Bona didn't like hanging out with Cheng Xiao's friends.

It wasn't because she personally held anything against them or that she disliked any of them. Bona would admit that she wasn't exactly the kindest person she could possibly be, but the least she could do was play nice with her girlfriend's friends. They were pretty cool people (with the slight exception of Exy, who liked to crow loudly next to her ear whenever she was spacing out. That was just obnoxious.). After a while of spending time with Cheng Xiao alone, she'd forgotten why she felt this way in the first place, so when her girlfriend begged her to accompany her to a group hangout at the mall, she eventually agreed. It was probably just some silly reason, she'd thought. Somewhere along the way, Bona finally remembered why she was initially reluctant to tag along this time, or to hang out with Cheng Xiao's friends in general.

It probably had something to do with the way her giggly girlfriend and said giggly girlfriend's best friend fluttered from store to store together, arms tightly linked, while Bona and Cheng Xiao's other friends walked behind them. It must've been real hilarious, whatever they were whispering to each other about, their faces in close enough proximity to make Bona's fingers curl. She wasn't supposed to feel this way.

Cheng Xiao's friends weren't the problem. The problem lied within Bona herself.

I'm not jealous. Eunseo is Cheng Xiao's best friend, and I'm Cheng Xiao's girlfriend. Everyone knows that, including me. There's obviously nothing for me to be anxious about. It would be unreasonable for me to feel jealous. I'm not jealous. I'm not jealous. I'm not jeal - 

A slack-jawed Bona watched as Cheng Xiao placed a playful kiss on Eunseo's cheek, and her tense fingers finally curled into fists.

Oh, this. I can't take it anymore.

The blonde immediately marched forward and latched a hand onto her girlfriend's wrist. The pair of best friends stopped in their stride, and Cheng Xiao turned to look at Bona, startled by her sudden action. "Come on, Cheng Xiao. We're leaving." There were definitely better things she could've said or done, but that was all Bona could come up with in that instant. She just wanted to make it stop.

Cheng Xiao was clearly as confused as everyone else was. "Why?"

Bona shouldn't have allowed herself to do it, but her gaze unconsciously shifted toward Eunseo. "...let's just go." She slid her loose grip on Cheng Xiao's wrist down to her hand, grabbing ahold of it and attempting to pull her towards her. The brunette resisted.

"No." Cheng Xiao tugged her hand away from Bona's. "I'm not going with you." Bona had to say something, anything. She knew what was coming next. She felt a response developing in her head but it just wasn't quick enough. "Bona...I love you. I really, really do. But sometimes, you're just too much for me. You're too...possessive. I feel like you don't give me enough room to breathe." Her next words felt like a punch to the gut. "I think...we should take a break. We could start seeing each other again once I feel better but for now, it would probably be for the best if we could give each other some space and reflect on a couple of things." Cheng Xiao appeared guilty, but Bona knew that it was anything but her fault. She shouldn't have made her feel bad.

Bona didn't realize that her hand was still up, reaching for Cheng Xiao, until she allowed both of her hands to drop limply at her sides. "O-Okay." There wasn't anything she could do but agree to what the other girl wanted, although she probably should've tried apologizing before Cheng Xiao turned around and started walking away. And just like that, the view of Cheng Xiao's back would be the last thing Bona would see of her girlfriend for who knows how long.

Bona had briefly forgotten all about the presence of Cheng Xiao's friends, who appeared in front of and next to her. Eunseo looked really sorry, but Bona didn't blame her for anything. "Sorry, Bona...we're just...gonna go with Cheng Xiao. See you later...I guess." Eunseo glanced toward her own girlfriend, who stood to Bona's right. "Are you coming with us, Xuan Yi?"

The girl in question shook her head. "I'm going to stay here with Bona."

"Me too." Dayoung added.

"Okay then...bye." Eunseo and the rest of the girls began to quickly follow after Cheng Xiao, who hadn't gone all that far. Eunseo stole a few worried looks back at her girlfriend headed in the opposite direction with Bona and Dayoung. "Wait - is Xuan Yi mad at me? What did I even do?"

"More importantly, did you girls hear that loud cracking sound earlier?" Seola brought up.

"Yeah, I think that was the sound of Bona's heart breaking."

"Yikes."

