All of the sudden, everything was blurred out of the scene, the music, the song, her friends, and Chaewon. Even after running away to countless places to never cross her path again, fate had to put her here, several meters apart in front of her, blocking her view of the singing angel. She could feel every nerve in her body going numb, her knees weakened, the color in her cheeks turned pale, before she knew it, she took Eunbi by the arm to support her already-failing body.

“Min…joo..”

Eunbi was alarmed but of course, didn’t want to worry the others. It was a good thing the song had already ended, else, Chaewon would’ve caused a scene. Eunbi held on to Hitomi with such strength, the moment Chaewon’s performance ended, she called Nako, Sakura and Chaeyeon to help her.

Sakura was shocked to see the sight of her friend and frantically got her on her back. The crowd was starting to notice the commotion. Nako was about to get mobbed but Eunbi pulled her out. Moments before her hand reached out to the older girl’s, she saw someone familiar. Nako brushed it off, putting her friend as her first priority.

“Chaeyeon, stay here! Wait for Chaewon, let’s meet at my clinic later!” She called out the younger girl.

“Yes, Unnie!”

“You know the drill okay? Just stall her!”

“YES UNNIE!!”

Sakura steadily ran towards an open area, Nako got ready to give first aid. Eunbi looked for her car.

+++

The drive towards the clinic was a little unsettling for Eunbi, the two girls were speaking in Japanese. Hitomi was asleep on Sakura’s lap. Nako kept on peeking from the passenger’s seat, obviously worried.

“Nako. Stay put, I can’t see my side mirrors.” Eunbi mentioned.

“Ah. I’m sorry, unnie..”

“What happened, Doc?” Sakura asked.

“I’m not quite sure myself, she probably had a hard time breathing because of the crowd.” Eunbi answered, focusing on the road. Sakura had her forehead scrunched.

“Saku, don’t worry about Hitomi. We’ll take care of her.” Eunbi reassured her.

“Unnie…” Nako whispered.

“Nako, you too. Didn’t I tell you, panicking won’t help the situation.” Eunbi reprimanded.

“Now, here’s what I want you to do once we arrive at the clinic.” Eunbi gave Nako instructions, to which the girl was attentively noting each one.

Somehow, deep inside Eunbi’s mind, something was bothering her, but for now, she keeps it to herself.

+++

A few hours later, Chaewon and Chaeyeon were on the way home, walking with a trophy in hand.

“Well, for someone who won, you don’t completely look happy at all.” Chaeyeon noticed.

“Where’s Hiichan? Chae?”

“They told me they had something urgent to go to..” Chaeyeon lying through her teeth.

“I actually wanted to show her this!” Chaewon took her small trophy and raised it up.

“Yah. You could’ve easily beaten anyone there! You deserve it!” Chaeyeon smiled at the girl and ruffled her hair.

“Hmm.. I feel a little….” Chaewon paused.

“A little what, young master?” Chaeyeon asked.

“A little.. weird..” Chaewon’s voice fell a little softer.

“Ey! Just because Hiichan wasn’t there during your awarding doesn’t mean she won’t get to see you get awarded!” Chaeyeon winked at her young mistress.

“YAH! I wasn’t talking about Hiichan!” Her cheeks once again got red.

“Come on, I got everything on tape. EVERYTHING! You were only looking at Hiichan the entire performance!” Chaeyeon . At this point, Chaewon wanted to exile Chaeyeon’s observant somewhere far away.

“Plus, young mistress, you did this!” Chaeyeon turned to Chaewon and gave her a tight hug. “Hiichan, do you feel my heart beat right now?! It’s your fault! Take responsibility. My heart is beating really fast right now.” Chaeyeon teased the younger girl, making her squirm away from her embrace. Chaeyeon was laughing hysterically at this point.

“YAH! LEE CHAEYEON!!! DO YOU WANT TO GET FIRED?!” Chaewon was annoyed.

“HAHAHAHA. I’m sorry, mistress, it’s just that, that’s my first time seeing you act that way.” Chaeyeon put an arm around Chaewon’s shoulder.

“Chaewon-ah. What do you think of Hiichan?” Chaeyeon asked. The younger girl looked at her, baffled at the sudden question.

“uhmm… don’t tell anyone this though..” Chaewon took a long pause, faced Chaeyeon and stuck out her pinky.

“Promise.” Chaeyeon crossed her pinky with Chaewon’s.

“Well.. for starters… She was this weird art hoe but lately I’ve been seeing more sides of her. She’s rather nice.. and sweet… and somehow knows what to say all the time.. she’s hard working.. sometimes I can’t read her though… it’s frustrating.. really.. she makes me feel things.. and makes me want to try new things.. honestly.. I look forward to greeting her in the morning…” Chaewon’s eyes were all over the place just like how she described Hitomi.

