CHAPTER 9

"BYUL-AH!!!!!!!!!!!" was the last thing she heard, and even though muffled, she knew who it was, and she couldn't help but give out just one last smile. 

-

"Please wake up", said the voice so soft she could barely understand what was being said. She tried to move but her whole body seemed like it had a mind of its own and was being stubborn.

"Byul."

She could listen to this forever; Make it her lullaby.

"Hey."

She felt the need to put a face on the rather angelic voice. Could she be in heaven? Possibly.

She slowly opened her eyes and was almost blinded by the light. felt so dry as if she had run a marathon and her body ached everywhere.

"Oh thank god."

She let her eyes adjust to the light as her vision slowly cleared. The first thing she saw was the most beautiful human being she had ever laid eyes on- no one could convince her otherwise. She raised a hand to rub the sleep out of her eyes hoping to see better.

As she put her hand down, she realised that the angel she had been staring at was none other than THE Kim Yong-sun...in her jammies, hovering across her. Moonbyul's eyebrows scrunched in confusion. She blinked rapidly and looked around her. To her left was the bed which meant that she was on the floor. To her right was  the beside table with one of the drawers very slightly opened with a pen poking out.

"Are you alright?", Solar asked.

"Where am I?"

Solar's eyes went so wide Moonbyul thought they'd pop right out. "Oh my god. Are you okay? Did you hit your head so hard? You still remember your name right? You still remember me?"

"Yes. No. Yes. And yes", Moonbyul answered dryly. Surely for someone who just broke another person's heart this gal still had the guts to act like nothing happened.

"Oh. Okay, good", Solar said as she stood up and fixed herself; Taking in deep breaths to calm herself down.

"So why am I here?", Moonbyul said in a monotone voice, still feeling bitter from their last exchange of words.

"What do you mean?", Solar asked, looking just as confused as she was. "You were here because I didn't want you to sleep on the floor, remember? So that's why you're here. I don't know how you ended up on the floor though. I think you fell while you were asleep. I just heard a loud thud and then the next thing I know, you weren't on the bed anymore."

Moonbyul tried to let everything sink in. She looked at her clothes- no sign of dirt or blood. She touched her face and there were no cuts, although she felt trails of tear stains on both cheeks. She looked at Solar who had the cutest worried look on her face.

"Holy ."

"What?"

Moonbyul started laughing like a mad woman.

"Byul-ah, are you okay?"

Moonbyul stood up, flinching at the soreness of her body but kept giggling anyway.

"Byul, you're worrying me. What's wrong?"

Before she could answer, she already had her arms wrapped around the leader in a hug. She buried her face in the crook of the other girl's neck before lifting her up just a couple of inches off the ground and started spinning her around.

"Yaaaaah!!! Byul-ah! Put me down!", Solar shouted.

Moonbyul did as she was told but her hold on the older girl never wavered.

"We're still friends, right?"

"Byul, what's up with you?"

Moonbyul held her unnie closer to her. "We're friends, right?", she repeated, obviously craving for an answer.

Solar felt the sincerity and seriousness in the younger girl's voice so she hugged her back, wrapping her arms around Moonbyul's neck and said, "Of course."

Moonbyul slowly loosened the hug but never took her hands off Solar's back. She never felt so relieved in her life. She couldn't believe that the whole argument was just a dream. She could still feel a dull pain in her chest because it all felt so real, but the relief was more overwhelming than anything else. She stared at Solar's face for god knows how long with her eyes shining from the tears pooling in her eyes. "Really?", she asked with a shaky breath.

"Yes. Always", Solar said as she wiped Moonbyul's eyes with one hand and held her cheek with the other.

"Always?"

"Always."

-

"So you dreamt that Yong-sun unnie and you had a massive argument?", WheeIn said as she walked arm-in-arm with Moonbyul.

They were heading to a cafeteria inside the company complex to get lunch for themselves and for the two other girls who were still recording.

Moonbyul nodded as she opened the door for both of them. "Yeah, and then I went running outside and a car hit me. It felt so real I swear I thought I was going die from the pain", Moonbyul said as she brought up a hand to her chest.

"What argument did you have?", WheeIn asked as she read the menu.

The main dancer cleared . She still felt uncomfortable about the dream. "I... I can't remember why, b-but she said we couldn't be friends anymore, and then she told me to get out of the room", Moonbyul said as she scratched the back of her neck, leaving a few details out. She just couldn't bring herself to let anyone know about the entirety of what she dreamt about.

