It was already midnight when SNSD’s manager drove the girls home. All eight packed into one van, they took off from their schedule’s venue to the dorm. Even though technically they were allowed to go to their own home, as they several times did, they had agreed to spend today and tomorrow’s day off together.

 

“Jin oppa, don’t forget to go to Cheomdang-dong,” said Sooyoung from the middle seat. Oh, right—the middle seat was filled from right to left with Sunny, Seohyun, Sooyoung, and Yoona. The rest; Taeyeon, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, and Yuri, were comfortably sitting on the back seats.

 

“Won’t forget,” said the man in the driver seat. “Else I’ll receive eight punches and rants, one hour long each.”

 

Sunny who seated right behind him kicked his seat, “We don’t punch!”

 

He rolled his eyes and laughed. “True. You kick.”

 

Silence enveloped the van, the only sounds heard were coming from Tiffany’s earphones—“Our group’s speakers has began coming out again,” whispered Sooyoung to Seohyun who glanced worriedly at the head-bobbing Tiffany—and the sounds you usually heard when you were inside a van. Hyoyeon was nodding along the rhythm that escaped Tiff’s earphones, Taeyeon swaying her head left and right, while Yuri—

 

“Cheer up Yul, stop pouting!” said Hyoyeon, nudging the frowning girl with her elbow. “Keroro’s theme song is played right now!”

 

“Since when did Fany like Keroro?” asked Yuri, her frown disappeared for a moment.

 

“Since Seohyun added them to my playlist!” yelled Tiffany, ignoring the flinch coming from Taeyeon and Hyoyeon. “They’re bound to get played sometimes, and I’m too kind to delete them.”

 

“Oh,” said Yuri shortly, frowning again, her gaze back to the front. Hyoyeon stopped nodding along the rhythm, a giggle escaped her lips as she saw the back of Seohyun’s head moving along the song. She shifted her attention to the black pearl beside her and nudged her again.

 

“Heeeey,” she said, “why’re you so cloudy, Black?”

 

“’M not,” answered Yuri, her frown replaced with a tight-lipped smile. “And I’m not Black, you dwarf. Sooyoung is.”

 

“HEY!”

 

“Of course you’re not cloudy. Psh, as if I was born yesterday,” scoffed Hyoyeon, poking the other’s cheek repeatedly. “Spill.”

 

“There’s nothing to spill.”

 

“Nay. Con-fess. Now.”

 

“Honestly, Hyo—“

 

“Do you have no balls?”

 

Yuri glared at the girl beside her for a while before answering, “No.”

 

“You’re hesitating,” said Hyoyeon, blinking. “You hide something. Don’t you? Wait. I know. Wait. NO I DON’T KNOW! Why were you hesitating?? Do you actually have balls? Are you really a girl?”

 

The van broke into laughter, Yuri shoving the serious-faced Hyoyeon lightly. There was only one person refrained herself from laughing, but no one took notice as the manager stepped on the brake and the van stopped.

 

The door for the rear seat was opened, and a girl entered the van.

 

“Oh, there’s Jessica unnie!”

 

“WOO-HOO!”

 

“THE ICE PRINCESS IS IN DA HOUSE!”

 

“PREPARE TO BE FROZEN!”

 

“YOLO HOLO BOLO, JESS!”

 

“Mistah Mist—what, Tae? Berry? Fresh? Jess? Oh—OH! HI JESS!”

 

The said girl laughed and turned to face them after putting her bag down,

 

“Hi, dorks. Hi Seohyun.”

 

“Hey! How come I don’t get a special mention?” whined Sooyoung, “I greeted you first!”

 

Jessica rolled her eyes and smiled. “Okay—hi, Youngie.”

 

“OH YAY!”

 

The van took off again, with the manager shaking his head from the sudden merry situation inside as soon as Jessica was added to the bunch. Sharing stories, joking around, and exchanging pictures, the girls were no longer falling into silence.

 

Well, except two people.

 

“Yoona, why are you so quiet?” asked Jessica when she realized that she hadn’t heard the younger’s voice—not even when they greeted her. Now that she thought about it, Yuri’s voice wasn’t there, either.

