The clouds were a grey curtain suspended from the stars, and the bright cold pattering rain simply refused to stop. Seoul was beautiful like this, she reflected, she who stood on that wet rain-covered street corner on that foggy May occasion, standing out from the crowd amidst the gleaming street lights in her short grey rain coat and matching boots.

 

Sulli sighed, shifting from foot to foot, keeping tight hold of her bags and craning her neck to see among the flurry of cars waiting at the corner. Bad enough that her driver should be late to pick her up, but she had just come back from her latest shoot - this time one in France - and the jet lag was already starting to affect her, despite the long hours she had spent sleeping on the plane. Moreover, she knew how her band members - Soojung and Luna and Amber, and most of all Vic eomma - must be worrying about her.

 

Soojung, she thought with a pang of guilt and pleasure. Guilty pleasure? She hadn't told her best friend yet, but Sulli was starting to feel a little different about their relationship. Soojung was fun and funny and sweet and kind and beautiful and caring, and Sulli couldn't have asked for a better friend. Some days, she almost wished Soojung was a man, so that she could...be her girlfriend? Marry her?

 

No, Sulli told herself firmly, placing one hand protectively over the locket at , Minho was her boyfriend already. She was straight, besides. And what would Soojung say? Laugh kindly, pat her on the back; thanks for the compliment, Ssul, but I'm straight. That's all.

 

And suddenly she felt embarrassed.

 

What was she, twelve? No, she was a strong young woman of twenty-three. Between her band practice, her drama filming schedule and her love life, she hadn't time for silliness like worrying about her uality. Knock it off, Sulli, she told herself. You're too old for this.

 

Still, if she was wondering about her uality like this, wasn't Soojung technically part of her love life, too?

 

A horn brought her back to reality. She jumped, stood painfully to attention at the curbside. There was a black van pulling up to the curb - not her driver's usual car. The front door opened and a grinning face poked out.

 

Minho, Sulli realized. Minho had come to pick her up.

 

But that wasn't all. The passenger door flew open and Soojung stepped out, looking so radiant in the bright lights from the terminal that Sulli suddenly, without meaning to, experienced a rush of feelings and emotions and thoughts that embarrassed her, that were so embarrassing that she stepped back instinctively as if to make sure no one could see the emotions on her face, read her mind.

 

Soojung, she said in her mind, rejoicing in the sound of the name. "Soojung!"

 

And then before she could say another word, Soojung walked up to her and slapped her.

 

"Babo," she hissed, "where were you? We looked all over and you wouldn't even answer your phone, Minho and the rest were so worried - even Luna asked about you, dammit, we've all been waiting on you and I - I - "

 

She broke off and raised her hand again. Sulli recoiled, holding her still smarting cheek, too shocked to feel upset, and then Minho - bless his soul - was standing behind Soojung, holding her arms gently but firmly.

 

"Soojung," he said quietly, "Soojung, that's enough. The girl's been through a lot. Give her some space, all right?"

 

Soojung bristled, but Minho held her, spoke softly into her ear, and finally she nodded, drew back into the van.

 

"I'll be in the back seat," said her muffled voice, sounding strangely raw, "if anyone needs me."

 

The door slammed.

 

Suddenly all of Sulli's hopes and dreams and feelings for Soojung were gone, replaced by anger and shock and a strange, burning pain deep in her chest. Soojung didn't like her any more. Soojung could certainly never love her. What had happened that could possibly have made Soojung hate her so? What had made Sulli think she loved her, that there was any real chance at love between the two of them, in the first place?

 

All that love and pain and confusion swirled around in her brain and suddenly she was crying, clutching at Minho's shirt, wailing for all she was worth. It wasn't pretty. Love was never pretty.

 

What had she done?

 

Slowly she became aware of Minho her hair, gently comforting her, whispering sweet nothings into her ear. Bless Minho for always being there for her. Damn him for always coming between Sulli and Soojung, between Sulli and her conflicted feelings for her best friend in the world.

 

Roughly, she pulled away from him, scrubbing her eyes with one hand. "Let's go," she said, aware of how raw her voice sounded. "We can't just sit here in the loading lane."

 

He took the hint and, without comment, took all her bags to put them into the trunk. Sulli pulled herself into the front passenger seat, leaning back against the cool red-stained leather, feeling glad, for once, that there was a partition between the driver and the back seats. She simply couldn't risk Soojung seeing her like this.

 

Minho returned, pulled their doors closed, slid himself into the driver's seat and held Sulli's hand for a moment, just like they always used to. "Sulli, baby," he whispered, "what's wrong?"

 

Everything, she wanted to say. Anything and everything. Instead she wiped her eyes again, shook her head. "What's for dinner?"

 

"Luna mentioned take out," the familiar chunk of the engines turning on, "but Vic eomma offered to make a special late dinner for you and the other members, since you're getting home late... Ssul? Sulli?"

 

"Hmm?"

She looked up absently. He was looking at her closely, with something like the hint of a smile on his face.

 

"You really like her, don't you," he said, and it wasn't a question, it was a statement.

 

"I - ". caught. "I don't know. She's a good friend and I, I just..."

 

Her voice cracked, and she looked at him pleadingly.

 

"Well," said Minho, leaning back and placing his hands behind his head, "I do know, and so does Victoria and your manager, not to mention the rest of your band mates. It's fairly obvious."

 

Sulli hated him then, with his smug nonchalant smile and his way of knowing things about herself that even she didn't know.

 

"Well," she spat, trying to make her words as poisonous as possible, even though her eyes were beginning to tear up again, "well, so what if I do like her? It doesn't mean she likes me or anything, so even if I'm g-g-gay...."

