A/N: I'm back. It's not over until it's over! 

Word count: 3,465 words

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Nayoung is what one would call a winter’s child because she was born during the winter season. Jieqiong is, too. In fact, their birthdays are only a day apart and that thought adds yet one more to her one million reasons of why she’s convinced that they are destined for each other. However, Jieqiong keeps this thought to herself because Nayoung does not believe in fate. Or at least, for the longest time, she presumed so. These days it’s been made clear to her that Nayoung is not exactly a skeptic. Rather, she is a victim of terrible, terrible circumstances that led her to the conclusion that fate is a cruel monster as it brought nothing to her but penance for crimes she’d so willingly taken the blame for.

The talk Jieqiong had with Chungha opened her eyes. The truth turned out uglier than she had expected, but seeing how grotesque and agonizing it is for herself was so much better than having to grasp around in the dark for even the tiniest hints of its silhouette. That being the case, Jieqiong can’t say a word to Nayoung that she knows, that she understands, and that she reckons she should no longer feel like she has sins to atone for. When Dayoung’s picture had been taken down from the wall of photos on the threshold, she knew that Nayoung was awake on the night of her and Chungha’s talk. But even then, she couldn’t say anything to her. She knows she will have to, eventually, but she’s sure that when that time comes, it is best that her words be accompanied by her actions.

This is what Jieqiong reminds herself as she drags the box of decorations past the rooftop door. She straightens up immediately and proceeds to do a quick inventory of everything. Tipi tent? Check. Carpet? Check. Low table? Check. Banners? Check. Hanging strip lights? In the box, check. Fake snow spray? Also, in the box. Food? On its way. She claps her hands together and with satisfaction, looks longingly in the horizon of the slowly darkening sky.

“Hey, Juju. It’s all set up. I just wasn’t sure about this one part, from numbers 8 to 9, so it looks weird but I’m fairly certain the this thing won’t collapse on the two of you.” Yaebin rambles as she crawls out of the tipi tent, stops when she sees the faraway look in her face. “I can take a look at it again if you want me to?”

“Nah, that’s good, Yaebs. Thanks.” Jieqiong smiles at her friend who gives her a small frown.

For a moment, she thinks she’s going to get chastised over this whole thing she had planned, but Yaebin chooses to keep to the matter at hand.

“Anyway, Minky sent me a text. They’ve about an hour left before clock out so you better get on with the decorations.” She says.

Jieqiong nods at that and grabs things out of the box and hangs them around the tipi as fast as she could without compromising the orderliness of the decorations. While she does that, Yaebin produces an extension line and plugs their lights in. A thousand or so mini-bulbs of orange light flicker to life, giving a warm glow to the mini campsite they have labored on all afternoon to set up.

“You’ve really outdone yourself with this one, huh?” Yaebin mutters, admiring their work.

“Please.” Jieqiong replies, winks. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Yaebin grins back before she checks the time on her phone. “Delivery’s here. I’ll go meet them downstairs. You got this?”

“Yup!” Jieqiong salutes.

Yaebin heads for the stairs but Jieqiong calls for her when she’s by the door after she realizes something.

“Wait! You’ve got the tape with you.”

Yaebin reaches into the back-pocket of her shorts and tosses the roll of masking tape in her direction. It sails in the air and misses Jieqiong’s outstretched hand by about a meter, landing on the floor and tumbling to the covered pile of broken furniture and random knick knacks set off to the far corner.

“Whoops. My bad.” Yaebin smiles sheepishly.

“It’s cool. I got it. Go get the delivery!” Jieqiong yells over her shoulder as she makes her way to retrieve the tape.

She promptly gets on her knees and feels underneath the plastic tarp covering the mountain of junk. She was quite sure that it couldn’t have that further but her hand keeps coming up with nothing but dust, so she decides to finally lift the tarp to look for it better. She finds the roll of tape a couple of inches from the spot she last felt around for, right next to half a dozen unframed canvases, canvases that are stacked leaning against each other like toppling towers of loneliness, with no one but each other to rely on as they have been abandoned by their creator.

She’s always wondered about these since Nayoung told her that story of the artist who once lived in the building, but she didn’t have much interest in knowing more. Curiosity gets the better of her this time and she leaves the tape on the side as she crawls a little closer to the art. A rectangular piece of paper is stuck on the back of the one closest to her and she squints at the dog-eared note in hastily appearing dusk.

