Euna pov

I felt my smile drop as soon as the line went dead. As much as Minju tried to hide it from me I could tell something was wrong. Even though I could only hear her voice I knew she was trying hard not to cry. Probably because she knew I would drop everything and go to her asap if she did. The one thing I hated most in this world was to see my loved ones sad. In particular the girl who had been with me through the darkest times in my life and the person who I could no longer live without.

I had been getting ready to go to the studio to work on my music when I decided to tease Minju with her chicken addiction. Even if I hadn’t seen her in a quite a few days I knew she was the one who ate it. Although my friends crashed at my place often, Minju was the only person allowed in my apartment when I wasn’t there. She would stay there on days she had to wait a long time in between classes because my place was close to our university.

I knew she would be home if I called her since her practice on Tuesday’s ended early. I was expecting her cheerful denial when I , but her soft trembling voice caught me off guard and made me worry immediately.

Before I hung up I tried to sound as bright as possible because I knew that’s what she needed but after the call was over there was no need to act anymore. Usually I didn’t need to pretend to be energetic since it’s a part of my personality but by the end of that call I was so anxious it was hard to feel anything but worry.

I quickly dialed Hoseok’s number so I could let the group know I wasn’t going to join them at the studio. He must’ve been playing on his phone because he picked up immediately.

“Wassup wassup wassup! If you’re calling for me to pick you up, tough luck kiddo cause I’m already here hehe. That’s not an excuse for you to be late though, you hear? We have a lot of stuff to do today.” He said half serious, half amused. Though we were the same age, Hoseok acted more like my older brother than a friend. I didn’t really mind, most of the time.

“I’m sorry Hobbi.. I can’t come today. You’ll have to work on it without me.”

“Ya Kim Euna! What are you talking about. We have less than 2 weeks left to finish this. We need everyone working on it 24/7.” Hoseok wasn’t the type of person to raise his voice over anything but I could hear him struggling not to. I understood he was mad. Everyone had been under a lot of pressure to perform well on this showcase. But Hoseok even more so since he was the most experienced and people expected him to guide the rest of the crew.

“I’m sorry man, something came up.” I said as I took my equipment back to my room so I could get ready to go to Minju’s house.

“No no no. What do you mean something came up. This is not like you Euna. I thought you took this seriously. This is not a game!” I could hear the disappointment in his voice. I really respected Hoseok so him being disappointed in me kind of stung but not enough to make me reconsider my decision.

“Come on Hobbi, you more than anyone know how serious I am about this. I wouldn’t ditch yall just for the heck of it. I promise I’ll work on it tonight by myself when I can. Just cover for me this one time, please.” I pleaded.

“I know how important this is to you that’s why I don’t get it. What could be more urgent than this right now?” The confusion and exasperation evident in his voice made me decide to just tell him the reason. If there was someone who would understand, it would be Hoseok.

“Minju.” I said simply

“Ah damn. Is she ok?”

“I don’t know. There’s definitely something wrong.. So yeah.” I lifted my right shoulder so I could keep the phone to my ear while I packed some clean clothes. Since we practically lived at each other’s houses there were a lot of my clothes at Minju’s apartment. But it had been a while since I’d done laundry over there so I decided to bring some clean clothing just in case.

“Ok, fine. Go. I’ll cover for you. But you better get your to work as soon as you can, ok? We really can’t afford to slack off right now. I hope Minju is fine though. Tell her I said hi.”

“Thanks Hobbi, what would I be without you.”

“Miserable, that’s what you’d be without me kiddo.” He teased.

“I know right. You’re too good for this world.” I had to laugh at our banter. I really liked that about Hoseok. He never stayed mad for long and he was one of the funniest people I knew.

“Exactly, I’m glad you know it. Anyway I’m hanging up. Unlike others, some of us need to get back to work.” I could practically see the amusement on his face.

“Yeah, yeah. I get it already. Talk to you later.”

I ran a hand through my hair as I hung up the phone. I still had around 30 min. before I needed to leave so I decided to go to the convenience store across from my apartment to get some of Minju’s comfort snacks. If she wanted me to cheer her up then that probably meant watching sad movies, eating greasy food and loads of crying.

About an hour later I arrived at Minju’s dorm. I was still worried but I tried to calm myself thinking if it was something really bad she would’ve told me immediately. Maybe it had been just a bad day like she said on the phone.

As I turned the corner to Minju’s room I took a moment to clear the frown that had been stuck on my face since I left my apartment.

Come on you pabo, smile! If she sees you like this she’s only going to feel worse, I thought to myself.

I couldn’t remember the last time I had been this worried. I guess not seeing Minju in over a week had me on edge. The last time I’d seen her she was her happy bubbly self so hearing her struggling over the phone made me feel guilty for not spending time with her at all.

I should’ve at least called her more often to see how she was doing. Ugh I’ve been such a lousy friend lately, I thought as I reached Minju’s door. I knew I couldn’t afford to wallow in guilt at that moment so I took a deep breath to clear those thoughts and typed in the code to unlock Minju’s door.

“Minju-ya! I’m here and I got something for you. “

a/n: In case it wasn't clear, from now on the parts that are in italic are thoughts the girls are having. Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter :)