That night, Eunji had a difficult time falling asleep, so when her phone started ringing at four in the morning, she was already awake. 

Quickly, she scrambled for her phone in the darkness, hoping that she wouldn’t wake Naeun, Hayoung, and Namjoo, who were sleeping in her living room. They had all decided to stay together for the night, and since Eunji didn’t have a big enough bed to fit four grown women, she had brought out all her blankets, pillows, and comforters for them to sleep on. 

When she finally wrapped her fingers around her phone, she answered in a hushed voice, “Hello?” As she stood to move to another room, she caught glimpses of the younger members huddled together and sleeping soundly. The sight brought a slight smile to Eunji’s face, and she felt an odd feeling of motherly protectiveness for them. She wondered if Chorong ever felt the same feeling about them.

“Eunji-ah?” At the sound of Bomi’s voice, all of Eunji’s sleepiness slipped away, and she was suddenly wide awake.

“Is she okay?” she asked immediately, anticipating in both fear and hope.

“Did I wake you up?” 

“No. I couldn’t sleep, so I was already awake.” Eunji repeated her question slowly, “Is Chorong-unnie okay?”

“She’s out of the emergency room now. The doctor said she should be fine.”

Before she could allow relief to flood through her, Eunji pressed, “But?”

“She hit her head pretty hard and has a few broken ribs and a broken arm.” Bomi’s voice was low and husky―which Eunji knew was how she sounded when she was sleep-deprived. A twang of guilt twisted her chest for leaving Bomi alone in the hospital.  “She’s in a coma right now. The doctor doesn’t know when exactly when she’ll wake up. It could be days, it could be weeks, or it could be months.”

Eunji’s heart dropped. “Months?”

“Or weeks or days. I’m praying for the latter. But the good thing is that she will be okay. Chorong-unnie will wake up, Eunji-ah.”

Though it did little to cheer her up, her heart did lift a bit knowing that Chorong would eventually be okay. Even if it did take her months. 

“Has her family been notified?”

“Yes, they’re going to be here as soon as they can. Our CEO has also been contacted, and he said he’d take care of the legal issues. We’ll have to wait and see what actions will be taken against the driver.” 

Eunji was glad that something was going to be done about the driver, but that was still the least of her worries. “What about all that blood? Why was she bleeding so much?”

“When she hit her head, she got a deep gash on the left side of her scalp. The doctor said he was able to clean and stitch it up nicely, though it will leave a scar.”

At that, Eunji winced. Being an idol, image was a big deal for Chorong. She’d always cover up the keloid on her arm whenever her outfits exposed that small bit of her arm. Eunji didn’t know how bad the scar on Chorong’s scalp would be, but she hoped that it would be barely visible with hair covering it. “If she hurt her head that badly...Will there be symptoms when she wakes up that we can’t predict now?”

Bomi hesitated. “What do you mean?”

Eunji didn’t want to say it. She didn’t even want to think about it, for that matter, but she had to know. “Will she have amnesia?” Will she remember us?

“I…,” Bomi paused, and Eunji could imagine her her lips, as she always did out of habit whenever she was thinking. “I don’t know. I don’t want to consider that, Eunji-ah.”

Eunji wondered if Bomi had detected the sharpness in her voice in her last sentence, because Eunji certainly did. That was so unlike Bomi. “I’m sorry, Bbom-ah. I don’t want to either.”

“Eunji-ah, Chorong-unnie will be okay.”

It sounded like Bomi kept saying that not to convince Eunji, but to convince herself. Eunji couldn’t blame her―she herself needed some convincing. “I know she will. She’s Park Chorong.”

She heard a huff through the phone, which she guessed was Bomi chuckling. “Right. The only things that can defeat her are bugs, frogs, heights, roller coasters, and scary movies.” 

“But not this.” 

“No,” affirmed Bomi, “not this.”

“Are you going to go home now?” Knowing Bomi, Eunji already knew the answer, but she asked anyway. 

“No, I want to stay with her. I’ll go home when you guys come back, like we agreed earlier.” 

Eunji nodded. That was the answer she had expected. “Are you alright, Bbom-ah?” 

Bomi scoffed, which was, again, very unlike her. “Are any of us?”

They all dealt with grief differently. Most of their members, she knew, tended to shut down and hide their feelings, and most of the time, Bomi was the one who stayed by their side and consoled them. She would never force them to talk and would respect their decisions. Just the simple act of lending her shoulder for them to lean on in silence was enough to comfort them, and when they were ready to talk, Bomi would never hesitate to listen. That was just how Bomi was, and Eunji truly loved her for it. 

Eunji had seen Bomi grieve as well; they had all seen each other grieve and had all grieved together. But nothing seemed to have broken them as much as seeing Chorong laying on the ground with a pool of her own blood growing underneath her. Whenever they comforted each other, they would offer advice from their own experiences, but none of them had experienced a pain like this before. Chorong was as much as their family as were their biological families, and they had all essentially just seen their older sister bleeding to death in front of them, so Eunji understood Bomi’s sharp words and wasn’t offended by them.

“That was a stupid question. I’m sorry. It’s just, well…,” Eunji struggled to find the right words, “I’m worried about you.”

“I’m not the one you should be worried about.” 

“You know what I mean. I’m here for you, alright? We all are, and we always will be.” 

It took a few seconds for Bomi to reply, but when she did, she said, “I’m fine.” That was a blatant lie, and both Eunji and Bomi knew it. “But thank you. Get some sleep, Eunji-ah.”

“Only if you do too. I also hope you’ve at least taken the chance to use the bathroom to wash up a little.”

Bomi laughed lightly, “Don’t worry, I did. It’s kind of difficult to wash with a bathroom sink though, so don’t be surprised when I still look like a mess tomorrow.”

“I doubt I’d look much better, so we’re in the same ugly boat.” 

“I guess we can’t all be like Naeunie,” sighed Bomi. “She looks flawless even when she just wakes up.” 

“She’s our visual for a reason,” Eunji joked back. “I bet if we smeared dirt on her face and dressed her in the ugliest clothes imaginable, she’d still pull off the look as if it was some elaborate outfit made by a pristine fashion designer.”

“Maybe one day we’ll get her to try it out and see if it’s true.”

“Our next comeback concept, maybe?”

“From innocent angels to mature, girl-crush idols to trash? I’m not sure how well our fans would receive it, but why not? We’ve come this far.”

“It’s never been done before, so we won’t know until we try it.” It felt slightly odd to be joking around during this time, but Eunji supposed that they both needed a break from worrying. “I’ll be sure to pitch the idea to our CEO right away. In the meantime, why don’t you sleep while you can?” 

“I think I’ll take that offer. I’m dozing off as we speak.” 

“I’m that boring, huh?” 

“Well, you’re not the one with the nickname ‘Variety Star’.” 

“Of course. That would be Namjoo,” Eunji grinned, then softened her voice, “Goodnight, Bbom-ah.” 

“Goodnight.” A pause. “I love you, Eunji-ah. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Then her phone clicked and the static of the call disappeared, signalling that Bomi had hung up.

 An “I love you” from a sober Bomi―now that was definitely unlike her. The sudden confession caught Eunji off guard, and she hadn’t reacted fast enough to say it back to Bomi. 

So, with her phone still pressed against her ear, Eunji whispered into the darkness of the empty room, “I love you, too.”