awkwardly. But seriously, how?

If Haseul isn't convinced, she doesn't show it. "Alright..." Haseul sinks back into her previous position. "Can I ask you something?"

Haseul is about to start a Q&A session, maybe she can snatch this opportunity to voice out her own. "Yeah, sure. What is it?"

The older girl seems antsy, biting on her lower lip while letting her gaze to linger on her own fingers. "Um earlier..." She stops as if taking her time to construct the question properly. "... that person, is that your... uh..."

A crease appears on Jungeun's pale forehead. "... My what?"

"Y'know is that your... special someone?" Haseul is gritting on her rows of teeth afterwards and Jungeun can't get anymore dumbfounded than this.

"Special someone?" She almost snickers at that implication but soon let an absurd laugh to escape her still. "Where did you get that idea?" She tilts her head to have a better look at Haseul. That is ridiculous.

"Why are you laughing like that?" Haseul widens her eyes at Jungeun's reaction. "She did call you sweetie though, that's why I asked." Jungeun stares as Haseul pulls a corner of her lips downwards. "Why are you looking at me like that? It's okay if you don't want to share. I'm just asking." Haseul proceeds to fold her arms across her chest in a defensive manner, looking away from Jungeun swiftly.

Jungeun's laugh subsides into a chuckle before a virtual lightbulb suddenly appears right above her head. "I'm not gonna answer straight away."

"Huh, why is that?" Haseul still has her head turned away from Jungeun.

"I'm gonna introduce you to her." Jungeun successfully makes Haseul face her again.

"Say what?" The black haired girl looks astonished.

Jungeun decides to do it the copy-paste way. "How does a road trip sound to you?"

 

----------

 

"Vivi is so going to kill us for this." The girl trailing behind speaks up. "When you said road trip, I didn't think we'd do it the next day." She stops abruptly, catching on her much needed breath.

"You told her?" The brunette turns around to check on the other. "She can't kill us, this is me putting her advice 'to go outside' into practice." She laughs airily when she spots how beaten the girl appears to be. "We haven't started yet and you're already looking like a mess."

"I sent her a text message before we left, she hasn't read it yet... thankfully. But, good for you I guess..." Haseul frowns. "And excuse me, whose bright idea was it to travel via subway so early in the morning like this?"

"More like, whose bright idea was it to bring a bigass luggage to a road trip like that?" She points at the four wheels mint colored bag before creating a virtual link towards Haseul's direction.

"Hey!" Haseul stomps her feet against the pavement in protest. "It's last minute and this is all I have." She grunts in annoyance.

Jungeun laughs at the older girl's antics before shaking her head slowly. "Yeah, that and that creepy looking animal you call bag."

"It's a red panda, not a creepy looking animal!" Jungeun can't see her full face, but Haseul's eyes are enough to convey just how offended she is right now.

"Yeah, yeah." Jungeun spins on her heel, falling into steps towards the subway. "Come on, we're running late." Jungeun asked her sister to meet them at the next stop as they are already near that area and this will save them more time. It is moment like this that she appreciates waking up early in the dawn, more time means more things to experience. But that doesn't seem to be the case for Jo Haseul.

"Hey, wait for me!" Haseul whines, the luggage is slowing her down by at least tenfold.

Jungeun stops in her tracks and let out a soft sigh. She turns around once more before taking a few solid stride towards Haseul. "Give me that." In a swift motion, the luggage finds a new hand to secure it.

"Wha--"

Jungeun starts walking without another word. The luggage is not even that heavy and that makes Jungeun cries internally. Just how weak this girl is? She wonders if Haseul can survive living on her own but then remembers that the older girl is already residing so far away from her family. That is amazing and admirable, no further question. But still, just how weak this girl is? Years of knowing her, yet Jungeun still gets baffled at both quality and not-so-quality (she refrains herself from calling it flaw, Haseul has no business with flaw) traits that Haseul possesses. Jungeun makes a mental note to keep a close eye on her, her band can't afford to lose their leader in a supposedly harmless road trip.

It doesn't take them long to reach their destination despite a few minor hiccups along the way. Haseul worried a lot before departing, reasoning that it has been ages since she last commute through a public transport. Jungeun reassured her that she will lead them safely, her experience recording a variety show a few months ago where she had to deal with subways eventually come in handy. They got into the train and another issue errupted. A creepy looking lad sent a couple of questionable looks at Haseul's direction which somehow agitated Jungeun. The younger girl was about to fight the guy but Haseul managed to pull her back into her seat and asked her to calm down since that could cost them being exposed. Despite Haseul's protest, Jungeun insisted on leaving her seat to stand in front of her instead, which efficiently blocked the girl from his vision. It's a wonder that they managed to find the correct stop and get out of the station safe and sound.

"There they are." Jungeun points at the direction of a four-wheel drive, where a familiar pair is leaning against. It's so easy to pick out the shimmering golden from the vast. She is about to move when Haseul tugs on her shirt out of nowhere. "What?" She turns around to see a nervous looking Haseul.

"These friends of yours? I never met them." She says, not quite meeting Jungeun's eyes.

"Um actually..." Jungeun tilts her head in question. "Are you freaking out?" She forms a small smile.

"Freaking out? No, no. I'm just..." Haseul sighs. "... what if I give a bad first impression? What if they don't like me? What if I say something stupid? What if I make them uncomfortable? What if--"

"Haseul." Jungeun grips on the older girl's arms to keep her still, gesturing her to take a deep breath. "They gonna like you so don't worry about that. Even if you did anything from that list, I'm sure they still gonna like you. If not, I'll personally make them."

"How can you be so sure?" The nerve still hasn't quite left her eyes.

"Because how can anyone not like you?" Jungeun speaks, voice louder and firmer. "Even I--" Something struck her brain so hard that her tongue goes numb. Jungeun forces her eyes to wander around, avoiding Haseul's gaze. "... Conclusion is don't worry okay?" She let go of Haseul to collect the luggage again. "Passerby would have thought that you're meeting your future parents in-law."

Jungeun just walks forward without sparing another glance at the other girl, she can tell that Haseul is following her closely from the shadows formed at the base of her feet. The ringing in her ears comes back and Jungeun is struggling to fight it off in silence. Make it stop.

"Jungie, sweetie!" Jinsoul comes running for her instead of waiting for her to arrive. She locks their arms together, grinning wide. "I missed you!"

"Geez, we just met the other day." Jungeun whispers, just enough for her sister to hear. "And what did I say about calling me that?" She glances at Haseul and finds the girl looking confused and so out of place. Subtly, she shrugs Jinsoul off her.

"Oh, God." Sooyoung pushes herself off the car before rushing towards them. "Introduction time?"

Jungeun stares at Haseul briefly to reassure her. "Haseul, this is Jinsoul and this is Yves." She points at the two respectively. Jinsoul offers the girl a handshake which she takes with slight tremble. "And it's not like she needs any intro but this is Haseul." Jungeun gestures at the said girl.

"It's not Yves, it's Sooyoung." Sooyoung has a big wide smile on her face and it's quite a rare sight for Jungeun. "And the disrespect." The older glares at her. "You mean this is The Haseul."

"Uh..." Jungeun quirks an eyebrow.

"I'm a big fan of yours." Sooyoung announces in a heartbeat, enveloping her hand around Haseul's before shaking it with visible amount of eagerness. "You're such a great leader for LUNA. Definitely my favorite in the group." She has twinkles in her eyes and that's creeping Jungeun out. "Your vocal is out of this world. No, I meant universe."

"Oh, that's too much compliments but thank you..." Haseul nods repeatedly in... embarrassment? Jungeun isn't sure but her voice does sound like it which is weird since Haseul has been dealing with mass of fans for years, each time with overflowing confidence.

"Hello?" Jungeun waves her hand right in front of Sooyoung to gain her attention. "I wasn't aware of that?" She widens her eyes.

"Do I need to tell you everything?" Sooyoung sends her a look that says 'mind your own business'.

"Guys, enough. Before this gets too far." Jinsoul the peacemaker interjects and separates the two.

