The other car was having a way less awkward conversation, for the three girls.

“You really need to share your pictures, Namjoo-ah,” Chorong was saying while her eyes never abandoned the road. “We all need to have those pictures from Jeju Island. They are beautiful memories.”

Namjoo, who was sharing the backseat with a giant panda bear, nodded.

“Okay, okay, I’ll give you a pen drive when we get home.”

Bomi was looking at Chorong without paying attention to the conversation, her mind somewhere else. Her eyes lightened up every time she looked at her girlfriend, and she wanted to keep that feeling of a fluttering heart like that forever.

“Bomi-ah? Are you even listening?” Chorong got her girlfriend out of her disconnection with the outer world.

“What? Oh, yes, of course,” Bomi smiled.

Chorong chuckled, and Namjoo rolled her eyes at the couple from the back. To make it even better, Chorong linked her right hand with Bomi and pressed tightly to send her feelings.

“You girls are so unbearably cute,” Namjoo pointed out, but her unnies just laughed in response.

“Someday, Namjoo-ah, you’ll find someone who will be cute with you,” Bomi said, looking at Namjoo through the side mirror.

Namjoo shifted uncomfortably in her seat, hesitating between pronouncing the words or just staying silent. She chose the earlier, but maybe she shouldn’t have.

“But what if you’re not here to see it, unnie?”

∼

Dinner went by in a blur, and soon the girls lay around the living room, trying to find something to do.

“I think I am going to go to bed,” Naeun said in a yawn. “I am really tired.”

“I’ll go with you,” Eunji said, and stood up to follow the younger girl.

“Wow, that was fast,” Hayoung joked. “I thought you two weren’t even a couple yet.”

“Hayoung-ah!” Naeun looked shocked, and Eunji dropped the hand she had on Naeun’s shoulder.

“Yah, Hayoung-ah!” Bomi exclaimed, but she couldn’t contain her laughter. Even Chorong was smiling.

Eunji shrugged and grabbed Naeun’s hand fearlessly, leaving the room.

“Goodnight,” they both said before disappearing down the corridor.

Chorong was watching them leave when she felt a pair of arms embracing her waist.

“Don’t you want to have fun tonight?” Bomi whispered in her ear. “You are not tired, are you?”

“No, of course not,” Chorong smiled back.

Bomi looked around, the maknaes sitting on the sofa expecting something to happen, someone to do whatever.

“Let’s celebrate!” Bomi ran to the kitchen and brought a bottle of soju and four glasses with her.

“Bomi-ah! You don’t pretend to drunken your dongsaengs, do you?” Chorong looked shocked.

Bomi looked at her like she couldn’t understand why Chorong was asking that.

“Of course I am.” Hayoung laughed and joined Bomi at the table. Namjoo sat down next to Bomi a minute later, looking at Chorong apologetically.

“She’s offering us free alcohol, you know?” Namjoo tried to explain.

The leader, defeated, took a sit between the maknaes and took one of the glasses.

She sighed. “I could use a drink as well.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear!” Bomi exclaimed in excitement.

“Unnie, are you drunk already?” Namjoo asked with a smirk.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Chorong muttered to herself.

Bomi slid her hand over the table towards her girlfriend and softly caressed the back of Chorong’s hand. It was so smooth that she smiled.

“You know why, unnie,” she said softly.  And Chorong did.

It was the last night before Bomi started her chemotherapy treatment, and the girl wanted to enjoy it as much as possible. She had been told of the side effects that would come with it, so she wanted to be herself for a longer while. And alcohol appeared to her as the perfect excuse to forget what she was about to go through.

“Unnie, are you even allowed to drink alcohol?” Namjoo asked with a frown. “You know, since tomorrow…”

“Yes.” Bomi interrupted her dongsaeng quite harshly, but her look got friendlier in less than a second. “Not frequently, but yes.”

“Okay then.” Chorong grabbed the bottle of soju and started filling up the glasses. Bomi couldn’t help but laugh at her girlfriend’s actions, and Chorong glared at her in response.

“Cheers!” The four girls exclaimed in unison.

∼

“Naeun-ah…” Eunji’s voice broke the silence.

The two girls had been getting ready to go to bed, and Naeun was locked inside the bathroom they all shared, and she’d been there for a while.

“Naeun-ah, are you done?” She asked again. “We need to talk.”

Naeun came out seconds later, her face bare and wearing a small smile.

“Sure.” Her smile faltered while the girls walked back to their room. They could hear the other members exclaiming things out loud, but Eunji just shook her head and locked the door.

“Naeun-ah…” Eunji sat down while Naeun tidied her side of the room, putting her clothes in place like the perfectionist she was. “About what Hayoung-ah asked us earlier…”

“Unnie, why can’t you just go straight to the point?” Naeun turned around all of a sudden and locked her gaze with Eunji’s. “If you want to ask for my opinion then yes, I do want us to be an official couple. I have already told you that I love you and I don’t think there’s anything else to say. And if you’re worried about manager-oppa finding out, I honestly don’t care at all. He can’t tell me what I have to do, not in this area at least. But if that troubles you, then I’ll respect your decision no matter what.”

Eunji was taken aback by Naeun’s short speech, and she was left silent for a few instants, speechless. When she managed to find her voice again, she spoke softly but with determination.

“I do too.”

“What?” Naeun looked at her confused. She’d said many things in the last minute.

“I do want us to be a couple,” Eunji said, this time louder. She blushed softly and stood up so she was right in front of the other girl. “I don’t care about what he thinks either. We should do as we please.”

“Great.” Naeun released the air she’d been holding.

“Great,” Eunji replied, and the two girls just looked at each other for a few seconds.

Then that was it. Eunji pushed Naeun back so the girl found herself against the cold wall, and the older girl locked their lips together, their touch warm and long-awaited.