Shin Bora.

 

There are a lot of ways to describe her.

 

Beautiful.

Talented.

Determined.

Actually a giant dork (Hana won't admit it, but it's true).

The list goes on and on.

 

But above all else, she's clingy.

 

Any chance she gets, she's pressed against me.

 

Hana has honestly been clingy since the day I met her though.

 

When I entered our practice room at the Jellyfish building for the first time, Bora was almost immediately at my side.

"I'm Shin Bora. You must be the new '93 liner."

I was taken aback by how close she was to me.

I wanted to bow as I introduced myself, but there was practically no distance between us at all.

How she could comfortably stand so close to someone who was practically a stranger is still beyond me.

I settled on offering her a nervous smile instead.

"Jung Mimi. That's me."

Bora returned my smile with her own, which radiated confidence.

 

My heart skipped a beat.

 

And it only got worse from there.

 

That same day, after practice, all of us trainees were preparing to head home.

As the newest addition to Jelpi, I felt the need to wait behind as everyone else left, making sure to give each of them a proper goodbye.

Bora was the last to the practice room door.

"Goodbye, Bora-ssi. Please have a wonderful evening."

She stopped in the doorway before her feet crossed the threshold to the outside world.

She spun around quickly to face me.

"Just Bora is fine," she stepped closer to me, once again invading my personal space, "And try to relax a little. The other girls like you, so you don't have to try so hard."

Her words would have been far more comforting had she accompanied them with a laugh or a smile.

But instead she stared deeply and directly into my eyes, her face blank.

It was enough to make my pale skin flush a warm pink.

I couldn't meet her eyes with my own.

She was younger than me, but I was, for some reason, incredibly intimidated by her.

Maybe it was her god-like beauty.

Or the fact that she was so sure of herself.

But it was probably just the fact that there were only about three inches of breathing room between us.

Bora placed a hand on my shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.

Finally, a smile broke out on her face.

"I'm going to walk home with you."

I wanted to tell her no, insist that I was fine on my own, but based on what I had learned about her personality during practice that day, I knew any resistance would have been pointless.

Instead, I agreed with a small nod.

She immediately gripped my hand with hers and tugged me out of our company building.

When we were outside, Hana slid her hand upwards from my hand to instead lock arms with me, taking it as an opportunity to pull me even closer to her.

I felt insanely awkward around her at the time.

We barely knew each other, yet there she was, glued to my side.

"Why are you so nervous around me?"

I tensed up at her question, swallowing harshly before responding.

"What do you mean?"

She chuckled, tossing her head back a little.

"I mean," she bumped her hip playfully against mine, "We're going to debut together one day. I think that warrants skipping past all of this tension and just becoming friends."

Her words struck something deep inside of my chest.

Why was she so genuinely nice?

And why was she so genuinely right?

I sighed, letting my breath out heavily, as if doing so would allow all of the nervousness and worry to escape from within me.

A giggle erupted beside me.

I turned to her, not nearly as embarrassed as I would have been merely seconds prior.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Your attempt to be normal," a breathy laugh punctuated her statement, "Just let it all go. If you think about it too much, you'll just make yourself even more awkward."

"Are you calling me awkward?"

I feigned offense as I hit our hips together as she had previously done.

We both burst into a fit of giggles.

After we had settled down, there was a beat of silence.

"There you go," she said.

I think it came out quieter than she had meant for it to.

I turned to watch her as we walked.

She was staring blankly at her feet, as if keeping tempo with our steps which had come to match in pace.

The corners of my mouth turned up into a genuine smile.

She looked peaceful, so I turned back to focus on my own walking as well.

When we finally made it to my house, she didn't immediately release my arm.

She turned to face me.

She smiled, so I smiled back.

Finally, she let go of me.

I moved my hands to grip gently at her wrists, missing her constant contact for no reason at all.

"Hey," my thumbs pressed softly against her skin causing her to look up at me, "Thanks for being my friend, Bora."

 

It shouldn't have been as simple as that, but from then on, we were basically attached at the hip.

 

Every day after that we had spent as trainees, Bora was there by my side.

 

Until one day she wasn't.

 

I entered the practice room as normal, immediately being greeted by seven bright smiles.

Which was odd...

"Where's Bora?"

I asked as I set my duffle bag down in a corner.

Hyeyeon briefly attempted to answer my question before being interrupted by Sejeong's ever present voice.

"She's talking to the bosses!"

My heart raced and my stomach sunk.

That wasn't helpful.

Which bosses?

What were they discussing?

Was she moving to a new agency?