Jungeun can feel Haseul tugging on her jacket. She leans in closer to hear what the girl has to say. "That girl?" Haseul has her index finger pointing at Jinsoul. "Isn't she... that Jung Jinsoul?"

"Ah..." She clears . "Soul." She calls out for her sister who whips her head at her almost instantly. "Um, you are right. This is that Jung Jinsoul." Jungeun gives the girl the confirmation.

"Jinsoul that popular ex trainee--" Haseul cups her clothed mouth. "Sorry."

"Yes, Jinsoul the ex trainee." Jinsoul beams at Haseul. "Still remember me yeah?"

"Oh my God, it's been so long." Now, Haseul looks excited. "You're so much prettier now." A drastic change in her mood but Jungeun isn't complaining. "I didn't know you and Lippie are friends."

"Friends?" Jinsoul has a puzzled expression plastered on her face.

"Oh, you two are not friends...?" The smallest among them shifts her gaze back and forth between the two girls.

"No...?" Jinsoul snickers.

"Actually--"

Haseul cuts her off before she can save her from further guessing. "So, you two are..." The black-haired girl proceeds to move her index fingers closer together to imply the idea that she has in her mind.

"What?" Jinsoul laughs, clearly finding the insinuation ridiculous. "Jungie didn't tell you anything?"

"I'm trying to." Jungeun huffs loudly.

"Alright, you do that. Meanwhile we gonna get your bags in the trunk." Sooyoung clasps her hands together while shooting a knowing look at her girlfriend. "But Jungeun... a luggage? Seriously?" The tallest looks at Jungeun with so much judgment.

"Uh... it's not mine." She sends a signal using her eyes, moving them just enough to point at the real owner.

Sooyoung grins awkwardly. "Oh." She chuckles, it sounds flat though. "Luggages provide you with more space, that's honestly brilliant. How come I never think about bringing one? Or two? Or even better, twelve? Hm maybe next time? Here, give that to me." She snatches the handle from Jungeun before rolling it away along with her.

Haseul is definitely waiting for the two to be out of earshots before she confront Jungeun again. "Okay, tell me what?"

Jungeun heaves a very deep breath. "Um don't freak out but... Jinsoul is my sister."

Haseul does the total opposite. "Your sister?!"

"Shh." She puts a finger just above Haseul's mask to hush her down. "Yeah, she is my sister. Not by blood though, I'm... adopted." Jungeun speaks in a quite volume.

Haseul is obviously struggling to grasp at the newfound information, she stares at Jungeun with so many questions behind her eyes. "You never told us... me..." She looks down at her sneakers briefly before flashing the other girl a trembling smile afterwards. "But I'm glad you did now."

Jungeun rubs on her nape to ease her nerve. "I... just prefer not to talk about it. Not that I'm ashamed of it or anything, it just doesn't feel like it matters after so long."

"Are you okay with telling me this?" Haseul asks in a very soft tone, for the first time Jungeun almost can't feel the weight of that topic on her.

"Yeah... I don't tell many people. Actually, no one really... but I trust you so..." She lowers her head, feeling so small for unknown reason. Haseul might change her opinion on her after this revelation.

Against her better judgment, Haseul reaches for her hand and hold onto it with so much warmth. "You trust me, that's a big thing." Her smile is still playing on her lips. "And I mean it, I'm glad you did this even though you're not obliged to do it in the first place." The warmth spreads all the way to her heart.

Jungeun stares at the delicate hand holding onto hers. "Won't you be thinking any less of me?" Her voice quivers.

Haseul's little chuckle tickles her ears. "Why would I?"

"I don't know... maybe I look pitiful?" Jungeun whispers.

Haseul's hold on her only gets tighter and it's so hard for Jungeun to ignore. "Don't be ridiculous." Jungeun is experiencing mixed feelings that she can't put into words. These ringings need to stop. "It doesn't change a thing okay? If anything it just makes me..." Haseul pauses and she had to look up to check on her. "It just makes you more special... to me." Jungeun can see Haseul swallows a huge lump down but her smile remain lighting up her whole face.

Jungeun finds herself drowning in Haseul's brown pools, unconsciously returning the hold with the same intensity. "Thank you." She says briefly but it contains so much than what she let on.

"No." Haseul shakes her head. "Thank you, for trusting me."

 

----------

 

Jungeun still remembers the day she got casted by the company, eight months after her sister Jinsoul did. The older had already been the talk among trainees and staffs alike that Jungeun couldn't help but feel pressured and maybe a slight envy. They both agreed not to announce their relation in fear of Jungeun being an easy target of bullies. That pact worked to lift some of the load off Jungeun and she went through her training without having the 'sister to the all-rounded trainee' label attached on her. She was proud of Jinsoul of course, but her sister had always been the better one among them since they were children and Jungeun strived to surpass her on this area no matter what. Jungeun slowly climbed up the list and after much hard work she managed to place herself as one of the preferred trainees to debut. Along the way, she saw Haseul for the first time during one of the evaluation weeks. Jungeun was quickly drawn in by Haseul's enchanting voice and persona that the girl somehow became her source of motivation to keep on going with the grueling training period.

The said debut was around the corner when a shocking news hit the entire body of trainees and staffs, and Jungeun was no exception. Jinsoul was announced to have departed the company, contract terminated with no reason stated. Jungeun later learned from Jinsoul that she was given the ultimatum after their company found out about her relationship with a girl that goes by Yves and Jinsoul chose to leave instead of giving in to the company's demand for her to cut the tie off. It was a ridiculous situation to Jungeun, regarding Jinsoul's act as foolish and she couldn't help but blame Yves as the root to Jinsoul starved dream. As quickly as her attraction to Haseul came, she tucked her admiration away and vowed to not let feelings get the better of her and ruin it for her too. No more Haseul for her afterwards. That was until she was announced to debut alongside five other girls and Jungeun wasn't sure if it's her luck or a pure bad spell but Haseul's name was there too, two rows above hers in the list.

Jungeun stares at the girl from her peripheral vision, she is so immersed in enjoying the view outside of the window, gasping once in a while when she finds anything interesting. It's impossible to keep Haseul away so Jungeun kept her closer but the revelation from months back is still very much in her head, loud and clear. Up until this moment there's only one question that keeps repeating itself for her, after all these years what are the odds?

"Our first destination will be... babe, drumrolls please." Sooyoung requests to Jinsoul and the blonde creates a drum noise playfully. "Rest stop!" They both cheer out loud, wide smiles remain on their faces afterwards. Jungeun stops hating on Yves (or Sooyoung, as the girl herself asked to be called because Jungeun is Jinsoul's beloved sister and Jinsoul is her beloved girlfriend) after she sees just how much the other makes her sister happy. Jinsoul is glowing whenever she is with her and it is such a wonderful sight to Jungeun, something she will never admit out in the open. At least not to Sooyoung herself, feeding her ego is the last thing Jungeun wants to do.

"Of course, food will always be your priority." Jungeun rolls her eyes.

"Don't act like food is not your priority too, Jungie!" Jinsoul sing sang and Jungeun snickers at that. She spots Haseul giggling with no sound too and she absentmindedly smiles.

They get off Sooyoung's 4WD after reaching the rest stop safely. "Make sure to lock it before you leave!" Sooyoung tosses her keys to Jungeun. Both her and Jinsoul sprint off to the food court almost immediately, leaving both Jungeun and Haseul behind. The former tuck the band to her mask behind her ears lazily while Haseul already has it on the moment Sooyoung swerves the car into the place.

"Jinsoul and Sooyoung, are they...?" Jungeun glances to her left and sees Haseul tilting her head.

"Girlfriends? Yeah." She smiles albeit it goes unnoticed to Haseul.

"No wonder, they are so cute together!" The girl exclaims and somehow Jungeun can see the smile flashing in her eyes. You are cute yourself. "How long have they been together?"

"Uh... 4? 5 years? I'm not quite sure myself." Jungeun shrugs but the joy that has been emitting from Haseul is infecting her in one way or another.

