“Yoon Bomi.”

Bomi stood up, Naeun tightening her grip on the girl's shoulder. The two girls, followed by Hayoung, walked after the doctor in silence.

“Hey, relax,” the maknae whispered in Bomi's ear, causing the older girl to smile softly, trying to reassure Hayoung when she was the one freaking out inside.

Chorong had appointment with their company, so she hadn't been able to come with them. Hayoung and Naeun had been the ones told to accompany Bomi by Chorong. They were on the mission of infusing some happiness and confidence in the girl.

They'd been at the hospital since early morning, the younger two waiting in empty corridors while they ran some tests on their unnie. The usual. But it had been a while, and Bomi was scared of getting news that meant even less time left, or even the incapacity of moving to Jeju Island.

“The results...” The doctor had been with Bomi for a long while now, since they found out about the illness together, so they both acted very straightforwardly towards each other.

“Bad news, right?”

“Yeah… I’m sorry, Bomi-ssi,” the doctor looked hesitant. “It is not looking good. We’ve found metastasis in the peripheral part of your brain, which means the tumor is pretty advanced now. We could operate you, but I cannot assure you that it will work, nor that it won’t multiply and appear again.”

Hayoung and Naeun were holding hands, the two enduring the blow like it was theirs. But they kept quiet, saying nothing while Bomi stared at her own hands and thought of what that all meant.

“You know I don’t want that,” she began, and the doctor nodded.

“I know, but I had to offer it anyway. There’s always this slight chance.”

Bomi lifted her gaze and stared at the doctor intensely. 

“I am not getting treated,” she spoke. “You know that.”

The doctor nodded gravely.

“I know.”

Silence filled the room, Hayoung and Naeun exchanging a concerned look.

“So what now, unnie?” Bomi shot Naeun a sharp look when she interrupted the silence, but she took a deep breath and got ready to speak.

“I am moving to Jeju Island,” she started, talking to the doctor more than to her friends, who nodded in support, “and I’m basically here to ask for advice and help if necessary so I can safely move there.”

“I see,” the doctor nodded, looking for some blank paper on the desk to write.

Ten minutes later, the girls were making their way out of the room, plans made. Decisions taken, no matter how hard.

“Come on, I’ll treat you to something to eat.” Bomi smiled at her friends, trying to smooth down the situation. Lifting the mood had never been this hard.

∼

“Eunji-ah?”

“What’s up, unnie?” Eunji didn’t know if she was supposed to sound worried or not; too many things had occupied her mind lately. “Is something wrong?”

“Oh, no, don’t worry.” For once, Chorong sounded normal, not in a hurry nor concerned. She sounded like a girl her age should. “I’m on my way back home from the company, I just finished giving some explanations about us all moving to Jeju Island. Where are you?”

Eunji thought that Chorong shouldn’t sound that normal about abandoning her life, her career, for Bomi. She wondered why she had accepted herself.

“I’m on my way home as well,” she answered, saving everything else for a face-to-face conversation. “Namjoo-ah and I have been grocery shopping.”

“I see,” the leader spoke with a soft voice. “I’ll see you both at home then.”

After hanging up, Eunji stared at the phone screen for a while, a frown on her face.

“Is everything alright, unnie?” Namjoo approached her with the bags full of groceries, giving the change to Eunji.

“Yeah, it’s okay,” she sighed. “Chorong-unnie’s meeting us at home.”

Namjoo nodded, and the two girls made their way out of the store. They were only one block away from the dorm, after all, so in no time they were putting things away in the kitchen.

Chorong came in when Namjoo was closing the last cupboard, everything else perfectly tidied up.

“Good morning, girls,” she smiled, leaving her purse on the counter.

“Let’s talk,” Eunji said after smiling back. “What happened?”

Chorong told them about her meeting with the CEO that morning.

“He said it’s okay that we move to Jeju Island with Bomi-ah,” she started, “but he also asked me about what’s going to happen… you know… after she…”

Eunji was next to her in a second, her arm over Chorong’s petite shoulders.

“Hey, relax,” Eunji muttered cautiously. “What did you tell him?”

“That I had to speak with you.” The leader took a deep breath. “He said he didn’t want to be tactless but that he can wait for us if we ever choose to go back to the… idol life. Honestly, I didn’t know what to say.”

Namjoo looked at her unnie with a sad smile. She’d thought about that before, but what was there to decide?

“I might have confronted him for talking like he knew Bomi was going to leave us for sure.” Chorong sounded so insecure, Namjoo caressed her shoulder to comfort her.

“That’s the Chorong I like,” Eunji smirked, breaking the tension in the atmosphere. “Relax, unnie. We’re here for you. We’re all moving together, remember?”

∼

“This is delicious!” Hayoung’s eyes were wide open in delight. “Thank you, unnie.”

Bomi smiled at the maknae’s comment and pointed her chin at the plate full of ddeokbokki so she could get a second serving.

“Everything okay, Naeun-ah?”

“I was thinking…” Naeun looked at Bomi after going back to her own self, her lost gaze back to the front. “Isn’t your anniversary with Chorong-unnie very soon?”

“Yeah.” Bomi nodded. “Six days.”

Hayoung lifted her gaze from her plate.

“Oh, really? What are you going to do?”

Bomi looked at them both, and smiled slightly.

“Just… spend the day together,” she shrugged. “And I’ve got something for her. But she’s my fiancée now, you know?”

“You’re honestly too cute.” Naeun laughed at her unnie, her cheeks blushing.

The giggles went around the table, their booth at the restaurant filling with cute laughter and whispers. The food had almost disappeared, their stomachs full until they couldn’t eat more. But their time together, easy jokes and nice subjects, had erased every worry from their minds. For the moment, at least.

“And what about you and Eunji-unnie?” Hayoung stuck her tongue out in laughter while teasing her best friend.

Naeun blushed to her roots, her brown her contrasting against the red skin on her scalp.

“W-what about us?”

Bomi and Hayoung exchanged a look and exploded in laughter.

“Oh my, Naeun-ah, you really have a long way to go,” the older girl spoke with her wise voice, cracking up inside.