Now that Bomi had dropped all of the walls around her, her nervousness was all too obvious. Next to Eunji, Bomi was constantly switching back and forth between chewing anxiously on her nails and fiddling with them. She walked with stiff shoulders and quick, skittish steps. Eunji found it oddly cute, and she found herself having to hide her entertained smile. 

“Aren’t you getting dizzy with all that darting around that your eyes are doing?” teased Eunji. 

Bomi rolled her eyes. “Funny.”

“It’s okay, Bbom-ah. Things will be fine.”

The older woman looked down at her nails and mumbled, “We didn’t exactly leave on a good note last time.”

Eunji stopped and swiveled on her crutches to face Bomi. She shifted her weight onto one side so she could lift one hand and place it onto Bomi’s shoulder comfortingly. “Unnie, just close your eyes and take a deep breath.”

Bomi did as she told.

“Again,” Eunji said.

Bomi’s chest rose and fell steadily as she obeyed Eunji’s orders.

“Better?” Eunji asked after Bomi had taken a few breaths. 

Bomi opened her eyes and nodded.

“Good, because your nervous breakdown was about to give me a nervous breakdown.” 

“I was not having a nervous breakdown!” Bomi protested. 

Eunji grinned and patted the other woman’s cheek, then faced forward again to continue down the hallway to the practice room. The other members had agreed to meet them there after Bomi had asked them to. Actually, it had been a team effort. Bomi had typed up the text (which itself had taken longer than it should have), and Eunji had sent it. Or, more accurately, Eunji had taken Bomi’s finger and pressed the send button after the older woman had spent a good five minutes staring at the text box. 

When they reached the door of the practice room, Bomi asked, “Do you think they’re here yet?” 

Eunji gestured to the door knob. “There’s only one way to find out.”

Bomi gazed at the door knob as though it was lathered in poison. Then she took a deep breath and reached for the door.

The other members were, in fact, already there. They were seated on the floor talking comfortably, but the moment Bomi entered the room, they froze and just stared. Hayoung, Eunji noticed with relief, was laying with her head in Namjoo’s lap. Eunji didn’t know how or when they had made up, but the fact that there was one less quarrel to worry about greatly eased her apprehension. Perhaps them making up meant that they were ready to do the same with Bomi.

Naeun was the first to break the ice. “Eunji-unnie, what happened to your foot?”

Eunji adjusted her position to lessen the weight on her ankle. “Let’s just say treadmills and I aren’t exactly best friends right now. I’m fine, though. You should see what I did to the treadmill.”

“If you’re implying that you got into a fight with an inanimate object, then I would very much like to see a video,” snickered Naeun. “Did you two come together?"

“Yeah,” Bomi answered. She looked at Namjoo and Hayoung, who looked as awkward and tense as she did. “Hi, guys.” 

“Hi, Unnie,” both Hayoung and Namjoo greeted stiffly.

Eunji and Naeun shared a knowing glance, and Naeun leaned over to elbow Namjoo in the side. Namjoo glared at the older girl for a split second before returning her attention to Bomi. 

Hayoung lifted her head from Namjoo’s lap and sat up. “Unnie, I―”

“I have something I want to say,” Bomi said abruptly.

Namjoo started, “Wait, before you do, we want to say―”

“I made a horrible mistake―”

“We were too harsh on you―”

“I never should have done what I did, and―”

“We said terrible things, and―”

“I’m sorry.”

“We’re sorry.”

Namjoo, Hayoung, and Bomi just blinked at each other, like they were struggling to comprehend the conversation that had just taken place. Naeun was staring at the trio with a happy and slightly smug expression. It looked like she had been quite entertained by the short, five-second exchange. Eunji certainly had been. 

Eunji clapped her hands together and said as cheerily as she could, “Well, that wasn’t so difficult, now was it?”