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"Where are we going? I thought we were gonna meet up with Cheng Xiao and the others. She just got back from an overseas vacation with her family, so none of us have seen her for a while." Yeoreum asked as she peered outside the window of Seola's SUV. She didn't really recognize the residential area they were currently driving through; therefore it piqued her curiosity. "You're not taking us anywhere shady again, right? Because I still get nightmares about that late night container terminal trip from last time. I never figured out why we thought that would be a good idea."

Exy turned around in the passenger seat to face several of her confused friends sitting in the back. "Okay, I have just one question for all of you: when was the last time any of us have seen or heard from Bona?"

"Bona who?" Dawon joked before receiving a reprimanding nudge from Luda.

"Mmm...for me, it was about two weeks ago when I ran into her at the supermarket near my house. I remember this because I was really surprised that she had bought an entire cartful of chocolate and ice cream." Mei Qi answered. "I felt quite bad for her. She seemed very sad."

"If you think that was sad, then you should've stuck with Bona until the end. None of you here right now were around to see the girl lose it. If Xuan Yi were here, she would agree that it was literally the ugliest crying we've ever witnessed in our entire lives - and both of us have seen Dawon ugly cry." It was Dayoung's turn to be elbowed in the side by Dawon. "You'd think that the world was going to end in the worst way possible. The mall security even came over to check on us."

"Anyone else?"

"Well, it was five days ago for me, when she was spamming really dramatic and cringeworthy love quotes on her social media." Dawon contributed, cringing at the memory on its own. "Honestly I don't even know why I'm following her. Maybe it's just out of courtesy for my friend's girlfriend. Her usual posts are selfies either by herself or with Cheng Xiao...or it's just pictures of Cheng Xiao alone. If you were to browse her social media profiles without actually getting to know her, you would think that Cheng Xiao is literally the only person she has in her life."

"Not everyone has friends." Soobin interjected, intending to come to Bona's defense but her statement seemed like more of a dig at the girl's social life.

"Okay, has anyone seen or heard from Bona more recently than Dawon?" Everyone either remained silent or shook their heads. Exy sighed and turned to face the front again. "Cheng Xiao asked me to check on her, so the least we could do is see if the girl is still alive. She gave me her address and we're heading to wherever she lives right now."

"Can I wait in the car?" Yeoreum questioned from the back.

"No, everyone is coming." Seola finally spoke up as she drove. "Maybe we can convince her to come with us to see Cheng Xiao, and the two of them can finally make up. I think they've spent more than enough time on this 'break' of theirs. They're just driving themselves insane now."

"I'd just like to point out the fact that there are only eight seats in this car, and we've already filled them up...so she's not sitting on my lap! Not it!" Dayoung shouted, followed by a chorus of four other 'not it's!' from her friends.

"Damn it!" Dawon cursed, unable to take part in the refusal. "Can't we just toss her into the trunk or something?"

Seola would've facepalmed if she weren't the one driving, so she merely rolled her eyes. "Oh, for goodness gracious, Bona is not sitting on anyone's lap! Luda, if Bona comes with us then you're sitting on Dawon. If anyone disagrees with our current plan, feel free to get out of my car right now and carry yourself the rest of the way on your own two feet." With that said, the interior of the car fell momentarily silent.

Yeoreum stuck a fist out. "We gotta play rock, paper, scissors to see who has to sit next to her."

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"This is it." The eight girls stood in front of the sky blue door to Bona's apartment. Seola cleared , trying to bring some noise to the ominously silent atmosphere. "Not bad at all. This seems like a nice place to live." Reluctant to charge in right away, they studied the apartment building and its surroundings from the outside. It really did seem to be an overall decent, calm, residential neighborhood, complete with identical, crisp white buildings and perfectly green, manicured bushes - a fitting place for someone as posh as Bona to live.

Yeoreum's eyes locked on something near the entrance before she looked away to sigh. "Of course there's a cobweb hanging over Bona's door... I want to go home."

"Hm, this might be worse than I thought. Brace yourselves." Exy warned her friends before pressing on the doorbell once. She waited patiently but no one appeared to be coming to answer the door anytime soon. She brought her finger up again and pressed on the button repeatedly. "Does this thing even work - "

"For the last freaking time, leave me alone! I don't care about your church and