Haseul nods in acknowledgement. "Wow, that's so long..." She scratches the top of her head. "I'm being nosy huh?"

"Nah, you are not." Jungeun denies it almost instantly. "I don't get to talk about my sister a lot especially regarding her relationship, so this is... refreshing."

"Good then." Haseul giggles. "Jinsoul looks so happy, Sooyoung must have done the right thing."

"I used to disapprove of their relationship, so did my family..." Jungeun trails off, walking down the memory lane briefly. "But then I realized that Soul is the happiest when she's with Soo and she deserves that more than anything else."

"Ah..." Haseul clears nervously. "How about your family?"

That question causes a gloom to appear on Jungeun's face. "They are not on the same page as me, it's better now but they still refused to welcome Soo warmly. Soul takes offense from that of course." Jungeun sighs deeply. "And I'm not really on speaking terms with my parents, just keeping my stance."

"I'm sorry to hear that..." Haseul slows down her pace, trying to offer some sort of physical comfort to Jungeun but the latter sees her backing off at the last minute.

"Nothing to be sorry about." Jungeun takes the initiative to shove on Haseul's shoulders playfully. "Let's just say that I don't have great memories of my parents either."

"Ow." Haseul rubs on her shoulder, she gives a fistful to Jungeun in return. "But still, I'm sorry you two have to go through that." Jungeun snickers before she finds herself reaching for the crown of Haseul's head. She ruffles on her dark silky hair to create a mess that Haseul didn't see coming. "Lippie!" Haseul shouts in reflex, thankfully the rest stop is almost vacant during that time so no one pay them any mind.

"Last to arrive have to pay!" She takes off without doubt, leaving only dust for Haseul to deal with.

"You're cheating!" Haseul's voice fades away in the background for Jungeun as she runs away, laugh escaping her at every step she takes.

Maybe the ringing inside of her head isn't an entirely bad thing to have.

 

----------

 

"Where are we headed honestly?" Jungeun let out the question that has been nagging at the back of her mind since half an hour ago, when all she can see around her is nothing but green.

"Uh... I don't know, maybe the countryside? Just following my gut feelings." Sooyoung shrugs, having only one hand to maneuver the steering.

Jungeun automatically leans forward at the answer. "What do you mean gut feelings? Have you no plans?" She looks back and forth between the two at the front seat.

"Road trip is supposed to be like that, Jungie." Jinsoul smiles brightly to reassure her but Jungeun is not sold on that one.

"You actually trust Soo like that? What if we get lost?" Jungeun huffs audibly.

"Duh, of course she trusts me." Sooyoung snickers.

"I trust my life with you, babe." There are twinkles behind the blonde's eyes as she smiles sweetly at the driver.

Jungeun jerks away from the couple. "Ugh, ew." She sinks back into her seat dejectedly.

"Now just chill will you, take Haseul as an example." Jinsoul says simply.

Jungeun glances at the girl in question, her head is bobbing up and down as she appears to be seconds away from the dreamland. She just cackles at the almost adorable sight before turning her head away to continue with her little search for any sign of civilization. Less than two minutes later, she feels a sudden weight on her left shoulder and bless her silent reflex for saving her from screaming out loud due to surprise. Jungeun inspects from the corner of her eyes and sees Haseul sleeping soundly while using her shoulder as a makeshift pillow. She clears softly in what could be deemed as a half-hearted effort to wake the girl up but Haseul only snuggles closer and Jungeun instinctively gulps at that. The brunette looks up when she feels eyes on her and immediately spots her sister smirking at her.

"What?" Jungeun mouths, using her facial muscles in replace of her voice to convey her annoyance.

"How you enjoying the road trip so far?" Her sister wiggles her eyebrows teasingly.

"Shut up." Jungeun hisses and that seems to cause Haseul to stir in her sleep. Jungeun quickly ceases her movements and holds her breath in. She finds relief once Haseul relax and goes back into a deep slumber. "This is all your fault." She mouths again but it only encourages Jinsoul to laugh at the unfortunate (it's the opposite for Jungeun, really) occurence.

"Babe, let's not rush yeah? Let Jungeun have her moment." Jinsoul puts a hand on Sooyoung's arm.

The girl chuckles, eyes focused on the road. "Gotcha, hon."

Jungeun rolls her eyes, maybe she should reconsider about approving Sooyoung as her sister's girlfriend. There's a risk that things may get nastier for her if they ever get married (not that they are not behaving like one already), living in hell would probably have nothing on them. She falls into silence afterwards, unintentionally giving a listen to Haseul's calm breathing. This is the first time she has ever had a sleeping Haseul so close to her. Sure, they used to spend a lot of time together to the point of snuggling against each other with no regards to spaces whatsoever before, but Haseul has never ever fell asleep beside her like this. She can't say the same about herself, she lost count on how many times Haseul had to deal with a sleeping Kim Jungeun. Jungeun learns to appreciate the way Haseul's figure rising and deflating at every breath she takes and after a few moments, Jungeun finds herself matching her own rhythm with Haseul's. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. Slipping into a state of tranquillity that she never knew exists, Jungeun decides it's not so bad to have Haseul much more closer to her like this. She can almost feel Haseul's heartbeats against her arm and that idea gives her a run of chills down her spine. Jungeun barely registers the fact that the ringing inside of her head is not as disturbing anymore, maybe Haseul has singlehandedly articulate it into a soothing melody instead.

When she leaves the darkness and let the light to greet her eyes again, Jungeun had to narrow them to a bare minimum almost immediately. She puts a hand over her eyes to shield them from the blinding ray of sunshine before slowly readjusting her sight to her environment again.

"You're awake." A voice jolts her up and with a whip of her head, Jungeun spots Haseul's face a few inches away from her and it causes her to scoots away from the girl in panic. Haseul only directs a laugh at her as a respond. 

"Wha- what happened? Where are we?" Jungeun scans around in panic. "Where's Soul? Soo?" Her eyes widen as she can't spot the two anywhere near her.

"Lippie, relax. You were asleep earlier." Haseul drops a hand on her shoulder to stop her from moving around. "We are at the campsite." The older girl pats at the area a couple of times before retreating her hand. "Both Jinsoul and Sooyoung are setting up the tents right now and I stay back to keep an eye on you until you wake up."

"Oh." Jungeun relax her muscles at the explanation, a sigh of relief escapes her at the same time. That is, until it finally hits her still drowsy mind. "Campsite you say?!" She sits up straight, staring at Haseul in silent plea for the other girl to tell her 'you heard it wrong'.

"Yup, campsite." Haseul nods while smiling widely.

"How- they must be out of their mind. They never mentioned about any campsite." Jungeun mumbles to herself, she can see Haseul looking at her in concern from the corner of her eyes. "I need to talk to them." She waste no time to free herself from the car and goes down a random path without actual knowledge on Jinsoul and Sooyoung's whereabouts. But luck is totally on her side when she spots the familiar golden 100 centimetres away from where she is standing. "Soul! Soo!" She screams out to gain their attention. "What are you guys doing?!"

Jinsoul rises to her feet before clapping the dirt away from her hands. "Uh... preparing our tents?"

"Waking up in the middle of nowhere is certainly not what I signed up for." Jungeun's eyes are almost as big as a golf ball. "Where did you even get those tents?"

"It's Ha Sooyoung, name it and I have it." Sooyoung looks at her with so much judgment. "Were you having a nightmare earlier?"

Jungeun gives her a sign to stop messing around, she pulls on her hair to express her frustration. "No. This is nightmare. What is this place?" The brunette gestures at her surrounding. "Is it even safe to be here?"

"What has gotten into this kid..." Jinsoul is looking at Haseul for any kind of answer but it's clear that the girl also has no clue on why Jungeun is panicking like that. "Look, Jungie. It's safe here yeah? Trust me."

"Why should I trust you?" Jungeun narrows her eyes at her sister.

"Uh..." Jinsoul blinks rapidly, obviously caught off guard by her reaction.