 

Startled out of her thought, Yoona blinked. “What? What? What’s wrong?”

 

Jessica rolled her eyes. “You’re awfully quiet today,” she repeated, Seohyun and Sooyoung nodded dutifully for emphasis.

 

“Oh,” Yoona blinked again. “No, I just feel cold. Can we turn off the air conditioner?”

 

“NO!” shouted Hyoyeon from the back. “Yah, it’s really packed and hot back here with four people, don’t you dare turning off the only source of Heaven we have!”

 

“But I feel cold!”

 

“That’s your loss for choosing middle seat!”

 

Yuri coughed and elbowed Hyoyeon, the latter quickly shooting the former a ‘What?!’ expression. Yuri shook her head and made a peace sign, making the latter huff.

 

“But don’t you feel sorry for your dongsaeng?!” groused Yoona loudly, eyes fixated to the front. If Seohyun didn’t love peace, she’d suggest the doe-eyed girl to turn and face Hyoyeon so that they could have a face-off straight and clean.

 

Sooyoung and Sunny looked like they were struggling not to suggest the same thing.

 

“But I don’t hear Seohyun complaining, and she’s the maknae!”

 

“Why am I getting dragged into this,” mumbled Seohyun, silently apologizing to God for her evil suggestion a moment before.

 

“BUT I AM COLD!”

 

“YOUR LOSS!”

 

Jessica shook her head and sighed. “Are they always loud like this today, oppa?”

 

“Hmmm no,” answered Jin, turning the steer to make the van turn to the right. “They were pretty quiet before you come in.”

 

“Huh,” Jessica blinked. “Need nine to create havoc?”

 

“Well nine is the biggest number for a digit, after all.”

 

While the rear was having a rather ‘meaningful’ discussion, the middle and the back seats were boiling over the air conditioner.

 

“Turn it off!”

 

“Nah!”

 

“Turn. It. Off!”

 

“No. Freaking. Way!”

 

“Unnie!”

 

“Oh! Someone called me!”

 

“Turn it—“

 

“No, I think that was a ghost.”

 

“Yah! Do you wanna fight?”

 

“You can’t even look at me and you wanna fight?!”

 

“Shush, guys,” intervened Yuri finally, her right hand was raised to cover Hyoyeon’s mouth from saying more. “Stop bickering. Jin oppa has been eyeing the trees on the side. What if he decides to crash this van there because you’re so loud?”

 

“Unnie,” Seohyun huffed, “you’ve watched too many cartoons. No right-minded human will make rash decision as bad as that.”

 

“Who says Jin oppa has a right mind?” quipped Jessica from the front.

 

“Ha!” Yuri chuckled over the manager’s loud grumble. “At least the noises have died down, now.”

 

“Please just lower the level,” mumbled Yoona loud enough to be heard by everyone.

 

“No!” yelled Hyoyeon from the gaps between Yuri’s fingers.

 

“Aish, seriously,” sighed Yuri. “Let’s settle this for now, guys. No one is lowering the air conditioner, okay? Hyo’s right; actually, she’s sweating buckets right now.”

 

Hyoyeon whooped as Yuri retreated her hand from . Sooyoung patted the doe-eyed girl’s head; the latter frowned, but didn’t say anything. She looked outside instead, pouting fiercely.

 

She doesn’t side with me!

 

A voice inside her head coughed. Hard. Well duh, of course she doesn’t.

 

But why?

 

Seriously? You ask that while just a moment ago you deliberately chose the middle seat when she already sat in the back?

 

But I have a reason!

 

Reason you refuse to tell her. Can’t blame her here, can we?

 

I—I can’t sit beside her. It’s too risky!

 

Yeah? Risky why?

 

Risky because… because…

 

She involuntarily shivered as the cool air swept over her; the coldness apparently was felt by her only. Well, it was her fault for forgetting to bring a jacket while she only wore a not-really-thick shirt aside from her long pants…

 

As if it was dropped from Heaven, a jacket was swung over her head and landed gracefully on her; covering parts of her body her shirt couldn’t cover, greeting her nose with a scent she usually encountered in her room.

 

“Warm enough?” a voice from behind whispered.

