Wheein frowned at the empty Pringles can and pouted cutely, but the chips didn’t appear magically. With a grumble she dropped the can on the table and took back her Nintendo 3DS to resume playing the new Pokemon game. She was close to completing her pokedex.

She was about to press the start button when a whine caught her attention. Wheein rolled her eyes and lowered the 3DS. She stared at the girl lying on the couch.

“What are you doing, Byul? You’ve been looking at your phone like a sad puppy for an hour.” To be honest she had an idea.

Moonbyul whined again and pouted. Wheein had to admit she looked kind of endearing like that. Only kind of.

“I’m moping around, I thought it was clear.” Moonbyul muttered pitifully.

Wheein snorted amused. With her extra-large shirt and her hair in a low ponytail, Moonbyul looked like a child. Especially with her actual behavior.

“And why is that?”

“I sent Solar a text and she hasn’t replied…” Moonbyul explained sadly.

Wheein raised an eyebrow but decided not to say anything about that being a stupid reason to be so sad over it.

“She might be busy, or maybe she doesn’t have her phone with her.”

“She saw it though, the double check is there.” Moonbyul frowned at her phone, as if staring at it would make Solar reply.

“Oh, maybe it’s because of that audition she went to. She told me she didn’t do too well, maybe she is upset about it or something.” Wheein suddenly remember the conversation she had with Solar about the audition a few days ago, when they were hanging out on their own.

“She had an audition?” Moonbyul’s frown increased and she looked away from her phone. “She didn’t tell me…” She whispered.

“Byul, you are overthinking. She probably forgot, don’t look too much into it.” Wheein commented, trying to make Moonbyul feel better about the situation, even if she wasn’t too convinced herself. She knew something was up with Solar.

Moonbyul nodded, but deep inside she knew Wheein was wrong. It hadn’t happen from one day to the other, the change had been gradual over the week since they had bumped into Krystal and her the last weekend.

To her surprise, Solar ended up having dinner with them that night. Moonbyul didn’t expect her to appear after she had given some excuse about being busy. It was a bit awkward, but none of the girls mentioned Krystal and Solar mostly stuck with Wheein during the night. Moonbyul offered Solar her bed if she wanted to stay the night –Wheein was staying in Hwasa’s room while the girl was on a short tour around a few cities- but she turned down the offer.

Since then their conversations had been getting shorter. It wasn’t like Solar was cutting her off or ignoring her completely, but Moonbyul had to start talking to her first and most of the time Solar replies didn’t let the conversation last for long.

Moonbyul was aware that she shouldn’t have kept the Krystal thing from Solar, she wasn’t stupid, but every time she thought about bringing it up she didn’t dare in the end. She had lied to Solar –or more like she had avoid the truth- and she knew she couldn’t blame the other girl for being mad at her, but she didn’t know what to do now. She needed to apologize but how?

She missed Solar like crazy.

And if it was true she failed the last audition she went to… then it would make her feel even worse. Solar was probably sad because of that and she wasn’t there to cheer her up.

Frustrated she dropped the phone and groaned against the leather of the couch.

“Be careful, don’t drool on it.”

Moonbyul glared at Wheein. If looks could kill…

“I paid for this couch, and I’ll leave my drool all over it if I want to. Besides, it’s probably not the worst thing that has been in contact with it.”

“Gross. I didn’t need to know that.” Wheein complained loudly with a disgusted face.

“Hey, don’t act now like you are all innocent.” Moonbyul wiggled her eyebrows. “Remember that time you asked us to let you have the house to yourself for one night…”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Wheein feigned ignorance, but her ears were becoming bright red.

“C’mon, what happened to that good looking guy you met on that pub near the university. What was his name…? Jack? Joe? Something like that.” Moonbyul kept teasing her with a cheeky smile.

“Stooooop.” This time it was Wheein’s time to whine.

“I’ll stop if you make lunch.” Wheein was known for her terrible cooking skills but she really wasn’t in the mood to prepare anything.

“Ugh, okay. But only because I don’t feel like arguing.”

“Sure, sure.”

With a satisfied smile, Moonbyul sat up. From the corner of her eye she glanced at her phone again, but there wasn’t any notification. Her smile disappeared.

“Wheein, should I call Solar?” She definitely needed some advice.

Sensing this was a serious matter, Wheein paused her 3DS to give Moonbyul her entire attention.

“What do you think?” Wheein asked her. She wanted to know how Moonbyul felt about the situation before speaking up.

“I want to talk to her. To explain and apologize. But if she isn’t texting me back it’s because she probably doesn’t feel like talking to me, and calling her might be forcing her to do so. I don’t want to pressure her if she wants some time.”

Wheein nodded, that made sense.

