“Sunny, I think you’ve had too much to drink.”

Taeyeon’s voice was full of concern as she watched her best friend down her sixth bottle of soju. Although her friend was a good drinker, her face was already turning red with the rate of her drinking. Tiffany looked at Taeyeon sadly and patted Sunny’s back gently.

“I can’t help it Taeng. It hurts so bad,” Sunny said with tears in her eyes. She had phoned Taeyeon after she left Hyomin, and the two girls had immediately dropped their date to comfort the short girl. They found Sunny who had already started on her second bottle when they arrived at the dorm and saw two crates of soju that Sunny had bought in her distraught state.

“I’m sure there’s some sort of explanation, Sunny. The Hyomin that we know wouldn’t say those sort of things,” Tiffany said. The couple was shocked when Sunny slammed her glass on the table, “You weren’t there, Pany. You should have seen how she said it and what she said. She meant every single word.” Sunny choked back on her tears. 

“But why would she say those sort of things? I mean, we all know Hyomin has been a shy one, it doesn’t suit her to suddenly lash out like that,” Taeyeon asked curiously.

The trio remained silent as they took in Taeyeon’s words and searched their minds for an answer. Taeyeon thought of something and slowly swallowed her words, hoping her best friend would not be thinking of the same thing, but it was no use. Their minds worked the same way and Sunny slowly came to similar conclusions as Taeyeon. 

“It was Jessica.”

The short girl stood up abruptly and nearly fell over in her drunken state as Taeyeon and Tiffany quickly stood to catch their friend. Knowing Sunny would probably try and do something stupid, Taeyeon tightened her grip around her friend and true enough, Sunny struggled hard against her.

“Taeng, lemme go. I need to speak to that ice witch. She’s changed my Hyomin, she-“ 

Sunny went on and on as Taeyeon continued to hold her securely until the short blonde ran out of energy and slowly cried herself to sleep in Taeyeon’s arms. The kid leader gently Sunny’s hair and sighed when she saw her best friend fall into an uneasy sleep. She gently carried Sunny into her room and tucked her into bed while Tiffany followed quietly. 

“Will she be alright?” Tiffany asked her girlfriend when they closed the room door behind them. Taeyeon sighed and shrugged her small shoulders. “I don’t know, babe. But I’ve never seen Sunny cry for any of her old relationships. Hyomin was someone she really poured her heart and soul into. So we’ll just have to stand by her as she goes through this.”

The pink princess slowly nodded and followed her girlfriend when Taeyeon suggested they should get some sleep. Unbeknownst to them, another person had been listening in on the trio’s conversation. She leaned against the door and crossed her arms. Could Jessica really be the reason to Hyomin’s change? If it’s true, I need to find out why she’s hurting Sunny. Yuri was determined to confront her old flame to find out the answer.

—————

Jiyeon bounded happily into class and saw that it was empty. She checked her watch and saw that she still had about an hour before class began. Making her way over to her usual seat, she promptly placed her bag on the table to create a makeshift pillow and was about to fall asleep when she heard a beep from her phone.

From: Beanstalk

- Morning Dino. Are you still sleeping?

To: Beanstalk

-    I was about to until you interrupted it. What’s up?

From: Beanstalk

- Mianhe! I woke up earlier because of Hyoyeon’s snoring and I couldn’t get back to sleep. Sorry for waking you. Lemme make it up to you with a snack after class.

To: Beanstalk

- Jjinja? Alright then. Let’s meet at the new noodle store we saw last week.

From: Beanstalk

- Can’t wait. ;)

The maknae giggled at Sooyoung’s reply. She had been texting the taller girl more and more often recently and her sunbaes constantly when they caught her smiling dumbly at her phone. Eunjung had asked her if she liked Sooyoung enough to be more than friends but she immediately denied it out of embarrassment. However, at times like this, she wondered what it felt like to fall in love with someone. Jiyeon constantly watched her unnies flirt and pamper each other and she wondered if she would like to do that with the Beanstalk.

Before she could start imagining it, she heard the sound of the door opening and looked up to see a very moody Hyomin walked in. The maknae waved at her but Hyomin did not seem to notice her friend and took her seat without a glance at Jiyeon, immediately burying her face into her bag, just as Jiyeon did earlier. The young girl stood up and made her way over to her friend.

