The soft light of the morning sun broke through the bedside window painted with beautiful murals, and broke into an array of dazzling colors which spread across the room in all its radiance. The gentle light rays her cheek lightly, its buzzing warmth reaching the sleeping lump hanging off the edge of the king-sized bed.

With the duvets wrapped in between her legs like a makeshift bolster, the slender figure felt the brilliance of the sun rays overpower the lull of deep and endless sleep. Slowly but surely, her eyelashes slowly started to beat up and down, too tired to rise fully and yet determined to open. Finally, the eyelids opened to reveal the 2 resplendent brown irises that had remained hidden for so long.

With a big yawn, Chaeyoung extended her limbs to occupy the whole bed, trying to stretch out the ache in her body that always came from her sleep. She had a good sleep though- no nightmares, no strange foretold future stories. She just had a blissful black out the moment her eyelids closed shut- something she would be sure to treasure with its rarity.

Feeling the sensation of soft cotton against her skin, Chaeyoung let out a sigh as she admired the dust particles dance their hypnotizing routine, wondering what was the weird feeling inside her. Something was amiss, different from the original routine that normally happened.

Scanning her eyes across the room, Chaeyoung’s mind finally put the pieces together as she recognized a familiar pink sweater hanging on her chair. Dahyun had slept over last night, and they had- Chaeyoung immediately felt her face flush with embarrassment as she remembered what had happened. The kiss, the laughter and the unspoken feelings that they had to clear up.

Chaeyoung felt no attraction of any kind whatsoever towards her best friend of almost 10 years, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to ruin their friendship by having one now. Chaeyoung needed to clear this up with the blissfully ignorant tofu, who had blatantly laughed at her moan last night like what the fu-

A jolt ran down Chaeyoung’s spine, and at once her battle senses kicked in as she realized the other side of the bed was surprisingly vacant. Chaeyoung focused her hearing throughout the mansion, and was relieved to hear the sound of running water and horrible (okay it wasn’t horrible it was freaking amazing) singing from the bathroom.

Leaning her head against the cushion of her bedframe, Chaeyoung closed her eyes in relief as she drowned herself in the harmonious melody that filled her ears. It let her know that Dahyun had already begun to become happier and move on from Archie and his s, to the point where she could sing happily in the shower.

Ah, speaking of Archie…

Chaeyoung fumbled for the TV remote on her bedside table and turned the TV on, before switching the channel to the morning news. The familiar intro repeated itself, before the gory image of the bar she had rampaged yesterday showed up in all its glory. The dismembered limbs and bloody body parts had mostly been cleared, but the images still showed some fingers and arms lying around. The paramedics could be seen carrying out the charred bodies, while the boys in blue surveyed the scene and remarked it as an unexplainable case with no apparent reason.

However, she sighed in relief as they declared it a gas leak that had exploded near the bar, hence shooting out the shattered glass with enough force to cut human bones clean through. She would not have to worry about making up for her mistake of not covering up the evidence, as dahyun’s healthy and safety was the top priority above garbage disposal.

The sound of running water slowly faded, and was replaced by soft padded footsteps signaling her return. Chaeyoung glanced towards the door, unsure what to expect as the doorknob swung open. With her normal sunny grin, Dahyun moved towards the petite figure perched on the bed, Chaeyoung’s shirt draped across her body.

“Don’t think I used up all your hot water, so everything’s fine- I mean you probably have an unlimited supply.” Dahyun gave a cheeky grin towards Chaeyoung, before turning her back to take the sweater hanging off the chair as Chaeyoung let out a grunt in response.

Dahyun’s shirt rode up as she slid her arms upwards into the sweater holes, exposing the damaged skin that Chaeyoung had to see last night. The solution Chaeyoung applied had done wonders and the bruises and cuts were already starting to fade from her skin. Soon, the wounds would fade, and hopefully Dahyun would regain her confidence.

“Are you checking me out?” The simple question immediately jarred Chaeyoung out of her thoughts, and she could feel her face heat up at Dahyun’s bold statement. Why it heated up, she had no idea.

