Chapter 6

It all started to make sense.

The times where Sakura’s expression would fall slightly whenever she mentioned about Minju or Eunbi. How her teeth would clench a little and how her face would darken. She shouldn’t have believed Sakura when she said that she was just tired. She should have been more sensitive to her bestfriend. 

Chaeyeon just want to ram her head against the brick wall for being an idiot. How can she not notice Sakura’s feelings at all eventhough they are together 24/7? Its either Sakura is really good at hiding her feelings or Chaeyeon is just plainly stupid and oblivious. 

Now that she thinks back, she realises how some of Sakura’s actions actually gave away some hints. 

Like how she would wait for her to end practices eventhough she finished classes early just so that they can walk home together. The times where she catches Sakura staring at her whenever she’s concentrating on studying and how the older girl would instantly look away and pretended to read her book which was turned upside down. Chaeyeon should have caught the signs whenever Sakura’s cheeks would turn a little pinkish when she hugs or pats her head.  

Maybe that’s why Sakura is so protective over her. She thought it was just a bestfriend thing but it turned out to be something more complicated then she thought.

Guilt starts setting in as Chaeyeon dwelled in those past memories that starts flooding her mind. Suddenly those small actions that means nothing more than a friendly gestures to Chaeyeon, now seemed significant and Chaeyeon doesn’t know how to feel right now about the sudden confession from her bestfriend who has been with her almost for a decade. 

All she knows is that she hurt her bestfriend for God knows how many years? Sakura had been such great support for her yet all she did in return was to hurt her feeling for years. 

Her train of thoughts were interrupted with her favourite red bean ice cream pop placed infront of her. Chaeyeon glanced up and saw Eunbi with her brows raised, urging her to take her favourite late night snack. The younger girl took it with a smile and watched the latter walking to the swing next to her and sat on it while taking a bite from her own ice cream cone. 

"What's up?" Eunbi questioned.

"Shouldn't you be resting at home and having a happy dream after winning the competition? Why are you sitting here with a gloomy face?" 

Chaeyeon sighs heavily and apolg, "Sorry for disturbing your beauty sleep, unnie."

After tossing and turning around on her bed for at least a hundred times, Chaeyeon gave up on getting her sleep. Sakura's confession was stuck in her mind for the whole night that it bugged her till the end. She couldn't sleep at all even when it was nearly one in the morning. She need to get her mind off Sakura or just talk to someone about it to help her organise her thoughts better. 

Somehow, she found herself calling Eunbi late at night. She regretted immediately when the other line picked up after three buzz with a half-asleep Eunbi answering the phone. 

"It's fine. We don't have school tommorow anyways." Eunbi shrugged it off cooly while trying to hide a yawn away from the taller girl. Though Chaeyeon had already caught the little action and giggled, "Why did you even agreed to meet me when you are this tired?" 

"Well, I did agreed to be your guardian angel the other night." The black-haired beauty answered with a light smile, "I'm just keeping to that promise I made to you." 

Although Eunbi had been flirting with her endlessly and even though she knows that she's probably not the only one that Eunbi had said those mushy words to, Chaeyeon still finds her cheeks flaring up and her stomach doing some twist and turns. 

"So what's up? Why can't you sleep?" 

"Hm.." 

For some reason, Chaeyeon found it hard to say it out. To say that her bestfriend of 10 years just confessed to her. It was just strange. Chaeyeon had never thought that she would be stuck in such situation. 

"Take your time."

Seeing the internal struggles, Eunbi placed her hands ontop of the younger girl's and grabbed it softly. She didn't want to force the girl to talk if she was uncomfortable albeit she thought that Chaeyeon had wanted to meet up to confide in her. But Eunbi doesn't mind just spending the rest of the night sitting beside Chaeyeon if that's what the younger girl needed. 

"I'm sorry. I just don't really know how to start..." Chaeyeon sighed and intertwined her fingers with Eunbi, appreciating her patience and calmness. 

"What is it about?" 

Eunbi questioned, trying to get the ball rolling. 

"Sakura." 

Chaeyeon could feel Eunbi froze up for a moment but it wasn't long before she regained her composure and raised her brow. 

"You guys fought?"

"No."

"Did she found out that you met up with Minju and she got angry at you?"

"I told her myself."

"Did she confessed to you?" 

Eyes wide, jaw dropped, Chaeyeon was shook when Eunbi guessed it correctly. The appalled look from the younger girl was enough to tell that she was right about her assumption. 