 

Yuri.

 

Feeling a pair of hands fixing the jacket on her shoulder, Yoona bit her lips and nodded subtly. A soft “hmm” indicated that the older girl noticed the gesture.

 

“Your arms are quite warm. Want to switch seats?”

 

Even without facing her, Yoona could hear the concern in Yuri’s tone. And even without a mirror, she could feel her face heating up. From the gesture. From the words.

 

“Yoona?”

 

“Um,” Yoona shut her eyes and willed herself to stop blushing, a part of her also wishing that Yuri wouldn’t try to get a look of her face, “Yeah. Er, it’s very warm. T—thanks, unnie.”

 

She heard a sigh.

 

“Hyo, would you mind if we lower the air conditioner a bit?”

 

The reply was strangely cheerful. “Of course I don’t mind! Lower it, lower it. Or do you want to turn it off?”

 

Yoona almost wanted to turn her head to glare at the two-faced Hyoyeon.

 

“Are you sure?” asked Yuri with raised brows. “Just a while ago you acted like Hell would descend upon us if we turn it off.”

 

“That’s a while ago, my dear Yuri,” waved Hyoyeon brightly. “We’re thirty minutes away from the dorm, too! I can handle the heat that long.”

 

“Oooh!” quipped Jin from the front, “I don’t know how you do it, but we’re really thirty minutes away from your dorm.”

 

“Aha!” Hyoyeon smiled, “Hear that? Turn it off, Yul! No problem with me!”

 

Yuri looked at the girl beside her strangely; her ears distinctly heard a growl coming from Yoona.

 

“Okay, then. Jess? Think you won’t melt if we turn it off?”

 

Jessica rolled her eyes for the nth time, a knowing smirk secretly on her lips. Her hand reached towards the controller to turn the air conditioner off.

 

“Done!”

 

“Great,” mumbled Yoona, her hands tugging on the jacket covering her body. “Umm… Sorry for challenging you into a fight, Hyo unnie,” she said, remembering her blow during their verbal fight a moment before.

 

“Huh,” Hyo ignored Yoona’s words and turned to the black pearl who still had a thoughtful look in her face, “Yul, you said Yoona’s arms are warm, didn’t you? Think she catches a fever?”

 

“Can be,” said Yuri slowly, her eyes darting to the seat in front of her. Yoona had sunk to her seat.

 

“Splendid!” cheered Hyoyeon. “Nurse her when we arrive at the dorm, okay?”

 

“WHAT?” said both parties in unison, Yoona jumped from her seat that her head bumped onto the van’s roof. “Ow!”

 

“Aigoo,” Yuri reached her hand forward to pat the younger’s head, their hands brushed against each other in the process. “Yoong, gwenchana?”

 

“Uh—er—“

 

Before Yoona could answer, Hyoyeon had leaned to the middle seat and whispered next to her ear, “If you just go with this and stop avoiding Yuri, I’ll forgive you for challenging me into a fight.”

 

Yoona gulped.

 

Hyoyeon smiled and leaned back to her chair, “Well, looks like Yoona’s head need a nurse, too! Good luck tonight, Yul!”

 

Yuri looked between the girl beside her and Yoona in confusion.

 

“Just say yes,” whispered Sooyoung from the middle seat.

 

“Yes,” parroted Yuri, brows scrunched up.

 

“GREAT!” said the whole van, save for the confused and bewildered parties. Tiffany and Taeyeon high-fived each other, Sooyoung and Jessica followed suit, Sunny whooped and grinned afterwards while Seohyun only shook her head and smiled. And the last one was…

 

“Phew!” Hyoyeon opened her jacket and fanned herself. “Pheeew.” She raised her shirt over her head, and before Yuri could shriek and accuse her for stripping in the van while their manager oppa was present, it was quickly apparent that she had another layer of shirt beneath the one she took off.

 

“Er, Hyo…”

 

Yoona had turned her head, finally, and she was jaw-dropped too.

 

“Unnie, how many shirts do you wear???”

 

“Now? One,” answered Hyoyeon innocently, three bundled shirts and a jacket scattered on her and Tiffany’s lap. Yoona turned back to the front, groaning loudly, while Yuri facepalmed herself.

