A softer alarm chimes in this morning, but no song by Ludacris jolts them in place. Instead, an arrangement of bells comes softly into melody and awakes the only person whose trained ears wake up with such a peaceful noise. Her hand touches the screen of her phone lightly and turns off the notification, silence settling in once more.

She rubs her eyes and looks at the time again, 3am, it’s still early. The airport is close, and their flight is domestic. They had to check in the big luggage, but it was a 6am Tuesday flight, there would be little to no people. Boarding was at 5am and the airport is close, she decides to let the rest of the girls rest a little more. She does her best to move around the king-sized bed to not wake the other two limp bodies, coffee sounds like heaven right now. Though she had gotten off the mattress successfully, as she opens the door a creak resounds in the room. She flinches in anticipation, but sees most of the girls continue sleeping, all but one.

A pair of hazel eyes stare at her dazedly, purple coming from under the covers as she props her body up. Seulgi rubs her eyes with one hand to try and see better in the darkness, a shape of a body standing still at the door’s threshold. The brunette begins to open but the person at the door holds a finger over her lips.

Irene shakes her head, a mouthed I’m sorry and then moves her hand to signal Seulgi to follow her out. The latter seems confused, but does as told, being very careful herself as she steps down from the bed with Wendy still sleeping in it.

She steps out and watches Irene close the door behind them, a whisper finally cutting through the silence, “I forgot you were a light sleeper.” the older laughs it off, Seulgi grinning at her as well.

“Why are you up? It’s so early.” the brunette rubs her eyes again, this can’t be another dream can it?

“I wanted a little peace before chaos.” Irene jokes as she walks down the hallway, she’s been in Seulgi’s apartment countless times. She could walk blindfolded in here and know her way around perfectly. She even helped the brunette pick it when she was looking to move.

Seulgi follows her, “At 6am in the morning? No way, they don’t fully function until about 9am.”

“Exactly, which means I will have to be on their about packing everything, loading it all successfully into the taxi and try not to lose it in the airport.” Irene answers, sighing loudly as they reach the kitchen.

Seulgi laughs at the raven’s fate, “Well, that’s what you get for being the mom friend.”

“Oh, I’m not complaining,” Irene giggles too, watching the brunette sit on the kitchen aisle, “I just know what I’m dealing with. And I want a coffee first.” she says and begins to move around to find the ingredients.

Seulgi shakes her head as the older speaks, but ultimately adds, “Coffee sounds really good. Thank you, noodle.” and gifts Irene an eyesmile.

The raven rolls her eyes but from the second she saw the eyesmile she knew she has no other option but to oblige. None of them are immune to Seulgi’s famous eyesmile, they had even talked about it before, calling it her superpower.

“You and your puppy eyes.” Irene complains as she gets a second mug on the counter, “One day one of us will finally say no.”

“Not today, though.” Seulgi usually doesn’t use this tactic for anything that isn’t getting snacks from them, “And not you.” so there is no regret in her as she uses it against the raven.

“No,” Irene sighs with a soft grin as she pours the water into the coffee pot and turns on the electric stove, “not me.”

The silence between them falls comfortably. They have been friends for many years now. All phases of each other have passed by and been accepted by the other. They’re closer in age than the rest of the girls so even when they all have been hanging out as a group since school, these two have grown closer with the years.

Around the last year of high school, they both discovered they were queer, which brought them even closer and gave them something in common they didn’t have with the others. At least for the time. Graduation day, as all five of them stood in a line and threw their caps into the air, Seulgi felt something shift as she stared at Irene. She calls it the beginning of the end. Ever since, it has been common knowledge between their friend group that the brunette had a crush on her best friend. They all noticed immediately, except Irene. At least she had never said something about it, even when they were completely alone, so Seulgi had kept the silence too. The years went by, and Irene dated people here and there, but not Seulgi. The brunette has a long waiting list, her natural beauty and complete oblivion to it making her quite popular wherever she goes. People from all backgrounds have shot their shot but they all have been ignored. Something that has always made the rest of the girls incredibly mad. Over someone who has never even given her a sign of a chance of anything romantic happening between them? It is absurd, the girls knew, and deep down so did Seulgi. She always excused herself, in her mind and to the others, saying she just had never been too interested in dating. But on cold, lonely nights, she couldn’t help but wonder.