 

She broke off again. It was no use. The tears were threatening to spill out over her cheeks, and her heart hurt more than ever. Minho reached over, put one arm around her.

 

"I'm sorry," she sobbed, "I'm sorry I've been such a b-bad girlfriend..."

 

"Princess," he whispered against her hair, "even if you were gay, I'd still love you. That's what a friend's love is for. And if you really do love Soojung, and if she loves you too, then I promise I'll do everything I can to make sure you two stay together. You do know she loves you too, right?"

 

Sulli raised her head, looked up at his smiling face. "You r-really mean that?" she whispered.

 

"Jinjja. Really," he whispered. "That's what she told me, anyway. On our way to the airport, in fact."

 

"B-but she was so angry at me when she got here..."

 

"For good reason," said Minho. "Ssul, baby, she was worried sick about you. When you didn't answer your phone..."

 

"If she doesn't hate me," said Sulli, and hiccuped despite herself, "if she doesn't really hate me, then why did she go into the back seat?"

 

"For the same reason you didn't follow her," said Minho, still smiling gently, "because she, like you, was trying to sort out her feelings, work up the courage to say that she loves you."

 

Sulli stared at him, trying not to believe what he'd said.

 

"Well," he said, glancing out the window, "looks like we're here. Home sweet home. If I'm right, Ssul," he said, looking over at her with a small smile, "there's no better time to go out there and tell her how you feel."

 

Sulli stared out the window, watching he rain running into the gutter by the sidewalk, watching the play of starlight across the dark water. "What if she says no?" she said in a muffled voice.

 

"Then at least you'll have it off your chest," he said. "C'mon, Ssul. If you don't do this, you might regret it the rest of your life."

 

And Sulli listened to what he was saying; thought of her Soojung, bright and pretty and radiant; thought of her best friend crying, all alone, thinking she was a failure because Sulli couldn't bear to confess to Soojung her true feelings. She thought of Soojung rejecting her, saying kindly that they could still remain friends, because she was just that generous of a person.

 

"I'll do it," she said in a whisper, because it was all she could manage with the pain and love tearing her heart in two.

 

"That's my girl," said Minho, and gave her a kiss, the last one he'd give in a long time, Sulli thought. And then her legs carried her down and out of the front seat of the van and she was standing in front of one of the passenger doors, rain pouring down and drenching her hair.

 

Wait, her heart cried, this isn't right. If you go in there now, if you confess your feelings to her, she'll reject you. She'll say you're weird - a girl liking girls. Then she'll walk out on you, and you won't have your Soojung any more.

 

Just go back to the front seat now, Sulli, and she'll never know. Stay with Minho and it'll be all right. You can hide your feelings.

 

For a moment. Sulli believed the little voice in her heart. She wanted to go back, return to her warm fuzzy cocoon of peace with Minho; wanted it so bad, she nearly turned away then and there. And then she remembered what Minho had said, about Soojung having told Minho she loved Sulli, too.

 

Minho wouldn't lie, she told herself, and pulled the door open.

 

"What is it?" said Soojung in muffled voice. "Go 'way." Dimly, Sulli saw her shape moving in the dark interior.

 

"Soojung," she whispered, and reached in and shook her shoulder gently. "Soojungie, I have to tell you something."

 

"What?" There was a rustling, and then Soojung - her Soojung - appeared in the doorway, her eyes red, as if she'd been crying. "What do you want?" Her voice sounded hoarse, tired.

 

"W-well," Sulli started, "I just wanted to say that - you and I - "

 

"Minho already told me," said Soojung wearily, "you're probably not going to be my friend any more, after I slapped you like that. I'm sorry, if that helps any."

 

"No - Soojung, I - " Sulli started to say, but Soojung just shook her head and pushed past.

 

"If you've got some sort of big I-forgive-you-we-can-still-be-friends speech prepared, I don't need to hear it," and Sulli thought she heard her voice crack on the final word, "Ssul."

 

"Soojung," Sulli said firmly, grabbing her wrist. "Soojung, I just wanted to say that I - "

 

Soojung whirled, and now Sulli saw the hurt in her eyes. Yes, she had been crying. "What?"

 

"I..." It hurt too much for Sulli to say it, so she tried another tactic. "Soojungie - you remember when you had a crush on Minho? You came to me to get confidence, since I was your best friend."

 

Soojung nodded blankly.

 

"Well," said Sulli tentatively, "think of this like that time with Minho - only this time, Minho's the platonic friend, and the one I'm confessing to is..."

 

Soojung stared at her. Clearly she hadn't understood a word of what Sulli had said.

 

So Sulli did the only thing she could think to do. She leaned forward and kissed Soojung - very softly, on the lips, just long enough to get the message across.

 

"The one I'm confessing to is you," said Sulli, and then, softer, more timidly, "I hope you don't mind."

 

"No," said Soojung, still staring at her, and at first Sulli thought she still didn't understand. "No, I don't mind." And then she grabbed Sulli by the waist, pulling her close, and kissed her so hard, Sulli dropped her arms and forgot everything but Soojung's arms and lips and the smell of the sweet, sweet night air, the smell of the calm in the wake of the receding storm.

~~~

 

Hey guys~this is my very first rpf ever, so I hope it isn't too bad! :3  I really appreciate feedback, so if you have comments, critiques, or suggestions, I'd be thrilled to see them in the comments below.  Also, depending on how much interest I get, I am condisidering making this a serial thing, with one new one-shot for a new pairing (or possibly an old pairing in a new situation), coming out weekly, biweekly, or on some other regular basis.  I would take requests too, so if there's any pairings you'd particularly like to see, let me know in comments as well. :3

 

So yeah!  Just a little thing for all you Jungli lovers out there. ^_^

 

Regards,

Author