 

“Hyo! No wonder you’re sweating buckets!”

 

“UNNIE! I THOUGHT YOU REALLY FELT HOT!”

 

“Oh but I did!” said Hyoyeon, eyes widened. “How couldn’t I, with five layers covering my body? My poor oxygen-lacking skin…”

 

Yuri shoved the misty-eyed girl lightly. “Yah, I defended you earlier because I thought you really couldn’t survive without the air conditioner. Apologize to Yoona.”

 

“Awww,” Hyoyeon pouted. “But I made you give her your jacket!”

 

“And?”

 

“She’s happy!”

 

Yoona sunk into her seat once again, face red.

 

“Honestly, Hyo…”

 

“And I made you two promise to spend the night together!”

 

Yuri sighed again, “And?”

 

“And both of you are happy!”

 

Yuri leaned back to her seat, her hands rubbing her temples while she muttered ‘patient, Yuri, patient’ to herself.

 

“Hyo, possibly having a fever and a headache won’t make anyone happy…”

 

“But you two will be together,” pointed Hyoyeon, frowning, arms crossed in front of her chest. “And that has always been enough to make you happy.”

 

Yuri opened to retaliate, but she found herself closing it back. Her gaze traveled to the seemingly vacant seat in front of her as Yoona had lowered herself until her back touched her seat.

 

The blush on Yoona’s face halted as Hyoyeon’s last statement registered on her mind. She swallowed and waited. Waited for Yuri to reject the idea, to come up with a reason that Hyoyeon was wrong, to give her a reason to justify her act avoiding the older girl this whole week...

 

“Well, I have always been happy,” said Yuri softly, “but maybe you’re wrong about the other person, Hyo…”

 

“NO!” shouted Yoona, jumping once again from her almost fully leaning position, so high that her head said hello to the van’s roof for the second time.

 

“OW!”

 

The whole van winced. The voice it made sounded really painful.

 

Rubbing her abused head, Yoona turned to face the wide-eyed girl. “Unnie! I know that I have avoided you for a week and I have a reason I can’t share with you and I know I deserve to be hated and I’m sorry for hurting you but I have always, always, always been super very mega happy to be with you too! Really! Honest! Jinjja!” Yoona blinked and she was a bit taken aback as she felt her eyes got misty. But Yuri had avoided her eyes, and she felt sadder and sadder by seconds.

 

“I… please don’t think otherwise, unnie.”

 

Yuri slowly met her gaze, carefully held her stare, and Yoona felt a pang in her heart as she wondered; when was the last time they looked into each other’s eyes?

 

Hyoyeon had half-climbed into Tiffany lap in her effort to give Yuri a space, while Sunny had taken it upon herself to sit on Seohyun’s lap so that Sooyoung could move over, and made the left side of the van exclusively to YoonYul.

 

Both hadn’t taken notice of their surroundings as Yuri smiled hesitantly. “Yoong, I think you should sit and—“

 

“No!” rejected Yoona quickly, “I’m sorry, unnie. I truly am. Please. I like being with you. I can’t have you think otherwise. I can’t—“

 

“Yoona,” said Yuri gently, “I want you to sit because your position can make your headache worsen.”

 

Yoona blinked. “Oh…” Now that Yuri had mentioned about that, her head did feel like it was spinning faster than Earth did. Slowly, Yoona lowered herself to her seat, her gaze still firmly on the smiling girl.

 

“Unnie…”

 

Yuri reached her hands out and cupped Yoona’s head. Slowly, she turned the younger’s head to face the front.

 

“There. Just sit patiently until we reach the dorm, okay? We can discuss everything else there, while I handle your fever and your headache.”

 

“Oooooooh,” sighed the whole van dreamily at the scenes played out on their left. That was the moment when Yuri noticed Hyoyeon’s half rested on Tiffany’s lap, and Yoona found Seohyun awkwardly held a giddy Sunny on her lap. Before they could ask their members about what’s the meaning of all this, Jin hit the honk.

 

DIIIIIIIIIIN!