“Do you like her?”

“Perhaps.. I do..” The two stopped walking once they reached the front porch of the inn.

“AHHH DON’T TELL ANYONE!!!!!” Chaewon panicked and shook Chaeyeon’s body to which the girl responded with laughter.

“Okay. But I gotta tell you something.” Suddenly the mood turned serious.

“Hiichan is –“ Chaeyeon was cut short when all of the sudden Chaeyeon’s mom came outside.

“Chaeyeon. Chaewon. Why are you out so late?”

“Good evening, Madame.” Chaeyeon greeted. Chaewon had a stoic face.

“Well? What are you holding?” Chaewon’s mom moved closer, the scent of intoxication and alcohol was enough to disgust her child, she took the trophy out of Chaewon’s hands.

“Yuchiri’s Angel? You joined this? I thought I told you to stop joining these things! They won’t help the inn anyway!”

“It’s because you’ve been doing pointless things like this, that’s why the inn is failing! You’re supposed to be the successor! But all I see here is FAILURE!” The older woman lit a stick of cigarette from her pocket and took a puff. Chaewon was clenching her fist.

“I NEVER ASKED TO BE ONE IN THE FIRST PLACE!” Chaewon took the trophy back.

“Don’t raise your voice at me!” The Kim matriarch was about to slap Chaewon but it was a good thing Chaeyeon’s reflexes were fast enough to stop her.

“Madame, you’re drunk, you should rest.” Chaeyeon let go of the madame’s hand and gestured her to go inside.

“Jesus Christ, you can’t even take care of Miss Hitomi, making her go with you and faint like that. You had one job!”

“What do you mean?”  Chaewon looked at Chaeyeon, worried.

“The guest is confined in Eunbi’s clinic, due to your incompetence.” Chaewon’s mom replied, not even sparing her child one last look.

“You know how the madame is when she’s drunk and then she’ll apologize in the moment she’s sober..” Chaeyeon looked at her sympathetically.

“I don’t care about that anymore. What happened to Hiichan?”

“uhmmm..She fainted after your performance.”

“WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME ASAP??”

Chaewon didn’t spare sweet time to punch Chaeyeon and started to dart towards the clinic’s door.

+++

The rushing girl was greeted by the three people who were in an intense discussion. Eunbi was startled to see the girl.

“WHAT HAPPENED?” Chaewon asked.

“Well, sorry if we left you alone with Chaeyeon, but Hitomi fainted earlier. She still hasn’t woken up yet, I suggest you refrain from going into her room. Let her rest.” Eunbi calmly replied.

“It’s because I took her to the festival huh…” Chaewon blamed herself.

“No! It’s because we played too much!!!” Sakura blamed herself.

“No! It’s because I have been complacent in taking care of Hiichan.” Nako blamed herself.

“Stop the blame game already! That’s not gonna help and it’s neither anyone’s fault. Okay?” Eunbi assured the three. Chaewon looked particularly disappointed, fiddling with the trophy in her hand. Eunbi let out a sigh.

“I know you’ve been itching to show her the trophy. I’ll allow you to take a peak inside her room. I know you’re worried…” Eunbi pushed the girl toward’s the door.

Slowly, Chaewon reached her hand and opened it. There she saw a girl, peacefully sleeping. She took caution into making he way near the bed. Her eyes focused on the girl in front of her. It was her first time seeing her look so vulnerable. She couldn’t help but admire the artist in front of her. Then a sudden urge took over the girl. Slowly she let her hands make way to her face.

*poke*

It is softer than I imagined it would be, she thought. Then she lost control.

“Grrrr hiichan.. if only you were awake, I’d probably squish your cheeks right now. I told you to watch me, didn’t I? Look, I even won!” Chaewon talked to the girl deep in her slumber.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s really because of me you fainted.”

“But you didn’t tell me you weren’t feeling okay earlier though..”

“You even told me you were excited hearing me sing!”

“AGH! Look at what you’re making me do! I’m talking to air!” She let out a sigh. She took a chair and sat beside her, laying her head beside hers.  She carefully ruffled her brown hair. Taking caution of not waking the girl up. She couldn’t help herself. She found her vulnerable state adorable. They stay that way for a while.

+++

“Yena, I swear to God you are the dumbest person I’ve ever met, you really had to injure your dumb right now.” The short girl with the accent ranted.

“It’s because you didn’t stop me!” Yena replied, on the fingers she managed to cut.

“Ugh, why am I even stuck between you two? Lord let me live.”

“Because, if I were with Yuri, there’s a high chance that there’ll be more injuries.” Yena replied.

“And, you dragged us here, Minjoo, this is the least you could do.”

“And what if we run into them?” Minjoo asked.

“They’re probably in their rooms, remember? Hiicha