"We probably gonna get killed by wild animals o- or from coldness or-- lose our way in here or--"

"For heaven's sake, it's safe." Sooyoung sighs heavily.

"Don't. Cut. Me. Off." Jungeun lifts another hand sign to get her point across. "Where was I..."

"Lippie." A soft warm hand suddenly slides itself right into her trembling palm and Jungeun glances over her shoulder to find Haseul standing close to her, almost no distance left between them. "I've checked and this campsite is legit. We're still within reach if anything happen." Haseul shares her own findings in a calm manner. "So, it is safe. Don't worry okay?"

Jungeun stays rooted to the ground, not moving an inch and her eyes are deep into Haseul's. She finds nothing but assurance there and an actual sigh of relief finally escapes her. "O- okay..." She hears Sooyoung snorting behind her and Jinsoul not missing a beat to mumble 'freaking whipped'.

In the last 20 minutes, she has grunt for at least 12 times to express just how annoyed she is after being forced to gather some firewoods with Sooyoung. That makes an average of approximately a grunt at every two minutes. How nice. Haseul and Jinsoul are given the task to finish up the tents or to be exact two tents (Jungeun can sense a scheme when she was told about it, there's no way she can escape being in the same one as Haseul) and Jungeun has a bad feeling about being separated away from her leader but she can't actually say anything about it. The contrasting stark between her sweaty body and the chilly air around the site makes it quite unpleasant for her. Another stick joins the bundle in her hand quickly earns another grunt from her.

"'Lippie...'" The older one makes a noise that sounds a lot like mocking. Jungeun doesn't respond and choose to ignore her. "'It is safe so don't worry okay?'" Looks like she is not stopping anytime soon. "Gosh, you were losing your mind back there and Haseul just needed to cast a spell and poof suddenly you got your together." Sooyoung laughs her head off.

"I'd appreciate it if you can shut your mouth." Jungeun says monotonously.

"And lose the chance to make a point? Yeah, hell nah." Sooyoung snickers.

"The only point I see here is this pointy stick that I'm about to shove up your if you keep talking." She waves the said stick around in what is supposed to be a terrifying stance.

Sooyoung only guffaws. "Oh, ." She winks. "But no thanks, Soul would kill both of us." The girl holds up both of her hands in front of her. " aside, I think it's about time you drop the oblivious act around Haseul."

That struck a nerve but Jungeun is far from giving Sooyoung the leeway to talk about that matter. "I'm an idol, not an actress so... not sure what act you blabbering about."

"C'mon Jungeun." Sooyoung drops her secured bundle onto the ground. "How long do you plan to stay in hiding?" She can't decide which one she hates more; Sooyoung, when she is being annoying or Sooyoung, when she is acting her age. But for now, her vote is on the latter.

"But I'm not hiding anything?" Jungeun points at herself defensively.

Sooyoung shakes her head. "You not telling Haseul your true feelings is you not hiding anything? Sounds about right." She rolls her eyes.

Jungeun stares at her. "Okay, maybe stop beating around the bush? If not, I'm going back to the site." She is about to walk away when Sooyoung speaks in a much quieter voice.

"It was tough, when Jinsoul first told me that she was made to choose between me and her long time dream. I kept convincing her to go for the obvious choice and I swear my heart broke every time but it'd be selfish of me to ask her to abandon her hard work wouldn't it?"

Jungeun drops her gaze towards the dried leaves beneath her sneakers, encountering this side of Sooyoung is a first for her. 

"She never said anything back tho, she just looked at me with those eyes and I made sure to keep that in my memory as much as possible because I believed any moment could be the last time I'd be with her."

Jungeun is never an expert when it comes to matter of hearts but she is trying her best to understand every anecdote coming from Sooyoung.

"Did you know how much I was about to combust when she came crying at me one day and I deadass thought 'this is it, this is the end' but then she went around and said she chose me? I mean I know she's not the brightest one around but that's pretty dumb even for her standard ain't it? From that day onwards I knew it'd never be easy for us, well it still is... but I try my best to make sure she knows my heart too, as much as I can because she already expressed hers in the most unthinkable way."

Jungeun runs her hand through her tousled hair. Ugh. She makes a mental note to go for ponytail later.

"Look, of course I'm not expecting it to be the same for everyone but... don't you think Haseul deserves to know the truth? I'm not suggesting that you should go confess to her this minute and establish a relationship the next. But at least spare her from being kept in the dark for God knows how long and in a way maybe, maybe, it'd help you to free yourself from further worries and guilt." Despite all that, Sooyoung still appears rather calm than dictating.

Jungeun chuckles. "She gave up."

"Sorry?" Sooyoung tilts her head in confusion.

"She told me she is willing to give up on her feelings for the sake of our friendship." Jungeun says in a low voice.

There's a pregnant of pause afterwards before Sooyoung finally responds. "I see..." It's obvious she doesn't see that coming.

"That's great right? Means that I won't have to think and worry about it anymore." She kicks on the leaves, tearing them apart in the process.

"Are you?" Sooyoung throws a question that hits harder than it should be.

She smiles bitterly. "I end up being haunted by it day and night." One heavy breath and Jungeun moves again to track back to their campsite.

"So it doesn't mean you have to give up too, right?" Sooyoung speaks again but Jungeun just leaves the question hanging in the cold air.

When she reaches her destination, Jungeun spots both Haseul and Jinsoul sitting side by side on a dead tree trunk and she plans for a surprise entrance. So, she carefully treads the ground, forcing herself to create zero noise to the two. Jungeun stays behind a tree to calculate her next step but their chatter piques her interest instead.

"... I remember that! Oh my gosh, it was crazy." Haseul laughs her heart out, it's always nice to see the girl enjoying her time. "You're so great, I imagine you'd take over the whole country if you actually debuted." So, they are catching up on each other.

Jinsoul snickers. "Well, that will remain as pure imagination now yeah?" She sighs.

"Oh God, sorry! Did I hit a sore spot..." Haseul drops her head.

"What? No, no! Of course not!" Jinsoul smacks on the girl's arm playfully. "That time is in the past for me now." She chuckles.

Haseul is probably trying to reorganize herself because she only stays muted after that. Maybe it takes her a solid minute, Jungeun doesn't count, but Haseul eventually speaks again. "Is it okay...? If I ask about... that?"

Jinsoul tilts her head, Jungeun can picture the puzzled look on her sister's face. "What do you mean? Like do you wanna know why I quit?"

Haseul shrugs. "Something like that...? Tell me if you're uncomfortable--"

"Nah." Jinsoul shifts her gaze to the sky, as if recollecting her long abandoned history from there. "I'm not sure if it's a fact but I've heard at some point in your life, you'd reach a junction where you have to choose between love and dream." She whips her head towards Haseul. "Mine came a little bit too early." Jungeun can hear her laughs airily after that. "I doubted myself at first but I never regret once."

Haseul meets the blonde eyes right then, her gaze is gloomy. "That... that's so brave of you. I wish I had the tiniest portion of your courage..." Her voice goes quiet.

"Why? You having any dilemma?" Jinsoul puts a hand on Haseul's back.

Jungeun can see her shoulders tremble but hear no sound. "... You can say so."

That answer tugs on Jungeun's frail heart string.

Later that night, Jungeun lays wide awake on her side of the tent while Haseul has her back facing her (as expected, Soo&Soul have this planned beforehand, 'I'm sure Haseul would be more comfortable with you!'). Satans. Jungeun can mentally point three different reasons on why she is having trouble sleeping:

1. The environment is too eerie and the base beneath her makes her miss her bed more than anything
2. The jumble of thoughts swirling in her mind (her brain enjoys overworking itself)
3. The petite figure breathing beside her, so close yet so far away from her

"Lippie?" Jungeun gasps at the sudden voice, putting a hand over her startled heart.

She glances to her left, barely making the shape out but she can see Haseul already shifting to her back. "Yeah?"

"I thought you're asleep..." Haseul whispers.

"I... can't..." Jungeun breathes out. "Why are you still awake?" It's funny to think that it's very unlikely for the other two to hear them, yet they are whispering like they were being held hostage.