“MilkyWay#081, Oil on Canvas,” She reads under her breath.

Her hand reaches for the edge of the painting and pulls it down to allow her eyes to gaze at what’s facing away from her. The breath hitches in her chest at the instant she sees it. Sprawled across the waist length panel is an exquisite depiction of the galaxy. Dark purples, deep blues, electric greens bursting through the expanse of a million tiny glittering stars, some a part of the condensed smoky spiral, others wandering away from it.

Jieqiong swallows.

Before she knows what she’s doing, she’s pulling at the corners of the other canvases, looking through each one. The next two happens to be variations of the first painting, MilkyWay#089 and MilkyWay#091. She briefly wonders where the other MilkWay paintings were. The ones that followed consist of a black and white painting of a man and a woman walking in the beach towards the backdrop of a raging sea, a panorama of the Seoul cityscape at night, and a ballerina, dressed in white, portrayed mid-pirouette in an insanely bubblegum pink bedroom.

As soon as Jieqiong’s eyes lock on the ballerina’s face, she finds herself frantically looking for something, for the last piece of the puzzle she never even meant to solve. Scrawled on the corner of the ballerina’s obnoxiously picture perfect room is the signature of the painter, the confirmation she had been looking for.

N.Y. Im

The door to the rooftop bangs against the wall as Yaebin reappears. Jieqiong falls on her in shock over the sudden loud noise. With her mind still caught up in discovery, she watches in a confused state as Yaebin rushes to the middle of the campsite to put the delivery food she had plated to the low table.

“Juju! You better go The Flash in here right now!” She exclaims. “Minky just called me and Nayoung’s decided to get off work earlier today! I’m telling you, they’re on their way!”

&&

Nayoung doesn’t quite understand why Minkyung had been keeping tabs on her since their afternoon coffee break ended. When she confronted her about it, the girl explained that Yaebin and Jieqiong were hanging out at her apartment and said that the two of them should head there together after work. That in it itself, sounds reasonable, but Minkyung is Minkyung, and Nayoung can smell the stink that she’s trying to hide a mile away. She knows there’s more to this and, although she dreads to find out what it is, she has to get to the bottom of it sooner than later.

“Nayoung unnie! Slow down!” Minkyung hooks a long arm around her to try and stop her as she attempts to flag down a taxi.

“Weren’t you the one who said you were excited to see your baby?” Nayoung asks, raises an eyebrow at the younger girl in question.

“Ahahaha! Of course! I’m always excited to see My Yaebin but,” Minkyung hisses the last part. “This is ridiculous. Please stop trying to flag down that taxi, unnie. It’s occupied!”

Nayoung looks blankly at her friend. “Can’t you just tell me you’re acting all weird for? I swear, if you and Kyungwon are up to something funny-”

“Oh, no! I’m not up to funny any business, unnie! Also, Kyungwon has nothing to do with this, so the gratitude that you will feel later, Yaebin and I will take credit for it. At least, parts of it.” Minkyung gives her a playful grin.

She frowns at her but Minkyung only stares right back with her signature puppy dog smile. It’s at this point that Nayoung realizes she’s lost and gives up, letting the younger girl lead the way to her apartment, allowing her to drag her to about four pit-stops on the way with no fight.

When she and Minkyung finally reach her place, they find Yaebin waiting for them in front of the door. The girl gives them a lazy wave with one hand and doesn’t bother trying to conceal the blindfold that’s on the other.

Nayoung’s stomach twirls into uncomfortable knots as she asks, “Where’s Jieqiong?”

Yaebin is quick to answer. “She’s waiting for you somewhere but first,”

The girl prolongs the pause and looks straight into Nayoung’s eyes, gaze bluntly cutting through her like diamond on glass. Guilt and shame slips in through the dusty and newly opened slits of her fragile exterior. Jieqiong is Yaebin’s friend so she knows it, she hears it without the younger girl having to tell her anything.

I trusted you with my best friend, Nayoung unnie. How could you hurt her?

Nayoung expects a slap on her face, a stomp to her foot, or a punch in her gut, but all Yaebin gives her is that same look. She honestly thinks it would’ve been better if she did one of those things because that would hurt much less than this stare.

“Nayoung unnie, I’m going to need you to promise me that you won’t say or do anything that would ruin this night for the two of you.” Yaebin finishes.

