Yuna closes her file as the practice session comes to an end. 

“There’s this external event you can volunteer for, it’s not compulsory,” Yuna listens to the announcements while preoccupied with the incoming notifications on her phone.

“We’re also gonna start learning the Clarinet Concerto soon, we’ve more or less made our choice among those who have come to audition,” Yuna stops scrolling. She purses her lips together and looks up with watchful eyes. I should be able to ask her since we’re friends, right? Yuna thinks rather hopefully.

Once the musicians begin packing up to leave, Yuna does so swiftly and proceeds to find her answers to the questions in her mind.

“Minkyung ah!” she starts with a friendly call.

“Oh, Yuna yah,” Yuna receives a smile and a casual pat on the back, which she reciprocates. “How are you recently?”

“I’m good!” Yuna chuckles.

“You got used to your section pretty quickly,” Minkyung smiles. “Well, it’s not a surprise, you’ve always been a person nice to be around.”

Yuna laughs again, “Stop that,” after which she asks, “Can I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

"Has the clarinettist been chosen?" Yuna does not delay the question.

Minkyung blinks, taken aback, before asking, "I suppose you're acquainted with one of those who've auditioned?"

Yuna nods her head. "Yeah, sorry," she smiles sheepishly.

"Well, the clarinettist has been selected but we can't disclose who that might be yet," the reply is rather kind, much to Yuna's gratitude for she knows that her request to know is rather inappropriate.

She returns a smile, "It's alright. Thank you."

"Well, see you around," Minkyung smiles and gives Yuna a few pats on her back.

Walking away after bidding their goodbyes, her phone buzzes in her pocket.

[Noodles for dinner today?]

[I wanted to try the one we walked past near your centre that day]

[I can come over]

Yuna beams as she types away a reply. [Sure~]

Yuna reaches for two pairs of chopsticks when their orders arrive and hands one to Eunbi.

"Thanks," Eunbi smiles. "Let's eat."

"You know," Yuna starts carefully, her lips, "they mentioned today that they've more or less selected the positions," she says while monitoring Eunbi's response.

Eunbi's chopsticks grip securely onto a piece of meet. "Oh, is it?" she looks up, answering rather plainly. Eunbi's lips flash a small smile. She remains still, as if having to add something, but returns to her noodles after a few seconds.

Yuna's eyelid slightly twitches; what is wrong with that expression of hers? She cannot decipher, but knows definitely that Eunbi's response is out of the ordinary. 

"Yeah," she answers anyway, smiling like nothing is odd. "They might start notifying soon."

"I see," Eunbi says softly, the small smile still plastered on her lips as she has another mouthful of noodles. Eunbi is thankful that Yuna is telling her that, but knows that there is nothing much they both can do with the information. 

The small smile makes Yuna recall Eunbi's old grins and ponder their absence. She realises then, that Eunbi's responses have lost their nonchalance; they are no longer carefree, nor are they relaxed. She thinks again about their conversations since the mid-autumn national holiday. Yuna remembers as well the laundry night that ended abruptly. 

She realises the lack of excitement in Eunbi's recent behaviour, as compared to her old rackety character that Yuna has been grateful for, for it makes the home lively and Yuna loves that it makes her laugh. She recalls Eunbi’s shorter sentences these days; from patching up, till the audition, perhaps they weren’t everyday situations, but Yuna now thinks she cannot ignore that. She realises how Eunbi cuts herself off sometimes, and recalls how Eunbi tends to put more thought into her words these days. Not that she isn’t grateful that Eunbi is being thoughtful, but Yuna finds that Eunbi isn’t being herself.

“Unnie, why aren’t you eating?” Eunbi’s question startles her.

“Y-Yeah?” Yuna blinks.

“Did you not want to eat here? I’m sorry I decided it without asking,” Eunbi’s smile drops to a frown.

A sudden apology? There have been more apologies in their conversations recently, Yuna learns. Yuna finds also that she cannot read Eunbi as easily anymore; Eunbi's carefree innocence seems to be gradually fading away.

Has anything changed for Eunbi while I wasn't around? Speaking of which, Yuna doesn't know anything about how the match Eunbi's mother had made for her had gone. Yuna would've wanted to ask, but Yuna knows that she doesn't want to ask this Eunbi about it. Eunbi perhaps would’ve already mentioned it by now if she had wanted to talk about it too.

Growing worried, Yuna immediately spreads her lips into a smile and says, “No! I’m eating.”

“Is it good?” Yuna asks to continue the conversation.

“Yeah, yours?”

“Good too. But let me try yours too,” Yuna reaches for Eunbi’s bowl. 

“Okay, I’ll try yours too,” Eunbi chuckles.

As Yuna takes a sip of the soup from Eunbi’s bowl, she realises: Eunbi doesn’t feel like that whimsical child that had nothing to hide she had met months ago anymore. 

Eunbi lies on the sofa in the living room, with her knees up, her thumbs busy on her mobile phone as she rests after just returning home from a day of practice. She sits up when her phone starts to ring.

“Wow, what’s the occasion I’m getting an unexpected call from the Kim Yewon in the middle of the day?” she says with her mobile phone pressed by her ear, something that still amuses her since she’s gotten rid of that old, malfunctioning iPhone 6S with a cracked screen an upgraded to one that has all the proper functions one would need from a mobile phone. 

