“Jung Sooyeon! Give that back!”

“Keep calling me that and I won’t, Kwon!”

Yuri grinned as she chased the blonde girl around the small bedroom. Their laughter filled the air as they bounded around the room with the energy that only teenagers had. Not being one who liked running, Jessica had given up running and allowed Yuri to gently tackle her to the bed, releasing a dolphin like screech.

The two girls quickly jumped apart when they heard two sharp knocks on the door and Jessica’s mum popped her head in. “What’s going on in here?” Jessica shook her head, “Nothing mum. We’re just fooling around.” Yuri looked at Jessica curiously, not understanding what they was saying in English. The lady stared at them for two awkward seconds, “Make sure there isn’t. Don’t disappoint your father and I.” With that, she closed the door.

Yuri turned to a gloomy looking Jessica, “What did your mum say, Sica?” Jessica bit her bottom lip but quickly turned to look at Yuri with a small smile, “Nothing much, she just wondered why we were making so much noise.” She stood up and held her hand out to Yuri, “Come on, let’s go get our homework done.” Yuri knew that there was more to it but she took the outstretched hand nonetheless.

—————

Hyomin was sitting at a cafe close to Sunny’s campus, her pretty face had a frown on it as she stared at the blank notebook in front of her. It had been two days since she received her assignment but every time she tried to come up with something, she had drawn a blank. 

When she told the other girls after their class, Soyeon had offered to help her out since she had aced that class previously. “I want to try to write this on my own for her,” Hyomin had explained shyly when she politely declined the offer. Soyeon smiled knowingly at the girl’s words before turning to tend to Boram who had looked pale.

I should have known better than to be so confident.

“Hi there, mind if I sit here with you?” Hyomin snapped her head up to look at a young man who was pointing to the seat across her. From the corner of her eye, she saw that the cafe was pretty empty, so why did he want to sit with her and why did he look so familiar? “Erm, I’m sort of waiting for someone.” The man smiled at her, “So am I, why don’t we wait for our ‘someones’ together.” He promptly sat down before she could answer him. 

“You don’t remember me?”

“Sorry, I’m pretty bad with faces.”

“We met at the restaurant the other day.”

“Err..”

“I’m Tyler Kwon, Jessica’s boyfriend.” Tyler stretched out his hand to shake Hyomin’s but she brunette did not take it and chose to stare at him in shock instead. Realizing that she was not going to return the gesture after a few moments, he placed his hand back on his cup of coffee.

“So, you’re Sunny’s girlfriend right?” 

“What’s it to you?”

“Easy there, I wanted to apologize for the way we introduced ourselves the other day. Jessica and I had good intentions when we went up to you guys.”

“Didn’t seem that way.”

Tyler sighed, “Look, I know we got off on the wrong foot with you and your friends. But Jessica has a soft spot for her old friends, although she doesn’t show it. She really missed them and she got really excited when she spotted the lot of you at the restaurant. She may seem very cold but deep down inside, she’s really kind.”

Hyomin looked at the man who seemed to be speaking from the bottom of his heart. She had been listening to him, trying to find some form of sarcasm when he spoke, but his sincerity and the kindness in his eyes truly reminded her of Yuri. Before Hyomin could reply the man, a familiar voiced called out to her.

They both turned to see Yuri standing a few feet away from their table. “What are you doing, Tyler? Isn’t hurting me not enough that you want to hurt my friend as well? Because I won’t let you go if you do.” Tyler threw his hands up trying to indicate he meant to harm to a livid Yuri. “Yul, I was just apologising to her for the misunderstanding when we last met, honest.” 

“Tch, whatever, get out of here. I’m in no mood to talk to you.”

“Yul-“

Hyomin shook her head to signal Tyler that it was a bad idea to continue pestering her friend. Sighing, he stood up, “Fine then, we’ll talk some other time. Have a pleasant afternoon ladies,” and walked off. Yuri took the now empty seat and let out an angry huff. “You alright, Yul?” Hyomin asked her friend. “Yeah, I was just supposed to meet him because he said he had something to tell me. But when I got here and saw him talking to you, I just flipped out,” Yuri grumbled as she stole a sip of Hyomin’s coffee.