"You ." Eunbi clicked her tongue and shook her head, "It was pretty obvious that she had something for you. The way she acted sometimes doesn't seem to me like she treat you as her bestfriend. Though I wasn't 100% sure if my guts were right." 

"Since when did you notice?"

The vice-captain directed her attention to the ground and kicked some small stones away and shrugged, "Not sure. But I picked it up pretty quickly." 

"Is that why you asked if we had something on the other day at the hallway?" 

Eunbi smirked, "You meant the day you confessed to me?" 

"You didn't have to mention that. But yes that day." Chaeyeon bite her lower-lips in embarrasement as she recalls how she got rejected by the older girl.

Funny how despite the rejection, she's still here with Eunbi beside her listening to her worries late at night. She should have develop a trauma or something and avoid the older girl. Yet, at the same time she finds herself liking the calmness and peace she gets whenever she's with the senior. Maybe this is exactly why Chaeyeon can't move on from this perfect girl. She was comfortable with Eunbi, aside from the whole rejection incident. 

"Yeah, I noticed that she would always wait for you to end practises. Sure, bestfriends wait for each other but I don't always do that. Moreover, its not just half an hour wait but a while 4 hours. It isn't difficult to notice how her huge pair of eyes would lit up once she saw you. That was some hint there already." Eunbi continued, "Then the guts got stronger when we get dinner together with Sakura and the team. I thought she was going to kill me with her eyes back there when I tried flirting with you." 

"She glared at you?"

"You were busily blushing so you didn't notice, I guess." Eunbi winked and received a shove from Chaeyeon in response.

"Why do I even like you?" Chaeyeon questioned and Eunbi flips her hair over her shoulder and smirked, "Because I'm attractive and you like every single thing about me." 

The younger girl aspire to have that much confidence Eunbi has for herself.

"You sure have lots of confidence in yourself huh."

"This is called self-love."

She chuckled and finished her last bite of the ice cream before it melts.  

"How did she confess to you though?" Eunbi wondered, "She had been hiding her feelings for so long. Why did she suddenly confess?" 

Chaeyeon sighed and facepalmed, "I told her that I met up with Minju. She got all worked up and ended up spilling out her feelings. I didn't know that I hurt her for so long. I feel so bad right now." 

"So what are you going to do?" 

"Not sure? Still thinking about it." 

"I don't know what you are planning to do but I would advice you to not avoid her." 

Avoid? 

That was the last thing that came across the younger's mind. No matter what Sakura feels towards her, Chaeyeon would never ever avoid her bestfriend. 

"I wasn't even planning to do that."

Eunbi pursed her lips and nodded cooly, "Just saying. I don't know if you have noticed this. But you're the only friend Sakura trust and has in Korea. She relies on you a lot and if you are going to avoid her, it's not gonna turn out well." 

"You are practically her everything in Korea. She probably felt like Minju had sort of 'snatched' her bestfriend away when you two dated." Eunbi reasoned, "Can't blame her for getting sensitive when it comes to you meeting up with your ex again."

The hairs at the back of Chaeyeon's neck and arms stand as she stared at Eunbi, amazed by her reasoning and observation skills. 

"Why does it feels like you know my bestfriend more than I do?"

"I just tend to observe more."  

Chaeyeon furrows her brows, “and why are you observing my bestfriend?” 

“What?” 

“By observing means you keep you eyes on her. No?” 

Eunbi cracks up loudly and shoved Chaeyeon jokingly with a smug.

“Are you jealous?”

How her cheeks turned red hue and how she started having a earthquake in her orbs, gave Eunbi her answer. Her giggles tripled much to Chaeyeon’s dismay as she brings her hands up to cup her red cheeks. 

“S-Stop laughing!”

Despite the exclaim, Eunbi doesn’t stop as her giggles got even louder and contiguous than before. Chaeyeon ended up doubling over her stomach and her charming laughter starts rolling out, following the older’s. 

Though Eunbi didn’t quite give her an advice, she did pretty well in being a listening ear and making her forget about Sakura for a moment. 

Seeing Eunbi wearing her pretty smile and grin were enough to cheer her up. 

Thank you, my guardian angel. 

***

Sting.

Her eyes started to sting at the strong sunrays that was shinning directly to her face. Even when she had her eyes closed, she could sense how strong the blazing sun was. 