 

“Actually, we have reached your dorm,” Jin declared. He looked over the stunned Yoona and Yuri, “So fast, right?”

 

“The van has stopped moving since five minutes ago,” added Jessica, her head already turned towards the rest. She smirked, “I told Jin oppa not to tell you yet, of course. Can’t have the dorm stand on your way, right?”

 

Sooyoung squealed and kissed the ice princess’ cheek. “That’s my Sica!”

 

Sunny laughed, “Now that’s gold.”

 

Hyoyeon hummed, “Now, do we need to stay until Yoona explained her reason or…”

 

Yuri smacked the prankster’s shoulder, “No. Let’s get off the car now. To tell or not to tell is Yoona’s choice, okay? If I can honor her choice, you should also.”

 

“Oooooooooh,” sighed the whole van again. “Hey, Yoona’s face is as red as the crab we ate last week.”

 

“Unnies! Stop!” whined Yoona. When she found Seohyun attempted to hide a snicker too, she rolled her eyes and opened the door. “I’m going first! Thank you Jin oppa!”

 

“Yoona wait!” called Yuri as the younger stomped off from the van. “Aish. I’ll follow her.”

 

“Go Yul!”

 

“Make babies!”

 

“SOO!” bellowed Yuri, face red. “I’m going to follow her because she’s sick and she needs someone to look over her, okay?!”

 

“Sure, sure, whatever you call it,” waved Sooyoung cheerily.

 

“Bye bye!”

 

Yuri rolled her eyes and moved to the middle seat to reach the door. She had gotten off from the van just barely when the van’s honk blared again,

 

“Being together has always been enough to make you two happy! You better don’t stop now!”

 

“Good luck!”

 

“Hwaiting, unnie!”

 

“BYE BYEEE!”

 

“TAKE CARE OF OUR DEER, YURI!”

 

“MAKE SURE TO GIVE HER THE MEDICINES!”

 

“AND MAKE BABIES!!!”

 

Yuri watched, slack-jawed, as the van took off again, Sooyoung’s head came out from the window to say goodbyes and shout ‘make babies!’ for the last time as the van went further and further from the place she stood. Blinking, Yuri realized that the members had planned this whole night behind her and Yoona’s back, pranked them for the nth time in the span of one day, and she cursed silently as she realized that they had left her alone too. With Yoona. For a whole night. Wait, she didn’t even know if they would come back tomorrow morning or tomorrow night.

 

Sighing, Yuri dragged her feet to their dorm. The door was open and the light had been switched on. Realizing that Yoona was likely having a fever and a massive headache right now, she locked the door and padded her way through the dorm. The living room was empty. The kitchen, too. Retrieving a box of medicines and a glass of water, she went upstairs, to their shared room.

 

“Yoona?” she whispered as she pushed the room’s door open with her shoulder.

 

“Ngghmmbfflh,” mumbled Yoona, face buried into her pillow, lying weakly on her bed. Shaking her head, Yuri approached the younger and set the medicines and glass on the table beside the beds.

 

“Do you think you have a fever?” asked Yuri softly as Yoona kept burying her face into her pillow.

 

Shifting her head so that was uncovered from the pillow, Yoona answered weakly,

 

“No, unnie.”

 

Yuri reached to touch the other’s neck, making the latter to flinch in the process.

 

“Well, bad news. You’re warm,” stated Yuri softly. “Must be a beginning of fever. Ugh… Hyoyeon’s so ridiculous…”

 

“But why was I the only one feeling cold?” asked Yoona weakly.

 

“The other members are all wearing thick clothes and jackets,” explained Yuri. “Speaking of them…” she trailed off, not quite sure how to explain the absurd situation both of them were in.

 

“Why? What about them?”

 

Yuri pinched her nose and exhaled loudly through , “Well, they kind of decided to leave us alone…”

 

Yoona made several undecipherable noises.

 

“And by alone, I mean really, really alone. Just the two of us. In this dorm. The others were… away… the van took off right after I stepped out from it.”

 

Yuri watched in amusement as Yoona made several undecipherable noises again, this time with higher tone and muffled shriek at the end of the noises.

