Jihyo missed her.

No matter how hard she tries to act like it didn't affect her, the moment she started distancing herself from Mina she felt her heart shatter in a thousand pieces.

Even if she tried to make it look like nothing had changed and she was still the same hyper and loud Jihyo she had always been, she knew she wasn't and it was only her fault.

Now, every time she saw her, she did her best not to meet her eyes because she knew that the moment their eyes locked, she would be lost.

Walking with her head lowered, faking to be animatedly talking to some of her friends, acting like she was occupied with her phone when it wasn't even unlocked; her whole life had become a play where she wasn't even sure whose part she was performing anymore.

Or if she was even enjoying it.

Sometimes, she wondered whether she had made the right choice or not.

Deep down, she knew she hadn't.

-

"Keep staring at her like that and she'll started thinking you're a creep."

Jihyo groaned as she slammed her head against her locker, while Jeongyeon hit Nayeon's arm, giving her a scolding look.

"What Nayeon meant is that instead of looking at Mina all the time, you should try talking to her, you know? Maybe apologising and telling her the reason why you've been avoiding her?"

Jihyo turned to look at Jeongyeon with a raised eyebrow; the older, wiser girl was was doing her best to look encouraging, but Jihyo simply sighed and shook her head weakly.

"No, thanks."

This time, it was Nayeon's turn to groan in the middle of the hallway, and Jihyo's arm got roughly hit.

"That hurt," the younger of the three complained, but Nayeon wasn't even paying attention to her words.

"Alright, so, let's see," Nayeon started saying; her voice was inquisitive and she was uncharacteristically serious - finally all that time spent with Tzuyu was paying off. "This isn't about you being too prideful, neither are you oblivious to the fact you're the one in the wrong."

"So, why are you still here? Why aren't you begging Mina to forgive you?" Nayeon ended her speech, staring right into Jihyo's eyes as if she wanted to bore into her soul.

Jihyo wasn't going to let her do that anyway.

"I just can't," she murmured, burying her hand in her hands.

Nayeon sighed frustratedly, while Jeongyeon smiled sadly at her.

She didn't know what was going on with Jihyo and the more she tried to understand her, the more confused she was left.

Sometimes, she felt like giving up, but Jihyo was her best friend and there was no way she was going to do that.

She could see from the look in Nayeon's eyes that she was thinking the same.

"Jihyo, I love you," Nayeon admitted after a beat of silence; her voice was low and she truly meant every word she was saying. "I just hope that when you understand what you've got to do, it won't be too late."

Her words hit too close home; but Jihyo knew she had already lost Mina so what was the point?

It was already too late.

-

When she was at school, Jihyo got asked a lot about Mina; mostly high school students who didn't know how to mind their own business.

As people were accustomed to seeing them always together, now that the two weren't spending time together anymore - more like Jihyo was avoiding the Japanese girl - students got curious to why they were suddenly acting like they didn't know each other.

Jihyo would make up excuses not to answer them, while saying - swearing - she was absolutely fine. 

Truth is, she hadn't been fine for a while now.

Ever since she distanced herself from Mina, she felt like her life was missing its most important piece.

And although the world kept going on, she couldn't move along. She was stuck and she just waited. She wasn't sure what she was waiting for though.

It was lunch and Jihyo decided to just skip it. It wouldn't be the first time anyway.

Lately, she wasn't that hungry.

She made sure to avoid her best friends, knowing very well they would drag her to the cafeteria with them if they were to catch a glance of her.

Instead, she sat in the courtyard, under the shadow of a old oak. She was reading attentively, when she heard footsteps approaching her.

Jihyo sighed, expecting it to be Jeongyeon or even Nayeon, but, when she looked up from her book, she was left surprised and confused at the sight in front of her.

"Dahyun?"

The younger girl smiled awkwardly at her, before swiftly sitting next to Jihyo and offer her a piece of her sandwich.

Jihyo was too confused to do anything. Why was Dahyun there? And why was she trying to act all friendly when she was supposed to despise her for hurting Mina?

Yes, you read it right: Dahyun was one of Mina's close friends alongside Son Chaeyoung.

The Japanese girl would always hang out with them when she wasn't with Jihyo; sometimes, asking her to join them.

After everything that went down between Mina and her - or better, after Jihyo completely shut the younger girl out - she came to think they'd hate her for what she did; especially because Chaeyoung would always send death glares her way.

However, now she didn't really know what to think.

When Dahyun saw she wasn't accepting her food and she kept looking at her with an interrogative stare, the girl sighed before slumping back against the old tree. 

She positioned the food on Jihyo's lap and told her to eat it.

She needed those energies.

"Exams are coming up, and you need to get good grades, don't you?" 

Jihyo was taken aback by how soft her voice was and how she seemed to not be holding any grudges against her, unlike what she had previously thought.

It was almost as if Dahyun was worrying about her.