“Morning, Hyomin-unnie!” Jiyeon greeted her excitedly as she usually did. Hyomin did not move from her position and the maknae was about to poke her out of annoyance when Eunjung walked in. “Annyeong!” she greeted cheerfully to her friends but her smile dropped when she saw Hyomin. Eunjung looked at Jiyeon and pointed to Hyomin, silently asking her, “What happened?” Jiyeon shrugged sadly and shook her head to indicate she had no idea. Eunjung quickly placed her bag beside Jiyeon’s and moved over to her friend’s table. 

“Yah, Hyominnie. Is everything alright?” Eunjung said gently and moved to pat the brunette’s head. They both gasped when Hyomin looked up with dark circles under her swollen eyes. Their friend had obviously cried herself to sleep the night before and it was starting to show. “Hyomin, what happened?” Eunjung sighed when Hyomin only shook her head slightly. Jiyeon gently took her unnie’s hands in her own, “Unnie, you don’t look like you’re alright. Please tell us so that we can help you.”

Only silence greeted her question.

Before Jiyeon could continue, the door slid open once again, this time bringing their other classmates and their lecturer. The maknae glared at Jessica who returned the glare, and got up to move back to her place with Eunjung when the lecturer told them to take their seats. 

Still glaring daggers with Jiyeon, Jessica took her seat and turned her attention to Hyomin. “You look like ,” she said. Hyomin slowly turned to Jessica and spoke with a dull voice, “Tell me something I don’t know.” The ice queen knew something must have happened after Hyomin dropped her off yesterday but she needed to be sure, “You broke up with her?” The silence that ensued was enough to answer her question and Hyomin turned back to face the front of the classroom with a soulless expression. Knowing how painful it had been for her, Jessica did something that surprised Eunjung and Jiyeon who had been watching them carefully from their seats.

Hyomin felt a pair of arms slide around her shoulders to hug her and she heard a soft whisper in her ear, “It’s gonna be alright. Remember, you’re doing this to protect all of your loved ones.” With that, she allowed a tear to fall from her eye and returned Jessica’s hug. Jiyeon and Eunjung’s eyes widened when they saw the gesture and turned to look at each other’s shocked expressions. A million questions buzzed through their minds but they decided to save it for lunch time. When the bell went off, both girls immediately moved to their friend’s side. “Unnie, let’s go for lunch!” said Jiyeon cheerfully to Hyomin.

“Sorry Jiyeon, I won’t be joining you girls today. I’m not in the mood,” came the flat response which surprised the two girls. “W-wae?” Jiyeon sputtered exasperatedly which the brunette ignored. Hyomin gathered her things and turned to look at Jessica, “Sica, come on. Let’s go.” Jiyeon’s jaw dropped like a loose hinge and the two girls watched shell shocked as Hyomin and Jessica left the classroom together. Jiyeon turned to look at Eunjung, “Unnie.. What’s going on?” Eunjung shook her head at the maknae, “I dunno Ji, but let’s go talk to the other girls. Maybe one of them would know what’s up with Hyomin.” Jiyeon nodded sadly and followed her friend to the cafeteria.

Soyeon noticed her hoobaes long faces when they took their seats across them, “Where’s Hyomin?” Jiyeon pouted angrily, “She ditched us and joined that evil girl for lunch instead.” The three sunbaes wore surprised faces as well and Eunjung sighed, “That’s what we wanted to talk to you girls about. Is something going on with Hyomin that we don’t know about? She’s been acting really weird lately after Sunny’s uncle collapsed.” She sighed again when the trio shook the heads.

“Lemme try and ask Taeng if she knows what’s going on,” Soyeon said and whipped out her phone to send her childhood friend a text. When she was done, she turned to look back at her hoobaes, “So, tell us what happened.” The two girls proceeded to repeat their morning and about how Hyomin was suddenly so close to Jessica. Qri frowned when she heard that, “That doesn’t seem like what Hyomin would usually do.” Jiyeon growled in frustration, “Garh, exactly! I’m sure that evil girl has something to do with unnie acting this way! I’m gonna find out what’s going on!” The maknae huffed loudly and crossed her arms.

But she didn’t get a chance to do so. Hyomin and Jessica didn’t show up in class until it was almost time and the lecturer walked in before Jiyeon could confront her friend. Unfortunately for her, it was one of their longer classes and she didn’t have the opportunity to talk to her until the bell rang signalling classes were over. The brunette girl made her way out of class fast, closely followed by the blonde girl. Jiyeon was about to take after her friend when the lecturer caught her to remind her to submit some work she had forgotten about. The young girl quickly bowed to her lecturer and apologized quickly, determined to catch up with her friend. 