"Same, can't sleep too." Jungeun can hear Haseul frowning through that. "It's a bit too cold."

That answer causes Jungeun to blink rapidly, mouth slightly ajar. "Oh. Uh... do you want my blanket?" She offers.

"Silly." Haseul giggles. "I don't want to find you frozen tomorrow morning." The girl jabs on her arm with her elbow.

"Ow." Jungeun rubs on the spot exaggeratingly. "Then how you gonna sleep?" She sighs. "I'm sorry for making you join this, I should've known better than to trust those brats."

There's a ruffling noise on Haseul's side, Jungeun later finds out it's due to her turning to her side. "Nonsense, if anything I only have you to thank for. This is the most fun I've ever had off work."

"Right..." Jungeun trails off, side eyeing Haseul's shadow in the process. "Hey." A mad proposal suddenly dancing at the tip of her tongue and she gulps thickly. This is either going straight to her goal or heads completely south, she assess it in her brain over and over again.

"Hm?" Haseul sounds sleepy but not quite falling asleep yet.

"Don't get me wrong but I've been thinking that since it might be too cold for you... maybe you... uh... wanna come closer?" She feels her cheeks flushed right after that, her conscience is a tad bit late to the party.

Haseul remains silent and Jungeun is so ready to pretend that never happened and force herself to fake sleep (and run away during wee hours, move to another country and change her name). But maybe it's just Haseul's slow gears. "Closer where?" She sounds genuinely clueless.

Jungeun ignores the rib-shattering pounding of her heart, her only intention is to help Haseul sleeps comfortably and she is going to focus on that. "Closer to..." Oh dear lord. "... me?"

The still air around her feels suffocating with every second that passes. Jungeun thinks that she may have crossed the line this time and potentially causes them to move backward in their little mending pursuit. The moment Haseul actually, literally, scoots over to her and reaches out to turn her arm into a makeshift pillow (again, maybe Jungeun needs to start charging that) is the moment Jungeun ceases her breathing. The smaller girl snuggles just below Jungeun's jawline (she momentarily regrets passing on building her arm muscles) before wrapping Jungeun's torso in a loose hug. She hopes her tremble doesn't reach Haseul but that's very unrealistic given their current intimacy.

"You're warm. This works for me." Haseul's breath tickles her and her sanity is slowly slipping away, she is barely keeping it at the end of her fingertips. "Good night, Jungeun..."

Jungeun presses her eyelids as hard as she can, hearing that rolling off Haseul's tongue is making it so much harder for her to function properly. The ringing is coming back in full force and it takes up every ounce of Jungeun to hold it off. "Good night too, Haseul."

 

----------

 

"A... funfair?" Jungeun deadpans.

"Correction, it's a funfair!" Sooyoung throws her hands in the air, the joy is so contrasting from Jungeun.

"Wow, I've never quite been to one." The wide smile on Haseul's face is enough to tell that she is looking forward to this too.

"Not even one back in the US?" Jinsoul asks.

Haseul grins awkwardly. "No... I mostly went to school and spent the rest of my time... studying."

Jungeun snorts. "Nerd."

"Hey!" The shortest one punches Jungeun on her arm but it clearly has zero effect.

"And tiny." Jungeun's body is shaking from supressing the laughter threatening to leave her.

"Why are you so-" This time, she uses both of her fists to display her anger. "--mean to me."

Jungeun can't pinpoint the exact reason but last night did change something between them, or at least for her. Her napping instinct is woken up from holding Haseul close all night long and since that moment onwards, she might have turned keeping the girl happy and safe as her personal mission. "I'm just kidding." Jungeun traps Haseul's wrists in her hold to stop the assault before smiling with her eyes at the older one.

"Aw, cute." Jinsoul breathes into her palms and Jungeun quickly flips back to her default persona, releasing Haseul gently.

"Yeah, that's cute and all but can it make the time wait for us? No right?" Sooyoung remarks playfully. "C'mon, hon. I want to hear you scream." She takes Jinsoul's hand before tugging her along with her.

Jungeun can't hide her cringe. "The heck. Ugh, gross." She let out a major eyeroll. "Sorry you had to bear with... all that." She gestures at the couple.

"They are so cute together." Her voice is so quiet and... dreamy? Jungeun isn't sure. But then, Haseul seems to snap out of her trance. "What are we waiting for?" The beam coming from the girl is almost blinding Jungeun.

Sweats are forming on her hand as it slightly trembles so Jungeun feigns tapping on her own thigh to make it less visible. Haseul's fingers are a few inches away from hers and Jungeun for only God knows why, is fighting off her inner desire to lace them together. For heaven's sake, this is all Soo&Soul's PDA fault. "Yeah, let's go."  it. She is so close in fulfilling her desire when Haseul starts walking away and Jungeun proceeds to bring her hand all the way up to lightly dab on her hair instead. This sense of rejection.

Jungeun cranes her neck as she watches the roller coaster moving from highs to lows in full speed. She shudders at the thought of being in that ride.

"This is pretty intense for a small scale funfair." Sooyoung points out. "Shall be our finale yeah?"

Jungeun snickers. "We? Nah, I'll pass."

"Why? It's gonna be so much fun tho." Sooyoung widens her eyes.

Jungeun scratches her nose. "I'm not a fan of rides."

"More like, 'I'm scared of rides'. Isn't that it, sweetie?" Jinsoul chuckles.

"Wha-- don't come up with stories now, Soul." Jungeun sends her a look.

"You scared of rides?" Haseul chimes in and Jungeun honestly wanted to run away from here already.

"No, don't listen to her. I'm perfectly good at rides, especially roller coasters." Jungeun nods firmly, basically trying to hypnotize herself into believing that.

"So, we can get on it later yeah?" Sooyoung bounces about on her feet.

Jungeun clears . "S- sure."

"Oof, the consequence is going to be too hot for you to handle sweetie." Jinsoul gasps.

Jungeun just glares at her sister. "I don't know what nonsense you're on." Haseul's quiet giggle is enough to distract Jungeun from her worry.

Quite different from what she had initially expected, their little venture at the funfair is the exact reflection of its name, fun. Her childhood memories of running around with Jinsoul and hopping from one booth to another to try the different games offered comes flooding into her mind all at once. There's no such thing as anxiety or worry back then, only joy and excitement for young Jungeun even with her awareness to her unfateful past. Her training period added by the subtle broken household led Jungeun into a completely different life. She turned mature fast, sure, but she also lost her way with living brightly and carefree. Jungeun let herself being trapped in an invisible glass, limiting it in order to stay secured on her idea of the correct path. Leading her life according to the idol's textbook may or may have not make it easier for her. But for once after years, she feels like young Jungeun again. Only this time, Jinsoul has Sooyoung to take her hand instead of Jungeun and Jungeun has Haseul by her side. The barrier is still there but Jungeun tries her best to pay no mind to it.

"Nice, they have haunted house too." After having a lot of fun with different rides and games, Sooyoung leads them towards a creepy looking building next. "Who's in?"

Jinsoul raises her hand. "Me!"

The lack of response from the other two causes Sooyoung to look at them quizzically. "Y'all tapping out or...?"

Jungeun casts a concern glance at Haseul, she is fully aware of the latter's weak point. Figuring that Haseul will not speak up about it without feeling guilty, Jungeun steps forward in her place instead. "Yeah, you two go ahead. I'm honestly so... exhausted." She directs a look at the girl. "So, we gonna go chill somewhere first."

The doubt on their faces is so evident. "Weird flex but okay..." Sooyoung quirks an eyebrow. "Too bad Jungeun has a low stamina yeah? You two go chill and... hopefully it restores the bar instead of draining it more." She smirks to herself. Sooyoung is seriously asking for a smack on the face.

Jungeun ignores the heat scorching her cheeks, it's not helping that Haseul appears to be taken aback too. "You better make sure Soul gets out of there unscathed." She tries to divert the topic away.