“You? Yea right, I would rather kiss a cow.” Chaeyoung retorted as Dahyun plopped herself down on the sheets right beside her, fingers playing with the loose threads of her favourite sweater.

“You sure about that?” Dahyun slowly inched herself forward, and immediately the memories of last night came flooding back as the distance between them shortened. “That didn’t seem to be what you were thinking last night.”

Chaeyoung immediately felt all the blood in her body rush to her cheeks, and she was fully aware of how red and embarrassed she was as she tried to find a suitable way to comeback from that truthful statement. “That’s not true” Her voice came out soft, and Chaeyoung could already hear the raucous laughter from her friend as she rolled around on the bed.

“Jeez dude, it was just a kiss chill. I know you don’t mean anything by it. We also share no feelings to each other, so this kiss also means nothing.” Dahyun fixed her with a serious glance, and Chaeyoung was once again reminded how grateful she was for a best friend like her. She didn’t have to say it out, they already could communicate their thoughts to each other telepathically.

Chaeyoung felt her eyes travel to the cotton sheets beneath her, and as she picked at the material she muttered “Yea you’re right, I don’t know what happened yesterday, but- ”

“We’re best friends, and last night was just a whirlwind of feelings and I was emotionally high enough to snog you. But now that’s over, we can totally kiss again if you want ” Dahyun replied calmly, and it took Chaeyoung a second to realize what she had said.

“WHAT THE FU-”

“I was joking dude chill” Dahyun let out a giggle at Chaeyoung’s reaction, and it soothed Chaeyoung to know her friend was doing okay. Her smile wasn’t fake, it was genuine.

“So… hoe, how you holdin up?” Chaeyoung asked tentatively as she glanced hesitantly towards the figure seated across her. She was relieved to see Dahyun give her a reassuring smile, letting Chaeyoung know that she was working towards it.

“I don’t know dude, I just feel so relieved that he’s gone and every ’s gone and im safe with my best friend. But there’s still my mom and like my brother, like how am I supposed to protect them when one’s in the hospital while the other is barely 6 years old and still thinks everyone loves each other, oh my-”

Chaeyoung immediately grabbed her shoulder reassuringly, rubbing small relaxing circles and easing the tension in her muscles as she forced the other to relax and calm down. “You seem to forget we come in twos- if you want to protect something, imma protect it too. Your mom’s hospital bills- covered, I don’t care what you say either. Your brother, I’ll look out for him, and I can watch over your house if you want. Anything you do, I’ll do it with you. If those es want revenge, they’ll have to pass through me first- a freaking superhero.  We can’t be separated, okay? POWERPUFF GIRLS, ON 3!”

As she dried the sudden tears on her sweater, Dahyun let out a reluctant smile at the classic joke between them. They were supposed to be the better version of the powerpuff girls- cooler, funnier, better. Hopefully that would continue to be the case.

“You freakin dork” Dahyun rolled her eyes, and yet she still joined hands with her best friend, joined together by an unseen force of nature. In the quiet hum of the room, the two basked in the warmth of 2 best friends sharing an unbreakable bond. Unspoken words were exchanged between the two, and along these lines they both acknowledged what the other was saying. They would be there together, the two idiots against the world.

“Thank you for everything.” Dahyun’s quiet statement was loud enough for Chaeyoung to hear, and it made her balloon up in happiness and relief. They would go through anything together, the storm or the sunshine.

“No problem, but you owe me pizza” Chaeyoung replied, and Dahyun couldn’t let out a grin at the ridiculousness of it all.

“3…2…1!” At the count of 1, Chaeyoung’s hand immediately broke free from Dahyun’s and travelled towards her face, where the sound of hand against cheek resonated across the room. With squeals of laughter at her tiny prank, Chaeyoung immediately escaped from her grasp and took off towards the dining room. After all, behind her was the world’s scariest sight- a best friend which had just been pranked.

As they chased each other throughout the house, the familiar sound echoed along its halls and made Rose smile at the antics of the two. “SON CHAEYOUNG!”