Chaeyeon grunts as she tries to bring her blanket up to cover her hurting orbs only to feel another person pulling it down. 

“Unnie! Wake up!” 

The sleepy girl who slept at six in the morning sighed and struggled to open her eyes. The moment she opened her eyes and see her younger sister, Chaeyeon immediately gave her a death glare. 

“What do you want? I’m tired. Leave me alone.” After the threaten, Chaeyeon snatches her blanket back to cover her eyes again. However, seconds later, Chaeryeong pulled it down again much to the annoyance of the older girl. 

“Sakura unnie has been waiting for you for 3 hours already, you sleepyhead!”

”Ugh, i slept at 6am! I want my sleep!” 

“I’ve been asking her to go! But Kura unnie just keeps sitting on the couch and waiting for you! And she looks pretty determined to see you!”

”Did you have a fight with Sakura unnie or what?”

Irritated, Chaeyeon opened her eyes and again and groggily questioned, “What fight?” 

Chaeryeong looks at her sister and shrug, giving Chaeyeon the time to gather her mind and come to her sense. True enough, it didn’t take long before Chaeyeon jolts up from her bed with her eyes widen. 

“W-Wait did you just say Sakura?” 

Chaeryeong face-palmed and folded her arms, "You guys fought huh." 

The older girl groaned and rubbed her eyes, staring at her closed door before ruffling her hair. She is not ready to see her bestfriend yet but avoiding her is not the solution either. 

"Get out." Chaeyeon says, "Ask her to give me ten minutes." 

"Rude." 

The younger sister took the chance to whack Chaeyeon's head before she set off for a run out of the victim's room, leaving Chaeyeon to scream her name out in agony. 

Chaeryeong only kept her laughters, running down to the living room where their neighbour was and gave her a proud smile. 

"I helped you to take revenge, unnie!" 

Sakura snapped out of her thoughts and looked at the younger girl, puzzled. 

"You guys fought right? My unnie made you angry so I help you to take revenge by smacking her dumb head for you." 

The red-haired giggled and shakes her head, "Thanks for that, but we didn't fight." 

"Then why do you look so down?" 

"Me? I look down?"

"Yeah, you don't look like the bright and confident Sakura unnie that I know." 

Chaeryeong frowns, "Whenever you come over, you will have this bright energy radiating over you but ever since you came in, you were bitting on your lips and fumbling with you sleeves."

"You look nervous." 

The girl isn't wrong to say that Sakura is nervous. Because she was already breaking out in cold sweat when she hears Chaeyeon's door opening above and she had to take in a deep breath before she change her mind and chicken out again.

C'mon Miyawaki, you came too far to back out now. You can do this. 

Sakura encouraged herself, trying to calm the nerves in her. 

"Kura unnie?" Chaeryeong called out to the slient girl. 

"Ah yes, I'm nervous." 

"Why?" 

Sakura smiles when she sees her bestfriend walking down the stairs. She signalled Chaeryeong to come closer to her before she leans in to whisper in her similar big huge ears . 

"Because I'm going to ask your sister out for a date." 

"What?" Chaeryeong quirked a brow and looked at the Japanese in confusion, "Why would you ask that out for a date?" 

"Yah, Lee Chaeryeong come here. How dare you slap my head?" 

The said girl immediately dodged the incoming hand trying to grab her wrist and avoided the older girl with her reflex. She stuck her tongue out, teasing Chaeyeon as she runs back to her room.

"Have fun dating Sakura unnie!" 

Chaeyeon's face started to burn at the tease. She cursed under her breath when she sees her beautiful bestfriend infornt of her smiling so cutely and shyly. Though she has always thought how beautiful Sakura is, this time, the older girl just gives off that cherry blossom kind of beauty and it doesn't help much when she's standing there dress in a pink one piece and looking all so shyly and girlish. 

"H-Hey... What's up? Sorry for making you wait. You didn't tell me that you're coming." Chaeyeon apologise, trying her best to conceal her awkwardness. 

"I texted you though?" 

Chaeyeon blinks then took out her phone where she had a few unread messages. 

"Ah I'm sorry, it was in slient mode." 

She glanced through her inbox and saw a other few messages from Eunbi and Minju. Before she could open them and read the content, Sakura called her out again with a small voice. 

"A-Are you free today?"

"Erm.. I guess?" Chaeyeon says, keeping her phone back into her pocket, "Why?" 