By the time Eunjung and Jiyeon had got to the university gates, it looked like there was a slight commotion out front. The duo gasped when they saw two familiar figures who were the cause of it. Sunny was tear-stricken while Hyomin wore a grim expression. 

“How could you do this to us, Hyomin?”

“I told you already. I’m tired. Move on Sunny, we’re not children anymore.”

“You can’t be serious, we were so in love. Something must have happened. Did Jessica do something to you?!”

Sunny made to move to Jessica with a livid expression but it changed to surprise when Hyomin moved to stand in Sunny’s way. “She had nothing to do with this,” said the taller girl. Jessica was equally as surprised as Sunny at Hyomin’s defensiveness over her but the ice queen felt nervous when her old friend’s face grew dark with anger.

“Jung. Soo. Yeon. What. Have. You. Done. To. Her.” 

Every word dripped with malice and Jessica had never felt this sort of fear in a long time. Before she knew it, Sunny lunged at the tall blonde, side stepping Hyomin’s attempt to stop her and Jessica was too shocked to move a muscle. She felt herself being knocked to the ground, she squeezed her eyes shut and braced herself for the impact of a punch that Sunny was about to throw at her. 

But she felt Sunny’s weight being lifted off her and slowly opened her eyes to see Sunny struggling in Sooyoung’s vice grip. “Get off me, Soo! This has nothing to do with you!” Sunny yelled at her friend who was still refusing to loosen her grip of her hands that she hooked under the shorter girl’s flailing arms. “Sunny, enough! Are you trying to get yourself into jail for assault?!” screamed Sooyoung back at her friend. 

“I don’t care! Let me go!”

“No. Not until you stop this madness.”

“You wouldn’t understand! This witch didn’t take Jiyeon away from you!”

Sooyoung blushed at Sunny’s words. Jiyeon was standing nearby with the other girls and they heard every word that the danshin had yelled. Tightening her grip on Sunny, Sooyoung yelled at her friend, “That’s enough Sunny. Walk away from this, it’s not gonna do you any good!” Although she was quite strong, her strength was ebbing away under the frustrated girl’s struggling and her grip was slipping when Hyomin stepped in front of them.

“Lee Soonkyu..” she said with a threatening tone that sent chills down their spines, “..you are embarrassing you, me and our friends. Enough, get out of my sight. I never want to see you again.”

Sooyoung looked surprisedly at Hyomin while Sunny broke down in tears. She had heard the news of the couple’s break up this morning when Taeyeon had stopped her from barging into Sunny’s room to wake her up for classes, but she had never expected Hyomin to be so cold. Frowning in anger at how her friend was being treated, Sooyoung straightened her back to her full height and said in an equally deadly tone, “We’ll go. But make sure you don’t show face around us or I swear that I will make your life a living hell for hurting my sister.”

Sooyoung glared at Hyomin and Jessica before pulling Sunny along with her. Sunny looked back at Hyomin and both of them felt a sharp flash of pain tearing at their hearts. Hyomin had been holding back her tears and maintained her stoic expression so that Sunny could not see the hurt she was truly feeling. 

Goodbye my love.

Hyomin turned to look at her friends who wore flabbergasted expressions and quickly looked away when she felt guilt eat away at her. She helped Jessica up and they both hurriedly made their way out of the crowd. 

Why did things have to end this way?

—————

From a distance, a man stood watching the small commotion happening. He sighed as he watched his niece shed painful tears and saw Hyomin yelling something at her. He hated the look of pain on his niece’s face as the tall girl pulled her away. 

“It was for the best, sir.”

Sighing, he turned to his secretary, “Yes, it’s for her future. But I’ve never seen her in that state before. Soonkyu has never cried for anything before.”

“Maybe she really loves Miss Park.”

“I know she does, but her future cannot have any ties that may damage her success.” The tired Mr. Lee took his seat and rubbed his temples as he tried to swallow the bitter pill of guilt for hurting his niece. His secretary moved to place his medicines in front of him, “It’s time to take your medication, sir.” The man nodded and gestured for his secretary to leave him. She bowed and exited the room. Mr. Lee took the pills and looked at them miserably for a moment before taking them.

Am I really doing what’s right for her?

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

Author’s Note:

Yes, more pain for Sunbyung. Mianhe!

But but.. JiSoo looks like they’re working something out so.. urm.. I think I’d better go before I get chopped by my fellow Sunbyung shippers.

Thanks for reading this chapter!