It's Always been Closer than What You've been Thinking

Unniedul, Saranghae! ❤ -- Discontinued --

Chapter 03

 

"Unnieeeeeeeeeeeeee...."

Silence.

"Unnieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...!"

Silence.

"UNNIE–"

"DAHYUN I SWEAR TO GOD STOP WHINING OR I'LL PERSONALLY DISOWN YOU!"

Mina sighed as she silently washes the dishes, ignoring her two members who are on the verge of killing each other. Dahyun has been quite noisy lately and Jihyo's already pissed enough to even consider beating up the younger girl.

"I'm boreeeeeeddd.." Dahyun whines again, lying on the couch while skimming through Yongsun's novel.

Jihyo clicked her tongue. "Go mop the floor."

"Are you kidding? This place's literally shining with how much I mopped it."

"Wash the laundry."

"That was your job!"

"Why don't you try exercising, Dahyunnie?" Mina chimes in. She wipes her wet hands on a towel and flopped down beside Dahyun. The brown haired girl moaned sadly.

"Been there, done that."

With that, Mina goes silent, opting to just observing her friends. Jihyo's absentmindedly sorting Yongsun's magazines, reading them once in a while. Dahyun is still bored, and whining about everything in general.

It's been two weeks since they started living together, but there haven't been any clues about their other group member. Yongsun went to work every day, leaving them inside the house all day. Mina, being a homebody, is actually okay with it. Dahyun, on the other hand, is slowly dying with how much free time she has in her hand.

"Girls!" Jihyo suddenly shouts. "You still bored?"

"No."

"YES!"

Jihyo grins widely, eyeing the calendar. Tomorrow's Saturday.

"I just got the best idea ever."

###

Yongsun walks fast across the streets, clutching her handbag tight. She made a mistake with her work today. That made her determined to fix her mistake before going home. Even if her boss told her to leave, she's stubbornly stayed in the office.

She regrets it now.

She promised Dahyun to buy a pizza on her way home, and the detour from her office to the pizza vendor costs her some precious time. It's ten past nine now. The streets are getting quieter with fewer people walking around. No matter how bright the street lamps are, there's still a fear of meeting bad people nagging her.

That's why she nearly died of heart attack when a strum of guitar echoes somewhere near. Yongsun whipped her hear to where the sound originated, finding a lone female absentmindedly picking her guitar strings. Yongsun can't help but feel curious about the girl who is sitting in front of a closed store.

The girl has straight silver hair reaching her chest. Her deep brown eyes seem distracted, staring blankly at the concrete sidewalk. Yongsun inspects her from head to toe. The silver-haired girl only wore a simple black tee under a ripped denim jacket with faded black slacks. Her dirty and tattered sneakers made Yongsun wonder whether this girl is a delinquent.

Yongsun was just intended to leave when the girl lifts her head and made an eye contact. The strawberry blonde haired intern froze, afraid if something bad will happen as she now has the silver-haired girl's attention.

Much to her surprise, the other girl smiled.

"It's rare to see an office lady wander the road at this time of the day," the lone girl speaks softly, addressing Yongsun's outfit. Her voice's low and raspy, lower than any female Yongsun ever met. "Working overtime?"

"Yeah..." the girl's friendly gestures made Yongsun dropped her guard slightly. "What about you?"

The girl chuckled, picking a few keys on her guitar. "I'm on my way to work, actually. Just taking a breather."

"Singer?" Yongsun asks, referring to the girl's guitar.

"You could say so," she smiles again.

Both of them grew silent, the silver girl playing her guitar while Yongsun lowkey enjoying her play. The silence broke when Yongsun's phone rings.

"Crap. I gotta go. My sisters' waiting," she doesn't know why she feels the obligation to say goodbye to the silver-haired girl. Thankfully the girl waves, making it less embarrassing.

Yongsun's already a few feet away from the other girl, but the quiet surrounding made her able to hear the girl's mumble to herself.