"Unnie," the feeling of Hyeyeon's palm gently rubbing against my back pulled me from my worry, "It's okay... She'll be back."

And just like that we began our day as if everything were normal.

Everyone was joking and rehearsing, but I couldn't focus.

Not without Bora's lovely voice barking orders at us.

That seems like a contradiction, huh?

But it was true.

There was something soothing about having her guiding us through what we were to do with her almost aggressive determination.

We just weren't as good without her.

Hours later, in the middle of running through the choreography for a song that we all knew by heart, Into the New World, the door to the practice room opened.

When we saw who had joined us in the reflection of the room's mirrored wall, the dance was immediately forgotten.

"Bora unnie!" Seven voices all but screamed as they enveloped her in a disorganized group hug.

But I stayed back in a corner alone.

She was bombarded with questions about what she had been called into the meeting for, and she answered every one in a mature and collected manner.

I watched her responses, but ignored every word that came out of .

She would glance at me periodically with an unreadable expression.

Suddenly without warning, Bora just stopped answering them.

She practically stormed up to me, grabbed my hand, and yanked me out of the practice room.

The other girls' calls of confusion were ignored as she continued walking.

We both stayed silent as I let her drag me down the hall of our company at a swift pace.

I didn't think she was ever going to stop until she shoved me into a bathroom (that I'm almost positive we, as trainees, were not supposed to have been in).

I stared at her in awe, breathless, as she slammed and locked the door behind us.

"What is your problem?"

She jabbed her fingertip angrily into my chest.

I pushed her hand away from me and pointed accusingly back at her.

"Me? What's your problem?"

I didn't mean to raise my voice, but I had and I immediately felt terrible.

She matched my tone, my volume, my energy.

"You can't even tell me hi after I've been gone all day?"

She pushed me backwards, her eyes dark and her face reddened with rage.

We were feeding off of each other's anger.

"I didn't say anything because you didn't tell me about you being in a meeting with our bosses for a whole day!"

Bora didn't say anything, our argument dissipating into the hot air around us.

She instead took a step forward and wrapped me in a hug.

My arms instinctively found their way around her shoulders.

She squeezed me tighter and suddenly I was crying.

"Bora, I...I was just worried you wouldn't come back," I choked back a sob, "I was mad that you may have been leaving us... leaving me."

She moved to press her forehead into my chest.

"Jellyfish said we're going to debut together, all nine of us. And," she paused to rub her face lightly into my shirt, "I get to be the leader."

I grabbed her shoulders, pushing her back gently.

I quickly blinked away my tears.

"Bora, that's amazing!"

She pulled me back into her, once again nuzzling into my t-shirt.

"I'm scared though, Mimi. What if I'm not good enough? Being the leader is a big responsibility. And it's not like they can just pick a new leader if I can't do my job. I mean they're making me change my name to Hana, for God's sake."

With each concern she voiced, her grip on me tightened.

"Bora...Hana," I leaned down to rest my chin atop her head, "You're perfect for the job. You have no reason to be worried."

She didn't respond, so I didn't continue.

Words weren't what she needed then.

Instead, I just stood in silence, letting her continue embracing me.

When we finally emerged from our hideaway, the remaining sunlight had already disappeared, the moon's faint rays left shining in its place.

How no one had come to retrieve us is a mystery to me.

Then again, maybe they had tried.

But nothing had mattered in that moment besides Hana.

She tugged on my hand, pulling me from my daze.

I hummed in response, but still she said nothing.

That night, we walked straight out of the Jellyfish building to my house, not saying a word.

We had gotten reprimanded for it the following day, of course, but as Hana clung to my arm, I didn't really mind.

 

Once we had officially debuted, we were given a group dorm.

Being the eldest, Hana, Haebin, and I initially shared a room.

The others were broken down into the Produce 101 team (Sejeong, Mina, and Nayoung), and the kind-of-sort-of maknae team (Hyeyeon, Soyee, and Sally).

 

One night after our schedules, everyone had immediately retired to their respective rooms for bed.

We were all exhausted from traveling between numerous performances and interviews.

Just as I was drifting off to sleep, I heard footsteps coming up my bunk ladder.

I opened my eyes to try to make out who was approaching, but the room was pitch black.

The second the member climbed into my bed and wrapped their arms around me, I knew who it was.

Hana.

I didn't have to see her to know.

"Bora," I caught myself, "Hana. What are you-"

Her hand found my mouth in the darkness, a single finger pressing against my lips to silence me.

She snuggled in closer to my side.

"I just missed you."

