"Chae, if you don't get up right away you won't find anything for breakfast" Mina was the shoulder of the girl still asleep on the giant couch she shared with Sana and Dahyun that night "it was hard to put away your part"

"I'm too sleepy, leave me here"

"But I worked so hard to prepare breakfast for all of you" she had a little lip, even though she knew she didn't have her gaze on her "I'm offended, you're the only one who hasn't eaten anything"

Tzuyu came to her rescue, who had thrown herself on Chaeyoung's crouched body with all her weight "if Mina asks you to go eat you must immediately follow the orders, is it clear? You're a cheap soldier" she was twisting her arm behind her back, being careful not to hurt her.

"Someone help me" the shorter girl whimpered before surrendering to the horrible fate of leaving the comfort of the couch "I hate you and I hope someone punishes you for waking me up in such a traumatic way" she got up with a slowness worthy of a snail, scraping her bare feet on the floor and finding the kitchen empty except for one person.

Sana looked like a little girl whose candy had been stolen and, seeing the confusion on the pink-haired girl's face, she started talking without receiving any questions "Dahyun left very early and didn't ask me to go with her"

"What an unfortunate event" Chaeyoung was pouring some milk into a glass, rubbing one eye with her free hand "where are the others?"

"Nay and Jeongyeon went to visit Momo, only the two of us remained with the couple. By the way: where are they?"

"They stayed in the living room, why?"

"Is the couch still adapted as a bed?"

"It is very likely"

Sana jumped up, her palms pressed on the smooth surface of the table "you should never leave couples alone near a bed, it's the rule of all rules"

Chaeyoung's disinterest was more than evident "the things they do don't concern you, now sit down and mind your own business. While you're at it you could pass me a croissant, I'd be immensely grateful"

The auburn had started to observe her with curiosity "now you show your actual age, you look even more relaxed"

"I don't look like it, I am" she gave her a short smile before taking a long sip of milk "and you should relax too, Dahyun loves you and she would never abandon you"

"Who told you I'm not relaxed?"

"Your shoulders are tense and all you're doing is biting your nails, it doesn't take a genius to know you're nervous"

"Sana is always like this when her sweet half is not there" Tzuyu had sat down heavily on one of the free chairs, crossing her legs and imitating the frowning expression of the auburn.

Chaeyoung nearly spit out what she was eating "you are identical!"

"You don't talk with your mouth full" Mina made a disapproving face.

"I don't think that's the point to focus on, they're kidding me! Minari, do something to shut them up" Sana was more sulky than before.

Despite this the only brunette was limited to shrug "I'm going to take a shower, try not to kill yourselves while I'm not there. I have no intention of cleaning up the mess you could make"

"This is a very good Dahyun imitation!" the pink-haired girl showed her approval by turning her thumbs up, immediately imitated by Tzuyu.

"You're all nasty" muttered the auburn, but deep down she was amused by those imitations as funny as they were accurate.

It had been two weeks since the person she loved had left and Momo had done nothing but postpone her work to stay on the bed and mull over all the mistakes she had made since her birth.

Hugging the pillow with Jihyo's perfume on it wasn't enough, not even her imagination could compensate for that unbearable lack "I hope that at least she is well, should I call her?"

She quickly turned around to grab the phone on the bedside table, risking to fall in the intent "she might be busy, but in that case it would be enough for her not to answer and write to me later, right? Okay, I'll call her"

She had taken a deep breath before pressing the call button, feeling her heartbeat accelerate every second more "answer, I just need to hear your voice" her words had come out in a desperate whisper.

"Luckily you didn't end the call, I couldn't find the earphones in this giant backpack" Jihyo's tone of voice suggested that the girl was in a particularly good mood "is it everything all right?"

"Now yes, it is much better" she was not caring at all about the tears that flowed down her face without any impediment "how are you?"

"I'm great, I feel like myself again"

Those words caused two completely distinct sensations in Momo: the first was the joy of knowing that the person she loved was living her life as she wanted, the second was the pain of not being able to be part of her happiness.

"Momo? You're silent" there were loud sounds in the distance and for that reason she raised her voice a little "if you're sick you have to tell me, you promised"

"What would change? You are there and I am here, I don't know how many hours away"

"Distance cannot separate two hearts, it was you who told me"

At that point Momo's vision was totally clouded with tears "every time you remember something I never know how to react, should I be happy or not? It's a nice dilemma"

"I'm happy every time I can remember, if it can help you decide" she was smiling "wait a second"

Momo had no idea why she could no longer hear any sound coming from her cell phone "why did you turn off the sound?"

"Sorry, I really have to go now" the noises seemed to have increased dramatically "I'll call you later, okay?"

