chapter 8:

"나는 알고 싶어"

"I want to know"

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"Hwang Eunbi, who's that kid?" Jung Eunbi asks as soon as they settle down in Eunbi's bedroom that Friday.

"Yeah, I never got the chance to ask you," Yewon joins in the conversation immediately.

"What kid?" Yerin and Eunbi asks at the same time.

"Is it that guy called Moonbin?" Yuna points a finger and asks, then scratches the back of her head for any recollection of Eunbi mentioning the boy.

"How do you know?" Yewon asks, with widened eyes.

"Wait what?" Sojung sits down and joins the rest of the girls. "New guy?" she asks with a cheeky smile.

"Ah, he's a childhood friend from Cheongju, I think I told Yuju unnie before," Eunbi waves her arm at them to show that nothing really is happening. "It's nothing like what you are thinking!" she protests next, having realised what the girls are having on mind.

"Really?" five voices synchronise with a question and Eunbi feels five pairs of eyes on her.

Eunbi sighs and rolls her eyes. "You don't listen to me anyway," she turns away from them and starts to do her work.

Still, Eunbi thinks that her heart acts weird at every thought of Moonbin, unsure of what it might mean. However, something tells her that the feelings she had when she was nine, are gradually returning. Eunbi's cheeks gradually warm up at the thought, and she begins to hide her face in her hands. 

Nevertheless, whatever she is feeling, Eunbi wants to know. 

A fortnight since Moonbin's arrival to Seoul swiftly passes, and it is the last week of school before the summer holidays.

"Do you think you wanna go back to Cheongju during the holidays?" Moonbin asks as they spend their lunchtime together one day, which is no longer occasional, as Eunbi lets herself spend time with her childhood best friend on a frequent basis.

Eunbi shakes her head, "We never have that habit," she replies, "the only time we go back is during the New Year, but the holiday is short," she complains and rests a chin on her shoulder.

"I realised," Moonbin nods his head and chuckles. "But I was thinking if you would like to go back with me? My parents are letting me return home where my grandmother will be looking after me," he casually asks.

However for Eunbi who is on the receiving end of the option, she is far from normal- her heartbeat begins to accelerate, her breaths shorten, and her cheeks flush red.

"ShinB!" the two turn around to find Yuna and Yewon approaching them. They throw Eunbi some weird looks that she knows is regarding Moonbin, so she rolls her eyes and glares them to urge them not to ask anything about it, not when he is right here with them.

"We were thinking about how to get Sowon unnie on agreeing to us crashing her place during the holidays," Yewon speaks first.

"What?" Eunbi tilts her head, narrowing her eyes at the two girls before her.

"She's gonna be a lonely soul anyway, her family won't be around for a week," Yuna backs Yewon up, "I'm sure they would agree anyway."

"Eunbi, are these your friends?" Eunbi hears Moonbin attempting to chip into the conversation and wants to smack him for doing so.

"Ah, you must be Moonbin ssi! Annyeonghaseyo," Yewon greets almost immediately and bows, "I'm Yewon! Same age," she giggles a little. Eunbi rolls her eyes, noticing the playful smile that the younger girl held on her face.

"This is Yewon, and this one is Yuna unnie," Eunbi gestures to the girls, "This is Moonbin."

Yuna fakes a cough and looks away. "Yuna unnie huh?" she mutters to Eunbi and chuckles. "Annyeonghaseyo, I'm Yuna," she then turns to Moonbin and greets.

"Well, have fun," Yewon raises a hand up to wave them goodbye, "we need to have our lunch now."

"Ah, Eunbi, you can go with them, I need to get going as well," Moonbin taps Eunbi on the shoulder and says. Eunbi merely nods before Moonbin walks off after a short "Bye!"

Yuna nudges Eunbi with a shoulder and giggles along with Umji who has been stifling her laughter this whole time.

Eunbi sighs and rolls her eyes. "Why am I friends with you two?" she laments and walks off without warning.

"Yahh, wait for us!" Yuna shouts and runs after her, with Yewon following suit.

The summer holidays are finally here; the girls decide to spend a week at Sojung's home partially because Sojung's the best at taking care of them and also because they pretty much just want to disturb their eldest.

Sojung has reluctantly agreed after the girls' continuous pleading, and so here they are, wrecking her room and inspecting her every piece of belonging. Sojung can only sigh as she watches them with their antics, because everything is very much already expected.

"Look at unnie contemplating her life decisions," Yewon giggles, and Eunbi does so with her almost immediately after.

The girls chuckle as Sowon releases yet another heavy sigh.

"Guys, unnie's middle school yearbook!" Yerin shrieks at the top of her voice and pulls out a book from the top of a shelf.

Sojung's jaw drops and she immediately runs over. "Jung Yerin!" Sojung shouts as she tries to snatch the book away from Yerin's hands, but it is too late because the yearbook is currently already in the arms of the four other girls.

Sojung covers her eyes with a hand in exasperation, seeing them already excitedly flipping the pages in search for her younger self.

"Look at unnie!" Eunbi stops flipping and points to a tall figure in the photos.

"Unnie was already so tall back then," Jung Eunbi whines, as the shortest among the girls.

"This face," Yuna points to it as well and begins laughing.

"What?" Sojung snaps, already fuming mad. "Are you trying to insult me?"

Yuna does not stop laughing, and neither do the rest of them. "No unnie, you're pretty," she smiles once she's stopped the laughter.

Eunbi flips through even more to search for more, but her eyes land on two Korean characters that capture her attention in a split second.

Youngji, she reads them out in her mind, before she freezes with her eyes enlarged. She then proceeds to take a good look at the mugshot above the name.

"Did you find something, ShinB?" Yerin asks upon seeing her stiffen up.

"Ah no, still looking," Eunbi returns to her senses and flips even more. The girls shrug the situation off and continue with the fun of stalking their oldest member, but Eunbi remains thinking about what she has seen.

Eunbi is confused: is the Youngji in the yearbook the one that's Jackson's childhood friend? Eunbi wants to shake the thought off after all that effort from making herself move on from Jackson who has caused so much pain to her. However, the question does not leave her mind alone.

What puzzles Eunbi even more is when the girls find a group photo of Sojung in the yearbook that also contains Youngji. Eunbi cannot help but grow curious: does Sojung happen to know Youngji?