"Unnie and I, can never be separated!"

That's the most explicit confession Lee Sian has ever made in her 20 years old life.
Given that it was recorded by cameras and even being broadcasted on a national-wide idol trainees survival program, this made the whole thing even more thrilling to recall.

Who knew Kwon Eunbi - the fierce-looking and cool Woolim trainee that everyone praised - would become one of the closest comarades of Lee Sian?
Sian certainly could not imagine this happening.
They are not from the same company, never ranked at the same class, the closest they have been before practicing for Rumor was competing as opponents for the best performance evaluation team.

It is not like they rarely knew each other though;
Kwon Eunbi is quite well known for being good-natured and friendly among trainees, and they have some common friends in between, the closest would be her labelmate Yuri.

Therefore Sian dare to bluntly call out on Eunbi unnie to join the competition for centre position in Rumor team.
"Here comes the centre for Sorry Not Sorry! Eunbi Unnie!"
How everyone cheered for their team leader showed how well the elder is good at maintaining relationships with a crowd.

- ah as expected, Eunbi unnie never disappoint when it came to lightening up the atmosphere in a group and putting all teammates together at ease.
Lee Sian couldn't help but admire her more for the skillful leadership in nature.

The two of them are best known for their talents in entertaining others in a funny way.
Be it a random physical test during self-practice time, playing around in program-requested beauty product promotion, exposing each other's secrets when national representative Lee came and had a deep talk with them, the chemistry between her and Eunbi was really no joke. 

She might not be the one that knows Kwon Eunbi the best, but they shared unbreakable bond in a really short period of time training together.
Like how she mentioned in the program,
'my one-pick in this program is Woolim trainee, Kwon Eunbi unnie'

She treasured how the elder chose to give her very own paper nametag after the third elimination -
the one that reminded Sian her fate that the two of them could not continue their journey in the program together.
It meant a lot to Sian, the simple gesture showed how her Eunbi unnie handed her trust, support, hope and the promising bond to continue.

Lee Sian packed her pouch before applying the final touch-up for her makeup.
This is the final episode for Produce 48, and as a trainee that has joined this program, she has been invited to present in the guesting seat.
Carefully folding the paper into small size to fit her pouch, she is ready to go and cheer for her precious unnie and soulmate - Kwon Eunbi.
They promised to meet up and have a meal together after the show, no matter how the result turns out to be.

"Sian ah, I have been craving for ice cream for some days already. Let's go and get some together when I could finally free from dieting!"

Later on when she found the elder performing on the stage, belting those high notes flawlessly with their Rumor teammate Chowon, Lee Sian knew their relationship will never fall apart - not when she held such great pride for the elder, and how the elder always found her as one she could comfortable to be her own self.

Soon after the performances and vcr, it was time to announce final line-up of the debut group from Produce 48.

Sian believed her unnie could ace in the rank and in no doubt the elder is going to debut.
Eunbi unnie has always been going strong on the rankings;
slipped to the safety line as the twelfth in the last round was surprising, but Sian has strong faith on the appeal of her favorite unnie.

Who would not love her?
Kwon Eunbi is beautiful, intelligent, well-polished, humble, witty and dependable;
all positive possesses Sian can think of could be found on her.

"...Woolim, Kwon Eunbi"

She saw her unnie broke into tears -
not that she has never seen the elder cried in front of her, but Sian felt like she could understand how many different kinds of emotions entwined in these beads of pearls.
Happiness of finally being made to debut, regrets of not being at her best condition when filming the show (Sian would never agree on that; Eunbi unnie always set a target too high and some times being too harsh to herself - all humans has their imperfect side, and everyone made msitakes), gratitude to all parties and tutors and trainees and fans that helped her to achieve this place etc. 