"Sure, I'll look forward to it"

"Great, see you after Momoring" she had said it with extreme sweetness, after which she had closed the call without waiting for the brunette's answer.

Momo's cheeks were red and the corners of her lips were raised upwards "it's been years, but hearing her call me that still has a certain effect on me"

She was lying down again, with Jihyo's pillow in her arms and her face buried in it "I'm madly in love with her, there's no way out"

Sana's nervousness of the last period had increased dramatically due to the umpteenth meeting she was supposed to attend a few minutes later. She had dressed elegantly, as requested by her parents, but her mood spoiled even the beauty of the dress she was wearing.

"Honey, if you keep sulking you will never be able to find someone who falls in love with you. The family we invited today is more important than all the others and in all these years we have only collaborated with each other a couple of times, so I would like to ask you to make a good impression. It is not easy to approach people like them and it is practically a miracle to have been taken into consideration"

"Mom, I can't be happy in a situation like this, especially after what happened with Sam or that guy who was spitting all the time. In the century we live in, there shouldn't be any arranged marriages" she wanted to take a beer and relax on the sofa, but the rule said that you had to wait for guests at the entrance of the house "when should they arrive? At this rate I will get leg cramps"

Mr. Minatozaki had pointed to the main gate, which had just opened to let a black sports car in "they're here, behave yourself"

Sana's gaze was fixed on the car, after which she moved on to the most serious and elegant couple she had ever seen in her life. She felt intimidated by their presence, but that feeling was gone the moment the one and only Kim Dahyun got out on the driver's side.

She had never seen her dressed so formally and her hair tied in a high ponytail made her look even more serious. And hot.

"We apologize for the delay, the streets are quite busy at this hour" was the man who spoke, with a composure that could make almost shivering.

"No problem, the important thing is that you arrived without a hitch. She is your daughter I suppose, nice to meet you" Sana's father seemed particularly impressed by the young woman in front of him. 

Dahyun gave him a short smile, followed by a small bow "my pleasure, I hope we get along"

"But then she knows what it means to be polite" Sana was even more upset, but the excitement of what that meeting entailed was starting to make her head spin "is she the person I should marry?" she had asked with such frankness that it surprised her parents, but she was too focused on the brunette to notice.

It was Ms. Kim who replied "this is the plan, but there are some things we should discuss before making a final decision"

Having said that, the hosts had invited the guests to sit in the living room, leaving the two girls some time to get to know each other and talk privately.

Dahyun seemed totally at ease "your home is nice, but your parents live in luxury and I have to say I prefer it" she was looking around with interest, studying every object that had caught her attention.

"You told me you were disinherited"

"That's the way it is, but the situation has suddenly evolved"

The auburn took her hand "would you like to tell me how things went?"

"We are a couple and it is unacceptable for me to know that you will have to marry someone from a good family, so I decided to go home to ask my parents for forgiveness and to take on my responsibilities. They were happy with my decision and it wasn't difficult to convince them of how convenient it could be to unite our families"

"Hyun, why are you sacrificing yourself like this? You hate these life contexts"

"No matter how disproportionate the contempt I feel may be, it will never be as strong as my feelings for you" she was looking into her eyes, more serious than ever "I want to make one thing clear: I'm not trying to force you to stay with me, I have just thought of a loophole that could help both of us. The final decision is yours alone"

Sana had bright eyes "now I understand why Mina and Nayeon didn't want to tell me anything, you gave me the most unexpected and beautiful surprise I could wish for. I'm happy and I really hope that our parents can agree with each other"

"They shouldn't have any problems, I was the one who told the them about all the details to make the decision we hope" she was looking at her with love "by chance do you have a cigarette?"

Now aware of the meaning of that request, the auburn had approached her girlfriend to give her a quick kiss on the lips "is this okay?"

"I'll make it enough for now. Let's go, we must at least pretend to be interested in employment issues"

"What a nuisance, couldn't we go straight to our wedding?"

"It wouldn't be bad, but life doesn't go as smoothly as in the movies and we have to take every step before reaching a goal. Look on the positive side: it's as if I had made you a memorable proposal, more blatant than that is impossible" she was satisfied with herself "but I think I'll give you a ring, I'd like to do things right"

Sana's joy had prompted her to jump up and down, finding herself sitting on the ground after taking a sprain and ice on her ankle. Mr and Mrs Kim had been very worried, proving they weren't the cold people everyone feared and easing the situation.

Despite that little incident, the interview went smoothly and, on paper, Sana and Dahyun were officially out of any possible marriage request.

"Grandma, are you sure you forgot it at home? Check your purse carefully, you usually keep all your documents in your wallet" Momo adored her grandmother, but sometimes she found herself losing her temper, especially when she was waiting for a phone call by Jihyo. She missed her voice and the knowledge of not being able to have more than a few minutes a day to hear it made her restless "do you want me to check?"

