April 11th, 2018. 5:31 PM.

In one of the many parks of Seoul, South Korea, a girl with blonde hair was sitting on one of the swings in a swing set. This was Kim Dahyun, aged 19. She was reminiscing of her past, remembering all the fun times she had with her childhood friend.

“There you are, Dubu!”

The blonde opened her eyes and saw her childhood friend standing right in front of her. Park Jihyo, formerly named Park Jisoo, aged 21. The older girl had brown hair with purple highlights.

“Aww! Unnie, I was thinking about our paaaastt! You interrupted mee!” Dahyun whined. The older girl just smiled. “Really, Dubu? What were you thinking of?”

Jihyo sat on the swing next to the blonde girl and looked at her.

“Ah..” The blonde sighed. “D-Don't put me on the spot like this! N-Now I don't remember what I was thinking about...!”

The older girl raised an eyebrow. “Is that so..? Shall I refresh your memory?”

Jihyo got up from her seat and started to push Dahyun lightly. She watched as the swing slowly started moving with the girl on it.

“Do you remember when we used to do this after school?” Jihyo asked.

The blonde nodded. “All the time. I loved those times.”

“Me too.” The older girl said. “It felt nice to unwind, to talk to you.”

“Same.” The younger girl replied, looking at the sun. “It's so bright today.”

“It is,” Jihyo replied. “Oh! I know you haven't been asking lately, but I'll just tell you... uh... well, nothing's happening in terms of JYP.”

“Aww...” Dahyun pouted. “He's such an idiot. He's wasting your talent!”

The older girl smiled sadly. “If he doesn't feel like it's my time, then it isn't. A-And besides, Stray Kids just debuted. He has to focus on them first.”

“You've been waiting thirteen years.” The younger girl said. “What if he makes you wait for thirteen more?”

Jihyo fell silent. “I..I sure hope he doesn't.”

And then, Dahyun started to remember that time...

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July 8th , 2015. 11:27 AM.

The day after the Sixteen finale, the two childhood friends were together at Park residence. They were sitting in the living room, on a long sofa, with a coffee table in front of them.

“ Jihyo...” Dahyun trailed off.

“ I've told you... I'm okay.” Jihyo responded. “R-Really, I'm fine.”

“ I just can't believe this happened.” The younger girl said. “Why? How could he?”

Jihyo took part in a reality survival show called “Sixteen”, hosted by JYP himself. Its purpose was to form a new female kpop group. Unfortunately, despite her best efforts, Jihyo was eliminated at the finale, robbed of her biggest chance to debut.

“ We already talked about this, okay?” The older girl replied. “I got to sleep it off... it's fine, really.”

“ It just seems really insensitive of him to completely ignore that you've been in JYP for ten years.” The younger girl stated.

“JYP knows what he's doing..” Jihyo replied. “If I wasn't good enough to debut into a group, then.. maybe it wasn't meant to be.”

“ ...How can you say that?” Dahyun questioned. “I've seen you all those ten years, you're amazing! How dare you just completely discredit yourself!?”

“ N-No... I mean.. I know I'm good.” The older girl responded. “But, maybe by myself. I probably wouldn't work well in a group anyways..”

“ Have you seen the total outrage on Twitter, Jihyo?” The younger girl remarked. “People are angry!”

“ ...So be it.” Jihyo replied. “It's been done, there's nothing I can do about it.”

“ You can go to the JYP and demand he debut you.” Dahyun remarked.

“ No.” The older girl said. “You know I can't do that.”

The younger girl fell silent, completely defeated.

“It's... not fair.” Dahyun said.

“ Dahyun, please, for me... Can you please just forget about this whole Sixteen thing?” Jihyo asked. “At least for the next couple of months. I've already gotten texts from everyone about it, so please, don't let me hear it from you, too.”

“ ...Sure, I can do that.” The younger girl replied with a little hesitation.

“ I just want to go out and do something,” Jihyo said. “Maybe call the girls over.”

“ That's a good idea!” Dahyun said, completely changing her whole mood quickly. “It's been a while since all eight of us hung out!”

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April 11th, 2018. 5:34 PM.

“..Dubu?”

“S-Sorry, did I space out?” Dahyun asked, turning around to face her childhood friend.

“Yeah..” Jihyo replied. “It's okay, I wasn't really talking.”

“Then how did you know I was spacing out?” The blonde pouted. The older girl smiled. “You had that look on your face.”

“Aww!” The younger girl, getting off from her seat. “THAT look?”

The older girl giggled. “Yes, the one where your eyes are all-”

“Ahhh! Don't say it!” Dahyun whined. “You're so meeeaaannn!!”

Jihyo laughed. “It's cute, Dubu!”

The blonde blushed. “A-Ah.... thanks..”

“I know I've said it before, but I just love your hair, Dahyun. Blonde looks really good on you.”

“A-And every time I say thank you,” Dahyun replied. “I really do appreciate it, even though I asked you if it was going to fine before I dyed it.”

“I helped you make the choice, sure, but what if I didn't like it?” Jihyo asked.

“Y-You thought you wouldn't like it!? Then why help me dye it?”

“Hey, don't stress about it, Dubu. I love your hair, and that's the truth. I was just throwing out scenarios.”

“Ah... besides, I'm pretty sure I would know if you didn't like it.” Dahyun replied.

The older girl smiled. “Yeah.”

“Heeyyy! I didn't think you two would be here!” A voice called out.

Dahyun looked over to see a girl with orange hair approached them. This was Son Chaeyoung, one of Dahyun's closest friends.