"Cute. I have sisters too."

###

"I still can't believe I agreed to your nagging," Yongsun pouts, arm crossed in front of her chest. Walking a few feets ahead of her are Jihyo and Dahyun, both grinning from ear to ear. Mina walks beside her, sipping her milkshake occasionally.

It was Saturday. All four of them are currently strolling through the town with Jihyo's hand full of flyers. Yesterday, once Yongsun came home, Jihyo made her sat down in the dining room. Mina served her a glass of water. Jihyo sat down in front of Yongsun. She then told the confused unnie that they're dying of boredom cooped up in the house all day and that she and Dahyun had an idea.

"We want to work, unnie."

Yongsun choked on her water.

That was why they're outside, under the harsh summer sun, trying to find a suitable workplace for Dahyun. Jihyo had found hers already, as a waitress at a restaurant near their house. Dahyun's trickier. They've gone to five stores, but none accepted her. Something about 'weird, boundless energy', they said.

It nearly drives Yongsun mad for how they degrade her 'sister'. She admits that Dahyun is a bit peculiar (she dabs, for God sake), and she's always moving around, but it's not an excuse for saying that she is a weirdo.

God bless Dahyun, the kind hamster paid no mind for the cruel words coming from the previous stores' owner. She only laughed it off before continuing her hunt for a job.

'These girls are crazy,' Yongsun thought, feeling her energy drained with all the walking. Contrary to the two walking megaphone ahead of her, who still have the energy to sing while walking around. 'Is this the strength of an Anihuman?'

Yongsun glances at Mina, who is sipping on her milkshake gracefully.

Mina is always graceful. Yongsun noticed this four days into them living together, but the penguin girl does emit a regal aura. No matter what she did, she always looks flawless and beautiful–except when she's running, she looks awkward like her penguin counterpart.

Yongsun had intended to ask if Mina's royalty, but often forgot to voice her curiosity.

"Mina, aren't you hot?" she opted to ask something related to today's activity instead. The sun's scorching and Yongsun doesn't want to feel left out with how active her sisters are.

Said girl turned her head to her unnie. Even her hairflip's on point. Yongsun wants to cry.

"I'm always hot, unnie."

...

Yongsun stares at her younger sister blankly until Mina realizes her mistake. Her face turning five shades redder and she lowers her head, gripping her cup tightly.

"I-I mean... I'm a penguin so... it's always hot... for me, I mean. The.. weather. Not.. you know," Mina stutters, clearly ashamed of herself. Yongsun's barely audible 'oh' doesn't help. Mina shrunk further into herself, considering to brainwash herself later that day until Yongsun's body suddenly collided with her.

"Wha..?"

"THIEF!"

Yongsun's high pitched scream cleave through the surrounding noises. It only occurred to Mina that a man snatched Yongsun's purse when she was in a reverie. She quickly supports her older sister while Dahyun chases after the running man.

"COME BACK HERE, THIEF!" Dahyun yelled, giving her all to catch the thief. Sadly her short legs couldn't compete the man's long ones, even if she's an Anihuman that's supposed to be more powerful than a mere human.

When Dahyun's on the brink of losing her breath, suddenly a petite body dashed past her. The girl's long dark brown hair flows behind her as she picks up speed, quickly catching up to the criminal. She then jumped into the air, bringing the man to the ground as she forcefully landed on his back.

"Shouldn't have done that, geezer," the short girl spat, seizing Yongsun's purse and kicked the man's shin. "I won't call the police for now so leave!"

As she watches the man ran away, she turns to find Dahyun breathing heavily behind her.

"Here's your purse–" the girl's sentence died on when she sees who is she helping. "Dubu?"

Dahyun, vision blurry and chest heaving from exhaustion, squints her eyes to have a better look at her savior. She barely recognizes the hair when the shorter girl shrieked.

