♫ Motohiro Hata - ひまわりの約束 (The Sunflower’s Promise)

“I hate waiting, but if waiting means being able to be with you, I’ll wait for as long as forever to be with you.”

- Unknown

Chaeyeon entered the safehouse with a blank expression, pretending she didn’t hear their whole conversation earlier. She saw Sakura still standing where she had flipped Hyewon, with a sad expression on her face. Sakura’s eyes widen as she saw Chaeyeon, but quickly became solemn as she remembered they left off on a bad note.  

“I’m sor-“

Sakura was about to apologize, but was abruptly interrupted by Chaeyeon pulling her into her arms.

“I’m sorry!” Chaeyeon firmly said as she finally realized nothing will stop them from being together anymore.

Sakura pulled back from the embrace, confused why Chaeyeon was apologizing.

“Why are you saying sorry? I should be the one apologizing.” Sakura said.

“I’m sorry for doubting you and being a dummy.” Chaeyeon replied as she shook her head.

“I should have been more truthful with you. I didn’t know Kang-chan was still thinking about me like that and that she would show up so suddenly like that.” Sakura said as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

Chaeyeon wrapped her arms tightly around Sakura, reassuring her that she did no wrong and that she should have trusted her.

“From now on, I won’t overreact and ask you calmly before making any conclusions everytime I hear something about you, okay?” Chaeyeon said.

Sakura nodded and snuggled her head into Chaeyeon’s chest. Chaeyeon smiled as she planted a kiss on Sakura’s forehead.

•~•

The 1 month of protection service was slowly coming to an end as they only had 3 more days left. Chaeyeon and Sakura was beginning to worry about what will happen to them, but none of them had brought the topic up yet. They’ve been putting it off and just enjoying the time they have left.

Today however, instead of meeting at the safehouse like usual, they gathered at Gimpo airport.

“Where is Eunbi unnie? We are going to be late for our flight if she doesn’t show up soon.” Chaeyeon said as she scanned the crowded airport for the agent.

“Ahh, I think I see her.” Nako said, standing on her tiptoes and pointing in a certain direction.

Eunbi strutted towards them, pulling 2 large suitcases and dressed like a celebrity.

“Sorry, did you wait long?” Eunbi asked as she removed her sunglasses.

The three girls stared at the older girl, dumbfounded.

“Why did you bring so much luggage? We’re just going for 3 days.” Chaeyeon said.

“And why are you dressed like that?” Nako chimed in, looking at Eunbi from head to toe.

“Hey, it’s my first time going there, I want to be prepared for all the souvenirs I’ll be bringing home with me.” Eunbi replied.

“Also, I didn’t want to look shabby. There’s nothing wrong with dressing up a bit.” She added.

“We’re going there for work, not play.” Chaeyeon reminded Eunbi.

“I know, but when you’re protecting your girlfriend, I can go out and enjoy myself.” Eunbi argued.

“Unnie!” Chaeyeon firmly scolded.

“Yabai!.” Sakura yelled suddenly as she looked at the time, causing the bickering to stop momentarily.

“We’ll be late for our flight if we don’t hurry.” She added as pulled Chaeyeon along.

•~•

“Thank god we made it.” Chaeyeon sighed as she sat in her seat.

“Yea, good thing we ran.” Sakura said as she opened the overhead bin to store her bag.

“I’m surprised you ran so normal back there. I would have thought you’d try to be more aerodynamic.” Chaeyeon said as she giggled.

Sakura shot her a death glare as she pouted at the younger girl’s remark. She raised her fist, about to motion to Chaeyeon that she was going to meet the end of her fist if she was going to keep on teasing her, but then Sakura notice the girl beside her. She was having some troubles putting her big yellow suitcase in the overhead, so she lend the girl a hand.

“Thank you.” The girl said.

“No problem.” Sakura replied as they both shoved the suitcase in the bin.

As the girl turned to thank Sakura more properly, her jaw dropped.

“Yena?!”

“Oh! Sakura unnie?!”

Chaeyeon stood up from her seat and looked behind her, surprised to see the duck.

“What are you doing here?” Sakura asked.

“What are you doing here?” Yena replied.

“I have some business to attend to.”

“I-I have business too.”

“You’re just copying me now!” Sakura argued.

“No, you’re the one who is copying me and following me everywhere.” Yena argued back.

“Uurgh.” Sakura growled.

“Oh stop it you two.” A voice interjected.

It was Juri who was making her way towards them.

“Babe, just tell her the truth. You followed her here because you wanted to hangout with her on her last days here.” Juri nonchalant said as she sat down in her seat.

Yena gasped in disbelief that her girlfriend would just expose her like that.

“How the heck did you even know where I was going?” Sakura asked.

Yena’s eyes wavered, but slowly moved towards Chaeyeon’s direction. Chaeyeon saw that she was busted and quickly turned around in her seat, pretending she didn’t know anything. Sakura turned and sat down next to Chaeyeon, glaring at her for an answer.