"Can I take you out on a d-date?" 

***

Although she had already expected this, she didn't know it would hurt her this much. A heavy sigh left her lips as Minju draped her arm over her eyes and grab her phone tightly in her hands. 

"Unfair..." She mutters and clenched her teeth, "this is so unfair." 

It's already almost 3pm and yet Chaeyeon had not reply her message since last night. Minju wasn't hurt because Chaeyeon wasn't replying. She tried to think about it positively.

Maybe Chaeyeon is still sleeping. Considering she had just finished the competition and God knows how long did the team celebrated their win last night? 

She knows how much the older girl likes to hibernate in her room and never comes out till she gets all the sleep she wants. There was even once where she overslept for their date and Minju got pissed off at that. But Chaeyeon made sure to make it up to her by cooking her a feast full of her favorite dishes and even wrote a letter to compensate her bad habit of sleeping in. 

Or maybe Chaeyeon is busy. It wasn't new to Minju that Chaeyeon is well-liked by people around her. Even when they are dating, there were a handful of people who kept asking the older girl out for friendly-dates. Though she has her own set of admirers as well, Minju paid no attention to them and only solely focused on Chaeyeon. 

However, it wasn't for the case for Chaeyeon. 

Sure there were times where she chose Minju over her friends but there were also times where Minju would find herself pouting and left all alone because the older girl chose to hang out with her friends. Nothing is wrong with that, but it all comes back to the same problem. 

Sakura.

Before she came into Chaeyeon's life, Minju already knew that Sakura and Chaeyeon were inseparable. She even believed the rumor about the pair od bestfriends being together back in high school but of course it was just a rumor afterall when Chaeyeon confessed to her.

It doesn't help that Minju always felt intidimated by the Japanese senior. 

Her beauty was unbeatabled and she knew Chaeyeon more than she could ever. It just hits her one day that no matter how many months or years she knows or dates Chaeyeon, Sakura still knows her longer than she does. 

She felt small whenever Sakura is around with them. 

Of course, she didn't dare to speak of her insecurities with Chaeyeon. Especially knowing how her girlfriend is super close with Sakura and she didn't want to go causing any conflicts between the two. 

It took her all of her strength not to leash out at Chaeyeon whenever the girl would get annoyed with Yujin crashing their dates. 

Sakura does the exact same thing. So why couldn't Yujin?

Chaeyeon says that Yujin has feelings for her but Minju could also say the same thing to Chaeyeon with Sakura always being so protective around her, acting as if she was her girlfriend. But she didn't because she didn't want to make the fight worse. 

Minju always tries to push the thought of Sakura having feelings for Chaeyeon to the back of her mind and try not to mind so much about Sakura being all over her girlfriend. 

But guess she should have trusted her guts more. 

Because when she opens up instagram, her heart bled a little seeing an update post from the Japanese. 

A selfie of her Sakura having a sushi date with her ex-girlfriend. 

Minju was sure it wasn't just a plain bestfriend-kind-of-date with the the post caption: Not our usual friendly-date <3 

"You can go on a date and yet you can't reply my message?"

Minju scolded childishly at her phone before she toss it aside and grumbles under her breath, cursing at the older girl for making her feel all this emotions. She's known to be mature and liked by he demure personality yet, just because of a girl, Minju is now pouting like a child. Complaining to no one within four walls, imagining Chaeyeon's face as her pillow and punching it and kicking her bed in annoyance. 

Just when Minju was about to close her eyes and take a tap, her phone rang off. 

Thinking that it was Chaeyeon, Minju quickly retrieved her tossed phone only to frown at an unknown number calling her. The number that looked oddly familar, but she couldn't remember. 

"Hello?" After the third ring, Minju finallys slide right to pick up the line. 

It went slient for about 5 seconds. 

"Hello? Who is this?" Minju questioned but was still met with slience. She furrowed her brows and looked at the still connected line, "Are you not going to talk? I'm going to hang up if you don    "

"     unnie, are you still mad at me?" 

"Yujin?" 

***

After their sushi date, they decided to take a walk along the street to watch the autumn leaves falling off the trees. They were just enjoying the comfortable slience and soft hummings from Chaeyeon. The date went smoother than Chaeyeon had expected. Though it didn't felt like their usual hangout, Chaeyeon was glad it wasn't as awkward as she thought it would be. Maybe its because Sakura was still acting like the same old her. She didn't touched till last night's topic and didn't try to do anything that might make Chaeyeon feel umcomfortable. 