As if she cared about her.

"It's been awhile since I've seen you in the cafeteria. But I can't blame you. It must be hard to be surrounded by couples all the time."

Dahyun was frowning as she kept going on and on about how she could understand how Jihyo felt ever since Chaeyoung started dating Minatozaki Sana and she would always find herself being the third weel, but Jihyo stopped her before she could say anything else.

She wasn't understanding what was happening and it was bothering her.

Dahyun should be comforting Mina, reminding her that she's the best person in the world and giving her all the love she could - something Jihyo wasn't allowed to do anymore.

She should be worrying about Mina, not her.

It didn't make sense.

"Why are you doing this?"

Her words were rushed and Dahyun got a feeling of Jihyo's confusion. It wasn't hard seeing as Jihyo kept frowning and looking at her like she had lost her mind.

"I'm trying to hold a conversation?" Dahyun cooly said, shrugging her shoulders, but Jihyo wasn't going to let Dahyun get away with whatever she was planning.

"Seriously Dahyun, why are you talking to me? You're supposed to hate me."

Jihyo was expecting Dahyun to abandon her calm facade and start insulting her for the way she had handled things with Mina; instead, Dahyun looked at her confusedly and then moved her eyes from Jihyo to the few clouds in the sky.

She pondered a little before bringing her attention back to the girl. Now, she was displaying a rather sad smile.

"I don't know why you'd think I hate you, but I can assure you I don't."

Her voice was lower than before, barely a murmur, and Dahyun seemed to be very disheartened by Jihyo's words.

It made the older girl feel guilty.

"I don't understand," Jihyo muttered. The book she was reading was long gone on the grass, just like the piece of sandwich Dahyun had kindly offered her. "Why wouldn't you? I hurt Mina."

The younger girl nodded at her words, comprehensively.

"You didn't just hurt her, Jihyo. You've broken her heart," she affirmed while looking Jihyo straight in the eyes. However, her eyes didn't hold any anger or hatred towards her. They were rather sad and even kind of comforting to Jihyo. "But I'm not mad at you."

Jihyo was still trying to make sense of what the girl was telling her, in vain. It was like her mind had stopped working and she couldn't process what Dahyun was saying.

She felt lost under the younger's stare.

"Why aren't you?" Jihyo kept asking her hurriedly; she didn't know why she was insisting so hard on knowing the reasons of Dahyun's kindness towards her. In a way, it was making her feel better, less at fault, but she felt like she didn't deserve to feel like that because of Dahyun, Mina's best friend.

She thought about what the girl had told her earlier. Not only she had hurt Mina, but she had broken her heart.

The realisation hit her suddenly, and brutally. She felt her heart break in her chest as if it was being stabbed over and over again every time Jihyo would repeat Dahyun's words in her mind.

But she didn't stop.

She kept thinking about it. She kept feeling like her heart was being tortured and she was doing it to herself because deep down she believed she deserved it.

She deserved to be hurting like that. She deserved to feel her heart breaking in her chest, being torn apart, because that's how she had made Mina feel and now it was only fair she went through that same pain.

Dahyun was still sitting next to her, and her expression changed when she saw Jihyo's eyes slowly watering. 

She brought a hand up to her arm to caress it, hoping it would calm her. She had never seen Jihyo looking so broken and she didn't know what to do. She thought of the only person who could help her, but she knew better than to call her.

"Look," Dahyun's voice was still steady, not giving away her nervousness. "I'm not mad at you because I know how much you care about Mina. You wouldn't hurt her like that if it wasn't for something serious. And just by seeing your reaction right now, I know you're just as heartbroken as her."

Jihyo looked at Dahyun; a tear left her right eye and slowly fell down her cheek, while the other girl didn't say anything. Dahyun only smiled at her.

Jihyo was trying to understand if it was out of pity or if she really was sorry for her. However, knowing Dahyun, she had no doubt it was the latter.

She was so selfless.

There was something in the way Dahyun was looking at her that moved something inside of her. Jihyo didn't know if it was the fact that the two used to be closer when they would hang out all together with Mina, or if it was the warmth in Dahyun's eyes that made her feel like she could tell her everything and she would understand her no matter what.

The thing is that at one point Jihyo felt like her heart, all those feelings she had tried so hard to suppress and keep hidden away were erupting out of her chest and she told Dahyun what she thought she'd never be able to say out loud.

"I'm in love with her."

She opened in shock, surprised at her own words, knowing that now that her feelings were out in the open there was no way she could take her words back.

Deny her own feelings like she had been doing all that time.

She looked at Dahyun while she felt her heartbeat increase in her chest. 

She was scared.

What if Dahyun told Mina? What would she do then?

What if Dahyun were to laugh at her? Find her ridiculous because she had made such a big mess for the mere reason that she was scared of confessing to Mina?