“What are you trying to write there, Minnie?” Yuri eyed Hyomin’s blank notebook as she tried not to think about how angry she was feeling. “Oh y-yeah. It’s one of my assignments to come up with a love song, but it’s not easy trying to start which is embarrassing since I’m in a relationship with Sunny who’s amazing but I can’t seem to vocalize our love,” Hyomin explained sheepishly. “Hmm, as an aspiring songwriter myself, how about I give you a few pointers?” Yuri offered, smiling to the blushing girl in front of her.

“Usually I start with clearing all my thoughts and focusing on what exactly I want to portray in the song. So in your case, it’s your love for Sunny. Then once you have that in your head, think about what you want people to understand from your emotions. Let the words flow, don’t worry about it sounding silly at first. Just let your love for her pour onto that paper and then think about the arrangement later. I used to write songs for Sic-, I mean, songs about love all the time, so it took me some time to get the hang of it too.”

Hyomin stared at Yuri with agape with wonder. “What?” Yuri asked, her cheeks turning pink under Hyomin’s gaze. “Yuri, thank you. I think I finally know what to write!” the brunette squealed happily, surprising the tanned girl. Just then, Hyomin felt two arms circle her shoulders and turned to peck Sunny who asked, “Write what, Minnie?” Hyomin shook her head adorably, “It’s a secret bunny, but you’ll be the first to know when it’s complete.” Satisfied with the answer, Sunny sat down, “Yuri, have you told Minnie about our the carnival in two weeks?”

Yuri shook her head, “Not yet.” Hyomin looked at her girlfriend questioningly and Sunny continued, “Our university hosts a family carnival annually and it’s happening next week. Sooyoung is part of the organisational committee and she asked me get you Sungkyunkwan girls to join in since it’s an open event.” Hyomin nodded, “I’ll ask the other girls but I’m sure they’d love to come.”

As if on cue, a car pulled up into a parking space that was next to where they were seated and the trio waved at Qri who had just stepped out of the car. “Did you come to pick up some coffee as well, unnie? And why do you look so tired?” Hyomin asked a worn out looking Qri who joined them. Qri nodded and explained that she had just finished classes about half an hour ago but received an urgent text from Soyeon, asking her to pick up some medication for Boram who did not seem to be feeling too well again. 

“Shouldn’t Boram-unnie be headed to the hospital if it’s this serious?” asked Sunny with genuine concern for her smaller friend. Qri shrugged, “Soyeon said the same as well, but Boram’s being stubborn and keeps saying she just needs something to help her breathing. If Soyeon is alright with it, then it’s best to leave it as that.” The three girls remained unconvinced but decided to cheer the older girl up by talks about the carnival.

They stayed and chatted for a while more before Qri mentioned she had to get going and Yuri followed quickly with the excuse wanting to visit the two friends at Sungkyunkwan dorms. Sunny had wanted to join as well but Yuri pulled her aside to remind her that she was only leaving because she had to get some things for the surprise birthday party Tiffany was planning to throw for Hyomin after the carnival. “Besides, you’ll probably be seeing Boram and Soyeon at the carnival. I’ll tell her you sent your regards today,” Yuri yelled to Sunny as she got into the car with Qri.

—————

“There, that’s the first bridge and the chorus done.” Hyomin closed her notebook after she had written for the whole morning. She had spent the past week trying to summon the right emotions like Yuri had taught her. It was only this morning when Sunny had dropped by to surprise Hyomin with breakfast, that she finally found her muse as she watched the sunlight reflect in her lover’s beautiful brown eyes. Hyomin quickly started writing after Sunny left to help Sooyoung out with some last minute carnival arrangements. 

She glanced at her clock, gasping to see that the morning had flown by and she needed to get ready before Qri came to pick her up. She quickly stowed her notebook away and got up to head to her bathroom. Donning a pair of shorts and one of Sunny’s tee shirts, she exited the building while texting her friend to inform her that she would be waiting at the bus stop out front. Qri arrived not long after that with Eunjung and Jiyeon whom she picked up along the way. 

The fair grounds was already teeming with young university students by the time they arrived. Soyeon and Boram were already there waiting for them. “How are you feeling, Boram-unnie?” asked Jiyeon and hugged her short friend tightly. “Not too good Jiyeonnie, but I’ll manage,” Boram replied with a weak smile. Hyomin observed her friend closely and noticed she had lost a lot of weight off her already small frame. “I know what unnie! I’ll buy you some kimbap!” Jiyeon exclaimed excitedly and dragged the tiny girl towards a nearby cart.