“Why do you think she is mad, Byul?”

“I guess it’s because I didn’t tell her I have been meeting Krystal.” Moonbyul took the blanket they had on the couch and started playing with it. “I didn’t tell you and Hwasa either, I’m sorry for that.”

Wheein waved her hand dismissively. “Apology accepted, I didn’t really mind. I was just surprised.”

“To be honest I’m still surprised about it. I don’t think I’ve processed it yet.” Being friends with Krystal was something she never thought would happen. “I don’t fully understand why Solar would be this mad. Partially yes but…” She sighed “I don’t know, I just don’t want us to be like this.”

“Byulyi… Do you like Krystal?” Wheein’s question seemed to come out of nowhere, but it was a matter of time until that topic was brought up.

“Of course I do, she’s awesome.” Moonbyul replied without missing a beat.

“No. What I mean is if you have romantic feelings for her.” Wheein specified this time.

“Oh. That.” Moonbyul opened and closed , unsure of how to reply. Wheein didn’t pressure her. She knew Moonbyul needed a little time to put her thoughts in order.

“Since I saw her in high school I’ve thought of her as some kind of angel. But deep down I was scared of meeting her for real. Do you know how sometimes it’s better to watch something from afar than to get close and…”

“And find out it wasn’t what you expected?” Wheein interjected, completing the sentence.

“Yes, exactly.” Moonbyul nodded, still looking lost in her thoughts. “But then Krystal contacted me and asked me to hang out. She opened to me and told me something very important to her. We kept talking and somehow I realize she is even better than what I thought.”

“So you like her.” Wheein confirmed after listening to her words attentively.

“Honestly, I don’t know.” Moonbyul admitted. “I’m confused about too many things lately. I guess I do feel something for her, but I can’t put a name to it yet.”

Wheein understood her. She had been in similar situations before. Feelings could be hard to define sometimes, but it seemed like Moonbyul was really trying to figure them out. It was a good start.

“Take your time. Just be careful, okay? Sometimes we hurt the people around us while we work on ourselves.”

“I will. Thanks Wheenie.” Moonbyul smiled at her. She was thankful for having such amazing friends like her.

Determined, she took her phone and stood up.

“I’m going to call Solar and try to get her to come for lunch. I want to apologize but I want to do it face to face. She deserves that much.”

Wheein grinned, showing off her cute dimple.

“That’s the spirit! Go go go!” Wheein kept cheering while Moonbyul left the living room and went to her bedroom to have some privacy.

Once she was lying comfortably on her bed, she selected Solar’s contact in her phone and pressed call, ignoring her own nervous heartbeat. It rang for so long that Moonbyul thought the call would get cut, but Solar picked it up in the last moment.

“Yes?” Moonbyul gulped at how indifferent Solar’s voice sounded.

“H-hey, it’s me, Byulyi.” She was sure Solar already knew who was calling, but she had to break the ice somehow.

“Oh. Hi there.” Was Solar’s curt reply.

A few tense seconds passed. Solar was clearly waiting for Moonbyul to speak, but her mind had gone blank. So much for being determined…

“Byulyi, do you want anything? I’m busy.” Solar asked coldly.

Moonbyul winced, that was harsh.

“I-I was just wondering if you wanted to come for lunch today. Wheein is cooking.” Moonbyul thought about her words and frowned. “Well, maybe Wheein’s cooking is not the best way of convincing anybody. We can order something instead. My treat. If you want.” She cringed. God, why was she so awkward? She wanted to slap herself. But she wouldn’t. Because that hurt.

“Thanks, but like I said I’m busy.” Even though she was turning down the offer, Solar’s voice became softer, so Moonbyul was counting it as a victory. Or kind of.

“Oh well, you could come for dinner instead?” She wouldn’t surrender without a fight.

“I might still be busy tonight.”

“Then come over tomorrow.”

Solar tried to be subtle, but Moonbyul heard her sigh.

“Okay, I’ll go tonight. But you better get some tteokbokki, I’ve been craving it lately.” Solar warned her. “And anything else you guys want but please don’t make me eat Wheein’s food.”

Moonbyul beamed triumphantly. “Consider it done. I’ll order so much tteokbokki you’ll even get tired of it.”

Solar chuckled lightly. Moonbyul could totally picture her biting down her lip to stop herself from laughing.

“I’ll see you guys later then.” Solar said.

“Yeah… Have fun doing… whatever you have to do.” Aaaand back to being awkward.

“Thanks.” Cue more tense seconds. “I’m going to hang up now…”

“Okay. See you later.”

“See ya.”

Welp. That wasn’t too bad, right?

After that the day passed too slowly for Moonbyul’s taste. It always happened whenever someone was looking forward to somethin