 

“So, yeah…” Yuri reached for the glass and medicines, “I guess they want to give me a private time nursing you back to health. Let’s take your medicine first…”

 

Yoona rolled over slowly, then proceeded to sit with several deep breaths in between. Yuri waited, patiently, as the younger picked the pills from her hand and gulped them one by one with water.

 

“Bleagh…”

 

Yuri chuckled as Yoona made a face after she gulped the last pill. Taking the glass back, she put it on the table and helped Yoona to lie down again.

 

“So,” said Yuri as she pulled the blanket to cover the sick girl’s body. “We will be alone for only God knows how long. Are you okay with that?”

 

She felt Yoona’s warm hand reached over hers and gave it a squeeze.

 

“I… have told you, unnie,” said Yoona seriously, “I have always been very super mega happy with you.”

 

“Well…” Yuri tilted her head and smiled slightly.

 

“You’re not convinced,” said Yoona, eyes narrowing. Yuri looked at their hands and rubbed Yoona’s palm gently, not answering the statement.

 

“Unnie,” exhaled Yoona, “what should I do to make you believe me?”

 

Yuri didn’t look up from their hands, didn’t stop rubbing Yoona’s palm, but opened as she answered…

 

“What should I do to stop you from avoiding me?”

 

Yoona closed her eyes as her headache made her temples feel like it was hit by a hammer repeatedly. “Unnie…”

 

“If you feel troubled by the way I say ‘I love you’ every chance I get, I will stop it, Yoong… all you have to do is ask.” It’s not like you’ll ever say ‘I love you’ back, but Yuri left that part drumming on her heart.

 

Yoona opened her eyes, trying to catch the older’s gaze, and felt the hammer switched victim from her temples to her chest as Yuri still refused to look at her…

 

“Unnie…”

 

“If you feel troubled by the way I save you a seat every time we have a schedule together, all you need to do is ask, and I will stop it…”

 

The hammer’s rhythm was quickened, and a colony of bee made way to her heart, stinging every corner of her feelings. Yoona opened , but she felt words stuck in …

 

“Unnie…”

 

Yuri smiled, her gaze finally lifted to meet those doe eyes. “So what should I do, Yoong? You only have to ask… anything… and I’ll do it as long as I can.”

 

Yoona held their gaze, pleading from her eyes for Yuri to not look away, her hand slowly stopped Yuri’s hand from rubbing hers, and intertwined their fingers instead…

 

“Unnie… listen to me… I… I’m sorry…”

 

“No… I… I don’t hate anything you have mentioned before… nor do I hate anything you haven’t mentioned yet…”

 

“I… I like everything about you, unnie… I really, really like being with you because none of your presence troubles me even a bit…”

 

“I just…”

 

“What I hate is those ‘what ifs’ that linger in my mind, unnie…”

 

Yuri inhaled slowly as Yoona paused on her words, the fingers intertwined with hers started to feel sweaty from nervousness.

 

“What if someday you save a seat for someone other than me…”

 

“What if someday you find a part of me annoying you…”

 

“What if someday you find out that your favorite dongsaeng is Seohyun and not me…”

 

“What if someday you find out that rooming with me is tiring…”

 

“What if someday you think that locking hands with me is troubling…”

 

“What if… someday… you find out about my feelings and you feel disgusted at me?”

 

Yoona stopped and tried to take a breath, only to hitch because of the tears that had ran over her cheeks. Yuri hadn’t broken her stare, but Yoona couldn’t decipher the look those eyes held, and she didn’t know…

 

“I keep thinking… what if… what if someday you avoid me and I can’t find a way to bring us back? Can I face that? What if I’ve fallen too deep by then? What if I can’t face that without breaking my heart…?”

 

Yoona dropped her gaze and sobbed, her heart finally broke its high wall she had built over the dilemmatic week. She avoided the older girl, thinking that by doing so her heart would stop rebelling over her logical mind that always told her she couldn’t feel that way. She avoided the older girl, very much aware that she was hurting herself and hurting Yuri too, if those broken gazes and defeated sighs were any indication. But what could she do? She didn’t know any other way. She didn’t know how to fight this feeling anymore…

 

A hand reached out to touch her cheek gently, wiping the streak of tears, and Yoona shakily put her non-intertwined hand on top of it. Drawing a strength from the contact, drawing a faith, drawing a courage to said it all…

 

“I… I… I keep wondering, unnie…”

 

“I always… thinking… wondering… if I answer back that I love you, will you stop saying that you love me?”