Bomi didn’t crack a smile. She picked at her nails and looked down on the ground, where her feet fidgeted in place. Looking at her now, Eunji could see Bomi. Not the facade that she had worn up until a few days ago, but her. The real Bomi, who was soft-hearted, compassionate, caring, and an all around teddy bear. Even though that meant that Eunji could see Bomi’s vulnerability and pain, Eunji preferred this unmasked version of her. She had missed it.

Namjoo stood up and closed the distance between her and Bomi. Hayoung and Naeun followed her until they all stood in a circle. Bomi lifted her head to lock eyes with the others. 

Namjoo grasped Bomi’s hands in hers. “I’m sorry we made you suffer on your own.”

“I’m sorry about what I said about you trying to take Chorong-unnie’s place,” Hayoung added. “It was such a cruel thing to say when you were only acting with us in your minds.”

Bomi looked around the circle with wet eyes. “You were right, though. I’m not your leader. What you guys need from me is not a temporary leader, but a friend. Someone who can cry with you and help you stand up while she herself is also learning how to stand up again.” Bomi’s lower lip began to tremble, so she bit her lower lip to calm it. “That’s what I’m going to be from now own.”

“Good,” said Namjoo, “because we really missed you.”

They looked at each other and said nothing else. There was more to be said, but there was no need to say it. That was how things worked with them. They didn’t need fancy words or grand gestures. All it took was a single look.

They had been together for so long that they could understand each other from just a look in their eyes. As Eunji looked at the eyes of all her members, she knew.

She knew that things would be okay.

“Last shot, everyone!” 

Eunji refrained from groaning as she removed the blanket wrapped around her shoulders and made her way to shooting location. She had been up since five in the morning, and now it was ten in the evening.

Just one more shot, she thought to herself, then I can go back home. 

Go back home to a tense atmosphere, but still home nonetheless. It had been about two weeks since her argument with Chorong and things hadn’t soothed over. A rift had formed between them, and all of their conversations were short and straight to the point. Eunji did miss joking around freely with Chorong, and she knew this tension was affecting the group as a whole, but she had been too busy to really think about the whole situation. Too tired, too. 

It was a battle to try to keep her eyes open, and her head was pounding with a heavy headache. To make things worse, her schedule today had been so hectic that she hadn’t had anything to eat aside from a few snacks. The past few days had been like this, since they were nearing the end of the drama, and, as a result, the filming schedules had been very tight lately. Eunji could feel it wearing herself thin, but she had to push through. Just a few more days of filming, then she’d be able to relax a bit more.

“Eunji, did hear me?” 

Suddenly, Eunji snapped from her trance and looked at Hyun Woo, her co-star, in front of her. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“I asked if you were ready,” Hyun Woo repeated.

“Oh, sorry. Yes, I am.” She squinted a little. Was it just her or was her vision a bit blurry? She couldn’t see Hyun Woo’s features clearly, even though he was right in front of her. Other than his brown hair and face structure, she couldn’t make out specific details of his face. 

“Alright, quiet on the set!” the director shouted. 

As Eunji looked around, she noticed that all of her surroundings were blurry. Everything seemed delayed too, like it was taking a while for her brain to process what her eyes were seeing. There was a distinct ringing in her ears that she knew for certain wasn’t normal.

“Eunji?” 

Again, Hyun Woo’s voice drew her back to reality. When she looked up at him, she swore his face had gotten blurrier. 

“It’s your line,” he said.

She hadn’t heard the director call “action”, and considering how she knew from experience how loud the director’s voice could be, she was beginning to get concerned. 

Then Hyun Woo said something again that sounded like he was asking her if she was alright, but she couldn’t be sure. All sounds around her became muted, and the ringing in her ears had amplified. Her head spun as she tried desperately to regain her focus.

But she couldn’t. She felt her body sway unsteadily and Hyun Woo grasp her shoulders for support, but it was all he could do before Eunji felt the world slip away from underneath her.

Eunji had been wishing for more time in bed to sleep, but she didn’t think that the next time she’d get that chance, it would be in a hospital bed. And she certainly didn’t think that there’d be a small dark-haired woman asleep by the side of her bed. 