'Sian, are you okay?'
Until Gyuri taped on her shoulder and gave her a napkin, Sian did not realise there was also tears dripping down her cheeks.
Lightly dabbed on her face, Sian held up the nametag with 'Kwon Eunbi' and smiled into the camera that she found focuing on her; it is such a pity that I could not give you a congratulatory hug on stage like the trainees who have gotten into final round did, but as I said, nothing could separate us so I am sure you can feel how excited and delight I am knowing you can debut through this program. 

"Unnie and I, can never be separated! We might not be debuting together as dreamt to be, but we held each other close in mind, forever and all."

This is what she believed in, and so as Eunbi unnie said.
However they soon discover the reality is not as ideal as they dreamt to be.
The invisible line of debut did not make any one of them feel more superior or inferior, it is not about the gap in their hearts started to tear them apart but the busy schedules had been tricky.

Often they would found each other's schedules crashed;
a newly debut group faced great pressure,
a newly debut group under the name of Produce series faced even greater pressure,
not to mention Sian has known from the messages between Yuri that Eunbi unnie has offically became the leader of IZ*ONE - Sian should have expected this.
Eunbi unnie has been the best choice for leader even in the show, given she is the eldest in IZ*ONE and being the most experienced Korean trainee, even Sian wished she could - there seem no better choice as leader.
She knew her unnie - being a perfectionist as she always is - would do well in her place.

The frequency of sending each other messages or having phone calls gradually reduced when IZ*ONE was preparing for debut between Sian and Yuri, Sian also returned to her respective company and continued her trainings.
She saw from the online news that her fellows have debuted with La vie en Rose, how this song had became a blast, how they had received numerous Rookie Awards and delivered various high-quality performances, how they already planned to march their next step in Japan...

Lee Sian liked to think she is not someone who would be easily affected by others' opinions or achievements, but seeing how IZ*ONE had been growing well, inevitably there was a sense of void penetrating every fibres and nerves in her body.

Is she jealous? no, she is genuinely happy for her fellow trainees - after all she knew how much hardship everyone had gone through.
Lee Sian is just worried; people always said distance and lack of contact would make two individuals grow apart, how could she remain confident that the same thing won't happen between her and Eunbi unnie?

Anxiously she chewed on her lower lips, it is going to be the very first time they met after IZ*ONE made their debut.
They have agreed to have a drink together in a dessert place - yes, Sian still remembered her unnie has a sweet tooth and the kid-like eating habits of her unnie; no coffee, no alcohol, yes to buns and macaron.
Sian taped her fingers on the table rhythmatically, how would their encounter be?
Would they be awkward when facing each other?
Suddenly she hates to imagine the both of them quietly sipping on their drinks and poked on their cakes with forks, she would rather escape from the reunion if the situation turned out to be like this...

"Sian ah!"
Still as vibrant as Sian could remember, when she saw how her favourite unnie walked towards her with a big smile, all her worries and insecurities vanished.

How could she lose her faith in Kwon Eunbi?
They were meant to stick together once their life collided -
We can never be separated. Even though we delligently lived our own lives in different pathways, we could always pick up on where we dropped.
 

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a/n: Happy Valentines in advance!
Though it took me quite some time to finish, but I did keep my promise to make a Sian x Eunbi chapter :P
Currently I have no draft in storage for this one shot collection, so I guess it'd be slightly difficult for me to keep the frequency of updating per week orz
And... I just found out subscribers number for this fic has exceeded 100... you guys are amazing <3
There is a chance(maybe?) for me to do sth special if the number reached 121 - IZ*ONE; I want to interact with my readers more~




~Promotion Time~
As my username hinted plus my usual chats suggested, I am a die-hard fan for mamamoo
(guess how touched I am when knowing Yuri is a fan of Wheein and Chaewon collaborated with Moonbyul...
on February 13 6pm kst
our maknae Hwasa would be releasing her offically FIRST SOLO track "TWIT"
much appreciated if you could give it a try and listen to it; I promise you won't be disappointed!
I will drop the link here when the MV is out~

https://youtu.be/Uu1KvQDDOog