“What?” Nayoung wonders if she heard that right. “I don’t even understand what’s going on-”

“Unnie! Promise me!” Yaebin quickly interrupts her.

Nayoung stares back at her, turns to Minkyung who only shrugs at her.

Yaebin sighs and suddenly, she looks a lot older than she is. It occurs to Nayoung that here is yet another person to add to the list of people she’s let down.

“Nayoung unnie,” The way Yaebin calls her name makes her sound so tired and so done, which she probably is. Regardless if it really is the case or if Nayoung’s just making things up in her head, it works because she pays even more attention now than she did before.

“Kyulkyung worked so hard on this. For you.” Yaebin says, takes a step closer to her. “And I know you’re going to say that you never asked her to, but can you please just let her have this one? Please, please let yourself have this one?”

Nayoung stares back at her in surprise. It’s as if her mind was just read. She doesn’t have the time to ask how anymore because Minkyung’s hands grip her shoulders from behind without a warning.

“Please swear to me that you will.” Yaebin presses.

“I will. I swear.” Nayoung replies.

As soon as she says it, Minkyung pushes her down to squat, allowing Yaebin to covers her eyes with the blindfold.

The couple guide her down the hall, back to the elevator, out of it, and then past a door. The wind hitting her on all sides tells her that they’re on the rooftop. She hears Yaebin counts to three and then the blindfold is stripped away from her eyes. As she blinks and adjusts to having her vision again, she takes in the sight of Jieqiong standing in the midst of the rooftop turned glam campsites. Her smile is as warm as the glow of the hanging strip lights behind her and as bright as the lit sparkler candles on the birthday cake she’s holding.

A party popper goes off from behind her and confetti flies overhead. She keeps her eyes on Jieqiong and she realizes that her feet had started moving without her brain telling it to. She makes her way to the younger girl in a trance, much like how a moth is to a flame.

Time slows down as they stand face to face, saying nothing for a while, just staring at each other.

Nayoung sees Jieqiong bite her lip and suddenly become shy.

“Happy birthday, Nayoungie.” She whispers, holding out the cake towards her.

Nayoung is unable to fight a smile as she replies. “My birthday is in December. You know this…”

Jieqiong’s smile becomes just a tad bit bittersweet and she shrugs. “It’s never too early to celebrate, is it?”

And with that, Nayoung understands. December is five months away and they barely even have two weeks left to be together. Time is running out on them so she says no more and steps forward to blow out the rapidly melting candles which start to resemble the wicks of a dynamite the longer it burns out.

The lights of the candles go out but not the ones in Jieqiong’s eyes. Nayoung sees herself reflected in those pearl black orbs and she becomes aware that she’s drowning yet again. In fear, guilt, and uncertainty, definitely. But also, love. Love and hope and unspoken promises of beautiful things to come.

Yaebin’s words from earlier ring in her ears and she swallows it down like pills. She swore she wouldn’t say or do anything to ruin it for Jieqiong. She swore she would let her have this and let her, she will.

Her hands pull Jieqiong by the waist just as the younger girl finished setting the cake down on the low table by her side. Her arms encircle around her and she holds her close to her heart. It’s selfish and futile but Nayoung hopes Jieqiong knows without her having to say it.

&&

Jieqiong doesn’t remember when or how Minkyung and Yaebin left so they could be by themselves. She reckons forgetting to bid her friends goodbye is not a very nice thing to do, considering how much they have have helped her, but she also figures that they wouldn’t hold it against her, that they would understand her, because the truth is, everything just fades into the background for Jieqiong when Nayoung is around.

The roar of a plane engine flying low into the horizon. The honks of the cars as they get held up in heavy traffic. The rush of the people going about their night lives. Every bit of disorder from the bustling city below them becomes a distant planet to Jieqiong as she comes home to Nayoung’s arms.

It goes further than that, she realizes. With its meaningless and trivial pursuits, the world has always been naught to her, but being in it with Nayoung, not only does she see beauty and feels love, she also finds a bigger purpose in herself. Jieqiong hasn’t thought about it as much before than she does now but she regards herself transformed as a sunflower, a sunflower that follows the movement of the sun and blooms tall and majestic with the help of its light.

Nayoung truly has made her so happy. And knowing the things that she knows now about her, Jieqiong has an even stronger yearning to make her feel the same. She becomes aware of the familiar beating in her chest and it fuels the desire in her.

