“We’ll be bonded forever.” Sejeong tells them through her sobs. Chungha places a shaky hand on the girl’s knee in an attempt to comfort her. Sejeong leans over to rest her head on Chungha’s shoulder as she covers her whimpering lips with her left hand. Doyeon, despite being the one to usually laugh at her crying members, makes no attempt to joke around. They’re all crying, even Yeonjung. It’s so late at night that it’s early morning and Somi’s tired, so tired, but she’s also never felt so awake.

“I love you girls.” Yoojung whispers as Sohye buries her face into her hands. Somi watches and her tears fall one after the other and, for a split second, she thinks she’ll never get over this heartbreak.

Somi still feels them. Sometimes she feels butterflies in her stomach, other times there’s the familiar feeling of a broken heart. She wonders what’s happening to the girls; her girls.

It’s been a few months since the disbandment but Somi feels them as close as ever. They’re bonded; the eleven of them. They’re stars in a constellation, all eleven of them connected to each other despite the millions of other stars there are to be connected to. Some of them are part of multiple constellations, though. For example, Nayoung and Jieqiong are connected to Pristin, Sejeong and Mina are connected to Gugudan, Chaeyeon is connected to Dia, but that’s okay. The bonds, no matter how many you share with any amount of other constellations, are all just as important as the other.

They’re all busy now with their own schedules but they try to keep in touch when they can. Their group chat mainly consists of good morning/good night texts with the occasional meme thrown in from Doyeon or Yeonjung. Sejeong sends words of encouragements sometimes and Jieqiong sends lots of heart emojis.

Somi is staring at herself in the practice room when she hears her phone chime with the familiar ringtone she set to her old IOI members specifically. She drags her tired feet over to her phone and unlocks it, seeing the text Mina sent.

[Mina] (1:47 AM): i miss u guys

And, really, that’s all it takes for Somi to well up, tears blurring her vision.

[Somi] (1:47 AM) me too

[Jieqiong] (1:48 AM): pfft so that’s why i felt so grumpy today!!! u little rascals

[Nayoung] (1:48 AM): why are you all up so late?

Somi smiles. Leave it up to Nayoung to text something like that.

[Mina] (1:48 AM): i couldn’t sleep

[Somi] (1:48 AM): i’m practicing for a special mc stage

[Mina] (1:49 AM): oops! sorry for bothering

[Somi] (1:49 AM): it’s ok i was taking a break!! we should all meet up soon!

[Jieqiong] (1:50 AM): ayyy with what time?? T_T

Somi pouts at Jieqiong’s reply because she knows the older girl is right.

[Sejeong] (1:51 AM): mina!! we have a schedule tomorrow

Somi turns her ringer off, her mood deflating even more.

Somi’s fixing up breakfast for herself (a bowl of cereal) when she feels her heart skip a beat. She knows that ten other girls also experienced the same thing and wonders if Nayoung did something to Jieqiong or Doyeon to Yoojung. She smiles as she pours her cereal, feeling her stomach flutter, shaking her head. It’s been almost two years and she still feels the girls as close as ever.

Soulmates are soulmates forever.

“WE’RE BACK!” Jieqiong exclaims as she drags a flustered looking Nayoung into the hotel room with her. The nine other girls cheer at the duo’s arrival (they were the last ones needed to complete the puzzle). Somi feels her heart swell up and the smile on her face breaks out brighter than ever.

“Good job at the concert!” Doyeon claps for them, the rest of the girls joining in.

Chaeyeon nods. “We watched some videos just now!”

“Thank you.” Nayoung grins as Jieqiong hops onto one of the two beds. “What have you guys been doing since you got here?”

Chungha shrugs and looks around. “Just… talking.”

Somi knows that the rest of the girls understand how importance the “just talking” is to all of them. Their bond is still as strong as it was when they were officially IOI. It’s not something easily broken by an announcement by their project company.

