way back wednesdays

chanwoo hated sharing, eunbi knew that much. he didn't let her ride his scooter, never offered her any of his stuff, he didn't even like to let others hold onto his things for more than ten seconds. chanwoo was, in a way, possessive. to put it in another way, he was selfish. an eight-year-old shouldn't be so stingy and clingy to his things, but eunbi didn't know that at the time. all she knew was that chanwoo was a pain. she was eight, the boys were just turning nine. 

both of them had the same birthday and for someone who hated sharing, chanwoo amazed her that day. everything he had, everything his family prepared, he shared it with moon bin. nobody told him to, which was why she began teasing him in the first place. then her mother made her stop because it wasn't good. it was their birthday, she should be nice. 

eunbi had crossed her arms, biting back a snappy retort. she had quite a mouth back then, her father threatened her once he'll clean one day with bleach if she didn't "tidy" herself up. 

"nobody frowns on our birthday," chanwoo had said the word our, it confused her a bit. he was referring to someone, something, bigger and other than himself. it was almost nice. "here, eunbi, have some cake." 

her eyes couldn't believe the sight. jung chanwoo? offering her cake? his cake? 

without her knowing, she was already smiling by the time he was slicing the cake into a small piece just for her. "chan, thanks i -" her face collided with the cake in his hands and icing stained her features and her smile and her only gucci dress. she hears chanwoo and moon bin laughing, running away as they did. 

their high five echoed throughout the worried voices of mothers. 

"jung chanwoo! moon bin! you're dead!!" 

cake on a sunday

the smile on her face was wide, sincere, genuine - she looked at her members and she's usually not one for waterworks, but right then, she felt like shedding some of the water she kept inside her system. "i'm proud of us, i'm happy to be a part of g-friend." everyone - ceo, staff, her members - clapped and cheered. she hope she sounded truthful. to her ears, her voice was weak, cracking by the vowels. she can't get all teary-eyed now. "i'll never forget this era. it's where we improved the most, it's - it's where our hard work finally paid off... thank you guys." she ended up crying as she hugged all five of her members. 

she loves them, she'll never let them go. never. 

their ceo slices the cake himself and passes it around on plates. eunbi hates strawberry, but she just laughs it off with yerin and gives her leftovers to their leader. 

the message that made her forget the cake

yongtang hospital. how fast can you get there? bin was in an accident. 
received 19:12

what yunhyeong saw but chanwoo didn't

moon sua running as if her life depended on it. tripping over a broom by the janitor's closet and yunhyeong and jiwon having to help her up. she bows, ignores their questions of "what's wrong?" "you alright?" "what is it?" and continues to run. one foot in front of the other. 

what jiwon tells chanwoo

"she looked like she might cry." 

back when we were young, we ran under the sun 

he doesn't want to be the one who says "i told you so", so he sighs in relief when eunbi says those words instead. he kneels down next to bin and examines the red gash on bin's knees. he shouldn't have worn shorts, he shouldn't have been running down the steep road. now look.

"don't tell mom," he was trying not to cry. "or sua," 

chanwoo frowned, he looks to eunbi, pleading with his eyes, using what he learned from acting school; putting forth all his emotions to conjure a believable expression. he begs her, and she sighs in exasperation. "fine, you can hide out in my house. nobody's home."

neither of them have cleaned a wound before, but eunbi and chanwoo join forces to try and ease bin's pain and sobbing. eunbi pats his back, tells him it's not that bad despite having scolded him earlier. chanwoo gets the alcohol, the band-aid, the cotton and fixes him up as best as he can. 

it's the first time bin has heard eunbi so concerned, and has seen chanwoo so serious. it's a nice sight.

they're nice friends.

the car ride from hongdae

chanwoo doesn't know what happened, but when he called sua up, she just said "yongtang hospital". that's what chanwoo tells the taxi driver, and though they have a flight to china tomorrow morning and he should be packing, he asked junhoe to pack for him and excused himself through hanbin and their manager.

"it's an emergency."

chanwoo still remembers all those times bin had sprained his leg and ankle, he even broke his arm once when he was walking down a stairs with ten steps. how he managed to fall from there, nobody really knew. eunbi called him a walking disaster, chanwoo agreed. 

what kind of disaster is it this time, bin?

worried hearts on their sleeves

fingers curl around her wrist. "hey," that voice. umji was just blasting their songs last night. eunbi didn't say anything. his voice had actually improved the last time he sang (it could cause an earthquake in japan, she'd describe it as). "what happened?"

right now she was not gfriend's sinb, and he was not ikon's chanwoo.

"i don't know." she admits, looking into his eyes. she looks away when her phone rings. sua. 

she was hwang eunbi, he was jung chanwoo, moon bin's worried friends. 

"hello?" she picks up the call. chanwoo looks at her, eyebrows furrowed. she frowns at him. "yeah? room 204?" she points to the elevator, and he nods. together, they fall into step as they run. "uh-huh, you're on your way? traffic? yeah, chanwoo's here. he's saying he made the taxi driver take a shortcut. yeah, he -" eunbi stops. purses her lips. "okay, we'll wait for you. bye." she retracts the phone from her ears and leans against the wall of the elevator as it ascends. 

"he'll be alright,"

he nods, his eyes closed. "he has to be."

what's on her mind during the fifteen-second ascend

eunbi decides chanwoo still loves bin, no matter what he says. he'll always love him, like a brother, like a best friend. bin was there first, then eunbi. chanwoo will always choose bin among everything else. maybe her too. if she were the one in a hospital, she knows he'll come too.

but chanwoo still acts like he doesn't give a . acts like those years of being friends never happened. 

that's why eunbi's hated him all this time.

now, she decides, it's enough. she can't hate him.

not really. 

what actually happened

sanha bows to them. but chanwoo cuts him short of his greeting and eunbi isn't so patient herself. she just came here from a party their company threw just for them (who knew when the next one would be) and chanwoo had a flight to catch first thing in the morning tomorrow.

chanwoo had his arms crossed across his chest, eunbi too. 

"what happened?"

"well, we were practicing for a guerilla concert and - and he slipped from jinjin's grasp and he just, uhh, lost his footing and face-planted on the ground, oh wow, you should've seen his face hahaha he - okay, i'll shut up now." eunbi narrows her eyes, seemingly glaring. actually, not seemingly. she was glaring.

"he got into an accident... during practice?!"

"well... yeah..."

"i thought it would be something bigger!" eunbi doesn't mean to shout, but nobody was around anyway. private floors, private rooms. eunbi wants to barge in the second the doctor steps out of bin's room. "like a car crash or something, sua told me -"

"bin wanted her to come quickly... so, he thought to make the text more urgent... uhh," he fidgeted with his fingers. "we didn't know she'd call you guys." 

chanwoo sighs, eunbi leans against the wall again. 

"but he's okay, right?" this is chanwoo.

sanha nods. "yeah, he's fine now. just a badly sprained ankle."

"good," he looks at eunbi.

she knows what on his mind. it's on her's too. "that's all that matters." she says.