Chaeyeon was surprised that Sakura didn't even held her hands as usual. 

"You alright?" Sakura questioned, pulling the taller girl out of her trance.

"Y-Yeah, of course." 

"You were quiet all of a sudden." 

"Just thinking about stuffs." 

Sakura nodded aimlessly and kept her eyes on the ground, "About last night..."

There you go. The unavoidable topic. 

"You must be shocked,"

"I guess?" Chaeyeon laughs stiffly, "I mean I've never imagined to receive a confession from my one and only bestfriend." 

Sakura chuckled, "Believe me. I was as surprised as you when I process what I said." 

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" 

The red-haired beauty raised her brow at the question, "How can I bring myself to confess to you all of a sudden when I know you only have been seeing me as your bestfriend and when I know you are not fully over the hurt you got from your ex? Moreover, you told me that you have a crush on Eunbi-nim." 

"Ah.." 

"Look. I'm sorry if I've scared you but I was just worried about you and Minju and I really didn't want history to happen again." Sakura sighs, "Even as a bestfriend, I wouldn't want you to get back together with her. I don't care if I seem protective over you but you know? I always blamed myself for being a coward."

"For not confessing to you earlier before Minju does." 

Chaeyeon looks away to hide her blushing cheeks. 

"I wondered if things would have turned out another way if I had more courage to confess to you. Maybe both of us wouldn't have to suffer so much." 

"It's not your fault that things turned out this way." Chaeyeon shrugs, "I guess it's just fate?" 

Sakura smiles, "I don't know about that but I just know that I can't hold myself and my feelings back anymore for you. You are the first friend I had in Korea and I got to experience may great things because of you. You made everything better for me and honestly, at first I just thought that you are a really really good person, friend, sister to me." 

"But at some point of time, I found myself wanting to spend more time with you. You're in my mind 24/7. You are the person whom I want to share every happenings in my life. I get jealous when I notice that you start to get closer to another person. I get jealous when you keep mentioning about oher girls to me and tell me how much you like them. I hate it when you look all so happy with your bright smile while sharing your stories about them. I loathe how I have to force myself to pretend that I'm enjoying what you are saying." 

Chaeyeon sighs, it was as if her heart got shot by an arrow when she sees her bestfriend smiling at her so forlornly. She holds Sakura's hand and smooth the back of her hand with her thumb and kept mumble apologies. 

"I'm sorry for not noticing your feelings. I'm sorry for being a oblivious . I'm sorry for being so ignorant and I'm sorry for being such a bad bestfriend, neglecting your feelings and all." 

"yeah, you sure did." Sakura chuckled bitterly and knock on Chaeyeon's head lightly as a joke, "You have to make it up to me." 

"How?" 

"Take me out on dates, duh?"

She could feel Chaeyeon getting rigid and looking all awkward again with that statement and Sakura couldn't help but feel like she's fighting a lost battle. 

"I'm not expecting you to give me your answer so soon, Chae. Those dates can be just friendly ones. Like the usual." 

"I'm sorry. I just couldn't get it straight in my brain yet. It's hard to adjust you know?" 

"I understand." 

She came so far, Sakura knows she would regret if she give up this early. 

"Let's go home, it's getting late already." Sakura suggested as she decided to hold Chaeyeon's hand with a smile playing on her lips. The younger girl nodded and grabs her hand tighter before they turn around to head for the exit. 

Though they didn't quite make it there when they spotted a simliar figure with a good-looking guy smiling widely while hanging his arm around her shoulder as they walked into the park. 

Sakura widen her eyes and looked at ter girl next to her who instantly froze up at the sight with her eyes wide open. The short-haired beauty pulls her bestfriend away before the girl could spot them, "Chaeyeon, let's go." 

Even though Sakura was able to pull the younger girl away from the scene but she couldn't get rid of the image playing in Chaeyeon's mind. 

The image of Eunbi walking in the park with a good-looking guy.  

Author's Notes:

Wow the votes and support for Kwonchaeng as the endgame is increasing. I'm surprised. It's just 22 votes behind Chaekura XD

Though I have a feeling that Chaekura/Chaemin is gonna get more support after this chapter and maybe Eunbi is gonna get some scoldings. But hoho guys it's getting to the keke 

Thanks for all of the comments (i read all of them) and support! Love yall!!