So I wrapped one of my arms around her, and pulled her closer to me.

Her hands held me tightly.

I could feel the tension in her clenched fingers as her heart beat against my ribs.

I moved my hand to cup hers, gently rubbing the pad of my thumb over the back of her hand, then slowly over each individual digit.

With each , her fingers relaxed into a softer hold.

Soon her grasp had released completely, her hand instead simply resting against my chest.

I felt her breathing slow as she fell asleep.

Hana shifted, her legs intertwining with mine.

In the solitude of the dark room, I smiled to myself.

 

I hoped she'd never let me go.

 

After years of knowing each other, Hana had finally asked me to be her girlfriend.

It wasn't like anything out of a movie.

You know, not that stereotypical romantic scene where she nervously fumbled over her words until I kissed her and said yes.

She had simply asked me the question after practice one day and I said yes.

With Bora being as confident as she is, it was almost impossible for that certain vulnerable awkwardness to be present.

Plus we had both kind of known it was coming at that point.

 

But either way, it was still special to us both.

 

And of course, that caused her clinginess to somehow increase even more.

 

When we had finally given into each other, we were lying in her bunk together.

It was our first free Saturday in a while and all of the others had decided to go out together to celebrate their lack of schedules.

We instead stayed home to relax, but...one thing led to another.

Afterwards, I couldn't stop grinning as Hana hugged me from behind.

I'm almost always the little spoon, of course.

She likes holding me.

The feeling of her flesh against my was one of my favorite sensations.

It still is.

She let her hand roam to my stomach, drawing lazy circles around my belly button.

"You haven't stopped smiling," she whispered against my neck, ending her sentence with a gentle kiss.

"I have a lot to be happy about," I turned in her arms, so that I could face her.

"Yeah?"

Hana slid her hands down to rest in the curve of my hips, pulling our bodies flush with each other.

Even in the tiny, hot, cramped bunk, she still wanted me as close to her as possible.

She pressed her forehead to my chest, sleepily mumbling sweet nothings against my slightly flushed skin.

My eyelids were heavy, too, but I wanted to memorize her every detail in that moment.

 

So as her sleeping figure continued to embrace me, I did just that.

 

One of the best examples of her clinginess, though, had come more recently.

 

We had been cuddling on the couch, watching a movie before bed.

Hana fell asleep midway through, so when the film had ended, I decided to go get ready for bed on my own.

I started the shower as I brushed my teeth.

The room began to fill with steam, immediately fogging the mirror in front of me.

I slipped my clothes off, making my way into the tub.

As the heated water ran over my head and down my face, I closed my eyes.

It was rare that any of us could shower in peace.

With our hectic schedules, there were usually at least three of us in the restroom at a time.

Suddenly a sharp feeling of coldness practically burned the flesh of my stomach.

My eyes jolted open to look down.

A pair of hands were locked around my waist.

I took the pair in my own, rubbing some warmth into them.

"You left me alone," a tired voice grumbled from behind me.

Turning around in her arms, I came to face Hana.

She looked so tired, a sleepy pout present on her face.

It was absolutely adorable.

I leaned down to press a lingering kiss to her slight frown.

"I'm sorry," I said, attempting to direct her under the shower head, "You're freezing. Come here."

I tried to position her under the water, but her arms tightened around me to keep her in place.

Hana let out a small whine, like a child who hadn't gotten what they wanted.

"Hana, you're going to catch a cold. Please get under the water."

I attempted to move her yet again, but she still clung to me, whining once more.

So finally, I wrapped my arms around her waist and tugged her upwards, turning and carrying her into the shower stream.

(Which, might I add, was horribly dangerous considering how weak I am, coupled with the fact that we were in a slippery shower.)

A yelp escaped her lips, but was quickly replaced by a soft moan as she relaxed in the heat.

I smiled at her.

"See, isn't that better?"

Arms still around my waist, she pulled me closer to her.

Some warm water bounced off of her skin onto mine, each droplet feeling much better than standing in the frigid air.

"I came in here because I wanted to be with you, not because I wanted to steal your shower," she squeezed our bodies together even tighter, some of the water flow making contact with me, "So get over here."

I couldn't help the chuckle that came from my lips.

She settled into our embrace, letting the water run over us.

"I love you," she whispered, her voice still hoarse from her brief nap.

My arms found their way around Hana, resting on her hips.

Basking in the tenderness of her touch, I moved to lay my head against hers.

 

"I love you, too, Bora."

 

-

 

A/N: So, as you may have noticed by now if you've read my other stories, I at endings lol. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. I just love writing soft HanaMi~