hwang eunbi is many things:

she’s smart and organized, managing to top her class for the second year in a row despite having a very sporadic schedule that consists of dance classes and recitals that span over the course of days and sometimes even weeks; friends who don’t know when it’s time to stop so she can study (she will never let yerin and yewon forget the mishap in spring of ‘17); family who hound her time and time again about putting the books down for once and giving us a call; and a biology professor who she swears has it out on her.

she’s tenacious, having gone out of her way to prove everyone who doubted her promises of fixing the mind wrong. everyone who turned their noses up at a then fifteen year old eunbi, left eye quickly swelling and nose bloody after jumping into the fray of a fight that her bonehead of a best friend juyeon had somehow gotten herself into, voice cracking on quiet tears as she playfully promised juyeon she’d do whatever it took so she could fix whatever’s wrong with your dumb brain that makes you think fighting is worth it while dahyun stood by feeding juyeon bites of cake leftover from her birthday last week and eunwoo sat beside her, gently patting eunbi’s hair as a sign of child-like good faith. she knows no one believed her, maybe not even her friends at the time, but she knew. she’d show them.

she is whatever her friends think of her. yerin calls her “tsundere girlfriend potential” whenever eunbi brings her coffee and snacks to their study nights with nothing more than a grunt of acknowledgement and a wave of her hand when she’s thanked; but she also calls her the little sister she always wanted but never had whenever eunbi stays the night and lets yerin coddle her in ways she brushes off during the day. yewon calls her a lost and found piece of her life puzzle, gaze distant and smile fond whenever they manage to get a night away from everything and just hang out as two best friends. big eunbi and yuna are a package deal, so when they drunkenly confess one night at karaoke (yuna with crystals in her eyes and big eunbi with a hue so red on her cheeks that it puts rudolph’s nose to shame) that eunbi is the story they picture when they sing, she knows it’s true. juyeon calls eunbi her everything and nothing, because she needs both to survive in that special juyeon way, while dahyun calls her the “mac to my five cheeses” with an arm always slung over her shoulder, and eunwoo chimes in sometimes with a memorable “you’re my eunbi” and a wink, and eunbi would be lying if she said it didn’t mean the world to her.

eunbi is many things. happy and content with her life, ready to take on the world (and maybe fix a brain or two as she promised years ago).

what eunbi isn’t, though:

is ready for kim sojung to walk into her life.

sojung is, apparently, yewon’s often talked of but rarely seen older sister from back home. she’s an enigma, eunbi thinks when she finds herself in the presence of the older woman for the first time after she steps into yerin’s dorm room for their weekly study session. she’s a piece of fiction that somehow dropped off the page because there is no way that yewon could be remotely related to sojung.

she’s quiet and what eunbi thinks a leader of a gang would be, a stark contrast to where yewon is gleeful and a follower. in the small amount of time that she’s been in her presence, eunbi notices that sojung carries herself in a way that one would liken to a lioness on the prowl, always alert and cautious, but dangerous all the same. her eyes seem to always be calculating something, as if she’s trying to find the perfect way to execute some master plan, and eunbi would be a little hard pressed if she said she didn’t want to take a look at what must be a fascinating mind.

but while sojung is an enigma, she is also soft when eunbi least expects.

though sojung doesn’t speak much to her aside from a nod and a muted hello, much too occupied with answering yewon’s endless questions about her travels overseas, it’s when yerin calls her jung-ie and kisses her cheek and yewon clings to sojung’s arm in a way that reminds eunbi too much of a toddler clinging to their mother, that she wonders how sojung manages to handle two of the brightest people in the world with nothing more than a simple smile to yerin and a pat to yewon’s head, when eunbi herself can barely get by with a touch to her arm without grimacing in distaste.

sojung laughs as yerin hits her hip against the corner of her bed, and eunbi turns to her, enthralled at the way her head falls back and her voice pierces her ears as it echoes through the dorm. it’s unashamed and loud, something eunbi wouldn’t have guessed sojung could be, either.

sojung dramatically wipes at her eyes as she settles, patting yerin’s hip consolingly when the girl pouts, then turns and locks eyes with eunbi. she doesn’t look away, nor does eunbi, so she offers the older woman a tight-lipped smile, blinking owlishly when sojung winks at her in return before turning back to yewon without a single word as though eunbi doesn’t exist.

she realizes now, quickly scribbling out what appears to be the beginnings of sojung’s name in the margins of her notes, that the older woman isn’t much of an enigma after all. she’s like a brain: meticulous and untapped in certain places, and uncharacteristically ripe for the probing.

hwang eunbi is many things:

smart. organized. tenacious. loyal.

she is also ready to learn about kim sojung.