"Oh, don't you worry." Her hands suddenly slither around Jinsoul's waist to bring her closer. "I won't let anything touch my princess." That (unsurprisingly) earns a coo from Jinsoul. The brunette only watches in horror as both Sooyoung and Jinsoul almost diminished the gap between them. Haseul is already looking away bashfully.

"Alright guys!" Jungeun shields her eyes from the view. "That's enough for now. Have fun in there." Instinctively, Jungeun takes Haseul's hand in hers before pulling her away from the scene.

They walk around for a couple of minutes, trying to find a good place to sit and pass the time. Jungeun is so immersed in her mission when she feels Haseul halting her steps. "Lippie."

She turns around at Haseul's voice. "Anything wrong?" Her eyes are trained on Haseul.

"No but... we already walk far enough." Haseul is staring at the ground.

"Oh, are you tired?" Jungeun scans around in panic. "I see a couple of benches next to that booth, we can rest there for a bit."

"It's not that..." Huh? She can't understand why Haseul looks so bothered.

Jungeun narrows her eyes. "Then what?"

"Uh..." Jungeun follows Haseul's line of vision and only then she (belatedly) realized her tight grip on Haseul's hand.

"Shoot, I'm sorry." Her reflex is as fast as the lightning, keeping her hand in the pocket of her hoodie in less than 0.1 second.

She swears she sees Haseul's cheeks turn into a rosy hue, but that's more likely her imagination than reality. "Don't be." Haseul says faintly as she turns her head away.

Jungeun thinks she has embarrassed herself more than enough today. Self control, where you at? Jungeun mindlessly kicks at nothing, so many confusing events are happening to her back to back. If there ever was a plug to her brain, she was more than ready to pull the cord off so she won't have to deal with the overworked gears problem. She is already in the right path to mend her friendship with Haseul, in fact they are doing it super well. But the more she believes that she has come to terms with that, the more unnecessary thinking she keeps on doing. What is it with Jo Haseul? Who gives her this privilege? Why she keeps on raiding her mind 24/7? No answer is available to her and that's exactly what she fears about; living with uncertainty. Showing no sign of feelings suits her better, that's no doubt. So why can't she handle this the way she always did? Geez, question after question. feelings.

They continue to walk towards the bench but Haseul stops in her tracks to point at one of booths. "Look, a giant red panda!"

Okay, now a giant panda to be added to her list? That scares Jungeun for a second before she spots the said panda. She huffs in relief. "As if panda of a bag size isn't terrifying enough, there's a bigass one like that?" Jungeun narrows her eyes, cowering away in fear of that panda coming to life and attack her.

"What do you mean terrifying? It's cute!" Haseul rarely stomps her feet but whenever she does that, she looks no different than a child throwing tantrum.

"I know you have poor eyesight but this level is unacceptable." Jungeun shakes her head. "Get yourself a pair of new glasses soon okay?"

Haseul crosses her arms across her chest. "You're just jealous it's cuter than you."

A gasp escapes her as her eyes turn double their original size. "Now, now, is it?" She scoffs. "Look at me in the eye and tell me I'm no cuter than that animal."

Haseul comes closer and Jungeun tries not to laugh at the way the girl has to crane her neck to meet her dead in the eye. Surprisingly, she managed to hold Haseul's stare disregarding their approximity. "You have nothing on the adorable red pandas." It's a low whisper but it sure packs a lot of venom.

Jungeun stumbles back, putting a hand on her chest dramatically. "Ouch, that cut me deep." She glances at her palm. "Look, I'm bleeding."

The older girl rolls her eyes at her little act. "Your acting is terrible, Lippie." 

Dejavu? "So I've heard." But then Haseul just explodes into another fit of giggles that makes Jungeun pause everything to enjoy it. It doesn't last long though and Jungeun internally disappointed at that. She notices Haseul's subtle glance towards the stuffed animal and it tugs at her heart string. "You want that adorable but terrifying panda huh?"

Haseul looks at her with incredulous eyes. "Nope, none of us will be able to carry that to the dorm without being caught for breaking the rule."

"It's been years, that rule of no stuffed toys bigger than 50 cm kinda has expired now." Jungeun exclaims confidently. "C'mon, let's get you this creepy animal to prove my point." Her steps are big. The eagerness to do it for Haseul is something so rare, she never done anything like this even for herself.

Jungeun learns afterwards that it's a reward for an ongoing special event. The participants need to record the highest score by shooting the rows of empty cans down with a toy gun before the hour ends. Sounds simple enough but Jungeun knows just how bad she is at games, this is like zero chance for her. She glances at her wristwatch, she has less than 20 minutes to make it happen. She already sparks the hope in Haseul ( says no, but her eyes say yes) so there's no backing down from this. She is going to win that creepy thing for Haseul.

Jungeun is getting ready, inspecting the gun in her hands like a professional (reality is she has no idea what is she supposed to look at) when she overheard two girls talking at one end of the booth. "Relax, Yerimmie. 20 minutes and you will have it in your arms alright?" That has to be the girl with the current highest score that the booth worker told her about earlier.

"But this person looks like she can beat your score, Hye." Yerimmie? Yeah, that has to be her name, says. Jungeun smiles at the idea of oozing off such vibe.

"Yeah, she looks like she could murder someone too." Excuse me? The girl called Hye laughs at her own 'joke'. She thinks that's funny? "But, don't worry okay? No one can beat me, I'm the best around here." Jungeun scoffs. News flash, Kim Jungeun is not from around here kiddo.

"Lip--" Haseul clears . "I mean, Jungie. What's taking you so long?" Wait, what?

Jungeun dismisses the young girls to look at Haseul instead. "What did you just call me?" She tilts her head, a smile is threatening to break her face. Haseul did ask about Jinsoul's nickname for her while they were alone yesterday and Jungeun remembers how Haseul so confidently said that it's kind of unfitting for her. 'Too cute for you' but now she is using that on her? Talk about character development.

"It's a one time thing." The girl avoids her gaze.

"If I won this, you're gonna have to call me that. For a week." It's selfish of her, she knows, but it's not her fault that it sounds so pleasing coming from Haseul.

"Goodbye, cute panda. Seems like I have no luck with you." Jungeun nudges on Haseul's shoulder at that.

Nine minutes and three rounds later, Jungeun still sees herself struggling to bring the cans down properly. She grits her teeth in annoyance. It's a freaking game, so why is it so freaking hard for her to nail? "Well, she's bad at this. Yikes." Jungeun hears the Hye girl's comment and it has successfully riles her up. A cold glare is sent towards the girl and it doesn't take that long for an eye contact to happen next. It's like she knows that Jungeun is frustrated so she makes silly faces to agitate her further.

"You--"

"What are you doing?" Haseul whispers right beside her ear, placing a hand to hold Jungeun by her arm.

"That girl has been making fun of me." She points at the teen sporting an apple hair look, voice whining.

"And you're mad at her for that?" Jungeun nods in a rapid pace. "She is practically a child... you're trying to fight a child." Haseul exclaims in disbelief. "Time to get out of here." She tries to pull her away but Jungeun stays rooted.

"Hey, mask lady!" Mask lady? Wow, the offense is beyond her. "Giving up already?"

"And let your undeserving to have that bigass panda? I don't think so." Jungeun has officially loses her sense. She stubbornly avoids Haseul's attempt to stop her. "I'm gonna show her how this is done." This is less about winning and more about her pride. Or more about Haseul?

If anyone had witnessed how terrible Jungeun was a few minutes ago, they probably won't be able to believe their eyes now. Jungeun has singlehandedly knocks down every each of the can in one go without a hiccup. What makes it more mindblowing is for the fact that Jungeun did this out of pure rage. It's so evident from the way her shoulders are shaking after finishing the task off. She slams the gun on the counter before smirking while catching her breath.

"Now, hand over that creepy panda to her." Jungeun says, pointing at Haseul without sparing a glance. Only when she has fully regains her regular breathing that she turns around to see Haseul hugging on the stuffed animal the same size as her.

"You... did that." Haseul states, still very much stunned by the scene unfolded before her eyes.