 

“What… what if you do… if… you really do…”

 

“What can I do, then, unnie?”

 

The broken tone Yoona used, the cracked voice in the end of her sentence, and the tears that refused to stop—all was enough. Everything was enough; she didn’t have to hear more. Breaking their intertwined hands, Yuri crawled into the bed and leaned carefully on Yoona’s left. She looped her arms over the sobbing girl and hugged her. She hugged her tight. Bringing her head to her chest, to her heart. her hair, soothing her sobs.

 

“Ssssh… Yoong… don’t cry… all is ok… all is ok…”

 

Yoona clutched onto the older girl’s shirt, afraid that if she let go her worst ‘what if’ would materialize. Afraid that if she let her go, her nightmare would come true. Afraid that if she let Yuri go, the latter would avoid her harder than she had been avoiding her this past week.

 

“I’m sorry, unnie… I’m sorry…”

 

Yoona shut her eyes tight as her headache paid a visit again, sending several waves of hurt to her entire head, but she could careless—her heart ached the worst.

 

“Unnie…”

 

“Sssh… Yoong…” Yuri hugged the younger tighter, closing her eyes and feeling her heart reached a pain too. She tried to push it aside, along with her hurting feelings this week… yes, Yoona chose a wrong way to deal with her concern, but then Yoona had always been too careful about dealing with her feelings. Always been too calculating and insecure about her heart.

 

“I love you, Yoong…” said Yuri softly, sincerely, as the sobs slowly died down. “I love you, and I won’t ever stop telling you that until you’re tired of hearing my feelings…”

 

“I love you and I mean it in every possible ways I can…”

 

“And you won’t lose that… ever…”

 

“I promise you…”

 

Soothing words, healing phrases, sentences of heart; Yuri didn’t know how long she whispered her feelings out to Yoona, until the younger's sobs truly died down, her shaking body calmed down, her hitched breath replaced with soft snores. Her hand had fallen into the routine of the younger’s hair, gently, slowly, lovingly, lulling the younger deeper into her sleep. Sometimes her hand stopped halfway to caress her cheek, wiping the signs of tears present, noting silently to herself to work hard to not make Yoona cry ever again—because her heart always broke along with hers.

 

As if sensing her silent promise, the sleeping girl snuggled to her neck, whispering her name so faint she almost failed to catch it, warmness from her forehead transferred into her skin and Yuri would know that the fever had come down, a bit. And she continued her hair, whispering words she had wanted to say long before.

 

She didn’t know how much of her heart Yoona had a chance to hear, but it didn’t matter. She was more than willing to repeat it again tomorrow. Heck, she could spend a lifetime and wouldn’t regret any seconds of it.

 

Yuri leaned to press a gentle kiss on the sleeping girl’s forehead, a smile graced her lips as she pulled back. The day ended like this, she would very well say thanks to the members for their chained pranks; except the part where they made Yoona sick. That was too much. Yes. Maybe she could arrange a revenge with Yoona after the girl bounced back as healthy as ever.

 

“Get well soon, okay Yoong?” whispered Yuri softly, “We have eight people to prank. Jin oppa included. We'll have a very good time planning and executing. So be healthy soon, okay?”

 

A hundred kilometers away from SNSD’s dorm, a van vibrated as its passengers sneezed together in unison.

 

But it was a story for the other day. For now, Yuri felt her eyes started to get heavy as sleepiness knocked on her brain’s door. Yoona’s hair for the last time, she changed her position slowly to lean comfortably, still hugging the sleeping girl, her hand shifted to rest on the younger’s waist.

 

“Saranghae, Yoong. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow.”

 

And as the whisper traveled with the wind to greet the constellations of blessing and love, Yuri drifted off to the dreamland, fully knew that she waited tomorrow fondly as the love she treasured now could be said in the reality.

 

All is well.

 

 

THE END