Still in a daze, Eunji glanced around the hospital room, noting its complete whiteness and strong smell of antiseptics. Then she returned her gaze to the mysterious woman by her side, who was clasping Eunji’s hand in hers. It definitely wasn’t one of her coworkers from the drama or her mother. When her eyes fell upon the woman’s slender hands and her chipped red nail polish, Eunji knew who it was.

Chorong. 

Why was she here? Did the director call her? And where was the director? How long had it even been?

Eunji had so many questions that she wanted answers to. She couldn’t remember much about what had happened, except for the fact that she had collapsed during filming. How she had gotten to the hospital was beyond her. At least she didn’t feel too terrible. Aside from the pounding headache, which was nothing compared to what it had been before, Eunji felt fine. More rested, even. She guessed that spending the night―or however long she had been unconscious―in the hospital was to thank for that.

Eunji brushed aside Chorong’s hair to reveal the sleeping woman’s face. Her breath caught in when she saw how innocent and vulnerable the older woman looked. She sort of looked like an adorable child but a loving mother at the same time, if that was even possible. Eunji tucked Chorong’s hair behind her ear and stared at the tranquil woman, and suddenly her heart was full―of both love and guilt.

As much as she didn’t want to admit it, during this period of tension between her and Chorong, Eunji had been the immature one. Eunji was the only one who was angry; Chorong seemed more worried and anxious than upset. The leader had tried several times to talk things out with Eunji, but every time, Eunji had given Chorong the cold shoulder, claiming that she had no time to talk. Chorong must have been terrified of what would happen with Eunji and Apink, and Eunji had known that. She had known that she was hurting Chorong, but she had blatantly been ignoring it.

“You two must have a special bond,” someone said suddenly. 

Eunji looked up, startled. She had been so focused on Chorong that she hadn’t noticed a nurse enter the room. To her defense, though, the nurse was a petite woman who couldn’t have been more than 154 centimeters.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you. I came to check up on you,” the woman said. “I’m glad you’re awake now. How are you feeling?”

“I have a headache, but other than that, I’m fine. Do you know how long I’ve been out?”

“Not very long. You were brought in around eleven, and it’s,” she glanced down at her watch, “four in the morning now.”

Eunji let that settle in. It was four in the morning, and yet here Chorong was, asleep by her side. Eunji looked toward the window, but the curtains were drawn, so she couldn’t see how dark it was outside.

“When did she get here?” Eunji asked, referring to Chorong.

“About four hours ago.” The nurse looked at Chorong and her eyes softened. “She came here all disheveled, you know. It was like she had sprinted here. Her hair was all over the place, and I believe her jacket wasn’t even on correctly. It was quite the touching scene. Is she your sister? Friend? Girlfriend?”

Eunji grinned as she tried to conjure up an image of a disheveled Chorong. Chorong and disheveled just didn’t go together. 

“She’s…,” Eunji started to reply, but paused. She had been about to say “friend”, but that didn’t really cut it. Chorong and Eunji had been through so much together that “friend” barely covered what Chorong was to Eunji. Even with everything going on, that fact had not changed. “She’s something like an older sister to me,” Eunji answered in the end. 

The nurse nodded with a smile. “I can see that. When she burst through the hospital doors and kept asking for updates on your condition, I was reminded of me and my own sister. I’m sure that if my sister was in the hospital, I’d be acting just like that. What you two have is beautiful. Friends like that last a lifetime.”

Eunji looked down at her leader. “Thank you,” she said to the nurse, not taking her eyes off of Chorong.

“You two make sure you keep what you have,” the older lady advised, then made her way to the door. “I’m going to tell your doctor that you’re awake. She’ll be here shortly.”

Eunji nodded her thanks and watched the nurse slip out of the room just as quietly as she had entered.

Friends like that last a lifetime. Eunji knew that. Looking at Chorong peacefully sleeping, Eunji was certain of it. Eunji felt all of her anger slip away, replaced by a need to apologize. Not to forgive, but to apologize, for it was her who had been in the wrong. Chorong had only been looking out for Eunji and Apink, and Eunji had been too blinded by her annoyance and fatigue to see that.

