After bidding Yves goodbye, Hana finds herself at a private underground bar in a more quiet, upscaled neighbourhood. She takes the wooden steps down to the bottom level and greets the bouncer who bows in recognition, opening the door for her. She nods her head, making her way through the entrance as the sound of jazz music floats above the air, soothing her ears - low orange lighting and wooden furnishings gave the bar a more refined, old school ambience. She spots the bar's lone customer, Lip with her freshly dyed brown hair sitting by the counter, swirling her wine glass slowly in the air. 

Hana approaches the counter, sliding into the seat beside Lip as she orders an old fashioned. Without even looking at Hana, Lip asks, "So, where have you been all day?" 

Hana contemplates telling Lip but decides against it, knowing well that she'll just get teased. "Studying with Yves and I got to eat dinner with her mother as well." 

Lip snickers as she lowers her wine glass onto the countertop, turning to look at Hana with a smirk, "What a great liar!" 

Hana quirks a brow at Lip who adds, "You ain't that slick, Hana! Your lips are all bruised up, you clearly never bothered to fix your mused hair and your dress shirt is all creased up. Who do you think you're trying to lie to? Her mother probably noticed but kept mum to save you and her daughter's embarassment!" 

Hana laughs, shaking her head as the bartender serves her drink, placing the glass above the coaster. She picks up the glass, taking small sips, tasting both the bitterness of the whiskey and the sweetness of sugar cube.

"Do you love her?" 

Lip's question causes Hana to freeze in her seat as she pulls the glass away from her lips, setting it down on the counter.

"You know more than anyone why I can't love another human being, Jungie. Not after what happened in the past. I'm not fit to love another," Hana breathes out, the hurt in her voice saddens Lip greatly. 

"You clearly feel something for that girl. If not, you wouldn't have even approached her let alone entertained her. It's not your style to string someone alone, Hana." 

Hana's eyes were steely as she stares at the rows of alcohol bottles in front of them, opening to say, "Even if I did, I won't pursue it, Jungie." 

“Then, are you just going to continue to lead the poor girl along? I’m pretty sure she’s all heart eyes and ready to marry you on a white sandy beach,” Lip sasses.

Hana sighs. “I came here to get a drink and not think about this. Instead, I’m getting a lecture about love from you.”

“Because you’re being a piece of for no reason at all! No offense, Hana.”

Hana snorts. She was used to Lip’s brutal honesty after years of being friends but it didn’t mean it hurt any less especially when she was on the receiving end. She knew Lip was right, of course, she was. Hana was being a huge towards Yves, hiding her true feelings and feeding into the other girl's growing love for Hana. Now, that she thinks about it again, yes, she definitely deserved every curse thrown at her. She sighs exasperatedly. “I know. Trust me, I do.” 

“If you can’t give her the love she wants, don’t give her any hope. You’re going to break her, Hana. She seems to nice to be treated this way." 

Hana downs her cup of old fashioned in frustration, slamming it down onto the counter, unaware of Lip bouncing up in surprise. “You’re right. She’s far too good for someone like me to love.”

“No. You’re worth loving, Hana. You just need to learn to love yourself," Lip says, recovering from her initial shock. 

Hana flashes Lip a fake smile, “When did you get so good at becoming a therapist?”

“Only for you.” Lip winks at Hana who pretends to gag as Lip smacks her arm in retaliation.

“All jokes aside, you know I’m always here for you, right?” Lip says, placing one hand on Hana's shoulder. 

Hana’s lips finally stretch into a genuine smile as she raises her glass, “To our long friendship. May it continue till we grow old and crusty.”

Lip clinks her glass against Hana’s, matching Hana's tone, "Salut!" as they downed their glasses, lowering it back down once they finished. 

“So, how’s your relationship with Jung Jinsoul going? Word on the street says that she dyed her hair black because of you. Must be serious!” Hana teases. 

 Lip blushes pink as she says, “No, she did that on her own accord. Plus, we haven’t started anything – nothing official anyways.”

“Hmm, is that so? Then, why did you dye your hair brown? Sudden epiphany?” Hana questions teasingly.

Lip huffs, rolling her eyes. “Jesus, you’re insufferable! Go back to the moody and brooding teen from earlier. She was so much better.”

Hana shakes her head, retorting with, “Nope.” 

Lip groans in response.

“But really, Jungie, does she make you happy?” Hana questions seriously. 

Lip sighs in content when she thinks about Jinsoul. “She’s different. She’s not like any of the other people who has tried to court me before. She’s goofy, charming and smart. She cracks old people jokes that aren’t funny but she makes them funny with her laugh. She tells these super funny childhood stories and it warms my heart. I find myself smiling unconsciously when I think of her at random times. And I think that I’m—” Hana cuts her off and finishes Lip's sentence. “-In love with her.”

Lip bashfully smiles, “I think I am. Is that bad?”

Hana chuckles, “Of course not. By the way you’re describing her, I think she’s perfect for you.”

Hana then thinks about Yves and her chuckle reduces to a bitter smile.

“I’m happy for you, Jungie. I really am,” Hana wishes with all her heart.