Negative thoughts were swarming around in her head and Jihyo felt like she was going to explode if they didn't stop at any time soon.

But all those questions running around in her mind, all those fears of Dahyun reacting badly after her confession went away when she saw that the girl was calmly smiling at her.

Why was Dahyun even smiling at her?

Why wasn't she shocked?

Why wasn't she angry?

"I'm glad you told me," Dahyun said, only increasing Jihyo's confusion. "From the scared look in your eyes, I gues you didn't want to tell me that, but don't worry, I won't tell Mina."

Jihyo couldn't say anything.

It was like she was frozen, and while Dahyun kept talking to her, she couldn't move nor say anything.

"I do understand why you would distance yourself from Mina now," Dahyun declared in a delicate voice, bringing a hand to Jihyo's shoulder and squeezing it lightly. "Love can be scary. Especially when you fall for your best friend. But you can't keep running away from your feelings."

Jihyo wanted to shout at her that she knew it very well and that she felt like an idiot for ever thinking she could.

She felt dumb, sad and angry at herself for ever thinking that. Dahyun was right, but Jihyo didn't want to admit it to herself.

Still, no words came out of and she was left staring at Dahyun while the girl kept going on with her speech.

"You need to tell that to Mina," she stated in a firmer voice. "I know it might seem scary, but believe me, you want to tell her that before it's too late."

Jihyo was going to tell her that it was already too late, that she hurt Mina too much and there was no way she could make up for it; trying would be useless.

Still, she was taken aback when she noticed that there were tears threatening to spill from Dahyun's eyes.

She closed without saying anything, but confusion took over her features.

Was her situation affecting Dahyun that much? Or perhaps, Dahyun was just very empathetic hand felt Jihyo's sufferance as if it was her own.

This time, it was Jihyo who brought a hand up to Dahyun's and, just as the younger girl was squeezing her shoulder, Jihyo squeezed Dahyun's hand in comfort.

That made a melancholy smile spread on the younger's lips.

"Please Jihyo," Dahyun begged her, letting go of all her strength and letting tears flow down her cheeks. She lowered her head looking at the ground in shame.

Jihyo didn't know what was happening, but she knew she hated seeing Dahyun like that.

She didn't deserve that.

However, everything became clearer when the younger girl spoke again; this time, Jihyo understood everything.

"Don't make my same mistake."

She didn't say anything.

Dahyun was sobbing and she looked so broken.

Now, Jihyo was blaming herself for not understanding it sooner, for not paying enough attention.

If only she had known.

Suddenly, flashes of the way Dahyun would always look at Chaeyoung came up in her mind.

It was so obvious yet she couldn't see it.

Dahyun was in love with Chaeyoung, her best friend.

That's when she realised those same feelings she felt for Mina, Dahyun felt them all for Chaeyoung.

Those same hardships she went through to protect her friendship with Mina, Dahyun had experienced them all already.

The fear of losing the one person you love the most, Dahyun has gone through that as well.

She thought back to when she was telling her about how Chaeyoung was now dating Sana and the two seemed to be happier than ever together while Dahyun was left third wheeling, often taking picture for the couple or driving Chaeyoung to Sana's place.

Dahyun had lost Chaeyoung in the end.

"I know you think you can't make things right now, that it's already too late," Dahyun spoke again, her voice was barely a whisper. "But believe me, it's not. You're still in time, Jihyo."

"You can still make things right. I can't."

The last sentence made Jihyo shiver.

She had been telling herself that it was too late, but now she knew she wasn't.

Dahyun was right; now, Jihyo knew why the younger girl had decided to talk to her: she didn't want Jihyo to end up like her.

She didn't think twice before hugging Dahyun close to her chest. Her tears were now wetting her sweater, but Jihyo didn't care.

It didn't matter anyway.

Instead, she put her head on Dahyun's while caressing her back in a soothing way. The girl was sobbing and Jihyo told her that everything was going to be alright.

She didn't know if things were going to be okay for Dahyun.

She didn't know what was going to happen now.

"Promise me you won't make my same mistake," Dahyun was able to say through her sobs, warming Jihyo's heart.

She thought of how hard it must have been for Dahyun to keep her feelings a secret for so long; to act like she wasn't heartbroken because of Chaeyoung and Sana.

Dahyun was so strong. 

Jihyo looked at the sky; the sun was shining and there were no clouds in sight.

She smiled to herself before looking back at the body between her arms. 

She knew what she had to do now; Jihyo may have made a mistake when she decided to avoid Mina, but she knew it wasn't too late to make things better.

She had to make up for her mistake.

She kept caressing Dahyun's back, making small soothing circles with her hands, while the girl let all her pain out.

"I promise you Dahyun," she told her in a firm voice, knowing there was no turning back now. "I promise you, I'll make things right."

And this time, Jihyo intended to keep her promise.

For Dahyun.