Eunji wanted to wake the older woman up to apologize and tell her that everything would be okay, but she didn’t want to disturb the oddly touching scene before her. So she just held Chorong’s hand delicately and promised to resolve things when she woke up. 

Which evidently was at that moment.

As though Eunji’s light touch had drawn Chorong away from her dreams, Chorong stirred and mumbled something incomprehensible. Slowly, her eyes fluttered open, and she groggily lifted her head, rubbing her eyes.

“Chorong-unnie,” Eunji whispered.

Abruptly, Chorong sat up and looked at Eunji wide-eyed, like Eunji’s voice had been a trigger reminding her of why she was there. 

“Eunji-ah,” she breathed, “how are you? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.”

“Can you see how many fingers I’m holding up?” Chorong held up three fingers.

“Three.”

“Do you recognize who I am?”

“I’m pretty sure I called you ‘Chorong-unnie’ earlier,” Eunji replied with an amused smile. Chorong’s rapid fire of worried questions was kind of adorable. “I’m fine, Unnie.”

Chorong sighed and sagged her shoulders. “Good.”

“Why are you here?”

Suddenly, Chorong stiffened and looked sorry for being there. “Your director called me and told me that you had collapsed during filming, so of course I came. I know I must be the last person you want to see right now, and I don’t know why your director called me of all people, but―”

“Oh God, Unnie, stop. I’m glad you’re here.”

Chorong blinked, confused. “I...You...You are?”

“I mean, I’d much rather wake up in a hospital with someone in the room than wake up alone.”

“Oh. Right.”

Eunji chewed on her lower lip. She hadn’t been expecting to talk to Chorong so soon, but the opportunity had risen, and she had to take it. “I’m sorry, Chorong-unnie. I’ve been really stupid and unreasonable. You were only trying to look out for me, and I lashed out on you.”

Chorong knitted her brows together. “I was being overbearing.”

“You were being caring.”

“Too caring. I was suffocating you, and I’m sorry for that. It was never my intention.” The leader fiddled with her nails, picking at the chipped parts, like she was nervous about something. “Eunji-ah, if…if you want to end your contract, I’ll talk to the CEO. I’m sure we can work something out.”

Chorong’s offer had been sincere, but still hesitant. It was obvious that she hadn’t wanted to say what she had just said, but she had forced herself to do it anyway―for Eunji’s sake. 

Eunji looked into Chorong’s eyes, and the fear and sadness in them solidified Eunji’s response even more. “I don’t want to end my contract.” 

Immediately, relief flooded Chorong’s face. “You don’t?”

“No. I never did, and I’m sorry for making you believe that I did. I know I haven’t been making things easy for you and the group, but I’m going to try harder to fix it. I’m going to try harder so that Jeong Eunji from Apink, Jeong Eunji the actress, and whatever other Jeong Eunji there can be in the future can all coexist.”

“And I’m going to support all of those Eunjis. No matter what, I’ll be by your side,” Chorong said seriously. “I’ll support you without pressing you too much.”

“Thank you, Unnie,” grinned Eunji. “You know, I think I have a new dream.”

“What is it?” 

Friends like that last a lifetime. There was nothing more true than that statement.

Eunji answered with a wide smile, “To be the longest lasting idol group.” 

For the first time in a while, Chorong truly smiled. It wasn’t just one of her soft smiles either― her eyes, sparkling with pure pride and happiness, crinkled up as the corners of her lips touched her cheeks.

“The longest lasting idol group,” Chorong repeated, testing the feel of the words on her tongue. “I like that a lot.”

“Then it’s settled,” said Eunji. “We’re going to be performing even when we’re old and wrinkly.”

Chorong laughed, and Eunji sat back and grinned, watching the older woman laugh freely without the worry that had been weighing her down the past two weeks. “Together, then?” Chorong asked.

Eunji squeezed Chorong’s hand lightly. “Together.”