Silence like this one, though, she is used to. Silence had been their agreement long ago and it still is. Plus, ever since Irene started dating the perfect, all-korean boy taken straight out of a K-drama, Seulgi has let go of any hope of something changing in their dynamic.

“What did the boys end up doing? Did Nate tell you?” Seulgi finally speaks, Irene handing her the mug with a surprised look on her face. It’s not like Seulgi to ask about him.

“Oh, umm…” Irene trails off for a second, loading all the information from last night as she shakes the astonishment off, “yeah. I think they went out for some dinner and soju.”

The raven rests on the counter as she faces Seulgi sitting on the aisle, the latter taking a sip, “It’s delicious, thank you.” she chimes.

Irene rolls her eyes once more, “Yeah, drink your bribe coffee.” the sentence making Seulgi laugh.

“And who is the mom friend in that group? Nate doesn´t strike me like one.” the brunette continues. She can see Irene frowning ever so lightly, she knows it’s not normal of her to bring up the older’s partner. But it’s been a couple of months since Irene started seeing him, and from knowing each other for so many years, Seulgi knows this is the man the raven’s family wanted her to end up with. And adding to that, they were coming to the cruise as a couple. Maybe not officially yet, but it isn’t hard to guess that one of the nights on the cruise would become the setting to the question. There is no more going around it, so Seulgi has decided she will face the reality headfirst.

“I-“ Irene traces off, something behind her eyes Seulgi can’t quite read, “I don’t know.”

“My bet is on Daeseong.” Seulgi mentions Joy’s boyfriend, a Korean-american, blonde guy she had met in college.

“I mean being with Soo is like caring for a giant, red-haired baby. So, it automatically makes him the mom friend, right?”

Irene laughs at the comment, “Oh, well, now. Yerimie is always forgetting and losing things here and there. We can’t rule out Doyun.”

The brunette nods at the statement, it was true. A smile forming on her lips as she begins the new sentence, “Chuck is definitely out, I think Seungwan becomes the mom friend when they’re together. Which is a lot to say.” she says and they both giggle.

“Yeah, he can be clumsy, let’s just say he does his best.” Irene adds, both thinking of all the times the Australian had knocked over drinks or had a chopstick fly across the table. It’s not that he is dumb or careless, he just has a lot of energy compared to how people usually are around him.

“Has she told you anything about him, by the way?” Seulgi asks, her tone suddenly turning serious, Irene following in suit at the question.

“Nope. Nothing after the incident. Has she said anything to you?”

Seulgi shakes her head as she brings down the cup from , “No, not a thing. Only that he was coming too.”

Irene’s eyes turn poignant, as a whisper leaver , she knows that she could just say anything in front of Seulgi, “I gotta say, I thought it was over.”

Well, almost anything.

“Same.” Seulgi echoes the thought.

That, which Irene can’t say, is just a topic we have to leave for later.

 “I think we were all surprised when she said they were coming together.”

Irene agrees with a nod of her head once more.

A couple of weeks back Wendy had come crying to them. Irene and Seulgi told the groupchat they would be at Seulgi’s playing videogames, inviting them if they had time. However, the rest of the girls said they already had plans, which they were expecting since it was a weekend. That’s why they were appalled when a knock on the door revealed a crying Wendy from behind it. Chuck had told her that he is going back to Australia in a couple of months, and it had destroyed the short-haired. Wendy has a great job, a beautiful apartment, basically her whole life in South Korea, and no plan to leave. It was only a matter of days before they called it off, or so they had thought.

“I can’t blame her,” Seulgi continues, “they’ve been together for what? Five years?”

“Yeah, just turned five. It’s insane.” the older confirms, “Maybe this is their last trip before breaking up, you know? Like a goodbye vacation.”

The brunette sighs heavily, just the thought of one of her best friends’ hearts breaking tugging at her chest, “That’s just… sad.”

Irene agrees in silence, which they share for a minute or two, before she tries to bring the mood up, “Who knows, now that she’ll be single, she can finally date women for a change.”

Wendy had come out as biual in college. Only a couple of months before she met Chuck and fell head over heels, however.

Seulgi laughs ever so lightly, “She’s been out of the loop for so long now, you think she still got it?”

“I think does.” Irene chuckles, “She can give it the correct amount of grieving and then get right back into it. She’s always been a hit with women, c’mon, you know this.”

The brunette is only teasing, they all have been witnesses to the phenomenon that is Wendy in the queer clubs. As they often go