How This Ends
1/2
(Minkyung/Yaebin)

I already know how this story will end
Anymore - Yu Seungwoo

It starts, as most things do, entirely innocuously.

Unnie, comes the message at 1:30 in the morning, Unnie, why does Rebin-unnie take such good photos? It’s not fair.

Minkyung rolls over in her bed, ignores the soft snores that come from around her, raises her eyebrows at Siyeon who is literally looking at her from across the room.

Siyeon looks meaningfully at Minkyung’s phone.

Minkyung sighs, not sure she wants to do this right now.

She does?

Yeah, the text from Siyeon says. Go take a look. G’night.

At first, Minkyung doesn’t know what Siyeon means by ‘go take a look’ because their group chat has been blissfully silent for the past hour or so, about the time that Nayoung had said “Goodnight”.

And there is nothing new on her instagram that Minkyung has not seen. The last photo is of the two of them from their last promotions, now months ago. She checks the official Twitter accounts, finds nothing there - and the timing would be suspicious, Siyeon would have pointed it out earlier.

The fancafe it is. Minkyung struggles for a few seconds with the accounts and passwords and then she’s in. There are half a million notifications and responses that she swipes through before she finds Yaebin’s post and therefore her account. She sighs. There are thousands of comments in this.

She looks up.

Siyeon nods seriously.

She sighs and starts scrolling.

“Unnie,” Yaebin laughs, “Hurry up, you’re so slow even though your legs are longer. We don’t have all day.”

Minkyung knows they don’t have all day, just a few hours now after they took the concept photos but before they should be back at the hotel and before the trains stop running, but they are in Japan and they have a few hours to themselves and although Kitakyushu is not Tokyo, Japan is still Japan and Minkyung cannot quite hide the excitement she has at doing the things she has only ever seen in anime.

“Unnie~!”

A tug on her hand and Yaebin pouts. Minkyung lets her drag them into a train car.

“Where are we going?”

“Secret,” Yaebin grins, “it’s a secret.”

“Our train tickets say Kokura Station,” Minkyung says.

Yaebin whines, pouts really hard and Minkyung laughs, her heart warm.

They miss the last train.

Minkyung is trying hard to not smile at Yaebin’s look of utter dejection. To be fair, she had a part to play in this, they had taken a while to find a convenience store to buy soda from - not just any soda but the special kind of Ramune that she had once seen in an anime, but sitting at the beach for way too long looking out at darkness and just listening to the waves was kind of Yaebin’s fault.

Even if they say nothing, she understands. She understands. They have had so many nights just sitting and talking, she’s heard of all of Yaebin’s expeditions, seen her craft her hopes and dreams and cast them into the sky, the clouds, the seas, watched her plant the seeds and water it and help it all grow and Yaebin tells her everything.

Everything is all her deepest fears and strongest wishes, her silliest most meaningless nightmares and her strongest most real moments of deja vu, her once-upon-a-times and her perhaps-one-days. Yaebin tells Minkyung everything and right now, she doesn’t have to say a thing.

Yaebin doesn’t have to say a thing for Minkyung to know how she feels.

Minkyung doesn’t blame her. They are here in Japan instead of in Korea, Yaebin is missing graduation to take photos for their first album. It is a graduation of a very different kind - everything is shifting and changing and the uncertainty is growing and they are afraid, all of them. What if this does not go well? What if it fails? What if just, nothing happens? What if all their hard work goes to waste?

The platform is entirely empty but for the two of them.

Yaebin chews on her lower lip