Eunjung looked at Soyeon who was watching her girlfriend with sad eyes, “Unnie, is it serious?” Soyeon looked at Eunjung and managed a smile weaker than Boram’s had been, “I don’t know Jungie, she’s always been weak and I can’t tell if it’s getting worse because she refuses to let me take her to a doctor, she says it’s expensive even though I offered to pay on her behalf.” Eunjung looked at her friend and remembered something from the first day of orientation but before she could say anything, they heard a high pitched squeal from behind them. 

Tiffany and the rest of the girls waved to their friends from Sungkyunkwan. The girls smiled as the girls approached them, noticing the way Tiffany and Taeyeon were holding hands. “Did you girls just get here? Come on, there’s lots of food and games you have to try!” Tiffany said. Sooyoung was looking around a familiar sharp eyed girl until she felt something poke her side. As she yelped in response, she felt a corndog being shoved into by the laughing maknae. 

Hyomin smiled as her eyes met Sunny’s and she walked into her girlfriend’s outstretched arms to give her bunny a loving hug. “Was breakfast this morning delicious?” Hyomin nodded, “It was really good, which store did you pick it up from?” Sunny’s reaction was not one she had predicted as the short blonde pouted hard and looked like she wanted to cry. “How could you not have realized it was all home made? I even got up at five in the morning to start making them!” The brunette immediately moved to pacify her bunny who pretended to still be upset to receive more kisses from her girlfriend. “Fine, you’re forgiven, but only cause you’re wearing my shirt,” Sunny said cheekily and received a tap on the head by Taeyeon who knew her best friend’s trick.

“Come on Minnie, let’s go try out some games,” Sunny said, tugging at Hyomin’s wrist like a little kid. It didn’t take long for Sunny to find out that her girlfriend was not the most skilled person at these carnival games. She narrowly dodged a badly aimed baseball when Hyomin tried knocking over some bottles and practically ran away to hide behind Sooyoung who was the tallest after she had been hit for the third time in ring toss. Hyomin had looked dejected at her inability to win any of the games but Sunny kissed her frowns away and won a fluffy cat toy for the pretty girl at the balloon dart game. 

The gang spent the afternoon enjoying themselves thoroughly. At eight, Seohyun reminded her unnies that the performance at the main stage was starting and all of them headed towards the crowd that was starting to gather at the middle of the carnival grounds. They enjoyed performance after performance until they heard something that surprised them. “Please welcome our next performer, our very own Lee Suuuuunny!”

They all turned to look at a blushing Sunny who turned to Hyomin and shrugged sheepishly before taking off towards the stage, not allowing the surprised brunette to say anything as she watched her short girlfriend take the microphone from the emcee. “H-hi everyone, this is the first time I’m performing a song I’ve written titled ‘Beautiful Restriction’ and I’m dedicating this to a special person who holds my heart.” A chuckling Qri gently held Hyomin to keep her from falling after Sunny spoke those words to melt her heart and knees.

Oneur haru haeng bokha gil..

Eon jena achim e nun tteu myeon gido reur hage dwae..

Dara nalkka du ryeo un haeng bogape..

Sunny’s beautiful voice rang through the night skies as she serenaded the love of her life from afar. Had Sunny been closer, she could see the tears of happiness that started to run down Hyomin’s face as she felt the love in Sunny’s voice flow through the air around her. As Sunny sang the last verse of her song, she looked directly at Hyomin.

Cheo eumi ya nae ga deu di eo naega..

Sarang e nan..

Ppa jyeo beoryeosseo..

Honja in ge joh a..

Nareur sarang haet deon naege..

There was not a single person who clapped harder than Hyomin when Sunny ended her performance but as Hyomin watched Sunny hand the microphone back to the emcee, she heard a horrible scream from behind her. She turned around slowly and the colour drained from her face.

Boram lay motionless on the ground in Soyeon’s arms and Taeyeon hurried to check her pulse. The girls froze in horror as Boram suddenly spasmed and blood went flying everywhere as Tiffany let out another scream.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Author’s Note:

And here’s another chapter! 

Poor Boram, I find her really cute in real life. The poor thing is always bullied although she’s the unnie. 

The song, if you didn’t recognize it already, was the one Sunny sang on IY and had her number one fan waving her name in the front of the crowd. 

Sorry if the Sunbyung moment got interrupted badly here. It was an essential interruption.

What do you guys think will happen next?