"It really is you!!!" the girl exclaimed happily, giving Dahyun a bone-crushing hug.

The brown haired girl racked her brain for a few moments, trying to remember every friend she had until she sniffed the other girl's familiar scent. Dahyun's memory instantly flew to her ex-roommate back at the academy.

"Chaeyoung-ah?"

"You remember!!!" Chaeyoung let Dahyun go from her hug only to pinch her cheek. "I almost thought my favorite hamster forgets about me!"

"Your favorite–" Dahyun chokes back a sob, feeling overwhelmed at the thought of finally finding her other group member. "I missed my favorite kitten, too!"

"YAH!" Chaeyoung hits her arm, hard. "I may be a cat but I'm not a kitten!"

Dahyun laughed as the other girl pouts, hugging her ex-roommate back. "I couldn't believe I'll meet you here!"

"Me too!" Chaeyoung grins. "I was already frustrated why we haven't met the other girls!"

"We?"

"Yeah!" Chaeyoung nodded. "I'm with Sana-unnie all this time. How about you?"

"I'm with Jihyo-unnie and Mina-unnie."

"Cool!" the shorter girl tugged on Dahyun's hand, pointing somewhere along the road. "C'mon, let's go to Sana-unnie!"

Both girls skip happily, half walking half running to wherever Chaeyoung take them to. It doesn't take long for Dahyun to catches two silhouettes under the shade of a coffee shop. Chaeyoung let Dahyun's hand go to approach the two girls faster.

"Sana-unnie! Hyejin-unnie!"

The two whipped their head once they heard Chaeyoung's call. The taller one with light brown hair waved happily, then paused when she sees Dahyun walking behind Chaeyoung. Her light hazel eyes teared up fast as she dashed for her members.

"Dahyunnieee!!!"

The young hamster laughed loudly as she receives her second bone-crushing hug today. She patted Sana's hair with affection, effectively calming the sobbing girl in her arms. "It's nice to meet you too, Sana-unnie!"

Sana let Dahyun go, squealing happily before turning to the short haired girl standing not far from them. "Hyejin-unnie! We finally found our next member!"

Hyejin smiles, approaching Dahyun then offers her hand for a handshake. "Nice to meet you, Dahyun-ah. I'm Ahn Hyejin."

"Dahyun," the hamster girl giggled, accepting Hyejin's handshake. "Thanks for taking care of them, unnie."

"No problem," Hyejin shrugs. "They seem to be fond of you, Dahyun-ah."

The short haired girl cocked her head in the direction of the two girls grinning like maniacs behind her. "I really thought that they'll go crazy waiting to meet you."

"Ah, well actually it wasn't just me."

"Oh?" Hyejin lifts her eyebrow. "I see what Sana said is true. You're with another team members, right?"

"Yup," Dahyun nods. "I'm actually with two other members of our team. And we've been living together with Yong–"

"GODDAMNIT TOFU WHERE THE HECK ARE YOU?!"

Jihyo's loud voice suddenly boomed not far away, making Dahyun cringed in surprise. Sana and Chaeyoung, although seemed shocked at first, quickly reverted back to their ecstatic state.

"Is that Jihyo?" Sana asks happily.

"That's Jihyo alright, Dahyun-unnie said that she's with Jihyo-unnie!" Chaeyoung confirms Sana's guess, making the taller girl squealed in joy.

"THERE SHE IS!"

The four girls turned around, waving their hands cheerfully to the approaching trio.

"DUBU I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU NOT TO–" Jihyo's yelling come to a halt when she finally registers the two laughing girls beside Dahyun. She stood there with her jaw hanging, staring at Sana and Chaeyoung as if trying to confirm whether they're real or not.

Mina too, standing slack-jawed behind Jihyo. The two managed to snap back into reality as Chaeyoung and Sana have already made their way to them.

"Jihyo-unnie! Mina-unnie!" Chaeyoung, being the faster of the two, reached Jihyo first and pulling her to a hug. "I missed you!"