They order food service and spend the whole night talking (and crying) whilst watching ty soap operas.

“I knew it was you.”

The voice startles Somi, who jumps and turns around with wide eyes. She spots Sejeong looking at her through circle specs, the girl’s hood over her head like Somi’s.

“I felt it and I…” Sejeong sighs. “I knew it.”

“The other girls probably do, too.” Somi hums, staring back out to the pond, staring at the moonlit water.

“What’s up?” Sejeong huffs as she sits down next to Somi on the bench. Somi kicks at a pebble beneath her foot and sighs.

“I don’t know.”

“Mmm.” Sejeong nods. “Terrifying.”

Somi whines and shoves Sejeong as the older girl laughs and steadies herself.

“I’m kidding.”

“Don’t you have a schedule tomorrow or something?” Somi grumbles, causing Sejeong’s eyebrows to lift up.

“So, that’s what’s making you upset.”

“No.” Somi grunts, standing from the bench. “I’m just tired, okay?”

“Hey.” Sejeong starts off quietly, standing behind the girl. She places a gentle hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Somi, look at me.”

Somi turns slowly, eyes lifting to stare into Sejeong’s. The girl smiles at her, eyes as soft as ever.

“Somi, we’re always here for you, you know that, right?”

“Yeah.” Somi says, mostly just to get Sejeong to back off. Sejeong’s stare turns more stern at Somi’s tone. The younger girl lets out a deep breath. “I know that we’re bonded and I know our bond will never go away, but I’m just… I don’t know. I’m scared that you; the girls will.”

Sejeong tilts her head. “We’re not going anywhere, Somi.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Somi says in aggravation. “You’re all busy and I’m busy and we’re all so busy we barely see each other. I used to know whose emotion I was feeling the moment I felt it but now I don’t even know where you guys are in the world anymore; not with Pristin doing their concerts and you with your variety show.”

Sejeong simply stares at Somi after she says this; gazes at her. Somi’s resolve slowly crumbles.

“I just miss you girls.”

Sejeong pulls her into her arms and Somi feels her heartbreak get layered on with ten other people feeling it with her.

[Sohye] (9:48 AM): video call!!!!!!!!!

[Incoming Video Call From ‘IOI’]

Somi, who just got out of bed, grins and picks up. It doesn’t take long before she’s connected and all ten other girls are, too.

“Happy birthday, Somi!” Jieqiong exclaims as soon as she sees Somi’s video load up. The other girls join in with screams much too loud for ten in the morning and Somi breaks out into a large smile. Her heart feels like it’s about to burst with all the love she’s feeling.

“Thank you!” Somi laughs.

Sejeong pretends to wipe tears from her eyes. “Our baby is growing up so fast.”

Somi lets out another giggle and shakes her head.

“What’s your plan for the day, Som?” Doyeon asks with Yoojung peering over her shoulder to look at the phone screen.

“I’m probably gonna go out with my family! I don’t know where, though. My dad wouldn’t tell me.”

The girls talk with Somi for almost two hours before her father announces that they’re leaving soon. Somi hangs up the call (albeit reluctantly) but she still has a smile on long after she leaves the call. The girls are still talking, Somi can feel their happiness.

It’s been this way for a long time, ever since that one night she spent with Sejeong.

(“We’ll always be with you, Jeon Somi. Never forget that, okay? We might not always be next to each other physically, but we’re bonded. We’re inseperable so, even when you’re feeling alone and down, we’re always going to be with you to pick you back up.”)

Somi knows now. She knows that she shouldn’t be upset because she can’t see the girls as often as she’d like and she makes up for it through cheesy text messages and random voice audios. (Doyeon likes to send back voice audios of things along the lines of ‘I don’t know whether I want to hug you or punch you’.)

Somi knows that the girls; her girls, will always be with her.

a/n: literally wrote this super quick with ‘hold on’, ‘downpour’, ‘when the cherry blossoms fade’, and ‘in the same place’ on repeat.