Jieqiong looks at Nayoung lying next to her on the mouth of the tipi tent. The older girl is gazing up at the dark night sky, cataloguing details unknown to her. She looks and looks and she sees the same fascination that’s always been there, but more than that, Jieqiong spots the mysterious twinkle deep in her eyes that she now has a name for — longing.

All Nayoung ever really wanted was to look up at the night sky like this and paint it how she sees it.

Emotion after emotion pile on Jieqiong like waves. It starts to feel very much like she would drown in them if she doesn’t say anything, so she speaks. As she does, she wills the stars above their heads to fall one by one, towards her outstretched hands.

“Since it’s your birthday, will you tell me what’s the one present you want the most right now?” Her voice rings through the balmy air like the opening lines of a lullaby.

Nayoung only pulls her closer and presses a kiss on her forehead.

Jieqiong doesn’t look her in the eye as she’s too busy gathering the cosmos and everything in it.

She hears Nayoung sigh into their embrace before she feels her whisper in her ear. “I couldn’t ask for anything better, Jieqiong. I have you.”

“Are you sure? I mean, I would give you everything.” Jieqiong pulls away, enough to get a good look at her.

Nayoung stares back at her with mild curiosity but doesn’t say anything. Jieqiong holds her gaze as she sets the stars down next to her heart and places all of it in Nayoung’s hands. She closes those hands for her and holds onto her balled fists as a quiet plea.

“I’ll give you the moon, the stars, the skies, and the seas.” She breathes.

Nayoung still doesn’t say anything so she continues.

“I’ll give you the universe, Nayoungie.”

This gets Nayoung to surge forward and take her in her arms again. The older girl guides her head to rest on her shoulder. Jieqiong can tell that it’s a strategy to hide her face from her, but she isn’t complaining. At this point, her tears have begun to relentlessly roll down her cheeks. Still, she steels herself, wills her voice not to shake so she can continue talking.

“I’ll give you the entire universe. Except for the sun.” She mumbles. “I can’t give you the sun.”

“Why not?” Nayoung asks.

“Because you’re the sun.” Jieqiong simply answers.

Nayoung chuckles and as she rests her chin on top of her head, Jieqiong feels her body be wracked a tremor that is far too delicate, far too desperate to be anything but sorrow.

Jieqiong decides to play dumb because it’s all she can do.

“See? I made you laugh.” She pushes Nayoung back and looks at her with her wet eyes. “I can make you so happy, Im Nayoung.”

“If you’d just let me.” She adds emphatically.

Nayoung smiles at her and wipes away her tears. “I don’t doubt that, Jieqiong. Even for a second.”

Jieqiong holds back another round of tears and gathers her courage to ask the questions resonating from her core to her entire being.

“Won’t you choose your happiness and ask me to stay? Won’t you free yourself and ask me to come back to you?”

Nayoung closes her eyes and presses her forehead against hers.

“Stay, Jieqiong.” She whispers in the small space between them. “For just a few more days and I’ll let it count as years.”

Jieqiong’s heart drops to her stomach but Nayoung continues.

“Come back, Jieqiong. Come back in my memories and that will be enough.”

She moves and buries her face in the crook of the older girl’s neck.

There, she finally cries as the weight of the heavens crush her. Nayoung trembles just the slightest against her hold but she knows it without having to see it, she knows that she too is crying. The world turns excruciatingly slow as they wept in each other’s arms. Neither of them know how long they stayed like that but the hours pass and sleep eventually comes to them as a sweet relief.

Before her eyes flutter to a close, Jieqiong remembers thinking that tomorrow will be a new day. It matters not if the skies collapsed on her tonight because she will have a brand new set to work with in the morning. She realizes that Nayoung’s right about one thing. They’ve got a few more days and those few more days mean that Jieqiong still has some time left to convince Nayoung that the stars shines for her and only her.

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A/N: Whew. That was a really long wait and I'm sorry and thankful for y'all who are still here. Tbh, I suffered through the worst writer's block over the past month (on top of unstable mental health). But I'm back now and I'm going to make GYTU a priority over my other stories. We are down to the last three or four chapters and I don't want to keep dragging it out. Like always, let me know what you think of this chapter. Thank you all for waiting and reading!

P.S. I'm sending a big you to Pledis for being an  to their girl groups especially to Pristin.

P.P.S. Writer friends, I realized that spite is a pretty good motivation for fleshing out stories. I'll let you figure out what you wanna do with that information.