She then turned to Mina, jumping up and down before hugging the penguin as well. "Mina-unnie! It's been such a long time! I missed you!"

Mina teared up a bit, patting the younger girl's head lovingly. "I missed you too.."

After Chaeyoung let her go, Sana took the opportunity to dive right at Mina–

"Minari hisashiburi!!"

 –only to find empty air.

"Anata wa dare," the penguin girl deadpanned.

"HIDOIII!!!" Sana faked a cry, wiping her eyes with her sleeve almost dramatically. "Aitakatta no?"

"Ié."

"USO!" Sana wailed, making Mina chuckled and hold the other girl close.

"I'm just kidding. I missed you too."

Sana squealed, rapidly shaking the girl in her arms as an expression of happiness. Jihyo, Chaeyoung, and Dahyun soon follows, hugging and jumping wildly whilst yelling about how much they missed each other.

Meanwhile, behind the joyful scene of the five Anihumans' inevitable meeting, Kim Yongsun (who already got her purse back) is having a staring competition with none other than Ahn Hyejin.

"Unnie what the hell."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"You're a keeper, too?" Hyejin shook her head, calmly leaning against the wall. "Never thought it would be you."

"A keeper? If that's what you call it is, then yes, I'm a keeper," the older girl followed Hyejin's gesture to lean on the wall. "It never crossed on my mind either that you'll be my partner on this whole Anihuman raising thing."

"Yeah, right," the younger girl giggled, ruffling her short orange hair and grinned at Yongsun. "Thankfully it's someone I know well. It would be really awkward if us keeper doesn't know each other."

"Now that you said that," Yongsun ponders for a bit, glancing at her sisters occasionally as the five of them have stopped being hysterical. "There's eight of them, yes? So maybe one more keeper for three Anihumans. Who do you think they are, Hyejinnie? Someone we know?"

Yongsun did not see the way Hyejin stiffened, as if she's realizing something.

"Who is it going to be, hm?" Yongsun chuckled at her own imagination. "Wheein?"

Hyejin's nervous laugh catches Yongsun attention.

"Well, actually..."

 

To be continued...

 

 

 

Mina and Sana's Japanese conversation :

Sana : Minari, it's been a long time!

Mina : Who are you?

Sana : Rude! Don't you miss me?

Mina : No

Sana : Don't lie!

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Izarakovic
When I'm on my laptop I write too much case reports and playing Genshin :/ I need to write more lmao

Comments

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poplarbear #1
Chapter 41: Thank you so much for the closure ❤️ as cringe as it sounds, I really hold this story dear in my heart.
iNeedRomance2
#2
Chapter 41: Thank you for giving us closure author-nim! I'm sad that a lot of my favorite authors have seemed to have left their stories to focus on their own lives, so thank you for coming back to say goodbye and giving us readers a great ending to your wonderful story! I'll miss your stories! Have a great life author-nim!
iNeedRomance2
#3
Chapter 41: Thank you for giving us closure author-nim! I'm sad that a lot of my favorite authors have seemed to have left their stories to focus on their own lives, so thank you for coming back to say goodbye and giving us readers a great ending to your wonderful story! I'll miss your stories! Have a great life author-nim!
GG_sone_sz
#4
Chapter 41: Thank you author-sshi..
Wivern #5
Chapter 41: 💕
seungwaan
#6
Chapter 40: i'll miss your wenhyo fics! but be healthy and stay positive, i understand it's hard to keep consistancy as a writer. you've done so well until now! wish u all the happiness u can get 🥺
Wivern #7
Chapter 40: I am one with your wish.
May it come true.
Will be waiting for your return.
Until then live without any burdens.
Fighting authornim! 💕
urmamaroxs #8
Chapter 40: Thank you for sharing your stories with us. I'll read whatever you are willing to put up. All the best for everything!