“Ah, Chae, it's nice to see you.” Jihyo greeted.

The orange-haired girl sighed. “The others were starting to wonder where you two went. It's not nice to just walk out during a get-together, you know!”

“Well, to be honest..” Dahyun replied. “I was feeling under the weather.”

“It's sunny outside, at least tell us next time before you leave for good.”

“I know, I know.” The blonde nodded.

Suddenly, Jihyo's phone rang. “Ah, it's my sister.” The girl said. “I'll be over there!”

Jihyo walked away, a good distance from the two girls. Dahyun sat back on the swing set and watched as Jihyo talked with her sister. Her heart skipped a beat every time Jihyo laughed or smiled one of her bright smiles.

“You need to tell her.” Chaeyoung said.

“A-Ah... Chae..” Dahyun muttered.

At first, Dahyun didn't want to admit it. “It's just my hormones!” was one of her many excuses. But... she eventually came to terms with it. Kim Dahyun was in love with her best friend, Park Jihyo. And she's been in love with her for years now. It's been suffocating bottling up her feelings, but the blonde couldn't do anything about them.

Jihyo is straight. She only likes men. Dahyun has no chance with her. And yet.... her feelings were still there.

“Seriously, you need to tell her.” Chaeyoung said.

“But... Jihyo likes men.” The blonde replied. “I already know what her response will be..”

Chaeyoung just fell silent.

“I know that you don't want me to hurt, but...” Dahyun said. “If I tell her, our friendship is over.”

“Why do you say that?” The orange-haired girl questioned. “Out of all of us, you know who Jihyo truly is. She would never hurt you, right? Even if she doesn't feel the same way towards you, I'm sure she won't just abandon you.”

The blonde sighed.

“You're right... Jihyo won't hurt me.” Dahyun said. “I-I'm sure things would be awkward at first, but then.. we'll be back to our normal selves.”

“Yeah,” Chaeyoung replied. “And if you tell her now, then you won't have to be hurting anymore.”

Then, a thought crossed Dahyun's mind.

“The thing is... I've lasted this far without telling her... W-Why should I tell her now?”

“Dahyun..”

“L-Look, I'll tell her when I'm ready. J-Just... let me go on my pace, okay?”

“I can live with that.”

Jihyo returned. “Hey, had a nice talk?”

“Yeah,” Chaeyoung replied. “Well, everybody has already gone their own ways, so I'm going to head home. Dahyun, want to come with me? My parents will be worried if you don't arrive back home soon.”

“Ah, I'll have Jihyo drop me off at home,” Dahyun replied. “I'll see you soon.”

The orange-haired girl nodded and walked off. Dahyun's living situation was interesting. Her mother and father had started going through the divorce process, but since they didn't want to make Dahyun's normal life painful, they had decided to allow the girl to move out. Chaeyoung's parents offered to let the girl move in with them, and here she is.

Jihyo went behind Dahyun and continued to lightly push her. “Dubu, I didn't know you still wanted to be on the swing.”

“Ah... no, I just needed to talk Chae about something important.” The blonde replied. “I sat down because it was a bit heavy.”

“Is it about your parents?” Jihyo frowned. The blonde shook her head. “No, just something else. Something personal with Chaeyoung.”

“I see,” Jihyo replied. “Anyways, Dubu... how's your chocolate milk stock?”

“Waahh! You had to remind me!” The blonde whined. “I'm all out!”

“Oh, then you know what that means! Iiiiiiitttttt's..”

“Chocolate milk time?”

“Yes! Let's go get some, so then I can drop you off!”

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5:53 PM.

Jihyo and Dahyun were at the grocery store. The blonde had immediately run over to the dairy section to get a gallon of chocolate milk.

“Hey, do you remember that one time when you tricked your mom into buying you chocolate milk?” Jihyo said.

“Oh my gosh.” The blonde giggled. “She was so mad!”

“I'm glad she let you off with just a warning.” The older girl said. “Even she was impressed by your trickery.”

“Honestly, I'm still surprised I pulled it off,” Dahyun replied, putting the gallon on the cart.

“The greatest trick of all time.” Jihyo smiled.

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6:23 PM.

Finally, they were parked right in front of the Son residence.

“Thank you, Jihyo.” Dahyun said, hugging her childhood friend.

“You don't have to thank me, I know you appreciate it.” The older girl said.

“I know.” The blonde replied. “But I still want you to know that I appreciate what you do for me.”

“Well, just know, that you deserve the best,” Jihyo said. “Don't forget that, okay? You deserve the best.”

Dahyun nodded. “Thank you, really.”

The blonde got off from the car. “See you tomorrow, Jihyo! Goodnight!”

“Goodnight, Dubu.” Jihyo smiled, driving away.

Dahyun entered the house and saw Chaeyoung's parents were at the dining table.

“Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Son.” Dahyun said. “Is Chaeyoung in our room?”

“Yes, Dahyun.” Mr. Son replied. “Sit down, eat with us. You had a long day.”

“Thank you.” The blonde said.

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10:42 PM.

That night, Dahyun lied in bed, and she couldn't stop thinking about Jihyo. She felt stuck. Like she had discussed earlier with Chaeyoung, she felt afraid that she'd ruin their relationship. It was stupid to think Jihyo would act so cruel, but that overwhelming fear was stopping Dahyun from confessing her feelings.

But... Dahyun really did want to confess. She needed to confess. So many years passed by, but this year... felt different.

When 2018 started, Dahyun had a feeling. This is it. This is going to be the year. The year of change.

She just hoped it was a good change.