WheeIn rubbed her unnie's back like the sweetheart that she is. "Aww, I would've been hurt too."

Moonbyul just answered with a small smile.

"But unnie."

"Hm?"

"You do remember though."

"Remember what?"

"Your dream. What you have been arguing about."

"I... How-"

WheeIn pressed her lips together and shrugged. "Well, you're a really bad liar for starters."

-

Moonbyul was out on her own as the other members had other plans for the day. She was sporting her favourite pair of jeans that had been folded twice at the bottom so that the inside material of her pants was showing. She had a white v-neck shirt on, complimenting the white cap that she wore on her head and a pair of sunnies to finish her look. She had no make-up on as she wasn't really trying to impress anyone that day.

It had been a few days after her nightmare but she still somehow finds herself being bothered by the mere thought of Solar pushing her away. She was walking aimlessly with her chin lowered as she contemplated on how to surpress her feelings for the leader in fear of having her dream becoming a reality. She was too engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't see the person heading straight on to her path and they ended up colliding, the other person accidentally dropping their phone face down on the ground.

"Oh my gosh!", the other person said as they picked up their poor phone.

Moonbyul took a step back without saying anything as she was  completely broken out of her reverie. Her eyes were wide in shock at what just happened.

The other person, who turned out to be a girl, slowly stood up as she flipped her phone to check how the screen was doing - it was completely smashed. "Nooooo! Damn it!"

Moonbyul was quick to get the phone out of the stranger's hand to check it herself.

"Hey! That's my- Oh... Moonbyul-unnie?"

Moonbyul looked up and she had to blink a fair few times to make sure that what she was seeing wasn't a product of her imagination or that her eyes weren't deceiving her.

"K..K..Kry..Krystal?", she stuttered as her hands and knees felt weak as she lost her hold on the phone, making it hit the ground again for a second time that day- as if the first one wasn't enough to salvage it.

"My phone!"

-

"So what are you doing out and about?", Krystal asked. They were seated on a park bench, enjoying the pleasant view of the Han River.

Moonbyul's clammy hands had a firm grip on the bench. She never dared to imagine sitting next to Krystal Jung as she reckons she wasn't deemed worthy of it. "Uh..." she stuttered for the nth time. She was clearly embarassing herself with her obvious nervousness and she was aware of it which made it even worse. "Uhm, well... the other members were busy with other things. So... yeah." God damn it Moon Byulyi she scolded herself internally. Her ears had turned red from shame and flush had creeped across her cheeks.

Krystal let out a cute chuckle and Moonbyul felt her heart beat faster at the sound of it. "You're cute."

Moonbyul thought she was gonna choke on her saliva as she heard what Krystal said. She was about to open when Krystal stood up and said, "Well, I have to go. My manager will be looking for me. I literally just snuck out to get some fresh air."

Moonbyul stood up as well and put her hands in her back pockets. "I- I'm sorry about your phone. I would've replaced it myself you know", she said as she looked down and kicked the ground slightly with her foot.

"Hey, it's okay. But if you really wanna repay me, then alright," Krystal said.

Moonbyul looked back up. "Yeah? Uhm.. I would need your details. Like... if you want me to just transfer money to your account or something. Or if you want me to buy you a new one." She shrugged.

Krystal fumbled with her small bag and got a pen out of it. "Here give me your hand."

"Uh... Huh?"

"Give me your hand", Krystal repeated as she took the older girl's right hand.

Moonbyul almost pulled her hand back when Krsytal started writing on it as it tickled but she was too busy appreciating the latter's soft and delicate skin.

"There", Krystal said putting the cap of her pen back in place as she smiled proudly at her handwriting.

Moonbyul studied her hand and her eyebrows suddenly scrunched in confusion. "Wait... But this is..."

Krystal was already a few metres away when the rapper looked up but she turned around to say, "I promise to reply when I get my new phone later today!" then turned right back around to head home.

Moonbyul could only stare at her hand. There, in Krystal's neat and cute handwriting was none other than the girl's mobile number with the words Message me ;) written at the bottom of it.

Moon Byulyi just couldn't believe her luck. For the first time in the past 72 hours, she felt nothing but shear joy and excitement.