“Thank you, Hana. Really,” Lip says as she raises her newly filled glass. Hana clinks their glasses together, drinking – one to her sorrows and the other to budding love.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"She's moping again, Haseul unnie."

"Hush, Yeojin! She's already feeling down enough as it is."

"I thought she and Hana were doing well. What happened?"

"Beats me! Aren't you close with Olivia Hye, Chaewon? Why don't you ask her?"

Their conversation were mere murmurs to Yves's ears. Two weeks. That was how long Hana has been avoiding her and it's making Yves confused because she’s seen Hana walking around with members of the Roses but the girl doesn’t text her or materialize out of thin air to drag Yves on secret dates or even gave Yves an opportunity to trip over her. She secretly hoped that Hana would at least turn to look at her but nothing. She couldn't help but feel like Hana was deliberately ignoring her. Did she do something wrong? If she did, Yves couldn't recall a thing. 

 She groans, kicking her legs up and down, fussing like a child. God, Ha Sooyoung, when did you become so desperate for love?

Meanwhile, the student council members exchange glances with each other, daring each other to talk to the irritated girl. They decide to discreetly play rock, paper, scissors as Jinsoul mouths, "1, 2, 3." The result of their discreet game, glares from Yves herself who huffs disheartenedly, flopping onto the table with her head laid upon her arms. 

"Yves, you've been like this for two weeks. It's hurting our hearts to see you like this. Can you tell us what it'll take to get you back to your preppy self?" Haseul questions worriedly. 

"Hana." Yves's answer came out as a muffled murmur but they could more or less guess what her answer was. It wasn't a hard guess. 

They sigh. It was going to be long, gloomy day indeed without their resident moodmaker and jokes master. Not even Yeojin's imitation of Hwang Kwanghee could lift the dark cloud looming over their table. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hana on the other hand was sitting dazed on the couch in the Roses greenhouse which was unusual for the usually vigilant girl.

*Snap* *Snap* *Snap*

"Hana!" 

Hana hears a loud finger snapping noise as she blinks, looking blankly at Lip who was the source of the obnoxious finger snapping. 

"You've been sitting dazed like this for the last two weeks. We've been accepting it but no more. Wake the up!!" Lip snaps. 

"Lip could have phrased that in a calmer way but she is a little exasperated. Her heart was in the right place. I hope you understand that, Hana," Vivi pipes up from the couch opposite hers. 

"I like Jungeun unnie's way," Hyejoo chimes in a sing-song voice, earning her tight-lipped smile from Vivi. She pretends to clear , promptly looking away, avoiding Vivi's eyes. 

"When are you going to stop your little mind games and tell us why you're avoiding Yves like she's the next black plague or something?" Lip pushes, annoyed by Hana's actions because just two weeks ago, they literally just had a talk about not leading Yves on. 

"I'm not avoiding her," Hana defends.

Hana hears snorts resounding through the room as she turns to look at her group of friends with a 'Really?" expression on her face. 

"Seriously? Everyone here has witnessed you running like a headless chicken whenever she appears. Are you really trying to deny the obvious?" Lip shakes her head, clicking her tongue in disapproval. 

Hana tries to deny it, "Me? Running like a headless chicken? You've got it all wrong. I just happen to remember that I had something to attend to, that's all." 

"Sorry, cuzzie. I love you but that has got to be the tiest excuse I've ever heard in my life," Heejin says with slight guilt in her face. "Plus, according to Hyunjin, the girl's been gloomy and moping around for the last two weeks. It's not hard to tell that it's cause of you." 

"Yeah, everyone can see that she goes all deflated puppy ears whenever you ignore her," Yerim adds to the pile. 

Hana starts to feel bad ignoring the girl instantly. The guilt creeping up her spine immobilizes her, sending her spiraling into a state of self-hatred. She didn't mean to hurt Yves at all. She just tried to follow Lip's advice of not leading Yves on if she couldn't love her. She thought that by detaching herself from Yves's life and not seeing her would help Yves to move on from her. Clearly, it was a total fail. 

"Come on, Hana! Enough of this pessisism! Just admit you like this new girl!" Lip growls, unable to hold in her anger any longer. 

Hana groans, dropping her head into her hands. Okay, she might be losing her mind a little from missing Yves. To be honest, it took a lot of will power and strength on Hana's part to avoid Yves because as much as she hated to admit it, she's fallen in love with Yves and yes, she's terrified of that. Throughout these two weeks, there wasn't a day that she's hasn't thought of just dropping everything and running to Yves to apologize. To hug her. To kiss her. 

"Lip's right, Hana. Maybe it's time to let go of the demons of the past and live a little," Vivi advices, shooting Hana a small comforting smile. 

Should she? Can she? 

"I don't know," Hana breathes shakily. 

"We are here for you, Hana. We love you more than anything and are willing to help you through anything. You look happier than all the times we've seen you and it happens whenever you're around Yves. Maybe she is the one, Hana," Vivi says happily. 

Hana looks up from her hands, looking around the room to see her friends beaming at her. Maybe they're right? Plus, what could go wrong? 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

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