“My sister’s getting married next month, remember? To her Seoul boyfriend,” Yewon chuckles.

“Oh!” Eunbi gasps. “Wait, next month is technically next week," Eunbi states.

"Yes, next week," Yewon confirms her statement.

"So you’ll be in Seoul?”

“Yeah, and you should really let me meet that Yuna unnie of yours,” Yewon giggles.

Eunbi narrows her eyes at the playfulness behind Yewon’s voice. “What for!” she snaps.

“Just!” Yewon giggle even more. “Because you’ve been mentioning her all the time!”

“Not all the time!” Eunbi protests.

When Yuna enters the living room, Eunbi decides to ask (as Yewon can hear her). Not used to the fact yet that everyone around her doesn’t hear her phone conversations anymore as they would before, she struggles to find the words she should say.

After a sigh, she says, “My best friend says she wants to meet you, she'll be in Seoul for a wedding next week.” Eunbi restrains herself from rolling her eyes when she hears Yewon giggle.

Yuna responds with an amused expression, wondering if it’s just part of Eunbi’s dynamics with her best friend. “Sure,” her reply does not seem fully confident. She lets out a short, awkward chuckle.

“As-ssa!” Yewon immediately cheers on the other side, and Eunbi narrows her eyes for a second. 

“Right, by the way, am I invited too?” Eunbi changes the conversation as with the flow of her thoughts when she turns away from Yuna.

“Well, you don’t know her personally, but she wouldn’t mind if I brought you along…”

“Nah, it’s alright,” Eunbi shakes her head on second thought and chuckles, “I don’t think I’ll know anyone there besides you anyway. We’ll just meet in the day… days? you’ll be in Seoul I guess.”

“Yeah,” Yewon laughs, “I will be there for the day before and the day of the wedding but I guess if we want to spend a whole day out together I can stay another night.”

“Sure, anything goes,” Eunbi nods her head.

“Eunbi yah, we’ve run out of eggs, should we make a run for the mart?” Yuna asks, looking out from the kitchen, with a hand still on the refrigerator door. 

“Oh, right, let’s get that later?” Eunbi responds with another question.

“Right,” Yuna chuckles. “Wait, since it’s a rare Saturday I don’t have lessons and we’re both free, why don't we go out for the day? We can go to the mart tomorrow,” Yuna proposes when the idea strikes her.

“Ooh, sounds good!” Eunbi spreads her lips into a bright smile. “Where do you want to go?”

“Hmm, do you have any ideas?” Yuna asks, walking over and seating herself down beside Eunbi at the couch.

“Hmm, no, you?” Eunbi returns the question.

Yuna frowns, “Don’t ask me back because you’re indecisive,” she tries to joke, giving Eunbi’s arm a light poke with her finger, though genuinely concerned that Eunbi isn’t as proactive as before, as she has been concerned about the girl for a while now.

Eunbi wrinkles her nose. “Okay, fine, let’s watch a movie?”

“Okay, sounds good, I haven’t been to the cinema in ages,” Yuna smiles.

“Okay,” Eunbi beams, and Yuna wishes she could see the gleam on Eunbi’s face for longer, finding that it has been rare these days, while it was not in the earlier months when she was settling into this apartment.

“What should we watch?” Eunbi asks when they stand at the ticketing booths, looking up at the screens with the list of show times. 

“Hmm, do you have any preference of genres?” Yuna asks while scanning the titles.

“Just something not scary, please,” Eunbi wrinkles her nose.

Yuna breaks into a chuckle. “Mother,” she says.

“No!” Eunbi protests, “No! I heard it’s scary!”

Yuna cracks up even harder.

“Unnie!” Eunbi almost screams. “Why do you find this fun?”

“Okay,” Yuna feels a squeeze in her heart, having missed such interactions with Eunbi. 

“Actually this looks interesting,” Eunbi points up, “Glass Garden, and it’s showing in an hour so we could grab a meal first,” she suggests.

“Okay, let’s do that,” Yuna nods and they proceed to get their tickets.

When the day ends, Yuna and Eunbi return home with casual talk on their lips, laughter, a lighthearted atmosphere blanketing them, a feeling they haven’t been able to enjoy recently. 

“Good night,” Yuna says when they are both out of the shower, ready to turn in.

“Good night, unnie,” Eunbi smiles, before both doors are closed. The way Eunbi calls “unnie” lingers in her mind, as with the way Eunbi had called “unnie” when she was teasing Eunbi with the horror films in the cinema, as with the way Eunbi’s gentle chuckles from their conversations ring in her mind, sounding relaxed and natural.

Yuna shakes her head. I don’t know what’s up with her anymore, she thinks and sighs, but I’ll be thankful today happened. 

Yuna wishes that as much as it was a happy and enjoyable day for her, it is the same for Eunbi.

a/n: i promised to update this week so here it is!! writing again feels good (even though i've only done one sitting since i've 'started writing again' HAHAHA) and after a whole year, the seasons are in sync with the story again, it's october both in here and in real life. HAHAHA. well, i hope this chapter finds you well, i am not sure when i can give another update because my life's kinda hectic rn but if i do find that i'm bored and end up writing again, i'll try to give this an update! i do hope it isn't a long time later because the next chapter is actually already more or less churned out hahaha. anyway, well wishes to everyone, hope you're all doing well!