Jungeun stands taller proudly. "Told you I'd win it-- for you." She clears . 

"You are hella cool." Jungeun whips her head to the right to find Hye and Yerimmie's presence near them. Hye looks at her with twinkling eyes while Yerimmie appears to be slightly gloomy. "You need to teach me how to do that." Hye requests.

"Uh..." Jungeun glances at Haseul from the corner of her eyes. "I'm afraid I can't do that, kid."

"Why not?" Hye pouts which causes Jungeun to look away.

"Is your friend okay?" Haseul chimes in to save her from the pressure.

Hye looks over her shoulder to check on Yerimmie. "Oh, she is a bit down. She wanted that so much..." Hye takes the girl's hand in hers, the other free one gesturing at the toy in Haseul's hold.

Both Jungeun and Haseul shift their gaze towards the object in question. Jungeun then sees how Haseul is basically seeking for her permission through her eyes. There's no way she is going to let them have it after all that struggle she was put under.

But Haseul goes the extra length to reach for her hand and squeeze on it lightly. "Jungie..." Damnit. That and Haseul's gaze deadly combination is enough to break her walls down.

"But you--"

"I don't mind." The older girl says firmly. "Plus, I believe she will take a better care of this." She sways their hands lightly, eyes smiling at Yerimmie.

"Alright, alright." Jungeun relentlessly gives in to Haseul's plead. "You can have this." Jungeun takes the reward to her hard work away from Haseul before handing it over to Yerimmie who instantly beams as bright as the morning sunshine.

"Yay, thank you!" The girl bounces about and weirdly it makes Jungeun feels warm and even prouder of herself.

"Both you and your girlfriend are so cool!" Hye comments out of nowhere.

"I'm not--"

"Yeah, aren't we?" Jungeun cuts her off, claiming Haseul's hand first this time around. Jungeun makes sure to keep their eye contact until Haseul surrenders and looks away bashfully. How cute.

She keeps her hold on Haseul's hand all the way back to rejoin Jinsoul and Sooyoung. The couple looks at her weirdly but Jungeun just shrugs it off, sending a signal to say that it's not the time to discuss about this. Their finale unfortunately gets cancelled due to the rollercoaster being unavailable to make way for its weekly maintenance. Sooyoung almost goes on a rampage for that but a kiss on the cheek from Jinsoul is all that is needed to calm her down. Jungeun had to laugh.

They headed for the beach next despite Jungeun's protest. It's near dawn and beach is certainly not the best spot to be at this hour. Her anxiety is not subsiding at all the moment she sees the deserted beach, she can count how many people are there with one hand. Jinsoul reasons that's the ideal way to enjoy the beach and of course Sooyoung backs her up. Haseul seems to pay no mind too. Again, Jungeun had to laugh.

They stay at an open area, her sister is cuddling her girlfriend which short of nothing but a sore to Jungeun's eyes. Haseul is busying herself making random shapes on the sand when she suddenly turns around to look at Jungeun. "I'm gonna take a walk for a bit. I'll be right back."

"By yourself...?" Jungeun's question is left hanging in the air as Haseul takes off as soon as she announced her plan. Jungeun furrows her eyebrows, Haseul seems more reserved compared to when they were back at the funfair. She just stares at Haseul's shrinking figure.

She hears Sooyoung sighing next. "Seriously dude?"

Jungeun looks at her in confusion. "What?"

"Babe, no offense." Sooyoung squeezes Jinsoul's arm in advance. "But are you really this dumb, Jungeun?"

"Excuse me?" Jungeun raises her voice at the question, clearly finds it offensive.

"Soo is asking the realest question, Jungie." Jinsoul looks at her lazily.

Her sister too? Wow. "Wha--"

"You held her hand like it's the most precious thing in the world earlier and I bet your blinded eyes couldn't see how much it affects her. I know y'all agreed to get over it for that friendship bull but do you really think it's that easy for her?" Sooyoung spits out of frustration. "She is hurting, Kim Jungeun."

There's a hint of pity behind Jinsoul's eyes. "She deserves to know the truth, to be put out of the dark." Jinsoul says softly. "Deserves the right to live with a peaceful mind."

"Go after her, Jungeun. Step out of your hiding this one time." Sooyoung closes her eyes and gets into a relaxing posture. "You owe her the truth, that's the least you can do."

Jungeun's eyes are restless after that. It hits her hard that she feels her head pounding the next second. She gathers her thoughts before rising to her feet and sprints towards Haseul. Her vision is pulsating all the way there but she finds it back to normal the moment Haseul is within her reach. Jungeun stops just before colliding with the girl and chooses to follow her steps instead.

It takes Haseul almost 30 seconds to sense her presence and turns around to check. "How long have you been following me?"

Jungeun runs a hand through her messy brown hair, gasping for air still. "Since... over there?" She points at their previous spot.

Haseul laughs, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. "Why?"

The younger girl drops her gaze towards the shore beneath her feet, droplets produced by the wave tickling her. "Uh, because letting you walk all alone doesn't sound like a good idea. Plus... this place looks scary yeah?" She motions towards their surrounding.

"Scary?" Haseul purses her lips. "I think it's beautiful..." The girl spins to her left, staring into the open ocean with longing eyes. "Isn't it?"

Jungeun copies her and fixes her gaze on the endless pool of salt water. The sky is painted in orange hue, creating a massive scale canvas against the blue. In that instance, Jungeun realizes just how small she is, probably just a speck of dust within the galaxy. "... It is..."

"After getting lost in such a chaotic life, but then you find yourself here... it's almost healing but aggravating at the same time hm?" Haseul speaks quietly, the tone behind it sends Jungeun into a maze.

She inhales the cold air. "Something's bothering you?" Jungeun pries carefully in fear of being too far ahead.

Haseul doesn't answer her instantly and instead, shudders her body lightly to chase the cold away. The wind is blowing against her black silky hair and Jungeun finds it hard to breathe. "I can't tell a bother from the piles anymore." She sighs. "Have you ever feel like... you're being ungrateful? Like, you start dreaming for something and you somehow, in a way, secure it in your tiny grasp. So, that's where it should end right?" Haseul shuts her eyes for a moment before setting her sight free again. "But then you find yourself craving for more. Only this time, it's out of your reach. It's too big of a dream and impossible but since it exists within you, it haunts you every second..."

Jungeun can feel the veins on her temples throbbing. She has been engaging herself in a lot of thinking that mostly leads her nowhere, only leaving her brain at the verge of haywire. "Not really? But isn't that how human works? Always strive to get better, to own more in possession. At least that's how I believe it is." A pinch on her nose bridge to help her ease the pulse. That noise is back to serve Jungeun a background music, except it's nowhere close to a music. "Honestly? I don't know what I'm talking about."

Haseul settles with a chuckle, still shivering from the cold wind hitting her figure. Jungeun's mind travels back to the memory of holding a certain fragile figure in between her arms, promise of keeping her warm (and safe) rooted deep within her. She let the image and emotion to swim freely, too exhausted to dive into another fruitless thinking session. Maybe it's time to let her heart to take control of her, to set the path for her this one time. Jungeun is shivering herself and it's shown in full display, from the way her hand moves in jitter to capture Haseul's delicate one (she could be trembling from the intense nerve too). She clasps it softly and she swears, to heaven or to anything that's up there, the sensation is equal to fitting one last piece of puzzle into its long awaiting slot. Pushing the worries away (that can wait), Jungeun extends her free hand to gently turns Haseul around and face her completely. Their shared gaze creates a tunnel exclusive to them, everything that Jungeun can see is a pair of spellbinding eyes despite the confusion written all over them.

"Haseul." Jungeun breathes out, the sound she creates makes it seem like she has no air down her lungs anymore. "Since I was a child, I've been through things that I wish I'd never have to face. Growing up, with no knowledge of my own origin, was overwhelming and impairing. It's even harder when the ones that I was trusted with, provided me with nothing but the bare minimum to survive. But maybe I still have a little bit of luck in me because there's Jinsoul, who cared for me like we shared the same blood, she's a constant reminder that life is not all that bad for me." Jungeun smiles but it's not quite there.

