A/N: I strongly recommend my readers to read this chapter while listening to this song :))

Westlife- In this Life

“So…that’s it.”

Kyungwon shrugged, letting out some sheepish chuckles. “We made this deal. Yebin and I will do our things and…no matter who Minkyung chooses in the end, we’ve tried, we leave no regrets.”

When getting no responses, Kyungwon felt more embarrassed.

“Hey, are you listening to me?” She nudged Kyulkyung. “Do you know how hard it is for me to tell you these? I have my pride, too.”

“Sorry, sorry…I listened to every word, I swear.” Kyulkyung scratched her neck. “I’ve lacked of sleep for a couple days. I can’t react too quickly.”

“Lacking of sleep? Does Nayoung unnie know that? She goes to your place a lot recently…”

A sudden improper thought rendered Kyungwon’s face to pink. “Yah, don’t tell me you guys are…”

“What?”

“You…together…”

Kyulkyung looked up, confused. Her cheeks flushed soon after, then the next thing Kyungwon knew was she received the most painful smack on the arm.

“What are you thinking? No!”

“Ok, fine, fine!” Kyungwon shrank back, rubbing her stinging skin. “No need to snap…”

“She did spend those nights with me, because I have a hard time falling asleep. There’s nothing more than kissing and hugging.”

“Hum. I envy you.”

Kyulkyung recoiled, thinking it was better to change the topic. “How are the races going? There’s only one week before the school anniversary.”

“Not bad. At least we got our department to participate as many as we could.”

“How about the volleyball matches? Do we know which teams we’re gonna meet?”

“I’ll ask Kang Yebin later. She should show up in any second, her class just finished.”

As Kyungwon went to the vendor machine to get herself a can of soda, Kyulkyung let out a long but muted sigh. Ever since that day, her minds had been interrupting her sleep. It had been a week now. Truth be told, Nayoung was no better than her, but at least they had each other to provide the biggest comfort. They would lie in bed, sometimes talked, sometimes simply sank in silence, but Nayoung’s arms would never leave her waist.

“Please keep this between us for now.”

Kyulkyung remembered vividly the way Minkyung begged them.

“I want to spend every day with people I love and love me, I don’t want you to start being panic and treat me differently. Please, just for now…”

And who could’ve said no?

It wasn’t the first time Kyulkyung kept something for friends from friends, even if she knew she was doing what Minkyung wished, but every time she looked at Kyungwon or Yebin, she felt like she was lying to them.

“Hey.”

Minkyung showed up and greeted her. Kyulkyung quickly stood up, intending to give the seat to her, but Minkyung shook her head and pulled a chair over by herself.

“I feel much better.”

I’m already treating her differently.

“Thank you, Kyul. I know it’s not easy to do this.”

Kyulkyung shook her head vigorously. The last thing she wanted was Minkyung to be bothered by these thoughts.

“Does…Does the new medicine work well?”

“I think so? My body’s been feeling…” Minkyung paused to look for a right word. “…lighter. It’s definitely a good sign.”

“What are you two talking about?” Kyungwon came back with her drink.

“You.” Kyulkyung shrugged. “You got soda drops on your T-shirt, silly.”

“Don’t call me that!”

The girls gathered one by one, continuing to talk about the school festival, the guests that school had invited and the activities they were going to participate. Some of them really focused on the discussion, some of them were just listening, and nothing more.

Another week passed quickly, it was Saturday when the school festival was held. Students all arrived early to prepare their departments’ booths and the matches in the afternoon, the girls only had time to meet after the long morning, when the sales ended and when the first race was about to begin.

“Serious? Jung Eunwoo’s gonna run in the relay?”

“She’s not the first or the last runner, is she?”

“Guys, I’m right here.” Eunwoo pouted. “Why can’t I race?”

“You don’t even jog!”

“Wanna bet? I can sprint faster than you!”

Usually Kyungwon would be the one who teased Eunwoo the most, but being the first runner for the first time, even if it was a race mostly just for fun, she still felt a bit anxious and fidgeting with her shoelaces. And then, a figure approached, sitting down side by side with her.

“I didn’t know you are good at running.”

Minkyung smiled, which didn’t fail to make her heart flutter. “Only people who are good at running can pull off the first, right?”

“You’re making me embarrassed.” Kyungwon scratched the back of her neck. “I’m not the fastest among us, but…” She pointed at their gang. “it’s true that I run better than most of them.”

“Why Yebin’s not running?”

“She’s preparing for her matches. They start almost at the same time with the relay.”

“Really? I didn’t know that. No wonder she and Yewon are not here.”

“Yeah…They have to start earlier to coordinate with the return time of other schools.” Kyungwon’s voice lowered, “You’re…going to the court now?”

“I’ll go with you guys later.” Minkyung answered without hesitation. “Can’t miss your race, can I?”

Kyungwon smiled brighter. “Of course. You won’t want to miss it.”

Squatting behind the starting line, exhaling, Kyungwon could see the second runner—Nayoung, was waiting at the turning. The third runner was Eunwoo, the fourth was Kyulkyung. The rest of the girls were watching aside, Kyungwon spotted Minkyung easily—she was smiling at her, yelling “Fighting” with everybody. All she needed to do was sprinted with her full speed and passed the rod swiftly and securely to Nayoung.

“Bang”, she sprinted out the moment she heard the gunshot, the cheering around was almost muted in her ears. The runner on the second runway was only inches ahead, Kyungwon clenched her muscle and held her breath, successfully surpassed the other runner right before she shoved the rod in Nayoung’s waiting hand.

“You’re amazing!”

Minkyung appeared beside her and grabbed her hand. “Let’s go over there, it’s Eunwoo’s turn!”

Kyungwon was still panting, but she ran with Minkyung anyway. Xiyeon was already jumping and cheering for her girlfriend, the others couldn’t help but laugh at how clumsy Eunwoo was when she accidently stepped into another runway. As she finished, Xiyeon didn’t feel shy to kiss her firmly on the cheek, making her a blushful mess and caused her to have another round of teasing.

They ended up being the third place of the group, which wasn’t enough to get them to the final but was better than they had expected. On the way to the court, Minkyung kept holding onto Kyungwon’s hand, but once Yebin was in their sight, she let go to wave at her. Yebin was at the middle of the rear row, waiting for one of her teammates to serve. She could not wave back, but she nodded back, the small beam emerging on her face was evident.

“Can we move to there, Kyungwon? I want to watch closer.”

“Ok.”

The way she treats us is different from the others. Kyungwon peeked at Minkyung’s side profile when she had her full attention on the match. She sees us as her important ones.

The first