"Honey, I already told you it's not there. I will surely have forgotten it in your study, that's why I always ask you not to make me do things in a hurry"

The young woman was massaging her temples "I guess I have to go back to my house to get it"

"Exactly and I'm sorry to have to give you this trouble, but this poor old woman needs all the documents in her possession to take care of her usual chores" she gave her a light pat on the back "you are in your prime, you won't have any problems to go and come back; I will go and sit at that table, my friends are there and judging by their faces I would say that a long morning of chat awaits me"

"I'll go and come back calmly, so as to give you time to gossip in peace" she waited to see her grandmother perfectly seated in the chair before leaving, snorting immediately after setting foot in the car "I can't stand anyone anymore, just a little thing is enough to do me get nervous"

She the music at a rather high volume, stopping to look at the void while waiting for a traffic light to turn green "she loved this song, she sang it all the time"

She had let herself be carried away by thoughts to the point that she found herself parking without realizing it "I don't think I did a very safe thing, it's strange that I managed to get home without having an accident"

She got out of the car in a hurry, not slowing down even while entering the code to open the front door "I take the documents and leave, I want to take off all the commitments of the day as soon as possible. And maybe I should even stop talking alone"

Her study was clean and perfectly tidy, but her grandmother's papers were neither on the desk nor on the glass table. She was getting impatient to the point of wanting to grab her expensive lamp and throw it at the wall.

Just when she was about to let go of despair, making her jump and not just from sudden fright, a voice she knew perfectly well had advised her to stay calm.

Momo whirled around, finding herself having to manage one of the strongest emotions she had ever felt in her life "Jihyo?"

The girl was leaning against the door jamb, with a dazzling smile on her face and her short black hair over her shoulder "hi, I hope you're not too mad at your grandmother because it was I who asked her to do this innocent little trick"

"Is that why you have been so busy and why there was always confusion during our short phone calls?"

"Yes, I hurried to get rid of everything I had pending and to optimize the times I called you between a break and the other"

"May I know what made you come back?"

Jihyo's gaze had turned serious "it was a cold December night and we were cuddling on the sofa in our tiny apartment. You looked me in the eye and told me to help you make a wish list. There are only two to fulfill, now I remember them"

Momo was holding back from crying like a baby "tell me what they are"

"Marriage and honeymoon around the world"

"Do you also know why we didn't do these two things?"

"We had no money, we had promised to earn enough before taking such an important step" she had taken a step forward "I remember everything and, if before I felt oppressed by indecision, now I know very well what I want to do with my life"

The tears that Momo had struggled to hold back were finally free to flow down her face "what have you decided?"

Jihyo had gotten close enough to wipe her cheeks with her thumbs "we could go and buy two identical couple rings, for starters"

"You're back to stay, is that what you're telling me? Sorry for all these questions, but I can't believe it's all real"

"I came back because I love you and I want to spend the rest of my days with you, is that enough for you? Now that I remember everything I just want to recover the disproportionate amount of time that was stolen from us"

A few hours later Chaeyoung had all her friends gathered at her home for an impromptu dinner "let's recap everything that happened: our beloved Jihyo has returned to us and is willing to stay with Momo, Hyun and Sana are officially engaged, Nay and Jeongyeon are planning to move, Mina and Tzutzu are finally together and I've made a lot of money in the last month. Wow, this must be our lucky year"

"And to think that there have been constant drama in this group" was Mina who spoke, smiling with a joy that she had not been able to bring out for a long time "now we are all happy and we are starting to walk our own paths"

"Let's remember we love each other even when we won't see each other for a long time" Jeongyeon was hugging her girlfriend "we will go far, but we will not stop being part of this idiot family"

Momo nodded "Jihyo and I too will disappear for a while, we decided to travel before and not after the wedding and, given the countless cities we have chosen, it will take a long time before we can see each other again"

"Apparently we all have things to do far from Korea" Dahyun had just emptied the glass in her hands "I guess we don't have much time left to spend all together" she smiled briefly at her girlfriend, who had put one hand on her leg to comfort her.

"The three of us have decided to stay here, we will be waiting for you with open arms" Tzuyu hugged Mina and Chaeyoung "I will take care of them until your return"

Nayeon cleared before getting up and grabbing a box in her bag "I knew this time would come and I decided to buy these bracelets for each of us. You don't have to wear them, I know it might sound childish, though I wanted to have something that would bring us all together"

None of them had wasted any time and within seconds they all had the same bracelet on their left wrist. Their initials and a mini heart-shaped point had been carved into them and it was enough to make each of them cry.

~~~
Even this story is practically over, now there is only one chapter left👉🏼👈🏼