She feels Haseul returning her hold, funny how they are only touching at the base of their hands but the warmth spreads all over her. "I'm sorry, I wish life wasn't too harsh on you..." Her voice is below normal volume but it somehow cancels out the noise for Jungeun, one decibel at a time.

"Just my luck." She jokes. When Haseul motions her to continue through her eyes, Jungeun draws a sharp breath. "Well, it's so natural to look up to Jinsoul then, to follow her lead...  and her interests rubbed off on me. That's when I dared myself to have a dream, to be on stage. I was already midway through as an art major so my parents forced me to choose, which you can guess how it went... my relationship with them has never been the same since then. And then I underwent the trainee life that completely changed me, I became more calculative and careful with everything in order not to risk my dream. Sounds cool to have such dedication huh? But the sad truth is I'm just turning into a fearful person. It's pathetic..." She laughs dryly.

"Lippie, you're not pathe--"

"What did you call me?" Jungeun cuts her off.

"Lip--"

She shakes her head eagerly. "Try again."

Haseul stares at her quizzically and it only hits her a few seconds later. "Jungie."

That leads to a smile on Jungeun's face. "Perfect."

"That's not the point?" Haseul points out. "Are you--"

"There's something important that I need to tell you." She drops her gaze to the ground. Move forward, don't hesitate. She deserves to know.

"... And that is...?" The older girl tilts her head.

"I... oh God." The tremble of her hand worsen and that earns a puzzled look from Haseul. Jungeun huffs loudly. Now or never. "I like you." Finally. "I've liked you since-- since the first time I--- I saw you." The beautiful and mesmerizing you. She stumbles between words, immediately sensing heat rising up to her cheeks. When Haseul stays muted, hand losing its grip on hers, Jungeun just had to look up to her.

Haseul eyes are distant and opens and closes slowly, as if trying to force something out of it. "Is this... a prank?" She draws her hand away, hiding it behind her petite frame. Haseul's shining brown orbs are now dim, shaking uncontrollably. "Because if it is, it's not funny at all Lip."

Jungeun enters a state of confusion. "Wha- no, it's not! I swear to God it's the truth." She tries to reach for Haseul again but the girl is quick to take a step back.

The shine is back in her eyes, but this time it's due to the tears threatening to fall. "... Then... then why?" Her body shivers. "Why only now? Why are you acting like... like my feelings for you is wrong all this while?"

Jungeun's shoulders slump, her composure is slipping away. "Because I'm too much of a coward. I've been too afraid to go out of my way that I decided it's best to live according to the rules. The first moment I heard you, was the exact moment I believed that there's miracle on earth. I unknowingly developed a tiny admiration for you that eventually grew bigger." She is slowly drowning in different sort of emotions. "What happened to Soul frightened me and I made up my mind to push everything I felt for you away. But I don't think I can continue living in lies... For once I want to be reckless, I want to follow my heart and not my logic. Is it too late for me?" She meets Haseul's eyes.

Silence.

Jungeun takes a step forward. "Haseul, tell me, is it too late?"

Haseul shuts her eyes and purses her lips.

Another step towards Haseul, distance is almost nothing between them. "Is it, Haseul?" Jungeun breathes out, Haseul makes no effort to run anymore.

In that moment, Haseul's eyelids flutter open. There's no way for Jungeun to escape those pools. "It's not." Her whisper is barely audible but loud enough to create an echo effect in Jungeun's ears. "It's not, Jungeun." She says in a firmer manner.

Jungeun takes no chance and slowly chases the gap between them away, pressing her lips against Haseul's softly. It's a brief one as she pulls away slightly, letting the air from their lungs to swirl around each other. It sends her into a dizzying euphoria and she salvages whatever she can in that moment. Haseul's gaze sneaks deeper into her soul this time, her orbs are darker Jungeun can almost see the whole universe presented in them.

She dives in again and takes Haseul's frame into her embrace, pulling her closer as much as she can. A pair of arms creeps upon her nape and lock themselves there, a sensation kicks in in her the next second. Jungeun regrets the whole time she had been burying her feelings 10 feets down, if she had known she would have lay it out in the open in a heartbeat for Jo Haseul. It's far from a rough kiss, just enough to convey every ounce of emotion that they couldn't say out loud for the world to hear. Haseul pulls her by the neck to deepen the kiss and Jungeun has no say to deny her heart. They part only when their restricted lungs scream for air, letting their foreheads to lean against one another in fear of losing too much from the newly gained proximity.

Jungeun puts a finger down Haseul's chin to bring her eyes level to hers. "For once, let's worry later... One time, let's jump on this odd chance."

Haseul's gentle nod and tiny smile magicaly sends Jungeun into a state of serenity in a flash. Is this what heaven feels like? She agrees to that without further doubt.

It's an odd feeling but Jungeun only craves for more of it, and more she seeks for.

 

----------

 

"Lippie! Have you seen Haseul? She's not in the room." Heejin's voice booms across the apartment and Jungeun rolls her eyes, she bets their neighbours can hear that too. Footsteps are heard after that, inching closer towards the couch she is resting on. "Have you gone deaf?" Yup, only Jeon Heejin.

"Is your first instinct after coming back from break is 'to be loud'?" Jungeun spares no glance towards the girl, eyes fixed on the 50-inch mega flat screen in front of her.

"That's my normal talking volume, Lip-- wait a minute." Heejin halts her little nagging which finally garners Jungeun's attention. "What is this..." She whispers. "You guys!" Heejin summons the rest of her team members. "Come here! There's something odd going on!" Hopefully the walls are thick enough to contain her voice.

"Here we go." Jungeun sighs loudly.

In under 20 seconds, everyone is already crowding all around her. Every single one of them, from Kim Jiwoo, to Kim Hyunjin and all the way to Park Chaewon. "What goes on? Has Lippie finally commit the murder?" Jungeun internally wonders if both Heejin and Hyunjin share the same braincells.

"Murder who? Haseul? No!!" Jiwoo wails in a dramatic fashion. The long gone headache is slowly making its appearance.

Jungeun feels the figure resting in her arm stirs, one eye peels open to peek at her surrounding. "Can't you guys keep it down?" Her voice is hoarse from sleep, Jungeun just smiles subtly at that. "Someone pleaseeeee extend the break." She throws her head back before doing a light stretch.

"Just a week ago, you looked at us with eyes screaming for us to come home early." Heejin exclaims. "Back on track, y'all have anything to tell us?" She grips both her hands on her hips, trying to come off as intimidating. Jungeun can't help but to scoff.

"Tell what?" Haseul looks up to meet Heejin's eyes. "... Welcome home? Y'know we never practiced that." She shrugs lazily.

"No, Miss Jo. What I'm saying is... what's all this?" Heejin gestures at both her and Haseul.

"Yeah, why you two cuddling like this? You two never cuddle?" Jiwoo chimes in. "Only me and Heejin are allowed to do that." She adds. What kind of logic...

"Says who?" Jungeun switches the television off, huffing pass her lips.

"It's written in LUNA's book of rules." Heejin opens her palm right in front of Jungeun's face.

"Unless both of you are an actual couple like Heejin and Jiwoo too." There's a 10 seconds of pause after that, the air around them sit still. It's long before Chaewon brings a hand to cup on slowly.

"Actual what?" Haseul springs to her feet, clasping her waist in a strict stance. Jungeun frowns subtly at the sudden lost of contact.

"Oops..." Chaewon chuckles, smiling nervously.

"Park Chaewon, as usual you open your mouth for nothing." Hyunjin hisses before pulling the criminal away, eyes are as big as the plates.

Jungeun clicks her tongue, smirking to herself. "Now, who got an explanation to do?"

Haseul turns to look at her, a meaningful smile lights up her face. They share a quiet laugh after that. Despite no future is set on their little bond and no announcement will be made known to the world, Jungeun is content with what they have currently.

One official fact that Jungeun will always treasure; she loves Haseul (a little too much).

- FIN.