Chaeyeon

“You look horrible.” Yujin said with a mouth full of toast.

She didn’t even have the energy to respond as she sat down at the table.

“I didn’t get any sleep last night, okay? Why are you up so early?” she asked.

Yena sat down next to her, “We set up paint land mines in the hallways.”

She had to admire their dedication to cause trouble.

Yujin asked, “So what kept you up all night?”

A part of her just wanted to break and tell someone but could Yujin and Yena be trusted to keep their mouths shut?

She decided that if she didn’t tell anyone she would probably burst.

“You guys have to promise me that you won’t tell anyone.” she said.

Yujin and Yena shared a look before nodding.

“Yesterday Hyewon kissed me.”

“Like on the cheek?”

“No, on the lips.”

“We talking tongue here?”

She glared at Yujin, “What’s wrong with you.”

“It was a scientific question.” Yujin raised her hands in surrender. “But damn I did not think that Hyewon would make a move like that.”

Yena nodded, “Yeah, she’s touchy but it’s hard for her to do more serious things like that. My money was on Sakura to kiss you first.”

“Well, I mean she did technically but it was on the cheek before the dance competition.” she admitted.

Yujin groaned, “Damn I owe Nako like a hundred bucks.”

“Same.” Yena sighed.

Why was everyone betting on her love life?

“Yet again, does everyone know about the four of us?” she asked.

Yena offered, “You mean your dramatic love square with you at the center? Yeah, we picked up on it pretty quickly.”

Well that was one way to put it.

“Then why didn’t you guys do anything?” she asked.

The duck answered, “Well it’s not really any of our business. We’re friends with all of you guys so we can’t actively interfere or that would be really uncool.”

“Yeah but we all definitely have our favorite ships.” Yujin said thoughtfully. “I’m a Chaemin shipper myself. I just think in my opinion that the childhood friend is the smart choice.”

That actually made sense because Yujin and Wonyoung were also childhood friends.

“It’s just everyone seems to know that we’re in this love square but none of them have actually told me that they like me.” she said thoughtfully.

“Why do you need some sappy confession? You already clearly know.” the tall girl pointed a croissant semi-threateningly at her. “I wish Wonyoung would be that obvious. I’m sure she likes me because I’m amazing but a signal would be nice.”

And Yujin was hating on her? It was pretty obvious that Wonyoung like Yujin. There was no one else that had the same level of patience for the girl and Wonyoung just looked at Yujin this way that was kind of a mix of exasperated and lovestruck.

If she was in love with someone as wild as Yujin she would probably be the same.

“Anyways what were we even talking about?” Yena asked.

She didn’t even remember at this point.

“Have you come up with a plan to ask Wonyoung to the dance?” she changed subjects.

Yujin nodded, “I took your advice and it’s romantic and sappy and gross but I think she’ll like it. It’s very Wonyoung like.”

“That’s good, I’m glad I could help.” she smiled.

Yena grinned, “I’m happy there’ll be another couple in the friend group. Every time Yuri and I are trying to be a couple you guys interrupt our moments.”

“How did you ask out Yuri anyway?” she asked.

The duck tapped her chin, “Well do you know the movie The Notebook?”

“Yeah.”

“More romantic than that.”

She had some serious doubts about that.

Yena turned to her, “I know you probably don’t want our advice but don’t hurt yourself trying to figure out who it is that you like. Sometimes it takes a while to figure things out. Look at this tall idiot here, she didn’t realize that she loved Wonyoung when we’ve all known for years.”

That was really good advice.

“Hey!” Yujin complained.

She sighed, “Thanks Yena.”

“Now, we have to get going upstairs because I’m pretty sure everyone’s going to come down for our scheduled 8 AM breakfast soon and I want to watch these paint land mines in action.”

Well, people couldn’t change too much.

Sakura

“Heading out?”

She turned around and smiled as Chaeyeon stepped out of her room.

“Yeah, Eunbi and I are going to get lunch.” she said. “Are you heading out too?”

Chaeyeon nodded, “I was going to go and look around the city, reminisce a little bit. I can’t believe I used to live here, it seems so different.”

“The city is always changing, I guess that’s what’s nice about it.” she replied.

They walked over to the elevator and she was surprised when Chaeyeon suddenly crouched down. Her crush carefully tied her shoes and when she was all done, gave her a bright smile.

“I would hate it if you got hurt.” Chaeyeon said.

Wow, her heart was going really fast.

“Well, I gotta go but I’ll see you later.” Chaeyeon said when the elevator dinged open.

She put a hand on her chest and waited for her heart to calm down before making her way outside. It didn’t take her too long to get to the restaurant where she had agreed to meet Eunbi.

When she walked over to the table, she sat down and apologized for being late. After she ordered her food, she met Eunbi’s eyes. The president had a knowing look that was slightly annoying.

“So, do you want to talk?” Eunbi asked.

“I don’t know.”

And she really didn’t.

Every time she was even near Chaeyeon, evidenced by her almost heart attack not too long ago, things were great. But then when she was away from her, the doubts kind of seeped in.

Her whole life, she was used to being distant with the world around her. She was able to easily make friends but she wasn’t the type that got too involved with things or caused drama.

It wasn’t until she started high school really and met her current group of friends that she started to let herself get closer than a casual greeting. At the same time, she was more an observer to the chaos than a part of it most of the time.

Falling for Chaeyeon and being in this weird love square with Hyewon and Minju was the first time she realized that she couldn’t always be on the sidelines. She hated conflicted and she hated even the thought of hurting her friends but she really really really liked Chaeyeon.

“Well, are you sure?” the older girl asked.

She wasn’t…this morning the way Hyewon and Chaeyeon had been acting so flustered and giddy around each other told her that something was up.

The final straw had been when she looked down at Hyewon’s hand and noticed a beautiful ring, when she had looked at Chaeyeon’s hand she had seen a matching ring.

Minju had noticed it too so both of them hadn’t been the happiest during their breakfast.

That was another thing about being in love with Chaeyeon.

She learned what losing was like.

She finally spoke, “It’s just the situation we’re in is really hard.”

“That’s an understatement.”

“I just really like Chaeyeon.”

“I know.”

“And I’m scared.”

“I know.”

There was a moment of silence where they seemed to share some understanding.

Eunbi sipped her coffee, “Do you know how Sian and I met?”

“No.”

“I met her my freshman year at Seoul Academy. I didn’t realize it right away. Just day by day and before I realized it I was in love with her.”

“I can understand that.”

Wasn’t it the same thing for her? From the moment she met Chaeyeon she had felt like it was easy being with the girl but soon enough she couldn’t stop thinking about her. And when she finally sat down and thought about it she realized that she had fallen for Chaeyeon.

“Do you know why we fell apart and why it ended so horribly?”

She had actually heard that part.

Eunbi and Sian’s break-up was kind of legendary at Seoul Academy. The break-up had occurre