"Yah, Ahn Heeyeon! What's wrong with you?"

Hani didn't move from her position, lying still on her back, gazing at the same ceiling she's seen so many times. She felt her legs being lifted in the air and a dip as none other than her own sister sat down, her legs now resting on top of her lap. 

She could tell Hyojin was waiting for an answer with that gaze of hers on her, but she just couldn't find the right way to respond. 

Hani hated it. She absolutely despised how easily, how little is required for all her memories that she had worked so hard to hide and been coerced out with every second of Solji's voice. And when she sang that song, their song, she lost it. What mind game was Heo Solji trying to play here? However, she was incredibly grateful when she noticed Solji had her eyes closed, and a part of her wondered if it was because of the same reason as to why Hani just couldn't seem to paint in those minutes. She was given answers through the way a lone tear and managed to escape Solji's eyes, something that seemed to have surprised both of them. After that, Solji just stopped, and in that split second, Hani wants to say that they'd felt a connection through all the unspoken tension, but she doesn't want it to turn out one-sided. Somewhere there, past all the layers, the masks, the fake conversations and overly formal communications, it was like they were both connected by the same overwhelming sensation of emotions and memories the two shared and buried. Hani wanted to say she hated Solji, but that would be that biggest lie she has ever told. 

"Heeyeon-ah," Hyojin said softly, her eyes full of concern. "Are you alright?"

And just like Hani, Hyojin didn't need an answer as Hani crumpled and burst into tears. 

_____________________

Solji laid in bed, wondering if what she had done was the right decision. Perhaps it had been too impulsive of her to have left a job. She rolled to her side, not wanting to sleep but at the same time wanting to escape her own head. She had no idea why she had thought singing their song would have been a good idea. 

There was an ache in her chest, but Solji didn't really know what to do about it. It had been the longest of times since that song had even been in her mind and all of a sudden she sang it like it was nothing. It felt rather demeaning, and Hani probably felt the same. 

Hani. A name that once never brought her pain. It was both a miracle and a curse on how quickly things have the ability to change. Solji still remembers how things were, back when they were still young and thought they were invincible, even when she's spent months on end trying to bury them to no avail. She really didn't think that she'd be back in a situation where she'd have to see Hani regularly again.

Then again, a few years ago, she would have also never imagined having to work 4-6 jobs just to have a shelter. Solji fought back tears as she replayed the events like a movie in her mind. Getting kicked out, to having to give up her dream, it wasn't anything Solji was proud of. 

During the first few months, all Solji wanted was a friend to appear all of a sudden, to allow her to be out there again. It seemed that God had listened to her pleads, but also misread them as she had somehow found her way back into an ex-friend's life, Ahn Heeyeon. 

She's been through many periods in terms of her image of the girl. She's wanted to reconcile, she's wanted to leave, she now wants to keep things professional and now she doesn't. It seemed as if nothing had and would hurt Solji as much as the own labyrinth that is her mind. 

Solji says she doesn't want to be friends with Hani again, that she won't ever forgive her but she knows that she has. Solji knows that if she is given the chance, she'd be happy with Hani again. 

________________________

Heo Solji is smart. She always has been. Top of the class, captain, on her way to success. So, of course, it shouldn't have come to Hani's surprise when she asked about the pair of PJs she was given.

"These look familiar," she'd said, Hani recognising that tone. 

It was the same tone that would drive her insane because she could never tell what the underlying message of Solji's cruel wording meant. It still drove her insane, maybe even more than it had used to. 

"They're yours. Consider this a return."

Hani hated how no matter what she said, it still showed she'd never thrown them away. 

Solji didn't say anything more and Hani exited the room, leaving Solji alone. She walked down the dimly lit corridor and made her way into her own room. It was very simple, plain navy painted walls and some brown and white furniture with a lot of odd bits and bobs lying around the place. It didn't seem very fit of a room for an artist, especially a painter but Hani took no interest in the appearance of the room, just how comfy it was. She could, however, very easily picture a red-headed Solji barging into her room any second and demanding her to pick up her clothes from the floor before doing it herself, nagging the whole time as she shook her head. 

A red-headed Solji. It was such an old memory that Hani could barely tell it was real and not just a figment of her imagination. Solji hadn't had red hair for years now, yet somehow Hani could picture it as if it were yesterday. Not just that, Hani could easily remember what a smile on her face looked like, something she too hasn't seen in years. 

Hani didn't know why she offered Solji to stay over every, single, long, Monday night. It was like she was trying to sabotage herself as if Hani wanted to make her own life harder and more miserable than she had to. But maybe she wanted it. Maybe she wanted to have an opportunity to just at least pretend that they were normal regular people when they'd been far from it so long ago. 

It was getting late, and while Hani would normally stay up working hours after Solji has left, she really was just too exhausted. She picked up clothes from the floor and threw her artist ones in the same spot. At least she had some sort of system. 

She was about to call it a night, ready for some needed rest when she heard running water from the kitchen. While irritated at the disturbance, she was also rather curious about what on earth Heo Solji is doing. 

She walked out of her room to the kitchen, her footsteps thudding through the wooden planks of her floor. As she was turning around the wall, she stopped dead in her tracks. Hani would like to think it was how tired she was that sparked such emotion, but hearing Solji hum as she washed the dishes, it seemed like her heart had a mind of its own. At that moment, she was Solji again. She was her Solji. The girl who she'd spent years with laughing, crying just being together. She'd once known all her habits like the back of her hands, and it was like they were resurfacing again, watching the clean freak do dishes at 11 at night in an apartment that wasn't even hers. Hani wanted to laugh at her antics, she wanted to feel the pure simple old amusement that would have once rippled inside her, but she just couldn't let it out.

"What are you doing with my dishes?" she said instead, her voice as sharp as it had to be when she spoke with Solji.

"They annoyed me. Don't you ever wash anything in this place? It's disgusting. I can't stand it."

Solji still had that helpless clean mania inside her and Hani found it rather endearing if not also quite weird. It didn't mean she was going to say that though.

"Fine, do as you please. Just don't make a ruckus. In case you can't tell, it's late and most people would be asleep right now."

And with that, Hani walked back to the direction she came from. She was feeling quite foolish now as if Solji had been making any noise in the first place. The girl probably still hated unnecessary noise herself. She no longer grimaced upon recalling small details of Solji, deeming it as normal now considering she'd set them up to spend every Monday night together. 

Once again, Hani found herself on her bed. Out of habit, she opened her phone. 

To: HEEYEON

From: HYOJIN

‘You're kidding me, right? What are you doing to yourself?'

Exasperated, whether it be at herself o