“Jjaeyeon, how did she know?” Sakura sternly asked.

Chaeyeon avoided her glare like the plague, not wanting to expose herself anymore.

“She was excitingly singing about it for the past few days while at home.” Yena said as she popped her head over the seat.

Chaeyeon turned and glared at the duck who had her tongue sticking out at her.

“If I’m going down, I’m taking you with me.” She added before being pulled down by Juri.

“Don’t worry Saku-chan. I’ll keep her in check and won’t let her bother you during your business.” Juri said.

Sakura was quite mad at the whole incident, but quickly calmed down as the flight was in progress. Juri and Sakura had switched seats so that Yena and her could play on their Switch together.

“Thank god for portable gaming devices right?” Chaeyeon said as she nudged Juri.

“Oh, don’t let your guard down. Saku-chan can hold quite a grudge.” Juri replied with her eyes closed, who was trying to take a quick nap.

Chaeyeon gulped with a blank expression and proceeded to pray for her safety.

•~•

“We finally arrived!” Eunbi said as she stretched her limbs.

“Jeju! Jeju! Jeju!” Yena chanted from behind.

The girls flew to Jeju Island for a press conference. M-San was holding the press conference for his project reveal in Jeju and had asked that Sakura attend it as well.

The girls had arrived at their hotel. Yena and Juri had booked a different hotel since the one the others were staying in was way over budget for them and was exclusive for press conference attendees only. They promised to meet up and plan their outings accordingly when Sakura was free. Chaeyeon found it a bit strange that Sakura was so involved in the press conference preparations, but  she guess it’s normal since it is the reveal and she is M-San’s daughter. She should show some support for the project too.

“What should we do today?” Eunbi said as she laid on Chaeyeon’s and Sakura’s bed, with Nako.

Since the conference was on the very last day of the 3 days they were staying, the first day was open for personal activities. Sakura also had nothing to prepare until tomorrow night, so she was up to going out as well.

“We should go eat something exclusively here. A local thing you know.” Nako said.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. The girls were not expecting anyone, nor was there any reason for someone to pay them a visit. They thought it was one of the hotel staff, so they decided to open the door.

“Kkura-ya!!!” The voice called out and the figure ran straight to Sakura as the door opened.

“Ah, Kang-chan!” Sakura said as she was being squeezed in Hyewon’s arms.

Ahh, that’s right. Their father’s are business partners, of course she would be here.

Chaeyeon thought to herself as she cleared to get Hyewon to release Sakura from her grip.

“Sorry. Anyways, what were you guys planning? There’s nothing much to do today so I wanted to tag along with you guys.” Hyewon said excitingly.

“Yena also told me she’s here too. What a coincidence.” She added.

“Yea, a coincidence indeed.” Sakura said as she glared at Chaeyeon.

“Uhh, anyway. We were planning on going somewhere to eat.” Chaeyeon said, quickly changing the subject.

“Oooh where?” Hyewon said as her expression changed to her usual ‘oooh food’ expression.

“Well we are in Jeju so we were thinking fresh seafood.” Eunbi said.

“NO RAW FISH!!!” Hyewon suddenly yelled, startling Chaeyeon and Eunbi.

“Oh that’s right, Kang-chan can’t eat sashimi or even sushi for that matter.” Sakura said.

“Yea, too bad. Sushi sounded good.” Nako chimed in.

“Hey, be quiet! You can have as much sushi as you want when you return to Japan.” Hyewon interjected.

We should totally go to a sushi restaurant then.

Chaeyeon thought to herself but quickly dismissed it, feeling bad for the girl.

“We should still get seafood, but she can go for cooked seafood. Like spicy haemultang, cheesy clams, or there’s the famous black pork bbq if you don’t want seafood today.” Chaeyeon said.

“What we don’t have today, we can have tomorrow.” She added.

After calling up Yena and Juri for their opinions, they decided to go for bbq that night.

•~•

The next day was a little bit more busy as more people arrived and were preparing for the conference the next day.

Sakura didn’t sleep in this morning as she was meeting with her father throughout the day and helping with planning. Chaeyeon didn’t have to do much today either and just followed Sakura around the whole day. This was a different side to Sakura that Chaeyeon had not seen before. The kid-like Sakura was more mature and emitted a different aura than usual. Seeing her work and look serious made Chaeyeon fall in love with her again.

“Stop staring at her like that. It’s making me feel gross.” Eunbi teased as she walked up beside Chaeyeon.

“I’m not staring.” Chaeyeon refuted.

“Sure, and that wasn’t you who was smiling like a fool and blushing either, right?”

Chaeyeon cupped her warm face, trying to hide the glow.

“She really does look beautiful when she’s putting her all into something. You really can’t help but fall for her charms.” Eunbi added.

“Hey, don’t be hitting on my girlfriend!” Chaeyeon sternly said.