"So you've been hanging out for basically a week straight, but you haven't made a move, and he hasn't made a move. You're meeting at the party tonight, and, I'm sorry, what was your conclusion?"

Chaerin wasn't teasing her, Dara knew, just confirming, but Dara still had to shoot a quelling look at Daesung. He was sprawled on her bed like he owned the place and showing definite signs of mirth.

"That tonight is the night," Dara said from Chaerin's bed, not caring that it sounded silly. She did make a threatening gesture at Daesung just in case, though.

Chaerin turned from their shared closet and gave her a sharp look. "The night?"

Dara's eyes went wide. "I mean, the night where we either become more or stay friends forever, not anything dirty, Chae!"

"Dirty?" Daesung said, eyes flicking back and forth between them. "Why am I out of the loop?"

"Because you're a dude," Chaerin said at once, just as Dara said, "Because you're friends with Top, and Top's friends with Jiyong. Also because I don't know any of your things, so you don't get to know mine."

"I can tell you things," Daesung said promptly. "What kind of things do you want to know?"

They ignored him, though Dara, at least, fully intended to follow up on that opening later.

Chaerin said, "So tonight's the night... which way do you want it to go? Though of course, if more is on the table, it's only because you want it to be, so-"

"Yes, I want more," Dara said. Just saying it out loud made her feel fluttery. "But if he doesn't want more, than I really, really want to stay friends."

Chaerin was still looking at her, and though her expression had softened, her eyes were still penetrating. "You're really becoming close, aren't you?"

Dara shook her head. "We were always close, and it feels like we're just going back to that. I used to tell him everything. But... but I feel like I haven't changed that much, and he's grown up." That was an understatement. There was that same sweetness hidden in Jiyong, and his determination had always been intense, but now there were times looking at him knocked the breath right out of her.

"You feel like that because you lived through each of your years of growing up and missed his. You've grown up just as much as he has, Dara, and he's just as much as his past self as you are."

Dara smiled at her. "What would I do without you, Chae?"

"Hold up," Daesung interjected. "I am also here, just b with good advice."

"Ooh, do tell," Dara said, turning to face him. She propped her chin on her fists and waited expectantly.

"Don't tell him you like him," Daesung said, making Dara's face fall. Then he tilted his head and smiled at her, looking very sweet suddenly. "Because he'll probably perish from happiness on the spot."

She threw a pillow at him, making him break into a laugh. "No one needs your useless advice, Daesung!"

"I'm serious," he protested, but he was still laughing as she pelted him with one of Chaerin's shirts from the laundry basket.

Unexpectedly, Chaerin intervened. "Hear him out. You're right that he's a weasel but he's smarter than he loo